Page 115 of An Adventure For Aster

“The EKG still isn’t showing heart damage,” the doctor said. “But you’re in pain and your heart rate and blood pressure are high.”

“No, shit,” he said, breathing in deeply.

“Can you order an MRI for me to look things over?”

He turned his head when River walked in and asked that. “What are you doing here and how did you find out?”

“I read your echocardiogram,” River said. “The cardiologist on call isn’t available and I’m certified to look things over in situations like this. I pass it on if it needs something more. Yours is fine. But you’re not.”

The pain was subsiding again. “What do you want to see?” the ER doctor asked. He hadn’t caught the guy’s name and it didn’t matter in his mind.

“Aster had open heart surgery due to a gunshot to the chest. Yes, he had damage and repairs around his heart, but the notes said the pain is in his shoulder and under his armpit at times, right?”

“Yeah,” Aster said.

“I want to see if there are bone fragments that might not have been noticed at the time of his injury. They could have moved around in his body,” River said. “Call it a hunch at this point.”

Something that never occurred to him.

The ER doctor said, “Get it scheduled. We can at least try to rule it out if anything.”

The ER doctor left after that. “Thanks,” he said to River.

“Don’t thank me yet,” River said. “You need to tell Raine you’re here.”

“I’d rather wait,” he said. “You can’t do it. That’s a HIPAA violation.”

Zane coughed in his hand when Aster said that.

“You’re right. I can’t. But don’t think she isn’t going to find out another way.”

“What are you laughing at?” he asked Zane when River left.

“He’s not wrong,” Zane said.

“I’ll deal with it when I have to.”

Which was two hours later when he returned from having his MRI and just had to wait for the results.

River had said he’d get them read as soon as he could.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were here,” Raine said almost stomping in.

“How did you find out?” he asked.

“Ivy,” she said.

He should have figured. He didn’t even need to ask how Ivy found out. It had to have been from Lily most likely. Zane was still sitting there grinning.

“Guess I can leave now,” Zane said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I can’t even be pissed because it’s not like I asked you not to have Lily tell Ivy.”

“That’s right,” Zane said. “You only mentioned that Poppy didn’t tell Daphne. I gave you a few hours to come to your senses and realized it wasn’t happening.”

Raine had steam all but coming out of her ears. Zane left quickly after that.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

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