ARMAND
Now…
“There’s been a what?” I asked. I was heading out the door now, my heart slamming against my rib cage, ominous thoughts blaring in my brain.
“An accident. A car accident,” the voice on the other end of the phone said. She said she was a nurse at a hospital. Ella was in the hospital?
“Ella was in an accident? She’s there now?” I didn’t have my fucking keys. I was outside but my keys were in the house.
“Yes, she is. I was going to try to find an emergency number in her phone, but there’s a lock code. Then you called. Are you her next of kin, or can you contact them to let them know she’s here?”
“She’s in the emergency room?” I asked as I rushed back in the house through the unlocked front door.
“Yes, are you—”
I hung up, frantically searching the room for my keys before realizing they were in the pocket of my sweatpants. I pulled them out and fell to my knees on the floor, dropping my head. She wasn’t okay. If she was, she’d be in possession of her own phone, and she would’ve answered it or called me.
She wasn’t okay.
I couldn’t take this shit. I needed to get to the hospital, to her, but I couldn’t move. She was my strength. How the fuck was I supposed to be strong if she wasn’t okay?
I don’t think I had a conscious thought to call her, but I did. Somehow, I managed to make the call, and when I heard my mother say, “Hey, Boogie,” in this bright voice, I let out a groaned, “Mama, I need help!”
My mother picked me up from Ella’s and took me to the hospital. I said thank you when I slid in the vehicle, but we didn’t talk on the ride there because I couldn’t. I was both too deep in my thoughts and muzzled by fear. She had to pat my arm to let me know we’d made it. In response, I jumped, my eyes wildly shifting from the nothingness I’d been focusing on, to her face, to the other side of the windshield.
I’d grabbed for the door handle when she said, “Boogie, wait.”
Snatching my head around, eyes wide, I gave her my attention.
“I told Leland. I called him shortly after I left home. I also called my mother. She’s on her way over there to watch your siblings,” she informed me.
“He’s on his way up here?” I mumbled, opening the door.
“Yes, and he called Big South,” she continued.
I didn’t mean any disrespect, but I didn’t have time for a breakdown of who called who. Ella was in that hospital hurt, possibly severely injured. My damn sir, the most powerful person I knew, the only person in the world I’d crawl across hot coals for, couldn’t even talk to me on the phone. I needed to get inside that hospital immediately. Fuck everything else.
So, as I climbed out the vehicle, I offered my mom another “thank you” and took off toward the ER entrance.
“Boogie! Armand! Slow down!” my mother’s voice called after me. I would’ve slowed down if I could’ve. Didn’t she realize that?
The ER waiting room was a blur of faces and sounds and light as I approached some lady at a desk and breathlessly blurted, “Ella McClain. She’s here. I need to see her.”
I felt a hand on my arm, looked down to see my mom’s worried face, and turned back to the lady.
“Yes, she’s here—”
“I know that! I need to see her!” I boomed.
“Boogie, calm down,” my mother pleaded.
The woman gave me a hard look before saying, “You’ll have to take a seat while I see what’s going on with her. She can’t have visitors right now.”
“What?!” I was a microsecond from wrecking that whole damn building at that point.
“Boogie, do you wanna get kicked out? Arrested? If you want to see her, come sit down with me,” my mother reasoned.
I glared at the woman before the word counterintuitive popped into my head. Ella was hurt, but if I got myself together and waited, I’d get to see her. If I got kicked out, I wouldn’t. So I sat my ass down.
“Thank you, Mama,” I nearly whispered as I stared straight ahead.
“You already thanked me for picking you up and you’re more than welcome,” she replied.
I turned and looked at her sitting beside me in the waiting area before leaning in to kiss her cheek, making her smile.
Some time had passed, and I was leaned forward, elbows on my knees, eyes on the floor, when I heard Leland’s voice. “So you snuck out the house without security to pick him up and bring him here?”
“Exactly,” my mom said. “He has a right to be here. This is not a fight you want to start with me, Leland. Sit down. We’re waiting to hear what’s going on with Ella.”
I didn’t raise my head but figured he’d obeyed her since he didn’t say anything else. Good, because if he got down wrong with my mama, I was going to fuck him up.
Time was moving way too slowly, but eventually, the lady at the desk said something that included Ella’s name. I jumped up, the only thing in my line of vision the person who’d said my sir’s name.
I didn’t realize my mom and Leland were behind me until Leland spoke. “Is she okay?”
“Can you all come with me, please?” This came from a lady in scrubs. I didn’t notice her until she spoke, either. Damn, I was totally fucked up in the head.
I’d opened my mouth to protest when my mom grasped my hand and said, “Come on, Boogie.”
I glanced at her, my eyes still wild as I nodded in agreement.
Her injuries were due to the airbag deploying—lacerations to her face, contusions to her chest and arms, a fractured right arm, left wrist, and nose, a concussion, and irritated lungs caused by chemicals released with the airbag.
The woman—a doctor—kept talking, and I listened, trying to absorb it all. Trying to understand.
“She was unconscious when she arrived, but she’s awake now. There doesn’t seem to be any cognitive issues.”
I heard Leland say something, but I couldn’t focus on it. “Can she have visitors?” I asked. All I cared about was seeing her.
“In a few minutes. I believe they’re in the middle of doing an ultrasound right now.”
I frowned. “A what? What’s that for?”
“Oh, shit,” my mother muttered.
“We’re just making sure everything’s okay with the baby,” the doctor said.