Page 10 of Enzo (The Amato Family #2)

I try and fail to act like I’m not watching Enzo very carefully as he uses his crutches to go from his room to the kitchen.

Jayden may be a sadistic asshole, but he knows his stuff, and the ease with which Enzo is able to get around will hopefully help his mood and give him back the confidence he’s lost.

“What’s for dinner?” I ask, hopping up to sit on one of the barstools at the counter.

“Tomato soup and grilled cheese,” James replies. “Hope that’s okay?”

“You and Doc are feeding and housing us, so anything is fine,” Enzo tells him. “I’m not picky.”

“He’s really not,” I comment. “Just set a plate of food in front of him and he’ll eat it. My nona learned that early on.”

“Good to know.”

Doc walks into the kitchen looking fucked out, and I enjoy the happy, blissful expression on his face.

As much as Doc is my boss, he’s my friend too, and seeing him so relaxed with a bounce in his step makes me ecstatic for him.

Hopefully this thing with Soren is more than just fucking around, that Soren is more than just a new employee.

Doc deserves someone who can give him what he needs.

“Nice to see you again, Soren. Are you joining us for dinner?” I ask.

“Yes. Doc wants grilled cheese, though.”

James laughs, as he’s always one step ahead of his best friend. “Already working on it. Everyone is having grilled cheese and tomato soup… except Doc, of course, who’ll eat two sandwiches because he hates tomatoes. That okay with you, Soren?”

“Perfect, I love tomatoes.”

Doc, the dramatic asshole, gags. “I knew you were too good to be true,” he says as he heads to the fridge.

Soren rolls his eyes and takes a seat at the counter next to Enzo. “How are you doing?”

He shrugs. “Okay. I’m up and about at least. Until my surgery, that is.” There’s bitterness in his tone.

“What about you?” he asks. “Doc driving you crazy yet?”

“Hey!” Doc protests as he slides a bottle of water over to Soren. “I’m an angel.”

We all laugh, because that is the biggest lie in the world.

“Bullshit,” James says. “You’re about as innocent as Roman is.”

Enzo snorts. “Which means not at all.” He sighs. “I miss that kid. Benji sends me updates, but it’s not the same.”

Reaching over, I pat his shoulder, my heart aching for the sadness in his voice. “I know. Maybe you should ask the Boss if Roman could visit? I think it’d be good for both of you.”

Enzo shakes his head. “No, I don’t want him to see me like this. You know how he is, he’ll feel guilty. I can’t put that on him, he has enough going on.”

“Think about it. I think it’d be good for the both of you.”

He reaches up and covers my hand with his. “Yeah, okay.”

James breaks through the awkward silence when he announces, “Dinner’s ready.” He sets bowls of soup and sandwiches on the counter. “Go sit down, Doc.”

“Rather stand, thanks,” Doc replies with a rather mischievous grin.

Soren snorts and a smirk crosses his lips as he pulls his food closer. “I can get a pillow for you if you want, Doc.”

“Fuck off,” Doc snarks, before biting aggressively into a sandwich.

“You sure that’s what you want, Soren?” James waves to indicate Doc, who somehow manages to pout and chew at the same time.

Soren laughs. “Yes, I think it is.”

“You think?” Doc screeches dramatically. “Do I have to drop my pants and show everyone how much thought you put into it?”

Soren gives a nonchalant shrug as he bites the corner of his sandwich. “Sure.”

James smacks Doc’s hand when Doc drops it to his waistband, fully prepared to bare his ass to us all. “You better fucking not. People are eating, you fucking drama queen.”

Doc rolls his eyes. “Whatever.”

Thankfully, James knows how to handle Doc, and expertly steers the conversation away from what Doc and Soren have been getting up to, to more mundane things.

It’s nice, having dinner with my love and our friends, and getting to know Soren.

As much as I love having the freedom to take care of Enzo, I feel bad for missing out on welcoming Soren into the Family.

As Doc’s number one, it should be my job to make sure Soren is settling in and getting used to the job, but I trust Rose.

Not only is she part of the small, trusted team Doc has built, but she’s my best friend, and knows as much as I do about the ins and outs of everything.

Like me, she grew up with her family already associated with the Amato Family.

While Soren may be part of the Bratva, there are stark differences between the two organizations.

Thankfully we don’t have to deal with too much of the bullshit, except for when the Boss or one of his inner circle is hurt and in Doc’s medical office.

But Doc handles it when that happens, more than equipped to put them in their place.

The ringing of Doc’s phone breaks into the quiet contentment we’ve fallen into. When he pulls it out and checks the screen, he spits the food in his mouth out onto a plate, and my stomach sinks because there’s only one person who would make him race to answer that quickly.

“Gross,” James mutters, as he looks at Doc’s half-chewed offering.

Doc ignores him as he holds the phone to his ear. “What’s going on?” he asks in a brisk tone.

His expression darkens and I sigh, pushing my dishes away from me. “Be there soon. Call me if you have any updates.”

Doc meets my eyes as he says, “I need you and Soren to go to the main house and prep the room for an emergency. Something happened to Georgio De Luca.”

Both Soren and I jump up. “Got it, sir,” I reply.

Enzo gives me a gentle smile when I look at him. “I have my crutches, I’ll be fine. Go.”

“Keep your phone close and call the emergency number I gave you if you need someone, got it?”

“Promise.”

I’ll text Jane to come, but for now, I have to trust that Enzo will be okay on his own. Looking at Soren, I say, “Give me three minutes to change, then meet me at the front door.”

He nods and I run out of the kitchen for the stairs. Thankfully there’s a fresh pair of scrubs in the dresser, and I throw them on quickly, slipping on shoes before racing back downstairs to meet Soren at the door.

“Ready?”

“Let’s go,” the younger man says.

I lead him out to my van and hop in, peeling out of Doc’s driveway like our ass is on fire.

I can feel Soren glance at me, but I keep my attention on the road.

I know these streets like the back of my hand, and I trust Hollis and the Amato lawyer could get us out of trouble should the cops try to harass me for speeding, but I’d rather not have that delay—especially not in an emergency such as this.

I hope Soren is ready to show off his skills, because it sounds like it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation.

Nothing like a trial by fire.

Soren and I prep everything, shoving equipment out of the way and setting up Doc’s surgical table in the center of his office—we really need a bigger space for emergencies like this.

Doc and Rose rush through the office door, and we all work on getting De Luca situated on the table. Picking up a pair of shears, I cut off De Luca’s bloodied and battered clothing, Soren helping me before he starts setting up monitors and inserting an IV.

“Shouldn’t you have taken him to the hospital?” I ask as I use the IV to administer a heavy dose of sedatives to keep the fucker under while we work on him.

“I can handle this,” Doc mutters as he examines De Luca’s wound. “I need more light.”

Soren and Rose move one of the lights closer, careful to keep it out of our way so no one knocks it over, but angling it so Doc has a better line of sight into De Luca’s chest cavity.

“Get some blood, Rose. The chart is on the storage fridge.”Doc has his hands deep in De Luca’s chest now, and Soren assists him, using suction to keep the blood out of his field of vision.

I keep an eye on De Luca’s vitals, as Doc mutters to himself while elbow deep inside the man and Rose begins another line for blood and fluids... or tries to at least.

“Fucking hell,” she mutters as she misses the vein.

“Switch places with her,” Doc orders Soren.

As if he’s done it hundreds of times before, Soren wipes De Luca’s blood on his shirt and quickly inserts the IV into De Luca’s other arm.

“Uhh,” I say, watching him move with precision as he sets up the blood bag. “Can you teach me how to do that so fast?”

Soren laughs a little. “I can give you some tips, but it comes mostly from practice.”

“Fair enough. Rosie. Imma stick you one day soon!” While I’m decent at finding a vein and inserting an IV or drawing blood, Soren is right that practice is important.

I used to practice on my peers in nursing school—those fake arms they had us practice on didn’t cut it—and at the clinic, when I first started working, the other nurses and even Doc let me stick them a few times.

But learning to insert an IV in-between patients doesn’t quite prepare you for a real-world situation such as this.

The machines monitoring De Luca start going off, and I curse as I stare at his plummeting vitals. “Doc!”

“I’m almost done,” is his calm reply.

Soren runs off for another bag of blood as Doc and Rose continue working on De Luca.

“Everything is under control,” Doc says, still calm, as if De Luca’s vitals aren’t still dropping and the monitors aren’t fucking screaming at us.

“Fucking finally!” Doc says in a light, triumphant voice.

In increments, De Luca begins to stabilize now that Doc’s taken care of the issue and is no longer feeling around in his insides. “Kail, switch places with Rose. You’re better at sutures,” Doc orders.

In a dance Rose and I have down perfectly, we switch, and I help Doc close De Luca up.

Soren grabs another bag of blood. “This is the last unit,” he says absently.

“Murry should be putting together an emergency kit for us,” Doc responds. “I’ll give him a call and ask for an update before I head over to the clinic to check on who survived.”