“Nina is stable?—”
“Fuck,” I hiss out, clearing my throat and covering my face as I drop back to the chair.
“She isn’t completely out of the woods yet. She lost a lot of blood and will need to be monitored over the next forty-eight hours. We aren’t sure yet as to the extent of the damage it will cause her long term, but, and it’s not a but I give out often, she is extremely strong. I feel positive with the situation we are in at this point.”
I stand. “I want to see her.”
“You can’t. Not yet,” Scarlet tells me sadly.
The doctor watches Scarlet for a moment, then looks at me. “Nina’s in recovery. She won’t be able to have visitors until she wakes up. And then I’d like her to have at least an hour’s rest before anyone but my team goes in.”
“I’m not waiting that long.” I shake my head. There’s no way I can go that long.
“Right now, Mr Lowell?—”
“It’s Mason,” I snap.
“My only concern is for Nina. Her recovery will be very dependent on the next twelve hours, and I will not, under any circumstances, put her at risk.” He nods his head, an apology of sorts. “The minute I have more news, I will havethem call down to you. You should get home and get some rest.”
Lifting my hands, I scrub at my face, completely drained from the emotions that have left me half the man I was yesterday. How can things have gone so wrong?
“Thank you,” Scarlet says, following him to the door and shutting it behind him. I watch her with my hands linked behind my head as she turns around. My eyes burn, and no matter how hard I try to stop the lump in my throat from breaking the dam, I can’t. Everything blurs.
“We were so damn close, Scar.”
“Mase.” She comes to me, wrapping me in her arms.
“I can’t do this without her.”
“It’s going to be okay,” she soothes. “It’s going to be okay.”
We go back to the waiting room where Scarlet tells the others what the doctor said. “We should go home, get some rest and be ready for their call.” Scarlet looks to me, knowing I won’t leave. “Or at least take it in turns.”
I shake my head and then go to stand at the window. It’s as if everything is at a standstill. The world outside and everything inside of me. Nothing is right, and it’s all I can think about. I just need everything to be okay.
“Mase, you’re going to stay?”
I look down at Megan as she slides a hand around my bicep. She looks as ruined as I feel. “Yeah.”
“I’m going to check in with Maggie and John, make sure Ellis is alright. Is there anything you need from home?”
My eyes burn at the mention of Ellis’s name. Jesus, why can’t I get a handle on my emotions. I rub at my eyes. “No, thank you, though.” I want to tell her to give him a kiss fromme, to tell him Mummy will be home soon, but I don’t trust myself to voice it. I pull Megan into my side and tell her everything I can in my embrace, hoping she will go hold my son until his mummy can.
“She’ll be okay, Mase. I can feel it in my bones.”
I nod, squeezing her shoulder and catching Charlie’s eye behind her. Charlie Aldridge has to be one of the strongest men I’ve ever met. He is sensitive, intuitive yet can stand here and take control; he doesn’t have room for the emotions that I know will be killing him inside. Instead, he acts as a pillar holding up the dark that threatens to fall on us. Today would have been so much different without him.
“I’ll drive the girls back,” he tells me, his voice strong. “Call me if anything changes.”
“Yeah.”
He pulls me into a hug and then guides Megan out of the room. Elliot is crouched down in front of Lucy who is still lying across the seats.
“I’m going to go home and shower,” Scarlet tells me. She has Elliot’s jumper thrown over her, but I know she has blood on her top beneath it. A mixture of Nina’s and Joey’s. “Unless you want me to stay?”
“No, you go Scar. Is Vinny driving you?”
“Yeah.”
