Chapter 36
Amelia
Slipping back into reality and back into work was hard for me. I never wanted to leave the little world Shooter and I created.
But duty called and I did like my job a little too much. I was the crazy one.
“Returning guest in bed nineteen, Mia, and Dr. Harrell ain’t too happy.” my charge nurse said before coming back to the main hub. As I turned, I banged my knee and tried to contain the amount of curse words that were threatening to be heard.
“Maybe if Harrell would actually teach his resident instead of commanding them, he wouldn’t have as many repeaters,” I grumbled.
“Jesus, what crawled up your ass? You bang another body part again?”
“Of course I banged another body part. It’s a miracle that I’m not the patient,” I joked, rubbing the sore spot and knowing the bruise was going to form.
Maybe I’d get Shooter to make it all better.
Things were good. Chris had disappeared and as long as a police officer wasn’t showing up to my door asking questions, I knew it wouldn’t be too long before he was back.
My stomach started to gurgle but I wasn’t in the mood to eat; knowing my ass I was bound to come down with something. Pulling more shifts, and trying to knock down some debt. It wasn’t going to be a problem soon, but for the time being I wasn’t letting my guard down.
“You know, there is a solution we could give you, a plastic bubble.” Jennie slid in next to me.
“Yeah, but it wouldn’t be fun, and then I wouldn’t have a sex life anymore.” I smiled.
“Amelia Flynn you dirty girl, you’re finally admitting that you got that dick.” Jennie bumped my shoulder.
“Yes, and then some.”
“You look happy.”
“I feel it.”
She leaned her head on my shoulders, the small embrace meant it was a bigger gesture than anyone would know. To have people behind you, to choose you. My eyes were opened and I had a certain person to thank for that, and I wasn’t going to take it for granted anymore.
“So, for breakfast this weekend, I figured we’d try a different…” her voice carried on, but a series of shouts and alarms blared, breaking off the conversation.
“Level one, trauma now. Level one, trauma now.”
“Amelia, I need you in trauma bay one. Incoming multiple stab wounds,” my charge nurse shouted as I broke away to the trauma bay, prepping for the incoming patient.
My heart beat faster and faster, asking the man upstairs to not let it be anyone I knew.
My stomach started to get queasy just thinking about it, and the possibilities.
Heavy footsteps went running to the door as the medics came in rattling off vitals and brief incident history.
I caught wind of it, as I gowned and gloved up.
“21-year-old, male, found on the college campus near the back alley of a campus building. Multiple stab wounds, one to the chest, one to the left side, and one back.” The medic continued with the vitals as they counted down to lift him up on the table.
He looked so young, barely experiencing life. Emotions welled up in my eyes, I must’ve been getting close to my period; usually I was much more grounded.
“Amelia, I need those fluids,” one of the ED doctors commanded.
I ran fast to grab what was needed, hooking up the fluids, and grabbing the gauzes as the doctors and team continued to work on him.
They were trying to stop the bleeding. “Come on, let’s get this under control.
” one of them shouted. His left side started to bleed and I quickly grabbed it, notifying the team that more was leaking out.
Just as they got some control, his heart rate almost gave out. I whispered, “Don’t you dare.”
By some miracle, he came back. I had to step out, something was coming over me.
I asked for a switch out and Jennie gladly covered me. I stepped away into the nearest hallway, still watching from afar the action that was happening. Who would do something to him? And on a college campus? He was someone’s kid, someone’s friend.
I leaned on the wall, my hands started to tremble.
Then one of the officers approached me. They cleared their throat.
“Your charge nurse was there. I thought I might drop this off to you.” I looked up at the burly cop with a hand extended with a backpack in there.
“His wallet and phone are in there. We already cleared it.”
I found my voice. “Has anyone called next of kin or someone come along with him?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. There wasn’t enough time.”
Of course, one of the downfalls is that some of these things fall back to us. I just nodded and took the bag back to the hub as the officer watched over me.
I pulled out the wallet and the phone, seeing if the boy had an emergency card or something. There was enough battery for me to scroll over and hover over the emergency emblem and pull up the card. I got his name and date of birth.
I scrolled through to see any other medical information, blood type, current medications, but what took my breath away was the name of the first person on his emergency contact list.
“Shooter”.
I shook my head. I prayed, I hoped that it wasn’t anyone connected to the club or to Shooter. My blood ran cold, all color draining from my face.
“Ma’am, are you alright?” the cop asked me.
Tears started to well up in my eyes. I tried to find my ground, find my next move. “Um. Yes. Could you tell me if Lt. Greene is going to be attached to this?”
The cop shot me a look in confusion, “I mean… I don’t think so. How do you know Greene?”
“Mutual friends.” Shooter had told me everything one night.
About what happened at Melody’s accident and how the club has been taking over the city and they had a man on the inside.
The coincidence was damning, knowing that Greene helped me out and tried to give me options.
At the very least, a character witness if necessary.
The cop nodded, “I don’t think so, but if you would like me to get him, I can call him in.”
“That would be helpful. You can tell him that Mia asked for him and that he might want to come down here.”
The cop shrugged, “No skin off my back. I’ll be back.”
I watched him walk away before my thumb hovered over the call button. I had a lot of questions roam through my mind. But only one sad thought came to mind, how would Shooter take this?
With all the guts and strength I had, I pressed the call button, bringing the phone to my ear, waiting for him to pick up.
After four rings, I was going to call it quits until the other end of the line clicked in. He sounded out of breath.
“If you’re calling to tell me your ass is coming to the gym, because I swear to everything holy…” Shooter started to say.
I covered my mouth from a cry escaping me. I swallowed it down.
“Dillon. Bud… This better not be a butt dial,” he called out, trying to joke.
“Sugar,” I softly said.
“Amelia?” his voice started to stutter, trying to find his next words. “Why do you have Dillon’s phone?”
I looked up to the ceiling, trying to take a deep breath.
“Um…” I had to do this professionally as possible; I didn’t need the cops without Greene to know what the connection was.
“Sir, this is Mia Flynn with the Baptist hospital. You were listed as the next of kin or emergency contact regarding a patient of ours. We are requesting that...” I trailed off to the usual statement, hating every minute of it.
He was silent for a moment. “Shooter? You still there?”
“I’m on my way.”
“Shooter.”
“Amelia, I said I will be there.” He clicked off before any other sentiment.
Ice chilled in my veins. I didn’t know what it meant, who this patient, this innocent boy was to Shooter. He must have meant something more if he listed him as the emergency contact.
Things were slowing down enough that Dillon was being wheeled into surgery. The team looked exhausted but with some hope in their faces. Jennie cleaned up, before coming to me at the hub.
She shook her head. “It’s been a long time since we had one that was so difficult. You okay?”
I shook my head as well. “What I tell you.”
“Stays between us, yeah.” She reached for my hand.
I swallowed before talking. “Shooter was the emergency contact.”
She tilted her head. “You mean…”
“Yeah. I don’t think it’s one of the brothers or something, but, umm, he’s on the way up and I’m waiting for Greene to arrive.”
“Well, you won’t have to wait much longer.” The booming voice of someone else familiar. Greene walked in after acknowledging the cops standing by. “I’ll admit, Mia, when they said you looking for me, I started to worry.”
I shook my head. “No. Um… we’re a little bit more connected and I needed someone in my corner for what’s about to happen next.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Connected how?”
“Where is he?” a thunderous voice echoed through the halls as Shooter came barreling through.
Greene jolted back from shock then looked at me then looked back at Shooter. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and the whole holy family. What did you get mixed up into now?” It almost sounded like there was a whine in his voice.
“Sir, you can’t be back here.” One of the receptionists tried to stop him.
I raised my hand, stopping her. “It’s okay. He’s with the level one trauma that came in. I’ll take care of him.” I rushed to him, trying to prevent him from making a stupid decision.
“I need to see him,” he insisted.
I placed my hands on his chest, trying to calm him down.
“Sugar, you can’t. Not right now.” He started to pull away from me, swatting my hands away.
A bit of anger started to boil. I reached out and grabbed his beard, bringing his face to mine.
I heard Greene warn me, “Mia.” I shot him a look to trust me.
I focused on Shooter. There wasn’t fury in his eyes, there was a wall of sadness, worry, almost like devastation. The kid wasn’t an enemy, he truly meant something to Shooter.
“Look at me.” I demanded. Shooter tried to jerk away, “River, look at me.” I beckoned him.
My hard, protective man turned into the cinnamon roll that was typically for me, melting into my touch, trying to ground himself to something real.
“There you are.” I cupped his cheek. “Trust me like you did the first time you met me. I got you.”
“Amelia, I… can’t…” he started to growl out, his emotions rising to the surface.
I brought his forehead to mine. “I know, I know. I got you. I know you’re worried. I’m worried too. He was stable enough to get him to surgery. That’s a good thing.”
Shooter agreed with me. His body was tensed up, fighting between staying strong and crumbling to the floor.
“Trust me enough to know that I will watch over him. And when he’s able to, you’ll see him.”
Even the strongest men can show their true emotions, even their own walls crumble when the real world sees them.
“Fuck me sideways, can I get a man like that?” I heard Jennie almost fan herself.
“I feel like I missed a lot of information, more than just a chapter,” Greene responded.
Heavier footsteps fell behind Shooter, I glanced back to see B.B. and Stray looking concerned. B.B’s blond hair all out of place like he had been pulling it. Stray’s stance tensed like he was preparing for the worse news.
“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Greene asked.
Before I could speak, Shooter chimed in, “Someone is playing with fire and I want to know why.”
It wasn’t long before Shooter and the guys were filling in Greene on what was happening. I gave them space, not just for them to talk it out, but my stomach was finally catching up to me from the stress and I needed to step away.
I found the closest bathroom, trying to catch my breath. The creaking of the door sparked my attention.
“I don’t know how you stood strong.” Jennie’s sweet voice kept me company.
I didn’t know it, either. She kept distracting me. “And girl, that man. Damn, it was like watching you tame a fucking beast. Like, sign me up.”
I chuckled. Some days it wasn’t like that, some days were filled with worry if he would walk back through his door, if the last kiss would really be the last kiss.
I lived in the moment and at that time, my stomach was trying to toss up the leftover Chinese food from my lunch last week that I had for breakfast.