Page 9 of Careless Whisper
No matter how often I told myself that I didn’t love him any longer, that I’d moved on, the truth was that I hadn’t. I had stayed in stasis and merely changed how I looked at life and love.
Betrayal like the one Elias had perpetuated against me had left me cold. I hadn’t had a relationship since. Sure, a few one-night stands here and there. Sex was sex. But I wasneverthe kind who just wanted to fuck.I wanted it all—I wanted what my parents had, my grandparents, my brother.
And I’d had that with Elias—for nearly a year.
I blinked, the memory slipping back into the quiet gray of the present.
There were no muffins now. No Elias leaning against the doorway, half-grinning. Only the hard bed, the hum of the old HVAC unit, and the dull ache behind my ribs where something used to be.
I stood and stretched, rolling out my neck.
Enough nostalgia, Reggie.
I had another eight hours ahead of me, and if the universe were feeling particularly cruel, I’d run into Elias again.
Maybe this time, I wouldn’t flinch.
The overhead speaker crackled just as I got to the nurse’s station.
“Rapid Response, Room 3B. Repeat—Rapid Response, Room 3B.”
I weaved through the hallway as my sneakers squeaked against the waxed floor.
Room 3B was one of ours—cardiac step-down. I processed my memory files.A post-valve replacement, stable this morning.He shouldn’t be crashing.
When I pushed through the door, the patient looked like he was drowning in the open air—clammy skin, labored breathing, his chest rising in uneven gulps.
“Tanya?” I queried the nurse who was there.
“Sudden drop in pressure,” my colleague said, breathless and pale. “Chest pain. Then this.”
I didn’t need to hear more.
Neck veins distended. Muffled heart sounds. Systolic pressure plummeting with every second.
Oh no. No, no, no.
“Tamponade,” I murmured, then louder, sharper: “We’ve gottamponade. Crash cart now. And page Cardiology. Dr. Graham. Tell him Sanchez suspects tamponade and the patient’s decompensating.”
Tanya froze for a second. “Dr. Graham? Are you sure he said that?—”
“Now.”
I knew what he’d said to everyone on the team afterintroductions:Don’t page me unless it’s critical. If you don’t know what you’re doing, figure it out before I get there.
Tanya did as I asked.
I snapped on gloves and leaned over the patient.
I could hear the blood pooling around the heart in my head, even before the ultrasound.
I’d seen it before. I could feel it,
“Give one of epi,” I told the resident. “Open the fluids wide. We need to keep him alive long enough to tap the pericardial sac.”
The door opened behind me. I didn’t have to turn to know who it was.
“Report,” Elias ordered.
