Page 92 of Conviction
She shakes her head, and my heart can’t decide if it wants to slide into the pit of my stomach or explode in my chest cavity.
“They can’t tell yet, Reed. She wasn’t bleeding or anything. I told them that she’s pregnant and they took all the necessary precautions when they were doing the X-rays and what have you.”
Lawson appears and puts his arms around Sophie, and she starts to cry. The police ask if they can get a statement from her and I sit back down in the chair. Surely there must be somewhere better to wait than this?
As if reading my mind the woman who introduced herself to me earlier as Angie, the patient/family liaison officer steps forward.
“Mr Reed, why don’t you go into the family room? It’ll be much more comfortable than waiting out in this corridor. I’ll go and get an update and let you know what’s going on.”
I stand up, but before I can move, that fucker Newman is in my face.
“She’s pregnant?” he asks, actually looking concerned.
“Mr Reed.” One of the policemen steps forward.
“Mr Reed. The information we’re gathering so far seems to suggest that Mrs… Miss Matthews was attacked by some fans of yours. Has she been receiving hate mail or anything of that nature?”
All of the air leaves my lungs. I look to Tyler because I know, that he’ll know what’s happening.
All I can hear is Marcus fucking Newman. “This is your fault, Reed, this is all your fault rock star.” I try to step forward, try to swing a punch, but I’ve got hands on me, arms around me. I try to lock my knees, but they won’t keep me up.
This is all my fault.
Someone did this to her because of me.
Jordan’s on one side of me, Tyler on the other. They walk me into the waiting room and sit me on a chair.
I need to get a grip, and I need someone to get that fucker Newman out of here before I do him some damage.
I pace. I sit. Iwalk. I stand. I sit.
And then finally Angie comes back. I watch as she looks around the room for me. It’s packed. Every member of my family, except Sandra who stayed home with the kids, is here. The only one sleeping is Sophie, she’s curled on a chair with her head in Lawson’s lap. She’s put me to shame tonight. She held it together while I lost the plot.
Angie beckons me outside, and I follow.
“Everything went well.” For about the twelfth time tonight, everything spins.
“It was a very small bleed, and the surgeons have managed to control it. They’ll be along later to give you all of the details, I just thought you’d want to know specifics.” I nod my head. I just want to hear that she’s okay.
“The baby’s fine, no problems at all there and the obstetrician will be along at some stage to talk to both of you.”
I continue to nod. Too scared to attempt speech, in case I embarrass myself in front of this woman, who has somehow managed to not lose her patience with me tonight.
“Now, the surgeons aren’t exactly sure how long Nina was unconscious for before she was found, but they’re hoping it wasn’t long and that she’s going to make a full and fast recovery. Would you like to see her?”
Again, I go for the nod.
She leads me along the corridor and swipes a card through a set of doors, which takes us into a small space with just a pump bottle of hand sanitiser hanging from a stainless steel basket on the wall. We both coat our hands in the stuff.
“Now I don’t want you to panic when you see her Mr Reed.”
“Please call me, Conner,” I croak, my voice sounding nothing like my own.
She nods and rubs my arm in a manner that Sandra would use.
“She took a bit of a beating tonight, Conner. She’s been punched and kicked in the face, head and back. Whoever did this, meant to get a message across.”
The strangest sensation passes over me. Like pins and needles, it’s instant and spreads rapidly from my head to my toes. My scalp prickles and the hairs all over my body stand on end. This doesn’t sit right with me. My fans would never do something like this… never.
