CHAPTER TEN

           DAYS HAD PASSED AND SHE HADN'T HEARD FROM HIM AT ALL. Though she was glad he had kept his word, she couldn't help but think about Juan and wonder if he was alright. There was a moment where she had almost tried to call him but then she remembered that she did not have his number, he only had her own. 

Despite her insecurities about her ability to take care of such patients, she was quite proud of herself for having done what she did. If there had been a child with such wounds, which unfortunately had happened before, they'd been taken care of in the emergency room first before they'd come to her unit. Lucy never did the first care, unless they'd worsen while on her unit. 

And she absolutely hated herself for loving the thrill of it now that she had experienced it.

"Ouch," she winched as she took hold of the three year old's hand as the boy pulled on her pony tail. He sat on her hip as she walked up and down the corridor while his parents were speaking with the doctor. "That's not nice, honey."

The boy giggled and she smiled at him before brushing an unruly strand of blonde hair from his forehead. His face was still a little red. He had started wailing for his parents the moment they'd had gone and this was the only way to keep him calm. Lucy didn't mind, she loved spending time with them. 

His NG tube was bothering him and she furrowed her brows as he tried to scratch his nose.

"It's okay, honey." she muttered, making sure the plaster was still stuck to his cheek. "Just a few more days."

The child let out a huff and dropped his head to her shoulder, wrapping his chubby arms around her neck tightly. Lucy glanced away from him when Tommy rounded the corner in his purple scrubs, "Why don't you head home? I'll take over for you."

"It's okay." she shook her head with a smile and rested her cheek against his head. "I'm sure they are almost done in there."

Tommy left with a nod and Lucy went back to pacing the hall as the child fell asleep slowly. Her phone buzzed and she took it from her pocket with her free hand and picked up to hear Beth's voice, which sounded quite on edge.

"Lucy?" she began. "Where are you right now?"

"At work, why?"

"Could you come to my house straight after?" The edge to her voice made the brunette uncomfortable and she peered down at the sleeping child for a second. "We have a situation."

"Is it him?" she frowned. "I thought that was done?"

"Look ... i'll explain when you get here but it is an emergency. I wouldn't ask this of you if it wasn't important."

Lucy held her breath for a moment and lifted her eyes to the ceiling in a silent prayer. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

The brunette had paid her debt to Rio, unknowingly to her friends, which she'd like to keep that way. They had all paid their debt and it was over. No more stealing, no more lies and no more near death experiences. Just ... normalcy. 

But at the thought of that she felt a wave of annoyance wash over her, which was perhaps a sign that it wasn't normalcy that she craved. Lucy was glad that she was out, but she missed the adrenaline she had felt days ago and she wanted to scream into the void. Something had to be wrong with her because who craved such dangers?

Twenty minutes later, Lucy had changed out of her scrubs and was driving towards the suburbs where Beth lived.

Annie was the first to greet her when she entered the home and grabbed her hand before pulling her up the steps to the first floor where Beth and Ruby were standing. The door behind them was closed and they looked at her with unease.

"What did you do?" demanded Lucy as she looked at her friends.

"Why do you always assume we did something?" defended Beth with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Well..." grumbled Ruby as she looked towards the strawberry blonde. "this was your fault."

Beth glared at the older woman before she opened the door to her daughters bedroom, revealing a half naked man bleeding from his abdomen. He was passed out, blood staining the flower printed sheets underneath him and Lucy opened her mouth, "Who the hell is that?"

"I don't know." whispered Beth with a shake of her head as she turned towards Lucy. "I came back from the grocery store and he was just there. And I mean, i'm assuming he's with the gangbanger."

"I thought we were out?" stated Lucy as she stepped around the three woman and entered the bedroom to get a closer look at the man.

"Yeah, I thought we were done with that?" called Ruby, confused. 

"Okay, okay, we were." defended Beth as she rubbed her hands over her face and tried to find a way to tell them what on earth she had done. "And then ... Oh, god. It sounds so crazy even saying it."

"Spit it out." urged Annie with her arms crossed.

"I - I ... offered to do another job."

Annie and Ruby gasped, utterly speechless at her revelation and Lucy just stared at her with her brows raised. It was idiotic and dangerous and she couldn't understand why Beth wanted to get involved again after she tried so hard to get out. They were almost killed a few days ago and her home had been trashed and now she wanted more. 

"You asked for this?" accused Ruby while Annie let chuckle.

"It's not like we don't need the money." argued Beth, lowering her voice as she looked to each of them. "We still need the money."

"So, you asked for this?" repeated Ruby with wide eyes.

"Well, not this!" Beth waved to the still bleeding unconscious man on the bed of her daughter.

Annie couldn't stop her shrieking laughter and had to slap her hand in front of her mouth as to not wake the stranger before she looked at her sister. "Wow, sorry. I just can't believe that it is you and not me. Come on, that's crazy."

"Look," began the eldest as she tried to defend herself. "I just said that we would possibly, if the circumstances were right, pick up another load of fake cash."

"You volunteered us?" asked Lucy as she glanced away from the soaked bandage on the man's side. "Why would you do that?"

"It's not drugs, Lucy." she tried to reason with her. "We did it before. It's just paper. I mean, literally paper."

"You can't sign people up for criminal activity like it's a bake sale." argued Ruby as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Noted." agreed Beth before motioning towards the bloodied man. "But can you just help me get this person out of my house right now?"

"Oh, you want our help now?" demanded Ruby in disbelief. "I'm sorry. Why don't you call your BFF, the other gangbanger?"

"He's not my BFF. I don't even know his name."

Lucy did but she kept her mouth shut, she wasn't about to come clean about the deal she had had with Rio and she hoped she'd never have to.

"No, but I bet he does." Annie said and her eyes turned towards the bed. "Not it."

"Not it." echoed Beth and Ruby quickly.

"Seriously?" Lucy rolled her eyes and took another step and lifted her fingers towards his neck to feel his pulse. He was breathing softly, which she had already taken note off and was glad to feel a strong pulse underneath his skin. Her friends watched from the doorway. "Can one of you get me my emergency bag from the car?"

"He needs to go." argued Beth.

"How do you expect him to do that?"

"Fine," huffed Annie as she slipped down the hall.

He did not respond and Lucy frowned. He was young, probably early twenties and she wondered how he had gotten to this point. He had a large tattoo covering his chest and the brunette slid her hand into his back pocket to retrieve his phone but instead she found the cold metal of a gun and held it by two fingers before laying it on the dresser. "Definitely not a phone."

She found it in his other pocket instead and looked at the cracked screen. The youngest Marks sister came back with her bag, panting as she rested her hands on her knees. 

"Give me that." she snatched the phone from her which left Lucy still standing there with her hand stretched out.

"What's the last number he called?" asked Ruby as she peered over Annie's shoulder while she scrolled through his contacts.

"Uh, mom ... mom ... mom again." said Annie with narrowed eyes as she tried to look through the cracked screen. "Mom, mom, mom,  it's kind of sad, mom ... and Rio?"

"Rio?" echoed Beth. "That could be him, right?"

"Sounds like a gangster name." agreed Ruby.

"Who's going to call him?" 

i'm going to rewrite some chapters. I won't change anything! but i feel like i need to make my sentences better. i was (still am) so excited to write for rio that i'm just writing without even looking at what i am writing and i'm just simply not happy with the last four chapters. you won't need to read them back or anything, there won't be anything new in there.

thanks for the votes and comments so far <3