Page 37 of Enzo
“All done. I’m changing out his blood bag and then I can assist.”
“Stats, Rose?”
“Not in critical danger, for now.”
“Perfect. Back to your friend, Soren. Why don’t young people take phone calls anymore? It’s much more personal than a text. I don’t like talking to people much either, but for something so important, he’ll have to get over that.”
I snort as I wipe off as much blood as possible. “That’sifthere’s an open spot for him and you can get Murry to agree to mentor him. He didn’t seem to be a big fan of yours, Doc. Doubt he’ll do you another favor.”
“I can be persuasive,” Doc replies with a pout.
Soren returns from his trip to the storage fridge. “It’s not that. He’s deaf. Theoretically, his CIs connect to Bluetooth, but according to Vonny he’d rather cut his implants out himself than try to understand someone on a phone call.”
“Impressive,” Rose says. “I thought nursing school was hard enough. I can’t imagine being deaf or hard of hearing and going all the way through med school.”
Soren chuckles a little. “Vonny’s ambitious.”
“Skype then?” Doc asks. “I’ll make sure Murry knows to have an interpreter.”
Done with the hip, I say to the room at large, “I’ll start cleaning and closing the wounds on his torso.”
“Good,” Doc answers. “How’s he looking, Rose?”
“Well, he’s not going to die tonight,” she replies. “Blood pressure’s a little low, but that’s to be expected. Everything else is normal range for his condition.”
“I don’t know if Vonny will go for it,” Soren tells Doc, going back to their previous conversation.
“Get the pan. I have the bullet, and I’m pulling it out now.” It could be a figment of my imagination, but I swear I hear the metal of the bullet hitting the tray when Doc drops it in. “Why? You know Cristian pays well. The hours will be more manageable than working in a hospital, and so long as he doesn’t mind patching up guys at the clinic when there’s not an emergency like this that needs his attention, it’s a good gig.”
“He has two brothers; he won’t go anywhere without them.”
“Everybody leaves the nest eventually,” Doc mutters.
“Trust me, when you meet them, you’ll understand.”
There’s something in Soren’s voice that catches my attention, and I’m curious about these friends of his. The idea of finally having a lead on a surgeon—or future surgeon—I want to learn more about the man who’s managed to steal my friend’s heart.Even if Doc isn’t ready to admit it yet, I’ve been watching the two of them, and I can tell Doc is totally smitten with the younger man. It’s adorable—not that I’d ever say that out loud.
“I’m done here,” Doc tells him. “Clean it up?”
“Yes sir.”
Doc moves to help me clean and stitch up Jude’s torso and face. Most wounds are deep enough to require stitches, but there are only a few truly deep enough to scar. Not that I believe Jude will care about that considering he’ll not only need extensive physical therapy on his hip, but that it was his own family who did this to him. My suturing skills aren’t as neat as Doc’s, but there are too many cuts for one single person to handle, so they’ll have to do.
“I think we’ve done all we can here,” Doc says when he finishes the last stitch on Jude’s face.
“I’ll clean him up a little more,” Rose tells him. “We don’t need any of them freaking out because there’s so much blood on him. He’s getting stronger, though, and his BP’s good.”
“Let the bag finish emptying and then we’ll switch out his IVs. I want to get some painkillers in him now, and ease off on the sedative. We’ll assess him when he wakes. You can clean him up after we switch everything out.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’ll update Tennant and Leandro,” I offer.
“Hollis is probably pissed we weren’t able to send anyone along sooner, but don’t let them give you any grief.”
“Never do, sir. I know how to handle them.” Tennant and Hollis, and even Roman, may scare most people, but I’ve been working here for too long for any of them to have an impact on me.
As expected, Tennant is waiting in the hall outside the office. He’s joined by Roman, but that doesn’t change the way I plan on approaching this. Mafia heir or not, Roman Amato isjust another loved one waiting for news, and treating him any differently won’t help him or his lover.
