FIRE & BLOOD • EVAN 'BUCK' BUCKLEY / 9-1-1

37.

I turned and walked toward her before Victor or Savannah could say another word to me.

Maddie threw her arms around me when I stopped in front of her. My eyes drifted to the room behind us and they immediately fell on Evan, who was sitting upright in his bed. It pained me to see all the bruises and cuts on his face. He looked like he was in pain but tried not to show it. This is the now the third time I've seen him this way. I could scream up at the universe for putting me back in this spot.

His attention was on Eddie whose mouth was moving. Eddie was so focused on whatever he was telling Evan. But the look in his best friends eyes, his face... as if...

"Maddie what happened?" I ask her as I pull away. She doesn't meet my gaze. Instead she shakes her head, holding her hand over her chest, glancing over her shoulder.

"They didn't tell you?" She asked, talking about Savannah and Victor. I shake my head.

Savannah had been the one to find me wandering the halls. I expected Evan to be by her side since she said he was here only come to find out that he was here as a patient. When I nearly jumped at her, that's when Victor showed up just as Savannah was refusing to hand over Evan's chart when I asked her to hand it over and then threatened to strangle her with her own stethoscope if she didn't.

"No" I said harsher than I intended to. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired of no one telling me what the hell is going on. I waited and waited hours for him to show up only to find out he's been here. Hurt. And nobody called me."

Maddie took in deep breathes before finally meeting my gaze.

"I'm so sorry. All of it happened too fast and since we all got here it's been..." she bites her lip.

"It's bad, Stel. Savannah was there when it happened. She happened to be there when she saw him run into the middle of the road to get those two kids out of the way when some crazy asshole was speeding and didn't even slow down. He saw the car coming and knew the kids weren't aware of the speeding car heading towards them. The mother was just inside the café and ran outside when she heard the car swerve and took off" she paused. She swallowed hard before continuing.

"He was able to push them out of the way. Savannah was on the other end of the road, right across from SweetCup when she saw Evan running to save them. They ran right to her and she heard the woman scream from across the road. When she looked up and saw him.." she gasped. "She thought he was dead. Lying there in the middle of the street face down..." her lip trembled.

I couldn't breathe. This happened right outside the café.

"What? When did this all happen? I was at the café but.." I fumbled for words.

"It happened around 11:30a.m. He called me as he was on this way, said he wanted to get there early and prepare himself on what he was gonna say when you guys meet up but he never made it. I'm sorry I didn't call you right when we got here. I thought Savannah had. I'm sorry"

"It's not your fault." I try to hide my anger. Not towards her but to myself.

I was so mad and felt embarrassed thinking Evan stood me up. When in reality he was risking his life for someone's kids and nearly lost his own. Right outside the café where I sat waiting for him, unaware of what happened just outside a few hours prior. No one seemed to talk about the accident at the café? She heard nothing of it. She didn't check her phone so she didn't see any news about it. There wasn't any T.V in the shop either. Wouldn't have Yasmín known about the accident what occurred outside her shop? Did she not know it was Evan who was involved? I could feel my cheeks turning as I go over all the millions of questions in my head.