Color Me Blind (A Divine Love Story Book 1) (22 page)

As Lucy drove them to the emergency room Jasmine called Ahmed’s parents which she regretted because she didn’t have enough information to do anything except scare the crap out of them.  They told her they were go
ing to book the next flight out.  She promised to update them as soon as she got to the hospital. 

With every extra second she had Jasmine prayed for Ahmed.  She knew something like this was going to happen.  She wished she had spent the day praying for him instead of being caught up with Blake drama.  Lucy came to a skidding halt in the pa
rking lot of the emergency room.  They were both slamming car doors and breaking their necks getting inside the hospital.

Jasmine beat Lucy to the nurse’s station by two steps. 
The short, brown-skinned nurse looked at them like they were mental. 

Out of breath Jasmine said, “Our friend Ahmed
Dossari, was just brought in by ambulance.  He was attacked. We need to know anything you can tell us about him.” 

The nurse took her t
ime looking for the information.

“What d
id you say his name was?” 

Jasmine wanted to choke her
. She responded through clinched teeth.

“His name is Ahmed Dossari
. He was brought in by an ambulance.” 

The nurse got snippy in return.

“The
re is no need for your attitude. Besides if he just arrived by ambulance he’s probably not even in the system anyways.” 

Today was not the day
.  She was all out of patience, grace and mercy.  Jasmine was about to reach across the desk and snatch her up by her shirt. 

Lucy
discerned her friend’s thoughts and said, “No Jasmine.” 

Just then Dam
on and Blake ran up behind them.  Blake knowing her as intimately as he did could read her body language.  Without thinking he grabbed her and restrained her arms down by her side.

“
Jasmine, this is not the time or the place,” he whispered in her ear.

Jasmine felt like Blake was once again trying to chastise her and treat her like a child.  Her emotions were
overloaded.  He was the last person she wanted anywhere near her.  She snatched herself away from him with force.

“Didn’t I already tell you that I don’t need you coddling me?” 

Blake wasn’t in the mood.  He had better restraint over his tongue so he just sent her a steely glare and walked away.  He saw Carmen rushing in. 

She ran up and grabbed him.

“Blake
, what’s happening?  Is Ahmed okay?” 

“We don’t know anything yet sweetie.
Jasmine’s probably ruined any chance we have of getting that information anytime soon.” 

Carmen looked at Jasmine who looked ready to spit fire.  She opted out of saying anything to her. 

Damon said, “Okay everybody just calm down.  Everyone go have a seat in the waiting room.  I will talk to the nurse.”

Jasmine started to protest.

“Jaz
zy, not now, go sit down.” 

They all found a seat in the waiting room.
  Damon began to work his magic on the nurse.  He found out that Ahmed had just been put into the system.  She would go find out his status.  He walked back over to the group.

“Okay guys she is going to go find out what’s going on and give us an update.  Jasmine
, you stay away from her.” 

Jasmine rolled her eyes
when a young lady rushing in from the entrance caught her attention.  She was a young blonde wearing a uniform of some sort.  Her shirt, hands and face were stained with what appeared to be blood.  Her gray eyes were bloodshot.  She looked whiter than white.  Jasmine realized she was pale as if something had frightened her.  She just stopped in the middle of the room looking confused.

Alyssa was looking for A
hmed’s friend with the big hair.  As she scanned the waiting room she didn’t see her.  She took out her cell phone to call Jasmine again.  When she heard a cell phone ringing she looked over at the group of people sitting in the waiting room.  Jasmine pulled out her cell phone and answered quickly recognizing the number from earlier. 

When she sa
id hello Alyssa ran over to her.

“Oh my God
, are you Jasmine?  What happened to all your hair?” 

Stunned Jasmine
said, “Yes.  I cut it.  Are you Alyssa?” 

Alyssa began to cry again and nodded her head.  Jasmine just stood
and wrapped her arms around her.  She let her get it all out.  The poor girl was shaking like a leaf on a tree.  The others just stared waiting for information.

When she finished Jasmine asked her
, “Okay, who are you?”

Alyssa gave her a water
y laugh. 

“I’m sorry
.  According to Ahmed, I’m his favorite grocery store cashier.  That’s where he got attacked.  I know it’s a lot to ask but if you could give me just a moment to go to the bathroom and clean up. I came straight from the scene.  I will tell you guys what happened.” 

Jasmine gave her shoulder a squeeze, “Sure.” 

Alyssa handed her Ahmed’s phone and left to find a bathroom.  She was grateful she found a t-shirt balled up in the back seat of her car.  Jasmine took her seat again and let out a deep breath.  Everyone sat around with nothing to say to each other worried about their friend. 

Lucy sat straight up, “Hey guys didn’t Ahmed have a date with someone tonight?” 

It took a few moments for everyone to come out of their fogs and register what Lucy was asking. 

Carmen said, “Oh my God, you’re right.  She is probably supremely
upset with him right now.” 

Damon said, “Well
, let’s call her.” 

Blake
asked, “Uh, who is she?” 

The question stumped everyone.  T
hey all just stared at each other waiting for someone to remember. 

When it dawned on Jasmine that they couldn’t remember what they never knew she said, “Guys we don’t know her.  I don’t even know her name.” 

Blake said, “Okay let’s look through his phone, likely the text messages.”

Jasmine
picked up the phone but when she pressed the button the phone was locked. 

“It’s locked, does anyone know his code?” 

All four of them said, “2-1-3-3.” 

Jasmine looked at them and laughed, “Oh right.” 

Ahmed being a numbers man always loved how their birthdays lined up.  When you added the months together they equaled 21 and when you added the days together they equaled 33. The strange part about them was that they were consecutive.  Jasmine’s birthday started in January on the third.  Blake’s was in February on the fourth.  The rest all flowed consecutively through June for the month and the eighth for the date.  Jasmine input the code and pulled up his text messages.  The last message was from someone named Victoria. 

“Hey guys I think I found it, her name is Victoria. 
Oh and yes, she’s pissed.  So do I just call her?” 

Lucy asked, “Well does anyone know how long they’ve been dating?” 

Carmen said, “Does it matter?  Regardless she should know he’s in the hospital.” 

Damon
replied, “Uh, I think we should know how serious it is before we decide how much to disclose.” 

Blake asked, “
How are we going to do that if we can’t talk to either one of them?”

The nurse from earlier walked into the waiting room and Alyssa was on her heels. 

She stood in front of Damon and said, “Your friend was badly beaten.  He lost a lot of blood.  He has some broken bones but they are more concerned with the damage done to his head and to his kidney.  He is in emergency surgery.  If something were to happen and decisions needed to be made who is his next of kin?” 

Jasmine said
, “His parents are out of state.  They’re flying in, but I’m listed as his in case of emergency person.” 

The nurse barely acknowledged Ja
smine.  She kept talking to Damon, “That’s not exactly the same thing.” 

Blake interjected, “A
ctually Ahmed had a living will.  He listed Jasmine as his power of attorney should he ever be unable to make a decision for himself.” 

Everyone stared at Blake. 

Jasmine asked incredulously, “What are you talking about?  I’m his what?” 

“Come on g
uys you know Ahmed is a planner.  When you had surgery a few months back he decided to do a living will so he came to me.  Jaz, he gave you the right to make the tough decisions because and I quote, “You are the most responsible person in a crisis.  You will always do the right thing no matter what.” 

Damon said, “Yeah girl
, you are good to have around in a pinch, but talking about wills and power of attorneys is not cool right now.” 

Carmen said, “I second that.”
 

The nurse said, “I will keep you guys posted.
  It’s also customary for friends and family to donate blood.” 

She walked back to the
nurse’s station.

Alyssa s
poke, “Um guys, I had a thought.  I don’t know if you guys are aware but Ahmed was going to cook dinner for his girlfriend tonight.  Does she know yet?” 

Jasmine said, “We were about to call her.  You said it’s his girlfriend?” 

“Well, I assumed she was.  He was very excited about the date.” 

That brought on new tears for Lucy.  Damon pulled her in for a hug
and kissed her forehead.  Jasmine went back to his phone and began to scroll through the text messages between Ahmed and Victoria to find out how serious they were.  She was speed reading through the text messages that Ahmed apparently never erased. 

“Okay guys, I think he really liked her but they haven’t slept together.
  So how serious does that make them?” 

Blake asked, “How do you know that?” 

“Their sexual innuendos are unrealistically optimistic.” 

Carmen snorted. 

Jasmine continued, “They’ve known each other for years though. They made reference to things that happened a long time ago.  I wonder why we haven’t met her.  I’m going to call.” 

Jasmine dialed her number and waited. 

The voice on the other end said, “How dare you call me two hours late? I texted you and called with no response.” 

“Uh Victoria, this is Jasmine
, Ahmed’s roommate.” 

“Oh…
oh, okay well why are you calling me from his phone?” 

Jasmine hesitated and Lucy prompted her to tell
her.

“We’re at
University Hospital right now because Ahmed was attacked tonight.  He’s in surgery right now and we are waiting to hear something.  We’re sorry we didn’t get in touch sooner but we just remembered he had a date.” 

The shriek Victoria let out caused Jasmine to pull the phone away from her ear. 
             

When the screaming stopped she asked, “Hello?  Hello?” 

Victoria was sobbing now, “Is he going to be okay? How serious is it?” 

“We’re not sure but you can come t
o the hospital and wait with us. We’re going to be here until, well just until.” 

“Okay, okay, I’m on my way right now.” 

Jasmine hung up and let out a deep breath.  She looked up and met Blake’s eyes. She swore they could see into her soul.  She turned her body and let her back face him.  The suggestion was not lost on him, but now was not the time to address it. 

Damon asked Alyssa, “So
, can you tell us what happened?” 

She laid out the incident as humanely as she
could.  The Asian lady was in tears and Alyssa could tell the two guys were barely hanging on to their restraint.  Jasmine’s and the Hispanic woman’s face were stoic.

“I’m so sorry
. I got distracted by this crying baby that was in my line.  I didn’t see it in time to stop it before it happened.” 

Lucy asked, “So you’re basically saying this was just a hate crime?” 

“Yeah, I think so because I doubt they were robbing him. It seemed malicious and almost personal.  With what happened on the college campus today I guess it has everyone on edge.” 

Jasmine
snapped, “That’s not an excuse!” 

“Oh no
, sorry, I didn’t mean to suggest it was.  I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” 

Blake grabbed Alyssa’s hand.

“It’s ok
ay. She knows you didn’t mean it like that.” 

Jasmine
cut her eyes at him. 

Blake continued, “Thank you so much for
being there for our friend. You may have saved his life.”