The UN Series Complete Box Set (205 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

SLADE

I sit next to Angel as Micah and Holly sit across from us in the waiting room at the hospital. Tate called me in a panic only thirty minutes ago to inform me he was on his way to the hospital. Sam was doing laundry, and I was in the middle of a shower. We dropped everything and got here as soon as we could.

I look up when I hear Angel stop talking to see everyone looking toward the entrance. Parker and Kat are walking over to us hand in hand.

“Where the hell were you guys?” I ask as I look them over. They look like they just rolled out of bed, which is a very big possibility. She’s wearing a tank top and yoga pants. And Parker is wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt.

“We were getting massages,” Parker says with a smile.

“Is that what they call it these days?” Josh asks from beside me. He smirks as Kat tries to tame her freshly fucked hair. When she realizes it’s not gonna work, she just shrugs with a smile. “I wouldn’t know. It’s been a while for me.” He laughs, but Courtney’s elbow to his side turns it into a grunt.

Kat and Parker sit down across from us next to Micah and Holly. “How is Missy doing? Have you guys heard anything?” Kat asks no one in particular.

Angel shakes her head. “Not yet. We’ve only been here for maybe fifteen minutes.”

Parker places his arm over Kat’s shoulders as he leans back in these uncomfortable waiting chairs.

“I’m so glad they are having their baby. I’m having baby fever like crazy,” Courtney sings happily.

Parker looks over at Josh. “You had better go and get fixed, man, before she has you talked into a baseball team.” We all laugh.

Josh shakes his head. “We’re good for now. I do believe you guys are next on the list to pop out a baby.”

Kat smiles brightly, and Parker chokes as if he just swallowed his tongue. “No thanks,” he manages to say.

“What?” Angel asks placing her arms over her chest and giving him the evil look I know all too well. “Are you saying that you don’t want kids?” she demands.

“That’s not what I said. I am just in no rush to pop them out like Courtney is. I would like to wait a few years,” he finishes.

Angel’s eyes narrow on his even more and she goes to open her mouth, but Kat speaks before she can. “I meant to tell you ladies last night at dinner that I have a few places I think would be great for the wedding.” That was all it took to get Angel to smile again. For the next thirty minutes, we have to listen about how important the location is for Kat and Parker’s wedding, and to my surprise, Parker sounded just as excited as she did about their big day. I know he loves her and wants to marry her; it’s just the men usually don’t really care about the details of the big day.

Kat was in the middle of telling us about this old historic mansion that rents out their ballroom when she stands quickly as she looks down the hall. “Missy?”

We all turn to see Tate and a very sad, but still very pregnant Missy walking beside him.

They come to a stop and he speaks. “Sorry guys, false alarm.”

Missy’s cheeks redden, and she tucks herself into his side. “I’m so sorry,” she says softly.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Courtney assures her with a warm smile. “It happens to all of us.”

“Well, crap.” Holly sighs. “I really wanted to see that baby today.”

“Me too.” Missy laughs as she rubs her big belly. “But the good news is that they said they would probably be seeing us later in the week.”

CHAPTER NINE

PARKER

We had all left the hospital and went to a late lunch when my brother called me and told me that he had a father call him needing legal help. His daughter had been picked up in Ferguson, which is only twenty miles from St. Louis. A car driving by saw the woman lying in a ditch and called the police. When they arrived, they found that she was high on something and needed emergency attention. The hospital had pumped her stomach, and the police planned to take her straight to jail upon her discharge due to the number of pills that she had on her. Yellow pills, to be exact.

I guess her brother has been into drugs for years and Braxton has got him off before, so her father called him to save his daughter from prison time. When I told him I was coming along with him, he tried to suggest I just wait to see what he finds out. Like that was gonna happen.

For the second time today, I walk into a cold and sterile hospital. I nod to a few nurses as they look at Braxton and me with curiosity. I don’t blame them. We look like night and day. Braxton is wearing another one of his expensive dark gray suits and tie. I still have on my black t-shirt and sweatpants from earlier and smell like sex along with eucalyptus.

We make our way down a long hallway and walk into the last door on the right. A man who looks to be the age of my father stands beside a hospital bed. He speaks low but harshly to a blond woman who lies in the bed. “I told you this would happen,” he growls.

“Shut up, Dad,” she snaps.

“Mr. Dawson,” my brother says to announce his presence since they didn’t notice us walk in.

The man turns to face him. “Thank God. Braxton.” They shake hands. “I’m so thankful you could make it on such short notice.” His dark eyes look heavy and his shoulders are slumped. You can see that his daughter is wearing on him.

“I told you I don’t need an attorney,” the woman hisses.

“Really? Looked like to me you need more than that.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “You are strapped down to a hospital bed, after all.”

I take the time to really look her over. Just as he said, her arms are strapped out to her sides as are her feet are at the end of the bed. It’s sad really. Because she could be very pretty if you could ignore the fact that she looks like complete shit right now. Her bleach-blond hair is matted to her head and looks like it hasn’t been washed in days. She has scratches on her forearms and chest area. She has a pretty good size cut on her bottom lip and a bruise on her right cheek as well. 

Her big blue eyes are sunken. You can see her collarbone and even the bones in her arms. The only places she looks to have any fat are in her tits and lips. She looks like the Barbie doll that my niece Sadey once left outside for three days and the storm came and flooded the yard. She is what you would describe as rode hard and put up wet. She looks like the type my dad prefers over my mother. And I cringe at that thought.

“Mr. Dawson, why don’t you go and find me a nurse,” Braxton offers. “So we can get these restraints removed.” He looks at his daughter for a few long seconds and then lets out a sigh before he walks out.

“I don’t want you here,” she sneers to Braxton.

“So you prefer to be strapped to a hospital bed while they wait for your test results?” She goes to open her mouth, but he continues. “And once they get your results back, they are going to send you straight to jail. Is that what you want?”

She turns her head to the side and as if she finally sees me, she asks. “Who the hell are you?”

“Ignore him,” Braxton tells her. “He’s just here to observe.” I refrain from snorting. “So tell me why you were brought in.”

She shakes her head as she looks up at the ceiling.

I take a step closer to her, and her head snaps to look at me. I take another step closer. She starts to pull on her restraints. Her wrists are so small from probable malnutrition. Drugs will do that you. I swear they could snap in half if she pulls on them too hard.

Her body tenses as she looks up at me wide-eyed. “Come any closer and I’ll scream.”

I shrug. “Go ahead. No one will come and check on you. You’re just a druggie.”

Braxton clears his throat, but I ignore him. I need answers from this woman. I need to know where she got the pills. I continue over to her hospital bed, and she starts breathing heavy. The bed shakes as she starts to try to yank her arms and legs free, but she isn’t going anywhere. They got her locked down tight, and I’m grateful for that ‘cause I’m probably about to piss her off and I really don’t want her to bite me or claw my eyes out like she did the nurses. That is why she is strapped down to begin with, so I don’t put it past her.

“Parker,” my brother snaps, but I ignore him. I wrap my hand around her small forearm and press it down into the bed.

“Let go of me,” she yells as her body bucks.

I look down at her arms and the moment I don’t see what I’m looking for, I let go of her. “So you obviously don’t shoot up,” I say. “Just a pill popper?” I ask.

“Fuck you!” she spits.

“No thanks,” I say as I pull my lip back with disgust. “I don’t fuck whores.”

“Parker,” Braxton snaps as she inhales sharply.

I sit down in the chair next to her bed. “Do you want to go to prison?” I ask her. “From what I was told, you were caught with six pills on you. You know you can get seven years per pill?” Her eyes widen in fear for the briefest moment before she hides it. I can work with fear. Smiling, I add, “I guess you would rather spend forty-two years in prison than talk to us. Come on, Braxton. Let’s go.”

I get up from the chair, and she pulls on her restraints as she tries to sit up as well. “Wait!”

I sit back down slowly as she relaxes into her bed. Braxton and I exchange a look before she manages to speak again. “I can’t give you what you want,” she says softly.

“Yes, you can,” Braxton assures her. “We can get you out of this and protect you.”

Her blue eyes start to fill with tears as she shakes her head. “I won’t give him up,” she whispers.

“Your brother?” I ask, knowing he was just released from jail on bail. Driving under the influence.

She sniffs and closes her eyes tightly as a tear streams down her cheek that still has some makeup caked on it. What little mascara she had on streaks her face. “Someone will have to pay.”

“I’ll make sure the right person does,” Braxton adds.

She gives a dark laugh and I almost do as well. He is a defense attorney, after all. He gets the bad guys off. So him telling her he is gonna catch the bad guy sounds funny. She opens her eyes and looks over at him. “You think you can make it go away? You can’t. I knew what I was risking when I got involved. It’s time to pay up.”

“Involved in what exactly?” I ask.

“It doesn’t matter,” she sighs getting tired of us being here.

I’m getting quite tired of it myself. “It does fucking matter,” I growl. “Because even though you chose this life, others who have not are still paying for it.”

“What the hell does that mean?” she demands.

“It means that the guy you’re getting your supply from is making innocent people pay in order for him to keep his supply to allow little bitches like you to get high in order to get through your fucking miserable life!” I stand as I scream out in frustration. “Or do you just take them to help cope when he lays his hands on you?” I ask. Her tongue darts out and licks the cut on her bottom fake plumped-up lip. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for doing what you want to your body. Hell, my fiancée has fake tits and I absolutely love them but come on. Do you have to inject every single part of your body?

“Parker, you need to leave! Now!” Braxton demands. I stand there staring down at the weak bitch tied to the hospital bed. I call her weak ‘cause she needs drugs in order to survive. She’s willing to throw her life away, for what? One more pill? When Kat almost lost her life because of my father and Mason. I won’t allow that. I won’t stand for that. That was why I became a cop in the first place.

“Parker?” Braxton repeats. I do believe he may hit me if I don’t stop talking down to her.

I look away from the woman and at my brother. He nods to the door with thinned lips and fisted hands. I take a deep breath trying to slow my heart rate and decide that leaving is the best thing for me to do.

I turn giving them both my back and start to head to the door when the woman speaks. “Was it someone you love?”

I stop and turn to face her. “You said an innocent. Did someone you know have to pay? Did
he
hurt them?”

My knees threaten to buckle when she says he. Is it my father? Could it be this easy?

“Yes,” I say softly. “My fiancée.”

She swallows and then asks. “Did he kill her?”

“He tried. But she survived,” I say proudly.

She looks down at her hands strapped to the bed and a silence falls on her cold room. “What did he do to her?”

I run a hand through my hair and let out a deep sigh. “He had a man who worked for him kidnap her. He beat her. Four hours of surgery and six weeks of having her jaw wired. But she recovered fully.”

She looks up at me, and a single tear runs down her face. “She must be very strong.” I nod. “I wish I would have been that strong.” She looks at me with her big blue eyes. “I wasn’t always this person,” she says softly. “I remember my brother doing drugs and getting in trouble. I promised myself I would never let myself be that person. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents.” She laughs at that, but it holds no humor. “Obviously, I failed.”

I walk back over to the seat next to her bed and sit back down. “Tell me who got you involved in it,” I pry. This part really isn’t that important, but if she tells me this, then maybe she will tell me more about who
he
is.

She licks her dry and cracked lips. “One night, my friend called me and told me to get ready. Her boyfriend’s father owns a hotel and they were hosting a big party. She said we could get in. I was introduced to one of his friends.” She closes her eyes as tears run down the sides of her cheeks. “I was so stupid,” she says angrily. “He offered me a pill, and I wanted to impress him and thought why not? It’s just one pill. Well, one pill was all it took. A week later, I was begging for more than he could give me. I was eating them like candy. I had gone to another party and met …” She swallows. “A very powerful man.”

I look up at Braxton. He stares down at her with thinned lips and hard eyes. I place my attention back on her.

“It really didn’t matter if he whispered the sweetest things in my ear. All that mattered was if he had that yellow pill.” Tears roll down her face. “I told him what I needed, and he supplied it.”

I run a hand down my face nervously. I then shuffle around in my seat uncomfortably.

“We can get you help,” Braxton says not sounding as awkward as I feel.

“Don’t you understand? You can’t fix me. No one can fix me,” she cries shaking her head.

“I believe that not everyone can change,” he says, and I know he’s referring to our father. “But you can change.” She starts to sob. “And I give you my word that we will be there every step of the way.”