Crashing Down

by Samantha Conley

  “I’ll get Colby and his bag. Meet downstairs in ten?” At my nod, he turns to walk out of the room. The way his jeans hug his ass has me staring until he moves out into the hall.

  The bar is as loud as I remember it as Brett ushers us to a table in the back where Camryn, Isaac, Jason, Mallory, Derek, and Kristen sit in the high-backed chairs.

  “Hey, guys,” I greet them, giving each girl a hug.

  “Thanks for having us out tonight,” Derek comments.

  “It’s the least we could do for you helping us move her stuff. Everything is on me tonight.”

  “Hell yeah, Dot bring us a keg,” Isaac jokes as the waitress walks up to the table with a tray full of longneck bottles. She just shakes her head when he winks at her.

  “I’d like to make a toast,” Brett begins, “as my mother used to say, ‘May your neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, the angels protect you and heaven accept you’. Here’s to a blessed future with this family.” He lifts his bottle to the center of the table and all the bottles clink except one.

  “You not drinking tonight?” I ask Kristen.

  “No, my stomach’s been a little off today. I think I’ll just stick with water.”

  “I’m sorry. If you need to leave, you go home. I hate being nauseous and stuff.”

  “Thanks, but I think I’m okay.” She gives me a small smile.

  Two hours later, I could tell that Kristen was feeling worse. She quit talking as much which was very unlike her. When she excused herself to the bathroom, my gut said I needed to follow. I lose sight of her in the crowd since I’m so damn short but luckily, I know where the bathroom is from my last trip. Just don’t let me see Zane’s naked ass again. Once was enough. I still can’t look at him without blushing. There are only two other women in the restroom when I enter, standing at the counter primping. A small groan from the furthest stall draws their attention and mine.

  “Could you ladies excuse us?” I ask as I pass by them.

  ‘Yeah, sure. Come on, Trina.” The two walk out, a worried expression on their faces.

  “Kristen, honey, you okay?”

  “No, I don’t think I am,” comes her reply, her voice wavering with tears.

  “Kris…”

  “I think I’m having a miscarriage.”

  “Oh shit. What do you need me to do? Can you open the door?”

  “No, every time I move it hurts,” she cries.

  “I’m going to look under the door okay?” When she doesn’t answer, I lower myself to the floor. He bare legs come into view with her jeans and panties bunched below her knees. Blood streaks the inside of her thighs. Her face contorts in pain.

  “Fuck. I’m calling nine one one.” Her eyes fly open in a panic. “No arguing. Then I’m going to get Derek. Are you okay to stay by yourself?”

  “I think so,” comes her weak reply.

  “I’ll hurry as quick as I can. Shit, I left my phone on the table. Hang on, Kris.”

  I hurry out of the restroom just as our waitress Dot walks by.

  “Dot!” I yell catching her attention over the music playing. She turns toward me wide-eyed. “Can you please stay by the restroom door?’

  "Yeah, why?” she asks narrowing her eyes.

  "Kris is in there. I have to call an ambulance and get her husband.”

  “Oh shit,” she breathes out. “I’ll stay inside with her and lock the main door. No one will bother her, and someone should be in there just in case.”

  “Great idea. I’ll be as quick as I can.” I weave through the crowd, throwing elbows and pushing people out of the way when they don’t move quick enough. I’m breathing hard by the time I make it to Derek’s side.

  “Derek, restroom now. Kristen thinks she’s miscarrying.” His jaw drops as he loses all color before he stands up, knocking over his chair in the process before rushing to her. “Call nine one one. Please. I’m going to stay with her!” I order before following in Derek’s wake. The table scrambles for their phones. Mallory makes the call, her voice fading the further I get away.

  Half an hour later, the paramedics load Kristen up on to the stretcher and wheel it through the quiet bar. Jake had cleared the place out when he heard what was happening, giving them some privacy. The wheels are loud as they roll across the hardwood floor. Kristen lies listlessly on the mattress, a thin white blanket covering her while Derek walks at her side patting her hand. The tears spill down my cheeks as remorse fills me, the red and blue lights flashing ominously when the front doors open.

  “You okay, babe?” Brett asks from behind me wrapping his strong arms around me pulling into his embrace. I can’t do anything other than nod. “Let me run ask Derek something okay?” I'll be right back.” He kisses me on the head before jogging toward the door.

  “What do we do?” Camryn mumbles from beside me.

  “There's nothing we can do for a while,” Mallory answers. “They’ll evaluate her in the ER, do an ultrasound and take it from there. Depending on what they find will be the next step. More than likely they will admit her to maternity to watch her vitals,” Mallory explains patiently. I’m sure her years as an ER nurse has given her enough experience to know.

  “We should go for support,” Camryn offers.

  “They won't let us see her in the emergency room, not until she's on the floor.”

  “As long as Derek is supportive and doesn’t blame her, we'll just be in the way,” I murmur.

  “Why wouldn't he be supportive?” Camryn asks with a frown.

  “You never know what circumstances will make the one you love turn on you,” I sob out.

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry you had to deal with that,” Mallory states hugging me tightly. “Bastard deserves to be castrated for what he did,” she murmurs patting my back figuring out what has me so upset as I sob into her shoulder.

  “Wait, what did I miss?” Camryn asks, confused as her brown eyes bounce between the two of us.

  Isaac appears at Camryn’s back, drawing her close to his body. “Babe, why don’t we head out. It’ll be late before Kristen will get out of the emergency room.”

  “But…” she protests. He rests his head on the back of hers.

  “I need to see my baby, Cam.” Her face softens at his tearful voice.

  “Me, too. Let’s go. We can check in with Derek later.”

  “Night, y’all,” he drawls leading her away.

  “Night.” Brett enters through the front door, holding it open for the departing couple. He says something we are too far away to decipher before he turns to us. The tears streaking down my face has him rushing over.

  “What’s going on?” he barks out, staring at Mallory.

  “Brett, I’m okay,” I mutter, wiping my cheeks with the back of my hands to hide the evidence of my breakdown.

  “Bullshit. Thanks, Mal, I’ll take it from here. Jason is waiting out front. The ambulance is leaving in a minute. Derek said he’d let us know what was going on as soon as he knew.”

  “Thanks, Brett. Take care of this one, okay?” She nods toward me before hurrying off.

  “What’s going on Sky?” he asks, holding me at arm’s length, his gaze penetrating.

  “It was just scary,” I mumbled, my eyes dropping from his.

  “Like I said that’s bullshit.” He gathers me in his arms, my nose filling with the scent of his cologne. “We’ll talk about this later. Let’s go get our boy.”

  My head falls to his chest, the steady rise and fall comforting. “Yeah. I’m ready to be home.”

  18

  Brett

  My eyes blink open in the dimness of the room, knowing Skylar is no longer in bed with me. The baby monitor reveals that Colby is sleeping soundly, so he’s not the reason I’ve awakened. The motor of the ceiling fan is the only noise in the room. Moonlight streams in through the sheer curtained windows at the back of the room. That’s where I find Skylar, sitting in the chair with her legs tucked underneath her, moonlight highlighting her face
, tears sparkling as the drops cling to her dark lashes. I throw back the covers, my footfalls silent on the thick carpet.

  “You gonna tell me what’s bothering you?” I ask, kneeling beside the chair, clasping her cold hand in mine, thumb tracing the light blue veins under her pale skin.

  “Tonight, just brought up a lot of old feelings. Ones I thought were dead and buried,” she murmurs, staring out over the backyard.

  “Talk, Sky. You need to let me in,” I can’t keep the pleading out of my voice.

  “You know I told you it had been a while for me?” When I nod, she continues. “There was only one before you.” I try to hide the shock from my face. This beautiful, smart, sexy woman had had only one lover before me? Mind-boggling.

  “Was he your high school boyfriend?” Jealousy spears my gut.

  “God no,” she laughs. “I was way too busy studying in high school to have friends much less a boyfriend. My mother would have had a conniption fit. With her, it was all about getting good grades to get to into a good school,” she mocks.

  “You met him a college then?”

  “Yeah, my last year.”

  “What about the other gazillion years you were there?” I chuckle knowing that she spent quite a few years there to get her master’s degree.

  “I was all about the studying. I didn’t go to parties or the football games. I kept my head buried in my books. I went to class, the library or my dorm room. That was it.”

  “What about softball?”

  “Lord, that was a whole other problem. Mom allowed it in high school because it didn’t interfere with her plans. When I told her I wanted to try to walk on at college? You would’ve thought I told her I was becoming a stripper.”

  “I bet you would have made it too.”

  “But being the good daughter, I am, I didn’t try out.”

  “What happened the last year?”

  “Craig happened. He was the first guy to ever pay me attention.”

  “He already sounds like a douche,” I murmur, earning a chuckle.

  “He was sweet, attentive. Made sure I ate regularly. We moved into his apartment together my last semester. Not that my mother knew. As far as she knew, I was still living in my dorm.” Damn, I hate this guy already.

  “Was she still paying for it or was it part of your scholarships?”

  “She paid for it. My scholarships paid for tuition and books. She wouldn’t even let me get an apartment. She was afraid I would get distracted if I was off campus. It embarrassed me that they usually stuck me with freshmen for roommates.”

  “She never just showed up?”

  “No, we were on breaks at the same time as her school district. She expected me home over any extended breaks.”

  “Talk about a control freak.”

  “Try living with her,” she replies, the corner of her mouth tilts up.

  “Okay, you moved in and…”

  “Everything was great. His parents were helping to cover all his bills. For once, I had a focus other than school and my internship. They had already offered me a job when I graduated. He was going to work in his dad’s brokerage firm. And then I got pregnant. We were about a month out from graduation.”

  “Oh, shit.”

  “Probably the exact words that came out of my mouth when the doctor told me. I freaked out.”

  “He didn’t take it well?” I prompt.

  “No, he did. A lot better than I did. The day after I told him he went out and bought baby clothes. Looked for a bigger apartment. A new car since his was a two-seater sports car. From the first moment, he was gung-ho about it all.”

  “Um, okay,” I rub the back of my head, not sure what to say because she’s not telling me what I expected. Most guys would have run screaming like their ass was on fire. In school, not working, no insurance isn’t a great place to be with a kid on the way.

  “About three weeks after we found out, I woke up in the middle of the night,” her voice fades off. “My stomach was killing me. Like period cramps but a million times worse.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” I comment, and she looks at me with a wry grin.

  “I guess you wouldn’t,” she says. “I got out of bed to go to the bathroom and collapsed on the floor. That was when I noticed that blood soaked my gown. I screamed, and it woke Craig up. He turned on the light on the table. The bed looked like someone had been murdered.” Her voice wavers and I squeeze her hand in support. “He ran to where I was and paled so fast I thought he would faint. He called nine one one, and they took me to the hospital.” Tears spill over her lashes and I wipe them away with my thumb. “Do you know what the medical term for a miscarriage is?”

  “No, I guess I don’t. I thought miscarriage was it.”

  “Spontaneous abortion.”

  “Okayyy,” I draw out not sure where she is going with this.

  “They did all these tests to determine if I had miscarried and I had. The doctor was worried that it wasn’t complete and admitted me. To the maternity ward. Where all the new mothers had their babies,” she sobs out.

  “Oh, babe, I’m sorry.” I can’t imagine the agony that would’ve caused.

  “They gave me some medicine for the pain and to help me relax and all I did was sleep until the next morning. The doctor came in and told me he thought I needed a D and C to make sure all the tissue and everything had evacuated.”

  “D and C?”

  “Dilation and curettage, I believe is what it stands for. It opens the cervix and removes the tissue in the uterus.”

  "Jesus.”

  “Sometimes it’s needed. If any of the old tissue remains there is a risk of infection. On the sonogram, they thought they saw some. He wanted to make sure.”

  “The nurse brought in the consent form for me to sign. Craig was right there reading them with me. Well, it listed spontaneous abortion on the paperwork. I thought nothing about it. I signed the papers, Craig left to go get food since he hadn’t eaten since the night before. A couple of hours later they were taking me into the room.” Her voice quivers.

  “Did he not make it back in time?”

  “No, he did but something was wrong. He was cold.” She shivers as she recalls.

  “Everything was all right with the surgery?”

  “It went fine. They wanted to keep me overnight and give me a couple of doses of IV antibiotics just in case. As soon as I woke up in recovery, Craig left. He didn’t say a word, just walked out the door. I couldn’t understand. It was like he was a different person.”

  “Asshole,” I mumble under my breath.

  “The next morning, I was ready to be discharged. I called Craig because he didn’t come back. He never answered my calls from the night before and it worried me. I thought maybe he had gone to a bar and got drunk. That was usually how he dealt with bad news. I didn’t have my phone with me, so I had no numbers to call his friends or his parents, not that they knew about me. I freaked out thinking something had happened to him. They had to sedate me since my blood pressure was out of whack.” I bite my lip to where I taste blood to hold back the words I want to say. She needs to get this off her chest, not hear me go off on a tangent.

  “He walked into the room. The look on his face scared the hell out of me.” She grips my hand tight. “I asked him what was wrong, where he’d been. The clothes he was wearing were the same from the day before. His eyes were bloodshot. He stood there with a dead look in his eyes, clenching his fists at his side. One second he was staring me down as if he didn’t know me. He snapped, screaming at me that I was a murderer, that I killed our baby.”

  “That bastard,” I fume. My free hand grips the arm of the chair, the wood creaking under the pressure.

  “I didn’t know what to say. I knew I did nothing to hurt our baby on purpose.” Her vehement defense would’ve convinced even the staunchest doubter. The love she has for her lost baby and the pain of that loss bleed through, making my heart ache.

  “Of course, you
didn’t. These things happen,” I murmur soothingly.

  “He advanced toward the bed and I thought he would kill me. The look in his eyes,” she winces as though he’s right in front of her. “He was screaming so loud that they heard him at the nurses' station. My nurse, Heather, came in and saw what was going on. She jumped in front of him to keep him off me. Security showed up and the two guys had to drag him out of the room. The whole time he’s screaming that I killed his baby.”

  “If I ever see this motherfucker I’m going to kill him,” I breathe out.

  “They had me stay another night because my blood pressure skyrocketed after that. I knew I couldn’t go back to the apartment. And I called my mom.”

  “I bet that didn’t go over well.”

  “Understatement of the century,” she whispers. “She and my dad showed up about three hours later. I wanted to crawl under the covers and disappear. I told Dad where I was living, and he went over there to get my stuff. Mom stayed at my bedside, lecturing me. I had just lost my baby, and she's fucking lecturing me on my bad choices.” Her voice turns bitter as she spits it out.

  “You’re not endearing me to your mother.”

  “Dad came back with two suitcases. Craig had left them on the stoop. Like trash. I’d never seen my dad so pissed off in my life.”

  “I would have been too.”

  “But everything worked out. I made it to graduation. Walked the stage. Got an apartment close to the hospital,” she rushes out, hand picking at the hem of her shirt before she smooths it back out against her thighs.

  “I hate that happened to you, Skylar,” I murmur, kissing her cheek.

  "‘Everything happens for a reason, right?” She gives a watery laugh.

  “That doesn’t mean it hurts any less, love.”

  “I’m sorry about tonight.” The guilt in her hazel eyes stops me cold.

  “There’s nothing to be sorry for. You needed to get all of that out. And I need to track down Craig,” I threaten.

  “No, you don’t. He’s out of my life like I want. I never have to deal with him again.” She moves in her seat to allow her head to rest on my shoulder. “Can we go see Kristen tomorrow?” she questions. My hesitation at putting her through that pain again makes me want to say hell no. “Please?” she pleads up at me, eyes beseeching and my resolve fades. How can I say no?