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One.Breathe.Two.Breathe.Fucking Three.
“You went out with two straight men?” I blew up, wanting to shake her for not looking out for herself.
Her eyes remained closed, yet she was biting her lip. Seeing that made me feel like a heel. Fuck, I needed to calm my ass down before I put her in more stress than she was in already. My feelings—the jealousy—should be placed on the back burner.
Pacing the room, I gave myself five minutes to truly breathe, bringing the air into my lungs deeply before I started speaking again. From time to time, I would glance over at her. I knew she was wide-awake even though she wasn’t opening her eyes to look at me. I wasn’t sure why, but it bothered me she wouldn’t even glance at me.
“The nurse informed me earlier that they will need information from you before they notify the police,” I said in the calmest manner I could. “I decided to wait before calling our parents until I had talked to you; it would make Laura panic less if she could speak to you herself.”
“No—” She snapped her eyes in panic. “Please don’t do that. Mom needs this vacation. It’s fine. I’ve got this.”
She’s got this? Was she pulling my balls? What the fuck? She was far from fine.
Looking away, I had to rein my temper in again before I started speaking once more. “But she’s your mother; she has to know that you’re in the hospital at least.”
She made a whimpering sound like the ones bratty girls did at the mall. “I won’t interrupt on her vacation, Grey. Please don’t make that call.”
“That’s not right. She’s your mom.” Laura would flip, true, that was a given, but she shouldn’t be hiding this shit from her.
“I know, but she’s been through so much… Let her be happy.”
Damn. I cussed out loud. I knew Laura had been through a lot, but what else could I do? Without her here for a month, and with Olivia doing some questionable things, she had left me no choice.
“If you’re not going to give me permission to call them, then you have to let me take care of you until you’re well.” Pausing, I looked over to her, wondering what had happened to her since I had seen her that Saturday. “They won’t be back for almost a month, that’s a long time. You have to follow all my orders.”
“And you’ll keep your mouth shut?” She might look bruised up, however her attitude was alive and kicking. That was a good sign.
“Yeah.”
She nodded, agreeing to my conditions. “Fine. Fine.”
Nothing was fine. Far from it.
“Liv?” I wasn’t sure how to word my next question, so I was going to try to not make it come out in any way aggressive.
“Yeah?” She glanced at me while my eyes grazed over her face, noting each mark as the feeling of being helpless inside crashed down on me.
Slowly, I went over to her and carefully sat on the bed, facing her as I prepared myself for the outcome. “Could you please explain to me how you managed to have cocaine in your system?”
“I’ve been taking it at parties—it’s nothing serious.”
Wait—she wasn’t drugged? My thoughts went to a screeching halt as it dawned on me. She’d been using?For how long?
“You being in the hospital doesn’t count as serious to you?” I threw at her, furious as to how reckless she’d been with her life. She could’ve gotten killed for fuck’s sake. “How could you be so stupid to be messing with that shit? More importantly, using it with people you don’t really know?”
“Every time I took it, it made it easier for me to breathe. It also helped me cope from losing you.”
I was sorry and beyond remorseful for all the wrongs I had done to have led her to this road, but I was going to help her out of it, no matter what. Hopefully, someday, she’d forgive me.
“Liv… this isn’t right. You can’t do this anymore.”
“I know—not after this, I won’t.” She reached out to touch my hand before my free hand covered hers, not wanting to let her go. She then looked far ahead, as if seeing something before her. “I remember someone holding me down as he covered my mouth. I remember feeling something hard hit the back of my head before passing out… then I wake up and I’m in the hospital. That’s a huge chunk of the puzzle I’m missing.”
My hand shook as I listened to her speak about someone purposely hurting her. There had been a crime committed, and I wanted to know who the fuck would hurt a woman who was defenseless and couldn’t properly protect herself. She was so tiny and petite; she’d be the perfect target for twisted fuckers. I wanted to kill someone, yet I knew I had to do the most important thing first, and that was to tell the nurse to notify the cops.
I didn’t trust myself to ask any more questions at the moment. Remaining strong in her eyes was vital. Crumbling down and acting like a maniac would only aggravate her further. She was in a delicate state, and I had to take note of that.
When the police came to probe into her whereabouts and what had occurred during the time she was at the party, hearing her thoroughly describe her surroundings and the people she hung out with fueled my rage some more. I wasn’t sure how I survived listening to her recall the events without doing anything. I was basically like a frozen statue while my insides were waging war towards the bastard who had hurt her.
