Chapter22
Darren
We've been here for a few hours, waiting to get transferred to the pediatric floor.I'm beyond exhausted, but Macie just clocked out, and texted me that she’ll be here to sit with me soon.My mom has been in and out, waiting for dad to get off-shift to come and get her.
My eyes are groggy and drooping when the curtain moves, and it’s a nurse, smiling at me.“Hey, we’re going to move here in the next ten minutes or so.If you’d like to go get something to drink or anything like that, she’ll be in room 41B on the fourth floor.”
“Thanks, we’ll see.”I don’t really want to leave her.Behind the nurse, I see Macie walking over.“I’m glad you’re here,” I tell her, bending down to drop a kiss on her lips.
“I’m glad to be here too, I’ve been wondering what’s going on in here.”She walks over and pushes Nicole’s hair back from her forehead.“I have clothes out in my car, and I’d love to get these scrubs off.I’m gonna run out there, but I’ll be right back.”
“No,” I say, reaching out to grab her hand.“You’re not going out there by yourself, not with Gerald still on the loose.I’ll come with you, it’ll do me good to get some air.”
"You sure you don't just wanna stay here?"Macie asks as we head down the hallway toward the entrance, my hand at the small of her back the same way it's been every time we walk anywhere together since the night I found her apartment torn apart.
"I'm sure.Nicole's stable, and I'd rather keep an eye on you than sit in that room staring at the ceiling for ten more minutes."I hit the button for the entrance door to open, leaving us alone for the first time in what feels like days even though it's only been a few hours since everything with Nicole started."Besides, some fresh air's gonna do us both some good."
"I just need my bag out of the trunk, and then we're heading right back up."She leans into my side while we wait for the doors to open, exhaustion evident in the way her shoulders sag, the same exhaustion I feel pulling at every muscle in my own body.
The parking lot's mostly empty this time of evening, streetlights flickering on overhead as the last bit of daylight fades out behind the tree line at the edge of the property.Macie's car sits toward the back of the lot, farther than I'd like given everything going on, and I keep my eyes moving across the rows of parked cars out of habit, scanning shadows the same way I do on every shift.
"It's just up here."She points toward her sedan, keys already jingling in her hand, and we're maybe twenty feet away when a shape steps out from between two parked trucks, close enough now that the streetlight catches his face.
Gerald.
"Remember me, bitch?"His voice comes out low, almost gentle, like he thinks that's going to soften whatever reaction he's about to get.
She freezes beside me, breath catching hard enough I hear it, and every instinct in my body shifts into something sharp and immediate, adrenaline slamming through my system as I step in front of her without even thinking about it.
"Get back."I don't take my eyes off him, hand instinctively going toward my hip out of habit before I remember I stowed my gun in my truck because unless I’m on official business I can’t have the gun in the hospital.
"I just want to talk to her."Gerald holds his hands up, though there's nothing about his posture that reads as harmless, something coiled and wrong sitting behind his eyes that I recognize from every domestic call I've ever answered."This doesn't have to involve you, Officer."
"It involves me the second you show up anywhere near her."My voice comes out low, controlled, though everything underneath it is anything but."You need to walk away right now."
"Or what?"He takes a step closer, and Macie's grip tightens on my arm behind me, her whole body trembling.
"Or today's the day you find out exactly what happens when you don't listen."I step forward, closing the distance between us before he can react, and I've got him shoved back against the side of a parked truck before he even fully registers what's happening, my forearm pressed hard across his chest."You want a fight?You're gonna get one, but it's not gonna go the way you think it is."
"Darren, stop!"Macie's voice cuts through behind me, panic edging every word."This isn't worth it, please, just let him go, let me call Laurel Springs PD and let them handle it properly."
I hear her, but rage has got its hooks too deep into me right now, thinking about every single thing this man's done to her, the bruises on her face the night she showed up at my door, her apartment torn apart, her clothes shredded, weeks of looking over her shoulder every time she steps outside.Gerald's got a mean sneer pulling at his mouth despite being pinned, like he thinks this is somehow going his way.
"You gonna hit me, cop?"His voice comes out mocking, daring me."Go ahead.Do it.Then we'll see who really goes to jail tonight."
"Darren."Macie's hand lands on my back, and I feel her shaking even through my shirt."Please.Don't give him what he wants."
Headlights swing into the lot behind us, and I catch the flash of them out of the corner of my eye, hear a car door slam shut a second later.
"What in the hell is going on here?"
My dad's voice cuts across the parking lot, and I glance back to see him striding toward us, still in half his uniform from just getting off shift, badge catching the streetlight.
"Dad, this is Gerald Simmons."I keep my forearm pressed firm against Gerald's chest, not loosening my grip even with backup here now."The guy who attacked Macie."
My dad's expression shifts instantly, decades of law enforcement instinct kicking in as he assesses the scene in front of him, Gerald pinned against the truck, Macie shaking behind me, me clearly one wrong word away from doing something I can't take back.
"Step back, son."His voice carries the same steady authority it's carried my entire life, the kind that made me want to become a cop in the first place."Let me handle this from here."
