"He offered me a beer while I waited, so I took a few sips, but the whole thing just felt wrong." She screwed her eyes shut, like the memory pained her. "I should have seen it sooner. Once I realized things were fishy, I'd taken I think five sips of the beer, and I locked myself in the bathroom. By then, the drug was working, and I managed to send you a text before I passed out."
My hands jerked, and I had to restrain myself from accidentally adding to her pain as I carefully palpated her stomach and the other side of her ribs. "Did you hurt yourself falling in the bathroom?"
"No, I kind of… slumped over," she mumbled. "When I came to, he was ta—" she choked on the words.
I closed my eyes for a moment, and then gave her a reassuring look. "Keep going. What happened next?"
She swallowed convulsively, putting cracks in the dried blood that had run down her delicate neck. "He removed my clothing. Then he lit a cigarette, and I realized I wasn’t drugged as much, so I could move. I smashed the cigarette in his face and made a run for it. We fought… for a bit. I'm not sure. And then you came." She held up a trembling hand to show me the deep burn in the palm of her right hand.
I gently cradled it and kissed her wrist. "You were so brave, Gem. Exceptionally so." She nodded, swallowing again. "Did he touch you? Rape you? Assault you in any other way?"
She shook her head. "I really don't… think so."
I knew it was hard to account for time when a person was drugged, and the further she got from the incident, the more likely her memory was to protect itself from certain specifics. I wouldn't have forced her to tell me now otherwise.
My phone rang, and I answered automatically. It was the results of the specimen test— flunitrazepam. So, her likelihood of anterograde amnesia was probable. It was possible she didn't remember everything that had happened, but so far, her injuries corroborated what she had said about the event.
I carefully placed her hand burn-up on the bed. "Alright, Gem, so here's what we're going to do. He gave you flunitrazepam, which can be dangerous if not addressed, so we're going to give you IV fluids, and I'll watch your respiratory symptoms. Realistically, I don't know how much you actually ingested, so we just have to be a little careful. Okay?"
She dipped her chin in acknowledgment. "Okay."
"Then I'll treat your other injuries, and you get to take a very long, very deep nap. Yes?" I held her worried gaze, trying to exude calm when I felt anything but. I felt like driving back to that house and ripping that monster’s face off his skull.
"Yeah," she agreed weakly.
"We can discuss the rest when you've had some sleep."
She didn't waver as she whispered, "Thank you."
After I had Gemma set up with fluids and treated the burn on her hand, I washed the blood from her body with the washcloth. She fell asleep then, finally surrendering to the exhaustion and muddled mental state the drugs had put her in.
I cleaned the rest of the mess up, forcing my brain to stay blank, to stay neutral. I threw all the discarded medical supply packages, the bloodied wash rags, and Gemma's stained underwear into the fireplace and lit that son of a bitch for the first time ever. The flames erupted around the evidence, and I hoped this would all end with the ashes. At least, the physical evidence. The emotional scars for Gemma would last a long time, and I cursed myself for the fiftieth time tonight for my part in this.
She never would have gone there if I hadn't been an asshole. She wouldn't have run to a friend she barely knew if she'd felt safe here. I did that. I put her in harm's way, and there was no forgiveness to be found for myself.
I stayed busy, cleaning the apartment until my hands ached, and all the while, I checked on Gemma, monitoring her vitals and watching for any signs that she struggled to breathe. She slept deeply, breathing evenly, and thankfully not waking from nightmares or because of her pain. I was reluctant to give her any pain medication that might further depress her respiratory drive, so I was grateful she was able to sleep through it.
Eventually, my own adrenaline rush waned, and I found myself hunching with exhaustion. As I finally lay down on thebed next to Gemma, mindful of her IV line and the bag of saline she had hanging off the corner of the headboard, my phone rang again. I answered as I lay down on the pillow. "Hello?"
"You're still awake," Azura observed. I grunted in response. "Well, you'll be relieved to know we located your gamer girl. She's alive and well and was completely ignorant of the fact that Gemma and Dain had been talking. Dain had blocked Gemma on Emma's new account, so Emma had assumed Gemma wasn't interested in communicating anymore. She's worried about Gemma now, though, and wants to come see her."
"Uh," I scrubbed my chin, thinking. "I guess that will be up to Gem."
"Perfectly understandable. Also… I have a few connections. It's best if you don't ask too many questions, but my associate will fly to Dain's residence and… ensure a mutual understanding of events going forward."
Shady. As. Fuck. "Sounds great," I sighed.
Gemma's eyes fluttered open, and after a moment of confusion, her gaze lighted on me and she watched me with sudden interest. "What's up?"
She looked much more alert, thank God. "It's Azura," I replied. "She found Emma. She's fine and wants to see you."
"Yes," Gemma said immediately. "Yes, I want to talk to her. I want to make sure he didn't… that she's okay."
I nodded. "Azura, that's a yes to Emma. Does she still live in Portland?"
"She does. My associate will pick her up after his, er meeting, and he'll take her to you."
"Who is this 'associate?'" I asked with an eye squint.
