“I love you, too,” I tell him because I forgot to say it back earlier.
He doesn't get a chance to respond before the sound of twisted metal being crushed fills my ears, and glass explodes all around. My car door pushes in on me, and screams fill the air. I’m pretty sure they're mine, but it all happens so fast.
“Apollo?” I call out, my words coming out slow and soft.
“I’ve got you, baby,” I hear him say, but he sounds so far away. “Stay with me,” he begs, but the darkness wins out.
Chapter Six
Apollo
“I need to be with her,” I tell the nurse as she brings the tray closer to my bed. “Please, I’m fine. Let me go.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Crew, but you’re going to have to stay still until the doctor is back with the X-rays.”
“Please.” I look up at her with all the pain I have in my heart and try to make her understand. “She’s my life.”
The nurse gives me a hint of sympathy as she presses her lips together. “I'll go get you an update.” She pats my arm as the doctor walks through the curtain. “Be right back,” she says to me softly and exits the way the doctor came in.
Everything happened so fast, it’s all just a blur. One second Celeste was telling me she loved me, and the next all hell broke loose. The ambulance, fire department, and police arrived within minutes, but every second Celeste was unconscious a little piece of me died.
They had to use the jaws to get us out, but they worked as quickly as they could. At one point I saw Amber being taken away on a stretcher, and all I could think was, If she survives I’m going to kill her.
By the time they cut us out, Celeste had begun to slowly regain consciousness. She didn’t respond to the questions the EMTs were asking her, but she was alive. I didn’t even realize I was bleeding until I tried to run after her. It took three firemen to hold on to me long enough for them to take care of Celeste and get her in an ambulance. It was only then someone noticed the slice on my leg, and I felt the pain in my arm.
We were brought to the hospital in separate vehicles, so I have no idea what’s happening with Celeste. When I got here, I tried to get up, so someone strapped me down. They think I’m experiencing a psychotic episode, and maybe I am. The thought of losing her has driven me to insanity.
“Mr. Crew, I’m Doctor Agner,” the doctor says as he turns on the light behind the X-ray screen. He places a few slides on it and then turns to me. “I’m afraid you’ve got three fractures in your left arm, right here.” He points to the screen, but I could care less.
“Fine, now am I free to go?”
“Let me get you stitched up and brace your arm, then you’re free to go.”
The curtain opens, and the nurse comes back. Before I can open my mouth, she holds up her hands. “She’s okay.”
I sag in relief against the gurney and close my eyes. Tears build and then fall down my cheeks as gratitude swells inside my chest.
“I can’t tell you anything else, but she’s asking for you.”
I snap up and pull against my restraints. The doctor comes over and places a hand on my chest. “The sooner you let me take care of you, the sooner I’ll let you go. And if you keep pulling your arm like that, it’s going to be much worse than it is now.”
There’s a long pause where I weigh my options on breaking out of this bed, or just letting him do his thing, and sense finally wins over. I nod, and he quickly gets to work.
I have a deep gash on my upper thigh, and although they got the bleeding to stop, it definitely needs stitches. I grit my teeth as the doctor gives me something to numb the pain and then begins to clean the wound. Once he and the nurse have finished that, he counts off stitches.
In total, it takes twelve stitches inside and twenty-two on the outside. There’s going to be a gnarly scar there once it heals, but I don’t care about any of that. Once he’s finished with my leg, he moves to set my arm in a soft cast.
“The fractures are too close to your shoulder to put on a full cast. The weight of the cast itself would pull and cause the bones to separate instead of heal correctly. What we’re going to do is wrap this up, and then you’ll need to be in a sling for the next eight weeks. After that, you can come back and let us take some more X-rays to make sure the bones have fused properly.”