Where We Belong (Carolina Rebels Book 8)

by Lindsay Paige

  Then, at the beginning of the second week, Dwight has it on the hockey channel and I perk up at hearing Collin’s name.

  “We would like to take a moment to discuss a serious matter. It has come to our attention that Collin Kessy’s girlfriend has gone missing.” My eyes bulge at seeing a photo of Collin and me on the screen. “She’s been missing for eight days now. Kessy was keeping the matter private, even from his team we hear, but he’s decided to reach out to the public in case anyone has spotted Julie Lockwood. It is believed that she’s in extreme danger and—”

  Dwight turns the TV off. “Who the fuck does he think he is? Doesn’t he know that he’s not your boyfriend? And you aren’t in any danger, Julie! Look at you! Haven’t I taken good care of you?” I quickly nod. “I have!” Dwight stands and paces. “What a fucking stupid thing for him to do. You’ll be all over the news now.” His rage turns into mumblings.

  I send up both a thank you that he’s trying and curse him because Dwight turns, charges, and unleashes his rage on me.

  Dwight hits my jaw. After about the fifth blow, there’s a banging on the front door. All I can do is slump over. Thank goodness for the intrusion because my vision is blotchy. I don’t know how much more I could take. I struggle to watch Dwight open the door just enough to poke his head out.

  “What?” he snaps.

  “Is everything okay? I thought I heard yelling.”

  “I’m fine.” He slams the door and faces me.

  I close my eyes, hoping he’ll think I’ve blacked out and leave me be.

  Please Collin. Find me.

  Darkness sweeps into a delirious dream that’s much better than my current reality.

  “Jules.”

  I sigh with relief, smile, and run to Collin. “You found me!”

  “Of course I did,” he replies, wrapping his arms around me. “You’re hurt.”

  “I’m okay,” I say. I don’t think I’m hurt. I feel fine. “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too. Let’s get out of here.”

  Collin takes my hand, but when he walks away, I’m yanked to a stop. I glance down and break into tears at seeing my restraints.

  “Don’t worry, Julie. I just forgot to free you.” He waves his hand over my ankles, causing the chains to fall and clank to the floor. “Now we can go.”

  “Where are we going?” I ask as he finally leads me away.

  “To where no one can ever find us.”

  “Just you and me?”

  “Just you and me,” he confirms.

  Outside, the heat of the sun warms my face. I forgot how good that felt. Collin tugs me further until we walk onto the beach. The sand wiggles between my toes as my feet sink into the grains. Oh, I love the sand.

  “Are you listening?” Collin asks.

  The sound of crashing waves booms suddenly, startling me. My eyes instinctively close as I listen to the water come and go.

  “Listen harder, Jules. Listen past the waves.”

  What am I supposed to hear?

  Is it a baby? There’s something wailing. No. Screaming.

  POP!

  As much as I can, I curl into myself. More gunshots fire, but I can’t tell from where, except that they are entirely too close. There’s yelling, but I can’t distinguish anything.

  “Clear!”

  I jump a foot off the couch when someone gently touches my shoulder.

  “Julie?”

  With a hesitant look, I fall apart upon seeing the police officer.

  “You’re okay. I’m going to take this duct tape off, okay? Paramedics are on the way.”

  I hold my wrists out and he begins to slowly and painfully remove the tape. He motions to my mouth next and I nod.

  “I need you to sit up, sweetie,” he says softly.

  Oh. With a wince and a whimper, I manage to do so. By the time I’m free of the tape, the paramedics have arrived and they are working on removing the cuffs.

  “How did you find me?” I ask the officer, who remains standing nearby with a watchful eye.

  “We’ve been receiving tips of sightings, but nailed a location when a neighbor recognized him from the photo your boyfriend had blasted on the media and called it in.”

  Collin shared Dwight’s photo too? Thank god. He just saved me.

  “Can you call him?”

  The man, about my dad’s age, smiles. “Already done, sweetie. I imagine he’s finding a way down here as we speak.”

  I despise how long it took for me to go to the media. Struggling over that decision was stupid, but within hours of Julie’s and Dwight’s pictures being blasted, I got a call that it seemed Dwight had been sighted in Florida.

  Florida.

  Julie might not even be in North Carolina. How am I supposed to find her if she’s not here? I’m slowly losing my mind. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up; not to mention, there’s no telling what is happening to Julie.

  We made it through the first round and I don’t remember any of the experience. There’s a short break before we enter the second round. I’m hoping that’s when we’ll find Julie. My first day of rest involves a lot of thinking about going to Florida and figuring out how to hunt her down myself. The guilt is eating me alive; I can’t take this anymore and I need to find Julie.

  But then, I get a phone call.

  The man talks and says some things, but all I hear is, “We found her.”

  “Collin?”

  “They found her,” I repeat to my brother, who watches me like a hawk.

  He takes the phone from me, listens, says thank you, and then hangs up. “Pack a bag; we need to go get her.”

  “Is she okay?”

  Cal pauses for a second and then nods. “She’s fine. Go.” He nods toward my bedroom. I don’t hesitate to grab a few things in case Julie can’t come home immediately as Cal seems to think.

  Within minutes, we’re both back in the living room with a bag each.

  “I got us plane tickets; I assume you want the fastest route possible?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s go then. Our flight leaves in three hours.”

  The waiting now is almost as bad as the waiting before. Julie is safe now, but what kind of shape is she in? Is she mad at me that I made her leave when she needed me most? That’s not important right now. I need to get my eyes on Julie and make sure she’s okay.

  But first I must wait in the airport and on the plane. Wait during a short layover in Charlotte. Wait for the rental car once in Florida. Wait as Cal drives us to the hospital where Julie is being held. Wait to find out what room she’s in. Wait to be let in.

  And then I see her.

  She’s asleep.

  Her face is bruised and swollen. There’s no telling what else is bruised on her body, too.

  But she looks relaxed and at ease.

  My brother nudges my back for me to step further into the room. I do. One step after another until I stand next to her bed. Her hand is curled into a fist. There are red lines on her arms around her wrists. Do I want to know why those are there?

  Carefully, I take her hand.

  Big mistake.

  Julie gasps, lurches upright, and looks scared as hell.

  “Hey, it’s just me. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Her wide eyes blink rapidly. The moment reality hits, her shoulders sag, tears fall from her eyes, and she whispers, “Collin.” I gently pull her into my arms. Her head rests on my shoulder. I glance over at Cal while she sobs. He shrugs. There’s nothing I can say right now. Nothing that will do justice, so I hold her.

  Some time passes before she leans back to look at me.

  “Are you actually here?”

  “Yeah. Are you?” I ask.

  “God, I hope so.”

  I smile.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Cal’s voice startles Julie once again. She looks over
at him dumbfounded.

  “What are you doing here?” she asks in a genuinely curious manner.

  “Because my brother loves you. So, how are you feeling?” he repeats.

  “I could be better.” Julie glances back at me. “Do you know when I can go home?”

  “We just got here, but we’ll find out,” I promise.

  Julie frowns. “Do you know what happened to Dwight?”

  I look to Cal, who simply shakes his head. Before either of us can answer, two more people rush into the room. Julie’s frown deepens as her parents push Cal and me aside to crowd their daughter. Cal and I step over by the window to give them all space.

  “Dwight’s dead,” he whispers. “There was a shootout or something.”

  And Julie was in the middle of it? We’re lucky she wasn’t hurt. I can’t stop surveying her body, searching for injuries. And where is a nurse? Or a doctor? Shouldn’t they be in here checking her out? Should she even be talking to her parents? There’s a lot of talking going on.

  “Stop!” Julie suddenly screams, which does cause a nurse to rush in. “Get out! I don’t need to deal with this!”

  “Okay,” the nurse says. “I think Julie needs some peace and quiet. Everyone out.”

  Neither I nor my brother move, but Julie’s parents leave the room. The nurse faces us with a resting bitch face.

  “They can stay,” Julie tells her before she can try to get us to leave.

  “Fine, but you need to rest.” The nurse glares at Cal and me, as if we had anything to do with Julie’s outburst, and then she leaves.

  Julie falls back onto her uprighted bed with a sigh. “I love my parents, but they just don’t know how to act sometimes.” She frowns and winces. “I forgot to ask when I can leave. If I never come back to Florida again, I’ll be just fine.” Jules looks over at me. “Is it okay if I sleep?”

  I walk over to her bed and take her hand. “Get all the rest you need, Jules. We’ll be right here when you wake up.”

  “Thanks, Collin.” Her eyes close and then she peeks them open again. “You too, Cal.” Her eyelids fall shut and within seconds she’s knocked out.

  Collapsing into the nearby chair, I look at my brother.

  “She’s safe; there’s nothing else to worry about,” he says.

  “I know. Do you want to let everyone know she’s with us now?”

  Cal nods and steps out of the room. For the first time in what feels like months, I relax. There’s still much ahead to be tackled, but the worst is behind us.

  Hopefully.

  Julie is discharged the next day. All she has talked about is going home, so the airport is our first stop. She’s been quiet, but that’s expected. After a police officer came by to check on her, gather her statement and informed her of Dwight’s death themselves, she’s had even less to say. If she’s not sleeping, she’s attached to my hip, not that I’m complaining at all.

  Her head rests upon my shoulder as we fly home, her hand in mine. “How are you doing?” she asks quietly.

  “Fine,” I reply, a little confused.

  “But everyone knows now and you were worried about that.”

  Oh. Damn. With everything that’s happened to her, she was still able to find out how my picture at Trace’s office made its round on social media. Someone in either his or Dr. Gressley’s office leaked why I was there because Dr. Gressley’s name came up and my anxiety issues were blasted.

  And now she’s asking how I’m doing?

  “It doesn’t even matter, Jules. The team’s PR people have been handling it for me; I don’t care. I’ve been focused on bringing you home.”

  “That’s good.” There’s a pause and then, “Do I still have my job?”

  “Yeah, Jules. Don’t worry about that. We’ll get home, you can rest, and then you can think about working.” Hell, if she wanted to hole up in my apartment for a few weeks, I wouldn’t say a thing. She needs to decompress and find a way to put this behind her, to start that process.

  I already plan to have Deanna be with her as much as possible since the second round starts tomorrow. Trace said he would be willing to speak with her if she wanted to talk to someone. Julie will get whatever she needs. I’ve even told the team that if she says she needs me to stay, I plan to stay and miss however many games necessary. I will not put her second again.

  “Did y’all make it to the next round?” she asks.

  “Yeah. Starts tomorrow.” Thank god we get to kick it off at home.

  “Oh.” A simple, lackluster reply.

  “I plan to stay with you as long as you want me to,” I reassure her.

  She lifts her head. “You can play, Collin. I’ll be fine.”

  “We’ll talk about it later.”

  Her head returns to my shoulder and remains there throughout the rest of the flight. At some point, I realize she’s fallen asleep once again.

  “What will you do about the games?” Cal asks. “Do you really think she’s okay?”

  “I don’t know and no, I don’t.”

  “No one will blame you for staying out. Everyone knows family comes first.”

  That’s true. While I feel as if both of my families need me right now, there is only one who will make the ultimate decision.

  A few hours later, Julie and I walk through my apartment door. Thankfully, Cal takes his leave of us then. It’s been nice to have him nearby, but his work is done. Marmalade goes nuts over Julie. He rubs his body against her legs, purring louder than I’ve ever heard him. It takes Julie all of two seconds to pick him up.

  “I’ve never heard his motor that loud,” I comment as I drop my bag in one of the chairs. “He missed you.”

  “I missed him too.”

  That much is obvious. Marmalade nuzzles his head against her face and she’s smiling wider than I’ve seen since I arrived at the hospital. I’ve talked plenty of shit about Marmalade, but never again. This moment right here, watching something as simple as a damn cat make her happy after she just survived hell? Marmalade is officially my cat.

  “Come sit, Jules,” I say as I take a seat on the couch. She comes over and sits next to me, curling into my side with Marmalade on her lap. “Anything you want to do for the rest of the evening?”

  “No. Maybe take a bath, but otherwise, I don’t want to do anything at all.”

  That will be easy to accomplish.

  She looks up at me. “I want you to play, Collin. Let’s get back to normal; that’s normal.”

  “Are you sure? The team will be fine without me.” She nods her head twice. “Okay. If that’s what you want. Trace said you can talk to him if you want, too. You can obviously talk to me if you want, but I didn’t know if you might want to talk to someone else.”

  “This isn’t the first time I’ve been through this, Collin,” she says plainly. “I’ll be fine. I just need a few weeks to readjust and let it hit me that he’s really gone.”

  All I can do right now is keep an eye on her and take her word for it.

  I ache.

  I hurt.

  I’m still exhausted.

  Collin invites me to his game tonight, but I turn him down. Only because I don’t want to face those women when I look so beat up. Maybe they will respect my privacy, but even if they do, my body just hurts too much to get out and about.

  I did call work to let them know I’m back in town. I’ll return next week. They have no idea how grateful I am that they are working with me. They told me to take the rest of the week off; I didn’t even have to ask. That wouldn’t have happened back home. I know because it happened the last time Dwight took me.

  Collin has been gone most of the day. It’s been surprisingly nice to be here alone with Marmalade to keep me company. Collin’s worry is evident, though. There are sticky notes in various places around the apartment with his therapist’s number on it. He also wrote a little note to call Deanna if I want. What he failed to mention, that I learn when there is a knock on the door, is that Deanna is
coming over to watch the game with me.

  “Should I go?” Deanna asks when I open the door. “You don’t look happy to see me. I brought wine.” She shakes the bottle of wine in her hand.

  “I didn’t know you were coming.” I step aside for her to come in. “But you have wine.” Hopefully my smile looks real. “Shouldn’t you be at the game, though?” I ask as she makes her way to the kitchen.

  “Brayden is so focused on hockey right now, he won’t miss me not being there. Besides, a little birdie told me that he would be able to relax if he knew you had company, so here I am.” All the while she’s talking, she’s rummaging through the kitchen to search for a corkscrew. “Grab some glasses and help me out, will you?”

  I do as she asks and give her the corkscrew as well.

  “Have you had dinner yet?” she asks and I shake my head, causing her to sigh. “Julie, you’re killing me.” She pours us each a glass of wine before placing an order for Chinese food. “Let’s sit.”

  Since my evening is officially in the hands of someone else, I follow her lead. I wait for her to ask me the inevitable “how are you” question. It makes me realize how anxious I am over being asked such a simple question, too. Instead, Deanna talks gossip. I don’t even know some of the people she’s talking about. But I’m grateful for what she’s doing because it allows me to slowly relax.

  Our food is delivered just as the game starts.

  Four minutes in, Collin scores a goal. Maybe I’m crazy, but his celebration seems different.

  “He was in bad shape while you were…” Deanna’s voice trails off. “Gone,” she finishes. “It may not have shown on the ice, but he was in therapy or on the phone with his therapist every day. Cal and Brayden wouldn’t leave him alone either. He has a lot of guilt about what happened before…”

  Before? It takes me a minute to realize exactly what she’s talking about. “Him asking me to leave, you mean?” Deanna nods in confirmation. “That doesn’t really matter, though.” Dwight would have gotten to me one way or another. “He shouldn’t feel guilty.”

  “Maybe you should tell him that.”

  We fall silent as an underwear commercial comes on.