Page 96 of Guarding Bristol

“Fair enough.”She pushed away from the wall and straightened.“You’re restless as hell.You got somewhere you need to be?”

“No.”

A grin quirked her lips.“Like I said.Shit liar.”She shook her head, something almost like fondness glinting in her eyes.“Take the rest of the night off.We’ll pick this up tomorrow.Hopefully by then I’ll have an update on Leandro’s location.Now, get outta here and go see her before you burst.”

He grinned back, not surprised that she’d already figured it out on her own.Nothing got past her.“Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

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Jordan gritted histeeth, sweat pouring off his face as the orthopedic surgeon examined the bullet wound in his shoulder.His right shoulder and arm were on fire, the pain so intense it stole his breath.“Well?”he ground out.

The surgeon straightened and shook his head.“The humeral head and glenoid fossa are completely destroyed.Even if I’m able to reconstruct the joint—”

“If?”he snapped, ready to choke him.He was suffering.Unable to stand the pain, and nobody seemed to give a shit.He’d passed out soon after climbing down the hatch of the sub.Didn’t remember anything else until they’d carried him to a vehicle and put him in the back.The driver had hit every fucking bump between the coast and here.

The surgeon’s steely gaze met his, expression set.He was willing to take the money and perform the surgery in this private operating room Jordan had reserved, but he wouldn’t be intimidated.At another time and place, Jordan might have respected him for it.“The median and ulnar nerves are severed, and the radial has sustained damage too.Even if I’m able to reconstruct the joint, the chances of you regaining any function after recovery are slight.You would need a neurosurgeon—”

“Get one,” he panted, his vision going gray around the edges.It was getting harder to breathe.He was so weak, had lost so much blood.

“I recommend amputation.”

“No.”Ice swept through him.Never.“I don’t care what it costs.Just get him here.”He couldn’t bear the thought of not being able to use his arm again.Fucking Angel.At least he and Barros had drowned.No way they could have survived being in the water that far from shore.

The surgeon’s mouth thinned.“I’ll make a few calls while they prep you, but I’m not guaranteeing anything.My priority is to stop the bleeding and to try and preserve what function I can.”

He nodded, desperate for the pain to stop.But the idea of being paralyzed, of never being able to use his arm again, was terrifying.“Do it.Just do it,” he gasped.

One of the nurses placed an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.Whatever gas they were pumping out of it had a weird chemical smell.“Just breathe in deeply.”

He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth when someone stabbed the IV into his vein.Then everything went dark.

He woke in a bright white room.For a moment he feared he’d died, but then he was able to move his head.A nurse was at his side in an instant, checking some equipment they had him hooked up to.His right arm still burned, but not as bad as it had before.He looked down at it, bandages covering him from chest to elbow.

“How’s your pain level?”the woman asked.“If you need more pain relief, you can press the blue button on the line next to you.But only once every hour or so.No more than that, you’ve lost too much blood to risk taking more.”

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