A Second Chance at love The Rocker Girls Series (12 page)

He let go of her hand and she stared at
him for a minute before opening the door. “I’ve got to go, Winston.
Thanks for the ride… Bye,” she said, hopping out of his truck, and
taking one last look at him before she headed in.

Chapter 8

A call came in at about two in the
afternoon. A young woman had been in a domestic violence
altercation. She was coming in with multiple stab wounds to the
chest and back. Addison went running with Frank and Lynn as the
EMTs rushed her through the doors.

“
Blood pressure 70/50,
heart 220. She’s in shock, we’ve tried to stabilize…” His words
were lost as Suzy ran up to her.

“
Another ambulance is on
the way. The boyfriend of the girl was in a stand-off with the
police, he was shot multiple times.”

Addison nodded but headed off with
Frank. “Addison, you and Harry take the guy coming in. We got her.
Mindy, call up to OR, we need two rooms stat!” Frank
yelled.

She and Harry ran to the back doors as
the EMTs pulled out the man; he was a young man, maybe twenty. She
stood there looking at him as the EMT was talking to her, telling
her the condition of this guy who was bleeding out even as they
spoke. Her mind went blank, and she didn’t move.

“
Ad? Addison, we have to
get him to surgery!” Harry yelled at her. She stood in a
trance-like state, debating whether she could bring herself to save
a man who could hurt someone so much weaker than himself. She
wanted to stand there and watch him bleed out and die.

Her eyes met Harry’s, and he must have
seen something because he paused for just a moment in mid-sentence.
Her hands went to the man’s pants, cutting them off, and she shook
off the thoughts of this man’s death, and did what she had worked
so hard to do: save his life.

Four hours later she and the others
saved his life. He needed three blood transfusions, and they had to
repair a nicked lung. If everything went well for him tonight he
should survive his injuries. The police had one of his hands cuffed
to the bed, and a guard outside his door. Addison made sure he was
stable before she left, looking for Lynn.

She found Lynn who was taking vitals on
a heart attack patient. “Did you hear if the girl made it?” she
asked her, so hopeful for a happy ending to this tragic story. Lynn
didn’t even bother to answer, just shook her head, and went back to
taking care of the elderly woman.

Frank came up, pulling her aside. “Hey,
you doing okay?” he asked her.

“
Yeah, just tired is
all.”

“
I know that was a hard
case tonight. But you were spectacular. You held your cool like a
pro, Ad. I wanted to just let you know, that those of us that have
been doing this for a long time don’t handle that kind of situation
as well as you did. I’m really proud of you.”

They had walked over to a hallway that
was barely used, and she fell back against the wall as she kept all
her emotions in check. “Thanks, Frank, I really do appreciate the
vote of confidence,” she told him with a little smile.

He looked around the hall, and when he
saw nobody was around he came up and kissed her. She was taken
back; she didn’t see that one coming. She put her hands against his
chest, making him stop and look down at her.

“
You’re really hot, Frank,
and damn you’re so sweet, but, I’m just not in the position to be
with someone right now. I mean I’m barely hanging on with the band
and work, so I don’t want us to start up something that’s going to
ruin our friendship down the road. Your kiss was amazing, and I
could easily take you somewhere and we could have a quickie, but
that’s all I’ve got for you,” she whispered.

He leaned in toward her. “You want to
have just a work affair?” His hand went to her hip, and she looked
into his eyes. “No, I’m too drained for even that. But if you’re
around and I need a little male attention…I know where to find
you.” She smiled haphazardly.

He smiled sadly down at her, as his
finger tilted her face up to his. “That was the best brush-off I‘ve
ever received. But if you change your mind, Ad, you know where to
find me.”

“
You’re not mad?” she asked
quietly.

“
No, not mad. Friends?” he
asked, and she nodded. He came down one more time, kissing her, and
when he pulled back up he saw how emotionally exhausted she looked.
“Why don’t you take tomorrow off? I won’t even put your name on the
board to be paged. Just go have a nice night and relax.
Okay?”

“
That sounds good, Frank,
thanks,” she mumbled, and just then they both heard the code blue
go off and started running down the hall.

Three long hours later Lynn put her arm
around her, took her to the van and home. “Hey, you doing okay?”
she asked.

“
Yup,” she said, lighting a
smoke. “Frank made a pass at me tonight,” she told Lynn, exhaling
the smoke.

“
Holy shit! So did you take
him up on the offer?”

“
No, but I did offer him a
quickie, he took it as a brush-off. Would have been nice just to
get out some anxiety with a quick screw.”

“
Addison…”

“
Look, Lynn, I’m so tired.
I just don’t want to talk anymore…okay?”

Lynn nodded, and they didn’t speak to
each other for the rest of the ride home. They went upstairs and
Addison looked at South’s door as they walked by. When they got
inside their apartment, Lynn kissed her cheek and made her way to
bed, shutting off all the lights.

Addison went to her bedroom, but Tia
was already asleep. She was so restless she could barely keep a
thought straight in her head. Normally she would be passed out as
soon as she stepped out of the shower, soaking up every opportunity
to sleep, but tonight a cool shower didn’t soothe her.

She put on comfortable cool
clothing, a pair of boxers and a purple tank top…she didn’t bother
with a bra. She combed out her long hair, trying to think of things
to help her
not
think of things. So after her moisturizer was slathered on
her face she managed to French-braid her hair.

About midnight she stepped out of her
apartment and found herself standing in front of South’s apartment
door. But if she was anything right now, it was truthful with
herself. South wasn’t the one she wanted to see. Funny how you do
stupid things when you’re upset.

Then she thought maybe she should give
Frank a ring. He would understand completely how she was feeling
right now. Hell, he’d even give her a good night in bed. The only
problem was, someone had already gotten under her skin, damn it.
And at this moment her mind was too much of a mess to even go
there.

She had her phone and keys in one hand,
the other hand on the back of her neck as she looked all around at
the other doors, the staircase, hell, at one point she was staring
at the ceiling. She didn’t know what to do with herself, the
feeling of helplessness was too overwhelming at the moment. Her
hands were shaking uncontrollably and there was nothing she could
do about it.

Walking out to the parking lot she
unlocked the door to the purple monstrosity, as the guys dubbed it;
she reached in, grabbing her pack of smokes that she’d left in
there. She fumbled a time or two before managing to finally get one
to her mouth and light it. She kept the pack in her hand when she
shut the door, knowing tonight was going to be a session of chain
smoking.

She’d forgotten to put on shoes, she
realized as she stepped on a rock and swore. Making her way to the
back of the van she sat on the bumper, slouching over while images
ran wild in her head. She took a long drag, as she thought back to
the man whose lung she saved… A hand went to her head as she looked
at the ground with her cigarette dangling from her fingertips, and
exhaled.

A chilling thought made its way into
her mind, one that she couldn’t let go of. Was she going to be able
to handle something like this the next time? Would she always
hesitate, and wonder if she should help that kind of person who
could hurt another, knowing that it was her job to do
so?

When she took another drag she enjoyed
the burn on her lips, because the burn in her heart was so much
worse. Maybe general surgery wasn’t for her; maybe she should help
battered women. Maybe start a clinic to help needy people…
Footsteps were heading her way, but she was too numb to even lift
her head to see who it was. She figured it was South, he always
seemed to find her lately.

Size thirteen feet stood right next to
her in flip-flops. “What are you doing out here all by yourself at
this time of night?” Win’s voice asked her.

She laughed to herself, as the one
person she wanted to see, and didn’t want to see all at the same
time, ended showing up in front of her. “I’m smoking,” she
whispered.

He sat next to her, but the ground was
all she could manage to look at right now. He took the cigarette
from her fingers, putting it to his mouth. “You don’t mind, do
you?”

“
I don’t really care,” she
said solemnly.

“
Hey angel, everything all
right?”

“
Yeah, it’s just fucking
perfect.” She finally managed to take a quick peek at him. “So
where’s South at, anyway?” she questioned him quietly.

He leaned back against the van.
“Honestly I don’t know. I thought maybe he went to pick you up
tonight. I was surprised when you, Lynn and Mindy pulled up
together.”

She reached up, taking the smoke from
his lips and putting it back in hers. “Yeah, well, that figures.
Maybe if I didn’t pass out last night, and he would’ve gotten a
piece of ass, he’d be home,” she whispered.

Win took her limp hand that was hanging
over her knee. “What’s going on with you? You know you can talk to
me, right?”

The van rose as Win got off the bumper
and knelt in front of her. He took the cigarette from her lips and
stepped on it. His finger went under her chin, bringing her eyes to
meet his. “Hey, tell me, Addison,” he whispered, brushing some hair
from her face.

Her bottom lip trembled. She didn’t
want to talk about it, but felt like she would explode if she
didn’t. “I saved him, Win, I found the nick in his lung that
everyone missed. I saved him, and he killed her!” she whispered
harshly as angry tears rolled down her face, finding their way to
the ground.

“
I could’ve let him die, I
should have let him die, but I saved him as she died on the fucking
operating table! Damn it, I saved him, Win!” Her hands went to
cover her face and she cried as hard as she did when she found out
about her parents’ death. He got up, pulling her into his
arms.

“
Can you tell me who you
saved, angel?”

“
The guy who stabbed his
girlfriend to death.” She grabbed onto his tank top as her body
started shaking. “He stabbed her so many times. Why, why would he
do that, Winston? She was so small, and he was so big. And I did
what was right… I saved him,” she said quietly through her tears,
then looked into his eyes.

He frowned. “Come on angel, let’s go
sit down inside where we’re not getting eaten up by mosquitos,” he
told her. He grabbed her under her legs, lifted her up from the
van, and took her upstairs.

***

South wasn’t home, and wherever the
hell he was, he should’ve been at the apartment taking care of the
woman he claimed he wanted. But Win had seen her, and he took her
back to his apartment where she curled up in a ball on his lap,
crying uncontrollably. He just sat there rubbing her back, letting
her get out all the frustration and pain.

After a while she managed to calm down,
and took deeps breath as she tried to get herself under control.
But while he rubbed her back, her head lay on his chest and shook
back and forth. “Why? Why do men feel the need to hurt? Why would
he hurt me? I thought he loved me, just like that girl thought her
boyfriend loved her, but what did he do to her? He stabbed her
twenty-eight times. What could she have possibly done to make him
think she deserved that?” she said quietly.

Her arm went around Win and her cheek
was against his chest. “What did I do to deserve to be put into the
hospital? Was I wrong for wanting him to stop the drinking and the
drugs? But he couldn’t, could he…he couldn’t stop hurting me. And I
just didn’t want to end up like this poor girl tonight, in the
morgue,” she mumbled.

It took him a moment to understand what
she’d just said under her breath, and his body stiffened. She
wasn’t realizing what she was saying out loud. Everything that had
happened between them was starting to make complete sense. How
deeply she had been hurt was about to change everything for
him.

She looked up at him, but looked right
through him. “All the women. I’d walk in and he would have women
all over our house. He didn’t even care if I saw him sleeping with
them… I can handle only so much. He always said he was sorry, told
me I was only ever going to be his and that he loved me more than
his own life. But when I told him to leave…he’d get so angry with
me.

“
All I wanted was for him
to stop sleeping with other women, that’s all. Did I ask for too
much?” Her eyes fell, looking out at nothing as she whispered, “I
loved him, and it wasn’t enough. I get it, I really do… I wasn’t
enough for him. But why won’t he let me go, then,” he heard her
sniffle.