“How much do you know about Elaine Westcock?”He asked him what had happened.“She’s on her way to the emergency room.They found her in the parking lot this morning, beaten to shit.They figured that she’d been out there since eight this morning.”It was nearly noon now, and he pulled his coat on and was headed to the door.“She’s been beaten up.I won’t know anything until I see her.You want to tell me how well you know her?I’ve seen the video of the two of you on a date last night.”
“I’m in love with her.”He’d not said that out loud before, but knew it was right.“I think I havebeen since I first met her.”
“Come into the emergency department, and I’ll take care that she gets the best of care.”He thanked his big brother.“All’s well.I’ll see her, then I’ll have to turn it over to another doctor.I can’t see someone that would be related to me, you understand.”
“I do, and I thank you.I’m on my way now.”He had to stop the car when he nearly pulled out into traffic at the end of his driveway.Taking in a deep breath, he was ready to go again when he felt calmer.Christ, all he needed to do was get himself in the emergency department while she lay there in pain.He was pulling in when the ambulance was pulling away.
He couldn’t see her right away because he wasn’t related to her.He wanted to scream at the people at the desk when they told him that.It wasn’t until he saw Locke that things started to go his way.He was back in the room with her as soon as Locke led him back.
“She’s been given pain medication.When she woke up, she was coherent and knew where she was.But since they gave her something for the pain that she’s in, she’s been sleeping off and on.I’m going to have her taken to get a C-scan while she’s out.It’ll be easier on her.You stay in this room and wait for her so that no one causes you any trouble.”He said that he would.“Knox, she’s been beaten to shit, and she told the police who had done it.I worry that she’s been out there for so long.I’m going to make sure she gets the best care we can give her.”
“Thanks.”He sat down in the chair and took her hand into his.It was black and blue, too, as was her face.There were a lot of cuts on her that he knew would need stitches.Her lip was swollen too, and he could see that her eye was on the way to swelling shut soon.His heart hurt for her, and he gently kissed the back of her hand.“Oh, Elaine, I’m so sorry that this has happened to you.”
When the transporter came to get her, he wanted to tell him that he was going too.But he remembered his warning from Locke and stayed put.All he could think about was that someone had beaten her up for no other reason than she’d said no to them.As soon as she was gone for about twenty minutes, the police showed up to talk to her.He told them where she was.
“You’re the man from last night.”He said that he was and that he’d had no idea that the man would go this far.“Neither did we when we spoke to him this morning at the school.He never mentioned that he’d encountered her in the parking lot.Another teacher had seen her, or there is no telling how much longer she would have been out there in the rain.”
“David has been fired from what I was told.”He said that he had been, and they had escorted him out of the building.“Elaine works there, so I did worry that he’d try something when she was there, but I never expected him to beat her up.This isn’t the first time that he’s done something like this.There was another teacher who he beat up badly as well.She had to stop teaching; she was so afraid after that.”
“I’m to understand that she’s given her notice too.That might have set him off a bit, too.If what he said about her belonging to him is true, then there is no telling how that would affect him when she told him.”He said that as far as he knew, David didn’t know that she’d given her notice.The board had said that they’d not do that.“Good for them.They might well have saved her life if he thought that she was no longer going to be in his sights.”
When Elaine came back, she was awake but in a great deal of pain.The officer who seemed to be in charge asked her if she could talk to them, and even though she said that she could, he was still worried.Holding her hand, he knew that when she squeezed his hand, she was hurting.He only hoped that they’d not ask too many questions so that she could get some pain medications again for her injuries.And she had a lot of them.
She was able to get what she needed after the police left.She dozed in and out for a while, telling him what had happened to her in the parking lot.How like last night, he’d come out of nowhere and had knocked her around with a bat.When she cried, he hurt for her and wanted to find David and beat him to death.It wouldn’t do anyone any good, but he knew he’d feel better about things if he could show him what it was like to beat on someone smaller than him.
When Locke came to talk to them, Elaine was awake and hurting again.After getting her enoughto take the edge off, he told them what he’d been able to find so far.She had a concussion as well as a broken wrist.There were marks on her back that worried him, so he was going to run more tests.What concerned him the most was the wounds to her head.There were three of them that had been knocked into her, and Locke said that she’d have to be careful when moving around in the bed.He was sure there was more, but he didn’t ask.The little bit that he’d told them was enough to have him angry at David enough to go out and find him.
It was midnight when they decided to put her into a room.She’d been sick once, and Locke said that was normal for a head injury.The bruises on her body were getting darker the longer she lay there, and her eyes were both swollen shut.Her lips weren’t doing any better than her eyes, but at least she could speak around them.Holding her hand for as long as she’d let him, he stayed with her when they moved her to her own room.
He didn’t take his eyes off her all night.He did doze a bit off and on, but would wake every time she moved.Locke had gotten her another doctor because of the relationship that was going on between the two of them, but he checked in on her when he could, and he loved him for that.As soon as the morning came around, she was taken down for more tests.He hated not being with her, but he knew, too, that she was in good hands while she was here.He hoped so at least.
His brothers came by one at a time while she was gone.He wondered if Locke had set that up for him so he’d not be so overwhelmed.And he was too.His need to do something for her was making him crazy, and all he wanted to do was to make sure that she was going to be all right.It wasn’t until the afternoon that Zander came in that he knew anything about David.
“He’s been arrested without bail.He’ll have to wait for the judge to come back around before he’ll be given a bail amount, if he gets any at all.”He asked if he’d said anything about why he’d hurt her.“Only that she was his and that she didn’t want anything to do with him.His wife has left him, too.I know that I would have had I been in her shoes.I think from what I’ve heard, she’s gone to see her mother.Might be the best thing for her to distance herself from him as far as she can.”
“He lost his job at the school, too.I spoke to the board this morning.Or yesterday.I have no idea what day this is.”Zander told him.“So it’s been a whole day since he took his anger out on her.I wonder if he had any plans for me.”
“I didn’t hear if he had or not, but you still need to be careful.You don’t need to end up lying next to her during the time that she needs you.”He told Zander that he’d fallen in love with her.“Yeah, I figured as much.When it happens for us, it’s quick.I just hope that when I find someone to love, they’re as nice and good for me as the rest of you have been.I need a woman in my life to keep me on the straight and narrow.”
When Zander left, he stayed with Elaine.She was still getting pain medications that were making her in and out of things, but she would talk to him when she could.He told her that he’d fallen in love with her, and she cried.He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but his heart was hers no matter how she felt about him.
Chapter 6
Elaine had seventy-four stitches in her head, with all three wounds.And more than that, throughout her body.She’d been dragged across the parking lot a couple of times when he’d tried to get her to his car.Also, she had a cast on her wrist.The rest of her body felt like it had gone a few rounds with a fighter, and she knew that to be true.Since she couldn’t see out of her eyes, she had to wonder what she looked like right now.She’d bet that it wasn’t pretty.
“I have your lunch here, Elaine.It’s not much, just some broth, but the doctor said you were to eat as much of it as you could when you could.”She said that she’d try.“That’s my girl.”
She couldn’t understand that every time she woke up, Knox was here.Not that she’d ask him that.She loved that he was here for her when she woke up from a nightmare.He would soothe her to the point where she was feeling better, then talk to her about what was going on around the town.Never mentioning David or what had happened at the school lot.She loved him for that.Finally getting up the nerve, she asked him why he was spending so much time with her.
“You want me to be honest?”She said that she didn’t want him to lie to her.It wouldn’t be a good friendship if he lied to her about something like this.“I’ve fallen in love with you.I don’t know if it’s the forever kind of love, I believe it is, but since I’ve never been in love before, I have no way of knowing.But I do love you.With all my heart.”
“You don’t know me that well.”He said he understood that too and knows that he didn’t.“But you still say that you love me.”
“I do.Very much so.”He took her injured hand into his and kissed her fingers.“You’re right, I don’t know you well, but I find that I want to know you.I want to know all about you and what you did growing up.You make me want to be with you all the time because when I’m not with you, I’m thinking about being with you.Understand?”
“No.You are a very wealthy man, Knox.Not the sort of man who hangs out with teachers.Well, I guess I’m an ex-teacher now.Did I tell you that I turned in my resignation?I’m sure after this, they’ve accepted it.”He said that, as far as the board was concerned, she was still a teacher at the kindergarten level.“I don’t understand that either.I guess I will have to wait until I’m better before I’m able to figure things out for myself.”
She put up her hand to touch Knox and felt his face beneath her fingers.He had shaved, his mustache just beneath her fingertips.She could feel the smoothness of his cheeks and nose.His hair, a bit long, curled around her fingers, and she held them.Elaine could almost see him since she knew what he looked like and wanted to tell him that she loved him, too.
