Chapter 23
Once on the island, Dominique had been taken straight to hospital and into the emergency room. For the next 12 hours, Richie waited. His friends had taken turns waiting with him trying to keep him distracted. He was extremely grateful for what they did too.
It was after lunch when Dr. Drake finally emerged looking extremely exhausted.
“How is she? Asked Richie anxiously.
“Still in critical condition. Her left hand and arm are extremely messed up. I had to put two pins in the forearm and I’ve fixed her hand. Her jaw was a mess too but it’s repaired and her mouth is wired shut. She had 8 broken ribs and there was a lot of internal bruising.”
“What about the drugs? And did he rape her?”
“I haven’t gotten the blood tests back but I did see the tracks. As for the other question, there is significant bruising in that area but I didn’t do the rape kit because we both know how he treated her.” Dr. Drake hesitated for a minute as he studied the man in front of him. “Richie, Dominique is in a coma and I’m not sure she’s going to come to. The longer she stays in the coma, the less likely she is to come out of it. It doesn’t look good for her.”
Richie’s heart stopped. He’d just found her; he couldn’t lose her now. Tears were immediate and he looked away.
Noah saw the rocker’s reaction and gave him a minute to pull it together. Then he asked, “Do you want to see her?”
Softly, he answered, “Please.”
“We’ll be moving her to a private room within the hour and you can stay with her then too. Sonny will probably be by later after he’s had some rest. I had to extract the bullet from his shoulder,” said Noah as the two men walked to the recovery room.
In the recovery room, Richie moved slowly to the bed. She’d been cleaned up making the bruising stand out. Carefully, he took a seat and took his hand in his drawing it to his lips and kissing the fingers.
“My beautiful princess, I’m so sorry this happened to you,” whispered Richie. “No one should ever be treated like Santadio has treated you. I want to take the rest of my life showing you how beautiful love is – our love – but you have to wake up. I need to see your beautiful green eyes; I need to hear your sweet voice; I need to feel your hands on my skin.”
Richie stayed by Dominique’s side through the afternoon, even when they moved her to the private room. He talked to her; her sang to her; and he played with her hair. Well into the night, he eased into the bed beside her and placed his hand on her stomach and that’s where he fell asleep.
It was after midnight when Jon and Tico came in to check on Richie. As they pushed the door open and looked in, they saw him next to her.
Carefully, Jon shook him and said softly, “Hey, Rich…wake up.”
Waking slowly, he opened his eyes to see Tico and Jon. “What are you two doing here?”
“Came to check on you. How’s Nikki?”
Looking down at her beside him, he said, “She hasn’t woken up yet.”
“Have you been talking to her?”
“And singing.” Richie stood and stretched. “Noah came back just before dinner tonight and said Santadio overdosed her on cocaine and heroine.”
“Damn!” whispered the two men.
Richie looked down at her and brushed her hair back. “I don’t think I can take it if she doesn’t wake up. I’ve fallen hard for her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
“Just keep the faith, Richie,” encouraged Jon. “Why don’t you come to the house and get a good night’s sleep? You aren’t going to do her any good if you wear yourself out.”
“I don’t want to leave her…in case she wakes up.”
“Just make sure you sleep them….and get something to eat,” said Tico.
“Jon, look, I know you wanted to work on some material….” Started Richie.
“Don’t worry about it. Focus on Nikki for now and we’ll get it done later.”
“Thanks. I might come get some clean clothes later. I’ll see you then.”
The two men started to leave but they stopped at the door to watch as Richie resumed his position beside Dominique. They looked at each other before leaving.
