"Nova, meet Wrath." Nitro indicates to the guy in the doorway. He gives me a simple chin lift, but nothing else.
The guy called Doc then clears his throat. "Nova, you have a number of injuries consistent with being assaulted. You have a significant concussion which is what caused you to lose consciousness and crash the car. You have bruises and welts all over your back and legs, two broken ribs on your left side and another three on your right, and an old fracture on your wrist, with further evidence of older injuries that haven't healed properly.
“Your brother has no injuries from the crash, but he does have a fracture of his left arm, consistent with a fall."
"Okay," I whisper. I don't know what else to say. I'm not sure if they expect me to say anything. They seem to have already made up their own conclusions. In the several minutes that pass, nobody says anything, and I feel like the silence might suffocate me.
"Erm..." My head begins to pound even harder, and my mouth feels like the desert. "I can't stay here; I need to leave. Where did Mason go?" My words come out in a rush.
We really do need to leave, the longer we stay here the bigger the risk we'll be found. I stole the car and ran away; I could be arrested for kidnapping. Oh god, the weight of everything that's happened and the risks I've taken bear down on me. I don't feel like I can breathe all of a sudden.
I feel my chest tighten with every breath I try to take. I can't stop the tears from falling.
As I start to hyperventilate, Doc moves over to me, gently pulling me into a seating position. "Nova, slow, deep breaths. I know it's hard but try not to panic."
Black spots dance in my eyes and my body gets hotter. I push his hands away from me, I don't want him touching me, I don't want anyone near me.
"Nova..."
"Stop. Please don't. We need to go. I need Mason, please stop." I sob.
The doc places an oxygen mask over my face, before trying to push me back. "Nova. Please calm down. I'm just going to give you something."
A nurse rushes into the room holding something. I don't see what it is as I'm still trying to fight with him putting the mask on my face. My body begins to feel heavy, and I start to feel groggy. I look down where the nurse has hold of my hand. That’s when I see the needle she's pulling from the drip.
I don't know what they've given me, but a few seconds later my eyelids are so heavy I can't keep them open. The last thing I hear before everything goes dark is someone saying,"What the fuck?"
Chapter Twelve
"What the fuck just happened? Is she okay?" I ask in shock. That was intense. She looked fucking terrified when Wrath shut the door after Marissa left with the kid, and when Doc started running through her injuries, we could literally see her face drain of all colour. Not that she had much to begin with. She's been grey since we came in here, I'm not sure if that’s because of the shit she's been through or if it was because she was surrounded by men she doesn't know pushing her for information.
"It looked like a panic attack, likely brought on by the stress of the last couple of days," Doc tells us, as he checks her over and monitors her vitals.
"I'll go find Firecracker and the kid, keep him entertained." Wrath turns and leaves, gently closing the door behind him.
I blow out a breath and grab the spare chair in the corner of the room, pulling it closer to the bed before sitting my arse down.
"What’s the plan, Prez?" I ask. We haven't really discussed anything, so I don't know how we're playing this.
He watches her for a few seconds. "Dunno, brother. Depends on what she says, I guess. Something's felt off since the crash."
"Is that why you ensured her car doesn't make it to the compound?"
He looks over at me and shakes his head a little. "The kid. When you were pulling her out of the car and I had him up on the road, he kept whispering to himself, 'they're gonna find us, they're gonna find us’.It just felt off. Securing that car felt like the right thing to do."
"She's been through hell, guys," Docs states. "When she got here, we had to run tests, she had to have scans. Those scans revealed countless old injuries that haven't healed properly. And her fresh injuries… somebody really did a number on her."
"What about the kid?" Nitro asks the question we don't want to have to ask.
Doc shakes his head. "Other than the broken arm and the bruise on his face, he seems fine. What did Wolf and Acid say when they were here earlier?"
"Not much. Said that they live with their aunt and uncle, and that they seem a little strict. Mason got yelled at for breaking his bike a few years back, that’s how they met them, they’d taken them home after Mason had fallen off it, then fixed it for him a few days later. But then he had the bike taken off him in the end."
"Wait, Prez, when did they tell you that?" I ask, confused. We did not have the conversation when he was here a few hours ago.
Nitro looks over the bed at me. "During one of our first meetings in the cafe. Wolf and Acid spoke to her, and I was curious how they knew her." He turns to Doc. "How long will she be out for?"
"Not long, she was only given a small dose of sedative. Her body's not strong enough for much more. I would have preferred not to give her anything, but I don't know what kind of impact it would have had on her body if we had let her ride it out. She'll be awake in a couple of hours.I have to go do my rounds; are you two staying?"
