Page 4

Kai

I beat Trevor through the doorway and immediately shout for Henry. It doesn't make sense, seeing as we left the gas station ten minutes after the ambulance did, and they're probably already in a room or something.

To my complete shock, a body barrels into my chest and I have half a second of confusion before I register that these are my fiancé's arms wrapped tight around me.

"Shit, baby." Naturally, I pull him as close as humanly possible and bury my face in his neck. Allowing myself one moment to feel my soul breaking, I cling to him, crying.

"Where's Nina?!"

Just like that, Trevor snaps me out of the moment. It would be selfish of me to continue hiding away beneath Henry's black curly hair.

"They wheeled her back..." Henry answers our angry friend without releasing me. Trevor's following accusation has me pulling away.

"You were supposed to stay with her!"

My tears dry up with the fiery rage that burns through me. With an arm wrapped around Henry, I snap my head up to glare at the man I consider a brother. "Do not ever speak to him like that. I'll have you on your ass so fucking fast, Trev."

Grinding his jaw, Trev mutters a rushed apology right before a set of double doors opens. My heart leaps into my throat when a male doctor in a white coat surveys the room and locks his attention on us.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Matthews. Are you here with Nina Solace?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Trevor's hands clench. "How do you know her name?" Christ.

The doctor raises a brow at him and takes a second before responding.

I don't blame the guy . "Aside from the fact that this gentleman," he gestures to Henry, "filled out some forms already, Ms. Solace is awake and knows her name. She also gave me authorization to share with the four of you. What are your names?”

We rattle them off instantly, not wanting to draw this out any longer.

"Where is she?" Trevor demands without missing a beat. Henry sighs in my arms while scowling at Trev.

"Trevor," I warn. I swear to hell if the doctor revokes our visiting privileges because he can't find a polite bone in his body, I will throttle him.

With a hard stare, the doctor meets Trevor's glare head on. "She's been admitted and transferred to a private room. As of right now, we believe Ms. Solace is suffering from a grade three concussion. She will need to be monitored until the end of the week for further complications."

It's Wednesday. Worry once again snuffs out my frustration with Trevor. "Why so long? How bad is it?"

Dr. Matthews turns to me, his eyes softening slightly. "Grade three is pretty severe. Considering she lost consciousness twice, we need to keep an eye out for additional injuries such as bleeding on the brain."

"When she can go home, what then?" The quiet inquiry comes from a pale-looking Ridge who steps up beside me for the first time since we threw ourselves into the emergency room.

Dr. Matthews straightens at the sight of Ridge. "There will be restrictions and a high probability of lasting effects...Sir, are you alright?"

A new concern swirls in my gut, making me study Ridge a little harder. My friend sways and grabs hold of Trevor's forearm. "I don't feel so good," he slurs.

Quickly I add, "I had to drag him away from a puddle of Nina's..." I gulp, "blood. He's been a zombie since we got to her."

The doctor nods and ushers Ridge to a chair. A nurse appears out of nowhere with a blue puke bag, a glass of water and a few Hershy Kiss'. After a few minutes of Ridge wolfing down some sugar with intermittent deep breaths, he straightens with a determined look on his face.

"Take us to her."

M y stomach lurches with each step we take to Nina's room, and by the time the doctor is warning us to keep our voices down outside of her door, I'm pretty sure I might throw up.

"She's awake, but her head is most definitely hurting. We can only offer acetaminophen for the first twenty-four hours while we monitor the risk of bleeding."

Trevor grunts, and Ridge looks ready to storm through the doctor to get to our woman. Henry and I nod, placating the man in hopes that he will move if we play nice.

Without another word, the doc steps back, opens the door, and greets Nina before we can even see her. "I have some visitors for you."

I hear her before I see her. "Ridge?" Nina whimpers. When she comes into view, my knees threaten to give out.

Lying in the large white hospital bed, my flora looks so damn tiny. The gown looks to be swallowing her, and I swear her cheekbones are more prominent than they were this morning.

As we file into the room Nina cries our names, which quickly turns into full sobs that have us bolting to her bedside and crashing to our knees beside her.

Then she speaks the words that have my blood running cold. "It was him!" she gasps out, her eyes frantic before she squeezes them shut and shields her face in the palms of her hands. "Mr. M. It was him! Please-Please be-believe me!"