“How soon before she wakes up?”

Jake wasn’t sure how much longer he could take staring at his wife motionless in a hospital bed. He couldn’t figure out if it was worse seeing her like that or pulling the car up just in time to see her collapse. He’d never run faster as he jumped out of the car and ran to her.

His heart almost stopped when he saw her lips were already turning a familiar shade of blue. The shallow breath barely coming from those lips was exactly what he’d found when he walked in on his roommate overdosing. Jake didn’t even think as he grabbed her off the ground and ran to his car, driving like a maniac to get to the hospital a few blocks away.

He had no idea why Kelly was overdosing on Fentanyl, but he’d seen it enough times that he knew to ask for Naloxone as soon as he walked into the hospital. Jake had calculated that it had been about nine minutes since she fell until they gave her a dose. They wasted a few minutes verifying the overdose. Without knowing how much she’d had, it was hard to say if he was fast enough.

It had been forty minutes since he’d gotten her to the hospital. He hadn’t left her side, even when they tried to ask him to wait while they got her settled. Threats of security being called had been thrown out, but a nurse took pity on him as soon as he mentioned they’d just gotten married.

That nurse was who he’d asked the question. She’d come and gone a couple of times but was back to check Kelly’s vitals. Jake’s eyes kept moving from Kelly up to the monitors across from him. Her heartbeat seemed weak, but the nurse had already explained that Kelly’s weight could have something to do with that.

“It’s hard to say. I know you’ve already said you don’t know how much she took, but it might give us an idea. How much does she usually take?”

“I don’t know what happened, but my wife didn’t do this to herself.”

“You’re not the first spouse who’s thought that. You said you’d just gotten married. You sure she wasn’t celebrating?”

Jake glared at the woman. She hadn’t pushed any of the other times she tried to get him to reveal more than he was saying about the overdose.

“I’m a hundred percent sure she wouldn’t celebrate in that way.”

He didn’t know how he could make that clearer. He hadn’t told them there was a history of drug abuse, because Kelly’s drug of choice had nothing to do with the condition she was in.

“But you have experience with overdoses. The nurses in the ER said you asked for a drug by name, which tells us this isn’t the first time this has happened.”

“I know the signs of an opioid overdose, because I run a charity for heroin addicts in Texas, I’ve walked in on two overdoses and heard more stories about people overdosing than I should have in a lifetime. None of that has anything to do with my wife. If the cops or someone is out there asking you to try to get some dirt, it’s not going to happen.”

Jake was getting pissed off. He understood that they had to ask questions, but there was such a thing as asked and answered.

“Sorry,” the nurse said softly and quickly walked out of the room.

A part of him felt bad for practically yelling at her, but nothing else seemed to be getting the point across. If he was asked again how much Kelly took, he’d probably explode.

“Hey,” a voice said softly. “What was that all about?”

Jake looked to the door, thinking maybe someone was peeking their head in or something. The door remained closed, so he turned back to the bed. Kelly’s eyes were still closed, and the voice sounded nothing like hers. It was scratchy and thin. Kelly didn’t always speak with the loudest voice, but she didn’t sound like someone with laryngitis.

“Was that you?” he asked anyway.

It was either his wife or he was going crazy. With how scared he’d been, the chances were fifty-fifty.

“Yeah,” she said, licking her lips.

Her lips barely moved, but seeing her tongue dart out of them was an instant relief. He squeezed her hand tightly and lifted it up to kiss it.

“You scared the hell out of me.”

Kelly’s face cringed as she tried to use her free hand to push herself up.

“Don’t move, sweetheart. Just take things slow.”

She moaned softly and stopped trying to move. Her lower lip stuck out a little, protesting the direction.

“What happened?”

Her voice sounded a little stronger. Jake leaned forward and wiped some of her curly hair out of the way as he kissed her forehead.

“I know you overdosed, but I have no idea how it happened.”

Kelly’s eyes sprung open. Jake was close enough he could see her pupils were smaller than normal. Her eyes in general seemed a little cloudy as she blinked rapidly after the initial open.

“I couldn’t have overdosed.”

Jake thought she should feel that way, but it was good to hear it from her lips. She raised her left hand up to cover her face for a second then massaged her forehead.

“You’re not talking coke, are you?” Kelly asked. “This feels like a down instead of an up. I imagine the overdose is probably some of that, but I can feel my heartbeat, and it feels like it’s going in slow motion.”

She flung her arm down on the bed and pounded her fist against it.

“It was definitely an opioid of some kind, with Fentanyl mixed in. When I got to you, your lips were blue, and you were turning stiff. Do you remember anything?”

At first she shook her head, but something lit up in her eyes. “Wait, there was something about Kirsten. I swear someone told me to say hi to her just after it felt like something stung me.”

She lifted her arm up again and looked were her arm bent, lifting her forearm up and down a few times. Jake moved forward to try to get a closer look, but before he could ask any more questions, a loud voice of authority took his attention to the door.

“I’m only going to tell you this once. They already told me my cousin was in that room, so you better step out of my way, or I’m going to move you.”

Jake couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but apparently whoever Nina was yelling at was smart enough to move out of the way. The blonde entered the room shaking her head and muttering to herself.

“I swear. People seriously don’t understand who they’re dealing with.”

Looking up, she took in the scene in front of her, a small smile spreading across her face when she saw Kelly. Brady was a few steps behind her and came to a quick stop when she quit walking.

“Good, you’re up and about already. I was worried we’d have to spend time waiting to see if you were going to pull through or not.”

Brady wrapped his arms around his wife and shook his head. She looked over her shoulder and glared at him. It was almost like she knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“Don’t pay any attention to her. She hates hospitals, but we had to come check on you after seeing you get attacked.”

Jake sat up. He hadn’t seen them when he’d grabbed Kelly, so he wondered if they had more information. The fact that Brady said Kelly was attacked was a good indicator they might know something. He noticed they were both in the clothes they’d worn to the wedding, although, Nina’s hair was a little out of place. That seemed strange for her, but it wasn’t worth more than a brief thought.

“You saw it happen?”

“Were the kids with you?” Kelly asked at the same time.

Her question was a good one, but Jake wanted to know who he was going to have to kill for hurting his wife. He tried to relay that information to Nina and Brady with his eyes, so they’d answer him first, but Nina didn’t pay any attention.

“Hannah and Curtis had already taken all the kids off to get ice cream or something. We had gotten all the way to the car before I remembered I had something for you. We were just coming back, hoping to catch you before you took off, when I saw that little bitch sneak up on you and run off. Yet again, another person who doesn’t understand they don’t mess with my family. The idiot came running right at us, and I tackled her.”

“Much to my dismay,” Brady added.

Whereas Nina seemed full of energy from her tale, Brady looked leery. Having spent almost an hour worrying about Kelly, Jake could understand why his friend wouldn’t want his wife tackling people.

“Oh hush. The doctor said the baby was fine, so don’t start complaining again.” She gave him another glare before turning around. “I’m eight weeks pregnant and this guy thinks I’m suddenly made of glass. I’ll have you know, I kicked the bitch hard enough in her lady parts that I probably broke her pelvis. If he wants to worry about someone being fragile, he should go check on her.”

  Jake wasn’t sure what question to ask first. He looked down to Nina’s stomach, shocked by the baby news. The idea that she beat someone up wasn’t as hard to believe, even though he wanted more information about who she was talking about.

“Yeah, we weren’t going to tell anyone until she started to show, but apparently the cat’s out of the bag now.”

Brady went ahead and verified the news. Jake had heard Curtis and him joking about needing to find someone else to carry a child for Nina, because there was no way she’d let something grow inside of her.

“Only because you’re being all crazy about it. We would’ve been up here sooner if he didn’t make us stop to get me checked out first. I told him letting you know we got Mia and handed her over to the police was a little more important.”

“Who’s being crazy now? You’re carrying my baby. I think they’re going to be on my side as far as priorities. A pregnant woman shouldn’t take off in a run to collide with someone.”

Glancing away from his wife, Brady looked towards Jake for some back up. As much as he would’ve loved to make it all about his own wife, Brady was right. Whether Kelly was ever pregnant or not, he couldn’t imagine what he’d feel like if she went after someone.

“Yeah, Nina, I’m sorry. I’m glad to know the person that hurt Kelly is dealt with, but Brady could’ve taken care of it.”

Brady wouldn’t have needed to exert much force to do it either. He was twice as big as Mia and had a little more experience with physical contact, since he hit people on the ice almost every day. At least Jake hoped that meant he had more experience. If Nina had him beat there, he was in for one hell of a tough pregnancy.

“Just because he could’ve stopped her, doesn’t mean he would’ve done it right. I know I’m a bitch, and all, to basically everyone, but that woman,” she said pointing to Kelly, “is my flesh and blood, and for all I know, I’d just witnessed her death. There was no way in hell someone was going to get away with that without me getting some kicks in. I believe a thank you is in order.”

“And a week’s worth of bed rest,” Brady mumbled, earning him an elbow to his stomach.

“Thank you, Nina.” Kelly said, her voice finally sounded almost normal. “I’m hoping someone caught it on camera, so I can see you in action later.”

“Oh God help us all if that’s the case.”

Brady was clearly exasperated beyond belief. Jake felt for the guy. Nina pregnant was going to be an even bigger handful than normal Nina.

“So, it was Mia who tried to overdose Kelly?” Jake asked, hoping to keep Brady from getting too many more elbows.

The news didn’t exactly surprise him after their tense encounter with her at the house. Kelly had said she’d gotten the vibe that Mia was dangerous, but Jake thought it was just in a sense of her winning the guardianship case and getting the kids.

“Oh yeah.” Nina rolled her eyes and shook her head before she went into details. “That crazy bitch started yelling about how if she couldn’t have the kids, no one could. I told her that if Kelly died, I’d gut her in her sleep, and she started laughing and talking about how I could try all I wanted, but she knew how to cut brake lines and knew the kind of car I drive.”

“What?” Kelly asked as she sat up.

The quick movement caused her to grimace. Jake got up from his chair and let go of her hand, so he could sit next to her on the edge of the bed and wrap his arm around her. He’d read between the lines just as easily as Kelly had.

“Yeah, before the cops even got there she was telling me about how she was some grand mastermind and had cut Kirsten and Brian’s brake lines. Evidently, when she can’t get something she wants, no one can have it. I should’ve just killed her instead of trying to break bones, but Brady pulled me off her.”

Jake was too stunned to say anything. Kelly had been told the accident was because of the other driver. He’d seen pictures of the wreck, which was bad enough he couldn’t make out Kirsten and Brian’s car. If anyone had considered checking to see if there was a problem on their end, chances were they wouldn’t have been able to make out the brake lines at all.

Kelly took a quick intake of breath. “She killed Kirsten?”

“Shh,” Jake said, trying to calm her.

He could hear her breathing turning erratic and turned to see her heartbeat suddenly spiking. Laying her head on his shoulder, he continued shushing her.

“It sounds like it,” Nina answered, changing her more matter-of-fact tone to something sedate for her. “I probably should’ve waited to tell you that. I think we’ll go and let you two newlyweds spend some time together.”

She turned to leave, causing Brady to do the same, but she stopped and faced them again. Digging in her purse for a second, she brought out an envelope.

“It may not be the best time, but this somehow made it to my mailbox at my old apartment. Actually, it made it to a neighbor’s mailbox, and they slid it under my door. I went there a couple of days ago to get the place ready for the new tenants and found it. I’m sorry I didn’t find it sooner.”

She handed the envelope to Kelly and smiled. It had to be the only time Jake had seen a sincere smile on her face.

“I know you mentioned you wanted some answers after you found out about Simon. Hopefully they’re in there.”

Nina waved as she joined her husband, who also gave a short wave before he held the door open for his wife. Jake imagined that they were going to have an interesting rest of their day. Looking down, he saw Kelly’s name on the envelope with apparently Nina’s address under it. He felt Kelly go stiff in his arms at the same time as he looked to the return sender part of the envelope.

Kirsten McKinney.