“Are you mental?” I screeched. “You were looking right fucking at me.”
“I go into my head and I’m back there. I don’t know how to explain it, Jamie, and I’m sorry. It hasn’t happened in months, not since Terra and I first got together.” Kale reached up and ran his hands through his hair. “I thought I was okay, you know? But they said he could have died and I can’t let that happen. It’s my job to make sure he’s okay. I almost killed him once, Jamie. I can’t let him get hurt again.”
“That’s not gonna work, man,” Clem told Kale. “You’ve got to tell her all of it.”
Kale and the other men stared at Clem for a second. Finally, Clem threw his hands up in defeat.
“Fuck it, I will. When they were little, Kale was five and Daughtry was four, I wasn’t around because it was before we moved here and our parents got together. Kale and Daughtry were home with their mom and a man broke in. She got the boys into a closet and told Kale to keep Daughtry quiet. He put his hand over Daughtry’s mouth, and watched that man kill his mother. Daughtry passed out and Kale thought he was dead, Jamie. So, he’s got this thing wrong with him where sometimes he goes back there. It went away for years and then it happened a few times when him and Terra first hooked up. Hasn’t happened since, but then again, Daughtry’s never been in a fucking coma before either.”
“He says shit when he thinks you’re trying to take his brother away or hurt him. Only with Daughtry though. He doesn’t give a fuck about us like that,” Bird chimed in. I swear he was trying to make me smile. “He can be gone for minutes or hours - there’s really no way to tell. His breathing gets all fucked up and I think he’s not getting enough oxygen to his brain when it happens. I mean, I’m not a doctor, but that’ll fuck you up, you know?”
“And Cindy, she’s a nurse, she said that Daughtry’s blood sugar was so high that it was almost like his blood was toxic and he’s got a bad fucking kidney infection along with it. So, he’s way fucked up. I mean more than just regular Daughtry fucked up, but like needs medical attention.” Clem chuckled. “I’m not making it any better, am I?”
“I think he means diabetic ketoacidosis, Jamie,” Neva said from the doorway. “Sorry, but I heard her scream and came outside. Those men were in the yard and told me what was going on and that Eli would take care of you, but I made them let me close enough to listen.”
“Could all that be true, Neva?” I asked her.
“Well, their explanation is kind of screwed up, but to an extent yes. Remember that time they switched my insulin and I was trying to get it regulated? I forgot my name and then I was so mad at you for no reason. I screamed and yelled, but realized that I was off. I took my blood sugar and it was through the roof. I got my insulin injection and then felt like total shit for about three days.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I remember that. So maybe Daughtry doesn’t have a psycho side that’s going to come out every time I piss him off?”
“He’d never,” Kale started talking but I glared at him.
“Shush!” I blurted out. “I still have the gun; that means I get to choose who talks.”
Bird snorted out a laugh and then pulled his lips between his teeth so he could hold it in, “Sorry, but you shushed him. That’s too fucking funny.”
“Not helping,” Kale growled.
“I mean,” Clem raised his hands palms up and shrugged. “It's funny.”
“Shut up, Clem,” Kale growled. “Really not fucking helping.”
“I still have a gun, you know.” I warned them.
“Honey,” Neva shook her head. “Every one of them is carrying a gun. The one that gave you that one probably has another one tucked away somewhere. This is Texas after all and look at them. None of them are even remotely afraid of you, gun or not.”
“She has a point,” Clem agreed with a wince. “Sorry.”
My chin dropped down to my chest in defeat.
“I still can’t,” I shook my head. “I just can’t. He doesn’t have any feelings for me and that’s okay. I made the same deal he did, I just didn’t follow the rules.”
“You have to talk to him, Jamie,” Kale pleaded. “He needs to see that you’re okay. He only remembers bits and pieces. In his head, he can see your face and your eyes are wide. You’re up against the lockers. Then he’s smashing the lockers. He remembers you screaming and he’s terrified he hurt you somehow.”
“He made you scream?” Eli sounded enraged and I wanted to melt into the floor. “Why the fuck were you screaming? What did he do to you?”
“It doesn’t matter, Eli, just…”
“No, Jamie Lea, it fucking matters. Did he put his hands on you? Did he hurt you? Is that why you were screaming?”
Neva looked down at the floor. That bitch was going to make me say it.
“I was screaming because we were having sex. Against the lockers,” I whispered. “When we were done was when he smashed them.”
“Oh. My. God.” Eli looked like he was going to puke. “You’re fucking killing me right now. Just fucking killing me. That is so gross. For fuck’s sake, you’re my little sister. I go in that room every day.”
I could hear the men outside laughing and when I looked at Kale, there were actually tears in his eyes. He sniffed and looked down at the ground and I knew he was trying hard not to laugh. Clem and Bird were both staring at the ground, too, and I knew that was why.
Neva had her hand over her mouth and her shoulders were shaking. She didn’t make a sound, but her eyes were crinkled at the edges like she was smiling from ear to ear.
“Just go and see him, Jamie Lea. Goddamn, he deserves that much. He thinks he was fucking killing you, but he was really just,” Eli gagged and Kale couldn’t hold his laughter in anymore. Kale let out a sound that could have been a sob before he sniffed again. Eli finally pulled himself together and said, “God, I can’t even say it. Go see the man. Jesus.”
11.
JAMIE
The ride on the back of my brother’s bike helped to calm me some, but when we pulled up and stopped back in front of the hospital I had left just a few hours ago, my muscles started to tighten and my stomach began to roll.
“It’s okay, Jamie Lea,” Eli told me as he took my hand to lead me inside. “They’re good men and I should have never doubted them.”
I just stayed quiet and looked down at the tile we were crossing as we made our way to the elevator.
“Talk to Daughtry, Jamie. Please,” Eli whispered as he turned to face me in the elevator.
Daughtry’s brothers were in the elevator with us and it was an uncomfortably tight fit - especially when I looked up to see Kale’s pale face watching the numbers above the door like he was a caged animal ready to pounce out of the car as soon as the doors slid open. When the door chimed, Kale did just that, causing his brothers to laugh.
“He doesn’t like to be cooped up,” Bird explained as he got into step beside me. “When that shit happened, they were hiding in a tiny closet, so he’s got an issue with small spaces now.”