Authors: T. A. Grey
Cade took off at a sprint.
Employees, customers, and clients plastered themselves against the walls to
stay of his roaring path. He jumped into his car and peeled his tires taking
off. As he made his way to the client's house, he was hoping like hell that he was
going to the right place. It was either the clients or Sara’s, but if the
client was the one dabbling in child pornography then it had to be his place.
God he hoped he was right.
Cade dialed 911 and reported
what he knew, and then he drove like mad hoping he'd get there in time. Please
God, let him get there in time.
But he hadn't found her in
time.
He'd found her in a pool of blood.
He could feel all the color leave his face. Her eyes were closed, lips parted,
and unmoving.
Please don't be dead,
was all he could say over and over
in his head. His heart stuttered so hard in his chest he thought he might be
dying too.
He yelled her name, but she
didn't move. His fingers shook when he reached to test her pulse, and the faint
bum bum
he felt there, had the breath he'd been holding expelling hard.
He heard movement at the
back of the house. A rage the likes of which he'd never felt before screamed
through him. had him grabbing a gun off the floor and running to the back. It
wasn't hard to miss Darrel, his blood was leaving a dark red trail to his car
parked behind the house.
Cade didn't hesitate. He
lifted the gun and squeezed the trigger. Four sharp cracks echoed through the
air. Darrel dropped hard and heavy to the ground. He kept pulling the trigger,
but when nothing came out, he gave a disgusted sigh and dropped it. Cade's
hands shook with the barely repressed urge to pummel his face in. His arms felt
like someone had electrocuted him because they were twitching in their sockets.
He went back to Lina though.
The man was dead, and that would be good enough for now. He grabbed Lina's
hand, terrified to move her even as every ounce of his body was telling him to
pull her close and hold her, just hug her. So he took her hand instead and held
it tight. He pushed the hair out of her face and couldn't stop the moisture
that gathered in his eyes.
He watched her breath,
watched her nostrils flare just a little, and then he watched her take no more.
Chapter
14
Bright lights, too bright. Someone turn them off, she wanted to
growl, tried to even, but her mouth was drier than the Sahara and her tongue
felt swollen.
Ah, but it was okay, because
someone was a mind reader here and turned the light way down to a faint dim.
She sighed and slowly blinked. Heaven? She must be in heaven. She'd never
really believed in it before. The whole have faith thing was pretty hard when
she'd seen the things she had. But still, she'd always hoped there was
something after death.
Chapped, dry eyes made it
hard to blink; she badly needed some of Ben Stein's famous eye drops. Things
came into focus like a camera lens being turned left then right, then
sharpening perfectly. A window, a chair, a TV resting high in the corner on the
wall, beeps and monitors, and then finally the man who made her heart heavy.
Not heaven. She wanted to
cry so badly then. Wanted to curl up and bawl and sob until nothing was left,
and she wasn't sure if it was because she hadn't died and found out if there
was heaven or because she was so glad she wasn't dead. Tears did fall down her
face, which surprised her given how dry her eyes were.
The tears felt salty and
burned her eyes, making her push them into her pillow to dry them. She was
gasping, the tears not stopping, when warm, gentle arms moved around her, leaned
close to her. Just holding her.
She did cry then. Hard
shudders that racked through her body; she was getting his shirt wet, but she
didn't care. He smelled so good, felt so good. She tried to lift her arms
around him, but couldn't move them, which made her cry harder.
He was speaking softly,
gentle, encouraging sounds. She couldn't make out the words at first through
the haze and the pounding pulse of pain that seemed to be coming from everywhere
inside her.
"Oh, baby, it's okay
now. Let it all out honey. You're so strong."
Time passed. Words weren't
spoken, just two bodies held together feeling.
Lina finally calmed enough
to feel embarrassed. She closed her eyes tight and fell back against the
hospital bed with his help. She winced as something tight and excruciating
pulled in her chest.
It took her a few tries, but
finally she managed to croak, "What happened?"
Cade pulled his chair up
closer until his knees bumped into the bed. He looked different. His face was
pale with tight lines around his lips and purple shadows lined under his eyes.
His suit shirt had wrinkles everywhere and looked like he'd been wearing it for
days. Lina couldn't help but think that this was the most real she'd ever seen
him, aside from when they were making love. She winced at her choice of words,
not making love. Just having sex. Right.
He licked his chapped lips
before speaking. "I found out you were taken soon after it happened. I
called the cops and tracked you to Krentsky’s house. I, um, you were on the
ground. He'd shot you in the lung. He was just out back though, you slowed him
down good when you stabbed him. I grabbed the gun and shot him. He's dead. When
I came back, I held your hand and waited for the police," he looked away,
a haunted looking coming over him, "and then you died."
"What?" He heard
her cracking voice and handed her a jug of water.
"They said you could
have this if you woke up, but only sips. Here, let me help." He held the
large jug and brought the straw to her lips.
The water was the coldest,
best tasting thing she'd had in her whole life. Her body told her to suck hard
and drink all of it, but she forced herself to go slow. When she was done, he
put it back and held her hands in his. They were so big and warm in her cold
ones. Did the man never get cold?
"Anyways, he shot you
through the chest. It punctured your lung and the doctor said that when you
fell onto your chest, you blocked the wound off and it made your lung collapse.
It started sucking in blood instead of air and you eventually died. I turned
you over and performed mouth to mouth."
"I bet you just liked
that," she said cutting in.
A harsh, uneven laugh
escaped him. He looked at her with wide eyes. "No baby, I prefer you
kissing me back. I did CPR until the ambulance arrived. Thank God, I'd already
called them or..." He made a violent noise and shrugged his shoulders like
he was trying to get something nasty off him.
"How long have I been
here?"
"A week."
Now it was her turn to have
wide eyes. "Has my family been here?"
He nodded. "Oh yeah,
and Captain Drammer. I called them as soon as you were brought here. They've
been in and out of here crying and half-hysterical since you got here. I like
them," he said with a small smile.
A loud yawn escaped her
making them both laugh a little. Her eyes were growing heavy again. "I'm
going to just take a little nap. If they come back, tell them I'm fine and I
love them."
"Lina, before you go to
sleep, I need to tell you something."
Her eyes popped open at his
serious tone. "What?" The effort it took was exhausting.
"They found the girl. Darrel
had an accomplice named Harry Jennson. They didn't make it far. They were
trying to escape in Darrel’s car, which we had the license plate number for. I
just wanted you to know that they only took pictures of the girl. They
didn't...abuse her any more than that."
She smiled bright and wide
with her dry chapped lips.
Thank God.
One little girl saved.
"Since Sara and Darrel
are dead, they are charging his accomplice with everything. They have enough
evidence on him to keep him locked away for a long time."
"Good," she said,
her eyes drifting closed.
"Go to sleep baby. I'll
be here when you wake up."
Lina smiled and drifted off.
*
* *
He wasn't there when she
woke up.
One month later and Lina was
still telling herself it didn't bother her. The shrill of the phone saved her
from having to think about Cade and all the unsettling thoughts he brought.
Like how she missed him.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Lina. How you
doing? Enjoying your leave?"
A deep sigh. Being her
Captain and on and off friend for seven years didn't mean she liked that he
called every day to check up on her. "As I told you yesterday and the day
before that, and the day before that,
no.
I have nothing to do here but
wallow in my thoughts." Her hand tightened on the phone. Shit, she hadn't
meant to say that. She'd meant to say something flippant and sarcastic.
Her hope that he wouldn't notice
it was quickly extinguished. "Lina...I don't know what happened between
you and Vanderoth, but it's off the books. If there's unfinished business
between you two then why don't you go take care of it? You have five days left
of sick leave, use it."
Lina was just about to tell
him to mind his own damn business when the phone clicked. She stared at the
phone with her mouth hanging open. The bastard actually hung up on her. She
slammed the phone down harder than necessary. Like he knew what she was
feeling?
He couldn't possibly know
how stupid she'd been. How she'd let her guard down and fallen in love with a
man who owned a
sex club.
Christ, she must have lost her mind. She
didn't know what was worse, that she missed him, or that he'd introduced
himself to her parents and they called him 'such a nice boy.'
Lina showered and dressed
with slow, steady moves, her thoughts in deep reflection. Somewhere in the back
of her mind she knew she was pulling on a skirt and heels and not the usual
jeans and jacket she wore when she saw him. She popped some painkillers as she
stopped by the bathroom and locked up behind her.
One month and he didn't even
send her a card that said
get better soon.
So many times she wondered if
she'd just imagined his looks of passion or his concern in the hospital. The
man had looked wrought, devastated. It might just be her ego wanting to claim
that he felt that way because he actually liked her, but either way she was
getting angrier by the minute.
She sped down the darkened
streets, the streetlights zooming by like little dim suns. She pulled into the
parking garage and shut her car off. She didn't move for several minutes, her
hand poised on the door handle. She wasn't stupid, or at least that's what she
tried to tell herself.
She was really about to go
chase after a man who clearly didn't want to talk to her. Not a phone call, a
text, an email. What did she expect flowers and chocolates? From Cade
Vanderoth? She was certain he had a ridiculous amount of money and had no need
for a girlfriend or whatever it was she was wanting. She hit her head against
the steering wheel. Then again.
Hell, she didn't even know
what she wanted. One thing she did know though was that she was going up there
to find him.
She pushed her way through
the club’s dancers and was surprised that the guards recognized her and let her
up the stairs to the VIP lobby. Did Cade not tell them that they weren't under
investigation anymore? The last suspect was currently in jail waiting for what
will probably be a long, drawn-out court case. The good news was that Amber
Fitzgerald, the little girl, was returned to her parents, and
Harry
and
Darrel
hadn't touched
her. Just pictures. Lina felt the cold steel vise around her heart loosen at
the thought. It wasn’t right, but she couldn’t help but feel relief that it
wasn’t more.
She reached for the gun at
her back only to find nothing but the soft material of her shirt. She sighed
and stopped outside of Cade's office. Her gun was locked up until she returned
to active duty. She would have to do without its comfort. Hell, she might as
well be going in there butt ass naked.
Her stomach felt like a
bowling ball in her gut. Her palms were sweaty and everything was telling her
to turn and run. But that would be giving up, running away, and that was
something she wasn't prepared to do—no matter how terrified she was.
What did she have to be
afraid of? How about him in there with a woman sitting on his dick? Yup, like
that wasn't a possibility.
Before she lost the nerve,
she turned the door handle and swept into the room.
Cade looked up from his desk
and their eyes met. Her heart was pounding so hard she wouldn't be surprised if
he could hear it. Her skin felt too tight and sensitive, her mind too aware of
everything. This, she thought looking at him, this was why she'd come.
Chapter
15
They must have stared at each for some time because when he
finally spoke it startled her.