Mr. Swoony (The Nest #3)

Chapter 54

Fifty-Four

Conor

I pound my shoulder into the door.

“Ruby, don’t you have an axe here to scare away the people you don’t like?” Tweetie shouts, taking turns to hit the door with his shoulder as I search the area for anything to break down the door.

“Here.” Kyleigh weaves through the crowd and hands me a fire extinguisher.

I hit the door with it. “Sorry, Rubes, I’ll buy you a new door.”

“How cold of a person do you think I am? Get the girl out!” she yells.

I continue to use all my force, hitting right where the lock is. After too many hits and my shoulders and arms killing me, the lock finally splinters, and the door flies open.

Lila is standing over a passed-out Eloise sprawled out on the floor. Fear like I’ve never known grips me. Lila glances over her shoulder, and I grab her free arm, spinning her around into the wall. I crouch beside Eloise and move my hands all over her head, searching for any sign of blood.

“Someone call an ambulance,” I shout, running my hand over her freshly bruised cheekbone. “God, baby, wake up. Be okay. Please be okay.”

I have no idea what happens behind me, and I don’t care. I just need a paramedic to get here.

Her eyes flutter open.

“Eloise?”

“Oh god, what happened?” She touches her cheek.

“Just stay still, baby.” I hear sirens outside.

“We’re closing. Go find your fun somewhere else!” Ruby screams, and I hear a lot of groans and complaints.

“Eloise.” Jade falls to her knees on her other side and sees the bruise, eyeing me when Eloise’s eyes drift closed again.

“Where is Lila?” I ask.

“She’s at a table with Rowan and Henry watching her. Tweetie went out to lead the paramedics in here.”

We wait for what feels like a million years as Eloise just lies there with her eyes closed.

A paramedic rushes in. “Okay, everyone out. What happened?”

Jade does a double-take at him. “Medic Bianco?”

Henry pops his head in. “How do you know the paramedic?”

“Man, sonic ears,” Tweetie says from the hallway.

“Who the hell cares?” I shout, then look at the paramedic. “This is my girlfriend. She was hit, and I don’t know if she hit her head on the floor too, but she’s got a nasty bruise on her cheek.”

The paramedic nods. “Okay, give us some room.” He bends down where I was.

I pace the small space, biting my fist, then lean against the wall and watch them ask Eloise questions, shine a flashlight in her eyes, and eventually move her onto a stretcher. I follow her out.

The police are here now, asking everyone questions.

“I’ll need to ask you some questions,” one cop says to me.

“Then visit me at the hospital.” I continue walking until I reach the ambulance and watch them put Eloise in the back before I step inside with Medic Bianco.

“So, you’re coming too,” Medic Bianco says, laughing to himself. “I’m kidding, I’d probably be on the stretcher with my wife. Then she’d knee me in the nuts. Well, maybe not the nuts. She’s been begging me for another kid.”

“Thanks. Can we concentrate on my girlfriend?”

He puts in an IV, and the ambulance drives away from Peeper’s. I sit back and watch Eloise doze in and out, missing her amazing gray eyes every time her eyelids shut.

“These things happen. It wasn’t your fault,” Medic Bianco says, not knowing how wrong he is.

This is all my fault.