A New Journey (Second Chance #3) (10 page)

“Karla’s been in there a long time.” Conner said when Karla didn’t come out after fifteen minutes.

“I’ll go get her.” Travis said as he stood up and walked toward the door. He paused when he heard his brother’s voice from inside.

“Karla, you are mine and the sooner you realize that the better. Conner will not want you after I take what I want. Then you will have no choice but to run into my open arms.” Travis heard Trevor say. He didn’t need to hear anymore. He opened the door silently and saw Karla laying on the bed in a semi-conscious state. He knew then that Trevor must have drugged her somehow. Before Trevor could make a move toward her Travis grabbed him from behind and pulled him to the floor.

“Leave her alone, Trev.”

“This does not concern you, Travis.”

“Yes it does. You are my brother and she is my friend. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will protect her.”

“Bring it on, brother. I could always beat you in a fight.”

When Trevor swung wide Travis went low and let his fist connect with Trevor’s chin. This threw Trevor off balance enough that Travis was able to sweep his legs out from under him and knock him to the floor. When he hit the floor Travis punched him in the face over and over again until he was unconscious.

When he got off his brother everyone was in the room staring at him. Conner was on the bed holding Karla in his arms. Before anyone could move Ron and Andrew rushed through the door.

“What the hell happened here?” Andrew asked with a growl.

All the kids looked at each other, not really knowing how to answer, before Travis spoke up. “I think Trevor drugged Karla. When we got up here she came straight in here. She was in here for about fifteen minutes and we all started getting a little worried so I offered to come check on her. Since Trevor is my brother, I was hoping she would talk to me, that maybe I could help her. Anyway, when I went to knock on the door I heard Trevor’s voice and knew something was wrong. I slowly opened the door and saw Karla lying on the bed. I knew what had happened. Dad, I tried to talk to him before I hit him. He just wouldn’t stop. He was going to hurt her.”

“You did the right thing, son. Andrew, let’s get these two to the ER and have them checked out.”

“Just keep him away from Karla.” Conner said as he gently lifted Karla from the bed. “Can I ride with you, sir?”

“Of course you can, Conner.” Andrew said and tried to take Karla from his arms.

“I got her, you’ll need to drive.” Conner didn’t want to let Karla go.

“Alright. Keep my girl safe.” Andrew said and walked out of the room.

“Yeah, cause I have done a hell of a job thus far.” Conner mumbled and followed Andrew from the room.

As he was climbing into the back of the SUV beside her Dr. Carpenter led Trevor through the door. “I should have been the one to defend her. I’ve let her down again.” He said in a quiet voice.

“Conner, you had no way of knowing Trevor was in that room waiting for her. We all should have picked up on the signs of her being drugged. I’m a doctor and just thought she was tired because of everything that has happened over the past week. Leslie is talking to hotel management right now to see how Trevor got into our suite and we’re trying to figure out how she got drugged.”

“None of that matters as long as she’s alright.”

“She’ll be fine. I just want to examine her and do a tox screen to see what he gave her.” Andrew said as he pulled up to the ER entrance and jumped out.

A couple of seconds later he ran back to the SUV accompanied by two nurses pushing a gurney. Conner helped them gently move Karla to the gurney and when he started to let her go her hand reached out and touched his. “Don’t leave me.” She pleaded in a voice so weak they could barely hear it.

“I will never leave you.” Conner promised.

“Kim.” Andrew said to one of the nurses. “Can you move my car please? Just park it, lock it and bring me the keys.”

“Yes, sir.” Kim replied and climbed up into the SUV.

“Karen, I need a full blood work up. I want to make sure whatever was given to her hasn’t damaged any of her organs. I also want Conner to be with her at all times, no questions asked.”

“Got it, sir.” Karen said as she wheeled Karla into an open room. Conner stayed at her side through everything, except when the nurse changed her into a hospital gown. When Karla started moaning his name he grabbed her hand and squeezed a little.

“I’m right here, baby. I will never leave you.”

“Con, can I come in?” He heard his sister ask from the other side of the curtain.

“Yeah, Cal.” He answered and smiled a little when Callie walked in.

“Is she going to be alright?” Callie asked as she walked to Karla’s other side and stroked her hand.

“Andrew thinks so. He just wants to make sure there isn’t any lasting damage to her organs.”

“Good news.” Andrew said when he walked into the room. “The drug he used was Ketamine, which is used mostly before surgical procedures and is basically harmless. Karla will be just fine. All of her blood work came back normal and she should be coming out of it any time now.”

Conner sat down heavily in the chair he had pulled beside Karla’s bed and laid his head down in relief. Fifteen minutes later he felt fingers stroking through his hair. When he looked up his eyes locked on the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Karla was looking back at him.

“I’m fine, Conner.” Karla answered for about the hundredth time the next morning.

“I’m sorry, Karla. I know I’m getting on your nerves by asking, but I was so scared last night.”

“I know you were. I don’t remember most of it. I remember feeling really sleepy at dinner and I remember seeing Trevor in my room, but I was too weak to scream. I remember him talking to me, but not what he said and I think I remember seeing him and Travis fighting. From that point until I woke up with your head beside me I don’t remember anything. Mom and Dad told me that you stayed with me the whole time.”

“You asked me not to leave you so I didn’t. I stepped out of the room long enough for them to change you into a hospital gown and that was it.”

“I love you, Conner. Thank you for staying with me.”

“I love you too, Karla. I will always stay with you. Now, are you ready to do this?” He asked as he parked at the school.

“Definitely.” She answered with a grin.

“Karla?” Conner said as they got out of the car. “Have I ever told you what seeing you in that skirt does to me?”

“Nope.” She answered with a grin as she twirled around a little. “What does it do?”

He didn’t say anything, but he walked over to her and captured her mouth in a deep kiss that let her know exactly what he was thinking. When he broke the kiss she grinned up at him.

“I guess I need to go to the mall and buy a couple of skirts like this.” She said with a wink. When he burst out laughing she grinned again and took his hand. “Come on, goofball, we can’t be late.”

****

After a strong first place finish the team met at the local pizza place to celebrate. Karla and Conner sat at a table with Rylee, Callie, Daniel and Alissa, one of the new sophomores on the team. After their pizza arrived Alissa looked at Karla and asked, “You’re friends with the Carpenter’s right?”

“Some of them, why?” Karla answered cautiously.

“What’s the deal with Trevor Carpenter?” Alissa asked.

“He’s crazy.” Rylee answered before Karla could.

“He isn’t crazy.” Karla interjected. “He’s very calculating and extremely obsessive, but he isn’t crazy. I do, however, think he is bi-polar.”

“Bi-polar? Really?” Callie asked in confusion. “What makes you think that?”

“When I got out of the hospital last night I spent some time searching the web.”

“Of course you did. You wouldn’t be Karla is you didn’t.” Conner interrupted her with a grin. “If my girl doesn’t know something she researches until she reaches expert level.” He explained to Alissa when she gave him a confused look.

“Anyway.” Karla said as she rolled her eyes at Conner. “According to what I found bi-polar disorder, or manic depression, is pretty common. There are several different types of bi-polar, but basically it involves major mood swings, bouts of depression and atypical behavior. Symptoms can start developing in childhood and worsen through puberty and into adulthood. I think Trevor has been having manic episodes, which consists of persistently increased goal-directed activity. They can last for a week or more and the person having the episode doesn’t think of anything other than their end goal. Without treatment the person suffering from bi-polar only gets worse, but with treatment they can live a full, normal life.”

“So you aren’t holding him responsible for anything he did?” Daniel asked in shock.

“Until he is evaluated and it is determined whether or not he is bi-polar, I am reserving judgment. He needs help, not jail time.”

“Now you sound like Leslie.” Callie said and rolled her eyes. “You are too forgiving sometimes.”

“Wait, what do you mean by jail time?” Alissa asked in confusion.

“Apparently you haven’t heard about what happened last night.” Rylee said and went on to tell Alissa what happened with Trevor.

“I agree with Karla. He needs to be evaluated for bi-polar disorder. My older brother is bi-polar and as long as he’s on his meds he’s a really great guy. If he gets off of them then he’s the total opposite. He has mood swings, is violent, gets depressed really easily and scares me sometimes. He’s in college now and is doing great, but he caused a lot of trouble in high school before his diagnosis.”

“I’m talking to Dad when I get home and telling him my theory. Trevor needs help and I know Dad will do what he can to provide that help.”

“Our Dad will too and so will Dr. Carpenter. Trevor will be alright and if your theory is correct we may actually be able to be friends with him.” Callie said and smiled when Rylee’s face lit up.

“That would make life easier.” Rylee said and they all burst out laughing.

“Speaking of the Carpenter brothers, what’s going on with you and Travis?” Daniel asked Rylee with a mischievous grin.

“I’m sure you’ll know the answer to that before I do, Mr. Nosy Pants.” Rylee said and everyone burst out laughing. “Now on to more important topics. Who is up for hitting the mall tomorrow?”

Everyone cracked up again and Rylee grinned. She had succeeded in shifting the conversation to something light.

The rest of the evening passed with a lot of laughter and a little fun-filled teasing.

“Dad, can I talk to you for a minute?” Karla asked as soon as she walked into the hotel suite they were calling home.

“Sure, honey, what do you need?”

“I think Trevor may be bi-polar.”

“Ron and I were just talking about that earlier today. He and Travis came by to help load everything into the van and we were talking about Trevor’s atypical behavior. Do you remember Dr. Morgan, the one who was helping Chase last year?” When Karla nodded Andrew continued. “I gave Ron her number and he’s going to call her Monday to set Trevor up an appointment for evaluation. Maybe we can get to the root of his problem and get him the help he needs.”

“Thank you, Dad. He needs to get help.”

“I agree.” Andrew said. “How’d the competition go today?”

“We took first place. We may make it all the way this year.”

“That’s great, sweetheart. It’ll look great on your college applications too.”

“Speaking of college, the first ACT test is scheduled for the first Saturday in November and I’m going to sign up to take it and the SAT is in December. I want to take both this semester and start sending in college applications as soon as possible.”

“Sounds like you have this all figured out.” Andrew said with a look of pride on his face.

“I know where I want to go, but I want to send applications to at least ten different universities, just in case.”

“Karla, sweetheart, you don’t need the
just in case
option. You’ll be accepted anywhere you apply. Which college are you wanting to go to?”

“Only the top college in the state, your alma mater.”

Andrew’s face lit up and he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m going to have a proud dad moment now.”

When Karla laughed he squeezed her tighter. “What’s this all about?” Leslie asked from the doorway.

“Karla and I were discussing colleges and she just informed me she wants to go to my alma mater. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

“You know that’s my alma mater too don’t you, Karla?”

“Yes, Mom. I know you and Dad met there. I want to go there because it’s the best school in the state and it will allow me to stay close to home.”

“It will allow you to stay at home if you want.” Leslie said with a smile.

“Yes, and that is an option, but I do what to experience dorm life also.”

“I understand that. I didn’t stay at home during college and neither did Mom. We both lived in the dorms.”

“Where’s Conner wanting to go?” Leslie asked. She knew they would stay close to one another.

“He’s mentioned a few places, all here in the Nashville area though. Neither of us want to be too far from home.”

“It’s more like neither of you want to be too far from each other.” Elliot said with a snicker as he walked into the room.

“Yeah, there’s that too.” Karla said with a grin. “We may not choose the same school though. He wants to major in Biology or Pre-Med and I’m leaning toward Psychology and Sociology with a Criminal Justice minor.”

“Criminal Justice?” Leslie asked in confusion.

“I’m pretty sure I want to be an abuse counselor, but I want a little Criminal Justice knowledge so I can help explain to the children exactly what the adults who hurt them are facing. I want to help then like Trent, John and Bob helped me that first day.”

“You are an incredible young woman.” Andrew said and hugged her close. “I am proud to call you my daughter.”

“I am proud to be your daughter.” Karla answered. “Now, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and I think we all need sleep.”

“I agree. We have a van to unload and an apartment to set up tomorrow.” Leslie said and they all headed for their rooms. Once their door was shut Leslie turned to Andrew. “I’m not ready for her to go to college.”

“I’m not either, baby, but she was ready for college before we got her. She’s grown into a very mature and responsible young lady and we had a part in that. I’m very proud of her.”

“Me too. I am thrilled she’s wanting to go to Vanderbilt, but what about Conner? Do you think he’ll stay around here?”

“He’ll stay close enough to see Karla on a regular basis. He’s not going to leave her.” Andrew reassured Leslie. “Now, I think we need to get some sleep. We have a very busy day tomorrow. It’s a good thing we have several teenagers to help us.”

“Yes it is. We are very blessed.” Leslie said as she climbed into bed beside Andrew and he wrapped his arms around her. “Goodnight, Andrew. I love you.”

“I love you too, baby. Goodnight.” He whispered back and kissed the top of her head. She was right, they were very blessed.