I quickly tug my scarf free and offer it to him, all while the man who tried to steal my purse is writhing on the ground, being held in place by one of the brutally handsome man’s hands.
He flips the guy onto his stomach and skillfully ties his hands behind his back with my scarf.
The blue-eyed stranger stares at me. “Feel free to call 911 at any point.”
Fumbling my way through a thank you, I manage to press the emergency button on my phone.
“I’m… he… my purse,” I spit out between staggered breaths to the woman who answered.
The man who rescued me looks in my direction. “Tell them it’s an attempted robbery, and the assailant is subdued for now.”
I repeat each of his words into my phone and then follow that with the directions he calls out to me.
“I’m sending a patrol car right away, Ma’am,” the 911 operator explains in a reassuring tone. “Did you suffer any injuries?”
Shaking my head, I reach up to run my fingers over my forehead. I immediately feel something wet. “Oh, no. I think I’m bleeding. I broke my fall with my shoulder, but my head hit the pavement.”
“I’ll dispatch the paramedics as well,” she says. “Please stay on the line.”
Without any thought, I end the call.
I glance at my hand, and even under the dim light illuminating the darkened alley, I can tell that it is indeed blood.
“Don’t move, asshole.” The mysterious stranger gazes down at the man he tied up before he shifts his attention to me. “Are you all right?”
I lock eyes with him, but it’s so intense that I drop my gaze to the ground around me.
I realize that almost everything from my purse is strewn around me.
“My stuff,” I whisper. “I need to pick it up.”
Tugging out his pocket square, he dabs the soft fabric on my forehead. “You’re bleeding. You need to stay put.”
“I’m fine,” I insist as I start to reach for my belongings.
The guy on the ground catches my eye. “If I’m arrested for this, you’re going to pay for it.”
The mysterious stranger snaps his head toward the man. “Shut the fuck up. If you go anywhere near her again in this lifetime, I will personally hunt you down, and I promise you’ll regret it.”
I grab a tube of lipstick and my MetroCard. I try to extend my reach more, but I’m suddenly struck with a wave of dizziness.
“Sit still,” the handsome stranger instructs me in a curt tone.
Before I can argue, he’s scooped up most of my things.
He shoves them at me but holds tight to a red lanyard attached to a press pass from a concert I covered in the summer.
I watch in silence as he studies it.
His eyes dart to my face as soon as sirens approach from the distance. He hands me the press pass along with his pocket square. “It’s still bleeding. Apply pressure until you get to the hospital.”
“I’m fine, “ I whisper.
His dark hair halos his face as he stares into my eyes. He takes my hand to guide the pocket square to my forehead. “Apply pressure.”
Nodding, I manage a weak smile. “Thank you for helping me.”
He doesn’t acknowledge those words. Instead, he turns back to the man who tried to mug me. He leans close to him, whispers something in his ear, and then just as I catch sight of the reflection of the red and blue flashing lights of a police car on a window at the end of the alleyway, the handsome stranger takes off in a sprint in the opposite direction.
“Wait,” I call after him. “Please don’t leave me alone with him.”
“With me?”
I glance at the man who assaulted me as I inch away from him. I fully expect him to try and scramble to his feet to make a run for it at any second now that the police car has come to a stop and two officers are rushing toward us.
“You’re safer with me than you were with that guy that rammed his shoe into the back of my knees.”
Before I can ask what the hell he’s talking about, a police officer is pulling him up to his feet, while another asks me if I’m okay.
The reality of what happened finally hits me full force, and with a single tear trailing down my cheek, I tell her I’ll be all right. I know I will be. I’ve lived through far worse than this.
Chapter Four
Juliet
“Juliet,” Margot’s voice breaks the moment she rounds the corner to find me in an exam room in the emergency department at Lennox Hill Hospital.
“I’m all right,” I reassure her immediately with an outstretched hand. “I’m totally fine, Margie.”
She rushes to take me into her arms.
I wince at the strength of her grip as she hugs me. “I was so scared.”
Those are words that haven’t left her lips in years. Margot rarely cries. She’s stoic and strong, and when disaster strikes, she’s always the first to approach the issue with a level head.
This is different, though. The spots of blood that are staining the front of my blouse prove that I was injured at some since she last saw me.
I didn’t tell her that on the phone.
I wouldn’t have told her anything, but the doctor who examined me explained that I’d need someone to accompany me home.
The cut on my forehead wasn’t deep enough for stitches, and according to him, I don’t have a concussion, but the dizziness I experienced in the alley and again when I tried getting up from the stretcher was enough to concern him.
I called Margie then and told her I’d fallen and was at the hospital being checked to make sure that nothing was broken.
“What exactly happened?” she asks just as the doctor walks back into the room.
“Juliet is a crime fighting hero,” he blurts out.
Dr. Gavin Fuller may be good-looking and have a great bedside manner, but he’s terrible at upholding doctor-patient confidentiality. I saw him talking to the paramedics who brought me in.
“What?” Margot’s head snaps in his direction. “What are you talking about?”
The dark-haired doctor looks to me for guidance. Since he let the cat out of the bag, I try and shove it back in. “He’s making a joke.”
The serious look on his face doesn’t play into my charade, and it takes all of one second for my sister to notice that.
She turns her attention back to me. “Juliet. I want you to tell me right now what the hell happened.”
“Language,” I warn her with a smile. “There are children here, Margot. I saw them bring in a pregnant woman. She had her sweet little daughter with her. She stopped to talk to me in the waiting room.”
“You’re stalling,” my sister accuses. “Don’t do that.”
She’s right. I am stalling because telling Margot that I was mugged will send her back to California, and she’ll drag me with her.
“She stopped an assailant.” Dr. Fuller continues his quest to inject himself into our conversation. “She tied up a mugger with her scarf.”
What the fuck?
My gaze lands on him. “Doctor…”
“My cousin is a detective with the NYPD,” he explains to my sister. “He called me a few minutes ago to see how Juliet is doing. The man in the alley confessed to an attempted mugging. Juliet tied him up. She restrained him until the police arrived.”