Loving Kinnick

While The City Slept I Stayed Up Listening To Him Cry Out In Pain

I threw my passenger door opened and ran for the sliding doors. The nurses stared at me with wide eyes as I slid across the floor, covered in blood. I couldn't breathe. This was no time for a panic attack. Kinnick needed me.

"My boy - my boyfriend," I choked, my hands flopping in front of me as I pointed to the doors. "He - he - I need help! I need help!"

They rushed around the desk, following me towards John's car. I watched them lift him onto the gurney. His arms fell limp off of the side. They leaned over him, pumping his chest. His eyes shot open, blood spilled from his mouth.

"Sit him up!" A doctor yelled.

I watched them push him inside. I rushed by their side, calling out for Kinnick, asking him to not leave me. One of the nurses told me to stay back. Her hands were pushing me out of the doors. My eyes caught a glimpse of Kinnick's hands dropping. Doctors swarmed his body.

"He isn't breathing," one of them shouted.

My legs gave out. My body fell against someone else's. I collapsed in John's arm, allowing him to take all of the weight of my body because the weight of Kinnick dying was heavier. He kept telling me everything was going to be okay. I knew my tattooed fighter was strong. This seemed to test that limit.

John carried me to the seats in the lobby, setting me back in my seat. My eyes kept lifting to the clock on the wall. Twenty minutes have gone by and no one has come out. My trainer tried grabbing my arm as I stood up for the second time and headed for the front desk.

"I need to know what is going on," I slammed my hands down on the counter. "My boyfriend went back there twenty minutes ago, and he wasn't breathing. I'm not going to sit out here, waiting for you to get your head out of your asses!"

"Bo," John scolded. "Sit down."

"Miss. Bennett," the lady showed concern. "There is nothing in his chart right now. When something is updated, you will be the first to know."

"Why is it taking so long?" My voice broke. "I need to know if he is okay."

John pulled me into his chest. "Bo, they would have come out here if something bad was happening."

I cried into his shoulder, wanting nothing more than to see Kinnick. He was okay an hour ago. I should have known when he didn't come back right away something was wrong. But I sat in John's office, talking. I didn't worry because I knew Kinnick could handle himself.

Someone jumped him, leaving him for dead. They were outside of the gym. What stopped them from coming inside and hurting John or me? I made John call Miles with the possibility that those men would show up here.

When the hazel-eyed boy stepped through the doors, I hurried out of my seat. He opened his arms. I practically threw myself at him. His fingers petted my head. He told me everything was okay. At the moment, I was sick of hearing that.

"Bo," John looked at me. "I have found him in conditions worst than this. I know he is going to be okay."

The doors behind us opened. "Kinnick Carson -"

"Yes! That's us."

A nurse came out from behind the doors. "He is undergoing surgery. We drained 75% of the fluid from his lungs. His breathing is steady."

"What?"

"Mr. Carson's lungs were full of blood, miss."

My head fell into my hands. "What else do you know?"

"Three fractured ribs," she looked at the chart on her clipboard. "And a ruptured kidney. He has major bruising to the abdomen. Miss. Bennett, would you happen to know what happened?"