Ruby
Ruby
R uby rushed into the hospital and shouted Luke’s name as though he’d call back to her. Instead, she found a very worried-looking Ranger standing in the hallway, pacing in front of one of the ER rooms. “Is he in there?” she asked.
Millie rushed in behind her and nodded to Ranger. “How is he?” she asked.
“He’s in there and I’m not sure how he’s doing. They won’t give me any answers.”
“Are you all right?” Millie asked Ranger.
“I’ll live,” he looked down at himself and grimaced. Ranger looked like hell, and she knew that if Luke was in the ER, he had to look worse than his friend.
“What happened after I left?” Ruby asked.
“They roughed him up a bit if you want me to be honest,” Ranger said.
“I’d appreciate that,” Ruby said. She needed to know the truth about what Luke had been through. She needed to know what she was going to be up against if he came out of this.
“He was pretty banged up when I got there. I’m pretty sure that his nose and jaw were both broken, but he was conscious and talking. In fact, when I told him about my phone bomb, he was pretty pissed off that I was acting so casual about a bomb.”
“Gee, you think?” Millie asked.
“Hey, it was a good plan,” Ranger insisted. “I knew that you would call me back with information in about five minutes and I also knew that one of those assholes would take my phone with them, so I wouldn’t be able to call for help. There was no way that they’d let me hold onto it. The risk was minimal.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t account for them walking back in the house, did you?” Millie asked.
“How did you know that?” he questioned.
“I have sources too, Ranger. I called a friend on the force, and he gave me a quick rundown while we were driving over here.” Ruby wasn’t sure if Ranger looked pissed off that Millie had checked up on him, or if he looked proud that she had connections. Either way, he looked Millie over like he wanted her. She knew that look because it was the same one that Luke had given her so many times over the past four months.
A nurse pushed her way out of Luke’s room and Ranger grabbed her arm. “How is he?” Ranger asked.
“I really can’t answer that. Do you by chance have numbers so that we can reach his family?” the nurse asked.
Ranger practically shoved Ruby in the nurse’s face. “This is Luke’s fiancée,” he lied. “She’s pregnant with their baby. You can talk to her, right?”
“Fiancée?” the nurse asked, looking Ruby over as if sizing her up. “And you’re pregnant?”
“Yes,” Ruby lied. Well, partially lied. She was pregnant with Luke’s baby, at least. “How is he?”
“He’s pretty banged up. I’ve called for the plastic surgeon to come take a look at his nose and his jaw since they both look to be broken. He’s also in shock,” she said.
“Has he woken up yet?” Ranger asked. The nurse looked him over and pressed her lips together.
“Has he woken up yet?” Ruby repeated.
“No,” the nurse admitted. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find out what’s holding up the doctor.” She disappeared down the hallway and all Ruby seemed capable of doing was watching her walk away.
“Now what?” she asked. Ranger looked about as unsure as she felt. There was no way that she was going to leave Luke laying in the ER room by himself. She pulled the door open and slipped into the room, glad that the nurse had been the only person in there with him.
“Luke,” she whispered, rushing to his bedside. “Can you hear me?” she asked. He moaned and stirred, and she looked him over, wincing when she noticed the bruises and blood on his face. The nurse was right—his nose and jaw looked broken. She just hoped that he wasn’t in too much pain.
“Hurts,” he breathed.
“I know,” she said. “You’re in the hospital and they’re finding a doctor who can help you.” He nodded and moaned, and she ducked her head out of the room. “He’s awake,” she said to Ranger. “Get him some help—he’s in pain.”
“On it,” Ranger promised. He was about to turn to walk back to the nurse’s station and walked right into the same nurse from moments earlier. “He’s awake,” Ranger said.
“Tell me that you weren’t in there,” she grumbled.
“I wasn’t,” he assured. “But his fiancée here was, and she said that he’s waking up and is in pain.”
“Which room is he in?” a man asked from behind Nurse Ratchet.
“This one,” she said, pointing to Luke’s room. “Possible broken nose and jaw. He’s waking up now.” The doctor nodded and walked past the nurse, Ranger, and Millie to go into Luke’s room. Ruby didn’t wait to be invited back in—simply following behind the doctor. If he was there to give Luke answers, she wanted to be in on that conversation.
She looked Luke over and noted that he had fallen back to sleep again since she had stepped out of the room. “Jesus,” the doctor said. “What in the hell happened to him?”
Ranger stood in the doorway to the room. “It’s classified,” he lied. “We are both ex-military and I can’t share what happened until it’s cleared.”
“Give me the gist,” the doctor ordered.
“Two guys beat him up,” Ranger offered. “That about sums it up.” Luke was in and out of consciousness which wasn’t that bad given that he was in so much pain. Every time the doctor touched his nose, he shouted in anguish and Ruby hated that he had to go through all of that. If she had stayed, would things have been different? She felt incredibly guilty that she left him so easily, and now, all she seemed capable of was standing in the corner, sobbing uselessly to herself.
“His nose is broken. I’m thinking that his jaw is just dislocated, but I’ll need to order some x-rays to be sure. We’ll have to set his jaw and nose, but I don’t think he’ll need any surgeries right now. Let’s get the x-rays back first so that I know exactly what I’m working with and then, we can come up with a game plan.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Ranger said.
“We’ll have him back from x-ray in no time,” the nurse assured. She put the rails up on Luke’s hospital bed and started wheeling him to the door. Ranger held it open for her and she gave him a look that made Ruby almost want to giggle. Ranger seemed to really rub the woman the wrong way—just like he had Millie. Poor guy wasn’t having any luck with women and Ruby was sure that he only had himself to blame.
“Thank you,” Ruby said from the corner of the room.
“Ruby,” Millie said, crossing the room to put an arm around her shoulder. “You should sit down and relax some. All of this crying and stress can’t be good for the baby. You’ve been through a lot today.”
“Millie’s right,” Ranger said. “You should get checked out too. You need to make sure that you and the baby are all right after what happened.”
“What happened?” the doctor said. He had been typing something on his computer and Ruby wasn’t sure if he was listening or not. Apparently, the doctor didn’t miss very much, even if he didn’t look like he was paying attention.
“The same men that beat up my friend held Ruby against her will,” Ranger said.
“Yeah, but they didn’t hurt me,” Ruby assured.
“Well, if that’s the case, you and your baby should both be checked out. Your friend is right. How far along are you?” the doctor asked.
“Um, I just started my second trimester,” she admitted. She looked between Ranger and Millie and smiled. “I got pregnant right away,” she admitted, “but, I didn’t know that I could even get pregnant. I didn’t plan it at all.”
“Well, how about we get you admitted, and I’ll send you up to the maternity ward to get checked up?” the doctor asked.
“Please, Ruby,” Millie said. “Just do as the doctor says and get checked out.”
Ruby rolled her eyes and nodded. “Fine,” she agreed. “I’ll get checked up, but only because I want to make sure that the baby is all right. Plus, it will give me something to do besides worry about Luke.”
“Leave worrying about Luke to me,” Ranger said. “Millie, would you mind sticking by Ruby’s side while she gets checked out?”
“Not at all,” Millie agreed. “Is that okay with you, Ruby?” she asked.
“I’d like that,” Ruby agreed. “Thank you—both of you,” she said, squeezing Millie’s hand into her own.
“Great,” the doctor said. “Come with me.” She followed him into the hallway and down to the nurse’s station, Millie by her side the whole time. The doctor pulled a wheelchair out and pointed to it. “Have a seat,” he ordered.
“Is that really necessary?” she asked.
“Yep,” the doctor said. “Sit,” he repeated.
“Fine,” Ruby grumbled, sitting in the wheelchair.
“Will you take Ms.—um, I didn’t get your name,” the doctor said.
“It’s Ruby Grace,” she said.
He nodded, “Take Ms. Grace up to maternity to have her and her baby checked out, please.” A perky little blond nurse appeared from behind the desk and smiled up at the doctor, causing Ruby to giggle.
“Thanks, Doctor,” Ruby said. “Will someone come to find me to fill me in when you have news about Luke?”
“Absolutely,” the doctor assured. “Just try to relax and I’ll see you back here in no time.” She nodded as the super eager to please nurse rolled her into the elevator, and Millie followed behind them.
“He’s awful cute,” Millie whispered to the nurse as if she hadn’t noticed.
“Yeah,” the nurse gushed, “he’s the hospital’s most eligible bachelor, but he doesn’t pay attention to any of us.”
“Maybe he has a girlfriend already,” Ruby offered.
“No,” the nurse said. “He just claims that he won’t date anyone who he has to work with.”
“Well, that’s no fun at all,” Millie said.
“Yeah?” Ruby asked. “So, working with Ranger is going to be a picnic for you now?” she asked her friend. Sure, she wasn’t playing fairly, but she didn’t care. It was going to be fun watching both Millie and Ranger dance around each other for the next little bit.
“Not cool, Ruby,” Millie grumbled. “But it will be fine—as long as Ranger either continues to ignore me or comes around and realizes that I’m not the devil for luring him into my bed.”
“Wait—you were the one who lured him into bed?” Ruby asked.
“Yeah,” Millie said. “Listen, I don’t want to talk about this right now.”
“Well, we can talk about it later, then,” Ruby assured. “But ignoring Ranger or the fact that you two slept together and now work in the same office, won’t be easy to do.”
“I know,” Millie agreed. “But ignoring it has worked for me so far. I think that might be the right game plan to get through all of this, even if you think I should push the envelope and force Ranger to talk about my feelings. I think I know what’s best for me—avoidance and pretending that it never happened is the way to go.”
“Whatever you say, Millie,” Ruby agreed. Yeah—it was going to be a whole lot of fun watching Millie and Ranger figure this all out together.