by Measha Stone
But that was nearly six months ago. She’d seen plenty since then. Women selling their bodies, handing over their money to their pimps when they got back. The second week she witnessed what happened when the women tried to hold some back for themselves.
“Hey, man!” The guy taunting her finally became distracted with business and walked over to the car. “No, not this one. Let me get you Staci. Staci has a nice ass for you.” Julie didn’t need to turn around to see the woman being shoved out of the way and replaced with someone else. Staci would probably wish she hadn’t been handpicked if Julie read the fear in the first girl’s face correctly.
Finally finding the building she was looking for, Julie pushed through the front door and made her way up the narrow staircase. The stench of dried piss filled the small space. The overhead lights, dangling from above, flickered, as though the passageway needed any further ambiance issues.
Careful not to step in a few mystery puddles, Julie found her way to the third floor. The apartment she wanted came into view. The familiar tingles started to brew in her stomach, but she’d lived this moment too many times to take the anticipation seriously.
It could be another dead end.
As she raised her hand to knock, an ear-bending explosion shook the building, throwing her to the floor. Covering her ears to block out the instant ringing, she moved back to her feet and looked down the hall. No smoke or fire.
The door to the apartment flew open and a man rushed out, knocking her across the hall. She banged into the wall, hitting her head, but she kept on her feet. Another man ran out with his hand in the air.
“You ass! Go! Go! Go!” the second man called as he chased down the first.
“Fuck. Fuck!” A third man stumbled toward the opened door. Blood splattered across his upper body and his face. “Fuck!” he yelled again when he looked at his hand. Two fingers were missing; blood poured out onto the floor.
Julie pushed herself back against the wall, sliding to the side. What the hell just happened?
His dark eyes met hers and they stood silently staring at each other. She willed her legs to move, to run, but she couldn’t get herself unfrozen to get moving. He stepped toward her but stilled with the loud sirens from outside.
“Fuck.” He tucked his wounded hand into the opposite armpit and took off running back to the stairs.
Julie’s heart hammered, her mouth dried, and everything inside her screamed for her to leave. To forget about whatever just happened and get the fuck out of the building before anyone else showed up.
But she had to know.
Swallowing back the fear, she pushed off the wall and made her way into the apartment on unsteady feet. None of the other apartment doors had opened up. No one else ran through the halls. Did they all know what was going on?
She pushed the door open and stepped inside, immediately choking on the dark smoke billowing from another room. Covering her mouth with her sleeve, she continued to move into the apartment. She found the cause of the explosion.
The outside wall of the kitchen had been blown out. Blood splattered the floor and the walls, and the edges of what was left of the kitchen blazed with flames. She threw herself back, protecting herself from the heat.
Turning to run back out of the apartment, she tripped and fell straight to the floor. Scrambling, she got to her knees and crawled back out into the hallway. Only then did she look back to see what she’d fallen over.
A man, not much older than herself, lay unconscious on the floor. Well, shit.
Feet stomping up the stairs stole her attention. Men in full fire gear ran around the corner from the stairwell and down the hall. She pointed to the apartment.
“There’s a guy. On the floor,” she yelled.
“We’ll get him. Get her out of here!” the first responder yelled to the firefighter behind him and ran into the apartment.
“Let’s go. Stay close to me, keep low.” The last man in line grabbed her arm and started pulling her to the stairs. She let him lead her down the hall, keeping her eyes on the apartment as they started to descend the stairs.
“What happened?” she asked after her first gulp of fresh air, but the responder was gone, running back into the building.
Her lungs burned. Grasping for air, her chest clenched as a coughing fit ensued. Another responder grabbed her—firefighter, medic, she didn’t know or care. Her lungs hurt too much. She found herself lifted into the back of an ambulance. Someone shouted about exposure. An oxygen mask was pressed to her face, the elastic band stretched over her head and snapped against her scalp.
“Don’t let her out of your sight. She was up there, we have questions for her.” A police officer peeked his head into the back of the ambulance and pointed an accusing finger at her before disappearing. Blue and red lights illuminated the street, which probably had scared away all the night business since Julie no longer saw the girls with their protectors on the sidewalks.
“I wasn’t up there.” Julie grabbed the EMT’s wrist. A young woman, maybe year or two older than Julie, but looked ragged as though she’d lived a lifetime longer than Julie.
“Just breathe,” the EMT ordered and continued with the rest of the check-over. Blood pressure cuff, pulsometer, the whole shebang.
“I’m good.” Julie tried to push the mask off but the EMT put it right back on.
“Your arm.” The EMT snapped the oxygen mask around Julie’s head and picked up her left arm. Burns covered her forearm. As though seeing them brought them to life, pain blossomed up her arm. She grimaced, biting down on her tongue to keep from crying.
“I’m dizzy.” She scooted back on the cot and laid back. Everything spun around her and her stomach lurched. A dull ache in the back of her head skyrocketed when she put her head on the pillow.
“Hold on.” The medic, a woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun who looked more like Nurse Ratched than a paramedic, helped ease Julie up to a sitting position. She dug her fingers into Julie’s scalp and when she reached the back of her head Julie jumped.
“Shit!” She pushed the EMT’s hand away.
“You have a nice goose egg back there. No blood though. They’ll want to do scans at the hospital.” The nurse eased Julie back down and brought over a neck brace.
“I don’t need that.”
“You have a head injury, it’s policy. Just relax.”
Relax. How the hell could she do that? It seemed she didn’t have a choice; she heard some yelling, doors slamming, a siren off in the distance somewhere but she was already drifting away.
“Was there an accident somewhere?” she asked, but no one answered.
Chapter Four
John shoved through the doors of the emergency room and rushed to the front desk where two women were having a casual conversation.
“I’m looking for Julie Sampson. I was told she was brought here.” He pressed his palms to the counter top.
The woman sitting in her chair swiveled away from her coworker. Shooting him a disgruntled look, she clicked the mouse of her computer a few times.
“Who are you?” she asked with raised eyebrows. “Family?”
From what he’d been able to find out about Julie since leaving her apartment, he was as close to family as she had.
“I spoke to Dr. Marley on the phone,” he said. When she continued to stare at her computer screen, he pulled his badge off his belt and presented it to her. “Julie Sampson. Is she still down here?”
The badge typically put everyone into fast motion, no matter their level of innocence or guilt. The receptionist typed a few more keys and pointed to the doors to her right. “She’s in room three. Someone will be there to show you.”
The doors opened. John thanked her and made his way into the clinic.
“John.” Dr. Steve Marley, an old friend from childhood, waved at him from the central reception desk. Rooms closed off with curtains or glass sliding doors lined the outskirts of the unit. John saw room three but waited for
Steve to come over to him before barging in on Julie.
“Thanks for calling me.” John shook Steve’s hand. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah. For the most part. She has a superficial burn on her left forearm and a large bump on her head. We did a cat scan and everything looked good, no swelling of the brain. She’s going to have a headache for a while though.”
“Did she say what the hell happened?” John turned his gaze over to the curtained room three.
“She was brought in by ambulance, like I mentioned on the phone. There’s two officers waiting to speak with her once she’s ready. From what I pieced together she was involved in some explosion at a makeshift meth lab.”
John’s hands clenched at his sides. “Meth lab?” She had a clean record, not so much as a traffic ticket. How the hell would she get caught up in cooking meth?
Steve scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, she doesn’t look the type to me either, and I see plenty of addicts around here on the night shift. You can go in if you want, see her. She’s not sleeping, but I don’t want her walking around yet. She’s been dizzy.”
“You got it. Thanks again.” John shook his hand and made his way to Julie’s room. As he approached he took note of the two uniformed officers sitting across the hall. He’d deal with them once he had some answers from Julie.
Figuring she’d be resting, he slid the curtain back gingerly, trying not to disturb her. He could have barreled right in demanding answers.
Sitting upright in the bed, wearing the hospital gown, an IV connected to her hand, she had her arms crossed and a fierce glare pointed right at him.
“Nice to see you too, kitten,” he chided and slid the glass door closed before yanking the curtain back in place. No one needed to overhear their conversation.
“What are you doing here?”
“Your doctor called me,” he answered, walking over to the side of the bed where he could get a better look at her. “Let me see.” He tugged her left arm from her chest. He didn’t peel back the bandages but he could see the pain in her eyes when he touched it.
“Why would he call you? Ow. Stop it.” She batted him away when he started to prod through her brown hair looking for the bump.
“Well, you were out of it when you got here. When they asked you if you wanted them to call anyone, you shoved your phone at them. Dr. Marley’s an old friend, he recognized my number.”
She pushed herself further up on the bed, grimacing with the movement.
“Careful,” he chastised, reaching a hand out to help her get situated. She shot him a disgruntled look and shoved his hand away.
“Convenient that your friend just happens to be the doctor working in the ER tonight.”
“Not really. I was just getting ready to call it a night when he called. I had to get dressed and everything to get down here. Just to find out you were perfectly fine, other than the huge bump on your head and the nasty burn on your arm. Guess that happened when the cook house burned up. Huh?”
She opened her mouth, ready to spill an easy retort, but snapped her mouth shut and glared at him instead.
“I’m sure the doctor mentioned there’s some police officers wanting a word with you about the apartment you were in.”
“I wasn’t in it! I was just about to knock when the fire started.”
She scooched over when he took a seat on the bed with her, caging her with his arms.
“Not fire, kitten. Explosion. The kitchen exploded. Meth labs have a tendency to do that.” He searched her eyes for guilt, or admission.
“Meth?” she whispered, leaning back against the pillows. Her face screwed up in a painful pout when her head touched the pillow. “I had no idea there was meth inside. Or any drugs! I swear.” She looked toward the door of the room. “You have to tell them I had nothing to do with any of it.”
John scrutinized her features for another long moment. “Don’t worry about them. For now, just tell me. What were you doing there and what happened?”
She wiggled on the bed, trying her best, he figured, to scoot away from him. Too bad for her, he had her caged. And she wasn’t going anywhere until he had his answers. He could stare her down all night if he needed to; he’d been up against tougher adversaries than her.
The door to the treatment room slid open. “You needed something, hon?” The sweet voice of the nurse broke the silence.
Julie’s lips crept up into a wide grin as she lifted the call button in her hand. Sneaky.
“Yes. Do you think you can give me something to help me sleep? I’m wired and exhausted at the same time.”
“Sorry, no sleeping yet.” The nurse walked around the bed, eyeing John as she tugged on the blanket to smooth it over Julie’s legs. “Can I get you something for the pain?”
Julie glowered at John, meeting his glare with a confidence he could only admire. “No. I don’t think he’s going anywhere just yet.”
The nurse chucked. “Have an overprotective bear at home myself.” She fiddled with a few wires, checked the IV bag, and patted Julie on the shoulder.
“Do you know when I can be discharged? I’d like to go home,” Julie said, giving her full attention to the nurse.
“We can discharge you shortly. I just got back your head CT.” Dr. Marley stepped into the room, nodding to the nurse as she made her way out.
“Great.” Julie tried to throw back the covers, but John’s weight kept them down. Sighing, she pushed his chest. “You big ox, get off the bed.”
John looked over his shoulder at Dr. Marley, who looked on with only a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “When can she go home?”
“Well, the CT came back clear, she can go as soon as we get the paperwork all finished. I’m not sure what the police are going to want to do though, so you may want to talk to those officers out there. I’d like her to relax for a day or two. The arm will heal with minimal scarring if any, but she’ll need to apply the ointment we’re prescribing three times a day, keep it bandaged and clean. I’ll prescribe some meds for the pain.”
Julie waved her hand in the air. “I’m right here. I’m the patient.”
John ignored her and moved over to the doctor. “I’ll take her back to my place for tonight, make sure she does what you suggested. What about drugs? Were there any in her system?”
“Hey!” Julie threw back the covers but stilled when John shot her another glance.
“We didn’t test her for that. I can order it, but it will take a while,” Dr. Marley said.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll take care of it.”
“Take care of what?” Julie demanded, slipping off the bed and shuffling over to them. The hospital gown wasn’t meant to flatter anyone’s figure, but still John could make out the gentle curve of her hips, and when she slid from the bed, it had shifted enough to expose the creamy smooth skin of her ass.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to talk with the cops outside and see what they need. You just get back in bed until I get back.” John thanked Dr. Marley and assured him he’d keep an eye on her.
“She’ll need a follow-up appointment in a few days to look at her arm.” Dr. Marley shook John’s hand before turning his attention to Julie, who hadn’t moved an inch from where she had been standing.
“I’m not sure how you two know each other, but I’ve got a pretty good idea. John’s as good of a man as they come; listen to him, don’t overdo it, and take care of your arm. Keep it clean and use the ointment so it doesn’t become infected.”
“Oh, you’re talking to me now? I thought you’d just give him all the information I needed.”
Dr. Marley chuckled. “I apologize about that. Just something I’m used to doing with, uh, men like John. Anyway. The nurse will have your discharge papers soon. Take care, Ms. Sampson.” With his hand on the door to slide it open again for his exit, he turned back to John. “Just so we’re clear, her arm and her head are injured. Every other part of her is perfectly fine. No restrictions on that end.” He w
inked and disappeared, tossing the curtain closed behind him as he left.
“What the hell was that?” Julie asked.
John cleared his throat, pushing away the grin tugging at his lips and addressed her firmly. “I’m going to talk to the police. You get back in bed.” He pointed at the bed.
“I—”
“Look, I’m really not in the mood for arguments. I’m tired and annoyed. Now. Get back in bed or I’ll put you there, and if I put you there I’ll wear your ass out when we get back to my apartment. And if I have to do that, you can count on another ass whipping in the morning for keeping me up even later.”
Her eyes widened and her jaw slacked, but she still didn’t move.
“You can’t. I mean, I didn’t say you could. I’m not saying you can.” She thrust her chin upward.
“Noted.” John took a step toward her. She put her hands out to ward him off and jumped into action, scrambling around the bed and climbing on. “Good.” He gave her a curt nod.
She responded with an erect middle finger and narrowed eyes. He scratched the five o’clock shadow on his chin and laughed. “Well, I guess we’ll have to go over attitude at some point. Right now, just sit tight.” He didn’t bother waiting for the second middle finger to make an appearance before heading out to the cops sitting outside.
Chapter Five
Arrogant ape! Julie seethed to herself while sitting on the hospital bed. As soon as he’d left, she’d jumped off the bed and found her clothes, diving into them and settling back on the bed while he talked with his cop friends.
He might think he had the upper hand because he was three times her size and had a domineering glare that made her knees turn to jelly, but she’d handled herself her entire life. She had no need for any high-handed dom to walk in and take care of everything for her. Alone. She did better alone, and he would just have to understand that. She’d crash at his place for the night, only because she knew it was better to have someone nearby after having her head knocked the way it was. But come morning, she’d be out of there and back on her search.