Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
I hoped nobody followed me, but mostly, I prayed nobody was looking for her.
Notably, the cops.
“Boy,” he choked out in that disappointed regard he used on us often. “You better be playing with me right now.”
“Rola—”
“That better not be a passed-out girl in your arms.”
I immediately let out a long, heavy sigh, showing him that this wasn’t easy for me by any means. I was as conflicted as he was about the whole thing, and I couldn’t imagine how this appeared from an outsider’s perspective.
Shutting off the engine, I stared straight into his eyes, confessing the only truth I knew, “She’s hurt.”
“Juliu—” As soon as I pulled down the hood, revealing her beat-up face, his gaze went wide before shifting right to the gash on her eyebrow. “Fuck,” he said, and I didn’t blame him.
She looked like she had been run over by a bus, and he hadn’t seen the rest of her yet.
Feeling desperate, I blurted, “I’ll pay you.”
“Boy, don’t offend me,” he stewed, continuing to look her over from where he stood. “I don’t need your money.”
“I know.” I nodded, lifting her to stand. “But you’ll probably need to buy some supplies to fix her up, right? I’ll pay for them.”
I could feel his conflicting emotions throwing him for a loop while he hesitantly followed me inside. Each footstep sounded softer than the last. I needed to get her on a table, and time was not on our side.
After I gently laid her down on the dining table, I carefully removed Kraven’s hoodie so Roland could inspect the damage.
Another exasperated, “Fuck,” escaped his chest as he rounded the corner, his medical instincts finally kicking in as I knew they would.
I watched him go through proper protocol, trying not to shudder as he found more brutal injuries on her. Tons of cuts grazed her skin, but the ones on her forehead and forearm were the worst and needed stitches.
He grabbed a washcloth off the counter and set it on her head. “She’s lost a lot of blood, Julius.”
I nodded again, mostly because I didn’t know what to say. I barely knew how to feel. The effect she was having on me was an instant connection, and it couldn’t be ignored.
Besides, I didn’t want to ignore it.
“Boy…” Roland breathed out, shaking his head at me. “What part of my medical license being revoked do you not understand?”
“You’ve stitched us up before. Especially Kraven. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is I don’t know this girl from a hole in the wall”—he sternly pointed at me—“and neither do you.”
“Yeah, well, you’re sober now, right? Because you’re all she’s got.”
Through a clipped expression, he asked, “What happened to her?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Juliu—”
“Can you lecture me after you fix her up, Roland? Please.”
“Juli—”
“Come on,” I adamantly persuaded. “You took an oath to help people, and you know I can’t take her anywhere without getting in trouble myself. Nobody’s seen Joe for a minute, so he can’t be bribed to play good dad for the cops. You’re literally all she’s got, Dr. Matthews.”
He grimaced. It was quick, but I saw it. The truth was that Roland was a great doctor and a friend. He was just a bad drunk and suffering the consequences of that. He’d been looking out for us for as long as I could remember, battling his own demons like we all were.
After Mom split, Joe came around less and less. Their marriage was toxic as hell. However, it didn’t mean he didn’t love her.
She was the love of his life, and everything went to shit after she left. It wasn’t just her sons she abandoned. It was her husband, too, and since that was too big a pill to swallow, he simply turned his back on us and walked away from the problem instead.
He was forever searching for another escape.
Unless he needed money that we eventually had to hide by burying it in the backyard or else he’d sniff it out in the house and steal it from us, we didn’t see him.
We learned that lesson the hard way, too. Joe had no boundaries left. He’d crossed them all. Deadbeat dad would be too kind a term for him. He was a junkie and a drunk, plain and simple. And when we needed to find him, we usually could. He had his regular spots, and he was well-known in the neighborhood. People knew who Joe Knightly was.
As a thief.
A liar.
A manipulator.
The list was endless, none of which were good things.
Once Roland finished, he declared, “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Gesturing to his hands, he added, “Keep pressure on this rag until I’m back.”
I switched places with him. “Thank you.”
He stepped back, stating, “Don’t thank me yet. She’s still unconscious.”
His words weighed heavily on me as he left. Suddenly, I heard the garage doorframe creak, and I shifted my eyes to Kraven, where he was leaning against it.