My Only Regret (Twisted Fate Book 1) (27 page)

“Miss, can you hear me? Are you with me?” I felt a light patting on my cheek. “Miss?”

“Yes,” I squeaked, “I’m with you, but please don't do that, my head really hurts.”

“You have some contusions on your face and a bump on the back of your head, probably from hitting the pavement. Do you remember anything about what happened?” I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut.

“A man…”
 

“It’s okay, we’re going to take you to the hospital and they’ll probably keep you overnight for observation. You’re going to be okay, we’ve got you. Okay, let’s go.” They loaded me into the back of the ambulance and headed for the hospital, where doctors and nurses scurried in and out of my room, hooking me up to an IV and monitors. After documenting a complete history on me, a young nurse checked my temperature and asked me for a urine sample, I gave a puzzled look.

“It’s standard procedure Ms. Michaels,” her smile was polite and sweet. I hadn’t given them my married name because I thought it would be best to keep Jesse’s name out of the media. I made my way into the bathroom, collected a sample, and ambled back to the hard bed.

“Excuse me,” I asked a passing nurse, “Do you know where my belongings are? I’m looking for my phone.”

“Sure hon, they are in that bag just at the foot of your bed,” she replied. "The reception is spotty here so don't be surprised if you can't get a signal."
 

I wanted to get out of here; I wasn’t in any mood to spend the night alone in this place. I found my phone and saw that I had only one bar of reception. Jesse had been the one trying to call me while I lay on the ground fighting for my life. He didn't leave a message so I tried calling him back. At this point I was pretty sure no one knew of my whereabouts, let alone what had happened to me in the park. His phone went straight to voicemail so I left a message, telling him that I needed him, and asked him to call me. Next, I tried calling Mel, she answered on the first ring.

“Hey Rhyann, what’s up? You want to come over and hang with me, we can miss our guys together.”

“Umm, I’m at the hospital, they're keeping me overnight for observation.”

“What? Why? Are you okay?” She threw questions at me quickly.

“I’ll tell you all of it later. Can you please just come and sit with me for a bit?”

“Of course, I’m on my way.” I hung up the phone and lay back against the pillows. This was going to be a long night.

K
nock, knock,” came an unfamiliar voice. I looked toward the door and there stood the police detective that had taken my statement last week. “Ms. Montgomery can I have a moment?”

“Of course, please come in, just so you know I told them my last name was Michaels, I need to protect my husband.” He nodded his understanding and came to stand by the bed.

“I wanted to let you know how sorry I am for what happened to you.
Do you mind giving me your account of what transpired in the park this afternoon? Anything that you remember will be helpful.”

“Of course. I went for a jog, there weren’t many people around…” I gave descriptive details of everything that happened, making sure to mention the knife that had been left on the edge of the path.

“Yes, we collected that during our first pass through the park. We’ll send it off for prints and I'll have the hospital collect any evidence that may still be on you or under your fingernails.
I’ll file my report and we will bring Mr. Nelson in again, see if we have enough evidence to charge him. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.” He stood to leave. “Listen, I have a friend in the department that talks with victims of these types of crimes. I think she would be someone who can help you in case you ever felt you needed to talk. Here’s my card, her name and information are on the back.” He set the card on the bedside table.
 
“Best of luck to you Rhyann. I’m glad that you’re going to be okay.”

S
weetie, you are lucky to be alive. My gosh, I can’t believe this happened to you. Have you talked to Jesse? Does he know what happened?” Mel had only been in the room for twenty minutes but I had brought her up to speed on everything that occurred since I left her apartment. It felt good having her with me, keeping me company. The only thing that would have made me feel better would have been if Jesse were here to hold me. I still hadn’t heard back from him. He must have been rehearsing for their performance tonight. My head felt better, after a few doses of medication, and I was just waiting for the doctor to drop in during his rounds.

“He hasn’t returned my calls. You know, he sent me a text this morning; I had stopped to read it when Steve surprised me. Maybe if I hadn’t stopped I could have kept running and got away. As it was, once I saw him I froze in my tracks. I have never been so scared for my life. The look in his eyes, the way he held that knife, he looked like a man with nothing to lose. The sooner they lock him up the better off I will feel.”

“Amen to that, he never should have been released to begin with. The man is a menace to women everywhere. I hope they throw the book at him,” Mel scowled.

“Throw the book at him,” I giggled. “What does that even mean anyway?” We both fell into a fit of laughter, giggling until the doctor came into the room.

“Glad to hear you laughing Ms. Michaels.” Mel threw me a confused look but I pursed my lips and gave a quick shake of my head. “How’s the head feeling now?” He lifted me forward, feeling the bump, then leaned me back and checked my pupils and swollen cheek. “The black eye and cheek should heal pretty quickly, there were no lacerations to the face so that will speed things up. The bump on your head will probably take a good ten days to go completely down. We’ll want you to be on the lookout for continued headaches, blurred vision, that sort of thing. As for the rest of you, everything looks to be in good order, a few bruises here and there from the struggle but there was no harm to the baby when you fell so your pregnancy should continue normally. I do recommend that you follow-up with your obstetrician just to be on the safe side.” He paused, taking in my shell-shocked state, before continuing. “I take it this pregnancy comes as a surprise to you. I’m sorry, I mistakenly thought you already knew,” his warm smile filled his face as he watched me.

“No,” I shook my head slowly. “I mean, I’ve had sickness throughout the day for the past five days but I just thought I had a bug. I guess I should have assumed that could have been a possibility.”

“Anything more than vomiting?” he asked, writing in my chart.

“No, just vomiting, but violent at times. Wow, this is a shock. I’ve been on the pill but my husband and I weren’t trying for a baby, we weren’t exactly abstaining either. How far along am I?” I asked, my voice shaking. How on earth was I going to tell Jesse this, after everything else we had to deal with?

“I would say only about five or six weeks, but your OB can confirm that after you make your first appointment. I’ll give you a few recommendations of qualified obstetricians I’ve worked with. You can meet with one of them and then make your decision on how you want to proceed. Until then, I want to keep you overnight and release you first thing in the morning. I’ll handle all of your release papers so that you can leave before breakfast if that helps. Take care Rhyann, and good luck with whatever you choose.”
 

He left the room and it took me a full minute to make eye contact with Mel.
 

I’m pregnant?
 

We were going to have a baby. We were going to be parents. Fuck. I turned to Mel and started bawling. She crawled onto the bed and rocked me back and forth, like a mother would her child, and spoke in soft sentences to me, encouraging me. I stayed that way for nearly an hour before Mel ran out to pick us up some take out. The food they had delivered earlier still sat congealing on the tray at the foot of my bed.

W
e finished dinner and were now sharing the narrow bed to watch television. Jesse still hadn’t called back. This was the longest we had ever gone without seeing each other. Not talking to him had been one thing, but not seeing him was what hurt the most. I couldn’t stop thinking about the night I left the house. Looking back, I wished like hell that I could change the way that conversation had gone down. Now that I’d had time to consider my options I realized that I should have given him the benefit of the doubt. I was always doing that, jumping to conclusions and reacting irrationally. My mother had often pointed that fact out to me once I became an out of control teenager, and on more than one occasion I had heard it from Mel, now it was happening with Jesse. It was a destructive pattern of behavior that needed to stop, I just wasn’t sure how to go about getting it under control.
 

“So, how are you going to tell him?” Mel asked, leaning her head against my shoulder.

“Well I can’t just spill out something like that over the phone now can I? I’ll have to fly out and see him, or maybe I should wait until I meet with the OB.” I twisted my hands together, absentmindedly pulling at the sheet. “I’m not sure what I should do Mel, this is too soon, this is way too soon for us. I mean, we barely know each other, we aren’t even speaking at the moment, how the hell can we raise a child together? This will scare the hell out of him. We’ve never even discussed having a family. How can I be a mother? Mine was a shitty example, how can I be expected to be any better?” I threw my hands up, exasperated. “Fuck!”

“Sweetie, it will be okay.” She stroked my hand, her head still rested on my shoulder. “You just wait and see, it will all work out.” She lifted her hand to grab the remote control, flipping through the channels to find something we both felt like watching, stopping when a picture of Twisted Fate caught our eye.

“I miss David,” she said longingly, “I miss the sex.” We watched as a reporter stood in front of a large crowd that had gathered outside the venue where they were scheduled to perform tonight.

“We’re here in Los Angeles, standing outside the Staples Center, where Twisted Fate is about to arrive for a live performance. Fans are going crazy waiting for a chance to catch a glimpse of the band as they arrive. The concert is sold out and everyone is expecting a stellar show. We asked the fans earlier what they were looking forward to the most about tonight’s performance and here’s what they had to say.” The screen switched to shots of young girls dressed in clothing way too tight and revealing, giggling as they answered the question.

“I can’t wait to see Sam without a shirt on!”

“I want to try and catch Jesse’s shirt when he throws it off stage.”

“I can’t wait to meet them backstage after the show. I got a pass!!”

“I love them all, they’re so hot!”

“Well, there you have it folks, the energy is electric down here. The concert kicks off at… Wait, hold it folks, Twisted Fate has just pulled up to the Staples Center and we are going to try and catch them on their way in. Try and get a little sneak peek before the show!” The camera panned over a pair of limousines, surrounded by security. Mel squeezed my arm tightly, waiting to spot David coming out of the car. My heart clenched in my chest at the thought of seeing Jesse, even if it was only on television, I missed him terribly. Mel screamed in my ear as David stepped out, followed quickly by Tyler and Stefani, a couple of the stage crew followed and Sam squeezed between them, slapping them on the back. Finally, I saw the top of Jesse’s head as he slipped his large frame from the car. He looked so handsome all dressed in black leather. He turned to the crowd, waving once, before turning back to the car and offering a hand to a woman following closely behind. She stepped fully out of the car, one arm draped around his shoulder, and the other offered a queenly wave to the crowd. My heart stopped beating and I threw up the only food I'd eaten in three days.

I
've been at Mel’s for the past two days and haven’t left my old room, other than to go to the bathroom and shower. Jesse hasn’t called me back, probably because I had called him after seeing the news footage and told him to go fuck himself. Why was that woman always coming between us? And why did he allow her to drape herself all over him like a cheap coat for the world to see? Had he already given up on us, on our marriage? Had I?

Sleep felt better than facing reality. When I was awake Mel wanted to talk, when I stayed in bed she left me alone. Mel had talked with David, keeping the news of my attack and the baby a secret, and she reported that David hadn’t said much about Jesse. It felt as if they were shutting me out, as if Jesse had made his intentions clear with everyone but me. I wanted so desperately to call and ask him what the hell he'd been thinking, but I was afraid he wouldn’t speak to me. I paced endlessly across the floor debating what I should do. My floor was littered with remnants of tattered paper napkins.
 

This is crazy!
I told myself over and over. Finally, I snapped and did what I should have done days ago.

I hit speed dial on my phone, and when the sound of his voice filled my ears I could no longer hold back the tears. Honestly, I’m surprised I had any tears left to cry. I’d cried for four straight days, surely I would reach the bottom of the well at some point.

"I thought you wanted me to fuck off." Jesse answered, with a distinct edge that I’d never heard directed at me. It was cold, and callous, and it sent a shiver down my spine.

“Jesse, what’s going on between us? Just tell me, please.” I begged him. "Why were you with her again?"

“Rhyann,” he began slowly. “I don’t know what we’re doing anymore. We can't keep tearing each other apart. You don’t seem to be able to trust me, and I’m not sure if I can stay in that sort of marriage.”

“What are you talking about? You sent me a text and then never called back. You said you loved me and missed me. You wanted me to come join you,” I croaked, fighting desperately to hold back the sobs threatening to escape. “Listen, I know that I screwed up, badly, but I think we can work this out. Don’t give up on us just yet. Please, I really need you right now.”