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“He’s alive. The bullet went all the way through, but they might have to take him to surgery as soon as he gets there.” Em’s voice shakes as she rattles off the name of the hospital and then ends the call.
My brain ceases to process information past SJ’s been shot, and weakness grips me. I drop to my knees, clutching the phone to my chest.
“Nora, now’s not the time.” His hands are on both my shoulders as he leans over me. “Come on. You can do this. She said he’s alive, but we have to move. Now.”
As Liam barks the final word, his tone snaps me out of my panic. I turn, my eyes instantly finding his worried gaze.
“He’s alive.”
He nods. “He is, but we don’t know how bad it is. We have to hurry. Let’s go.”
Without another word, he grabs me and pulls me to my feet. With one hand, he reaches into his pocket for his cell phone while he pulls me toward my front door with the other. Though I’m quite capable of walking on my own now that my brain is functioning properly again, I’m grateful to him for the guidance. His warm hand helps keep me grounded.
By the time we rush down the hall, ride the elevator down, and make it to my apartment building exit, my mind begins to spin again. I barely register Liam throwing me into a waiting car, zooming through the busy streets of New York, or his elevated tone as he speaks into his phone.
What I do notice is when we pull up to the entrance of the hospital Em said to go to.
My stomach drops, and I suck in a sharp, deep breath. He was fine when Em first called, but she didn’t say how serious it was, only that he was alive. I don’t know what we’re about to walk into.
He fucking has to be okay. He has to be okay.
Our story can’t end like this. It just can’t. We’ve just gotten started. With another deep breath, I exit the car the moment Liam opens my door.
I happily take his offered hand, our eyes meeting as he gives me a reassuring nod. “Let’s go.”
SJ
My eyes shoot open when the triage curtain does. A fiery raven-haired beauty storms in, pissed off and terrified, judging by her expression and tears.
“You scared the absolute shit out of me, Samuel Johnson!” My stomach pitches when I take in her panic-stricken face. Nora rushes to the gurney, throwing herself on top of my chest. I barely have time to wrap my arms around her before she pulls herself away to inspect every inch of my body.
She starts at my head, her hands running over my skin in delicate touches. Her eyes are wide concentrated orbs. She makes her way down my neck, shoulders, torso, and hips, then she whips off the blanket that covers my lower half.
She gasps, then her eyes narrow. “You promised! And you went and got yourself shot! ” Her head dips to look more closely at the blood stained 4x4 ABD bandage secured over the bullet hole with medical tape. They got the bleeding under control with silver nitrate, gave me pain meds, and now I’m waiting for a CT scan.
While I’ve been in the field for a while and have had to use silver nitrate for cauterization before, I didn’t realize it was safe for an MRI, though not for CTs and x-rays. Which means it’ll be a fun time when they have to clean it out before the scan.
The on-call doc said he thinks the bullet passed through cleanly, but they still need to make sure.
If I have any remnants of the bullet in my leg, they’ll have to take me to surgery to get it out. If it hit the bone, they’ll have to assess the damage and make a plan.
“Looks like no yoga for a while, cupcake,” I groan.
Nora’s eyes go wide. “Yoga? Are you serious? Did you hit your head, too?”
I laugh and then groan again because laughing hurts as it shifts my body.
Liam smirks. “Nope, no head injury. That dumbassery is just all him.”
I look at him incredulously. “Gee, thanks, man.”
He laughs. “Just tellin’ it like it is, brother. She should know what she’s getting into.”
I want to laugh, but I only smile. Getting shot is a bitch, and I hope like hell I don’t have to have surgery.
The curtain of the small triage room opens, and a petite older woman dressed in blue scrubs walks in. “Mr. Johnson, I’m Cindy. I’m here to take you down to X-ray first, then on to a CT scan. We’ll get that silver nitrate cleaned out and get you scanned. You ready?”
I nod at Cindy, then grab Nora’s hand, squeezing tightly before bringing it up to my lips. “I’ll be right back, cupcake.” I place a kiss on the backside of her hand.
