Fight for Love (22 page)

Buddy? I wasn’t her fucking buddy. “My name’s Luke not buddy.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. It’s habit. Anyway, can you just relax?”

“Relax? I’m in an ambulance, I hurt all over and I have no idea what happened. You want me to relax. Yeah, okay. When hell freezes over.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The driver didn’t care that I felt like shit lying on the hard bed in the back. I swear he hit every bump in the road. Both EMTs, or whatever you called them, didn’t seem to be bothered by the jolts. I felt every single one of them. Rather than lash out because of the pain I kept quiet and focused on trying to remember what happened.
 

When they unloaded me from the ambulance I looked up to a sea of nurses and doctors waiting for me. It wasn’t like those shows on TV where they jumped right in, but they started talking to the EMTs in a casual manner getting all the information they needed.
 

“Any chance I can get something to make this pain go away?” I didn’t direct my question at anyone in particular.
 

No one answered me so I asked again. This time I tried to yell, but my throat hurt as well as my head. “Can I get something for this pain? Now.”

I hurt all over. When I tried to lift my head, muscles spasms hit from my neck to my toes. I tried to sit up, but my legs wouldn’t work.
 

Still no response. “I fucking hurt all over. Can someone please get me some pain meds?”

“We’ll get you some pain meds as soon as we get you checked out.” The responder was an older lady that looked like she could be a grandma. Her tone was gentle and caring, and I calmed down. A little.
 

“Didn’t they do that on the way here?”

This time a man, different from the other in the ambulance, answered. “They could only do so much. We’ve got to get x-rays and the doctor needs to do an internal exam before we give you anything to dull the pain.” He flipped papers over the top of the chart and kept up with the bed while the EMTs wheeled me into a room. “Wanna tell me what happened?”

“I would if I could.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Damn that hurt. vzyl

“Why can’t you?”

“Because I don’t know. I remember fighting with my asshole stepfather, but I don’t remember what happened between the time we started hitting each other and waking up to the blaring sirens and strobe effects.”

“So did your stepfather do this?” The guy continued with questions.
 

“I don’t know. Probably.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.” What was with the third degree? I wanted painkillers, not to complete an interview. “Anything else?”

“Not right now. Try and relax. We’ll get you something soon.”

“Not soon enough,” I mumbled.
 

The older nurse placed her hand on my shoulder and I cringed. “Don’t worry honey, it won’t be much longer.”

I tried to close my eyes in hopes that sleep would help me forget how much I hurt. At the same time my lids covered my eyes a shriek from down the hall sent a sharp pain through my head. Mom.

“Where is my son?” she hollered.

“Who is your son, ma’am?”
 

“Luke Pierce…I mean Luke Sullivan.”

“He’s there in that room.”
 

It was a relief not being able to see everyone, but I couldn’t block out Mom’s shrill voice. She sounded concerned, not what I expected. Defending Dave came before me anytime an argument arose between us. I figured she’d blame me for getting hurt tonight, but maybe she’d surprise me after all. The curtain that served as a door slid back and I opened my eyes to my mom standing there. Her eyes red from crying, I hoped.
 

“Hey Mom.”
 

“Oh Luke, oh my goodness. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into him. When I came downstairs to check on you two what I saw scared me. You were on the mat not moving with a pool of blood near your head. I thought you’d fallen. Without thinking I called nine one one right away. Dave is so sorry.”
 

I put my hand on her arm to stop her rambling. “Mom, stop. My head is killing me. Please just stop talking.”
 

She leaned down and tried to give me a hug. I hissed when her shoulder pressed into my ribs. “Luke, I’m so so sorry.” A tear fell onto my cheek.
 

I wanted to reassure her, tell her I was fine. But she defended him again. Said he was sorry. Sorry my ass. I knew then what happened. I didn’t need her rambling apology to know that Dave wailed on me after I’d fallen. He didn’t take mercy and let me up. No, he’d hit and kicked me until she came downstairs. I’m pretty sure he would have killed me if she wouldn’t have stopped him.
 

Fuck him and fuck her. For a minute I didn’t feel any pain, only hatred. Pure fucking hatred.
 

I should have listened to Stacey. She’d been right all along. I’d never get Mom to leave. She didn’t see what he was, what he did to her. God, I missed Stacey. Twenty-four hours hadn’t even passed and I missed her so much my heart hurt. This was the one hurt I’d caused, not Dave. Too bad they didn’t have pain medication for that.
 

“Mom. Go home. I’ll be fine. They’re going to give me something for the pain and I’m sure I won’t do anything but sleep tonight. There’s no need for you to stick around. Besides Dave’s going to be pissed if you stay.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I already talked to Dave. He understands and told me it’d be better to stay here with you. You need me. He’s fine.” She pulled a chair up to the bed and rested her arm next to mine. I let out a sigh of relief when she paid close attention to not touching me. “I wish you’d believe me about him. You didn’t see his face, he felt horrible.”

If he felt horrible it was because he didn’t get rid of me for good. Not because he’d kept up his kickboxing while I was unconscious.
 

I rolled my head away from Mom and waited for the nurse, or doctor, or anyone to come in and get shit done. An hour later one of the nurses came in with a needle-full of Morphine. It was the best part of the night, and for the first time since my nightmare began I smiled. Five minutes later the pain was replaced with numbness and my eyelids became too heavy for me to keep them open. Sleep took over, and I couldn’t have been happier.
 

I’m not sure how much time passed, but when I woke up the curtain in front of me told me I hadn’t been moved from the emergency room. My head rolled to the right, I took in the monitors and tubes hanging from poles. A shuffle from my left pulled me from my drug-induced haze.
 

Stacey stood against the wall with her hands in her pockets. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were red, but she was the most beautiful sight I’d seen in what felt like eternity. Mom still sat in her chair. She looked uncomfortable with her head wedged between her shoulder and the back of the chair, but she was sleeping.
 

“How long was I out?” I asked.
 

Stacey took a step forward but stayed far enough away I couldn’t reach out to her. I wanted to touch her. To feel her warmth, I needed her right then and she was the one keeping the distance. “I don’t know. I got here about an hour ago.”

I rubbed my eyes. Mom wouldn’t have called Stacey. She didn’t know I’d been living with her. She had to have called Dr. Greenberg’s office. “What time is it?”

“Late. Your mom called the office and they paged Lissa. She called me at home and told me to get here right away.”

“I’m sorry.”

She leaned her head to the side and her eyes narrowed. “Sorry? For what?”

“For not listening to you. For Dr. Greenberg calling you at home, I know how much you hate it when she does that. God, I’m sorry for everything.”
 

Stacey reached out and touched the top of my hand. Her voice was a whisper when she spoke again. “Don’t. Not right now. Don’t worry about me, or my job, or what I said. You need to heal, get some rest. Take care of yourself.”

I was still achy and tired, and wanted more pain meds. But I didn’t want her to go, so I pulled myself up the best I could in the bed and motioned for her to sit in an empty chair.
 

She shook her head. “No, I should go.”

“Please stay. Mom needs to go home soon and I don’t want to be here by myself. Some of these nurses scare the living shit out of me.”

That earned a chuckle and Stacey moved around the foot of the bed and sat down. I jostled Mom’s shoulder. “Mom, you need to go home and get some sleep.”
 

“No, no. I’m fine. Dave knows I’m here. It’s okay. Wake me up when they move you to a room.” She started to shift to get comfortable then froze. I followed her gaze to Stacey. “Who are you?”
 

“I’m Stacey. It’s nice to meet you Mrs…” Stacey looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn’t sure how my mom liked to be addressed since I never called her anything other than mom. “Mrs. Pierce.”

“Nice to meet you as well. How does my son know you?”

I spoke up before Stacey could say anything. “She’s my girlfriend.”

Mom’s eyes went wide. Stacey covered her own gasp with a cough.
 

“Okay then. Anyway, wake me up when you get to move from here to somewhere else.” She slumped back down in her chair.

Just as she shut her eyes, I said, “Mom, you shouldn’t have to sleep in that chair. Go home before Dave shows up here looking for you. I’ll be okay.” She gave me a once over and must have seen something that she didn’t believe.

“Dave won’t come here and I’m fine. I’m not going anywhere.”

The nurse came in for another round of checks. “Oh good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been run over by a car.”

“That sounds about right, I’m going to take your blood pressure and then we can talk to the doctor about more pain medication.” She pulled the cuff out of a basket and wrapped it around my upper arm. “They should have a room ready for you in the next hour or so.”

“How long am I going to have to stay?”

“That depends on the doctor. He’s waiting to get some x-rays back and see how your internal injuries begin healing. You took quite the beating.”

“No shit,” I mumbled.
 

The nurse pulled the stethoscope end pieces out of her ears. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
 

I leaned my head back. “Nothing.”

After getting whatever information she needed, she put everything back in her basket and wheeled the blood pressure machine towards the curtain. Before she left she turned back to me. “Oh, I almost forgot. The police will be back in an hour or so to take your statement.”

“Why are the police coming?” I looked to Mom and then my nurse.
 

The nurse waved her hand in the air, dismissing my concern. “I don’t know. They were here before, but you were sleeping and the doctor said not to wake you. It’d be best if you spoke with them.”

Great, an interrogation from the police.

A rhythmic tapping sound interrupted my thoughts. I looked down at mom and caught her knees bouncing up and down. Her hands twisted in her lap.
 

“Do you really want me to go?”

I let out a sigh. “Yes. You need rest.”

“And you’ll be okay?”
 

What caused her change of attitude? A minute ago she didn’t want to go. Now she did. Asking me if I wanted her to, fidgeting in the chair. Did she not want to be around when the police showed up? I was too tired to figure it out.
 

“Yes. I’ll be fine. Stacey’s here. Go.”

She stood and brushed my hair down like she had done when I was a kid. “Okay honey. But you have to promise to call when they move you. I’ll just go home and clean up.” She kissed me on the forehead and left.
 

I settled back on the bed. Stacey took Mom’s seat in the chair and for a while we didn’t speak. The pain grew worse, so my chance of going back to sleep disappeared.
 

“What happened?”

Stacey’s question startled me. Even though I hadn’t fallen asleep I managed to zone everything out. “Honestly?” I asked and she nodded. “I don’t know. I was downstairs beating the shit out of the heavy bag when Dave came down. He laid into me and we fought for a few minutes. I’m not sure how long. The next thing I know everything around me went black and I woke up in the back of an ambulance.”

“Why were you downstairs?”

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

She moved closer to the bed and rested her head on her arms. “Luke, you know someone’s going to ask. Why don’t you tell me what happened first? It will be easier when you talk to the cops or Lissa.”

“They can ask. I’m not talking about it.”
 

Something passed through Stacey’s face. She sat up straight and pulled her cell phone from her purse then held it out to me. “Fine. Call Chelsea and get her to come over here.”

That was the last thing I ever thought Stacey would say. “Why would you tell me to do that?”

“Because she seems to be the only person that can get you to talk. Hell if I know why, but she can.”

The last time I went to Chelsea’s I didn’t tell her anything. Stacey thought I’d gone to her for help, which I had, but it was more help in that she didn’t ask questions. Chelsea’s place was a refuge. Stacey and I fought about it, and I thought she understood and believed me. If she felt like Chelsea was the only person that could get me to talk, then she hadn’t understood anything.
 

“Son of a bitch. You still think I told her everything the last time. Why is it so hard to trust me? I told you then, when I went to Chelsea’s I didn’t say a word to her. We sat in her room for a few hours and listened to music. That’s it. Nothing else.”

She leaned from the chair towards my bedside. “I know you didn’t tell her anything. But when you came home you talked to me. Even if you didn’t, she at least gave you a reason to talk to me about everything. That’s all I’m hoping for right now. Maybe if she’s here with you then you’ll be willing to talk to both of us. I don’t know why she can get you to talk, but I’ll do anything to help you right now.”