This is an evil teaser post, so don't read it.
I'm warning ya...
Oh, not gonna listen to me, huh? Just remember - it's called a teaser for a reason!
***
My knees gave out, and I fell heavily on the cement ramp.
“Holy shit,” Paul gasped as he grabbed hold of me just before my head hit the ground.
“I can’t deal with this,” Tanya said. Her voice was perfectly calm in a no-nonsense, professional way that scared me a bit. “Paul – lay him down gently, tell Jasper to call 911 and bring me all the clean towels in the kitchen. Sam – hold him down.”
I tried to tell them I didn’t need help, but when I opened my mouth, I coughed up blood. My vision blurred, the lights of the bar brightened, and lots and lots of voices filled my ears. It was a strange sound – like having two conch shells held against my ears. Only one voice managed to cut through the rest of the noise and make sense at all.
"Edward! Edward! Oh my God!" Bella's voice echoed around the ceiling of the bar. I turned my head to try and see her, but that just made me nauseous.
"Stay still!" Tanya huffed. "There's an ambulance on the way.”
I wanted to ask her why she wasn't just driving me herself, but words were a little hard to form. My lips were all sticky and not moving right. My tongue felt weird, and my skin felt like there were little bugs crawling all over it. Paul handed Tanya a bunch of towels, and she pressed them against my side.
Gasping, I flinched back and then sat up part way as I tried to shove Tanya off of me. Everything went blurry and swimmy again as I felt heavy arms push me back against the floor and soft hands cradle my face.
"Bella."
***
As Sam always said on Quantum Leap - "Oh boy..."
See you Friday!