since I’d completed my first aid course at summer camp so I could only hope I’d done it right.
“It needs stitches. Doesn’t seem to be too deep, but it’s probably going to scar.” I carefully tied off the knot. “However, that scarf’s new season Chanel. It wouldn’t surprise me if you’re all better in an hour or two.”
“Magical designer wear, huh?” He half smiled. So pretty. Made my heart beat hard for a whole new reason.
“What the hell is going on out here?” Lena ran toward me across the parking lot, followed fast by Zane.
“Oh my God.” His eyes went wide at the sight of the man lying on the ground.
Guess the asshole took his failure to stab me pretty hard since he’d started crying. Or maybe it was due to his broken nose and busted balls. Hard to say.
Zane pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and carefully picked up the bloody knife. “I’m guessing this will be needed for evidence. Goodness gracious. Wish I’d seen the bodyguard take him down. Bet that was exciting.”
“He’s the one who sent you those boxes?” asked Lena.
“Probably,” I said. “It seems likely, doesn’t it?”
Lena just blinked. “Oh, boy. Check out his cap…”
“Yeah, I saw. Guess he’s a fanatic who thinks I broke the ex’s heart or something. Hence all of the symbolism of sending me the lumps of dead bloody meat.”
“Your ex sure does have some dedicated fans,” said Zane. “I wonder if you can sue him over this for emotional distress or something. You probably can, you know? Or at least, sell your story and give a really dramatic interview. I could coach you, it’d be great. What do you think?”
I sighed. What a day. “Dude…no.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
By the time Detective Ortega arrived with a couple of uniformed officers to take our statements and drag our attacker away, a couple of hours had gone by. Sam, Adelaide, and Bon arrived to help deal with the press then Bon took Ziggy to the hospital to get his arm looked at while Sam and Adelaide escorted me home. It all happened with military-like precision. These people knew their business.
Not that I didn’t want to go to the hospital with Ziggy, but I wasn’t really given the option. Sam firmly told me that my presence there would not be a good idea. Understandable. Calls and text messages were blowing up my phone all evening and well into the night. (Apart from letting Mom know I was okay, I ignored them.) If I’d gone with him to the hospital then there’d have been a media storm there which would not have been cool. The man needed his arm stitched up, not to have the spotlight thrust on him yet again.
So I’d gone home, taken off my make-up, and changed into some sweat pants and a battered “The Cure” T-shirt that hadn’t seen better days since the previous century. It was my comfort clothing.
By this time, I felt reasonably mentally fortified enough to check out the situation on my cell. And what a clusterfuck it was. Video of the attack and Ziggy taking down the asshole had already gone viral. The thought of how close he’d come to being seriously injured kind of made me want to hurl.
“Interesting use of a head butt,” said Sam, sitting on the couch opposite me with a cup of coffee in one hand and his cell in the other. God knows how many times he’d watched the footage.
Adelaide had remained downstairs in the lobby keeping an eye on the paparazzi out by the front door.
“Best get this to our lawyer in case the idiot tries for excessive force,” he muttered, more to himself than me.
“Does that happen often?”
He gave me a small smile. “No, not often. And not when there’s so much clear footage of the incident. He clearly came at you with a knife. There’s no way a judge would fall for it.”
“I don’t want Ziggy getting into trouble because of me.” I cradled my bottle of beer in two hands, huddled in the corner of the couch. “He’s already been hurt.”
“Miss Cooper, you didn’t bring any of this on yourself. Ziggy did his job and did it well,” said Sam. “Once the threat was dealt with, he waited calmly for the police to arrive and take charge of the scene. Nothing more.”
I nodded.
“It’ll be fine.”
“Sure,” I said, but I didn’t really believe it.
No idea when I fell asleep exactly. I’d told Sam I’d be fine if he wanted to