Chapter 6
ONE WEEK LATER
“You know that you’re not supposed to be in here, Fullwood. Make sure that you don’t make me regret it,” Officer Hanson warned, leading me through the last locked door.
When it slid open, I walked into the room and took a seat at the table. I had to play this out carefully to make sure that I didn’t end up in here myself on the other side of the table. I rolled my shoulders and neck, trying to loosen the tension that had my body coiled tight like a viper.
It had taken an entire week to get myself under control enough to make this visit.
Anger had driven every action through the last week, and I had to talk myself down.
The only time that I hadn’t allowed anger to drive my actions was when I was with Sevyn.
We hadn’t had a single conversation, but she brought me calm and peace.
She eased my troubled mind whenever I grew anxious or became overly emotional.
The door on the other side of the room opened, and a man shuffled inside.
His light brown skin was ashen, and his large, dark brown eyes were sunken.
His face was battered and bruised. I knew that was more than likely the result of my brothers’ work because he was a cop killer.
The hair he normally wore in loose dreads was pulled back in a ponytail, and his shoulders were stooped, giving him the appearance that he was shorter than his six-foot, two-inch height.
The minute his eyes spotted me, he stopped and turned back to the door.
But the door slammed shut and locked from the other side.
“Sit your ass down, Ward,” I commanded with all the authority my position allowed me.
“I didn’t approve you to be on my visitors’ list.”
“I don’t give a damn what you approved and didn’t approve. Your punk ass should realize that the minute those cuffs went on, you ceased to have any rights.”
“You think because you wear that badge and gun your ass can come in here and threaten me?”
I sat back in my chair and folded my arms over my chest. “Nah, you’ve got me mistaken.
I didn’t come here to threaten your ass.
I came to let you know that every single person involved in this case is going to make sure that you get buried and burned for what you did to Lena.
She was a sweet girl who worked hard to protect the citizens of Cherokee Springs.
She hated seeing DV victims and how they often took up for their abusers.
We know why that was such a sensitive spot for her.
“And because you made it that, I’ma make sure that she gets the justice she deserves.
We’re not backing up off your ass. You will feel the wrath of the entire police department come down on you.
Your ass will be beaten every day that you’re in here.
If I could come on the other side and do it myself, trust me, I would. ”
“You always did have a thing for her, didn’t you?” he asked, chuckling. “All she ever saw out of you was a partner, but I could tell from the look in your eyes that wasn’t good enough for you. You wanted more, and she wouldn’t give it to you.”
“I respected her and admired her. That was a hell of a lot more than you gave her. She was never happy as long as she was with you. The times I was around, I never heard you speak one kind or loving word. All you had was ridicule about her weight, her shape, her hair, her clothing, and anything else you could think of to make her feel less than who she was. You weren’t satisfied until you took the life from her body.
But you know what? You can’t escape the reality of what you tried to run from through your abuse.
The reality is, you weren’t good enough for her.
You weren’t shit. You don’t deserve to be living, breathing, or walking on this planet. You’re a muthafuckin’ waste of space.”
He sneered. “Yeah? Then tell me why I’m still here, and she’s not?”
The last bit of restraint I had went out the door. I jumped over the table and punched him in the face repeatedly, knocking him out of his chair. My hands were around his neck, trying to strangle the last breath from his lungs before I felt several hands on me, pulling me away and shouting my name.
“I fucking warned you, Deuce!” Officer Hanson shouted at me through clenched teeth.
“Man, get out of here. We’ll fix this,” Officer Emmanuel stated, nodding his head at Paul Ward who lay on the floor with his face a bloody mess.
When one of the other officers reached for him, he kicked out at them. I wasn’t sure what happened next, because Officer Hanson and another officer, Brigham, escorted me out of the room.
So far, the only person to visit Sevyn in the last week besides her coworkers, was a man who claimed to be her brother-in-law.
He obviously wasn’t the one who was strung out on drugs, and from the questions he asked me about the investigation, I could tell that he assumed I was a cop assigned to the case.
I had gone to work that day and returned to the hospital straight from work.
I was still in my uniform when he came. Although it was wrong, I was content to allow him to believe what he wanted.
I kept my answers strictly professional, explaining that we couldn’t discuss matters related to the case since it was still an open investigation.
He mentioned that the only reason he’d shown up was to get answers from Sevyn herself, but since she wasn’t awake, there was no need to waste his time further.
It took all my restraint to keep my hands to myself. I had spent the last couple of weeks with her, and though she had been in a coma the entire time, I felt like I knew her based on the things Waverleigh shared and spending time with her.
I shared things with Sevyn that I hadn’t told another soul, things I would have only shared with Lena: my fears, my anger, my dreams, and my wrongs.
“You might not think that you have a reason to wake up, but there are some people on this side cheering for you. Not the least of which are Waverleigh and me. Nurses Tasha, Bethany, Kayla, Vivienne, Hannah, and Monica, and Doctors Kim, Cruz, and Davenport are all cheering for you. You’ve got a team of physical therapists in place waiting for you as well.
Tamara, Joel, and Elaine have all been in here on numerous occasions.
They’re the ones who taught me how to do these exercises with you,” I explained as I pushed her left leg up toward her, using the heel of her foot.
I had curated a playlist for her with the music Waverleigh said she liked: Solemn, Jovi Noelle, and Chris Perry. It played in the background while I exercised her. I often played the playlist while I sat here beside her.
I performed those exercises on both legs for five minutes before I stopped and massaged her feet.
Although only family should have been allowed up here to visit her, I knew the hospital administrator, the head nurse, Tasha, and a couple of doctors before Sevyn’s accident.
They were comfortable enough to allow me in here.
I knew they thought that spending time with Sevyn might heal me from losing Lena, because most of them knew her, too, but that wasn’t why I was here. I wasn’t looking for healing, because I didn’t deserve it.
A part of me wanted to assuage my guilt for causing the accident.
If Sevyn died, I would be even more devastated.
It wasn’t just because that would have been a third death that I caused, but the more time I spent with her, the more attached to her I became.
I was vested in seeing her survive this thing and recover whole.
The doctors were adamant that if she woke up, she would survive. In the two weeks that she had been here, she had seven surgeries, only two of which were major, including the first one when she was brought in. With each of those surgeries, she had minimal scarring and was healing from them nicely.
They just needed her to wake up to assess the extent of her mental and psychological damage.
I knew this woman had a long, challenging road to recovery, but I hoped that she made it.
I knew it wouldn’t be easy the moment she recalled that she lost her husband and grandmother on the same day.
The doctors had brought her out of the coma one day, but I hadn’t been here.
When given the devastating news about her husband, she began to seize.
They eventually made the difficult decision to place her back into a coma.
The doctors worried that her memories might not be completely intact when she first woke up.
When they did come back, she might experience the pain and trauma of loss all over again.
That part tore me up, because I never meant to cause anyone that much pain.
I simply had been devastated by my own loss, Lena and our son, and was heading home.
I hadn’t wanted to be bothered with anyone, hearing their condolences, or sharing stories about what Lena meant to them. I had only wanted to escape it all, but in the midst of my grief, I hadn’t cared about anything or anyone else, except Sevyn.
The way that I saw it, the least that I could do was stand by this woman’s side to see her through her recovery.
She had no one else except for her best friend, and I had taken the one other person she had away.
While I had initially planned to walk away as soon as she woke up, once I met her callous brother-in-law and saw what she had to deal with, I committed myself to sticking around a little longer.
It was the least she deserved and not even part of what I owed her.
“Waverleigh tells me that you only had your grandmother and husband. Sometimes, I wish my circle was that small. Unfortunately, I’m usually surrounded by people. If not at the police department with my sisters and brothers in uniform, then definitely at home among my family.