Page 28 of Doc Defence

Frost desperately tried to make eye contact with Hel, but she was looking anywhere except at him, a flush staining her cheeks.

“Right. Well, can you go and make sure the desk has all his details, and we’ll take it from here,” Sue requested.

“Sure, no problems.” Hel nodded, but avoided his gaze.

Frost willed Hel to look at him as she walked out of the room, but she didn’t look back. He rolled his head and stared up at the ceiling, then squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of pain washed over him.

“Right, young man.” Frost opened his eyes again when Sue spoke from right next to the bed. “I’m going to get some decent drugs into you, then we’ll take a look at this leg.”

Frost said dully, “No problems.”

“Great.” Sue beamed at him as if she was about to do something pleasant, not examine the bones sticking out through his skin.

Whatever drugs they gave him had the desired effect of blunting some of his pain. He couldn’t say he enjoyed it while they removed his clothes and got him into a hospital gown, then poked and prodded him, looking for other injuries, but the pain had definitely receded to a more manageable level.

Hel arrived back right before they were going to wheel him to X-ray, so she walked with him.

“I rang Coach Morgan, and he gave me Star’s number. I gave her a ring, but she didn’t answer. I left a message for her.”

“That’s a relief. All she would do is squawk and carry on,” Frost said glumly.

He wished he had already dumped Star. She reacted so badly in a crisis, flapping and wailing. She was nothing like the woman who walked beside him, who was so calm.

“Some people struggle to see a loved one hurt,” Hel said.

He rolled his head to look at her, and her gaze was fixed straight ahead. “And some people just want all the attention to be on them, even when it’s not about them,” he muttered dryly.

This had Hel’s head swinging around and her eyebrows lifting. “You didn’t want me to call her?”

“Not really,” he mumbled. Before he sighed and said, “It’s a good thing you did. She’s my girlfriend, she needs to know.”

He watched Hel and swore she veered slightly further away from the bed when he called Star his girlfriend. Shit.

When they got to X-ray, she stopped outside the door. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

He nodded as he was wheeled into the dark room.

“Hi.” A very young and bubbly girl greeted him. “My name is Cindy. I’m your radiographer. I’m going to slide a board under your leg. I’ll try not to move it much. We’ll take one X-ray there, then we’ll take the board out and do another one from the side.”

“Okay,” Frost agreed. There wasn’t really any other answer. He wasn’t exactly going to say no.

“It’s lovely to meet Hel’s boyfriend, even if it isn’t the best circumstances. She’s great. None of us knew she was even seeing anyone.” Cindy bustled around him, chatting as she went.

“Hel isn’t my girlfriend,” he muttered.

“Oh. Sorry, I just assumed when she accompanied you and wasn’t in her scrubs. Sorry. My mistake.”

Cindy didn’t talk again except to give him instructions related to taking the X-ray.

“Great. That’s you all done. We’ll get you back around to ED.”

“Sure.” Frost winced as he was slid back onto his bed. The painkillers were wearing off, and the throbbing in his leg was increasing.

Hel didn’t say anything to him when he was wheeled out the door, only speaking when they got to his bed space in the emergency department.

“I’ll go and track down Sue and ask her to review your X-ray.”

She was striding out past the curtain when he called to her. “Please could you ask for some more painkillers?”

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