Push

Chapter 42

Ashlyn Harris POV

I don't know how to feel right now. I just watched medical personnel wheel a semi-conscious bruised up Cameron out of the locker room. As soon as she's out of sight, I shove a teary-eyed Kelley against the wall and hold my right arm against her chest.

"I swear to God if you don't start talking, O'Hara." I threaten her.

"Hey, Ashlyn get off of her." Pinoe tries to pull me away, but I stay in the same spot.

"What the hell happened to her?" I ask again.

"S-she w-was seeing someone, and went on a d-date. I'm still trying to piece to-together what happened. I just saw the bruises last night."

"And you didn't think to inform us last night?" I yell back in her face.

"Cam made me promise-"

"She's being abused!" I cut her off.

"I know! But she swears it wasn't him." She cries back.

I slam my hand on the wall next to her face in frustration. I watched Kelley flinch.

"Hey, let's go to the hospital." A hand is placed on my shoulder, I turn around and see Press. "Ali is probably scared and alone waiting for news on Cameron."

She has a point. I take a few deep breaths.

"Can you guys bring me, Ali's, Kelley's and Cam's stuff back to the hotel?"

"Of course!" Dunn says.

"We got it, just keep us updated." Pinoe says.

Kelley and I quickly wear sweats pants, a sweater, and change out of our cleats. With that Kelley and I made our way through the back way entrance to see a car waiting for us that Coach Vlatko arranged to take me and Kelley to the hospital.  We get to the hospital and ask for Cameron Santiago. They send us to a different location where we can get more information. It's a private waiting room. When we get there we see Ali in the waiting area.

"Baby." Ali looks up when she hears my voice. I see tears streaming down her face which makes me cry. I go and hold her. 

"How was she in the ambulance?" Kelley asks.

"She was holding on, but then she threw up even more. Her blood pressure dropped and we couldn't keep her awake. They took her to get a CT scan when we got here and they found internal bleeding. She's in emergency surgery right now."

"She'll pull through. She's strong." I say.

"I don't understand how this could have happened? She had handprints around her neck, Ash!" Ali exclaimed.

"I know. I know." I comfort her. I saw the same thing and it looked bad.

"Cam has been seeing someone. It's the guy, Adam, her tattoo artist. When she came back a few nights ago from her date she was acting suspicious and her voice sounded hoarse, but she said it was because she was screaming at a concert. I believed her. She kept wearing turtlenecks or hoodies and changing in the bathroom. I only saw the bruises last night. She kept swearing it wasn't him. She still swears it wasn't him. I don't know why she's protecting him." Kelley speaks up explaining what happened.

Why wouldn't Cameron tell us she's seeing someone? I swear I'm going to kill him if he did lay hands on her.

My thoughts are interrupted by a doctor, "Family of Cameron Santiago?"

"That's us." Ali rushes over to the doctor.

"Sorry to meet you under these circumstances. Regarding Cameron, she is stabilized. When she was brought in we took her immediately for a CT scan and found internal bleeding. We performed a surgery to stop the bleeding which was successful. What concerns me now are the bruises around her torso and back. The fingerprints on her neck and bruising around her abdomen appear to have happened at the same time. Do you know what happened?"

"We are still trying to figure it out." Ash notifies the doctor. "This is new information to us."

"Okay well, she should be awake in a few hours. She'll be tired and kind of loopy from the anesthesia. She's in room 707 if you would like to see her."

"Thank you, doctor." We all say.

When we reach Cameron's room, it's like deja vu to when she was lying in the hospital bed after being shot. We all sit around her and just wait for her to wake up. I believe we are all trying to come to different conclusions as to where the bruising came from, but there's only one explanation I can come up with. I think that's the same with Ali and Kelley.

A few hours later, I feel Cameron squeezing the hand I was holding.

"Hey guys, she's waking up." I say to the other two in the room. I see Cameron slowly wake up. "You are okay, Cammy. You are safe." I say in a low tone to comfort her.

As she opens her eyes and looks around she lets out a big sigh and closes her eyes.
"He didn't do it."

"So you told us." Ali says. "So are you going to tell us what happened?"

"No." She bluntly says.

"I don't know if you noticed but you are in a hospital. You were internally bleeding because that blow to your already bruised torso triggered it. So tell us what happened or else I swear I will go see Adam and I promise you I will not control myself." I get heated.

"Ugh." She sighs defeated. "I didn't want anyone to worry so that's why I didn't say anything. I handled it. It's done with."

"Well if it's handled, you wouldn't mind sharing what happened?" I push her.

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Haven't spoken to you guys in what feels like a while. Just another check in wanting to hear how everyone is doing and handling things. If you need anything just DM and I'll do the best I can to help.

From my end, I had to temporarily leave my job because I was exposed at work and they refuse to give me proper PPE to care for people. It's bad. Pretty sure I would test positive if I had the test done.

Also school is a nice distraction despite all the chaos and busy work. Stay patient. Stay inside.

Thank you all for your support on the book. I still don't know where it is going but at least it's going.

Lots of love,
~AK