“What! No! I wanted to go home and....” I searched out Aspen and he was already shaking his head.
“Oh, you will go, or I’ll knock your ass out and call an ambulance,” Nick said, and then he scowled, and any thought I’d had that he was different from Aspen fled my mind. “The ribs will heal the way ribs do, but that lung underneath might be bruised. Scratch that, it is bruised, but the question is how much. You may need intervention.”
Fear skipped up my spine and my breath caught for a different reason. “Like what?”
“I’m not going to scare you with probabilities,” he said firmly. “But you must go to a hospital. I don’t have the equipment here to help you if you need it.”
“Aspen,” I said and didn’t care if I sounded like a kid whining. “I want to go home, it’s just some ribs. I wanted you to do all those things you promised, and Vail can fuss over me.”
“Are you going to walk home? Because I’m not driving you there.” I hated the way his lowered eyebrows accused me of being a shit because that’s exactly what I was doing.
“It’s only broken ribs. I’ve had plenty of them before,” I said, trying to reason with Dr. Nick, who was full of bad ideas.
“Not like this you haven’t. Maybe that’s why they broke this way. I did see signs of past healing on your X-rays, at least thirty spots. This is called a flail fracture. You should be admitted with the size of this. One small spot, yeah, okay, we could watch it, but it’s big. I’m ethically obligated to send you to the hospital.” He tapped my shoulder. “You could die.”
Fear bit at me, but I was an expert at beating it back. I’d already shot someone today; I wasn’t missing out on the Aspen loving I’d been promised. “No.”
“Go with Aspen to the hospital or I’ll call an ambulance.” Nick crossed his arms.
Aspen crossed his arms too, a mirror image. “And I’ll put you on it.”
“Fuck. Fine.”
Nick gave me a relieved smile. “Take him to St. Raphael’s. I’ll send the X-rays ahead. I know a doctor there, so we can skip some of the... uh, questions.” He flashed me a smile I supposed was doctorly and full of healing or some shit, but it was so different from the one he’d given me outside in the parking lot that I knew this was serious.
“Fuck,” I snapped with less heat, and I allowed Aspen to do whatever he wanted with me this time, including pick my ass up and put me in the front seat of the Expedition. The ride to the hospital was a blur because I was in a lot of pain and sweating like I was on fire. I was surprised when we got there because I’d passed the tall, tan brick building probably a hundred times on the way to the torture house in Vinegar Hill without giving it any thought. It wasn’t fancy, but the hospital had a stained glass window on the upper level, lit from inside, that was maybe supposed to be an angel. St. Raphael’s Hospital was efficient, and I only spent fifteen minutes in the waiting area before I was whisked in—not to an ER cubicle, but to a real hospital bed in the ICU on the fifth floor. On three sides the space was like a regular room, but the front wall that led into the hallway was glass and I could easily watch busy nurses and doctors hustle past.
Ten minutes later I was stripped by Aspen in a completely nonsexy way and got stuck into a drafty pink hospital gown that had me groaning. My ass had barely hit the bed before a nurse was smiling at me and dragging IV equipment behind her in my direction.
“We’re starting an antibiotic and some medication that should stop your lung from filling with fluid. The doc who sent you said it sounded like there was too much wheezing going on in there. It’s preventative, and you might not have a serious problem, but we need to do it now.”
“Um....” My balls shriveled up and tried to hide in my body.
Aspen stood in the corner of the room rather than sitting in one of the chairs there, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.
“Okay,” I said faintly. I barely felt the sting of the needle going into the crook of my elbow, and less than a minute later a new doctor with dimples and dark blond hair, which reminded me of Vail, came in and lifted my hospital gown.
“Hey!”
“Dr. Bautista, I’m friends with Nicky. Shit that’s funky,” he said and touched all around the weird ribs. His fingers were like ice. I shot to my feet, and he backed off when I raised my fists.
“It fucking hurts.”
Aspen came over and sat down on the bed. He patted the spot at his side, and I reluctantly joined him. He wrapped a strong arm around my waist that made me feel a little better.
“Look at him, Doc. The boy will behave.” He glared at me and held my left hand firmly. I closed my eyes, feeling like a kid as I waited for the doctor to get through fucking around with the most painful thing that had ever existed on my body. I let out a long breath and slumped against Aspen as Dr. Bautista pulled the gown back down.
The fucker smiled at me. “All done.”
“Great....” I drew the word out in an annoying way that even had me irritated with myself. “When can I fucking leave?”
Aspen glared at me. “He’s helping you. Be polite.”
I slumped down, and the doctor laughed.
Dr. Bautista shot me some finger guns that were at least as annoying as I’d been, but there was no snotty “behave” from Aspen for him, oh no. I glared at Aspen, and he gave me a squeeze.
“I know your type.” Dr. Bautista laughed. “Try to relax. In the morning we will have a clearer idea of when you can leave. If your lung isn’t filling with fluid and turning into a lump inside your body, we’ll release you.”
