Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 41

"David!" I yelled, running through the doorway, frantically rushing into my bedroom to search for my brother. I heard my name faintly from the hallway, but I ignored Damon and kept looking. When I didn't find David in my room, I ran back out into the living room, feeling panic clawing at my chest. My eyes caught on Soma's bedroom door, and I sprinted across the room towards it. The minute my eyes swept across the scene within my roommate's room, I screamed Damon's name.
David was lying midway between the bathroom and the bedroom, his face a deathly pale blue.
"Damon!" I screamed again, on the verge of hysteria, as I dropped to my knees and shook my brother's shoulders. "David, wake up!" I begged, patting his cheek, and biting my tongue to hold back the tears.
Damon was at my side now, instructing me to go find a rag and soak it with cold water. As I ran to the kitchen, I glanced back to see him feeling David's pulse. A grim expression fell over his face, and my hope shattered.
"Is he...alive?" I whispered, stopping in the doorway, and covering my mouth. Damon's eyes met mine, and I started to tremble.
"I can't feel a pulse." His words sliced at my heart, and I coughed, all air suddenly leaving my lungs. "Oana, I need you to hold it together, okay?" Damon stood up, his green eyes burning into me, as he gripped my shoulders. "I'm calling an ambulance, but I need you to breathe." He ordered, his voice commanding and calm. I choked, forcing my head to move up and down, as he pulled out his phone.
My world blurred, and I closed my eyes, covering my mouth to hold back sobs that wracked my body.
I pleaded with God to let my brother live. Everything else I tried to pray was lost, because my mind was a mess of incoherent thoughts and images.
I don't know when the medics arrived, but I remember watching them taking David, and I remember trying to run after him. Damon caught me and held me back, whispering encouragements as they took David away. When I couldn't see him anymore, I collapsed in a pile of tears. Damon must've carried me down to the car after that.
Everything for a few hours after that was a blur of white walls and Damon's gentle words in my ear.
When I finally started to calm down, I began to fully take in my surroundings, quickly realizing that we were at a hospital.
Damon and I were sitting in some sort of waiting room, and I was clutching my hands together in my lap, while Damon gently rubbed my shoulders. He was murmuring something in my ear, but I couldn't hear him. I blinked repeatedly, trying to calm my racing heart and rid my lashes of the dry tears.
"Oana, the doctor needs to talk to me for a minute," He was saying. I shivered but nodded. Unlatching my shaking hands from each other, I slowly moved back to sit on one side of the couch we were on. Damon's face was a riddle of concern and calm when he stood and looked me in the eyes. Switching his eyes back and forth between my eyes as if searching for something he spoke to me quietly, "I'm coming right back, alright?"
I didn't answer him. Reaching up to push my hair out of my face, I felt the grainy substance on my cheeks that came after countless shed tears. Damon stood, squeezing my hand, before going to meet a man dressed in a white coat and blue scrubs outside the room. I glanced around the room slowly, staring at the tired faces of the people around me. None of them looked like they cared about anything, and my heart sank when David came to my mind.
Taking in a deep breath, I rubbed my eyes again, blinking as another tear slid down my cheek.
Pull it together, Oana.
I needed some privacy. Pushing myself to my feet, I started across the room to the women's bathroom, disappearing inside and avoiding the mirror. Bending over the sink, I splashed the cold water up onto my face, rubbing at my cheeks.
Lifting my eyes to the mirror as I stood, I let out a bitter laugh. My brown eyes were even more bloodshot than they had been the night before. And they were puffy around the edges from all my tears. The bruises on my cheeks didn't help my appearance either. I attempted to fix my tangled braid for the second time today, but gave up midway through. Instead, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and surveyed my clothes. The sweatpants and large shirt were rumpled and spotty from tears, but I couldn't fix them. I took a moment to stare at myself through the mirror, wondering how I'd gotten into such a mess. It was obvious who had attacked my brother and Tony. I'd been foolish to think that because their leader had been arrested, that Pedro's followers would just dissipate. Shaking my head, I turned away from the mirror and headed back into the waiting room. The moment I came through the door, I saw Damon waiting outside.
"Are you ok?" He frowned, keeping his voice down so others around couldn't hear him. I stopped the automatic nod that came upon me, and bit my lower lip. Glancing away, I took a moment to rein in my emotions, before I returned my gaze to Damon's. Steady green eyes stared back at me, waiting for my answer.
"I'm..." I trailed off, shaking my head and looking down in frustration as tears surfaced in my eyes. "How's David?" I finally asked, lifting my eyes again. Damon's lips twitched as a ghost of a smile flitted across his face.
"He's alive."
Those two words brought a surge of energy through me, and suddenly my sore muscles and bruises were shoved to the back of my mind.
"Thank God..." I breathed, holding my breath when Damon opened his mouth to speak again.
"They won't let you see him for another two hours," He told me, guessing the next words in my mouth. I sagged back against the wall behind me, pressing my hands on either side of me to steady my shaking knees.
"I'm so glad he's ok..." I inhaled, clenching my fists to keep my emotion at bay. I'd had enough breakdowns in the last week to last me a lifetime.
Damon let out his own heavy sigh and nodded, watching me carefully. At that moment, my stomach chose to make itself present, bringing a smirk to Damon's lips.
"Hungry?" He asked, and I laughed quietly.
"I don't see how, but I guess I am." I shrugged, running a hand over my face.
Damon chuckled when my stomach roared again. "Why don't we go grab something from the cafeteria?" He offered. Nothing sounded more appealing in the moment. No matter how much I hated cafeteria food, I was so hungry that I likely would've eaten uncooked rice if not given another option.
Damon and I made our way down two levels of the hospital, and followed the signs to the cafeteria. People were bustling around, finding seats in the boring grey and white booths, and as I fell into line in front of Damon, my stomach rumbled again.
I allowed a very small amount of things onto my plate, staring at the food I passed with a grimace. You'd think for a hospital, the food would be the best for your health.
Apparently not.
When we'd paid for our food, Damon and I moved towards the dining area to find a seat. His green eyes scanned the large room, but returned to me with raised eyebrows. I almost smiled in relief.
"We can sit outside." I nodded to the single glass door that lead to the patio. Damon agreed and we headed outside. To my surprise, there weren't many people out on the patio, despite the lovely pond, and the view of the city.
Most of the meal we spent in silence, focused on our food.
The hour we spent out on the patio flew by, and we were back in the waiting room in no time.
"Atkins?" A nurse called out from her clipboard, and my head snapped in Damon's direction. He offered a faint smile and ushered me ahead of him. "I'm sorry, only family members are allowed into the rooms outside of visiting hours." The woman said, her eyes surveying Damon quickly. I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head, and for the first time in hours, my brain worked quickly.
"He's family," I sent the nurse a quick smile, reaching down to lace my fingers through Damon's. He followed suit without hesitation. The nurse raised her eyebrows, glancing between the two of us. Damon gave her his own charming smile, and I watched her eyes scan him with interest.
"It's an easy mistake, our rings haven't shipped in yet," He told the woman, seeing her glance to our ring-less left hands, "We ordered them from Italy." He told her, sending me an appreciative smile.
The nurse raised her eyebrows and looked to me, when I smiled and nodded she seemed to agree. "Follow me," she turned on her heel, beckoning us down the white hallway, and through a set of double doors. After scanning her card to open the door, she pointed down the hall. "Third room on the right. Ring in when you're ready to leave." With a dismissive wave of her hand, she turned and moved back down the hall in the opposite direction. I stepped through the doors, my fingers still laced in Damon's, glancing over my shoulder as the doors closed.
I pulled my hand away quickly, reaching up to tuck a stray bang behind my ear. Damon smirked.
"If you wanted to hold my hand, you could've just asked." He told me.
I pursed my lips, moving down the hall, and biting back a retort. I counted out the third door and peered into the open room, my chest twisting in anticipation. My heart flipped when I saw David facing the TV in front of him, a dismal expression on his face.
"Hey," I stepped inside, and his head snapped towards me. A grin spread over his face, and he opened his mouth to talk, doubling over in a fit if coughing.
"H-hey brat," He sputtered as I sat down on the side of his bed.
Raising my chin, I glared down at him. "You couldn't get out of a choke-hold? After being in the military for six years, you'd think it would be harder to take you out." I taunted, observing the bruise around David's neck.
David grinned and shrugged, "Six on two is bad numbers-"
"Excuses, excuses." I cut him off, flicking my gaze up when I felt Damon's eyes on me. I faltered when I saw the tinge of sadness that shot through his eyes when I met his stare.
David coughed again and frowned, his swollen eyes accentuating how terrible he looked. "Where's Dad?"
I focused back on my brother, and Damon stepped further into the room, sitting on the couch opposite the room from the bed. "He's with Mrs. Lawson at Damon's house." I told David, running a hand through my ponytail. My brother let out a breath and lay back against the seventy some pillows behind him, blinking to clear his vision. I assumed that he was still dizzy from blood loss and lack of oxygen.
"When the guys attacked, Tony tried to keep them outside by using his body as a doorstop." David glanced at me, "They broke in while I was trying to find something to use to hold the door. I heard him yelling and ran out to see the first guy holding a gun... Dad jumped in front of the gun and smashed it on the floor..." David was staring at me now, his brown eyes intensely trying to read my face through his swollen lids. "He didn't even hesitate, Oana." He told me quietly. I held my breath and forced a small nod, feeling guilt eating at the insides of my stomach.
"He saved you?"
David nodded.
I don't know why, but my eyes sought Damon's, and I searched his gaze involuntarily for some form of support. His eyes were calculating, but when he saw the way I glanced at him, they changed. It was almost like the softened.
I turned back to David without a word.
"I think I should go see how he is. We left as soon as he showed up." I frowned, "I'm assuming you can't come home for a few days?" I asked my brother, the edge in my voice gone.
He smirked and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess they want to keep an eye on someone who's heart stopped beating a few hours ago."

Hey guys! Thank you so much for your support in "Mr. Lawson's Assistant"! I hope you all are enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it! Anyways, this year (2018) my goal was to reach 1k reads on this story before the new year, and so far so good...but we're running out of time! So, if you would share "Mr. Lawson's Assistant" with your friends and get this story out to the Wattpad public, there's still a chance to achieve that goal before 2019! Again, thank you all so much for the support, happy reading!