“He is in stable condition, so yes, he is doing okay.”
“What happened? Did he get hurt at work?” Christian asked, dreading the answer. Those were some of his worst nightmares; the ones where Shea gets his arm or leg cut off with a saw or something.
“Yes, Mr. Beck, he did. He fell off a roof and broke his clavicle, and he has a mild concussion. Is it possible for you to come to the hospital? We need to release him into someone’s care because of the concussion. He will need to be supervised for the next twenty-four hours.”
“Christ!” Christian breathed. “Okay, no problem. I will be there in about an hour.”
“Great, just come to the emergency room and tell the nurse at the desk who you are there for,” Darlene said.
“Okay, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
They said goodbye then Christian hung up. He fought off the panic that threatened to consume him. He needed to get to Shea, and he didn’t have time to be stuck in the bathroom throwing up. He just kept telling himself that Shea was okay. He was most likely resting comfortably on drugs and annoying the nurses. Luckily, Christian had already closed up shop and there was no one to kick out of the studio. He would finish washing the brushes another time; for now, he would just set them in water and get the hell out of there.
He was on the highway ten minutes later. Part of the ride was highway while the second half was back roads. He was most impatient on the back roads because they were mostly one lane and he kept getting stuck behind the one person who was in no rush to get anywhere. Some of the curses that came out of his mouth were so nasty that Christian was shocked that he even said them out loud. He made it in just about an hour like he said. He parked in the first spot he could find then quickly made his way to the emergency room doors. He gave the nurse at the desk Shea’s name and was told to wait; fifteen minutes later another nurse came into the waiting room and called for him.
Christian followed the nurse back into the triage bay and tried not to look at the people who were broken, bleeding, or sick in the beds they passed. The nurse stopped and pulled back a curtain to reveal Shea. Christian thanked her and she told him that she would be back in a minute with discharge papers before she walked away.
He looked at Shea, who seemed to be asleep on the small bed. He was shirtless with his right arm in a sling and a swathe that wrapped around both his torso and arm to hold his arm in place. Christian swallowed back the urge to gag; it just turned his stomach that Shea had been hurt. He fell off a freaking roof for Christ’s sake! He could have landed on his head or broken his neck or his back. God, this could have been so much worse.
Christian stepped up to the left side of the bed and touched Shea’s arm. He started then grunted in pain and shifted slightly on the bed. He dragged his eyes open and looked up at Christian. A lazy, definitely drugged up, smile lifted his lips.
“Hey, buuuddy,” Shea said, sounding a lot like Pauly Shore at the moment.
“Hey, Shea, how you doing?” Christian asked, smoothing his hand over Shea’s shortly cropped hair.
“Mmm, better now that you’re here, lover,” he murmured, reaching out with his left hand to pat Christian’s stomach. After only two pats, his hand fell away as if it was just too heavy for him to hold up.
Christian smiled slightly. “As soon as the nurse gets back with your discharge papers, we’ll get out of here.”
“Sweet, can we stop and get ice cream on the way home?”
“Ice cream?” Christian repeated, raising an eyebrow in question.
“I got a boo-boo so I think I deserve some ice cream, dammit,” he said seriously.
Christian choked back a laugh at Shea’s obviously medicated state and smoothed his hand over his hair again. “We’ll stop at Wendy’s and get you a Frosty. Does that sound good?”
“Can I have a chocolate one?” Shea asked, eyeing Christian suspiciously.
“You sure can,” Christian said, feeling like he was talking to Ethan instead of Shea.
Shea nodded, but he was still looking up at him as if he wasn’t sure if Christian was telling the truth or not. The nurse showed up a few minutes later with Shea’s discharge papers and a list of instructions for his care. Christian kept a firm hold of Shea’s left arm as they walked out to the car. He was still a bit loopy and Christian was terrified that he was going to bump into something and hurt himself even more.