Page 41 of See You Soon
I'm just surprised at how stubborn my naive little Cherry can be. I can't force her to go back home, but I'll keep trying. She shouldn't be here. I'll be leaving soon and I can't watch over her and that kills me.
Doctor Diaz cleared me and now I'm waiting for the paperwork to go through. My team carried on without me and everything went wrong on the mission I was benched out of. My phone blew up with notifications and I knew it wasn’t good.
They went in without me and shit went haywire. They failed to rescue the other hostage, Damon Hawk. Kane filled me in that Rooker was hurt badly and they were med-evacuating him back to the hospital where I was.
I should have been there.
My hands turn into fists tightly, on my lap, from the anxiety and anger I'm holding onto. I'm in a small waiting room at the hospital, waiting for an update on Rooker. Kane sits beside me and he's just on edge as I am. Lopez took off to get rest.
Rooker is one of the guys I'm closest to on the team, besides Kane. He's the oldest on the team, at the age of thirty-seven and still kicking ass. He's the wise one. When we aren't working, we go drinking, hunting, and fishing together. We all had a brotherly relationship with each other and the respect was unwavering.
Rooker has two twin daughters back at home and a wife. Their faces are in the back of my mind and it hurt me to tell his wife, that something happened to him.
If anything happened to Rooker, he made me promise that I would be the one to make that phone call to his family. Mainly because his wife knows me well. Whenever I was around Noel, it consisted of barbecues at his house or mine. His wife is a sweetheart. A bleeding heart that's always weary for her husband. Rooker made it clear that he'd be more comfortable with it coming from me rather than some random guy that sits at a desk that doesn't know Rooker personally.
She answered on the first two rings. It was around afternoon time for her when I called. We were a couple of hours ahead of her when she received the call.
Noel answered, her voice rushed. I could hear her trembling; she knows a phone call from me while Rooker’s on a deployment was never good. I told her that Rooker was in the hospital getting emergency surgery and we wouldn't know if his condition is stable or not.
She screamed and cried, and I winced at the sounds she made over the phone. The sound of someone's heart breaking completely into a million pieces. No one ever wants that phone call. And it almost broke me.
I reassured her his life, but I made sure to tell her everything was touch and go. I turned on my phone not sure of what to do. I wanted to keep myself distracted, something to keep me from barging into that surgery room demanding an update.
It's already the next day for us. It's around four in the morning and I'm wide awake with fury. I'm angry with the protocols that kept me behind. I start to fidget with my phone going through the photo album. I need a distraction. I scroll all the way to the top and I stop on a photo of Kane, Paul, Rooker, and me together.
We're all fishing on Kane's boat in Florida. Paul had caught the biggest Red Drum we'd ever seen. He was holding it up proudly, smiling big. All of us had our Oakley sunglasses on, dressed in shorts and fishing shirts.
I laugh.
I remembered this day like yesterday. I didn't catch shit that day. Paul and Kane were reeling in all the fish and Rooker and I struggled.
"Um... excuse me, Chief Petty Officer Rider?" I was still looking at my phone when that familiar sweet voice interrupts my memory. I smile.
I stand up, looking down at Ari. She's still in a scrub cap and she looks so fucking cute.
"Ari... don't do that." My smile disappears. It comes out sounding like an order. I hadn't meant it to but it's just a habit at this point. I didn't appreciate her calling me by my rank. We know each other and I feel as if she's trying to hide that fact. I didn't expect her to be working but there she is, standing in front of me, cheeks flushed, sweat underneath her surgery cap, and licking her lips.
How I would love to feel that tongue on my lips again.
"Sorry... He's awake now. Bullet through his chest. It didn't hit any major organs and he's very lucky for that. The surgeon was able to dislodge the bullet, taking it out completely from his chest and stopping the bleeding. He's in a lot of pain but he's alive."
A ton of weight lifts from my shoulders. I don't have to make that phone call. Noel can sleep better tonight knowing that.
"Can we see him?" I ask, putting my hands in my all-black sweatpants. I'm in civilian clothing. Wearing a black plain shirt and my favorite pair of vans.
Ari nods and she motions me to follow her. She looks at me then at Kane. Her eyes widen.
"Kane? Mr. Slaughter?" Ari questions, eyes full of familiarity.
"Ari Alvarez, would you look at that, you did become a nurse after all." Kane smiles at her giving her a high five.
"Yes, I did. I've been working here for a while now." She motions her hands around her head, insinuating the hospital.
She returns the smile as she leads the way into the room Rooker is in. I look at Kane with curiosity brewing hard and fast inside of me. We stay back and keep our distance from Ari as we followed her. Kane gives me a shrug. Camo paint all over his face. His black hair is a mess and he's still in uniform.
Asshole never mentioned Ari to me before. A small amount of fire in my heart sparks inside of me. It's a foreign feeling and I'm unsure of how to handle it.
"I kept my promise to Paul, you know that." He says firmly. He's referring to the promise that Paul made us all do, to keep tabs on his girls. His sister and mother. I'm the only selfish asshole that didn't follow through.
