12. Easton
TWELVE
Easton
My phone rings, and I glance over at it, where it sits on the counter. Jade is in the living room in front of me as I sit at the island, working on my computer.
“Huh, who’d be calling so late?”
“Phone!” Jade calls out.
“Yes, sweetie. I know.” I stand up and walk over to answer it. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this Easton Hawke?”
The woman on the other side of the line sounds utterly professional and not familiar in the slightest. My heart rate ticks up as worry builds.
“Yes? What’s going on?”
“Hello, Mr. Hawke. This is Naomi. I’m a nurse here at St. Rose Hospital.” My stomach falls through the floor, and I look back over at Jade, who’s safely on the couch. “EMTs brought in a Hazel Dowd. She’s asked us to call you.”
Invisible breaks screech somewhere in my head. Hazel .
“Is she okay?! What happened?!”
I know I shouldn’t scream at the woman, but I can’t seem to control my volume. Jade sits up straighter on the couch, pausing the TV and walking over.
“Uncle Easton?”
“She’s been attacked. She’s recovering now, but?—”
“I’ll be right there.”
I hang up, not waiting for a response, and start for the console table by the door to grab my keys. But Jade is right behind me.
Dammit. I can’t leave her here.
“Uncle E, I’m getting scared. What happened?”
Jade looks like she’s about to cry, and I kneel down in front of her, putting my hands on her shoulders.
“Hazel’s been hurt. I need to go to the hospital to check on her. Do?—”
“I’m coming, too!” Jade’s eyes go wide, and she grabs my hand with the keys in it.
A nervous smile spreads over my face, and I give her a solemn nod. “Okay. I…I need you to listen to me when we’re there, okay? It’s a hospital, and I don’t know what happened.”
She nods back at me, pressing her lips together like she’s trying to silently tell me that she’ll be good, be quiet.
“Thank you, sweetie.” I pull her into my arms, hugging her against me so damn tightly. “Let’s go.”
When we get to the hospital, the ER is a zoo. It usually is, of course, but it’s the weekend, and the number of drunken disorderlies and fights that are breaking out right there in the med bay have my teeth on edge.
I rush up to the nurses’ station, making eye contact with the woman sitting at the computer.
“Hello, I’m here to see Hazel Dowd. I was just called by the hospital. I need to?—”
The nurse stands up, holding out her hands like she’s soothing a wild animal. “Alright, sir. Calm down for me, okay? What’s your name?”
Trying my best to take a deep breath, I squeeze my eyes closed for a moment. “Easton Hawke. The hospital just called me about her.”
“Okay, thank you.” She looks down at Jade, who is standing at my side. “Hey, honey. And you are?”
“I’m Jade. Hazel is my babysitter. Is she okay?”
“Hi, Jade. I’m Grace.” The nurse walks around to stand in front of us. “Hazel is going to be fine, but she was hurt pretty badly, okay? I’d like to send just your dad?—”
“Uncle,” Jade and I say simultaneously.
“Sorry, your uncle, in alone first, alright? I’ll stay out here with you.”
Jade looks up at me, and my heart cracks in half at the worried look on her face. I understand what Grace is saying, though.
“I’ll come get you, sweetie. Okay? I promise. But let me go see Hazel first.”
Her expression droops a little, but she nods. “Okay. Tell her I’m here, though!”
Smiling, I squeeze Jade’s hand. “I will, honey. I promise.”
Grace smiles, flagging down another nurse whose name tag reads Katie. “Hun, could you take Mr. Hawke in to see the patient in five? I’m going to stay with Jade here.”
Katie looks over at me, her eyebrows raising. “Oh, hello, Mr. Hawke. I called you on the phone. I’ll take you to see Ms. Dowd right away. She’s been asking for you.”
“Thank you.”
A thread of relief washes through me as I hear those words. If Hazel has been asking for me, she can talk, and if she can remember who she wants here, it can’t be that bad, right?
I’m led through a maze-like section of hallways and beds until I’m brought to a room with the number five displayed on a plastic flag-like thing over the door.
“I’ll give you some privacy. Just have Hazel page if she needs anything.”
“Okay.”
When the nurse steps away, I face the room and look inside for the first time. My chest caves, a massive kick to my sternum, and I nearly burst into tears.
I would have if it weren’t for the fact that Hazel sees me, and her face lights up, a face that’s covered by a huge bruise on her cheek and the bandage taped to her forehead.
“Oh my god.” I run forward, right up to the side of Hazel’s bed, and both of us, without a second thought, wrap our arms around each other. “Hazel, what happened. Jesus…when they called…”
My words trail off as my voice cracks and my eyes burn.
Warmth bleeds through my shirt as Hazel lets out a little sob, and I know she’s crying. Hazel Dowd is fucking crying in my arms, and whoever did this to her is on my fucking list.
“I didn’t…didn’t see him.” Her words are muffled until she leans back, looking up into my eyes as her hazel stare swims with tears. “I was going to Pete’s…I never…I n-never should have gone th-through the alley.”
Hazel can barely speak around the sobs that are making her hiccup, and I pull her close again.
“Don’t say that. This isn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong.”
After a moment, I lean back, still holding my arms around Hazel as I run my stare over her face and body. She looks even worse up close, and I’m filled with a seething rage I’ve never felt before.
It’s terrifying and overwhelming, and I know for a fact that if I ever get my hands on the cowardly fucker who decided to attack an innocent woman, I’m going to kill him.
There’s a pause in our conversation as Hazel just stares up at me, and I can see the exhaustion fill her eyes. I lean her back against the bed again and sit down next to her.
“What did the doctor say?”
Hazel sucks in a deep breath, visibly trying to refocus. “Umm, I have a concussion, which, hey, that makes sense, seeing as whoever the guy was smashed my head into a wall. I had to have some stitches.”
She reaches up toward the bandage on her forehead, not touching it but frowning nonetheless.
“He punched me, too. God, that’s such a weird thing to say.” I angle her face gently, looking at the shiner that spreads from her left eyesocket to beneath her cheek.
“He got you good, huh?”
Rolling her eyes, Hazel lets out a tired laugh. “Yeah.”
“Was it a mugger or…” Her eyes flick down to the bed. “Did he say anything to you?”
“I…I’m really tired, Easton. I just…this is a lot, you know?”
Hazel snuggles down into the bed, but I notice her chewing on her lip. It’s an old habit of hers. One I remember from before.
She does that when she’s nervous.
Why would she have anything to be nervous about? It doesn't add up. Tired, in pain, scared, sure. But this… this is different.
“Hazel, what’s going on? I can tell there’s something you’re not telling me.”
I don’t look away from her face, holding her hand tightly in mine as we try to share the narrow hospital bed.
“It’s nothing. You have your own life to deal with. I’ll be fine.”
She doesn’t look at me, using her free hand to fiddle with the blanket. I reach out, lifting her chin so that she had to look me in the eye.
“Hey, I’m here because I want to be here. Talk to me. I want to help.”
“Easton,” Hazel shakes her head in my grasp, “we’re not together. This isn’t your drama to deal with. I won’t drag you into something.”
Frustration gnaws at me. I know that I have no right to demand information from Hazel, but she nearly died. The thought of losing her showed me a lot of what I’ve been feeling.
I’m still not sure I want to face just how destroyed I felt, but I also can’t sit around and do nothing about what happened.
I have to protect her, to make sure this shit doesn’t happen again.
“I’m already in, Hazel. I’m in. I need you to talk to me. Whoever that guy was, he almost…” My throat tightens, and I have to clear it. “…almost killed you. This is serious, and you need my help.”
“I’ve been dealing with this on my own, Easton. You…” She looks up at me, her eyes going glassy again, and I hate to see her like this. “…you left. I respect that. I’m not trying to guilt you into, well, anything .”
“Hazel,” I take both her hands, refusing to let go, “I do feel guilty. You were attacked. In my town. The one I’m supposed to be keeping safe. And you matter. You’re not…”
There is so much I want to say, but I just can’t. Our history is too long, and the idea of trying to dive into all that right now is too much. I just need to be sure that Hazel is safe and that this can’t happen again.
“I protect people for a living, Haze. Just let me help you. Please .”
Tension lingers in the air, but Hazel looks at me, really looking into my eyes, searching. I try to give everything I can just through my stare.
You need to let me help you. I need to help you.
“He…came for me, Easton. That man…he came here on purpose.” Tears stream down Hazel’s face. “He…attacked me to send a message.”
My heart squeezes, and it feels like the wind just got kicked out of me. “What message?”
Hazel is shaking, and I wrap an arm around her, pulling her against my chest. I just try to breathe, to let her feel me breathing to calm her own.
“H-He was wearing a Halloween mask. I’ve…I’ve seen them used before. T-Two years ago…”
For a minute, Hazel doesn’t finish. She doesn’t fill in the blanks. I don’t want to push her any harder, though. She’s lying in a hospital bed, for fuck’s sake.
The idea of causing her more pain makes me sick to my stomach.
After a shaky breath, Hazel nods to herself, her eyes tracking down the length of the bed.
“Two years ago, I was living on my own in LA. We’d…we’d already been broken up for a while. I was…Jesus, I was actually going on my first date since. I thought…I thought it was a good match.”