Chapter 14
“I need to talk to you,” Travis says the next morning as I struggle to shift myself into a comfortable sitting position so I can drink my coffee.
I pause, glancing over at him. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
He smiles, but it’s hesitant. “Something went down with Janice, and I had to help her out.”
I blink, confused. “What?”
“Can you just let me get through this before you say anything?” he asks, already picking up on my tone.
I nod, fingers tight around my mug of coffee.
“She’s been seeing someone. It’s only new, a couple weeks maybe. His name is Eric. He got real weird, real fast. Obsessed. She tried to end it last night.” He looks at me and hesitates for a second before going on. “He hit her, Vi. A couple hours after she told him it was over.”
I drag my teeth over my bottom lip. I feel my pulse thudding in my neck. “Why did she come to you?”
He shrugs. “I’m the only person she trusts, I guess. She doesn’t have any family in town. She knew I’d help.”
My mind flips through every way you can interpret that. I try to keep my voice neutral. “So. What’d you do for her?”
He shrugs. “Put her in one of my rental apartments, it’s empty currently. Cleaned her up. She crashed on my couch, then I drove her over there this morning before I came here. I figured she’d be safer if he didn’t know where to find her.”
I set my coffee down a little too hard, and some sloshes over the side. I know I shouldn’t be angry, it is incredible he is helping someone out, but Janice...I don’t trust her. She is borderline obsessed with him, and I don’t like how she is playing her hand.
“Why didn’t she just call the cops?”
“No idea, I guess she was scared they wouldn’t protect her.”
I exhale, trying to keep an open mind. “You should have called anyway, Travis.”
He crosses his arms. “Yeah, I should have, but I was just trying to help a friend.”
“She isn’t your friend, though. You have made that clear to her, but you open your door and let her in. She is an employee, yes, but if you were genuinely concerned you would have called the police. Surely you can see what she’s doing?”
“If it were a tactic to get me back, Violet, I doubt she would have allowed some man to beat her up.”
“I never said that,” I snap, getting frustrated. “But she has other people she could turn to, and she chose you. She is obsessed with you and has been trying to get you back.”
He stiffens. “That’s what you think this is?”
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“I’m not a fucking idiot,” he grates out. “I know what she is like, but I wasn’t going to turn her away.”
“I never asked you to, but putting her in one of your apartments is a big leap from helping...”
He shakes his head. “I’m not going to stop helping people just because it makes you nervous.”
“It isn’t about me,” I snap, then exhale, the pain in my shoulder a little too strong. “I don't want to do this right now. I need to rest.”
“Violet,” he steps closer, “Not everything is me somehow finding a way to hurt you.”
“I never said it was,” I whisper. “I just don’t trust her.”
“She means nothing to me. You’re the only thing I care about.”
“She meant something to you once,” I murmur. “And she knows it.”
He looks offended. “Not the way I care about you. Not even close.”
“Look, I just need to rest.”
He exhales, eyes scanning over me. “Yeah, okay.”
He walks over, leaning down and kissing my forehead before leaving.
I roll to my side, trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall.
I trust him, I do.
It’s her I don’t trust.
Not even a little.
The next seventy-two hours blur into one long, suffocating nightmare. Chief lies motionless in his bed, every bandage a silent reminder of the bullets that nearly destroyed him—and me by extension. Travis and I are feeling the tension, even though I am trying not to let it show.
My mother goes from Chief’s room, to mine, back to his, and she just looks exhausted.
I’m allowed to walk around the hospital now, and later today I can finally go home.
I wander the ward between visits, but every hour I’m back at Chief’s door.
Each day, he’s unchanged. This morning the nurse brushes past me in the corridor, her face lighting up as she hurries toward his room.
“He’s stirring,” she whispers, voice tight with relief.
My breath catches. “That’s good, right?”
“It’s incredible,” she replies. “Go and talk to him, sometimes it helps bring them out of it.”
I nod. Once she’s gone, I go to his room, quietly, careful not to make a sound. I step beside the bed, lift his hand, and press it to my cheek. His skin is cool, and I close my eyes, images of the gunshot ringing in my mind. It hurts, and it is a memory I wish would go away and never come back.
“Hey old man,” I murmur. “The nurse said you’re stirring. I hope that means you can hear me. I don’t really have much to say today. I’m going home, which is good, but I would rather go home with you. I need you to wake up now, so that I know you’re going to be okay.”
He doesn’t move.
I sit on the edge of his bed and just start singing. It’s the only thing I can think to do. By the time I reach the chorus, my voice is thick and my heart hurts.
I have to stop.
“Keep going, Mischief,” a rasp has my head snapping up.
Chief’s eyes, glassy but open, are on me. I gasp.
“Daddy?” My whisper cracks so loud it echoes.
He coughs a little. “Hey kid.”
I scramble up, lifting the nurse’s button. I press it with shaking fingers, and the nurse bursts in a moment later, checking his vitals. I lean in and touch my forehead to his palm, unable to stop the tears. I cry so hard my body shakes.
“Hey now,” he croaks, eyes half-closed.
He pulls me onto the bed, wraps his arm around me.
I bury my face in his chest, my tears soaking into the hospital gown.
The nurse finishes her checks and slips out to call the doctor.
I don’t move. I’m too scared to, afraid if I let go, this will all just be a bad dream and he won’t really be awake.
“I thought I lost you,” I croak, clutching him tightly, even though he is already hanging on to me tight enough I can barely get a full breath in.
“Takes more than a damn bullet to kill me.”
“I am so sorry for what happened, I should have warned you or...”
“No,” he cuts me off. “No, what happened was never, and will never, be on you. I should have protected you from him.”
Tears burn. “I’m here. I’m okay. That’s what matters.”
He nods once, slow and steady. “What happened after Bill came?”
“He saved us, but it was messy. You lost some men, I’m so sorry.”
He goes quiet for a long, long moment. “I got you. For that, I will be forever grateful.”
“It’s over now,” I say, my voice shaky. “You just rest. I’m going to find Mom. She has been pacing like a cat on hot bricks since you came in here.”
He chuckles, but coughs and winces after. “I can imagine.”
I climb out of the bed and text her. Ten minutes later, she bursts in, face pale and red, tears streaking her cheeks.
I smile at him, then step back and watch.
She crumbles in his arms as I did, and he holds her in a way that makes my heart explode.
He strokes her hair, murmurs soothing nonsense, and they melt into each other.
Their lips meet in a trembling kiss, her hands clutching his hospital gown.
I slip away, letting them have their moment.
Down in the cafeteria, I find a vending machine, needing something sweet to get me through.
The only machine that has what I want is near the ER, so I head in that direction.
There is somewhat of a commotion going on, and when I round the corner, I come to a complete stop.
Travis is standing, Janice in his arms, yelling at a nurse.
My chest seizes when I see her swollen eye, bruised cheek, hair in disarray.
“Trav?” I call, and he turns slowly, staring at me.
I walk over. “What happened?”
“He found her, and he beat her,” he says flatly.
I swallow. “At your apartment? I thought he didn’t know where it was?”
“Guess he fuckin’ found it.”
A flicker of suspicion gnaws at me, but now isn’t the moment. A nurse hustles Janice onto a gurney, telling her that she will get a doctor. She clutches Travis’s hand, eyes huge.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispers. “I’m so scared.”
I press my lips together when her eyes meet mine, because something in my chest is telling me this is not at all what it seems.
“I won’t,” Travis assures her.
“Trav,” I begin, but he cuts me off with a look.
“I’ll call you soon, yeah?”
He’s dismissing me.
And it fucking hurts.
I turn and walk away because there’s nothing I can say without sounding cruel.
I return to Chief’s room. He and Mom are sitting side by side, and she has this smile on her face, so big it makes my mood a little better. He pats the space beside him.
“Come here, Mischief.”
I walk in, sitting on the chair beside the bed. “What is it?”
Chief looks to Mom, then back to me. “I just asked your mom to marry me.”
My mouth falls open. Mom throws her head back and laughs, tears in her eyes.
“Wait, what?”
“I know you probably don’t like the idea of us getting back together,” Mom says quickly, “but after nearly seeing him die...he is where I want to be, Violet. He is where I have always wanted to be. Can you be happy for us?”
I stare at the two of them, and I can’t help it, my heart warms.
Maybe they are it for each other, just like Travis and I.
Sometimes, there is that one person, and there is no one else who can compare.
“So...you said yes?” I urge.
“Yes!” she cries. “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!”
“Then I am so happy for you.”
She claps with delight and Chief grins.
I hug them both, and then sit back in the chair, yawning. I am exhausted; that movement was enough to warrant a nap.
“Go get some rest, honey,” Mom says. “You look exhausted.”
“I’m heading home today. Nurse said I’m free.”
Chief looks relieved. “Is Travis picking you up?”
I hesitate. “He said...he would.”
Chief studies me, concern etching his brow. “What’s wrong, baby?”
I swallow, my chest tightening again. “Oh. It’s nothing. I’m just tired.”
“I’ll take you back to your room, you can have a rest before you leave,” Mom says, climbing out of the bed and putting her arm around me.
“I’m glad you’re awake, old man,” I smile, before turning and walking out.
When I’m back in my bed, I can’t help but wonder what is happening downstairs.
I know Travis is a good and kind person, and he will help anyone if given the chance, but something is very wrong with this situation.
I just don’t know how to get him to see that.