Page 94 of Stoker's Serenity

“Ma’am! Ma’am, was that a collision? Ma’am, talk to me!”

“Yes!” I cried brokenly. “He hit me! The man in the pickup truck hit my back end!”

“Right, okay. Just hang on for me, I’m dispatching emergency services right now. What’s your name?”

“Serenity…”

I hurt almost immediately, from my neck, down between my shoulder blades into my lower back. My hands gone numb on the steering wheel, though from injury or from how hard I gripped it during the impact, I don’t know.

The dispatcher kept talking to me, but my vision was locked on Stoker, far ahead, pulling a U-turn across two lanes of freeway to ride back in my direction. He looped around once more, holding out his hand to cars trying to go around me and the pickup and pulled up in front of my broken car going the right direction.

I could hear sirens in the distance, coming in for the rescue, except I think I’d already provided that. Me. Of all people.

What did I do?

Stoker wrenched on the door handle and I turned my head carefully, wincing, staring up at him. He pointed at the door lock and I got my hands working and got it unlocked for him. He pulled my door open and dropped down into a crouch beside me.

“Serenity, Orchid, baby, where does it hurt?” he demanded, reaching up for me, wiping off my face with the palm of his hand and dragging it across the thigh of his jeans to get rid of the tears he’d collected.

“My head, my neck, and my back. My hands are numb,” I said.

“Okay, okay, just hang on for me. Help is on the way.”

“Serenity, it sounds like someone is with you,”came over my phone.

“Yes, there is!” I called back. “It’s my boyfriend, he’s here. He came back for me.”

Stoker pulled my phone out of the windshield-mounted clip and said, “Stay right here, baby. I’m going to check and see how far away they are.”

“Okay,” I said, moaning. I daren’t try to nod my head again. Oh, my God. It had to be bad if it hurt this swiftly, didn’t it?

“Yeah, hi, this crazy son of a bitch –”He’d turned my phone off speaker and was talking to the dispatcher, walking out a little ways from my car to check the emergency team’s progress. A big red fire engine lumbered into view, pulling past my car. The whine and hiss of the braking system was startling, but I didn’t want to move.

“Hey there, you alright?” One of the firemen came to my open door as Stoker ended the call with the dispatcher on my phone and pocketed it.

A state trooper strode up to him and Stoker kept his hands out to his sides and nodded politely to him.

“No,” I whimpered.

“What hurts?” he asked, and I told him what I’d told Stoker.

“Okay, okay, what’s your name?”

“Serenity.”

“That’s a pretty name, Serenity. My name’s Jake and I’m gonna be taking care of you. Here’s what we’re gonna do. First off, I don’t want you to move your head, okay? I’m gonna help you get this collar on, and you just don’t do anything, okay?”

“Okay.”

They put a C-collar on me and extracted me from my car on a backboard. I was terrified. I couldn’t turn my head at all, and when they set me on the stretcher, I called out for Stoker. Like a magician, he just suddenly appeared at my side, his warm calloused hand wrapping around mine.

“Hey, baby. They’re gonna take you to go get checked out. X-rays, imaging, that sort of thing, okay? I’m going to be right behind you, Orchid. I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

“Can you ride with me?” I asked, afraid, feeling like a child but I couldn’t help it.

“No, baby. I gotta ride. I’ll be right behind you, I promise. I swear it. Okay?”

“Okay,” I whimpered, even though I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one bit.

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