Page 273 of Cross the Line
The tremble of my hands is so strong that it wracks my shoulders. “I was gripping Presley’s wrist and pulling it down. The gun was in my face and… and…” With a shrug, I say, “I yanked his arm down to his chest, and the firearm went off again. It was an accident. It—I?—”
The door slams open, cutting me off. Natasha stands in the open doorway, badge in hand, silencing the detective in front of me when he pushes to his feet to protest.
They leave me in silence. Completely alone. Staring at the clock as the seconds trudge by endlessly.
Tick, tick, tick—tock.
The door grates open slowly, and all I can do is keep staring at the clock. When the chair beside mine creaks, a shoulder bumps mine.
“Doing okay, Son?” Brian asks, and the instant I look at him, the dam holding everything together bursts open.
I don’t know what I’m saying or what I’m doing. The tears are so heavy I can’t see a thing when his arms close around me and he holds me in a suffocating hug until there’s nothing left. No tears. No feelings. No emotions.
“One of the nurses is getting an update on Finley, and Jayden is almost done.” A tender smile tugs at his mouth when he tugs a silk handkerchief from his pocket and dries my face.
His son got shot because of me, and he’s here taking care of me like I deserve his affection.
“I’m sorry,” is all I can say between my sobbed hiccups.
Brian brushes my hair back, his fingers tugging through the crusty strands before he offers me a hair tie. “Jayden said you’d need that.”
With the tight squeeze of my chest around my racing heart, I snatch the hair tie from him. Fisting it tightly in my hand like it’s a piece of Jayden I’m holding on to.
“The detectives won’t be coming back to talk to you. The crime scene team found a camera in Ryker’s truck. Everything they need to close the case is in the footage, so you can relax now. It’s over.”
“Over?” The thrum of my pulse stutters.Over.
A grin cuts Brian’s face. “Yes, Son. Everything is going to be okay,” he tells me, voice lined with the pride glowing in his bright blue stare.
“For real…” The words are a whisper that he echoes as Natasha walks into the room with Jayden and a petite nurse at her side. “For real.”
Without pause, I go to Jayden. His arms engulf me at the same time as I pull him into me. Burying my face in the crook of his neck. The instant I breathe him in, the tension unwinds from my limbs. The fire in my lungs burns hotter with his scent pulsing through my veins.
It seems like an eternity since I’ve held him. Last time I saw him, he was getting in the ambulance with our girl while I got in with the cops.
When we got to the hospital, Fin was taken straight to surgery, Jayden was taken to get stitched up, and the detectives accosted me.
“Your shoulder… is it okay?” I ask, pulling away to get a good look at him.
He’s wearing matching scrubs to mine since the detectives asked for our clothes for evidence. The shirt is too tight around the shoulders, and the pants cut off somewhere between our ankles and calves. Still, it’s better than the hospital gown alternative.
“It was just a surface wound.” Jayden rolls his shoulder when I give him a dubious frown. “A few stitches, that’s all.”
“Eighteenstitches, and some antiseptic cream,” the nurse says, coming closer. Her face is bright, hopeful, and kind as she beams up at Jayden, “The OR nurse will be right out to update you.”
It’s obvious he’s worked his charm on her, and like the rest of us mere mortals, she didn’t stand a chance.
“Is Finley okay?” I know she can’t give us any more information, but I’m desperate to know the extent of the damage, the?—
“Hey,” Jayden chirps, wrapping his arms around my shoulders from behind as we both shift towards the open door. “Our girl is afighter, Sweetheart. Ain’t no way she’s going anywhere except home with us.”
His lips press to my temple with a firm kiss, and I melt into him as another nurse in surgical garbs greets us.
“Hi, I’m Nurse Martinez, and I’m assisting Dr. Phelps in the OR. Miss Tomes lost a lot of blood, which has slowed the surgery down. However, we stopped the bleed in her chest, her lung has been repaired, and the blood has been drained.”
“So all the damage is fixed?” I ask, gripping JJ’s arms tightly to steady myself for her answer.
“Dr. Phelps is performing a pleurodesis.” It must be obvious that we have no idea what that means, because she adds, “The procedure prevents the lung from collapsing again. We’ll use a sterile powder to irritate the surface of the lung and create scar tissue that will stick it to the chest wall. It’s all fairly simple and will stop fluid or air from building up around the lung in the future.”
