Page 76 of Doc

“Trust me, when you meet them, you’ll understand.”

Something in Soren’s voice says there’s more to the story, but I let it go for now. “I'm done here, clean it up?”

“Yes, sir.”

Leaving Soren to it, I move over to help Kail, and between the two of us, we get Jude’s torso stitched and bandaged, and then do the same to his face.

“I think we’ve done all we can here,” I say, stepping back and surveying Jude.

“I’ll clean him up a little more,” Rose says. “We don’t need any of them freaking out because there’s so much blood on him. He’s getting stronger, his BP’s good.”

“Let the bag finish emptying and then we’ll switch out his IVs. I want to get some painkillers in him now, and ease off the sedative. We’ll assess him when he wakes. You can clean him up after we switch everything out.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll update Tennant and Leandro,” Kail tells me.

“Hollis is probably pissed we weren’t able to send anyone along sooner, but don’t let them give you any grief.”

“Never do, sir. I know how to handle them.”

I nod, trusting Kail.

Rose and I begin cleaning up while Soren switches the IVs, and Kail leaves the office. We’re all exhausted and bloody, but this is part of the job, and we all take it very seriously, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.

“I’m serious about setting something up for your friend, Soren,” I tell him when we’re both by the sink. “Talk to him. Cristian wants to take my idea seriously, but the pool for surgeons we can trust is non-existent.”

“I will. I wouldn’t have brought it up, otherwise.”

“Good.”

I move to step away and he stops me. “Thank you, Doc. For considering it.”

“Of course. I know my limits, and those of my team. The Family is getting bigger, and while we’re strong, it means so are our enemies. I’d be a fool to not consider the opportunity when it presents itself.”

“Even if he’s deaf?”

I roll my eyes. “Like I give a shit. I know ASL, and the main Family does as well. I’d need to brush up, but that won’t be a hindrance. I already knew I needed practice because of Jude coming into our lives. If you trust him and think he has what it takes, I want to meet him.”

Soren smiles. “Well, you’d be meeting him anyway, since Donovan and his brothers are my closest friends.”

“Great, see, it’s fate.”

He snorts. “Yeah, sure. We’ll see.”

“Have a little faith, Daddy. And come help me transfer our patient to an actual bed.”

“Brat,” he mumbles just loud enough for me to hear, but he follows me across the room anyway.

Hours after we finish patching Jude Manassero up, he’s awake, and Doc allows his lovers in to check on him. Tennant and Roman were waiting outside the office, while Hollis was still sequestered away in his, going over the information found in the Manassero database.

By the time Hollis makes his way down, Jude is more alert than someone who just got shot multiple times and lost a good amount of blood should be.

Doc is finishing checking his vitals, responses, and bandages when Hollis sweeps in, barely allowing Doc time to move out of the way before he’s standing over the younger man.

“Hey, I’m okay,” Jude says. His voice is low and thick, whether it’s from the pain meds, or the ordeal he just went through, I don’t know, but his words are clear enough to understand.

Thecrackof flesh hitting flesh echoes around the room as Hollis strikes him across the cheek.

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