Chapter 28 Duke
Solana stood from my lap and I was on my feet right behind her. Apollo snapped his attention to Vinny immediately. Every instinct in the room shifted at once.
"Where is your mom?" Apollo asked.
Vinny pointed down the street toward a house a few buildings down, screen door hanging wide open. Apollo didn't wait. He took off in that direction and I was right behind him.
She already had her phone out before I finished the sentence.
I told Juelz to stay behind with the women. Then I ran to catch up with Vinny and Apollo as they took the porch steps two at a time and pushed through the front door.
The television was on inside. The house was tidy, taken care of.
You could tell his mother did her best with what she had.
But the row of open cans on the kitchen counter told a different story, the kind that too many families in the Parks knew without having to say it out loud.
Food was stretched thin. It was one of the reasons we ran the backpack giveaway every year.
A way to get people what they needed without making them feel like they had to ask for it.
I moved through the kitchen and down the hallway, Apollo's voice pulling me before I even saw him.
"Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine."
He was on his knees beside her, hands locked at the center of her chest, shoulders stacked directly over his arms, driving each compression down with the kind of controlled force that came from years of doing this under pressure.
Thirty. He tilted her head back, lifted her chin, sealed his mouth over hers, and delivered two slow rescue breaths before locking back in and starting the count again.
Vinny stood a few feet away, frozen, tears running down his face.
I hated that he was seeing this.
I stepped over and pulled him into my chest, turning him away from the scene. My hand came up to the back of his head as I held him and rubbed his back, trying to give him something solid to hold onto even though my own chest was tight.
"It's going to be alright," I said quietly, even as I kept my eyes on Apollo.
He didn't stop. Didn't pause. His breathing was controlled but the urgency was there in every compression.
"Come on. Come on."
Then he stopped the count.
"I've got a pulse."
The words had barely landed before the paramedics pushed through the door with their gear, taking over the space with the kind of practiced efficiency that left no room for anything else.
One immediately fitted a non-rebreather oxygen mask over her face and checked her breathing while the other assessed her responsiveness and called out vitals.
Within minutes they had her stable enough to move, lifting her carefully onto the gurney and rolling her toward the door.
The room cleared out just as fast as they had filled it.
I kept my arm around Vinny and looked over at Apollo. He had sat back on his heels, one hand dragging down his face, the sharp exhale of someone coming down from a place most people never had to go.
"You did everything right," I told him.
He nodded slowly, but I could see him replaying it behind his eyes, running back through every step the way people like him always did whether it went well or not.
Apollo pushed to his feet and pointed toward the door.
"We need to get to the hospital. They're going to want family present."
I guided Vinny outside. One of the paramedics glanced back at us as they loaded her in.
"You family?"
I didn't hesitate.
"He's with me."
There was a brief pause, just long enough to assess, then a nod.
"Stay close. Follow us."
I looked back toward Solana, Juelz, Aubree, and Jessa.
"Jessa, you drive here?" I asked.
Vinny's fist tightened in the back of my shirt. Jessa was already pulling her keys from her pocket.
"I'll drive y'all to the hospital," she said.
I looked at Juelz and tossed him my bike keys, nodding toward the direction of the shop. He caught them and headed off without a word. Jessa led us to her car and we made our way to Haven Crest Medical Center.
She dropped us at the emergency room entrance and went to park. Everyone moved inside except Vinny, whose feet stopped at the edge of the doors like something had locked inside of him.
Solana noticed we weren't behind her and turned back. I gave her a look and she read it immediately, giving Vinny a quiet smile before she followed Aubree in.
I turned to give him my full attention. He was staring up at the emergency sign above the automatic doors like he couldn't make himself look away from it.
"I can't go in there, Duke," he said finally.
"Why not?"
Vinny turned from the entrance and walked over to the bench along the side of the building. He sat down heavily. I let out a slow breath and took the seat beside him.
He clasped and unclasped his hands over and over.
"If I go in there and they tell me she's gone, I got nobody. No place to go. She can't leave me yet, man."
I sat with that for a moment and didn't rush past it. I didn't know what state his mother was in and I wasn't going to lie to him just to get him through the door.
I leaned back into the bench and widened my legs, hands clasped in front of me.
"I hear you. And I hate that this is something you're going through. I can't tell you everything is going to go the way you want it to when we walk in there. But what I can tell you with everything in me is that you're not going through it alone. I got you. Whatever happens, you have me."
Vinny looked up from his sneakers. His eyes were red and wet and wide, like he wasn't sure he had heard me right. He reached up and wiped his face with the back of his hand, then straightened his shirt like he was trying to pull himself together.
"You ready to go in and handle whatever is on the other side of those doors?" I asked.
He nodded and stood. I stood with him and led him inside.
Solana and Aubree were at the reception desk trying to get whatever information they could, but there wasn't much to give them yet.
She had just come in. We walked over and Vinny stepped up and gave his mother's full name along with their address and her date of birth without being asked.
He had all of it memorized. That told me everything.
This wasn't the first time he had stood at a desk like this one.
The receptionist told us someone would come out when there was something to share. We found seats in the waiting room and settled in.
About thirty minutes later, Juelz came through the entrance doors moving fast and slightly out of breath. He scanned the room until he found us, then made his way over. His eyes went straight to Aubree the moment he reached us. She didn't look up.
I wasn't getting into that tonight.
"Your bike is taken care of. What are they saying about his mom?" Juelz asked.
"Appreciate it. Nothing yet. We're still waiting," I told him.
Solana tucked herself into my side. Vinny sat on the other side of me, quiet and still. Jessa had come in a few minutes after us and was sitting with Aubree, scrolling on her phone.
Juelz moved toward the empty seat next to Aubree and she shifted her purse into it without looking up.
He picked it up, held it in his lap, and sat down like she hadn't done a thing.
If the situation had been different I would have smiled.
She was giving him hell, which was exactly his type of problem to have.
The doctor came through the double doors and everything in Vinny went still beside me.
"Is she okay?" he asked before anyone else could speak.
The doctor's expression settled into something measured but not grim.
"She's stable. She experienced a severe asthma attack, likely brought on by a respiratory infection.
Her airway was compromised by the time paramedics reached her.
She's going to need to stay with us for a few days so we can monitor her oxygen levels and make sure her breathing stays where it needs to be. "
A few days.
I felt the moment it landed on Vinny. He looked up at me like he was trying to work out what that meant for him.
I rested my hand on the back of his neck.
"You're not staying here alone," I said quietly. "You're coming with me."
He looked back at the doctor. "She's going to wake up, right?"
I watched the doctor's face carefully.
"Your mother is being well taken care of," the doctor said directly to Vinny. "We have her on supplemental oxygen and we're going to monitor her closely through the night. She's in good hands. I want to make sure we have your contact information at the desk so we can reach you with any updates."
I gripped Vinny's shoulder, then looked back at the doctor. "When can he see her?"
The doctor checked his watch. "Give us about ten minutes to get her settled, then we'll come get you."
He headed back through the doors. Solana stood and walked over to us.
"I'm going to go pick him up a few things to sleep in tonight. He shouldn't have to wear the same clothes to bed." She looked at me. "Your place or the loft?"
"The loft. I want to be close enough to get back here fast if we need to."
She nodded and glanced at me. "I also want to stop by the shop and grab those letters from my mom and a couple of things. It'll be quick."
I shook my head because this woman never stopped moving, but her heart was something else entirely. She saw exactly what Vinny needed and was already handling it without being asked.
"Juelz is going with you. It's late and you're not moving around out here by yourself anymore, not now that the whole world knows who you are."
Solana exhaled and started to turn away. I caught her chin and brought her back to me, then kissed her a few times until the tension in her face softened into a smile.
"Hold all of that. You know I'm right."
I looked over at Juelz, who was already on his feet.
"Take her to grab what she needs."
He nodded.
Jessa stretched and stood up. "I'll stay here. I can drop you and Vinny at the loft when you're ready."
"Thank you," I told her.
Aubree stayed in her seat alongside Jessa. Solana kissed me once more, then followed Juelz out through the entrance doors.
Vinny tugged my sleeve.
"Duke. The doctor is waving us over."
I looked up. He was standing at the doorway, waiting.
"Let's go," I said, and we walked toward him together.