Art Heaux

Stroke Eleven

Thank you to my girl Mel for providing a banging playlist that helped me get this chapter together. It's a lot longer than I intended but I hope you all enjoy!

"Her mom had Benni. They had just dropped her off..." Grace urged as Spencer rushed around Olivia's living room to find his shoes.

"Wait, dropped her off? You mean to tell me my daughter was in the fucking car before they crashed," he had stopped in his tracks. Anything pertaining to Benni was sure to rile him up even more.

"Spencer." The sound of his girlfriend's voice couldn't even calm him down. 

"Baby, she is fine. That's all that matters right now," Grace replied, knowing that wasn't enough to calm her son's anger.

"I knew this dude was no good," Spencer continued, finally finding his shoes to slide on. "I'm on my way."

"Please be careful. I know you're upset but I don't need you getting hurt too," the mother begged.

There was no way Olivia was going to let Spencer drive to the hospital under these conditions. He could barely grip his keys due to his shaky hands. "I'll come with you. How about I drive?"

"Nah, I'm good, Liv," he argued, trying to side step Olivia's hands. "I'm good." All he could see was red. Kia being hurt was worrying enough but Benni was his world. Spencer had yet to meet Scottie like they agreed to do before having their daughter around him. Was he being irrational about this?

"Nope, I'm driving. Hand over the keys," Olivia repeated, holding out her hand. "I'll get you there. You're not in your right mind to drive to the hospital. I got you."

Finding a speck of peace in her support, Spencer placed his car key in Olivia's hand and followed her down to the parking garage. On their way to the hospital, he texted Kia's mother to get an update. Then he realized that he wasn't the only person in this situation that once was in love with one of the people involved in the accident. He glanced over at Olivia who was carefully maneuvering his sports car through the thick traffic. She hadn't seemed worried at the apartment but now he could detect the worry behind her eyes.

As much as Scottie had broken her heart, she still cared about his well-being. "Hey." The harshness in Spencer's tone had dissipated. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be," she replied, keeping her eyes on the road. "Just trying to get you to the hospital in one piece." Driving a sports car on the busy Los Angeles highways wasn't an easy task when your nerves were already bad.

"I know you and Scottie aren't on good terms but that's your ex. Someone you used to care about. It's normal to be worried," Spencer explained, sliding his hand over the armrest and into Olivia's lap. "Everything is going to be okay," he added, mostly to calm his own nerves that were going haywire.

Families were gathered in the waiting room as the hospital doors rolled open. Grace was standing up, in hopes of catching Spencer before his temper flew off the rails again.

"Daddy," Benni screamed when she saw him walking through the doors. Her tiny legs carried her as best as they could when she took off running, crashing into Spencer's shins.

Grace followed behind her, "Kia is in surgery. She got pretty banged up and it pretty much shattered her right leg."

The father hugged his daughter to his chest as he got an update on her mother. "What happened?"

"All I heard was that speed had something to do with it. He was driving a fast car and they were going at a high speed when someone collided with the right side," Grace tried to explain without getting upset. "Your dad is on his way up here."