Desire

(40) Blood

It felt like time had stopped, the earth had finally stopped spinning and time had become a figment of imagination. Confusion, guilt, sympathy, confusion and even more confusion rushed through Kimberly's mind. The floor was wet, rain clearly coating the dirty concrete, but also the man that laid weakly on the ground.

"Theodore call an ambulance." Florence gasped. Of course the man did as told and hurried to call 9-9-9.

Before Florence could help Robert, Kimberly was already on her knees by his side, lifting his head from off the ground and into her lap. "Robert? Can you hear me?" She placed a hand on his chest to see if he was breathing. The late time made it hard to see, mixed with the fact he was half in an alleyway where no street lamps illuminated the scene.

He was breathing. She could hear Theodore on the phone though it all muffled together, her main concern was Robert. She gently tapped around him for his phone to see when he was last active on it. "He's soaking wet."

"Here, the flashlight on my phone." Florence turned it on and shined it on Robert and Kimberly so she could see what she was doing and just how injured Robert was, making that answer very clear.

Kim stared at her hand, eyes growing wide with shock. She hurried to stand to her feet, leaving Robert's head back on the ground. "Flo-flor-Flora. Flora." Kim panted in utter shock and disgust. Her hand was covered in blood. Robert's blood.

"Uh- okay. Darling, darling calm down. Is this one of your panic attacks?" Florence was so overwhelmed with everything happening that she'd lost all sense of control. "Theodore!" She yelled out.

"Theo, he's bleeding!" Kim turned her head away from her hand, looking down at Robert, almost making sure he couldn't vanish into thin-air.

Theodore's eyes grew wide. I'm just a chef. "Yes, the victim is bleeding." He spoke to the phone. "Okay, baby. No need to panic, let me get that for you." He slipped off his coat and held the phone to his ear using his shoulder. He did his best to wipe off all the blood that he could. "Now, where was he bleeding?"

"His arm. His right arm." She looked to Florence. "Will he be okay?"

"Of course he will. He-"

"I don't appreciate when people talk about me like I'm not here." A hoarse voice croaked out, followed by a throaty cough.

"Robert!" Kimberly practically threw herself at the man.

He forced a smile though it was clear it was nothing but fake. "Hey, baby." He struggled to speak.

"What happened to you?" She was now sitting on the wet floor, not caring if it was getting her trousers dirty.

"Nothing." He lied.

She stared at him, clearly unimpressed. "I'm not stupid."

"You are not. But you are ravishing." He reached a hand out to touch her knee, wanting to feel her next to him.

"Robert, tell me what happened."

"Kimberly." Robert spoke more firmly.

"Robert." She pushed back.

"I don't like it when you call me by my name." He attempted to reach his hand up to cup her chin, but his muscles wouldn't allow him to reach so far.

She held his hand in hers and placed it in her lap. "Don't stretch."

"Don't tell me what to do, sweetheart."

"You're injured and your ego is still as big as Florence's love of dairy products." Kim jabbed, poking in a joke in attempts to lighten the situation.