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Jakob wasn't fooled. He didn't relax an inch.
"I can't get my wallet right now," Jakob explained slowly, feeling as if he was watching the entire scene from the corner of the room while also being front and center. "But you hear that sound? It's his lung. You need to put something over the wound to seal it, quick as you can."
"Here."
Alex glanced up in surprise as Liam tapped him on the shoulder with a card sleeve from their game. He took the piece of flexible plastic, lifting the now-bloodied hoodie to press it against the gunshot wound before covering it with the sweatshirt again.
"Good. Better. Now —reallylean into it, alright?" Jakob told them both as reassuringly as he could. He kept one ear on Cassie, listening as she talked to the emergency operator on the other end of the line.
Meanwhile, he could feel his mind spinning out, filled to the brim and beyond with worry and anxiety about Ethan. About being able to hold Detective Martin in place long enough until help arrived. If it would even be help that arrived, and not just more of Martin's cop buddies to make the situation even worse.
Jakob drew a deep breath. Cassie had help coming. Alex would tell them who could be trusted. Jakob just had to keep himself in check for the kids' sake.
ForEthan'ssake.
"Just — just keep doing that," Jakob told Alex; firmly, calmly. Knowing the kids were watching him, their eyes so wide widewide. "Liam, I need you to go flag down Nash. He served as a nurse; make sure you tell him to bring the big emergency kit. Then you get back here as quick as you can in case Alex gets tired and needs you to take over, alright?"
Liam nodded quickly, already half out the door.
"I won't get tired," Alex protested with all the eagerness of youth; wild, penny-bright eyes flashing in the reflected lights of the Christmas tree as he shook his head.
"Good," Jakob told him, meaning it. "But are you willing to bet Ethan’s life on it?"
Alex’s face went ashen, as he shakily shook his headno.
"Hopefully help won't be long in coming," Jakob said, almost as much to Alex as to himself; counting the seconds ticking by with every beat of his heart as it lay there, bleeding on his floor. "We just gotta hold on…"
Chapter 34
"Are you sure?" Frank asked over the music of steel pan drums that was coming from somewhere in the background on his end of the call.
It was a strangely cheerful sound given Jakob's surroundings, clashing starkly with the potent scent of antiseptic and pure distilledwaitingthat seemed to hang in the air.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Jakob replied, his eyes fixed on the steady rise and fall of Ethan's chest, trying not to imagine how close he'd come to losing him all over again. "Think it'll be a good direction for the ranch, and… You ever have one of those moments where you can just feel the right choice staring you in the face, even when you — you know it's going to be hard?"
There was a long silence from the other end of the phone, punctuated only by the steady soft beeping from the hospital's monitors nearby.
Jakob shifted in the hospital chair, trying to find a more comfortable position and knowing by now it was no use.
"Yeah, Jakob. Think I do at that," Frank finally answered, his tone thoughtful. "Mine came in the form of a lost little boy with the biggest green eyes you've ever seen."
There was a ragged inhalation from Frank's side of the phone, a match to the lump that'd found its way into Jakob's throat.
"Alright — if that's what you want to do with the place, you follow your heart. I trust you. 'Sides, it's practically yours now, anyway. We'll get the lawyers on the horn for next week; make sure you're as protected as we can manage beforehand though. If you're going to go charging off like one of those old knights from the stories you always used to love so much, all dead set on riding off into battle, then let's at least be certain you've got some decent armor first," Frank said, chuckling at his own joke.
Jakob smiled at the memory.
There was a soft noise from the bed, the twitch of a hand.
"Hey, he's waking up. I gotta go."
"Give him my best," Frank told him with a warm note in his tone. "And tell him I expect to see himandthis new kid you've picked up when I come for Christmas!"
"I'll do that," Jakob promised, grinning fondly. "And… Frank? Thanks. For… foreverything."
There was silence again. And then Frank's voice came through the line strong, "Proud of you, Jakob. You've grown into a fine man. Don't ever doubt that. Now you keep me updated on Ethan, alright?"
Jakob stared up at the ceiling tiles, blinking rapidly as he cleared his throat to answer. "Yeah. I will. Talk to you soon."
