Another day, another trauma.

Sometimes, I’m surprised how much happens in this town. It’s not super small, but it’s definitely not that big either. Yet it’s never a boring day in the ER.

It’s been two weeks since Emily’s met my entire family at the birthday party, and I honestly haven’t felt this content in a long time. I was worried how things would be at work between us, and if any of our co-workers would notice, but we’re both smart and professional and have made sure to keep it that way during our shifts.

“Two adult females and an adult male are coming in with injuries sustained in the genitals and anal region,” Veronica tells me in a serious tone. “ETA is four minutes.”

“I’m sorry…what? Injuries are where?”

She clears her throat. “Genitals and anal region,” she says louder to appease me.

“What kind of injuries?”

“Lodged sex toy in female’s anal region and the male’s penis is stuck in the other female’s vagina. His piercing got hooked on something, and when he tries to pull it out, she says she feels tearing.”

I keep waiting for her to break out in laughter, but she continues speaking in a flat tone like this is an everyday occurrence and not at all ridiculously odd.

“You’re joking, right? That’s not really the case.” I cross my arms over my chest, waiting for her to confirm.

“Nope. Three minutes.” She shifts around the ER, giving the update to the other doctor and nurses.

“Well, this is a new one,” I mutter to no one. Looking around for Emily, I realize she’s on her break still. “Veronica,” I shout. “Please page Dr. Bell.”

“Absolutely, Dr. Bishop.”

Within minutes, the ER erupts in pure chaos. There’s a stretcher with a female lying on it, and she looks moderately uncomfortable. The next stretcher to roll in has both the male and female lying on it. Correction: the female is lying on it, and the male is on top of her.

Jesus Christ.

Talk about a threesome gone wrong.

Dr. Umbridge tells the medics to take the female to trauma room one and the doting couple to trauma room two, then looks at me with a shit-eating grin and tells me to handle room two.

“Dr. Bell’s with me,” I tell him before realizing she’s still not here yet. “Veronica, did you page her?”

“Yes, but I can page her again.”

“Thank you. Then meet Fiona and me in there.”

“Will do.” She smiles.

Once my gloves are on, I enter the room and see Fiona doing her best to keep them calm while waiting for my instructions. She looks terrified, and when my eyes scan down the stretcher, I immediately regret it. Only a thin sheet covers them but when the guy shifts, it completely slides off.

“Stop moving, Justin!” the woman shouts, trying to cover her chest with both hands, but it’s useless. “It hurts when you move,” she shouts again. Fiona grabs the sheet and recovers them the best she can, giving me a puzzled look.

“Are you going to help us or keep staring?” Justin snaps at me. Considering he’s hovering over a woman butt-ass naked in missionary, this guy has no room for an asshole attitude.

Instead of barking at him like I want to, I ignore him.

“What’s your name, miss?”

“Debra Johnson,” she answers, her cheeks reddening.

“Debra? You said your name was Kandi,” Justin interrupts.

“It’s my stage name, okay? We all use fake names.”

“Okay, Debra,” I speak up, ignoring Justin’s outburst. “Can you tell me exactly what hurts?”

“His piercing is stuck on something inside me.”

“And do you have something inside you it could be hooked on?” I ask.

“The only thing I can think of is my IUD.”

“Okay, and what’s it feel like when he tries to pull out?”

“Feels like a sharp pain or even tearing. Could his piercing really get stuck on it?”

“Well, an IUD is obviously very safe to use during intercourse, but if there is consistent penetration or perhaps rough intercourse, the threads of the IUD that extend into the vagina could’ve snagged the piercing, if that’s what it’s caught on. Or it could’ve even slipped. When did you get it inserted?”

“Why are you asking all these questions? Does it matter? Just help us detach, okay, doc?” he snaps again, his attitude really grating on my nerves.

“That’s what I’m trying to do, but I need to know her medical history first before I try to dislodge your penis from her vagina, so if you could just hold tight, I’ll do my best to release your penis in one piece.”

He narrows his eyes at me, and I hear Veronica snicker next to me, though she covers it up with a fake cough and keeps her head down as she continues writing down notes.

“I got it about a year ago,” she tells me.

“Okay, thank you.”

“Now, mister…” I turn toward Justin, waiting.

“Hayes,” he mutters.

“What gauge is your piercing?”

“Eight,” he confirms.

“And is it a hoop?”

“Yes, it’s a Prince Albert.”

I clear my throat and look back at the couple. “Okay, anything else I need to know? Any allergies or things that would be critical to know before we try shifting you out?”

“Well…” Justin mutters. “No allergies, but I do have a butt plug in, and when I shift my weight, it hurts.”

For fuck’s sake.

“Okay, Fiona can you please assist me while I check him out.” I pinch my lips together, hoping I’m concealing my smile, but I have a feeling I’m not the only one in the room who’s trying to keep it together.

“I can help you, Dr. Bishop,” Veronica jumps in.

“Where is Dr. Bell?” I snap. “Did you page her?”

“Yes, twice.”

“Then page her again.”

I walk to the end of the bed where Justin’s ass is arched in the air. “Alright, Mr. Hayes, I’m going to bring the sheet up so I can take a look.”

“Just do it,” he sneers.

Once I see what I’m working with, I shake my head at the cucumber size butt plug shoved up this guy’s ass like a turkey stuffed in a pineapple. “I’m going to need you to stick your hips out as far as you can without shifting your groin. I know that sounds complicated, but the wider, the better.”

I hear some curse words, and when the girl shrieks, I order him to stop.

“Well, I can pull it out now, or after I get you two unhooked, but either way, it’s going to hurt.”

“Just do it now.”

“Fiona, can you find me some lubricant please.”

“Of course,” she says sweetly.

Forty-five minutes later, I’ve added butt plug removal and Prince Albert piercing disengaging from a vagina to my resume.

“That was by far the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a long time,” I say once the room is cleared. It’s just Fiona and me when I realize Emily hasn’t shown up yet. “She must’ve gotten called into Dr. Umbridge’s trauma,” Fiona suggests. “I saw Veronica page her several times.”

“That’s not like Emily to not at least check in. Even if she gets caught up with something else, she always makes sure to have someone report back to me.”

I rip off my gloves and wash my hands. “I’m about to go find out.”

Walking out of the trauma room, I search the ER and see it’s fairly empty. Veronica’s behind the nurses' station looking through files.

“Is Emily with Dr. Umbridge?” I ask.

Her eyes snap up to mine, and she shakes her head. “No, she didn’t respond to any of my pages.”

“That’s unlike her. Did you check the break room by chance?”

“Uh, no. I actually misplaced my employee keycard and had planned on running up to HR on my break to get another one.”

“Fuck.” I brush a hand through my hair. “She never takes long breaks like this. She must’ve fallen asleep. I’m going to check the on-call rooms. Page me if she shows up while I’m gone,” I tell her before walking out.

Reaching for my phone, I call Emily. Though during our shift it’s usually off, I hope by chance she turned it on during her break to text Kiera or something. It rings a few times, then goes to voicemail, so I text her.

I walk down the hallway and check each of the on-call rooms, but they come up empty. The locker room is empty, too, but I notice her locker door is open. Peeking inside, I see a bag of black licorice open, which means she was definitely sitting here during her break. Glancing around, I look for another clue, and that’s when I spot her cell phone.

Dammit.

It’s on the floor and causes me to panic. It’s not like her to leave her shit lying around, especially her phone. Tapping the screen, I see my message along with a few unread ones from Kiera. The first one from her was sent over an hour ago.

Where the hell has she been for the past hour?

Glancing down at the screen again, I read Kiera’s messages.

What the hell is she talking about?

Looking around the bare room, I notice a smell. It’s a very distinct sweet scent, and once I recognize it, I barge out of the room and jog back to the ER. Once I spot Fiona and Claire at the nurses’ station, I bark out orders. “Call the police immediately,” I direct to Fiona. “Tell them we have a kidnapping.”

“Wait, what?” Veronica screeches.

“A kidnapping? Who?” Claire asks.

“Emily,” I respond, using her first name, which causes them all to flinch. “Dr. Bell. She’s missing. I found her phone in the break room, and she’s not responded to any of her pages.”

“Okay, I’ll call right now.”

“Are you sure? Maybe she just fell asleep?” Veronica offers.

“I’ve checked all the on-call rooms, but regardless she wouldn’t just leave her locker door open and her phone on the floor. This has Richard written all over it, and who the hell knows how long ago he took her.”

The blood from Veronica’s face drains, and it causes my adrenaline to spike. “I’m going to do a sweep throughout the hospital just in case. Call security and let them know what’s going on, have them look through the exterior camera footage, and tell them to have a guard on every lower-level emergency exit,” I direct to Claire. “If Richard took her, God only knows what he has planned.”

Once everyone knows what to do, I fly into motion. My heart beats rapidly and finding Emily becomes my only mission. I can’t believe this is happening, but I do know that if he hurts her, I will end him.

Starting my search, I run up the emergency staircase to the next floor and look through every supply and cleaning closet. I call her name, hoping wherever she is she’ll hear me and respond. Racing to the next floor, I continue searching and repeat this until I’ve reached the final level. The hospital is a decent size, but this isn’t the only building on the property, which causes my head to pound hard as I come to terms with the fact that she really is missing.

By the time I make it back to the ER, the police have arrived and have been briefed by Veronica and Fiona. Claire is speaking with security, and everything feels wrong.

“Her car is still in the parking lot,” Dr. Umbridge adds. “So she didn’t leave.”

“At least not willingly,” I mutter. Fuck.

“Hello, I’m Detective Willoughby. We’re sweeping the area right now while we wait for security to check out the cameras,” the officer reports. “Can you tell me more about the man you think took her?”

Though he’s been given a summary of the circumstances, I go into more detail about the restraining order, car chase, and stalking. I explain that she’s been staying with me since he broke into her house and followed her to work. My co-workers’ heads turn, but I don’t give a shit. Emily is mine, and I’m not going to hide it anymore.

“I smelled chloroform in the locker room,” I tell him. “I’m pretty sure that’s how he managed to grab her.”

“Okay. Let’s start there.”

Leading him there, I get this unnerving feeling that guts me from the inside out. I should be doing something more, something besides standing in the break room, but right now, I feel so damn helpless. I want to protect Emily with every fiber of my being and not being able to makes me wants to go into a blind rage.

“So you have to scan your card to get in?” he asks as I open the door.

“Yes. All employees have a card and access to all rooms with an electronic card reader,” I explain.

“So it’s unlikely he got in by himself.”

“Not unless he had a key card or someone left the door open,” I add.

“Is there another way in or out?” he asks.

“Just the emergency exit in the back that leads to the Employee Only entrance.” My heart hammers in my chest, anxiety and pressure weighing heavy on me. The anger burning inside me is almost too much, but I know in order to find her, I need to remain calm, but I’m moments away from losing my shit.

“Show me,” the detective says.

I bring him to the back door and out to the hallway that leads to the employee parking lot, and that’s when I see it.

“Is that…” he asks then stops.

“Blood,” I confirm.