Lost & Found: Contemporary Reverse Harem

by Serena Lindahl

  “No!” I scream. “Manny! Don’t leave me!” He can’t go up there. He’ll get hurt. “Call the cops.”

  Orion stops Manny while Apollo carries me away from the stairs, his beautiful eyes filling with tears. Manny barks at a gawking passerby, telling them to call 911. The roar of a bike registers right before Aric’s face joins the others hovering over me. My guys crowd around me. I sigh in relief as each one of them touches me in some way.

  It’s okay now. They’re all here. They’re okay. I’m okay.

  I’m safe.

  Chapter 25

  Orion

  I’ve never been more scared in my life. From the second Manny’s dad called us and told us that the guy Senya stabbed had just been released until the moment we arrived at her place will forever haunt me. The whole drive, I pictured her beautiful body broken, injured, and assaulted. We didn’t speak as we ran to the car, texting Aric along the way. Manny probably broke every traffic law as we sped towards her place.

  Seeing her stumble down the stairs, hurt and crying, nearly tears me in two. I stand helplessly as Apollo picks her up. Her face is red, and a huge handprint covers one of her cheeks. The eye is starting to swell, and blood trickles down her chin from a busted lip. She hadn’t been able to walk, so one of her legs must be hurt, too. Her wrist is swelling and cradled close to her body. I stare at her in a daze, only snapping to attention when Manny heads toward the stairs like an avenging angel.

  Pulling him away and preventing both of us from walking up those stairs and seeking justice is hard, but Senya needs us more. Soon, blue and red lights flash and my ears ache from the sirens, but my only focus is on her. She’s always been my everything, and I never realized it until I got her back. I’d gone through the motions of high school - drinking and screwing, but I never really felt anything until she returned to our lives like a ray of sunshine after a storm.

  What we have might not be normal, but last night and this morning has proven one thing to me. I love her. I need her in my life. It wouldn’t be the same without the others. Seeing her with them, I know she needs them as much as we need her. We’re a team, a family. I don’t care that I have to share her, and I don’t care what people will think. We belong together. If she leaves, she’ll take every good thing with her.

  Manny’s dad arrives, and I’ve never been more grateful to see him. He keeps the police from badgering us as they stomp up and down the stairs. By the end of the day, those stairs will probably be roped off, and a heavy fine will be slapped on the grumpy landlord, who is also being questioned. Neighbors gawk and everyone stares, but the four of us are only focused on our broken angel.

  Senya is lying on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. Her face is so pale, she matches the color of the sheets under her except for the angry red handprint on one cheek. The female paramedic asks her where she hurts, but she’s in a daze. She really only rises to awareness when we stray too far from her side. She clasps one of our hands with her uninjured hand at all times. The other is splinted until it can be x-rayed.

  Manny’s dad approaches the back of the ambulance where we’re all gathered, a concerned look on his face. He pulls Manny away, and whatever he says makes Manny both upset and pleased. We haven’t been paying much attention to the police and whatever they’re doing, but I thought I heard something just as the ambulance arrived - a loud pop above the sirens. When they wheel someone out, covered entirely in a white sheet, Apollo blocks the view from Sen. I hope it’s that bastard. I hope he’s dead, and I hope he rots in Hell for eternity. I’ve never been a big fan of religion, but I’ll make an exception in this case. He deserves a stronger punishment than the nothingness of death.

  Manny returns to us, his lips pressed tightly together. He tugs Apollo and me to the side while Aric continues to hold Senya’s hand. “He’s dead.” His eyes glitter, and he shoves a hand through his hair as he inhales deeply. “He’s dead, but so is her mom. She shot him and then herself is what Dad thinks, although the police aren’t confirming it yet.”

  My eyebrows lift. I never considered Senya’s mom to be the courageous one. She was babbling about her mother just as the ambulance arrived, but we didn’t give it much thought. Did she redeem her years of lousy mothering in this final act? I glance behind me at our broken angel. The nurse gave her something that’s making her drowsy, and she can barely keep her eyes open. Aric is glancing between her and us, knowing something is up.

  “Do we tell her?” I ask.

  Manny pauses. “If she asks,” he answers, and I nod in agreement. That’s the right thing to do.

  The paramedic pokes her head out of the ambulance. “We need to get her to the hospital for x-rays. I can only take one of you with me.” She eyes us curiously, probably wondering which one of us is the boyfriend. She can keep wondering.

  “I’d like to go,” Manny says and gives us a pleading look. It seems like he’s barely holding it together. His all-consuming rage at the asshole who hurt Senya still burns in the back of his eyes, and he hasn’t taken his gaze off her the whole time. I understand. I feel like if I look away, she’ll be gone. We’ll have been too late, or she wouldn’t have gotten away. I shudder when the thought fills me with renewed dread. I have to look again to make sure she’s okay.

  “I’ll drive you boys,” Manny’s dad offers. His face is drawn, and I think he blames himself. He believes if he looked sooner, he might have been able to warn us before she went home. No one could have expected that a newly-released prisoner would have headed back to the scene of the crime, though. He’s not the only one feeling guilty right now, though. I keep thinking that we should have pressed her harder; we should have gone with her.

  Manny trades places with Aric, and we tell him about Senya’s mom. He doesn’t look surprised, but we’re all operating under a cloud of shock. Aric blames himself for dropping her off and just leaving, but we all agreed to it. It’s not anyone’s fault but that dead asshole’s, and maybe her mom’s for letting the guy into the apartment to begin with, but they’re both dead.

  Before the paramedic closes the doors, I touch the foot that’s not encased up in the weird bubble cast. I need to feel her, just one more time before she leaves my sight. I almost lost her today, and I’m never going to let it happen again. As long as she’ll have me, I’ll be right by her side. She’ll never have to face anything alone ever again.

  Chapter 26

  Manny

  The rage within me is barely countered by the relief that she’s still alive. It could have been worse, but that doesn’t make her injuries go away. If she were awake right now, I’m sure her eyes would be shadowed with pain, with ghosts, with the haunting memories or possibilities. She’s still dressed, besides a rip in Aric’s shirt, so the paramedic doesn’t think she was violated beyond getting the shit beat out of her. It doesn’t matter. She shouldn’t have been alone.

  We ride in near-silence to the hospital. Senya’s hand falls limp in mine as she gives in to the drugs and starts to doze. The paramedic, a nice woman in her mid-thirties, studies me. “She’s lucky to have such good friends,” she says.

  I want to yell at her. I want to tell her that if we were such good friends, she wouldn’t have ever been in this situation. The words stick in my throat. I’m not mad at her. I’m mad at myself. The thought that it could have been worse doesn’t make me feel any better.

  “She’s going to be okay,” the woman continues.

  I just nod, putting my head down so she can’t see the tears in my eyes. When we get to the hospital, I watch helplessly as they wheel her back for x-rays and probably a CT scan to make sure her head wasn’t hit too hard. Every time she’s out of our sight, Apollo and I pace restlessly. Aric sits in a daze, and Orion does a mixture of both.

  My dad stays with us when he’s not going back and forth with the doctors and the police. He’s not her guardian, but they don’t have anyone else to talk to. Senya didn’t have any other family. If she did, she wouldn’t have been with that
woman in the first place. Aric’s dad and sister come to check on him, but he tells them to go home and assures them that he’ll call if there are any changes. The Tuckers call and say they’re coming back early, even though Orion tells them it’s not necessary.

  Finally, she’s in a room and they let us see her. We crowd around her bed. My eyes scan for new injuries. My gaze lingers on her breath and the pulse in her neck. She’s okay, I tell myself. She looks so small in the hospital gown with the wires connected to her arm. The doctor, an older man with a round belly, smiles paternally.

  “She’s better than we thought. Her wrist is broken, but the ankle is just a sprain. She doesn’t have a concussion. She had some wooden splinters in the back of her thighs. We’ve removed them, disinfected the cuts, and dressed them. When she wakes up, she’ll be sore, but physically, she’s not in bad shape.” He frowns. “Mentally, it may be different. Everyone reacts to this kind of trauma differently.”

  The doctor finally leaves with some instructions for my dad, who has somehow managed to convince everyone he’s her temporary guardian. They all know and respect him, and I’m grateful that they’re not wrapping us up in red tape. If anyone tried to keep us from her, they’d have a riot on their hands. My dad talks with the police and there are several warnings about needing to speak with her once she wakes up, but for now, she’s ours. A detective draws Dad out, and we crowd around her bed, two on each side. It’s the first time we’ve been alone with her since we left her this morning.

  Aric hangs his head. “I shouldn’t have left her.” His voice is thick with guilt.

  Apollo puts his hand on her shoulder. “You couldn’t have known. None of us should have let her go alone. But we didn’t know.”

  I want someone to blame, but Apollo’s right. I square my shoulders. “She’s going to need us more than ever,” I say. “We can’t get hung up on what we should have done differently.” I meet Aric’s pained gaze. “The guilt won’t go away, but we need to focus on being strong for her. She needs us – all of us.”

  Aric nods. We sit around her, each of us touching her in some way, waiting for her to wake up. I’m dreading the moment she does. Will she be upset her mom is dead? What will happen to her now since she’s not eighteen? Will she recover mentally from whatever happened?

  As I sit, watching her chest rise and fall, I only know one thing for sure. I’ll never let her down again. My life is nothing without her in it.

  Chapter 27

  Aric

  The moment Senya opens her eyes, my heart stops. I don’t think I ever knew what love was until the moment I thought I might lose her. She’s always so strong and stubborn. Seeing the way that asshole broke her body broke me a little. Thinking of life without her isn’t an option. Thinking of a life without any of the people surrounding me isn’t an option. I know it’s strange to think of a relationship in terms of five, not two, but this is how it’s meant to be. For us, it’s the only way. We aren’t whole without her; we never were.

  “Hey, beautiful,” Orion murmurs, his voice catching. We all have tears in our eyes.

  “Hey,” she croaks.

  I immediately reach for the foam cup of water the nurse left. As I help her sip through the straw, she tries to smile. It turns into a grimace when the side of her face pulls painfully. “What’s the damage?” she asks like she just fell down the stairs and nothing else happened.

  “Broken wrist, sprained ankle, a few cuts and bruises,” Manny lists. “How do you feel?”

  “Like I fought in a war,” she jokes before her face falls. “Mom?”

  Silence surrounds the bed. Apollo is at her shoulder, Orion at her thigh on the side of her casted wrist. Manny holds her uninjured hand, and I’m sitting next to her other leg. We can’t stop touching her. We haven’t been able to stop since we saw her bloodied and bruised. The ride to the hospital behind the ambulance had been a tense ten minutes where I nearly lost my shit because I couldn’t see her. I almost crashed my bike on the way to her place after I got Orion’s text. I’d been so worried, yelling at myself the whole way there for just leaving her behind, even though that’s what we’d agreed to.

  Manny inhales deeply. “Your mom didn’t make it. The police think she killed that asshole, and then killed herself.”

  Tears sparkle in her beautiful blue eyes. Thankfully, the doctor said her right eye won’t swell shut entirely. But it’s puffy, and the side of her face is swollen and red. She’s still the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.

  “She saved me,” she forces the words past her tears. “He was on top of me, ready to hurt me more. She hit him over the head with a frying pan. I tried to get her to come with me…”

  “Shhh,” Manny soothes. It’s obvious that talking is painful for her. He leans over to gently kiss an unbruised portion of her face. His head rests on her arm; his shoulders shake. “We’re so sorry, little love. We never should have left you.”

  “Bullshit,” Senya curses, surprising us all for just a second before we remember who she is – and how she is. She may be damaged, but she isn’t broken. She’s the strongest person I’ve ever met. “I told you all to let me go. This isn’t your fault – any of you.” Her voice is strong. She meets each of our eyes, driving home her point. “I suppose I have to talk to some people?”

  Orion nods reluctantly. We were supposed to get Manny’s dad and the detective the moment she woke up, but we needed a second. Manny gathers himself and squares his shoulders again as Apollo goes to the door. We’ve taken turns leaving her side; none of us wants to be away for even a second.

  The detective is a nice woman that Manny’s dad specifically requested. She seems to understand how sensitive the situation is and doesn’t even blink at the four of us surrounding the petite body in the bed like overbearing sentinels.

  “I just have some questions, Senya, and then I’ll let you get more rest. It’s a pretty open and shut case, thankfully. First of all, why don’t you tell me what happened, in your words?”

  It’s torture to listen to the story - how Senya got off my bike and went into her room thinking nothing was wrong, then the smell…we all share a look at that. None of us will ever go near Old Spice cologne for the rest of our lives. I’m not the only one that releases a tear when she talks about the asshole, Lou Holder, attacking her and blaming her for his time in prison. Her voice shakes, and she clenches Manny’s hand tightly as she talks about her mom hitting him with the frying pan.

  “I tried to get my mom to come with me…” she trails off. “But she yelled at me to go, and I just ran. When I got downstairs, the guys were already there.” She looks at us as if remembering she didn’t know why we were there. But now’s not the right time.

  “Did your mom have a gun?”

  Senya shakes her head, but the movement makes her wince. She’s starting to tire again. Her eyes droop, and her face is pale. “No. I don’t know how she would have gotten one.”

  The detective nods and makes a note in her little notebook. “We think that Holder got the gun right after he got out, but we haven’t confirmed that yet.”

  My lips press together. How can it be so easy for a man just released from prison to get a gun? It’s fucked up.

  “So, my mom is…?” Senya asks into the sudden silence.

  The detective nods. “She went fast, immediately after she made certain he was dead, from all the evidence so far. We think she might have known it would end that way because we found a document in her room.”

  “Like a suicide note?” Senya asks in confusion.

  “Not a suicide note. It’s emancipation documentation. The court has to approve it, but I don’t see any reason why they won’t since you’re so close to turning 18.”

  “An emancipation?”

  “Your mother wrote a note saying that she considers you to be a legal adult. She says you’ve been providing for yourself for some time. It should prevent you from entering the state system, although some people your age don’t even ge
t the paperwork finished before they turn eighteen. As long as you have a safe place to stay, I don’t see any reason why the state would want to challenge custody.”

  “She has a safe place to say,” Manny and Orion say at the same time. Manny’s dad nods in agreement.

  The detective smiles. “I figured she did. That’s all, then. You won’t be able to get anything out of your apartment until the investigation is over, but there’s nothing else to worry about.”

  The detective says her goodbyes and slips out. Senya holds back a yawn as the nurse bustles around her, asking about her pain. “The doctor wants to keep you overnight just to make sure you’re sound, mentally and physically, so I’ll give you another dose of pain medication. After that, you should start to heal on your own and be fine.”

  “I can’t afford…” Senya starts.

  Manny’s dad cuts her off. “It’s taken care of,” he says from his place near the door. The nurse starts to object to all of us staying there, but Mr. Waters sweet-talks her and pulls her from the room.

  “How did you know?” Senya asks before the meds take effect.

  “My dad,” Manny replies. “He was looking into it and realized the man you stabbed had been released. When he called me, we came right away. I’m sorry we weren’t faster.”

  “Stop it,” she growls but follows up with a yawn. “You’re here now, that’s all that matters.”

  “Always,” Manny whispers.

  I lean closer to him and place my hand over theirs. ”Always,” I repeat. On the other side of the bed, the brothers echo our words.

  Chapter 28