It was almost three hours later when Jess finally made it back to Astrid’s house. Lily had been crying when he arrived, and hadn’t stopped the entire ride. Arriving back at the house, Lily had insisted he turn on all the lights in the house before she would go inside, and even then it was hard to get her to stay alone while he picked up Lindsay.
Traffic was horrendous on the way there. Apparently every male person in California was heading somewhere on Astrid’s street, so it took him forever to get there.
Where the hell is everyone? Jess wondered, looking around the deserted yard. He kicked a beer can over the deserted lawn. There was trash everyone, but no sign of life whatsoever.
A noise made Jess turn his head towards the back porch, where he found a very drunk Astrid semi-passed out in a lawn chair.
He gave her a shove. “Where’s Lindsay?”
“Huh?” Astrid groaned and shifted her body slightly. “The blonde chick? I don’t know. Check inside maybe.”
She had already fallen back asleep, so Jess opened the back door and walked into the house. A single light on by the couch revealed two guys and a girl all passed out on the living room floor. Jess shook his head. This was ridiculous. He couldn’t believe he used to hang out with these half-wits.
Jess stepped over one of the guys and walked down the hallway, opening random doors. Maybe Lindsay was hanging out in one of the bedrooms while she waited for him.
The third door only opened an inch before hitting something solid. Jess pushed harder, sliding the door open just far enough to slip inside and flip the light switch.
“Oh my god.” He had to close his eyes.
Jess knelt down by the crumpled figure. “Lindsay?” He gently pushed her onto her back so he could see how badly she was hurt. One eye was blackened and swollen shut, and there were large purple bruises all over her arms.
“Lindsay, wake up.” Trying not to get frantic, Jess adjusted her ripped shirt. Then he noticed that her jeans were undone.
And then he got frantic.
Later, Jess wouldn’t remember what he told the 911 operator. All he remembered was waiting for what seemed like forever for an ambulance to arrive and the even longer ride to the hospital. Lindsay was rushed into an examining room, leaving Jess in the waiting room to pace.
“Jess Mariano?” A doctor in the usual long white jacket approached him.
Jess leapt to his feet. “Is she okay?”
“None of her injuries were life-threatening.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Jess was shouting now. He didn’t care who heard him, or what anyone thought. He just needed to know if Lindsay was okay.
“We found traces of the drug Rohypnol in your friend’s system. This drug is most commonly used as a ‘date-rape’ drug.” The doctor paused to allow Jess to take all this information in.
Jess paled. “Was she?” He trailed off. He couldn’t say the word.
“It appears so.”
Jess let a wave of nausea come over him.
***
“I shouldn’t have left,” Jess whispered repeatedly, staring at Lindsay’s unmoving body in that hospital bed. This was all his fault. If he’d been there, that guy wouldn’t have tried anything. He was supposed to protect her, and look what had happened.
He could have stopped it from happening. He could have stopped that jerk from doing that to her. It never would have happened if he hadn’t left. He should have made Lily wait for Jimmy or Sasha to come home, should have insisted on Lindsay coming with him.
This shouldn’t have happened to her. Not now.
A nurse had just left after asking him to notify them when she awoke, when Lindsay began to stir. “Where am I?” she whispered, struggling to open her eyes.
“At the hospital.” Jess hurried over to her side, pushing the call button beside her bed. “Do you feel okay?”
“What happened?”
Jess gulped. He was so very unsure of what he should say to her. “Do you remember anything that happened at the party?”
She squinted. “I remember you going to pick up Lily. Then I started getting tired. I was looking for somewhere to lay down…” She trailed off.
“That’s because someone put something into your drink.” Jess blinked rapidly against the tears that were threatening to come. Guys didn’t cry, not even when things like this happened.
Lindsay closed her eyes, trying desperately to string together the brief flashes of memory she had after that. She’d swayed, and someone steadied her. Then there were hands on her arms and hot breath on her face. And there the flashes ended.
“What did he do to me?”
“I’m sorry,” Jess whispered.
Lindsay nodded. “Just tell me.”
“The doctor should be here in a minute.” Jess glanced nervously over his shoulder. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t tell her, couldn’t watch her expression when she found out. He wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing.
He clearly wasn’t going to answer her. “What got put into my drink?”
“It’s called Rohypnol.”
Lindsay paused, trying to remember where she’d heard of that drug before. It was on a tv show, one of her favorites. The girls boyfriend put one in her drink and then…
Lindsay threw up.
***
“Your friend is going to have to leave now,” the nurse said gently. “The doctor will be here to examine you in a minute.”
“No!” Lindsay gripped Jess’ hand so hard that he lost feeling in a few fingers. “I don’t want him to go. Please stay?” she pleaded, staring up at Jess.
Jess looked down at her, pale and shaking on the hospital bed. He couldn’t say no to her. Not when this was all his fault for not being there.
So he stayed.