The Throwaway Year (21 page)

“Good job,” t
he man said. Now he was smiling too.

Brian released his firm grip on her wrist
s and he started to laugh as he stared at her. She didn’t understand. Brian was laughing, but he didn’t even look like the Brian she knew. His normally clean-shaven face now sported dark fuzz and his shaggy blonde hair was limp and in need of washing.

She couldn’t speculate about it
much though because she was still having trouble breathing. The man placed a mask to her nose and mouth and at first she tried to turn away until she felt the air. Then in a split second, it all came together for her.

She was in the hospital.
She had been hurt… Brian had been shot!

She looked at his smiling face.
He’d gotten shot. She tried to ask if he was okay, but her throat wouldn’t allow even the faintest sound to escape.

He was holding her hands and he kissed them.
“Everything is okay, honey. We’re okay. We’re okay.” His gray eyes began to blur as unshed tears filled them, but even still, the smile remained on his face.

~***~

Hayden slept then, a normal dreamless sleep that helped to renew her body. When she awoke for the second time, she was aware of all that had happened, but she was much more surprised at what she was seeing than the realization that she had been shot.  MyKell was sitting on her bed. He was staring at her. Her brow furrowed in shock.

“Hey,” he said quietly.
She just blinked at him in confusion. “You left me as one of your emergency contacts,” he explained. “Your mom and dad too. They missed their first flight, but they should be here any time now.” He continued to gaze at her. “You scared me Hade…” He cleared his throat. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”

“Where…?” her voice wouldn’t work.
Where is Brian?

Brian came forward and sat on the other side of her bed.
He reached for her hand and held it. She gave him a relieved smile and gripped his hand in return. MyKell’s expression clouded and a moment later, he stood and retreated. Dani took his place before she gently rubbed Hayden’s shoulder.

“You scared us all.”
She kissed Hayden’s forehead. Then Hayden could see beyond her bed. The hospital room had several other people. Todd and Kia smiled at her from across the room and she smiled back. Dante was standing in the corner texting on his cell phone, and Mr. Fox was sitting in a chair looking like he had just awakened from a quick doze.

Hayden reached up and touched her sore throat.
“How long…?” Ugh, it was hard to talk.

Brian responded.
“You were just released from the ICU earlier today. You’ve been in the hospital for two days.” He looked around. “Everyone that’s been sitting in the waiting room finally got to come in to see you.” There were chuckles.

“Not everybody,” Todd said.
“Kevin is still out there. He’s a little…”

Tell him to come in,
Hayden thought while giving Todd a piercing look.

Todd nodded.
“Okay,” then he left the room to get Kevin. Kia just looked confused by the silent communication. Hayden turned her attention back to Brian.

“Hurt?”
was all that she could manage.

“I’m okay honey.”

Mr. Fox spoke from across the room. “He was shot Hayden.”

Brian gave him a disapproving look.

“She’s a smart girl Brian. Tell her.”

Brian sighed.
“Marcus is in custody. He had gotten it into his head that my dad was behind the sting. So when he was released on bail bond, he got wasted and…” Hayden squeezed his hand letting him know that it was okay.

“He says that he wasn’t trying to hurt you
, Hayden. He wasn’t even coming after me, but he was very wasted and thought he was shooting my… my dad. One bullet hit you in the chest. It cracked your ribs and settled in your left lung.”  Brian cleared his throat sounding upset.

Then
Dani took over the story.  “They did emergency surgery.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Called him… MyKell to sign the release and they got that bullet out. You lost a lot of blood, so you did get a transfusion which is the only reason you were allowed to wake up.”

“Brian?” Hayden asked, wanting to jump ahead to his injuries.

Brian took up the rest of the story. “I took a bullet to the side.”

Hayden’s hands squeezed into fists.

“It went completely through without hitting anything major.”

“He was very lucky,
” Mr. Fox commented.

Brian nodded.
“We both were. The bullet that hit you could have nicked your heart… my bullet could have hit my liver.”

Mr. Fox stood and came forward.
“I’m so sorry Hayden. You don’t know how sorry I am about this happening to you-”

She shook her head firmly.
It’s not your fault!
He just looked down, not accepting that.

He sighed.
“Brian needs to rest.”

“Dad!”

“Brian needs to be in bed,” he continued.

Hayden met Brian’s eyes.
I love you so much.

“I love you too.”

Rest. Get better. Do it for me.

He closed his eyes and then nodded.

~***~

Dani was plumping the pillows behind Hayden.
She had been home for two days and since her mom and dad had left, Dani was filling in and babying her.

“MyKell called again.”

“Ugh, no. What does he want?”

“You.
I think your mama has been encouraging him too.”

Hayden’s eyes widened.

“Your mama is a trip. She asked what anybody knew about that ‘White man’. Oh Hayden, I wanted to tell her so bad how much of a jack ass MyKell was, but I didn’t. You should’ve told them that you had met someone else. They think Brian’s just a stranger and your parents are calling either me or that fool about watching you.”

“Oh my God, oh my God.”
Now she understood why MyKell kept calling; her parents had encouraged it!

“It’s okay.
They’ve gone home now. But you need to finish this with MyKell once and for all.”

Hayden closed her eyes tiredly.
“Hand me the phone.”

His number was programme
d into her phone—thanks to her mother who had done it one night when she had been knocked out on Vicodin. She called his cell number. He answered on the first ring.

“Hade?
You okay?”

Ugh…
she hated that nickname now.

“I’m okay.
Hey, I thought you and I should have a talk. Would you come over?”

His hesitant response followed.
“Sure. But everything is okay, right?”

She grimaced at his concern.
“Yes. Can you come over at about five or six?” Brian would be over in the early evening and she did not want the two of them in the same room again.

There had already been some drama that
developed over the last week, although it had resulted in some positive changes between Brian and Dani. Dani actually liked Brian now. 

Hayden finished her brief conversation with MyKell and handed her phone back to Dani.
As the pain in her chest began to intensify, she tried to find a comfortable position to relax against the pillows and a moment later the pain subsided.

“
So he’s coming over?” Dani asked. “You want me here? I’ll mean mug his ass.”

Hayden grinned.
“You are crazy. I think I can handle him. I’m just not sure why he thinks that I’d have any interest in him at this point. I haven’t even tried to contact him once in all this time.  And I certainly haven’t made any attempts to come on to him or to lead him on even if my Mama has been doing it for me.” She shook her head in disbelief. “He’s seen me hugged up with Brian, so where this is coming from is just crazy.”

“Because some men only care about
what
they
want. Check it out. He’s willing to dump that woman he’s with—the one he dumped you for, just to get you back now that he can’t have you. He is a true loser!”

“I’m not disagreeing.”

“Besides, I like the man you currently have.”

Yes, Dani was now on Team Brian.
On that first night in the ICU, Dani had been contacted because she was also listed as an emergency contact. However, only one person was allowed in the ICU with the patient. MyKell showed up and the two of them got into a heated argument. He thought he had a right because he had signed the consent, but Dani felt that she had all the rights because she was still included in Hayden’s life.

Brian had gotten patched up and was still bloody
, but he was adamant that he would be the one going into the ICU. MyKell’s angry retort was cut short as Brian blew up. Dani said that Brian was nearly foaming at the mouth when he yelled that he had just taken a bullet and been sewed up twice and the only thing that was going to keep him out of that ICU was another bullet.

When MyKell tried to state that no one knew him
, Brian had hollered that he was Hayden’s future. For Dani that was it. She later told Hayden that if MyKell hadn’t backed down, then Brian would have fought his old ass and won—even after taking a bullet to the gut mere hours before.

“Dani
, why don’t you go home? You’ve been here all day.”

“Girl, don’t be crazy
. I am not going to leave you here alone with that fool. And someone should be here with you until Brian gets here. Besides…” She didn’t finish the thought and Hayden gave her a curious look.

“What?”

She rolled her eyes and stopped fiddling with the bed sheets as she sat down. “I have zero desire to be at home. Dante makes me so sick. I know, I know. We talked about this, but I’ve finally realized that I dislike him much more than I like him.”

“Oh?”

“Oh yeah. My best friend gets shot and he’s worried about me not being home so he can get some ass! Plus, I found some pictures on his cell phone because he’s too dumb to get rid of them… or else he just doesn’t give a damn about me seeing them.” Dani shook her head. “You don’t need to hear my problems-”

“Yes I do.
Are you okay Dani?”

Her friend shook her head.
“No, but I just don’t think about it. Dante’s been in my life for so long, that I don’t even know what it would be like not to have him always there anymore.”

“
Do you still love him?”

“I…
don’t think so. It’s more anger now than anything else.”

Hayden gripped her friend’s hand.
“I always wondered what if I had met Brian a year sooner, would we still have been together. But then I know that everything had to happen just the way it did so that Brian and I could be in the right place at the right time.  Maybe that’s what’s happening to you now. Maybe you shouldn’t regret the time you lost with Dante because it put you right where you needed to be.”

Dani thought about that and then nodded.
“I feel stupid for staying with him for so long though. But maybe it is how you say. I wasn’t in the right time and place to let him go completely.” She smiled. “Yeah.”

“Are you there now?”

“I’m pretty sure that I am. And it’s not about Sean either!”

Hayden smiled.
“Are you going to tell Sean how you feel about him?”

Dani shook her head.
“No. I need to fix myself first.”

“Do
not
throw away a year of your life.”

“Oh no g
irl. I can’t go to the gym every day like you do.”

~***~

MyKell didn’t even wait until five before he showed up at Hayden’s house. So he was most likely between jobs. Dani let him in because she exclaimed that she was not about to leave her best friend alone with a desperate ex-boyfriend.  Hayden was more inclined to think that Dani was just nosey…

Hayden
didn’t really want to meet with MyKell in their old bedroom, but she was on strict bed rest while her surgical incisions healed., especially if she wanted to be well enough to attend the Zombie run at the end of the week. Plus Dani wouldn’t let her go up and down the stairs, even though that was something they told pregnant women, not women who had suffered from a collapsed lung. 

MyKell came into the room
reeking of Issey Miyake cologne and wearing a pleather jogging suit and matching Kangol hat.

She tried not to look at him critically
, but was still surprised that he had completely forgotten how much she disliked him in jogging suits. Especially since only old people wore them with Kangols…and why he thought that he should wear that expensive cologne she had bought him last Christmas as walking-around-daily cologne she was unsure but that was no longer her business. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek and she had to resist the urge to move her head away from his touch.