Page 4 of Indiscretion

“You should probably go to the ER and have them X-rayed.”

“Are knuckles like broken toes and fingers and you just tape them up?”

“Not usually. When the bone is misaligned like yours seem to be, they often need to manipulate them and set the hand in a cast.”

The color drained from her face. “Manipulate them, like as inmovethe knuckles?”

I nodded.

“That sounds painful.”

It was. Painful as fuck. But her pale face told me I should keep that to myself. “It’s not too bad.”

A noise from the other side of the room caught my attention. I looked over to find Gumby, the killer chihuahua, humping a stuffed animal on the floor. “Uhhh… I think your dog has a new girlfriend.”

The woman sighed. “That’s Kate. She’s not new. Leonardo has been doing that to her for five years. He’s in love.”

“He’s ahe, with that sparkly collar?”

“Don’t judge him because he likes sparkly things.”

“Didhetell you he wanted that thing around his neck?”

She scowled at me again. It was oddly cute.

“Is that supposed to be your threatening face? If so, you might want to flip the light off again and go back to throwing punches in the dark.” I looked over at the dog. The thing was really going to town. “Is that…a turtlehe’s humping?”

“Yes.”

“Remind me never to bring my pet around yours.”

“Why?”

“I have a tortoise.” I shook my head. “Your dog’s in love with a stuffed turtle?”

She nodded. “That’s why I named her Kate.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Leonardo and Kate—they were inTitanictogether.”

“Didn’t one of themdiein that love story?”

She looked down at her hand. “Can I wait until tomorrow to go to the emergency room? What time is it anyway?”

“I’m not a doctor, but I probably wouldn’t, and it’s got to be close to three AM by now.”

“Great. I don’t have a clue where the nearest hospital is, and I don’t even have a car. I took an Uber here from the airport.”

The last thing I felt like doing was going to a damn hospital, but I couldn’t let her go alone in the middle of the night. I nodded toward the door.

“Come on. I have a car. I’ll take you.”

“No, it’s fine.” She grabbed a phone from the coffee table and started to push buttons. “I can call an Uber.”

“I’m up now anyway. I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t take you.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “Why not?”

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