Defensive (19 page)

“Please, Vanessa, if you can hear me, wake up. Please wake up,” I said, leaning into her, kissing her cheek.

Vanessa

A bright light forced me to open my eyes.
Shit, that hurts!
I turned my head toward a voice I didn’t recognize.

“Hey, you’re awake.”

“Baby, you’re awake?” I heard Jackson’s voice say on the other side of me. “Baby, can you hear me?”

I turned my head towards him before I took in my surroundings. I was in a small little room with different equipment. I could feel bumping so I was a little confused. “I can hear you,” I told him as I focused on his face. It was lined with worry.

“Oh, thank God. Baby, you’re in an ambulance, headed to the hospital.”

I began to ask why but I was cut off by the person on my right asking me different questions. As soon as I was done with the questions, the ambulance came to a stop and I was hurried out and into the hospital. I was scared and confused. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on why I would be in a hospital. My head hurt like hell and my body ached. I scrambled to figure it out. Flashes of being in my apartment parking lot came to mind. Followed by being asked for my purse and being knocked to the ground. After that, I had nothing.

Doctors and nurses came in, hooking me up to different machines and asking a million questions, but all I wanted was to be left alone and have Jackson by my side again.
Where is he?
“Jackson. I need Jackson,” I told a nurse.

“The man you came in with? He’s in the waiting room. He’ll be in after we get you all set.”

“I need him now,” I told her, raising my voice a little.

“I know, dear, but we have to do our job first.”

I was left all alone. I felt the tears forming in my eyes. I tried to blink them away but I couldn’t. The tears kept building and building until I was silently crying. I felt so scared, even though I knew I was safely inside my hospital room.

“Baby. Oh thank God you’re okay,” Jackson said running to my side. He bent down and kissed my forehead. “Don’t cry. Everything’s okay. You’re okay.”

“Jackson,” was all I could get out as the sobs took over. He put his arms around me the best he could with all the wires in the way. I buried my face into his neck and cried.

After I calmed down, I felt him pull away and kiss my forehead. “It’s okay, Vanessa. The doctors said you’re going to be okay, but they want to keep you overnight.”

“What happened?” I asked as he sat down in a chair, scooting up close to me.

“Do you remember anything?”

“I kinda remember being mugged in my apartment parking lot.”

“Yeah. I didn’t really see anything. I got there after everything had happened, but I guess some asshole tried to mug you and…”

“Did he…” I couldn’t get the word out and started crying again.

He pulled me in close again before kissing my cheek. “It’s okay, baby. No, he didn’t rape you. The guy who lives two doors over saw it and stopped him.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Then what happened? Why did I wake up in an ambulance with you?”

He gave me another gentle kiss on the cheek. “I decided I’d had enough of our break and was going to make you talk to me and fix this. And I needed to tell you about the baby. I drove over to your apartment. When I pulled up, I saw some people over by your steps. I parked as fast as I could because something just didn’t feel right. I jogged over and found you on the ground and your neighbor on top of some thug. I went over to you and noticed your head was bleeding and you were unconscious.” He took a deep breath. “My entire world stopped. I felt like someone had taken a knife to my heart. Baby, I love you so much.”

“I kinda remember another person,” I told him, noticing he had tears in his eyes. “Hey, I’m okay now.”

He breathed a heavy breath. “I don’t really know what happened since I wasn’t there, but according to your neighbor, he saw the guy attacking you and…” Anger flashed on his face but he continued. “He was trying to get your pants down. He said he just reacted and launched on him. When he fell on him, that knocked you down and you hit your head on the curb.”

“So you showed up and called the ambulance?” I asked.

He kissed my forehead. “No. I guess they fought a little and the neighbor got him pinned down and called 911 before I got there.”

“I’m so glad you were there.”

“Me, too, but I wish I had gotten there sooner and none of this would’ve happened.”

I could tell he was angry with himself because he hadn’t gotten there sooner. He had no way of knowing what was happening, but I knew him well enough to know that he was mad at himself for not coming over earlier.

“Stop,” I told him and he gave me a startled look. “Stop blaming yourself. You had no way of knowing this would happen. If you are going to play that game with yourself, then I can play that game, too. I could’ve gotten home earlier or stayed at Amanda’s place.”

“Don’t. I get your point.” He stroked my hand. “I love you so much, Vanessa. I just… I can’t ever go through that again. I can’t be without you.”

“I love you, too. I can’t promise nothing like this will happen again, but I’ll try to be safe.” I reached up and touched his cheek. “I’m so sorry for shutting you out.”

“Just don’t do it again. I know this might not be the right time, but I have to tell you something.” He gave me a light kiss on the lips. Even though it was a gentle kiss, I had missed it.

A light knock on the door and a throat clearing interrupted us. “Thank goodness you’re okay,” my mom cried, running to my side.

“I’m okay,” I told her as she hugged me.

“I knew that was a bad neighborhood as soon as I saw it,” my dad added.

“Yeah. I feel the same way,” Jackson told him.

“Things like this happen in good neighborhoods, too. It’s just one of those things,” I said.

“Hey.” Landon said as he poked his head around the door and walked in.

“I’ll step out and let you have some time with your family,” Jackson said. “Is my buddy in the waiting room?” he asked my brother, who nodded. Jackson leaned over and gave me a kiss before leaving the room.

“You two work everything out?” Landon asked.

“It was nothing,” I told my parents, who looked confused, before I turned back to my brother and shot him a dirty look.

“Sorry,” he mouthed.

“What happened?” my mom asked.

“I left Amanda’s from our movie night and came home. I was about to go up the steps to my apartment and someone came up behind me, spinning me around. He told me to give him my purse and I did. He then started grabbing at me and that’s pretty much all I remember.” I decided they didn’t need to know the rest. I knew I’d start crying just thinking about what could have happened.

“But Jackson said you were unconscious.” My dad stated.

“Yeah. I guess my neighbor saw it and jumped on the guy, which made me fall and hit my head on the curb. I woke up in the ambulance. I wasn’t out that long.”

“Was Jackson there when it happened?” my mom asked. I guess she wanted every little detail. I knew she meant well and was just being a mom, but I felt so tired and her questions were making it worse.

“No. I guess he showed up after the guy had the mugger pinned down and had called 911.”

“We’re just so glad you’re okay.”

“So are you going to move out of that area anytime soon?” Landon asked.

“Why? These types of things can happen anytime, anywhere. Besides I can’t afford anything else.”

He barked out a laugh. “I’m pretty sure the guy you have wrapped around your finger could help you out.”

“I already use Jackson’s car. I’m not going to let him help me out with rent, too.”

“Whatever you say, sis. I’m going to step out and let Amanda come back.”

He left the room and I closed my eyes for a minute. I opened my eyes when I heard a sob come from my mom. “Mom, please don’t cry. I’m fine.”

She marched over to me and grabbed my hand. “I know and I’m so thankful. I just can’t help but think about what could’ve happened.”

“Don’t do that. Nothing bad happened. I’m really okay.”

The door opened. Amanda wasn’t crying but I could tell by the color of her face that she had been. She gave me a small smile and a hug.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” she told me.

“I’ll try not to. But I promise, I’m fine. Just a little sore and I have a huge headache.”

“I won’t stay. I know you need rest but I couldn’t leave without hugging you first.”

I smiled. “Thanks. I love you.”

She smiled back. “I love you, too, but that guy out there…” She pointed to the waiting room. “He loves you so much. He was a complete mess on the phone.”

“I know and I’m going to show him that I feel the same way. No more being stupid,” I told her.

“Good. I’m going to go now. I’ll call or come by tomorrow.”

She left after giving me another hug. I felt so tired. I’m sure some of it was the pain medicine that the hospital had given me. I didn’t want to be rude but I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. I heard some noises but I couldn’t get my eyes to stay open. I just kept them shut and tried to focus on the voices.

“She asleep?” Jackson asked.

“Thanks for letting Landon know,” I heard my dad say.

“No problem. I figured you’d kill me if I didn’t let y’all know.”

“We really need to find her another place. That area is just not safe,” Mom told them.

“I know. I hope this doesn’t bother you, but I’m going to beg her to move in with me. I also hope that you don’t mind that I plan on asking her to marry me.” My heart picked up. I couldn’t believe it. Even after everything that had happened, hearing him say he wanted to marry me made me feel so happy.

“You know, I wasn’t sure about you at first, but I can see you love her. You have my blessing. However, if you hurt her even a fraction of the way Shane hurt her, I will kill you,” my dad said.

“And you should kill me. But I’d never do that to her. She’s too special. She means everything to me.”

“Okay. We’re going to go now since she’s sleeping. Call us first thing in the morning and let us know how she is.”

I heard the door close and I felt Jackson lean down and kiss my forehead before placing a small kiss on my lips. “I love you, Vanessa. With all my heart.”

I managed to move over a bit and patted the space beside me. I felt the bed dip, then his arms wrap around me, holding me close. I felt loved and safe.

Jackson

I didn’t sleep but maybe two hours. I couldn’t stop looking at her. She was beautiful inside and out. I also couldn’t stop thinking about how I wanted to propose to her. At about five in the morning, I had come up with what I thought would be a nice way to do it. Not too corny but it had meaning in our relationship.

I also kept thinking about how I could convince her to move in with me now. I decided that if she absolutely refused, I’d just make her elope. Vegas probably wasn’t what she wanted, but I didn’t care. She was getting out of that ghetto apartment and she was becoming my wife. End of story.

I was beginning to sound like an asshole, even to myself, but when it came to her, I didn’t care. I felt her move beside me. “Hey,” she said as she turned her head toward me.

“Good morning, beautiful. How do you feel?” I asked.

“I’m okay. Sleeping with you helped. I always sleep better when you’re next to me.”

I kissed the top of her head. “Me, too.”

She touched the area on her head that she’d hit. “Gosh, that hurts. It feels like I met the concrete last night.”

“Don’t even joke about it. Seeing you like that, I’m pretty sure I died last night.”

A nurse came into the room and narrowed her eyes at me. I kissed Vanessa’s lips softly before I eased off the bed. “Sorry,” I told the nurse.

“I’ve already seen it. She seemed okay so I left it alone.” She turned toward Vanessa. “I’m your nurse, Amy. How are we feeling this morning, Ms. Smith? Anything I can get you?”

“I’m feeling okay. My head’s just sore. Could I get some water, though?”

The nurse nodded. “Of course. I’ll be right back and your doctor should be around in an hour or so.”

She left the room as I sat down in the chair beside Vanessa, scooting up as close as I could to her. She ran her hand over my cheek and under my eye. “You look so tired. Did you not sleep last night?” she asked.