Page 50 of Sinister Red
“Did you need something else, hon?”
I turn back to Nurse Bucket, barely able to fight my own tears. “I need a lot, actually.”
“I figured as much.” She nods and starts clicking away. “Lydia called ahead and said you and Harlow were coming down. Said you would want all the rooms for the Kings.”
Uhm, what?“You know who we’re here to see?”
“Sure do. Lydia wanted to make sure you were hassled as little as possible when you got here. Said your men were involved and you’d be panicked.”
God bless Lydia Paulson and her psychic ways.
“Here you go, sweetheart.” Nurse Bucket hands me a printout. “That is everyone who came in from the shootout. It was a real mess, cursing and shouting, men bleeding everywhere. I almost— “
“Shootout?What do you mean, shootout?”
She nods. “Club war. One rival gang snuck up on another. Lots of casualties, not nearly as many wounded. I imagine you’ll have your hands full at work tomorrow.” Then the old as fuck nurse gasps. “Oh dear, I didn’t even think that one of them could be… I’m sorry, hon. I hope you find your man’s name on that list. They should all be on the same floor of the ICU too. Your dad pulled some strings to help them figure it out, and thank goodness the third floor was relatively empty.”
“Yeah. Thank god…” I ignore this crazy lady and start scanning the paper in my hand as I jog in the direction my best friend did.
Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone’s real name except for a few, so I can’t exactly figure out if my friends—well, they used to be my friends, my family to be honest, and while I still consider them that, I doubt they do—are ok or not, but seeing Marbles name listed here is a little reassuring.
But I keep reading while I take the elevator up to the third floor, and when I step out and am immediately met by a wall of leather, I know I’m in the right place.
“Floor is closed to unauthorized—Sofie?”
I look up, way up, into the face of a much beefier, more viking-like Brick. “Hey.”
“Jesus, Sofie. I’m so happy to see you.” He goes to hug me, but stops, grabs my arm and starts dragging me down the hall. “They tell you what happened?”
I frown. “Nurse Bucket tried to, but—“
“She’s old as shit. Right.”
Brick starts filling me in on everything, from what was supposed to be a retirement party right up to pulling into Sabine General as he leads me down one hall, then another, and every room we pass makes my stomach hurt more and more. Especially when we push through a set of double doors and I start recognizing the faces lining the halls and lying in those hospital rooms.
Breaker and Pope. Cy. Mo is sitting with her and Marbles’ parents. Shannon and Nadine just a few chairs down.
Everyone looks like shit, all of the men standing watch, all of the women sitting in silence.
Blood stains, dirt and sweat, tears, and God knows what else. A couple of the guys, including Cy and the lean guy with a blond man bun next to him look like they should be in the hospital rooms lying down instead of sitting outside of them, but I’m sure the argument was already had and these were the concessions that were made.
“Marbles is in there.” Brick points to his left. “Crunchy, who you might not know, is in the next room.”
I follow his direction and see Harlow laying across her boyfriend’s bed, holding him and sobbing while he strokes her hair.
“Not everyone actually needed the ICU rooms, but the floor was empty and Berk made sure to keep us together.”
“Makes sense.” I nod. “Is he going to be ok?”
“Should be. Was shot in the gut twice, then cracked in the head with his own baseball bat once. Got the led out, stitched him up, should be able to go home in a few days.”
“I’m sure Harlow will double check all of that once she’s done crying.”
Brick nods. “For the most part, the EC got banged up no worse than we usually do.”
“So… this is all normal?” I motion to the hall. “Just another day for you guys?”
“No, not in the least.” He sits in a chair across from Pope and sighs long and low. “Nothing about this is normal, but we’re at the goddamn hospital anyway. And while none of us should be here because it’s not fucking normal, Marbles really should absolutely be in that room. He’ll argue that he doesn’t need to be, but he does. Cy shouldn’t be sitting down there right now instead of his own room either, but he’s not about to leave that door, not until Jackal comes out of it.”
