Temptation

49 - Hero

After watching Noah smash the framed photo of Madden and I, I couldn't handle watching anymore of this baiting plan. I step out of the van, leaving Mara in there with the tech guy. If we weren't dealing with bullshit today, it would be a really nice day, maybe a beach day; the sun is shining through the clouds. The irony is that it's a nice day and we are having a bad day. I stand alongside the van and wait until I'm told that we can go back. An hour passes and still there is no news, yet I see smoke coming from my street. The smoke is dark and cloudy, rising to the sky and based off of where we are parked on the side of the road, I know it is our home. I slide open the van door, "We need to go." "Not yet," the geeky tech guy says to me. Who does he think he is, if I say we need to go then we need to go! "Haven't gotten the call yet." Mara looks at me and her eyes speaking the words she wants to say, telling me to be patient, that it is almost over.

Moments later, I'm jumping into the passenger seat of the van and we are speeding on the residential street just to drive seconds away. I needed to get there faster than seconds, I needed to get there at light speed. Outside my home, I see Noah handcuffed and locked into the back of a black SUV and DJ sitting on the back of an ambulance, with wrappings covering his arms. Mara runs over to him and I follow. "Dominique, what happened to you?" He explains that in all the excitement of the FBI and cops arresting Noah, that they practically forgot her, so he went through the fire to get her. He found her passed out on the floor but she was in the middle of all the flames so he had to go through them to get to her, "The paramedic said she has pretty bad smoke inhalation so they gave her fluids and oxygen but they need to take her to the hospital to have the doctors take a look at her." I hug DJ, which I have not done in in years; maybe I did as a child, but as a teenager to adulthood, I never hug him, but it was time that I gave him one and he deserved this one.

Before I can join Madden in the ambulance, the FBI agent who put cuffs on Noah approaches me. I shake his hand to thank him, "Buddy is going to jail for life, admitting to murder and attempting to murder plus having a gun and bullets. He won't be getting out." "Thank you, really." "What else is family for," he says. The connections I have with the FBI is familial, this tall 30-year-old man standing in front of me is my mum's brother's son. Titan shakes my hand one last time and I watch him drive off with Noah, knowing that Titan will keep him locked up.

My mother never wanted me to be close with my family, she wanted to keep me all to herself so that no one could figure out how she was really treating me. They all thought that I was doing okay and that I was too busy for them because I'm a child star, but reality hit them when she passed, and all her secrets had been poured out. Apologies from the family came a few months after my mom passed, noticing that I wasn't at the funeral and when Titan called, we hit it off. Titan and I haven't spent much time together as he's 7 years older than me, but we've met a few times over the years, and I'd say he's the closest family I have. Other than Madden.

The paramedic driving the ambulance notifies me that she needs to leave to get Madden to the hospital. I hop in the back of the ambulance and sit beside her. As she lays in front of me, unconscious I know exactly where Noah has touched her. There are hand marks wrapped around her neck, his grip is imprinted on her wrist and her eye slightly swollen, forming a bruise. The fire looks to have not touched her skin, but the effects of the smoke inhalation is what's keeping her asleep. Tears escaping my eyes, the paramedic with us in the back tells me that I'm allowed to hold her hand. I take her hand in mine, but she doesn't squeeze it like she normally does. Her hand lays limp in mine. Once we get to the hospital and the staff wheels Madden away from me, the paramedics insensitively asks me for my autograph. Knowing that I can't really say no because they just treated Madden and DJ, I take a sheet of paper from their hand and scribble my name for them.

* * *

The doctors have Madden hooked up to a bunch of fluid but have removed the oxygen mask from her mouth and nose. "She may be out for an hour or so longer just so her body can take in all the fluids and heal her lungs," the doctor says then leaves the room, closing the door behind him for privacy. Adam remains outside the room, keeping watch for any paparazzi or annoying fans. When the media finds out about all this chaos, it is going to mayhem for us and right now I just need peace.