Page 62 of Devoured By You

She shrugged, sitting down. Nolen returned a few minutes later. He whispered something to Marlowe, then resumed the same position as the rest of us. Waiting. Hoping. Praying.

If I’d thought the fifteen-minute drive to the hospital had taken forever, then the interminable wait for news was a torture I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Night fell, and still we waited. I didn’t believe in no news being good news. Not in cases like this, anyway. No news meant the surgeons were having to work longer and harder. What if his heart stopped, and his brain didn’t get enough oxygen? The vibrant man I’d fallen in love with reduced to someone who depended on medical care for the rest of his life.

What if he didn’t make it?

My hands shook like an addict craving a fix. I jammed them under my armpits, my stomach turning over and over. Addison must have sensed my growing panic because she put her arms around me and hugged me, whispering comforting words in my ear.

Nolen shooting to his feet alerted me to the doctor approaching us, his mouth grim. Sweat trickled between my breasts, despite the efficient air-conditioning. I slurped a lungful of air, holding it. Slowly, in case my legs didn’t hold, I stood up.

“Blaize Kingcaid’s family?”

Why had he asked? He must have known we were.

“Yes,” Nolen replied. “Just tell us, Doctor. We’re straight shooters.”

He might be. I wasn’t sure I was.

Addison clasped my hand. I held on to her, and the breath I couldn’t seem to let go.

“It was touch and go for a while. We had to give him several bags of blood, but he finally pulled through.”

“Oh, thank God.” I sagged against my best friend.

“But I’m afraid we couldn’t save his leg.”

What? What did he say?

“We had to amputate below the knee. I’m very sorry.”

Chapter 23

Jill

Hey knife, meet heart.

Fireworks exploded in my ears. I couldn’t have heard correctly. Amputate? No. No, no, no. I looked at Nolen for reassurance. He had his shit together. He was calm and in control. He’d have listened properly, unlike me.

I’d never seen a man look sicker.

Oh God. It was true.

“Can we see him?” Nolen asked.

“Shortly. He’s heavily sedated, and we’ll keep him that way for a while longer. I’ll have a member of staff take you to him. A maximum of two at a time, though.”

I shut out the rest of the conversation. Blay. A vibrant, funny, kind, beautiful man was about to face the battle of his life. Try as I might, I couldn’t imagine being robustly healthy one moment, and then the next… the next…

I clasped both hands to my chest, squeezing my eyes closed. The pain was so intense, so sharp, that I struggled to breathe. My lungs cut off the air they desperately needed. My head swam. I screamed but didn’t emit a single sound. The screaming was all in my head.

“Mom, Dad.” Nolen’s strangled voice jerked me to the present. He strode down the corridor, meeting his parents halfway. The three of them hugged. Embraces followed for Marlowe and Aspen. “Kadon’s on his way. He should be here in the next few hours. You just missed the doctor.”

“And?” his father asked.

“They had to take his leg.”

His mother paled, and his father had to prop her up. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how she felt. My agony made it hard to stay upright, but her pain must have been on an entirely different level. She’d carried him, raised him, loved him his entire life. Thirty-one years. I hadn’t even known him for thirty-one days. Not even half of that.

“We’ll all have to rally,” his father said grimly. “I won’t allow this to destroy my son. He’ll need our support, and every damn one of us is going to give it.”

---