“You need to get your head checked out, man. The roof of that car came right down on your head when you landed. You probably have a concussion, and you need stitches for sure.” The paramedic sounded nervous as he followed behind our slow progress.

Nassir’s muscles started to twitch as we hit the incline that led back up the road, but he didn’t stop moving forward. He turned his head to look at the worried EMT and told him, “I’ll be fine. I’m not going with you.”

The guy obviously thought that was a bad idea, but as we finally crested the hill he just shook his head in defeat. “Okay, you can refuse further medical care, but you have to understand it isn’t advisable. You need to see a doctor. You’re going to have to sign a Refusal of Medical Assistance form before we can let you leave the scene.”

Nassir listed really hard to the side and it took all my strength to keep him upright. I thought maybe I should just shove him in the back of the ambulance for his own good. His fingers curled around my own where I was clutching his hand and I abandoned that idea. I knew there was no forcing Nassir to do anything he didn’t want to do.

“I’ll sign whatever. I just want to go home.”

“Okay, I’ll get one, and we need one of the cops on the scene to witness it.”

Nassir grunted and the EMT hurried off. I looked up at him from under my eyelashes and let him go as we reached the Honda so he could rest against the side of the car.

“You really are a mess, Nassir.”

“Just banged up. This is nothing.” He lifted an arm and rubbed the edge of his sleeve across his bloody face. I saw him wince when it came away redder than my hair. “They have any idea who ran me off the road?”

From anyone else, it would come across as simple curiosity, but I knew that coming from him, it was the beginning of his mind working toward payback and revenge.

“Some lady. She looked like a kindergarten teacher. She told the cops you ruined her life and that her husband left her because of you. You have any idea who that is?”

He bit out a word in a language I didn’t understand and then let his head fall forward on his neck. I thought maybe he was going to pass out again, so I pressed myself up against the front of him and put my hands on the roof of the car behind him, making a cage out of my body. He looked down at me and the corner of his mouth quirked up.

“She’s the wife that went after her husband with the beer bottle. She’s a piece of work, but I didn’t think she’d be stupid enough to come after me.”

“You do tend to bring out the worst in people.” His chest rattled with something that was a rough and broken version of a laugh. Slowly his head fell forward until our foreheads were touching. I couldn’t stop the sigh that fluttered out of me. For some reason, this moment felt more intimate than when I kissed him or when I had my hand around his dick.

“I want to go home.”

I gulped a little because I had witnessed Nassir act a lot of different ways, but vulnerable and exposed was a new one. I’d seen him like that once before, as he held me as I bled all over the floor of the strip club when my city bit me hard. It was the look that sent me running and it was that same look that brought me back to him. It seemed to reach deep down inside of me and shake loose the last of the reserves I had stored up to fight him and resist him. Blood, injury, hurt, violence, disappointment, and risk were the things that made the Point what it was. They were a constant. That bad things would happen was certain and inevitable; what wasn’t guaranteed, what wasn’t common, was finding someone in this place that made you feel special and safe. It was almost unheard of to stumble across someone that made you feel worthwhile and told you time and time again they would fight for you. Coming across a powerful man that was willing to wait until you were ready for him was like coming upon a treasure hidden in a pile of garbage.

He was going to get taken away from me, or I was going to get taken away from him, but we had right now, and I understood that finally. I had spent so much time running from an inevitable disaster that I never stopped to allow the good things to flourish. I was strong on my own but even stronger with him by my side. I walked my own path but I never would have been able to take those steps if he hadn’t been ahead of me clearing the way. I would rather have Nassir for a heartbeat than never have him at all, all the while spending however long either of us had left fighting an unseen future. I would rather fight with him and make up over and over again than keep fighting against the inevitable impact he was going to have on my life and the forever place he had in my heart.

“I’ll take you home and take care of you, Nassir.” I leaned forward so I could whisper the words against his neck. Finally, something shifted, something broke between us, and he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. When at last he put his hands on me, I felt his power more forcefully than I ever had before. I felt my heart slip down to my toes and then jump right back up and try to beat out of my chest to get to him. All of me wanted to make sure he was okay.

The paramedic and the cop that had hauled me up the hill earlier came over and Nassir and I broke apart long enough for him to sign the paperwork. The young EMT gave me a look and told me out of the corner of his mouth, “He really should be in the hospital. If you care about him, you should encourage him to go.”

I shook my head. “I don’t fight battles I can’t win.” Which was a lie because I had been fighting against Nassir for years and was about to lose everything I had to the man. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“If he starts to get nauseous or starts to black out again, bring him to the ER. That head wound isn’t a joke. He could have serious brain trauma. That was a wicked crash.”

I told the young first responder, “He has a really hard head.” Nassir must have heard me because he gave me a dirty look and pushed off the car.

“Let’s go.”

He shuffled and limped to the passenger side of the car and got inside without any help or any more words. I shrugged at the cop and the paramedic and took the card the cop handed me, a card with his number printed on it and the number of the tow company that was hauling off the mangled car. He also said they might need to talk to Nassir when they decided exactly how they were going to charge the deranged female driver. I told them they could wait until he was feeling better and that they could get in touch with me if they needed anything in the meantime. Now that I’d realized that Nassir was as much mine as I was his, I was going to protect him the same way he was always protecting me. I was going to stop fighting him and start fighting anything that tried to get between us or tried to shorten the time we had together.