“Someday I’m going to fucking kill you.” He looked at Jagger and Vigo. “All of you.”
“I don’t get it.” Poe rubbed at the corner of his mouth with his thumb. “What does Travis Dorsey have to do with Cassie’s accident?”
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Vigo said.
We all stood at the same time as a blonde woman in scrubs entered the waiting room.
“Family of Cassandra Montgomery?” she called out.
We stepped forward all at once.
Bram glared at us, but I just glared right back, because family or not, I wasn’t walking out of there without knowing Cassie was okay.
“I’m her brother,” Bram said.
“I’m Doctor Sterling.” The woman had warm brown eyes and a friendly, open face. “I was one of the attending physicians on her surgery. Cassandra has some internal bleeding, a fractured arm, and two broken ribs, in addition to a concussion and trauma to her occipital lobe.”
“English,” Bram growled.
Maeve grabbed his arm and looked at the doctor. “Can you explain that in layman’s terms?”
The doctor nodded. “She had a minor laceration to her spleen, and the part of her brain that controls visual processing was damaged during the accident. She also had two broken ribs, but those injuries are minor in comparison to the internal bleeding and the head injury.”
It took me a minute to name the tightness in my chest as fear.
“Will she be okay?” I asked.
“The surgery went well,” Doctor Sterling said. “We repaired the laceration to her spleen and taped up her ribs. She also took a few stitches to her forehead, but that will heal cleanly.”
Bram was the one to ask the question I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
“What about her vision?”
The doctor hesitated. “Occipital lobe trauma can heal with time.”
“Can?” I couldn’t help it. Now that Bram had ripped off the band-aid I had to ask.
Doctor Sterling’s mouth turned down in a sympathetic frown. “Unfortunately there are no guarantees. We just have to wait and see.”
“Wait and see?” Bram’s voice rose, and Maeve put a steadying hand on his arm. “That’s what you’ve got? Wait and see?”
“I’m sorry.” Doctor Sterling sounded like she meant it. “The waiting is the hardest part, but it’s really all we can do. We’ll keep her here for a few days, make sure that injury to her spleen is healing up, and do another MRI in a couple days. We’ll know more then.”
“Can we see her?” Jagger asked.
“Who the fuck is ‘we’?” Bram looked like he wanted to tear off Jagger’s head. “I’m her brother.”
“Anyone else related by blood or marriage?” Doctor Sterling asked.
I’d never had an ounce of interest in marriage, but right then I would have given both my nuts to be married to Cassie just so I could see her.
“No,” Bram said. “I’m her only family.”
“She’s in recovery,” Doctor Sterling said, “but I’ll take you to her for a few minutes. If all goes well she can have more visitors tomorrow.”
Maeve released Bram’s arm and he headed down the hall with the doctor.
And all I could do was watch. More fucking helpless than I’d ever been.
