When I found out about what happened, I was numb and pissed. Darren was with me and I had to keep him level headed. He signed her care over to us. She is just unbelievably stubborn and sometimes I just want to smack her upside the damn head. "James! I want James! JAAAAAAAMMMMMMMEEEEESSSSSSS!"
I take the stairs to the guest room across from JC's bedroom two at a time and see Justin attempting to help an injured Leilei. "The stitches on her hip?" I start to see blood spreading over the hip of my old sweatpants. He nods, cocking an eyebrow. "Justin, get JC."
"Why?"
I feel like smacking him. "Look at her side, it's bleeding pretty bad." Dunce, sometimes I associate this word with him. He runs downstairs, screaming at the top of his lungs for JC. I help her sit down and apply pressure to make it stop bleeding with the cloth she was using to lessen the swelling. "Min, relax. Let me put some pressure on it. I have to make it stop bleeding."
"It hurts James. Darren is going to be so fucking mad."
"I'm more worried about how much blood you've lost."
"Darren is going to want to kick my ass."
"Darren is a phone call away."
"Will you tell him?"
"Yes, I'll tell him. Relax." She finally relaxes and lets me apply pressure to the area.
"What stitches?" JC questions, bursting in the room.
"Josh," she whines, reaching for him. She has tears in her eyes and wants one of my best friends more than she cares that I'm right there. They've always had a crush on one another. I guess this something I'm just going to have to deal with. Maybe she'll leave Nick for good, honestly I hope she does leave him for JC.
"The ones on her right hip," I inform him and he slides the side of her sweats down to the top of her thigh, checking the extent. She's not moving and he places the cloth over it, making sure to tape it down (medical tape) before putting her sweats back where they were sitting before. He picks her up like Jacob did Bella in Eclipse, books it downstairs, grabs what he needs, yells something about Sinai, and leaves in his jeep. He really cares about her because he's been answering her every time she calls on him, he never complains about anything she asks for. I head downstairs and sit at the island counter, listening to Justin's end of the conversation without really hearing what he's saying. I'm scared out of my mind about the situation Min's gotten herself into. She moved to Leominster, Ma in 94 and when Justin's mom called mine, her mom let her move in with us and stay with Chris' mom and sisters when we were in Europe and touring. The only way she was able to tour with us was if we were in the States and/or Canada, she was with us during our whole first and last tours and bits and pieces of every other tour we had. The only tour she did world wide with us from beginning to end was the PoP Odyssey tour, she was 17 and her mom signed her emancipated minor papers during the summer of 2000. When she got the papers saying they had been signed and finalized, I flew her out to us, to have her help us have a blast wrapping up the NSA tour. "Who was that?" Justin tells me it was JC, the update on Min, and talk about her visiting on tour. "Yes, Darren and I always called her Min. She has always been smaller than us and from the looks of things, always will be. I love her like a sister and it kills me to know what we know now."
"I want to tell Chris and Joey so bad, wring Nick's neck or beat him like he has her."
"I have been contemplating ways to kill him, but my conscious would kill me to keep it to myself."
"Hahaha! I would have NO trouble sleeping at night if I murdered him. After what he did to her?"
I shrug, understanding his point and because I have no reason to argue. He does have a good reason to be so upset. My cell rings, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Hello?"
"Hey, its Aaron."
"Oh, hi! She's at the hospital."
"Did Nick come around again?"
"No, she popped the stitches on her right hip and that one spot was infected."
"Did she go to get it checked out?"
"Yeah, they're going to surgically check it, clean it and close it again. 24 hour surveillance after that."
"Sounds like fun, what do you they're going to tell her?"
"Most likely going to deal with a bed ridden Leilei, doctor ordered. She's going to hate it and she's probably going to hate us."
"Without a doubt. How long until she's up to par again, hopefully?"
"Within three months, fully and I think she's learned her lesson."
"Keep me posted and I doubt it, unless you mean about Nick. Maybe she has to stop being so stubborn and pushing herself so hard."
"Yes, we will keep you posted. Yeah, right, this is Leilei we're talking about here."
"Good point. Talk to you later."
"Bye." He hangs up and puts his cell on the counter, leaning over it. "How am I going to tell Darren that she's in the hospital because she popped stitches again?"
"I have no idea, depends on how pissed he's going to be."
"Righteously out of his mind pissed." Darren is going to want to kick my ass over this shit.
"Have JC tell him."
"Yeah, ok, we'll just throw the one man who's at her bedside and most likely scared out of his mind. He was so scared that he ran in, grabbed her, snatched his keys and wallet, got in the jeep and most likely has speeding and reckless driving tickets from rushing her to Sinai." JC has always been like this toward her, he's protective and always makes sure to hear her out. He'd step in front of a bullet for her and I know he'll always be good to her, but Nick was in the beginning too.
I head out to spend time with Joey, Kelly, Briahna and Kloey. I haven't hung out with them in close to two weeks,
I'm starting to feel like I've put my nieces on the back burner and I feel bad. Min has needed me more than ever. By the time I decide to go see Joey, Justin's asleep on the couch. I leave a note on the counter saying I'm at Joey's and will see her at the hospital on the way back. I get on the road and call my brother. "Hello?"
"Joe, can I stop by to see you guys?"
"Of course. We were starting to wonder if you, Justin and JC had disappeared or something happened."
"Just been helping out a friend." Not a total lie, but not the complete truth in the same instance.
"All three of you?"
"Um, yeah."
"Min?"
"Pretty much."
"What happened?"
"You'll have to ask her because she asked us to keep hush hush about it."
"I will. Hold on a sec?"
"Sure," I say as nervous as I can be.
A few seconds later, I hear a click and Min. "What's on your mind, Fatoné?" She has a nickname for each of us.
"What is it that Lance can't tell me? What happened?"
"Promise not to track down my ex and try killing him?"
"It's got to involve Nick."
"Yes, he beat me."
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN HE BEAT YOU?"
"James has pics on his cell of the injuries before the doc fixed me up. James, you can show him."
I sigh. "I didn't want to do it without your ok, Min."
"That's fine. Fatoné, I will buzz you when I get home tomorrow night, unless they keep me for extra observations."
"Jace is there with you?"
"He was there when Nick got the last few blows in for the final time."
"You're leaving him for good this time?" Joey and I chorus together.
"I planned on it three weeks ago, I have to."
We praise her and she hangs up. I tell him what I know about the whole situation and he gets heated. "Joe, keep in mind that she's already got a restraining order being processed against him, she's staying with JC until she heals fully, and then she's moving into Aaron's house on the other end of the city from him."
"Which house?"
"The second one, the one that Nick never goes to."
"I catch the fucker near her and I will be the one to blame for anything that may happen to him."
He's seething and I calm him down as I pull in his driveway. I visit them the rest of the day and stop in to see Min on the way back to JC's. She has him smiling as they talk. He's laying on his side, stroking her face, as they quietly talk. He hates hospitals and he's here with her, no problem. I know Min hasn't eaten a damned thing the hospital serves and knowing JC he's gone to BK or McDonald's, getting what she requests. Kelly sent me with some spaghetti, meatballs and sausage for the two of them. "Hey, Jace, Min," I announce with a smile.
They look at me, scared (I think). "James, hi," she meekly replies.
"Hey, man," JC responds.
"No stress on how you two are. She's almost thirty and you're an adult. Min's going to do what she thinks will make her happy. If she's happy, I'm happy."
They relax and JC being the same way he's always been, notices the food immediately. "Real food?"
"Yes, Kelly made spaghetti and sent me enough for both of you."
"I learned why Min doesn't like the food here-it tastes like shit, burnt shit. I ran out twice to get her food and she looked like a kid on Christmas morning when I came back," he tells me, causing her to jab him in his side with a finger. I hear about the rest of the day and who else knows about the situation, getting a full update on Min. Neither of them say another word about them possibly starting to see each other. I'll wait to find out when they're ready to talk to us about it and tell them how enraged Joey was to find out about it, seeing the pictures made even more real for Joey and Kelly.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Lance is Min's best friend and he's come to a few conclusions and realizations over the years.
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