The taste of blood filled Leo’s mouth. He wobbled but forced himself to stay on his feet.
“He was about to sleep with me again when you came along.” Randal hit Leo repeatedly. “When you go away, he’ll accept me again.” He glanced over his shoulder at Felix. “When I tell him how great your friend’s ass is, he might even want to help me get another piece of it.”
Leo managed to lunge at Randal while his attention was turned away. “No!” His body slammed into Randal, but his head hurt so much he couldn’t focus his attack. They went crashing to the hard asphalt of the parking lot.
A shoe-clad foot passed through Leo’s limited field of vision. It connected with Randal’s head. “The cops are on the way, asshole!” Julie shouted. “Not to mention I’ve got it all on camera.”
“Do you think I care?” Randal grabbed her foot and yanked her down as he rolled away from Leo. “You’re all a bunch of nothings. Losers.” He pulled out a knife and thrust it into Leo’s side.
The pain that shot through him was worse than anything he’d ever felt before. Leo screamed.
Felix launched himself at Randal. “You’re the one who’s going to lose this time!”
Julie’s foot passed over Leo’s head again. There was a satisfying thud as it struck home. Everything slowed down. Leo scrambled to get away from the pain in his side, but it grew worse. Something crunched under him. Sirens sounded in the distance. People had begun shouting. Horns blared. The sounds of struggle ebbed.
“Are you okay?” a man Leo didn’t recognize asked.
Leo tried to focus on him, but the pain in his side was too much.
“Shit, you’re bleeding.” The man stood up. “This guy’s bleeding! We need more help over here.”
Leo felt his side. It didn’t hurt to touch it. But when he lifted his hand away, it was covered in his blood. “Julie… call Aud.” He gasped for breath, becoming light-headed. “Tell him—” The pain in his side became too much for Leo, and the people clustered around him faded from his view.
26
AUD DROVE like a madman to get to the hospital. Julie’s call had been low on details, only that Randal had attacked Leo in the parking lot at Walmart. Leo had been stabbed and was at Penrose Hospital. She hadn’t said what happened to Randal. At this point I hope he’s dead. I can’t believe he’d actually attack Leo. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to Leo.
His tires screeched as he turned the last corner before getting to the hospital. A car pulled out as he started his search for a parking place, and he ended up close to the emergency room doors. He almost forgot to lock the Jeep but paused several feet away until he heard the beep, then dropped his keys into his pocket and rushed into the hospital.
He approached the emergency room information desk, but there was a line. He forced himself to stop tapping his foot after he realized what he was doing.
“Aud.” Julie came running over to him. “You made it.”
He stepped out of the line. “What’s going on? How’s Leo?”
“We don’t know for sure.” She thrust her hands into the pockets of her jeans and looked at the floor. “Since neither Felix or I is family, they wouldn’t let us ride in the ambulance. When we got here, they allowed us into the triage room with him until they decided they needed to operate. He was awake enough then to approve it. We’re waiting to hear something now.”
Some of the energy rush from getting to the hospital faded. It was fairly obvious that Julie was miserable. Aud gave her a hug. “Let’s hope everything goes smoothly. So what happened?”
“It was so weird.” Julie pulled him across the room as she related the tale to him. Felix sat in a chair near the windows that looked out onto the parking lot. He appeared better than Aud had seen him in recent days, even if he did have bandages on his hands.
As Julie laid out Randal’s attack, Aud’s mind swam with the information. It sounds like Leo might come out of this okay. Was Randal that unhinged? I can’t believe he actually raped poor Felix. I wish we’d been able to get him in jail when all this first started. “I wonder if I can help keep Randal in jail longer if I call Detective Benet.”
“Couldn’t hurt.” Felix squared his shoulders. “I just hope someone in there will do to him what he did to me. Let him know what it feels like to be helpless while another person takes advantage of him. Or better yet, maybe he’ll be a complete asshole in there and get shanked, knifed, or whatever term they’re using nowadays.”
“We can hope.” Julie patted Felix’s hand.
Felix looked at her contact with him but didn’t jerk away.