Hide and Seek - Lara Adrian Page 0,61

around him.

Instead he searched for Michelle. When he finally found her, she was in the middle of the sidewalk, upright, but visibly shaken. He ran his eyes over her, but saw no obvious injuries.

Relieved, he slumped to the ground and rested his back against the newspaper rack. “Thank God,” Nick murmured to himself, air rushing from his lungs now.

“Jesus Christ!” Michelle ran toward him, staggering a little and looking shaken. “Oh my God!”

“You all right, Michelle?” He looked up at her.

She breathed heavily as she crouched down to him. “That cab would have hit me!” Her lips trembled. “If you hadn’t been there…” She closed her eyes for a moment, swallowing hard.

He reached for her hand, but winced at the pain in his arm and side. He breathed through it, willing the sensation to subside.

Michelle’s eyes flew open and she shot a look at his arm. “You’re hurt. Don’t move. I’ll call an ambulance.”

Instantly, Nick shook his head. “I don’t need an ambulance. I’m fine.”

He didn’t want an ambulance. Nor did he want a police report about the incident. While he had built a fake identity for himself, he wasn’t about to test how well he’d covered his tracks.

Several bystanders crowded around. A man pushed through them: the taxi driver.

“You all right, buddy?” he asked, his voice shaking.

Nick quickly nodded.

“Shit!” The cabbie ran his hand over his head. “You stepped right in my path. Wasn’t my fault.”

A few pedestrians grunted angrily.

“Typical cab driver!” one of them cursed.

Nick used his good arm to push himself off the ground and, using the newspaper rack for leverage, pulled himself up. “I’m fine. Nothing happened.” He pasted a thin smile on his face, nodding to the cab driver once more. “I’m all right. No need to hang around.”

“You need a doctor to look at you. You could have a concussion,” Michelle insisted.

Nick put his hand on her forearm and squeezed it. “I’m fine. Trust me.”

The cab driver tossed him an unsure look, scratching his neck. “You sure? You not gonna sue me afterward?”

“I’m not gonna sue you. It was entirely my fault.”

Finally, the cab driver marched back to his taxi. Nick turned to the other pedestrians who continued to hover, making sure they didn’t miss anything.

“Honestly, nothing more to see here,” he insisted and made a shooing motion.

“Is that your bag, ma’am?” A kid pointed to a computer bag on the sidewalk.

Michelle nodded and the boy handed it to her. “Thank you.”

Slowly, the people disbursed. Nick glanced around. It was possible that somebody had already called 9-1-1 and the police were on their way. It was best not to risk hanging around here any longer. He reached for his backpack, glad to see that it was still intact from landing on the curb.

“Somebody has to look at you,” Michelle said beside him.

He smiled at her, her concern touching him. “It’s just a little bruise. I’ll survive.”

“Please, let’s get you to a hospital.”

“I can’t. I don’t have health insurance right now.” It was true, although that wasn’t the reason he didn’t want to see a doctor. “I just need to ice down the area.”

Michelle let out an annoyed huff. “Damn it, do you have to be so stubborn?”

He grinned. “You think I’m stubborn?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, then let’s go to my place. I’ll look at your injuries and I swear if I think it looks bad, I will deliver you to the hospital myself.”

At her bossy statement, Nick felt like saluting as if she were a drill sergeant in the army. But he suppressed the urge. “Yes, ma’am.”

6

At least Nick wasn’t objecting to her helping him.

“Can you walk?” Michelle asked, looking him up and down.

“I can. Where do you live?”

She motioned toward the path she’d originally been heading down. “It’s not far. Just a few blocks.”

Michelle hoisted her computer bag over one shoulder and waited for the light to change to green, letting out another breath. She was still shaking, but the reality of what had just happened was settling in. She’d been about to cross the street without looking. And had Nick not been there, she would have walked right into the path of the taxi. Everything could have been over in seconds. She shuddered at the thought.

“You okay?”

At Nick’s concerned voice, she lifted her face to him. “I guess it’s only just now sinking in. I can’t believe I was so careless. It was so lucky that you were there. How did you realize—”

Nick took her hand in his and squeezed it.