Page 44 of Falling for Mindy
I agreed, and rode along with him, white knuckling the door handle the entire time and promising silently that I’d give anything if she was okay. Anything.
CHAPTER 29
MINDY
The apartment was dirty. Not just messy. It was absolutely nasty. Used fast food bags and the smell of days-old remnants of tacos and mice. Literal mice.
I’d tried to tell Alicia’s ex as clearly as I could (with my teeth chattering in complete terror) that I had no idea where she had gone. That we were acquaintances, that we watched the same show on Netflix and that was basically all we talked about. I alluded to the messages I was sure he’d read, which proved it. Memes and Virgin River and the texts that she had a bad feeling and was afraid. I didn’t even know his name. I told him as much.
If he’d had a rational brain cell, he would have realized I was telling the truth. That I was scared enough I probably would have spilled my guts, told him whatever he wanted to know in exchange for my freedom. Not that I was stupid enough to think he’d let me go. He would be happy to put a bullet or six in me just for the crime of having seen and talked to Alicia, for having been supportive and encouraging when he wanted to hurt and isolate her.
I sat there in the metal folding chair; my zip-tied hands now tied to the chair legs around behind me, and didn’t betray my disgust at seeing rodents running around the place. I tried to breathe through my mouth because the old taco stench was making my already-touchy stomach roll in the worst way. I could practically taste the chili powder and gluey refried beans when I inhaled.
But that was nothing compared to the hell of knowing this guy had found me and made me go with him, and that there was basically no hope for me. Unless he was a heavy sleeper and got a lot more physically agile, I wasn’t going to be able to escape him. No one knew where I was because I’d gone out to get a pregnancy test without telling anyone where I was going.
“Where the hell is she? Where do you have her hidden?” he shouted at me. I jerked, startled because he’d been quiet for a few minutes.
“I don’t know!” I said. “I just messaged her to see if she was okay! I don’t know! Why don’t you get that?”
With a sharp crack, he backhanded me across the face so hard my head snapped to the side. I tasted blood in my mouth and my head throbbed, ears ringing. He had crossed the line from threatening harm to putting his hands on me. A thread of steel emerged in me, some fury and determination that raged against the hopeless situation. It was the fact that I might be pregnant. That I might have been willing to give up on myself, but I’d do anything to keep my baby safe if there was one, Kyle’s and mine. I gritted my teeth against the pain, eyes narrowed at him.
He stormed around, ranting and raving, kicking over a stack of boxes, taking out my phone and taunting me with it, throwing it against the wall and smashing it. He was looming over me again, and I gritted my teeth, trying to brace myself for whatever he was going to do to me. There was a flurry of noise and the door burst open.
He whipped his head around and about a dozen policemen swarmed in. They took him to the ground and cuffed him, dragged him out the door and away from me before any of them even approached me. I was crying with relief. My baby wasn’t in danger anymore and neither was I.
A cop freed me and took a brief statement from me on video. Then he told me I was free to go. I set off out the door, and Kyle was there, right outside and waiting on me. I didn’t hesitate. I broke into a run and slammed into him, and his arms wrapped around me.
“Thank God you’re alright,” he said into my hair.
I leaned back and looked at him, “You look so good!” I said, feeling like an idiot but a happy one.
His eyes darkened and he touched my cheek gingerly where I’d been hit. “I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill that crazy bastard,” he said.
“I’m fine. I’m okay, really. Just, take me home, okay? I mean, I’d rather stay at your house tonight even though the danger is over. I’ll go back to my apartment—”
“You’re going to the hospital.”
“I told you, I’m fine,” I said, exasperated.
“You’re going to get checked out. I insist,” Kyle said sternly. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Okay,” I said, “but no ambulance or anything. Just drive me?”
He and his friend Drake rushed me to the emergency room like it was a true crisis and not a bruise on my face and some emotional distress. He must’ve impressed the triage nurse because I was hurried back into a cubicle and checked out and blood was drawn and I was threatened with IV fluids if I didn’t drink an entire plastic hospital cup of ice water very quickly while I waited for results.
The doctor entered and tapped at a tablet. “It looks like your levels are normal, nothing to alarm you. The pregnancy test, as you suspected, was positive. You’ll need to follow up with your gynecologist for prenatal care.”
“Thank you,” I said, my hand going to my stomach with almost a shy smile.
“Your friend is eager to see you. I’m going to prepare your discharge paperwork and let him in,” he said. I nodded.
Kyle stepped in and hurried to my side.
“Thank you for staying with me,” I said.
“I couldn’t leave. I never even considered it. I could’ve lost you, and it just made me realize that I don’t want to be without you. Ever. No matter what I told myself about the fact you’re my student or the age difference, there was no going back, not from day one. I wanted to be with you, but I wouldn’t admit it to myself,” he said, picking up my hand in both of his and kissing it.
“That’s good news,” I said, beaming at him, “because we’re having a baby.”