Crush Crush

Chapter Twelve

I woke with a start. I sat up, but was quickly pushed back down. I wildly took in my surroundings, struggling against the hold on my upper arms as my spotted vision cleared.

"Isabel." Ryder? "Shh, baby. It's all right. You're safe."

I blinked rapidly and found Ryder leaning over me, holding me down. His grip loosened as he reached to cup my face. I leaned into his touch, closing my eyes. "What happened?" I breathed. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital."

I took in my surroundings—white walls, beeping machines, and a lone chair beside my bed. "Why?"

He stared at me for a moment. "Do you remember anything from last night?"

I started to shake my head, but stopped when a flood of memories leaked into my thoughts. "Kristy," I breathed.

He frowned. "Her name is Mindy. She's the one who came over the other night, remember?"

I nodded. "I know, but her real name is Kristy. She used to go to school with me. She . . . she's obsessed with you. She left me those b-baskets."

His thumb caressed my cheek. "I know, baby. She's being dealt with right now." He glanced over his right shoulder. "There are some people who want to talk to you, okay?"

I glanced at the door. One uniformed police officer and a man dressed in a suit stood in the door frame. I looked back at Ryder and whispered, "Will you stay with me?"

He shook his head. "I can't. They need to speak with you alone." He must've seen the panic in my eyes. "But I'll be right outside. All you have to do is yell and I'll come right back in, okay?"

I hesitated, but slowly nodded. He kissed my forehead and got off the bed, gently prying my fingers off his hand in my last futile attempt to keep him beside me. He placed a kiss on my palm and walked out of the room. I saw him sit down in a chair in the hall, idly staring at the wall opposite of him.

The officer and the man came in and closed the door behind them. A doctor accompanied them. She checked the beeping machines and asked how I was feeling.

"Sore," I answered honestly. "A little lightheaded."

She nodded. "You have a minor concussion. Nothing I'm too worried about. You got quite a few stitches in your legs that should start to dissolve in a week or so. Come back in and we'll have a nurse remove the loose ends to help speed up the healing process." She motioned to the thin bandage around my throat and chest. "That should scab over just fine. No scars if you don't pick at it and refrain from playing with your stitches."

I nodded. "Um, thank you."

"We've contacted your parents," the uniformed police offer spoke up. On his name tag, it said Officer Daniels. "They have been notified and given permission for us to enter the house for a formal investigation."

I sighed, knowing my parents would want to return as soon as possible. "When are they due back?"

"Sometime tomorrow."

I nodded again. "Okay."

"Since your parents are currently out of the country and this investigation is a primary concern, we've asked Dr. Wilson here to act as a guardian while we ask you some questions."

I frowned. "But . . . Ryder is my guardian."

"He's a . . . person of interest to the investigation."

"What?" I sat up a bit straighter. "You mean he's a suspect?"

The well-dressed man spoke up. He had a soft voice, "Tell us what happened, Isabel."

I sighed and launched into how Kristy was in my house when I got home from being with my friends. I didn't specify what we were doing, but I told them everything I could, trying to keep Ryder out of it as much as possible, only mentioning that Kristy was mad I had started dating him.

"Mr. Duchannes is your neighbor, correct?"

I nodded. "We've lived next door to each other for as long as I can remember."

The second policeman, who introduced himself as Detective Henderson, nodded thoughtfully, scribbling in a notepad he held in his left hand. "Are you aware that Mr. Duchannes is nearly ten years your senior, Isabel?"

I nodded. "Of course."

Officer Daniels raised a brow. "Then you are aware that this could also become a case of statutory rape?"

I had the sudden urge to laugh, but swallowed it. "According to my A.P. government textbook, Detective Henderson, it's a statutory rape case only if I'm under the age of seventeen, which I'm not, and if I didn't give my consent, which I did."

He shifted his weight from one foot to another. "When did your . . . relationship with Mr. Duchannes start?"

"A little while ago. Nothing official until recently."

The officers shared a look. "Isabel, you can tell us the truth about what happen to you last night. We are here to help you."

I frowned, then it dawned on me. "You think Ryder did this to me?"

They said nothing, but the looks on their faces told me everything. They thought Ryder abused me—and they were all too willing to book him on domestic violence.

I felt anger fuel me. "God, no. He's never hurt me and never will, I assure you. He just has a black mark on his dating history. Her name is Kristy Anderson. If you look in my freshman yearbook, I can easily point her out. I think she still lives with her mom, even though she's been telling Ryder her name is Mindy. I haven't put out the trash yet, so the baskets are likely still in the bin and she's probably unstable enough to forget about wearing gloves."

They scribbled some lines in their notepads. They asked me a few more questions before finally leaving the room. The doctor asked if I wanted anymore medication. I shook my head and eyed the officers as they spoke to Ryder out in the hall.

"Do you think they believe me?" I asked her.

She glanced at Ryder, who was patiently answering the officers' questions out in the hall, and then back to me. "Hell, I know I do. That man refused to leave you while we patched you up. We had to reassure him several times that you were in good hands in order for him to let us work. The second we rolled you out of the ER, he was stuck to your bedside. He signed all the insurance paperwork, called your parents. When I came to check on you earlier, he kept asking me questions about how to take care of you. If he isn't in love with you, then I don't know what love is."

I smiled at her. "Thank you."

She smiled back. "I think I'm going to give you a little something to help you sleep, okay?"

I didn't respond. She stuck a thin needle into the tube attached to the inside of my wrist. Ryder returned as the doctor was leaving. He sat on the chair and took the hand that wasn't attached to a bag of fluid into both of his. "Are you all right?"

I nodded. "They weren't too terrible."

"They told me they'll go to her mother's house to see if they can find any other leads."

"Good." I smiled when he kissed my knuckles. "Can we go home now?"

He shook his head. "Your doctor wants to keep you until tomorrow."

I sighed. "Okay."

My eyelids started to get heavy. I felt his thumb brush the hair from my forehead. I tried to keep my eyes open.

"Sleep, Isabel. I'll be here when you wake up."

I mumbled, "Thank you," before the darkness swallowed me whole.