Chapter 38
858 Words
Dean was back in the kitchen when he heard a sound from his bedroom. He paused, listened. Emma was calling his name weakly; he heard coughing. Then total silence.
Fuck. Something is very wrong.
He rushed down the hallway and burst through the door. What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.
Emma was lying in the middle of his bed, covered in blood. She was limp and deathly pale, her eyes were closed. He launched himself at her and lowered his ear to her mouth. He heard and felt her breath, but it was faint and shallow.
“Emma!” he said. “Honey, can you hear me?”
She didn’t even move.
Oh, God. Not again, not again. No f*****g way.
He ran his hands over her body now, frantically trying to see where the blood was coming from. He realized that it was a nosebleed and he yanked off his t-shirt to staunch the flow. He held her against his naked chest, whispering to her.
“Come on, angel. Open those beautiful eyes, OK? Wake up, baby.”
He lifted the shirt away and the blood gushed again; Dean recoiled in horror. Her entire face was covered, her body was dripping red.
What the hell kind of nosebleed is this?
He grabbed his cell off the bedside table and called Dallas.
Dallas answered on the fifth ring. “What the ever-loving f**k, man,” he began. “I was actually sleeping in for once –”
“Get over here now!”
Dallas didn’t even respond. He ran out his front door, down his steps, and across the yard in less than ten seconds. Dean’s door was locked, and he didn’t even pause to think before he kicked it in with his bare foot.
“Dean?”
“In the bedroom… hurry up!”
Dallas stood in the doorway, feeling like he’d just stumbled onto the set of a horror movie: blood was splattered everywhere, even on the wall. If he didn’t know Dean, he’d have said that the guy had just finished beating Emma almost to death. But the real horror was when Dallas caught a glimpse of his friend's face: the look in Dean’s eyes took Dallas straight back to another bloodied woman lying pale and unmoving in his friend’s arms. Dallas’ stomach clenched up hard with fear and worry.
“What the f**k happened?”
“I don’t know!” Dean was beside himself. “It’s a nosebleed, I think.”
“That’s no normal nosebleed. I’ll call an ambulance.”
Dean shook his head. “No time. Drive us.” He stood up, Emma in his arms. “Grab a fresh blanket.”
Dallas gave him one from the closet and Dean wrapped it around Emma’s naked body. He handed her to Dallas while he got dressed and put on his shoes, then he carried her to Dallas’ car while the other man went home to get his own shoes and the keys.
“Hurry,” Dean said when Dallas started the car. He was sitting in the back seat, clutching Emma to him. “Hurry, man.”
Dallas gunned the engine. “Three minutes, I swear. Just hold on.”
****
Dean and Dallas sat in the waiting room, not talking. Dean was covered in blood, and he felt sick every time he looked down.
What the hell is going on?
Ten minutes earlier, a blonde woman had dashed by and gone into Emma’s room. Dean thought that the nurse had called her Jenny, and he was waiting for her to come out to the visitor’s lounge so he could find out what was happening.
The elevator door slid open and Jim and Chris stepped into the hallway. They spotted the other two men and their eyes widened.
“Dean? You OK?” Jim said. “You cut?”
He shook his head. “It’s not my blood. It’s Emma’s.”
“Emma’s?” Chris said. “Who the f**k did this to her?”
“Nobody,” Dallas said. “It was a nosebleed.”
Chris and Jim looked at Dean’s clothes. “What?”
“She was at my place, sleeping. She just – she wouldn’t wake up and she wouldn’t stop bleeding.” He shook his head, dazed. “Can anemia do that to someone?”
“Anemia?” Jim said.
“Yeah. She told me she’s anemic. That’s why she bruises so easy.”
A soft voice behind them said, “She’s not anemic.”
The guys turned around to see Olivia standing there. Dallas’ eyes almost exploded right out of his head as he took in her long legs and shiny hair and perfect skin.
“Olivia Jameson?” he said.
“Yeah. Which one of you is Dean?”
“I am.”
She focused on him. “Emma isn’t anemic, Dean. Never has been. That was a lie she told you.”
“It – what?” Dean said. “A lie?”
“Yeah,” Liv walked into the waiting room. “She doesn’t have anemia. She has leukemia.”
- Writer
