“Aight, aight. Damn, I was just asking.” He sighed sounding like he was moving around in traffic. “I’ll call you later on.”
“Okay,” was all I said before I paused.
“Navy…” he called.
“Yes?” I answered sounding all innocent.
“I love you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I love you too. Gotta get to these patients Rome, I’ll talk to you later.”
I ended the call and when I stepped into the hallway; the overhead speaker crackled above me as a familiar voice came across the intercom announcing a trauma alert, and the energy around me changed. It was no longer calm as the nurses started moving faster. A respiratory therapist hurried past me pushing equipment and two techs jogged toward the trauma bay while somebody else was yelling for a stretcher. One thing about an emergency room, all that quiet shit could disappear in seconds that’s why we had to value when we had it. One minuteeverybody was talking about lunch plans and what drama they had over the weekend and the next minute somebody was fighting for their life.
I shoved the phone back into my scrub pocket. Rome could be irritated if he wanted to be. At the moment, I had bigger things to worry about than hurt feelings. By the time I made it to Bay Three, the paramedics were already rolling the patient through the doors as the entire trauma team moved automatically moved into position. After enough years working in an emergency room, your body learned what to do before your brain caught up. Everybody had a job, and everybody was already doing it.
The patient looked like he’d been through hell with blood covering the front of his shirt. Meanwhile one side of his face was swollen, and there were cuts across both of his arms. Even with all that, he was still trying to fight the paramedics who were trying to help him. One of them looked exhausted as he gave the report to the trauma physician while helping transfer the patient onto the bed. Apparently there had been a vehicle accident, but judging by the amount of blood and the way he kept trying to sit up, I had a feeling there was more to the story than a simple crash.
“Where the fuck is my phone?” he demanded as soon as they got him onto the trauma bed.
“Sir, stay still,” Nurse Trinity told him.
“Man, fuck all that. Where my phone?”
The doctor completely ignored him and started calling out orders. Everybody moved at one time to check his blood pressure, start the IV, get some labs ordered, as well as get the monitors rolling all while asking questions. The room immediately got noisy as machines started beeping and people began talking over one another. The patient groaned and tried to push himself up again before immediately falling back againstthe bed. Whatever adrenaline had been carrying him was starting to wear off.
“Tell them muhfuckas I ain’t dead,” he slurred, but nobody responded. “Y’all hear me?”
His eyes bounced around the room before landing on me for a brief second. He looked young, probably around the same age a me in his late twenties but even beat up and covered in blood, he was one of those dudes who would’ve had women staring if the circumstances were different. Unfortunately for him, this wasn’t that. This was an emergency room, and everybody in the room was more interested in keeping him alive than admiring him.
The doctor cut open the front of his shirt and paused. “Hold on,” he said while examining him. The room got a little quieter as we waited.
“What you got Doc?” another physician asked.
“That’s not from the accident.” He replied moving even faster.
I looked down and saw the gunshot wound. Suddenly the entire mood in the room changed.Well damn,I thought, that explained a lot from all that swelling and panicking, or the way he kept asking for his phone and kept screaming worried about talking to somebody than he did about the fact that he was bleeding all over the trauma bed. One of the other nurses immediately started asking questions while another prepared additional supplies. The patient laughed, then winced from the pain.This man is crazy;I whispered under my breath while still in action doing my job.
“I told them muhfuckas…” he muttered before dazing off.
“Told who?” I asked.
His eyes started to flutter and then opened again. “I want my damn phone.”
The doctor wasn’t interested in his phone, so he ignored him and spoke to us instead. “We need to get him upstairs.”
The patient cursed even louder this time. His words were getting harder to understand, but hell, the anger behind them wasn’t. “I swear when I find them…” he started.
Then his voice drifted away as another nurse helped cut away the remainder of his shirt. My eyes landed on the tattoo across the center of his chest that said ‘EMPIRE’. The letters were impossible to miss, that’s how damn big they were. I had no idea what it meant whether it was a street name, a damn business, or some kind of crew… who knew. People tattooed all kinds of random shit on themselves these days. Hell, I know I did that’s why I had Rome’s name tattooed right above my pussy. The patient mumbled something else before his eyes closed again. The doctors kept working while preparing him for emergency surgery, and after another few minutes they started wheeling him toward the operating room.
As the bed disappeared through the doors, one of the nurses handed me the pile of bloody clothing and personal belongings after I tried to calm the patient down. “Can you inventory everything and get it bagged?” She asked.
I nodded and carried the pile toward the counter, already reaching for one of the patient’s property bags. Between the torn clothing, the big chain, Burberry wallet, brand new I-phone, and whatever else was mixed into the mess, it looked like it was going to take a minute.
I carried everything over to the counter and started sorting through it. I was halfway through documenting everything when I picked up the hoodie and noticed it felt heavier than it should’ve. At first I figured the extra weight was coming from the blood, but when I shifted the garment in my hands, something inside moved. I couldn’t help but to become curious so what I do? I turned the hoodie over and ran my hand along the interior lining until I found a hidden zipper pocket sewn into the fabric. As soon as I unzipped it and reached inside; my entirebody froze. Three thick stacks of cash held up in rubberbands were stuffed inside the compartment. I immediately looked up from the counter and glanced around the department realizing nobody was paying attention to me. Everybody was focused on whatever emergencies was happening around us. I slowly pulled the money out and stared at it because I didn’t need to count it to know it was a ridiculous amount, and it was the kind of money most people didn’t carry around in a checking account, let alone inside a damn hoodie.
My stomach did flips as I looked back down at the stacks. The timing couldn’t have been worse or better depending on how somebody wanted to look at it considering the fact that just a few days ago Rome had emptied my account and left me feeling completely trapped. Even when I called the bank it wasn’t shit they could do about it. Every damn plan I’d made depended on money I no longer had access to, and now I was standing in an emergency room holding enough cash to make a difference. I hated that my mind immediately went there, but it did. The longer I stood there holding the money, the harder it became to ignore what was running through my head.
I swallowed hard and closed the zipper pocket before anybody could walk by and catch me standing there looking guilty. My heart started racing so bad I could actually feel it in my neck as my entire body got hot. Maybe that should’ve been enough to tell me to leave the money well enough alone. It should’ve been the very moment I zipped the hoodie back up, documented everything exactly the way I was supposed to, and kept it moving. Instead, I stood there staring at the pile of belongings while my mind ran in circles.
