Protect Me (32 page)

“I think that one was only a few hundred.” He laughed.

“You’re impossible.” She rolled her eyes towards him as she came back towards the door.

“Come on, my queen. Let’s get downstairs before they think we forgot about them.”

“Ok let me just grab my phone.” She made her way over to the side table and grabbed her phone removing it from the charger.

He watched as she turned on the screen making it a few steps before she collapsed onto the ground. “Ryan!” she gasped out.

He ran over grabbing her, checking to see what had just happened. “Babe, what’s wrong? Are you ok?” His heart was pounding out of his chest, what was going on?

“It’s not me. It’s Ashley, she overdosed last night. Judy has been trying to get ahold of me but I had my phone on silent.” Her body was shaking from the sobs.

“Baby, it’s ok. Breathe just breathe. We will go to her now. I will call a car for my parents and we will head straight to the hospital. Where is she?”

“She’s at the UCLA Medical center. I don’t even know where that is.”

His heart was breaking. He could see the pain and guilt building in her eyes. “I know where it is, we’ll go now.” He stood helping her up. She took another step sniffling as the tears continued to fall down her face as she stopped. “Babe, are you ok?”

She didn’t answer. She just turned and ran straight into the bathroom heading for the door to the private toilet area. He took a few steps towards the door when he heard the sounds of her retching coming from the bathroom. He immediately rushed into the room, pushing the door open to the toilet. She was kneeling over the toilet shaking. He took her hair up into a pony tail before gently rubbing her back and flushing everything down.

“Ryan, you don’t have to be in here for this.” She said dry heaving again.

“Hey, for better or for worse right?”

“You haven’t made that vow yet.”  

“I will be right back.” He ran back out into the bathroom, dampening a wash towel and bringing it back to her. “Here, wipe your mouth with this.”

“Thanks.” She rocked back sitting just in front of the toilet. “I don’t know what happened, my stomach just turned and I knew if I didn’t run I was going to get sick all over the floor.”

“It’s alright, getting that kind of news will fry anyone’s nerves. It’s a common reaction. Take a minute to brush your teeth and we will leave. I am going to go down and call a car for my parents and explain to them what’s happening.” He leaned over to her kissing her temple. “Are you going to be ok?” He eyed her as she shook her head, then he left the room giving her some privacy while he headed downstairs.

After fighting with the traffic on the way to the hospital, they found themselves walking into the doors of the emergency room. The smell of sanitizer blew into their faces with the rush of cold air as the doors closed behind them. He glanced around the waiting area. After not finding anyone they knew, they made their way to the desk with a small petite lady behind it.

“Excuse me, ma’am, we are looking for a friend who got brought in here last night. Could you help us find her please?” He smiled over at her.

“Well of course, I can help you find anything.” He had to calm his irritation of her open flirting.

“Her name is Ashley Mannings. Do you know if she is still in the ER?”

The lady typed the name into the computer, reading the screen before looking back up. “No, she has been admitted into the Medical Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. You can find her on the fourth floor. Head through that door to your left, there will be elevators to your right at the end of the hallway, fourth floor, room 434. The nurse’s station should be able to guide you from there.”

“Ok, thank you for your help.”

He turned, grabbed Abbi’s hand and led her towards the elevators. He could feel her hand shaking as they climbed on, bunching together as a number of people crowded in behind them. He reached over hitting and illuminating the button numbered four, taking his arms around Abbi and holding her to him. It broke his heart to see her going through this much pain. Every fiber of his body wanted to take that from her, but he knew he couldn’t. Softly he kissed her temple as she rested her head against his chest.

“She will be ok baby I promise. She is in good hands.” He whispered down into her hair.

“I hope so.” She sniffled against him.

As they unloaded onto the fourth floor they made their way up to the nurse’s station. A dark skinned round nurse offered to show them down to the room. Opening the door they found Judy passed out in the chair next to Ashley’s bed. The room was dark except the flickering of light coming from the small TV in the corner of the room. He led Abbi into the room as the nurse came up next to the bed. The sounds of the monitoring system beeping steadily against the quiet that blanketed the air.

“She’s unconscious at this time. We managed to flush most of the drugs from her system, but she hasn’t woken up yet.” The nurse whispered.

“Can she hear me?” Abbi looked at the nurse with tears rolling down both cheeks.

“We don’t know for sure, but it’s very possible. We encourage visitors to speak to the patients, even when they won’t respond.” The nurse patted Abbi’s shoulder before leaving out of the room.

Ryan watched as Abbi made her way over to the chair Judy sat in. She gently pulled the blanket up over her chest before sitting up onto the edge of Ashley’s bed taking her hand. Quietly Judy’s eyes flickered open as she tried to stifle a yawn.

“Hey guys. I didn’t hear you come in.” She sat up in the chair before taking in the devastated look on Abbi’s face. “Oh Honey. Abbi. It’s ok. She’s gonna be ok.”

Ryan made his way over trying to show Abbi as much support as he could. He placed his hand gently on her shoulder letting her know that he was here.

“I feel like this is my fault.” She gasped between sobs. “I was such a bitch and I punched her. Jesus.” She put her head into her hands.

“Baby, this is not your fault. Ashley made a choice and it went too far. I am sure she didn’t intend for this to happen. Please don’t blame yourself.” He knelt down in front of her as Judy came up next to her wrapping her in a hug.

“What happened?” Abbi looked over at Judy who had positioned herself next to Ashley but could still look at them both.

“Well, I called her when I left the bar. She didn’t answer. So I decided to head to her house. If anything we could talk it out, decide a plan of action. When I got there she wouldn’t answer the door and when I check the handle it was unlocked, which is unusual for her.” Judy took a deep calming breath. “I walked in and called for her and she didn’t answer. Then I walked into her room and I saw her lying on the bathroom floor. There was coke on the bathroom counter, a bottle of pills spilled everywhere, and a bottle of vodka next to her.” A tear rolled down Judy’s face as Abbi took her hand. “I tried waking her up but she wouldn’t move and she felt so cold. So I dialed 911 and wrapped her in towels. I checked her pulse but she wasn’t really breathing so I tried doing CPR until the paramedics got there but I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

“I am so sorry I didn’t answer when you tried to get a hold of me last night. I turned my phone down when I got home and I had no idea until after I woke up this morning.”

“It’s ok, Abbi. When I couldn’t get ahold of you I figured you were sleeping; so I called Jace and he came up and sat with me until this morning. She crashed last night while they were working on her and I was panicking, but she pulled through. They took her breathing tube out this morning. They said it was a good sign that she was breathing on her own.”

“So what did the doctor say last? Do they know why she isn’t waking up?” Ryan asked.

“Well, they wouldn’t tell me everything because I’m not family. I tried getting a hold of her parents with no answer. I think they travel a lot, but the doctor said most of the time in these cases they will wake up when their body is ready. He has seen it take hours, days, even months.”

“Are you bitches talking shit about me again?” A raspy voice came from the head of the bed.

In unison they all turned to find Ashley’s eyes open with a small smile on her face. Judy and Abbi immediately took her into a hug.

“Ok, ok. I’m not dying, but you two are about to smother me.”

“Damnit Ashley. You scared the shit out of us.” Judy sniffled as another tear rolled down her face.

“What exactly happened? I don’t really remember shit. I assume I am in the hospital.” Ashley looked around the room, her eyes growing concerned. “Was I in an accident?”

“Well sort of. Ashley, you OD’ed.” Abbi whispered.

The beeping on the machines grew quicker as Ashley’s heart rate accelerated.

“Hey, Ash it’s ok. Let’s call the nurse. Is there anything you want?” Judy rubbed her arm trying to calm her.

“Water would be great, my throat is killing me.”

“I will go get the nurse and ask about water.” Ryan chimed up as he headed out of the room.  “Nurse, Ashley is awake and she’s asking about water.” He said to the nurse that had led them to her room.

“Praise Jesus. I will be there in just a moment and I will bring her some water.” She walked briskly down the hall.

“Ok, they are coming in just a moment and she’s gonna bring you something to drink.”

“Great thank you, Ryan.” Ashley could barely make eye contact with him.

“Ashley, please tell me you didn’t do it on purpose.” Judy looked at her.

“No, I would never do that. It just seemed like over the past few weeks everything that’s been going on at work and with Gabe and everything. It seemed like I kept having to do more and more to numb the pain and ultimately it didn’t do anything. I just went too far I guess. I don’t really remember what happened, but I know I would never do that.” Ashley stared down at her hands.

“With Gabe?” Abbi looked at her as if she were trying to connect two points.

“Yeah, we hadn’t talked and I tried calling him, but I never knew what to say. I messed it all up. I just felt low, like I had hit rock bottom.”

“Grief Ashley, I wish you had said something to me.” Abbi reached up grabbing her arm in reassurance.

“Well, we weren’t really talking.”

“Hey listen, you girls need to chat, so I am going to leave you three to your gossip and give you some privacy.” He smiled down at the three of them. “Ashley, I am glad you are doing better. If you ever need anything at all you know we are just a phone call away.” He came up hugging Abbi to his side as she sat on the end of the bed.

“Yeah, I know. Thanks Ryan.” She smiled weakly up at him, the embarrassment flooding through her face.

He made his way out of the room and towards the elevators, as he turned the corner he looked up. Trent had just gotten off the elevator with a large bouquet of flowers. Anger began coursing through Ryan’s body as he walked over to him. He took in the sight of him, usually clean and presentable, but now he looked as though he had just left a party from down the street. His clothes disheveled and a tired pale look on his face. Ryan didn’t let him take more than three steps down the hallway before grabbing him by his shirt collar and throwing him into the elevator.

“What the hell man?” Trent said bouncing off the wall. The other patrons on the elevator briskly walking out leaving it empty.

“What are you doing here, Trent?” His voice came out in a roar.

“Shit man, I was just here to see Ashley and see how she was doing.” Trent’s eyes were huge as he took in the size of Ryan towering over him.

“Yeah, you didn’t seem too concerned about her when you got her hooked on coke and God only knows what else.” Ryan’s voice hissed between his teeth.

“Screw you man! I never forced her to do anything she didn’t want to do.” Trent rolled his eyes before he stood up, as if Ryan was all show.

Ryan snatched him up by his shirt collar pushing him back against the elevator wall, his fist flying up and connecting with the space just next to Trent’s head. “I know the shit you’re pulling. You have carelessly brought my fiancé and the girls into it without any thought to their well-being or safety. I can promise you that you will go down, burning in flames and those girls will not go down with you!” Ryan released him as the elevator beeped and the doors came open on the bottom floor.

He turned seeing two security guards standing outside the elevator. They took in Ryan’s size from head to two before they spoke. “Any trouble here, guys?”

“No sir.” Ryan said as he stepped off the elevator heading down the hallway. Heading towards the door he saw Jace coming in.

“Hey boss.” He saw the concern register on his face as he took in the look on Ryan’s. “Uh, you ok?”

“Yeah. What can I do for you?” Ryan took a deep breath as they walked towards the main exit.

“I was hoping you’d be here, I talked to Judy last night. Listen, we need to have a talk.” Jace looked over at him with concern filling his eyes.

“This about Trent?”

“Yep.”

“What’s going on?”

“Well, after I left here this morning I did some more digging since I figured Ashley’s incident was probably related to Trent and the club.”

Ryan stood impatiently waiting for more information.

“Looks like our boy Trent is selling cocaine out of the club for Hernandez.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, well, it gets better. Apparently he hasn’t been able to control his own habit and he is getting behind on his payments.”

“How much?”

“A lot.”

Abbi pulled up behind the club and parked her truck. “Gabe, I know you don’t want to be here on New Year’s Eve. You don’t have to babysit me tonight. Nothing has been going on and I am not stupid enough to think Ryan doesn’t have other agents coming tonight to make sure nothing crazy happens.”

“Yeah, sorry Abs, but I kinda like my paycheck too much to get on Ryan’s bad side.” He gave her an apologetic smile as he hopped out of the car. “I still can’t believe you won’t let me drive this thing.”

“Oh please, you’re a terrible driver. That would be like me asking you to put down your beer to hold my baby. Well, my metaphorical one.” She smirked over at him as they made their way to the back entrance.