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The woman did a double take

"It’s for heartburn," Dex said, voice flat and eyes steady until the attendant just nodded and went back to her business

The hard-nosed Chinese guy that I had wasif it hurt, and then gave me the look as if he didn’t believe me Half the time it did actually hurt but I knew the more I admitted, the more they would want to take me to a hospital for further inspection All I wanted to do was get back ho around and wished Dex and I had just booked it back to the house and played ignorant

While Dex’s attendant left to go get so out of the front of the auy--I think his name was Jesse--peered at my neck suspiciously

"How did this happen?" he asked, referring to my neck bruises

I could see Dex out of the corner ofhis head to look over in my direction We never had a chance to explain what had happened to us earlier I guess he never knehat happened to me at the top of the tower just as I still didn’t knohat happened to him in that room

I had to think quickly "Sexual asphyxiation You ever tried it? You should"

Though my head my tilted back and I couldn’t see Jesse’s face, I knoas shocked In fact, I could tell he looked over at Dex for an explanation I hoped Dex would throw the attendant off this trail

"It’s a little game we play," Dex said, his voice laced with subtle sarcash-five him for his answer "You kno it is"

"Uhh," the attendant replied, and brought ave him a look as if he was the one as the freak

I nearly made some caustic David Carradine remark when he slid his hand down the back ofslass He took his hand away slowly and we both stared at it in the ugly light of the ambulance It was red with blood

I looked over at Dex He was staring at me, eyes wide and h I could see words were forue

Jesse held his hand in front ofAnd you have glass in your hair"

At this moment I could have chosen to cover up the matter with some inarticulate lie or I could flat out tell him I didn’t kno it happened

"That was my fault" Dex suddenly spoke up "I panicked when I pushed us out theI guess I didn’t check that it was a clean break"

Iat Dex in case Jesse caught on

Jesse shook his head and o farther into the a to be OK?" Dex asked I could almost hear a hint of boredoave hi to clean out the wound and check for a concussion I think you’re free to go now"

Dex shrugged and walked away As Jesse sat me down on a stretcher, I could see Uncle Al and the twins coan explaining so to the me inside the small, sterile room with him I felt very uncomfortable

He stopped in front ofvery vindictive about this guy, like it was his life’s mission to mistrust everyone he meets

"Is that really what happened?" he asked seriously

"What, with my head?" I wasn’t about to tell hi he wouldn’t have been satisfied with it anyway Or he would have recommended I be sent to a different kind of hospital

He put a stiff hand on my shoulder I eyed it with disdain but he didn’t remove it

"Did your boyfriend hurt you?"

I laughed I couldn’t help it Jesse the attendant looked annoyed at my outburst and took a step back

"He’s not my boyfriend," I said "He’s mywell,in the lighthouse hoping to get a gli supernatural When all hell broke loose, the only thing we could do was bust out of theI h I was probably concentrating on not, you know, dying, and didn’t notice"

"May have" he said slowly, his headfrom side to side as if he had a slow- to fix my head or not? Isn’t that your job?" I spat out wearily I was growing more exhausted by the minute and my brain swirled with a million events that I refused to process

"Fine Just trying to help"

He flipped hcrap up with swabs and pads that reeked of alcohol and stung like hell Miniscule pieces of glass rained down to the sticky floor like tiny snowflakes

Ten minutes later he finished with a hardcore Band Aid and a square of gauze he stuck aardly at the back of o doell at work to "Well, Perry, the job would have been yours but we decided to go with someone who didn’t look like she drank a liter of tequila over the weekend and consequently hit her head on a bathtub during soo now?" I asked io to the hospital to get checked out for a concussion," he answered

"Maybe I hen I get back to Portland tonight I just want to go home"