Page 197 of Make Us Yours
I shake my head. “No. Thank you.”
She smiles with glassy eyes, sniffling as she turns and heads over to Ricky. She takes the carrier from him and walks out of the emergency’s waiting room, just as the Storm brothers walk in. Marcos and Ricky reach them a few feet away, whispering to their bosses as Shane joins them as well.
They finally come over, and I see the moment Ronnie finally snaps out of her silent state. The second she spots them, she throws the blanket off her shoulders and stands, marching up to them and smacking Julian in the face. A loud cracking sound resonates through the room as her hand makes contact with his cheek.
“YOU SWORE! YOU PROMISED YOU’D PROTECT US!” she shouts in his face, then smacks her fists against his chest. “You said nothing would happen to us! You said you wouldn’t let him hurt us! But you lied!” She hits him harder, but he doesn’t attempt to stop her. He takes every hit that comes his way, letting her release the frustration she’s been holding on to. “You lied, and now he’s going to die!” she cries harder.
I move in to pull her away, but Clay beats me to it. He wraps his arms around Ronnie and lifts her off the ground as she fights against his hold, screaming and crying. He gets down to the floor against the wall and cages her in by holding down her arms and placing a leg over hers to stop her from trying to kick him. She grows more and more hysterical by the second, thrashing her head from side to side and screaming at the top of her lungs.
The nurse that saw her earlier returns with a pair of cheap hospital slippers and a hospital gown. “I’m sorry, this is all I could find.” She looks over to Ronnie, who’s still losing it in Clay’s arms while Cecilia kneels at her feet trying to calm her down.
“Oh, dear.” She presses her hands to her lips. “We can give her something to calm down, but we’ll have to admit her for the time being.”
“Do it,” I say without hesitation.
I know I should go over there, take her in my arms, and hold her until she settles. But I can’t. Watching her like that is killing me and I feel like it’s my fault. Maybe if I had snapped out of it sooner and helped her, Noah wouldn’t have lost so much blood.
Maybe if I had stayed home this morning like I wanted to, I could have stopped this from happening. But I didn’t listen. I didn’t listen to my gut, just like I didn’t listen when she told me she couldn’t stop the bleeding.
She hurries over to the nurses’ station with Julian following behind her. I’m not sure what he tells her, but she nods and rushes off. Coming back a minute later with another nurse and a syringe in hand. They gather around Ronnie and Clay, holding her as still as possible, and stab her in the arm with it.
“It will act quickly. In the meantime, we’ll set you up in a room for her to rest,” the nurse tells me as she comes back to my side, then looks on at everyone gathered here for us, for Noah. “They can all come up too. The room is pretty spacious.”
I nod and walk up to Clay and an already calming down Ronnie, her eyelids slowly drooping as her head falls back against Clay. I crouch down and take her from his arms while her body grows heavy and she falls unconscious, then follow the nurse as she leads us to her room.
Two hours later, we’re all up in Veronica’s room as she sleeps soundly on the hospital bed, still knocked out by whatever they gave her. It’s been three hours in all, and we still have no news about Noah. We know he was taken into surgery the moment he arrived, but this feels like it’s taking too long, and I hate it.
Everyone is lying around, waiting. There’s a couch at the far end with Greyson, Clay, and Silas on it. Emma, Morgan, and Cecilia sitting in their laps. The nurses also brought in a few chairs that have been claimed by a few of our teammates.
The rest are all scattered around the room, sitting on the floor with their backs against the walls. A few of them went home an hour ago, asking for updates when we get them. I’m not mad that they left; I get it, they have their own lives as well. Just the fact that they showed up was enough.
Aubrey is sitting on the bed behind Ronnie as she passes her fingers through her hair, keeping her calm even in her sleep. While I sit on the opposite side, Ronnie’s hand lies over my thigh, holding on to me.
Shane walks back into the room with two coffee cups in hand, the three brothers following not far behind him. He walks over to Aubrey’s side and hands her one of them. “I added some hazelnut creamer. I figured since you bake sweets, you probably like your coffee the same way,” he whispers as his cheeks take on a tinylight-pink shade.
“Oh, thank you.” She takes the coffee from him, and instead of a tiny shade of pink, hers goes bright red.
“Of course, he only gets coffee for the pretty girls.” Jessie chuckles, earning him a glare from Shane.
Jessie brushes him off and looks at the table that was set up and is now covered with food Morgan brought over for everyone. “Oh God, I’m starving, and that smells amazing. May I?” He turns to me, pointing at the food.
“Yeah, help yourself. It’s there for everyone.”
Julian walks over to me, rubbing his jaw as he looks down at my girl, probably still feeling the sting she imposed hours ago. “I understand that I may not be very high on your list of likability at the moment, but I assure you, we truly did try our best to keep you all safe. We could not have seen this coming, although we should have. And for that, I am truly sorry.”
“I don’t blame you, Julian. And neither does she. She was simply emotional and needed to put the blame on someone. I’m sorry it was you,” I tell him genuinely because I know my girl, and I know deep down, she knows it wasn’t his fault. Just like it wasn’t mine.
He nods. “I called in a favor and had the best surgeon ready to work on Noah the moment he came in. He will pull through. If Dr. Willensteed cannot save him, then no one can.” He places his hand on my shoulder, giving a light squeeze. “But he will.”
He lets go of me and straightens, adjusting his cufflinks and clearing his throat. This guy clearly isn’t used to showing any form of affection or support. “I have some information for you and Miss Masters regarding Mr. Cordova, but it can wait until later in the week.” And with that, he heads back to his brothers.
Ronnie stirs beside me, her fingers flexing against my thigh until she blinks her swollen eyes at me. I brush the little hairs out of her face and lean in to kiss her forehead. “Hi, baby.”
“Anything?” she asks in a small, broken voice.
I try to smile, but it’s hard. “No, not yet. But it will be any minute now.”
Her eyes well up as she nods, face scrunching up as she tries to hold back her tears.
