Freeing Her (9 page)

She huddled in the chair hugging her stomach
and rocked back and forth. “My boyfriend beats me. He doesn’t want
me to stop using.”

“
Listen to me, Juliana.
There is help out there. I promise you there is. I work at the
women’s shelter. We can protect you from him. But I need your
commitment to get clean first. One step at a time. You can stay at
Case’s NA house until you’re clean and stable and then we can put
you in the women’s shelter. We’ll keep your boyfriend away from
you. But I need that commitment from you before I can help you get
off the drugs. Will you give me that?”

“
Oh, I’m so sick right
now. I need something.”

“
We can help you. We can
ease those withdrawal symptoms. But I’m not going to lie and tell
you it will be easy. It’ll be a hell of a lot easier than this
though.”

“
Okay,” she
nodded.

Gabby grabbed her phone and called Case.
“Hey, Juliana is here. In my office. Can you come? She wants to
commit to withdraw. In the clinic.”

Gabby pulled a chair over in front of
Juliana. She went and grabbed some paper towels and dampened them
with cold water and then placed them on her forehead. “I know this
isn’t much, but it’s the best I can do for now. How old are
you?”

“
Twenty-three,” she
moaned.

“
How long have you been
using?”

“
Since I was twenty. I
never thought I’d get addicted.”

“
No one ever does. They
always think they can stop whenever they want. That’s how heroin
is.”

“
My boyfriend says he’ll
kill me if I leave. I think I’m going to be sick.” Fear punched
Gabby in the face. She understood how this girl felt and knew what
it was like to be scared to death of someone.

Gabby showed her where the bathroom was and
could hear her gagging. She was curious if she even had anything in
her stomach to throw up.

Juliana came out and her skin was waxy
looking. “I’m so weak.”

“
It’s the withdrawal and
they’ll help with that at the clinic. Case will be here
soon.”

“
Oh, God, I feel so
awful.”

Gabby walked to the window to look outside
and that’s when she saw him. Danny was standing across the street,
looking at her office building.

Shit! What if he comes in here? What will I
do?

She prayed that Case would get here
soon.

“
Gabby, my stomach really
hurts. How long will this go on?”

“
As soon as you get to the
clinic, they’ll give you something for it. I’m going to call them
now and let them know you’ll be coming in. What’s your last name
and when was the last time you used?”

“
My last name is Gibson
and I used yesterday afternoon.”

Gabby got on the phone and called the clinic
to let them know Case would be bringing her in.

Case finally arrived.

“
The clinic knows she’s
coming in with you. Here are some bags just in case she gets sick
on the way. I don’t think there’s anything in her stomach, but you
never know,” Gabby said.

“
Hey thanks. You know how
important this is to me.” He squeezed her hand.

“
It’s important to me too,
you know.” She walked them to the door and when they left, she
checked outside and didn’t see Danny anywhere, but she did see Sam.
That provided her with the comfort she needed. She couldn’t shake
the thought of Danny being outside of her office,
though.

For as crazy as her morning began, it turned
out to be quite a good one. When her twelve o’clock appointment
left, it was after one, and she had about twenty minutes until her
next patient was due. She looked through her kitchen in search of
something to nibble but only found saltines. That would have to
do—she was not going to spend fifteen dollars she didn’t have on a
pricey lunch. She heard her door buzz and was disappointed that her
next patient was early.

When she went out to greet him, she was
surprised to see Sam instead.

“
Hello, Dr. M. I’ve
brought you lunch.”

“
Hi, Sam. You didn’t have
to do that.”

“
I know, but Mr. Hart
asked me to. He said he doubted you had time to eat breakfast this
morning and so, lunch.” He held up a white paper bag and a
drink.

Gabby’s stomach gurgled loudly in
appreciation. “Ooh, sorry. I guess someone’s happy to see you.”

Laughing, Sam replied, “I’m glad to make
your stomach happy, then, Dr. M. Here.”

She took the bag and drink from him, not
knowing what else to do. “Um, Sam?”

“
Yes, ma’am?”

“
Are you still watching
me?”

Sam shuffled his feet a bit.

“
It’s okay if you
are.”

“
Then, yes, ma’am, I
am.”

“
Thank you. I’m glad you
are.”

Sam grinned as he walked out of the office.
Gabby was glad he was on Team Gabby and not Team Danny. Sam was a
large man. No—large was too small a word for him. Sam was
gargantuan. He had to be at least six four but he was every bit as
broad. One of his hands could easily encompass her neck, and she
was quite positive he could snap it like a toothpick. That’s the
kind of girth he carried. He wasn’t fat. Simply put, he was a
giant.

Gabby carried her lunch to the tiny kitchen
and sat down to eat. The paper sack contained a chicken salad
sandwich on multigrain bread, a container of orzo salad, and a
chocolate chip cookie. At the very bottom was a bright red apple.
This was more food than she ate at any meal. In fact, this was an
entire day’s worth of food. It was a good thing the sandwich was
cut in half, because she would save the other half for dinner. That
and half the cookie and orzo salad. She wouldn’t have room for the
apple so she could eat that for breakfast the next morning.

Twenty minutes later, her afternoon patient
rolled in and she was off to a busy rest of the day. She felt so
much more alert, though, after that delicious lunch. By day’s end,
she was ready to get home and change. She had to be at the hospital
for her moonlighting shift at the clinic, though she had a little
free time for herself before then.

As she gathered her things, she grabbed the
leftover lunch on her way out. En route to the subway, the skies
opened up.

“
Dr. M.! Over
here.”

It was Sam calling to her from the curb. He
sat in the car.

“
Come, I’ll take you
home.”

She hated to take advantage of him, but it
was pouring and she’d be a drowned critter by the time she made it
to her place. She nodded and darted to the car.

“
I’m so sorry, Sam. I’m
making a mess in your car.”

“
Don’t worry about a
thing, Dr. M. I’ll get it all taken care of after I drop you off.
Mr. H. would be upset if he knew you were out in the rain as it
is.”

“
Why would that bother him
so much?”

Sam didn’t answer and his eyes were
plastered on the road straight ahead. After a couple of
uncomfortably silent minutes, Sam eventually said, “Dr. M., I’m not
really at liberty to discuss Mr. H. with you. I’m sorry,
ma’am.”

“
That’s fine. I
understand. But may I ask why he has you watching out for
me?”

“
I don’t have the answer
to that, ma’am.”

“
How much does he know
about me?”

“
He knows that you work a
lot of hours volunteering, besides your regular job.”

“
Hmm.” Gabby was curious
as to how he knew that. Kolson was a mystery to her, but clearly he
knew more about her than she knew about him.

“
I can tell you this,
though, Dr. M. He’s looking out for your safety so you don’t need
to fear him.”

That’s what Sam thought. After this morning,
Gabby had tons to fear where Kolson was concerned. He did things to
her … made her feel things she’d never felt before and she was
definitely not ready for any of that.

# # #

Danny seethed as he stood under an awning in
the pouring rain and watched Gabby get into the waiting car. HTS.
Hart Transportation Services. He recognized that company. So that’s
who Gabby’s new little boyfriend was. It didn’t matter. Nothing was
going to get in the way of his plans. He was going to have Gabby
one way or another, even if it meant waiting patiently.

He would strike when the time was right,
when their guard was down. And it would all be worth it in the end.
He smiled to himself and imagined how Gabby would feel as he shoved
his dick inside of her again. His cock instantly stiffened at the
thought. There was one thing that he loved, and that was hearing
Gabby begging for him to stop. His breath came faster as he thought
about the fear he would see in her eyes. It wouldn’t be long now,
and he would be hearing those sweet words coming out of her
mouth.

Chapter Eight

When Gabby walked
in the door, she kicked off her squishy shoes.
She hoped they weren’t ruined. They’d taken a good drenching and a
new pair was simply not in her budget right now. Her clothing stuck
to her like glue and made her skin clammy. What she needed was a
hot shower.

The warm water felt divine as her body
returned to its normal temperature. The shower relaxed her tension,
but then her thoughts soon took her back to Kolson’s sensual kiss.
It fired her up, making her hyperaware of the fact that she really
couldn’t remember the last time she’d had an orgasm. She would have
to remedy that by taking matters into her own hands, and soon.

She opened the shower door and the cubbyhole
bathroom boiled with steam. Bumping against the door, she flung it
open and went to get dressed. A thrill passed through her as she
thought about working at the clinic. She adored the nurses there
and while other people mentioned that it seemed depressing, she
didn’t look at it like that. Gabby thought of it as a way to give
back to the community and help others in need. The patients there
were resistant to her help for the most part. Most were forced to
see her. But if she could get through to one or two, then she
walked on cloud nine for a week after.

After a quick dinner of the remains of her
earlier lunch, she grabbed her purse and coat and headed out. It
was dark, but she took the subway anyway. The cost of a cab made it
unaffordable for her. Constantly scanning for any sign of Danny,
she was happy when she exited the train station.

The security guard scanned her badge and she
passed through the metal detector when she entered the hospital.
This was a huge medical center in New York City, so they didn’t
take chances.

She found the clinic standing room only.
Roberta, the head nurse on duty, said, “Hey, Doc, I hope you wore
your comfy shoes tonight ’cause it’s gonna be a rough one, I’m
afraid. We got ’em coming in from everywhere.”

“
We’ll get it done. Just
like we always do, Roberta.”

Gabby hoped they would
find a way for a better intervention. She knew that many of these
patients needed help
before
they started on drugs. And there wasn’t a way to
make that happen. You could preach until there were no more words
left. Even when she counseled teens whose friends had died of
unintentional overdoses, they still went out and did recreational
drugs. And most drug use started in the teen years. Most, but not
all.

Some of the patients she would see tonight
would’ve started using because they’d been in an accident and
couldn’t get off the pain medication. Whatever the initial problem
was, Gabby’s focus was to get those patients clean and into
therapy. There was usually one big underlying issue that kept them
involved with the drugs: escapism. She was surprised she hadn’t
gone down that path herself.

By midnight, Gabby’s replacement had taken
over and she was finalizing her paperwork.

“
Dr. Martinelli, are you
about finished?”

Gabby looked up at Roberta. “Yes.” She
sighed.

“
Told ya it was gonna be a
bad one.”

“
You know, I think I
persuaded one patient to go to NA. So it was a success for
me.”

Roberta smiled. “That’s what drives you,
isn’t it?”

“
Yep. Gotta get ’em
cleaned up before anything else. It’s the same with sexual abuse
and domestic violence victims.”

“
Anyone ever tell you how
much we appreciate you around here? You come because you
want
to, not because
you
have
to.
That’s a huge difference.”

“
Thanks, Roberta, but I
come because I want these people to get better. That’s it. I can’t
imagine living my life dependent on any kind of substance, day
after day.”

“
Sad, isn’t
it?”

“
And that’s only the tip
of the iceberg. What about those poor patients with schizoid
personality disorder? People are so frightened of them because they
don’t understand them. Mental illness is a terrible disease but
there’s just not enough help for sufferers.”

“
Tell me about
it.”

“
Right, Roberta, I’m
preaching to the choir here, aren’t I?” Gabby laughed.

“
Come on, let’s get out of
here.”

“
Hang on a minute. I need
to check on a patient.” Gabby made a quick call to see how Juliana
was and discovered she was doing as well as could be expected for
the first day in rehab.