Chapter 26 Once I got a job, I realized Dad was right. We did have food at home. -Audric to Creole AUDRIC Wesson looked at me with a frown. "You want to get that?" I winced. "Actually, if you don't mind, yes." He jerked his chin up and said, "I'll head to the John while you take care of that." As soon as he left, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and stared at the screen. Ten missed calls from the foreman on my last job, and just as many texts. All of them saying one thing. An inspector had shut them down for the day because of something wrong on my end. I cursed, texted him that I'd be there as soon as I could, then called Eedie. "Hey," she answered. "Get the job?" "I got it, I think," I replied, but I had to take a second because my phone was blowing up. "Could you do me a favor and run to my place and pick up the work van? While I was in the meeting, the city inspector went to the site of those apartments and said that something was wrong with our work. Then they shut them down for the day. I'm headed there as soon as I finish up here, though it might be a while, and I need my van in case I need to do some work." "On my way," she said. "It'd be easier if you left your vehicles at the office, though." I snorted. "Doesn't matter if I leave them there or at home. I always have to go to the other place to pick shit up for jobs." After we hung up, Wesson appeared, and we talked more shop. He told me expectations, prices for bids he'd gotten, and what his general timeline was looking like. We spoke more and more about our lives, and by the time it was done, hours had passed. After agreeing to meet again the following week with my bid sheet, I rushed to my bike. I headed to the apartment complex we'd recently finished and walked right up to the foreman. He jerked his chin at the city inspector. He was a tall man with shiny black shoes that were no match for a job site. They were filthy and getting dirtier by the second. What was he thinking wearing those damn shoes out here? "Got it. Thanks." I walked toward him. His eyes lifted from his clipboard to me, and he gave me a condescending smile. "You are Audric Ingram with Ingram Plumbing?" "That's me," I confirmed. "What's going on?" "I want to let you know that you have a few issues with your finish work," he replied. Then went on to tell me everything that was wrong with the plumbing. Only, the dumbass didn't think that I was up to date on the laws as I was, because before he could finish citing the violation, I was rebutting with the law that had changed, rendering his 'citation' moot. By the time he was finished, I'd damn near taken the wind out of his sails. My phone vibrated in my pocket but I ignored it. "I'm, uh, not sure that's..." The inspector looked flustered. "It's telling that you're ignorant on your new laws for this," I said. "One would think that an inspector would know the violations he's citing someone for have changed. Seems common knowledge anyway. But I can prove to you in each of these instances that I was correct in how I did them. I'm exact in my work. I don't mess up." Mostly. But he didn't need to know that. "I, uh, I..." The inspector cleared his throat. "I guess I'll clear these fines then and allow the next phase to commence." "Good," I snapped. My phone rang again as the inspector was leaving to speak with the foreman. I pulled it out of my pocket to see ten missed calls from Eedie, and just as many from Webber and Copper. I called Webber back first since he was the president. "Webber..." I said as soon as he answered. "Get to the hospital now," he snapped. "Eedie called me ten minutes ago saying that two police officers took Creole into custody. They said that they were holding her on a forty-eight-hour psych hold. They were pretty rough with her, too." I saw red. That doctor was about to go down. I arrived at the hospital within ten minutes, breaking every speed limit as I went. Hell, I'd passed more than a few cops on my way, too. But I was going too fast for them to catch up to me, let alone read my license plate. By the time I got to the hospital, I was in no better shape than when I'd left the job site. I stormed through the doors, then kept storming all the way to the receptionist who looked slightly terrified. But before I could get any words out, Webber's voice sounded from behind me. "Here, Audric," Webber called. I whirled. "She's in the psych ward," he said. "And she's not able to have visitors." I laughed. "Fuck them." I stormed my way back to the receptionist and said, "What floor is the psych ward on?" Her eyes were wide as she said, "Fifty. But you won't be able to get up there. It requires a badge." I turned and started walking, heading right toward the elevator. As I moved, I swiped the card off a nurse who was bending down to retrieve her can from the Coke machine. She never felt me take it, and I was going right up to the elevator and punching in the fiftieth floor before the doors had opened all the way. Webber, Copper, and Gunner stormed in seconds later. "Where's Lottie?" I asked Gunner. "Daycare. Started her at a preschool today," he said. "Pick her up in a couple of hours." When we got off the elevator, I used the nurse's ID to get us through the doors that blocked you from entering almost immediately after exiting the elevator. The doors swung open, and it led us onto a huge floor with tons of doors surrounding one central nurses' station. I walked right up to that nurses' station and bellowed, "Y'all better find me Creole Williams in the next two seconds or I'll lose it!" The lone female wearing a white coat looked up and said, "Sir, you can't be here." "You want to know who else shouldn't be here? My fiancée. And I'm guessing Dr. Russel Stoker was the one to issue the order for her to be brought here. Probably traumatized the fuck out of her while you were at it. And there is no reasoning for him to have declared this. Now, you either find me my fucking wife, or I'll do it myself." The doctor stood, reaching for what looked like a button underneath the desk. "You press that, and I'm going to blow a fucking hole in your forehead. Now find me my wife," I ordered. "Sir," the doctor tried to deescalate the situation. But there was no de-escalating this. "Find her. Now. Or I'll find her myself, and you won't like how I find her," I snarled. She must've seen the truth in my eyes, because she twisted and started typing into the computer. "R-room 5203," she whispered. I caught her wrist when she reached for the button again and yanked her toward me. "Walk with me." Copper and Webber flanked me. Gunner was two steps ahead of us, heading for the room she'd just said that Creole was placed in. Gunner threw open the door, and I fucking lost it at what I saw. Stoker had her tied to the bed, naked from the chest down, and he was leaning over her with his stethoscope against her breast. Gunner took a running leap and punched the doctor right in the face. If that jaw wasn't broken before, it sure the fuck was now. I let go of the female doctor and hurled myself toward Creole. I had her covered up and her restraints removed within thirty seconds. She launched herself at me, sobs pouring out of her tiny body, as she buried her face into my neck. I gathered up the blanket that'd been covering her lower half and wrapped it around her. Then I left, allowing Webber and the rest of them to fix what I'd just messed up.