“Mom, Shawn’s hit me, on more than one occasion.” She shook her head and she looked nauseated as she stared at me.
“I don’t believe it. You are just upset; you have been since we moved here. Shawn’s been nothing but nice to you.”
My voice was smaller as I continued.
“He hits the boys too.” She shook her head and glared at me. I didn’t see her hand coming towards me, but I felt the sharp sting as it hit my cheek.
“How could you lie like that, for a boy? What did he promise you?” I held my cheek and glared at her.
“He promised me nothing and I’m not lying. Look.” I lifted the bottom of my dress up my thighs where the bruising was.
“Oh my god.” Her face paled as she stared at the marks on the tops of my thighs. “I feel sick.” I patted her arm. “What did you do?” Typical of my mom, something was wrong, so it was clearly my fault.
“I asked him to stop hurting Cooper and he grabbed my arm and took me to his study where he hit me with his belt. Mom, I do not want that man to adopt me. I’m sorry. I know you love him, but I can’t…”
My voice shook and my mom straightened her shoulders, and marched out of the bathroom, leaving me standing in the middle of the empty room. I followed after her a few seconds later and saw David standing waiting for me.
“Hey, are you okay?” His voice was soft with concern and I nodded at him, wanting to get back to our table.
“I need to make sure everything is okay.” I rushed towards the table, but no one was there.
As I glanced around, I heard a commotion outside and flew towards the door. What I saw when I got outside stopped my heart. Coop was lying on the ground with his hands over his face while Shawn kicked him in the stomach. My mom watched frozen, but I couldn’t watch. I jumped in and caught the next kick with my leg.
There was a loud cracking sound and I went down, hard on my sore leg. A scream escaped me and my body shuddered on the ground. Suddenly there were flashing lights surrounding us. Shawn spoke to the police officers telling them about the imaginary muggers who’d attacked us. The manager of the restaurant came out while he was talking and spoke to the police officers, telling them what had really happened.
Shawn was arrested and taken away as an ambulance arrived. Coop was put into the back and as the EMTs worked over me, strapping my leg up, I just wanted to know if he was okay and I asked them constantly. We were taken to the ER separately, and I was in the cubicle next to him, but he wouldn’t talk to me.
After my X-rays and my temporary cast was set, I tried to hobble next door, but Zane walked out with his face pinched.
“He doesn’t want to see you, Bailey.” His eyes were kind, but his face was tense. He ushered me back into my cubicle and tears rolled down my face because Coop didn’t want to see me. After a few hours sitting by myself, waiting to be discharged, I hobbled over to the crutches that had been delivered to me an hour earlier.
I left and bumped into the orderlies as they moved Coop. His face was a mess, and he stared dejectedly at the ceiling. My gasp of surprise drew his eyes to me, and they narrowed. The look he gave me chilled me to the bone. One of his eyes was swollen shut and his lip was split in two. He stared at me for a second and then looked back up at the ceiling.
“Coop,” I called softly, and his shoulders stiffened, followed by a hiss of breath. The tears that rolled down my cheeks and off my chin ran unchecked. Zane shrugged at me and followed him, leaving me alone. My breath left me in a huff, and I turned back to the cubicle, destroyed by the look on Coop’s and his obvious pain.
After another half an hour Zane returned and told me that the doctors had been waiting for him to discharge me.
“We can go now, Bailey,” he said as soon as he arrived. “Coop’s in for a few days, so we can head out now.” I nodded at him, drying my eyes on my sleeve, and he passed over my crutches.
As we passed through the doors out into the ER, Abbi stormed over to me and slapped me across the face.
“This is all your fault. Why didn’t you just tell your mom what was going on?”
My back stiffened and I spat at her, “What do you mean this is my fault? Why would you say that?”
She glared at me and said viciously, “I’m not the only one saying it. Coop blames you too, he texted me and said if you’d just been honest with your mom instead of being a scared little bitch, then he wouldn’t be here right now.”
It would have hurt less if she’d stabbed me. Tears stung my eyes again, but it at least explained why he wouldn’t speak to me and why he didn’t want to see me. I opened my mouth to speak when Zane spoke again.
“Abbi, that’s out of line. Cooper is just angry and hurt, but his anger is misdirected, and Bailey isn’t to blame.”
Zane stepped around me as I moved away from her, but I didn’t even manage two steps.
“I’ll never forgive you for putting him in here,” she muttered with her hand on my arm. She squeezed so hard I squirmed, but I was too numb to do anything more. Zane walked over and removed her hand from me.
“Leave, Abbi.” He stood between Abbi and me and walked us outside.
The dam broke as we reached his black Merc and I burst into tears again as I tried to climb in when Zane pulled me into his arms. “Shh, Bailey, it’s okay. He’s just hurt and angry at everything that happened. He’ll get over it though. He needs someone he can take his anger out on and you’re an easier target than our father.”
As we arrived home the house was in darkness and I climbed awkwardly into bed, wincing and trying for hours to get comfortable. It was a long night and I’d only just gotten to sleep when my mom came into my room to wake me up.
She dragged me back up to the hospital to visit Cooper, even though I protested that my leg was sore and that I didn’t want to move. She made me go and it was dreadful. He was colder than ever and refused to look at me and I sat as far away from him as possible. Abbi arrived and her glare burned into me as much as his coldness did. I wanted to leave, and I started to watch the clock to see if the hour was up yet. Each minute felt like an eternity and the atmosphere in the room could have been cut with a knife.
My mom had gone to speak to Cooper’s doctors and after twenty minutes she hadn’t returned. It felt like elastic bands were tightening on my chest and the longer we sat there the tighter they felt. I could barely breathe, and Zane watched me from the corner of his eye as he sat beside Coop’s bed, doing his best to shield me from view.
As my mom walked back in, Abbi moved towards me, “accidentally” pouring water on me. Cooper laughed loudly as I squirmed in my soaking wet pants. I wanted to punch her, but my mom’s return stopped me from smacking her on the face.
“Okay, kids, here’s what happening. Cooper, you are being discharged home tomorrow, but you’ll need to rest and there’ll be no school for you, or Bailey, for a week. Cate’s coming to look after you both.” Her tone was firm and her eyes dark.
“As for your dad, he failed a mandatory drug test today at the police station and was taken before a judge over at the courthouse. Luckily, it was Marcus Fresham, who is a good friend of your dad’s. He’s been charged with aggravated assault and sentenced to community service and mandatory rehabilitation. He will attend Narcotics Anonymous when he is released and will be drug tested every week for two years Is that okay with all of you?”