Stella Reese
Medical Records/ Doctors dictation notes/ Nurses notes of September 30, 2001:
Patient received to ER via EMS with symptoms of hypovolemic shock caused by an ectopic pregnancy gone without treatment and resulted in left fallopian tube rupturing and hemorrhaging.
Patient Name: Jane Doe.
DOB: Unknown
Allergies: Unknown
Labs drawn yielded patient is AB+ blood type. Drug screen negative. All cultures, including STDs were negative.
Patient prepped in OR for Left Salpingectomy. Procedure performed without incident. Patient remains stable. Will continue to monitor.
Prior to patient signing out AMA patient refused rape kit.
(Patient signed out Against Medical Advice once awake, alert and oriented—50 minutes after anesthesia.)
Patient’s printed name & signature: Stella Reese
I can’t fucking read any more.
Sam Smith, he was one of my buddies. I fucking hung out with him that summer. That was the summer before I went to LSU.
Oh my fucking GOD!
Memories, all of them, begin flashing through my mind.
Her at the lake fishing with us.
Her tagging along to baseball games, parties — Parties. I was… MOTHER FUCK! I scan back over the date and re-read the medical notes.
I was at that party. I manned the keg at that party.
Jesus Christ! I remember wondering why Sam brought his kid sister.
I lean back into my chair and let my eyes reread the file until almost three in the morning.
I want to know who the fuck did this shit to Stella. Every single motherfucker that laid a finger on her, I want their blood soaking my hands.
I’m fucking proud as shit of my little fighter, dammit. There is no reason for her to be the beautiful person she is today, inside and out. Not one fucking reason.
A Masters from Columbia? What the hell—Who does that? Who goes from where she was to where she is? And I know without a shadow of a doubt that her childhood is what prevented her from getting into those other programs.
And I’m fucking glad, too. Now that I have my answers, I’m fully prepared to seize the fuck out of this opportunity I’ve been bestowed.
I may have to woo her, charm her, and fucking fight her the whole damn way.
But Stella Reese will be mine. In every goddamn way possible.
Chapter 10
Fucking Questions
“Trina?” I ask on my way in the kitchen, “Don’t fucking lie, and keep your eyes on mine so I can tell whether you are or not. Does this outfit in any way say sexy, fuck me, I’m weak, or ‘here just run me over’?”
She blinks at me.
“Well?” I grab my on-the-go coffee cup and take a sip of the piping hot heaven. I look over the bar at Trina… Yep, she’s still fucking blinking at me. “Say it, bitch.”
After she clears her throat she says, “You look like a professional, no-nonsense, confident, and highly capable sexy beast—That gives good head!” She falls into a laughing fit and I roll my eyes at her on my way toward the door.
“Wish me luck. I’ll grab some wine for us on my way home, sis. Love you!” I call out before leaving.
By the time I get to Jacobs Publishing on Madison Avenue, I am a nervous wreck! I wish I could calm down and stop fidgeting. I brush my hands down my black pencil skirt for the seventh time and straighten the matching jacket. I’m in the middle of tightening my ponytail when the elevator doors open.
Head high, bitch. You own it and you know it, now show it. You’ve gotten this far all on your own. And after today, you only have three hundred and sixty four more days to go.
I waltz in the offices of JPH exactly like I did the last time I was here. BOSS. BITCH.
I smile at the pretty receptionist and watch as she turns from pretty to an ugly skank right before my eyes. “Hi Rachel. Is Wesley in his office?”
Skank sneers and in a saccharine voice replies, “Don’t you mean Mr. Jacobs?” My smile never wavers as the words ‘Fuck you bitch, don’t let me catch you in an alley’ flit through my mind.
“He said to call him
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