I tried to talk, but the words just wouldn’t come. The room was spinning, and I finally closed my eyes to avoid getting sick from the dizziness.
I felt myself falling. It seemed like some sort of dream or nightmare, and I couldn’t feel anything anymore.
Chapter Twelve
Jordan
As I watched Chase collapse to the ground, I knew I needed to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. His breathing was shallow, and I was pretty sure he had broken a few ribs. The dangerous thing was that one of those ribs could have punctured his lung, which was why it was hard for him to breathe.
The pain had probably been what caused him to pass out, or the lack of oxygen; either way he needed an x-ray to see where those ribs were at. If they were just broken and not puncturing any organs, then he would just need to rest in order to heal. But if his lung was punctured, Chase was going to need emergency surgery. Instead of moving him, I just put a pillow under his head and another under his feet.
“Chase,” I said as I touched his face. “Chase, are you alright?”
“Ugh,” he moaned.
“I’m going to call for an ambulance. We need to get you to the hospital.”
“No, I’m fine. Don’t call anyone.”
“Chase, you need help. I don’t know if your ribs have punctured any organs. You could die if we don’t get you some help.”
He just looked up at me, and he seemed so vulnerable. He did not look like the confident and cocky man I had talked to over Skype just a few days before. But whatever was going on with him, I still needed to get him some help.
“I’m all right, just some bruised ribs, no big deal,” he said as he tried to stand up.
I watched as he winced in pain and then laid right back down.
“You need an x-ray.”
“You’re a nurse, Jordan. You can take care of me. We don’t need to involve the hospital in all of this.”
“Here’s the deal, Chase. One of those ribs could have punctured your lungs. I am a nurse, and I know enough to know you need an x-ray. Now, I can either call for an ambulance or I can drive you to the hospital. It’s your choice, but you’re going to get an x-ray.”
I knew the look in my eye told him that I wasn’t messing around at all. With my training, I knew when something could be life threatening, and I wasn’t about to ignore the threat of his broken ribs to his health.
“Fine, you can take me. But just an x-ray, I’m not staying. I need to get to work.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his words. He couldn’t even get up off the floor, yet he wanted to go into work. He seemed way more dedicated to work than I thought he was.
“Let’s see what the doctor has to say.”
I grabbed his car keys off of the counter and went back to help him stand up. He seemed to be moving around a little better, but I could still tell it was hard to breathe. On a positive note, I didn’t hear gurgling when he breathed, so maybe his lungs weren’t punctured. It was entirely possible he had just cracked his ribs. They would still be causing him a lot of pain and could still contribute to him having a hard time breathing.
“Do you know how to drive a stick?” Chase asked me.
“Of course,” I said confidently.
The truth was, I was much more worried about figuring out how to navigate the streets of America than I was about the clutch of his car. I didn’t even like to drive in Liechtenstein, so I knew the traffic of Atlanta was not going to be something I liked at all.
I helped Chase into the car and then went around to the other side. His car was nicer than anything I had ever driven before, and I was instantly afraid that I would crash it or get into some sort of accident on our way. But there was no choice; he surely couldn’t drive and I wasn’t going to let him get out of going to the doctor.
He guided me along our route using the side roads since I was too afraid to get onto the freeway. It only took us about fifteen minutes and we arrived at the hospital. As I helped him into the sliding glass doors, a nurse came up to us almost instantly. I had to assume it was because he was dressed in such an expensive suit. Or perhaps, she thought he was shot by the way he grabbed his stomach and hunched over.
Whatever the reason was, the nurse took him and got him into a wheelchair and back into a room rather quickly. I followed right behind, but didn’t say much.
“What’s going on today, sir?” the nurse asked him.
“I need an x-ray. I think I have a broken rib.”