Chapter 68
“I’m helping him.” Ruby stammered.
“Ruby, the doctor will handle it and Lucas will be fine.” Jaxon told her but Ruby wouldn’t believe him. She glanced at Lucas who was currently clutching his left arm and groaning in pain. Blood had soaked his shirt and the veins on his head were prominent because of how hard he gritted his teeth.
“Jaxon let me go,” she muttered as she continued to stare at Lucas. Jaxon had stopped her from giving Lucas first aid even though he clearly needed it.
“No.”
“Yes! Can’t you see he’s in pain? He needs our help,” she yelled.
“Then we’ll wait for the doctor.”
“We can’t wait Jaxon, Lucas is already losing a lot of blood, don’t you see?” She shook herself out of his grasp and went to Lucas’s side.
“Ruby,” Jaxon called in a warning tone but she ignored him. All her attention was on the man who had risked his life to save hers.
“Ruslan, call the doctor and tell him to hurry up.” Jaxon ordered. But just before Ruslan left to make the call, Ruby stopped him.
“Can you bring the first aid kit for me?” She asked and he nodded his head completely ignoring the deadly glare his boss had sent his way.
“For God’s sake Gem, this isn’t the time to be playing medic. The doctor is on his way.” Jaxon said frustrated.
She shot him a scowl and then said.
“I’m not playing doctor, I’m just trying to save the man that saved me. And for the last time, he’s bleeding too much, we can’t wait for the doctor to get here but we can try to at least stop the bleeding to make it better.” She told him.
“And what is your problem with me helping him anyway?” She asked but Jaxon just stared at her. That is when it dawned on her that it could be something unrelated to the matter at hand.
Before she could place her finger on it, Lucas groaned out loud, snapping her attention back to him. She placed a gentle hand on his thigh and tried to comfort him.
“It’ll be okay Lucas, I promise.” She whispered.
She turned back to Jaxon just in time to find him glaring at her hand on Lucas’s thigh. So that was why he was reluctant for her to help Lucas! He was jealous!
“I can’t believe you!” She said to him and he looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“What?”
“Do you even care about Lucas at all bec-”
“Stop right there, of course, I do. I’m just not a fan of performing surgical procedures on a whim.” Jaxon told her.
“And you’re just not a fan of me touching Lucas.” She stated bluntly. Jaxon blinked and didn’t say anything.
“You’re jealous!” Ruby added. How could he be so self centered?
“Don’t be ridiculous, I-”
“I’m not and don’t deny it because I know it’s true,” she said as she cut him off.
“This isn’t the time to be possessive. Lucas needs us and fighting is not helping.” She continued.
Jaxon gave her a reluctant nod and then said,
“Fine, you can do what you can to help but be careful.” He warned.
“I will.”
As if on cue Ruslan strolled back into the room with a heavy duty first aid kit and placed it on the table close to Ruby.
“The Doctor’s coming but he said he might take a while,” Ruslan said to Jaxon.
“Ruslan, come help me.” She told him as she opened the first aid kit and brought out what they needed.
“Don’t you need my help?” Jaxon said surprised that she hadn’t asked him first.
“No, Ruslan will be just fine.”
“Okay Lucas, I’m going to touch your arm now,” she told him. Lucas gave a brief nod and then closed his eyes from the pain.
Ruby put a clean cloth on his arm and applied pressure to try to stop the bleeding. Lucas groaned but didn’t move from his spot.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered.
“Ruslan can you give me some rubbing alcohol and a swab?” She said and Ruslan did as she asked.
“This is going to sting so I’m apologizing in advance,” she said to Lucas. She placed the swab and started wiping away the blood and disinfecting the area as Lucas hissed.
Ruslan handed her a pair of sterilized tweezers to finish the job. Ruby took a breath and encouraged herself, she couldn’t make any mistakes.
“Okay, we’re almost done.” She told Lucas soothingly. As gentle as she could be, she located the bullet in his arm and pulled out. This was accompanied by a yelp from Lucas. Her heart was pounding so fast from nervousness but she’d done it. She had taken the bullet out.
She wiped Lucas’ arm again then wrapped a clean gauze around it. She wiped the sweat away from his forehead and urged him to rest.
“It’s over now,” she said more to herself than to him.
“… Wow,” Jaxon mumbled in awe. She turned to him and gave him a pointed stare.
“The doctor isn’t here yet.” She stated. That broke Jaxon out of his awestruck expression.
“Ruslan give the doctor another call.” Jaxon demanded and Ruslan rushed out to do just that.
“You see why I didn’t want to wait? Imagine if I hadn’t stepped in and he just lay there grunting in pain and losing blood?” She asked him. She didn’t even want to think of what might have happened. She peered at Lucas out of the corner of her eye to find his eyes tightly shut. He was so strong. She couldn’t even imagine the kind of pain he had been in when she took the bullet out because she had done all this without giving him any form of pain medication.
“I know what would have happened. I guess I owe you an apology.”
“No, you owe Lucas an apology for making him wait through the pain longer than he should have.” She countered.
“I know that too.” Jaxon said with a hard expression as he stared at Lucas.
Ruslan chose that moment to come in and informed them that the doctor would arrive shortly. Just then, Jaxon’s phone pinged and on answering, he heard the doctor’s trembling voice as he apologized profusely.
“It’s fine.” Jaxon muttered then ended the call.
“Ruslan, get some guys and take Lucas away.” He ordered. And with that, Jaxon grasped Ruby’s wrist and dragged her upstairs.