“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.”
