At least Faith had one other person besides myself she could count on out here. Grace reacted the way I expected. She didn’t bat an eye when I asked her to stay with Faith.
Mike was on shift and told me he would meet me at the fire house so I could explain what happened. I texted James, Colin, and Luke asking them to meet us there, too, then I texted George and asked him to go to the hospital to keep an eye on Faith and Grace.
Not that I didn’t trust Grace to do what I asked, but I didn’t know what that prick was up to and wanted to make sure they were both safe.
When I pulled up I saw Mike’s squad car sitting there already. Make that two other people I could count on for the love of my life.
The building was deserted. The ambulance and the engine were both gone out of the bay. It was probably better that the guys from the other shift didn’t know what was going on. The only reason I called Luke, Colin, and James was because I trusted them with my life, so I knew I could trust them to help me with Faith.
Mike was sitting at our kitchen table eating a burger. “Hey, Mike. Thanks for coming to talk to me.”
“No problem, anything for Faith,” he said as he took a big bite out of his burger. How could he eat? I was ready to beat the shit out of someone since I’d seen her place.
“Dr. Price vandalized Faith’s place.”
Mike took another bite out of the burger like I’d told him it was cold outside.
“Why would you think that?”
He was chewing like a cow and it was pissing me off. Why isn’t he outraged? I wanted to do nothing else than hunt Brad down and beat the shit out of him and Mike was just sitting there eating.
“Umm, let’s see, because I just left there and saw it for myself.”
“Really? I just saw Dr. Price over at the hospital. Why do you think it’s him?”
“You saw him working?” My heart leapt in my chest, sending a jolt of energy to my fists because I sent Faith and Grace directly into his hands. Then I remembered George went over there and instantly relaxed. I decided to send him a quick text telling him to keep an eye out because Dr. Price was in the building.
Then I looked at Mike again and said, “Trust me, I know it was him. Faith was acting weird all night and then this morning. I heard her talking to someone and it wasn’t Grace no matter how much she would like me to believe that. She locked herself up in my bedroom and was arguing with him.”
“You spent the night with Faith?” A smile crept onto Mike’s face.
“Mike, not now,” I said seriously. This guy was unbelievable.
“Yeah, right, sorry.” He cleared his throat as if that would get rid of his last comment and put him back into police mode. “Tell me what happened.”
I had only gotten as far as telling Mike I thought I saw Brad leaving while we were on the elevator when I heard Colin and Luke come in from the bay.
Colin was leading as he ran a hand through his damp chocolate brown hair. “James can’t come, sorry bro. So what’s going on with Faith that’s so important?”
His grey eyes were bright with curiosity. I could see the wheels turning already. Colin was a thinker. He always had to get a game plan together before he acted, that’s why I wanted him helping me out. That brain of his could problem solve in the matter of seconds, which is one of the things that made him great at his job.
“See, Killer, I knew I should have been the one to hook up with her,” Luke added as he trailed behind Colin.
“Whatever. Sit your ass down and listen to what happened,” I said turning back to Mike, who was almost done with his lunch.
It wasn’t until Luke pulled his chair out hard and sat down making it crack that I made eye contact with him. He looked ticked. His dark blue eyes were almost black as he glared at me. Then, as if a light came on, he said, “Are you going to tell us about you getting laid?” Those eyes turned back to their sparkling sapphire blues in anticipation.
Colin’s big tanned hand smacked Luke upside the back of the head and said, “Why would he tell you about that?” He shook his head in disbelief.
Luke rubbed where Colin had just whacked him and said, “Never mind. What’s going on?”
“Keep going, John,” said Mike as he threw his trash away, completely dismissing the Three Stooges act that was happening in front of him.
I started again and went through all the details, from thinking I saw Brad leaving all the way to how I left her kneeling on the ground helpless. Nobody said a word, not even Luke. All they could do was look at me blankly.
Mike stood up, surprising me by handing out orders. “OK, I’m going to call a guy to meet me at her place so he can take pictures of the scene and I’ll talk to the front desk guy, what’s his name? Stan.”
He turned to Luke and said, “Luke, I want you to patch up the drywall, so go and buy all the stuff. While you’re doing that, we’ll get the pictures taken of the evidence and get it all bagged up.”
Then he pointed at Colin. He was totally in his element. “Colin, try to come up with a timeline and scenario on how it could have been the doctor. I don’t want to talk to him until I have all the kinks worked out.”
We were all sitting taking his commands, not speaking. Then it clicked who he had reminded me of at the bar - Barney Fife, but Barney was long gone. I had a new respect for Mike.
I don’t think any of us had ever seen Mike this way before. Sure we’ve seen him at accidents, but we’re usually to busy to pay attention to him.
I hadn’t expected Mike to take over. I had planned on doling out the duties, but I was relieved because my head wasn’t thinking clearly. It kept drifting off to Faith. I was starting to get antsy because he hadn’t told me what I should be doing.
Not able to stand it any more I texted Faith, “How are you doing? I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
I tucked my phone away trying to tuck my agitated emotions with it. I knew not to expect an answer since she was supposed to be in the meeting, but it made me feel slightly better being able to let her know I was thinking about her.
After I sent my message I heard Mike calling my name. The guys were looking at me like he had been trying to get my attention for hours.
“John, text George and tell him to try to see what Dr. Price is doing at the hospital and make sure the girls are all right.”
That was the first time that I saw any hint of concern in Mike’s face. At least I wasn’t the only one who didn’t trust him.
We all started to get up when Mike added, “Have George find out if Dr. Dickhead was even scheduled to work today.”
The three of us stood there watching him. He said, “Oh, that’s what Grace and I call Dr. Price.”
Then he left to go make his call.
Dr. Dickhead, I liked it.
I sent the message to George making sure a second wasn’t wasted.
The smell of Faith still hung in the cab of my truck, making the stabbing feeling I had in my stomach worse. I pulled out my phone, no messages. I wasn’t completely surprised but I did wish she would have said something to me even if it was a smiley face.
As wired as I was I couldn’t sit in the parking lot any longer and play the text game with George. All the other guys had headed out to take care of their respective duties to help me and here I sat doing nothing.
After giving myself a swift kick in the ass, I headed toward Faith’s place, putting a call to George as I went. The phone only rang once before I got a clipped, “Yep.” There were loud voices in the background.
“Hey, I wanted to see if you came up with anything? Have you seen the girls?
There was silence on the other end of the line for a second. George was walking, his breathing was uneven and the phone had static. The voices that had appeared to be right behind his head became quieter. I waited. George was always cautious, it came with his training. Once his breathing was steady again and there were no other noises surrounding him he finally spoke. “There was a small issue.”
The knife that had slowly been twisting in my gut since this entire incident started suddenly plunged all the way through to the other side.
“What the hell happened?” I changed my course and headed to the hospital. “Is she all right? I hope Grace didn’t get hurt, did she?”
She was only trying to be a good friend and help me out. I would feel even worse if she was involved in anything. I should have been with her. I should have never handed her off to someone.
“Calm down, man. If it was serious don’t you think I would have called you sooner? Grace is completely fine, and Faith will be fine.”
“What do you mean will be?”
My foot unconsciously pressed down on the pedal to get me to her faster. Before George could even explain I had my truck parked in the ER lot and was storming in through the sliding door that seemed like they couldn’t move quick enough for me.
I hung up on George when I saw June. She had stress around her eyes and was shuffling around faster than normal. She looked flustered, and that wasn’t like her. Not like the ER was jumping and she couldn’t keep up. It was uncommonly slow.
Her back was to me so I gently poked her shoulder with my finger. She flung herself in my direction, making me take a step back. Her eyes were frantic but the rest of her expression was dead. How strange, she was always so composed. Shit! Was George lying to me?
“Faith, what bed is she in?” I didn’t even bother with the niceties. I don’t think she even cared, she pointed to bed three.
“Who’s the doc?” Shit, shit, shit!
I was already running in the direction of the bed when June said, “John, I don’t think you can go in there. Paperwork.”
I took a backwards glance, her face pale while she blatantly ignored my question, holding up release papers that most likely didn’t give me permission to see Faith, but I could give two shits about some papers. I had to get to my baby. NOW.
Between the look June had and wanting to know why George wasn’t here with Faith, I was ready to bust down the place. Where the hell did George call me from? He was told to stay by her at all times.
The closer I got to the curtain I could hear a muffled male voice talking to her. It was so faint I wasn’t able to make out who it was. Then I heard Faith. She was speaking through gritted teeth, trying to keep her voice down.
My hand was on the curtain pulling it open when I saw both Grace and George together coming back into the department. What the hell! I stepped in pulling the curtain closed behind me.
Standing next to the bed was Dr. Dickhead. His hands were curled around the bed rail so tight he looked like Casper. When he saw me his lip curled into a snarl. His eyes looked crazed like he was about to eat me alive. Bring it a*shole. My worry mode turned into protect mode, and he was going to pay.
Dr. Dickhead was too busy glowering at me to say anything. Faith was the first to speak, “John, don’t please.” Her voice was commanding, throwing me off. I was prepared for her to sound like she had at my place. She was all meek and afraid the other night, but now her eyes were blue steel, unblinking and spitting fire.
When she spoke to me the shit bag’s eyes lit up in some kind of understanding. He peeled his fingers off the rail and sauntered over to where I was. George and Grace were behind me, watching in silence. He came up and stopped when our shoes touched.
In a menacing whisper he said, “Oh, so you’re the guy she spread her legs for this morning when she decided to blow me off. Hope you like the presents I left. Those were always her favorite. I’m talking about the condoms not the pills, except I think she might be building a love affair with them, too, just like her mommy.”
His lip curled into that evil smile again asking to be punched off his face.
The only thing that stopped me was seeing Faith’s face over his shoulder. Her eyes were frozen, watching it all unfold and I could see how vulnerable she felt. My eye locked with hers, making my decision. I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. If I took away her chance to stand up to him she would probably never forgive me. If she finished what she needed to do and he was still pissing me off, then I’d make his face look like it had been in a meat grinder. See how many women he torments then.
With my hands clenched so tight my knuckles cracked I took a step back moving the curtain enough to see Grace out of the corner of my eye. She had her phone out and was messing with it. Really? What the hell is wrong with these people?
“Brad, my personal life is absolutely none of your business. Who I choose to spend time with has no bearing on you,” Faith said, her voice as cold as stone.
Strangely, it had the same effect on my cock. Now was not the time for that, but her attitude was such a turn on I couldn’t help it. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was the one that was involved in that personal life of hers. My bitchy Faith was back and I had never been happier to see her. Yes, I made the right decision to stand down, no doubt about it. Grace was still on her phone. Unbelievable.
Brad turned back around at the sound of Faith’s voice, shaking his head like he had forgotten she was in the room. He took a few steps back toward her and stood. Now he was halfway between me and the bed.
“What did you say to me you little slut?” His voice was bitter. His upper body lunged at her, but he didn’t take any steps toward her.
“You heard me. We’re done and everyone will know that you’re the one with the drug problem. I know you set me up you bastard.”
Brad stayed in his spot but his pale coloring turned a dark red. She had done the equivalent of waving a red cape in front of a bull.
“What did you say?” If Brad’s head could burst from getting any angrier I’m sure it would have.
“You heard me. Do I need to repeat myself?” Faith’s voice never wavered along with her stare. She would have cut him in half with her eyes if she could have the way she was watching him.
“I don’t think I did, bitch. You forget who you’re talking to?” He shifted between feet, his body stiffening, but he was still in the same spot.
“You know you’ll never be able to prove that it was me for any of it. They’ll think you’re the little pill popping druggie like I’ve been saying all along. You think they’ll believe you and your pathetic friends over me? I cover my tracks, unlike you who will walk around looking like a hooker in broad daylight.”
His was speaking menacingly low. It was almost impossible to hear his words. I hardly took a breath, not wanting to miss a single syllable. His black eyes looked like a rabid dog’s who had a little rabbit trapped in a corner ready to pounce on and shred.
Faith’s face slowly drained of color as she was being attacked by Brad. Her gaze shifted from him to a spot on her lap. I readied myself to step in. I wanted to stop him from making her feel so low. I knew I had to wait it out. I would only do it if she gave me a sign. No matter how much it was killing me I had to wait.
Our eyes locked briefly again and I let her know that she could do it. Where was my old Faith hiding? I could see in that instant she made up her mind. The same stoic stare she had when I first found them returned and her face was now becoming a shade of pink. Angry.
“So it was you who trashed my place today? Were the pills your own stash or did you steal more to make me look bad?”
The only sign I could see that she was nervous was from one thumb that lay on top of the sheets rubbing back and forth.
“Ha, why would I waste my own on you, you pitiful little cunt. I have my ways to get what I want. You may not have wanted to steal the drug but I have others who would.”
The sneer he gave showed he had no intentions of stopping the berating. This must have been her worst fear brought to life.
While Brad was absorbed in eviscerating Faith he didn’t bother to look at the man that had just stepped inside behind the curtain. The older gentleman simply stood in astonished silence until Brad took a step closer to Faith.
“That will be quite enough, Dr. Price,” said Mr. Ford, a tall, older heavyset man with graying hair and glasses. Brad froze mid-step.
I’m not sure what the man’s title was, but whoever he was made Dr. Dickhead take notice. When Mr. Ford spoke again Dr. Dickhead looked shocked.
“You will be very busy tonight doctor, and not taking care of the patients.” Mr. Ford waved to security, letting them lead Dr. Dickhead out of the department.
I wanted to punch the air but settled for doing it in my head. Oh yeah, karma, baby.
Faith collapsed against her pillows as soon as he was escorted out, letting out a sigh.
I went to her side taking the hand whose thumb hadn’t stopped moving since the assault and ran my thumb over her silky skin. It was clammy from nerves. I could feel her slowly relax in my grip, it felt so good.
Dr. Dickhead’s arrogance was at an all time high. He was telling the security guard he knew the way out and that everyone would be sorry. The other three that had come with Mr. Ford, George and Grace were in tow, following behind security, leaving me alone with Faith and Mr. Ford.
Faith stiffened her hold at hearing Brad’s outburst and I started to run patterns along the top of her hand to distract her, or maybe to distract myself. The man made my skin crawl.
Mr. Ford spoke again, gentler this time, “Faith, we’ll have an officer come over and take your statement and when you’re cleared you can head home. We will most likely have to contact you in the future about this situation.”
“Does that mean I’m cleared and no charges will be pressed against me for anything? I still have a job?” Faith asked.
She was worried about losing her job? Charges? Shit, Dr. Dickhead set Faith up for stealing drugs here at work. Why did she not tell me what was going on? I would have tried to help her sooner. She never told me what was happening. She was so stubborn. That part of her was still the same, always trying to fix things by herself.
Her hand tightened around mine making me cringe. I let her hand go and wiggled my fingers around to get the blood flow back into them. Damn, she was strong when she wanted to be.
When the tingling stopped I took my place back in her tiny hand starting new patterns. A heart, a star, a heart. Shit! I needed to snap out of it. Hearts, when did I become a girl? Knife, skull, heart.
“Yes, Faith, you’re one of my best employees. I couldn’t imagine my department without you.” The man must be her boss.
That brought a shy smile to Faith’s face. I wanted to grab her and kiss her it was so cute. Deciding it wouldn’t be a cool move to kiss her on the mouth in front of her boss like I really wanted, I settled for kissing the top of her hand instead.
Faith’s cell phone rang from the corner bringing all of our attention to it. Mr. Ford said, “It sounds like someone wants you. I will leave you to finish up, and I‘m giving you the rest of the week off. I expect you to come back on Monday as the old Faith I know.”
With a tap on top of her foot as his goodbye, Mr. Ford walked out pulling the curtain as he went, leaving us completely alone.
Yes! Thank you, boss man. Four exciting days with Faith. The air punch I held back earlier came out along with a whoop!
Faith gave me a side glance, raising an eyebrow at me like I was insane. “What are you so excited about?”
God I love her. This time I grabbed her face between my hands and planted a hard kiss on her mouth before answering. Keeping her head in my hands so she had to look at me I said, “That I’m going to get to spend that entire four days with you.”
My smile was so big it made my cheeks hurt. I probably looked like the biggest lunatic ever, but I didn’t care.
She was still eyeing me up when she said, “Slow down mister. Who said you’re going to see me at all?”
It occurred to me that I still didn’t even know why she was admitted. The confrontation with Dr. Dickhead was in progress before I could find out what happened to her.
My brows furrowed at the thought, running a hand through her hair I said, “I don’t even know why you’re in here, sweetie. Am I going to have to take care of you for a while?” A rush of protectiveness hit me as I stroked her hair.
“It’s nothing to worry about. Can you get me my phone?”
“Sure, where is it?” I was looking around for her phone and only saw her purse.
“It’s in my purse.”
“I’m not going in there,” I said shaking my head at her.
There were two things I didn’t do, dig into a woman’s purse and buy feminine products. It would be a cold day in hell before I did either.
“What do you mean? Just get me my phone.” Faith had her hand out waiting.
“I don’t do purses.”
“I would sure hope not. That would be pretty messy to clean up when you’re done,” Faith said, her mischievous grin making an appearance. I held back a sigh.
How could she still look so hot in a baby blue hospital gown that had faded squares all over it? Those things were made purposely to make you look undesirable.
“Hey, I see what you’re doing. You’re distracting me so you don’t have to tell me what happened to you. I’ll dig into that snake pit if you tell me why you’re admitted, or I’ll go and ask June and make sure you really feel stupid.” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.
Faith sat quietly contemplating her choices for a minute then said, “Fine, I blacked out. Now get me my phone.”
“Wait a minute. Tell me the entire story first.”
She let out an exasperated sigh and continued, “I’m not sure what happened. One minute I’m arm and arm with Grace and the next thing everything is spinning and I wake up in this bed. Now get me my phone, please.”
I approached her purse like it was one of those snakes ready to bite me. Before I opened it I felt around on the outside. So many lumps, what do they carry around in these things anyway? Faith was watching me as I kept groping her bag on the outside.
“I’m making sure I have an idea of where it is before I head in. A soldier doesn’t go into a war blind, they prepare.”
Confident on where the phone was I opened the bag wide to stick my hand in while I made a face of pain, winking one eye shut, my mouth hanging open in an O.
Faith was watching me amused. I was glad I could make her forget what had just happened even if it was by getting her to laugh at me.
As I pulled her phone out holding it up like I’d found gold, Grace and George showed up with grumpy faces.
Faith had her hand out waiting for the hand off when Dr. Shannon, a short, portly, red-headed man, walked in with her chart. Her hand went back to her lap and I tossed the phone back into the black hole, both of us focusing on the doctor.
Dr. Shannon looked around at the four of us.
“Well, this is an unexpected party. Wish you all had waited for my Christmas shindig in a couple of weeks to come and see me,” he said with a little chuckle that made his belly jiggle.
When none of us laughed he went back into doctor mode looking at Faith and said, “Good news. You have a mild concussion, nothing serious. If you get a headache you can take ibuprofen. If you start to vomit or get any more vertigo, I want you to come straight in so we can take another look at you.”
Then Dr. Shannon turned to me and said, “Do you think you can keep her out of trouble long enough for her head to heal? She hit it rather hard out there on the concrete. She should take it easy for a couple of days. Keep an eye on her that she doesn’t vomit while sleeping. She needs plenty of bed rest.”
YES! I was on a roll. I was doing a happy dance in my head. My eyes lit up with elation. The jolly doc was basically telling me I was in charge of taking care of her. I tried to hide my excitement and said, “I think I can manage, and if she gives me a hard time I’ll tie her to the bed so she can’t leave.”
I looked over at Faith and wagged my eyebrows at her.
Dr. Shannon did his jolly Santa chuckle again and said, “Not too tight. I don’t want her back in her for rope burns.”
George and I burst out laughing and Grace even tried to hold back a small laugh, while Faith’s mouth hung open. I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger meaning to simply close her mouth but I couldn’t help but run my thumb across her soft lip. I loved touching her.
My cock twitched and I shifted around trying to get it to stop. That wasn’t supposed to happen. I needed to get her the hell out of here.
“So can we leave now?” I asked as I kept my eyes glued on her. I attempted to hold back the anxiousness in both my voice and my pants.
“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone so eager to make sure someone doesn’t vomit in their sleep,” Dr. Shannon said with another little snort.
He was always fun to work with, but by the look on Faith’s face I would say she wasn’t very excited to be the butt of the jokes today.
The doctor seemed to get the message too. Clearing his voice into a more professional tone Dr. Shannon said, “Yes, John, you can take her home. I’ll get June to gather all the release papers and then you guys can head out. Go ahead and get changed, Faith.”
Dr. Shannon left with a big grin on his face appearing not to be dismayed by Faith’s lack of humor.
Grace and George started to follow suit. Before they were gone I said to George, “Can you make phone calls and make sure everything is ready? We won’t need you guys to wait. I got it from here. Thanks for everything.”
“No problem, buddy. That’s what brothers are for,” George said.
Grace was giving a small wave on tip toe over George’s shoulder and said, “I got that jag off’s confession on video so if he tries to deny it his ass is grass and we’re the lawn mower, baby. I’ll check up on you later.”
“I’ll call you when I’m done,” Faith said to me, moving to get out of bed to grab her clothes.
“I’m not leaving. Stay there I’ll get your clothes for you.”
I went over to where the portable black hole she calls a purse was and got her clothes that were hidden underneath.
She snatched them out of my hands and stared at me as I sat in the chair resting the black hole on my lap. Geez, how does a tiny thing like her carry this around all day? It’s a workout for me.
“I am not changing with you in here.”
“Oh yeah, you are. It’s not like I haven’t seen every fantastic inch of you anyway.”
“Those were accidents. Now leave,” Faith snapped.
I should probably watch what I say if I don’t want an even bigger fight getting her to my place.
“I prefer to call them...”
“I know handshakes,” Faith said sarcastically cutting me off, waving a hand absently in the air.
“No, I was going to say reenactments.” I gave her a lopsided smile.
“Reenactments? What does that even mean?” she asked with irritation.
“Do I really need to explain it to you? Maybe they need to check your head better. We’ve reenacted some of the old times we made love. If I remember correctly we have a lot more reenactments ahead.” I smiled to myself.
She looked up at the yellowed ceiling tiles and mumbled something to herself. She gave up the fight of me leaving and started to dress as she spoke, “Sorry to break it to you, but nothing we’ve done in the last few days would be considered a reenactment.”
When her head came out of the opening of her top it was flushed.
“Really? Why not?” I couldn’t get the stupid smile off my face. I knew what I was making her admit too because I felt the same way.
“It’s...it’s better than what I remember,” she said, hushed, her face beet red.
I didn’t want to push my luck trying to get her to admit to anything else so I dropped it. I was dying to know if she still had decided to give us another shot but I would wait. I got the admission I wanted about us making love. I was a happy guy.