Page 44 of Striker

I looked up at them before we turned the corner and could see the concern in their eyes. I nodded my head to give them the okay. We were all worried about Striker, but Amanda was right; yelling certainly wasn’t going to save him. They slowly made their way back to the waiting room and sat down together. I could see the rest of the club coming in, filling up the rest of the chairs.

Doctor Hank pushed open the operating room doors as Amanda pulled together all the tools and machines we needed. Striker was losing blood fast and the shirt I had tied around his shoulder was soaked through. “Amanda, get an IV and some blood, he’s type O negative. Losing blood quickly!” Striker was breathing on his own, so I hopped off the gurney and grabbed the pulse oximeter and placed it on his finger. Amanda was hooking up the IV’s while Doctor Hank scrubbed up and prepared for surgery. He turned and looked at me as Amanda placed his gloves on his hands.

“Well? Go get scrubbed up and get a move on my, dear. Time to save your future husband’s life.” Amanda nodded at me as I ran to the sink and cleaned up. This would be my first surgery, and on my fiancé nonetheless! I quickly finished and turned to Amanda. She put my gloves on and followed me to the doctors side.

Amanda turned the bright spotlight on above us and Doctor Hank got right down to business. “Chest tube.” He has already cleaned the area on Striker with iodine and placed the sterile drapes around the rest of his body. Doctor Hank made a small incision on Striker’s chest as I handed him the chest tube. He placed the tube through the small passage he made and sutured it in place. “We need to perform a thoracotomy. Are you ready, Lilah?”

I could barely form any words, so I just nodded. “Left Anterolateral thoracotomy my dear. What does that mean?” I racked my brain trying to remember when it came to me.

“Anterior chest wall! I need the scalpel and rib spreader.” Doctor Hank smiled as he grabbed the tools we needed.

“Very good, Lilah. Your husband is in very good hands. Go ahead and make the incision.” My hands were shaking and I closed my eyes to calm myself. Opening them back up, I made the incision and grabbed the rib spreader.

I stepped back and let the Doctor do the rest. He reached in with forceps and pulled out the small bullet and placed it in a small metal dish. I was amazed at how little it was, yet all the damage it caused. “Alright, my dear, time to stitch him right back up.”

I grabbed the suture kit and went to work. I quickly stitched the small incision on Striker’s chest and checked his vitals. Everything looked fine as we cleaned up. I stood over Striker and held his hand as tears ran down my face.

Amanda looked over and smiled, “You did good, Lilah. If you can save him after all of that, you can save anybody.” She grabbed the dirty gowns, towels and tools and brought them to the back.

Doctor Hank came up from behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Great job my dear. That was a high stress situation and you performed phenomenally. Striker is going to be fine. Why don’t you get him into a private room to recover?” I nodded, still too numb to speak as I pushed my fiancé into the hallway.

I found an open room and started to prepare everything. I grabbed one of the nurse laptops and started all the paperwork for Striker’s file, while keeping one eye on him. His vitals looked good and I knew I had nothing to worry about, but I still couldn’t help myself. I quickly went into the ensuite bathroom to clean up as I still had blood from Danny all over me. Not wanting to be away from Striker for too long, I washed my face and threw my hair up in a messy bun. Once he was awake, I would take a shower, but I just couldn't bring myself to be away from him for too long.

Grabbing a chair from the corner of the room, I brought it over next to Striker’s bed. Sinking down, I took his hand in mine and felt my eyes start to close. They felt so heavy and my body was starting to finally come out of shock. Everywhere on my body felt so achy. I let my head fall back on the chair and closed my eyes, promising myself it would be just a quick nap.

I woke with a sudden jolt as I felt a thumb rubbing against the back of my hand. Fearing the worst, I looked up to see Striker in the hospital bed smiling down on me. “Levi!” I jumped up and carefully hugged him, kissing him over and over.

“Lilah, baby, I’m okay!” He gently grabbed my face in his big strong hands. “I’m okay, baby girl. I’m more worried about you. You went through a lot. Did Doc check you out?”

I laughed as I thought back to last night’s chaos. “I’m okay, Striker, I promise. You’re the one who needed emergency surgery!”

I heard someone clear their throat behind me, “And luckily you were in very good hands my boy! Lilah here saved your life.” Doctor Hank came strolling into the room with a cart of food on it. “Let’s go you two, time to eat up!”

I pressed the button on the side of the hospital bed to help Striker sit up, he groaned as the bed pushed him up. “Are you okay?” I started to check all the machines and all over him. He laughed and grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his lips.

“Little Lark, I am fine. Sit down and tell me everything.” I sat down in my chair and took a bite of some toast, swallowing, I took a deep breath and started to explain everything that happened.

“Well, when I got to the truck I couldn’t find my medical bag. I started searching everywhere when Danny popped out. I tried to fight him, but he overpowered me. Threw me in the trunk of his car and drove off. When we got to the barn, he started to unravel. Knocked me out with chloroform to shut me up. When I woke up, he was undressing me, going on and on about how I will submit to him.” I could see Striker’s knuckles turning white as he gripped the side of the bed. I gently put my hand over his as I continued my story. “He didn’t touch me like that, babe. Don’t worry. I tried to sweet talk him, tell him what he wanted to hear. I thought I could make an escape. When I stabbed him, it was meant to go in his neck, but he turned and I missed. It was so stupid and I almost got myself killed. Then, you guys came rushing in.”

I looked up at Striker to see small tears forming in his eyes. “Come up in this bed with me, Lilah. I don’t want to be away from you ever again.” I slowly climbed up, careful not to hurt him or knock any IV’s out. Striker kissed the top of my head as I rested against his chest.

“I thought I lost you, Striker. That was the scariest moment of my life, I saw your heart stop beating, used the defibrillator on you, did CPR and everything!”

Striker gently stroked my hair as he whispered, “Shhh, Little Lark. You did amazing and you saved me, Lilah.” A knock on the door brought us out of our daze, Doctor Hank was standing there along with my Mama, Striker’s Pop, and my brothers.

“You have some visitors, boy!” Everybody piled into the room as Doctor Hank looked over Striker’s charts. “Everything is looking good. I think in about a week you’ll be good to go home!” Everybody clapped as Doctor Hank left the room.

Maverick stepped up to the bed and cleared his throat, “Everything is taken care of, Pres. Sheriff is taking care of Danny, there is no retribution from the mob, and Tammy is as good as gone.”

I looked back and forth between Striker and Maverick, “Uhm, anybody want to clue me in about who this Tammy chick is?”

Maverick’s face turned red and he stuttered before backing away, “Uh...uh...Striker can explain that one.” I glared at him as he fidgeted in his bed.

“Well, she’s a club girl who helped Danny kidnap you. She thought I had feelings for her and shit. Kind of the same way Danny felt about you. Well, Bambi and the other girls found out and branded her, then shipped her off with the Sheriff.”

I smiled knowing that my old friend Bambi had my back. “Well, at least she’s gone now.” My Mama came over and kissed the both of us while Striker’s Pop hugged us both.

“Lilah, sweetheart, why don’t you take a shower and put some clean clothes on while we’re here. We can watch him for you. I brought all your stuff with me.” My Mama handed me a bag full of shower stuff and nice clean clothes.

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