Drunk in Love 3: An Original Love Story (2 page)

“Just calm down,” Dillon quickly told her. He could see the panic in her eyes. “Olivia is fine.” He looked down at his phone as an incoming text message came through. “This is her now telling me where they’re headed.”

Zoe took in a deep breath of relief, but was still curious to know what happened. “Where is that and why is there blood on you?” She continuously asked, looking around at the crowd as they were now leaving the club.

“She’s with Zay. They’re heading to the hospital. He’s been shot.”

Zoe’s eyes worriedly widened. “He’s been what?”

“Come on, I’ll explain it on the way.” Dillon said. “Just get in the car.” Zoe quickly walked around the car to get in on the passenger side. Five minutes later, they were headed in the direction of the hospital.

****

 In the rear of the ambulance, Olivia was holding Zay's hand and saying a silent prayer for him. Her eyes were puffy and wet from crying. All she could do was just watch him, almost feeling helpless. The more she stared at him, the more that oxygen mask on his face made her chest tighter as if anxiety was creeping in. She couldn't do nothing but shake her head with pure disgust in her heart for Mark and what he’d done.

Zay was staring up at her, his eyes were cold, but he wasn't angry with her. His thoughts were on Mark’s pussy ass and the stunt he’d pulled. Right away, from the moment he jumped out of the car, Zay knew that he wasn’t about that life. He was just caught up in the heat of the moment and felt like maybe he had something to prove. The truth was that he probably never intended for any of it to happen, but after he’d showed the gun then he was left with no choice but to use it.

Zay couldn’t speak at the moment from the mask covering his face, but he reached his hand up to wipe Olivia’s tears. He just wanted her to know that it would be okay. If nothing else, he appreciated her being there for him and regardless of what happened his feelings for her hadn’t changed.

The EMT was nursing the bullet wound to the best of his ability. He'd patched up Zay momentarily until they made it to the hospital. With an IV needle wedged in the vein of his right arm, Zay was just ready to get there. The pain seemed almost unbearable. The EMT guy looked over at Olivia to see if he could get more information from her.

“Ma'am, do you know who shot him?” He asked.

 Olivia's eyes glanced in the direction of the guy, but as soon as she was about to say something, Zay squeezed her hand a little just so that she’d understand what he was trying to tell her. He definitely didn't want her to say anything about the shooting, not yet, anyway. She and the EMT guy were just staring at each other as he waited patiently for an answer then she softly responded.

“I don't know.” She then looked back at Zay, pulling his hand up to her mouth and kissing the back of it softly. He nodded his head and under the mask, she saw a smile come from him. The sirens then went off indicating that they were arriving at the open-ended garage, emergency entrance of the MCG Hospital. When the rear doors of the ambulance swung open, they rolled Zay out quickly as he lay on the gurney. One doctor and two nurses were waiting there. Olivia stood by his side the entire time, not wanting to leave him.

Inside the emergency room, they wheeled him down a bright corridor with lights hovering over him on the ceiling. They rushed him inside a treatment room and stopped him underneath an array of bright florescent lighting, where a couple of surgeons were already waiting. Olivia, on the other hand, wasn't allowed to follow them inside of that room. She was asked to get checked herself, since they’d spotted a small cut on the temple of her head. Within thirty minutes, they’d treated her for her minor cuts and patched her up. Once she walked into the waiting room, Dillon was already there. She immediately went over to him, looking like she was about out of it.

“Are you okay? How’s my brother?” Dillon quickly questioned since he wasn’t given any information, but was only told to wait.

“I’ll be fine.” She said then instantly started wiping the tears that started to fall at just the thought of her beau being in that horrible position. “Zay is in the operating room, I believe. I don’t know much else about his condition right now.”

Dillon wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay. He’ll be okay.” He said, hoping like hell that he would seriously be okay. “You have to calm down. Your sister is in the restroom. She showed up to the club asking questions and asking about you since you weren’t there and so I asked her to ride here with me. I didn’t want her driving with her emotions all over the place.” He quickly lied, knowing that they hadn’t quite been upfront to anyone about their relationship; especially Olivia and Zay.

“Thanks, I’m glad you looked out for her.” Olivia said, now trying to get herself together by patting and blinking her eyes to fight back the tears. “Please know that I never wanted any of this to happen.”

“I know that you didn’t and I also know that your feelings are genuine when it comes to my brother. We’d just gotten caught up tonight thinking that it was cool to go out. No one knew that your deranged, unstable husband would be lurking.”

Olivia sadly shook her head. “This is just not like him. I would have never in a million years thought that he’d do something like this.” She said, still wiping her eyes. She knew that she’d fucked up in her marriage. Plus, she’d already had a feeling that Felisha had told on her, but why was Mark that mad? He’d cheated on her with her best friend. He had no right coming at her sideways; especially with a gun in his hand. To her, he’d become the biggest pussy that she knew and she almost hated him for it.

“You just never know what people might do. Just because you think you know someone doesn’t mean that you know everything about that person.” Dillon told her.

“Tell me about it,” she agreed with a disappointing shake of the head. “I think I should go check on Zoe. I believe she’ll feel better to see me.”

“No, I think you should sit down and get your thoughts together. She’ll be out soon.” He said, making her have a seat so she could calm down. “Matter of fact, I’ll go check on your sister. You might want to call your parents just in case they hear something and let them know that you’re okay.” Olivia nodded her head only showing that she agreed with him then Dillon hurriedly made his exit out of the waiting room so he could find Zoe.

The minute Dillon stepped out of the waiting room, he broke down. He just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Even though he’d washed his hands of the blood from Zay’s wound, it was still some on his clothes. This only reminded him of what had happened. Then, hearing that his brother was possibly in surgery almost tore him apart. That news definitely played on his emotions as he leaned against the wall finally allowing his tears to fall. He went down to the floor on one knee and started praying to God that Zay would be okay. As he softly cried in prayer, Zoe exited the restroom and rushed to his side. She hugged him tight, not knowing what news he’d gotten.

“Is he okay?” She asked, unable to contain her tears. “Please, tell me that he’s okay.”

Dillon nodded his head, trying to speak then finally he said, “He’s in surgery, I think. I pray that he’ll be okay.” Zoe felt bad for him. All she wanted was to comfort him the best she knew how. She had fallen in love with him in just that little time and never wanted to see him hurt like this.

“Don’t worry. I’ll pray with you.” She kissed him softly on his lips and wiped his tears. “I love you,” she confessed and with that, he stood to his feet and hugged her tightly around the waist.

“I love you, too.” He whispered in her ear.

At that time, Olivia stepped out of the waiting room and into the hallway. She just stood back and silently watched the two love birds while they were caught up in a deep emotional embrace. Not wanting them to know that she was there, she stepped back inside the waiting room contemplating if she should make that call or not. However, in the back of her mind thoughts of Zay and his condition continued to heavily tug on her heartstrings.

“God, I pray that he’ll make it through this ordeal and that he’ll be fine,” she said just above a whisper, and then she nervously pressed the key pad on her cell phone to reach out to her parents.

Chapter 2

About ten minutes later, Zoe stepped into the waiting room carrying an oversized Michael Kors bag and searching the sad and sick faces of the people that were in there. She was looking for her sister whom she’d spotted in the back sitting with her head down. Olivia looked up with sad, teary eyes. When she saw Zoe coming her way she immediately stood up to hug her. As they embraced one another, they both started crying again. Feeling the comfort of her sister being there made her warm inside. Zoe backed up to take a look at her. Olivia’s eyes were already red and swollen from crying so much, but Zoe just wanted her to get it together.

“You gotta be strong, Sis.” She said. “Dillon explained everything on the way over and I know you’re going through it right now, but you gotta pull yourself together for Zay. He’s going to need you by his side when he comes out of surgery.”

Olivia attempted to wipe her tears. “You’re right. He saved my life or Mark would’ve probably killed me.”

“It’s apparent how much the man loves you, because I don’t know if I would’ve jumped in front of a bullet for your ass.” She teased, causing Olivia to finally smile a little.

“You so crazy,” she said gently hitting Zoe on the arm.

Zoe hated seeing her sister like that. She felt bad for her and couldn’t believe that Mark would stoop to such low levels as if he was a saint.

“Where’s Dillon?” Olivia asked just as Dillon entered the waiting area. “Here he comes now.”

Dillon walked up to them. “Let’s pray that the doctors give us some good news.” He said, grabbing their hands just wanting to say another prayer. “Father God, we're coming to you in prayer tonight to ask you to protect my brother and help him heal. We also pray for a speedy recovery to bring him back to good health… Amen.”

“Amen.” Olivia and Zoe whispered in unison, as well as a person sitting next to them.

They raised their heads and looked at one another. Zoe took a deep breath, wiped her eyes and made a smile appear across her face. She wanted so badly to reveal the disturbing information that she’d found out from Felisha about Mark being the father of Lil Romeo, but now was clearly not the time for it.

“Are you okay?” Dillon asked Zoe as she nodded her head indicating that she was. Olivia picked up on their vibe immediately, but she didn’t say a word. Just as they sat down in the empty seats there, a white collared doctor appeared at the family room entrance. He wore a pair of wire-rimmed glasses and khaki pants, holding a small notepad and pen. He stood in the doorway of the waiting room entrance like he was looking for someone.

Olivia looked up and noticed him first. “Do you think he’s looking for us?” she questioned.

Dillon stood up quickly just as the doctor called out while asking, “Are there any family members here for Xavier Dubois?”

 Dillon faced him as he walked towards the doctor. Their eyes stared deeply at one another with Dillon’s heart thumping ninety miles per second. Olivia and Zoe were just looking at first. They both seemed to be stuck in one spot, not knowing what kind of news they were about to receive.

Dillon reached out to shake the Doctor’s hand. “I’m his brother, Dillon Dubois. How is he? Is everything okay?” He nervously asked.

The Doctor nodded his head with a light smile. “Your brother is expected to make a full recovery.”

Dillon’s Colgate smile spread clear across his face. “He's fine! He’s okay?!”

“Yes, he’s okay.” The bullet only grazed his muscle tissue and passed through him. Luckily, it missed his organs so there are no signs of internal damage whatsoever. We didn’t have to perform surgery on him, because a lot of times surgery carries the risk of infection and other complications.”

“That’s great news Doctor!” Dillon exclaimed with excitement, then without any type of warning he hugged the doctor. “Thanks again!” He was relieved and feeling good. Olivia and Zoe hurried over to them to make sure that the smiles and hugs meant that Zay was going to be okay.

“So, you’re saying that he’s alright?” Olivia asked for reassurance then wiped another falling tear from her face.

“Yes, he is. Are you his wife?” The doctor asked.

“No, but I’m, I’m -” she paused, because saying that she was his woman sounded funny being that she was still married.

“She is his woman,” Dillon cut in to help free her conscience.

The Doctor smiled at her. “Okay, well Xavier is going to be fine. However, because we didn’t perform surgery he will have to stay here for a couple of days. We’ll be testing to evaluate for intra-abdominal injuries. This includes x-rays, laboratory testing, and urinalysis.”

“Whatever y’all have to do to make sure that he’s going to be fine and is able to come home is okay with me.” Olivia said feeling relieved. The smile on her face was definitely genuine and the tears were that of joy. She couldn’t have gotten any better news and she was thankful that their prayer had been heard.

There was a box of Kleenex sitting on the wooden table next to a few magazines. Zoe quickly pulled about four sheets from it and wiped her own eyes. She then handed Olivia a couple of sheets as the doctor continued.

“I’ll have a nurse come get you once he is settled in his room and cleaned up.” The Doctor told them.

Everybody agreed to wait. They were just elated that Zay would be okay. The doctor shook all of their hands then turned and disappeared. As soon as he left, a detective entered the waiting room. He was a fairly handsome, black guy in an earth-tone, two-piece suit, a white button up shirt and a matching tie. He flashed his badge at Dillon and nodded his head at the same time.

“I’m here to talk with someone about the shooting at the club tonight.” He said like Dillon fit the description of the guy he needed to question.

“You can speak with me,” Dillon said, reaching out for a handshake.