“I’ve got a pulse! Breathing sounds are shallow but there. Let’s bag him and transport.” I stood and rushed toward them, unable to wait for one more second to be closer to him. I stood behind Lilly and scanned every inch of his body, watching the comforting rise and fall of his chest.
They shifted Beau’s body onto the board and then the stretcher, running him across to the awaiting ambulance. I followed, needing to be next to him as much as I needed my next breath. Just as they put him inside the ambulance, I realized my car was back at the group home, and I had no one here to take me to the hospital. They weren’t going to let me ride with him.
“Get in,” Lilly said, reading my thoughts. “He needs you.”
I didn’t waste a second hesitating. I jumped in, squeezing next to him as Lilly continued to work. I held his hand, cold from the water. I began shaking, the adrenaline from this entire time catching up with me.
“I-is he okay?”
“He’s in critical condition.” Lilly watched the screen where his vitals were displayed. “But we have a pulse, and he’s breathing, honey. That gives you hope. It didn’t seem like we were going to get him back there for a few minutes. It’s still touch and go. I don’t want you to think he’s out of the woods in any way.”
I rested my head on Beau’s arm and prayed that he would wake up and look me in the eyes again. “Beau.” My tears fell onto the ink of his arm. “Come back to me. Don’t give up. It’s not your time yet. We haven’t had enough time together. Be as strong as I know you are. I’m right here with you, all the way.”
No one had told me a word about Beau’s progress. Ever since Lilly had left, squeezing my hand and saying she hoped everything worked out, I’d been left in an empty waiting room. Since I wasn’t his family and we weren’t married, I wouldn’t get any information until Natalie got here.
Thank God she should be here any minute. The waiting was killing me. My phone had been blowing up, between Trent, Bella, and Camyrn, but I couldn’t focus on talking to any of them. I hadn’t had the nerve to call my dad yet, even though he could help me. He knew everyone at this hospital and would’ve gotten me the information I craved. But then he’d know that Beau tried to kill himself, and I decided that was worse than me waiting for Natalie.
Beau falling over the side of the bridge kept replaying over and over in my head. Had he known I was there? I didn’t know much about what he went through, but he hadn’t even seemed to know me. The same thought came to me over and over again. What had happened with him and Robbie? It didn’t make sense. What could a child do to send Beau into a tailspin like that?
Unless . . . something Robbie had shown him had upset him. Maybe it reminded him of something in his childhood?
I shook my head, my shoes smacking on the floor as I made yet another lap on the worn linoleum floor. I had no idea, and unless I left here and went to see Robbie, I wasn’t going to find out. Unless Beau told me himself, which I doubted.
My phone dinged again, and I groaned. I lifted the screen and saw it was Natalie. “Nat.”
“Where are you? We’re here.”
“In the waiting room down the hall from ICU.”
“He’s in ICU?”
“Yes. The paramedic told me that much; it’s all the info I’ve gotten. They won’t say anything without you here.”
“Well, I’m here. So we’ll find out everything we need to know.”
I waited impatiently at the doorway to see Natalie turn the corner. Once I saw her, I began crying again. Following her was Bex, Johnny, and Tanner. His family was here.
Natalie reached me first, and we wrapped our arms around each other, both of us wetting each other’s shirts with our tears. Before I knew it, the two of us were surrounded by the rest of Jaded Regret as we all clung to each other, hoping and praying for the man we all loved.
“He’s stable,” Natalie said. “They have him on a psych hold, but his body is stable. He has a broken hand, and it’s wrapped. Otherwise, his heart and lungs are fine. They say his brain activity is good, too. It’s a miracle he’s alive and not a vegetable . . . or worse.”
Relief washed over me like a tidal wave. “So he’ll be okay?”
“They’re going to transfer him up to psych tomorrow morning after they make sure tonight he’s okay.” Natalie wrung her hands while pacing in front of me. The rest of the band sat quietly behind us in chairs, listening intently to what she’d found out. Bex was holding her head in her hands while Johnny rubbed her back.