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Chapter twenty-six
Donovan
God,Ifeellike shit. Why are my eyelids so damn heavy? What the hell is that beeping? Shut the hell up already. I try to reach for my phone, but there’s something attached to my hand. I open and close my mouth a few times. Damn, cottonmouth. Did I drink too much last night? I try to open my eyes. It’s a struggle, but I finally get them open. Nothing is familiar or what I expected to see first thing in the morning. It all comes rushing back to me as I take in my surroundings. Finding Kasey, getting shot by a psycho, now waking up in the hospital.
I look to the right and see my mother and brother sitting, murmuring to each other. My brother catches my movement out of the corner of his eye and is at my bedside in two steps, my mother following.
“Donovan, hey, brother. How are you feeling?” Jackson says in a quiet voice, like he doesn’t want to disturb me. Too late. I’m fucking disturbed.
“Like I was shot. Where’s Kasey?” I croak weakly. I have no idea what happened after Helen shot me, but I have a fleeting image of Kasey bending over me. She looked so scared and helpless as she watched me fight for my life.
“You’ve been in and out for a couple of days. They discharged Lindsey yesterday afternoon, so I’m assuming Kasey is with her,” replies my mother.
“I’ll let the nurse know you’re awake and have the doctor come check on you.” My mother leaves the room quietly as Jackson is still staring at me, relief clear in his eyes.
“I thought you were gone. When I came in that basement and saw you on the ground bleeding, I thought I had lost my brother.” Tears are welling up in his eyes and he quickly wipes them away on his sleeve.
“What happened? Did everyone get out okay? Is Helen in custody?” I fire off the questions, a little afraid of the answers.
“When we found Lindsey and Kasey, they were in bad shape, especially Lindsey. I came in right after Helen shot you and fought to get the gun away from her. Kasey and Lindsey made it out. Just some wounds from the handcuffs on Kasey, but Lindsey had to stay in the hospital for a couple nights to be treated for dehydration. I had Aiden stay outside the room so no reporters could get to her while she was recovering. The story broke yesterday and Sean has been calling me nonstop to check on you. Helen…” He looks away for a moment, then faces me head-on. “When I fought her to get the gun, it went off. She’s dead. I shot her.” The look on his face is a cross between guilt and resignation. He takes a deep breath and blows it out like it was painful for him to admit he shot her.
“No, Jackson. The gun went off when you were trying to get it away from her. You didn’t shoot someone in cold blood. You saved the rest of us. It wasn’t your fault.”
He does not look convinced.
“That’s not what Kasey seems to think.”
What is this about?
“What do you mean? Have you talked to her?”
He looks so damn guilty, but he’s the one who saved us. I’m missing something.
Just then, the doctor walks in, followed by my mother.
“Mr. Hayes, I’m glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?” Really? Is that a serious question?
“I’m okay. Definitely sore.” I tilt my head to the bandage on my chest between my heart and shoulder.
“That’s to be expected, obviously. The bullet when through and through, which is lucky for you, missing your heart and the major arteries. With this type of injury, we are most concerned with infection, but there’s no reason I see that you shouldn’t be able to go home in a few days. We’ll keep you on IV antibiotics and pain medication while you’re here, but other than that everything looks good.”
My mother and I thank the doctor as Jackson sits back down in his chair. When the doctor leaves, my mother comes over to me, fear and relief warring on her face. Relief wins as she bends to kiss my forehead.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again, Donovan Hayes.” She is fighting tears, but after hearing what the doctor had to say, I can see her worries ease.
“I’m going to go see where your father is. I sent him to get us all coffee and of course he left his dang phone here.” She kisses my forehead again and leaves the room. I turn to my brother for answers to the questions I asked before the doctor came in.
“I went to check on her and Lindsey right after you got out of surgery. She blames me for all of it. Can’t say that I blame her. I blame myself too.” I hate seeing him look so defeated. Of course, it upset Kasey. We were all upset, but it wasn’t Jackson’s fault any of us were pulled into a crazy woman’s delusions.
“Jackson, I don’t blame you. Kasey just needs a couple of days. She’ll see that you were the one responsible for finding her and saving all of us. I’ll talk to her.” I’m sure I can smooth this over with her.
“Donovan, she was very adamant about not wanting to see or hear from me, or you, for that matter.”
That can’t be right. I need to talk to her, that’s all.
“Where’s my phone?” I ask as I look around the room. Jackson pulls it out of his pocket and hands it to me.
“I wasn’t sure if Kasey would call or text you, and I wanted to keep it handy so she could be updated if she reached out. She hasn’t, though,” he explains.
“Thanks.” I take the phone and pull up her contact. Why didn’t she try to reach out? I wonder as I stare at her picture. What have I missed in the last couple of days?
“Hello, Donovan,” she answers.
“Kasey, thank God.” I breathe a sigh of relief at hearing her voice. “How are you? How’s Lindsey?”
“We’re fine. How are you?” There’s a disconnected tone in her voice that I don’t like one bit.
“My surgery went well and I should be out of here in a couple of days. I need to see you, baby.” I don’t care if it sounds like I’m begging. I remember how we left things, but surely getting shot would soften her a little toward me, right?
“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. I have to focus on my sister. That woman had her for a week, Donovan. A whole fucking week while we were… doing what we were doing. I’m having a hard time reconciling that right now. I need time and space to help Lindsey. I don’t think having a relationship with you is going to work. Look how fast our trust crumbled. I just don’t think we can get that back. I’m glad you’re going to be okay. You have no idea how glad I am, but I can’t do this with you. I’m sorry.” She lets out a small sob, then hangs up the phone. I am gutted. I stare at the screen, wondering what the hell happened. I mean, I know what happened, but how could she characterize the time we spent together as ‘whatever we were doing’? I know exactly what I was doing. Falling in love with her.
My brother is sitting there looking at me like he isn’t sure what to say but feels awful for me. Well, fuck that. I throw my phone against the wall and watch it explode before it falls to the ground. Jackson jumps, and I wince in pain.
Note to self, no throwing shit out of anger after a gunshot wound.
“Donovan, I’m sorry.” He’s attempting to calm me, even though he’s shocked at my outburst. I don’t have outbursts. That’s not what responsible adults do.
“It’s fine, Jackson. It’s for the best. I was kidding myself, thinking we could get past this. Too much happened too soon. If you don’t mind, I’m going to get some rest. Getting shot and dumped apparently takes it out of a guy.” Jackson continues to look at me with sympathy and I’m about to lose it on him. I don’t want sympathy. I want Kasey, but she made it clear that she didn’t want me.
“Really, I’m fine. I just need to rest.”
He nods and stands from his chair. When he gets to the door, he turns and looks at me. “I really am sorry, brother.”
“I know. Everything will be fine. I’ll get out of here and it’ll be business as usual in no time.” I give him a small smile and he leaves me alone.
Yup, business as usual in no time at all.
