Taking Chances (Blackrock Book 2) (31 page)

My
dad snorts at her. “Yeah okay, we all know how that goes.”
He shakes his head feeding me more ice as my mom paces the room
mumbling.

“Where’s
Knox?” I ask looking at my dad who smiles.

“He
is in the waiting room still waiting since Monday”

“Monday?”

“Yes
sweetheart, it’s Wednesday.” He smiles sadly at me. I
feel so guilty now. It was supposed to be a holiday; a few days away
from drama but now look what I have done, caused major disruption to
the lives of so many people, not in the least the one person who
always sticks by me.

“What do you mean still
waiting? Does he not want to see me?” I am stricken with a
sense of loss; rival only to the feeling I had when Summer left me.

“No
sweetheart, of course he wants to see you.” His tight smile
telling me something is clearly wrong.

“Dad
we are terrible liars; spill it,” I croak out as my voice grows
in strength.

“I
told him he was not welcome,” my mom announces from somewhere
by my feet but I can’t see her.

“Excuse me?” I ask,
trying to use my one eye to place her in the room. I hear a sigh and
her heals clicking as she walks up to stand beside me with her arms
crossed over her chest. “I told him he wasn’t welcome to
see you. He got arrested for your assault, Bailey. How can you want
to see him?” she asks looking like I have lost my mind.

“Mom
Knox would never hurt me.”

“Then who Bailey? Who did
this to you?” She waves her hand up and down my body as she
shakes her head at me, making her short blond hair swing around her
chin.

“I..I
don’t remember it all, only sitting at the grave then someone
came up.” Closing my one eye, I try to remember but the details
won’t come. I can feel them pressing on the edge of my memory
but they stay there lurking like a taunting school bully.

“Yes exactly, so it could
have been him,” my mom hisses at me.

“No
mom. It wasn’t him. He loves me and he would never hurt me.”
She just shakes her head at me, exasperated with me just like she was
in the car. Her and my dad go at it arguing about whether Knox would
do this or not; my dad claiming my side but my mom firmly against the
idea that Knox is good and kind. What kind of person gets tattoos all
over their body and works in a bar because those types of people are
just hooligans or delinquents. Her words know no bounds as she
berates my boyfriend over and over again.

“Get
out. Get out now and don’t come back until you accept him as my
boyfriend, mom. He is in my life for now and hopefully forever, but
if you keep disrespecting him like this, you won’t be. Now get
out and leave me alone.” She looks at me as though I have
slapped her face tears, brimming her eyes.

“Bailey, don’t be
childish,” she scolds.

“Get
out!” I shout causing major pain to my throat and face from
using the muscles. I feel my lip split again and hot angry tears
course down my face. The heart monitor is going crazy making two
nurses rush in and usher my parents out.

“Okay,
Bailey calm down,” one of the nurses tells me, cooing like she
is talking to a baby.

Reaching
over, she pulls at my face making tears come again. “I have to
take off this dressing, okay?” She nods as she pulls again and
my right eye is free from its confines. She wipes my eyes gently
while the other nurse fiddles with the monitor and my IV fluids. “Now
I will give you some more pain medication so you can sleep…”

I
don’t let her finish her sentence. “No please. I want to
see Knox. Please just get him for me,” I beg as I cry again.
The nurse tending my eye nods at the other one, who then leaves.
“Thank you,” I whisper to her as she wipes my face and
eye.

“Stop
crying, you will make your eyes puffy.” She winks, making me
snort and choke at the same time. “Your right eye is swollen
shut,” she says. “So I will leave the gauze off for an
hour but then I have to put it back on to keep it clean.” I nod
at her, very grateful to her for allowing Knox to visit.

I
hear heavy boots run up the hallway and stop at my door. I can’t
see him but I know it’s him. The nurse winks at me then leaves.

“Darlin’?”
it’s a whisper of relief, pain and happiness all rolled
together into one simple one word. He appears beside me tears,
rolling down his face while smiling at me.

“I
thought, I thought…” He stops talking and kisses my
cheek, temple, and the side of my mouth. “God I am so happy
you’re awake.” His fingers brushing my hair off my face.

“Babe,
what happened?” I ask, pleading with him through my voice.
Shaking his head he refuses to tell me. “Please Knox, just tell
me.” Lifting my hand, he kisses my palm then rests it against
his cheek telling me the story from when my mom took me out of the
house to when he found me and when he lost me. He tells me about Max
and him performing CPR until the paramedics came and then the police
who took him for questioning.

“But
who did it?” I ask unable to process all this information but
needing to know.

Sighing
he says, “That EMT dude who tackled you was the one that showed
up. He told me yesterday that it was Ben Miler.” He watches my
face intently as I close my eye and cry as the memories rush back. Me
fighting him, him shouting words at me, blaming me for his mistakes,
saying it was my fault that he wasn’t accepted to college, it
was my fault Summer killed herself and I was going to pay.

“Shush
darlin’, don’t cry. It’s over now, I have you.”
I squeeze his hand but the tears keep flowing, stinging my eye and my
lip. “Darlin’, please stop crying. It’s gross,”
he jokes, gently wiping my eyes with the palm of his hand.

I
look at him. “Sorry, I know I’m gross.”

Rolling
his eyes, he leans down kissing the side of my mouth again. “No
not you, just the blood coming from your eye.” He chuckles,
kissing my lips so softly I barley feel it. “I love you,
darlin’. God I love you so much.”

My
heart swells hearing the words pass his lips, words I will never get
tired of hearing. “I love you too,” I croak then smile at
him my eyelids getting heavy.

“Tired
darlin’?” he asks, softly brushing his knuckles down my
cheek.

“Yeah
but don’t leave, don’t leave me.” The last thing I
feel before I fall into a pain medication induced sleep is Knox’s
fingers interlacing with mine holding me tightly.

*****

I
woke twice during the night, finding Knox still holding my hand and
asleep with his head resting on the bed against my thigh. The nurse
dosed me with pain med’s each time I woke and soon I was back
asleep.

Now
the sun is shining on my face and I can’t escape it. It’s
making my good eye water trying to talk again hurts, so my only hope
is to squeeze Knox’s hand, which I do about ten times before he
wakes up. Looking all around, finally his gaze settles on me.

“Morning
darlin’.” I just nod keeping my eye closed. Letting me
go, he walks over and adjusts the blinds. “Better?”
Nodding I point to the cup but its empty and he frowns at me.
“Water?” Lolling me head side to side I hope he gets
that’s a no, so he leans down ear to my mouth.

“Ice,”
barley a whisper comes out of me turning his head he grins planting a
soft kiss on my mouth.

“Back
in five.” Watching him leave, leaves me alone with my thoughts,
which right now are not at all good or pleasant but far from it.

My mother yesterday, Ben, Emily
if I have one regret in life, it’s coming back here for sure.
My thoughts ebb and flow as I try to get comfortable but its no use.
My broken ribs just hurt too damn much to get any way comfortable in
this bed. Knox walks back in with my ice chips and gum for himself. I
watch as he shoves four sticks into his mouth and chews; he looks
like a squirrel holding nuts in his cheeks. Opening my mouth he pours
a small amount of ice each time until the cup is empty then he spits
out his gum.

“No
tooth brush.” He smiles at me.

“Why
don’t you go back to the house and shower, I’ll still be
here.”

Lifting
his arm up he smells his armpit. “Do I smell that bad?”
He smells the other one.

“No
babe, you don’t smell.” He shrugs sitting on the bed
beside me with one leg still on the floor. Lifting my arm I try to
fix his hair, but I can’t reach so I let it fall back down.
Giving up, we sit together for a while, him staring at me while I am
lost in thought. “It’s Thursday babe.” He nods.
“You have to go back to work tonight.”

He
shakes his head. “Not goanna happen, Bailey, Max said he will
cover.” I argue with him that Max still can’t lift kegs
and Chase is away for spring break. He looks a little hurt.

“If
I didn’t know better, I’d swear you are trying to get rid
of me.” He runs a hand through his hair looking at me with sad
eyes.

“No
babe, I’m not.”

My
dad walks in before he has a chance to respond. “Morning.”
He looks at Knox’s wrinkled clothes and then to me.

“Sweetheart,
the police are here,” he says and Knox tenses beside me.

“Babe, go take a shower
then come back in an hour, okay?”

“Sure
darlin’.” He kisses my head and turns to my dad. “Take
care of my girl, Frank.” He smiles at my dad who laughs at him.
Walking to the door he turns around smiling and mouths ‘I love
you’ before leaving.

“Did
he sleep here?” I nod and my dad prepares me for the police
just before they enter the room. The detective asks me what happened
on Monday so I tell him everything I remember including my fight with
mom and why I hit Emily the night before, to which he frowns. He asks
the same question in a different way a few times finally I get
annoyed with him.

“You
know, rephrasing and asking the same question will not give you a
different answer.” He flicks through his notes, informing me he
has all he needs for now, but he will be back later.

“When
can I get out of here?” I ask my dad feeling pissed off.

“No
idea, why?” he asks sounding just as pissed off as me.

“Because
I want to go back with you and into my own damn bed.” Getting
up he tells me he will go check it out for me. I know he is only
doing it to pacify me but I am grateful because I really do want to
get out of this place and go home where I will be far away from Ben,
and Emily and Grove especially. About an hour later my dad returns.

“Well
that was some expedition,” I say to him as he sits in the
plastic chair.

“Yeah,
I got some business calls. Sorry sweetheart, you have to stay until
Saturday, then I can take you home.” Well that’s not as
bad as I thought; it’s only two days. I can pump myself full of
pain meds and sleep them away, allowing my body to heal itself.

After
lunch Knox, Max and Paige come in carrying balloons, flowers, and a
teddy bear.

“Hey
guys” I give them what I hope is a smile.

Paige
rubs my shoulder. “How are you feeling?” I just answer
pain meds and she smiles. Max gives me a hard time about stealing his
thunder, regarding how we ended up in hospital and whose injuries
would win.

I
try to convince Knox to go home with them but he won’t budge.

“Babe,
I will be home on Saturday. My dad will be flying me home so you guys
can take off today.”

“Bailey,
why do you want me to leave?” he asks tilting his head to the
side looking at my swollen bruised face. He takes my hand kissing it
and holding it against his heart.

“You don’t need to
waste two days sitting here looking at me lying in a bed when you can
be at home making money and cleaning the apartment” I add as a
joke. After an hour of back and forth and some grumbling from Max, he
agrees to go home on the condition that we video chat tonight. As
soon as he gets home, he will call me, and text me all the way too.

He
kisses me a million times before leaving. He looks very sad as Max
grabs him out of the room. They leave my suitcase here for me so I
have my own stuff and Knox added that, I wouldn’t need to call
my mom for anything. He charged my phone and put it beside my hand so
I could reach it when he calls. I send my dad home too, telling him
to get some rest and catch up on work.

So
I am all alone now. Pressing the button that administers my pain
medication, I doze off for a couple of hours. Knox true to his word,
called me the minute he got home to check if I was okay, and I see
worry etching his handsome face through our face chat.

“Yes,
I am fine,” I answer as he dresses for work and walks over to
the bar still talking to me and, as soon as he walks into the bar, I
can hear the music.

“It’s
crazy tonight.” Flipping the camera he shows me the bar, which
is full wall to wall of college kids. We say goodbye, neither of us
not really wanting to hang up but eventually we do.

I
spend the rest of the night in and out of sleep and most of Friday
too, wanting my body to heal so I can make the plane journey home.
The police have been by twice asking the same questions again and
again. My brain refuses to answer anymore questions, and I told them
not so politely. Leaving me alone for the rest of the day, I sink
into my drug- induced sleep, willing my body to sleep and recover. By
Saturday morning I am feeling good; still in pain but still better
than a few days ago. My dad brought my case to the bed then left me
to get dressed, which was no easy task until a nurse came and helped
me. I put on a blue dress and pull a black hoodie belonging to Knox
out of the case. I can’t believe he thought to leave me a
jacket. The nurse helps me put it on and pull the hood up so my face
would be covered. She hands my dad a bunch of medication and my
discharge papers.

Arriving
at the airport I climb out of the cab as fast as I can. Admittedly it
wasn’t as fast as a nineteen year old should move, but the
movements of a ninety year old. An airline employee arrives with a
wheel chair for me and we swiftly move through the airport to our
gate.