Chapter 31
Renee had taken care of all the legal paperwork after they arrived; he simply couldn’t. When Luna fell unconscious in the ambulance Vin wanted to beat the shit out of the both of them for putting them through that hell.
Renee had spent almost an hour on her cell phone arguing with Luna’s health insurance company about the coverage of Luna’s treatment while waiting for Marcela to join them at the hospital.
They told Renee that, according to the hospital, Luna had the symptoms of an eating disorder and those weren’t considered physical damages, so as a direct consequence her policy didn’t cover her treatment.
When Renee told Vin what they had said, he didn’t think twice and assumed the cost, asking that no matter what, he wanted everything possible done to help her.
Renee had phoned Marcela on her way to the hospital because she knew about Marcela’s past. In the mean time, Valentino had phoned Mike and Steve, he suspected that as soon as Vin Diesel entered the hospital he was going to need his bodyguards around, but not exactly to protect the actor, quite the opposite.
Vin had been at the ICU ward for two hours, waiting to know what was going on with Luna. Marcela, Renee, Steve, Valentino and Mike at his side permanently.
Just as Val had expected, the ER’s staff recognized Vin as soon as he crossed the doors with Luna. So after the first hour, the waiting room of the ICU seemed an endless parade of nurses, doctors and others patient’s relatives who were interested if it was true that Vin Diesel was there.
Vin fought the urge to send some of those nosy fuckers to hell who were showing their faces just to check if he was really him, but he knew better than that. A headline screaming that Vin Diesel had beat the shit out of someone in a hospital wasn’t going to do him or Luna any good. So, Vin did his best to keep his temper at bay while cursing silently even when some of them tried to make him sign an autograph.
If Mike and Steve weren’t there, surely Vin would have lost the little self-restraint he had. He couldn’t believe how they could be so uncaring and insensitive, considering the fact that all of them were in the ICU where people’s lives were in danger just at few meters from them. Even though Vin was only worried about one life, Luna’s life.
—————–
Vin was lost in thought about how he was in this situation. It seemed to him that no matter what he did, he always ended up feeling guilty about Luna. He couldn’t believe how she had been fooling all of them.
Talking about damn good actresses, he scolded silently, tightening his jaw.
He was mad with her because she hadn’t trusted in him. All that shit would have been avoided if Luna would have told him how she was feeling. But again, maybe she couldn’t do it because she was scared to death of his reaction. So he was feeling like shit for not being able to show her his real feelings concerning her instead of hiding them.
Once more, Luna was the only one who could piss him off just to make him feel guilty two seconds later. Just like at his house that damn weekend; just like in Santo Domingo; just like right now.
His father had said that a woman who was a roller coaster was better than the rest. Vin chuckled sadly at his own thoughts. Honestly now, he didn’t agree with his dad and sure as hell he seriously considered turning around and leaving Luna behind forever right now, not looking back.
Damnit, Luna, he cursed silently as a low growl escaped his lips.
Renee and Marcela felt as guilty as Vin but for different reasons. Renee didn’t know how she had been so blind, unable to see the signs in front of her face, and cursed herself silently. She had been so busy with the wedding and her job that she hadn’t noticed how Luna had been losing weight too fast.
On the other hand, Marcela wanted to beat the shit out of herself because she knew better than anyone what Luna was going through. Marcela suffered from anorexia nervosa when she was sixteen years old and she almost died.
Vin pulled Marcela to him while she was crying silently; whispering to her that Luna had been fooling all of them and that if there was someone who had to be blamed, it was him and nobody else. All the time, Renee had been crying too, her face against Val’s chest.
Watching how both women were crying was killing Vin and he thought about how he had felt when he found Luna at her apartment, shaking without control, sweating and so cold he thought she was dying, and later in the ambulance.
He shut his eyes tightly and a vision of Luna’s gaze in her bathroom spread in his mind and Vin knew he simply couldn’t go through that situation again, it had affected him more than he suspected at the beginning.
Many things had changed between them since Santo Domingo and certainly they weren’t a normal couple like Renee and Valentino, but definitely they shared more than just sex.
Luna had turned into some kind of obsession to him. Vin was unable to get rid of her, he needed her in his life like air to breath. But at the same time he was starting to be tired of how Luna always seemed to have the ability to make him feel inferior, even when it was clear for him that she was oblivious to that fact.
Now, Vin knew for sure that Luna’s main concern was how she looked for him and certainly his own taste concerning women over the past didn’t help either. He was now realizing that his fixation with young models had probably triggered a chain reaction. But apart from that he suspected that what people had been thinking about her since they found that she was with him was part of the problem also.
If that in itself wasn’t enough to send Luna to the edge, her lack of security in herself plus the stress over the last weeks made her a time bomb that eventually exploded.
Vin cursed himself silently because he knew full well that he was the only one responsible for her actual state. More than anything he wanted to reassure her that things were going to change, but that wasn’t the truth.
He knew that Luna loved him, but she had to know where she was standing and with who. Vin wasn’t going to change his position for anyone or anything because he had been working too hard to reach it. He had done it once in the past and he wasn’t going there again. Long ago he had accepted the loss of privacy with its consequences and there was no turning back.
From now on they were going to see every now and then pictures of themselves together or even of her alone, shopping or just walking. That was the price she had to pay for being with him. No more privacy beyond the walls of his house and sometimes not even there.
Luna had no other choice but to accept his lifestyle if they wanted to have something in the future. That last thought made him think if it would be a good idea to let Luna know about the part of him he had been restraining and even hiding from her since the beginning. His wildest side.
—————
Dr. Jacobs checked Luna’s tests, sighing hard. It was pretty clear for him that he was facing an eating disorder medical profile, and without a doubt his patient suffered it before when she was younger. However, Luna’s current state could have been worse and according to the results of those tests, the young doctor judged that she had been vomiting for at least two weeks, maybe a little more.
The damage she had caused to herself weren’t irreversible, but still they were serious enough to rule out in advance any possible after-effects. So, Dr. Jacobs decided that he was going to keep her in the ICU for the next 24 hours until her vital signs were under control.
Nevertheless, there was another graphic that had him more concerned and it was the results of the electrocardiogram they had run.
He wasn’t a cardiologist but he noticed that the frequency of Luna’s heartbeats wasn’t steady and it appeared as if there was a delay in the rhythm, like if her heart was beating slower that it should have been.
Dr. Jacobs mind wandered for a second, recalling this information, when all of sudden he remembered an old friend of his older brother, a cardiologist called Roberto Morales who had been imparting a seminar at the hospital around a year ago. Back then, the three men had been hanging around one night and they had been having a lot of fun together.
Dr. Jacobs tapped his chin and made a mental note to call his brother to ask him about Dr. Morales and the possibility that he was able to check Luna’s tests. Of course, he had to wait until Luna signed legal consent, so he would be able to share with the Dominican cardiologist his suspicions concerning Luna’s health heart.
He knew full well that this kind of eating disorder was like a vicious cycle and in her current state she was running the possible risk to have a cardiac arrest if she kept purging herself so violently much longer. Not to mention the irreversible damages on her digestive system. Luna had been abusing of diuretics and substances to control her appetite.
Dr. Jacobs struggled with himself, pondering his options considering the fact that Luna was still heavily sedated and her vocal cords were so inflamed that she couldn’t speak at all.
She had arrived at the hospital unconscious and the little information Dr. Jacobs had about Luna had been provided by Renee and Luna’s insurance company. He swore he had seen that woman before, so when one of the nurses mentioned that Vin Diesel was with her in the ambulance, realization dawned and Dr. Jacobs put two and two together.
Legally, he couldn’t inform anyone about her current state who wasn’t a blood relative and, according the information he had, Luna was Spanish and living alone in the US with a one year visa. There weren’t blood relatives who could give backgrounds and he needed some additional information in order to be able to give an accurate diagnosis. However Luna’s behavior was making it clear that she wasn’t mentally balanced right now.
Dr. Jacobs thought about Vin Diesel and how he might be feeling right now and tried to put himself in the actor’s position. If his own girlfriend was in Luna’s shoes right now, he would want to know what was going on with her. So, after a long moment, Dr. Jacobs shook his head and made up his mind, heading toward the ICU ward.
His brows went up at once as soon as he entered the waiting room. The place was unusually full of people and he suspected that not all of them were waiting for a report of their relatives. In fact almost all of them were staring openly with their gazes showing a mix of disbelief, astonishment and curiosity at one group formed of four big men and two women, who were in one of the corners.
Dr. Jacobs fixed his gaze on the group, sighing hard. There he was, Vin Diesel in the flesh and bones leaned against the wall with his gaze glued to the floor and he was holding against his chest a woman who was crying. She was in her mid fifties with short white hair.
The other woman who was younger and with blonde hair was crying as well with her face pressed against the chest of a big man who seemed to be Hispanic or Italian, and he was stroking her back up and down, soothing her.
Surrounding them there were two more big men with muscles over muscles. One was white with really short blonde hair and the other was black. Bodyguards? The doctor asked himself as he narrowed his eyes.
The group seemed completely out of place though, but at the same time they all reflected on their faces a real concern that immediately put an ease in the young doctor.
After a moment of hesitation, he cleared his throat and headed directly to them. “Luna’s relatives?” He asked in a low tone of voice so only they could hear him.
Vin snapped his head up in one fast move, looking at the doctor and their eyes met and Dr. Jacobs saw Vin’s gaze full of concern, his eyes slightly red like he would have been …crying?
Vin swallowed hard and held the doc’s gaze, but suddenly he couldn’t find his own voice so Marcela moved forward, clearing her throat as she cleaned her tears.
“Luna has no relatives here in the US. We are the closest thing to her family right now.” Marcela said in a strangled voice as she extended her hand. “I’m Marcela Hopkins,” she introduced herself as Dr. Jacobs shook it. “And these are Renee, Valentino, Mike, Steve and Vin.”
“I’m Dr. Jacobs.” He replied, shaking their hands, resting his eyes for a few seconds on each of them and locked eyes again with Vin. “I need some information about Luna and considering the extraordinary circumstances I think we should talk in a more private place, Mr. Diesel.” Dr. Jacobs said, smiling slightly. Marcela cleared her throat and tensed slightly as Vin narrowed his eyes. “My wife is one of your fans.” He said as a matter of fact.
Vin didn’t need to know what the doctor wasn’t saying. He had recognized Luna from the pictures that had been published of both of them together. So Vin nodded ‘yes’ and without a word, he followed the doctor to his office.
next…
Secrets 31
Chapter 31
Renee had taken care of all the legal paperwork after they arrived; he simply couldn’t. When Luna fell unconscious in the ambulance Vin wanted to beat the shit out of the both of them for putting them through that hell.
Renee had spent almost an hour on her cell phone arguing with Luna’s health insurance company about the coverage of Luna’s treatment while waiting for Marcela to join them at the hospital.
They told Renee that, according to the hospital, Luna had the symptoms of an eating disorder and those weren’t considered physical damages, so as a direct consequence her policy didn’t cover her treatment.
When Renee told Vin what they had said, he didn’t think twice and assumed the cost, asking that no matter what, he wanted everything possible done to help her.
Renee had phoned Marcela on her way to the hospital because she knew about Marcela’s past. In the mean time, Valentino had phoned Mike and Steve, he suspected that as soon as Vin Diesel entered the hospital he was going to need his bodyguards around, but not exactly to protect the actor, quite the opposite.
Vin had been at the ICU ward for two hours, waiting to know what was going on with Luna. Marcela, Renee, Steve, Valentino and Mike at his side permanently.
Just as Val had expected, the ER’s staff recognized Vin as soon as he crossed the doors with Luna. So after the first hour, the waiting room of the ICU seemed an endless parade of nurses, doctors and others patient’s relatives who were interested if it was true that Vin Diesel was there.
Vin fought the urge to send some of those nosy fuckers to hell who were showing their faces just to check if he was really him, but he knew better than that. A headline screaming that Vin Diesel had beat the shit out of someone in a hospital wasn’t going to do him or Luna any good. So, Vin did his best to keep his temper at bay while cursing silently even when some of them tried to make him sign an autograph.
If Mike and Steve weren’t there, surely Vin would have lost the little self-restraint he had. He couldn’t believe how they could be so uncaring and insensitive, considering the fact that all of them were in the ICU where people’s lives were in danger just at few meters from them. Even though Vin was only worried about one life, Luna’s life.
—————–
Vin was lost in thought about how he was in this situation. It seemed to him that no matter what he did, he always ended up feeling guilty about Luna. He couldn’t believe how she had been fooling all of them.
Talking about damn good actresses, he scolded silently, tightening his jaw.
He was mad with her because she hadn’t trusted in him. All that shit would have been avoided if Luna would have told him how she was feeling. But again, maybe she couldn’t do it because she was scared to death of his reaction. So he was feeling like shit for not being able to show her his real feelings concerning her instead of hiding them.
Once more, Luna was the only one who could piss him off just to make him feel guilty two seconds later. Just like at his house that damn weekend; just like in Santo Domingo; just like right now.
His father had said that a woman who was a roller coaster was better than the rest. Vin chuckled sadly at his own thoughts. Honestly now, he didn’t agree with his dad and sure as hell he seriously considered turning around and leaving Luna behind forever right now, not looking back.
Damnit, Luna, he cursed silently as a low growl escaped his lips.
Renee and Marcela felt as guilty as Vin but for different reasons. Renee didn’t know how she had been so blind, unable to see the signs in front of her face, and cursed herself silently. She had been so busy with the wedding and her job that she hadn’t noticed how Luna had been losing weight too fast.
On the other hand, Marcela wanted to beat the shit out of herself because she knew better than anyone what Luna was going through. Marcela suffered from anorexia nervosa when she was sixteen years old and she almost died.
Vin pulled Marcela to him while she was crying silently; whispering to her that Luna had been fooling all of them and that if there was someone who had to be blamed, it was him and nobody else. All the time, Renee had been crying too, her face against Val’s chest.
Watching how both women were crying was killing Vin and he thought about how he had felt when he found Luna at her apartment, shaking without control, sweating and so cold he thought she was dying, and later in the ambulance.
He shut his eyes tightly and a vision of Luna’s gaze in her bathroom spread in his mind and Vin knew he simply couldn’t go through that situation again, it had affected him more than he suspected at the beginning.
Many things had changed between them since Santo Domingo and certainly they weren’t a normal couple like Renee and Valentino, but definitely they shared more than just sex.
Luna had turned into some kind of obsession to him. Vin was unable to get rid of her, he needed her in his life like air to breath. But at the same time he was starting to be tired of how Luna always seemed to have the ability to make him feel inferior, even when it was clear for him that she was oblivious to that fact.
Now, Vin knew for sure that Luna’s main concern was how she looked for him and certainly his own taste concerning women over the past didn’t help either. He was now realizing that his fixation with young models had probably triggered a chain reaction. But apart from that he suspected that what people had been thinking about her since they found that she was with him was part of the problem also.
If that in itself wasn’t enough to send Luna to the edge, her lack of security in herself plus the stress over the last weeks made her a time bomb that eventually exploded.
Vin cursed himself silently because he knew full well that he was the only one responsible for her actual state. More than anything he wanted to reassure her that things were going to change, but that wasn’t the truth.
He knew that Luna loved him, but she had to know where she was standing and with who. Vin wasn’t going to change his position for anyone or anything because he had been working too hard to reach it. He had done it once in the past and he wasn’t going there again. Long ago he had accepted the loss of privacy with its consequences and there was no turning back.
From now on they were going to see every now and then pictures of themselves together or even of her alone, shopping or just walking. That was the price she had to pay for being with him. No more privacy beyond the walls of his house and sometimes not even there.
Luna had no other choice but to accept his lifestyle if they wanted to have something in the future. That last thought made him think if it would be a good idea to let Luna know about the part of him he had been restraining and even hiding from her since the beginning. His wildest side.
—————
Dr. Jacobs checked Luna’s tests, sighing hard. It was pretty clear for him that he was facing an eating disorder medical profile, and without a doubt his patient suffered it before when she was younger. However, Luna’s current state could have been worse and according to the results of those tests, the young doctor judged that she had been vomiting for at least two weeks, maybe a little more.
The damage she had caused to herself weren’t irreversible, but still they were serious enough to rule out in advance any possible after-effects. So, Dr. Jacobs decided that he was going to keep her in the ICU for the next 24 hours until her vital signs were under control.
Nevertheless, there was another graphic that had him more concerned and it was the results of the electrocardiogram they had run.
He wasn’t a cardiologist but he noticed that the frequency of Luna’s heartbeats wasn’t steady and it appeared as if there was a delay in the rhythm, like if her heart was beating slower that it should have been.
Dr. Jacobs mind wandered for a second, recalling this information, when all of sudden he remembered an old friend of his older brother, a cardiologist called Roberto Morales who had been imparting a seminar at the hospital around a year ago. Back then, the three men had been hanging around one night and they had been having a lot of fun together.
Dr. Jacobs tapped his chin and made a mental note to call his brother to ask him about Dr. Morales and the possibility that he was able to check Luna’s tests. Of course, he had to wait until Luna signed legal consent, so he would be able to share with the Dominican cardiologist his suspicions concerning Luna’s health heart.
He knew full well that this kind of eating disorder was like a vicious cycle and in her current state she was running the possible risk to have a cardiac arrest if she kept purging herself so violently much longer. Not to mention the irreversible damages on her digestive system. Luna had been abusing of diuretics and substances to control her appetite.
Dr. Jacobs struggled with himself, pondering his options considering the fact that Luna was still heavily sedated and her vocal cords were so inflamed that she couldn’t speak at all.
She had arrived at the hospital unconscious and the little information Dr. Jacobs had about Luna had been provided by Renee and Luna’s insurance company. He swore he had seen that woman before, so when one of the nurses mentioned that Vin Diesel was with her in the ambulance, realization dawned and Dr. Jacobs put two and two together.
Legally, he couldn’t inform anyone about her current state who wasn’t a blood relative and, according the information he had, Luna was Spanish and living alone in the US with a one year visa. There weren’t blood relatives who could give backgrounds and he needed some additional information in order to be able to give an accurate diagnosis. However Luna’s behavior was making it clear that she wasn’t mentally balanced right now.
Dr. Jacobs thought about Vin Diesel and how he might be feeling right now and tried to put himself in the actor’s position. If his own girlfriend was in Luna’s shoes right now, he would want to know what was going on with her. So, after a long moment, Dr. Jacobs shook his head and made up his mind, heading toward the ICU ward.
His brows went up at once as soon as he entered the waiting room. The place was unusually full of people and he suspected that not all of them were waiting for a report of their relatives. In fact almost all of them were staring openly with their gazes showing a mix of disbelief, astonishment and curiosity at one group formed of four big men and two women, who were in one of the corners.
Dr. Jacobs fixed his gaze on the group, sighing hard. There he was, Vin Diesel in the flesh and bones leaned against the wall with his gaze glued to the floor and he was holding against his chest a woman who was crying. She was in her mid fifties with short white hair.
The other woman who was younger and with blonde hair was crying as well with her face pressed against the chest of a big man who seemed to be Hispanic or Italian, and he was stroking her back up and down, soothing her.
Surrounding them there were two more big men with muscles over muscles. One was white with really short blonde hair and the other was black. Bodyguards? The doctor asked himself as he narrowed his eyes.
The group seemed completely out of place though, but at the same time they all reflected on their faces a real concern that immediately put an ease in the young doctor.
After a moment of hesitation, he cleared his throat and headed directly to them. “Luna’s relatives?” He asked in a low tone of voice so only they could hear him.
Vin snapped his head up in one fast move, looking at the doctor and their eyes met and Dr. Jacobs saw Vin’s gaze full of concern, his eyes slightly red like he would have been …crying?
Vin swallowed hard and held the doc’s gaze, but suddenly he couldn’t find his own voice so Marcela moved forward, clearing her throat as she cleaned her tears.
“Luna has no relatives here in the US. We are the closest thing to her family right now.” Marcela said in a strangled voice as she extended her hand. “I’m Marcela Hopkins,” she introduced herself as Dr. Jacobs shook it. “And these are Renee, Valentino, Mike, Steve and Vin.”
“I’m Dr. Jacobs.” He replied, shaking their hands, resting his eyes for a few seconds on each of them and locked eyes again with Vin. “I need some information about Luna and considering the extraordinary circumstances I think we should talk in a more private place, Mr. Diesel.” Dr. Jacobs said, smiling slightly. Marcela cleared her throat and tensed slightly as Vin narrowed his eyes. “My wife is one of your fans.” He said as a matter of fact.
Vin didn’t need to know what the doctor wasn’t saying. He had recognized Luna from the pictures that had been published of both of them together. So Vin nodded ‘yes’ and without a word, he followed the doctor to his office.
next…