Page 81 of Dance for Me
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Chapter Fourteen
He hated hospitals with a passion.
That hatred quadrupled the longer he spent time in one.
From what the doctors were saying, this would be his new reality for many weeks to come...if Boadicea survived her injuries. Right now, that was a big fucking if. Her life hung in the balance. So much trauma to such a little body had consequences and it had become tragically clear over the past few hours just how much his little one had endured.
The sharp-faced, grim-eyed doctor who had initially taken charge of Bodie upon arrival hadn’t been the bearer of good news. Her voice had been gentle, compassionate, even when faced with a solid wall of dominant men, but her message had been an unmistakable warning: Be prepared to lose her.
Concussion, severe blood loss. Two broken legs, hairline fractures in her right arm and left cheekbone. Cracked ribs, internal bleeding, and a nasty laceration to the scalp.
Four hours after Bodie was rushed to the emergency room, it seemed all that was left to do was wait...and wait. Playing their last time together over and over through his mind, wondering if there was something different he could have done to change the course of her fate.
Of course, there was. There always was.
Wasn’t that the way of it? Life came down to choices, didn’t it? Every tiny decision a person made in the journey of their day could alter their future without them ever knowing. Have a cup of tea that morning instead of the usual coffee and bang! Because it took a minute longer to make than coffee, you end up in a car wreck.
Existence came down to making your choice and dealing with the repercussions, praying luck fell on your side and didn’t get you or someone you loved killed.
And then there were those souls who seemed destined to fall into the shit, no matter what they did. They fell fast, sank deep, and were mired before they knew it, on a path to destruction from the start.
Braun looked around the waiting room with a heavy heart. The space was filled with Avalon Masters and one pacing Mistress. His friends. Bodie’s friends. A support network unlike he’d ever known, circling the wagon around the submissive they’d come to love as much as he did.
Now more than ever, he was so, so fucking grateful he’d told Bodie he loved her every chance he’d had. His fists clenched against his thighs, wishing love had been enough to protect her while her bastard of a father battered her into pieces.
Atticus was right—there was a reckoning coming, and Braun planned to be at the head of the charge into battle. Fury bubbled under his skin, simmering away toward boiling point. When it hit its peak, Abraham McGee was going to rue the day he ever lifted a hand toward his daughter.
Connie dropped into the seat next to him, her face tight with worry. Her hand automatically rested on his fist, and with a sigh, Braun loosened it and turned it over to take hers. She was trembling, wound up so tight her curvy body was ready to implode. “They’ll be by soon,” she assured him, though her voice wavered slightly. “If they haven’t been to give us an update yet, it means she’s still fighting, Braun. She’s still with us.”
He ran his free hand through his hair, then studied the dried blood on his skin. Bodie’s blood, her life, staining his hands. He fisted it again, nails biting into his palm. “She’s strong, Connie. I don’t think she realizes how strong she is. I...I wasted so much time, thinking she was already dead, and she was holding on while I hesitated.”
She nudged his face toward her. Gray eyes brimmed with tears, but she didn’t let them fall. He thanked God for that; his own were precariously close to the surface. “Atticus told me what you walked into, Braun. That amount of blood usually indicates loss of life. He and Jasper assumed the worst as well. The main thing is, the three of you worked as a team and kept her alive long enough for the EMTs to get there. That’s what you concentrate on. If you hadn’t gone to help her when you did, she’d be gone. Twenty, thirty minutes later and there’d have been no hope.”