Lex felt for a pulse, but I knew he was gone. His skin was a pale blue and his eyes were open and unmoving. Nevertheless, Lex kept searching for signs of life.
On the other side of the bed, Hollis was working steadily on Teagan. “I have a pulse, but she’s not breathing. Get me a syringe with one milliliter naloxone.”
Lex dug into Hollis’s bag. With a steady hand, she filled the syringe and handed it off.
“Stay with me, Teagan. Don’t let this nasty stuff beat you.” Hollis continued to do chest compressions, and after every tenth, he squeezed the bag over her mouth to supply oxygen.
Lex injected the needle into Teagan’s bony arm and released the plunger of the needle on Hollis’s command. Hollis kept working. Lex kept her fingers on Teagan’s wrist. “It’s still weak.”
“Get another dose ready in case we need to repeat.”
Time slowed down as Hollis continued to perform CPR on Teagan.
“Another milliliter of naloxone.”
Lex injected it in her upper thigh this time.
There were more compressions. Another squeeze of the bag. Hollis wasn’t stopping. “Come on, Teagan. Fight. You want to live. We can get you help. Fight. Damn it. Fight.”
Hollis was urging Teagan on, fighting for her. He’d never met her, but he cared. We all held our breath as we waited for her to breathe.
For what seemed like an eternity, we watched, silently cheering her on.
And then, suddenly, Teagan gasped for air.
“Good girl. All right, let’s get you to the clinic.”
She wasn’t coherent, but at least she was breathing.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alexa
What a night.
Teagan was sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed. Hollis sat on the couch against the wall, reading one of his medical journals. Drake sat beside me as I watched Teagan’s weak body fight to come back from an overdose.
We were in the back of the clinic in a room we’d set up as a hospital room. Across the hall was another room we would use for surgery. The operating room would need to have multiple upgrades come spring. We’d simply run out of time.
The beeping of the machine filled the silence.
From what had been found at the apartment, it had been determined that Teagan had been using heroin. Unfortunately, I’d been right. Donnie had overdosed and had already been dead when we got there. The police were handling the arrangement to transport his body to Juneau, as per his parents’ wishes, where the closest funeral home was.
Hollis estimated time of death as sometime that morning, which meant Donnie had been dead when Teagan arrived back at her apartment. The police had interviewed me regarding everything that had happened today. I mentioned the text from the unknown number, but so far, no one had found her phone.
I should have given up on Teagan a long time ago. But maybe, just maybe, I was meant to remain in her life in order to help her. Earlier, when Drake and I had been fighting, I’d actually agreed with him. I’d been scared to be in the car with Teagan.
No more Teagan.
I’d be there for her, but I knew I couldn’t take the risk of being in the car or alone with her again.
The solid pressure of Drake’s hand on mine sent warmth through me. He’d dropped everything to help me, to help Teagan. Sometimes I felt like I didn’t deserve him.
Marriage.
Kids.
He’d mentioned both of those things. And I wanted them. I wanted it all with him. This wasn’t the time or place to talk about that, though. So, I focused back on Teagan’s breathing. Hopefully she’d get better and start a life somewhere. Maybe find happiness and love.