Page 7 of Out for Blood
“His abdomen was punctured during the blast,” Doctor Sterling explained. “We removed a large piece of metal from his liver. There’s a lot of bleeding with this kind of injury so we’ve given him a transfusion to bring his blood count up. We’ve stitched the wound closed and packed it — we’ll have to go in and remove the packing in a couple days but the packing will prevent more blood loss — and he’s recovering in the ICU now.”
I swallowed around the lump that had formed in my throat. “But he’ll be okay?”
Doctor Sterling’s mouth turned down in a sympathetic frown. “If the sutures hold and we can keep the bleeding at bay, he has a good chance of recovery.”
“And if you can’t?”
I needed to know everything. Needed to know the truth.
I love you…
Doctor Sterling drew in a breath. “We could go in again and remove the damaged tissue, but we’re hoping that won’t be necessary.”
“You’re saying he might die.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and I immediately wanted to take them back.
They felt like a curse. A jinx.
“The next twenty-four hours are critical,” Doctor Sterling said. “We just have to take it an hour at a time.”
I hated her for not telling me he would live, then felt like an asshole because Doctor Sterling was the nicest doctor I’d ever met.
I stood. “I need to see them.”
She got to her feet. “You can see Jagger and Vigo, although Jagger may be a bit out of it. Give us a few hours to stabilize Hawk. Leave your number with the nurses’ station and I’ll have someone call you when he’s cleared for a visitor.”
“Thank you,” Maeve said.
Doctor Sterling nodded, then reached out to squeeze my arm. “I’m so sorry. You’ve been through so much the last few months.”
It took me a second to understand what she meant: my accident and the temporary blindness that had plagued me for weeks afterward.
That all seemed so far away. All that mattered now was the Hawks.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I’ll have someone come and bring you to Vigo and Jagger’s rooms in a few minutes.” She started for the door, then turned around to look at me. “Is there anyone else we need to contact?”
I shook my head. “I’ll let Vigo and Jagger call their families, and I’ll… I’ll contact Hawk’s.”
I didn’t even know what that would look like, and I realized how truly little I knew about him. I still didn’t know where he went when he disappeared alone, and I still didn’t know his real name, although he must have had it legally changed if Doctor Sterling was referring to him as Hawk.
I felt a clutch of panic: that Hawk would die before I really knew him.
Before I told him I loved him too. That the beat of my heart depended on his.
5
CASSIE
I knewI was close to Vigo even before I saw the numbered plaque on the wall marking his room. I could hear his voice alternating with a female voice that I guessed was a nurse, their conversation clearly a product of Vigo’s hearing loss.
“I’m here with your medication,” the nurse said.
“I think it’s too soon to take a vacation,” Vigo said. “Rain check?”
The nurse’s sigh was audible as I approached the door to Vigo’s room. “I’m not going to take you on vacation.”
“Well, that’s disappointing,” Vigo said.
