Fight or Flight

by Young, Samantha

  “I wasn’t being cute.” I leaned toward him. “You just have a one-track—” My phone began to vibrate on the coffee table, cutting me off.

  Harper’s name flashed on the screen.

  Caleb saw. “Call her back later.”

  But I couldn’t.

  These last four weeks had been strained between me and my best friend. My uncertainty over her boyfriend meant she was avoiding me, and I didn’t know how to make things right. I felt like I was forcing her to have lunch or drinks with me because when we were together she barely laughed and she seemed on edge, afraid, I think, that I’d ask about Vince.

  I didn’t ask about Vince because I just wanted my best friend back.

  This was the first time in weeks that Harper had initiated contact.

  Caleb knew all this because I’d confessed my concerns. He saw the look on my face. “You better answer it, then.”

  I grabbed the phone and answered it on a breathless “Hey.” My heart had started racing a little with relief.

  “Ava?”

  My blood chilled instantly at the garbled way Harper said my name.

  “Harper?”

  “Ava,” her voice croaked. “I’m … I’m in trouble.” And then I heard the soft whimpers of her crying, and fear slammed into me.

  My eyes flew to Caleb, whose gaze turned questioning. “Harper, where are you? What’s going on?” He leaned toward me at the urgency in my voice.

  “I’m in my apartment.” She sobbed and then coughed, spluttering in a way that made me feel sick as I seemed to intuit what she was about to tell me. “Vince attacked me. He’s barricaded me in my bedroom. I managed to grab my phone and hide it on me before he threw me in here. He’s out in the living room. He’s …” She started to cry, soft, heartbreaking cries that brought tears to my own eyes. “He’s high on something.”

  “I’m on my way. When I get off the phone, call the police.”

  “No,” she said, her voice sharp. “Please, Ava, no police. Please. You can’t. Please.”

  I looked up at Caleb. “Okay, no police.”

  His expression darkened. What’s going on? he mouthed.

  “I’ll be there soon. Just hold tight.”

  “Okay,” she whispered and hung up.

  “Vince attacked her,” I said, my hands shaking as I got up and reached for my purse on the coffee table. “He’s got her barricaded in her bedroom and she won’t let me call the police. She says he’s on something.”

  “You’re not going there alone,” Caleb bit out angrily, pushing up off the sofa to stride past me and across the room. He pounded on Jamie’s door and then threw it open without permission.

  “What the fu—?”

  “Ava’s friend is in trouble,” Caleb cut him off. “Get your shoes.”

  Somewhere in my fear-soaked brain I processed that Jamie followed Caleb out of the room without asking for more of an explanation, and I thought that said a lot of good things about Jamie Scott. It was only when we were all in the elevator together, Caleb holding my hand tight because I couldn’t stop trembling, that Caleb asked me to tell them everything Harper had said on the phone.

  I repeated our conversation.

  “How far away is she?” Jamie asked as we hurried across the underground parking garage to Caleb’s car. We piled into the Range Rover Sport he’d bought when he first moved to Boston, and I gave Caleb instructions on how to get to her place. She lived in a tiny one-bedroom in Charlestown just off Bunker Hill Street, so it was a mere ten minutes up Route 93.

  That ten minutes felt like a goddamn lifetime.

  I was jittery with adrenaline, my teeth chattering together and my left knee bouncing constantly.

  Caleb reached over and placed a gentle hand on said knee as he was driving. “We’ll get tae her and she’ll be okay,” he promised, so steady. I looked over at him, his profile stern and his gaze focused and determined on the road. He was strong and capable and protective.

  I still felt sick, but Caleb’s reassurance and his brother’s presence—their support—calmed me a little. In a perfect world I would be strong enough physically to march into Harper’s apartment and save her from Vince myself. But I was a tiny five foot three and I ran to keep fit. I didn’t lift weights. Vince could overpower me as easily as he’d overpowered Harper, and then where would we be?

  It was a sad truth that weeks ago this would have made me feel bitter and frustrated. I was still frustrated, but I didn’t feel bitter that I had to lean on Caleb for help. Perhaps if I didn’t trust him, I would feel resentment that I had to rely on a man for support. But I didn’t see this as having to rely on a man. I saw this as relying on a friend.

  He was my friend.

  And I’d never been more grateful for him than I was in that moment.

  “Here—” I pointed to a small parking lot between her building and the next and then fumbled in my purse for my keys. I had a spare to Harper’s apartment as she had for mine.

  Caleb swung into a free spot and I jumped out of the car before he’d stopped moving. I ran toward the modern redbrick building, driven by the need to get to my friend. Seconds from the building door, I suddenly felt the breath knocked out of me as a strong arm encircled my waist. I found myself hauled back against Caleb and he growled in my ear, “Dinnae you jump out of a moving car again.” He shook me a little and I pressed against his arms in an attempt to rush ahead.

  “Caleb,” I bit out in warning.

  He released me slowly and I turned to match him glare for glare. He held out his hands. “Keys. Stay behind me and Jamie the whole time. You hear?”

  Arguing would only have wasted time, so I handed the keys over and fell back behind the two brothers. “Second floor,” I said.

  They took the stairs two at a time and I hurried up after them, out of breath from panic and distress by the time we reached her apartment. I pointed to her door and Caleb unlocked it, but when he opened it, it caught on the chain.

  He cursed and looked at Jamie and then at me.

  I read his silent question. “Break it in.”

  Taking a few steps back, Caleb seemed to brace and then he punched a long, strong leg out with more force than I knew he was capable of. The door flew open, the chain snapping off, and wood in the center panel cracked and splintered.

  I didn’t care.

  I rushed in behind Caleb and Jamie to find Vince standing up from the sofa in her small living room. In my head I’d imagined the apartment wrecked from a violent struggle, but it was mostly intact except for a smashed vase in the corner by the window.

  The retro fridge, however, was no longer in her tiny kitchen but barricading her bedroom door.

  Son of a bitch!

  Before I could launch myself at him, he raised his hands in defense against a menacing Jamie and Caleb, who were approaching him slowly, predatorily.

  I finally noted that Vince’s face was splotchy and his eyes watery and red-rimmed. He’d been crying. He still was. And his hair was all over the place, like he’d been tugging it in vexation.

  “I didn’t mean it.” He shook his head, blubbering. Spit dribbled down his chin and he wiped it, sobbing harder. “I didn’t mean it.” His eyes flew to me and he started toward me. “Ava, I didn’t mean it.”

  Caleb lunged between us and shoved Vince hard enough to send him sprawling to the hardwood floor. “You stay the hell away from her,” he warned. “Jamie, watch him while I help Ava get Harper.”

  Jamie nodded. “He isn’t going anywhere.”

  Pulling my eyes away from Vince, holding back my desire to physically attack him, I hurried over to the fridge with Caleb and together we hauled it out of the way. Hands shaking, afraid of what I’d find beyond the door, I hesitated just a second before I threw it open.

  I heard Vince behind me whimpering. “I just didn’t want her to leave me. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want her to leave me.” The sound of a struggle brought my head back around to the living room and I watched as
Vince tried to get past Jamie to the bedroom.

  With a grunt of annoyance, Jamie let him go for a millisecond before knocking Vince out with a right hook.

  Vince crumpled to the ground and Jamie stepped over him, hurrying across the room to us.

  With Vince unconscious and no longer sobbing and pleading, I finally heard her whimpers and groans.

  Heart squeezing in alarm, I hurried into the bedroom, my eyes searching the small space, and panicking when I couldn’t see her. Relief flooded me as I caught sight of her head behind the far side of the bed.

  Rounding it, feeling the brothers’ presence at my back, I stumbled to a stop at the scene that greeted me.

  My best friend was slumped on the floor cradling her wrist. She sensed me and lifted her head slowly. Her left eye was swollen shut, her nose was bloodied, there was a cut on her lower lip, and her T-shirt was torn with splatters of blood on it.

  I felt my knees tremble so hard they nearly took me to the ground, and I had to stifle the sob that rose in my throat.

  My hands and legs shook as they took me toward her.

  “Where’s Vince?” Harper slurred.

  “He’s in the living room. He’s out.” I lowered to my knees, reaching for her, my hands hovering over her because I was afraid to touch her and hurt her more. “Sweetie, we need to get you to the hospital.”

  “No, no.” She shook her head and I finally saw the matted, blooded hair near her temple. Her slurred words made sense and fear took hold of me.

  “We have to, baby. You might have a concussion. Hospital and police.”

  “No, no,” she kept repeating.

  “Let me, wee yin,” Caleb said, gently pulling me up out of the way. And then he was even more gentle as he lifted Harper into his arms. She cried out, a shrill sound that made my stomach sink.

  Caleb’s gaze flew to me, his countenance grim. “Her ribs,” he surmised.

  “Broken?”

  “Maybe just bruised.” He looked ready to kill Vince.

  I was right there with him.

  “Ava, please, no.” Harper began to cry pitifully as Caleb carried her out of the room. Jamie held the door for them and I hurried at Caleb’s back only to hear her whisper mournfully, “I’m so ashamed.”

  Tears filled my eyes as my gaze connected with Jamie’s.

  Empathy shone out of his eyes and he touched Harper’s arm, drawing Caleb to a stop. “You have nothing tae be ashamed of,” he said to her.

  “Who are you?” she whispered.

  “My brother Jamie,” Caleb answered. “Now let’s get going.”

  “Hospital, police,” I repeated.

  “I’ll call the police and wait here for them,” Jamie said. “I’ll make sure the bastard doesn’t get away before they get here.”

  “I’m surprised someone hasn’t already called the police,” Caleb muttered.

  I gave the room one last sweep. Everything was in its place except for that vase—and Vince’s sprawled body on the floor. “There’s not a lot of damage, so maybe not a lot of noise.” And if Harper had fought back, made noise, a neighbor would surely have called the police. Which means my friend had taken this beating without a fight.

  I knew her history.

  I knew her.

  She blamed herself for staying with him. I feared she’d taken his beating as a punishment—a thought that made me feel sick. If that was true, we had bigger problems than bruised ribs and a concussion.

  I squeezed Jamie’s shoulder as I passed him. “Thank you.”

  He gave me a tight smile and nodded.

  “Ava, keep talking tae her,” Caleb said as we hurried out of the apartment.

  “What’s going on?” A belligerent voice stopped me on the landing while Caleb kept hurrying down the stairs.

  I jerked around at the sight of Harper’s elderly neighbor, Mr. Haggerty, standing in his doorway scowling. “Mr. Haggerty, Harper’s hurt. We’re taking her to the hospital.”

  “I’m calling the police.” He glowered at us.

  “My friend already has,” I assured him. I didn’t have time to stick around, though, so I gave him a nod and rushed down the stairs after Caleb and Harper.

  The entire drive to the hospital I made my friend recite recipes to keep her awake. When we got there and handed her over to the nurses, it took everything within me to hold it together.

  Harper Lee Smith was my only true family and I had let her down. If I had just kept on at her about Vince—damn the consequences—there was a huge possibility we wouldn’t be at a hospital and Caleb wouldn’t have my friend’s blood on his T-shirt.

  Twenty-four

  The wait to hear how Harper was doing was excruciating. I just wanted to be by her side. Images of her before she met Vince, of her laughing, full of attitude, filled my head and I was terrified that those images would remain memories, that after all she’d been through this horrible end to a bad relationship would be the thing that broke her.

  I clung to hope that if Harper was tough enough to make it out of her past, she was strong enough to eventually realize that what happened tonight had not been her fault.

  Sensing that I was deeply buried in my own thoughts and concerns, Caleb was a silent support at my side as we sat in the waiting room of the ER. We were surrounded by people, yet every single one of them faded out of existence as I stewed in anxiety. That is … every single one except Caleb. I still felt him there. His strength and warmth beside me anchored me even if it seemed to the outside like I’d floated away from him.

  “Harper Smith’s family?”

  Her name jolted me out of myself and I rose to my feet, as Caleb stood up at my back. “Yes?”

  The doctor, a young brunette with kind eyes, gestured to us and we marched over to her. “You’re Harper’s relatives?”

  “She doesn’t have any blood relatives,” I answered. “I’m her best friend. I’m her only family. I’m her emergency contact on her insurance. Ava Breevort.”

  “Okay. I’m Dr. Hunter.” The doctor lifted her hand in a calming gesture, sensing my building anxiety at the thought of being barred from Harper. “Ava, I can tell you that Harper is going to be all right. She’s got a fractured rib and a broken wrist. The wrist we’ve put in a cast, but unfortunately there’s not a lot we can do about her rib except administer pain relief while it heals. Thankfully her nose isn’t broken, but a deep cut on her eyebrow and left temple required stitches. Which brings me to what I am concerned about. Harper threw up while we were treating her and is feeling very disoriented. I’ve ruled out any serious brain injuries but I always ask that patients suffering from concussion have someone stay with them for at least forty-eight hours. This is just a precaution to make sure there aren’t any concerning changes in Harper’s behavior.”

  “I can do that,” I said instantly. “She can stay with me.”

  “Good. Now, I’ve given Harper some painkillers, but she’ll need bed rest and plenty of fluids. We’ll be a little while longer discharging her, but the nurse will let you know as soon as she’s ready to be taken home. Oh, and—” Dr. Hunter lowered her voice even further. “Harper has asked us not to call the police, however—”

  “We called the police,” Caleb cut her off. “They’re on their way.”

  I looked at him questioningly. He gave me a reassuring nod. “Jamie texted. The police took Vince into custody and Jamie’s on his way here. The police will be here shortly tae take a statement from everybody. Including Harper.”

  “Right,” Dr. Hunter said. “Then Harper stays until the police have asked their questions.” She seemed appeased and left us to return to her duties.

  As soon as she was out of sight, I just began to walk forward.

  My feet slapped hard in my flats against the hospital linoleum floor as I rushed away from the waiting room.

  I heard Caleb calling my name, but I only stopped when I reached an empty corridor with a vending machine in it. And then I bent over, my hands on my knees, and b
egan to sob.

  He could have killed her.

  The bastard could have killed her.

  Caleb pulled me up and crushed me to him, my arms automatically winding around his back to hold on tight as every feeling and fear I’d gone through that night spilled out of me with absolutely no control.

  “I could have stopped this.” I sobbed, the words garbled. “I should have. If I’d just—”

  “No.” He shushed me, stroking my hair. “You dinnae get tae blame this on yourself, wee yin. I won’t allow it.”

  I did blame myself for not pushing Harper harder. But I heard the steel in Caleb’s voice and shut up. Eventually the hard sobs that racked my body calmed to silent tears that didn’t seem to want to stop leaking out of my eyes.

  “Harper okay?” Jamie’s voice brought me out of my Caleb cocoon, but I didn’t lift my face from where it was pressed against his chest.

  “Harper’s going tae be fine,” Caleb said, giving me a squeeze. “He messed her up pretty good, though.”

  I tabulated her injuries in my head and felt my fear melt to wrath almost instantly. I lifted my head but didn’t pull out of Caleb’s embrace as I turned to Jamie.

  His eyes searched my face and I knew I looked a mess but I didn’t care. Jamie informed me, “The police have Vince in custody. He still hasn’t fully come down from whatever drug he’s on and he pretty much admitted tae them that he beat Harper because she wanted tae break up with him. The police are on their way here tae take a statement from you two and Harper.”

  Reality of daily life after abuse was nothing new for Harper. But this was different. I felt it in my bones. It made me cold with stifled panic. “How do I get her through this? She’ll blame herself. She’ll see it like she allowed him to do this to her.”

  Caleb turned me to face him and said sternly, “You just keep telling her that this wasn’t her fault. Every day for as long as it takes tae sink in.”

  “You don’t understand … her history … this … she doesn’t deserve any more pain. She’s been through enough.” Tears spilled down my cheeks again as a feeling of powerlessness overwhelmed me.