Page 8 of Jagger

That was ridiculous. The odds of that were slim to zero.

My deep breath was scattered and he caught the sound, tilting his head as he continued studying me. We munched in silence and I was grateful my daughter wasn’t shy. She’d managed to shut down some of the awkwardness.

A flash caught my eye as a different waitress rushed in our direction.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Fox, but Carlos is hurt pretty badly. There’s blood everywhere.”

The girl was almost panicking. I could tell he was annoyed by the deep sound rumbling up from his throat.

“Did you grab the first aid kit?” he asked.

“The cut is too bad. I think he’s going to need stiches and I tried Doc Welby, but he’s not answering. I don’t know what to do. Carlos is losing a lot of blood.”

“Where is the cut?” I asked,

“His hand and wrist. It was a sharp knife.”

“Did the blade cut the major artery on his wrist?”

The girl’s eyes opened wide. “I think the knife nicked it.”

Shit. I bit my lower lip and shifted my gaze toward Jagger. This was the absolute last thing I needed, but I wasn’t able to let an injured man go unattended. “Can you watch Cally while I see what I can do to help?” I realized as soon as the words slipped from my mouth naturally how idiotic they sounded. Why would I leave my daughter with a stranger and how the hell could I help in any way? “I have some first aid training. You know because I was once a camp counselor.”

I was racking up the lies today.

“Abby, why don’t you take our little guest here to my office and keep her company while we take a look at Carlos. Cally. Abby is going to take you to a special place. Call it a little adventure. Will you go with her?”

“Of course, Mr. Fox.”

My daughter had been taught as early as she could understand never to talk to a stranger let alone go anywhere with one. Yet she stuck out her little hand as if we were all best friends or family.

“You don’t need to go with me,” I stated through gritted teeth. If he did, he’d possibly suspect I was lying.

Not that I’d told him anything about myself.

“It’s my hotel,” he said with more than a harsh tone.

“Come on, Cally. Let’s go on that adventure.” Abby didn’t miss a beat, taking Cally by the hand.

Once she was gone, I pushed back the chair. “We need to attend to your employee quickly. A cut in that area could be life threatening.”

“I’ll take you to the kitchen.” Jagger led the way, taking long strides as he headed to where we were going.

There was near pandemonium inside, the entire staff freaking out about the amount of blood. One of the men was close to yelling at them. I wanted to tell him to shut the fuck up as he wasn’t helping the situation. Carlos was close to panic mode, his face far too pale. He was holding his wrist, blood seeping through his fingers. His white jacket was stained, his body swaying even though he was seated.

I immediately snatched a couple of clean towels folded on a rack, rushing toward him and kneeling down. “Hi, Carlos. I’m Bella and I’m going to try and help you. I promise I’ll be very gentle, but I need to take a look.”

He wasn’t any more trusting than Jagger was, but finally agreed. I held my breath, expecting the worst. Fortunately, I was wrong.

“How bad?” he asked in broken English.

“Not as bad as I thought, but you’ll need stitches. Okay? Jagger, I have my old counselor bag in my vehicle. Let me get it. You need to keep pressure on the wound and maybe find us a quiet space. Can you do that?”

I knew the man wasn’t used to taking orders or even suggestions from a woman. His eyes reflected a hint of anger. I responded with defiance in mine.

“Jagger. I can help this man if you’ll trust me and do as I say.”

He huffed, but finally nodded. “Come on, Carlos. Let’s get you comfortable.”

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