My Kind Of Bad

Chapter 10

After leaving Neera with a heavy heart, Kurt had driven around on his bike for some hours, not caring where he went. Things went by him in a blur. Before he knew it, it was dark. But Kurt didn’t feel like going home.

He didn’t feel like he had been doing the right thing. Pete thought it would keep Neera safe but Kurt wasn’t so sure. He knew someone would come after Neera, whether or not he was there. And Kurt didn’t like the fact he wasn’t going to be able to get close to Neera to keep her safe.

When he found this sick bas*ard Kurt was going to shoot him right between the eyes.

It was only a phone call from Pete that jerked Kurt out of his thoughts. Pete was insistent that he got to the hospital. Immediately Kurt thought of Neera, that she had already been attacked. But then Pete had told him Neo was in the hospital and she had asked for Kurt to come instead of her parents. That she wanted to talk to him.

The message sounded urgent. Pete sounded urgent. And Kurt couldn’t turn away.

He texted a friend to get them to check on Neera and made his way to the hospital. Pete was in the waiting room when Kurt hurried in. Kurt stopped and stared. His brother’s shirt was covered in blood, his tie was gone.

“My God. What happened?”

“Neo came to my house.” Pete looked like he had been running a marathon. “I don’t know how she got my address but she said she was looking for you. She was bleeding and looked like she had been in a fight.”

Kurt’s heart thundered. Neo was hurt? He didn’t care much for the girl right now but he couldn’t turn off previous feelings of fondness. She was still the little eight-year-old girl he had first met.

“How is she?”

“The doctors are patching her up now. She’d been stabbed but it didn’t hit anything vital. They patched that up pretty quickly.” Pete shook his head. “She also had a broken wrist, a few broken ribs and bruises all over her body. This has been going on for a while.”

“With her boyfriend? Neera’s ex?”

“I’m afraid so.” Pete paused. “The doctors said it looked like two different people made the injuries.”

So that meant two people had beaten Neo up. Kurt felt sick. He looked around the room, which was nearly empty.

“Where are Billy and Taylor?”

“I’ve called both of them. Billy’s on his way in now but I can’t get hold of Taylor. Billy said she was at the gym and she probably didn’t have her cell phone with her on the treadmill.”

Taylor at the gym? Kurt couldn’t connect the two. Taylor hated the gym and she had a furnished gym in her basement. He looked down and found his hands clenched into fists.

“I’m going to have a word with Billy about Jason. This is the second woman I know of that Jason’s had domestic problems with.”

“Third.”

Kurt stared.

“What do you mean? There’s another one?”

“Before Neera. My partner called me about it twenty minutes ago. The report is in our station and is still ongoing. Uniforms are picking Jason up right now.” Pete glanced towards the ER. “I need to talk to Neo. Will you come with me? She needs to see a friendly face.”

“Of course.”

Pete took one look at Kurt’s expression and said nothing. Kurt knew his big brother could see he was hurting. He was appreciative of Pete saying silent on his situation with Neera; if Pete mentioned it at all he would probably beat his brother to a pulp.

He was, in part, to blame in Kurt’s eyes.

They found Neo in a bed in the ER. Her arm was in a cast and her face was a bruised, bloody mess. One eye was completely sealed shut and her jaw was swollen. Kurt’s heart ached. She looked like a scared little girl. And someone had done a real number on her.

He hoped Jason would go to jail for a very long time.

“Miss DuJour?” Pete indicated to Kurt to draw the curtains around the cubicle. Then he sat on the edge of the bed. “Do you know who I am?”

“Sure I do.” Neo’s voice sounded muffled. Kurt guessed her jaw was also cracked. “You’re Kurt’s brother. I sought you out looking for him.”

“I’m here, Neo.” Kurt moved round Pete and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m right here.”

Neo looked up, her eyes widening. Then she sagged with relief. Pete glanced at Kurt.

“I spoke to some of my colleagues, Neo. Jason is being arrested right now. With his previous arrests, he won’t be bothering you for a while.”

Neo nodded. She bit her lip and tears appeared in her good eye.

“Please don’t tell my parents.” She pleaded. “They can’t know about this.”

“I’m sorry, Neo, but your father is on his way in. We’re contacting your mother…”

“No!”

Kurt jumped. He could feel Neo trembling under his hand. She was terrified.

Of Taylor?

“No, don’t tell her about this?”

“She’ll kill me.” Neo said miserably. She raised her arm. “She did this to me.”

Kurt looked at Pete and saw the stunned expression that he was sure was on his face. Pete had met Taylor a few times and she had always been sweet, flirtatious. They both knew Taylor had a temper and it came up whenever she felt threatened but never had she turned on her daughter.

Evidently they didn’t realize that she could.

Neo looked down at her cast.

“She has a nasty temper. Dad tolerates it but he doesn’t know how bad it is. I get the full brunt. I can’t begin to count the amount of times she’s put me in hospital and I’ve had to say I was attacked.”

“That’s why you started acting out.” Kurt murmured.

Neo nodded. Pete gave Kurt a sharp look.

“Did you know Taylor was like this?”

“No, never. I’ve seen her get angry, sure, but she’s never attacked anyone.” Kurt gulped. “And I’ve never seen her attack Neo. They’ve got differences of opinion and they argue but I’ve never seen her raise her hand to her.”

“Remember when I broke my leg last year and I said I fell down the stairs, Kurt?” Neo’s voice was trembling. “I didn’t mention that Mom pushed me, or that she hit me while I was down. She said if I said anything she’d kill me.”

Kurt found a chair and sagged into it. He was still trying to get his head around the fact that Taylor had been abusing her own child for a long time.