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“Artemis?”
“Our unit name.” Teagan glanced at Violet. “He has a concussion. We have to watch him for 24 hours.”
“No problem. Detective, let’s get you upright and see how you do. Teagan, he might puke when we sit him up. Be ready.”
Teagan glanced around the room until she spotted a plastic container. She snatched the small bin. “Let’s do this. I want Seth out of here. Too many entrances and exits for my taste.”
“Ready, Detective?” Violet asked.
“It’s Seth.”
“All right. You ready, Seth?”
He nodded.
“Slow and easy, my friend. If you go too fast, you’ll barf for sure. You still might.”
Seth grunted.
“All right, Teagan. Get on his right side and keep that container handy.”
Between the two of them, they slowly raised Seth to a sitting position. His face lost all color.
Teagan quickly moved the plastic bin under his chin. Just in time, too. Seconds later, Seth threw up.
When he finished, Seth groaned. “Get me out of here. Please.”
“One minute.” Violet took the bin and shoved it into the large garbage can in the room's corner. “Let’s go. If they find out he’s barfing, they’ll keep him.”
“Take me home,” Seth murmured. “I can barf there without nurses poking and prodding me.”
Violet and Teagan helped Seth to his feet. When he swayed, Teagan draped his arm around her shoulders and took as much of his weight as she could without making it obvious. “All right, handsome. Let’s get out of here.”
While Violet picked up the discharge papers and prescriptions, Teagan steered Seth out the door and from the hospital. She guided him to her SUV and nudged him to the passenger seat. After buckling his seatbelt, she grabbed a spare pair of sunglasses and perched them on his nose.
Violet set her mike bag on the ground beside the passenger door and dug into the depths. She brought out a chemically activated cold pack and shook it. The medic slid the cold pack behind his neck. “The cold pack will help with nausea,” she murmured and grabbed a bag, which she handed to Seth. “Barf bag. Teagan won’t be happy if you puke in her SUV.”
“Thanks, Violet.”
“Yep. I’ll follow you, Teagan.”
Teagan waited long enough for her teammate to climb into her own SUV before driving from the parking lot of Ardmore Hospital. She checked on Seth frequently. Although pale, he was holding his own.
She pushed the speed limit as she drove to Seth’s home on Mulholland Drive. Teagan parked in front of a two-story colonial home and turned to Seth. “We’re here.”
He opened his eyes and stared out the windshield. “You know where I live.”
Teagan’s lips curved as she circled the hood to the passenger side of her SUV. “I know a lot of things, Seth.”
He stared at her outstretched hand. “Did you just make a joke?”
That made her laugh. “I don’t do it often enough if the joke was that bad. Come on. Let’s go inside so you can rest.”
“My truck.”
“If you’ll give me your keys, one of my teammates will drive your truck here. You can’t drive for a couple of days.”
He grimaced and accepted the hand she offered as leverage. Seconds later, Seth swayed on his feet and leaned heavily against the door.