Page 47 of You Are Cordially Invited

Fuck.

She didn’t deserve my anger, she was doing exactly what I would’ve done in her place, but I had no time for hurt feelings. “Tell me what room he’s in, Alison, before I completely lose my shit here.”

She stared at me for a couple of seconds, then threw up her hands. “Jesus, Cam, you’re impossible. Trauma two. I’m so sorr—”

“Who caught it?” I interrupted.

“Will, but Michael’s riding shotgun. He got here just before the ambulance; saw it happen on TV and rang to check we were expecting the admission.” Her eyes pleaded with me. “But you need to let them do their j—”

“Thanks.” And I was gone, heading for trauma two, every nervous eye in the place locked on my exit. Ancillary staff scattered like pins in a bowling alley as I ran down the hall, my nurses quick with sympathetic nods and more than a little wary concern.

I didn’t blame them. Hell, in their place, I’d have stopped them at the front door, not taking no for an answer, and redirected them to my office, platitudes falling from my slick nurse’s tongue like a silky balm: give them time; let them work; you can’t help yet; you’ll just be in the way.

Well, fuck that.No one was about to stop me from getting in that room and laying eyes on Reuben.No. One.

And certainly not in my own damn ER.

I was well past ropeable and steaming unchecked toward ferociously pissed off, having spent thirty minutes being held at bay by the fucking security at Eden Park. When I’d seen Reuben go down on that angle, I knew it was bad and immediately raced to try and get into the restricted team zone, nearly breaking my leg on the stairs in the process, and with Sandy hot on my heels trying to calm me down.

Good fucking luck with that.

The security people recognised me and were sympathetic, but they still wouldn’t let me into the change room area, let alone anywhere near Reuben, and I’d had to watch from a screen just outside the player’s entrance until I had no nails left on either hand. I understood the reasoning, but I was beyond desperate, and for thirty minutes Sandy stood with his arm around me as the paramedics fixed a collar around Reuben’s neck, got him carefully onto a spinal board, and then stretchered him off the field on the back of a quad.

We’d run around to catch the waiting ambulance, but that too was sealed off, and all I’d seen was a flash of Reuben’s ashen face as he’d passed by a few metres away. I called out to one of the paramedics who I recognised, and he spared me a few seconds after they got Reuben safely inside. Just long enough to tell me they were headed for Auckland Med and that Reuben was breathing but in and out of consciousness and not moving.

Mathew had followed the stretcher out and had needed to forcibly pin me in place so I didn’t flay someone alive just to get in that ambulance with Reuben. I’d shoved him off with a few choice words as soon as the ambulance took off and run for my car. Sandy had got there before me—the man had some legs on him—and fought my keys out of my hand.

“Just think about it,” he’d snapped, eyeballing me until I loosened my grip. “Jesus, Cam, get in, for fuck’s sake. Let’s at least get there alive and without killing anyone.”

I’d flung myself in the passenger seat for the fifteen-minute motorway slog to the hospital, the ambulance miles ahead of us, my heart thumping in my chest. To his credit, Sandy ignored every furious curse and threat I’d thrown at him to drive faster, instructing me to call my mum instead and make sure Cory was taken care of. It was a good distraction and Mum answered from her car. She’d seen Reuben fall and was already on her way to relieve Geo, our babysitter.

I couldn’t have loved her more.

Finally at the hospital, there hadn’t been a damn parking spot anywhere near the ER—of course there wasn’t—and so I’d flung the passenger door open and simply taken off while the car was still crawling, almost getting my foot run over in the process. I headed for the ambulance bay with Sandy’s curses ringing loud in my ears, bypassing the front door since I guessed they’d be warned to head me off.

Good luck with that.

And now, two seconds away from finally laying eyes on Reuben, I was itching to go toe to toe with the next person who even tried to get in my fucking way.

Outside trauma two I hesitated at the closed curtains and didn’t even know why. Fear, hope, taking a second to not completely lose my fucking mind, a silent prayer before the chaos hit?

All of it and none of it, and a million pounds pressing on my chest.

The eyes of all my staff at the nurses station burned into my back, and a hand landed on my shoulder.

“Take a breath,” Alison said softly.

I did, letting her hand rest there for a moment as I gathered myself. Then I brushed the curtains apart and strode inside.

The room fell quiet as every head turned my way.

Will looked up from where he was threading a central venous line and rolled his eyes. He hissed just loud enough for me to hear, “Jesus fucking Christ, just what we need.”

“I heard that.” I glared at him as the voices picked up in the room, but I couldn’t see Reuben’s face for one of my nurses standing in front.

“You were meant to,” he spat back, taping the line in place and connecting the bag of fluid. “Just stay out of my way, and no questions until I’m ready, okay?”

“Okay,” I grumbled.

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