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“I still don’t have any news I can give you, I’m sorry,” she told Smoke apologetically.
“This is Mr. Windsor’s sister and next of kin,” he explained.
“Oh, okay. I’ll call back and let them know she’s here, but there isn’t really anything to pass on yet. The waiting area is right around that corner.” She pointed and the sympathy in her gaze made me want to start crying. Did she know something she wasn’t saying? How bad is it, I wanted to demand.
Instead, I guided Lacie to a chair that one of the guys vacated. I took the one next to her that his buddy got out of and held her hand as she stared blankly into space.
My brain was all over the place, so I was having a hard time.
“How did you know Royal’s last name?” Lacie suddenly asked, her voice small and monotone.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“You gave the lady Royal’s full name,” she explained as she frowned and slowly swiveled her head to look at me.
My breath caught. I blinked twice. “I did? Well, you must’ve told me at some point.”
She shook her head. “No. We’ve never talked about him in detail. I would’ve remembered.”
I laughed, but it sounded phony—because it was. I wasn’t humored, I was panicking. This was not the time or place to tell my best friend I’d been banging her brother and that’s how I knew his last name. “Girl, I don’t know. Maybe I saw a card or something he sent you.”
“Royal doesn’t send cards.”
My heart started to race and I’m pretty sure sweat broke out over my upper lip.
How was I supposed to tell her that after a few rounds of wall banging sex, we were dying for pizza? I overheard him give his last name when he placed the order with a little pizza place downtown. It hadn’t really registered on the surface until I was asking for him at the ER desk.
“I… honestly don’t know,” I lamely explained. It was all I had.
Thankfully, Lacie simply blinked, then dropped her gaze to her hands as teardrops rolled down her cheeks. She went silent until Smoke approached.
“Hey, Lacie. Can I get you anything?” he asked with empathy creasing the corners of his eyes.
Before she could reply, a doctor stepped into the waiting area. You could’ve heard a pin drop as all eyes zeroed in on him. His gaze widened when he took in the large group of burly biker dudes filling the room.
“Family of Maximus Windsor?” he cautiously asked as he scanned the group.
“Me. I mean, I’m Max’s sister,” Lacie announced as she bolted to her feet. Fingers still entwined in hers, I followed suit. I gripped tighter when her hand shook in mine.
My stomach churned at the doctor’s pause. He scrubbed a hand over his mouth. Finally, he offered what I assumed he meant to be a comforting smile.
“I’m Dr. Moses and I was the orthopedic surgeon for your brother. Dr. Kumar was his vascular surgeon. Thankfully, Maximus was wearing his helmet or this would’ve been a very different meeting.”
It felt like we all held our breath.
“He has significant abrasions, but in the big picture, those are minor.” The doctor appeared to consider his next words. “His femur has been temporarily treated with external fixation. I’m going to warn you, it’s not pretty, but we needed to stabilize the femur to align the bones properly until we can schedule a second surgery for an intramedullary nail. We’ll get that done within a week or two.”
Lacie whimpered and I gripped her hand tighter. I didn’t know exactly what that was, but it didn’t sound good.
“Because of the side impact of the collision, there was extensive injury to his lower right leg. That was our immediate priority. Thankfully, we were able to save it, though there will likely be some nerve damage that he may or may not fully recover from.”
“What is the long-term prognosis?” Smoke asked from behind us.
The doctor’s attention shifted from Lacie to Smoke, then back with a questioning lift of his brow. Lacie nodded her approval for the doctor to answer the question.
“That all depends on Maximus. Physical therapy will be crucial. We’ll start that here and have his initial outpatient appointment set up before he discharges from the hospital. He’s going to be in a lot of pain and this will be a lengthy process. He’s looking at a three to six month recovery. I can’t give you an exact, because there are a lot of variables that can come into play,” the surgeon explained.
“When can I see him?” Lacie asked.
