Page 48 of Conceal

She moans in pain as they move her onto her side to slide the board beneath her, and it’s a sound I never want to hear again. “Be careful with her!” I shout, knowing I’m not at all in control of my emotions.

They strap her down, count down, and hoist her into the back of the ambulance.

“You riding with us, boss? We’ll have some questions on the way there,” Blonde Guy says.

I nod once before following them into the van.

I find a small jump seat on one wall and settle there, watching the EMTs closely.

“Name and date of birth?” The female EMT asks as the male wraps a rubber around her arm to prep her for an IV, and Tati just blinks at me as if she doesn’t know. A pit forms in my stomach.

“Tatiana Cernov. April twenty-seven, two-thousand-and-three,” I reply for her, leaning forward and wrapping her hand in mine. I try to convey to her that she’s going to be okay, but my face must not be convincing.

“Any known allergies?”

“Penicillin.”

“When did she eat last?”

“Around five this morning?”

“Any chance she could be pregnant?”

Oh, shit. We’ve been in that cabin for a month, and she hasn’t had a period. We’ve used condoms, right? Every time? No, not every time. We’ve been careless.

“Maybe,” I whisper, knowing the weight of that answer. If she’s pregnant, that fall could be the end of the pregnancy. If it isn’t, her father will know it could only have been one of us, since she didn’t leave the safe-house. It would be the end of this. I don’t think he would take his anger out on his daughter, but Lev and I won’t be spared. Maybe there’s still time that I can kidnap her, and we can run away together. All four of us.

The female EMT nods. “They can do a test at the hospital.”

The male EMT cuts away her shirt and starts on her pants. Tati’s eyes widen as she waves a finger at her lower body frantically.

“I... my.... my... b-b-boots...” Her voice sounds disturbingly childlike, and I know she’s concussed.

Her boots have zippers along the back. She wants me to take them off so they don’t get cut off.

“May I?” I ask the EMT, wrapping my hand around her ankle.

He nods. “I don’t see any obviously broken bones, so my concern right now is concussion, spinal injury, and internal bleeding.”

Jesus. I pray none of those happen.

I unzip her boots and tuck them underneath me so they’re out of the way.

She looks so small and vulnerable in her bra and panties and tall socks she wears for riding.

The male EMT shines a flashlight into both of her eyes, causing her to wince and flinch away from it.

When he finishes, her eyes fall to mine again, and a loopy grin spreads across her cheeks. “Heeeyyy youuuuu...”

I’m equally concerned about what she’s going to say, and just concerned about her.

I’m holding her hand, but we’re still in public, and I’m still her bodyguard. I look between both EMTs who are avoiding eye contact and pretending to stay busy.

“Tanya,” I say, using her nickname in warning, and squeezing her hand.

“Oooo, I’m in trouble,” she singsongs to the male EMT. Fuck, she’s concussed.

He smiles down at her. “I’m sure you’ll be forgiven for giving your old man a fright,” he teases back. He’s good at making his patients feel comfortable during a scary situation, I’m sure, but right now I don’t like how he’s looking down at her, knowing she’s only in her bra and undies.