I knock on the door of Kylie’s apartment, but there is no answer, so I knock again.

She must still be getting ready, I think as I remind myself to be patient. After a few minutes of waiting, I knock again. Could she have forgotten? She couldn’t have forgotten, right? I pull my phone out of my jacket pocket to call Kylie’s cell when it starts vibrating in my hand. Thank goodness, I think, assuming it’s Kylie. But instead, when I look at the caller ID, it’s Lou. I roll my eyes as I answer.

“Lou, I don’t have time right now. I—” But he cuts me off.

“Adam, I need you to listen, kid, and I need you to stay calm, okay?”

Every fiber of my being begins to radiate with panic. The last time someone talked to me like this, it was Mandy…

“Okay…” I barely manage to choke out.

“I was supposed to meet Kylie at the old gym to wrap everything up there before the move, but I was running late. There was traffic on Michigan Avenue and…”

“LOU!” I yell, my impatience overwhelming me.

“Right, right, sorry. When I got the gym, I found Kylie in the alley.”

My hand starts to shake so badly I almost drop the phone. My legs turn to jelly and I crumple onto the hallway floor outside Kylie’s apartment door. “Lou… is… is she…”

“No! Dear God, no, Adam. She’s going to be all right. But I don’t want to finish this conversation over the phone. I don’t want you flying off the handle. Just come to the ER at County General. They’re deciding whether or not to admit her for the night. I’m in the waiting room while they run some more tests.”

I don’t even answer him. I just hang up and run out of the building and hail the first car I see, a town car that will cost me an arm and leg. I don’t give a shit; I just want to get to the hospital as fast I can. Even so, the ride feels interminable as the driver fights his way through traffic. When we finally get there, I throw a hundred-dollar bill at him and bolt out of the car and straight into the ER, where I find Lou sitting in a corner, his legs bouncing nervously. His shirt is covered in blood… Kylie’s blood, and I have to lean over a trash can to throw up.

Lou rushes over to me and pats my back kindly. “It’s okay, Adam. She’s going to be fine. I promise you, she’s going to fine.”

I stand upright and try to gather myself. “What the fuck happened, Lou? Tell me now.”

Lou takes a deep breath and sighs. “Kid, for Kylie’s sake, I need you to stay calm, and keep your wits about you. She’s going to want to see you when she’s out of this MRI and if you go running out of here on some vendetta mission, it won’t be good for either of you, you hear me?”

My face starts to settle into an expression of rage in anticipation of whatever story Lou is about to share. “Tell. Me. Now.”

“It was Miller. He made a pass at her, an aggressive one. She gave him a good one to the family jewels and ran out, but he followed her and…” Lou stops to get control of his emotions, because he looks like he is about to break down into tears. “He beat the hell out of her, Adam. That piece of shit. She told me it was him in the ambulance, so I called Bradley, and it turns out he’d just installed security cameras outside. That dipshit had no idea. It’s all on video. The cops are out looking for him now. So please don’t do anything stupid and ruin your career. Kylie wouldn’t want that.”

White-hot rage courses through my veins, and every instinct in my body wants to ignore Lou’s advice, stalk out into the streets, find that piece of shit myself, and make him pay.

“Adam Burnham? Is there an Adam Burnham out here?”

Lou and I both turn to the entrance to the exam rooms, and see a young doctor standing there with a clipboard, surveying the waiting room. I raise my hand. “That’s me.”

“Mr. Burnham, can you come with me, please?” He looks at Lou quizzically. “Only one visitor at a time I’m afraid.”

Lou nods. “It’s fine. I’ll just keep sitting here, twiddling my thumbs.” I pat him on the shoulder as I follow the doctor through sliding double doors.

“Mr. Burnham, I’m Dr. Winston. We’ve just brought Kylie back from her MRI. While she has a linear skull fracture that we detected on CT scan, there is no bleeding on her brain, which is good. She has fractures in her cheekbones, some rib fractures, and a concussion. But honestly, it could have been a lot worse. We’re going to admit her overnight for observation, just to make sure she stays in good shape.”

I take a deep breath and shake the doctor’s hand. “Thank you, Doctor. Can I see Kylie now?”

He nods. “Curtain seven. An orderly will be by shortly to take her up to her room on the twelfth floor.”

I thank him again, then rush to the closed curtain, which I fling open. As soon as I get a look at Kylie, every bit of rage I was feeling before comes back with a vengeance. Her sweet face is completely bruised and swollen, and one of her eyes is completely fused shut. She’s holding a button in one of her hands that controls pain medicine, and she clicks it just as I walk in. When she sees me, she smiles as best she can.

“Hey, you. I’m sorry I’m going to be a little late for our date.” I watch as her good eye glazes over with the impact of the pain meds, and I can’t help but smile.

“It’s okay. We can reschedule. This definitely looks like more fun,” I answer sadly as I take her hand in mine. Kylie shakes her head with a dry, exhausted laugh.

“All the times I saw you taking punches, getting knocked out, I never once thought about how it felt. But if this is how it feels? I don’t know how you do it. This is horrible! I never want you to get hit again. Only knockouts for the rest of your career, you hear me?”

Now I burst out laughing in spite of every other emotion I’m feeling right now. “You got it, princess. But for now, let’s just focus on getting you better, you hear?” I lean up to give her a gentle kiss on her forehead, but even that makes her wince, and I instantly feel like a jerk. I don’t have time to apologize because the orderly shows up with the bed to transport her to her room.

“Ready to go for a little ride, Miss Peacock?” he asks cheerily.

“You bet!” Kylie answers, the drugs completely dulling her pain. I’m just about to follow them my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out of my pocket and see it’s Manny Esteves.

“Hey, Manny. Now isn’t a good time…”

When he answers me, it’s in a whisper. “Adam, man. You need to get down to The Blitz, ASAFP. Miller is here, and he’s bragging about knocking out your agent…”

I know I should just call the cops, or tell Manny to do it, but I can’t. I can’t let him just get hauled away without actually paying for what he did.

“I’m on my way,” I say and hang up the phone. “Kylie, honey, I’m going to be back in an hour or so, okay? I’ll send Lou up to sit with you.”

“Okey dokey artichokey!” she says with a wave of her hand. She’ll be asleep in no time, I think as I hustle out to the waiting room, where I find Lou pacing back and forth. I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him and he jumps a foot in the air.

“Adam! What is going on? No one will tell me…”

“Lou, they’re taking her up to the twelfth floor. I need you to go sit with her while I take care of something.”

Lou squints at me, surveying me suspiciously. “Tell me where you’re going…”

“Mind your business, Lou. I’ll be back in an hour. Two tops.”

Lou grabs my hand with his bony fingers and glares at me. “I’m asking you. For all of our sakes. Think about whatever you’re about to do.”

“I am. Oh, I am.”

* * *

I walk into The Blitz, a dive bar a few blocks from the gym. The first person I see is Manny sitting at the end of the bar, sipping hesitantly from a long-warm mug of beer. He catches my eye line, and then signals to me where Miller is sitting. I scan the room, and spot Miller in a booth in the back. He’s shoving handfuls of peanuts into his mouth and laughing to a guy sitting across from him that I can’t see. Even from my vantage point at the door, I can tell his knuckles are bruised and bloody, and I feel the anger inside of me about to explode like a long-simmering volcano.

I stalk across the bar and no one dares to try and stop me. When I get to Miller’s table, he looks up at me with a stupid grin that just makes me more angry.

“Hey! Burnham! I saw your agent this afternoon. If you run into her, tell her I send my love.”

Then he snickers, a particularly blood-boiling sound since the rest of the bar has gone deadly silent. I don’t know what comes over me. Miller has a hundred pounds on me at least. But I wrap my hand around his throat, drag him out of the booth, and slam him up against the wall so hard the glasses on the bar start to rattle.

“Put me down, asshole!” Miller chokes out as he squirms under my hand.

“You… piece… of… shit…” I’m having trouble managing to form words. Everything that is popping into my head is just a garbled mess of cursing. Miller tries to kick me, but I easily dodge his legs, which are just flopping around like a rag doll as he starts to lose oxygen.

“If you ever, ever, lay hands on a woman again, I will rip you to shreds. There will be nothing left for the cops to arrest. Your sorry, worthless ass will float to the bottom of the lake like the dog shit you are. Do you understand me?”

Before he has time to answer, several cops burst into the bar, yelling Miller’s name and telling me to put him down. I begrudgingly drop him to the dirty bar floor as he snickers again, rubbing his throat. I start to walk away as the cops approach him, when under his breath I hear him say, “You’re a pussy. And your girlfriend is a bitch.”

I don’t even stop to consider the repercussions of my actions. I just turn on my heel and punch him directly in the jaw, relishing the sound of bone breaking under my fist. Miller looks shocked at first, like he can’t believe I did it. Then he leans over and blubbers to the cops.

“Did you see that? He hit me! I want to press charges! Arrest him!”

One of the police officers looks at Miller, then looks at me, then looks back at Miller, and shrugs. “I didn’t see anything. Did you see anything, Sarno?”

The other officer shrugs, and surveys Miller. “Guess I was distracted. I didn’t see anything either.”

Miller holds his hand over his face and looks like he’s about to cry. I salute the police officers and start for door when Manny calls out to me, “Call me, man! Let’s grab a drink sometime!”

I nod, enjoying the sight of Miller being put in handcuffs by the cops. “You bet, man. You bet.”