Page 66 of Justice for JoElla

“And let me guess. Might as well have saved your breath because he didn’t listen to a word you said.”

JoElla nodded. “Yep. That pretty much sums it up.” She stared at her hands, at all the dried blood under her nails, and wondered where those scrubs were. Brandon’s blood was drying on her clothes and skin, and she was starting to itch.

Brandon’s blood. Tears rolled down JoElla’s face and she let out a shuddering sob. A strong arm pulled her in and hugged her tightly. “It’s okay, honey. He’s got the best care he can possibly get. Everybody in this hospital knows him, and they’ll do everything they can for him.”

JoElla leaned her head against Landon’s shoulder and cried. A shot at happiness. That had become the most elusive thing in her world. There’d been no chance of ever having it until Mick had stopped at the station house and she’d seen those two brothers across the way. There wasn’t a single thing that attracted her to Brandon; no, it was dozens of little things all rolled together. In the course of just a few days, she’d thought maybe that chance at a real life had finally come her way. But just as quickly, it had been snatched away. “Are you going to call your family?”

“Not until I know something. I don’t want Mom and Dad down here ordering everybody around, and Liella will have a come-apart. I won’t call her. I’ll call Breckin. Speak of the devil…”

“Hey.” The tall, red-haired firefighter towered over them where they sat. “I heard the transmission on the radio. What the hell happened?” He pulled a chair from the other side of the hall to where they were sitting and joined them. JoElla said nothing. She let Quint tell the story. She couldn’t tell it again.

In just a few minutes, Jerrica appeared in front of her with a pair of scrubs and a bottle of something, and JoElla let Landon’s wife lead her down the hallway to the shower. The little nurse pulled a set of towels from a nearby closet and hustled JoElla into the bathroom.

As Brandon’s blood flaked and melted off her skin and swirled on its way down the drain, JoElla wept. She’d been a helpless child, left to her own devices, and she’d vowed when she grew up, she’d never let herself feel that helpless again. And she hadn’t… until she’d watched Brandon bleeding out there on the nasty carpet of the old arcade floor. Helpless didn’t begin to describe the feeling she’d experienced. It was as if everything she knew and held dear was soaking into that filthy fiber and leaving her all over again.

There was no doubt why it was all happening. She’d dared to think something good could happen to her, and look at the result. She’d dragged Brandon down in the process. It was her fault, all her fault. If she hadn’t gotten involved with him, he wouldn’t be in that surgical suite, fighting for his life.

She stepped out and into some socks and surgical booties Jerrica had nabbed for her, then toweled her hair as best she could. She had no brush, but nobody cared what she looked like right then anyway. She’d no more than rejoined the group when a doctor appeared in the hallway. Jerrica was with him, and JoElla’s heart sank. “Landon? Your mom and dad here?”

“No. I haven’t called them yet. This is my sister’s fiancé. What’s going on? Is he okay?”

The doctor drew in a big breath and sighed it out. “No. I think he will be, but it’s touch and go right now. The bullet chipped off a big chunk of rib and threw it through his lung. We’ve got that under control. It also lodged up against a nerve in his back, and we’ve got a neuro back there working on that now.”

Landon’s eyes went wide. “Are we talking paralysis or?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. Based on the nerve, it might affect his breathing, and that’s why we’re concerned. It’s… Well, there’s a lot of medical jargon, but we need to fix it so that his diaphragm works correctly, and so do his liver and kidneys. But that should be fine. I really don’t think it’ll be permanent. Since it doesn’t seem to have damaged the nerve, just removing the bullet will relieve the pressure on that nerve. But he’s lost a lot of blood and he’ll be really weak. We may keep him in a medically-induced coma for a few days to let him heal.”

Landon seemed to calm a bit. “Thank you, Dr.Garrison.”

“You’re welcome. Now call your parents so I don’t get chewed out for keeping them in the dark,” the older man said and slapped Landon on the shoulder. Then he smiled. “I really do think he’s going to be okay.”

As the doctor and Jerrica walked away, Landon sighed. “I’m calling Mom and Dad. Red, could you call the station house and tell them how he’s doing? Make sure you talk to Duck and Boomer. They’re the ones who brought him in.”

“Sure thing, Hose. No problem.” Both men stepped outside to make their calls, and JoElla and Quint were left there again.

“Feeling any better?” Quint asked.

“Not really. Maybe a little.”

A booming voice yelled out, “Tompkins?”

“Oh, shit. Here we go,” JoElla mumbled. “Yes, sir.”

“Tompkins, what in the love of god happened?” Roy’s face was red and he looked like he might have a stroke.

“Can we go somewhere else? We’re disturbing the emergency room,” Quint said in a low voice.

“Yes. Let’s go to the cafeteria. And don’t say a word until we get there.” Roy led the way with JoElla and Quint trailing behind, and she knew what was coming. She was about to be fired, she was sure.

“And so Brandon pushed me out of the way and took the bullet. If he hadn’t, I’d probably be dead. He wasn’t supposed to be there?nobody else was,” JoElla said in ending and glared at Quint.

“Yeah, and aren’t you glad I was there?” the SanAntonio police officer asked.

JoElla shrugged. “I suppose I am. I just wish Brandon had done what he was told.”

“If he had, you’d be dead,” Roy pointed out.

“Maybe not,” Quint said with a chuckle.

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