Page 20 of Enzo
Both Soren and I jump up. “Got it, sir,” I reply.
Enzo gives me a gentle smile when I look at him. “I have my crutches, I’ll be fine. Go.”
“Keep your phone close and call the emergency number I gave you if you need someone, got it?”
“Promise.”
I’ll text Jane to come, but for now, I have to trust that Enzo will be okay on his own. Looking at Soren, I say, “Give me three minutes to change, then meet me at the front door.”
He nods and I run out of the kitchen for the stairs. Thankfully there’s a fresh pair of scrubs in the dresser, and I throw them onquickly, slipping on shoes before racing back downstairs to meet Soren at the door.
“Ready?”
“Let’s go,” the younger man says.
I lead him out to my van and hop in, peeling out of Doc’s driveway like our ass is on fire.
I can feel Soren glance at me, but I keep my attention on the road. I know these streets like the back of my hand, and I trust Hollis and the Amato lawyer could get us out of trouble should the cops try to harass me for speeding, but I’d rather not have that delay—especially not in an emergency such as this.
I hope Soren is ready to show off his skills, because it sounds like it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation.
Nothing like a trial by fire.
Soren and I prep everything,shoving equipment out of the way and setting up Doc’s surgical table in the center of his office—we really need a bigger space for emergencies like this.
Doc and Rose rush through the office door, and we all work on getting De Luca situated on the table. Picking up a pair of shears, I cut off De Luca’s bloodied and battered clothing, Soren helping me before he starts setting up monitors and inserting an IV.
“Shouldn’t you have taken him to the hospital?” I ask as I use the IV to administer a heavy dose of sedatives to keep the fucker under while we work on him.
“I can handle this,” Doc mutters as he examines De Luca’s wound. “I need more light.”
Soren and Rose move one of the lights closer, careful to keep it out of our way so no one knocks it over, but angling it so Doc has a better line of sight into De Luca’s chest cavity.
“Get some blood, Rose. The chart is on the storage fridge.”Doc has his hands deep in De Luca’s chest now, and Soren assists him, using suction to keep the blood out of his field of vision.
I keep an eye on De Luca’s vitals, as Doc mutters to himself while elbow deep inside the man and Rose begins another line for blood and fluids... or tries to at least.
“Fucking hell,” she mutters as she misses the vein.
“Switch places with her,” Doc orders Soren.
As if he’s done it hundreds of times before, Soren wipes De Luca’s blood on his shirt and quickly inserts the IV into De Luca’s other arm.
“Uhh,” I say, watching him move with precision as he sets up the blood bag. “Can you teach me how to do that so fast?”
Soren laughs a little. “I can give you some tips, but it comes mostly from practice.”
“Fair enough. Rosie. Imma stick you one day soon!” While I’m decent at finding a vein and inserting an IV or drawing blood, Soren is right that practice is important. I used to practice on my peers in nursing school—those fake arms they had us practice on didn’t cut it—and at the clinic, when I first started working, the other nurses and even Doc let me stick them a few times. But learning to insert an IV in-between patients doesn’t quite prepare you for a real-world situation such as this.
The machines monitoring De Luca start going off, and I curse as I stare at his plummeting vitals. “Doc!”
“I’m almost done,” is his calm reply.
Soren runs off for another bag of blood as Doc and Rose continue working on De Luca.
“Everything is under control,” Doc says, still calm, as if De Luca’s vitals aren’t still dropping and the monitors aren’t fucking screaming at us.
“Fucking finally!” Doc says in a light, triumphant voice.
