by Kyra Lennon
A blinding ache in my head made me breathe hard to try and ease the pain as I slowly realised where I was. Waiting room. Hospital. On the floor.
Radleigh.
I tried to sit but the man held his hands up. “Stay there for just a second,” he said gently.
“Is she okay?” I heard Freya ask.
“She’s fine. She just needs a minute to come round. Could someone please get her a cup of water?”
Freya’s heels clacked across the floor, and I said, “Where’s Radleigh? Is he okay?”
The doctor’s lips set in a firm line. “Let’s get you a drink, and then-”
“Please!” I shuffled away from him a little and sat up. The pain ricocheted through my skull and I wondered if this was my hangover setting in or if I’d hit my head on the floor. “I need to know.”
“Okay,” he said calmly. “I understand. Right now the doctors are still with him and they’re assessing the extent of his injuries. As soon as I know for sure what we’re dealing with, I’ll let you know. I promise. I’m sorry I can’t tell you anything more right now.”
“But… is he going to be okay?”
He shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know yet.”
Right in the middle of the floor, I pulled my knees up to my chest and let out a deafening shriek of pain. What the hell was happening? A short time ago, I’d been dancing and singing and celebrating, and slowly getting drunk with my friends. That’s what’s supposed to happen at a hen party. It’s supposed to end with a posse of inebriated girls laughing their arses off all the way home as they talk about the fun they had, then collapsing in bed, only to wake up to a colossal hangover.
This?
I didn’t even know what this was. I felt Freya’s arm around me and she handed me a cup of water. I’d have preferred another cocktail, something to kill the ache I thought I’d permanently cast away.
“Come on,” she said gently. “Let’s get you up.”
I let her and the doctor help me to my feet and guide me to one of the blue plastic chairs in the waiting room. After taking a sip of my drink, I realised I was cold. Not just a little, but shivering, and the doctor said, “Keep hold of her. I’ll be right back.”
Freya lowered herself into the chair beside me and held me tight, trying to warm me with the heat of her body, but nothing was getting through.
“Where’s Bryce? I mumbled.
Honestly, my awareness of everything was skewed. I hadn’t lost my vision, but the alcohol still running through me combined with the headache and the shock had rendered me incapable of seeing anything clearly. I recalled Miguel, Jude, and Cody had been in the waiting room when I’d arrived, and as I looked around, I saw they were still there. Miguel sat with his head in his hands, and Jude and Cody were pacing the way Bryce had been earlier.
“He’s just stepped outside,” Freya said. “He’ll be right back.”
“I need him to tell me what happened. Do you know?”
Freya shook her head. “No, honey. Like I said before, all I know is what he told me on the phone. He didn’t say how this happened.”
“Get him in here. I need to know.”
“I will. As soon as the doctor comes back, I’ll go get him, okay?”
I nodded and took another sip of water. My hands were shaking so much I almost spilled it, and when I was done, I handed the cup back to Freya because I didn’t trust myself to hold it for any length of time.
“Has someone called Mitch and Deanna?” I asked, my voice sounding distant to my own ears.
“I… I don’t…”
“They’ve been called,” Miguel said, and I glanced at him across the room. “They’re just trying to figure out how to get over here because they don’t want to bring Jessica.”
Jessica. They were right not to disturb her, of course, but feeling her in my arms was probably the only thing that would have helped to pull me out of my daze. She and Radleigh were the people I lived for. The people who meant more to me than anyone, and Jessica was a part of him. She was the connection I needed to keep me pushing through this uncertainty. To keep me strong.
The doctor returned with a blanket, which he put around my shoulders. Freya moved aside so I could wrap myself up in it, and some of the chill subsided, even though I continued to shiver.
“I’m going to check on Radleigh,” the doctor said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Do any of you know what happened?” I asked the other guys.
Jude was the only one of them to look up at me. Miguel and Cody carefully kept their eyes from mine. Before he could speak, the sound of an alarm sent a flurry of doctors and nurses running through the waiting room in the direction the other doctor had gone, and I leapt up from my seat.
And just like that, the rest of reality came hurtling back in.
Fear, the kind of fear you hope you’ll never have to feel, crushed at my heart, pushing it down to the pit of my stomach. My pulse was racing so hard I could hear it, and it collided with the ache in my head, doubling the pain and intensifying my panic.
“What’s happening?” I started to run after the doctors to find out, but Freya grabbed my arm.
“No, Leah. You can’t go back there. Let them work.”
“The hell I can’t!” I snapped, yanking my arm free and rushing across the room. Before I could get through the door to follow them, two strong arms circled around me from behind, holding me in place. I hadn’t even seen him coming.
“Get off me, Bryce!” I yelled. “Let go!”
“Freya’s right. You can’t go back there.”
“I need to see him!” I screamed, fighting to get out of his grip. I wriggled in his hold, pulling at his hands to try and loosen them. “Bryce, please! I need to go to him!”
“Leah-”
“I need him to know I’m here! You don’t understand! If he knows I’m here then maybe he’ll be okay, and he’ll fight harder and I need to tell him I-” I choked on the words as sobs wracked my body and I gulped for air.
Nothing felt right. Nothing felt real. The world was distorted, a misshapen mess, and it would continue to be that way if I lost him. Nothing would ever be okay again. Tears blurred my vision and I just wanted to disappear. I wanted to hide away until this was all over and Radleigh was okay again.
He had to be okay. We’d gotten through so much, and we were just about to really start our life together. Fate wouldn’t be cruel enough to snatch it away. To snatch the man I loved away from me. To snatch the father my daughter adored.
But it snatched Will away from Freya. With no logical reason, fate swooped in and stole him away. It swooped in and took Bree’s parents too, when she was just a child. I couldn’t go through that. I wasn’t as strong as Freya or Bree. I wouldn’t survive it. I couldn’t.
I felt a couple of drops of water on the top of my head, and it took me a moment to realise Bryce was crying too.
“Leah, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I promised I’d take care of him tonight and…”
I could feel him shuddering behind me as his words trailed off, and my stomach turned over. For a second I honestly thought I was going to be sick, or black out again, but waves of desperation for me to stay with him through this rolled from him and hit me right in the heart. Turning in his arms, I wrapped mine around him and held him tight.
“This is not your fault.” My words were so quiet. Again, they were stuttered out through my sobs and I had to keep my eyes closed because I didn’t want to see Radleigh’s blood all over his shirt.
“I saw her, Leah. I saw her at the club. I knew she was going to make trouble and I tried to get her to leave before Radleigh saw her but…”
“Who?” I interrupted. “Who did you see?”
“Jen. Jen did this.”
I shoved him back as vomit climbed up my throat and I rushed over to the bin because I couldn’t make it any further before it flew out of my mouth. The taste was vile, like cocktails and whatever the h
ell I’d eaten earlier. I couldn’t remember a damn thing, I just knew that I wasn’t going to stop until my insides were empty. A gentle hand on my back, and another holding my hair out of the way, reminded me where I was, but I couldn’t move until I was done. It didn’t matter that my friends saw me this way. Nothing would matter again until I knew Radleigh was okay.
If he was okay.
When I was sure there was nothing left inside me, I sank to the floor, my back against the bin, and wiped my mouth with the blanket that was somehow still around my shoulders. I was an undignified disaster.
“Do you need… anything?” Freya asked. I saw the fear in her eyes, and I knew she knew exactly what I felt. She’d been here before.
I shook my head.
After a moment, Bryce sat next to me.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would she do this?”
“I didn’t hear everything that happened. While I was looking for him in the club, I lost sight of her, and after a while I spotted him pulling her outside. He was so mad at her. I could tell that from across the room. When I got outside I found them down a side street, and I could hear him yelling at her. She said she wanted to give him one last fling before he walked down the aisle.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Radleigh told her she had more chance of being picked in a Warriors’ starting line-up than him getting anywhere near her again. He told her he stood by what he’d said before, that he wasn’t interested in her and she should keep away from all of you.” He paused and shook his head. “It happened so fast. I don’t know what was going through her head, or why she had a knife, because she honestly seemed to think she was going to take him home tonight. If she thought that, there would have been no need to have a knife. But she pulled it out of her purse so fast and shoved it right in his stomach. She even looked surprised she’d done it. Almost like she didn’t really mean to, but, why have a knife in the first place? And then she dropped it and ran.”
I was lost for words, but thankfully, Freya wasn’t. “I don’t get it. She’s a bitch. A self-centred, two-faced bitch. But stabbing him? That’s more than just bitchy. She’s gonna lose everything over this.”
Maybe Bryce was wrong. Perhaps Jen’s previous actions weren’t just about getting her own way and she still loved Radleigh after all. Maybe she’d gotten desperate now the wedding was so close, and resorted to insane measures to try and stop it.
Maybe she decided if she couldn’t have him, nobody else could have him either.
“You don’t think she showed crazy tendencies by always knowing where he was?” Bryce asked. “By showing up at the training ground all the time? She might as well have had him fitted with a tracking chip.”
“But nobody thought she was dangerous. If anyone had thought that, Leah and Radleigh would have hired a lot more security and taken out a restraining order. This was way out of the blue.”
“It was unexpected, but not completely. That woman is an extreme example of what happens when you always let your kids get their own way. She’s always been spoiled. Hearing the word ‘no’ must have sent her over the edge.”
“She’s never done anything like this before, though.”
“She’s never been in a situation where she couldn’t win before, either.”
“Right. Because ending up in jail is a much better situation than being a single mom.”
“Has she been arrested?” I asked, quietly.
“I don’t know,” Bryce said. “I’m kinda surprised the police aren’t here already, asking questions.”
As if someone had injected ice into my veins, a disturbing chill shot through me and I sat up straight. “You mean, she could still be out there now?”
Bryce nodded.
“But what if she goes to Mitch and Deanna’s? What if she tries to hurt Jessica? I don’t even know if they’re still with her or if-”
“Sshh,” Freya said, taking my hand. “They wouldn’t leave her with anyone they didn’t trust completely. She’ll be fine.”
“Do they even know it was Jen who did this? Because if they don’t know then-”
“They know,” Bryce interrupted, reaching for my other hand. “I told them because I wasn’t sure if she’d go there. The police were sent there too, and Freya’s right. Mitch and Deanna wouldn’t leave her with anyone they didn’t trust. If they can’t find anyone, one of them will stay behind with her.”
“They should both be here! What if… what if something happens to him and they’re not here?”
I stood up, the blanket dropping to the floor. The room swayed in front of me. My head was still pounding, my throat burned from throwing up, and my stomach felt empty. I didn’t even know why I stood. Where would I go? What could I do? I just wanted this nightmare to be over. I wanted to be at home, snuggled up beside Radleigh, safe in the knowledge that Jessica was tucked up in her crib and we were all where we belonged. I wanted peace, but all I had was gut-wrenching fear and endless questions nobody knew the answers to.
Nobody had come out of Radleigh’s room yet. The wailing alarms had stopped, but nobody had come out. Did that mean they were still working on him? Or did it mean….?
“Leah!”
Deanna’s voice brought me back from my thoughts, and I ran towards her and Mitch, tears running down my face. They both wrapped me up in a hug. “Is there any news?” Deanna asked.
“No,” I croaked out. “Nothing. Dee, is Jessica…?”
“She’s fine, sweetheart,” Mitch said. “We called Richard to take care of her, and the police are at our place too. If Jen is still around, she won’t get anywhere near. Truth be told, I don’t think she’d be stupid enough to go there.”
“So… they still haven’t found her?”
“Not as far as we know. But they will find her. We gave them all the information we have and I’m sure Bryce did too.”
“I did,” he said. “Not that I had much. I was too focused on Radleigh.”
“They’re sending some people here shortly to talk to everyone,” Deanna said. “But until then, how do I find out how my son is?”
“You can’t,” I said, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. “They won’t tell us anything.”
As my gaze rested on her, I saw her eyes were red and watery, and her face was as pale as everyone else’s in the room. She nodded. “I suppose they have to do their jobs. Let’s just give them a little longer. No news is good news right now.”
Although that cold weight remained in my stomach, having Mitch and Deanna there settled me a little. My friends were amazing, but like I’d earlier wanted Jessica by my side – and still did – I needed a connection to Radleigh, and they provided it. Mitch especially. He sat beside me and held me close, my head on his shoulder as silence fell over the waiting room. Occasionally someone would get up to make a cup of coffee, but mostly, all that could be heard was the sounds of our breathing.
My sense of time got lost as I waited. The police came to ask some questions. They spoke to Bryce, Miguel, Jude, and Cody, but when they tried to talk to me, Mitch politely told them they’d need to try again later. There was nothing about the incident I could provide because I wasn’t there, so speaking to me could wait. They still hadn’t found Jen yet, but the police did tell us that she wasn’t at the hotel she’d been staying in. They had located Jayden and Harley with the friend of Jen’s she’d left them with multiple times when she was last in town. Mitch and Deanna had provided the police with that information, and thankfully, the boys were fine.
Bree arrived at some point. She hugged me then took a seat beside Jude. I appreciated her being there almost more than everyone else because I knew how she felt about hospitals, and since it hadn’t been too long since she’d been in there herself, it must have been difficult to be back again.
It was somewhere around three a.m when the doctor who had picked me up from the floor earlier came into the waiting room. His face was drawn and he had dark circles under his eyes. As one, Mitch, Deanna and I got to our feet
as he approached.
My heart started to hammer and I gripped Mitch and Deanna’s hands.
“Are you Mr McCoy’s parents?” the doctor asked.
“Yes,” Mitch said, reaching out to shake his hand. “I’m Mitch, and this is my wife, Deanna.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Dr Morgan.”
“What’s the news? Is my son going to be okay?”
Dr Morgan gave a weak smile. “We believe so. Your son was extremely lucky. The knife wound was pretty deep, and if it had been less than half an inch in the wrong direction, it would have punctured a major organ. He has suffered a great deal of blood loss and we had to perform emergency surgery to repair some of the tissue around the wound. If it wasn’t for the fast actions of Mr Warren and the quick arrival of the ambulance, I’d be standing here telling you a different story.”
I wasn’t ready to relax just yet. If he’d had surgery, he definitely wasn’t out of the woods, but I threw Bryce a grateful smile. This guy had literally been a lifesaver.
“When you say he lost a lot of blood,” Deanna began. “Do you mean he’ll need a transfusion?”
“No. He’s narrowly avoided that for the time being, but we’ll need to keep a close watch to make sure he doesn’t suffer any internal bleeding. He’s also on a strong course of antibiotics to fight off any infections. He’ll be here in the hospital for quite some time.”
“How long?” Mitch asked.
“At the very least, a week, but depending on how his recovery goes, it could be longer. He certainly won’t be able to play soccer for the rest of this season.”
“He’s getting married in seven weeks,” Deanna said. “Will he be recovered enough to do that?”
I held my breath. After everything, I really wanted to marry him soon. I’d have married him right there in the hospital if I could have because it was never about the big fancy wedding. That was a bonus. Yes, I wanted it, but it wasn’t the most important thing. What mattered was us being together forever, and having almost lost him – twice – I was more than ready to call him my husband.
The doctor tilted his head thoughtfully. “We’ll reassess that in a week or so. If he takes things easy and he’s well looked after when he goes home, there’s no reason why he wouldn’t be. But you have to understand, he’s suffered a serious injury. This will take a long time to recover from.”
