Page 61 of The Night Ride
We exited the building, and I gulped in oxygen as they hurried us away from danger.But I didn’t relinquish Beth to anyone until we reached a gurney.And even then, while the paramedic who was about my age put an oxygen mask over her face and began taking her vitals, I didn’t release her hand.
Out cold, her skin smudged and dirty, she had never looked more fragile than she did in that moment.And I cursed my own inability to see past my nose.If I hadn’t been such an idiot, maybe I could have kept her home with me.Convinced her to take the day off.
“Will she be all right?”I yelled above the din.
“Her vitals look good.We’ll need to take her in for smoke inhalation, but she should be all right.We should get that looked at,” he nodded at the gash seeping blood on my arm.Some of the glass nicked me on the way out.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.We need to get the blood stopped and you might need stitches.”The medic eyed the wound with concern.
“Just bandage it up.I’m not leaving her side.”I did that once and look what happened.
The medic and I had a pissing match.He didn’t realize he was dealing with a Navy SEAL, and we could be stubborn sons of bitches when warranted.He finally relented with a nod.“Fine.Have it your way.I’ll bandage it up here.I’m assuming you want to ride to the hospital with her.”
“You’d assume right.Do you know how it started?”
“Nope.But that’s for the police and Fire Marshall to figure out.Let’s get you bandaged.Then if you’re coming with me, we need to move and get her checked out at the hospital, make sure there’s nothing more going on.”
“Let’s go.You can wrap it on the way.”
The man just rolled his eyes skyward but didn’t argue as they loaded her into the back of the ambulance.I climbed in after.Just as I took my seat the roof of the bakery caved in.I said a prayer of thanks that I arrived when I did.Because if I’d been ten minutes later, Beth would be dead.
The thought shook me to my fucking core.
Chapter twenty
Therideintheambulance seemed to take unto eternity.I didn’t even feel the antiseptic as they cleaned my wound and bandaged it, so I didn’t bleed everywhere.The medic just shook his head in disbelief.But all my focus was on Beth.
I wasn’t a man who prayed much.Mainly because I didn’t figure if there was a higher power that they were listening to a man like me with more blood on my hands than I wanted to admit.
But in this moment, I sent up a few prayers, hoping that Beth would be all right.That she would wake up.
At the hospital they wheeled her into a trauma room immediately.When I tried to follow, a nurse about ten years older with her dark hair threaded with silver stopped me.
“We need to get that arm looked at.”
“I need to be with her.”
“You won’t do her any good if you bleed to death.The medic told me that gash needs stitches, and we need to make sure there’s not any glass in it.I can sew you up so you don’t have to wait for a doctor.”
I pulled it together.Because she needed me to be there when she woke.With a slight nod, I replied, “Fine.But it’s barely a scratch.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.Follow me.”She led me into a small room and had me sit on the bed.She approached and removed the gauze, examining the wound beneath a magnifying glass.“Well, I’m not seeing any glass in it.But the medic’s right.It’s going to need some stitches.Let’s get your shirt off.I can give you a gown.”
“No need.”I had a white tank beneath the button-up shirt.
She glanced at my dog tags after I removed the shirt.“What branch?”
“Navy.”
She smiled.“My dad was Air Force.I was a military brat and moved to a bunch of bases.Where are you stationed?”
“Out of Norfolk.”
“And what do you do?”She gave me a shot of lidocaine to numb the area, which I was thankful for since the adrenaline had worn off, my arm had begun to throb.
“I’m a SEAL.”I wouldn’t tell her which team.She didn’t need to know that.But given her dad was in the military I didn’t mind admitting it.And with HIPPA laws, it wasn’t like she could divulge any patient information anyway without getting in trouble.
