Page 67 of Doc Defence

“And I’ve told you we won’t be giving you ketamine. Mr Barnes, we’ve been through this before, and we have a treatment plan for your pain. You know we can’t give you ketamine,” Hel said reasonably.

“Shut up and get me ketamine,” the man screeched back.

Frost wrenched the curtain open to see a man in a hospital gown, which matched the one he was wearing. But unlike Frost, the patient was short and skinny, with plenty of space in his gown. Frost’s gown was pulled tight across his back and shoulders, and luckily, he had left his jogging pants on, otherwise he would be in the same position as the scrawny man, whose gown was open at the back and showing a pair of very grimy underpants—not that Frost’s underpants were grimy.

The weasel man with his arse on display was facing off with Hel and a nurse. Where was security? He hopped towards the altercation. He might be sick and only have one good leg, but he was a lot bigger than the worm who was screaming at his woman.

“I’m not getting you ketamine. You need to go back to your bed and behave, or you’re out of here. We’ve spoken about this before.”

“NO,” the patient bellowed. “I WANT MY DRUGS. GIVE THEM TO ME!”

Frost watched the next part happen in almost slow motion. The patient lunged forward, and his fist connected with Hel’s face. She reeled back and covered her eye. Frost rushed the last two meters to the aggressive patient, dropped his crutch and picked the attacker bodily up off the floor by the back of his neck before he took them down in one swift movement, planting a knee on their back and wrenching an arm up behind the shithead so he couldn’t move.

Frost breathed deeply, using every ounce of self-control not to punch the idiot in the head. He couldn’t recall a time he had ever been more angry, and the image of this man’s fist connecting with Hel’s face was burnt into his brain.

The other man wriggled and squirmed under his weight but couldn’t manage to move at all under the firm pressure Frost was using to keep him on the floor.

Instead, he screamed, “LET GO OF ME. ASSAULT. I’M BEING ASSAULTED.”

Frost grimaced in disgust and shoved him harder for good measure.

A man’s voice nearby told him to get off the patient, but he didn’t even look up, he just snarled. This piece of trash punched Hel.

“Sir. I need you to step away.” The man’s voice tried again, but Frost ignored him.

Redness enveloped the corner of his vision. He hadn’t had an episode like this for a long time. Not since he was a young man and hot-headed when he was on the ice. He would get into fights, and the red mist would descend.

He replayed the image of the fist connecting with Hel’s face, and the red mist worsened. Frost started when a gentle hand touched his shoulder.

“Frost.” Hel’s voice pierced through the rage that was threatening to overwhelm him.

His body relaxed slightly. “Yeah.”

“Security are here. They’ll take him,” Hel said as her hand moved from his shoulder to his back, rubbing a soothing circle on the skin that was exposed by the opening of his hospital gown.

“Yeah.” He relaxed his grip on the pinned man and tried to stand up, but he couldn’t put any weight on his bad leg, and his good leg trembled like jelly.

Now his adrenaline was settling, he realised how bad he actually felt, and despite his best efforts, all he could do was shuffle off the man sideways and sit down on the floor.

“Can you stand up?” Hel questioned, crouching down beside him.

Frost looked up in defeat. He didn’t want to appear weak, but there was nothing he could do. He was stuck.

A small amount of his adrenaline flooded back when he noticed the bruise that had already formed around Hel’s eye and would likely get an awful lot bigger over the next few hours.

He ignored her question. “Your eye.” Reaching out, he gently ran his finger over the bruised and tender skin, pulling it back quickly when she winced under his soft touch. “Shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s alright, it doesn’t hurt much.” Hel smiled weakly.

“Yeah, it does. I’ve been punched in the face enough times to know how much it hurts,” Frost murmured in return. “You should put some ice on it.”

“GET OFF ME,” the aggressive patient yelled as the security guards hauled him to his feet.

“We’ve called the police.” The larger of the two said to Hel, keeping a firm grip on the squirming patient.

“Good.” Hel nodded. “He wants ketamine. We’ve seen him multiple times for the same problem. I’m not sedating him, as that’s what he wants, so you’ll need to hold him until the police arrive, and they can take him away.”

“No worries, Doc. We’ll take it from here.” The security guards dragged the patient off down the corridor even as he kicked and screamed.

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