Drop Dead Gorgeous(106)
“Did you? Must’ve missed that. Did you know human hearing is best in our twenties and decreases by nine percent with each decade of life?”
“Hmph.” He backs up, the fence making a loud screech of metal on metal that makes me wince. “Guess your hearing’s not that bad after all, is it?”
Zoey pipes up from the back seat with a light laugh. “You made that statistic up.”
“Shh, don’t tell my secrets or I’ll lose my Trivia Master title.”
Barnes chuckles at that. “Trivia Master? Why doesn’t that surprise me, kid?”
Chapter 27
Zoey
The hospital is ready for us, two stretchers and a team of staff standing outside when Jeff stops by the double doors. A nurse yanks the door open, but Blake pushes him out of the way to get to me.
“Let me help you, Zo.”
As soon as his hand touches me, I feel my heart rate slow. It’s been racing for so long, it’s become my new normal, but with Blake by my side, I feel . . . safe. It’s an odd sensation, one I haven’t felt in a long time.
Maybe since I lost my parents.
“I don’t need a stretcher,” I argue, trying to bypass it and wave them off. “Help Yvette.”
“Protocol, Zoey,” the nurse tells me. “We need to assess you both.”
Realizing that I’m up against the whole lot of them and wanting Yvette to get care quickly, I acquiesce. The nurse tries to help me, but Blake growls at him and takes hold of me himself to ease me onto the stretcher. I groan as I get settled, every ache and pain sharp now that the adrenaline is wearing off, and the sound looks like it physically hurts Blake.
Jeff steps aside and lets another nurse help Yvette from the car and onto her own stretcher. Like a morose parade, we march and roll into the emergency department. I can feel eyes on me as we go down the hallway, and I shrink into the sheets, wishing I were invisible.
Luckily, no one says a word to me. I don’t think I could handle it if they did, and with the fire in Blake’s eyes and fury rolling off him in waves, I think he’d likely end up in a full-on brawl if someone so much as uttered one of those awful nicknames.
In the exam area, they set up Yvette and me side by side, allowing Dr. Pruitt to float between the two of us. Even though I’m stuck in bed, I start demanding tests.
“She’s definitely got heavy metal poisoning, but run a full tox screen. Look for anything, everything, and run an EKG on her heart.”
The doctor’s face remains impassive, but his question shows his true heart, “Anything else, Doctor Walker?”
Jeff answers for me, his voice about as kind as a crocodile with a toothache. “Do it. I want Zoey to get copies. Run all of Yvette’s treatment by her too.”
Dr. Pruitt loses all professionalism. “Are you trying to kill her by getting DDG involved, Jeff?”
“What did you say?” Blake snaps, leaning over me.
But I’m finding my own backbone after all these years. It might be ridiculous to say this, but being kidnapped has finally brought into sharp focus what’s most important. And it’s not tippy-toeing around assholes who bully me by reminding me of my past with hurtful names. I reach out and touch Blake’s arm and immediately, his gaze jerks to me.
He must see the fire rising in my eyes because I can feel his pride as he stands straight, giving me the floor with an evil smile that says ‘you’re gonna get it and I can’t wait to watch!’
“What did you call me?” I demand from Dr. Pruitt.
He has the good graces to look embarrassed, but he still repeats himself, only slightly quieter and less sure, “You know . . . DDG?”
“If you don’t know my name, I’m sure you can look at my chart and find it right there in front of your face. If not, as a professional, you could ask. And a little hint, it’s embossed in brass on the plate outside my morgue. It’s Zoey Walker. Need me to spell it for you? Z-O-E-Y-W-A-L-K-E-R. Learn it, use it. Because never again will I allow someone to reduce me to a name meant to hurt me by keeping me in the past.”
Oh, my God, that felt so good to say!
I think that has been twisting and turning in my gut for a long time, gathering steam, finding strength, and through yet another horrible thing that’s happened to me, I finally found the power to set it free.
The room has gone silent, all eyes on me, and quite a few dropped jaws. Jeff breaks first. “’Bout damn time, Zoey.”
“Right then,” Dr. Pruitt says, “full tox and EKG on Mrs. Horne, and let’s get an X-ray of that cheek, Miss Walker.”
*
Jacob comes into the hospital like the whirlwind he is. I can hear him from the front door all the way to the exam room. “Zoey! Zoey! Where are you?”
“In here,” I yell, not worried about bothering anyone with the noise because the whole department, staff and patients, are gossiping about Yvette and me.
Jacob bounces off the doorframe as he skids into the room, his eyes going wide when he sees me in the bed. Panting for breath, he huffs out, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He looks doubtful, not believing my reassurance. “Really, Jacob. I’m okay.”