Page 43 of Love Fire

“Less painful,” Nate corrects him as he pulls a tool out of his bag. “It’ll still hurt like a motherfucker.”

Nate inserts his tool into the bullet wound and Brent immediately screams and thrashes around. His scream is heart-breaking, almost like a pained dragon roar. Like an animal in pain.

“I need you two to hold him still, or this’ll only get worse.” Alessandro and I follow Nate’s order. Alessandro, at the foot of the bed, holds down Brent’s legs. I get on the bed by Brent’s shoulders and hold them down. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to make a difference, but I need to do something.

Nate inserts his tool again and once again Brent screams. Alessandro successfully holds his legs still but I struggle at his shoulders.

“He needs to be still!” Nate pushes the tool deeper into Brent.

Brent struggles against my hands. Tears begin flowing down my face. The towels around him are soaked in blood. I can’t bear to see him like this, but I know this is for his own good.

“Brent,” I whisper as my vision blurs from the tears. “We need you to hold still. I need you to. I need you to get better, please.”

Brent’s screams turn to a simple gritting of his teeth and his thrashing stops. My voice cut through all the pain. Before his eyes were locked on the middle-distance but now, they move to me. He reaches his arms up and holds my hands on his shoulders.

“Hurry,” he manages to say.

“Almost done,” Nate claims. His tool is deep in Brent’s chest now. I won’t pretend to know what it does, but God I hope it’s doing the job. “It’s out!”

Nate pulls the tool out of Brent and rolls him on his side. A fresh hole in his back leaks blood. Nate picks the bullet out of a pool of blood and holds it up.

Nate, Alessandro, and I all breathe a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Brent has passed out. The hard part is done.

Hours later, Nate has dressed Brent’s wound. We have all cleaned his blood off ourselves and have changed the sheets on the bed. I carefully measure out Brent’s next dose of iridescent.

“I’d prefer that you aren’t around iridescent,” Nate says with a worried look. The two of us stand over a sleeping Brent. “But it will be the quickest way to heal him.”

“Thank you, Nate.”

“Of course, anything for you. But what exactly happened?”

“Hank happened. He and some of father’s guys attacked the house.”

Nate freezes, I can see the rage underneath. But before he can say anything, his phone chimes. “I have to get back to the hospital. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Are you sure you’ll be fine here?”

I nod. “Go. Besides, Alessandro will be around.” Nate seems hesitant but he leaves.

I spend the rest of the night caring for Brent alone. I told Alessandro to get some rest and leave it to me. It’s been a rough day for him too, and I doubt I’d be able to get any sleep.

Throughout the night, I give him little doses of iridescent. Luckily, I know how much to give him so he doesn’t get addicted or too high. I keep checking the wound and it already looks better.

Around midnight, Brent regains enough strength to wake-up and speak. “Erin?” His voice is weak, but it feels so good to hear.

“I’m here,” I whisper back, kneeling next to the bed. Instantly, tears are flowing from my eyes. I can barely see his face. “I’m so sorry, Brent. This is all my fault, I never wanted to-”

I’m cut off by Brent weakly reaching out to stroke my face. “You have nothing to apologize for. You were in danger. Nothing matters more to me than keeping you safe.”

His hand goes limp as he loses consciousness again. Brent will get better. I’m sure of it.

37

BRENT

My eyes shoot open. The past few hours have been a blur, drifting in and out of consciousness. The clock says it's 3 A.M. but I’m now wide awake, I’ve rested enough today.

Somehow, I feel incredible. I’ve been shot before, but I’ve never healed this quickly. I hate to admit it but the iridescent did wonders. If the drug wasn’t made by such terrible means, it could really change the world.

Maybe, I’m still high from it and that’s why I feel so good? Or this could be the natural high of surviving a near death experience? I’ve never done drugs before, all I know is I feel like I could fight an army.

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