Page 18 of Razor's Edge
“So damn needy. Can’t you do anything on your own?” the bitch gripes on her way out the door.
As soon as she walks out the door, I push the call nurse button. It’s not long before the nurse comes in and checks Starla over before telling me she can have a bottle and I can hold her in about thirty minutes. Starla slowly moves around and gets upset that she can’t get her hand in her mouth. Leaning down to her level, I start talking quietly to her while rubbing the top of her head. It’s only been two months since she showed up in my life, and I couldn’t imagine going forward without her in it.
The door opens, and in walks Flyboy, another person in a white coat, a snooty-looking woman in a suit, and Star behind them, looking scared.
“Flyboy, what’s going on?”
“Razor, this here is Doc Maddison. She is a pediatric doctor and will take over for me while she’s in the hospital. This is Ms. Clarkson from Social Services.” I step in front of Starla. Having Social Services here is not good.
“Flyboy, you need to start talking and fast.”
“Mr. Razor? Can I call you Razor?” Ms. Clarkson asks.
“Just Razor is fine. Now that we have names out of the way, what the fuck is going on here?”
The doctor steps forward, judgment all over her face. She is not happy in any shape, form, or fashion to be here. “We got the labs back from baby Starla’s blood and urine. What we found was unsettling, to say the least.”
“What are you talking about?” I don’t like where this is going.
“It seems, Razor, that your daughter had trace amounts of cocaine in her system.” Star gasps from her place by the door before moving toward it.
I don’t know what’s said next, and rightly don’t give two flying fucks. The nasty bitch is trying to make her way out the door unnoticed. “Take one more fucking step, and I’ll end you right here right now,” I growl, unable to say anything else.
“Sir, are you threatening the mother of your child?” the social worker asks with a hand on her hip.
The haze falling over my eyes snaps back like Moses was standing there.
“No, ma’am, I’m just ensuring that the one person who can explain what’s going on doesn’t go anywhere,” I tell her, giving her my most reassuring smile.
The social worker doesn’t look convinced at all. “When a situation like this arises, the hospital is required by law to call and report it. By the surprise on your face that you had no idea this would be something to worry about,” she says before turning to glare at Star. “Do you mind telling me what you might know?”
Star stands there looking like a lost puppy as she shakes her head back and forth before turning and bolting out the door. As soon as she does, Starla cries out. I head back over to her side. What the fuck is going on? How the actual hell did she get drugs in her system? Unless Star had something to do with it, and if that’s the case, there isn’t a place in this world that she can hide that I won’t find her. I promised my brother to keep them safe, but what are you supposed to do when Starla’s mother is the problem?
“What do we do now that we know what’s going on with Starla? How long does she have to stay?” I ask them, never taking my eyes off the baby who has captured my heart.
“To start with, we will do an in-home visit to make sure everything is good. Razor, let me be completely honest with you, if it weren’t for the patch on your back, that baby would be in foster care. Since I know what you boys stand for and that the mother is the problem, I’m letting her stay. Just make sure this situation never happens again. Do I make myself clear?” Ms. Clarkson states.
“Yes, ma’am. I can assure you we’ll be working night and day to figure out what happened here.”
“Well, I’ll be seeing you at the club in a few days to check up on things. Just to be sure everything is like it should be,” the social worker says with a small smile.
Just as Starla starts fussing again, a nurse comes in with a bright smile, holding a bottle and paperwork. I sigh in relief. I can’t handle it when she is upset.
“Just in time,” the judgmental doctor says to the nurse.
The nurse’s smile falls at the doctor’s tone before she plasters on a bright smile for me. “Let’s get this little princess a bottle and some love!”
“Nurse, once you’re done here, I need you at the nurse’s station. Don’t lollygag around. You have other patients to take care of,” the doctor sneers, stepping closer to Flyboy. “Now, about Starla, she’ll need to stay here for about five days or until her blood work shows the drugs are completely out of her system. We'll discharge her to her regular doctor once we have confirmed she is clear and not going through withdrawal.”
I look over for just a moment and give her a stiff nod before turning back to Starla and the nurse. The doctor huffs, stomping out of the room. Flyboy rubs the bridge of his nose, shaking his head back and forth. Starla fusses louder, kicking her feet and waving her hands back and forth.
“How much longer until she can have that bottle? I get itchy when she’s not happy.”
“Right now. Pick her up as you would normally when she’s feeding,” the nurse says, more relaxed now that the doctor is gone.
“What about all the wires and tubes? Won’t I hurt her?” The last thing I wanna do is hurt her.
“Her IV is in her left arm, and the wires on the heart monitor can be shifted to either side. Don’t worry about hurting her,” she says, still shaking the bottle in her hand.
