Page 122 of You Saw the Best In Me

MAVERICK

When Karina fell to the floor in the hospital cafeteria, I stopped being her boyfriend and became her advocate. The doctors wanted to ship her off for a seventy-two-hour hold, and I withheld consent. I let them give her something to sedate her because according to her intake paperwork, she hadn’t slept since she was in the car with him.

Karina slept for fifteen hours only because she woke up from a nightmare and nearly attacked a nurse. They pumped her with more sedatives until she woke up when her mom came.

I don’t know who called her, but she strutted in here like ‘Mom of the Year,’ and I refused to entertain her delusions.

We argued about who should control Karina’s medical care outside the room, and I did not back down. Karina solidified that by waking up and accusing her of bailing Asher out of jail.

Katherine immediately asked for the opposite of my requests. When Karina came to, she basically appointed me in charge of her, and I’m taking this role seriously.

I’ve been here all night, begging for a psych consult and a doctor to show her empathy. I’ve made it clear that a doctor who wants to pump her full of drugs and hold her involuntarily won’t be the right fit.

I refused to watch Karina be sedated again, so I held her on the bathroom floor for three hours when she was on the brink of another episode.

She didn’t know how long we were there or how many nurses poked in and checked on us, but I did.

I counted every minute and held her for every single second. She fell asleep quickly, the sedatives still in her body, and I was thankful that she didn’t have another public panic attack.

I love Karina with everything inside of my body. I would do anything to keep her safe, and right now, I’m the person who medically advocates for her.

In a sea of strangers, I’m the only one who knows her.

I’m the only person with her best interest at heart, and nothing will stop me from getting her the care she deserves.

Finally, they found a doctor to take on Karina’s case, and she’s made progress. When she agreed to speak to the psychologist on-call, my body could finally relax.

The nurses on the floor were all over me, ensuring I didn’t need anything since I hadn’t slept since arriving. They kept me comfortable, and when Doctor Halls came out for the rest of the pizza, I knew I’d made the right choice.

She whispers with the nurses, and a few minutes later, I’m given paperwork to fill out to be Karina’s Power of Attorney.

I don’t waste a second, filling every line out with care.

If what she says is true about her mother, I refuse to let a technicality be why I’m not awarded this.

Halfway through Karina’s session, a security guard that I’d slipped a hundred-dollar bill returned with information that I asked for.

I inform the nurses that I’m going for a short walk and to call my phone immediately if Karina needs me.

Nurse Bailee, the one with Karina’s best interest in mind since she arrived, agrees, and I thank her.

I follow the security guard to where I need to be, and he warns me that I have five minutes.

I open the door and walk inside. The little bitch is connected to monitors, wires, and he’s handcuffed to the bed.

“Do you know who I am?” I whisper, and he pretends to be asleep.

I smack him, bringing him out of his little game. I was only informed of his room number because he’d woken up.

I’m not here to talk to a fucking vegetable. I’m here to deliver a message.

“Yeah, I do,” he says, his voice weak from almost dying.

“You’re going to plead guilty when you see a courtroom. You’re going to implicate Katherine Collins in this mess you caused Karina,” I grit my teeth, my hand hovering over his stitches.

If he even breathes in a way I don’t like, I will open them individually.

“If I don’t?” he asks, and I show him exactly what I mean.