Guarded Hearts (26 page)

“They’re okay,” I whisper to him, more of a statement than a question. I bow my head down on the hospital bed, unraveling the moments before the incident. All this seems surreal, like it’s right out of a movie.

“Olivia, there is no baby.” I’m stunned, I quickly turn to look at him, but he’s looking down towards the floor and running his hand through his disheveled hair. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

More tears begin to fall. “What happened?”

“Doctors said her placenta ruptured, and it was too early in the pregnancy to save the baby. We are lucky you got Mandy here.” His tone is somber. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted in the ER.” He lets out a breath. “This couldn’t have been prevented.” Tears slowly run down his cheeks, and he doesn’t bother to wipe them.

“Does she know?” I ask.

“No. That’s why it’s important we be here when she wakes. I want to be the one to tell her.”

I need him to know the truth, I want to tell him. I’m debating to tell him now or wait to tell him when Mandy wakes up. I decided to tell him, Mandy has enough to deal with when she wakes.

“Nix, I need to talk to you.” He looks at me with concern. “Before we arrived here-” I’m cut off as our attention turns to a knock at the door.

“Come in,” he says, responding to the knock. The door opens, and it’s Nix’s mother. She rushes in and hugs him.

“Oh, sweetie, how is Mandy?” She hasn’t taken notice of me standing there.

“She’s gonna be okay, but we lost the baby,” Nix says to her, and she raises her hand to her mouth and hugs him again. She turns to walk towards Mandy, but stops in her tracks when she sees me.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you,” she looks at me, recognizing me. “Wait, you’re the girl from the gala. Olivia, right?”

“Yes,” is all I say. I don’t feel a need to elaborate.

“Nix, I should get back to the house,” I say as I turn to give Mandy a kiss on her forehead and whisper to her that I’ll be back.

“I’ll take you. Mom, can you stay with Mandy?” he says before I head out the door to give them some privacy.

I need to talk to him. He needs to know what happened and what we heard. I’m feeling a bit anxious; I don’t know how he is going to react. I see him approaching me.

“Ready?” he asks me, even though he knows my answer.

“Yes.” We head out of the hospital and towards his car. It’s been a while since I sat inside his car, he sits in silence in the driver side, inserting the keys into the ignition, but doesn’t start the car. I sit there, staring out the window. I feel his eyes on me and I turn to meet them.

“Olivia, what is it?” he asks, sounding concerned. I just need to know where to start. I try to find my words. I’m not sure how I feel about it all, I haven’t had a chance to.

“The night of the gala, did you see Kylie at the club?” I ask. My mind is running in so many directions, there is so much I need to say. My heartbeat increases and I feel the anger building up inside of me as I recall the moments leading up to this.

“Did you?” I ask again, my voice coming out a little harsher than when I first asked.

“Yeah, at a distance, why? What does Kylie have to so with any of this?” he asks. I take a few calming breathes, hoping it helps to contain my anger.

“Nix, she drugged you two that night.”

“What?” He looks at me like if he didn’t hear what I said.

“She drugged you and Mandy, she put something in your drink.” I don’t know how else to say it.

“What? When?” he questions.

“I don’t know,” I tell him. I’m still trying to piece together all the information to try to make sense of that night. Nix stays silent for a minute, thinking back to the evening.

“Motherfucker! That’s why we can’t recall anything. We have gone over and over that night! Dissecting every moment, trying to figure out how it led us to being in bed together.” I see the anger in his eyes, and I haven’t even told him about the baby. I need to choose my words carefully before I tell him. It’s a lot to deal with.

“Nix, she didn’t act alone, she-” He cuts me off.

“Who?” He’s so angry I see his eyes go red.

“Who?” he asks again.

“Tom.” He starts the car, and I reach out holding his arm to avoid him driving off in a rampage. “I’m gonna kill that son of a bitch. I trusted him, I fucking trusted him with our lives that night.”

“Please, look at me,” he turns his attention to me, and nothing can prepare me for his reaction after I tell him about the baby. I take a deep breath. “He had sex with Mandy that night he took you two to your apartment. She was so out of it with whatever Kylie used that she doesn’t recall it.” I see him trying to piece it all together. Then I see his eyes go wide.

“What the fuck! He raped her!” he yells. “She wasn’t carrying my baby?” I see all the confusion, anger, and sadness consume him. He runs his hands up his face then through his hair.

“No. Kylie was arguing with Tom when we overheard her blaming him for not wearing a condom.” He takes a moment to take in the information. He looks away from me and grips the steering wheel. I see the whites of his knuckles as he grips it tightly.

“All of this was for what? What the hell made her sabotage our relationships?” He’s not just talking about me and him, he also talking about Mandy and I. The reason I’m about to give seems petty to us, but she was willing to ruin lives over it.

“She wanted to become President of S.O.S. I don’t think she intended for it to go this far. I think she wanted me to find you with Mandy, to take away all that is important to me so that she can avail in my moment of weakness,” I say.

“That selfish, heartless bitch!” he yells.

“She’s at the house. The girls are going to keep her there until I return. There will be consequences for her actions. I can’t let her feel like she succeeded, she has done so much damage in her moment of destruction that this needs to be handled.”

He speeds away, driving towards the house. I need to make sure I’m back before Mandy wakes up. I call the police on our way to the house, hoping they will be there by the time we arrive.

I don’t see any police cars outside the house as Nix parks his car, and immediately he jumps out, heading to the front door. He barges in, and I can hear him yelling “Kylie! Kylie! Where the fuck is she?” he asks Heather.

“Up in her room,” she says, pointing to the direction of her room.

I follow him into her room. He doesn’t knock; he just walks right in. Kylie quickly turns to face us as we invade her space. Nix walks right up to her, grabbing both of her arms. “You selfish bitch!”

I rush towards him to make him release her, and she collapses on her bed in silence.

“What the hell do you want me to say, Nix?” she responds. “What’s done is done. Nothing I can say or do can change that.”

She doesn’t look at us as she sits on her bed. She’s eerily calm. I don’t think she feels remorse for what’s she done. The only thing I think she feels sorry for is that she got caught and the consequences that come with her actions.

“I want to know why and how you were able to pull it off. How was Tom involved?” Nix’s tone is harsh. She turns to look at Nix, but doesn’t say a word.

“What do you want me to say, I’m sorry? Well, I’m not,” she states. She has too much pride to admit she did wrong.

“What I am sorry for is that I got Tom involved. That stupid ass couldn’t keep his dick in his pants and now look where it got us. He left her pregnant,” she says, looking at her nail polish like all of this is nothing. It is making my blood boil and I can no longer contain my anger.

I walk right to her, and she stands to meet me. Without a second thought I slap her right across her face. “You bitch!” I yell.

“Get the fuck out of my room before I call the cops!” she screams at us, but her comment makes me laugh.

At that moment Heather yells that the cops have arrived. Kylie’s eyes go wide as she realizes where her fate lies.

Nix heads downstairs to begin a police report, where he intends to file charges, and I’m sure Mandy will too.

“You got the cops involved?” Kylie asks, her tone not so cocky.

“Yes. What, did you think you were going to get away with it?”

The officer enters the room and he asks to speak with me. I step out into the hallway and tell him what Mandy and I overheard. I give him Tom’s name and Kylie’s, and let him know she’s in the room. I don’t realize I’m crying until Heather hands me a tissue, and I feel Nix’s hand on the small of my back as he tries to calm me. Today has been draining, emotionally and physically. I give all the information to the officer, and he hands me a card with his name and case number. He will be contacting me soon for more questioning. He turns his attention to the room where he asks Kylie to go down to the police station for questioning. She follows him out without arguing and leaves the house. We’ve been here for an hour and I need to get back to the hospital.

“Nix, we need to get back to Mandy,” I say to him, I’m worried she might have already woken and I’m not there.

“Okay.” He looks down at me and places a kiss on my forehead, holding it there for seconds longer than usual. I close my eyes, the warmth of his lips linger and his scent is magnified. I want nothing more than to throw my arms around him and take his lips with mine, but I can’t. I open my eyes and see him looking at me. This moment isn’t about us. I need to focus and get back to Mandy.

“Nix, we need to go,” I say desperately. I begin to head downstairs when he grabs a hold of my arm.

“Please, don’t.” I don’t look at him, because if I do I will give in to him. Whatever he needs to say will make me crumble, and I can’t afford that now. I need my strength for Mandy.

W
e rush to the hospital after the police left with Kylie. We need to make sure we are there when Mandy wakes up. My thoughts go to Mandy, about how she will react to being drugged, assaulted and losing the baby. The officer informed us that he will wait until tomorrow to question Mandy about everything. He had taken Nix’s version of that night’s events. I could only add about what I had heard that afternoon and what Kylie had confessed moments before his arrival. We park and walk in silence towards S.C General. I hate the place, the musky medical smell.

I shudder as we walk towards the elevators. I feel Nix’s hand on my elbow, nudging me forward to where the elevator doors are standing open. I walk into the elevator, still keeping my distance from Nix. All the feelings I have for him have not diminished in the last couple of months, and just being this close to him I am melting with the heat zapping through my body. The elevator reaches Mandy’s floor and we step out. As we walk down the hallway I can feel Nix’s reluctance to walk into that room without knowing what we will find. We enter her room quietly. I come to realize that I hate it too, all white, lifeless in color and the bareness of all of it. Empty. Soulless.

I sit on the chair next to her bed where she still sleeps. I want to be here to help her through this moment of pain and hurt of the disappearance of her unborn child.

“I called Mrs. Scott earlier. She took the first flight out,” Nix says from the couch, the first thing he has said to me since we left the house. I haven’t even asked him about what he told the officer or what his parents said to him after he called them. All my thoughts and worries have been about Mandy.

“Oh, gosh, thank you. I totally forgot about calling her with all this madness going around,” I respond.