What he saw had his heart racing. Laney lay, face-up, with a towel crumbled at an angle over her lower body. It looked as if the whole room was splattered with blood, as it commingled with the running water, swirling red around the drain. “Oh, my God!” he whispered. He stood frozen for a second. Not now, God, not after I’ve fallen in love with her.
Jenna and Aidan came running up, and she pushed past him to Laney’s side, kneeling down in the water. Cooper started moving forward, too.
“Cooper, get out of here,” Jenna ordered.
“What?” he asked confused. “I want to help.”
“Dammit, Cooper, get out of here! She’s naked. She wouldn’t want you to see her like this.”
“What the hell! I don’t care—”
“OUT!” she screamed. “Aidan, get my bag out of the trunk.”
Cooper fumed and listened while Jenna tried to revive Laney, speaking to her with a calmness he did not possess. Aidan returned with her EMT bag. “Thanks,” she said shortly. “You get out, too.” She gestured with her head to the door and he left without a word.
Cooper was out in the locker areas pacing around, his face white and tense. “Jesus, man! Did you see her? Did you see what he did to her?”
“Yeah, man. I saw it. She’s gonna be okay, Coop.’”
There were a few seconds of quiet. He wished to hell he could turn off those damn showers. What kinds of wounds did she have? Were they knife wounds? Could he have had a gun with a silencer?
He ran his hands through his hair. “Did you see anything?”
Aidan shook his head. “No sign of him. Not a car, nothing. Too many footprints to tell what direction he might have gone.”
They waited while Jenna worked.
“I shouldn’t have left her. What was I thinking? She had just been attacked a few hours ago, for god sake!” He slammed his hand into a locker and then laid his forehead on it, whispering, “What was I thinking?”
Aidan came over and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “None of us was thinking about there being any danger here. We’re at the damn beach. We were having a good time. None of us were expecting this. It’s not your fault, Coop. No way.”
Jenna stepped out and both men looked up. “She wants her clothes,” she said, looking a little sheepish.
Cooper stepped forward. “She’s conscious?”
“Yeah. But she’s pretty beat up, Cooper. When I get her dressed, you can come back there. I don’t want her to sit up yet. I’m afraid she’ll pass out. I’ll call you.” And then she was gone.
Aidan clapped him on the back. “See, Coop. She’s gonna be fine.”
“Yeah.” He breathed a huge sigh of relief, but he still felt horribly guilty.
After a few minutes, Jenna called out to them. Cooper rushed back. He knelt down on the other side of Laney in the water.
“Hey. How are you doing?” He smoothed the hair away from the side of her face left unbandaged. Her forehead was creased, face tight with pain.
“I’m okay,” she replied weakly, seeming embarrassed by all the attention.
“I’ll feel better when I get you to the hospital and have a doctor check you out.”
“Oh, no, Cooper. I don’t need to go to the hospital.”
“It’s out of the question.”
She looked up at Jenna desperately. “Jenna, tell him. Tell him I’m okay.”
Jenna pulled the bandage away from Laney’s head wound for a minute. Cooper fought back a wave of nausea when he saw the opening.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree with Cooper on this one, Laney. This hasn’t stopped bleeding yet and, since you lost consciousness, I think you need to be worked up.”
Her eyes traveled to Aidan, hoping to find an ally, but the stubborn set of his chin showed no quarter would be given there.
“Fine,” she said, resigned.
They all heard the ambulance and police cars Jenna had called earlier arriving at the same time outside. Cooper used his connection with law enforcement in order to ride along in the ambulance. She looked up at him at first, almost as pale as the sheets beneath her, but after a few minutes she closed her eyes. He bent over her, holding her hand, his face grim.
At the hospital, he waited impatiently in the hall, his hands clasped behind his head, his feet sticking out in front of him, oblivious to those who were having to skirt them on their way by. Aidan and Jenna sat across from him, subdued.
Jenna cleared her throat and leaned forward. “Cooper, I want to apologize for yelling at you. I—”
“No, Jenna. You were looking out for your patient. That’s what a good EMT does.”
“I was a little freaked out, to tell you the truth.”
Cooper turned to look at her. “You? Freaked out?”
“Yeah. I thought I was going to puke.” He raised his eyebrows. “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve worked some pretty gruesome cases before. But it’s…different when it’s someone you know. And you’re not at work. I didn’t expect to have to deal with something like that today.”
He put a hand on her knee. “I’m sorry, Jenna.”
“Oh no, Cooper. I was where I wanted to be. I’m glad I could be there to help. It was just…scary.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “Yeah.”
More time passed. Cooper got up and paced. He wanted to punch something. He sat down. Minutes later, he sat up so fast he startled Jenna.
“What I don’t get—” he began, as if they had been having a discussion all along, “—is how does he keep finding us? I was sure no one followed us to the hotel, and today, the only people who knew where we were going were the four of us. How does he always know where she is?” His frustration was like bile, eating away at him.
Aidan was thoughtful. After a few minutes, he began to speak slowly. “The other day I was talking to Greg Montgomery—” Greg was a fellow police officer. “—and he was mentioning his son had gotten into trouble. He’s a teenager, and he told Greg he was going to his best friend’s house, but Greg felt like his kid was lying to him.” Now Aidan sat up, excited. “So he tracked his son through the kid’s cell phone’s GPS. Kid was at his girlfriend’s.”
“So you think he’s tracking Laney, somehow, through her cell phone?”
“I don’t know, man. Let’s give it to Guido and let him figure it out.” Denny “Guido” Sardoni was one of the tech-heads in the department. Anyone who needed a photograph enhanced, an audiotape cleared up, or a wiretap set up, went to Guido. To retrieve data from a computer, they went to Guido. If they wanted to figure out their kid’s iPod, they went to Guido.
“Brilliant, baby!” Cooper smiled broadly, extending his hand to knuckle Aidan. “That’s why you’re my partna.”
The doctor walked out and he bolted out of his seat. “Can I go in now?”
The doctor eyed him. “You do this to her?”
“Did I do this to her? No! Some maniac did!”
Aidan stepped between them. “We’re police officers.”
“Ahh,” the doctor responded, tapping his pen on the chart he held. “Well, take it easy on the questions. She’s been through a lot.”
Before Cooper could respond, Aidan grabbed his elbow. “Thank you.” He guided him through the door.
“How ya doin’?” Aidan was the first to ask.
“Better,” she responded, ducking her head self-consciously.
Aidan rubbed her knee as she sat on the side of the bed. “I’m glad. I’ll be outside,” he added to Cooper.
When they were alone, he spoke up. “What did the doctor say?”
“He said I was fine and could leave.”
“Really? I thought sure they would keep you.”
She glanced away.
“Laney?”
“Well, he wanted to keep me at first but I convinced him I was okay.”
“Laney—”
“Listen! I passed all his tests. I’m fine.” That tilt of the chin. It got him every time.
He stood in front of her, his hands on the side of her thighs. “Laney, I want you to stay with me tonight.” As if anticipating an argument, he held up his hand. “I won’t put any moves on you or anything, I promise. I need to be right by your side tonight. For you and for me.”
She looked down for a second, but then gazed up again into his eyes. “Cooper. This is getting dangerous for you. I don’t know if I can put you in that position.”
“It’s either here at the hospital, or home with me, Laney,” he said firmly. “Those are your two choices.”
She smiled. “You don’t play fair, you know?”
“Of course I do,” he deflected. “I’m a cop.” He bent to kiss her, being gentle with her swollen face.
The doctor bustled in with her discharge papers, and before they knew it, they were on the couch at Cooper and Aidan’s. They were wrapped up in their own thoughts while Aidan and Jenna were throwing together a salad for the four of them.
After a while, Laney broke the prolonged silence. “Aren’t you going to ask me about what happened?” She looked at her hands on her lap.
“Eventually I was going to have to, but I was waiting until you were ready.” He could hardly bear to look at her bruised and swollen face or at the scrapes that covered most of her body.
“I want to get it over with.”
“Okay. Do you mind if I turn on a tape recorder so I won’t have to ask you to repeat things later?”
“No, I don’t mind.” Jenna and Aidan walked in with the salads. “Can Jenna be in here?”
“Of course.”
“What’s going on?” Jenna asked, wary.
Cooper stood up to get his tape recorder. “Laney wants to tell us about what happened today.”
Jenna looked at her, her eyes wide. “Are you sure, honey?”
She nodded and patted the seat next to her Cooper had vacated. Aidan set the salads down and prepared to leave. “No, Aidan. You should be here, too. I guess we’re all in this crazy thing together.”
When Cooper had the tape recorder in place, he began. “Now, any time you want to stop, tell us and we’ll be through, okay?” He sat down on the coffee table in front of her.
She nodded. “I don’t know if anything I have to say will help at all, it was too dark for me to see.”
“That’s okay. Just tell me what you can.”
“I was in the shower…and the lights went off. Jenna had gone to get shampoo, so I thought maybe you had accidentally turned the lights out, thinking I was with her.” She paused. Jenna held her hand, and Laney looked up at her with gratitude.
“I called out your name.” The words seemed to choke her. “But he was already there.” A single tear fell out. “I guess I didn’t hear him because of the sound of the water running. I tried to stay calm. I didn’t scream, thinking it would help him to find me, at first…and later, I…couldn’t.”
Cooper squeezed his pen, looking up at Aidan, both men fighting to control their anger.
“I snatched my towel and put it around myself, but when I was leaving the shower area, he grabbed me and shoved me up against the wall.” Her hand went to her cheek, as if she was remembering the feel of the cold cinderblocks. She swallowed and closed her eyes, but kept going. “I was scared. I begged him not to kill me.” A small sob escaped. “I’m sorry,” she cried, putting a hand over her mouth.
“Do you want to stop, Lane?” Cooper put his hand on her knee.
She shook her head, sending a few isolated tears flying, and tried to collect her emotions. Her voice became hollow. “He mocked me. Told me he wasn’t going to kill me, just mess me up really bad.”
Cooper’s stomach rolled. He was only a few feet away. He should have been able to stop this from happening to her.
“That’s when he threw me across the room and I hit my head on the bench. But when he came toward me, I thought, I’m not gonna let him do this to me. I grabbed the rung from the bench and swung. I hit him, but…I couldn’t see anything, and I don’t think I made solid contact.”
“That’s good, Laney. It could help. If you made him bleed, maybe the crime scene people will find some physical evidence which could help us tie this to someone.”
She nodded.
“What happened next, Laney?” Aidan prodded.
“Well…he wrenched the bar out of my grip and told me I’d made a big mistake.”
She began to shake, and Cooper got up to sit on the other side of her. “Maybe you’ve had enough.”
“No!” she shouted at him. She put her face in her hands. They exchanged glances. It was gut-wrenching to hear. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Cooper, I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just…I don’t want this to have a hold of me. I want to get it out there. Demystify it.” He nodded. She thought again. “He shoved my face into the water from the shower. I couldn’t breathe, but over the sound of the pounding water, I heard Jenna call out. I fought my head out of the water so I could warn her. I was dizzy. He hit me, I think…and I don’t remember anything else except waking up with Jenna there.” She blew out her breath, squeezing Jenna’s hand. “You saved my life.”
“No. I just patched you up until the ambulance got there.”
“You saved my life,” Laney insisted. “He would have drowned me. Thank you.”
Jenna looked up at Aidan, tears in her eyes. He smiled at her.
“What I don’t understand is,” Laney continued slowly, “why? Why is he doing this to me? What could I have done to make him so mad at me?” She looked up, her eyes wild with anxiety.
“Laney, this isn’t your fault,” Aidan answered.
“No, honey. You can’t think that.” Cooper put both hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him, ducking his head down to catch her lowered eyes. “You did nothing wrong here.” She let herself fall forward and laid the top of her head on his shoulder, weary. He pulled her all the way into his arms and she leaned on him. “I know that wasn’t easy for you to do,” he breathed. “But you did a great job.”
“It was very brave,” Jenna added, patting her back.
Laney lifted her head to give Jenna a wan smile. “I couldn’t have done it without your help…all of you.” She looked at Aidan to include him, too. “I’d be an even bigger basket case if I didn’t have you guys to lean on.”
Aidan stood up and rubbed her hair in a brotherly fashion. “Well, you lean whenever you want to, babe. We’ll be here for you.” He put his arm around Jenna, who had stood.
“And as far as I’m concerned,” Jenna put in her two cents, “you’re no basket case. You’re amazing!”
“You want to eat something?” Cooper stood.
“Umm…yeah, sure.”
They all sat down to eat, trying to act as normal as possible. Laney picked at her food for the others’ benefit, but was glad when the meal was over and everyone decided to go to bed.
“You guys turn in. We’ll get these,” Jenna said, taking Laney’s bowl.
“Oh, no. You made dinner. We can—”
“You look exhausted. Go. I don’t want all my fantastic healing work to go to waste.” She gave Laney a wink and headed into the kitchen with Aidan.
Cooper and Laney moved to the bedroom. Later, when Aidan walked past, the door was still open and a lamp was on next to the bed. Cooper was sitting with his back against the headboard, fully-clothed, with Laney asleep in his arms. She had changed into pajamas, which Jenna lent her, and he was stroking her hair above the bandage covering her stitches. As Aidan peeked in, Cooper put his lips to her hair and kissed her. He caught his eye.
“How is she?” he whispered, leaning against the door frame.
“She’s beat, but she’s okay.”
“She’s quite a girl,” he commented.
“Yeah.” Cooper looked down into her face, peaceful in sleep despite the bruises.
“We’ll get him, Coop.’” He didn’t comment. “Good night.”
“‘Nite, Aidan. And thanks.”
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“Sure thing.”
A few hours later, Aidan was awakened by the sound of Laney screaming. He snatched his pistol from the bedside table and rushed into the hall, leaving Jenna still sleeping. In the hall, he could hear Laney whimper and the murmur of Cooper’s voice as he reassured her.
“It’s just a dream, babe. No one’s here, I swear.”
When Cooper got up a few minutes later, he met Aidan in the bathroom.
“She okay?”
He noticed the gun in the waistband and put two and two together. “You heard that.”
Aidan nodded.
“Sorry, man.”
“No, don’t worry about it. She freaked out?”
“A little. Her head’s pounding now. Although she’s trying not to let it show,” he commented with a small smile. “She’s afraid I’ll make her go back to the hospital. I got up to get her some pain killers.” He reached into the medicine cabinet.
“I’ll get her some water.” Aidan filled up a Dixie cup.
“Thanks.” He took the cup, but made no move to leave, leaning against the sink and jiggling the pills around in his hand.
Aidan waited for him to say something, but when he didn’t, Aidan prompted. “Something on your mind?”
He spoke, still looking at the small red pills in his hand. “He could have stabbed her, or…done whatever he wanted with her, and I was out there goofing around with you.”
Aidan didn’t respond. A few seconds ticked by. “We’re going to protect her now, Cooper.”
He lifted his head and they exchanged a long look, an unspoken pact signed between them. They would keep this from happening again, no matter what. Cooper nodded, and the two returned to bed without another word.
Chapter Nineteen
Cooper’s eyes opened slowly. He saw the empty bed beyond his fingertips—the sheets still warm and wrinkled—and raised his eyes to see Laney sitting on the edge of the bed. In the morning light, he could see the mass of bruises on her right shoulder blade, traveling all the way to her side. The delicate, pastel green spaghetti strap of her top stood in juxtaposition to the black and blue marks of a prize fighter. As he watched, she stretched, but then sucked in a breath, grasping her arm with a quiet sound which was somewhere between a yelp and a groan.
THE HEART TEACHES BEST (REAL ROMANCE COLLECTION Book 2) Page 12