7. Alex
Chapter seven
Alex
I let go of Rachel’s hand and ran out the door to the nurse’s desk. “Something is wrong! She was breathing funny and then blacked out! I hit the button, and no one is coming fast enough! Someone do something!” I was pacing next to the desk while a nurse paged someone to the room. “Someone will be coming to the room, sir.” That was all she said, with a small smile. A fucking smile! Like nothing is wrong, and that Rachel didn’t just pass out.
I run back into the room to be there when the doctor arrives. She is still breathing, but she is out cold. I grab her hand and wait as patiently as I can. Patients have not been a strong suit in my life. My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and see a text from Smith.
SMITH: Hey, I am out of Jail. Can you pick me up? I am hungover as shit.
What should I say to him? I’m sorry, but I can’t because I am with a girl I just met at the hospital. He is going to think I have completely lost my mind. I put my phone away and thought about this for a few minutes. The doctor finally came in; I will reply to Xander after they make sure Rachel is okay.
“Can you explain to me what happened?” I assumed the doctor was checking for a pulse when he started feeling around Rachel’s neck. Still, I am not a doctor, so I have no idea what he is doing.
“Yeah, she started talking about the man who did this to her, Andrew, saying how he will be mad that he is in jail and that she needs to call him and bail him out of jail. Then she started to breathe heavily, and her body started to shake. I tried to calm her down, and then she passed out.” The doctor nods to me in understanding, looks at the nurse, and says, “Just a panic attack.” I can feel myself let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding. They don’t seem to be freaking out, so I need to calm down. I pull out my phone to text Smith back, distracting my mind for a second.
ME: Hey, man, you are going to have to get an Uber. I am at the hospital with a girl I rescued last night. Her "fiance" beat the shit out of her and kicked her into a building.
I don’t care what he says. I am not leaving her; she asked me to be here for her, and I will be.
I wake up to someone gently running their fingers through my hair. I didn’t even realize I fell asleep. I looked up and saw Rachel staring at me.
“Why are you staying here with me?” She whispers. I am still half asleep, but I sit up, stretch, and smile. “You asked me to stay here.” Her lip turns up slightly, but you can see how sad she is.
“How are you feeling, Rachel?” I don’t need her overdoing it and passing out again. “I’m OK, sore but better than I was yesterday.” She gives me another one of her half-smiles. That is one of the cutest smiles I have ever seen… Also, the fact that she can smile after all that she has been through is crazy.
“Have you talked to the doctor about when I can get out of this shit hole?” She looks at me with so much hope in her eyes. “Yeah, they said you should be good to leave tonight as long as you stay stable and have no more panic attacks.” Embarrassment washed over her face. “I hate that you had to see that. It’s so embarrassing.” She can’t be serious right now... embarrassed? Over a panic attack? I look at her sternly and begin to say, “You don’t have to be emb…” We get interrupted by a knock on the door. We look at the door, and Olivia pokes her head into the room. “Ms. Fayet, I am Officer O’Connor. I have a few questions for you. I was with Alex García the night we found you.”
My heart is pounding. There is no way she is here, in the hospital. “Hey, Olivia, did you get assigned this case?” I asked. She shook her head and smiled shyly.
“No, I am involved personally, so I cannot take on the case. However, Officer Bennett has the case, and I have questions for Ms. Fayet regarding the incident for my own purposes. I will be on trial against Andrew when the time comes.” I look over at Rachel; her eyes are tearing up, and you can hear her breath catch in her throat.
“I would love to help you, but my memory is foggy from that night.” She looks around the room, noticeably uncomfortable.
“That is no problem, Ms. Fayet. I understand completely. We don’t want to intrude. We just need a statement, but that can happen when you are ready and have time to recall what you can,” Officer Bennett says in a gentle, soothing voice.
Olivia turned and smiled at me. “May I speak to you in the hall?” I look down at Rachel, who nods at me. I get up and follow Olivia out of the room.
“Hey, how are you?” I say. She turned around to look at me. “I have been better. How are you?” I looked at her, trying to figure out what was wrong.
“What’s going on, Livy?” She looked at me, shocked when I called her by a nickname instead of her real name.
“It’s just been crazy since I got back to work, trying to get this case handled without having my hands in it, and I just got a gang case dropped on my desk today. They want me to be the lead officer for the case.” She looks excited but nervous at the same time.
“That’s fucking awesome! Congratulations! I don’t know much about the police force, but that sounds like a huge deal! I’m excited for you!” She gave a soft chuckle and mumbled her thanks.
Looking up at me, I said, “I wanted to give you my number so we can hang out again if you want to. We didn’t get a chance for any of that after the incident.” I smile at her, switch phones, and enter each other’s numbers.
When I get back into the room, I see Rachel’s face with tears running down her cheeks, and she is still talking to Officer Bennett. On the other side of the bed, the nurses are messing with some of the tubes that are attached to her. I'm not sure what they're doing, and I don’t want to be in the way, so I sit in my chair, as far away from everyone as possible, and zone out.
“Mr. García, can I have a minute of your time to get a statement from you, too? I know you have been asked a lot of questions, but unfortunately, I have to ask more, " the officer says. I look over at Rachel, who is now chatting with the nurse and nodding at something she said.
“Yeah, no problem. Whatever I can do to help.” She pulls me out into the hallway to talk. Why she couldn't just do this when I was already out in the hallway, the world may never know.
“So tell me, Mr. García. What do you recall from the night Ms.Fayet got attacked?” she asks me, and I give her a play-by-play of what happened. “So you were out with Officer O’Connor?” she asks judgmentally. I schooled my features so she wouldn't know that her question caught me off guard.
“Um. Yes. I asked her out on a date that night. What does that have to do with the case?” I ask with a side-eye. I am trying not to snap at this girl, but that's none of her damn business. “Thank you, Mr. García. Would you say you and Officer O’Connor are in a relationship?” She then bats her eyes at me like she is trying to be cute. “I apologize, Officer… um.” I forgot her name. “Bennett. Officer Bennett.” She replies with an eye roll and more Sass than I have seen in a teenage girl. “Yes, Officer Bennett. No offense, but if Officer O’Connor and I are in a relationship, that is none of your concern. It is also completely irrelevant to the case and should not be asked right now,” I say. She looked at me, her face heated with embarrassment.
“Right. Well, that will be all I need, Mr. García. Thank you for your time.” With a nod, I walk back into Rachel’s room and sit in my chair. She is on her laptop, completely focused on whatever she is doing.
“What are you studying?” I ask with curiosity in my eyes. She looks up at me, shocked, like I said the most ridiculous thing ever.
“Um. Law.” She said, shocked I was even asking.
“Wow! Law isn’t an easy major. You want to become a hotshot Lawyer when you are done?” I ask jokingly.
“I want to be a criminal defense Lawyer. I want to help those who were wrongly accused.” Her eyes sparkle with care.
“I love the passion I can see in your heart. I know you will do great things in the field.” I say and absolutely mean it. She just smiles at me.
“When do you graduate?” I say.
“Spring! I can’t wait! I am going to apply to some smaller law firms soon to get my foot in the door. Then, I want to open my own Law firm.” She speaks so fast, and her arms are flying in the air. You can feel the excitement radiating off of her.
After Rachel had studied for a while, she fell back asleep. It's likely because of the pain meds they have her on.
I am grateful she isn’t a complete mess from the loss of the baby. I wouldn’t know how to handle the situation if I were in her shoes, but I know I wouldn’t be this strong.
I grab her phone and enter my number, just in case she needs me. I know she doesn't know me, but I will do anything to protect her. I'm not sure where these feelings are coming from, but they're hitting me like a semi-truck to the gut.