by Trixie More
Doug let out a long exhale.
“Thank God,” he said, and for the first time since he was a child, he meant it.
“First off, you need to get my cell phone and check out the texts to Sophia.”
A grunt from Will.
“That’s about the only proof that I didn’t go to the house to kill anyone.”
“They think you tried to kill her?”
“It’s worse than that.” Doug rolled his head on the pillow. Who could hear them? Damn his eyes. “Are we alone?”
The sound of Will walking away, the sound of a door, Will returning. Will’s voice to his left.
“Now we are.”
“Okay, I did kill someone, at least I think I did.” He told the whole story to William.
“Holy shit, how the hell did you do any of that? You can’t see.” William sighed. “I’ll try to get your phone, but they may not release it to me.”
“You have to find out how she is. I know she’s alive, but I don’t know how she is.” A plaintiveness Doug didn’t like creeping into his voice. His heart, Jesus, how could anyone think he wanted to hurt her?
Sophia had no clothes. She’d complained until they’d given her a second gown to put on backward, covering her damn ass. She’d tried to tell the guard she didn’t want protective custody, but he wasn’t leaving until he heard it from his superiors. Everybody thought she should get back in bed.
Sophia dialed the only phone number she knew by heart—her mom’s.
“Mom?”
“Sophia! Hi, honey, how is everything? I’ve been worried about you, I know you’ve been fighting with Ben...”
It struck Sophia how odd it was—to everyone else, she and Ben were in a spat, a brief separation. To her, the life she had in the hotel was her new world. How had she become separated from her family so quickly?
“Mom, I’ve got a problem,” she began.
“What?”
“I’m okay, but I’m in a hospital.” Sophia winced even before she got all the words out.
“What? Where? What happened? Are you okay?”
“Mom, I need you to call Derrick for me and have him bring me some clothes. I need him to call me.”
Her mother took down the information. In minutes, Derrick’s voice was coming over the hospital phone line, deep, comforting, calm. She found that tears kept leaking down her face as she talked to him. He would be there soon, he would bring her some clothes, everything would be fine. She hung up and lay back on the pillow.
Derrick and Allison showed up in under an hour, their faces horror-stricken as they got their first look at her.
“Oh, honey,” Allison said, stroking the side of Sophia’s face. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”
Derrick’s dark eyes, so like her own, studied her throat. “Who did this?”
Sophia shook her head. “My boss.”
His eyebrows flew upward. “Your boss?”
She exhaled. “The police think it was Doug, but it was Jacob Park. They have it all backward.”
She explained everything to her big brother while he parked his towering bulk on the edge of her mattress and held her hand. Allison hustled around, getting her water, ice, coffee, and a sandwich, returning to the room with flowers and a stash of snacks.
“Allison, I’m not staying.”
“Yes,” Allie said, “you are.” She set about setting everything out for her, filling the little plastic hospital-issued tub with toothpaste, a toothbrush, gum, and a paperback.
“I can’t, Allie. Derrick, tell her I’m not staying.”
He shifted uncomfortably. “What do you need to do?”
She flung her hands out. Were they stupid? They couldn’t be this dense, could they?
“I have to save Doug!”
“If he’s as hurt as you said, there’s plenty of time to tell your story,” Allie said, her face impassive.
“No, no. I can’t leave Doug thinking he’s going to be blamed for this. I need to get my coat, my phone. I need to get my photos.”
“Where’s your phone?” Derrick stroked her hand.
“It’s buried in that house!” She struggled to swing her legs out of bed. He reached over gently and laid a hand on the side of her leg, softly asking her to remain still. “No, Derry, I have to go!”
“I’ll help,” he said.
Finally, there it was. Her big brother. Her constant in the world. He would help. Sophia’s felt her face crumple, the relief palpable.
“I, I’m so...” She wiped at her eyes, which were crying again, her nose starting to run. Allie shoved a tissue into her hand. “I missed you so much! I didn’t want us to fight, I don’t want to lose you,” she said.
“You can’t lose him,” Allie said. “He’s as big as a truck.”
Sophia laughed through her tears.
“She’s right,” Derrick said.
“What do you want him to do for you first?” Ever practical, that was Allison. Everybody back to work, chop-chop, Sophia thought and smiled a bit.
“I need to call Doug,” she said.
“What’s his number?”
They struggled to figure that out and settled on calling his attorney, whose office number was listed.
“Hello?” came the voice.
“William? This is Sophia Moss...”
“Sophia! Thank God,” William said, and then the next voice was Doug’s.
“Sophia, Sophia.” He seemed in danger of just chanting her name. She knew how he felt because she was saying his name back to him, and then those moments in the basement came flooding back. She would never forget Doug, standing above Jacob, the veins in his neck and temple stark and bulging, barking out her name, in a military call and response as he vanquished her foe, legs spread, a vicious snarl on his face, his eyes glazed and looking at nothing.
“Doug! You’re alive, you...” She whimpered a bit.
“Are you okay? Where are you?” he asked.
“I need to tell them what happened, they think...”
“I know what they think.” His voice was calm. “I need to know how you are.”
This she understood; she needed to know the same about him.
“Okay, I’m okay. My face is a wreck...”
“No,” he said.
“I’m all bruised, there’s a chunk of my hair gone...” she hesitated, her throat closing, nose running at the words she was starting to form. “His hands...all around my throat...I can see his fingerprints.” She began to cry. Derrick, beside her, pulled her into his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, Sophia. I should have been there sooner,” Doug was saying. He’d been standing there while Jacob had been strangling her, but she knew why he said this. She pulled herself together.
“Doug, how are your eyes?”
There was silence on the phone. Sophia could hear this man, this man she craved like no other, breathing.
She whispered, speaking softly and gently, “Doug, can you see at all?”
“No. One eye, there’s nothing, just black and the other... it’s all a blur,” he whispered, his voice rough.
“How?”
“When I got to the back door, I saw the car there, then I heard you calling out, I just opened the door and went straight in. Someone was there, inside. He hit me with something on the side of the head,” his voice was getting stronger now. Something inside Sophia that had been clenched eased as his voice gained confidence. He was a man who should always be confident. It was part of who he was. “The bastard said my name as he pushed past me.”
“It was a man?”
“Yep.”
“He knew you?” she asked. “Who was it?”
“I don’t know. I,” Doug hesitated. “I just don’t know. The guy whispered it.”
“Oh my God, and then you couldn’t see?”
“No, then I turned around after him, all I got was a look at his hat, and then he whaled me across the forehead. Then I couldn’t see.”
Sophia held herself
still for a minute, looking up into Derrick’s eyes for the first time since she’d got on the phone. Her brother tipped his head, frowning a bit.
“And then?”
“You were still calling for help. I had seen the stairs and cellar door as I entered. I made my way over.”
“Holy crow, Doug.”
She knew at that moment he was smiling, and her heart warmed. He deserved to smile. She wanted to see those dimples cut into his cheeks, see the lively intelligence in his eyes...would that be gone now?
“I thought at least I might just fall on whoever was attacking you. I couldn’t imagine how I could help.”
“You did,” she said. “If you hadn’t hit Jacob...”
“What happened?” he asked, and she really understood for the first time that he had seen nothing. He’d saved her without question, without hesitation, and he still had no idea what he’d saved her from.
“My boss, Jacob, was in that cellar. Remember when I touched your legs?”
“Yes.” No hesitation.
“He was behind me, you were in front of me. He was strangling me. I was curled up, trying to tuck my chin into my chest, he was over me. You hit him on the back of the head.”
“Oh, my God. I didn’t hit you?”
“No.”
“I’m so glad.”
After that, they talked more about his eyesight, what the doctors thought, and his back, which seemed to be healing. He’d most likely passed out from the head trauma, not the falling beam, which had hit more to the side than straight onto his spine. Quality of care seemed to be an issue for him and the thought had her howling inside. This man, her man, gently changed the topic, pressing her for details.
“I have photos of Jacob, he was doing something with a freezer. They’re on my cell phone, but that’s lost. The person who hit you must have been who I heard upstairs. I kept hoping that person would come and help me.”
Derrick interrupted. “Soph, I’ll get you a new phone. When they transfer your data, you should have everything you need.”
“The Uber driver, if I can find him, he can testify to my end of our phone call. Really, Doug, I just need to tell them my story.”
“What hospital are you in?” She asked. He told her, and she couldn’t believe it, she had to see him. “What room?”
Sophia looked at Derrick, he nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
“Sophia, there’s a guard outside the door,” said Doug. “You won’t be allowed in. I don’t want you wandering around the hospital. I want you to rest.”
Hurt flared through her. “You don’t want to see me?”
He groaned. “Sweetheart, I’m a convicted criminal, I’m blind, and I’m not that great looking. I’m not even all that rich anymore.”
She started to cry again. She was a wreck, she didn’t want to cry, and it fucking hurt to do it. “You said...”
He knew right away. “I do. I meant it. You’re the most honest, wonderful woman. Whoever gets you is getting the whole world in you, Sophia. You’re the kind of woman a man builds a life with. I’m just not that kind of man.”
Her voice was small, and she wished like hell Derrick and Allison would leave.
“Please?”
“Ahh...” he sighed.
“You’re wrong,” she said, suddenly feeling angry and more confident. “You’re going to have to tell me all of this to my face.”
“Yes,” he agreed, surprising her. “But not today.” Sharp disappointment flooded her. “I want to see you more than anything, but it’s too much right now, there’s a guard here. Let William do his job. Tell him your room. Let Derrick get you a phone.”
“Doug...” This all sounded like it would take so long.
“It’ll go, fast, sweetheart,” he said. “I promise.”
Chapter 22
Hospitals were not a good place for kids, Marley thought. They'd only just found out the room numbers they needed, and Karito was bored already. Doug's room was on the fourth floor, so that's where they went first. Marley's index finger rubbed the soft paper in her pocket. With her other hand, she tried to grab Karito, but the girl was suddenly too grown up for that. She shrugged away, and they watched each other in the polished chrome reflections of the elevator doors.
The door opened behind them because this was a hospital elevator, and for a moment, Karito was interested. Then she skipped away, heading in the wrong direction. Marley's nerves were frayed already, and they hadn't found Mr. Lloyd yet.
"Here, Karito," Marley called. A nurse made a face at her, so Marley figured yelling in the hall was a problem. She was more like her daughter than she thought. That gave her a grin. Her daughter had noticed that Marley wasn't behind her and had skipped back, like a bouncing ball, ricocheting off one end of the hallway to wind up back where she started.
"Come on, can you find room 4124?" she asked. Together they scanned the number plaques on the walls and followed arrows until finally, they came to Doug Lloyd's room. Karito grabbed her hand. Diay, this was intimidating. Outside the door were two police officers, both with uniforms and serious faces.
"Hello?" she said to the cop.
"Who are you?"
"A visitor?" Marley said.
The officer shook his head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. He's not allowed visitors."
Through the door, she could see his bed. His short red bristles glistened on his skull. She didn't think she'd ever get used to this stubby haired, bearded version of the man who used to be so GQ.
He turned his head slightly. "Who's there?" he called.
"Mr. Lloyd," she called. "It's Marley." She hesitated. "And Karito."
"Marley," he said back. "I'm so sorry you can't come in. Sophia's here, visit with her, will you?"
He wasn't looking at her. He was looking somewhere to the side of the door.
"Are you okay?"
"Ma'am," said the cop. He looked at her.
"Yes, I know. Yelling in the hospital," Marley said impatiently. "The man has been so good to me. He paid for everything for me to have Karito and..."
Diay, how annoying. The cop was now looking at Karito's reddish hair and caramel skin.
"I want to see him," Marley hissed to the cop. Karito tipped her head, suddenly interested.
"Yes, ma'am," said the cop. "I'm sorry, but he's not allowed visitors. You'll have to leave."
She sighed. "Can I call?"
The cop shook his head. "You can call his lawyer."
"I'm so sorry, Doug," she said.
In the bed by the window, looking at nothing but a blank TV screen, the man who used to be so powerful, smiled a bit and nodded.
They found Sophia's room, which also had a cop outside, but this man just let her and Karito pass.
"Oh my God," Marley cried when she saw her friend. Her friend. She'd almost slept with this woman's partner, some friend she was. "Jus' look at your face!" Sophia was so bruised! "Oh! Are you okay? Is there much damage? Are you injured?"
Sophia's face, purple and yellow bruising, bandaged nose, black eye, and her hair, a small section of bristles amid the thick fall, it all frightened Marley.
"I'm better than it looks," Sophia said, and the placid smile on her face was where Marley found the friend she recognized.
"Karito, go give Sophia a hug," Marley instructed. "How did this happen?"
Sophia brought her all up to speed.
"See, I tol' you that Mr. Lloyd was a strong man," Marley said. She went on to tell Sophia about her stop down at Doug's room.
"Mama, I'm going to get a soda," Karito said.
"There's some change by the bed," Sophia said. "Get me a bag of cheese curls."
Karito smiled. "And one for me?"
Sophia nodded. "And one for your mama."
Karito scooped up the change and left the room.
Marley fretted. Her friend had been through so much, but yet there was this chance she had. She needed.
Pulling a little chair closer to the bed, Marley sat. Sophia lo
oked so tired. Shame ran in her blood, but Marley knew herself. She would trade her friendship with Sophia if it meant having a family for Karito. "Sophia, are you ever going back to Ben?"
Sophia grimaced and slanted a glance toward her. She shook her head slightly, and Marley's heart soared. She was a bad, bad woman to want this permission, but there it was.
"No?"
"Marley, I feel like everyone wants me to go back, that everyone thinks I owe it to him, but really, what I owe him is to let him go." Sophia crossed one long leg over the other, making the thin blankets move. "I'm not going back. I think..."
Marley hung on the words, greedy for every drop.
"I think..." Sophia looked at the ceiling, shaking her head. "Oh, it's too crazy to even say."
Nothing could be crazier than the idea that Marley had wasted all this time waiting for Ben. That was crazy. What could Sophia have to be crazy about?
"Jus' say it. Believe me, anything else is wastin' time."
Sophia looked at her fully, cocking her head to one side, a small smile on her bruised face. She nodded and smiled more, amazement showing in her dark eyes.
"I think, I think I have feelings for Doug Lloyd."
Marley froze, her face must have looked stunned because she sure felt that way. "What?"
"I think he's for me—the man for me," Sophia said.
Was there even such a thing—a person's special one man? Marley couldn't fathom it, but her heart was already pounding, yes, yes, there is a one and only. If there was, Marley had already found hers. The fact that she was having this conversation—so rude, so not taking this woman's terrible injuries and the life she'd built with Ben into consideration, the fact that Marley was thinking of busting all that up, was evidence if anything was. Marley could undoubtedly find a man to marry her and accept Karito, and yet the idea had always been unthinkable. Why? Because there was only one man she wanted. She wanted Ben.
"Sophia, remember the other day at Allison's when you wanted to know who Karito's father was?"
Sophia nodded, a faint smile on her face. "I had to get my face bashed in to deserve to find out who it is?" she asked.
Ay, that sounded so bad. God, don't send me to hell for this, I beg you, Marley thought.
