Promises Part 1 (Bounty Hunters #1)(21)

Duke knew Quick was angry, he’d be too if the situation were reversed, but the emotion wasn’t helping anything. The woman that had apparently beat him along with his bounty was still on the run as far as they knew. Duke had killed her son. She held him in her arms as he bled out. She’d snapped and gone crazy on him. He didn’t want to think about any of that. He literally had weeks to live. “Quick, where’s Vaughan?” Duke finally said.

Quick’s eyes were red and moist when he turned around. He sat down gently in one of the two chairs in Duke’s room, clasping his hands in his lap. He didn’t look at him when he finally answered. “He’s gonna be up here real soon. I’m sure. He just asked for a little time. He’s um… he’s um….”

“Find him, please. Make sure he’s okay,” Duke pleaded, his voice emotion-filled. “It’s late, Quick. Get him to go home and rest, then he can come back tomorrow.”

Quick stood up, patted him gently on his thigh under the scratchy hospital blanket, and walked hesitantly to the door. “Duke. I know about Vaughan’s feelings for you. I have for a long time.” Quick’s head was down and his voice quivered but Duke understood every word, each one stabbing him in his chest. “I would’ve been damn proud to have you as a son-in-law, Duke. I uh… I just wanted you to know that.”

Duke turned his head as Quick walked out the door. He couldn’t respond. He could hardly breathe. Son-in-law. Jesus. Quick had known. His best friend would’ve been okay with him dating his son. Vaughan had obviously been very serious about his feelings for Duke if he told his father. So many would’ves and could’ves played in the back of his mind as he reflected on his life. Would they have been good together? Would he and Vaughan have gone the distance? Would Vaughan have loved him the way he’d always dreamed of being loved, cared for, and cherished? Duke reached for the button to push for his pain meds. He just wanted to sleep and not think. If this would’ve happened a couple months earlier, pre Vaughan, then he would’ve been okay with dying but now… now… he begged to live. Begged for a shot at love.

********

“I’m fine to do more, let’s continue,” Vaughan urged eagerly. He’d been in the lab for the better part of four hours. Dr. Chancy had left to go cover his rounds a while ago and Vaughan hadn’t heard from him since. Vaughan hadn’t filled out so much damn paperwork since he’d applied for law school. They wanted to know everything about him from his blood type to his cock size. Okay, that was a stretch but they probed into every aspect of his life. Good thing was he felt like he was passing with flying colors, like every other test in his life.

The blood type compatibility, tissue typing, antibody screening, urinalysis, and much more had already been collected to test. Now he was hassling the technicians on getting someone to do his X-rays that night.

“Sir. I understand you’re anxious, but there’s no way to do all the testing tonight. It’s just not possible, not to mention it’s after one in the morning.” The overworked lab technician sighed as Vaughan refused to accept no for an answer. She’d been the one dealing with him the most, and when her two associates had left for the evening, then it was all down to her.

“Hospitals don’t close. What if someone came into the ER right now and needed an X-ray? Are you saying they couldn’t get it?”

The lady pushed her stray brown curls behind her ear; the rest of her bun looking like it’d been cuter when she left home twelve hours ago. Her eyes were a pretty gray color, almost bluish. Vaughan turned on his charming smile, hoping it wasn’t falling short since he wasn’t only physically exhausted but mentally as well. The ladies usually fell for his boyish charm.

“I believe the one tech that’s on duty tonight is pretty busy. Dr. Chauncey said we’d do the preliminaries this evening and you could make an appointment tomorrow to finish up. You’re pretty lucky. Most donors have to take at least two to three days out of their schedule just to complete all the testing.”

“No. No.” Vaughan shook his head. There’s no way he could go home without having an appointment for the surgery. He wouldn’t rest until he was one hundred percent sure that Duke was going to survive.

“Yes.”

Vaughan turned around to the definitive order in Dr. Chauncey’s voice. “That’s it for tonight, Mr. Webb. I emailed the doctor for the psych eval, but he probably won’t respond until tomorrow… or actually later today when he gets in.” Dr. Chauncey put his hand up to stop Vaughan’s ongoing protests, continuing what he was saying. “He knows this is a critical case and we can get you in real soon, but I don’t think it’ll be today.”

Vaughan dropped his head in his hands, fending off more tears. Crying wasn’t going to solve a goddamn thing. Everything was going to be all right, he was seeing to that, but he’d have to be patient. Why he’d thought donating a kidney would be easy and quick was obviously….

“I just checked on Mr. Morgan.”

Vaughan’s head shot up and next thing he knew he was up out of his seat, moving across the lab area to stand in front of the doctor. “How is he? Is he… is he…?”

“He’s fine. His other injuries are not going to be a factor in performing the surgery laparoscopically. He’s a relatively healthy man. No heart conditions, history of diabetes. I’ve submitted him to the donor board for review. I should have an answer for you in the next couple days. That’s really the best I can do, Mr. Webb. I’ll remind you that this isn’t Johns Hopkins. We can’t do everything in twenty-four hours. We’re just not staffed that way.”