“Good,” he said, letting go of my hand so he could strap his seatbelt on. As he went to buckle himself in, I saw the flinch on his face—another shot of pain; I’d bet my paycheck on it. But when he looked up at me and saw my concern, he schooled his features into a small smile.
He wasn’t fooling me, but I didn’t say anything as I started up the car and shot out of the driveway. Thank fuck the hospital was only a short drive from my place. I felt desperate to get there, at the very least for us to have some peace of mind.
Reid laid his head on my shoulder, and the fact that he was quiet during the ride to the hospital had my stomach feeling all kinds of unsettled. I thought about calling his parents, but if it turned out to be nothing, there was no use riling them up.
Maybe I’d been in this business too long. Maybe I was turning paranoid.
Or maybe not…
The ten-minute drive took less than eight, and when I parked in the emergency room lot and shut off the engine, Reid frowned.
“The ER? Wait, I thought we were just going to a doctor?”
“We are. An ER doctor.”
“But—” He closed his eyes, sighing. “Fine. Okay.”
I was out of the car in a flash and rounding the hood just as he opened his door. He let me take his hand, something we’d never done in public, and that small act wasn’t lost on me. My stomach flipped over on itself, nerves and butterflies warring in my belly as I led him through the automatic double doors of the entrance and down the hall to the ER waiting room.
“Ollie, hey,” Connie, the office manager, said when we approached the window. She looked between the two of us and must’ve caught on to the grim look on my face, because her smile fell. “What brings you in?”
I inclined my head toward Reid. “He was involved in a car accident in early January. Currently experiencing excruciating pain at the point of injury.” I barely managed the next words. “I’d like to get him checked as quickly as you can for a…possible complication.”
She pushed back her chair and stood. “I’ll go see who’s free. Preference?”
I shook my head. “Farruggia saw him last time.”
“Okay,” she said. “Have him fill out the sign-in screen over there, and I’ll be back in just a sec.”
“Thanks, Connie.”
When I turned around, Reid was already over at the kiosk, putting in his information and symptoms via the touchscreen, and I tried not to hover behind him. As he finished, the doors leading to the back opened, and Connie motioned for us to follow her.
This time, Reid was the one to take my hand, lacing his fingers through mine as we walked past the nurses’ station, filled with the people I knew and worked with on a daily basis. With my lips pulled tight, I nodded at them as we passed, and though there were questioning looks about what was happening, they all seemed to understand now was not the time to chat.
Connie led us into one of the exam rooms, where Reid’s weight and vitals were taken before we were left in the room alone. I took a seat in the chair beside the table while Reid changed into the requisite johnny gown, and when he settled back on the table, he reached for my hand and rested it under his on his thigh.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“How sexy you look in that gown.”
Reid chuckled and pulled at the pea-green fabric. “Not my best color.”
“But somehow you pull it off.”
“Hah. I betyou’dlike to pull it off.” He winked, and I managed a smile, because fuck, if he was going to try to crack jokes instead of worrying in tense silence, then I needed to go along with it.
The door opened then, and a tall woman with a brunette bun piled on top of her head walked in. She held her hand out to Reid. “Hello, I’m Dr. Rebecca Farruggia.” Then she caught sight of me sitting on the other side of him. “Ollie, hi.”
“Is it okay if he stays?” Reid asked, his grip on my hand tightening.
She smiled at him. “Of course.” I pulled my hand back as she began her examination, all the while asking him questions, and I couldn’t help but think how strange it was to be on the other side of the patient/medic relationship, especially in the background like I was now. It took everything I had to sit quietly, to not answer the questions for him, to not offer my own opinion.
Let her do her job. That’s why you’re here.
After she finished her examination, Dr. Farruggia sat back on the stool. “How does your head feel now?” she asked. “Is it more of an ache or a shooting pain?”
“It’s a shooting pain that comes and goes. Right now it’s not hurting much, though.”