We made it to St. Lutheran’s Hospital. We had been here for three fucking hours. Three hours of the most perverse hell I had ever been in. Crusher, Gunner, Freak and Striker were all here with me the whole time. Bull had just made it in, after delivering Irish to the Shed and having Frog and Nailer watching over him. I couldn’t deal with that motherfucker yet, but I would soon enough.
My woman had barely been hanging onto life when we got her to the hospital. I lied and told them I was her fiancé and only living relative, I had to give them permission to do emergency surgery.
They rolled her away from me and I haven’t seen her since. If she died…fuck I couldn’t even think that word.
“Mr. West?” A doctor comes out into the waiting area, and looks around.
I stand up immediately, my damn legs felt like rubber. I hear my brothers all come to a stand behind me. I’m not sure how I feel about that right now. Can I trust them? Are there more like Irish? I can’t let my mind go there, not right now. My focus has to be on my woman.
“I’m Dra.. Mr. West.”
“Mr. West your fiancé is still holding on. The next forty-eight hours are critical. She went into shock and she’s lost a lot of blood. A weaker person wouldn’t have survived that. She was shot twice on top of that. The one in her side hip will cause her some discomfort from here out, but all things considered not much else. The real damage and blood loss came from the shot she received in her kidney. The organ was hit and with the blood loss and the trajectory of the bullet, the damage was massive. The kidney was a total loss.”
I want to sink to my knees, but I don’t. I wait for more from him, and try to concentrate on the fact that my woman is still holding on.
“Will she…,” I clear my throat. “Will she live?”
“She has a good chance, yes. As I said, the next forty-eight hours are critical. We’ll monitor her and watch her closely. She’ll be getting plasma and fluids through the night. Her vitals are weak but steady.”
“I want to see her.” He looks around at me and my brothers. “She’s in intensive care. I’m sorry, but we only allow certain visiting hours on that floor.”
“Listen Doctor, I can appreciate rules, but that is my woman lying in there by herself. You told me the next forty-eight hours are critical and there is no way in hell that I am not going to be by her side every damn one of those hours. She’s my woman and no one will keep me from her. Are we clear?”
The doctor swallowed and his eyes moved over the men behind me and finally rested back on mine.
“I will not allow any disruption. The first commotion, I will have security escort you out and bar you from the premises.”
“Fair enough.” Like fuck he would.
He nodded and reluctantly said with his back to me, “Follow me.”
She looks so weak lying in the bed. Her skin is pale and washed out. She blends in with the stark white of the hospital sheets. I sit in the chair beside her and immediately wrap my hand around hers.
I have always enjoyed the differences of our color when we are together. The deep contrast is like something we shared, polar opposites attracting and clinging tight. Tonight her color is way too pale. She’s still beautiful, but she is so cold to the touch.
I bring my hand up and shakily touch her hair. A nurse had obviously cleaned her hair and body. Even so, the horrible sight of her blood is engrained in my brain I still see it.
“I’m here Mama. I told you, you got me now. I’ll always be here for you. You just got to live up to your end of the deal woman and wake up. I need you Mama. I fucking need you,” I whisper close to her ear.
“I need you, Mama.” I repeat that on and off willing her to listen to it. I need her to know it, because I know if she hears it, she will do whatever she has to do, to come back to me. Eventually, I lay my forehead down on our hands and just soak in being close to her.
Chapter 26
Nicole
I feel so cold and it’s dark. I can’t seem to pull myself out. Did I fall into a hole? Everything just seems so hazy and I can’t grasp anything around me. I hear him though, off in the background, I hear Dragon telling me he needs me and I panic. What’s wrong? I doubt Dragon has ever admitted to anyone that he needed them. My lips feel so dry and I lick them to try and speak.
“Dragon?” I croak. I seriously croaked, I don’t know what’s wrong with my voice, but my whole body feels weird.
“Nicole?” Dragon speaks back in a voice I had never heard from him before.
“Need you too.” I try to tell him, because I can feel the darkness begin to pull me back under.
When I come back through, I manage to open my eyes this time. My head feels like it has been hit over and over by a sledge hammer, my body feels just as bad. I look around the dark room and see Dragon lying asleep in the chair beside my bed.
“Dragon?”