48. 48
Harlow
Beep, beep, beep.
Incessant.
“Turn that off,” I groan, straining to press the pause button on the IV stand.
My nurse reaches it before me, silencing the annoying machine.
I woke up four days ago. Killian hasn’t visited once. Christine claims nobody knows where he is, and every call I make goes straight to voicemail.
Keysha packs my bag. The nurse tugs at the tape around my IV. Just before she pulls the first one out, she pauses.
“The doctors want you to stay. Are you sure you want to leave?”
I nod, and she proceeds, taking out the line and setting a cotton ball and wrap in its place. One bullet tore through my lung. The surgeons saved me, but every breath still feels like broken glass scraping inside my chest.
“Leave it on for twenty minutes.” She shakes her head. “The bandages on your back need to be changed daily. It needs to be very clean. Do you have someone to help you with that?”
Meekly, I grin at Keysha, hoping she says yes.
“I’ll do it,” she replies with a subtle smile.
The nurse has Keysha step over and gives her instructions, which Keysha picks up on well. She is an EMT. Hell, she was in the ambulance that saved me. She worked on me.
“You saved my life,” I blurt out.
“Go back to sleep. I think your pain pills are making you loopy.”
I chuckle, but it hurts every part of my body above the waist. Every breath hurts. I was cut open. Drain tubes stuck out of me. I haven’t walked farther than the bathroom in two weeks.
Very slowly, I sit up and rest with my legs dangling off the edge of the bed. The nurse sets the discharge-against-medical-advice forms in front of me. I sign every line.
“Miss Anderson.”
I glance up.
Clark stands before me wearing business clothes and an uneasy smile.
“How are you?”
I sneer and say nothing, refusing to acknowledge him. He sits in the chair opposite me, and instructs everyone to give us a minute.
Once alone, he leans forward.
“I don’t want you to leave. It’s dangerous. There will be an increased risk of blood clots, infection, and—”
“I’m going to find Killian.”
He bites down, his jaw flexing.
“I told you to stay away from my son. This wouldn’t have happened if you did as I said.”
“If it wasn’t for me, your son might have overdosed and died by now. How is living a happy life with me a bad thing?”
“Killian…” He takes a moment, like he hates to say what comes next. “He needs to be put in a safe place. We found a facility for people with psychiatric issues. They’re discreet.”
“He was fine! We were fine.”
“Christine isn’t happy about this, either. She wants him home. And me? No father wants to admit their flesh and blood has a mental problem.” He stands up and slips his hands into his pockets.
“I think it is just the trauma from Asher. He’s healing. He goes to therapy. Where is he? I need to go see him.”
“He hasn’t visited you because he thinks you died. He calls Jagger and leaves bizarre messages about you and Asher being dead together. Could be drugs. Could be his mind.”
“Well give me Jagger’s number! I’ll talk to him and show I’m alive.”
“No. I think it would be best if he continues to believe you’re dead, even after we find him.”
I gasp, horrified. “Why?”
“Is he really better with you in his life, Miss Anderson? Look how much trouble he’s found.
Look at what happened to Evan. The cops suspect he burned down your house.
He’s relapsed multiple times. He strangled his mother.
He disappeared for months. He comes back sober for the umpteenth time.
He’s getting married on impulse. His brother is in the ICU with possible brain damage.
Explain to me, Harlow, how my son is better since you walked into his life. ”
My chin trembles.
He’s right about those things, yet it feels wrong.
I could be lying to myself. Maybe Killian never left rock bottom. Maybe I just joined him down there.
“I always tried to do the right thing by him,” I assure.
“Yesterday, Christine and I filed a petition to have Killian declared incapacitated. We also asked the court to appoint us as emergency temporary guardians.”
“You can’t just decide he’s incompetent.”
“No. He’ll be evaluated once he’s found.
If the emergency petition is granted, we’ll have authority to keep him safe until the hearing.
When the police locate him, we’ll seek an involuntary psychiatric examination.
We will be pushing the doctors to recommend inpatient treatment.
That’s the private facility. Essentially, this means we will be making decisions on his behalf.
I’m sorry, but he also won’t be getting married. ”
“You’re not serious!”
“I am very serious. For once, do what’s best for my son, and let us take care of our family, which isn’t you.”
He gives one last look, then leaves. I sit there, utterly baffled.
Keysha and the nurse return.
Keysha grabs my bag, and the nurse helps me sit in a wheelchair, the standard procedure for anyone being discharged.
They push me to the car while I sit quietly, wondering if I’ve truly been better for Killian.
Clark doesn’t even know half of the other stuff Killian did. His stalking was beyond criminal.
As soon as I am buckled into her car, I look at Keysha. I tell her what Clark said.
“No shit?” she says, almost speechless.
“Yep. I need to find Killian first,” I whisper, because like him, my heart aches without him.
She cringes as she eyes a drain poking out from under my shirt. “I’ll help, but only to places you two have been. I won’t take you to dangerous drug houses.”
I nod, too weak to put up much of a fight.
For the next week, she drives me to the dance studio, the condo, and the beach. Anywhere Killian and I would go. We only stop for a few minutes, look around, and walk back to the car with our heads hanging in defeat.
Until—
A text appears on my phone.
Unknown: Hey. This is Jagger. I got your number from my mom. Killian called. This time, I got an address.
I have never hit the call button so fast.
“What’d he say?” I blurt the second Jagger answers.
“He called me. He wasn’t making sense. I told him you were alive, like I always do, but he didn’t believe me.”
“Do you know where he’s at?”
“Yes, I finally got him to tell me. I’ll go with you. It’s a bad area. Send me your address and I’ll pick you up.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
Relief hits so hard I almost sob.
I’m going to see Killian.
I only hope there’s enough of him left to recognize me.