“She’s going to be okay,” she says softly, her grip tightening in support.
I blow out another breath, praying to anyone who will fucking listen that she’s right. That I’m not going to have the one good thing in my life ripped away from me like this.
If I’d have fucking known she was going there. Hell, if I knew Jesse hadn’t got his girl out before all that shit kicked off…
My fists curl as Stella floors the accelerator and the hospital building appears before us.
I’m coming, baby. I’m fucking coming.
I’ve spent entirely too much fucking time in this place over the past couple of years. I’d hoped that with Mum’s treatment coming to an end, I might get some reprieve. But with Stella being stabbed, both Seb and me getting shot, and now this, it doesn’t seem to be the case.
She spins into a space and we both fly out of the car, damn near running toward Accident and Emergency. All my injuries are long forgotten.
“J-Jodie Walker,” I spit at the receptionist, thankfully a different one to the one I barked at the day Mum was brought in a few weeks ago.
“They’ve just wheeled her in. If you can take a seat and…” I don’t hear the rest of what she has to say as I back away and finally bump into a wall.
Resting my hands on my knees, I hang my head and suck in a deep breath.
Stella’s hand lands on my bare back, reminding me that I’m standing here shirtless and covered in blood, cuts, and bruises.
“Come on, Tobes. We need to get you checked out.” Stella’s warm hand moves against me and I flinch as I begin to spiral into the darkness that the prospect of a life without Jodie in it causes.
“I’m fine,” I state, slowly standing back to full height and holding her eyes in an attempt to convince her it’s the truth.
She quirks her brow as she puts her hands on her hips.
Her strength and sheer determination to focus on the issue at hand astounds me, and I cling onto it in the hope it gets me through the next however long until we find out what’s happening.
“Tobias Doukas,” a deep voice booms from the double doors, and when I look up, I find a nurse in dark blue scrubs staring right at me.
“Come on,” Stella pleads, her fingers twisting with mine as she pulls me toward the nurse.
“You look like you’ve got yourself into some trouble, young man,” he quips teasingly as I step up to him.
I hold his eyes, my lips pressing into a thin line as I bite back the need to ask him if he knows exactly who he’s talking to.
The Cirillo Family owns an entire ward of this fucking hospital, and in an uncharismatic move, I have to force myself not to throw my weight around in order to get where I need to be—by Jodie’s side.
It’s usually Nico or Alex who pull the ‘do you know who I am?’ card to make almost anyone in the city bend to their wishes. I can’t say I’ve ever really been in a situation before where I’ve found it necessary, but right now, the need burns through me like an inferno.
The nurse swallows nervously as he bravely holds my stare.
“Tone it down, Bro,” Stella jokes lightly, but there’s not really a whole lot of amusement in her tone.
“I need to know what’s happening with Jodie Walker,” I demand, walking beside the nurse as he directs us toward a bay.
“Let me get you cleaned up, and I’ll see what I can do. Hop up here for me.” He points to a bed in the middle of the space before reaching for a pair of gloves.
Pausing, I glance over my shoulder at Stella.
“Please,” she breathes. “I promise I won’t ask anything else of you. I’ll do whatever you need,” she bargains.
Unable to deny her despite the dread sitting heavy in my stomach at the knowledge that Jodie is here somewhere, I climb up onto the bed. I can almost feel her, the crackle in the air when we’re close. It gives me hope. Hope that she’s okay, that we’re going to at least have a chance for me to win her back.
Stella lowers herself to the chair in the corner before pulling her phone out.
“Anything?” I ask when her brow wrinkles in concern.