Page 58 of Quarterback Sneak

Beth shifted in the bed, and by the way she deflected her gaze, she had been too ashamed to do so. “I…there wasn’t time. Between the accident and the cops, there wasn’t time. My phone is almost out of battery and I need to wait for Aaron’s call. He was supposed to meet me in the emergency room hours ago.”

Big surprise there. Losers like Aaron fed off the weakness of others and Beth was a willing victim.

“He’s not with you?” The hardness in Ivy’s tone spoke volumes, but her expression remained supportive. “Where is he?”

“I have no idea. I tried to call him, but I couldn’t get through, and I don’t know what to do about the cops, I—” The light on the pulse monitor jumped. She released a low moan of pain and began to half-cough, half-sob.

“Beth, it’s ok. I called an attorney friend of mine. She’s on her way. As for Aaron, we’ll get in touch with him, even if I have to go to his house myself.” Sam reached across to the side table and poured a glass of water. From the flush on her cheeks and the spike in the monitor, she was on the verge of hysteria. “Here, drink this.”

Like a child, she obeyed his request and drank from the straw.

“Then he’s probably fine,” Ivy snapped.

A small, florid-faced man knocked on the door before he came into the room. “Excuse me. I am here from the front desk. I need to talk to Ms. Cooper about her insurance. There seems to be a discrepancy in your policy number. Do you happen to have another card with you?”

“I don’t have another card.” Beth lay back against the mattress and worried the edge of the sheet. “Ivy, do you have yours?”

At Ivy’s nod, the man indicated she follow him. “Do you mind coming to the front desk with me?”

Ivy glared at the intruder. “Can’t this wait until later? I—”

“—Go with him, I’ll be fine. Sam can stay here and keep me company. Right Sam?” Beth patted the spot on the bed vacated by Ivy.

“Fine.” The scornful glance Ivy cast his way proved a stern reminder of the tensions between them. “I’ll be right back.”

How had things turned from promising to bad in a matter of hours? One minute, he was planning a romantic evening and the next, they were bickering about his string of bad luck. His own irritation over the ordeal reared its ugly head and he suppressed the selfish urge to dwell on it. Sighing, he settled himself into the chair by the bed. “Looks like you busted your lip pretty bad. I have personal experience on how much an injury like that hurts.”

Beth’s heavy expression lightened. “I remember when it happened, I saw it on television. It was the last quarter of your rookie year when you did your first successful quarterback sneak. I still think the guy should have gotten a face mask penalty.”

Football had a way of bringing people together and he’d use their shared experience to ease past the wall of shock surrounding her. Sadly, he’d had plenty of practice thanks to Patrick. “To this day, I still don’t have a clue how my lip got busted. I was in the zone, determined to rack up my stats, and not really paying attention to the mean bastards that wanted to knock me on my ass.”

“No matter your reasons, it was kickass.” Beth began to laugh before she winced from the stretch of her lip.

“How’d you injure your lip?” Sam tried to be cautious in his questioning and to keep his voice gentle. The last thing he wanted was Beth to guess his true suspicion, a hunch he prayed he was wrong about.

Her temporary animation faded. “I hit it on the dashboard. It’s nothing serious.”

While her answer made sense given what Frank had conveyed to Ivy, Sam wasn’t completely convinced Aaron wasn’t behind the injury. “Hey, I believe we reviewed the whole split lip thing. It’s not anything, especially when you forget and eat something citrusy.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She twisted the ring on her hand.

Where was her fiancé? If it were Ivy lying in that bed, he’d be glued to her side. “Hopefully, it will be faded by the wedding. Halloween, right?”

“That was the plan.” Upset creased her brow and she retrieved her phone from beneath the folds of the blue blanket.

Sam regretted asking the question. Any yardage he’d gained had been lost and he needed to tread carefully if he wanted to get the full story from her. “You both left the bar together. Did you split up or was he in the car with you?”

“Yes, he was with me. He’s the one who drove us to the ER.”

“Us? Was someone else with you?” He hadn’t seen anyone else leave with them. Then again, he hadn’t paid much attention to anything other than Ivy.

“The weather was horrible and we were going through an intersection when this girl stepped right in front of us.” Her shoulders slumped and moisture sheened her cheeks. “She got a little banged up but she was able to walk, and…oh my God, she could have been killed. I couldn’t live with myself if she’d been killed.”

“She’s alive, Beth. Don’t waste time and effort on what ifs. She’s alive, and while I can’t condone you drinking and driving, you stepped up when it mattered and tried to do the right thing.”

“Aaron wanted me to leave her. I insisted we bring her here.” She stared down at the blanket on her lap, thumbing the silky edge and refusing to look him in the eye. Her frame shook slightly, as if her sobs were welling back up inside her again. “We figured it was faster than calling the ambulance. It happened a few blocks from here. Aaron dropped us off at the street and said he was going to park the car.”

“He drove you here and he never came back?” The bastard had been drunk off his ass and could have done even worse damage then Beth had. Sam tried to keep his contempt from reflecting in every word. His low opinion of the guy sank to a deeper level. “He drank quite a bit at the party. Maybe he passed out in the car. Was he injured?”

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