The Mercenary and the Mortician (The Silent Hollow #1)

65. Ryan Fairview

A s if the universe timed it, the back door nearly blew off its hinges, causing all of us to jump. Time seemed to slow down as I turned to find that Vox had literally kicked the door in while trying to support a barely conscious Callum Walker.

There. Was. Blood.

Everywhere.

Cal was slumped over Vox’s left shoulder, his dark hair falling into his gorgeous eyes, hiding them from me. He was holding something wet and crusty to his abdomen, where most of the blood seemed to be coming from.

“What the fuck happened!?” Cassandra was screeching. Vox looked up at me and made eye contact. He was pale, and the absolutely terrified look on his face told me that this was just as serious as it seemed.

He seemed to be begging me to do something with his eyes, and I realized that there was no way we could take Cal to a hospital… not if he had been injured doing something illegal.

The world fell away, and suddenly, I snapped into action. Falling into the version of myself that took control and powered through whatever bullshit life threw at me, I straightened.

“Theo, get Cass out of here. Vox, take Cal downstairs, get him on the table in the embalming room.”

“What! I’m not fucking going anywhere! That’s my brother!”

I rounded on Cassandra and pinned her with what I knew was one of my coldest looks.

Her eyes widened in surprise. Usually, I kept quiet when she was having one of her moments, but I didn’t have the patience for her today.

“Yes, he is your brother, and in case you haven’t noticed, he’s fucking bleeding out. Now unless you know a private doctor that you can get over here in time to save his fucking life, I need you to give me space to work.”

Cass opened and closed her mouth several times, apparently completely shocked by my sudden show of force. I watched her struggle with her need to always be in control before resigning herself to the fact that I was right. If she wasn’t going to be helpful, she needed to stay out of the way.

Finally, she straightened herself and gave me a firm nod, which made me like her a lot more than I previously had. You had to respect someone who was self-aware enough to realize that they were being a jackass.

“Done. Keep him stable. I’ll see if I can find someone.”

I raised my eyebrows but didn’t bother to ask how she was going to find someone we could trust. Maybe there was some secret high-powered club full of lawyers and surgeons that helped each other out on a case-by-case basis.

What did I know?

I knew how to stitch up bodies. That’s what I fucking knew.

Okay, normally, they were dead bodies, and I was sure I wouldn’t know what the fuck to do if Cal had an internal bleed… but I certainly was going to try to do whatever I could to keep him alive until Cass could get a real doctor in here.

Cass whipped out her phone and stalked out of the room. She was already dialing a number when I went to Cal’s other side and slid my arm around his back, doing my best to help Vox get him down the stairs and into the prep room.

“Ginger snap… is that… you?” Cal whimpered as I helped him stumble toward the stairs. Despite the fact that I had never been so scared in my life, my heart soared in my chest.

He called me ginger snap.

“Yes, baby. It’s me. I’ve got you. We’re going to get you all fixed up, okay? I just need you to put one foot in front of the other.”

“I… I fucked up. So bad.” He choked on a sob, and my fucking heart shattered into a million pieces.

“Shhh. Shhh, it’s okay. We’re going to fix it. Whatever it is, we’ll fix it together, alright, angel? I just need you to try to stay awake for now. Can you do that for me?”

“I don’t know.”

“You have to try for me, baby. Keep those gorgeous eyes open.”

He turned his brown gaze to face me, and my heart almost stopped when I saw how dazed they were.

He was so pale… he was losing so much fucking blood.

“Vox, we need to move faster.” I tried to keep my voice calm so as not to upset Cal more than he already was. Vox nodded and picked up the pace.

As quickly and carefully as possible, we managed to get Cal down the stairs and into the preparation room.

I rushed to wash my hands and get on all my PPE. Forcing myself to breathe and keep as calm as possible, I set up a small end table with all the equipment I thought I might need.

Once I was ready, I glanced at Cal, biting my lip beneath my surgical mask. He was still clutching that blood-soaked cloth to his side when Vox had him lie down on the stainless steel table.

I wrapped my hand around it and gently pried it away from Cal’s grip, frowning when I realized it wasn’t a towel or a cloth at all. It seemed to be the head of a stuffed highland cow.

I shook my head, not bothering to ask what the fuck that was all about.

“Get cleaned up and put on gloves. You’re going to have to be my nurse,” I barked at Vox, who nodded and leapt into action. He was nearly as pale as Cal was.

“Straight scissors.”

Vox immediately handed them to me, and I used them to cut off Cal’s shirt. He groaned beneath me, and I swore, annoyed that I was causing him unnecessary pain just by touching him.

This was a fucking morgue. I didn’t have any general anesthetic. The strongest shit I had was a bottle of ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet upstairs.

“I’m sorry, baby. I know it hurts. I’m going to try to be as gentle as possible.”

He nodded, swallowing so hard I heard it. Letting out a shaky breath, I did my best to stay focused. Once I got his shirt off, I was able to better assess the damage.

There was a bullet wound on his right side. Dark blood was pouring from it so freely that I was truly worried he might need a blood transfusion. I didn’t know his blood type or where the fuck to get something like that on such short notice.

I really hoped Cass could get a doctor here quickly.

“Put pressure here,” I ordered, showing Vox where I wanted him to put his fingers. One thing I did know a lot about was how blood moved through the human body. A big part of embalming was draining the body of blood so you could replace it with the embalming fluid.

So, I was pleased when Vox pressed his gloved fingers into Cal’s side the way I instructed, and the steady spurts of blood immediately slowed down to nearly a full stop.

Taking the opportunity to examine the rest of him and make sure the bullet wound was the only thing I needed to worry about, my heart stuttered when I found another wound directly over his heart.

This was not a bullet wound.

It was a fucking burn and a really bad one. I looked closer, confused at how a burn could make a shape like that. It was purulent, red, and angry. It might even be infected.

I gently touched the outer edge of it with my gloved finger, and Cal hissed in pain beneath my touch.

“Ginger… snap. That… hurts ,” he whined, and I glanced at him, but his eyes were crushed closed. He was sweating now and so pale he was nearly green.

I wanted to ask him how he got the burn, but I didn’t think he would be able to answer right now. He was in too much pain.

It almost looked like it formed the shape of deformed letters.

DB? OP…?

I shook my head. It was the lesser of his two injuries. I would ask him about the burn later; right now, I needed to make sure the bullet wasn’t still in his body.

I glanced up at Vox, who was staring at the angry mark on Cal’s chest with a murderous look on his face.

“Hey, snap out of it,” I barked, getting his attention. His eyes darted to meet mine, and the rage I saw burning in there was so intense I almost took a step back.

Shaking off the moment of discomfort, I did my best to focus on the task at hand.

“I’m going to check and see if the bullet passed through his body. If it has, we’ll have to do our best to keep him from bleeding out while we wait for help.”

Vox gave me a curt nod, and I walked to his side of the table.

“I’m going to try to roll him a bit. I need to check and see if there’s an exit wound. Try to keep pressure where I showed you, and keep him steady. We need to move him as little as possible.”

Vox nodded and immediately moved to follow my orders.

Together, we were able to lift Cal enough for me to check his back. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw there was an exit wound, which meant the bullet wasn’t still inside of him.

Thank god.

I brushed my gloved fingers over his uninjured flesh. Though I couldn’t see much, I wasn’t surprised to find that Cal’s back seemed to be just as heavily tattooed as the rest of him. It looked like a large piece made up of black feathers, but it was hard to tell, considering how much blood he was covered in.

Gently laying him back down, I turned to Vox.

“Stay here; keep pressure on his wound exactly like that. I’m going to get some pillows so we can elevate his legs.”

Vox, silent as ever, just gave me a determined nod, and I rushed from the room.

I was gathering up all the throw pillows from the couch in the living room when Cass appeared.

“I found someone willing to help. He’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“Good,” I grunted, rushing past her to get back downstairs.

“Hey.”

“What?” I snapped, agitated with the interruption. Though, when I glanced up and took a moment to take in her expression, I softened.

She looked just as scared and worried as I was. Her face was nearly white and there was a fine tremor in her hands. I had never seen her look so vulnerable.

“Can you tell me, uhm… is he…?”

“He’s stable for now,” I reassured her. “Get the doctor downstairs as soon as possible. Maybe let him know we might need antibiotics and blood. Do you know his blood type?”

She nodded. “He’s O-positive.”

Relief rushed through me. “Okay, that’s good.” It was a common one. I was O-positive, too. If worse came to worst, I would find a way to funnel my own damn blood into his body if I had to. He was not fucking dying on me. I wouldn’t allow it.

I hurried back downstairs with the pillows and stuffed them under Cal’s legs. Vox had done his job and kept pressure on the wound, but he was now also holding Cal’s hand so tightly his knuckles were white.

“Where’s… Ryan.” Cal’s voice sounded weak, and his eyes were closed. I rushed to his head and brushed his hair out of his eyes, dropping a kiss on his forehead through my mask.

“I’m right here, baby. The doctor will be here soon.”

“S-stay… with me?” He coughed before immediately wincing. “ Please . I’m s-sorry… I left you earlier… I didn’t… mean.”

“Oh, baby, I know. I know you didn’t mean it.” I whispered, dropping more gentle kisses on his forehead. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to get you all fixed up, and then I’m going to tuck you up into bed, okay?”

He didn’t answer, and I bit my lip. His breathing was more shallow than I would have liked. I was about to whip out my phone to call Cass when she walked into the prep room with a man I didn’t recognize.

He was younger than I expected, maybe in his early thirties. He had a sandy mop of golden hair and blue eyes. I watched him assess Cal’s wrecked state, and his lips formed a firm line.

“Ryan, this is my friend, Dr. Callahan.”

“Call me Tom,” he said. “I would shake your hand, but I think it would be better if I scrubbed in instead.”

I nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. “Yes, please,” I rasped, and Dr. Callahan didn’t waste another second. He got straight to work, and for the first time since Vox and Cal had stumbled through the door, I felt a glimmer of hope.

Maybe we would make it out of this after all.