Could Tammy be that Ruthless?
Chapter 45
Garrett’s POV
Late Sunday Afternoon:
but
The room was flooded with light when I woke up. I went to lift my arm to block out the sun, the brace on my shoulder forced me to stop. I couldn’t raise my arm, and the memories of being attacked came back swiftly. What is wrong with people? I groaned out in pain and frustration. They had deliberately injured my right arm. They knew my name and where I lived. It wasn’t a random attack. They came to hurt me, and fear clawed up inside me. What kind of
damage had they done? This could be a career–ending injury for me.
“I will get the doctor, Garrett,” my mother told me before the room was silent again.
When she returned, I asked, “What the hell happened?” Mom just looked at me like a deer in
the headlights. I knew it was bad because I could tell that she had been crying. She was trying to be strong now, but I could tell how upset she was. Another man entered the room before I
could ask her where Dad was.
“You were attacked, Garrett. The police are currently looking into it. They were clearly looking to do some damage to you, to prevent you from playing anymore. Whoever did this wanted to take your career away from you. You were very fortunate, I can tell you that. If they knew what they were doing, they would probably have tried again but were trying to leave quickly. I think they believed they were successful,” an older man in a white coat told me.
“Whatever they did, it hurts,” I told him. I reached for the cup of water on the rolling tray on the
left side of the bed. I knew without asking that my mother had set the tray up for me. She
always cared for all of us, and I am grateful she is here to help me now. I didn’t want to admit
it, but the attack had scared me. Two strangers coming after me was nothing I would have
thought could happen to me. I wasn’t a saint, but I wasn’t a bad guy either.
“You were attacked, but I don’t believe it is career–ending damage. With hard work, you should
be able to recover fully. The short answer is that you will need to give your injury plenty of time to heal, probably about a year, at least nine months. Then, you will need about six months of physical therapy. You have a pectoral muscle rupture. The tear is quite small, which is why I said you are lucky. Your injury could have been much worse. You also lucked out that Dr.
Gregory was here on shift last night. He is a talented surgeon; normally, he would not be here
for the overnight shift. He did a favor for a friend to take over his shift last night and tonight,
so you will probably see him tonight when he comes in for his shift. I believe if you follow our
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+8 Point:
Could Tammy be that Puthless?
instructions, you should be able to recover from this completely,” he told me.
At least there was hope. I’m no stranger to hard work. I will do whatever is necessary to ensure I can return to playing football. “Thank you, doctor?” I replied.
“Dr. Edwards, I’m just finishing my rounds now, but I will return before I leave to check on you before I leave. We didn’t expect you to wake up this soon. You are already on the mend. You may not feel like it right now, Garrett, but you were lucky,” he told me before nodding towards
my mother and leaving the room.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“The attack happened early this morning. It’s five–thirty p.m. now. Your father and I got the call from your coach about thirty minutes after it happened. We got here around ten. Your father dropped me off and then went to the police department to speak to them about what happened, I just called him and told him that you were awake. They are on their way here now
to speak to you. Your father said that they would be here in about ten minutes. Can I get you
something from the cafeteria? I can grab you a burger or something. They didn’t know when
you would wake up, so you are not on the schedule for dinner,” she told me.
“I am not hungry yet, Mom. Thanks, maybe we can all eat together later,” I told her.
I could see that she was anxious and barely holding back her tears. I didn’t want to be the one
who broke down first. It was a comfort to see her, and know they were both here for me. I held
my good arm out to her, and she came in for a hug and let her tears flow, which made me cry,
too. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents or scare them. I have to admit that I cried a little,
too. This was way past anything I had ever experienced before. Knowing that I could have
been killed was terrifying for me, I was glad for the comfort of having my mother here with
- me.
“You don’t have to worry, Garrett. Either your father or I will stay with you at all times. There is
an officer stationed just outside your door. We don’t know who did this yet, but I promise you,
we will find out, and we will make sure they pay for hurting you, my mother assured me. She left the obvious unspoken. She didn’t want to upset me further by mentioning that it would be even worse for them, especially if my career were over because of their actions.
I believed her. I didn’t have any enemies. Even the quarterback I replaced hadn’t been mad at me. It was part of the game to get injured. I hate that my injury came while I was off the field. It was personal, and that was the scary part. This was very personal. Whoever these men were, they meant to hurt me badly enough to make sure I never played again. I am sure the attack would have continued if Frank hadn’t returned to his post.
Time seemed to drag on before the detective on my case arrived with my father. The detective
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+8 Points
Could Tammy be that Ruthless?
was dressed casually, but his eyes were sharp. He started to speak right after my father came in and hugged me.
“Garrett, my name is Detective Christopher Wilson. I am very sorry this happened to you. I need to know what, if anything, was said to you during the attack,” the detective asked.
I told him what I remembered, including the confusing part after I was stabbed. I could see my
mother getting upset the more I spoke, and she glanced over at my father. They both seemed
worried. When I stopped talking, my father asked one question. “Garrett, has Tammy
contacted you in the last two years?”
“Yeah, she texted me a couple of weeks ago. I told her to dream on about ever dating me
again. It is not going to happen, I am done with her. Why?” I answered.
I listened, stunned, at the next sentences from my father’s mouth. Apparently, Tripp ran into
my father last week and told him what happened to him and Alden a few months back. That
couldn’t be a coincidence. Two guys had attacked them, too. I knew Tammy was not a good
person, but would she go far enough to have them hurt me badly enough not to be able to play
again?
”
Her warning suddenly seemed real now, and I asked my mother to pass me my cell phone.”
She threatened me. Tammy did. She said I either picked her or I would be done. I thought she
was messing around. I have the text message still saved. I hadn’t deleted it yet, but I just
thought it was her talking s**t like she usually does. Trying to get me to take her back, but I
wouldn’t do it. I never took her seriously.”
The detective looked at the text between us and smiled. “She identified herself in this text,
which was not very smart. However, it is good for us. She won’t be able to help herself. I am sure that she will reach out to you again. If only to gloat and tell you she was behind it. I will need you to send me anything you get from her from this day forward. Screenshots will be fine; we can subpoena the phone records after that to document them for court,” Detective
Wilson advised,
“Well, according to Tripp, they haven’t been able to find her in at least a year. She just disappeared. Her parents do not know where she is and do not want her to return home. I believe that they had a falling out after she was released. I looked into it briefly, as I had just seen Tripp on Friday afternoon before you got hurt. You need to know that she is dangerous. You may need to contact the Frisco police department. I warned Valerie to be careful because Tammy seemed to be on some kind of vendetta,” my father told the detective.
“Is that why you told me not to go grocery shopping on my own?” my mother asked.
“Yes, the threat seemed valid. I was planning on warning Addison, too. It seems like Tammy is
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Could Tammy be that Ruthless?
after everyone who sent her to prison. I don’t know how she thinks she will get away with it. I didn’t warn you because you had already left for college when the second trial occurred. You didn’t testify against her at the second trial, so I didn’t think you would be a target,” my father replied.
“So you think that this Tammy is behind all of this? If she disappeared, she wouldn’t have a
job or money. How could she be getting this done?” Detective Wilson asked. Clearly, he didn’t
think she was capable enough to get this done.
I already knew the answer before he got through asking his question. “I know how, and I also
have a person for you to speak to. Tammy was always willing to use her body to get what she
wanted. Frank is never gone long from his post. That was suspicious to me when I was
attacked. He was always at his desk or just outside to smoke. You could always see where he
was from inside the lobby. I didn’t see him outside at all. It seemed like a long time, but I saw
Frank coming back into the building and straightening his clothes. You might want to check the head of security. If Tammy was behind this, that was how they got Frank out of the way,” I
stated.
I was repulsed that I had ever been interested in Tammy in the first place. I stared at the ceiling and wondered how it had ever come to this. I was the one who had screwed everything up, and now Tammy was back again to cause Addison problems again. I won’t let her hurt Addison a second time. Tammy has to be stopped.
