What They Don't Know (Won't Hurt Them Trilogy #1)

by O. Y. Flemming

  “Oh yeah, just fucking peachy.”

  “Cruz?”

  “Fine… everything is fine, Bria!”

  “Okay,” I whisper. We begin to pull away from the house and I notice all of my tires are flat.

  “Cruz! Look!” I inhale sharply. He slows down and ducks his head to see what I’m pointing at.

  “Dammit!” he yells.

  “Cruz. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing, Bria.”

  “You can’t just tell me nothing when I’m looking at my car with flat tires. That’s NOT NOTHING to me. Why did you go back in the house, Cruz?”

  “To lock up, Bria.”

  “But you don’t know my security codes.”

  “I reset them.” He looks over at me with a very serious face. “Bryant and I have been there with you the past few days. No need to set them then.”

  “Why would you need to reset them?”

  “Bria, your codes were common, anyone could get into that house.”

  “You mind letting me know what it is? It is my house.”

  “It’s your best friend’s birthdate. Now, can we go to the hospital? Bryant needs you.” If I had not known any better, I would think his tone was sarcastic just then.

  “Yes, let’s go; but this conversation isn’t over, Cruz.”

  “Honey, it doesn’t concern you. LET IT GO!”

  “I will when you tell me what in the hell is going on.” He just stares through the windshield and drives away. We ride to the hospital silently. I know I won’t get any more answers out of him, so I just try to forget that my car—my precious car—is on four flats. What the fuck!

  * * *

  I limp through the emergency room, and a nurse comes rushing to me with a wheelchair.

  “Ma’am, are you okay? Let’s get you seated and take your vitals. Wait, you were here last night.” The nurse confirms as she looks at me with a curious eye.

  “Yes, I was. I’m not here for me.”

  The attractive nurse looks up at Cruz; he’s clearly somewhere else. He doesn’t even notice she’s trying to get his attention.

  “Cruz?” He has his hands in his pockets, clearly trying to hide his uneasy mood.

  “Yeah, right.” He comes out of unfocused trance. “Can you please tell us where Bryant Morgan is?”

  “Oh,” The nurse says. “Yes, Morgan is in room six. Are you family?”

  “I’m not; she is,” Cruz says to the nurse.

  “Okay, let me get you back there, okay?”

  It’s… Shit, I don’t know what time it is and this chick is lit like a light. What’s she been drinking? I’m fucking tired and she’s HAPPY! HAPPY! JOY! JOY!

  “So you and Mr. Morgan are?” she asks.

  “Brother, he’s my brother,” I lie. “How is he?”

  “He’s responsive more now than he was when he came in. His girlfriend is quite the character. She left mumbling something about being a babysitter.”

  “She’s a bitch,” I retort.

  “Yes, that too,” the nurse agrees. “Here we are. By the way, are you Bria,?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Yeah, he’s been saying your name.” She side-eyes me. “You two aren’t related, are you?”

  “Yes and No,” I say to her. “We’re close. He’s like my brother.”

  “You’ll need to contact his next of kin. Because of the amount of alcohol and drugs in his system, he’ll need to be released to a family member or spouse. State law.”

  “I’ll call his parents.”

  “Fine, I’ll leave you two alone. Oh, and the guy who came in with you.” She mouths ‘hot’ as she walks out. I just shake my head.

  I don’t like hospitals and tubes, it gives me the shivers. “Ugh.”

  “Bree… Bree… Bree… Please, Bree.”

  I slowly walk to his side. “Bry, I’m here. Bry?” He’s so pale; I can’t believe the way he looks. He looks so sick and so not like himself. Oh, my God, my vibrant healthy Bryant. I start to sob. That’s when I feel a strong hand on my shoulder. Cruz holds me from behind in a warm hug. I just stand there with this man I met less than two weeks ago, crying over my best friend’s almost deadly mistake. With my head down, I turn in Cruz’ s arms and rest my head on his chest. His mood seems to have changed from the car. He’s caring and gentle as he stands here holding me while my sobbing subsides.

  “What have the doctors said?” He sounds concerned.

  “They haven’t come in to speak with me yet, but I have to call his parents.” I shake my head. “They won’t release him unless it’s with parents or a spouse.”

  “Shit! What the fuck happened?” Cruz asks in shock.

  “The nurse said his alcohol and drug levels were so high that they are surprised he’s responsive.”

  “Bryant’s a healthy guy, Bria. Once whatever was in him is flushed out, his body will start to take back over.”

  “What the fuck was he doing with drugs?”

  “Who knows, Bria? Women make you do strange things when you’re in love, or claim to be anyway.”

  “I really can’t stand that bitch.”

  He looks at me as if I said something harsher.

  “Women are vicious,” he says as he looks down at me.

  “Cruz, I’m not; it’s just she… she really hurt him.” I pull away from him. I’m not mad that he doesn’t know. Bryant wasn’t as strong with her as he is alone. Don’t get me wrong; he’s stronger now, and his will to live is much stronger than before.

  “What’s really with you and him, Bria?”

  I shake my head at Cruz’s question. “Not here, not now.”

  “Okay, when and where, Bria? Because if you keep holding this in, it will fucking end you.”

  “It’s nothing to tell.”

  He puts his hands in his pockets, and now I know it’s a coping mechanism for him. He’s fidgeting. “Like hell it isn’t, you two are full of shit. I should have…” he goes silent.

  “Bree,” I hear Bryant call out to me again. I go to his bed.

  “Bryant? Are you okay?” He’s opening his eyes but he looks like he’s been hit with a two by four.

  “I’m sorry, Bree. I’m sorry.”

  “Shhh… Bry, don’t talk; get some rest, okay.”

  “Bree, don’t be m…” He goes silent. He’s fallen back asleep.

  “Hi, I’m Dr. Childs.” I’m startled to hear behind me before I turn to see the doctor. Cruz is standing beside him and they’re looking at me as if I have a second head growing from me.

  “Are you two relatives?”

  “I am,” informing the doctor of my lie.

  “I'm a business colleague,” Cruz responds.

  “Okay. He can't be released until tomorrow. We want to keep him overnight to make sure his body doesn't go into shock or have any side effects from the flushing we did earlier. It’s 4:50 a.m.,” he says as he looks at his watch. “I'm sure after twenty-four hours he will be good to be released.”

  “Okay,” I say, still half sobbing.

  “Doctor, can you tell us anything about the drug that was in his system?”

  “Only that's it’s a higher dosage of a sex drug; you know like ecstasy. What we found in Mr. Morgan's system was deadly. I'm not even sure how he survived. Also, a low-trace dosage of a performance drug was in his system, maybe a few days old.”

  I look at Cruz suspiciously and roll my eyes. He looks back at me with an intimidating stare. His jawline is grinding and I feel a bit off because of it. He's never intimidated me before… Okay, maybe he has, but he'll never know.

  The doctor continues to speak. “His BAC was 0.041 past the 0.080 limit.” Shaking his head, he continues. “With the drugs and the alcohol, I will say this again. I truly don't know how he survived. I’ll be submitting a report to the police. I'm not sure who accompanied him; but from the looks of this situation, he could have been drugged.”

  I gasp for air and my eyes tear up. “Excuse me for a minute.” I limp
quickly out of the small emergency room. I stand against the ledge and the rail that runs along the wall in the triage area. I'm trying to contain my emotions but all of that flies out of the window when I see her.

  “YOU FUCKING BITCH!” I scream and all of my will to stay calm comes lashing out at Cass, the one person who I could commit a crime against. And I attempt it tonight. I lunge at her, grabbing her neck.

  “OH MY GOD! You crazy whore, let go of me.” And I do. Only to punch her in her eye... and her nose... and her eye again.

  “Ahhh! MY GOD, I'M BLEEDING,” she screams.

  I don't care that my ankle is still wrapped up. I tackle her to the ground and place my knee on her chest. I raise my fist to punch her again. I'm quickly lifted in the air. “Let go of me! LET GO, CRUZ!” He has me in a bear hug. He's so much bigger and stronger than I am. I'm not sure why I even bother.

  “Arrest her! Fucking arrest her!” Cass yells. “I'm bleeding! Oh my God!” she continues to scream. None of the nurses attends her. Her hair is disheveled and her face is bleeding. I'm not sure from where and there are signs of a swollen eye, maybe both. I laugh hysterically.

  “You fucking crazy bitch!” she spits.

  “I'M CRAZY! I'M CRAZY! LET GO OF ME, CRUZ!”

  “Bria, calm down!” Cruz growls. Cass lunges for me but hospital security restrains her. Still no one on the hospital staff tries to attend to her injuries. Cruz has an undeniably strong hold on me. He pulls me close to his body so that my back is to his front. “Honey, you're out of control,” he states calmly. “Calm the fuck down before you get into more trouble than I can get you out of.”

  “I don't need your help, Cruz,” I say breathlessly. With a tighter hold, he walks us forward while he guides me to a secluded area in the hospital. Still holding me tight, I feel him start to harden on my ass.

  “You can't be serious,” I growl. Cruz backs himself against the wall and breathes in my hair. His breathing is short and quick.

  “God, you can damage me,” he reveals.

  “Cruz, let go of me.”

  “Bria, I won't let go of you. Please get hold of yourself.” His breath is still labored. “I won't be able to control myself with you this way, honey,” he says. I can feel him rest his head back against the wall. I can also feel how noticeably hard he is. He sighs and blows out a long breath.

  “Can I trust you to go back out here?”

  I laugh. “Absolutely not!”

  “Honey, that poor girl.” He's laughing and talking at the same time. He has let go of me, and I turn with my arms folded.

  “It's not funny, Cruz,” I scoff.

  “Yes it is.” Cruz nods. “I guess you made it raccoon season.” He's still laughing that both her eyes will be blackened by morning. His laughing is contagious as I start to laugh with him. He's even more attractive as he smiles.

  “Bria, you can't go around knocking people out.”

  “I know! She pissed me off by coming back here.”

  “Bria, that's his girlfriend.”

  “That's not his girlfriend,” I say, cutting him off.

  “Okay, Bria, whatever. You can't kick her ass every time she's around.”

  “Like hell I can't.”

  Cruz has both of my hands by my side; his eyes are closed. When he opens them, they've gone dark. I'm close enough to know his breathing has quickened again. I look away and I can feel his breath on my ear. He speaks softly.

  “Listen to me Bria, the quicker you calm down, the quicker I can rectify this.” He pulls my hand to his hard cock. I pull my hand away, but he takes hold of it again. “This is what you do to me. You have no idea.”

  “Cruz? You're a perv.” I pull away and walk back toward the ER floor.

  “That may be true, honey, but how does that make you feel?” I turn and look over my shoulder at Cruz pushing himself from the wall.

  “It doesn't,” I whisper.

  * * *

  Making our way back to Bryant’s room, I spot policemen at his door. I stop in my tracks and Cruz pauses close behind me. He places his hands on my waist and whispers in my ear, “Just wait here, honey, I will handle this.”

  “Okay,” I whisper back. Cruz walks over to the two policemen and shakes hands with one who’s a bit taller than he and the other officer. I slowly walk into Bryant's room; there's a nurse in taking his vitals.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi,” she replies.

  “Has he gotten any better?” I softly question the nurse.

  “Actually, he has; he's more conscious now.”

  “Was there any damage?”

  “The doctor will be in shortly; he's speaking with his family.”

  “Whose family?”

  “Mr. Morgan's family.” The nurse raises her eyebrows. “That's also why the police are here.”

  “Why are they here? And where's his family?” I ask.

  “Right now the doctor has them in a private consulting room.”

  “Is there a female with them?” I ask.

  “The bloody one?” The nurse eyes me suspiciously.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “No, she was arrested.”

  My eyes go wide. “Why?”

  “Illegal distribution of narcotics and assaulting an officer,” Cruz informs us as he enters the room. I turn to see he's followed by the two policemen he was talking to. Oh shit, I'm going to be arrested, and I start to panic. I can't run or do anything to get out of it. I'll admit I tried to choke Cass to death, and I'd do it again knowing she gave Bryant drugs. I take a slight stumble back.

  “Whoa, honey, you okay?” Cruz catches me by the arm when he sees I’m shaken.

  “I am. I'm just…”

  “Hey, come here.” Cruz pulls me to him. He puts his arm around me and holds my head in place against my chest. How could this tough, egotistical man be so gentle with me? His arrogant, demanding ways can fill my body with a rush of anger. Yet he makes me feel a throbbing pulse with every touch.

  He's tightly holding me, as he whispers in my ear, “You're going to be fine; they're here to question Bryant when he wakes up.”

  A rush of relief comes over me. I'm not jail material. I mean I can kick ass but my career is lucrative right now. My side business hasn't started, but I'm sure it will be lucrative. Cruz lets go of me and looks down at my face. “Are you going to be okay here? There's something I need to take care of.”

  “At five in the morning, really?” I eye him like a jealous girlfriend… Wait, no… He looks at his watch.

  “Eh, it’s actually after five, but yeah. Can you stay out of trouble for a few hours?” he asks.

  “Yes, I can.” I roll my eyes.

  “All right, honey, I'll be back.” He puts his hands in his pockets because he's fidgety. He steps closer and kisses me on my forehead. I look up at him.

  “Behave,” he says as he turns and walks out of the room.

  “You two look cozy.” A gruff voice catches my attention.

  “Bryant!” I gasp and limp to his bedside. “How are you feeling? You scared the hell out of me.”

  “I feel like shit; and for the record, I scared the hell out of me also.”

  “Bryant, your parents are here.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, I think that bitch called them.” I roll my eyes.

  “Bree?” I go closer to him so I can hear him clearly. “Bree, I'm so sorry about every—”

  “Bryant.” I cut him off because I'm not in the mood for any of this. “Bryant, the police are here to question you.” He raises his head from the flattened pillow.

  “Why?”

  “Bryant, Cass was arrested.” I inform him with a slight attitude in my voice.

  “For what?” he says loudly as he tries to lift up from the bed. His monitors start to ding and scream. The nurses come rushing in to restrain him.

  “Bryant, clam down; you can't help her.”

  The two policemen who were talking to Cruz earlier enter the room.

/>   “Mr. Morgan?” The cockier officer approaches Bryant.

  “Yes, that’s me,” Bryant replies.

  “Glad to see you up and alert. You were kind of out of it earlier. Do you happen to remember any of last night’s events?”

  “I, um, remember being in V.I.P. with Cassie.”

  “Cassie Tanner?” the officer coaxes him.

  “Yes, Cassie Tanner,” Bryant replies.

  “Did you go to the bathroom, leave any of your drinks unattended?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “Did you take anything? Did anyone give you performance enhancement drugs?”

  “No, I don’t need any of that stuff.”

  “Well, it was in your bloodstream, Mr. Morgan, along with amphetamines and an substantial amount of alcohol.”

  “I only remember having one beer and like three shots.”

  “Three shots of what?”

  “Black Label?” he says as if he can’t quite remember.

  “You had to have more than that, Mr. Morgan. Your alcohol level was 0.120.” The other officer shrugs. Bryant hangs his head as he fumbles with the hand that has the IV attached to him.

  “Bryant, please tell them what you had.”

  “That’s all I remember, Bree.” Just as I start to chastise him, I hear a sobbing cry.

  “Bryant!” I turn to see Bryant’s mother and father standing in the doorway.

  “Ma, I’m fine.”

  “What are you doing, Bryant? What were you thinking?”

  “Shit, apparently he wasn’t,” I say under my breath.

  “Ma, I’m not sure what happened. I’m not sure of anything at all.”

  “But you are sure you were with Cassie Tanner?” The shorter officer asks.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Where is she?” Bryant’s mother looks to me, as she demands an answer.

  “She’s been arrested.” The cockier officer answers.

  “I need to get her out,” Bryant says aloud. I turn on my good foot and give him a death stare.

  “What were you even doing with her?” his mother sobs as she interrupts the tongue-lashing I was about to unleash on him. Her husband, standing close behind, doesn’t say a word.

  Bryant’s parents are financially well off and sophisticated by inheritance. Bryant and I always laughed about how backwards they were. His mother runs their household. Bryant’s dad is just Dad or more like Dad, the provider. I saw him go toe-to-toe with Mrs. Morgan once at a holiday party. I’m not sure what happened after that fight, but Bryant was shocked by his dad’s actions.