The Barista

Soft Kisses

"Hey, beautiful." Liam's soft-spoken voice wakes me up. I feel his hand gently caress my face and try to sit up, but I feel weak.

"Liam?" I ask softly, looking around the darkened room. "Where am I? What happened?"

"Don't freak out but I took you to the hospital. I wanted to be sure."

"Sure, of what?" I ask as my heart begins to pound, and my anxiety begins to kick in. "Why am I at a hospital?"

"Don't worry about the bill, if that's your concern." He adds.

"It's not!" I force myself to sit up higher. "My concern is...why the hell am I here?"

"You were drugged, Elle. But thank God whoever did this wasn't able to get to you. That waitress...Anna I think is her name. She watched over you until the ambulance arrived. You passed out. And the same thing happened to Abby. Some asshole wanted to do bad things to you two. But Anna was your guardian angel."

"Good," I say, looking around the darkened hospital room. "That was the first and last time I ever went to that bar. We only wanted some food and maybe a few drinks. But nothing to do much to either one of us. I'd swear whoever did this wanted us dead."

"No." He argues. "They didn't want you dead. They just wanted you to be knocked out to the point where you would feel shit or wake up. And for that...I want to kill the guy."

"Was it that creepy guy?"

"It wasn't. Anna said he was the first one she pointed out to the cops. The guy was calm and explained he thought you two were single and was just trying to hit on you. He had nothing on him, and he has a clean record. He was very compliant and even allowed them to search his car. It wasn't him."

"Who the hell was it then?"

He shakes his head. "I don't know. But it doesn't matter. I'll never let you go to that bar or any bar alone ever again. From now on I will put security detail on you if I have to."

"That's not necessary," I argue.

His eyes wave with anger. "Yes, it is. You're mine now. And if people find that out...well...let's just say there are some people out there who don't care too much for me. And I will keep you safe at any costs!"

"First off!" I interject, giving him my best-angered look. Which in my current state isn't so great. "I am your girlfriend. I am not yours in the sense that you own me. We are together. But don't get this confused with I am owned by you. I am no one's property."

"I'm not saying you're my property. But damn it! I will protect you, Elle! I should have been there. I should have seen you were going out and I could have been there for you."

I roll my eyes. "Life happens, Liam. I'm here. I am safe. No one hurt me. You saved me. Be grateful. Because it could have been a lot worse."

"How could it have been worse, Elle" He argues with anger growing in his tone. "You went to a bar. Drinking is already bad enough. But to go to a bar without your boyfriend is pointless. And you were drugged and almost..."

"Stop it!" I plead angrily. "Going to a bar with my best friend is not pointless. It's common. It's called a girls night out. And we weren't even there to get drunk. That happened by whatever asshole made it happen. And it wasn't alcohol that did that to us. And if this is how you're going to act now that we are together...I don't want it. I'm not someone who can be controlled and that's exactly what you're trying to do. And I fucking hate it. So, either stop it or break up with me. But I'm not putting up with it."

"I'm sorry." He's quick to say, lowering his head. "I promise I'm not like this. I am controlling. But I'm also controlling in the sense that I want you to be safe and not end up in a situation that can get you killed. I'm just shaken up after that."

"After what?" I ask and look down at his bloody knuckles. "What happened? Why are your hands like that?"

He exhales, looking away from me. "I lied, Elle. I found the guy that did this to you."

My heart sinks and everything inside of me is screaming. "What did you do, Liam?"

He looks away shamefully and shakes his head. I could see it in his expression for a split second. He's hiding something but I don't know what it is.

"Liam! Look at me! What did you do?"
He still refuses to look at me or talk. "Liam! If you do not tell me what you did, I will get out of this bed and walk home right now. And you cannot stop me!"

He swallows, turning his head back to me. "You're not leaving this room, Elle Scott! You have to heal from whatever damage that asshole did to your body. That pill he put in your drink was dangerous."

"What did you do to the guy? Where is he now?"

He slowly shakes his head, his jawline showing which tells me he's gritting his teeth. "Don't worry about it. Just know, he will never hurt another woman in his life."

I slap my hands on the bed. "Liam!" I exclaim angrily. "Does he even have life anymore?"

He shrugs. "Does it matter? He's garbage. And we take the garbage out. It's that simple."

"Oh, My God!" I exclaim, feeling uncertain. "Is he alive?"

He shrugs, refusing to look at me. "I didn't kill him. He's out there somewhere in the woods. If he dies, it's not on me. He's a grown man. It's called survival of the fittest. He's not beaten badly enough to die in the woods. I have humanity and I try to be ethical. He will survive and then after he finds his way out of the woods, he will turn himself in. They always do."

I scoff in disbelief. "That sounds sadistic. I don't know how to feel about it."

He huffs like he's disgusted with my words. "I did it for you, Elle. And Holten did it for Abby. And my dad did it for all the other women this guy messed up. Like I said, he will be fine."

"It doesn't sound like he will be."

"He will!" Liam snaps but quickly shuts down as the doctor walks in.

I fake a smile. "So how bad is it, doc?"

The doctor smiles and raises his tablet to read it. "You're lucky. Whatever drug was in your system was a nasty drug. Just a slight bit more and you never would have woken up. Whoever did this to you, paid big money for this stuff. And I say that because we don't know what it is. We just know how it acted with your body and what it did to you. And like I said, the smallest bit more would have killed you. It's like he knew how much to give to make it the worst possible outcome without killing you...or the person knew and didn't care."

I look at Liam, not caring what the doctor hears. "You said he's going to survive?"

Liam nods his head with a small smirk on his lips. "Should he?"

"No. The guy can rot in hell for all I care."

The doctor looks confused. "Anyways. You will be fine. Your friend was persistent with me, telling you she's fine too. You both can leave at the end of today. We just need a few more hours to make sure this drug has completely run its cycle. It's a weird drug."

"And you don't know what kind it is?" I ask with confusion.

He shakes his head. "No idea. We sent it to a lab in upstate New York. It's nothing like we've ever seen. But like I said. Aside from watching over you two for a while yet, you should be okay."