Find Me (The Found Duet #2)(92)
Author: Laurelin Paige

Chapter Twenty

The first hour in the hospital waiting room, I spent crying. The next, pacing. Drew and Dom checked on me periodically, but once they realized I couldn’t be consoled, they found someplace else to wait for news. I preferred that. I didn’t need the shoulders of strangers. I needed my sister.

Norma arrived early into the second hour and found me screaming at a nurse, begging for an update. She assumed the responsibility of handling the hospital staff, which was better for everyone, and then assumed the responsibility of handling me.

“They’ll let us know as soon as he’s out of surgery,” she said when she’d returned from the nurse’s desk. “Right now we just have to wait. How was he in the ambulance?”

“He was conscious and breathing fine, so the paramedic said the bullet missed his lungs and heart, but the drive to the hospital was short, and they were hovering over him the whole time, so I really don’t know how he was.” I gasped for air, having delivered my run-on sentence without a breath.

Norma took the opportunity to hug me. “All of that sounds very positive. He’s going to be fine.”

“But what if he’s not?” It was the first time I’d been able to say this out loud, and as it was, I could only say it while facing over her shoulder. “I’ve been looking at the Internet, and lots of injuries seem fine at first but then there’s internal bleeding.” I pulled out of her arms and resumed my agitated loping around the waiting area. “And why the fuck are they not telling me what’s going on?”

“The Internet is not where you’re going to get answers, Gwen. Wait for the doctors. They’re taking a long time because they’re thoroughly examining his wound. Right now, we have to just be patient.”

I wrapped my arms around myself and nodded, even though she was asking for the impossible. As if I could be patient. Ridiculous as her suggestion was, I was grateful she was there. She was a godsend, really. Without her, I’d have probably strung up one of the medical technicians by that point.

The third hour, we still had no information. I was exhausted and in shock. I was so upset that my stomach churned and I almost puked.

Norma scrounged up a protein bar from a vending machine and forced me to eat it. “You can’t miss meals when you’re pregnant. That’s what makes you feel nauseated.”

“I’m nauseated because I’m sick with worry.”

“That too. But I bet this helps.”

It did help. A lot.

Shortly after, Drew appeared from wherever he’d been hiding.

I jumped up, my legs shaking. “Have you heard anything?”

He dodged the question. “Hi, Norma. Glad you’re able to be here with Gwen. Do you mind if I steal her for a while?” He turned to me. “We have some information we’d like to go over with you. If you could come with me—”

“I’m not going anywhere until I hear how he’s doing.” Realizing I was a little louder than I should probably be in public, I lowered my voice. “I’m fully willing to give a report, Drew, but not until I get an update.”

He smiled sympathetically. “I understand. However this conversation needs to occur now.”

Norma put a hand on my back. “I can text you if there’s any word. Maybe a distraction would—”

I shrugged her away. “What conversation? Do you know something? Did the doctor talk to you already?” My volume crept up again.

Drew remained unreadable. “Let’s discuss this somewhere else.”

“I don’t want to fucking discuss this at all unless you’re telling me that JC is all right.”

He leaned toward me and lowered his voice. “Gwen, I’m on his side. I’m on your side. Right now you’re making it difficult for me to help either of you.” He paused to let that sink in. “Please, come with me, and I’m sure we can get some of your questions answered.”

A beat passed before I reluctantly conceded. “Okay. Can we tell the nurse where to find me in case there’s any news?” It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Norma. I just wanted all my bases covered.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Wasn’t necessary because we wouldn’t be long? Or because he already had news about JC?

There was a fifty percent chance that his answer would kill me, so I didn’t ask.

Numbly, I followed Drew out of the waiting room and toward the elevators. I’d expected him to take me to whatever waiting room the rest of JC’s team had found, so when he led me instead into the elevator and pushed the button for the ICU floor, my uneasiness grew.