...And Beyond... | To Infinity... Book Two [ON HOLD]

Chapter 5: Making Amends

A/N: This chapter contains material that may be a trigger to some people. Read at your own risk.
~❤️~

Monday April 13, 2021 - New Orleans, Louisiana

???

Desi POV

"No, no, I'm not leaving her, I can't! Her friend's not here, her family's not here, I can't leave her here alone; this was all my fault!"
"Dude, you've gotta calm down."
"How Dean? Look at her! She's unconscious with all these weird tubes and shit stuck in her. I did this."
"Technically the shots and the roofies did."
"Shut up. Go back to the hotel, I'll call Vince myself and talk to him."
"Nah man, don't worry 'bout, I'll work somethin' out for ya. I'll call you. Text me if anything changes."
"Yeah man, thanks."

Joe? Joe! Can you hear me?

...

Clearly not because he said I was unconscious, duh. What the fuck happened? Did Dean say something about...roofies? What the Hell is going on?

*~*~*~*
Joe POV

12:00 PM

"You'd do that for me, Vince? Oh, thank you, thank you so much! I won't be late, I promise! I just...I really need to be here for her. I promise I'll fill you in some other time...Oh! I gotta go! She's waking up, I'll see you later."

I end the call with Vince feeling so happy and grateful for the friends I have. Dean convinced Vince to move our rematch against The Club to the second hour of RAW instead of making it the main event in the third hour so I could leave and come back to see Desi before visiting hours were up. He's even allowing me to show up at the venue thirty minutes before the match, which means I'll have to get dressed and warmed up here in the hospital room, so Dean's on his way back to bring me my gear.

I sit down in the chair beside the hospital bed and watch as she stirs. I've watched her fidget and mumble for the past hour and I'm praying that this time she's waking up. My prayers are answered when I see her flutter her eyes open and she groans a little, her voice hoarse from the hours she's spent in this medically induced coma.

"J-Joe?" She croaks out.
"Shh, babygirl, don't strain yourself. Here, here's some water."

I put my hand underneath her head to allow her to slowly sip the water from the little paper cup I retrieved for her. When she's done drinking I let her lie her head back down.

"My head is killing me. My stomach is killing me. Joseph, I need you to kill me."

I chuckle lightly and hold her hand.

"Sorry, I'm not gonna do that, I can only help you feel comfortable."
"Ha! Good luck with that." She goes to laugh but ends up coughing instead so I let her drink some more water.
"Can you please tell me what happened? Like, how the fuck did I end up here?"
"Well, we all went out, you decided you wanted to hang out with some douchebag at the bar, he kept buying you shots and drinks and you kept takin' 'em, chuggin' 'em. I went over to cut you off and he wanted to play all big and bad, so I tried to drag you away myself but you wouldn't go with me, then you passed out right there on the dance floor. Basically, they had to pump your stomach because you consumed so much alcohol but there was no food there to soak it up or anything; and the guy slipped a roofie into one of your drinks somehow, so there's that. Alcohol poisoning and you were drugged."

I chuckle as she groans and facepalms herself. I stroke her wild loose hair, pushing some strands out her face and I readjust her blanket to make sure she was warm.