I punched the numbers on my cell phone while I continued to drive, where, I didn’t know. A few short rings, and a husky voice asked, “Who is this?”
“Demeter, you answer your own phone. What a surprise.”
“Doctor, how are you? How’s your day going? Well, I expect.”
I considered my words carefully. She wasn’t going to back down. What did she have to gain from giving in to anything I demanded. “Is Kory okay?”
Demeter’s tone hardened. “My daughter is no longer your concern. You have no right to see her or ask about her. As far as you’re concerned, she doesn’t exist, and I don’t want to hear Persephone’s name from your lips again. Good night, Doctor. I hope you make a better choice of enemies in the future. If you even have one.”
The phone clicked off, and I stared at the still lit screen before pulling my car to the side of the road. Of course she considered me her enemy. I suspected that woman considered anyone and everyone her enemy unless she could bribe or somehow take ownership of them. And if she had realized sooner that she could have done the same with me by releasing Kory, maybe I wouldn’t have to make the next call I needed to make.
I pulled the phone from the hand’s free cradle, and it snapped shut in the quiet of my car. I dialed the number I’d added to my phone after I realized the truth about Kory’s life. Somehow knowing I’d one day have to make this choice and this sacrifice.
I hit the button and waited while the phone rang. It went to a generic voice message request system. I wished he’d answered himself, but he likely didn’t recognize my number and wouldn’t answer it directly.
“Donny, this is Ash. Call me back when you get this message. I have a request, and I’m willing to pay whatever you ask if you can make it happen.” I paused. “When you make it happen.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kory
I’d refused to let the nurses clean up the mess I made. As if them cleaning it made it real and I would have own up to my part in my prized possessions destruction. But today was a new day, and I was ready to face it. I scooted off the bed and over to the torn and twisted paper littering the floor. I was angry with myself for losing control of my emotions, but even more angry for letting myself feel the things I’d promised myself I never would.
A knock shot a bolt of shame through me, and I froze as Styx entered my room and surveyed the scene. I could only imagine what I looked like crouched like some animal over the remains of such beautiful ideas.
She closed my door behind her, sat my breakfast tray on the desk and stopped to help me clean up the mess. “You are still acting like a child. I thought I got through to you when we had out little chat.” Her detached tone made the scolding worse. Like a mother who wasn’t angry, simply disappointed.
I fell out of the couch and plopped ass first on the floor. “You are right. I’ve been acting like a child. I’ve been acting like I have some semblance of agency in my life. It’s time to accept this is it.”
She snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Girl, you are dumber than I thought if you think you have no control over your destiny. You just need to put on your big girl panties and face it.”
She made it sound so easy. I threw my hands up. “I get that you seem to have taken it upon yourself to ensure my continued existence in this world, but can you just tell me what to do here if you’re so goddamn smart.”
Her hands worked faster stacking paper and the empty shells of the covers. “Not my job to tell you what to do. It’s my job to make sure you eat, you take your medications, and you don’t hurt yourself under my watch. But you make it pretty fucking difficult storming around like a teenager with a hormone overload.”
Another knock on my door caused both of us to freeze. My strange doctor poked her head in. “Oh, I see you two are busy. Do you need some help?”
Both of us said, “No.” at the same time.
She folded herself into the room and sat on my bed. “What happened here?”
Great, another guilt trip was exactly what I needed. Another mouth to confirm I’m nothing more than rich petulant child. “Nothing,” I grumbled.
She shrugged and looked around my room as if she hadn’t done the exact same thing only a couple days ago. After a moment, she stood, stretched her long arms over her head, and nodded my way. “You should eat your breakfast. I’ll check in on you again soon.”
She walked out, and I stared after her. “She’s weird.”
Styx only grunted and continued cleaning up. Once every shred of paper marring my floor was tossed in the small bin, she nodded. “Get your shit together.” Then she, too, walked out.
I plopped back onto the bed and stared at my breakfast. I feared Ash coming back and seeing me like this, to feed me again, I wouldn’t be able to push him away a second time. I took the chair in front of my desk and ate quickly, barely tasting the oatmeal prepared exactly the way I liked it. Exactly the way Ash made it for me.
Tears began to roll down my face, and I let them fall. This imprisonment was so much easier to bear before I’d met him. Before I knew how he tasted and what he smelled like. Before I’d given him my heart and watched him walk away.
Regardless of how I felt. guilt still bubbled below the surface for how I’d spoken to him, how I treated him the last time he’d been here. If I’d meant to drive him away, there were certainly less painful methods than just throwing words at him until he couldn’t stand to hear anymore.
I finished my food and went into the hall to try and find him. I could apologize, leave it at that, and then maybe I could breathe a tiny bit easier knowing even though I couldn’t keep him, he wasn’t left as broken as me.
Nurse Minthe sat behind the desk, and I approached, wary. She glanced up, and her eyes flew wide. “Did you need something?
“Uh…yes. I wanted to talk to the doctor, Ash, I mean. He…we didn’t leave things off well…and I wondered if I could see him. I know the new doctor is here, and she has his office, but he must be stashed away here somewhere.”
She narrowed her eyes now, and I felt the chill into my bones. “I’m sorry, Ms. Sito, but that isn’t possible. Do you need anything else?”
I tapped my fingers on the high counter and nodded. Maybe he’d told them he didn’t want to talk to me, or maybe he’d gone to another hospital already. My mother was fast, but I didn’t think she could work that fast.
“Anything else?” she prompted again.
The edge in her tone caused me to meet her beautiful eyes once more. “No. I mean…yes… Could you tell me where he is? If I can’t see him, that’s fine. I just wanted to make sure he is…” What? Happy? Fine? Safe? Missing me with the same bone-melting intensity for which I missed him. “I mean…can you just tell me?”
She stood now and forcefully shoved the files she’d been shuffling around into a single stack. Then she slammed it on the desk hard to straighten them out while she met my gaze. “I’m sorry, Ms. Sito, that is against our policy. The doctors have a right to privacy, and that doesn’t cover the patients knowing about their personal lives.”
This venom was directed at me for some reason. I’d done nothing to her. Hell, I’d barely spoken to her in the short time I’d been at the hospital. She rotated with another floor, and to be honest, every time I saw her, I’d avoided her because of Ash. But now, I wanted to strike back, make her tell me. If I had to endure her anger, she could endure mine. “What is your problem? Why are you speaking to me like I’m some kind of criminal?”
Something around her eyes loosened, and then she flopped back into her chair. “He was fired.”
My blood froze, my throat froze, my lungs froze. How? What? Why?
I cleared my throat trying to re-instill the oxygen I needed. “Why?”
The tilt of her head and the knowing narrow of her gaze told me she knew. “He was cited for unprofessional conduct and is under investigation from the board of ethics. Does that answer your question?”
I swallowed hard and
looked away. “Yes, thank you for telling me.”
“If you’ll please return to your room or the day room, I can get back to work.”
It was clear she blamed me for Ash’s dismissal. And she should. My mother played some part in it too, however, but I didn’t know how or why.
I went back into my room. Someone had cleared away my trash and the breakfast tray. My door sounded loud and echoey. I sat on the bed and stared at the remaining books. There were far less of them, and my heart ached. The Count of Monte Cristo had been amongst the fallen, and I wanted those words, those pages, to soothe me right now. And in my anger, I’d destroyed it.
It was a lie. I didn’t want the book. I wanted Ash here to comfort me. The book had been a companion for years, but Ash could hold me, make love to me, and do things for me no book had ever done.
I missed him. Damn it. I allowed myself to think about it. I missed him so much, my chest rang hollow with the wanting. My mother used to tell me Sito women don’t need a man. She told me so often, I wasn’t sure if she’d been telling me or reiterating it to herself. Her words had also taught me I didn’t need her either. Not just her words but also the way she brushed me off. How work had always been more important than what I wanted or needed. And when she couldn’t foist me off on some other hired nanny any longer, she resorted to other methods to keep me out of her life and out of her hair.
I’d learned a long time ago that love couldn’t be trusted. It would always be used against you. And then I’d done it to Ash. Used his feelings for me to push him away. I hated myself right now.
Styx didn’t bother knocking this time as she entered the sterile shoebox of my cell. “Are you moping again?”
I glared and slid off the bed to the floor amongst my remaining books. “No, I’m organizing see…” I took one book off a stack and plopped it on top of another stack.
“Sure. What did legs out there say to you?”
“Who?”
She shook her head and waved toward the nurse’s station. “Minthe. I only saw her face, but it looked like you two had a conversation about something.”
Legs. Like I needed that visual to add to my growing imagination of all the things she had that I didn’t. Least of all freedom. “She told me Ash got fired for fucking me. Happy.”
She didn’t even flinch at the acid in my tone. “No, I’m not happy. He did get fired, but it was because he was trying to help you, not because he cared for you.”
I waved at her and lumbered off the floor. “And what about you? Do you care for me? You keep walking in here full of advice, but I don’t see you escorting me out of here. If you think I shouldn’t be here, why aren’t you doing anything about it?”
Her lips straightened into a thin line, an effort at a smile maybe? “Darling, that is all I’ve been trying to do. Starting with making you see you have far more control over what happens than you think. If I try to help you, I’ll go the same way as the doc. But if you try to help you, maybe you can get yourself out of here.”
“You don’t think I’ve tried to get out of here before? I’ve been studying, emailing, seducing, enraging people all across the country to help get myself free. Every second, I get out of here, I’m focusing on how to ensure I never have to come back. And it never fucking works.”
She rolled her eyes. “No one can help you but yourself. Other doctors, nurses, teachers, not a single one of us has the ability to free you. It’s what you have that will help you. What’s in your heart, and what’s in your blood.”
My mother’s face popped into my head. And then Ash’s. Right now, I didn’t give a shit about getting free. All I wanted to do was ensure I hadn’t taken Ash down with me. And if she could cause the damage, she could undo it. I stared into Styx’s eyes, letting the plan and the words take shape in my mind. I knew exactly the buttons to push, exactly the way to make her, finally, bend to my will.
“Styx, could you please arrange a call to Mommy Dearest. She and I need to have a conversation a long time coming.”
Styx nodded and whispered, “Atta girl.” She left, and even if it cost me everything, I’d free Ash from this underworld I’d dragged him into.
Chapter Eighteen
Ash
An email dinged my inbox early the next morning. I didn’t usually check it often, but seeing as I didn’t have job to go to and I was waiting to hear from Donny, I spent the morning clicking the refresh button like rich house wife at a Louis Vuitton sample sale. The board of ethics wanted to ensure I’d been informed of the pending investigation and remind me I wasn’t permitted to practice medicine while my license was suspended.
Obviously, they didn’t talk to each other over there. The one phone call was enough to get me up to speed on my shortcomings. I hit the refresh button again. The board’s email already in my trash file, and checked the clock. I didn’t have another way to contact Donny, so all I could do was wait for him to reach out. Being patient sucked.
Instead of pressing the refresh key one more time, I pulled out my phone. Pulling down a screen was way less spastic then pressing one key over and over. Now I got the fun added benefit of haptic feedback.
I wanted to call the number back and see if he’d gotten my message. Hope he answered this time instead of shipping me straight to voice mail. I didn’t though. I wanted Donny in a good mood when I made my proposition. Spamming his voicemail would likely damage any good will I owned before going into the meeting. If he even gave me one. My problems were tiny guppies compared to some of his “fixes.”
Another name popped into my head, Donny’s best friend, who still owed Kory more than he’d ever be able to pay back, Zeus. If anyone could get me into direct contact with my old fraternity brother it was him.
Finally having something to do with my hands, I quickly navigated to Zeus’s phone number and sent him a text message.
He called me back within a minute. “What do you want now?”
“Well, hi, I’m just great. How are you?”
A long pause stretched between us. “But really what do you want, Ash?”
“I need to get in touch with Donny. I tried the number he gave out at the last reunion, and I left a message. He didn’t respond yet, and it’s kind of an emergency.”
“Like you getting your license suspended over a piece of ass?”
A blaze of heat spiked through me, and I locked it down before I said something I wasn’t able to take back. “Kory isn’t just a piece of ass. And never talk about her like that again.”
He didn’t retract the statement or apologize. “I’ll see if Donny wants to speak with you, but it’s his choice, not yours.”
The offer was probably as good as I’d get from him. He still seemed upset about the last time we talked. “Fine. That’s fine. I’ll wait to hear back one way or the other.”
He hung up, and I stared at the device again, waiting on someone else to help me fix a problem I should have been able to handle alone.
It didn’t take long before Zeus texted again.
MEET ME AT THE COUNTY AIRPORT 10 A.M. D AGREED TO SEEE YOU.
I sighed, thankful I’d finally been able to get through. Why I had to travel with Zeus, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to argue when the outcome of the meeting depended on his best friend. I texted him back.
I’LL BE THERE
It took me a little longer to get to the airport as I’d never actually been to this one. It was small compared to the international airport on the other side of town. I caught sight of Zeus checking his watch and pacing on the runway, so I met him outside. He gestured at a plane idling nearby with a set of stairs leading inside.
I followed him up the stairs and onto a spacious private jet. “Is this your plane?”
Zeus grabbed a bottle of champagne and threw his large frame into a taupe upholstered leather chair. “No, it’s D’s, but he lets me use it from time to time.”
In other words, lets him borrow it to impress women he cheats on his wife with.
>
I took the seat on the opposite side of the aisle and buckled in. He popped the champagne, took a long swig straight from the bottle, and passed it to me.
“I don’t generally drink before noon, even on a private jet.”
He shrugged and took another draw of the bubbly. “You’re loss. D always has the good stuff.”
“Where exactly are we headed?”
A gleeful expression split Zeus’s face, and he yelled, “Vegas, Baby!”
There was nothing in the world I’d rather do less than go to Vegas with Zeus, especially right now, but I kept it to myself and said, “Great.”
We took off and made it to Vegas in a couple of hours, but time inches along differently when I knew every second I spent free Kory didn’t. Zeus took me by private car to one of Donny’s hotels and let me back to a spacious office segment behind the check in desk. I didn’t want to know how many times Zeus came here for business or pleasure.
When we finally made it to an office that could only be Donny’s, I breathed a sigh of relief. The man himself stood up from his desk when we entered and buttoned his suit jacket.
I shook his hand and surveyed the ways he’d changed since I last saw him years ago. He wore his hair the same in a buzz cut, and a class ring on one finger. A scar down the right side of his face the only mar to the lovely profile women swooned over. He had the build of a prize fighter, and I didn’t doubt it was hard won in the gym. Donny never lacked discipline.
We all sat as the tension grew between us. I broke the silence first as I did have the favor to ask. “It’s good to see you, D.”
“You can call me Don.”
I shook my head. “Of course, my apologies.”
“What can I do for you? I got your message. The delay was simply a calendar error. I meant to call you back sooner.”
I shifted under his scrutiny, like he could see into my soul with those black granite eyes. “It’s fine. I wasn’t sure if the number was the same which is why I reached out to Zeus. This isn’t an easy thing to explain, so I’ll try to be brief.”
Deranged: Twisted Myths Book One Page 11