Just what the Doctor ordered

Chapter 3 - Dealing with the fallout

Addison’s POV

Staring at the broken lock on my front door, I couldn’t believe my bad luck. This building was safe, I’d lived here for over three years now, and there hadn’t been a single break-in in my building. Why now? Why me? And then it suddenly dawned on me, Maggie, where was Maggie?

After I moved in here, I had a friend call me from the shelter she worked at. A dog had been surrendered to them, not even a year old. She was a birthday present for some rich little kid who had gotten bored of taking care of her and was too big for the parents to be bothered with, so they surrendered her. My friend knew I had experience with the breed and was calling to ask me for some advice, and I offered to adopt her straight away as soon as I heard her story. She was a mixed dog, half Pomeranian, half-husky, a pomsky. I had had one growing up, but unfortunately, he passed away when I was fourteen. He had been my best friend growing up. I was raised by a single mother, no siblings, no idea who my father was, that dog had been my whole world when I was little. I always wanted to get another one, but they were pretty expensive dogs.

Maggie was now three and my little fur baby. She was about thirteen inches tall, twenty five pounds and had the colouring of a husky, but her face was fluffier like a Pomeranian with she had gorgeous brown eyes.

I inched slowly towards the door until I was right outside my apartment. I didn’t hear any noise coming from inside, so I pushed the door open with my foot and entered quietly.

From what I could tell, nothing was missing, but the place was a mess. Photo frames were broken on the floor, furniture was upended and torn, mirrors were smashed, my closet was emptied, and most of my clothes were in a shredded heap on my bed. So what the hell is going on? It’s not like I had anything of value to take. Hell, even my TV was a good twelve years old. I got it when I was in college.

“Maggie? Here girl!” I called out, hoping she was hiding, but she didn’t come out, and Maggie always came out when I called.

Ignoring the mess, I quickly raced out of my apartment and up the stairs, taking two at a time until I reached the next floor. I put in long hours at the clinic, so I hired my Neighbour's daughter to swing past on the days I worked and take Maggie for a walk in the afternoon. I walked her before I left in the mornings, but she needed another in the afternoon, and a short one before bedtime or she drove me crazy. Sometimes after her afternoon walk, Emily brought her up to their apartment for a while, which is where I was hoping she would be right now.

Knocking on the door, I shifted nervously from one foot to the other as I listened to the footsteps approaching until Mrs Gusman answered the door.

“Oh my goodness, Addie”, she exclaimed, “what happened to you?”

“It’s nothing.” I lied, forgetting about the bruise on my face. “My apartment was broken in and trashed, and I can’t find Maggie. I’m hoping Emily brought her up here after their walk today.”

My question was answered as I heard a happy bark, dropping to my knees as Maggie ran out to me. She nearly bowled me over as she wagged her tail at me, trying to lick my face.

“Hey, girl.” I cooed, giving her a big hug, “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.”

Once Mrs Gusman agreed to keep Maggie there while I sorted out my apartment, I called the cops to report the break-in and texted my best friend Tori while waiting for the cops to arrive. I knew if she found out about all this after the fact, then she would never let me hear the end of it.

Thankfully the cops arrived quickly, and I followed them into my apartment to fill them in on what had happened.

The female officer quickly noticed the bruise on my face, and when I told her what had happened with Alec and then showed her all of the messages he had sent me, he moved to the top of their suspect list. Originally, I wanted to forget about today and forget I had ever met Alec, but after the officer saw how his messages had escalated, she was worried that the situation could worsen and wanted me to go to the police station to make press charges against him. That would allow me to obtain a protection order against him so he couldn’t come near me again.

I was mulling the idea over in my head and assessing the damage done to my clothes when I heard a woman arguing with someone at the front door. Poking my head around the corner, I could see a firey red head of hair fighting with the policeman at the door who was blocking the person from entering. That hair meant only one thing, my best friend Tori was here when I specifically told her not to come.

Tori and I met when I started working at the free clinic. She was the experienced nurse that showed me the ropes. People always think that the doctors know everything, no that is the nurses. I would be lost without her. While I was more conservative in my looks, Tori was as out there as can be. I tended to keep my hair my natural blonde color while Tori’s hair color changed every month. This month, it was a fire engine red. I have a couple of tattoos that are kept hidden most of the time. She has an entire sleeve and another massive one on her calf. She was only 5’7 in height, but what she lacked in size she made up for in her loud, bold personality. There was an old saying that opposites attract. We were the perfect example of that.

“Tor, I told you not to come.” I chastised her as I walked towards the front door, “officer, please let her in. She’s with me.”

The officer stepped aside, and she stormed past him and took in my apartment and my face, “Addison Marie Porter, you can’t text me something like that and expect me not to come over.”

She was the only one apart from my mother who ever called me by my first name, and like my mother, she saved it for times when I shouldn’t question her. I would give anything to hear my mother use my name again but unfortunately, she passed away a while ago, breast cancer.

Tori convinced the cops to allow her to get the first aid kit from the bathroom so she could clean the cut on my face and secure it closed with some butterfly closure strips while the cops dusted for prints and took photos.

One of the female officers approached us just as she was finishing up, “Miss Porter, we are nearly finished here. I just wanted to see if you have decided whether or not you’re going to come down to the station and make a statement about your injuries. I will be happy to drive you there.”

I nodded in agreement. Everyone was right. I couldn’t let Alec get away with this. I had seen multiple women come through the clinic to get treated for injuries just like mine, only to come back a month later with worse ones and still go back to the person who hurt them. After treating these women, I always promised myself that a guy would only hit me once, if ever, and that was it. It was too much of a coincidence for my place to get broken into on the same day not to have been him as well. He probably came past my apartment when I didn’t answer any of his calls or texts. There was no telling what he would be capable of next, and I had to protect the next girl that fell into his web.

Tori placed a hand on my shoulder, “You go. I’ll stay here and try to salvage what I can. You’re coming to stay with me for a while.”

“No.” I protested, “I can’t stay at your place. What about Maggie? She’s up at Emily’s place at the moment, but she can’t stay there long term.”

She rolled big brown eyes at me, “As if the offer didn’t extend to her as well. You don’t even have a secure front door right now. It’s not safe. I don’t know why you don’t just accept my offer and move in with me permanently, you know I have the room and I could use the company. I even have an awesome dog walker in my apartment building, plus the added security of a doorman.”

Tori may look and behave like a normal girl, but she was an heiress in disguise. Her father owned and operated a very large hotel chain, and she was his only child. She decided against going into the family business and preferred to help those less fortunate, but she owned her own apartment in Manhattan and had a very large trust fund. Not that she relied on that, she preferred to work full time. She had asked me to move in with her numerous times, but I had always declined. Unfortunately, this time she was right, I couldn’t stay here right now, at least not until the Alec situation had settled down and I had a working front door, maybe with a few additional locks.

I left Tori to her own devices to see if anything I owned was still in one piece, making sure to let her know where all Maggie’s stuff was, along with my important documents and sentimental belongings were. She promised me she would work quickly and then pick up Maggie and meet her back at her place.

Maggie didn’t trust many people, but she loved Tori, so I had no concerns about leaving her in Tori’s hands and just sent Mrs Gusman a message to let her know that Tori would pick her up in a little bit before heading down to the station with the cops to make a formal statement and giving them all the information I could about Alec. When I was done, one of the officers drove me to Tori’s apartment with the promise that I would hear from them and the District Attorney’s office in due course to discuss the next steps.

When I got to Tori’s apartment building, the doorman was already expecting me and ushered me straight inside without a second thought. I took the elevator up to Tori’s floor and knocked on her apartment door, where I was greeted by a very excited Tori and an even more excited Maggie.

I came inside and sat on the couch where Chinese food was already awaiting my arrival. Maggie climbed up on the couch and settled on my lap while Tori poured some wine and sat down next to me.

“I found all the stuff you wanted, but apart from some of your underwear and a few pairs of shoes, most of your clothes were not savable. So, I went through my closet and put some clothes in your room to get you through until we can go shopping.” She explained, handing me a take-out carton containing my favorite noodles. “You have your own bedroom and bathroom. I have also spoken to the dog walker in the building, and she is happy to come past in the afternoons to take miss Maggie for a walk and even lent me one of those portable dog potties for the balcony so she can do her business out there too. I have put a spare key on your side table and some toiletries and towels in your bathroom. I have also taken the liberty of contacting the on-call doctor for the clinic and asked them to cover for you for the next week or so until your face heals. You haven’t taken anytime off since you started working for the clinic and thought now is the perfect time for a break while you recuperate and deal with all this Alec stuff.”

Tears started to well up in my eyes as I finally let everything sink in, “I don’t know what to say, Tor.”

She wrapped her arm around me and pulled me close, “you don’t need to say anything. You just need to eat your noodles while we watch some mind-numbing reality TV, then I suggest a hot bubble bath, a bottle of wine and a warm bed. We can deal with everything else tomorrow.”

That was exactly what I did. I ate my weight in noodles, had a long, hot bath with a bottle of wine and changed into a pair of yoga pants and a camisole that Tori had left on the bed. I studied my face in the mirror while I dried and brushed my wet hair. It was a lot darker than when I looked at it earlier, but I figured it would be even worse in the morning. I wish I had done more than just kicked that jerk in the balls.

I didn’t know if it was the events of the day or the bottle of wine I had consumed, but as I crawled into bed after taking Maggie out for a toilet break, I could barely keep my eyes open. I had to sleep on the opposite side than I usually sleep on because that side of my face was too sore, but I didn’t care. Maggie snuggled in next to me, and I was out like a light.