Page 25 of Deep Down
Chapter 10
Alex
“Alex! Calm down. He’s going to be alright.” Casey’s voice came from close to his ear, and he was holding onto Alex. He was glad, he didn’t feel steady at all.
“What the hell happened?” Alex inspected Craig up and down, frowning.
“Alex!” Casey’s urgency had his gaze focusing on him. “He’s here now. We can help him. Get it together; otherwise, you’ll be no use to him at all!” He turned away. “Let’s get him to a room, people.”
Alex recognised, as Casey had, they were still in the entrance of A&E, and they quickly took Craig to a treatment room. Before they followed, Casey pulled Alex to one side.
“Are you going to be able to do this, Alex?” He was stern with his words.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Alex, look at me.” Alex did. “Are you going to be able to do this?” Casey spoke slower as if making sure the words were understood.
Alex blew out a breath and nodded. “Yes.” He stared at Casey with conviction. Because he couldn’t allow anyone else to do it, he’d make sure he could. He couldn’t believe Craig was here for the third time and each time when Alex was covering in A&E. If Alex believed in fate, he would’ve thought they had something to do with it.
They entered the treatment room to find two nurses setting Craig up with the relevant equipment and writing in his file. Everything from this point forward would be noted down in case it is deemed useful later, especially as this was most likely going to be flagged up. Especially if Alex had anything to do with it.
He headed over to the bed, and seeing Craig covered in blood once again raised his blood pressure. If he ever got his hands on Darren…well, Darren wouldn’t be standing put it that way. It might make Alex no better than Darren, but Darren deserved it, whereas Craig didn’t.
“Hey, Craig. Can you tell me what day it is today, please?”
Alex saw his eyes flick over towards him from underneath the bruising. Craig cleared his throat and winced.
“Tuesday,” he rasped.
“Thank you. How are you feeling right now?” Alex asked automatically as he plucked his penlight from his pocket and checked his pupils.
“Just…peachy,” Craig bit out.
Alex practically wept with the sound of Craig’s sarcasm. “I’ll take that as ‘I’m feeling crap,’ alright?” He finished checking Craig’s eyes and took a visual scan of the injuries to his face.
Casey came up behind him. “He has a gash to the back of his head, which I put a dressing on before moving him to the ambulance. It appeared to have stopped bleeding when we got here. My initial assessment showed a dislocated arm, bruised ribs, a sprained ankle and a sore throat.”
“Thanks.” Alex brought the conversation back to Craig. “I’m going to remove your clothing now, Craig, then we can assess your injuries.” He braced himself as he grabbed some scissors and cut through the fabric of his t-shirt. As Craig’s torso was revealed, Alex hitched in a silent breath, seeing contusions all over the area. Glancing over him didn’t seem to indicate he had any broken ribs, but they could be hiding. “Can we arrange for a CT scan as soon as possible, please? Head, shoulders and torso area.” He glanced at one of the nurses.
“Sure thing.” She hurried out of the room.
“Okay, Craig, I’m going to pull the fabric from beneath you now.” He did as he’d explained, wincing when Craig did. “I’ll get your trousers removed, and we’ll get you into a more comfortable gown.” He was jabbering now, but no one called him on it; he went to work, trying to ignore what he was doing and getting Craig as comfortable as possible.
As more skin was revealed, bruises in several different stages of healing littered the exposed areas. Alex had to bite his lip against the anger brewing inside him; he needed to concentrate on Craig now, not the asshole who did this. At that point, he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, and he closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, Casey’s reminder echoing in his ear.
Alex kept Craig’s briefs on for the time being because there was no need to remove them, although they would be before a gown replaced his clothes. But Alex needed access to his body to fully assess what damage had been done.
“Okay, Angie, ready when you are.” He nodded at the remaining nurse.
“Go ahead.”
Alex took a breath and forced the doctor-calm into his voice for the delivery of the list of injuries. “We have a wound to the back of the head which appears to have coagulated. Severe bruising to both eyes and nose, don’t think the nose is broken but check to be sure. There is finger-shaped bruising to the upper and lower neck area, contusions can be seen along the collarbone on both sides. The left shoulder appears to be dislocated. Contusions of varying degrees of healing cover the torso, at least three types.” He took another silent breath before continuing. “Bruising continues down the legs, a limited number. The left ankle appears to be sprained.”
Craig made a noise, and Alex’s gaze rose quickly to his. “Are you okay?” He leaned forward to save Craig from straining.
“Back…” Craig spoke through a clenched jaw.
Alex frowned in confusion before realising Craig was telling him about more injuries. “Alright. This will be uncomfortable while we roll you to your right side, Craig. I’m sorry.”
