Page 85 of Further To Fall

A nurse touched the asshole doctor’s arm. “I’ll show him where he can wait.” The doctor jerked his chin in a gruff nod and slammed through the double doors. My eyes went to the nurse, who shook her head. “Sorry about that, he doesn’t have the best bedside manner, but he’s a great doctor. I’ll show you where you can wait.”

She led me down a hallway and opened the door to a small room with half a dozen plastic chairs. “This is a private waiting room where no one should give you any grief about your dog. If they do, just say he’s a service dog, and you don’t have the paperwork with you. Can I get you or your dog some water?”

I looked down at Blue, whose muzzle I realized was slightly bloody. Shit. “Yeah, some water for my dog would be great, and maybe some paper towels so I can clean him off?”

The woman gave me a small smile. “No problem, I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks, ma’am, I appreciate it.” I sank back into a chair, the hard plastic jarring my spine. Blue shuffled over and laid his head in my lap with a pathetic-sounding whine. “I know, boy, but she’s going to be okay.” I dug my fingers into the rolls of fur at his neck. He shuddered at the contact. “You did a good job, Blue, you protected your mom.” He cocked his head to the side slightly, looking up at me with heartbreakingly sad eyes while still keeping his head on my lap.

Blue and I stayed like that until the door opened and the nurse bustled in, water in one hand and Liam and Ford at her back. Shit. I didn’t even think about calling them or Carter’s parents. I stood and Liam pulled me into a tight hug, his voice was strained when he said, “Detective Massey called me and said Carter had been hurt. What the fuck happened?”

I pulled back, and Ford grasped my shoulder. I said only one word. “Kyle.”

“Fuck!” Liam swung around and slammed his palm against the wall. “Is she going to be okay?”

“He stabbed her,”—my voice hitched—“and I’m not sure what else. The doctors took her back to work on her, but I haven’t heard anything.”

Liam’s eyes were wet, and Ford looked murderous. We turned collectively to look at the nurse, who had bent down to place the water at Blue’s front paws. When she rose, she handed me a roll of paper towels. “Here you go. I’ll go see if there’s an update on your friend. Are any of you family members?”

“No,” I answered. “I’m her boyfriend, and these are her friends.” The wordboyfriendseemed completely inaccurate. Carter was so much more to me than my girlfriend. It was then I knew that, as soon as she was well, my ring was going on her finger.

Liam took a step forward. “I’m a close family friend. We grew up together. I need to call her parents, but I need to have something to tell them.”

The nurse nodded, pursing her lips. “I’ll see what I can do.” With that, she exited, sneakers squeaking against the linoleum floor.

I sighed, leaning my head back and squeezing my eyes closed. How the hell had this happened? I couldn’t stop asking the question. I’d let her down. I hadn’t been there when she needed me, again. Fuck. A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and my eyes snapped open. “Don’t like where your head is at, brother.” It was the always insightful Ford.

“I let her down, man. I wasn’t there like I knew I should have been, and she got fucking stabbed. Her lip was split, eye swollen. Her goddamned shirt was torn open.” I shrugged off his hand, needing to move, needing to hit something. “That fucker touched her, and I can’t even do anything about it because the cops already have him. And Carter’s back there, maybe fucking dying, and I can’t do anything about that either.”

Liam grabbed me this time, using both hands on my shoulders, and I could sense Ford at my back. “Rein it in, A. You gotta swallow that shit down right now. Carter needs you. You have to be there when she wakes up and not in lock-up because you destroyed a hospital waiting room or punched a doctor.”

My nostrils flared as I fought to get my breathing under control and reel in the rage that was now flowing freely. I clenched and unclenched my fists at least a dozen times as I breathed in and out. Liam and Ford stayed with me, at my front and back, unmoving. My brothers, keeping me grounded. I let out one more slow breath. “I’ve got it in check now.”

Liam clapped me on the back. “Good, because I really wouldn’t have wanted to get some security guard to come Taser your ass.”

I tried to smile at his snarky comments, but my lips just wouldn’t cooperate. Ford squeezed the back of my neck. “She’s strong, A. Stronger than you think. She’s gonna pull through.” I nodded, and he released me.

The waiting room door swung open, and asshole doctor was back. “Greta’s going to be bringing some paperwork back for you to fill out as best as you can but, in the meantime, I need to know if the young woman has any allergies.”

My jaw worked. “The young woman’s name is Carter and, no, she doesn’t have any allergies. Now, can you tell us what the fuck is going on?”

Asshole doctor took no offense to my tone or language because he continued as if I had said: “please, sir.”

“Carter is going to need surgery. She has a collapsed lung that is not reflating, and we believe the knife may have pierced the lung in a way that needs surgical intervention.”

“But she’s going to be okay, right?” It was Ford who spoke. I was locking it down so tightly that I thought more than one of my muscles might snap.

The doctor looked at Ford, his mask of detachment firmly in place. “It’s too soon to tell.” God, I hated those words. “But we’ll do everything we can. She’s being prepped for surgery now. I’ll come and speak to you when I’m done.”

I stepped forward then. “Doc?” I extended my hand for a shake. When he took it, I pulled him in close and whispered with no small amount of menace, “I love that girl. She is my whole fucking world. So you do everything you can possibly think of to help her. You get me?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as his head tilted back to meet my eyes. His mask slipped just a bit. “I get you.”

“Good.” I squeezed his hand to emphasize my point and then released him. He darted for the door.

Liam shifted from foot to foot, slipping his hand in his pocket and pulling out his cell phone. “I have to call her parents.” He looked lost. “This is going to kill them.”

I stepped towards him and reached out my hand. “Let me do it. I told her dad I’d protect her, he should hear from me that I failed.”

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