Chapter 28

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Chapter 28

Lance's POV...

(Hospital Chapel----->)

 

I tried to keep my pace even as I walked through the hospital entrance; I tried not to run as my anxiety threatened to choke me. Sofia had called me almost in hysterics saying that the Doctors decided to take Thad back to surgery after giving him blood transfusions all day. She said something about them telling her that Thad had internal bleeding and the transfusions weren’t helping, so the Doctors were taking him back to the Operating Room to find the source of the bleeding. It took all that I had to deal with the rest of my shift and sign off to the oncoming shift before blazing a trail out of there. It was taking all my will power and every molecule of energy to remain strong and stoic for everyone, when in reality I felt like I was going to shatter apart at any minute.

I just needed the love of my life to open those gorgeous eyes of his and look at me. I needed him to wiggle his toes and his fingers so the fear of paralysis is put to rest. God, I just needed for him to be alright, for him to be whole and hale, because if he lost his chance to be a firefighter. He would be devastated. This was his dream and I was beyond pissed that Kelly and Shaun tried to take it from him over petty bullshit. Why the Hell didn’t they come after me? Thank God Kelly was such an insipid tattling little bitch and that Chuck was in charge of equipment that day onsite, or else Shaun may have had another opportunity to finish his quest in hurting or even killing Thad. Fuck, the good Lord was looking out for Shaun, because I would have taken great pleasure in watching the life drain out of his eyes as I choked the fucker to death.

Keeping up the pretense and being strong for my crew for the remainder of our shift has left me completely and truly drained. I don’t know if I will be able to handle any more bad news. My steps faltered and I could feel my knees buckling right here in the hallway leading me to the surgical waiting room. What if he doesn’t make it? What if he does and he realizes his dream is lost to him? I would love him if he had no arms, no legs; if he was partially or fully paralyzed, as long as he drew breath, I would be there for him. But would he want me to?  Here he was through no fault of his own, fighting for his life to return to normal. It was all because of me and my stupid mistake with Kelly.

I can’t lose him, not ever. The Commissioner was all set to turn a blind eye if I played nice and stepped into the running for his office. That would solve the fraternization problem, and although I was still on the fence about doing it. The choice has been taken from me. But I needed Thad to be awake; I needed for him to be on board with my decision to do what it takes to protect the crew as well as our relationship. Drawing a shaky breath, I leaned against the wall and tried to shore up my courage for whatever it was that I was going to hear about Thad’s surgery when I walked through those waiting room doors.

Suddenly I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see my best friend and my right hand man standing there with a look of understanding on his face. My entire crew was standing behind him and one by one they stepped up to me and placed their hands on my back physically offering me the strength I needed to walk through those doors, and I had to blink a few times to clear my vision. For these guys I would take on the responsibilities of the Commissioner’s office to make sure they were good.

I nodded my head at them and the stepped back and they flanked me as I walked the remaining few yards to the waiting room. My hand shook as I reached out and pushed the door open. My gaze swung around the almost empty room until they landed on Sophia huddled in the corner with Henri comforting her on one side and Nate on the other. She gave me a preoccupied smile before she went back to wringing her handkerchief. Nate leaned over and kissed her cheek as we all filed into the room and closed the door behind us. He jumped to his feet as Xavier approached him and I had to look away as my friend embraced his man and nuzzled his cheek against the side of Nate’s disheveled hair. Robbie squeezed his slender body in between them and snuggled against Nate as well.

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