Page 15 of Brandishing Balance (Devil’s Psychos MC #3)
Nico
M y heart pounded in my chest as I raced through the halls with Maya in my arms. Marcos and Jason were hot on my heels, but the only thing I could think about was getting Maya to the waiting ambulance.
It was a stroke of genius that Jason has reached out to Griff to have him on standby. Maya was in horrible shape.
Outside, the cool night air nipped at my arms, and I knew it would be worse on her naked body. I didn’t have time to wrap her in my leather jacket; I ran as fast as I could to the ambulance that was backed in. The back doors opened and our club doctor Griffen was jumping out.
I carefully stepped into the back of the ambulance and set Maya down on to gurney. Dr. Griffin jumped back into the ambulance as a lady dressed in an EMT uniform walked in the back bay from the driver’s area. “Hey, I’m Marlene. How’s she doing?”
“Not good. Were you filled in?” I asked.
Marlene nodded. “Yes. I know the score. So I’m asking was she responsive when you picked her up?”
“She woke up long enough to say my name before she passed out again,” I said.
“That’s good,” Griffin said.
The ambulances back doors slammed shut and someone got in the driver’s seat. I looked over to see my cousin, Giovanni, behind the wheel. He gave me a nod. “We ready?”
“Hold on,” Griffin said. Him and Marlene got to work hanging bags of fluid from an IV pole before they slowly and carefully arranged Maya on the gurney. Marlene covered her in blankets while Griffin stuck the needle into a vein at the crook of her arm.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“She’s severely dehydrated, so basic saline and then antibiotics. There’s not too much I can do from the back of a moving vehicle, but we’ll keep her stable,” Griffin said, before he turned to the driver. “You know to take us to the back door of Mourningside General?”
Giovanni nodded. “Yes, and I’ll turn everything off as we get closer.”
“Good,” Griffin nodded. “Let’s go.”
Giovanni put the ambulance into drive and slowly moved forward.
I sat down out of the way, while Griffin and Marlene attended to Maya. They had to hold on to the overhead grab bars while Giovanni drove us out of the bumpy parking lot, but soon we were on a smooth highway and racing home.
Maya moaned as Griffin pressed on her belly through the blanket. “Maya, does that hurt?” Griffin’s voice was commanding.
Maya moaned again, her eyes blinking open. “Please,” she muttered.
“Maya, it’s Dr. Griffin. I need you to tell me if your belly hurts when I press down.”
She jerked and cried out.
I moved to her side. “Easy, Little Dreamer. I’m here.”
“Nic,” Maya panted my name.
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
Tears lined her eyes as she reached for my face.
“Can you answer Griff? You remember him? He came by when Jason was hurt.”
Maya blinked and looked up at Griffin. “Yeah, Katalina’s friend.”
“Good, Maya. Now, does it hurt when I push here?” Griffin asked again.
“Yes! Stop!” She cried out, arching her back as she threw her head back in pain.
Griffin immediately dropped his hands and fell onto the bench behind him. Meeting my gaze, his face was grim. “We need to hurry. With her trauma it could be anything from bad to worse and I won’t know until we get images.”
Unease settled into me, but I pushed it down as Maya turned toward me.
She reached through the gurney railing for me and I quickly grabbed her hand, lacing our fingers together.
I bent over our joined hands and kissed her knuckles as I squeezed her hand tightly. “I’m here, Little Dreamer. I’m here.”
“Nico.” She sobbed my name, and it broke my heart.
“Shh, baby. Just rest now. I’m here.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Little Dreamer. Always.” I kissed her knuckles again and held her hand as she drifted off.
“How bad do you think it is?” I asked Griffen when I was sure Maya was asleep.
“Possible perforated bowel. But I won’t know until we get imaging, or I get in there and see. Let’s see how she responds to antibiotics on the way and if we can get imaging done, it would be preferred.”
“Step on it, Gio,” I said to my cousin.
“On it.”
Nico
Maya slept the whole way to the hospital. Or she was unconscious? Hard to know, but it was a blessing, because she wasn’t in any pain.
Gio cut the lights and sirens two miles out from the hospital and drove around the back to reach the private VIP entrance where Griffin treated his VIP clients.
“She’s stable for now. We’ll get her blood drawn and get her into imaging immediately.” Griffin jumped out of the ambulance the second the doors were flung open.
Staff from the hospital rushed out to assist and I sat back, staying out of the way as they pulled the gurney out of the ambulance and rolled Maya away. I scurried after her, trying to keep up, when Marcos and Jason fell into step with me.
“How’s she doing?” Marcos demanded.
“Not great. She’s stable enough for bloodwork and imaging, but he thinks there’s a possible perforation in her bowel.”
“The fuck?” Jason growled.
I could only shrug. I didn’t want to think about how the injury may have happened, or what it might mean in terms of her healing.
Just as I was following Griffin and Maya down the hall, a perky middle-aged woman with short black hair and horn-rimmed glasses cut them off. “Hi, I’m Darla. I’ll be taking you to Dr. Griffin’s private waiting room.”
I stopped so hard that Marcos crashed into my back.
Darla smirked and raised an eyebrow, as if waiting for one of them to snap at her.
“Lead the way, Darla,” I said, before my guys could snap off.