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“Get out of here, doc. Leave.”
A stranger in a paramedic’s uniform helped Snow to his feet. His friend’s face was ravaged, but Rowe couldn’t bring himself to care. He watched Snow’s retreating back, supported by the paramedic, until he disappeared from sight. And then the rage left him. His legs collapsed beneath him and Lucas held him as they dropped back to the floor, sobs choking him. His Mel was gone.###
Jude couldn’t leave and he didn’t know why. His shift had been over for hours and he couldn’t bring himself to take the few steps necessary to walk out into the night. He wanted to go to his ridiculously tiny apartment and sleep. Or try to. He needed to stop seeing the accident, the blood…and he desperately needed to forget the look on the doctor’s face when he’d realized his friend had died. Add in his devastation over the husband’s reaction and Jude just couldn’t leave.
Waiting outside Ian Pierce’s room, Jude roughly scrubbed his hand over his face, trying to clear his head. He and Rebecca had been first on the scene and she’d run to the driver’s side while he’d gone to Ian on the passenger’s. When Ian had first come to, he’d panicked, been delirious, mumbling a lot of nonsense, but some things trickled through. Mostly about hotel rooms and how much he hated being tied up—the seatbelt had been holding him in place because their SUV had flipped upside down.
The younger man had been instantly recognizable because like most in the hospital, Jude had seen only a few people who made Doc Frost smile with true joy and this one showed up often carrying packages of food that smelled incredible. Knowing the victim was the doc’s friend had just about killed Jude—especially when he’d caught Rebecca looking directly at him and shaking her head. She’d known the other passenger’s wounds were too severe.
Still, they’d worked hard to save her.
He looked down at the dried, dark splotches on his uniform and had to squeeze his eyes shut. He hated, hated, losing people but it was so much worse when it was someone connected to the hospital.
Though Ian had been awake, he’d been in too much pain to realize how bad off his friend had been. He held up well until he’d realized she hadn’t made it.
Jude thought his cries might stay in his nightmares for months to come.
One of the nurses came out of the room and Jude caught a glimpse of Doc Frost leaning over the bed, his hand stroking the younger man’s hair. Light blue eyes, full of anguish, looked up before the door closed.
Five minutes later, the doctor came out of the room and stopped in front of Jude. “Why are you still here?”
“I thought you might need…”
“What?” He leaned close, his breath hot on Jude’s face. “What could you possibly think I’d need?”
Jude tightened his lips, then shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know why I stayed.”
“Neither do I.” Snow stared at him, or through him, and this time, his voice lacked the usual snap. He turned his gaze to the door of his friend’s room. “Tell me about the accident.”
A group of people came down the hall, noisy with laughter, celebratory balloons clutched in their hands. They stopped right beside them and only one seemed to notice the solemn air around Snow and Jude.
“Hold on,” Jude said. He walked down the hall to a small waiting room and finding it empty, waved the doctor to him. The man’s movements lacked the usual arrogant strides as he frowned and followed Jude into the room. He was only a few inches taller than Jude but his presence was so large, the room instantly felt tiny. Snow looked around like he’d never seen the private niche before. The grief and shock pouring off the man came in waves that slapped Jude. Before he could stop himself, he was reaching and pulling Snow to him, expecting a pop in the face at any second.
But the doctor’s knees buckled and he shocked the hell out of Jude when he wrapped arms around him and buried his face in Jude’s neck.
“Hey General,” Jude said, voice soft. “I’m so, so sorry.” He wrapped his arms around Snow and pulled him in tight, held him close. “I don’t know what I can tell you that the cops already haven’t. I will say that I’m shocked that anyone hit them that hard and got away.” He went on to describe the accident and what they did to help Ian and Melissa. “Her injuries were too severe.”
“I should have been here. I was supposed to be here tonight.”
Jude tightened his arms. “You couldn’t have done anything to save her.” He knew the doctor would realize that once he was past the shock. And, unfortunately, the guilt over not being here. Jude got it, he did. If one of his family members had been brought in, he’d want to be here to make sure everything was done correctly. And he probably didn’t have near the control issues this man had. Jude hardly knew him, but that was one thing he could plainly see. And well, control issues tended to be a trait of surgeons. It was a good thing, too. Made them sharper, more focused.
