Her
My phone is ringing. It’s ringing and I have no idea where it is. Or where I am. I open my eyes, and I don’t recognize the sheets on the bed, the pillow under my head, or the clock on the nightstand next to me. I drag myself up, patting the mattress around me for my phone, my eyes focusing on the window to my left. Those curtains. Those curtains I do recognize. I bought them. For Cameron.
I’m in Cameron’s bed.
The realization dawns just as my hand closes around the flat, smooth shape of my iPhone. Jade, the name flashes at me.
“Jade?” I rasp into the phone.
“Isabella,” she says. And I know. Something is wrong. “It’s Xavier.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Just go downstairs, Kaine has a car for you, it’s going to take you to the hospital.”
“The what?” I spring to my feet. I’m relieved to see I’m still dressed in my underwear, my dress slung on the back of the chair in the corner.
“Just come. Hurry.” She hangs up the phone with a click and I freeze for a moment, trying to decide between calling her back and running the fuck out of here.
Then the sound of her voice saying “hurry” replays in my head and I throw my dress over my head, running for the door.
“Woah! Where are you going? I brought you coffee!” Cameron almost slams into me, as I rush down the hallway.
“I… I gotta go. Can’t talk! Sorry!” I don’t even have time to feel guilty for running out on him like this as I grab my bag and run out the door, my partner calling after me.
The ride down the elevator gives me time to straighten my clothes but I ignore my reflection in the glass. Then it dawns on me, how did Kaine know to send the car here. Two minutes ago, I didn’t even remember I was here.
The answer is there when I arrive at the street to see Ram holding the car door open for me. I can’t meet his eyes, I just mumble hello and slide into the back seat of the town car. He closes the door behind me and settles into the passenger seat, giving the driver a nod.
I wait until we’re in traffic before I ask, “Ram! What’s wrong? What happened to Xavier?”
But it’s silent all the way to the hospital.
***
Jade is the first person I see as I rush into the ER. I’m relieved to see her, even though her hair is falling like a bird’s nest around her face, and she’s dressed in what looks like Kaine’s suit coats over her pajamas. I’ve never seen her look anything but completely put together.
“Isabella!” She jumps up out of her seat and runs up to me, throwing her arms around me. I hold onto her a moment longer even when she pulls away. I don’t know who is comforting whom.
“What happened?” I ask, biting the inside of my lip to keep from yelling from the acidic fear burning in the pit of my stomach.
“He… Xavier… they found him…” Her red-rimmed eyes fill instantly with tears and she stops, trying to catch her breath. I just want to shake her to get the information out, but I can see this isn’t easier for her than it is for me.
Not for the first time, I can’t help but think how lucky he has been to have found such friends.
“He’s in bad shape,” Kaine says as he comes up behind his wife, touching her softly on the shoulder. “He was being beaten up by some guys in a back alley near the Cotton Club. Some people walking past saw it and they intervened. Lucky because… as it is…”
“W-w-what… how bad is it?”
I’m too scared to look at Jade again, who lets out a sob, and Kaine leads her over to the row of seats before coming back. He gestures with his head and I follow him to a quiet spot down the hall.
“He’s in surgery right now.”
“Oh my god!”
Kaine waits for a beat while I process before he continues. “He has at least three fractured ribs and a broken cheekbone.”
I gasp, but he’s not done yet.
“But what the doctors are most worried about is that he might have some internal bleeding. They… they beat him up pretty badly.”
I don’t know what to say; I just stare up at him. He’s pulled his hoodie back, his face completely exposed. But instead of feeling uneasy, I find something comforting about his scars. Or that he trusts me with them.
“We’ll know more soon. I’ve got the best doctors on it, you know that.”
I nod. I know.
“Why… what? Why did this happen?”
“I’m… I’m not sure. We’re still looking into it.”
There’s a twitch of his jaw, and I know there’s more than what he’s telling me. But I’m too busy worried about Xavier’s current state to dwell on it too much.
“Can… can I do anything?”
“I think being here is the best thing you can do. I know he’d want you to be here.”
“I don’t know. We… we had a fight at the…”
Kaine reaches out and squeezes my hand. “No. He’d want you to be here. No matter what,” he says, his voice soft but firm.
I just nod.
Down the hall, we hear Jade cough, and his head whips toward her, his eyes sharp but worried. It’s an involuntary action that tells me everything I need to know about them. She wraps her arms around herself but doesn’t cough again. I see his shoulders relax and he turns back toward me. The corners of his eyes crinkle a little when he realizes I was watching him.
“She’s been a little tired lately, the baby’s been keeping her up.”
I shake my head, “No, don’t apologize for worrying about your wife. It’s really sweet.”
He smiles at me and walks back to her, before stopping and saying over his shoulder, “You know, everyone cares and worries in different ways. Sometimes it’s sweet. Sometimes it’s destructive. And sometimes it’s up to us to decide whether the way we show that love is right or wrong.”
***
An hour later, I see Ram walk through the hospital entrance. Leaning against him is Xavier’s mother. He helps her over to a chair before giving me a quick look, as if to ask if I’m okay. I shrug and give him a little wave. His chin drops in the slightest nod and then disappears back down the hall, his giant shoulders slumped, his head down.
We haven’t heard anything from the doctors yet, and with each ticking minute the tension rises.
I do the only thing I know how to do in that moment. I get up and sit down in the empty chair next to his mother. She scowls at me, her eyes wet and red, her lips tight against her lips. I ignore it and simply reach over, take her hand and squeeze it tight, not letting go.
She looks at me for a moment and then turns her face away but doesn’t pull her hand back.
We all care and worry in different ways.
***
The door swings open and the doctor walks toward us down the hallway. We all stand up spring-loaded ready for the news.