Page 40 of Satan's Naughty List
“Answer my question,” he rasps, emotion thick in his tone. “Her fixator wasn’t on when I got there, I couldn’t see her breathing. I don’t even know if she’s alive. She can’t die-”
“Hey,” I call, stopping him from his slow unraveling. It kills me to lie to him, but I can’t have him focusing on that right now. “She’s fine. Just take a minute to relax.” Heaving a breath, he gets thrown into another coughing fit. The van doors bang open and Robo stands there with a vac bag and mask.
“Here ya go.” He hands me the vac and bag. “They’re loading up to go. One guy is in custody, the other two are still missing. We’ve got guys tracking them now. When Aspen wakes up, she’ll help us ID them.” He helps hook Nomad to the bag, lying him flat on the ground as Appa starts packing the technology equipment with Robo’s assistance. I plug it into the generator and it starts automatically pumping oxygen.
“We need to get moving,” I tell Nomad, kissing his head. He nods slightly, eyes closing briefly. Smacking his cheek lightly, they snap open with irritation. “You can’t go to sleep. Once we finish packing, I’ll sit with you.”
“Doc called a friend to meet us at the clubhouse to help with Nomad,” Appa says, wrapping cords around his arm quickly and tossing them into totes.
Getting to my feet, Nomad struggles to keep himself awake. I can’t help the heaviness that weighs down on me for leaving him alone. There’s a cord near me that needs to be wrapped, so I grab it and start to furl it when Nomad’s eyes start closing again. Dropping the cord on the counter, I smack him again.
“Stay awake,” I command with a narrow gaze. He definitely wants to roll his eyes, but I can see that it makes him even more tired.
“You stay with him, we got it,” Robo says from the front where he’s shutting machines down.
“Thanks man,” I mutter, sitting back down. Nomad seems to blink slower and slower, my concern rocketing tenfold. “We should get moving,” I announce, doing my best to keep him awake.
“We’ll see if we can squeeze him in with Aspen in the med vehicle.” Robo races over to the medical van.
“Nomad, you have to stay awake.” Smacking him a little hard, he grunts in annoyance but keeps his eyes closed.
“They’ve got room!” Robo yells across the lot, coming back this way with Clubby, who wastes no time in heaving his loyal brother onto his shoulders. I unhook the oxygen vac, my two prospects agreeing to finish up here.
“What’s his status?” Heallie asks, running up to us and following along.
“We’ve been fighting him to stay awake. Oxygen seemed to just make him more tired.” She nods, taking notes and slipping a clip thing over his finger. Looking over, she must notice my overall confusion. “It’s an oximeter. I need to get a read on his levels.”
A few more paces, and Clubby is setting Nomad into the medic van on the bench. The small device beeps softly causing Heallie to pale.
“We need to get moving. He’s at eighty-nine percent.” Doc whips around, looking at the ghostly Nomad.
“Hook him to fluids, oxygen mask going. Take manual BP,” she calls out, putting her to work. Immediately, she jumps to action. Clubby and I take a step back, letting them do their work no matter how much I want to jump in there and keep him close.
“Why don’t you go help the guys? We can’t fit anyone else in here,” Doc says, smiling softly. I nod, knowing she’s right. There’s literally nothing I can do.
Taking one step backward, then another, and another before I’m forced to turn on my heel. Palpitations in my heart have my own steps faltering.
I have to be strong. For him. For her. For them.
“We thought you were going with them?” Robo asks, reaching to buckle up.
“They didn’t have room. Can one of you take his bike back?” The lump in my throat seems to grow when thinking of someone else handling his baby. He’d hate that someone else is even touching it, let alone riding it.
“Widower already got someone to take it back. We’re just waiting for final confirmation to go,” Appa confirms with a tight smile. “We almost left your ass.”
“I would’ve made you hack the craziest thing. I’ll give you a Vernam cypher. It would drive you nuts,” I retort. They know damn well that I could make them insane with a fucking riddle on the mega walls. Appa looks like he’s about to get out, where I stop him and offer to get into the back. They protest quietly. Rolling my eyes, I get in and their objections quiet. Soft music fills the speakers as the convoy starts rolling.
Thoughts of what could be going on in the medical van haunt me slightly. All potential outcomes floor my brain. Doc and Heallie were both oddly troubled by whatever the reader said. I’m tempted to pull out my phone and search what it meant, but I decide against it. People diagnose themselves with cancer all the time because of the internet, so I don’t want to be one of those individuals.
Thinking about it, I didn’t even look at Aspen. My heart was racing and cracking all at the same time from the thought of my husband dying on me.
Why wasn’t I more concerned? I obviously think of her consistently, she’s one of the main thoughts that swirl my brain along with my husband. Yet, when she was an arms length away…
“Stop it,” I hiss, my hands finding their way into my hair and tugging harshly.
“You good?” Appa asks, looking in the rearview. I keep my hands in my hair, head down. “Boss?” Releasing a heavy sigh, my world feels like it’s coming off the axis.
“Yeah,” I mutter, dropping my hands and letting my head hang. “I’m alright.”
