Page 49 of The Cruelty of Thorns

“Just like with you?” Kristin asked Lisa.

She nodded, squeezing Toby’s hand.

“I wasn’t taking any chances,” Toby said. “I called 911 right away.”

The panic was like a fist around my throat. No, no, this was not like Poe. Ron was going to be all right. He was still alive. “I need to go to the hospital,” I declared, looking around the parking lot at the friends who were gathered for our trip to the lake. “Can someone give me a ride?”

“I will,” Toby volunteered. “I don’t really feel like going to the lake now anyway.”

I looked back at Kristin, who nodded and patted my arm. “Go. I’ll catch up with you later.”

I followed Toby and Lisa to Toby’s black Jeep, climbing in the back seat while my heart thundered in my chest. Why was this happening again? I finally let down my guard, bringing Ron into my life, and now this? I should’ve known better. I should have just stayed alone. I was like a bad luck charm.

The trip to the hospital seemed to take forever while I tried not to let every worst-case scenario play out in my head. “It’s going to be all right,” Lisa said finally, turning around in the front seat to grab my hand and squeeze it.

You don’t know that, I didn’t say. They took him away in an ambulance, for god’s sake. I looked up, meeting her gaze. “Do you think it’s the same thing that happened to you?”

A shadow crossed her eyes, almost too quick to spot, before she looked away and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Well, it’s a mighty big coincidence,” Toby said as we pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital. “You guys go inside while I park. I'll catch up with you.”

The nurse at the desk said Ron was in Examining Room 9.

“You go ahead,” Lisa said. “I’ll wait here for Toby.”

I threaded my way through the controlled chaos of the Emergency Room, passing curtained alcoves where people lie moaning in pain or waiting in quiet anticipation for medical attention. I hadn’t been in a hospital since my father passed away, leaving bad memories of the experience.

I found Examining Room 9 and peeked around the drawn curtain. A nurse was standing over a cart next to the bed, preparing the syringe for an IV. She looked up at me and smiled.

“Family?”

“No. I’m his…” What was I to him? “Girlfriend,” I finally said. I didn’t know if that was true, but I figured it gave me the best chance of being allowed in the room. “Is he…I mean, will he be all right?”

“He’s in hypovolemic shock from severe blood loss. His heart rate is weak but steady. The paramedics gave him epinephrine to raise his blood pressure and started fluids. I’m prepping an IV for blood now and we’ll get an EKG.” She looked at me. “Do you know what happened to him?”

“No, I…his roommate found him unconscious this morning.”

“Hmph,” she mused. “Well, judging by the wound on his neck, there appears to have been some kind of assault.”

My throat was so dry I could barely speak. “I don’t understand. He was fine when he dropped me off last night. His roommate found him in bed.”

She inserted the second IV and hooked up the tubing for the bag of blood. “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

I nodded, wary of her tone. “What is it?”

“Were you two sexually active?”

“I…uh, what does that have to do with anything?”

She shrugged. “Maybe nothing. But from our initial exam, we found evidence of recent sexual activity.”

“How would you know that?”

“There was semen residue.”

Semen? “I don’t understand. Are you sure it wasn’t his? Like, you know, if he…?”

“Masturbated?” The nurse smiled. “Not where we found it. Look, I’m sorry I brought it up. I just thought it might help us determine what happened to him. If you don’t know, I guess we’ll have to wait for him to come around to tell us.”

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