by Natalie Dean
They made it to her place without any other incident, and she found herself faced once more with hauling him up the stairs. Surprisingly, it was much easier than the previous time. Keiko guessed maybe because she hadn’t just danced through a reception, but she was grateful, nonetheless.
Once she dumped Bryant on her couch, she went about getting him a glass of water, the wastebasket from her bathroom, and a blanket and pillow. It was all very déjà vu, and she couldn’t help but wonder if this was a sign from God. That she was supposed to give him a second chance and try to start things over.
It took a minute to get him settled, and this time she actually bothered to take off his shoes and make sure he was propped up on his side. He fought with her a little, but it was like how a sleepy child might fight off actually going under, and she managed it well enough.
When it was all said and done, she did feel a sense of accomplishment. No matter what happened, she’d helped someone in need, and she had fulfilled her promise to Bradley.
Carefully, she knelt by Bryant’s face, running her fingers through his thick hair to get it out of his face. For once, he looked peaceful. Not plotting or scheming or hurt. Just himself.
She never noticed how long his lashes were, or how full his lips were. She wondered, just for a moment, what it would have been like if she had given in to his advances on her, but she quickly dismissed it.
Maybe… in another world where Bryant was healthy and interested in her for altruistic reasons, they could have dated. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have someone in her life… romantically.
But it was too bad that wasn’t the situation she was in, so it would be better not to think about that at all.
Bryant murmured something and she leaned in, trying to listen. He tried once, twice, and then without any warning at all, he puked all over her.
Keiko reared back, falling onto her butt without ceremony. She sat there a moment, completely in shock, the too warm and chunky liquid all down her front and partially on her chin.
Oh.
No.
Suddenly the world dropped out from under her, and she was swallowed up by everything she had been trying to keep down.
13
Bryant
Bryant woke up conscious of three things. He was in pain. He was thirsty. He smelled terrible.
He was definitely the kind of guy who liked to lay in bed upon waking and anticipate his day before it happened, but judging by how his back and head were throbbing, it would do him good to sit up.
So he did— and was struck with the strongest sense of déjà vu he had ever had. It was only after several minutes of blinking dopily that he remembered. He had gotten utterly smashed after his visit to the ranch, and someone had come to wherever he was to take care of him.
… judging by the familiar interior surrounding him, that someone was Keiko.
But why?
Hadn’t he ruined everything with her? Last he saw her she was rushing out of a restaurant because he’d lost his temper. He’d apparently hurt her enough that the normally nurturing Amazon that Bart loved so much had hauled off and slapped Bryant across the face for it.
Something must have happened then, but he couldn’t remember what for the life of him, and his head hurt so badly he felt like he couldn’t begin to puzzle it out.
Looking around again, he saw that Keiko had left a glass of water out which basically glowed gold and had angels singing around it. He grabbed it quickly, chugging it down so that he felt at least a tad more human.
But once that was done and his tongue stopped feeling like a dried-out sock in his mouth, his bladder made its presence known. Struggling to his feet, he shambled to the bathroom.
He took care of his business, then washed his hands and face, taking several moments to splash his face over and over again. Once he was done, he dried himself off with one of the surprisingly soft hand-towels and felt like he might one day be sober again.
It was only after he glanced at himself in the mirror that he noticed a weird sort of sound. Just on the edge of familiar and barely there, the sound pulled his attention
He wandered out of the bathroom, following it to the kitchen. When he turned the corner, he could only blink stupidly in disbelief at the sight that was waiting for him.
There on the floor, doubled over on her hands and knees, was Keiko, scrubbing at the edge of the tile floor under her sink with a toothbrush. The sight was certainly a shock, and it took him a beat to also realize that there were three other blown-out brushes scattered beside her, hinting that she had certainly been there for quite a while.
“Uh, hey there, Keiko. What’cha doing?’ His voice sounded raspy and thin, no doubt to the abuse his throat had taken, but it was audible.
At the sound of his voice, Keiko jumped up onto her feet, smiling broadly at him. “Oh! You’re up! You need something to drink. You need food. I’ll get you those!”
Before he could say anything else, she was whirling away from him and practically sprinting to the fridge. One thing for certain, she looked horrendous.
Her normally pale face was ruddy and covered in a sheen of sweat. There were deep bags under her eyes, which were completely bloodshot. Her normally gently styled hair was heavy with sweat and plastered to both her head and face. Even her lips looked worse for wear, swollen and cracked like she had been chewing on them all night long.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked cautiously, taking a very tentative step toward her.
“Yeah! Why wouldn’t I be? Did you have a good night’s sleep? I’m sorry that my couch isn’t very comfortable.”
“It’s fine, just—”
He winced as she opened the fridge door too hard, slamming it into the wall. She grabbed what looked like a carton of orange juice and turned to him, shaking slightly. But something about how she moved put her off-kilter, and the next thing he knew, the carton of juice was slamming into the floor and spilling everywhere.
“Oh geez, let me get that,” he said, feeling like something very important was happening but not really understanding what.
“No, no, it’s fine. I got it. I got it!” Her voice cracked on that last part, and she managed to knock a roll of paper towels over as she went to grab them. Suddenly she was sobbing, loud, raucous and broken.
Bryant stared at her, absolutely gobsmacked, and tried to think of something that would help. “Look, it’s okay! I got it, see?”
Grabbing the fallen paper towels, he quickly bent down and wiped the juice up and put the carton back. While he was busy, Keiko had turned to the sink, crying and hiccupping as she washed her hands.
He waited for her to finish, ready to ask her what he could do to help, but as soon as she turned off the tap, she turned it back on again. Then off. Then on. Then she turned only the hot water on, then the cold, then washed her hands all over again.
“I can still feel the dirt. There’s so much dirt. It makes my skin crawl.”
Bryant had no idea what was going on. It was like he had been shoved into a parallel dimension that was like his own, but important details had been changed. But what he did know was that something was very much wrong.
“Hey, can I help you? Keiko. I’m right here. Is there anything I can do?”
She didn’t answer, just kept right on washing and washing and washing.
Swallowing, Bryant looked around as if there would be some sort of answer there.
“Is there somebody I can call?”
Keiko stiffened at that, standing straight and for just a moment stopping with her frantic scrubbing. “Yeah. Dr. Hyleir in my emergency contact list.”
There it was, something she told him he could do. Sliding his own phone out of his pocket, he called her and listened for the buzz.
It led him to the bathroom where her phone was on the back of the toilet. How he hadn’t noticed it before, he didn’t know, but he grabbed it and quickly hit the button to pull up her emergency numbers. Then he tapped on the contact to call Dr.
Hyleir.
It rang only once, and then a woman was answering.
“Dr. Hyleir’s office, this is Carolina. How may I help you?”
Uh, what did he even say? “Uh, hi, I’m with my friend Keiko, and something’s wrong with her. She doesn’t seem to really be able to talk to me, but she told me to call this number that was on her emergency contact list.”
“All right, thank you for calling us. For her protection, may I ask this Keiko’s last name?”
“It’s Albryte. Keiko Albryte.”
“Thank you for that info. Can you tell me what kind of state Keiko is in?”
“Right now she’s furiously scrubbing her hands in the sink. But before that she dropped a bottle of orange juice and freaked out. Crying and everything. I’m a little freaked out myself.”
“I understand sir, and we’re very grateful you’re helping her. We can’t disclose certain information because of HIPAA unless you’re on her contact list or she’s signed a waiver for you. Has she done that with you, sir?”
“Uh, no. We’ve only sort of just met. Does that mean you can’t help her?”
“Not at all, sir, may I have your name?”
“Uh, it’s Bryant, Bryant Miller.”
“Oh, I see. Do you have a brother, Mr. Miller?”
“Yeah, four of them actually.” An idea came to him. “Oh! My brother might be one of her contacts. Bradley Miller?”
“I can’t confirm that, but what I can do is give you some questions to ask her and directions to bring her to us. Do you have a way to write this down?”
“Uh, gimme a second.” Grabbing his own phone again, he pulled open a notepad app. “Yeah.”
“Thank you for your speed, sir. The most important thing during this entire process is to remain calm. Right now it sounds like Ms. Albryte is in distress, so you being calm and collected will help her more than anything else.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
“Perfect. This is our address. You can pull right up to the emergency entrance, and we’ll guide her into intake.”
He hurriedly wrote down everything she said. The clinic was in the city, which was at least an hour’s drive away. That thought made him nervous. He knew Keiko wasn’t having a heart attack or a stroke, but that didn’t make whatever was going on any less scary.
“Now Mr. Miller, I need you to go to Keiko and ask these questions calmly and slowly.”
“Okay.” He left the bathroom and walked to the kitchen where Keiko had thankfully stopped washing her hands, but was back on her hands and knees, this time scrubbing around the oven.
“Hey, Keiko, when was the last time you slept?”
“Yesterday,” she answered shortly, not even bothering to look at him.
“Yesterday as in last night?”
She shook her head. “No. Before work. Then I got you. Then I… cleaned.”
“Could you hear that?” he asked the phone.
“Yes, I could Mr. Miller, thank you. Now please ask her when her last meal was.”
“Hey, Keiko. Have you eaten lately?”
She shook her head.
“Could you try, for me?”
Another shake of her head.
“Mr. Miller, I know this is difficult, but it would be best if you could get something into her. She has emergency medicine for episodes like these, but they are very hard on an empty stomach.”
“So what, I have to make her eat?”
“The best thing to do is to try to coax her. You can try outright force, but Keiko has known food aggression and you could end up injuring the both of you.”
“How am I supposed to get her to eat then? I’ve never done anything like this before!”
“It’s all right, Mr. Miller. I can tell you that when Keiko is manic, she does have a people-pleasing streak. The best way to get her to eat might be if you convince her that doing so will help you.”
“Uh, okay.” He walked carefully around Keiko and went to the fridge. There were a lot of fresh ingredients in there, but he also spotted a lot of easy, simple snacks that were quick and clean to eat. Rooting around, he grabbed what looked like one of those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with no crust and crossed to sit next to Keiko.
“Too close,” she said, sweat dripping down her nose. “You’re in my space.”
“Oh, sorry.” He scooted away and then made a big show of taking a bite of the mini-sandwich and groaning at how good it was. He noticed Keiko’s eyes slid over him for just a second before going back to the floor. “That was so good, but my tummy is kind of hurting. You know, it makes me feel so bad to waste food, but I don’t think I can stomach this. Man, I just feel so guilty.”
“No, it’s okay. I got you. Don’t worry. I can take care of you.” Her hand flashed out, and abruptly the sandwich was no longer in his hand. Keiko was quickly shoveling it into her mouth.
The sandwich was gone in three bites which she hardly chewed before swallowing and quickly returning to her scrubbing.
“Has she eaten?”
“Yeah, she did.”
“Perfect. Now she needs her medication, then you can bring her to us. It should have a red label with a warning for emergencies only. I can disclose to you that, in her notes, she agreed to keep it in the top drawer of her dresser.”
“Her dresser? All right.”
“Mr. Miller, if it’s not there, don’t go looking for it and bring her straight here. Sometimes in these situations, a manic person will hide or tamper with their medication. It’s not worth the risk if the bottle’s not in the agreed-upon spot.”
Although he was rushing from task to task without hesitation, Bryant had to admit that he was terrified out of his skull. He’d never been in such a serious situation before, and he felt like his every move was either life or death. Not exactly what he wanted to do when his brain still felt thick and sluggish from all the alcohol he’d had the night before.
He raced toward the only room he hadn’t been in and made a beeline for the dresser. Sure enough, there was a bottle there, with its safety seal still on.
“All right, I got it.”
“Perfect. Now just get Ms. Albryte to take one and come straight here.”
“Shouldn’t we do an ambulance or something?”
“We could, but Ms. Albryte has had incredibly adverse reactions to official transport in the past. Considering that she is technically not in a lethal situation, it would be best if people she trusted transported her here.”
“All right, if you say so.”
Like he was someone she trusted. She had just hauled his hide from a strip club four hours away, and he still had no idea why.
He opened the bottle and pulled a pill out, heading right back to the fridge. Everything swirled in his brain as he got her a glass and filled it with water then crouched next to her again.
“Hey, Keiko, I got this candy and I’m not sure I like it. Will you try it for me?”
“Candy?” she asked. “No. It’s sugar. I’ve had too much already.”
He recalled the careful way that she had eaten at their very short dinner and wondered if maybe some sort of eating disorder was connected to whatever was happening in front of him. “That’s why I want you to try it. It’s sugar and calorie-free so I think it’s probably gonna be gross. Won’t you try it for me in case it is?”
“Okay.” She took it, putting it on her tongue and taking the water.
“Apparently you swallow it whole. How strange is that?”
For some reason, Keiko trusted him and swallowed it down. He heaved a sigh of relief, but she just seemed confused.
“It didn’t taste like anything.”
“Huh. That’s weird. But it was so nice of you to do that for me.”
She smiled brilliantly at him, and it actually made his chest ache.
Then she spoke quickly, “Of course. Don’t worry, I’m here to take care of you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah! You’ll see. I’m reall
y good at taking care of everyone. I just have to make sure everything is clean. I don’t want you getting sick.”
Was this how she felt when he was drunk off his butt? Probably not, because it was his own fault that he drank, while it was definitely not her fault for whatever was going on.
“You’re so thoughtful, Keiko. I’m grateful to have someone like you looking after me.”
She practically glowed at that, and he felt sick about everything that he had put her through. It was obvious the girl was very sick, and yet all she cared about was making sure he was okay.
He had to get her to someone who could help. “Do you think you could come on a car ride with me? I’m too scared to go on my own.”
“Yeah, of course. You don’t have to worry.”
She wasn’t looking at him again, busy with cleaning, but it was a step in the right direction.
Standing, he looked around for his keys before remembering that he hadn’t driven himself to the city or to Keiko’s place. Right. So he needed her keys.
He went on a hunt for them only to find them hanging from a keyring by the door. Of course. But as he gripped them, he realized that while he was pumped full of adrenaline, he definitely wasn’t sober enough to drive. And considering everything that was going on, he wasn’t going to risk Keiko’s life in that way.
He hated bringing anyone else into the situation, especially since he had a sense that it was something incredibly private to Keiko. He could call a cab from the city and just foot the bill, but he hated the thought of how long that would take. Two hours at the quickest and most likely somewhere around three hours.
No. That wouldn’t do at all. Whipping his phone out, Bryant dialed Bradley without hesitation.
14
Bryant
It seemed to take forever for Bradley to actually show up, but in reality, it was probably less than fifteen minutes.
To his brother’s credit, when Bradley did pull up in Ben’s extended cab truck, he didn’t ask any questions. He just held the door open for them to pile in, then got in to drive.