Second Chance SEAL(186)

“Well now,” he said, holding Mason, “let’s take a look at this little guy.”

The doc went over Mason, checking his heart, his chest, his back, and finally taking out a little instrument to look inside his ears.

“Ah,” he said as he looked away.

“What is it?” Tara asked, worry all over her face.

“Ear infection.”

“Ear infection?”

The doctor nodded, smiling. “Yep. Just an ear infection. His right ear is a little infected. Not too bad. I know the poor little guy is in pain, but the best thing for you to do is just to wait it out. Keep him cool and do your best to distract him.”

Tara stared at him. “You’re telling me that there’s nothing you can do? He has an infection.”

“I’m sorry, miss. We just don’t prescribe antibiotics for infant ear infections anymore.”

“But you can,” Tara pressed.

“Nine times out of ten, these pass on their own. It’s uncomfortable for the poor little ones, but in the long run this is better for them, helps their immune system.”

“No,” Tara said, shaking her head. “I don’t think so.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “Just keep him calm and wait. If his fever goes up past one hundred and one, come back and we’ll write a prescription.”

I clenched my jaw.

All this way, all this danger, and some fucking doctor was telling us that he wasn’t going to help?

Fuck that. I’d tried fucking hard to make this right. I’d taken a big fucking risk bringing us to this hospital. I was getting this kid some medicine.

“Doc,” I said, stepping closer to him, “I think you should write him that prescription.”

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“For two reasons. One, because I’m going to put two hundred dollars in your hands. Two, because if you don’t, I’m going to break every one of your fingers until you change your mind. Make this easy, doc. Write the script.”

He stared at me for a second. “Three hundred,” he said finally.

“Fine. Prick.”

I reached into my wallet and counted out the bills while the fucking asshole wrote out the prescription. I put the money in his hand, he gave me the script, and we got the fuck out of there before the good doctor remembered his ethics.

Tara was staring at me as we stood in the parking lot, waiting for Travis.

“I can’t believe you did that,” she said.

“Mason needed medicine,” I said. “I got it for him.”

“Still, that was a lot, and he didn’t really need it.”

“He did. We’ll stop and fill this on the way back.”

She bit her lip and nodded.

This whole thing was one damn clusterfuck. Poor fucking Mason was sick, and we were exposed as fucking hell. Not to mention I had just bribed a doctor for some fucking meds, which definitely would get everyone involved in some serious fucking trouble.

But that was what I was willing to do for her and Mason. It drove me fucking crazy thinking about it, but I would do nearly anything for them.

I was too fucking close, but there was nothing I could do. I was stuck protecting them, and I was going to do anything to keep them safe.

Even if it meant doing things that went against what I thought was best.

I was going to take care of her, like it or not.





Chapter 21





Tara





I sat down with Mason in my lap on my bed and pressed the syringe of medicine against his mouth.

“Come on, Mason,” I said. “Drink this. It’ll help.”

He kept crying, but I managed to get the syringe into his mouth. I squeezed, and he swallowed the liquid. I pulled the syringe out and he continued crying, though less intensely.

“There you go. All better,” I said to him.

I knew the antibiotics wouldn’t really work for a day or two, and he wasn’t going to take every dose so easily, but I was happy we’d gotten one down. I felt a little bit better at least knowing that it was only an ear infection.

I couldn’t believe how angry at Emory I’d been. As soon as he said that we couldn’t go to the hospital, I’d wanted to kill him. I couldn’t believe someone would stop me from taking my baby to see a doctor. I’d thought he was a monster.

But that was wrong and I knew it. Emory wasn’t a monster. He was just trying to make the best of an impossible situation. Now that I had a little distance and the crisis was over, I knew that he meant well.

Especially with how he managed to make things run so smoothly at the hospital. He took control immediately, got us to see a doctor quickly, and even bribed that asshole doctor into giving him the medicine. I was surprised, but I shouldn’t have been.