Page 23 of A Twist of Fate

“The next day, she saw us out together and tried to pull the same shit. Only this time, she must not have been following him that night. She really did accidentally run into us that day. She tried to tell me she had been fucking him all night long, and asked how I enjoyed her sloppy seconds. I laughed at her, which pissed her off in pretty serious way. I knew she was lying because I’d been with Toby all night.” I picked at the blanket lying across my legs as everything we’d dealt with where this woman was concerned came flooding back, even things I had forgotten about for a while.

“After that, we would see her places she had no business being. A few times, it was outside Permanent Marks. Sometimes it would be when we were walking through the grocery store. She didn’t approach us again, but she was always there. Most of the time it looked like she was legitimately there, you know. So, we couldn’t really say something to anyone about the fact that she happened to be shopping in the same store when she had a cart full of crap. We would see her at a club, but she would be dancing with someone. I thought it was just me going nuts, jealousy, or something. Then Toby told me he’d seen her car following him one day a couple months ago.”

“I’ve seen her outside of our house whenever he’s been around the past few weeks. At first, I thought I was seeing things too. But she was just there earlier this week. I didn’t even know Toby was home, but I saw her outside of my bedroom window, and then when she realized someone had caught her there, she ran off,” Lucy added to my laundry list of stalking encounters. “What I need to know is what happened today.”

“Seneca Davis was seen standing on the corner near the accident site talking to herself. A woman who had been waiting on a friend to come out of a shop overheard her saying something like ‘He is mine. He has always been mine. We’ll be together again. This is the only way.’ It was about that time that Mr. Brother’s motorcycle came riding down the street. Seneca took the bottle she’d been drinking out of and tossed it at just the right moment. Toby lost control and they went down, slid for a bit. Ms. Tierny was able to get free of the wreckage, but Toby’s leg was pinned under the bike.”

“She had a pipe or something in her hands,” I mentioned as I the memory of what happened started replaying in my mind. “She was going to use it on me. He yelled at her. Got her attention on him instead of me. He started telling her that she was fucking crazy and he’d never be with someone like her. He was pissing her off. He did it on purpose to keep her from hurting me. I took my eyes off of him for a just a minute. There was a hot rush between my legs,” I couldn’t get anything else out. It all stopped working as I remembered why I felt that sensation, why I’d looked away before…

“According to witnesses, the woman lost her shit, ran at Toby with that pipe she had picked up from somewhere. It wasn’t part of the wreck. She,” he glanced around the room nervously. “She impaled him with it. He was brought here with it still intact in his abdomen.”

“No!” Lucy’s voice sounded like an animal’s before she turned accusing eyes toward Double-D. A pit settled somewhere deep in my stomach as I remembered the stories about what Toby’s parents had gone through with crazy club whores and jealous assholes too. “I warned you. I told you to get rid of the whores. You promised me! Did you even try?”

“We were going to bring it to the table at church this week,” Merc explained in a calm voice as if he were talking someone off the ledge.

“You were too late,” Lucy hissed out at him. She turned back to me as I tried to return the comfort she had bestowed on me earlier. I ran my hand up and down Lucy’s arm, gently stroking there to offer some sense of calm for her. Not that it would mean much. Toby was my love. He was Lucy’s son. Her heart ached the same as mine, even if we had different kinds of loves for him.

“I’m sorry,” Lucy apologized needlessly.

“I think I have everything,” the detective stated before the doctor butted in. I hadn’t even noticed him enter the room again.

“We’re going to move you all to a room of your own.” He turned to Lucy and addressed her instead of the rest of the crowd still in my room. “They got it ready for you guys earlier.”

“We’re not leaving her,” she told him.

“You don’t have to. We’re going to wheel Ms. Tierny down there too.”

“What about Toby?” Double-D asked. Something didn’t seem right about me being moved to another room.

“We’ll check on him once we get all of you moved,” is what the doctor told him. No one spoke the entire way there. It was almost as if everyone was afraid to take a breath. I was afraid to do anything at all. I just sat stunned until they tucked us all in a room and the doctor made excuses that he’d be right back. Still, it didn’t stop the words from floating past my foggy state once he returned. The worst three words a person could ever say to people waiting to hear news about a loved one.

“I’m so sorry.” I knew he spoke more after that. He was probably explaining all the ways they had tried to save Toby, and all the ways they had failed him. My heart couldn’t possibly continue beating now, could it? It wasn’t fair that my heart still beat while both of theirs stood still now. Our baby. My man. My loves. Both gone. Yet I felt it. That retched, miserable organ in my chest still beat as if it had a right to go on. I willed it to stop. I begged, pleaded, and prayed that the damn thing would just cease to work. I glanced around the room, mostly unseeing, hoping someone there would look up from their grief and put me out of my god damn misery. Why would they leave me here like this? Why did this happen?

I don’t know if I passed out or just tuned out everything around me. I was lost in a blanket of misery for who knew how long. All I knew was that I came to this world in an empty room with sandpapery eyes and a dry mouth. I pressed the nurse’s call button when I was mid-panic at having been left alone with the news that I was still trying to process.

“Hi honey, what can I do for you?” She was a youthful, pretty little thing that probably made sunshine envious on a good day. I almost wanted to smile back at my nurse until I remembered why I’d pushed the damn button to call her.

“Where is everyone?” The scratch in my voice gave away my other problem and she quickly moved to pour some ice water from a pitcher into a hospital green cup for me.

“Drink this, slowly.” I sipped and watched the woman worry her bottom lip with her teeth. “They all left some time ago. We had to sedate you after the news.”

“After the news,” I repeated on a whisper before pushing my cup away. I had only taken a couple sips and suddenly I didn’t think I could stomach more.

“Is there someone I can call for you?” The nurse glanced around worriedly at the large room I’d been placed in when some well-meaning staff member had decided I would have far too many visitors here for a normal size hospital room. Too bad they didn’t realize that once the family received news of the man they’d lost, I would be forgotten and left behind. Just as I had been left behind by him. By our baby.

“Aw, sweetie, please, there has to be someone I can call?” The nurse asked me with a hint of devastation in her own voice. “I know Lucy would still be here if she wasn’t so gone about her boy,” she tacked on.

“Permanent Marks Tattoo Studio. Call, it doesn’t matter who you speak with. Just tell them Gretchen is in the hospital and give them the information, please.”

“I will. Are you going to be okay while I go do that?” I only nodded, just barely, the gesture seeming like more than a person should be capable of after losing their whole entire world. I wished my sister was around. Our parents had taken off to live their lives post-children a few years back. We got the occasional postcard or email update from them, but in some weird way, it’s like they forgot we were actually their children and not just a couple of girls they once met and remember to update about their lives periodically. Beth, my sister, would know just what to say though. If she hadn’t decided to head out on the road with a traveling wildlife photographer, learning the ins and outs of that end of her business. Normally, she photographed people or scenery. I supposed wildlife were found in nature where lots of beautiful scenery happened, but I needed her. I had no clue where my cell phone was. It had been in my pocket when we were riding to Toby’s family’s house. When I woke up in the emergency room, I didn’t have it or my clothing any longer. Just the stupid hospital gown they had put on me.

My body ached and burned in spots with every movement made. It was nothing compared to the devastation I felt inside though. I had just moved the hospital gown back off of my thigh to look at the enormous bandage that covered the whole side. I knew I must have had pretty bad road rash. I had rolled when I was thrown free, but I’d also slid too, and I had been wearing a thin set of pants that stretched, because my ass felt too big for my favorite jeans. There was a knock on the door, but it opened immediately. The minute I saw Kane, Zeke, and then Sully pop their heads inside, the tears started to flow, and the sobbing started.

“Christ,” Zeke hissed and looked away immediately as he swiped at his eyes.

“G?” Kane whispered into the room as his voice broke on that one simple syllable.

“Baby-cakes,” Sully called to me as he approached slowly, his careful eyes taking in everything there was to see, including the fact that my gown was still pulled up too far on my thighs. He reached up and gently tugged the material back down over the bandage. “Oh sweet girl, what the hell happened here?”

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