INFINITE (Eminem Fan Fiction)

Chapter 38: I Need A Doctor

Chapter 38: I Need a Doctor

Maybe it was because she spent her time hyped up on pain medication, but Riley felt fairly comfortable on the flight to Tacoma. She’d woken up early, Marshall slumped over in his chair, head and arms resting on the edge of her bed. She’d been discharged quickly, the doctors convinced she didn’t have any complications. Marshall was still quiet but seemed to have livened up since the night before. She was desperate to find out what was bothering him but didn’t want to push him about it.

After landing in Washington, they went straight back to the hotel where Marshall insisted she stayed in her room and rested. She usually would have protested but he’d opened up the double windows across from her, revealing the beautiful city view and letting in a cool breeze.

He stood across from her, looking uncomfortable, “Something happened last night… When you were asleep.”

Riley frowned. She hadn’t expected it to be something like that. “What was it?”

Marshall almost looked guilty as he spoke, “Are you sleeping with Mark?”

She almost laughed but held it back, “God no. Why would you ask something like that?”

He shifted, “I thought you were.”

Her face fell and she felt upset that he’d jumped to that sort of conclusion. Flattening her hands on her lap, she stared across at him, softly. “Marshall… We’ve talked about this. Mark and I would never-”

“I hit him.”

“You what?”

“I punched him in the face.” He looked like a child, admitting to his petty sins. He was ashamed….

“Come here,” She insisted. Marshall stepped forwards and sat on the edge of her bed, beside her. He could hardly look her in the eye. She was so glad he’d told her about this. It must have been ruining him on the inside. She felt guilty herself for making him think she was cheating on him.

“Do you remember when you told me the whole story behind you and Dre?” She asked.

Marshall nodded, “Yeah. It was on the flight back from Miami to Michigan.”

“I thought, considering what you just told me, it would be a good time to explain my relationship with Mark and me,” Riley considered. Marshall gave her a wincing look, as if he were expecting a story that would be horrible to his ears.

“Mark means the world to me,” Riley insisted. Marshall’s face fell and she couldn’t hide her smile as she knew he’d taken it out of context. “Before we even met, I was working at a dead-end waitress. I was just scraping by but I knew if I didn’t get a better job soon I was going to be in trouble. I had nobody to support me; no family, no real friends, no future goals. I had nothing…”

She had to close her eyes and take a deep breath, just remembering the dark place she’d been in for those years. “Mark and I met on the same beach you and I went surfing at. He’d been walking down there one evening and spotted me as I was pulling in my board. He asked me if I’d even been interested in modelling. I’d never done any work in it or anything like it but on some crazy leap of faith, I’d agreed to let him sign me.

I was amazed by how much the jobs paid. And Mark had been right… I had a lot of natural talent for modelling. When he found out how little I’d been earning, he started getting me into higher jobs that I wasn’t exactly qualified for. He gave me work that a beginner should never have done. And because of that, I was able to make ends meet. He saved me from being broke, believed in me, gave me opportunities I didn’t deserve. He risked his whole career as a manager for me.