Desmond
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“Yeah, I’ll come. His sister is here. She’ll want to go, too. Could you give me five minutes? We’ll be right with you.”
My heart was hammering hard. Paul was hurt badly enough to go to a hospital.
“Riley?”
No answer. She was probably shellshocked. I ran into my bedroom. She was crumpled on the bathroom floor.
“Riley!”
I shook her shoulders a little bit. Her eyes cracked open. “Dez?”
“Babe, we’ve got to go. Your brother is in the hospital. It looks bad.”
She started crying, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. “Oh my god, I can’t lose him. He’s the only one I have left.”
“I’m right here, babe.” I realized that she was fully dressed. “We have two police officers ready to take us to the hospital. You wanna go?”
“Yeah.” She hiccuped and dried her tears. “Let’s go see Paul.”
I helped her get to her feet. I kissed her hard, so hard that she stopped breathing. “We’re going to go see him. He’s going to be fine.”
I put my arm around her shoulders as I steered her out of the bedroom and to the front door. I took my wallet and keys.
All of us went down to the squad car. Riley and I slid into the back.
“Sorry about this, but it’s all of we’ve got.”
“It’s fine. We’ll take a taxi back.”
I could hear the buzz of the scanner, but I was more focused on Riley’s death grip on my hand. I knew that she was scared. After their parents died, she and Paul were the only ones left. That’s why Paul was so fiercely overprotective of his little sister and had sacrificed his career for her.
Police cars with the lights on didn’t have to comply with posted speed limits. We got to the hospital in record time.
“Thank you, gentlemen.” One of the cops had opened the back door.
“Happy to help. Good luck in there. Go straight to the ICU. It’s on the second floor.”
“Thank you!” Riley called as I pulled her into the hospital. She was hurrying as fast as she could, but she had put her heels back on. I wanted to sweep her off of her feet again, but I had a feeling that the hospital staff would frown on it or make us use a wheelchair or something.
We got into an elevator to go up one floor.
“He’s going to be fine.” I repeated it to Riley, as if by repeating it I’d make it true. I refused to consider the idea that he would be anything else.
When we got off of the elevator, we went up to a desk. Nurses were walking around everywhere, and I could hear beeping coming from various machines. I hated the smell of cleaning supplies. I cleared my throat. A nurse who was typing away on the computer looked up at me. I saw her eyes dilate when she saw me.
“Hello there.” I flashed a grin, relaxed for Riley’s sake. “We’re looking for Paul Jenkins.”
“He’s just over there.” She was smiling back at me. “Let me know if you need any other help.”
As I turned around, I could hear excited giggling behind me. If I weren’t with Riley, I would’ve taken advantage of the situation. But I was with Riley for as long as she’d have me.
We went into the room that she’d pointed to. I felt like I’d been sucker punched.
“You’re his family?”