Page 109 of After the Burn

I climbed onto the cold metal surface while Adrian tied a strip of rubber above my elbow and searched for a vein.

“You’ve done this before?” I asked, curious about his life in Houston.

“I’ve started IVs.” He leaned over and kissed me gently. “And I wouldn’t allow anyone else to do it.”

Beck planted himself between my knees, one hand settling on my thigh. His face was calm, but his fingers pressed into me hard enough to bruise a normal person.

Adrian cleaned the inside of my elbow.

The smell of alcohol sliced through the heavier scents in the room.

“This is going to pinch.” His face looked pained at the thought of hurting me.

“I think I can handle it.” I smiled.

The needle slipped beneath my skin, and dark blood began moving through the tubing and into the collection bag.

Beck watched every drop as though Adrian was draining my life, bit by bit.

“I’m fine, big guy,” I smirked. “Except you’re crushing my leg.”

“Deal with it.” Beck scowled. “I’m not moving an inch.”

Across the room, Harper let out a low moan. Her back lifted off the table, a tremor passing through her before she collapsed again.

Finley crossed the room and pressed two fingers against her neck.

“What’s wrong?” I demanded.

“Her fever spiked.” Finley poured water from a bottle, dampened a rag, and wiped her forehead.

A thin film of sweat coated Harper’s face. The red streaks beneath her skin looked darker now, branching higher toward her shoulder.

“Is it too late?” Lucas asked.

Finley glanced toward the bag filling beside me. “Not yet.”

From the other side of the wall, Max began whining.

Rory murmured something to him that none of us could make out, and he settled.

Finley removed a blood-pressure cuff and a stethoscope from his pack and wrapped the cuff around Harper’s uninjured arm.

“What?” Adrian asked when Finley’s expression tightened.

“Her pressure is falling.”

“Then hurry,” I urged him.

“If I rush, I could kill both of you.” The sharpness in his voice silenced the room.

Finley closed his eyes briefly.

When he opened them, the fear was gone, buried beneath the cold focus of a doctor with only one chance. “I have to keep the amount I remove from Harper equal to the amount I put back. Too much in either direction could stop her heart.”

The bag beside me grew heavier.

With each pulse of blood leaving my body, a chill spread beneath my skin. Adrian connected a bag of fluids to my other arm, and cold liquid flowed into my vein.