Page 87 of The Road Home
"Jared, I'm better at home. You'll be there with me. If anything happens, I trust you to take care of me." Orson stared up at him. "Honestly, stop and breathe for a minute. If I wasn't your boyfriend, how would you treat this? You're letting your emotions get in the way."
Jared stared up at the ceiling. Orson was right, but it didn't matter. He'd finally found the one man he wanted to spend his life with and now he was sitting in the emergency room with his head gashed open and God knew what else going on.
"Dr. Gains, we need you. Respiratory arrest, room one," a nurse called from the doorway.
Jared groaned, torn between his duty and his love.
"Go, I've got this. I promise he's in good hands." Cameron jerked his head to the door. "They need you out there."
He didn't have a choice. He wouldn't let someone die because he was overprotective. "I love you." He bent down, giving Orson a quick kiss before he rushed out the door and down the hall to see the patient.
It seemed as if hours had passed before he could finally tear himself away from work to check in on Orson again. He trusted if something was really wrong, Cameron would come get him. No news had to be good news in this case. He hurried back to the room Orson had been in to find it empty. He turned looking down the hallway, panic setting in. He had to be back from the tests by now. Quickening his pace, he rushed to find Cameron, but came to a stop when he found Orson sitting at the nurses' station laughing at something someone said. "What are you doing?" He kneeled beside Orson's chair.
"Waiting for you to get off work." Orson smiled. "I told you I was okay. Other than a headache that will probably last a few days, I'm fine. Cameron told me to rest, but there was no point in me wasting a bed, so he told me I could sit out here."
Several of the nurses eyed the two of them, and Jared could only guess what rumors were already started. This wasn't how he wanted to come out at work. Though, truth be told, he probably would have put it off and fret about it. At least this way, it was done, and he only had to deal with the fallout. "You should be lying down." Jared gently tilted Orson's head to look at the stitches Cameron had put in. Orson's hair was a mess of dried blood. He really needed a shower, but they would have to be careful for a couple of days not to get the stitches too wet. "Did your tests come back?"
"Dr. Gains, Cameron said to give this to you." She handed him a paper. "The rest are on the computer if you need to see them."
"Thanks, Carol." Jared read over the results, satisfied that Orson wasn't going to die. He glanced up at the clock. "I've got almost an hour still, are you sure you don't want to lay down? I can put you in the doctors' lounge."
"I'm okay. I think my adrenaline is still too high to relax and sleep." Orson rubbed his arm, drawing Jared's attention to them.
"Shit, it's worse than I thought." He took in the lacerations along Orson's forearms.
"They aren't deep, just where the glass got me. I've got some bruising on my shoulder, probably from when I fell, but it's not bad. I've seen worse." Orson met Jared's stare.
Jared bit his lip, remembering how much worse Orson had seen. He'd hoped he would never have to feel pain again, but clearly, he was wrong. "Richard and Tyler?"
"They left. Richard's fine, but Tyler has a broken arm and some lacerations. There were a few other people hurt, but only the driver of the car was hurt badly."
"Drunk?"
"No, there was a crash out front. One car sent the other car flying and it came right through the front windows."
Jared shook his head. "That had to be some force." There were steps leading up to the entrance of the gym the car would have had to get past.
"It was bad." Orson sighed. "I'm just glad everyone is okay, and no one got killed."
"Me too." Jared wanted to bend down and give Orson a kiss, but this wasn't the place. "I have to work." He glanced at the board on the wall seeing there were three patients waiting.
"Don't worry about your man. We'll keep him company," Janice smiled from where she was inputting data on the computer.
Jared hoped his cheeks weren't as red and heated as they felt. "Thanks." He ran his knuckles down Orson's cheek. "Call me if you need anything."
"I'll be fine." Orson smiled, running his hand down Jared's leg.
Forcing himself to get back to work, Jared turned and headed to the next patient on the list, glad it wasn't anything too serious. His mind was a mess, and his emotions were raw. All he wanted to do was go home and make sure Orson was okay. He wanted him safe in his arms, protected from the world.
Praying the time went fast, he forced a smile and got back to work.
