It was usually the cheap ones that unravel and fall apart first. I wanted to make sure she was safe if that unraveling caused a psychotic break.
I sighed in relief as the car pulled up to her flat and I stepped out. Caleb couldeasilycome home before it was finished. The security company couldn’t even come until morning. But they were bringing everything. Inside cameras, theupdated system, a doorbell camera, as well as an additional one for the hallway.
Shit.
Looks like we’d be asking the doorman to stop him, take his keys, and hand him his stuff. That was the best that could be done for now.
Fine by me. Caleb wanted to fuck around? He was going to find out! Walking into the lobby, I saw the night doorman who looked concerned when he saw me. He let me know she’d come home a short while ago and did not look well. We chatted about what happened with Devin and he assured me he’d do whatever he could to keep Caleb out. Even promising to kick his shit out the front door to him if I brought it down. I gave the man a solid handshake, before pressing the button on the elevator.
He was a good doorman who cared about the people living in this building.
The next call was going to suck. It rang and rang and rang. Finally, Mom picked up. Her ma, the woman who opened her arms, heart, and home to me when my family turned me away. The woman who became my mother in every sense of the word, except biologically, and the one whose heart I did not want to break.
“Eddie! How are ya, darlin’?” I smiled as I stepped into the elevator. I both loved and hated how carefree and happy she sounded. Sheshouldsound like this, all of the time. I hated that I was the one to deliver the news that her daughter’s heart had been ripped to shreds almost twenty-nine minutes ago.
Rationally, I knew she didn’t know. But weren’t mothers supposed to have some sort of telepathy? Like knowing when shit hit the fan in their kid’s lives?
“Mam,” I said seriously, so she’d know this wasn’t going to be a fun conversation. I pressed the button for Devin’s floor.
“What? Why’s your voice soundin’ like that?” Mam was sweet, too kind for this world. I was convinced, and somehow they, Mam & Pa, made Devin just as sweet. It was Fia’s dad who had an Irish background. And when I heard his grumblings, I knew I didn't have long to get it out.
“Fia. She’s…physically alright. But something happened at the office Christmas party tonight. I don’t know what, and I’m almost to her place, but. She’s not doing well. All I got from her was ‘lawyer, kick him out’, and she wants it done now. She can’t even talk right now,” I paused as the elevator doors opened to her floor. I stepped out.
“To be honest with you both, I think she might have caught Caleb with this coworker he’s been flirty with before. I think she might have caught them tonight. I won’t know til I get to her though.”
“No. Oh god. We’ll be on the next flight home. What do we need?” I heard a growl behind the worried voice of her mother. Both parents were equally pissed for their baby. I didn’t blame them. She was my sister.
“I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know once I see her, okay, Mam?” I offered, my eyes locked on her door as I moved quickly down the hallway.
“Yes, boyo.” His gruff voice came over the phone. I could hear the anger in it. It was the same anger that was there when I overheard him yelling at my parents, demanding to know why they couldn’t love me as I was.
‘You can’t see the great man he has the chance to be?! Then you lose his number! He’s my boyo! I’ve got him! I’ll love him like he’s mine since ya can’t see past your homophobia!”
I blinked back my tears at the memory, but also understood.
He went to war for his kids.
Chapter Nine:
Eddie’s POV
I was the first one to get to Fia’s apartment. I knocked a few times, and could faintly hear crying and retching from inside. I took out my key she gave me from when she first moved in, and let myself inside. My sister needed me and I wasn’t wasting time knocking on the door, when she was unable to answer. I quickly entered and called out for her.
“Fia?!” Looking from room to room, I finally found her in the master bathroom, practically hugging the toilet, barely able to sit upright. Her hair was damp at the edges and her dress was askew and looked like it was uncomfortably twisted.
Her skin was pale and sweaty, though. Her breathing was short, shallow, like she was seconds away from hyperventilating.
I touched her forehead, feeling how cool and clammy she was. I looked in the toilet, not surprised she’d thrown everything up. She wasn’t talking, just crying, hiccuping sobs every now and then. I tried talking to her, trying and failing to get her to focus on anything I was saying. She started mumbling incoherently, her arms and head resting on the toilet seat. Her eyes stared forward, glazed and unfocused, then started to roll back.
Shit.
She was going into shock.
Calling 9-1-1, I let them know that I needed an ambulance, gave Fia’s address, and the symptoms she was exhibiting. I sent Em a text letting her know how Fia was, and to cancel any food or to just get it to her apartment and put it in the fridge.
Saturday, 11:10pm
En:OMG! Okay! Yeah. Be there soon! I’ll get more of whatever she wants when she wakes up.
