Chapter 37 Jericho
JERICHO
“He’s breathing on his own, and his vitals are stable. There’s nothing else we can do until he wakes up.” The Doctor says two days later, slinging his stethoscope back around his neck and smiling tiredly at us.
Ema’s choked breath fills the room as the truth sinks in.
Raiden didn’t die. He didn’t. He’s still breathing on his own.
I knew it. I knew Raiden was strong enough.
But Josh left already so I can’t gloat in his face. He thought he could take Raiden away from me, but Raiden is a force to be reckoned with. He’s so much stronger than anyone gives him credit for.
“Thank you, thank you,” Ema’s whispered words of praise are muffled by her burying her face in Raiden’s blanket.
Rodney stands behind her, soothing her as she lets the tears flow.
We came prepared for the worst, and the worst didn’t happen.
The seeds of hope have bloomed and the daisies that Raiden loves are growing. Waiting for him.
“What do we do now, Doctor?” I ask when he goes to step out of the room, my whispered question gives him pause as he looks at me. Before, his eyes were filled with sympathy, now they’re filled with something else. Something I can’t name, but resembles… Contentment, maybe?
“Take care of him.”
I nod, understanding. Take care of him. Not only physically, but mentally as well. When he wakes up, it’ll be a dramatic shift, and I’m not sure what we’ll encounter, but we’ll overcome it together.
I’m sitting in my parent’s living room, waiting for my mom to come home from the library. She doesn’t know I’m here, but I wanted to give the good news to her in person. To tell her that her future son-in-law is going to make it.
I don’t believe in god, or some other high power, not after all the shit I’ve seen and experienced. But even so, I send up a silent thanks to whatever or whoever it is that kept Raiden alive. They knew he was too good to lose yet.
The door knob wiggles and I stand up from my spot, my leg twinging in pain when I finally get adjusted. I’ve been pushing myself too hard with it here lately, and I need to back off. Lest my doctor hear about it, then I’ll have to start back up quarterly check-ins.
My mom comes in giggling and I freeze in my steps because ew. I don’t need to see whatever is going on that has her like that, especially when I hear my dad’s voice as well.
“Child in the house, please do not traumatize me any further,” I call out when it’s clear they have no desire to stop whatever they’re doing.
“Oh shit!” My dad swears and my mom’s giggles turn into a screech.
“What the hell! Why didn’t you call?” My dad says when he comes into the living room.
Just to fuck with them I cover my eyes dramatically. “Are you two covered? I’d rather not have an unsavory image of you burned into my retinas.”
My dad slaps me on the back and I stumble before he wraps his arm around me and holds me steady.
“What are you doing here? Not that we’re not glad to see you!” My mom quickly backtracks trying to sound happy to see me.
“I thought I would surprise you and share good news, but I can come back later…”
“Nope!” My mom rushes to the kitchen and pulls a pitcher of tea out of the fridge and pours us all a cup, before grabbing a snack plate out of the fridge as well.
She has it all put together like she was waiting on other company to come over.
I quirk my brow at my dad and he shakes his head, warning me not to ask but now I’m even more curious.
“What’s the good news? Did you finally finish the house?
” My mom tries to brighten the question, knowing that talking about anything Raiden related has been off limits for as long as he’s been in the hospital.
It takes me back to times when we had the same agreement, but for different reasons.
Fuck, I was so stubborn to not realize he was struggling as well.
I could have saved us a lot of heartbreak if I would have known.
But then I wouldn’t be the man now, and the man I am is more ready to fight for Raiden now more than ever.
“Raiden’s alive.” Even as the words escape me, I still can’t believe they’re real. I saw it for myself, witnessed them pulling the life saving measures and knew the risks. And Raiden still held strong.
“Oh my god!” My mom rushes over to me and pulls me into her arms, the warming scent of her perfume reminds me of all the times she held me like this when I was younger.
Through everything, my parents have been my rock.
My dad wraps his arms around both of us, and to feel their strength holding me up, I break down.
I sob, not holding anything in as the tears of anguish stream down my face.
With every drop, I’m letting go of the despair I felt seeing him in that bed, knowing there was nothing.
Gone is the anger at him for leaving me when he knows he hates thunderstorms. The guilt I’ve been harboring for talking to Liam that night and not being able to reassure Raiden that he was the one I was choosing, the only person for me.
He’s my rain in the drought, the soft thunderstorms that I love to listen to as I fall asleep, the torrential downpours that cleanse the earth. He’s all of it and he always will be.
“What now?” My dad asks when my eyes have no tears left and my body sags from the loss of stress it’s been holding.
“We wait.” And we wait. And we wait. Until Raiden wakes up.
My next stop isn’t my smartest one, but if anyone asks me if I cared I would ignore them. Because not only do I not care, I want to make it known that I will do anything to protect Raiden. And that means protecting him from his asshole of a husband.
But that won’t be a problem anymore if I have anything to say about it.
On my way over, I called Elijah to do some digging for me. I wanted to know everything.
“Is this illegal?” Elijah asks me when he finally finishes sending me over the information in a file with what he proclaims is the thickest, capital t two c’s according to him.
“If you have to ask that question, you already know.” I turn my truck down the narrow dirt road that leads to Josh’s house. Trees line the sides of the road and there’s no houses or driveways around. Even better.
“Touché,” he says, clicking around on his laptop. There’s another muffled voice in the background talking to him and I lose Elijah’s attention as he starts bickering with the other person.
“Is that all?” I cut in when Elijah’s voice raises and echoes through the car as he tells someone to “politely, fuck off.” Which… at least he said politely. It’s better than some people would do.
“Yeah, that’s all.” The line clicks before I get another word in and I huff a breath of laughter.
If Connor and Hollis knew what I was up to, they would demand to join in, but I can’t let them.
For one, I’m doing this as a selfish act, for him trying to take Raiden away from me in his own fit of jealousy.
And two, I know that they’re the people my mom had a snack plate for because my dad let it slip on my way out of their house.
I swear if my parents are trying to replace me with tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum I’ll be so mad.
I park at the edge of Josh’s driveway, with my truck neatly tucked away from sight in the treeline.
He should have really thought about that before he fucked with what’s mine.
Not like I care because nothing would have stopped me from getting my vengeance, but he could have made it a little harder on me.
I sneakily approach the door, creeping my way across the wood wrap around porch, making sure to avoid any sketchy looking boards that might creak and give my location away.
His car is sitting in the driveway, parked right beside the house. The fancy silver shimmer and BMW emblem sickens me. He’s been using Raiden as his cash cow, and that stops now.
The door swings open before I have a chance to infiltrate and Josh is standing there with a gun in his hand. His eyes are hard as he glares at me.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Jericho?” He bites out and the gun in his hand wavers.
He won’t shoot me. Josh is a lot of things, but a murderer isn’t one of them.
He’ll never know what it’s like to take someone’s life and watch the life drain out of them.
He tried with Raiden and failed. Epically.
“You know what I’m doing here, Josh.”
“Get the fuck off my property. Before I shoot you.”
He must think his warning scares me, but he doesn't know I’ve looked death in the face and smiled, knowing that when my time comes, I’ll go happily.
I take measured steps towards him, my confidence never wavering as his skin goes pale.
I don’t stop until the barrel of the gun is pressed to the center of my forehead, I can feel the cool metal against my skin and grin wickedly when his jaw drops.
“Shoot me. Do it. I dare you.” I taunt him, pushing the barrel further into my skin and feeling it leave its mark behind.
I can feel his hands shaking and I know I’ve got him.
“Raiden’s head was filled with lies because of you,” I tell him, never taking my eyes off his. His brown eyes widen in alarm and I watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows.
“But what’s even worse… You knew he was in the hospital this whole time. You knew and you didn’t care… until you realized you could get something out of it.”
“You hid my voicemails. You kept him hidden away. He was nothing except a trophy for you.” My words are harsh but even under my scrutiny his hand trembles worse, his pupils dilating in fear.
His fight or flight is kicking in. “Something pretty you can keep to show off, but has no real value to you. You only love what it represents.”
“You know why he chose me, Josh?” I ask, and I can see a drop of sweat beading on his hairline. I don’t wait for him to answer, because anything he says will be wrong. “Because I’m not weak.” The last word is a snarl.
“You’re wrong!” Josh yells, spit flying from his mouth. “I’m not weak, you're weak!” He narrows his eyes on mine until there’s nothing but a slit of his black pupils.
I shove him back, and he falls into the house, his back hitting the floor with a loud thud.
“You kept him away from me!” I scream as I rear back and kick him in the ribs. Feeling my foot connect with the bones in his side and he cries out.
“You’re crazy.” His words are choked out as I deliver another blow to his side.
“You’re fucking right,” I agree with him.
Not feeling an ounce of remorse for him.
The things Elijah found on him were disgusting.
Using Raiden, sleeping with other people while Raiden was on tour.
Lying and manipulating everyone until Raiden looked like the bad guy.
He’s not. Raiden is the best man I know and the fact this piece of shit tried to ruin his life will be the worst mistake he’s ever made.
“He’s mine.” Kick.
“He was never yours.” Punch.
“You never deserved him.” Slap.
“Coco! Stop!” I’m pulled back by my arms and a tight band wraps around my chest, my lungs are panting with each breath and I look down at Josh.
He’s still breathing, every exhale is a wheeze.
I wish he was dead. I wish he would have died by my hand so Raiden would never have to worry about him ever again.
“Come near him again, Josh, and it’ll be the last thing you ever do. This was just a warning.”
I brush off Connor and storm out the front door.
Hollis stays inside while Connor follows me out.
I pace the yard, inhaling the fresh air and taking a minute to cool down.
With each breath pain starts to settle in.
My knuckles are bloody and busted. My leg is sore from holding my weight while I delivered the blows to Josh’s body with my other one.
“You’re lucky Elijah found that stuff, Coco. Hollis is in there blackmailing him so he won’t go to the police and press charges. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“What are you doing here?” I bite out, whirling around to face him.
“Saving your ass, obviously. We knew something was up when you didn’t come to the hospital and no one had seen you. We called Elijah to check your tracker and it showed you were here.”
“You have a tracker on me?” The information distracts me from the anger roaring in my veins.
“Let’s not focus on that right now.”
That seems like the perfect thing to focus on right now, but by his steely gaze and the annoyed set of his mouth, I’m not going to be able to smooth talk my way out of this.
Especially with the way Hollis is still inside of the house instead of out here with us.
It couldn’t have been that bad, it’s not like I killed Josh.
I just assaulted him, very big difference.
“Have you ever loved someone so much you would do anything for them?” I finally ask after a minute of silence where Connor stares at me, refusing to budge. I sit on the pavement of the driveway, propping my arms on my criss crossed legs and dropping my head into my hands.
He snorts, and drops beside me. “I have, I do.” He inhales and slaps me on the back. “I love Hollis, and I would do anything for him. That’s why I’m out here supporting you instead of biting your head off for making dumb decisions. I doubt I would be any better if I was in your shoes.”
Well, that makes me feel a little bit better, but not much. I wish I wasn’t in this predicament at all. I wish I would have reassured Raiden that he was it for me before I agreed to talk to Liam. I wish I would have reconciled us sooner so I would have the chance to love him longer.
But wishes aren’t real and no amount of wishing can change the trajectory my life is on.
I accepted from a young age that I would never get to be happy like everyone else.
I didn’t think I would get to love and be loved loudly.
But in the short period of time between me and Raiden, between stolen kisses and soft moments, he reminded me that I don’t have to settle.
I don’t have to accept the hand I’ve been dealt. I can fold and start anew.
And that’s exactly what I’m going to do as soon as I leave here today.