Made To Love You (15 page)

The ambulance pulls down the alley from the other direction of the cops. I stay where I am so I’m not in the way. Plus, I don’t know if I’ll throw up again. One EMT comes over and asks if I’m okay. I can’t even open my mouth to answer him, afraid I’ll puke, so I just shake my head.

Another paramedic rushes over with a stretcher. He removes the bag and board from it and lays it on the ground next to him. The guy who asked if I’m okay goes over to help his partner.

He checks for Layla’s pulse after a few long seconds, he nods his head.

Everything fades.

Both men begin to work as quickly as possible. They roll Layla on a board, and then both transfer her up on the stretcher. One leans over and starts compressions.

Layla’s heart has stopped.

“No, no, no.” I shake my head back and forth.

They load Layla in the back and are taking off in the next second.

Another set of paramedics rush over to Eli. They check all the same things they did with Layla. They turn him over, secure his neck, place him on the backboard and are running back to the ambulance with him.

“Sir, we’d like to ask you some questions,” an officer says.

I look up and he’s standing there with his thumbs hooked in the belt loops on his pants. I take a couple of deep breaths trying to steady my rolling stomach.

I answer all the questions the officer asks me. Can I tell him what happened, can he see some ID, he needs a statement, yada, yada, fucking yada. Every time I blink all I see is Layla’s bloody face and Eli laying there helplessly.

When he’s done with his questioning he tells me I’m free to go. They have blocked off the alley way with crime scene tape while the detectives do their work. I glance back to the spot I found Layla and Eli laying. Blood is smeared down the wall just near the door and the door is splattered with blood, and supplies left from the EMTs are the only remnants of two lives hanging in the balance right now. My stomach rolls again as tears spring to my eyes. I’ve got to get the hell out of here.

I walk back to my truck, stripping my shirt off and wipe my hands on it. I toss the shirt in the backseat and grab another shirt from my gym bag. Looking down, my jeans are covered in blood too. “Fuck.” I slam my hands on the hood of my truck.

I reach in my pocket for my phone to call Jaylinn. It rings four times before she answers.

“Coop? Where did you go?”

“I’ll explain later. Can you meet me at Community Medical Center?”

“Oh my God, are you alright?” She’s more alert now.

“Um…yeah. It’s Layla and Eli.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Jay?”

“Yeah?”

“I need you to bring me new clothes.”

“Got it.”

I start my truck up and make my way towards the hospital. Hoping and praying the whole time that my two friends survive because with the amount of blood they both lost it doesn’t look good.

Cooper

Stop signs and traffic lights all a blur. I’m on autopilot. The hospital is about fifteen minutes away. When I arrive I find the first parking spot I can. Thankfully it’s right in the middle so I quickly lock the doors and run towards the entrance of the emergency room.

The automatic doors slide open and I step into the Emergency Room entrance.

“How may I help you, sir?” the lady behind the desk asks me.

“My friends, Layla Del Luca and Eli Sabatino, were just brought in by ambulance.”

I hear her clicking away on her computer. “Sure, I’ll find out what’s going on for you, sir.”

I trudge over to take a seat. I lean forward with my elbows on my knees, my head down. I sit for a while as the world goes on around me. A few people have walked in; a guy clutching his stomach, a mom and her daughter who has her arm cradled to her chest, and an old couple who are winded by the time they’ve reached the desk to check in.

“Cooper,” Jaylinn calls when the doors to the emergency room open.

She runs over to me and throws her arms around my neck and I hug her tightly back.

“What’s going on?” She asks as she sets a bag down beside her.

I pull her back to me just needing the comfort. “I couldn’t sleep, been having a hard time lately as you know. Thought I’d go into work and tie up a few loose ends. I pulled into the parking lot and was walking down the back alley. None of the lights were turning on which I thought was a little weird. When I got a few yards away from the entrance that’s when I noticed two bodies lying on the ground.”

Jaylinn’s eyes tear up as her hands go to her mouth to stifle the anguish. “Eli and Layla?”

I nod. “Yeah, they were beaten up pretty bad. You’re going to need to prepare yourself.”

“Okay,” she whispers.

Jaylinn notices my hands that still have blood on them and stained fingernails that I question ever being clean again. She reaches for the bag beside her and hands it to me.

Together we walk towards the bathroom. I give her a quick kiss on the lips before walking into the bathroom to change and wash up.

A few more people have walked in after I step out of the bathroom. The waiting room is getting packed; everyone here for a different reason.

“Cooper Cahill?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I respond.

The nurse smiles and takes a step in my direction. “Will you both please follow me?”

Jaylinn walks over and holds out her hand to me. I look at it and then glance up to her. She offers me a sad smile. “Come on.”

I look around me. A few people are talking to other people. A mom is feeding her baby and the little old couple who walked in earlier are sitting hand in hand looking out the window.

I blow out a deep breath before grabbing Jaylinn’s hand. I know this is killing her as a sense of deja vu washes over me. We were taking the same steps just over a month ago. The two of us follow the nurse over to a set of double doors where she slides a badge into a reader and the doors open. We walk down a long hallway, through another set of double doors before we come to the elevators. The nurse hits the up button and we wait. The elevators ding twice before opening. We are set inside and I watch the nurse hit the number three as I glance over to the panel with the writing on it. Floor three is the emergency surgery/surgery floor.

My palms start to sweat.

My hands start to shake.

The elevator stops and the door slides open. The nurse steps out first followed by Jaylinn, then myself. We follow her down another hallway and into a small waiting area.

The room is white, plain. A smaller sized round table sits in the middle with five chairs around it. In the corner there is a table that has different pamphlets on it. Grief, Recovery, Physical Therapy.

“Please have a seat and the doctor will be in to see you soon.”

“Thank you,” Jaylinn responds just as the nurse shuts the door.

I blow out a deep breath. Jaylinn reaches for my hand and we sit waiting for the doctor.

A few moments later a doctor wearing scrubs and a white coat comes in. He takes a seat and introduces himself. “I’m Doctor Muslin. I’ve been working on Layla and Eli since their arrival. Layla and Eli are both in critical condition at this time. We are waiting on the results of some scans to decide the next course of action.” He takes a moment before he continues. “Layla and Eli are both stable at this time. Layla’s heart has stopped twice so far but each time we’ve been able to revive her. The pressure on Eli’s brain is causing some alarm but until we get the results of the scans I can’t tell you more than that.”

All I hear is the swooshing in my ears. Layla’s heart stopped; not once but twice. My best friend’s brain is swelling. I look down to my hands resting in my lap as the doctor finishes. I heard bits and pieces as I tried to focus on what he’s saying.

Surgery.

Blood coming out of mouth and ears.

Missing teeth.

Cracked ribs.

Broken jaw.

Collapsed lung.

Severe brain injury.

Possible rape.

“If there are any family members for Layla and Eli I’d suggest you give them a call.” Dr. Muslin says as he stands and pushes in his chair. “We’ll be speaking again with you soon.”

The door closes behind him and all that can be heard is crying. Jaylinn wraps her arms around me. How could this be happening to them? Who the fuck would be that twisted to beat them within an inch of their lives?

Eli has done so much for Layla and her sister Fallon. He opened up his home for them. By doing that they fell in love with each other. I knew a long time ago that they’d fallen hard; you could see it in their eyes, and Layla, my heart fucking breaks for her. Jaylinn told me all about her situation before she moved in with Eli. No one deserves to be treated like that, ever.

And now this. She’d just got her mom back and was living a stable life with Fallon only to have it ripped from her. Some people say that karma is a bitch but there’s not one thing that Layla has ever done to deserve the shit she’s had to endure. She has to make it…
they
have to make it.

Jaylinn

Cooper stands and pushes his chair in. “I’m going down for a drink, do you want anything?” He doesn’t really need a drink; I’m not stupid, he just needs a minute to himself, it’s how he deals with things.

I shake my head. “No, thanks, I need to call Layla’s mom to let her know what’s going on.”

“Are you sure? I could do it if you’d like.” Cooper shoves his hands in his pockets.

I wipe my eyes. “No, this is something I should do. You can explain what you saw when she gets here if she wants to hear it.”

He nods. “Yeah, sure. I, uh…guess I’ll call Eli’s sister and give her a heads up.”

“You sure? I could do it when I’m done.” I offer even though it’s the last thing in the world I want to do. It’s bad enough I have to call Layla’s mom, I don’t want to have to call both families. This shouldn’t have happened to them.

“No, it’s okay. I got it.” Cooper tells me before walking out.

I reach in my purse and dig out my cell phone. I scroll to Mrs. Del Luca’s number and stare at it briefly before pressing the call button.

“Hey, Jaylinn, what’s going on?” She asks too cheerfully for this early in the morning.

“Hey,” my voice shakes. “Layla is in the hospital.”

She sucks in a breath. “Oh my God, is she okay?”

“You, um…you need to get down here,” I stutter.

“Jaylinn, is my daughter okay?”

“I don’t know.” I answer honestly. “We’re at Community Medical Center.”

I place my elbows on my knees and drop my head forward.

“Okay, let me get Fallon to a friend’s house then and I’ll be right there.”

“We’ll see you soon and be careful.”

I stare at a little black dot on the wall for what seems like forever. My stomach heaves. I take a few breaths but nothing calms it. I rub my hands back and forth over my stomach hoping to settle it. “Come on, settle down,” I whisper to myself.

Everything is suspended in time as we wait while our friends fight for their lives.

A while later Mrs. Del Luca arrives, she stumbles into the waiting room crying hysterically. Cooper still hasn’t returned. When Mrs. Del Luca’s eyes find me, she falls to her knees, her purse spills on the floor, but she doesn’t even notice or care. I crawl over to her and wrap my arms around her. MacKenzie, Hailey, and Hunter walk in just as I reach her. The girls take one look at us sitting on the floor, they both lower to their knees and wrap their arms around us as we sit on the floor crying. Hunter takes a seat in one of the empty chairs, leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees.

After a while we all wipe our faces. I sit on the floor with Layla’s mom, Hailey’s in an empty chair and MacKenzie has crawled on to Hunter’s lap.

“Where’s Mase?” I ask Hailey.

She nods towards the door. “Talking to Cooper.”

“Do you know who did this to her?” Mrs. Del Luca asks.

I shake my head but something deep down inside of me tells me I know who did it. The words that Layla said to me once repeat over and over in my head. “Laughing now but you’ll be crying later.” I don’t want to think it was him but who else would do this to them? What reason would they have? It’s not like they were trying to break into the club or anything.