Page 38 of Come Back To Me

“Wait.” She licked her cracked lips, and looked between me and the passenger side window where Daniel sat. “You can take him if you give us money. Keeping him alive has been expensive, Vaughan. I should be compensated.”

My stomach rolled, and I snatched my arm from her grasp. “You make me sick. Expect a visit from the cops, and my lawyer, and start praying that you end up in prison because they will be a hell of lot kinder to you in there than what I will be if I have to come back here.”

Before I did something I’d regret, I walked away from my shitty childhood, and left the trailer park in the rearview mirror. I pulled my phone out, dialing Staci’s number. It rang a few times, and right before I ended the call she picked up.

“Hey roomie. I was just talking about you.”

I cleared my throat. “Staci, I need you to meet me at the hospital.”

“What?” I heard some shuffling. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Daniel,” I replied. “I can’t explain everything now, just meet me at the hospital please?”

“We’re on our way,” she replied. The call ended, and I hit the accelerator. Daniel had stopped crying, but the palpability of his fear increased my sense of urgency. I stopped outside the E.R, and raced inside with Daniel in my arms.

“Get me a Doctor,” I told the Nurse behind the counter. She slowly lifted her head, appeasing me from over her horn-rimmed glasses.

“There’s a line,” she replied. “You’ll have to wait your turn.”

“Either you find someone who can help me, or I’ll find someone myself, and trust me, I won’t be quiet about it.”

I shifted, and Daniel all but screamed. The nurse looked between us, more than likely coming to the wrong conclusion. She took one look at his swollen eye, busted lip, and bruised cheek and as much as it pissed me off I could see why she would assume I’d done it. No one would ever suspect a woman was capable of leaving such heinous marks.

“Come this way,” she finally said. “I’ll find you a bed.”

I followed her, and shortly after I got Daniel settled on a bed, Staci came running through the sliding doors of the emergency room with Aiden in tow.

And Coach Davis.

“What happened?” she asked. She came to an abrupt halt when she caught sight of Daniel, hunched in on himself. Coach Davis and Aiden flanked her, both frowning.

“My Mother.”

“I’ll get Connor,” said Coach Davis. “He can get someone to see Daniel right away.”

I nodded, too irate to respond with words. Staci stepped around me, and started soothing Daniel, rubbing his head. Those were the things a Mother was supposed to do, not beat your kid silly. In the harsh lighting of the hospital it was obvious my Mother had gone to town.

“We need to call the cops,” said Aiden, drawing my attention away from where Staci was comforting Daniel. He was looking worse and worse, and from the way he was clutching his arm I had little doubt that it wasn’t broken.

How hard was he hit?

“I can’t think straight right now,” I replied honestly. “I want him checked out first.”

Aiden opened his mouth, but winced when another voice came from down the hall. I looked up, and saw Kenzi. She had a blond guy beside her, but he wasn’t in uniform.

“Oh my God, what happened?” she asked. The guy walked up to Daniel, and when he started touching his face, and his arm, I moved toward him. “Who the fuck are you?”

I didn’t mean to be rude, but hell, I was all over the fucking place and the thought of having a stranger all over my brother didn’t exactly thrill me, given the circumstances.

“Relax,” said Kenzi. “Alex is a second year resident, he can look at Daniel.”

“Dad said he was getting Connor.” Aiden looked between me and Kenzi, and then at the guy, Alex.

“He is, I bumped into him upstairs.”

Aiden grimaced, but didn’t say anything more. Something unspoken flitted between him and Kenzi, but when I saw Coach Davis walking back towards us with his oldest son, Connor, and another doctor, in front of him, my focus shifted. The doctor greeted me, asked what happened, and after examining Daniel, told me his cheek bone was fractured, and his right arm was in fact broken. Had it not been for Daniel himself, looking so scared and hurt, I would have flipped out right there.

Coach Davis called the cops, and they showed up to take pictures of Daniels’ face and arm, and then took my statement. Getting him to talk about what happened was a little trickier, but Kenzi engaged him in what seemed like a normal conversation, and he answered her questions without feeling threatened, or like he was in trouble. Aiden had to drag me away at one point because listening to Daniel recount how he got hurt was too much for me. I was beyond pissed, and consumed with guilt. I could have prevented this, I could have protected him and I didn’t.