Chapter Fifteen
Joel was on the phone as he pulled up alongside the ambulance outside the ER doors.
“Just find him. I think he’s with the NineteenthPrecinct. Hawkins, his name is Kaleb Hawkins.”
Joel raced after the small group of people.
When he caught up with them, he had to ground his teeth together to keep from shouting out his anger. He watched as Deb and a nurse tried to get her onto a bed. He almost howled when the blanket parted, and he caught sight of her pants undone and hanging off her hips.
She fought them when they tried to take the blanket or get her on the bed. She yanked herself away from them and dropped to the floor, and wedged herself between a cart and the bed. A doctor came in and immediately tried to give her a sedative.
Joel stopped him. “Wait, just wait, dammit. Her boyfriend is coming. Don’t put her through more than she already has been.”
“She’s going through shock. We need to start treating her.”
“I know that, but it will be easier for her if her guy is here. Just wait a few minutes.”
The doctor nodded and backed off. “We need to get her stabilized. Her lips are blue, and her breathing is irregular from the shock.”
“I know,” Joel growled at the doctor. “Just give him a few more minutes.”
Deb sat on the floor in front of Myla and whispered to her.
“Where the hell is she?” Kaleb yelled right inside the doors of the ER.
Joel raced to him.
Kaleb’s eye widened at the man he’d seen with her before he walked up to him. “What happened?”
Joel wiped his mouth with his hand as he looked Kaleb in the eyes. “She was attacked again.”
Kaleb’s head snapped back. “Wait, what the hell are you talking about?”
Joel’s eyes narrowed. “She never told you about her attack?”
“No, all she said was she had a problem with a guy, but he was in prison. That’s the reason she gave me for moving to the apartment.”
“How long have you guys been together?”
Kaleb didn’t want to tell him about the day before. He was afraid they’d keep him from her.
“Just about three months.”
“The way she talked about you, I would have guessed much longer.”
“She talked about me?” Kaleb asked in shock.
“Yes. We met for lunch yesterday. She wanted to find out if her assailant was out and told me about feeling like she was being watched. I was the cop on the scene of the first attack, and she let me help her. Now she won’t let anyone near her.
I have to tell you, I just about freaked when I found out he’d been out for weeks and nobody notified me.
I put out an APB for him, but he got to her before we found him.
The only thing that made me feel better was that I knew she had you.
I talked to her about telling you her suspicions, and she said she’d think about it.
The relationship was new, and she didn’t want you to deal with it. ”
“I need to see her.”
Joel started walking back to the cubicle. “Please move back,” Joel growled.
The small crowd parted and let the two men through.
Kaleb’s first sight of her made him want to howl in fury. One woman sat by her and talked to her. Myla would cringe back when she tried to reach for her. Myla’s eyes were wild, her face pasty white except for the blood down one side of her face.
Kaleb walked slowly toward her.
The policewoman looked up at him. “Sir, you need to back off.”
“I’m her friend. Move back so I can get to her.”
Deb’s shoulders relaxed a bit and moved out of the way.
****
“Can everyone give us a minute?’ Kaleb asked softly, so he didn’t startle Myla. He watched as the small crowd moved back, some of them returning to work.
Kaleb said a prayer that she’d let him help her and sat on the floor a foot away from her.
“Hi, Sweetheart.”
Myla looked at him in confusion.
“Hey, can you talk to me?” Kaleb asked, hoping she didn’t detect the fury he was feeling at that moment.
It took several more times until he finally got her attention.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Joel called me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said as her teeth continued to chatter.
He shook his head. “No, I’m so glad he did.”
Myla shook her head and started crying.
“Baby, listen to me.”
He waited until she focused on him. “I saw you yesterday run into Joel’s arms.” Kaleb pinched the bridge of his nose. “I thought...”
“What?”
“I thought he was...”
“A boyfriend?”
“Yes,” he said simply.
“Is that why you—”
Kaleb nodded. “Yes.”
Myla went silent as she tried to process what he’d just said.
“Baby, will you let me help you? We can talk about this later. We need to see about your head and other injuries.”
She raised a shaking hand to her forehead. “My head hurts.”
“I know, Baby.”
Kaleb turned and saw Joel outside the cubicle, talking to someone. “Hey, can you get a female doctor in here?”
Joel nodded. “Already asked for one. She’s on her way down now.”
Kaleb turned back to Myla. “Will you let me hold you?”
“Will you promise you won’t let me go, just until I feel better?” she whispered.
He saw a flash of hurt in her eyes. “If I have my way, I’m never letting you go,” he stated and held a hand out to her.
She scooted out from her area, and then she raised her arms. Kaleb swallowed back tears, reached for her, and stood. He went to place her on the table.
She tried to struggle out of his arms. “No, please. I don’t want to lie there.”
He tightened his arms. “All right, Baby. How about we sit in the chair? I’ll hold you on my lap.”
Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she nodded. “Yes. Okay. I’ll sit with you.”
He sat down and arranged her over his lap, tucked her head against his chest, and wrapped the blanket around her. He tried to keep her quiet and calm while they waited for the doctor.
He wiped away the tears that continued to streak down her cheek and then tried to smooth back the hair that stuck to her injuries.
He tried to see the damage. The gash on her head was still bleeding and swelling more as the minutes passed.
Her lip was split, and one side of her face was scraped up.
Myla tensed, and her grip on him tightened when the female doctor came into the room.
The doctor stood a few feet away and didn’t try to come any closer. “Hi, Myla, my name is Jessica, and I’m here to help you.”
Kaleb could tell Myla was listening to the woman when she turned her head toward her.
“I want to make you feel better. Will you let me do that?”
Myla glanced up at Kaleb and then back to the doctor. “You won’t make him go?”
“Absolutely not.”
She relaxed her grip and nodded.
“They told me you don’t want to be on the bed?”
She shook her head as her eyes darted from the bed and back.
“I don’t blame you. They are really uncomfortable.”
Kaleb released a breath when Myla relaxed even more.
The doctor looked around the room. “I don’t like that we don’t have privacy, how would you feel if your friend carried you to a different room with more privacy?”
“I-I think that would be okay,” Myla murmured.
Jessica smiled. “All right, good. Can I give you a shot to make you feel better? It’s just a light sedative.”
Myla nodded and didn’t feel the prick of the needle.
“Let’s go this way,” the doctor started out of the room. “Everyone back to work,” she ordered. She pointed at one nurse. “Bring me extra blankets into the lounge.”
Kaleb followed.
“Why the lounge?” he asked as he held tight to Myla.
“It doesn’t have a bed, and it looks like a living room instead of a hospital.” She saw Kaleb’s look of concern.
“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. Unfortunately, I’ve had to deal with quite a few cases since I’ve been here.”
The doctor opened the door and stood back. “Have a seat on the sofa, for now, sir.”
“Name’s Kaleb.”
The doctor nodded. “Call me Jessica.”
Kaleb sat and murmured to Myla as he tried to cover as much of her shivering body as he could. His head jerked up when the door opened.
“Here you go, Doc. Anything else?”
“Yes, stand outside the door and don’t let anyone in. I may need you to go and get a few things also.”
“I’ll be there, and I’ll grab another nurse who’s not busy to take my place so I can run to get what you need.”
He watched the door close behind the nurse and moved his attention back to the doctor.
Myla watched as the doctor covered her with another blanket and then pulled up a chair.
“Myla, you have a cut on your head. Can I take a look at it?”
Myla nodded, but her grip on Kaleb’s shirt tightened again.
“Sshhh, it’s all right, Baby. No one’s going to hurt you here,” Kaleb whispered against the top of her head.
Myla’s shivers lessened enough that her teeth stopped chattering.
Jessica used some damp paper towels to wipe away most of the blood. He watched as Jessica probed the injury on her forehead gently.
“Okay, Myla. It’s going to need stitches, honey. Do you think you’d let me do that?”
Myla nodded.
Jessica sighed. “Can you tell me where else it hurts?”
Myla shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“I think we should look, don’t you?”
Myla bit down on her lip and grimaced when her teeth hit the split in her bottom lip.
“Okay, you have some choices. You and I can go into that little bathroom,” the doctor pointed to a door off to the side. “And I can get you undressed, or you can have Kaleb here help you while I go get you some clothes.”
“Kaleb can help me,” Myla said and then looked up at him. “That would be okay, right?”
“Of course, Baby.”
The doctor stood. “All right, if you could do that for us, Kaleb, leave her clothes on the floor, and I’ll have someone get them later.”
Kaleb knew they would need to keep the clothes for evidence.
“Here we go,” he said and stood. He waited for the bathroom door to close before he glanced down at her.
“Do you think you can stand while we get your clothes off, Baby?”
Myla nodded. “I think so.”
Kaleb bent and placed her feet on the floor, and froze when she sucked in a quick breath. “What’s wrong? Does it hurt to stand?”
“The floor’s cold on the bottom of my feet.”
Kaleb nodded. “This won’t take long. Let’s put the blankets over the sink.”
Myla reluctantly released her hold on the blankets.
Kaleb never let her go as he sat on the toilet seat. He just about lost it when he first looked at her. There were bruises already forming all over her body, and he hadn’t even seen the majority of her. The only thing holding back his murderous growls was the fact that he’d end up scaring her.
“I’m going to unbutton your blouse, all right?”
Myla nodded and stood frozen in front of him.
He made quick work of the torn and bloody shirt and tossed it onto the floor in the corner. He took care of her bra and then tackled her pants. The fact that they were torn and barely around her hips made him want to howl. He gritted his teeth and prayed for control to get them through this.
He stayed silent and gently pushed them down and off with her underwear. He relaxed a bit when he didn’t see any blood on her panties. He prayed she’d gotten away before the guy had a chance to rape her.
He covered her up with the blankets, sat down on the stool, pulled her on his lap, and waited.
The doctor knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Kaleb said.
Myla whimpered when the door opened, but relaxed when she saw it was Jessica.
Kaleb shushed her and kissed her forehead. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you again.”
Myla tipped her head back and stared at him before nodding.
The doctor handed over a hospital gown and a robe. “I know this isn’t what you probably wanted, but it was the best I could do. If you want something different later, I’ll see if I can get it for you. Once you have her dressed, come back to the couch.”
Kaleb waited until the door closed and stood Myla up again. He carefully pulled on the gown and robe, being careful of the bruises and wounds all over her body. He wrapped her in the blankets again, carried her to the sofa, and sat down.
The doctor sat back down in the chair.
“Myla, would it be okay if Kaleb held some icepacks on your head and lip? It will take down the swelling.”
Myla nodded. Kaleb arranged one on her head that he held with his shoulder, and the other on her lip.
The doctor cleared her throat. “Myla, is it okay if I look at one of your arms first and then tucked it back into the blanket and look somewhere else? That way, you’ll never be naked.”
Myla nodded and pulled her arm out.
“This is great,” Jessica said, smiling as she carefully examined the arm and hand.
Kaleb glanced down. Her hands were scraped up pretty badly, and he could still see dirt and bits of rock in some of the cuts.
She put that arm in, and Myla pulled out the other one.
The whole time the doctor talked about her three-year-old and the trouble the little girl got into without even trying. Kaleb caught Myla trying to smile at a few of the stories.
The doctor had examined Myla’s arms and legs, neck, and head. She used a light to test Myla’s pupils.
“She has a slight concussion, but nothing to worry about.” Jessica turned to Myla. “Would it be okay if I lifted your gown so I could see your stomach?”
Kaleb cleared his throat to get the doctor’s attention.
“I’m not sure, but there’s a possibility she’s been ... hurt,” he said in a pain-filled voice, unable to say the word “rape.”
The doctor nodded. “Myla,” Jessica said, and waited until Myla’s attention was on her. “Honey, did the man touch you?”
Myla frowned in confusion.
Jessica cleared her throat. “Did he rape you?”
Myla instantly stiffened, and a low wounded sound tore from her throat. “No ... no, no, no.”
Kaleb caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Baby, you need to tell the doctor if he touched you at all.”
Myla jerked back from him. “He didn’t. I swear.”
Jessica nodded. “All right. Let me check out your stomach and back, and then we can move on to getting some fluids in you.”
The next few minutes were tense as the doctor examined Myla. Myla pressed her legs together, preventing the doctor from seeing her private parts.
Jessica looked up at Kaleb. “Was there any blood in her underwear?”
Kaleb shook his head. “Not a drop.”
Jessica nodded as she replaced the blanket over Myla and pulled off her gloves.
“Myla, the nurse brought in what I need for stitches, or we can use glue to seal it together. You’re probably going to have a scar no matter what.”
Myla closed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. “I’m tired. Can I go to sleep?”
Jessica nodded.
“Yes, I think you’d feel better. Your friend will hold you while I get the cut fixed up.”
Myla nodded and then jerked her eyes open and stared up at Kaleb.
“Will you stay with me? Just until I get a little stronger?”
Kaleb smoothed her hair away from her face. “I will be here as long as you need me.”
Myla nodded and closed her eyes again.
It felt like a hot piece of metal pierced Kaleb’s heart when he witnessed the single tear that rolled down her cheek. He wished more than anything he could take away the last few days and make her feel better.