Chapter Seven
Jaxon
I’ve been sitting here for hours in this waiting room. Just hoping to find out any information.
I know I’m not actually privy to anything about the girl, but I can’t seem to leave her here on her own. No one has come in frantically looking for someone who meets her description. And that pisses me off. Does anyone know she’s missing? Where are her friends? Where is her boyfriend? Where is her family?
Why has no one come for her?
I can’t leave. Even if she doesn’t know I’m here, I can’t leave her by herself. I won’t.
Waiting, though, means lots of time to think. And the thoughts running through my brain are not one I’d wish on anyone.
Self-doubt tries to take over. Why didn’t I do more? Why didn’t I get there a few seconds earlier? Why didn’t I notice something was happening? Could I have stopped it?
I am a logical person. Logically, I know there is nothing I could have done differently. Logically, I know there was no way I could have anticipated what I was going to stumble across tonight. But when it comes to something like this, logic is blown out the window, and all I know is how it feels. And I feel guilty. I feel angry. I feel like I failed her. I feel like I should have done something different.
So now I wait. Wait for news that she’s okay. Wait for news that someone is here for her. Wait for someone to protect her.
“Mr. Hart?”
I blink the fogginess out of my eyes and look at the officer next to me.
“Uh, yeah, that’s me. Jaxon.”
“I’m Officer Aguilar.” He’s short and stocky, dark hair and eyes. He’s standing with his hands on his utility belt in the typical police officer stance. I tower over him when I rise to shake his hand, and I’m not what you would consider tall. “I just wanted to let you know the girl is awake, and it looks like she’s going to be fine.”
My eyes widen. “She’s awake?” For the first time tonight, a niggle of excitement runs through me. “She’s okay?”
“Well,” he pauses briefly. “I wouldn’t necessarily say she’s okay. But she’s awake, and her injuries don’t appear to be life threatening. She’s got a long haul, but physically she’s going to be fine.”
Physically. There is so much implication in that one word, and I understand his meaning. Physically, she’ll be fine. Mentally and emotionally—that is all still to be determined.
“I can’t give you any more information than that,” he says almost apologetically, “But I wanted to find out if you remembered anything else. Maybe what the guy looked like or even what he was wearing.”
I try to think back again, but the memories are still fuzzy.
Shaking my head, I’m pissed at myself for not knowing more. “I told the other officer everything I could remember.”
“Well, sometimes memories hit us out of nowhere, and since you’ve been sitting here I thought I’d ask. Just to make sure we didn’t miss anything before you head home.”
“Yeah, I get it. Really, just like I told the detective, it was dark out and happened fast. All I remember is that asshole had kind of longish hair on the top. I think it was blond, but I’m just not sure. Now I wish I would have ripped some of it out of his head.”
Officer Aguilar nods as he listens, but I can see him assessing my mental state.
“Sorry.” I look at the floor. “I have a sister. Shit like this makes me rage.”
“More men should feel that way about women being assaulted. It’d be nice to be out of a job.” He adjusts his stance before saying, “Well, if you have any other memories, make sure to let us know. These things take time, and sometimes once the brain isn’t pumped full of adrenaline, things come to you.”
I nod again like I understand it’s only a matter of time. Part of me hopes he’s right—that maybe I can give them another lead. And part of me hopes I never remember this night again.
Just as Office Aguilar opens his mouth to continue the conversation, the automatic sliding doors open and a familiar face comes racing through. Almost immediately, he sees me.
“Jax!” my dad yells and jogs to me, pulling me into his arms and holding me tight. “Jax, are you okay?”
“Yeah, Dad. I’m okay,” I whisper, my whole body relaxing. It doesn’t matter that we got into a fight earlier. We’ll deal with that later. For now, having him here means I don’t have to do this by myself. “I’m okay. But it was bad. It was so bad.”
“I know, son. I know.”
He keeps holding me and suddenly, emotions I didn’t know were there take over.
“Dad, I tried to stop him,” I sob. “But I let him get away.”
“No, Jax. No. You helped save her. You did what was necessary, and I’m proud of you.”
He holds me for a few more minutes while I collect myself. Then he backs away and looks me over. I know he’s giving me the once-over, making sure I’m not too exhausted. I want to be angry at him for it, but there’s other things to be angry about now, so I ignore him.
“Mr. Hart, I presume?” Officer Aguilar asks.
My dad is obviously surprised when he realizes someone is standing with us. “Yeah, sorry.” He rubs his hand down his face. “I’m Jaxon’s dad. Jason. Nice to meet you.”
The officer gets a strange look on his face. “Jason. Jason Hart,” he repeats absentmindedly. Then his features change as a lightbulb moment goes off in his head, and he snaps his fingers. “Hart to Heart Foundation.”
My dad immediately switches into PR mode, a big grin crossing his face. I take a step back and let him do his thing while I wipe my eyes and rub my face. “Yeah, that’s what I’m in town for. I’m glad to hear you know of us.”
Office Aguilar resumes his stance with his hands on his belt. “You guys are the reason I ended up on the bone marrow registry.”
This piques both our interests. I don’t want to work for the foundation, but it’s been a huge part of my life since its inception, and I have a vested interest in whether or not it succeeds, whether I like it or not. Plus, it’s nice to focus on something besides the trauma of tonight, however briefly it might be.
“I went and signed up ten years ago when you guys did the special event at the stadium,” the officer continues. “It was really cool that you did that.”
Dad looks at me and grins, his eyes crinkling. “I’m glad to see that hard work was effective.”
“Oh, it definitely was. Turns out I was a match.”
Now, this is where I could lose my dad’s attention for hours. He loves hearing these stories—how someone who signed up through Hart to Heart ended up being a donor. There are pictures tacked all over his office of lives that have been saved due to those outreach programs. It keeps him motivated.
“Really?” he inquires. “Did you end up donating?”
“Sure did.” The officer’s chest puffs out slightly with pride, and I swear he seems ten feet tall now. “Twenty-eight-year-old mother of two. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Did the transplant last year, and she got a clean bill of health a few months ago.”
“That’s awesome man,” my dad exclaims. “I can’t even thank you enough for doing that. What a gift!”
“We have plans to meet up in the next couple of months,” he continues. “I can’t wait to meet her. Saving her life was the most important thing I’ve ever done.”
“I need to shake your hand,” Dad says, reaching his own out. “And please, if you think about it, take some pictures when you guys meet up and email them over to Hart to Heart. We love keeping track of when we’re doing good work. It helps keep up with our funding and really encourages us to keep doing our jobs.”
“I will,” he says with a nod. “I’ll make it a point to email. But anyway, your boy did a great job tonight. He was a real hero.”
My dad puts his giant paw on my shoulder and tugs me close to him again. “That’s my Jaxon. He’s been my hero for a long time.”
I’m not sure where that statement comes from since I’ve never heard him say that before, but I choose not to react. Instead, I watch as the officer nods and begins to walk away but thinks better of it and turns back. “Don’t forget, Jaxon. If you remember anything, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.”
“I will. Thank you, Officer.”
As he walks away, my dad turns and hauls me into a hug again, breathing a sigh of relief. “God, Jaxon, when you said you were going to the hospital, my heart dropped.”
And the irritation is back. I understand what he’s getting at, and I understand why, but this is not the time for him to be overbearing. I can’t carry the responsibility of reassuring him I’m healthy when my mind is spinning in all different directions right now. I have no hesitations telling him so as I pull away.
“It’s not about me tonight, Dad. It’s about this girl.”
“I know,” he says almost apologetically. “And I don’t mean to downplay anything she went through. Are her parents here? Do you know?”
I shrug and sit down on the chair, him sitting next to me, leaning forward on his elbows.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen anyone coming in looking for a girl. I’m not leaving until someone comes for her. I won’t leave her by herself.”
“I get it, son.” He puts his arm around my shoulder. I stiffen briefly, but when he says, “I get it. And we can stay here as long as you want,” I relax into him. We have a lot to discuss, a lot to sort out, but I refuse to do it now. Tonight, we’re going to sit here and watch a rerun of some random comedy from the 70s. What the hell is this show anyway?
The volume is muted so we can’t hear anything, which makes it seem kind of pointless to have a TV in here, and it makes it impossible to keep me engaged.
Looking around the room, I notice what my dad’s wearing and realization hits.
“Wait, Dad, I called you at like 10:30. What took you so long to get here? You don’t even have any real clothes on.” I poke fun at the plaid pajama pants and white T-shirt he’s wearing in public. If it weren’t for the fact that he has Nike’s on his feet, I’d think he’d just woken up when I called and rolled out of bed to get here.
He purses his lips before fessing up. “I wasn’t exactly in town when you called.”
My eyebrows lift just slightly. “What? Where were you? I thought you left tomorrow.”
“I’d started the drive home last night. I didn’t have anything to do, so I figured I’d head out early. I was about halfway there when I stopped for the night.”
“What? Dad! You didn’t need to turn around and come back! It’s not me in the hospital,” I protest.
“Yeah, I know, I know. I called your mom as soon as you called me, and she agreed that I needed to come back for you. Jaxon, you may not have been the one who was assaulted tonight, but you got a big dose of the ugly side of life. I don’t care about our fight earlier.” I bristle at the reminder. “None of that is important. You’re important, and you need to know that I’m here for whatever you need.”
Despite wanting to still be angry at him, I resign myself to being thankful that he’s here. I’m still mad and hurt about so many things, but right here, right now, I’m glad he’s putting everything aside to support me. “Thanks. But just know, I’m not talking about anything else with you right now. I’m here until someone shows up for the girl.”
He puts his hand on my knee in support. “I know, son. And we’ll stay here as long as you want.”
Leaning back in my chair, I stretch my legs out to get as comfortable as I can and turn my attentions back to the polyester suits and afros on the screen in front of me.