Slowburn

Chapter 72

        I was wiping down a coffee stain on the desk in the office because it was irking me to see it. It was old, but somehow the ringlet was still visible, so I rubbed at it until it finally looked faded and gone. There. When I sat back down I was going to pick up the clipboard, but my cell phone started ringing first, and when I saw it was Dante I answered. 

"Hey kitten, are you working tonight?" He asked me, but immediately I didn't like his tone. "Yes...why?" Worry filled my gut, though I wasn't sure why. I could just sense something was off.

"Okay, don't panic because he's totally fine, but can you go check on Renzo when he gets to the club. He'll probably be waiting for me out back. He hurt his arm" He told me, and my gut soured further. "How? What's wrong?" I was already standing ready to see if Renzo was here. 

"Oh nothing, just check on him for me. I'll be there, like, in ten minutes" he told me before hanging up. 

        I rushed to the back door to see if Renzo was there like Dante suspected. Sure enough when I pulled the door open I saw the silhouette of the man in question. "Renzo?" I started to approach him as he leaned on his car to smoke, but I gasped when I was close enough to see him in the dim light.

I rushed forward and looked all over his face for answers. "What happened?!" I motioned to touch his arm but he stopped me. "How'd you know I was out here?" He moved me away from his hurt arm with a cigarette still between two fingers. 

"Dante asked me to check on you, now tell me, what's going on? Why are you-?" I stopped short when I noticed the hole. I know that kind of hole. "Are you shot?!" My brain is almost short circuited. 

        He huffed like I was bothering him. "Kat, relax. It's a flesh wound" he lied to me. "Flesh wounds don't bleed like that" I tried going to look again. He flinched when I tried moving the fabric around, so I told him to hold on and ran inside for scissors. 

When I came back out I cut his suit coat sleeve right off, and then I did the same to his shirt. The bullet didn't go through his arm enough to hit any bone, but it did bite out a chunk of flesh, which is why it's bleeding like crazy.

"Renzo, this is a lot of blood. Come sit somewhere and let me help you stop the bleeding" my hands were trembling, but I was more worried about fixing him then panicking. 

       "Kat, hey, you don't have to cry. It's nothing" he flicked his cigarette so he could use his only working hand to cup my chin. I didn't even realize I was crying. "I'm just worried" I quickly wiped the tears away. I grabbed the cut sleeve and started to apply pressure to his arm. "You need a hospital," I told him. He let me hold pressure on his arm, but he was watching me intently. 

"No hospitals" he shook his head. "This is ridiculous! Would you rather die of blood loss?!!" I hissed at him. "Come here" he said, wrapping his good arm around me and trying to bring me to the side of him that wasn't bloody. 

"No, cut it out. You need to apply pressure" I wouldn't let go. I looked down at the ground and there was a little puddle from where the blood had been rolling down his arm and dripping from his fingers. My tremble increased the more I took in the sight of his entirely red arm. He's losing too much blood.

        I heard a car pull up and realized it was Dante. I was relieved because at least I felt like I had help. "He's bleeding too much," I announced as soon as Dante hopped out. He jogged over and took a look at the blood down Renzo's arm, puddled by his foot, and the stain in his car from when the bleeding started. And he drove himself! He could have passed out. 

I scolded him but Dante put a hand on my shoulder and told me to breathe. "Can you grab us a bottle of water and maybe you can wet some towels down so we can clean him up" Dante sent me out on a task to get me out of their way. Keeping busy helps me feel useful though, and I needed that right now.