Cursed Ecstasy (Cursed Series) (8 page)

“Etty, girl, open your mouth and suck me off before I pry your lips open.”

Gritting my teeth together, I see no other choice. This I my life and I have to do as I’m told. If I don’t, I know it will upset this man, which in turn will upset Rick. If I don’t want a beating tonight, I have to do this.

Closing my eyes, I lean forward and take him in my hands.

At first, I slowly stroke his dick. I can feel his length grow before me. Moving in closer, I open my lips and allow him to slide inside my mouth. With a quick thrust, he pushes himself further so that he’s hitting the back of my throat.

My eyes fly open and my gag reflex goes into effect. A cough escapes my throat and spit trickles down my chin.

“Take it all in, girl, now! “He shouts at me.

I do as I’m told and suck him off as if it’s the only way to save my life.

A cool hand touches my arm and my tired eyes open.

“Miss Powers, you can’t fall asleep on us. I’m your nurse and we’ll be taking you up to your room now,” she says, gesturing behind her to a small girl wearing blue scrubs.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to doze off like that. I’m just so tired.”

A small smile forms on her face.

“I know you are and soon enough we’ll have you up in your room where you can get more comfortable. For now, I’d like to start you on some pain meds through your IV. Let me get this all set up and we’ll take you upstairs.”

Nodding my head, I watch as the nurse pulls out an IV needle, tap, and two bags of clear liquid.

All I want to do right now is sleep and when I wake up this will all be a horrid nightmare.

Chapter 9

Walking down a bleak, white hallway, Steve and I are led to Linc’s room. After hearing about his condition, I felt as though a part of me had died. If Linc loses the use of his right arm he’ll never be able to ink another soul again. He’ll be devastated; everything he’s worked so hard for all these years will have been a waste.

I’m more than grateful to know that he’s alive and breathing, but I don’t know how the hell he’s going to handle this news. I could be the stronger of the two of us, but how the hell am I supposed to do that? His life is my life.

Moving forward, I watch as the nurse turns into a room on the right side of the hallway.

Steve goes in first and I follow into a very dark and uninviting room. A single bed sits in the center of the room with two small tables on either side and a TV is perched on the far wall.

Linc is sleeping with cords and some sort of tubes falling from his bed while beeping noises sound in the background.

“You are both welcome to stay up here as long as you like, just do me a favor. If Lincoln wakes up, let us know, and
please
don’t get him agitated. We’re all aware of his condition and the stress he’s gone through since last night, so we want him to remain calm. If you can’t do that for him then we’ll have to ask you to leave. Is that clear?”

I can’t help but laugh. This petite woman is scolding us. It must be the persona we give off or something. I don’t know that there’s one person is this place that hasn’t passed judgment on us since we got here.

Steve bumps my arm and gives me a look.

“Yeah, we’ll behave. Scout’s honor,” I reply, holding up three fingers.

She shakes her head and moves closer to Linc. I watch her as she reads the monitor and checks the IV that is stuck into his hand.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on him again. Remember to call one of us if he wakes up or if you need anything.”

Steve and I both nod in her direction and pull the chairs over next to Linc’s bed.

“He looks like shit,” Steve says.

“We should have been there tonight.
I
should have been.”

“Dude, what do you seriously think you could’ve done to change what happened? You’re not a super hero, bro. If you were there, too, I’d be bouncing back in forth between
two
rooms instead of one.”

Leaning forward in my chair, I rest my elbows on my legs.

“I don’t know, Steve, but I would’ve done
anything
to keep Linc and Jo safe.”

“Yeah, I get that, man, I really do, but what’s done is done. Now, all we can do is wait.”

“I’ll be happy to never come back to this place again. I just want them out and back where they belong.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me, but for right now we’re here. I’m going to shut my eyes for a bit and try to get some sleep. I’d suggest you do the same.”

Nodding my head, I scoot down in the chair and rest my head back onto the chair. A few minutes of shut-eye may be helpful. We’ve all been up for way too long, and if I just shut my eyes for a little bit, I’ll feel more rested.

“Dault, baby, it’ll be fine,” Mama says while wiping the blood from her lip.

“But, Mama, he hit you really hard this time. Your lip is cut and you’re covered in blood.”

My eyes stare into the eyes of a strong woman. She’s taken the brunt of my pain for years. He’s attacked her rather than going after me. If not for her, he’d probably have strangled me with his two bare hands.

“Sweetie, I’m fine. Why don’t you go and get your baseball stuff from the car and put it away. That way, when your father comes home, he’ll be happy that you cleaned up your things.”

“It won’t matter, Mama. He’ll just find another reason to yell at us and hurt you.”

“I’ll take care of your father, Dault, don’t you worry yourself over it.”

She sets the washcloth down on the sink and places both her hands on either side of my face.

“I love you, Daulton, don’t ever forget that. No matter how much your father yells and screams, we are both very proud of you.”

I begin to shake my head back in forth.

“No, Mama, all of this is my fault. If I wouldn’t have stopped at third base and rounded the plate for home, he wouldn’t have been so mad at me. You wouldn’t have gotten hit.”

Tears start to fall from my eyes and my chest begins to ache.

“Oh, my handsome boy, none of this is your fault. You did your best today. Now go do as Mama asked and get your things while I clean up in here.”

She places a soft kiss to my forehead and leans back against the bathroom wall.

I nod my head and turn to leave the room, heading for the front door.

Seeing her like this hurts me and there’s nothing I can do to stop her pain. My father is a monster and I’m so scared that one day he’ll really hurt her.

I love Mama so much and I can’t bear to see her like this. Tomorrow, I’ll be the best boy I can be so there’s no reason for him to touch her again.

A tingling sensation pulls me from my sleep. Sitting up in the chair, I look around the room to gain my bearings and see that both Linc and Steve are still out.

I’m covered in sweat with goose bumps surfacing all over my arms and legs.

I haven’t had a dream like that in years. The memories of my life with both my parents are something I’ve pushed so far down in my thoughts that I never thought they’d resurface.

The vibration in my back pocket goes off and I reach for my cell.

Cliff’s name flashes across the screen as I swipe my finger along the green button on my phone. Moving to the other side of the room, I answer the call.

“Yo man,” I say in a groggy voice.

“Hey, what the fuck is going on?” he asks.

“Well, I can tell you that I’d rather have been where you are than here.”

“What the hell did I miss? I was at this chick’s house and my phone was in my pants in her living room. I had no clue you guys were trying to reach me ‘til I woke up this morning and got dressed.”

“Nice, man, I don’t want the details. Steve and I are at the hospital. It’s a long fucking story and I’m not about to get into it now. Just get your ass here.”

“I’m on my way, see you in fifteen minutes.”

Ending the call, I slide my cell back into my pocket. Looking out the window, the light of the rising sun is coming over the tall buildings. I don’t know how long I was out, but shit, it’s already morning.

Turning around, my eyes focus on Linc lying in bed. He begins to move and my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach.

“Hey, man,” I whisper, moving alongside the bed.

His eyes blink a few times and they set on mine.

“Dault, what the fuck?”

“If I was a pansy ass I’d fucking hug you right now. Do you have any idea how scared I was?”

His brows scrunch and his eyes close. Opening them back up, he looks to me with pure confusion.

“What the hell is going on? Where am I?”

“You’re at the hospital. You were shot and had surgery on your right arm.”

“Shot? Shit, where are Jo and Etty?” he asks, trying to sit up. “
Fuck
that hurt,” he says, resting his body back down on the bed.

“I couldn’t care less where Etty is, but Jo was still in surgery when we came up to your room.”

His head tilts to Steve, who’s still knocked out cold, then back to me.

“Dault, what do you mean she’s in surgery? What happened?”

Taking a seat back in the chair next to him, I lean forward on the bed.

“I don’t know the whole story. All I’ve been able to get is that Etty’s ex, Rick, showed up with Michael. Etty was down in the ER, she hit her head or some shit like that, and they told us that you got shot in the arm. We haven’t heard any more on Jo yet.”

“Oh my god, I tried. I really tried to keep them safe, Dault. I need to know that my girls are okay, man.”

“Yeah, well we’ve been here waiting for answers all night. As soon as they know anything on Jo they’ll come find me.”

“It’s my fault, Dault; I should’ve fought Rick harder. I tried to get the gun from him, but I couldn’t. My head was heavy, it hurt, and all I could do was struggle for the gun. Before I knew it, I heard a gunshot and my mind went blank.”

“Relax, Linc, none of this is your fault, it’s all
Etty’s
fault. Everything will be just fine.”

“Why would it be Etty’s fault? She didn’t do anything wrong.”

I move to stand from the chair and head toward the end of the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“I gotta tell the nurse you’re awake, I’ll be right back.”

My mind is swarming with emotions. Linc is awake and he’s blaming everything on himself. None of this is his fault, it’s hers
.

As much as I want to hate her, to blame her for everything that has happened in this fucked up situation, I know I shouldn't. She’s dug her heels into me somehow, and with my anger and my fucked up life, right now it just fits. I need to grasp at something and Etty seems like the perfect target since it
is
her past that’s created this mess.

Making my way out of the room, I find a group of women sitting around the nurses’ station. The woman from earlier sees me coming and quickly stands.

“He’s up,” I tell her and turn my back, walking toward Linc’s room.

The pitter patter of her feet quickly comes up alongside of me.

“So he’s awake?” she asks.

“Yup.”

“Has he said anything to you?”

I let out a heavy breath and stop in my tracks, turning to face her.

“Look, lady, I’m tired, pissed off, and this is the
last
place I want to be. Yes, he’s awake and yes, he’s talked to me. What relevance that has to you, I haven’t a clue. Just go in there and do what you need to do. We’ll stay out of your way if you’ll just stay out of ours.”

The look on her face is priceless, but I’m being completely honest. I’m not in the mood to make small talk. All I want is to get in and out of here and go back home.       

She moves past me and into the room. Following close behind, I move the chair away from the bed and back to the far side of the room.

“Hi, Lincoln, I’m Kathy and will be your nurse throughout the day. I just want to check on a few things before I ask you some questions.”

“Go for it, I don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re willing to cooperate so well,” she says, turning to face me and giving me a wicked smirk.

Stupid bitch.

I turn my gaze from her to another nurse walking into the room.

“Hello, gentlemen, I was asked to come in here and let y’all know when we had any news on Miss JoAnne.”

My ears perk up and my I turn my head to look at Linc. His eyes are wide and I can tell his heart is beginning to race because the beeping sound in the room speeds up.

“How is she?” he asks.

The other nursed steps in closer toward Linc.

“She’s out of surgery but up in our ICU. She took a gunshot wound to the abdomen and all I know as of right now is that she’s currently stable.”