Page 54 of Revived

“Do you think he’ll have to go through what Chevy did with his leg?”

I shook my head. “He’ll most likely be pretty sore for a while, but unless there was more damage than I’m thinking, it won’t be anywhere near that level.”

“Did anyone call the kid?”

I nodded. “He and Kendra are on their way.”

“Kendra?” John asked while scrunching up his brow in confusion. “Why is she headed here?”

“To be there for her son? For Gabe?” I asked, though they really weren’t questions.

“I don’t know what you were thinking, but woman, you have to know that Gabe wouldn’t want Kendra here.”

“Why not? She’s like family.”

“Chevy’s family, maybe, but this isn’t about the kid anymore. It’s about Gabe, and there’s nothing between those two that would require her being by his side in the hospital.”

I just shrugged my shoulders at that, because there were still so many unknowns where Gabe was concerned. I ignored the looks the men sent each other and instead tucked into the unrelentingly hard waiting room chair to wait for news on Gabe.

“What’s going to happen to Janet?”

“Hopefully, they lock that crazy bitch up and throw away the fucking key,” Tim responded without an ounce of sympathy.

“What about Alyssa?”

“She’ll go with Wen now, and that shouldn’t be a problem since the next few shows are definitely getting rain checked.” John glanced over at Tim, who was being the most informative person tonight. “What? It’s the truth. Gabe probably won’t be able to stand through a concert for a while. That shit has got to hurt. Then Wen has things to work out. Apparently, his other woman is pregnant and didn’t tell him yet.” Both men turned in my direction, looking for clarification.

“I wouldn’t tell you, even if I knew something, so there’s no use looking my way for answers.”

“I think that means, ‘yes’,” John teased. “Otherwise, she would have just said ‘no’.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Tim agreed. I just rolled my eyes at the both of them. Part of me wanted to blame this whole night on Wen, because if it weren’t for him allowing his crazy wife to string him along, then it never would have come to this. Granted, it might have come to this a lot sooner because the woman had definitely lost the plot somewhere along the way.

“Family of Mr. Northman?” A woman called out from over by the locked doors that led to where they’d wheeled Gabe earlier.

“That would be us,” John explained as he stood. We all walked over to her.

“I can only speak to his family,” she argued.

John pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “His adult son is on the way, but I have power of attorney for cases such as these.” Knowing that these men had thought ahead about who would represent them in case of an emergency, made me think even more highly of their relationship than I had before.

The woman tipped her head, indicating Tim and myself. It was a silent question. ‘Is it okay to talk freely in front of them?’

“They’re family too, and I’m just going to tell them whatever you say anyway,” John explained. The woman glared at me for a moment, obviously knowing I wasn’t part of the band family, and then turned back to John. “He’s out of surgery. Everything went well. We’re confident we got all of the debris that was left behind. We’re going to keep him overnight, and then reevaluate tomorrow, once we get a second, post-surgery look at the leg.”

“Were there any tears to the femoral artery from the debris?” I asked.

The woman glanced over at me, but ignored the question as she continued addressing only John. “It will be about an hour or so before he is able to have visitors. He’s in post-op recovery right now and will be placed in a different room for overnight observation in a bit. Once he’s there, we’ll come update you, then two people at a time will be allowed up to see him. Our Chief Resident relaxed the visitation hours for Mr. Northman considering the circumstances. We do ask that you remain respectful of the other patients that will be on the floor, as they need their rest.”

“Great, now answer Melanie’s question about Gabe’s artery. Did you have to repair any tears to it?”

The woman sighed but couldn’t refuse the direct question from a man holding the documents that stated he had a legal right to know. “There was a small tear from a bone fragment that splintered off after the bullet’s impact. Luckily, for Mr. Northman, while it tore the artery, it also plugged the tear by itself too. We were able to remove the fragment and repair the damage without any major blood loss.”

“Thanks,” John told her dismissively. Then he turned to me, “Is that a bad thing?”

“I can assure you-” the doctor started to say, but John held his hand up. “That’s all, Doc.”

Tim sputtered out a laugh that he failed at holding back as John turned back to me. “Is that a bad thing, Mel?”

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