Bad Company

Chapter 49: Shaun Darley

An annoying beeping sound coming from the heart monitor that I was hooked up to, awoke me from my deep slumber. My eyes fluttered as my blurred vision slowly started to become clear. My body was stiff, I felt like I was carrying five hundred pounds on my legs, making it next to impossible to move them. In my left hand was an IV. My head was pounding and whenever I lifted my brows, I could feel the tender pull on my forehead which led me to believe that I had stitches. I could only imagine what kind of pain I was going to be in once I no longer had this morphine IV drip jabbed into my hand.

"Can you shut that off...please? It's annoying." I said calmly turning my head to stare at the nurse who was checking my IV.

"The monitor? or your heart?" She teased with a warming smile. My expression remained emotionless as I stared back at her, clearly annoyed by the constant beeping.

"...I'll ask the doctor." She added in defeat before turning to leave the room.

My eyes followed the nurse out of the room and immediately landed upon Detective Wallis, leaning against the door frame. Her arms crossed and her lips pursed, clearly unimpressed with the fact that she was seeing me again in this condition. Once her eyes caught my gaze, she pressed her tongue against her cheek and stood tall.

"This stops... right now." She stated boldly in a warning tone.

I turned my head away from her, staring at the wall, avoiding eye contact with her. I felt numb all over. Both physically and mentally. Billy's...gone, Jack was shot three times, Christy was shot in the thigh, Megan was raped and I was nearly killed... all in the same night.

"God only knows why all four of you - including your baby - are still alive. But you're all being given another chance." Detective Wallis continued as she made her way into the room and towards the end of my bed, "You think I buy that bullshit story of a random B & E gone bad?"

I sighed in relief as she answered my silent question. Jack was alive, Christy was alive, Megan was okay and most importantly, my child was okay after everything that had happened. Dully, I blinked a few times, trying to block out her lecturing that was making me uncomfortable. Detective Wallis gritted her teeth, moving her jaw as she glared at me, knowing that I could care less about anything that she had to say.

"Billy wanted his retribution, and killed a punk or two and it got him what? Huh? What did it get him? I don't see him anywhere here, do I? Appears to me like it got him a body bag" She questioned as I turned my head staring directly at her, "Everybody thinks they're right in a war!"

"...Everybody still dies in the end." She added, lowering her tone. "Neither of them were ever going to win this... I told you that..."

My heart instantly sunk as my eyelids became heavy, my eyes glistening as a couple warm tears escaped my eyes, running down my bruised cheeks. A lump formed in my throat as I tried to finally speak. Choking back tears, I licked my lips and swallowed, my mouth dryer than the desert.

"I just want this to all go away..." I started, my lip quivering. "I don't want to bring my child into this life that I've been leading" I whimpered.

Detective Wallis sighed as she stared down at the ground, "Well... unfortunately you can't change how he was born, but you can change the life you've been leading for him."

"What?" I hissed, lifting my head from the pillow and wincing in pain.

"I checked on him in the NICU before coming to see if you were awake. He's beautiful."

"WHAT?!" I yelled, placing both my hands flat on the bed and using what little strength I had left to push myself up in bed and pulling up my hospital gown, revealing a much smaller stomach with a cesarian line on my bikini line area, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!"