“Mom can't see me like this, Leon! She's going to freak the fuck out!”
Hailey’s delivery of Leon’s favorite curse word was mangled by the fact that she was still crying.
“Hailey, I do not give a flying fuck–”
“You don’t want to worry her, right, boo?” Trina said, even though their face looked far from convinced. If anything, they sort of looked like they were more likely to pass out than Leon.
“Can you check on Trina?” Leon murmured to James.
James hesitated for just a beat before crossing the small space between them to offer Trina a one-armed hug. Trina collapsed against his chest and burst into tears.
“That! That’s what’s going to happen if I come into the ER on a gurney! Mom is never going to recover. It’s going to scar her for life, and she already sees so much awful shit!”
Leon could feel his pulse behind his eyeballs. “Does she need to go to the hospital right now?” he asked the paramedic.
The young man grimaced. “I would say that she needs to go as soon as possible.”
“Okay, but I’m not, like, bleeding out, right?” Hailey asked.
“Or in?” Leon snapped.
At the blank look, the paramedic shot him. Leon let loose a growl he had been holding in since the second he’d first answered the phone. “Internal bleeding. Is she bleeding into her fucking brain and should have already been halfway to the ER?”
The guy looked at Hailey. “Is this very distraught man your dad?”
“No, he’s my brother,” Hailey said, without missing a beat. She’d sometimes given that as a reason Leon could drop her off and pick her up from events. Babysitter never sounded right, and neighbor didn’t always hold the weight it needed to. He was a little touched that she still thought of him that way.
Something James had said a few weeks back had been playing on loop in Leon’s head for the past hour.
Have you told Hailey how much you care about her?
He had very nearly missed his chance.
“I am her very frantic older brother…who can sometimes be a jackass, but loves her and just wants her to be okay,” Leon said, his shoulders sagging as he felt the world tip a little to the side.
There was some shuffling, and then James was there, holding Leon up with an arm around his waist as he supported Trina on the other side.
“I’m assuming sinceyoudon’t look frantic, she’s doing okay?” James pressed, and the paramedic turned to him with a somewhat hopeful expression.
“And you are?” the man asked.
“He’s my husband, and Hailey’s brother-in-law,” Leon said, because there was no fucking way anyone was going to discount James or his need to be here just because of a relationship title.
James stiffened, and then just as quickly returned to squeezing Leon’s side and rubbing Trina’s back.
“I’m glad her whole support network is here,” the paramedic said. “Miss Hailey most likely has a concussion from the airbags being deployed, but we can't be sure without doing further imaging. They can do that at the hospital. We can't force her to ride with us, but again, I would advise her to go as soon as possible.”
“Can you take us?” Hailey asked, turning to set the biggest, widest puppy dog eyes of all time on Leon. “If you’re there, you can find mom and explain what’s happening, so she doesn’t have to see me bleeding all over the floor.”
“We’ve mostly stopped the bleeding,” the paramedic said, securing the bandage in place on her head. “Your vitals are also stable, but I still highly encourage you to go to the hospital. I also need you to sign this refusal form.”
Hailey sighed, quite dramatically, but she accepted the form and signed it with a flourish.
“Alright, Trina already signed her forms. I’m ready to go,” and Leon had to take a deep,deepbreath.
“Fine. Get in the fucking car,” Leon said, stepping forward to help Hailey down.
She hopped down, much to Leon and the paramedic’s shock and horror.
