Risking the Shot (Stick Side #4) - Amy Aislin Page 0,83

news. “Why not?”

If Tay thought his first practical was bad, this second one was much, much worse. He’d rather be in the middle of a dumpster fire.

The first practical had been like a live pop quiz followed by a session on what they could expect once the practicals really started and what was expected of them. Nowhere was it written that the practice mannequins actually moved, simulating real-life medical emergencies. They breathed, they had sensors, and they beeped if someone did something wrong.

According to another guy in his class, the classroom Tay found himself in was often used as a model crime scene for forensics students. Today, it had been remodeled into an emergency scene, complete with cardboard bystanders and a dummy on the ground.

The first thing they were learning about in their practicals was the importance of scene safety. It was important to assess a scene so as not to succumb to the same hazard that had created a patient’s problems or the one inherent to the environment they found themselves in. Every scene had the potential for harm, whether from traffic driving by, an emotional bystander, or an uncontained hazardous material.

“It’s incredibly difficult,” said the instructor, a paramedic with over forty years of experience, “in the heat of the moment, with a patient in front of you, to remember to have good situational awareness. Do not lose track of what’s happening around you.”

Cold sweat gathered at his temples. Today’s exercise was a relatively easy one: scene assessment while attempting to revive the patient, who’d suffered a heart attack while getting out of his car in his driveway. There were even plastic groceries strewn about, as well as containers of what, from Tay’s location near the wall, appeared to be household cleaners.

Easy, however, was a relative term. Having someone’s life in his hands should never be easy.

Fuck. He’d never dreaded anything in his life the way he dreaded these practicals. Not just because they were intense; frankly, these were easy compared to the ones he’d be doing next year with real patients. But because the culmination of this whole program would give him a Bachelor of Science he’d be expected to do something with.

Except already he was dreading his first day on the job, whenever that would be. His clammy hands shook, a cold sweat breaking out over the back of his neck. Even knowing he was taking a break from his studies after his exams in April wasn’t enough to stem his panic.

As he walked back to his car two hours later, the early lunch he’d scarfed down after practice from a bakery nearby sat heavy in his stomach. He was due at the arena in an hour; first there’d be a light workout, then a couple of rounds of Balls In My Court, and then the pregame meeting with Coach Dabrowski. Tay needed to eat before then—he wouldn’t get another chance for a decent meal until after the game otherwise—but if he put anything in his stomach right now he’d hurl.

In his car, he sat stiffly and cranked the heat in deference to the chilly spring afternoon, a Tenor Jones song playing on the radio. He rested his forehead on the steering wheel. Digging his phone out of his pocket, he checked his notifications: a bunch of social media stuff, a reminder that he had lunch with his sisters tomorrow to go over details for their mom’s surprise birthday party, an email from his agent regarding the AITech app, a first draft of the fundraising letter Sandy at Dakota’s office had written for him to review and comment on or approve, and an email from his building manager informing him that the work on the hallway was done.

Double fuck. Triple?

Five thousand at this point. The email from his building manager was the cherry on top of a craptastic afternoon.

He didn’t want to move out of Dean and Grey’s. He hadn’t had a roommate since his AHL days, and he missed that. No doubt Dean and Grey couldn’t wait to get their space back, though.

Ignoring everything, he went into his texts and pulled up the one from Dakota from just before lunch. You got this!

He grinned even though he had absolutely nothing. Still, Dakota had his back, and it made his day brighter knowing someone was in his corner.

He was still reeling from last night. He’d thought for sure Dakota was going to kick him out. Had braced himself for it while Dakota’s I’m in love with you,