Reuben Chapter 14 #2
She raised those incredible eyes. “There’s something I haven’t told you. I wasn’t exactly hiding it. I would’ve told you, but it didn’t seem important at the moment. I know that it was wrong of me. I hope you can forgive me. Please, don’t be mad at me,” she pleaded.
“Just tell me,” I replied.
“I said I moved to Nashville to get a life where I didn’t have my family always interfering and to be able to live my life the way I wanted.
My family has no idea I was a member of a club in Memphis, let alone that I was a member of Lustz.
That was a big part of the reason, but there was another one.
There was a man there. Someone I needed to get away from.
He wouldn’t leave me alone. I snuck out of town without him being aware of it.
I know this because I haven’t seen or heard from him since I left.
Believe me, if he knew I was here, he would’ve made himself known right away. ”
She stopped talking, and I realized why. My hand had tightened on hers. I loosened my grip. “Go on. Who is the man? What does he have to do with today?” I asked, but my gut told me what he had to do with her being in the hospital.
“His name is Fisher Adams. I was cleaning when the doorbell rang. I thought it was you. Who else could it be? No one knew I was at the apartment but you. I ran to get it, wanting to hear how it went with your family. I’d been anxiously waiting to hear.
Like an idiot, I opened the door without checking first. It was Fisher.
I tried to shut the door on him, but he shoved on it and had his foot jammed inside the frame. He pushed inside and confronted me.
“He said that the game was over and he was taking me back to Memphis. He’s delusional.
I knew arguing would do me no good. It hadn’t helped back in Memphis.
I ran for the bedroom and locked myself in, then locked myself in the bathroom.
Fisher was hollering and pounding. I didn’t have my phone with me to call for help. It was in the kitchen.
“I was hunting for a way out when he broke through the first door. I knew I couldn’t allow him to get his hands on me.
My only hope of escape was to go out the bathroom window.
I tried to use the cord off the bedside lamp I took in there with me as a weapon to lower myself closer to the ground, but it wasn’t long enough.
It tightened on my hand, cutting off the blood flow, so I let go and ended up hitting the rocks.
I was in pain and things went blurry, then I passed out.
That was the last thing I remembered until I woke up in here, and the nurse said where I was and that you were in the waiting room. ”
I knew that she was leaving out a bunch of details, and I could guess at what they were.
As much as I wanted to know what they were, now wasn’t the time to ask for them all.
For one thing, I refused to upset her when we had no idea what her full injuries were.
For another, there were too many ears in a place like this.
Better to keep the details between us. And along those lines, I formed my response. I got close enough to whisper.
“Tiana, I’ll want to know everything you can tell me about this Fisher guy and how you know him.
However, that can wait. Right now, I want you to rest. The police will be here eventually, and they’ll have questions for both of us.
I want you to tell them exactly what you just told me, except for one thing.
Don’t tell them you knew the man or his name. Tell them it was a stranger.”
“Why would I tell them that? Surely, now that he’s broken in and done this, they can arrest him,” she stated in astonishment.
“Possibly, but it would hardly be enough to have him sent to prison. When it comes to people like him, we have a better way to ensure your safety for more than a few days, weeks, or months.”
Cristiana stared at me. I watched her throat bob as she swallowed. It was a good minute or more before she said anything more. “Reuben, what are you going to do?”
“Not here. Tell me where it hurts?” I wisely changed the subject.
I knew she wasn’t happy with the change of conversation, but she let me get away with it. “The biggest pain is my arm. I can’t stand to move it. When I do, it feels like someone is tearing it out of the socket. The rest of me is mostly aches and pains along with cuts and bruises, I think.”
Checking out her folded arm, I noted the shoulder appeared misshapen.
Christ, I prayed it wasn’t fractured. Who knew how long it would take her to recover if she had to have surgery?
I stood and went to hike up the sheet to see if I could see anything else.
She was in a hospital gown, which meant at some point between the paramedics loading her into the ambulance and Chad coming to get me, they’d changed her.
Before I could move the sheet, there was a brief knock, and then a strange man strolled into the room. On his heels was Nurse Chad.
“Hello, Ms. Perez, it’s me, Dr. Lawson again.
Chad is here to take you down to the radiology department.
I want an X-ray of that shoulder and a CT scan of the rest of you.
We want to make sure there are no internal injuries or bleeding that we should know about.
Once those are done, he’ll bring you back here.
Mr. Davila, it’s nice to meet you. Chad said you were in here keeping her company.
I’m glad. She was anxious when she woke up and insisted on seeing you. ”
He held out his hand. I shook it. “Thanks, Doc. I’d like to know what you know so far.”
Dr. Lawson glanced over at her. “How much am I permitted to share with Mr. Davila?” he asked her.
“You can share everything with him. He’s my boyfriend.”
“Got it. Chad, please take her to radiology. We’ll see you when you return,” her doctor stated.
I leaned over and brushed her lips with mine. “Tiana, I’ll be here when you get back.”
I waited until she was out of sight before addressing the doctor. “Whatever she needs, whether it’s specialists, special medication, you name it, let me know and I’ll pay for it.”
“Mr. Davila, I appreciate you saying that. I won’t be able to say until I get the results.
It could be that there are no internal injuries and her shoulder is merely dislocated, or we may find she has life-threatening injuries.
What I can tell you is that her vital signs are stable, and she’s alert and oriented.
Once she regained consciousness, she has maintained it.
I’m hoping those are good signs. I won’t stay, but when I have all her results, I’ll be back to let you both know what we found.
Decisions can then be made. In the meantime, after she returns, keep her calm. ”
“Thank you, and I will. I hope we don’t have to wait for hours to find out.”
“I’ll put a rush on them as much as I can. If you need anything, let one of the staff know.”
Without another word, Dr. Lawson walked out, leaving me to my thoughts.
I sat and began plotting what I would do to this Fisher guy.
No way would he be left to do this to her or anyone else again.
But first, Cristiana needed to be medically cleared.
Then I would get all the details on him from her, so I would know precisely what needed to be done to the bastard. I could hardly wait.