by T. N. Cole
“Woohoo!” several girls cheered. “Again!”
“Are you gonna do a body shot off Tristan, Katelyn?” a redhead asked. I started toward the front door as soon as the question was out of her mouth.
Katelyn laughed and pulled my arm back before I could make it far. “Relax, Tristan. I won’t do one on you. While you’re sober.”
I groaned. “Can we just go?”
“One more.” This time it was Katelyn who counted, yelling, “One, two, three!”
She shuddered this time and rolled her shoulders back as she slammed her shot glass down. “Let’s go.” She grabbed her bag off one of her side tables.
“We’re not taking anyone else with us?” I asked as she waved bye and pulled us out the door.
“Lock up after yourselves!” She yelled at them before turning to me and simply saying, “Nope,” to my question.
“Thank god,” I muttered before she took my arm and we descended the elevator to the car.
I DIDN’T KNOW WHY I let Katelyn out of my sight, but I was trying not to panic. I was standing with Ryan, Caisey, and a few other friends, glancing around the room to find her.
All the guys’ dicks had grown hard at the sight of Katelyn, and it had pissed me off. She saw that it bothered me, and she had given me a coy look before hugging all the guys from the soccer team when we first got here. Then she insisted that I stay here with them while she went off to dance with some guy she knew from one of her classes.
I shouldn’t have let her go. Not at this party of horny ass guys everywhere. Especially not with how breathtakingly gorgeous she looked tonight. And definitely not with how I could feel myself starting to feel toward her. Fucking feelings.
I was a wreck on the inside. I was craving a drink—something to distract me from the fact that I wanted to attach Katelyn to me. I wanted her body pressed against my side. I wanted her arms wrapped around my waist. I wanted to breathe in her sweet scent and feel her carefree laugh unwind me as it did every other time. Most of all, I wanted to know when I started being fucking crazy and wanting her the way I did.
I turned my head and caught a flash of red and gold being pulled out the back door. I didn’t even think. I shoved everyone out of my way as I fought to get to that door. I could hear Logan and Ryan calling after me over the sounds of disgruntled protests, but I ignored them. All I could think was not her, too.
I burst through the door, and it led to a short alleyway that quickly split into the rest of the street. Katelyn was slumped against one of the guys I had seen her talking to earlier as he appeared to be dragging her. The other guy was trailing behind them, looking around furtively as if he was trying to avoid getting caught.
“Hey!” I shouted. They both stopped and turned. Katelyn almost fell on her face before the blond guy caught her and held her up against his body.
My fists clenched at the sight—her eyes were glazed over and almost closed while her head rolled around. Her body was limp. What the fuck had they done to her? My heart was pounding.
“Hey, man. You need something? We’re heading out with our girl here.” The black-haired guy smirked and gestured his thumb at the half-conscious Katelyn.
I crossed my arms, trying to look unaffected when really I wanted to pound their smirking heads together. “The hell you are,” I growled back. “I believe you have something of mine, gentlemen.” I grimaced as I referred to Katelyn as a possession—she would kick my ass if she found out, not to mention she was anything but mine.
“I think the expression is finders keepers, bro. I didn’t see you anywhere near this piece of ass tonight,” the blond grumbled.
“She came with me, and she leaves with me.” I took a step forward. It was then that I realized that Logan, Alex, Ryan, Caisey, and a few others who were still relatively sober had joined me outside as I fought to get Katelyn back.
Logan stepped beside me, and clapping a hand on my shoulder, he said, “I feel like you’re a bit outnumbered, assholes. So, leave the girl before things go from bad to your worst nightmare.” He acted nonchalant about the whole thing, but his hand was tense on my shoulder. I normally would have shrugged it off by now, but all I could think about was getting Katelyn back to me—in my arms.
“What the hell did you two do to her?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
The blond let out a slow chuckle that made me want to throttle him. “We didn’t do nothing to her, man. Just havin’ some fun, ya know?”
“Fun? She’s fucking unconscious!” I ground my teeth together.
The other guy merely grinned and said, “What can we say? This little bitch likes to party hard.”
“Give her back to me. Now.”
The two guys grimaced and looked at one another. They shrugged and turned their backs, and then they began to walk away. I lunged forward, ready to chase and beat the shit out of them. Some of the guys started moving with me. But after a few steps, the blond guy dropped Katelyn facedown onto the concrete sidewalk which made me see red, and they took off. Logan swore loudly and I heard Caisey gasp in shock. I was immediately at Katelyn’s side, gently turning her over and scooping her up into my lap.
“Katelyn?” I whispered as I moved her hair back. Her face was bloodied and scraped, and it was too dark to tell where all the blood was coming from. I shook her gently—I needed to see her eyes. “Katelyn, wake up.”
Ryan came running up with Caisey in tow. “Shit.” Caisey was panting. “Tristan—”
“We need to go to the hospital. Now,” I cut her off. I tightened my hold on Katelyn and tucked her head into my neck before I stood up with one arm around her back and the other under her knees.
“Wouldn’t it be faster to call 911?” someone asked. But I was already striding to my car blindly.
“T, my car is right here. Come on. I’ll drive and you can sit in the back with Katelyn.” Ryan pulled my arm to his blue Scion on the curb.
Caisey looked scared but determined as she opened the door so I could slide Katelyn and myself into the backseat. Once she closed the door, I tucked Katelyn in the corner of the back seat where she was caged between the door and me. Her legs were across my lap and her head still lolled to the side. I brushed the hair from her face.
Was she drugged? Mel asked. Maybe a date rape drug?
I briefly closed my eyes at the thought. I couldn’t even think about that now. All I could think about was getting her to open her eyes again.
“Which hospital?” I heard Ryan murmur to Caisey.
“The one I work at,” I cut in. “Raine Presbyterian.”
He nodded in response and was soon speeding down the freeway. I could feel, rather than see, Caisey frequently turning back to look at us worriedly. Every time she did, Ryan would reflexively look back at us in the rearview mirror. Finally, he took Caisey’s hand over the center console. He brought their joined hands to his mouth to kiss the back of hers, and left his lips on her skin for a few seconds. It worked. She visibly relaxed under his touch and offered him a tiny smile in gratitude.
I used one hand to slide my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans, being careful not to jostle Katelyn too much. I texted one of the EMTs I worked with.
Tristan: Hey who’s on duty tonight?
Quinn: I think Mavers is on. And Jones.
Quinn: Why? What’s up?
“Katelyn…Please,” I whispered so softly I could barely hear it before I carefully kissed the crown of Katelyn’s head. I didn’t know what I was begging for—her safety or her forgiveness for letting this happen to her. I should have paid better fucking attention to her tonight. I failed again. I needed her to be okay. If I hadn’t been so busy trying to act normal in front of everyone else and trying to forget how she was seriously starting to crawl under my skin, then this wouldn’t have happened. It was like déjà vu all over again.
Focus, Tristan. Get your shit together. She needs you, Mel reprimanded me.
Ryan pulled into the ambulance bay, interrupting my pity
party. He jumped out and yanked the door open. I carried Katelyn and walked around the car. “I need a gurney!” I yelled. Niki, Mike, and Holly—paramedics who I worked with—seemed shocked to see me there off duty and in the ambulance bay, but they complied immediately.
“Shit, T. What the hell happened to your girlfriend?” Mike breathed as they dragged a gurney to me.
I ignored the part where Mike referred to Katelyn as my girlfriend as I carefully laid her out on the gurney. “We were at a party, and I think she might have been drugged. Then the fuckers dropped her as they ran away.” I snarled.
Holly looked at me with pity. “Tristan, you know the main point of those drugs is—”
I silenced her with a look that meant I clearly knew that date rape drugs were supposed to be untraceable in the system. “I don’t give a shit. I need her to be okay. Go. Now.”
Mike nodded as he began to push Katelyn into the hospital and toward the ER. Before they followed him, Niki and Holly gave me reluctant smiles meant to reassure me, but they came off more as pitying. I knew I wasn’t allowed past the doors. I was ready to fall to my knees on the floor before I felt Caisey’s small hand in the crook of my elbow. “Come on,” she implored softly. “Ryan’s gonna park the car. Let’s go sit inside and wait.”
I let her lead me away, unseeingly. “You guys don’t have to stay,” I managed to get out. “You two can head back to the party. Or go home to your apartment. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
Caisey ruefully smiled up at me. “I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll make sure she comes out of this as perfectly fine as she can. But who’s going to make sure you’re okay?”
I sank down in one of the blue chairs that rested against the wall of the waiting room.
Hospitals used to scare me, but I forced myself to get over it when I got a job as an EMT. Plus, I aspired to be a trauma surgeon—I had to get over my aversion to hospitals.
“I need to see her, Mom. She has to know I’m alive. If she hears I’m okay, then she’ll wake up, too,” I rambled to my mother.
Her face twisted in pain. Keeping one hand gripped around mine, she reached out to stroke my hair. “Baby, you can’t see her. She’s already in the morgue. She can’t wake up. Mel is gone. I’m sorry, sweetie.”
I was already frantically shaking my head, making the dizziness and nausea even worse, before she could finish what she was saying. “Have you seen her? Did you see them take her down there?” I demanded. Fuck, I didn’t want her to be all alone wherever she was; her mom was probably at some social function—not caring that her daughter’s life was in danger at the hospital.
Tears poured down my mom’s cheeks. “No, I didn’t see her. But Mrs. Jessup is here, and she’s in pain beyond words. She won’t let anyone see her baby girl.”
I frowned. That wasn’t right. Mrs. Jessup wouldn’t be here unless it was a true emergency. Like Mel dying. I couldn’t breathe. “Mom. Mom! I can’t breathe! Help me. Make it stop! Just make it stop! Mel!”
My vision was fading to black. Over the sounds of me gasping for air, I heard pounding footsteps. “Panic attack,” I vaguely heard. “He’s going to hurt his ribs more,” someone else stated. Then darkness.
I didn’t know I was shaking until Caisey reached over and grabbed both my hands from where they were pulling at fistfuls of my hair to hold them in both of her steady ones. I briefly glanced up to meet her worried face, but I couldn’t bring myself to even fake a smile and ease some of her anxiety. Ryan would be able to comfort her soon anyway.
Minutes later, Ryan breathlessly bounded into the waiting room where we were sitting. I gently pulled my hands from Caisey’s grip when I saw him. She broke her concerned stare to follow my gaze and when she saw Ryan she flew into his arms. He jogged to catch her and held her tightly, making her feet come off the white tiled floor. She buried her face in his neck and he loosened one arm so he could stroke her hair soothingly as he walked down the rest of the hall. He sat down next to me with Caisey positioned sideways on his lap so she was facing me.
“She’s going to be fine,” he whispered to Caisey, but I had the feeling he was also talking to me.
I leaned back, resting my head against the wall behind me. Why was my pride and insistence on being unaffected by a girl causing us to be in a hospital again?
“You should take her home,” I croaked to Ryan. I nodded at Caisey who was resting her head on Ryan’s shoulder with her eyes closed.
He managed a slight smile and opened his mouth to speak, but Caisey cut him off. “Not happening. Get over it, Tristan. We’re staying.” She didn’t even open her eyes. Ryan kissed the side of her head and pulled her closer.
We were in the waiting area where people and their loved ones sat waiting either to be admitted or to hear news. I didn’t want to be one of those people who were constantly pestering the nurses to see when they could get in and see someone. But after an hour and a half, I did get up to pace the hallway, hoping I would catch someone I knew so they could update me on what was going on. I had sent a few texts to my paramedic friends, but I had no response so far—they were probably really busy tonight
"Katelyn Sharp? I don't have anyone here under that name." The redheaded nurse scrolled through the computer in front of her.
I exhaled forcefully. Of course, they didn't know she was here, I didn't know enough of her information to fill out her paperwork and I had no idea where her little gold purse had gone. "Well, we brought her here through the ambulance entrance. I'm her friend and I also work here. I'm an EMT, Tristan Westdyke. Can't I just go back there to see if she's awake or anything?" I knew telling her I worked here wouldn't really make a difference, but for some reason, I didn't want Katelyn to wake up by herself. I needed to get back there.
"Sorry, sweetie. You're not on duty. You can't go wandering around back there. You'll just have to wait.” She smacked her gum and looked straight at me, expecting me to understand that I would have to wait out here helplessly while Katelyn went through god knows what back there.
I nodded and spun around. I pulled out my phone to check the time. 2:06 a.m., it glowed. I had turned the vibrating off an hour ago. It had been going off for a while now; people from the party were texting me to ask about Katelyn. I didn't care enough to bother responding. I didn't know anything, and if they really needed to know, then they could either message Ryan and Caisey or come down here themselves. I didn't give a shit. All I could focus on was how to get to Katelyn and how not to have a panic attack. Well, maybe if I had a panic attack, then they would take me back there and I could find Katelyn. I almost chuckled to myself.
Great idea, Mel remarked humorlessly.
I walked back to where I had left Ryan and Caisey. Caisey had curled herself into Ryan and fallen asleep. I watched as Ryan's head bobbed a couple of times, resisting sleep, before he finally rested his cheek against Caisey's head. They really didn't need to be here; I had no idea when I would be able to see Katelyn, and this wasn't fair to either of them. I tried to sit back down as quietly as possible, but Ryan stirred a little and turned to look at me, half asleep.
"What did the nurse say?"
I shook my head. "They don't have a record of her yet. As of right now, she's probably just a Jane Doe. I guess she hasn't woken up yet."
Ryan grimaced and opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "Dude, why don't you two head back to the apartment? She's asleep. Just take her home before she realizes that you guys have left. Who knows how long it'll be until I hear anything."
He tightened his arms around his girlfriend and pressed his mouth to the side of her head before he finally conceded, "Yeah, I want to get her home. She's exhausted. We can both rest, and we'll definitely be back first thing in the morning. Promise you will text one of us as soon as you hear something. Or Caisey's gonna kill me for this."
Either way, she was going be pissed that they left. I wasn't going to say anything though—they needed to go home to rest. I think Ryan alrea
dy knew all that anyway, so I nodded. "I'll text you when I know something."
Ryan slowly adjusted his body so he could stand, cradling Caisey in his arms. "I mean it, man; if something happens, and we don't know, it’s all on you. You're taking the fall for it, not me."
A ghost of a smile crossed my face. Before I could respond, I heard a woman in the waiting room calling out, "Is there a Tristan Westdyke here? Tristan Westdyke?"
I locked eyes with Ryan in shock. "Go man, we're heading out. Text me. Go!"
I barely gave him a grateful nod before I took off, just as a nurse in pink scrubs started to turn around. "Wait! I'm here! I'm Tristan Westdyke!"
She appraised me from head to toe, taking in my rumpled clothes from the party to my tired face and messed-up hair. "Of course, you are. I'm Aimee. Come on, your girlfriend's awake and asking for you."
For the second time that night, I didn't even bother correcting the nurse. As long as I was being taken to her and someone could tell me how she was doing, I didn't give a shit what anyone thought about the two of us. Not anymore. Not since that was what had landed us here in the first place. There were no words to describe how relieved I was that she was awake, she could talk, and most importantly, she remembered me. She was asking for me. Fuck, I should have been there when she woke up.
"How is she? What happened?" My voice was strained.
"She was pretty shaken up when she came to. She would barely talk to us while we ran our tests. She just insisted that we go find you—said she had a feeling that you were wearing a hole in that waiting room floor. I couldn’t go get you until just now because we had to finish our tests."
I didn't know what I was feeling at this point. Rage, guilt, relief... They all bounced around inside me, leaving me confused and sick to my stomach. Finally, Aimee stopped and knocked three times before opening the door to room 693. I walked in first and saw red when I found Katelyn limping out of the bathroom, leaning heavily on an IV stand.