Burn Into Me (Into Me Series Book Two)

Chapter Twenty Eight - Migraine

Jet's POV

"Why do you do this if it hurts you this much?" he asks me.
"Do what?" I wonder, looking up into his eyes. He seems... younger? His hair is longer, his eyes darker, less tattoos on his chest and arms. Almost like when I first met him. His fingertips drag across the bare skin on my back, leaving behind a trail of goosebumps. I glance around the on-call room we're in, trying to remember how we even got here.
"Nursing. Healthcare." He pauses to take a breath as I shift my focus back onto him, feeling incredibly confused. I've been here before... I swear... "If it hurts you this bad, why not just get another job?"
"Because as much as it has hurt me, it has healed me too..." I choke. But the words taste sour in my mouth like I don't believe them. They taste like a lie.
"I don't understand," Jackson replies, cocking his eyebrow as pain flashes through his eyes.

"One day, I decided to help wherever I could, and it was almost like magic because I was exactly what the world needed everywhere I went. Someone needed me. Someone's life depended on me-"
"Our baby needed you. Our baby's life depended on you. And I begged you to get a new job and you ignored me, and now our baby is dead," Jackson spits, sitting up abruptly and shoving me off of him.
"Wha- what?" I stumble, my eyes widening as tears pinch at the back of them. "Jackson-"
"No, no this is all your fault. I fucking told you that you were going to only end up hurting yourself or me or the baby, and you fucking did. I told you that. But, no, you care more about your career than me or our family," he scoffs.
"Jackson-"

"He's right, you know," Caroline snickers.
I scramble to cover my bare chest with the blanket, "What the fuck are you doing here?" I practically spit. "I never even told you I was pregnant."
"Cause a part of you always knew you wouldn't bring that baby into the world," Caroline sneers, narrowing her eyes.
"What the fuck-"
"Tell him, Jet. Tell him about how scared you were every second of every day. Tell him about how hard you tried to keep yourself from getting excited because you knew something was going to happen. Go ahead and tell Jackson how you manifested your own fucking miscarriage," Caroline urges.
"I didn't manifest shit-"

"Jackson is really struggling, Jet," Riley says. I turn to look at him as the on-call room falls away, my rooftop appearing. Riley looks at me, a tear rolling down his face, "You're killing him. And you're keeping it all in and to yourself. He needs to talk to someone. He needs his fucking wife. Get your shit together, this is about him just as much as it's about you."
"Riley, I'm trying!" I cry.
"Try fucking harder," he spits, shaking his head.
"Riley!" I yell after him as he stands and walks toward the bathroom window.

"Help!" a desperate voice screams. "We need help over here!"

My feet take off before I can process where I'm going. I shove open the door that appears, the ER before me. All of the bed spaces are empty. I furrow my eyebrows, looking around for anyone, but it appears that I am completely alone.

"Hello? Does someone need help?" I call out, doing a full turn around myself trying to locate the voice.
"Yes! Jet! Help!" the voice screams again.
"Where are you?" I shout back, trying to focus intently on the location of the voice.
"Trauma 1!"

My eyes flick over to trauma bay 1, where a body in a bed and one standing next to it appear. I take off, sprinting as fast as I can to get to them.

"What's going on?" I ask, pulling on a pair of gloves. I look to the standing figure, her face slowly coming into focus.
"29 year-old male," Sandy starts, her eyes flicking up to my mine. "GSW to the chest. Left pneumothorax, broken ribs, and acute blood loss. He needs a chest tube and rapid transfusion protocol."
"Wait, that sounds like... like..."

I look back to the bed as Jackson suddenly appears, coughing blood clots from his mouth and gripping his side.

"Fuck!" I curse, running to his side. "Hi, I have you, I got you, okay? I love you. Okay?" I rush, pulling on gloves and grabbing a chest tube kit. He looks at me, eyes wide and frantic. He looks horrified. "I need someone to drop a chest tube in here!"