An Illicit Gentleman II

                                       Chapter Thirty-Nine

            AJ picked up the phone and dialed Kevin’s number.  His hand shook and he almost dialed wrong.  He put the phone to his ear and waited for his former band mate to pick up.

“Hello?” Kevin’s voice spoke as the phone picked up.

“Hey Kev it’s Alex.” AJ said into the phone trying to keep himself calm.  “Um, have you seen Eve? Like has she stopped by there at all today?”

“No, let me guess she’s pissed over the pictures?” Kevin replied as AJ closed his eyes.

“I dunno.” AJ said his voice quivering.  “I’ve been trying to call her cell since I found out at the meeting, she was supposed to pick me up but I had to get Nick to drive me home because she’s not answering her phone and now it just goes to the voice mail.”

“Maybe she just needed some alone time.” Kevin told him.  “Maybe she’s with her brother.”

“Maybe.”

“Want me to come get you and we’ll go over there?” Kevin asked.

“Na, we might miss her or something, I guess I’ll give her some more time before going into panic mode.” AJ sighed.

“Give me a call if you need to go anywhere.” Kevin said before they said goodbye and hung up. 

When AJ hung up he tried Eve’s cell once again and heard her voice mail for the millionth time.  With a sigh he ended the call and ran his fingers through his hair.  “Where are you, you know better than to take off and not tell me.” He whispered as he looked at his phone.  AJ laid back on the couch and waited and waited until what seemed like an eternity his home phone rang.  He jumped up from the couch and grabbed the cordless, saying hello before he even hit the answer button.

“Hello?” He repeated into the phone.

“Hello Alex it’s Detective Ozwith.” The woman said on the other end.

“Hi” AJ said as his chest began to hurt again.

“I’m calling about Evelyn she was in a car accident.” She told him.

“An accident is…is she ok?” AJ asked a little stunned.

“She’s on route to the hospital she’s stable but in serious condition.” The Detective told him.

“What happened?” AJ asked.

“We’re trying to figure that out, the accident was called in and when the officer on duty saw it was Eve he called me.  Some how her car went up on the guard rails and flipped, we’re not sure yet how fast she was going.”

“Flipped?” AJ said his voice starting to show the panic he was feeling on the inside.

“Do you know where she was going?” The Detective asked.

“To the supermarket to get groceries.” AJ said.

“On Highway one?” The Detective asked confused.

“Highway one? Why was she on the Highway?”

“She wasn’t supposed to be?” The Detective replied.

“No, no she was supposed to get groceries and then come get me when my meeting was done.” AJ said quickly.  “I need to go see her.”

“I will meet you at the hospital to ask Eve some questions.” She told him.

“Ok.” AJ said and the ended the call with her.

AJ called a cab and then called Kevin, he told Kevin all he knew and asked him to meet him at the hospital.  He hung up the phone and walked over to the door waiting for the cab to show up, hoping it didn’t take to long to get through the camera’s outside.  Again it seemed like an eternity for the cab driver to get there but when he did AJ locked the door and flew down the drive way, jumping into the car and telling the driver to go to the hospital and fast. 

When the cab pulled up to the emergency entrance AJ paid the man and then got out of the car.  He waited for the car to leave and then headed towards the big glass doors.  Again he found himself walking into a hospital wondering if she was alive, if she was ok.  He walked up to the nurses station and asked for her.  They told him to have a seat and the Doctor would be right with him.  AJ sat down with a sigh knowing that when they asked you to wait it was never a good sign and the fact he didn’t have to wait long was a real bad sign. 

“Mr. Mclean?” The Doctor asked as AJ stood up.

“Yes that’s me.” AJ said with a nervous nod.

“Your wife suffered a major head injury caused by the accident, there was major swelling and she was in and out of consciousness a few times.  She also has four cracked ribs and her left lung had collapsed.” The Doctor told him as AJ sat down stunned.  “We were able to re-inflate her lung and she’s on a ventilator until her it is strong enough to breath on it’s own again.”

“And the head trauma?” AJ asked as he started to cry.

“We’re watching the swelling but right now we are more concerned about the damage to her ears.”

“Ears?” AJ asked looking up at the Doctor confused.

“When Evelyn was awake I tried asking her some questions, who she was, what year it was, she didn’t responded to my voice at all.” The Doctor told him.  “I had to write it down for her and because of the ventilator tube I had her blink once for yes and twice for no. I asked her if she could hear me she blinked twice for no, I then asked her if she could hear anything, like mumbles or muffled sounds, she blinked twice for no again.”  AJ sat there silently, stunned as the Doctor continued.  “We do not know if this is something permanent right now, it could be temporary damage but we’ll know more from the MRI.”

“Can I see her?” AJ asked.

“Yes of course but right now she is most likely sleeping, we had to give her a light sedative, she became quite upset most likely from the Panic Disorder.” The Doctor said.

“Ok” AJ nodded as he followed the Doctor down the hall.  Everything seemed like haze and he felt like he was floating on air, what was happening just didn’t seem real.  The Doctor stopped in front of a private room door and motioned for AJ to go in.  AJ said thank you and the Doctor left back towards the Nurses station.

With a deep breath he opened the door and walked into the room.  His breath disappeared and his eyes fell in pain as he saw her lying in the bed.  Slowly he walked up to her bed side and saw her staring at the ceiling but when he took her hand she looked over at him quickly.  He didn’t know what to say, not that he could say anything because she wouldn’t understand him.  Her face wasn’t too bad; just some minor cuts he assumed were caused by the flying glass.  His eyes fell to hers again and he frowned as he saw the fear in them.  Letting go of her hand AJ pulled down the roll bar and sat down beside her.  He took her hand again and leaned down, gently kissing her forehead and then her cheek.  He held her as best he could in a hug, hoping it would be enough to let her know it would be ok.  When he sat up he looked at her again, her eyes were heavy and he could tell she was fighting sleep.  He brushed the back of his hand down her cheek and closed his eyes motioning for her to get some rest.  Lightly he kissed the back of her hand as he watched her eyes flutter closed. 

He sat on the edge of her bed watching her, his hand still brushing along her cheek as he held her hand in his other.  AJ was about to get up when the door quietly opened and a nurse poked her head inside.

“You have family here.” She whispered with a light smile.

“Ok.” AJ lightly nodded and smiled.  He put her hand down and got up from the bed.  Quietly closing the door AJ walked out into the hallway where he was greeted by the Nurse.

“They are in the waiting room.” She told him with a light smile.

“Thanks” He replied and then made his way there.  When he walked in he saw Kristin and Kevin sitting in the empty room.

“What’s going on is she ok?” Kevin asked.

“She’s alive.” AJ replied.  “I need to sit down.” 

Kevin helped AJ sit down.  “You need a coffee or something?”

“Water would be nice.” AJ replied.

“I’ll get it.” Kristin said and left the room.  AJ gathered his thoughts and for the first time came face to face with what was going on by the time he was ready to talk Kristin was back with his water.

“She has serious head trauma and there is swelling, she has four cracked ribs and her lung collapsed.” AJ told them, his voice quivering.  “They fixed her lung and her ribs, and they’re watching the swelling but…” He stopped, if he said it, it would make it real but you only did that with things that were pretend and the possibility of Eve not being able to hear ever again was very, very real.

“But what Alex?” Kevin asked.

“There’s…there’s something wrong with her ears, she couldn’t hear the Doctor when he was asking her questions, they think it could have something to do with the head trauma but we won’t know until the MRI comes back.” He said as the couple listened.

“You mean she’s deaf? How long will it last?” Kristin asked.

“We don’t know, it could be temporary or it could be permanent like I said gotta wait for the MRI.” He sighed.  “I wanted to tell her everything would be ok, I wanted to ask her so many questions, like what the hell was she doing on the damn highway? But I couldn’t she wouldn’t understand me.” AJ moaned as he rubbed his face with his hands.  “God and she probably still doesn’t know about the picture.”

“Yeah, saw that.” Kevin said quickly.

“Already got the lecture from your cousin.” AJ mumbled.

“Oh I can imagine.” Kevin said with almost a wanting in his voice, wanting to be there for that fight.  “Your Mom gets a lot of those in the mail doesn’t she?”

“Yes” AJ replied with a stern tone as he remembered the conversation with her before leaving the Jive office building.

“Ouch man, seriously, I feel for ya bro.” Kevin replied with a light smile.

“Pisses me off, they aren’t suppose to be back there, those mountains are restricted.” AJ sighed as he sat back.  “Just when ya think everything has calmed down America wakes up to my ass and Eve flips her fucking car almost killing herself, like seriously who the fuck did I piss off up there.”