7. Ethan

Ethan

Frustrated. Scared. Clueless.

I didn’t know what was happening, but I had to clean up the office in case someone decided to come in. I threw away all of the blankets and made sure there were no signs of our debaucheries.

I called the hotel housekeeping and promised them a hefty raise for cleaning the office and an extra payment for helping hide our big mess. They arrived within minutes, and I went over the task at hand. I hurried to explain what happened and then rushed back to Lily. It had been so long since I’d slept with a virgin, or had sex at all, and I just knew something was wrong. I’d never seen someone lose that much blood that fast. I waited outside the bathroom door to hear if she was okay, but it was quiet.

“Lily, are you okay? I’m outside the door. I have a car downstairs for us.” I knocked, waiting for an answer. I could hear the water running, but there was no response.

I knocked three more times, no response. No answer. No movement.

“Lily, cover up if you’re able. I’m about to come in.” With still no response, I pushed inside and found her lying on the floor, blood pooling around her. I quickly wrapped her with a robe and towel, carried her downstairs and out of the hotel, then placed her into the waiting car.

“Straight to the emergency room. I don’t care what gets in our way. Get us there safely. I know the roads are bad from the storms, so be careful, but hurry up. She’s lost a lot of blood,” I urged the driver.

“Yes, sir. The roads aren’t too bad. I’ll get us there fast. What about the blood on the seats?” the driver asked, looking unhappy in the rearview mirror.

“I will pay to have it cleaned. Just get us to the hospital, please,” I pleaded. Lily was still unconscious and had lost a lot of blood by this point.

“Please, Lily, wake up! I pray I didn’t break you,” I whispered into Lily’s ear. She couldn’t be broken, right?

Lily didn’t stir; she wasn’t moving, but she had a pulse and was breathing. She was just unconscious. I wasn’t sure what happened. I just hoped she was going to be okay.

“We’re almost to the emergency room, sir,” the driver told me. I handed him four hundred dollars to cover the damages.

“Thank you. If this doesn’t cover it, or if there are additional costs, please let me know. I’ll take care of it. No question.” I handed him my card, then scooped up Lily, and rushed her into the hospital.

“I need someone, fast. My girlfriend passed out while she was taking a shower. She’s lost so much blood; she needs a doctor now. She’s unconscious!” I screamed in the ER waiting room. The nurses were lounging around their station, drinking coffee and paying me no attention.

“I said, I need help! She’s unconscious, and she’s bleeding everywhere!” I repeated loudly, hoping to get their attention. Adrenaline was rushing through my system. They weren’t listening, so I yelled even louder.

“I need help, now!” I screamed at the nurse who was too busy listening to headphones or something that should not be permissible in the waiting room or for a nurse.

“What’s going on?” a doctor peeked around the corner, clearly having heard me. Thankfully!

“Thank god! My girlfriend is bleeding, and she passed out, and these useless nurses are too busy listening to their headphones and not me!” I screamed, almost in tears.

Carrying Lily wasn’t a challenging task, but she was deadweight, and I was trying to juggle holding the robe over her to keep her covered up and praying the towels were keeping her blood from dripping all over the place. It was taking a massive toll on me.

“Okay, right this way. I need you to tell me everything that happened,” the doctor ordered as he guided us to a triage room.

“Please don’t leave out any important details.”

“We were locked in at our business office last night because of the storm. We made love; it was her first time, and she thought she started her period, but there was so much blood. This morning, she took a shower, but then passed out, so I rushed her over here.” I gave him the cliff notes version of our night.

“Okay. Let me get her hooked up. We’re going to give her some IV fluids, and then we’ll do bloodwork and run some tests. Once she regains consciousness, we will need to hear her version of what happened,” the doctor advised as a nurse came rushing in behind him. “Just to confirm, this was a consensual arrangement, right?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, thrown off by the blatant accusation.

“We just want to make sure that it was consensual… That’s all,” the nurse chimed in.

“Of course she did. Why would I bring her in if it wasn’t?” I immediately went on the defensive.

“Sir, we thought she was your daughter at first. We meant no offense, but we must take all precautions for her safety,” the nurse added. I moved aside to let them work as they drew blood and connected her to an IV with saline to give her fluids.

Please be okay Lily.

“We need to ask you to step outside while we wait for her to wake up. Is there any immediate family you can call?” the doctor asked as the nurse left to make a call. What the fuck was going on?

“I’ll call her brother; I’ll be in the waiting room. Please let me know when she wakes up,” I said, frustrated.

A little while later, the police walked in and asked to speak with me. As if things couldn’t get any worse, now the police were involved. When they restrained me for ‘safety measures', I knew something terrible was about to happen, so I did the one thing I knew I could do.

I called Lily’s older brother, my best friend, Braxton.