2. Ben
Chapter two
I anxiously pace in front of the emergency room entrance, waiting for her ambulance to show up. When Gideon told me what happened, how they found her body, covered in blood and barely breathing… I thought I was going to have a heart attack for how much my chest ached in that moment.
My vision darkens as I replay that moment again for the tenth time in twenty minutes.
“Ben! No, you can’t go in there!” Gideon says, his hands on my shoulders to try to keep me from crossing the street and entering her house to see her.
“Gideon, get out of my way, I need to see her!” I yell, as I try to push him out of the way.
“Ben, brother, trust me, okay?” he says calmly as he tries to get me to make eye contact with him. “You need to take a breath and listen to me.”
It takes everything I have to stop pushing him, as I make myself take a deep breath before looking him in his eyes.
“Ben, everyone in that house is freaking out and covered in blood. We need you to go to the hospital ahead of her and take care of the situation.”
“But I—”
He cuts me off. “No, listen to me. We don’t know the full extent of this situation. What if it wasn’t Jeff who did that, and whoever it was meant to kill her? They might find her in the hospital and finish the job before we even get there.”
His words do the job of penetrating my one track mind of getting to her. Keeping her safe is my highest priority. I take a moment to think over his words. She was also a minor, so unless her mother shows up, she needs someone to advocate for her. But we are just her friends, so this wouldn’t be an easy situation to navigate.
“You see it now, don’t you?” he asks with his hands still on my shoulders as he stares at me.
I slowly nod. “Yeah. She’s going to need us to make sure she’s taken care of properly, and kept safe.”
The sound of the ambulance reaches my ears and moments later, it turns onto the street. As soon as it comes to a stop, a fire truck heads our way.
“I’ve gotta go, you get to the hospital before her, okay?”
“Yes, I’m on it, Gideon, and thanks.” He nods his head and jogs across the street to greet the paramedics before he runs inside ahead of them.
I watch as three police cars and another ambulance pull up. I quickly cross the street to ask the paramedic which hospital they will be taking her to, then turn around and jump in my car. I might not be able to be inside with her right now, but I would make damn sure that I do everything I can at the hospital for her.
The sound of an ambulance pulls me back to the present and I stop pacing to watch it pull into the ER entrance. I pray it’s the one she’s in and know it is as soon as they open the doors, and I see Jasper in the back. He’s gripping her hand with one hand and clutching a Ziploc bag of ice to his chest with his other. I frown, wondering what he’s injured that needs icing so badly.
I step back as they unload her, and when they pass me, I gasp at the sight of her. Nothing Gideon said had prepared me for the sight before me. She looks so much worse than I imagined. There are bandages covering her entire body, blood staining them and her skin.
One paramedic is using both hands to hold something to her lower abdomen, and another is holding something to her hand. As they start to go through the swinging doors, a nurse stops Jasper, telling him he can’t go with her because she’s going into surgery.
“Give me the bag, son. I promise to give it to the doctor and make sure he does what he can to reattach it,” she says gently and my whole body tenses. Jasper reluctantly hands over the bag, a deep frown on his face as he watches her take it and disappear through the doors.
“Jasper,” I say, placing my hand on his shoulder to get his attention. His gaze turns to me, looking lost.
“What did she mean… Reattach it? What was in that bag?” My voice breaks on the last word, afraid of the answer.
“Her f-finger,” he stutters before closing his eyes tight. I can’t stop the gasp that escapes me as I cover my mouth with my hand and stare at the door Mina disappeared through. He cut off her finger? What the actual fuck?!
I reach for Jasper and pull him to me, hugging him tightly. We hold each other as we silently cry. Worried about if she’ll make it through this, and what state she’ll be in if she does.
“It was her ring finger on her left hand,” he tells me as he pulls back and wipes his face.
“Her ring finger?” I ask in surprise. That was likely not a coincidence, it was easier to sever a pinky, so the fact that he took that particular finger from her was meant to send a message. It’s something else that bastard wanted to take from her.
“Are you two with the young lady that just came in on the ambulance?” a nurse asks, suddenly appearing beside us. We nod and she leads us to a quiet waiting room.
“There are a few more guys coming too, if you can bring them back here when they arrive?” I ask her, and she smiles warmly.
“Of course. I’ll need her information too, if you have it. But no rush right now, I’ll be back in a little while.” I watch her leave and realize I have little info on Mina to give her besides her name and date of birth. Neither of which I’m positive isn’t falsified.
“There was a really bad stab wound across her lower abdomen,” Jasper says quietly, making me look at him. He’s sitting in a chair, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “They think it might have hit her uterus based on where it was.”
“Fuck!” I swear, pacing again. “Her ring finger and that? He was definitely sending her a message.”
“Ben, there’s no way we can lose her. If she survi—”
“She WILL survive this,” I cut him off angrily. I’m not willing to consider any other option right now.
He sighs. “ When she survives this, she can’t go back with her mother, even if Helen isn’t involved in what happened or the murders, Mina clearly isn’t safe in that home. But she can’t go into foster care, either. They might send her out of state. And what if she is in witness protection? They might come in and take her from us before we even know what’s happening! Ben… I can’t lose her now that we’ve found her,” he says angrily, shaking his head and staring at the floor .
He’s right. We couldn’t lose her now. We couldn’t even let her out of our sight. I need to figure out a way that we can keep her. A plan starts to form in my mind and I stop my pacing.
“Don’t worry, Jasper,” I say as I move over to him. I squeeze his shoulder in reassurance, and when he glances up at me, I give him a big grin. “I have a plan.”