Touch Of Death: Face Of Death Part 19

I pulled away in horror as he cried out. He'd definitely broken his hand. Mom rushed into the room. She took one look at Matt cradling his hand and said, "I'll get my keys. You need a doctor."

"I'll take him." Being around Mom was risky. If Hades wanted to find me, he'd definitely come here. He was giving me two days-and I hoped he meant two days in this time and not in the underworld where time moved more quickly-before he took Mom. As long as I wasn't here when he showed up-which I was sure he would today, hoping he'd find me-she'd be okay for a little while longer.

"I'll go with you. You're both upset, and neither one of you should be driving."

"Mom, Hades is looking for me. Alex told me last night. He's going to come here, and if he finds me, he'll hurt you to get me to do whatever he wants me to. I can't put you through that. I've hurt enough people already."

Mom grabbed me by the shoulders. "None of this is your fault. Do you hear me? None of it."

If only that were true. Maybe I hadn't asked for any of this, but it still had happened because of me. "I need to take Matt, and I need to distance myself from you. I love you, Mom, and I already lost you once. If Hades takes you..." I shook my head. "I'll never forgive myself. Please, let me do this."

Mom hugged me tight. "Okay, you can go. Take my car. But don't stay away. I just got you back, and I'm not ready to say goodbye yet."

"I'll make sure we get some more time together. Somehow."

Mom released me. "Keys are in my purse."

"I love you." I kissed her cheek before taking Matt's good hand and leading him downstairs.

"I understand if you hate me."

"I don't hate you. Your mom was right. This isn't your fault."

Why did everyone have to be so understanding? It made me hate myself more. I grabbed Mom's keys, and we headed out. The hospital wasn't far, so we got to the emergency room in record time, mostly because I wanted to get away from Mom as quickly as possible, but also because Matt coached me on when to s.h.i.+ft.

The receptionist barely looked at us even though we were standing directly in front of her. "Fill these out and take a seat."

I took the clipboard and scanned the papers. d.a.m.n it! Matt didn't have insurance. He didn't even have an address anymore, unless we counted Mom's, but I didn't want any bills showing up there. She didn't need to be burdened with Matt's medical expenses.

Matt stared at me and sighed. He tugged me away from the receptionist, not that she'd given us a second thought. She was already deep into her crossword puzzle again. I didn't think anyone still did those.

"We should go. I can't pay for this."

"We're not leaving. You're hurt. I'm sure you broke something. You're going to need a cast."

He pointed his good hand at the papers. "So what, we lie our way though all this? They need to see my insurance card."

True. Unless he didn't have insurance. No, they overcharged people who didn't have insurance.

I held up a finger to Matt and walked back to the receptionist. "Excuse me, ma'am."

"Fill these out and take a seat." She held out another clipboard without looking up.

"No. I already have one."

"Then take a seat."

"There's a problem." Finally, she looked up at me. I hoped this worked. "You see, we're from out of town. We got here this morning on the bus, but when we went to use the restrooms at the bus station all our bags were stolen."

"You left your bags unattended in the bus station." She said it like we were the two stupidest people on the planet.

"Dumb. I know. But you see, Tyler," I motioned to Matt, "got so upset that we'd been robbed that he kind of punched a wooden bench."

The lady shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I'd give you a lecture, but I think the broken hand kind of sums it up."

Matt nodded, playing along.

"All right. Fill out your address and all the information you can. If you don't remember all your insurance information, fill in what you know and leave the rest blank. We'll mail you the bill-I'm a.s.suming you don't have cash on you."

Matt and I shook our heads.

"Of course not." She rolled her eyes again. "We'll mail you the bill, and you can fax us your new insurance card when you get it. We'll bill your insurance at that time, and you can settle your co-pay."

"Thank you." I gave her a huge smile and led Matt to some empty chairs. I started filling in bogus information. "Hmm, Tyler Gross." I giggled. There were very few times I was able to laugh anymore. I was going to enjoy this.

He groaned. "Come on. Really?"

"It's funny." I continued. "Address. 666 Hades Junction."

Even Matt laughed at that one.

After I finished filling out the paperwork and turned it back in to the receptionist, who rolled her eyes at me for the third time, we waited while everyone else was called in before Matt. Finally, a woman came into the waiting room.

"Tyler Gross."

We both turned at the sound of Matt's fake name. Only neither one of us laughed this time. The nurse who'd called Tyler's name...was Matt's mom.

Chapter 22.

I nudged Matt, widening my eyes and nodding in his mother's direction. "What is she doing here? Amber just...shouldn't she be at home?"

"You didn't read the entire article about Amber, did you?"

No, I hadn't. After I found out it was an aneurysm, I didn't want to know anything else. I shook my head.

"Amber died a month ago."

A month ago? "No, that can't be. Hades took her to get back at me."

"I don't think so, Jodi. Amber used to get these really bad headaches all the time. I can't help thinking she was meant to die when she did."

"That would mean Hades had me move her."

Matt balled his good hand into a fist. "He took her out of Heaven and put her in h.e.l.l to get back at you."

"Those aren't the terms he uses, but yes. That's exactly what he did."

Matt looked like he was about to hit something and break his other hand.

"I'm so sorry." He couldn't deny it was my fault now. Maybe I hadn't been the reason Amber died, but I was the reason she was in Tartarus. "Why wasn't she buried next to you, though? We should've seen her grave."

He shook his head. "Amber always said she'd rather be cremated than buried. She was claustrophobic. She insisted she would be even in death." That was Amber. Very quirky. "I don't know if I can do this." He glanced at his mom. "She never worked in the ER. She was always stationed in the maternity ward."

"You wanted to see her, remember? This is good. You'll be able to check on her without randomly showing up on her doorstep."

"Tyler Gross?" she called again, looking around the waiting room.

"Here." I stood up and grabbed Matt's arm, pulling him up. "He's a little out of it from the pain."

Mrs. Davenport nodded. "Right this way, please."

We followed her through the set of double doors and into an examination room.

"Okay, why don't you hop up on the examination table, and I'll take a look at that hand."

I sat in the chair in the corner and gave Matt a small encouraging smile. He breathed out loudly, trying to get control of his emotions. I knew how he felt. I had been terrified to see my mom. He'd thought it would be so easy, checking up on our families. Now, he was seeing that there was nothing easy about it.

Mrs. Davenport flipped through Matt's paperwork. "It says here that you did this punching a wooden bench after your bags were stolen from the bus station."

"She wrote that on the form?" Man, that receptionist just couldn't stop taking digs at us. If it wasn't a flat-out lie, I'd be insulted.

"Afraid so. Clarice has a strange sense of humor. Most people don't get her." Mrs. Davenport smiled at us, and I couldn't help remembering the way she'd always invited me to dinner and told me I should stop by more often. She was such a caring person.

She gently turned Matt's hand, looking at it from all angles. "Well, I'm going to wager you broke at least one bone in there, but we'll need an x-ray to see the extent of the damage."

"Will he be in a cast?" If Matt had to come back to get the cast removed, it would really screw up our "mail us the bill, and we'll get our insurance to take care of it later" plan. He'd have to find a different hospital to pull the same scam on, and he'd have to do it without me.

"Most likely. I'm pretty certain he has some broken bones."

Matt mouthed a "sorry" to me, making me want to melt into the chair. If Hades hadn't tried to get back at me through Amber, this wouldn't have happened. I should be the one apologizing. Again.

"You can stay here while we go get this x-rayed and speak with the doctor and the radiology technician."

I nodded.

Matt followed his mom out of the room. He still hadn't said a word to her. I hoped he'd get over it enough to at least say something. He'd regret it if he blew this opportunity to talk to his mom again. Of course, there was the danger of him getting too comfortable and spilling everything to her in front of the doctor and the countless other people who were examining him.

I tapped my foot for what seemed like an eternity before they both returned, this time with the doctor, a middle-aged man with a mustache who didn't say a word as he walked over to the sink and wrote on his clipboard. Mrs. Davenport put Matt's x-ray up on one of those light boxes.

"Yup. There and there. Can you see the fractures?"

"Guess I won't be punching anything for a while." Matt gave his mom a small smile. My heart sank when I saw the way he looked at her. G.o.d, I hoped she didn't notice. She'd think he was having some cougar fantasy or something.

"Should I go to the waiting room while he's getting the cast put on?"

"If you'd like. Completely up to you and Tyler." When she said his name, her eyes lit up for a split second. "I always liked the name Tyler. I wanted to name my son that, but my husband insisted on Matt." She lowered her eyes. "Tyler was his middle name." She was still grieving.

Matt opened his mouth, but I jumped up and said, "You know, I think I'll stay if that's okay with you, Tyler." He looked at me, coming out of his trance. "I figure you could use the emotional support."

"Yeah." He reached for my hand and squeezed it. Alex would've hated it, especially since Matt still had strong feelings for me. But Matt needed me right now, and I wasn't about to deny him something so small as holding my hand for support.

"You two make such a cute couple," Mrs. Davenport said, eying us.

Oh well, I went with it. "Thank you, Mrs. Davenport."

She wrinkled her brow. "How did you know my name?"

d.a.m.n it! "Oh, um, you told us when you called Tyler into the examination room."

"I did?" She shook her head. "I must be tired. I always introduce myself as Emily. Mrs. Davenport makes me sound old. But then again, I don't usually work in the ER. Someone called out sick, and I got stuck working a double. They pulled me from the maternity ward."

"Well, I'm glad you're here," Matt said, on the verge of sounding like a cougar hunter again.

"Yeah, you've been really nice." I jumped right in, trying to make this better. "Some people, like the receptionist, weren't exactly nice about how this happened."

Mrs. Davenport looked over her shoulder at the doctor, who was was.h.i.+ng his hands at the sink, and then she leaned closer to us and whispered, "Don't let Clarice get to you. A few months back, she slipped off the toilet in the ladies' room after insisting that she only uses the bathroom after the janitors wash the seats." She giggled. "Apparently, the seat was so slippery clean, she shot right off it."

We all laughed, breaking the tension that Matt had caused. I had to keep him under control. If he couldn't hold it together, how was I supposed to leave him here when I went to save the others from Hades?

"You all ready to get plastered?" Mrs. Davenport asked.

Matt and I looked at each other like we'd both lost our minds-or she had.

She laughed again. "I mean your cast. G.o.d, I haven't laughed like this in months. I've been going through a rough time, but you kids have really cheered me up."

Being around Matt was making her happy again. Maybe this visit would turn out all right after all.

"Come on. You can pick your color of cast wrap. We have red, blue, green, yellow... I'm guessing you don't want pink, but some guys do like purple."

Matt and I exchanged glances. He wasn't the purple type. My smile faded when I realized why Matt disliked purple so much. Amber's entire room was purple. Matt always said it looked like a grape exploded in there. He must have been thinking the same thing because he lowered his eyes.

Mrs. Davenport gazed out the window. "You know, my daughter loved purple. My son hated it. She always tried to get him to wear purple s.h.i.+rts. He never would. And now..." She turned back to us. "Well, I don't need to bore you with my drama."

"I'll take purple," Matt said.

It took all my strength not to cry. I clenched my teeth and fought the tears as Mrs. Davenport put a cast on Matt. She had no idea her son was sitting in front of her. My heart ached, and I wanted to tell her the truth. I wanted to let her know she hadn't lost both her children. I wanted to make up for taking Matt from her and for sending her daughter to h.e.l.l. But I couldn't. If we even tried to explain this, she'd think we were crazy, and she'd call security. That would be the end of Matt's time with her. We had to stick to the original plan. He was my mom's nephew. At least he'd be able to see his parents that way.

After the doctor finished wrapping Matt's hand in a purple cast and made a quick exit, Mrs. Davenport took a black permanent marker from the table behind her and handed it to me. "Want to do the honors?"

I looked at Matt and knew what he wanted. "Actually, I think you should sign it, Nurse Davenport."