Page 64 of Collateral Damage

Chapter Twenty-Eight – Tank

“Hey, Sky?”

“Hey, uh, Tank. Where are you?”

“At work, is everything okay?”

“When will you be done?”

“In about an hour, why.”

She hesitates, and I wonder if something happened to Jensen.

“I need you to come to the hospital. The same one I was at. It’s uh, Jess.”

My heart sinks and then starts racing. “What’s going on?” I frantically look around to see if I can flag anyone to take over my class this afternoon.

“She’s in surgery. She has an ectopic pregnancy. I’m so sorry.”

I feel the color drain from my face. “No, that’s impossible. Jess isn’t pregnant.”

“I’m sorry. She asked me to call you. Can you come?”

Fuck, this can’t be happening. My legs feel heavy, and I sit down on a stack of tires, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Yeah, lemme sort out the recruits, and I’ll be right over.”

It takes me longer than I liked to get someone to take over the training session, only to get stuck in traffic. By the time I get to the hospital, I’m just about going out of my mind. I race from my car, slamming the door shut and springing through the automatic doors that, thank fuck, are open.

How the fuck can this be happening? I didn’t even know she was pregnant. Suddenly the conversation the night we broke up makes sense, and I know Jess was trying to hint that she was pregnant.

Fuck!

I told her kids were a hard limit for me, but that was before I’d spoken to Dylan. Till I realized it was a knee-jerk reaction when I knew better than to make any decisions so soon after a mission. A nurse with her arms full of supplies races past me, and I grab her shoulder, causing all the bandages and saline solution to clatter to the floor. She scowls at me but must see the terror on my face because her features immediately turn kinder, and she bends to pick up her stuff. I bend down too and start gathering the crap strewn all over the floor. “Can you tell me where Jess Summers is?”

“Tank!” I look up at the sound of my best friend’s voice and see him rushing toward me. Jensen looks down at my hands full of sealed bandages, but I’m still holding the keys to my truck, and they are cutting into my palm. They’re digging in so deep, blood has started breaking through the skin and is staining the plastic of the bandages. The nurse hands me a kidney-shaped bowl to deposit the stock into and dumps it all on the counter while reaching for my hand to examine the damage. I pull my hands out of reach and shake my head. “I’m fine. Thank you.”

She nods her head briskly and heads back in the direction she was going before I interrupted her. I turn to Jensen. “Where’s Jess?”

Jensen’s face is full of regret as he claps a hand on my shoulder. “She’s in recovery. I’m sorry, Tank.”

“Can I see her?”

“I’ve just come from there,” Skyla says as she comes walking toward me, her eyes red-rimmed from tears. She wraps her arms around me. My eyes feel raw, the lump in my throat getting bigger and bigger as the seconds tick by. “You can go through. Second door on the left.”

I head toward her room, racking my brain the entire time. What do I say?

I knock on the door. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She smiles, but just as quickly, tears start coursing down her face.

“I lost our baby, Chris.” She starts sobbing, and I rush to her side and gather her gently into my arms.

A nurse comes in the room and asks me to wait outside while she checks out Jess again. Wasn’t the fucking doctor just in here? I wait impatiently for the nurse to finish up with Jess and get her situated. Just those few moments with Jess made my heart splinter in two. I miss her. I miss everything about her, and I can’t believe I nearly lost her over a decision I hadn’t thought through enough. I want to pace, freak out, fucking punch something when I see her trying to hold it together through the window. Like a coward, I stare at the floor. I don’t even realize the room has cleared until Jess calls my name.

“Angel.” I enter the room and grab a chair to place next to her bedside. The last time I was in a hospital, it was when Skyla was here. Life has changed so much in such a short time. Jess reaches out, and I keep her hand in both of mine as I sit. Her fingers get lost in my enormous hands, and I wonder if it’s my imagination or if her hands and body seem smaller, shrunken in grief.

“Thank you for coming.” Her voice is raspy, her lips dry. I reach for the glass of ice chips and take one. I trace her lips with the ice, and she opens her mouth greedily for more. “Slowly, angel, or you’ll get sick.” We fall into silence, my mind racing with questions until I can’t take it anymore.

My voice hitches, and tears drop from my eyes as I rest my head on the bed. Jess strokes my hair while I sob. Realizing I’m not helping any, I wipe my tears with the back of my hand and clear the lump from my throat. “I’m sorry about that.”

---