✔Vengeful Valentine

Twenty Four: Adam

The hospital room reeked of cleaning solution. As a kid, getting annual shots used to scare the shit outta me. Being prodded and getting blood work done for possible diseases I could contract was far scarier. There was no way they could tell if I caught something immediately. Which only made me more paranoid. What if I got something from that dirty needle? I wouldn't even fucking know it until much later.

"How ya doing, Adam?" Chris asked softly.

My partner sat in one of the leather chairs near the hospital bed. I kept the flimsy blanket pulled up to cover the rest of my body that the ridiculous hospital gown didn't. I felt like a fool wearing the damn thing since it didn't even cover my entire ass.

"I could have HIV." I thought I'd vomit after I said that out loud.

"You're getting treatment right away, so that lessens the chances," Chris said. "I'm sure you'll be okay. I asked the doctor here, and she claimed to never know an officer who got stuck with a dirty needle catch anything. The drugs work really well."

"What if I'm the rare one it doesn't work on? I have a girlfriend who wants to start a family with me. I can't do that if I have HIV. If Everly wants healthy, happy kids of her own, she'll have to find another man." I blinked away the tears. I wouldn't cry like a baby in front of him or anyone else in that god-forsaken hospital.

"Don't think like that right now. I should've followed you, Adam. Maybe if I had, this could've been prevented." Chris sighed. "You're an ass sometimes, but you're a good cop, you know that?"

"If you'd stayed with me, Dylan would've gotten away," I pointed out. "You did your job. I always knew it was possible something like this could happen, but I never expected it to happen to me. I've heard stories from other jurisdictions and even knew a cop back in my hometown who got stuck with one. I just didn't think I'd be stupid enough for this to happen to me." I groaned. "Fuck, I should've cut his coat pockets and checked them. I should've just shot him dead when he ran out of bullets."

"You didn't know. There was no way you could've. You can't blame yourself. You did everything right," Chris insisted.

I hoped and prayed I contracted nothing from that worthless fucking addict. Everly meant the world to me, and if I was responsible for us never having a family, I'd never forgive myself. We'd just gotten over an argument about her job being dangerous, yet here I was out getting stuck in the arm with dirty needles.

Nothing anyone said reassured me. All I could think about was how I'd tell Everly what happened and how upset she'd be with me. It was my fault for not being careful enough. If only I could go back and do shit differently. Maybe this never would've happened. I should've just called into work and stayed at home with her, dammit.

I was required to take the PEP drugs for a month then follow up with testing shortly after to make sure it worked. The doctor got me started on the meds right away and informed me how it was very unlikely I got infected, but I couldn't stop worrying.

"They charged the guy who stuck you," Chris said as he drove us back to the police station. "His name's Jake Henderson. He was dealing for the Black Vipers. He had some of that new sex drug on him too. Cupid's Jizz."

"I guess I should count my lucky stars since he didn't inject me with that shit."

I've seen a fuck-ton of things since I joined the force at twenty-one. They ranged from comical to gut-wrenching, but nothing prepared me for that damn dirty needle. What got to me the most was how easily he pulled it out and stuck me. I didn't realize he had one until it was in my neck. He could've drugged me with anything. In that moment, he could've killed me.