Chapter Twenty-Seven
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
DRAVEN
I almost didn’t let McKinsey leave my sight.
Fear is creeping up my neck—something just doesn’t feel right. But I give the doc her space and press my lips together, trying to avoid any further argument with both of these stubborn women long enough to get Kins into my car and to the hospital.
I have half a mind to call Valerie to see if she’s got another shift in the ER today. Maybe Kins will listen to her if she says it’s a good idea to come in for a further look.
“You know, you have a lot of nerve.” Olivia starts in with me again. “You guys met, what? Five minutes ago? And you think you know her so well already?—.”
“I’m not claiming to know everything about her, but that doesn’t stop me from caring about her wellbeing.”
When she scoffs at me, I ball my fists up and roar at her. She looks at me in horror, acting every bit the bad guy in the narrative she’s built up in her head about me.
“I could very well have tossed her over my shoulder and thrown her into my car?—”
A loud crashing sound coming from the bathroom shuts me up. Olivia and I both run across the room, failing to get through the locked door.
“ McKinsey! ” the two of us scream in unison.
Olivia pounds on the door as I pull back and ram my shoulder into it. It doesn’t budge. Still banging her fist on the door, Olivia continues calling out for Kins with no response.
“Back up. Back up.” Quickly tugging Olivia away, I stand back before lifting my leg and kicking the door with every last ounce of strength I have in me.
It splinters open, and my heart fucking leaves my body when I see McKinsey lying on the floor. Unconscious.
“ No!” Howling, I run in and drop to my knees beside her. “Call 911!”
Leaning over McKinsey, I turn her head toward me. She’s white as a fucking ghost. I pat her cheek sharply, willing her to wake up.
“ McKinsey! Fuck! Olivia, call 911!”
“I am!” Olivia screams from behind me before crawling over to Kins’s other side. “I need an ambulance to 684 Buxton Avenue!”
Her unsteady voice is as shaky as the hand holding her phone.
“Tell them to fucking hurry!” Fear causes me to snap at her. She looks at me, but it isn’t with anger or malice.
Her stare is full of worry, mirroring my own.
“I, uh… I don’t know. She just collapsed onto the floor. Sh-she doesn’t appear to be breathing. Um…” She looks at me to confirm.
“I-I don’t fucking know.” Trying to keep her body steady in my arms, I concentrate on her chest, looking for it to rise and fall. “Shit, it-it doesn’t look like it.”
As Olivia talks with the operator, I try to listen carefully for the sound of sirens in the distance. The fire station isn’t far, so I should be able to hear them as soon as they start up.
“Wake up, baby. Come on McKinsey!” My heart sinks as each second passes by that she doesn’t wake up.
“Yes, I feel a pulse. Um, I think…” Olivia’s hand darts between McKinsey’s throat and wrist, feeling for a pulse.
I feel a tear roll down my cheek as I pull McKinsey’s hair back, away from her pale face.
Not again. I can’t lose someone else. Especially not her. Not. Fucking. Again.
Before I get too far underwater, I give my head a shake.
Keep yourself together. If not for you, for her.
“Fuck. Baby… Please hold on.” I cup her cheek, running my thumb over her slick skin. “Fucking hold on for me, Kins. I love you…”
When I see Olivia’s head raise out of the corner of my eye, I look at her. I’m waiting for her to give me more shit about not knowing her long enough to be in love with her.
But she doesn’t.
Instead, she shocks the absolute shit out of me by reaching out and placing her hand over mine.
“Okay.” She nods at something the operator says before pulling her phone from her ear.
Placing it on the floor of the bathroom, she turns the speaker on.
“I’m going to wait on the phone until they get there. Let me know if the situation changes.”
“Okay, thank you,” she says to the operator before looking at me.
“Paramedics are on their way.” She squeezes my hand reassuringly. “There’s nothing for us to do but wait.”
“Thank you.” I nod to her as I finally hear the sound of sirens in the distance.
“She’s going to be okay.” When Olivia speaks, it sounds as though she’s trying to convince herself just as much as she’s trying to convince me.
Five minutes later, the paramedics arrive.
It’s the longest five minutes of my life.
Olivia meets them outside and leads them up to the bathroom. I hear her explaining to them what happened as they approach.
“Sir, I need you to step out of the bathroom so we can get in there and do our jobs.”
Reluctantly, I lay McKinsey’s head against the tile floor and get out of their way. Olivia and I stand shoulder to shoulder as we watch them work on the doc.
They find a pulse, but it’s weak.
Her breathing is shallow, so they give her oxygen.
My heart breaks into a thousand pieces, watching her lay there, helpless to do anything.
Finally, they get her situated on a cot and strap her in so they can move her safely downstairs and onto a stretcher.
“I’m riding with you.” I rush to catch up to the paramedics before they lift her into the ambulance.
“Sorry, we have someone in training today, so there’s no room in the back.” Oh, come on. “But you guys are more than welcome to follow us there.”
Fuck.
“Come on, Draven.” Olivia pulls me away from the ambulance when she notices me getting angry.
“Fine, but I’m driving.” I wait for her to argue with me, but she doesn’t.
Thankfully.
“Check in at the desk in the ER,” one of the paramedics calls out to us once they get McKinsey loaded in the back. “They’ll tell you what room she’s in as soon as she gets one assigned to her.”
With panic strangling my chest, I drop into the driver’s seat of my car.