Somebody's Chelsi: Book 5 The Wakefield Romance Series

by Hewitt, Theresa Marguerite

  “They should be there shortly, stay on the line until they arrive.” The dispatcher repeats, and I put my phone on speaker and kneel next to Chelsi, holding her hand.

  “Chelsi, can you hear me?” I say to her, leaning down and brushing a strand of hair from her forehead. I know I can’t move her. The strike to the head and fall might have caused some other problems with her neck or spine. Moving her could only hurt her more and I don’t want that. “Chels, please hang on. Help is coming.”

  “French?! You here?” The familiar voice yells out from the front room.

  “Yeah Brad, I’m in the bathroom!” I hear them hurrying through the apartment and around the corner comes Brad Muncy, his EMT bag over his shoulder.

  “What the fuck happened?” he whispers to me as he and his partner kneel down, assessing Chelsi and her condition. I tell him what I know and what I assume from the scene with Jude in the living room and he makes quick work of putting a brace on her neck and an IV line in her arm. Strapping her onto a back board, they lift her onto a gurney and I hear a commotion out in the living room.

  “Calm down! You need medical attention!” I hear shouted with mumbled, angry, incoherent words as response.

  “Looks like heroin. They administered nasal Narcan to Jude.” Brad shakes his head, guiding the gurney through the small doorway and down the hall.

  Sure enough, out in the hallway where he was just close to death, Jude is swinging and swearing at the other two EMT’s. I’ve had enough of this bullshit at this point and coming up behind him, I wrap my arms around his, slamming him onto the floor and restraining him so that the cops can cuff him for his own safety. They secure him to his own gurney and I run outside just as Brad is loading Chelsi into the ambulance.

  “I’ll give her some IV Narcan on the way to the hospital. Call her parents, will ya?” I nod in response, knowing that I’ll be more calm and collected to talk to her parents than if I rode with them and I close the door, banging on it letting his partner know that’s he’s good to go. I need to take a deep breath and think of what I am going to say to the Reid’s so that they don’t panic too much. Just as I’m pulling my phone out again, they are bringing Jude out and he’s still yelling at them.

  “Listen here, you mother fucker.” I grab him by the shirt and his blood shot eyes lock onto mine. He struggles against the restraints they have him tied down with and I shove him back against the stretcher. “If Chelsi doesn’t end up good as new, I will hunt you down and make sure you die a very slow and painful death. You understand me, dumb fuck?”

  “Yeah, I get it.” He grumbles and they roll him away. I could rip his arms and legs off, letting him bleed out while screaming in agony, and not care one bit.

  Getting back to the important phone call I bring up Chelsi’s parents’ home number in Norfolk, jumping in my Jeep while it rings. Roaring down the road after the ambulance, I almost think that no one will answer because it’s so late, when finally they pick up.

  “Hello?” A sweet, older woman’s voice rings out, sounding still half asleep.

  “Mrs. Reid?” I try and keep all of the different emotions I’m going through right now at bay, just needing to inform them of what’s happened. She answers yes and I continue with, “I’m a friend of your daughters’ and I need to tell you there has been a sort of accident.”

  “Oh God, what happened?” she gasps and I hear her trying to wake her husband, harshly whispering his name.

  “It’s better that you hear that from your daughter, ma’am, but I do know that she was stable when they loaded her in the ambulance. They are taking her to the hospital now. I thought you’d like to be there as soon as possible.” I really don’t want to tell them that I found her passed out with a track mark in her arm. I tell them where they are headed and that we should be there in less than ten minutes.

  “Okay, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” We say goodbye just when I hear her husband saying that he’s up, to stop poking him, and I hang up. I should really inform Rhea and Ellie, they are her friends, but I’ll wait and see what happens. I really don’t want anyone else to have to worry about what is my fault.

  If I wasn’t such a dick I wouldn’t be driving eighty miles an hour, keeping up with the ambulance in the dark of the night. If I had just told her up front what I had done with Wendy last Friday she would’ve forgiven me somehow and moved on, knowing it was a dumb mistake. Hell, if I had just gone after her earlier as she stormed off she wouldn’t have gotten on the back of Jude’s motorcycle. She would have been pissed as all hell, but maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t be lying in the back of the ambulance.

  A stop sign comes up and I slam on the breaks, letting the ambulance shoot through the intersection on its own. I rest my forehead on the steering wheel for a moment, trying to collect my racing thoughts. God, I should’ve gone after her. I should’ve stopped her and swung her around, apologizing a million times and telling her that I’d take her home just to make sure she made it home safe.

  Looking both ways, I catch up with the ambulance and follow it into the hospital parking. I pull my military ID out of my wallet when I walk through the double doors, trying to navigate through the chaos to the ER nurses’ station. Hopefully one of them will see my ID and have enough respect for service members to check on Chelsi for me.

  CHAPTER SIX:

  Chelsi

  Two weeks later

  “Chelsi, you need to get out of the house today.” My mom yells from downstairs but I don’t move. My perch on the windowsill of the bay window in my childhood room has been my sanctuary for the last week and a half while I recover from my accident. I haven’t left these four lavender colored walls except to get food and use the bathroom, which I’ve only done when my parents are out.

  When I woke up in the hospital the next afternoon, my parents were hovering over me with tears in their eyes and I hate seeing them like that. I remember only bits and pieces from after I stormed off and Jude brought me home. I know we sat and ordered pizza, talking and laughing; plus crying a little bit over the horrible way the date with Austin ended. After I cleaned up a little bit everything gets fuzzy. I recall Jude trying to convince me to try some heroin he scored and even know the thought of it brings up a wave of disgust through my body. I remember the feel of his arm grabbing me right around the elbow, a horrible pinching and throbbing feeling following the memory and I rub my arm to try and make it go away. But after that, nothing until I woke up.

  Contrary to what everyone thought, even Austin, I hadn’t shot up with Jude. The purpling mark on my arm when he found me was a bruise left by Jude’s trying to get me to sit and inject that shit with him. It does make me feel horrible that they think I would’ve done that. Yes, I’ve dabble in prescription drugs but I’ve never gotten to the point where I can’t say no, and heroin is one of those drugs that makes you forget how to say no.

  I haven’t charged or even looked at my phone since that night either. It’s sitting in the top drawer of my dresser. Rhea and Ellie have called my parent’s house, asking about me, and my mom stood outside the door talking to them probably hoping that it would entice me to do it myself, but I just don’t want to. The migraines the doctors warned me about as a side effect from the fall really do kick my ass most of the day and talking on the phone just isn’t on my list of priorities right now.

  Standing from my now worn out cushioned seat, I take a long look in the mirror. They had to shave the hair around the gash on my head so they could staple it shut and I run my fingers along the somewhat tender skin, feeling the stubble of hair regrowth that’s starting already. My skin is sickly pale from staying in the house everyday so I grab some lotion, hoping the act of massaging it in will bring some color back.

  “Chelsi? Someone is here to see you!” My mom’s kind and understanding voice travels up the stairs. I prickle at the thought of facing one of my friends, but go and pull open my door. The smell of her homemade chocolate chip cookies smacks me in the face and I ta
ke a deep breath, the familiarity of it making me smile. I really have been away from home for far too long.

  “Who is it?” I ask but can only catch a mumble something through the country radio station playing in the kitchen.

  “Jus’ come on down and see.” She replies and her voice has a happy tinge to it, making me wonder who could it be lifting my mom’s spirits with just a visit. So with a sigh of anxiety, I tie a scarf around my head to hide the staples, and head down the stairs, not caring that I’m still in my faded yoga capris and stretched out tank that I’ve had since high school.

  I’m halfway down the stairs when the familiar, hearty deep laugh fills the air, mixed with the similar one of my father, and it makes me stop and listen. They are talking about the service, my father being a retired Marine, and Austin’s laugh rings out again making my heart skip a beat.

  “Oh man…” I whisper to myself, running my hands over the scarf gingerly to make sure it’s smooth and securely tied behind my head, then make my way for the kitchen.

  “Well here’s our little girl,” my dad’s warm, husky welcome makes me roll my eyes. I’ll never be anything but his little girl. “The Lieutenant came to see how you are recovering. Said he tried to call you but that your phone was off. Do you need a new one?”

  “No, Dad, it just needs to be charged. I forgot about it.” I wave it off like it’s nothing that doesn’t happen every other day and grab some juice from the fridge, still not looking Austin in the face. I should, hell, he saved my life; but I’m trying to tamp down a hot wave of blush from running through me that I’m afraid will break loose if I do look at him.

  There is a few moments of silence of conversation as my mom takes some more cookies from the oven, sliding them onto the already mounded pile adorning her cookie platter on the counter. The smell of them makes my stomach rumble in hunger and I’m sure everyone heard it, my mom catching my eye.

  “Austin brought you some beautiful flowers.” She pulls the bouquet from the sink, having already washed, cut and contained them in one of her crystal vases. They are a gorgeous mix of roses, tulips and lilies. When my mom places them on the counter I lean over and take a whiff of their wonderful smell, making me remember the roses he sent me before our date.

  “Thank you, Austin.” Are the first words I utter to him, finally turning and looking at him. God, it was a mistake. The blush I was trying to hold down rears its head and rushes to the surface of my entire body, making me feel as if I broke out in a sweat. I try to discreetly fan myself as he gives me a smile, continuing to listen to one of my dad’s old war stories from Desert Storm. I hear my mom giggle lightly and I playfully elbow her, knowing that she is laughing at me.

  After a few moments, and my mom quickly making a platter full of small sandwiches, my dad stands and asks Austin if he’d like to come and see his office where he keeps all of his memorabilia and medals. Of course he says yes, but as the two men start to leave the kitchen my mom catches up to them, saying to my dad, “Harold, don’t you think we should go check on the pool?”

  “Check what on the pool?” He asks, not quite realizing that my mom is trying to get Austin and me alone to talk, and I try to interject when it clicks in my father’s head. “Oh, right. Check on the pool.” He looks from my mom to me and winks, turning to Austin and telling him, “Sorry, son. Maybe later. I’ve got to go check and make sure the pool cleaner did a good enough job.”

  Really dad? You couldn’t think of anything better than that? I shake my head at them as they head out the sliding door to the back yard and I am left alone with Austin. I really don’t know what to say to him so we stand in awkward silence for more than a handful of minutes. He comes back and sits down at the breakfast bar across from me and I speak first.

  “You want a cookie? My mom makes them from scratch.” I hold the plate out for him to take one and he takes two, eating one in a bite. While he’s chewing I turn and get him some milk, knowing he likes a glass with his Oreos so he might with these too, and contemplating what to say.

  “Dang! These cookies are amazing.” Austin exclaims and accepts the milk with a thank you. “Why don’t you ever bake?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I tried not to do too many things that reminded me of home.” He nods, eating the other cookie with a satisfied sound making me laugh at him. It feels good to laugh after two weeks filled with doubt and tears. “What are you doing here anyways, Austin?” I can’t stand here and beat around the bush after the hurt I felt on Friday night before my fall.

  He takes a deep breath, running his hand back over his buzzed hair, bringing his deep blue eyes up to meet mine. “I’m here to see how you’re doing.” I move around the counter and take a seat one stool from him, still not sure whether or not I want to put myself out there just yet. “And I just needed to see you.”

  “Austin, you know that shit with that Wendy chick really bothered me. I thought we were the kind of friends that told each other everything, especially since we were on a date. Didn’t you think that fucking an old girlfriend was probably something you should’ve mentioned before telling me you need us to be together?”

  “I should’ve told you, yes. And then maybe worked up to asking you out for real, but…damn it Chelsi, I have feelings for you that I’ve never felt for anyone else, even when I thought I did.” He turns toward me, his demeanor being slightly defeated as his posture changes from his rigid, proper self to hunched over and leaning toward me. “I’m sorry for hurting you and I’m even sorrier that I didn’t come after you sooner. Maybe if I had you wouldn’t have fallen and hit your head.”

  “Oh please,” I scoff, “I had told myself a million times to get another bath rug to put by the sink. It was only a matter of time until the splash over and drips landing on the floor caused me to slip.” I find myself consciously running my fingers over my staples under the silky scarf that’s hiding it. “You coming after me would’ve just made me even madder at you. I probably would’ve tried to punch you in the face actually.”

  “Yeah, I said some awful things that I said out of spite and anger and I need to apologize for those.” He gets off his stool, coming to stand at my side and he takes me hand in his, my skin tingling at the touch.

  “You did say some horrible things that stung, but since I’ve been holed up here I’ve realized a few things.” I motion for him to sit in the stool before me and I sink my other hand into his grasp, centered in his lap. “I have been keeping the memory of Tom close at heart, but it has been keeping me from really living life. Tom wouldn’t want me to be lonely, shunning all possibility of a relationship because I thought I’d be hurting him. Truth is, his hurting is all over with. He’s in a better place, but watching over me and he’d want me to be happy… as happy as I’d be if he were still here.”

  Austin brushes a stray strand of hair that has escaped from under the scarf to behind my ear and I lean my cheek into his touch, closing my eyes to the feel of it on my skin. “But, the way Wendy was made me realize something else.” I let him hand fall from my face and stand, walking to the window in the living room hearing him following me. Outside the grey clouds are rolling in from the coast, bringing thunder and lightning to match the mood moving over my heart. “I don’t want to be with someone who is going to keep things from me, and that’s part of who you are. It’s the kind of man you’ve been trained to be. You fly under the radar and you only tell what needs telling.”

  “Chelsi, you know I’d never lie to you.”

  “But you’d keep things from me.”

  “Things that I’d have to. You know I can’t tell you things about my job.”

  “And when does that spill into your personal life? Huh?” My anger spills out and I turn on him, the tears falling on my cheeks like the raindrops are falling on the window pane. “Austin, we are friends and you didn’t even bother to tell me you fucked your ex right before coming to my house and telling me you needed me to be with you. I had to find out from her slutty mouth, in a ba
r, that you fucked her less than four hours before you came to me, confessing that you can’t go another day without me.” I can tell he’s getting frustrated, he rolls his shoulders and rubs his hands together.

  “Chelsi, I don’t know what to say anymore. I said I was sorry for not telling you. I don’t know what else you want from me. Do you want me to say that it won’t happen again, because it won’t. What I said that night in your apartment was true, I need you. I need us. I have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and as they say, ‘The only easy day was yesterday.’ I don’t know if I’ll come back from every mission, so being with me won’t be easy. Nothing in life that’s worth having is.”

  “I just don’t know, Austin.” Is all I can think to say and he lets out a frustrated sigh, pacing a few steps and then heading for the door.

  “I deploy in two days. I guess I’ll see you when I get back.” He doesn’t turn around to tell me this, he grasps the door handle and walks out into the rain, politely closing the door behind him. The ever respectful French. The sound of the latch clicking takes my breath away and I turn to the window, my tears matching the down pour of rain with every drop.

  I can’t believe I just let him walk out. I wipe at my eyes as a hand meets my shoulder.

  “Go stop him, honey.” My dad smiles down at me, his green eyes surrounded by laugh lines from his easy going nature. I shake my head at him as if he doesn’t know what’s going on and he laughs at me. “Little girl, I haven’t seen you look at a man like that since Tom, and honey you know we all miss him. He was like a son to me and it’s a shame that he was taken from us so young, but you have to remember God has reasons for the things that he does. I know you’ve been hurting all these years when you try and hide it, remember that I’m your father. I could tell that you’re hiding something even if I was blindfolded.”