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Once she was on the gurney and it was lifted, he walked up and placed a kiss on her beautiful red hair. “You fight, Red. That is a direct order from your Dom. You fight with everything you have, and I will be waiting for you when you wake up.” He stepped back and watched as they rolled his reason for living away, possibly forever.
14
How long could one surgery go on? Had hours or days passed—he had no clue. They had the love of his life somewhere in this damn hospital, and nobody would tell him a fucking thing.
Well, fuck this. Derrick stalked over to the information desk in the surgical waiting room. “I need some information on Samantha Gardner. They took her forever ago, and I still don’t know a damn thing more than I did when they wheeled her away from me.” He was being rude but couldn’t care less.
“Do you have the access code, sir?” The gray-haired lady smiled at him, obviously having no clue who she was dealing with.
Derrick leaned over, placing his elbow on the desk in front of her. “Does that really matter, sweetie? Can’t you just look at the computer in front of you and tell me what I need to know? Pretty please?” Derrick batted his eyes at her, pulling from every time he had ever been flirted with to channel it into this moment.
“Sir, look at me. I could be your mother, and, quite frankly, I have been flirted with by both men and women who were better at it than you. If you have no code word, then there is nothing I can do for you. But, I will say I admire your effort.” She winked at him before turning her attention back to her computer.Damn. I’m losing my touch. I can’t even get what I need from the geriatric set. What the actual fuck?
Derrick went back to pacing the back of the room while he attempted to reevaluate his plan. He needed the information, but he couldn’t kick the older lady’s ass to get it, and flirting didn’t work. He needed a distraction so he could break into her computer. He’d pulled out his cell phone to call in reinforcements when Samantha’s friends from the club poured into the waiting room.
“Oh, Derrick.” Lainie hugged him with tears streaming down her face. “Samantha was supposed to meet me for dinner. When she didn’t show, I assumed she was just caught up at the hospital. I’m so sorry. I should have realized something was wrong and called.” She started to cry in earnest. “I’m so damn sorry. If she doesn’t make it, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Elaine, you listen here,” Derrick started. Nobody called her by her given name, and she froze in shock. “This was not your fault, do you hear me? The only person at fault here was the sick fuck who hurt her, and, trust me, he will get his, and he’d better pray to whatever deity he can think of that she survives, or nobody will ever find his remains.” He didn’t realize how loud he had gotten until he saw the lady behind the desk glaring at him with her hand on the phone.
“Shit,” he mumbled as she picked up the receiver.
“Don’t worry about this, Derrick. I’ll take care of it.” Lainie pranced over and whispered to his worthy opponent. She smiled and giggled with the woman who put the phone back on the cradle.
“She sure can work some magic, can’t she?” Bridget put her arm around him. “Samantha is going to be fine. I had a conversation with the man upstairs and let him know how this was going to play out. She is our girl, and we’ve got her back.” Of course, the feisty subbie would think she could just say it and make it happen. If anyone could, it would be her, so why not?
He felt his lips tilt up in a slight smile for the first time since he realized Samantha had been taken. Jack sure had his hands full with Lainie. She returned from the desk, still smiling. “Derrick, sometimes you have no clue how to talk to women. Did you really think you could flirt your way to getting what you want? I’ve never seen you flirt, but I would’ve paid good money to see you trying to get one over on Miss Betty. I’m sure her wife would have as well.” Now she was full-on belly laughing.
“Seriously? That lady is gay? What the actual fuck? I have totally lost my touch since falling for Samantha.”
The sound of her name brought reality back on them, and all smiles faded.
“Dude, I’m not sure you ever had a touch, just saying.” Bridget needed to be taken under control, and he’d have a word with the man who could do it—once this was all over.
“I just need to know what in the hell is going on with Samantha. Is that too hard?” He was about to storm back over to Miss Betty when Lainie placed a hand on his chest to stop him.
“One of the guys will be out in a minute to talk to you. Now, you need to sit down and stay quiet, or Miss Betty will call security, and this time I won’t be able to keep them from booting you out of the hospital.”
“I’d like to see them try,” he mumbled.
“Yes, that would be a sight to see, but wouldn’t you rather be here when Sammie is out of surgery?” Bridget scolded him as if he were a small child. Not many people could get away with something like that, but this firecracker subbie wasn’t afraid of anyone, least of all him.
“Sammie? Since when has she let you get away with that?”
“Since she hasn’t heard it yet, duh.” She rolled her eyes and plopped into a seat.
“Okay, you two. Let’s settle in and wait. One of the guys will be out in a few.” Lainie sat beside her friend. She was so good for his friend. Matthew was a great Dom but had always seemed to be looking for something until he found it in her. Just like his Red. He needed her like he needed air to breathe.
Derrick wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Matthew entered in scrubs with something covering his head and a mask hanging around his neck. He took them to a small room furnished with several chairs and closed the door behind them.
Matthew sat down, rubbing the back of his neck before speaking.This can’t be good.
“Oh my god, she’s dead, isn’t she?” Derrick couldn’t breathe. What was he going to do?
“No, she is still alive, and everyone is fighting like hell to keep her that way. That fucker did a real number on her. Ian was able to repair her internal injuries, but not without complications. We had to remove her spleen as it was too badly damaged to repair. She lost a lot of blood and may never be able to bear children of her own. She has a long road of recovery ahead of her both emotionally and physically, and I’m telling you now, it won’t be easy. She will need all of us.”
Derrick filled his lungs with oxygen. “What about the fucker? Where is he?” Now that he knew she would be all right, he needed to deal with the loose ends. Kyle.
“I’m not going to tell you that. You did quite a number on him. Samantha is going to need you in the coming months, so you can’t have your ass thrown in jail. Let the system deal with him.” Didn’t Matthew realize Derrick was very much part of the system he was talking about?
