Page 38 of Levee

“Doll,” my uncle scoffed, trying to keep up his bravado, but he was looking a little pale now that he got a good look at the damage he’d done.

Some part of me wanted to lecture him about using a butcher’s knife to cut a bagel, but it hardly seemed the time. And the last thing I wanted to do was get into a fight when he was still losing so much blood.

I tightly pressed the dishcloth into the wound, then wound it tightly around his hand.

“Clamp down on it with your fingers,” I instructed as Jade moved around to push his wheelchair closer. “We have to go to the clinic,” I told him.

“Not going fucking anywhere with you,” he snarled.

“You need stitches.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You’re losing a lot of blood,” I insisted, thinking his blood thinner meds must have been the culprit.

“What do you care if I bleed out?”

“If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here,” I insisted. Though, at times like this, it was hard to remember why I did.

“William,” Jade tried, voice placating, “we need to go get you checked out, okay? It won’t take long.”

I was already texting Seeley and Amarantha, letting them know I was heading to the clinic with my uncle.

Ama texted back quickly, telling me Seeley was just dropping her off then, and she would keep a room ready for him.

“Fine,” my uncle snarled, glaring at me.

“Seeley is on his way to pick us up.”

“Don’t got your own fucking car, huh, boy?”

Sucking in a deep breath, I bit back my anger, reminding myself he was extra nasty because he was in pain and likely scared, even if he’d never admit that.

“Levee has a motorcycle, remember?” Jade asked, still using that singsong voice, but her face was a little harder since he couldn’t see it. “And as much fun as it might be to hook you up to it and drag you to the clinic, it’s probably safer to take a car.”

“Don’t like being treated like an inv—“

“Like someone who is hurt and needs to get looked at?” Jade interjected, cutting him off before he said something offensive. “Sorry, William, but that’s exactly what you are. Now, do you want me to make vroom-vroom sounds as I push you down the hall?” she teased. “Or are you going to stop being a big baby about it?”

Uncle Will harrumphed at that, but there was a slight twitch to his lips at her words as she started to push him through the apartment.

I went searching for his wallet so we had his insurance cards, then followed behind, catching up to them at the elevator.

We rode the car down in a tense silence, but both Jade and I were looking at how quickly my uncle’s blood was soaking through the white dishcloth.

By the time we made it out front, Seeley was already waiting for us with the passenger side door open.

“Seeley, you remember Uncle Will. And this is Jade,” I said.

“Hey, Jade. I would invite you to ride with us, but we’re barely gonna fit the three of us and the chair,” he said, taking charge and hauling my uncle out of the chair to push him into the seat, knowing he would get less lip about it than I would.

“I wouldn’t want to get in the way,” Jade insisted as Seeley grabbed the chair and walked around the car to fold it up and finagle it into the trunk. “William, try to be a good patient,” she said, giving him a smile. “You might even get a sticker if you behave,” she added, getting another lip twitch out of him.

“Doll, I’m sorry we got—“

“Don’t apologize,” she cut me off as I closed my uncle’s door so he wasn’t listening to us. “You can’t control an emergency. Go take care of your uncle. I need to get some work done on Mrs. Jackson’s canvases anyway. But thanks for breakfast. That was much needed today,” she added, reaching out to grab my wrist for just a second.

The look in her eye said she wanted it to be more than just a touch.

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