Blink.
“I’m going,” Coop said.
“We’re following.”
Blink.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“This asshole was all over her.” Ian.
Ian was there, too…what happened to his voice?
Blink.
“We really need to get in touch with her mother.”
“I’m eighteen, and I’m not going. I have no idea where her mother is, and she hasn’t answered the calls we’ve made.”
Turning my head, I focused on Coop. He had his arms folded and looked pissed. Where…
“Hey,” the nurse said, pushing past Coop. Why was there a nurse here? My face hurt. “Take it easy, you’re at East Mercy. Can you tell me your name?”
“Frankie,” I said, and oh my voice sounded like I’d swallowed glass, and my throat hurt like hell. “Frankie Curtis. Was there an accident?”
We’d been at the dance. Had something happened on the way home?
“I’ll answer your questions in just minute, okay, hon?” The nurse gave me a really kind smile. Just past her shoulder, Coop stared at me with a tense expression. He didn’t look hurt. That was good. Where were the other guys?
“Is everyone okay?”
“One more sec, can you tell me how you’re feeling right now? Any pain? Any discomfort?”
“Face hurts.” I lifted my hand, and then paused at the I.V. in the back of it. Oh that was why it hurt. I tried for the other one and winced more. Oh that really hurt. “What happened to my wrist?” It was wrapped in some kind of splint and ace bandage.
“Any other pain?”
“Coop,” I focused on him. “What’s going on? Where’s Jake and Archie? Where’s Ian?”
“Right here, baby girl,” Jake said from the doorway.
“I told you it can only be one at a time right now,” the nurse scolded.
“She’s also upset, so bite me,” he retorted.
“Please,” Archie tacked on to the end of it. Oh, he looked like he’d been ill. “We’re all worried about her. It’s been hours.”
Hours?
What the hell…?
“Fine, but please wait.” Finally, the nurse looked at me again. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I was at Homecoming.” My bracelet was gone. And I was in a hospital bed. The guys didn’t look too bad. Jake still had some bruises from before, but they looked yellow under the lighting. Archie looked a little sick and pale. Coop’s expression seemed inflexibly angry, except when he looked at me. They were all still in their nice clothes, though Coop’s looked like he’d spilled something on his shirt.
Images flashed as I tried to think.
“I went the bathroom. I didn’t feel good.”
Coop came around to the other side of the bed and put a hand on mine carefully because of the I.V.
Everything after that was just…fuzzy. “Did I fall?” I’d fallen. But I didn’t remember how.
“Okay, that’s good, Frankie,” the nurse said. I looked for a nametag, but she didn’t seem to have one on. “Really good. The doctor will need to see you, and there are police here who want to talk to you, too, but before we do any of that, your friends are all going to have to wait in the hall for a minute.”
There was some disagreement with the guys, but Coop pressed a kiss to my forehead. “We’ll be right back,” he promised. “We’re literally going to be right out there.”
I nodded. Not that I really seemed to have a say in anything. Once the door closed behind them, I focused on the nurse again.
“First, my name is Denitra Hunley, you can just call me Denitra.”
She seemed to be waiting for me to respond, so I nodded. Her close cropped dark hair curled against her scalp, but she had a really kind smile.
“I’m a nurse here at Mercy General, but I’m also a SAFE advocate. So I’ve been with you since they brought you in.”
Safe?
“Stop Abuse for Everyone,” she continued. “Have you heard of that before?”
I shook my head slowly. “I’m not going to like where this is going, am I?” Between my wrist, my face, and this whole situation, my head had started to pound.
“Probably not. You were admitted from emergency room unconscious and for treatment in a suspected sexual assault.”
I definitely didn’t like where this was going.
“Someone roofied me.” That was why I couldn’t remember.
Ice slithered through my veins. The vague flashes seemed to come and vanish before I could grasp them. My eyes burned. “Can we turn the lights down?”
“Of course.” She rose and turned off the main overhead, leaving only one on across the room, and it was much dimmer. That helped. “And yes, it was suggested you had been drugged by the young men who found you. You have very good friends.”
Maria had told me that someone had been doing that. But… Guilt stabbed at me. “Did…did someone…?”
“As far as we can tell with a cursory exam, no. Because you were unconscious, another nurse and I, only, removed your clothes and jewelry and bagged it for evidence. I also cleaned out under your nails…” She continued talking in that very easy tone, explaining everything, and as unsettling as the information was, it also helped to have it laid out for me.
A shiver went up my spine, and I wanted to fold my arms, but the IV pulled and my wrist protested, so I put them back down.
“You said I wasn’t…”
“Without a full exam, I can’t guarantee it,” she said gently. “However, your underwear did not appear to have been disturbed.”
Fuck. Humiliation crawled through me. I’d been in a thong.
“Also, the boys indicated that the assailant was still dressed, those are both positive signs.”
“I don’t remember.” Nebulous flashes. That was it. “I don’t…” I shook my head.
“That’s pretty standard in a case like this. One of your friends consented to a urine test because he was feeling off and said he’d drunk the same water as you. We found a very small amount of flunitrazepam in his system.”
“Archie finished my wa—” That hadn’t been my water. “Is Cheryl all right?” I shook my head to try and clear it. Bad idea. “I’m sorry. The water I drank…Cheryl gave it to me. She said she wanted a soda instead, she’d had a drink from it, and it was warm and tasted off. I was hot and sweaty and really thirsty.”
“I don’t know about your friend, but what I want to do now is perform an exam so we can confirm whether you were assaulted, and I’d also like to collect a urine sample. We’re pretty lucky to be right in the window for this, because a lot of people wait and the sooner we test, the better it will be.”
Did I want to know?
My stomach seesawed. Chest tight, I tried to suck in a deep breath. Sweat dotted my brow, and my mouth went dry—or dryer. “Can I have…” Did I even want water?
“How about some ice chips?” Denitra offered, and she held out a small paper cup already boasting the melting ice. Every action she took was utterly patient.
“So I have to have the test?”
“You don’t have to do anything,” she told me. “But every piece of evidence we gather can help with the prosecution of your assailant.”
My assailant.
I had an assailant.
“What exactly do you do?”
Her explanation didn’t make me feel better. It was invasive, but she promised me complete privacy, and they would take care of everything. “You can say no to the exam, no one is going to compel or force you. I’m here to help. I can discuss the options and recommend therapy and what we can do after, but you have to make the decisions. The urine test though, I think you can handle that, yeah?”
Sure. Pee in a cup. How hard could it be?
“I know this is difficult.”
“It’s hard to be difficult if I can’t remember it.” The guys had found me?
“Not remembering doesn’t make it
less traumatic,” she assured me. “It doesn’t make it less invasive. Even if nothing happened, someone still hurt you. That feeling right now—the confusion and the distance—some of that can be after effects of the drug. It’s also shock. This is going to take time to process. It won’t go away over night.”
“You’re saying I’m going to need therapy.” Curtises didn’t do therapy. No, they got involved with inappropriate men real or intentioned, and flaked out on their kids.
My mom wasn’t here. That was what they’d been talking about.
“Therapy wouldn’t hurt, but everything is one step at a time. That’s how we get through this. I’m going to be right here for you…”
“Are you just going to tell the cops and the doctors what I said?”
“No,” she told me so firmly, I didn’t question it. “Unless you specifically ask me to, I won’t be speaking to them at all. I’m your advocate. I’m protected by confidentiality. What you tell me goes nowhere else unless you give me permission. I’m SAFE.”
“That’s kind of cool.” I blinked hard and looked down at my hand. “I don’t—hurt like he did anything. But I feel kind of funny all over.”
“That’s normal, but I’m glad you aren’t experiencing that kind of discomfort. So would you like to start with the urine test? Or would you like some time to just sit here and think? We’re not in a hurry. This happens on your schedule.”
“How long… how long have we been here?”
“It’s Sunday morning.”
Sunday morning.
God.
The cats.
“Your friends have been here all night. They’ve been taking turns sitting with you, policy is only one at a time.”
“The police?”
“When you’re up for it, I’ll call the detective, and he’ll come take your statement.”
“Do you know…you said they stopped it? They caught him?”
She nodded. “That’s what your friends told me. I haven’t spoken to the police other than to inform them they would have to wait until you were ready to talk.”
I licked my lips. “Did they tell you who?”
“I’m sorry, no. We can ask them, when you’re ready. I can stay with you while you talk to them, too. If it will make you feel better.”
“They won’t hurt me.” They knew already. If they found me, they knew already.
“I believe you,” she said with a smile. “But like I said, it’s what makes you comfortable.”
When she offered me the ice chips again, I took them and sucked on a couple. My mouth really was so dry, and I felt—off. “I’ll do the urine test.”
“We can wait for your mom if you want,” Denitra offered, and I shook my head.
“It’s fine. I’m old enough to make that decision for myself, right?”
“You are,” she said carefully. “But it might be easier for you to wait for your mother.”
“No,” I said firmly. “Do you know where my phone is?”
“Your friends have it. We had to take the little clutch purse though.”
That meant they had my keys and my ID and stuff. “That’s fine.” I tried to sit up more and winced. Oh. Wow. It felt like someone had piled me on the football field.
“Careful,” she said. “You want some help?”
Everything about Denitra was warm and caring. She didn’t just reach over and help me up, she asked.
“I think I got it.”
“Okay. I’m right here.”
With her monitoring me, I made it to my feet. She disconnected the tube from the IV and hung it up.
“We’re just hydrating you at the moment, but we’ll put that back in when we are done, all right?”
I nodded.
Every step seemed a little rocky, especially since the hospital gown seemed to gap. She didn’t try to help me, just followed me to the bathroom and then she put on a pair of gloves and got out a little plastic cup.
With a marker, she wrote something on the side of it.
“Do you have to watch me?” I’d really rather just pee on my own.
“You good to do this?” She nodded to my wrist, and I looked at it all wrapped up. It was my right, and it would make it a little tricky, but I could do it one-handed. I really wasn’t going to have her hold a cup for me to pee into.
Not. Happening.
“I’ll be fine.”
She didn’t argue with me or try to persuade me otherwise. Instead, she moved to the door and pulled it mostly closed. “I’ll be right here. Just call me if you need help.”
Yeah.
No.
My left hand trembled as I sat down and pulled the gown out of my way. It was an uncomfortable prospect, but I managed without sloshing it anywhere. I set it on the little tray where she’d left it and then finished. Glancing down at my thighs, I bit my lip. There was a bruise, but it was nearer to my knee. There were more bruises on my arm. After I finished and used the rail to help myself stand, I moved to the sink.
My left cheek had a fat, puffy bruise and a cut. That looked—wonderful. My eyes seemed huge. The non-smeared makeup was definitely looking worse for wear, and my eyes had black smudges under them.
The trembling in my hand seemed to move all over me, and I tried to remember. But the flashes didn’t seem to gel into anything more than a shadow. I didn’t remember being hit. Or hurting my wrist.
Or if anything actually happened.
“Frankie?” Denitra called.
“I’m all right,” I said, not meaning a word of it. I wanted to be all right.
I was not all right.
Even breathing seemed to hurt at the moment. Rinsing my hand carefully, I wiped it off with a towel from the wall dispenser, then dropped it in the trash before I moved to the door.
“I’m done.” She opened it gently and the look on her face was so damn understanding, I just wanted to cry. “If you do the exam, can you tell if…if he did anything?”
“Yes,” she said. “We can. It will be uncomfortable for you, but I’ll be here every step of the way.”
I nodded.
“I don’t want the guys to know.”
“No one has to tell them.”
I swallowed.
“But I would recommend one more time that we try to call your mom, hon. You’re going to need support.”
Yeah. My mom would be the last person to give that. “Call her. But she won’t be coming. She’d have to care to show up and right now…I’m not the priority.” I don’t think I ever had been. “But I don’t want to wait for when she decides to answer.”
“Let’s get you back in the bed, then I need to get a couple of things.”
“Is it going to be anyone else?”
“No,” she said. “I can do the kit collection if you want. I’m a registered nurse, too.”
“Thank you.”
It didn’t take her long. It was humiliating. She explained everything, and not once did it feel like she was judging me. Not even when I answered if I was sexually active, what kind of prophylaxis I used, and a dozen other uncomfortable questions.
At the end of it, I had a definitive answer. As definitive as she could be.
The assault had never made it as far as penetration. So while he had bruised me, he hadn’t penetrated.
That was something.
It was also when the dam broke and the tears started sliding down my face.
I don’t know when she got the gloves off or moved her stuff aside, but she sat down and hugged me while I cried against her shoulder. The sobs hurt almost as much to let out as they had to hold in. But she didn’t rush me or try to tell me it would all be all right, she just let me cry. When I finally slowed to just sniffles, she eased back and then got a cool cloth to help wipe my face.
After she got me tucked back into the bed and the IV reattached, she promised to get me some water and asked if I wanted anything to eat. I really didn’t want anything.
I’d have to see a doctor, but she w
ould be with me for that. When she brought up the police again, I just wanted to pull the blankets over my head, but I nodded. I’d talk to them.
“When can I go home? I have to look after my cats.”
“You might need to stay here overnight. I want to get the urine test done, and we want to monitor you for any adverse reactions to the drugs and medications. Plus…you really shouldn’t be alone yet.”
I didn’t want to stay in the hospital. I’d ask the doctor. “Thank you.”
“Frankie.” The firm note pulled my gaze up to her. “This isn’t your fault. Nothing that happened was your fault. You are going to be all right. You will have support. I’m going to be here for you, and I’m going to help you find someone you can talk to.”
That sounded great, but… “Thanks,” I said again. “I’m just tired. Sorry.”
“Do you want to see your friends? Or should I send them home?”
They weren’t going to leave just because she told them. They’d been here all night. All night.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around that.
“In my stuff there was a bracelet…”
“After we process everything, I’ll make sure you get it back.”
At the moment, I didn’t care about the rest of it, but the bracelet was important.
“Frankie, what can I get you?”
“The guys…can they all come in?”
She nodded. “As long as they keep it calm in here, yes. They’ll have to go out again when the doctor comes. Okay?”
“Okay.”
I hoped I didn’t look as bad as I felt, but the looks on their faces when Denitra let them back into the room dashed my chances of covering up my tears.
“I’m going to take this down, I’ll be back in a few. You three will behave while I’m gone.” Denitra gave each of them a stern look. “She needs calm and rest.”
“We got this,” Coop told her, but he was already across the room and carefully taking my left hand. When the door closed behind her leaving the four of us alone, I leaned my head against the pillows and stared at them.
“Who?”
“Baby girl, you don’t need to worry about…”
“Who?” I asked again. “Someone from school? A stranger? Who?”
Archie raked a hand through his hair, and the three of them looked at each other. Finally, Coop said, “It was Mitch.”
Keys and Kisses: Untouchable Book Three Page 33
