Page 42 of Deranged
“You don’t think I’ve tried to get out of here before? I’ve been studying, emailing, seducing, enraging people all across the country to help get myself free. Every second, I get out of here, I’m focusing on how to ensure I never have to come back. And it never fucking works.”
She rolled her eyes. “No one can help you but yourself. Other doctors, nurses, teachers, not a single one of us has the ability to free you. It’s what you have that will help you. What’s in your heart, and what’s in your blood.”
My mother’s face popped into my head. And then Ash’s. Right now, I didn’t give a shit about getting free. All I wanted to do was ensure I hadn’t taken Ash down with me. And if she could cause the damage, she could undo it. I stared into Styx’s eyes, letting the plan and the words take shape in my mind. I knew exactly the buttons to push, exactly the way to make her, finally, bend to my will.
“Styx, could you please arrange a call to Mommy Dearest. She and I need to have a conversation a long time coming.”
Styx nodded and whispered, “Atta girl.” She left, and even if it cost me everything, I’d free Ash from this underworld I’d dragged him into.
Chapter Eighteen
Ash
An email dinged my inbox early the next morning. I didn’t usually check it often, but seeing as I didn’t have job to go to and I was waiting to hear from Donny, I spent the morning clicking the refresh button like rich house wife at a Louis Vuitton sample sale. The board of ethics wanted to ensure I’d been informed of the pending investigation and remind me I wasn’t permitted to practice medicine while my license was suspended.
Obviously, they didn’t talk to each other over there. The one phone call was enough to get me up to speed on my shortcomings. I hit the refresh button again. The board’s email already in my trash file, and checked the clock. I didn’t have another way to contact Donny, so all I could do was wait for him to reach out. Being patient sucked.
Instead of pressing the refresh key one more time, I pulled out my phone. Pulling down a screen was way less spastic then pressing one key over and over. Now I got the fun added benefit of haptic feedback.
I wanted to call the number back and see if he’d gotten my message. Hope he answered this time instead of shipping me straight to voice mail. I didn’t though. I wanted Donny in a good mood when I made my proposition. Spamming his voicemail would likely damage any good will I owned before going into the meeting. If he even gave me one. My problems were tiny guppies compared to some of his “fixes.”
Another name popped into my head, Donny’s best friend, who still owed Kory more than he’d ever be able to pay back, Zeus. If anyone could get me into direct contact with my old fraternity brother it was him.
Finally having something to do with my hands, I quickly navigated to Zeus’s phone number and sent him a text message.
He called me back within a minute. “What do you want now?”
“Well, hi, I’m just great. How are you?”
A long pause stretched between us. “But really what do you want, Ash?”
“I need to get in touch with Donny. I tried the number he gave out at the last reunion, and I left a message. He didn’t respond yet, and it’s kind of an emergency.”
“Like you getting your license suspended over a piece of ass?”
A blaze of heat spiked through me, and I locked it down before I said something I wasn’t able to take back. “Kory isn’t just a piece of ass. And never talk about her like that again.”
He didn’t retract the statement or apologize. “I’ll see if Donny wants to speak with you, but it’s his choice, not yours.”
The offer was probably as good as I’d get from him. He still seemed upset about the last time we talked. “Fine. That’s fine. I’ll wait to hear back one way or the other.”
He hung up, and I stared at the device again, waiting on someone else to help me fix a problem I should have been able to handle alone.
It didn’t take long before Zeus texted again.
MEET ME AT THE COUNTY AIRPORT 10 A.M. D AGREED TO SEEE YOU.
I sighed, thankful I’d finally been able to get through. Why I had to travel with Zeus, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to argue when the outcome of the meeting depended on his best friend. I texted him back.
I’LL BE THERE
It took me a little longer to get to the airport as I’d never actually been to this one. It was small compared to the international airport on the other side of town. I caught sight of Zeus checking his watch and pacing on the runway, so I met him outside. He gestured at a plane idling nearby with a set of stairs leading inside.
I followed him up the stairs and onto a spacious private jet. “Is this your plane?”
Zeus grabbed a bottle of champagne and threw his large frame into a taupe upholstered leather chair. “No, it’s D’s, but he lets me use it from time to time.”
In other words, lets him borrow it to impress women he cheats on his wife with.
