My Dark Prince

Chapter Five

Knock, knock, knock.

Natalie immediately moves to open the door.

“Given the current circumstances,” Jason says, as I see his friend Tyson step over the threshold. “I called someone on shift to come check you out.”

“I am not going to the hospital.” I tell Jason, before I can stop myself from sounding rude. My body jolted upright, damn-near coming off the couch.

Hearing the tone in my voice, his lip curved slightly, forming a crooked grin as he seemed to bite back his tongue. He was fighting his own anger. I know he only wants the best for me, physically and emotionally, but damn if he wasn’t overbearing sometimes.

“Reigna!” My brothers voice rang throughout the house. “You need to be examined!”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Tyson said in a calming voice. “It’s okay, Jason. I’ll get her checked out. You need to just calm down.”

Without taking his shoes off, he crossed into the living room where Jason and I had been in a silent staring contest. He put his hand on Jason’s shoulder. He jerked at the sudden touch, then relaxed his shoulders, nodding his head.

Tyson looked like a kid next to Jason. In a way he was, given Jason was about three, maybe four years older than him. He was slightly shorter, with a similar build. Something about him put me in mind of the boy from Everybody Hates Chris. Maybe it was his mixed ethnic background, or maybe it was the way he carried himself.

“I’ll get her checked out but,” He says, turning his attention to me. “It is her choice whether she decides to go to the hospital. You know this, Jason.”

“But Ty-” Jason starts in a pleading voice. “I-I-I…”

“I know man.” Tyson says, embracing Jason in his arms. “I’m sorry, Jason. I really am. I didn’t get that call since I was transporting a patient, but I heard it was bad. My condolences.”

“I just don’t know dude,” He says in a muffled sob. “I just don’t know what I’d do if I lost her too.”

Tyson leans back to look at Jason, who is still staring at me with tears in his eyes.

“I’ll take care of her,” Tyson says, nodding to him. “You need to go downtown, right?”

Oh yeah, I almost forgot Jason had originally told me he had to leave. I guess that was something he had forgotten too. Or maybe he hadn’t forgotten, and that’s why he seemed frustrated when I said I wouldn’t be going to the ER.

“Yeah but-” Jason started to reply but doesn’t get the chance.

“Then I’ll see to her,” Tyson juts in. “Go handle business, man.”

“But she’s-” Jason whines.

“In my care,” Tyson cuts him off, again. “Maybe Nat, should drive you, huh?”

Natalie, who has remained silent this whole time, clears her throat and nods wiping tears from her eyes.

“Yeah,” She says, her sweet voice cracking. “Maybe that’s a good idea.”

Tyson nods his head in agreement. As Natalie goes to the kitchen for her keys, Tyson ushers Jason towards the door. I can hear her rummaging through a cabinet and what sounds like the oven shutting. More than likely, she decided to put the food up. The sound of the fridge door shutting confirms my theory. I could’ve done that for her, after I explain to Tyson that Jason was just overreacting.

Even growing up, he was overbearing. And overprotective. And that drove me crazy. I’m a grown woman, I’m not a child anymore. Jason doesn’t get to decide what’s best for me. I damn sure don’t need my brother fighting my battles for me.

Even though he thought it was his responsibility. I guess dad had implanted that in his brain. Dad always seemed to lecture mom about eating healthier, exercising more often, even when mom would exert herself in her own activities, dad would be there telling her to take a break.

That must be where Jason got his overprotective nature. I swear, growing up, he had always been in my business. Always trying to pick fights with guys I was interested in. I think he finally let up after the Tommy situation.

Tommy, short for Thomas, Smith. Boy if he wasn’t a looker back then? He had that lanky, ‘I-play-sports’ build, dirty blonde hair that had slight curls and a boyish smile that would make any teenage girl's heart throb. And instead of listening to my intuition, I fell for him. Hard. I stopped paying attention to anything that wasn’t about Tommy. So much so, my grades started slipping. Needless to say, mom and dad didn’t like him. And neither did Jason.

Well, one Saturday night he backed out of our plans we had made at the last minute. I guess he didn’t actually think that his sister would text me a picture of him and Miranda, laid up on the couch. Big mistake. Miranda was the head cheer leader at our local high school. She was one of those girls that could have anyone she wanted with a wave of her hand. And she always wanted Tommy. To put it nicely, she slept around. There was no way I could sleep with Tommy after seeing that. Not that we had even slept together, so I guess that’s why he did it.

But I didn’t care back then, I still don’t. When his sister texted me the very next day and told me he was on the way over, I started seeing red. I grabbed a feather-stuffed pillow and placed it by the balcony door. Then I quickly hurried downstairs to grab the bottle of syrup out of the pantry, then returned to my room to look for a packet of water balloons. Water balloons filled with syrup can make a huge mess. Luckily, I had something to clean up with.

Once I had a few balloons filled with syrup, I sat them down in the balcony chair that sat directly over the front door. I quickly found my fabric scissors and cut the outer stitching of the pillow to give it the effect of a bag. Then I sat down by the balcony door, leaving it slightly cracked so no one would hear.

When I heard his tires crunching on the gravel in the driveway, I remember grinning from ear to ear. Like a chestier cat about to catch a mouse. I remember hearing him call up to the balcony and I remember staying as quiet as I possibly could. I heard him ring the doorbell, but when I heard the familiar creaking of the porch floor boards, my body reacted. Pulling the balcony door open, with the defiled pillow in hand. I scooped up two balloons, reared them back and threw them down as hard as I could.

It was a direct hit. He was covered nearly head to toe in syrup. I took and dumped the feathers out of the pillow. I shook and shook until every last feather had fallen from the pillow.

Dad had opened the door just in time to see Tommy wiping syrup and feathers from his face. I’ll never forget the amusement in dad’s voice.

“Tommy?” Dad asked in surprise. “Is everything alright, son?”

I didn’t hear Tommy reply before I called out to dad.

“Everything’s fine dad. I just realized how much of a chicken s**t Tommy was, and he was just leaving.”

“Oh.” He said louder as he replied to me. “Alright then.”

I had heard him shut the door a little louder than he normally would.

“Bye Tommy.” I had yelled to him as I had shut the door behind me. Walking back into my room, I was greeted by three sets of eyes. My dad, who was smiling, barely fighting back a laugh. My mom who had stood there with nothing but shock on her face. And Jason, who had hammered me with a million and one questions until dad had finally caught his breath. He told Jason politely but firmly to lay off.

And after that he had, for the most part. From time to time, he would be nosey and try to get involved, but after I had moved out of mom’s and dad's house, he really didn’t have a choice. Moving two hours away kind of put a halt to having nosey brothers try to butt in.

But now, we’re here. In his house. His opinions mattered here. Which, maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to have my blood pressure checked, considering I’m going on day three of not taking my meds. Plus, the tiny detail where I had just passed out. So, I’ll let Jason have this battle too.

“Jason!” I call out to him as Natalie returns from the kitchen to slip her shoes on.

“Reigna!” He answers over his shoulder as Natalie moves to the threshold to swap places with Tyson.

“I’ll get checked out,” I tell him. “But no hospital.”

“Good enough,” He says waving his hand at my olive branch. “You can stay here tonight if you want. I’m not sure what time we’ll be back though.”

I see Danny, Tyson’s partner, stop Jason just before he makes it to his truck. I imagine from the expression on Danny’s blotchy face that he was offering his condolences. Before Jason gets in, he looks over from his truck and locks his eyes on me. His own expression softening.

“I love you, Rey!” He shouts before getting in and leaving.

Danny enters the house, also not removing his shoes, before crossing into the living room. Tyson has made his way back to me, easing down on the coffee table with his medic pack in hand.

“Jason already checked my vision.” I told Tyson as I held out my arm for him to check my blood pressure.

He nods, understanding what I was getting at. He pulled up a Velcro flap to expose his blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. He removed the cuff and placed it tightly around my upper arm.

“Alright, Rey,” Tyson says as he puts the earpieces in his ear. “Try to relax.”

"Okay," I tell him as he places the flat piece in the crook of my elbow.

Danny, standing behind Tyson, clears his throat to grab our attention. I held up a finger, asking for a moment of silence. I knew it helped when someone was checking your blood pressure.

“Okay,” Tyson says, removing the earpieces. "It’s a little elevated but not stroke levels. So that’s good.”

Danny and I both nod.

“So, what is going on?” Danny asked with authority in his voice.

“She blacked out earlier tonight. Jason was worried after hearing about the accident, so he sent me a text asking us to rush over.”

“Okay,” Danny says, nodding his head. “So, what’s the game plan?”

“Well, that’s up to her,” Tyson tells him. “If you don’t want to go to the ER Rey, you don’t have to. But I do want to know if you’ve been taking your medicine.”

“I’ve kinda been neglecting to take it every day,” I tell him shyly, averting my gaze to the floor.

“Rey,” He says with sympathy in his voice. “You need to try to take it every day. Not just some days.”

“I know,” I say rolling my eyes. “It’s just I sometimes forget.”

“That’s okay,” He says. “Just try to be better about it. Okay?”

“Alright.” I say, nodding my head, still looking at the floor.

Tyson sighs causing me to look up at them. Both had the same sympathetic look on their faces.

“So, what are you going to do?” Tyson asks.

“I think,” I tell them both. “I think I’m going to go home.”