Page 6 of Kingston

Getting arrested would not only get Iris taken from me, but place her straight into the system and directly into Charlie’s hands.I’d messed up so badly.My temper had never been an issue in the past.Fuck knew, I hadn’t done much to fight back against Charlie.Running away from him and the only life I’d ever known when I was seventeen was my single biggest rebellion.

Yet, as terrified as I was of my ex finding us, Creswell Springs had become a kind of safe haven.I’d been unable to travel too far from the area, even with the fear of Kingston potentially wanting to press charges against me.Mostly, I’d been living out of my car for the past few weeks.I would park in a wooded area during the day, a spot I’d found when I’d gotten desperate after three full days of zero sleep and I’d needed a nap.I’d driven for miles to make sure no one had followed me, then rigged the doors just in case Iris woke up and I didn’t hear her.

Cuddling her close, I’d wrapped a frayed blanket around us and fallen into a deep sleep for four hours.When I’d woken up, she’d still been out, her sweet face relaxed in slumber, and I’d crawled outside the car for a much-needed cry.Being homeless wasn’t the worst thing in the world.It wasn’t my first time, and I doubted it would be the last.I’d faced bigger and badder situations.It just felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders at that moment.It was scary, but I’d find a way.

I always did because Iris deserved better.

We’d been doing fine.I’d found a small country store that was letting me work for them at night off the books.I was baking and cleaning the kitchen while Iris slept in the corner.No one was asking questions.I was keeping us fed and clean.Iris had been happy and laughing all week, and she hadn’t pulled at her ears once.

Then she’d woken up from her nap screaming.

Her ear was oozing, and she was burning up with a fever.She kept tilting her head as if it weighed too much for her to hold it upright.There was no way I was going to chance waiting to take her to a walk-in clinic.I’d have to come up with something to tell the ER staff, a believable lie that wouldn’t cause them to look too hard at our situation.I hoped.

Whatever happened, I’d live with the consequences, but my baby needed a doctor now.

Her ear infection wasn’t a top priority, though, not even for a triage.There were people coming and going much worse off than Iris.The ambulance bay was busy, and the waiting room was overflowing with patients.There weren’t any chairs left, so I stood in a corner, rocking from side to side in hopes of soothing Iris to sleep.

Every time her eyes drifted closed and I felt her start to drift off, a loud noise would startle her.Her eyes popped open, filling with tears again.“Hurts, Mommy.Hurts!”

“I’m sorry, cuddle bug.”I tucked her golden hair back from her ear.As I did, I saw the pus draining from her ear and swallowed back a distressed cry.It wasn’t just an infection.There was blood.Trying not to panic, I weaved through the other patients sitting in chairs and nearly tripped over one of them lying on the floor.The man groaned, clutching at his leg, a makeshift bandage wrapped around what looked like a knife wound just above his knee.

“Excuse me?”I called to the nurse behind the window, slapping my palm on the glass.

Without looking up from a chart, he pointed to the sign-in desk.He’d been helping patients nonstop since we’d arrived.I knew he was busy and that some of those patients had been anything but kind to him and the other nurses I’d glimpsed through the small window.“Be with you when we can.”

“We already signed in an hour ago.She’s getting worse.Please.You have to do something.Her ear is bleeding.”His head snapped up at that, and I tucked Iris’s head closer to my chest.His concern heightened my panic, causing the world to go dark around the edges.“Please, help my daughter.”

A buzzer sounded, the door unlocking.He stepped through, waving me into the back.“Let’s get a look.It’s probably a ruptured eardrum.”

“Oh god,” I whispered, clutching Iris to me harder.

He gave me a sympathetic grimace as he guided me down a busy hall.We had to pass the ambulance bay where EMTs were coming in and out with patients, calling out stats to the nurses and doctors already waiting to assist.

Several men in familiar-looking leather vests stomped in behind one of the paramedics, and I gasped.Ducking my head, I increased my pace, almost running into the male nurse’s back as he showed us into a curtained exam room.But my fear of who was in the emergency room with us suddenly didn’t matter when the nurse closed the curtain on one side.“It sounds worse than it is.She might actually feel a little better because the rupture relieves some pressure.”

“But will it heal?”Heart pounding, I tried to keep my voice from shaking.A ruptured eardrum sounded agonizingly painful, even if it had given my baby girl a little relief.It also sounded expensive.Very, very expensive.Fuck.Panic tried to choke me, but I swallowed it down as best I could.“Will she need surgery to repair it?”

“No, Mommy.No.Want you!”Iris clung to me, shying away from the nurse when he stepped closer.

“In most cases, once the infection clears up, the drum heals on its own,” the nurse, whose name tag I noticed said Gary, informed me.He smoothly worked on getting Iris’s vitals while she remained in my arms.

She squirmed and cried, and I tried to soothe her, but she was scared and uncomfortable.“Hurts, Mommy.No.No touch.No touch!”

With every scream, my own tears fell faster.I held her tight, so we could get her blood pressure and pulse.Thankfully, all he had to do was swipe the thermometer over her forehead to get her temperature.It wasn’t as high as I’d feared, but it was definitely elevated.

I was such a bad mother.I couldn’t do anything right.Iris was always sick, and she didn’t even have her own bed to sleep in.Our only shelter was a piece-of-shit car that wouldn’t make it another thousand miles.There was enough money to pay for Iris’s food, if I managed my funds right, and to get her the antibiotics she would need.

Panic pressed in on me.I was going to lose her.The doctor was going to come in, take one look at my screaming child, and call CPS.I was going to lose the one person who mattered.Iris was the only piece of happiness I’d ever known, and I was fucking up her entire life already.

Gary patted me on the arm.I flinched, instinct taking over, and he gave me a grim, knowing smile that only spiked the anxiety gnawing at me higher.He knew.It was written all over his face.Gary knew I was a domestic abuse victim.

“It’s going to be okay, Momma.Doc will be in as soon as he can, but we’ll get your little one sorted out soon.”His voice was low, attempting to calm me, but nothing he could say or do would ease the pressure building inside me.My mounting fear.“I’m going to grab her something for the pain and that low-grade fever she has.Any vomiting or other gastric distress?”

I shook my head, pretending like I wasn’t falling apart.“This one came on out of nowhere.She seems to keep them, but this has been the worst so far.”

“We’ll get you an ENT referral,” he promised, sliding the curtain back.

As he turned to go, my gaze shifted, black leather capturing my attention again.Gulping, I squeezed Iris to me just as two men turned away from a trauma bay where emergency staff was shouting orders for CT scans.They were both big men, well over six feet, their shoulders nearly as wide as any door.The one on my left had short black hair and a nose ring glinting in his nostril.

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