Seeking Relief

Good Morning Jade

Adam walked first into Jade’s room, he lightly knocked on the open door as he came in.

Jade was staring out at the window and she slowly slide her gaze to her doorway at the sound of the doctor from last night entering her room. Walking behind him, were 3 other men. Jade’s brow furrowed a little in confusion. 

When Jade locked her gaze on Jake, he felt like he had been punched in his gut. His stomach went in knots and he forgot to breathe. He was riveted to the green eyes rimmed with brown that seemed to look beyond you. When she slid her gaze from him to Emmett, then Mitch, he finally remembered to pull in deep breaths. 

“Jade, I’m Dr. Adam Kincaid. Do you remember me from last night?” Adam said. 

Jade remembers him. She remembers what most women and even some men would deem the epitome of “hot”. He had sandy blond hair that was cut short. He had intelligent hazel eyes that always had looked on her with gentleness every time he interacted with her. But she was mistrustful of anything that good looking without an obvious fault. A man so good looking without any obvious faults was the very one who was responsible for her past bruises and broken bones. As she slid her gaze around the room she took in each man with a cynical thought. Each man was as good looking as the one he stood by. Two of them had dark hair and dark eyes, one of them had hair long enough to pull in a short ponytail. The other one had dark skin. The one standing by the window, leaning on the windowsill, had dark hair cut so short it looked buzzed, he had a very defined strong jaw that had a hint of stubble already. His eyes were a piercing light blue that seemed to take in every detail around him. 

She didn’t see any malice in any of the men’s eyes, but that didn’t mean she was lowering her guard one bit. They were up to something. They had an ulterior motive, she just knew it, and she was going to figure out what it was before she was hurt again. 

Jade answered Dr. Kincaid with a small nod. 

Adam continued, “These are my friends, Officer Mitch Gable,” Mitch raised his hand from by the window, “Jake Long,” Ponytail shyly raised his hand, “and Emmett Pace.” The darker skinned man nodded his head at her, offering her a small smile belatedly. 

Dr. Kincaid continued, “Along with me, they were all with you last night. Emmett and Jake were the paramedics in the ambulance, and Mitch was the officer on duty that responded to the 911 call for you.”

“Okay.” Jade said, with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

Mitch smiled, “We just want to sit and talk to you for a bit. Is that okay?”

“Sure, I guess.” 

Mitch smiled again. Jake and Emmett sat on the small couch next to her bed, Mitch and Adam pulled up the chairs along the wall closer to her bed and sat in those. Together, the four of them made a rough circle around Jade. Jade hurt too much to deal with any mind games today. She wanted to either be left alone so she didn’t have to keep the mask on. Or go home, where there she still doesn’t have to wear a mask to cover her pain. Plus, these men were up to something and she didn’t want to get invested and be hurt again.

“Why are you here?” Jade asks them abruptly. Jake raised his eyebrows slightly, Emmett’s mouth quirked up at the corners slightly. Mitch gave away no reaction, while Dr. Kincaid just smiled. 

“We want to help you, Jade. We know what you went through and it’s wrong. So, we want to help.”

“That’s what you said last night. But why me. Why not help through the Crisis Center, instead. In fact, why not help the women and men trying to get out of abusive homes at this minute? Why are you helping me AFTER I had left Lance? And why are the rest of you here?” 

Another thought just occurred to Jade, “Why are you here at the END of your all night shift instead of at home going to bed?” 

She swept her hand through the air, gesturing at all of them. “What is there you can possibly gain from this, from helping me?” She finished putting her hand on her chest, then dropped it in her lap. She winced from the pain shooting up her arm when she brought it down a little too rough. 

Apparently, they all caught that reaction. She heard all of them took in a tense breathe. Maybe they were reacting to something else, she hoped.

“Jade.” Mitch’s low rumbling voice cut through the silence. She brought her eyes to meet Mitch’s. She didn’t answer just stared at him. 

“You’re still in pain, aren’t you?” Jake asked. Jade swung her eyes to him. 

“I’m fine. Now, either answer why you’re here. Or just please leave me alone.”  Mitch sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. Dr. Kincaid pressed his mouth together in a tight line. Even what should be an unattractive look still made him look like a model straight out of a magazine. Before she even finished that thought, Dr. Kincaid was out of his chair and walked to the computer that was situated on a swing arm attached to the wall by her head. He pulled it from the position it was tucked in, scanned his ID, and started clicking a few things. It was only a matter of moments before he had a window up that he wanted to look at and started scrolling. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye trying to gauge his reaction. She looked at the other men and they were watching Dr. Kincaid with expectant faces. 

“Jade, what is your pain level right now?” Dr. Kincaid asked suddenly. 

Taken aback she answered, “Uh. What?”

“What is your pain level? On a scale of 1-10 what is your pain level?”

Jade scoffs and laughs mockingly, “Of what?”

“All of it Jade. What hurts the most, and what level is it at?”

Jade lowers her eyes to her lap and mumbles, “It’s fine.”

“Jade.” He says sternly.

Her eyes shoot to his, “It’s fine!” Suddenly Jake, who is sitting on her other side, leans forward in his seat and gently takes her hand in his. Jade immediately responds by pulling in a breath in a hiss of pain as Jake gently prods her hand. 

“I’d say at least an 8 on the hand.” Jake says looking up at Dr. Kincaid. Jade just glares at Jake. He gives her an apologetic smile, he looks her hand over then places it gently back in her lap. She heard Dr. Kincaid type something, then he strolled out of the room. She thought she heard his voice in the hall. Meanwhile, the other men exchanged glances with each other as if they were having a conversation with each other in their heads. After a few seconds of watching them look at each other, knowing that they’re thinking about her, Jade looked down at her hands. She sat there in frustration and confusion wallowing around her. She didn’t look up again until she heard someone at her door again.

Dr. Kincaid came back into the room with a nurse trailing after him. Dr. Kincaid leaned against the wall while the nurse came up to the computer. She scanned her badge at the computer and logged a few things on the computer. While she worked, she spoke to Jade.

“Hey Sweetie, Dr. Kincaid here says you’re still having a high amount of pain. We’re gonna give you some more medicine.” The nurse continued doing her logging of information. She scanned the code on Jade’s hospital bracelet and the code on the medicine. Then she went on to pull the medicine out of the vial with a syringe, then push the medicine in through Jade’s IV. Jade immediately felt the cold sting of the medicine through her veins in her hand and up her arm. 

The nurse smiled down at Jade, “Let us know if you have any more pain sweetie. It’s pretty normal for someone like you to need a little bit more.” Jade just looked at her and gave her a small nod. 

The nurse turned to Dr. Kincaid, “Thanks for letting us know, Adam. See you later guys.” She said to the rest of the group as she walked out. Jade was already starting to have the “medicinal” smell in her nose she always gets whenever she has medicine given to her through an IV. 

She watched Dr. Kincaid, or “Adam” as the nurse called him so informally, sit down in the chair he had previously vacated. As Dr. Kincaid, or “Adam” resumed his seat, it was apparent no one was going anywhere. She looked at the other men in turn in front of her. Again, she found herself trying to figure out what they wanted and why.