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We stay like that for a few minutes before the door opens again and all our friends pile into the room. Mac gets up from the bed but doesn’t leave my side. I immediately miss his warmth.
Chris rushes to me and grabs my hand. “Oh my God, Mia, I was so scared. Are you okay?”
I give her hand a reassuring squeeze and tell her, “I’m good, Chris.”
Her eyes tear up, but she nods and steps to the side.
Karyn walks up next and gives me a hug. “Jaxon told us what the doctor said. I know this doesn’t help, but I’m glad it wasn’t worse than what it was.”
“Me too, Karyn, thank you,” I tell her.
Bailey steps up to me and looks at me with tears flowing down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry we didn’t come looking for you sooner,” she whispers.
The heartache I hear in her voice brings my own tears to my eyes. I can only imagine how hard this is on her. She already blames herself for Anna’s torture and death. I won’t have her blaming herself for what happened to me.
“Bailey, you listen to me, okay?” She nods. “I am so grateful for you all coming when you did. I don’t want you taking the blame for this. There is nothing you could have done.”
Her lip trembles, but she nods. Jaxon walks up and slips his arms around her from behind. He looks at me from over the top of her head and gives me a soft smile. He’ll help her get over her guilt.
It’s Andrew’s turn next to walk up to my bed. The anguish in his eyes almost makes me break down. He bends his head, lightlykisses my lips, and rests his forehead against mine. “I’m glad you’re okay, Mia Pia,” he says in a deep but low voice.
He pulls back and I notice his knuckles are all scraped. I also notice he has splatters of blood on his wrinkled shirt.
“Is that from—” He doesn’t let me finish before answering.
“Yes.” His tone is hard and his eyes fierce.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
His eyes soften when he nods. “You should also thank Bailey. When I opened the door, she went apeshit crazy when she saw what was happening.” My surprised gaze goes to Bailey. “She jumped on the guy’s back and started pulling his hair and scratching the shit out of him. I could barely get her off him.”
Bailey looks at me sadly. “I wasn’t going to let him hurt you anymore. When I saw what he was doing to you, all I could see was Anna lying on that table, and I kind of lost it. I couldn’t allow you to be hurt too.”
My heart breaks at everything Bailey has gone through. She’s been through more than any one person should, and she still came out the other end strong. I count myself extremely lucky to have met her. Anyone who’s met her will say the same thing. She’s a very special person. I just wish she would let the guilt go over what happened to Anna. Only she can realize that she helped my sister as much as she could. She needs to realize there was nothing else she could have done. She gave Anna the comfort she needed in the situation they were in.
A throat clearing at the door breaks the silence that enveloped the room at Bailey’s words. We all turn toward the door to see Nick standing there. His eyes are on Bailey, and there is a mixture of emotions: sadness, pain, shame, and something I can’t quite decipher.
He breaks eye contact with Bailey and looks at me. “I just spoke with the cops. They’d like a word with you when you’re ready, Mia. They need to take your statement.”
Not looking forward to repeating the events of last night, but knowing I have to, I tell him, “Send them in.”
FOUR HOURS LATER I’m ready to leave. The doctor left a few minutes ago, and he deemed me well enough to be released. Jaxon took Bailey to my house to pick up some fresh clothes, and now I sit on the edge of the bed waiting on Mac to come back from signing the release papers. Other than having a slight headache and becoming queasy if I stand up too fast, along with the bruises on my thighs and pelvic area, I feel pretty normal.
When I spoke with the cops and gave my statement, I found out that the guy was paid two grand to give me the roofie. They don’t know who paid him, and the guy didn’t know who he was either. All he had was a description. While the cops were telling me this, I remembered the conversation I overheard while I was asleep. Because of what I heard from Mac and Jaxon, and seeing Andrew’s knuckles and shirt, I was concerned that Andrew would get into trouble. The cops assured me that charges were not being laid against him. Andrew was defending a friend.
I also found out that the reason I had a flat tire was because it was slashed. I gave Mac a glare when he revealed this to the cops, angry because he didn’t tell me before. He gave me a look that said we would talk about it later. And talk about it later we damn sure will. It pissed me off that he didn’t tell me.
Mac comes back into the room carrying some papers, followed by an orderly pushing a wheelchair.
“I don’t need that. I can walk on my own fine,” I tell the man behind the wheelchair.
“Sorry ma’am, but it’s hospital policy.” He gives me a sympathetic smile.
I start to protest, because I’m not an invalid that can’t walk on my own. I’ve already shown enough weakness, I don’t need this thrown in my face. Mac stops my protest before I can utter a word.
“We know you can do it on your own, but please just let them wheel you out. The sooner you agree, the sooner we can leave.”
I shoot daggers at him, still mad that he kept somethingimportant from me. But I also know he’s right. I get up off the bed with a huff and say, “Fine.” I take a seat, and we move out of the room and down the hallway.
