Page 80 of Saving Wyatt

“Can you find the tubes and have one ready. Also a needle,” I told him after a few minutes.

My arms ached like hell, but I wasn’t about to let up. I knew he’d been shot what felt like ages ago, but he was still breathing and still alive, and maybe it was a fluke or maybe it was Wyatt’s help, but Nino was still not out of the woods, and I’d be damned if I risked anything.

“A tube? A needle? What for?” King cried, barely audible in his distress.

“Just in case,” I said.

“In case, what?” he asked.

I shook my head, refusing to answer him. He didn’t need to know any more than he did already. I couldn’t have him break down on the possibility that I’d have to do more out here on the field than I was happy with.

There was bacteria, dirt, infection everywhere out here. The less invasive I had to be the better, but if it meant saving this man, then I would do what I had to.

Just when I started to think it would be safe to move him, a hissing sound came from his wound, and I cursed, looking up at the starry sky.

“Shit!”

“What is it?” King asked.

I didn’t answer, but I turned to Warren and asked him to find me a vented chest seal.

“Is his lung collapsing?” Warren asked.

I gritted my teeth and stared at the injured man underneath me.

“Not if I can help it. Quickly!”

As Warren moved swiftly, I focused on my breathing and not my muscles burning through me, weakening more and more with each second.

I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t.

Why was I even here? I wasn’t even an emergency doctor. What if I fucked up? What if I forgot something? It had been years since I’d worked in the emergency room.

My gaze landed on Wyatt who was watching me, unblinking, unmoving, unwavering with King in his arms, both sprawled all over the ground as far away as possible.

It was only for a moment that I looked into his eyes, but it gave me more strength than I could have imagined. I was doing it for him. I was doing it for the man he was holding who would completely break down if Nino died. And I was doing it for Evan, goddamnit. I couldn’t be there when he was injured and needing me the most, but I was here now, for this stranger, and I would sooner die than I let him slip away from within my grasp.

Nino’s skin started to turn blue, and I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, shoved the disappointment and fear in the back of my head, and got to work.

I had to decompress his chest. So I grabbed the needle and did just that.

I didn’t stop until his skin pinked up again, the bleeding had stopped, and his pulse was steady.

“Let’s go. We need to take him to the hospital,” I said.

King grumbled, and Wyatt deflated and shook his head. “No hospitals,” he said.

“But I’m not done yet. He needs a transfusion. He needs proper care⁠—”

“No hospitals!” It was King who spoke this time, and his expression told me he wasn’t bullshitting me.

“Then what do I do?”

“I…I don’t know,” Wyatt said, and I felt my heart ache at seeing him so defeated.

“We’ll take him to Duke’s and figure it out there,” Warren said. “Azrael is a trained medic, his mom is a nurse, and Duke has equipment. I’ll call them now and they’ll be ready for us. Do you know his blood type?” he asked King and Wyatt, and King shook his head. “It’s fine. It might be on his phone.”

I looked at my friend and offered him a reassuring smile and felt a little easier. I didn’t know what I would ever do without him. I truly hoped he didn’t have a problem with Wyatt and me dating. And I truly hoped that whatever happened between us, our friendship wouldn’t be affected.