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“Alright, just Bird. Can you tell me what happened?” Daryl asked calmly as he reached for Bird’s face.
Bird didn’t answer him.
“Okay,” Daryl said slowly. “Why don’t you tell me where you’re injured. Anything I can’t see?”
“My ear’s fuckin’ killin’ me,” Bird said quietly, his face pale.
Daryl didn’t even flinch at the curse word coming out of the kid’s mouth. “Let me take a look.”
My stomach flipped when Bird turned his head and I could see the thin trickle of blood that had dried in his ear and down his neck.
Things were happening around us. They’d gotten Samson onto a gurney and had rolled him outside. The men I’d grown up with were talking around the room in low voices. Police were asking questions. Ash was weeping. All I could focus on was Nova and Bird.
“Yeah, I bet that hurts,” Daryl said sympathetically. “You need to head to the hospital and get this checked. It looks like you may have ruptured your eardrum.”
“I can’t hear out of it,” Bird said quietly, glancing quickly at Nova.
“Okay,” Daryl replied, setting his hand on Bird’s knee. “Straight to the hospital. They’ll get it figured out.”
“He was hit,” Nova said, watching her brother sorrowfully. “Would that burst his eardrum?”
“It could.”
Nova winced.
“Your turn,” Daryl said gently, turning to Nova. He glanced down at where I was holding her hands, my thumbs rubbing softly against the backs of them. I hadn’t even noticed when I’d grabbed them.
“You can check her out while I’m here,” I said, refusing to move.
“Goddamn it, Rumi,” my dad said quietly as he strode toward us. “I told you to stay outside.”
Nova huffed and it almost sounded like a laugh.
“I know,” I said, turning back to look at her. “Can you believe this guy? Stay outside when my girl needs me? Please.”
“I’m alright,” she replied, her eyes filling with tears.
“You let Daryl check you out,” I ordered, reaching up to wipe one away with a fingertip. I was afraid that anything more than that would hurt her.
“I need to go to the hospital,” she said softly, looking up at Daryl. “I already know that.”
Daryl tilted his head to the side in question.
“I think I might have a broken rib,” Nova murmured. “And one of my teeth feels loose.”
The thin control I had on myself nearly disintegrated.
“I agree,” Daryl said kindly. “I think you and Bird both need to go.”
“Do we have to go in an ambulance?” Nova asked, grimacing.
“I think you should—”
“I’ll drive you,” I cut in. I knew how expensive ambulances were and Samson had already left in one.
“Thanks, Rum.”
As I helped Nova to her feet and my dad helped Bird, a police officer strode toward us, asking questions as he came.
