“Why didn’t you want to see Madison first?” I knew how stupid I sounded, but what can I say...curiosity got the best of me.
“Madison didn’t go through what we just went through.” She bowed her head as she aimlessly picked at a stray thread on the hospital blanket. “I just needed to see you and make sure you’re ok, that’s all.”
“And I totally get it, and appreciate it, but just because he didn’t go through it, doesn’t mean he’s not concerned about you.”
“I know, and I’ll see him next, but...I know he’s going to have a million and one questions, and I just can’t answer them all right now, and something tells me that Madison won’t accept that as an answer. Especially given all of...this.” She pointed at the bed, the monitors, the bandage on her head, and the IV tubing coming from her arm.
I leaned closer to Kayla so only she could hear me, “Kay, you need to talk to him. I’ll tell him to leave the questions for later, if ya want?”
She nodded in agreement, “Fine.”
“And I’m pretty sure he has some amazing news for you too.” I stood and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. Get well soon, love. I’ll come back in and see ya in just a little bit.”
As I was walking down the beige colored hallway that led back to the waiting room that we’d all been calling home for the last 24 hours, a loud booming voice came over the intercom.
“CODE BLUE ROOM 244. I REPEAT, CODE BLUE ROOM 244.”
I’d watched enough medical dramas to know what a “Code Blue” was, and something deep down in my gut told me that I should follow the onslaught of medical personnel rushing past me in a sea of white and blue. I kept back as far as I could as to not be noticed, but just close enough that I could still hear what was being said.
“How long has he been down?” Asked Doctor #1.
“About five minutes.” Doctor #2 responded.
“Another round of epi, Doctor?” Blonde nurse #1 asked.
“How many has he had already?” Doctor #1 again.
“Three.” Nurse #2 responded.
I quickly slipped back into a small crevice in the wall just outside the door so no one would notice me, as one of the doctors glanced towards the doorway.
“Charge again.” Doctor #2 said.
“Everybody stand back...and, clear.” Doctor #1 ordered.
As I heard the distinct sound of paddles trying to shock the man alive, I held my hands over my mouth to muffle the gasps from hearing a man losing his life.
“Call it.” Doctor #1 responded before walking out of the room and right past where I stood, hiding.
“Time of death 14:45.”
There was a resounding sigh that echoed throughout the room before someone shut the monitors off. Nurse #2 was the last one out of the room, and as I watched them all go separate ways down adjoining hallways, I quietly crept out of my hiding spot and looked into the room where they had all just came from. I know how weird it must look that I was going into a dead man’s room, but once again, my gut was telling me that I needed to look beneath the sheet that was now covering the freshly dead corpse. My hand was trembling uncontrollably as I reached for the edge of the sheet. Once my two fingers had a good enough grip, I slowly began pulling back the white blood soaked sheet. My heart practically catapulted into my throat as I recognized the brutalized face laying on the bed beneath.
I quickly dropped the sheet back into place and ran for the nearest garbage can, emptying the entire contents of my stomach. As soon as it was safe to do so, I sat back against the cold tiled wall as I wiped the remnants of the stomach acid that was pouring out of me, onto the sleeve of my shirt. I was drenched in sweat, and it was only a matter of time before Glenn or somebody came looking for me. I pushed myself up from the wall and quickly made my way back out to the waiting room.
Glenn must’ve known something was wrong, because the minute I pushed through those doors, he took one look at me, and then came barreling towards me, picking me up in a bear hug before carrying me over to the nearest chair.
“What happened? All we heard was “code blue” and then you were nowhere to be found. We didn’t know if it was Kayla, or what.” Glenn’s lips were pressed firmly against the top of my head as he stroked my hair back into place. “It wasn’t Kayla, right?” Everyone was now staring at me in worry.
“It wasn’t Kayla. She’s just fine. Ready to leave, but fine.”
“Sounds like my girl.” Madison smiled, referring to Kayla. “Can’t say I blame the girl with how many times we’ve all been in this god forsaken place.” We all let out a small chuckle, but it was very short lived.
“Hey Madison?”
He came walking up to me faster than I had anticipated. “What’s up? Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, sorry. Didn’t mean to make you worry. She wants to see you now.” Madison started to walk towards the doors, but I quickly reached out, catching his elbow in my grasp, and pulling him to a halt. “Look, you have to promise you’re not going to ask her a million questions. She needs to rest and all, but she’s worried that you’re going to ask questions right now, and she’s just not ready to start answering them. So promise me, right here and now, that you won’t berate her with questions about what happened.”
Madison held his hand over his heart, “I promise, Cam. I won’t.” He had a sarcastic smile on his smug face as he turned to walk away again, but I clutched onto him harder.
“I’m not joking, Madison. That’s why she wanted to see me first. She’s not ready to be interrogated by her fiancé, and she shouldn’t have to be afraid of that. You need to just be there for her. Love her, and show her that she’s your number one priority, and not what happened. Got me?”
“Yeah Cam, I gotcha. I’ll be a good boy, Mom.”
I rolled my eyes as Madison took off practically skipping through the doors and down the hallway leading to Kayla’s room. When I turned back to Glenn I could tell that he was irritated with how much shit I’d been giving Madison.
“What was that all about?”
“Nothing.” I lied. “She just woke up and she’s dealing with a ton of shit, she doesn’t need him hitting her with a barrage of questions that aren’t even important right now.”
“I get it, but you were a bit harsh, don’t ya think?”
My head snapped up in utter irritation, “No Glenn, I don’t think. Honestly, Kayla didn’t even want to see him unless I could get him to promise that he wouldn’t. My only job right now is to protect my best friend.” Now I was just getting irritated. “Oh and by the way, just in case you were worried about your wife and not your best friend, I just had to see the guy who attacked us, die. I even snuck into the room after just to make sure it was him.”
“What the fuck, Cami? Why would you subject yourself to that?” Glenn began pacing back and forth across the waiting room, without even an ounce of concern for me, the girl who actually saw the dead body. I turned to walk back to where Diem and Joey were sitting when Glenn caught my arm, turning me around and pulling me into his chest. His arms instantly engulfing me in one of the deepest hugs I’ve ever experienced. “I’m sorry, baby. Are you ok?”
“I swear if one more person asks me that, I’m gonna flip my shit.” I groaned into his chest, “but yes, I’m fine. It’s weird. I almost felt a sense of relief knowing that he wouldn’t be out in this world ever again to hurt Kayla or myself. Is that bad?”
Glenn shook his head against mine, “No baby, I think given the circumstances, it is completely normal to feel that way.”
I must’ve dozed off for a bit because when I came to, there was a loud commotion coming from outside the sliding glass doors that led to where we all were. “What’s going on?” I yawned as I stretched in the seat next to Glenn, noticing that there were far less people sitting with us now. “Where is everyone?”
“Kayla’s grandparents left to go pick up Mia from my parents. Madison’s grams left to inform the ranch hands of what they need to do, and Bryce and Brandon realized there
was nothin’ for them to do here, so they went to the bar. And Madison is still back with Kayla.”
“What’s going on out there?” I motioned towards the direction of where all the ruckus was coming from.
“Looks like the news outlets caught wind of what’s goin’ on.”
“Seriously?” I was literally in shock as to why this would even be news, but I guess given the severity of it all, between the bomb going off in front of our house, and the kidnapping, this was the most exciting thing to happen in Abernathy in quite some time. “Where’s Jo and Diem?” I glanced around the waiting room thinking I had missed seeing them sitting somewhere, but they were nowhere to be seen.
“They’re tryin’ to contain the circus outside. Bad move on Jo’s part, if ya ask me.”
I was about to ask Glenn why he was so worried about it, but then I remembered that Joey wasn’t just a nobody in a nowhere town anymore. He was very well known, and this would only drag him further into something he never wanted to get out.
“Oh my god, what was he thinking?”
“Don’t think he was. I think he thought he was tryin’ to stand up for you and Kayla, not realizin’ that this was only goin’ to bring more attention onto him.”
I honestly don’t think anyone thought just how bad this could be for Jo once word got out. Of course we all had something to lose, but Joey had the most to lose out of all of us. We’d been tryin’ for so hard to keep him out of all of it, but now he was practically throwing himself to the wolves. This wasn’t going to end well for him, and now we all needed to rally together to help Joey, just the way he had so selflessly helped us more times than any of us could count.
Part Three
Joey & Diem
Chapter 38
Joey
I knew what walkin’ out those doors meant for me, but I was the reason we were all in this situation, and it wouldn’t be fair to push the responsibility off on any of the others. I was goin’ to have to put it all out there, and hopefully my coach and teammates would understand why I did what I did. Not a single minute goes by in any day that I don’t feel guilty for the situation that the people I love have been put in.
“Joey, you know you don’t have to do this, right? Glenn and the girls would never expect you to put your future on the line for them.”
“I know, and that’s exactly why I have to do this. It’s not fair that my actions have caused any of them to be put in danger.”
Diem’s arm wrapped tightly around my waist as she tucked herself into my side. “That’s exactly why I love you the way I do, you dumb bloke.” She smiled that megawatt smile at me and I bent down to place a thankful kiss to her plump lips. “I want a proper kiss.” She winked, and I had absolutely no issues with layin’ one on her.
When we finally broke contact, I was breathless. “Thank you for lovin’ me and my chaotic life. I know it’s a lot to ask of one person, but you seem to love me, despite all of this.” I motioned towards the zoo of reporters waitin’ for me to give a statement.
“At this point, I think I thrive in chaos. I will always be wherever you are, as long as you don't mug me off.” She laughed.
How did I get so lucky?
I slipped my around the back of my waist, pullin’ her arm in front of me so I could slip my hand through hers, holdin’ onto it for dear life. From the minute the reporters began shoutin’ my name, I knew I was totally unprepared for this. What the hell was I thinkin? Diem gave my hand a reassurin’ squeeze as I stepped forward and into the lion’s den.
“Joey, Joey. Tom Rustand with the Times. Did you know that your wife was behind all of this?”
I took in a cleansing breath before speakin’. “The woman involved in all of this is not my wife. Next question.”
“But you were married, correct?”
Irritation instantly ran through me like an electrical current, causin’ me to tense under Diem’s touch. “Yes, we were. Next question.”
“Mr. Green, Delilah with the Post, how do you think this will affect your career with the Niners?” And there it was, the question I was dreadin’ from the moment I agreed to do this.
I opened my mouth to answer when I felt Diem tug down on my arm, pullin’ me down so my ear was right next to her sensual lips. “Maybe you should just give a statement, love. Tell your side, and then refuse to answer any questions.” I nodded in agreement before turnin’ back around towards the crowd of leeches.
“Ladies and gentleman, in lieu of questions, I’m goin’ to make a statement, given the sensitive nature of what has occurred. I was married to a young woman named Tanya. I was tricked into marryin’ her long before I started my career in the NFL. I then worked with local law enforcement to prove that she did in fact trick me for legal purposes. After she was arrested, she used people on the outside to aid her in her efforts to get back at my family. The people she hired to do her dirty work kidnapped my sister-in-law, and my best friend to exact revenge on all of us. Unfortunately Tanya has since perished, and the man who did these horrendous things to my family has since passed away after succumbing to his injuries. Everyone is doin’ well, given the circumstances, and we are now leavin’ it up to the proper authorities to bring this case to its rightful close. We would appreciate privacy at this time as we all heal from the unfortunate events that have taken place over the last month. We ask that y’all please respect our wishes at this time. Thank you all, and have a nice day. That’s all.”
I gave a small wave before clutchin’ onto Diem as we made our way back into the hospital. I could hear all of them shoutin’ my name, askin’ me to come back out there, and yellin’ profanities. Unfortunately I had an image to protect or I would’ve turned right around and dealt with the assholes myself. It still amazed me everyday that these people don’t realize that I’m an actual person, with actual feelings, and not just some dumb jock that should bow to their every demand because I play professional football. I was just beyond over it.
“You were brilliant.” Diem smiled. “Just ignore those twats.” She motioned towards the sliding doors as we made our way back over to where Glenn and Cami sat.
“So how’d that go?”
“About as good as could be expected.” I tossed my phone across the room and onto the small loveseat as I let my pent up anger get the best of me. “What the fuck? Honestly, how the hell did I let myself get roped into this situation. I really am a dumbass.” I threw myself into the chair next to Glenn, and dropped my head into my hands as I let out an exasperated sigh. I seriously felt like the biggest piece of shit right now.
Glenn’s hand gave my shoulder a tight squeeze, “It’s not your fault, Jo. You gotta stop blamin’ yourself. Kayla’s gonna kick your ass if you keep this shit up.” We both started laughin’ uncontrollably as I nodded in agreement with a look of horror on my face. Glenn was absolutely right, she would.
“You can’t let this get the best of you, Jo. You’ve got a whole life ahead of you. You have the career you’ve always dreamt of, and you have the girl you’ve always wanted. Things could be worse.” Cami wrapped her tiny arms around my neck, giving it a tight squeeze as she spoke, and it took everything in me not to start cryin’ like a little girl. She was right.
“Thanks, sis.” I placed a chaste kiss to her cheek before standin’ to go retrieve my phone from the couch across the room. I was still feelin’ sorry for myself as I walked back over to the group just as the doctor came out to update us on Kayla’s situation.
“Hey gang, just wanted to give y’all a quick update. Kayla seems to be doing well. She’s responding to the treatments, and it’s looking like we should be able to move her from the ICU to her own room, hopefully by tonight. The best advice I can give y’all is to go home, shower, get some rest, and come back to see her tomorrow.” He glanced over at Madison as he spoke, hinting that he of all people needed to take his advice. “I’ll keep y’all informed if anything changes between now and then.”
He was about to turn and walk awa
y, when Madison caught him by the arm. “Doc, is it ok if I come back and stay the night with her?” I could see a small bit of hope glimmerin’ in his eyes as he awaited the doctor’s answer.
“That should be fine, Madison. But you need to take care of yourself as well.”
A wide smile splayed across Madison’s face as he responded, “Thanks Doc, and I will. I promise.”
A pang of jealousy hit me as Madison spoke about Kayla to the doctor. I knew how ridiculous it was, given the fact that I was with a woman that I was madly in love with, but I still missed bein’ KJ’s person. I miss the days where I was the one to take care of her, and she was the one who brightened up my frequently miserable days. I guess you could say, I just missed us. Given the amount of fucked up things that have happened to all of us since the day she came struttin’ into town, I missed just bein’ a kid in high school, pining for the one girl I would never have. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
I was still lost in my reverie when Diem came up beside me, wrapping her lovin’ arms around my waist. My arm instinctively went around her shoulders, pullin’ her deep into my side as I bent down enough to place a chaste kiss to the top of her head.
“You doing okay, love?” Her voice instantly melted my jagged heart, and I couldn’t help but smile down at her gorgeous face that was searchin’ mine for some semblance of an answer.
“I think so.” I sighed. “I guess I just didn’t think this through enough before goin’ out there before all those cockroaches and lettin’ them get the best of me.” I pushed my hands back angrily through my hair as I took a seat in one of the chairs next to us. Diem of course, was quick to saddle up next to me. For the life of me, I still found it hard to fathom why she would want to be with a guy like me. Literally, since the day we met, my life and everyone around me has been put through the ringer, hers included. I simply just shook my head as her small delicate hand stroked my back in a soothin’ motion, tryin’ to calm me down. All I could do was hope that one day we would be able to live a nice quiet life, one free of kidnappings, death, death threats, cancer, and miscarriages. I don’t think I missed anything. I laughed to myself.
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