Tyler & Stella (Tattoo Thief)

by Tretheway, Heidi Joy

  “Fine. Then just hide up here and pretend it’s not happening.”

  “It’s not …” he trails off.

  “It is, Tyler. That woman made you look like you abandoned your child and you just gave her thousands of dollars? You didn’t trust me enough to tell me about it, but when it’s all over Twitter, you expect me to step up and defend you. Like you said, Tyler, you’re either all in or you’re not. Because you can’t have it both ways!”

  I pound down the stairs and the tabloids on the coffee table scream at me. It’s worse than I thought—Kim Archer is everywhere, her fluffy blonde hair shining around her face as she cradles her toothless baby girl.

  Tyler’s baby.

  Bold quotes blare from the edges of the story, accusations that Tyler is shirking his responsibilities, that he’s a deadbeat dad.

  But these barbs don’t mesh with the Tyler I know, the sweet, kind man who would do anything for his friends. Hell, he’d do anything for me: open his home, pluck gravel from my knees, hang curtains—orange, because it’s my favorite color—and even rescue me from some stupid Lothario in a bar.

  He’d do anything but tell me the truth.

  And that’s when I realize this sweet little charade of playing house is over. It has to be. If I’m going to rescue any shred of my dignity, I’ve got to get on with my life. I can’t keep freeloading, letting him rescue me, settling for the scraps Tyler’s willing to share.

  I have to fly with my own wings.

  I pack my clothes in a rush, desperate to leave this place before weakness and want overtake me. Dixon’s texts from last night haunt me—Tyler’s willing to drag me through hell to protect himself.

  The evidence is there at the door to his warehouse, a media feeding frenzy that paints me as the other woman and already cost me my job. When this story is over, what will Tyler do?

  I can guess. It’s the same thing he did to Kim Archer—walk away.

  I call a cab and huddle with my suitcase in the stairwell, unwilling to face the swarm of reporters lurking on the other side until the cab arrives. Where can I go? Not to Beryl at Gavin’s apartment. And not to Violet and Neil’s—I’m sure I’ve already worn out my welcome.

  If that settlement money is real, it could be a fresh start for me—goodbye student loans, hello huge deposit on a small apartment, and for the first time I’d have a cushion in the bank to give me breathing room to find a new job. Beryl says her uncle is hiring more property managers.

  I feel like a coward. I couldn’t even bring myself to say goodbye to Tyler. I slump as images from the last time I tried to walk away from him rush back to me.

  Jet Black hovering as I leaned against the wall in the Bowery Hotel’s bar, drunk and willing to let him take me.

  Tyler’s disappointed eyes watching as I hurled every last drink into the toilet. He told me, “I fought for you, Stella, and I want you to fight for me … fight to stay.”

  But now Tyler’s not fighting for me at all. He’s drunk, withdrawn …

  Drunk?

  No.

  Not Tyler. Not Mr. Light Beer. Jayce’s warnings rush into my brain.

  “When something’s bugging him, he lets his blood sugar get all wacky…”

  “If he gets too low it’ll look like he’s stoned or really out of it. You’ll see it before he does.”

  I race back to Tyler’s loft, my heart pounding a staccato beat in my head. I throw open his door and hear a choking gurgle.

  A cough, a splutter, and another gurgle.

  The otherworldly noise sends a chill of dread up my spine.

  I force myself upstairs toward the noise. Tyler’s eyes are wide but unseeing, his back arched, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. He coughs and chokes again, spraying a mist of blood across his naked chest and the bed.

  I run to his side, awash in fear. I shove my hands under his shoulder, pushing him to his side, and he coughs and sputters again. Terror shoots through me, a million questions that scream, What do I do? What’s happening to him? Help! Help! Help!

  I look around frantically for a phone. Tyler doesn’t have a landline and I have no idea where his cell is. I yank a pillow from the bed and shove it under his shoulder to keep his body rolled to the side. He’s coughing and choking, his chest expanding as he draws a gurgling breath.

  I race back down the stairs, grab my purse and dump it on my bed, searching through the junk to find my phone.

  Almost dead, but not quite. I punch in 911 and squelch a wave of nausea as I hear the phone ring twice. I hear more coughing and race back upstairs, where Tyler has rolled almost all the way on his back. There’s blood all around him, smeared across the sheets, his face and chest. So much blood.

  “911, what is your emergency?” The too-calm voice cuts into my thoughts as I hold the phone to my ear with one hand and shove hard on Tyler’s shoulder to push him back on his side.

  “He’s choking. Tyler. He’s choking on his own blood. Send an ambulance! Help me!”

  I’m panicked but force my thoughts to slow to a pace at which I can answer the operator’s questions. I bang my hand on Tyler’s back when he chokes and his short, labored breaths suck in blood and send him into another coughing fit. More blood spills from his mouth.

  I confirm Tyler’s address but there’s no way the paramedics can get to us unless I let them in. I beg the dispatcher to tell me how long until they get here. I can’t bear to leave Tyler like this.

  The operator coaches me through it: “Can he breathe?”

  “Sort of.”

  I wedge another pillow behind him and one between his legs to prevent him from rolling on his back again. The operator tells me I have to go open the door now.

  My hands and chest are spattered with blood, and I wipe my hands on my shirt and race down the stairs. I turn each of the three locks in the warehouse door and I hear shouting as I push it open. Four paramedics are surrounded by reporters who scream questions.

  I blink against the camera flashes as I open the door wide enough for the paramedics to bring in a folding gurney. One man helps me pull the door closed against the throng and I twist the locks to keep them out.

  We seem to move in slow motion as I direct the paramedics upstairs toward Tyler.

  “Does this building have an elevator?” one tech asks me.

  I point behind the stairs toward the freight elevator. “Fifth floor. But it takes too long.” I beg two of the paramedics who carry medical bags to follow me and we run upstairs as the other two bring up the gurney on the elevator.

  I leave Tyler’s door open and lead the techs to Tyler’s bedroom loft where he’s still unconscious and panting, his skin slick with sweat. Blood is smeared around him and his face is almost white.

  The paramedics assess Tyler; one man wedges a plastic brace in Tyler’s mouth to hold it open as the woman looks in his throat. My body shakes as adrenaline drains from my body, replaced by the chill of fear.

  “What did he eat or drink? Did he take any drugs?” the female paramedic asks me. Her nametag says D. SWANK.

  I shake my head. “I don’t know. He seemed drunk when I got home. I don’t think he does drugs.” I pinch my eyes closed, realizing just how little I know about him. I only met him a few weeks ago, and even though he’s become incredibly important to me, there are broad gaps in my knowledge about his life.

  “Has this happened before? Is he epileptic? Anything about his medical history you can tell me?”

  “Diabetic. He’s diabetic,” I remember, and the paramedic frowns. I grab Tyler’s small black pouch from his nightstand and shove it at her. “Here. This is his kit.”

  D-whatever-that-stands-for Swank pulls a test strip from the canister and clicks the lancet pen on Tyler’s fingertip, drawing a bead of blood.

  I hold my breath as the glucose meter’s screen flashes once, twice, and then lands on a number. Thirty-seven.

  “Glucose,” Swank barks at her partner. The other two paramedics climb the stairs wi
th the gurney as the first two administer something to Tyler. I hear a guttural sound and his mouth hangs open, blood seeping down his lips and chin.

  The paramedics work together to hoist Tyler’s long, limp body from the bed to the gurney. They cover his lower body with a sheet and strap him down, but the blood on his face and chest looks like he’s been butchered.

  “Are you family?” The female paramedic, Swank, approaches me. Her dark hair curls around her face, refusing to be tamed in her ponytail.

  “No. I’m his—” I hesitate, not sure how to describe myself. “Roommate.”

  “OK. Well, family only in the ambulance, but you can meet up with us at Roosevelt Hospital. You should bring him a change of clothes. Can you call his family?”

  I nod, hoping I can find his phone somewhere. His mother lives in Pittsburgh and his band is also like family. If I can’t find Tyler’s phone, I’ll call Beryl.

  Swank asks me a series of succinct questions that baffle me. I don’t know Tyler’s birthday, his middle name, or his mother’s name or phone number.

  “What happened to Tyler?”

  “Unofficially, it was probably a diabetic seizure. It happens with hypoglycemia—when blood sugar gets too low. Was he acting strangely before this happened?”

  I can barely nod to confirm it because I’m so horrified I didn’t recognize the signs. My stupid brain just explained it away as being drunk because I was drunk just hours before. I was sulking about getting fired while the media systematically tore apart Tyler’s life and reputation.

  I’ve never felt so low.

  I follow Swank from the kitchen to the base of the loft stairs, where the male paramedics are bringing Tyler down. They pop up the wheels beneath the gurney and ensure his breathing is stable. I think I hear one of them say “coma” but Swank insists I need to go to the hospital to find out more.

  I’m not family. I’m nobody. I don’t have a right to know.

  The woman’s eyes scan the rest of Tyler’s loft. When they land on the stack of tabloids on the coffee table, her expression shifts with recognition. She knows who Tyler is.

  Swank turns to me, but instead of asking about Tyler, she sees my bandaged wrist, the cloth flecked with Tyler’s blood. “What happened to you?”

  “Fresh tattoo,” I confess, rolling my wrist to her view. “Not exactly an injury.”

  Swank nods. “Get cleaned up. Take a breath—this can be scary and you need a moment to calm down. When you’re ready, you can meet us at the hospital. OK?”

  Her eyes are gentle with concern. I let out a deep, shuddering breath.

  I follow Tyler and the paramedics into the elevator, which takes a creaky, agonizingly slow trip down. I squeeze next to his hip and grip his hand. Tyler’s face is sallow and damp, his eyes closed.

  “You’re going to be fine,” I tell him fiercely, as much for him as for me. I have no idea if he hears me.

  I lean over and press my lips to his forehead, practically the only part of his face that isn’t smeared in blood. “I love you,” I whisper. “I’ll be there for you as soon as I can.”

  The elevator grinds to a halt at the ground floor and a paramedic throws open the heavy metal grate, bump-bumping Tyler over the gap and up to the warehouse door.

  I turn the lock and pause, fearful of what’s on the other side. I want to cover Tyler from the cameras but he’s strapped down and I don’t have anything to protect him.

  When I swing open the door, the reporters explode with shouted questions. Their number has swelled to more than a dozen, including at least three video cameras that swoop over him like carrion birds.

  “Get back! Get back!” I hear one of the paramedics yell, and I’m grateful for their brawn as they roll Tyler across the asphalt and hustle him into the ambulance. I’m frozen in place as the ambulance doors slam and then the cameras turn back to me, reporters demanding answers and cameras recording my blood-spattered chest.

  I yank the door closed against them, hearing questions about drug overdoses and domestic violence and ugly speculations that squeeze my heart. When the locks are securely in place, I heave choking breaths just this side of retching.

  I feel sick that they’re attacking him. Sick that at one point, I was supposed to be one of them.

  No. I made a choice. I threw that career away as surely as I threw the mugs at Heath’s office wall. I am not one of them.

  TWENTY-NINE

  I do what I have to: call his family, go to the hospital, and wait. I strip off my bloody shirt and pants and step beneath the spray of Tyler’s shower to get the sticky feel of blood off me, then rebandage my wrist that still throbs from the fresh tattoo.

  I repack my purse with the litter of stuff I dumped on my bed, including my dead cell phone and its charger. I look for Tyler’s phone downstairs but it’s not on the kitchen counter, in the practice space, or under the tabloids by the couches.

  Upstairs, Tyler’s bedroom is a nightmare, his bed covered in bloody, rumpled sheets. I pull them back but don’t see a phone, and it’s not on the bedside table or his dresser. I can’t call it because my phone’s dead, and I don’t want to wait to charge my phone, so I keep looking, in the bedside table drawer and the pockets of shorts left on the floor.

  From that angle, I spot his phone on the floor, a corner just peeking out from under the bed. I slide open the lock screen: twelve missed calls.

  Most are from the band and I debate whom to call first, but one name screams at me, mocking me.

  Kim Archer. Her name is saved in his contacts? There’s no other way it could appear on his phone. I die a little more inside; their connection is stronger than I thought. She has his number. He saved hers. I feel my name fading from the picture that is Tyler’s life.

  I force myself to push these thoughts out of my brain and focus on what Tyler needs from me right now: his family. I scroll through his contacts and find the only name that makes sense: Cheryl Walsh. This must be his mother.

  The phone rings and I tuck it under my ear, opening a backpack that leans against Tyler’s dresser, emptying it of gym clothes and refilling it with fresh clothes, shoes, and his blood sugar test kit.

  Just when I expect to leave a voicemail, I hear a light-hearted woman’s voice answer. “Hey Ty, sweetie.”

  I cherish the warmth in his mother’s tone but I’m about to ruin her day. “Um, hi, Mrs. Walsh? This is Stella, Tyler’s, um, roommate.”

  I hear a full-throated laugh and Cheryl counters, “Oh, honey, I know better than that. The way Tyler talks, you’re the love of his life. I’m glad to hear from you.”

  My mouth gapes and I struggle to find the words. The love of his life? This is the man I walked out on less than an hour ago.

  “Mrs. Walsh, Tyler’s in the hospital. They think he had a diabetic seizure. He’s unconscious.”

  I hear her suck in a breath and the surge of emotions I felt while the paramedics were here hits me like a tidal wave.

  I try desperately to stuff down the sobs in my chest and explain, but tears choke out my words. I have no right to feel this way, this deeply for him, when I’m talking to the woman who raised him. She must be terrified.

  “Stella, take your time. If Tyler’s at the hospital, he’s going to be OK. Just tell me what happened.”

  “I, uh, he, couldn’t breathe and he, blood, and he was choking.” Waves of guilt crash through me. Jayce warned me. Tyler even warned me, and when it mattered, I didn’t see the signs, too wrapped up in my own problems.

  “Stella, I’ve been there. It’s scary and horrible but it’s not the end of the world.” Cheryl’s voice is soft and warm like a hug, and I wish she were here. I wish she was my mom and could comfort me the way I never felt when I was in the hospital.

  Cheryl calls me Tyler’s guardian angel for being there for him.

  I don’t feel like a guardian angel. I feel helpless, like nothing I can do will fix all that’s broken in Tyler’s life. I feel like I’m only adding complications. I�
��m blubbering this to Cheryl, but she asks me short, simple questions about where he is and what else the paramedics told me.

  “I’ll try to get on a flight tonight,” she promises. “In the meantime, just chin up and go be with him. Tell him I love him. And tell him you love him.” She pauses. “You do, don’t you?”

  “With all my heart.”

  “Good. Tyler understands people. He sees them better than they see themselves. When he told me he loved you, I knew there had to be something special about you.”

  “Oh.” It’s all I can manage without setting off a fresh round of tears.

  “I’m looking forward to meeting you, Stella. Now go be with my boy.”

  I hang up and swallow hard. I grab Tyler’s backpack and as I run downstairs, Tyler’s phone rings in my hand.

  Gavin’s photo appears on the caller ID. I answer immediately and hear a rough growl.

  “Stella? What the hell is happening over there?”

  “Tyler. They took him to the hospital.” My breath comes in short pants.

  Gavin fires questions, just like the reporters. Why is Tyler unconscious? Why is he bloody? Why was I bloody? Which hospital are they taking him to?

  Gavin must have seen something on the news but his questions feel like angry jabs, like he already assumes the worst of me.

  A fresh wave of panic hits me and I scream. “I thought he was drunk! I was pissed off and I didn’t know—I didn’t realize.”

  My brain’s on overload and it’s all I can do to get the hospital’s name out before I hang up on Gavin and throw open the door to a mob of reporters who make a human wall, blocking my exit.

  They shout questions loaded with speculation and accusation: Overdose? Domestic violence? Attempted suicide?

  I push and claw through them, running to hail a cab on Eleventh Avenue, but they follow me. I am the hunted.

  Fuck Kim Archer. If her story hadn’t blown up, the media would have never been downstairs to see the aftermath of Tyler’s seizure. Fuck her very much.

  ***

  I reach the hospital waiting room and Jayce is already there, pacing. He walks toward me rapidly, his face dark and tense, and I shrink back, afraid I’m about to get bawled out for failing to see the signs. For failing Tyler.