THE HEART TEACHES BEST (REAL ROMANCE COLLECTION Book 2)

by M. J. Schiller

  “Timmy or Timothy, their firstborn.” Again, their attempts were rejected.

  “—which you are interrupting. I’ve got things to do.”

  Steve’s voice came through the p.a. again. “Laney. Your time is running out. You know I’m not a nice man.”

  Cooper watched Laney’s eyes and saw her sliding away. It was obvious to him when her torturer took on a certain, threatening tone, he could easily manipulate her emotions. It had become a learned response, learned from the taunts and the blows and the terror that had been her reality before he arrived.

  “We know that, don’t we sweetheart?” Bertrand spoke low, with a lazy drawl. But it was as if he could see the reaction he pulled out of her, a hint of satisfaction coloring the words.

  Laney rubbed her hands over the goose pimples on her arms. It was as if his words were crawling over her skin. She was remembering the way he touched her. The softer, more intimate touches would have been worse than the punches and kicks because they told her he owned her, he could do anything to her and she wouldn’t be able to stop him. She started to shake.

  Cooper held her by the shoulders, but he could see when he touched her, she was remembering another man’s hands, and it killed him. “Stay with me, babe. Don’t go back there.” He had to give her something to hold on to. “My dad’s out there, you heard him. He’s gonna help us get out of here, too. And Aidan.” She peered up at him, and he saw a light beginning to return.

  “You’ve got five minutes, Laney,” the voice said, and then it was silent.

  Cooper held her eyes, the deep blue swimming with tears. He rubbed her arms gently so she would know it was his touch. “I have to go out there, Lane.”

  “NO!” she shrieked, but then covered her mouth with her own hand. They stilled, listening for a reaction from the other side of the wall, and then she stepped closer. “No, Cooper, you can’t! Please!” She shook her head. “You don’t know what he’ll do to you!”

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “No! I c-can’t…please!” She sobbed.

  “Honey, it’s the only way. I’ll stall him while you work on the code.”

  “He’ll kill you. He will!” She was hysterical now.

  “Laney, shh!” He lowered his lips to hers to quiet her and her protests were lost in his kiss. When he pulled away, his voice was soft and sad. “I have to go.”

  He turned toward the door, and she screamed. “Wait! Try Muskrats!”

  “What? Now you’re stalling.”

  “No!” She took him by the shoulders and turned him to where a big bumper sticker splashed at a diagonal across the door.

  WALTER DAVIS~MIGHTY MUSKRATS RULE!

  Accompanying the words was a ridiculous picture of a muskrat, or what he believed to be a muskrat, wielding a sword. He almost laughed. “It’s worth a try,” he muttered. She clung to him as he typed in eight letters. To his shock, green letters lit the screen. PASSWORD ACCEPTED. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He switched the system off. They could hear the noise of doors opening throughout the building.

  But with a blast, the closet door was kicked in. Laney screamed and cowered against Cooper.

  “Too late, cop!” Steve brought his arm down, the gun in his hands inches from Cooper’s temple. “I hope you already said your goodbyes, ‘cause—”

  Before he could finish speaking, Laney flew at him, slamming into him full force. They fell into a jumble of mops, buckets and ladders with a loud crash. She flailed her arms and managed to knock the gun, sliding, into some hidden recess of the room. Steve rolled to the side, pushing her off and scrambling to his feet as Cooper bore down on him. The first punch knocked Steve into an electric box with a clang, but he was ready for the next. Grasping his hands together he brought both elbows down on Cooper’s shoulders as Cooper landed a blow to the ribs. They fell off balance, and like a cross between slow-motion ballerinas and hockey players, they fell to the floor, scrambling for position and space to free themselves to pull back to land harder blows. They fell near Laney, who was slow to get up, her breathing coming more raggedly than before, her arm limp and crossed over her abdomen.

  Cooper connected squarely with Bertrand’s jaw, snapping his head to one side. As he pulled back for a second punch, Steve reached up to grab the sides of his head, and viciously head-butted him in the face. Blood seeped from his nose. Steve reached over and clawed his nails into the soft flesh of Laney’s calves, ripping through the skin. She squealed in pain, kicking out, but he held on.

  “You son-of-a-bitch! Let go of her!” Cooper pulled at Steve’s hands to dislodge them, and Steve took the opportunity offered by his moment of distraction to throw him off. Before they could react, he scuttled over Laney and out the door.

  “STOP! POLICE!”

  “‘THAT’S HIM!”

  There were several confused cries at once and the sound of feet pounding down the hallway. Cooper rolled onto his forearms and crawled to where Laney lay, leaning on one elbow, panting. Before he had even reached her she stretched her hand out to touch his face.

  “Are you okay?”

  “That’s what I was coming over to ask you.”

  “I’m okay.”

  “It’s all over, babe. Let’s get out of here.”

  They helped each other to their feet. Cooper ducked out of the room first to make sure all was clear, but the action was taking place farther down the hall. They walked, his arm over her shoulders, past the office, where they could see officers untying the roughed-up security guard. Ricky had apparently already been escorted out of the building. They exited through the front door and Laney spotted Aidan sitting on the back bumper of the ambulance with Jenna. His shirt was off and Jenna worked with a tweezers to remove shards of glass embedded in his shoulder. Laney broke from Cooper and ran forward. Hearing her cry, Aidan looked up and stood, as she raced into his arms. He hugged her, lowering his head and closing his eyes. Cooper ambled up behind her, smiling broadly despite the streak of blood on his face and hands.

  “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Laney sobbed.

  Aidan pulled away, pushing her hair back and then holding her face to peer into her eyes. “What for?” She was trembling from head to toe. “I’m okay, come here.” He brought her over to the ambulance and helped her to sit down next to Jenna, but she wouldn’t let go of him.

  Cooper looked at Jenna. “I think she has some broken ribs.”

  Jenna’s partner, who had been standing nearby, interjected. “We need to sedate her and take her to the hospital.”

  “No!” Laney’s head snapped up, her eyes wild. “I’m not going until they have him.”

  Cooper felt a strong hand on his shoulder. “You all right, son?”

  Cooper smiled, clasping his dad’s broad hand. “Yes, sir.”

  Thad grabbed his son up in a bear hug, thumping him on the back. “Good, good.” He pulled back and crossed to crouch in front of Laney, taking her hands. “What about you, honey? You doing all right?”

  Laney nodded and sniffed.

  Sully looked up at Jenna. “I think we need to let these good people have a look at you, sweetheart.” He rubbed her arm, trying to calm and coax her into being more cooperative with the EMTs.

  “Okay,” she said. “But no drugs and no hospital until they have Steve, okay?”

  Thad wouldn’t budge. “We’ll see what they say after they have examined you.”

  “Let’s get her in the rig so she can have more privacy,” Jenna’s partner suggested.

  “Can Cooper come in?”

  The big EMT looked down into her shell-shocked eyes. “Yeah, sure.” People moved so she could be helped inside, followed by Cooper.

  He heard Jenna say, “I’ll finish with you when I’m done in here.”

  “Okay, okay,” Aidan laughed.

  Once they got her into the ambulance and lying down, it became evident Laney was really struggling to breathe. When Jenna pulled up her shirt and saw the mass of bruising on her left side, s
he told Cooper, “We’ve got to get her in. She could have internal injuries.”

  He nodded. “Okay.” He moved up to speak to her. Her eyes were closed now and she moaned as he came closer. Jenna’s partner sat across from her, having already hooked up an IV, with a syringe held ready. “Lane?” She didn’t respond, only moaned more and moved her head from side to side in an agitated manner. “Lane? We’ve got to take you into the hospital. I’m sorry, honey.” She still didn’t react, her eyes remained shut, her face creased with pain. He nodded at the EMT and Ty injected the IV. Seconds later, she became still and silent, her face pale, lips ashen, giving in to her body’s cry for rest. He kissed her on the forehead as Jenna strapped her in for the ride.

  “I want you and Aidan to be checked out, too. Get someone to bring you over.”

  Cooper looked reluctantly at Laney, holding her hand. “Will she wake up?”

  Jenna shook her head. “And even if she did, chances are she wouldn’t even know who you were. Ty gave her some pretty heavy duty stuff. She’s going to be okay now, Cooper,” Jenna added with a reassuring smile.

  He nodded and, giving Laney’s hand one last kiss with his busted lip, left the vehicle. Jenna climbed out, too. Cooper watched as she turned to Aidan, grabbing him around the waist and kissing him passionately.

  “What was that for?” he said, with a goofy, satisfied smile.

  “I don’t like patching my friends up,” she said, her face serious. “And I don’t like patching my lovers up. And I certainly don’t like patching up the man who has become so much more to me than that.”

  Aidan couldn’t hide his delight and surprise. “Well, you better quit picking up EMT shifts then, ‘cause I tend to get banged up a lot.”

  “Oh!” she screamed, frustrated. She gave him a jab in an uninjured part of his chest.

  He brushed her long, dark hair back, becoming solemn. “I love you, too, babe,” he said huskily. Cooper knew what a big deal it was for him to say those words.

  “Hey!” he yelled. They turned. “Could you two cut it out? My woman needs a doctor.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Aidan said as he moved to close the doors of the ambulance. He glanced in. Laney lay on the gurney, pale and beaten. His smile faded as he looked at her. He swallowed as Jenna’s partner looked up. “Take care of her, Ty.”

  “Done deal, Aidan.” Ty nodded, and then turned back to his patient.

  Aidan closed the door, and escorted Jenna to the front. Cooper walked over and the two stood side-by-side, watching it roll away.

  “I’m driving,” Aidan announced.

  “Then get going,” Cooper responded as they bolted to the car. He waved at his dad as they drove away. Sully smiled back at his son, and continued to lead the S.W.A.T. team.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The months rolled past and Laney’s ribs healed enough to go skiing over spring break in Aspen with Cooper, Aidan and Jenna, who were now engaged. The doctor had explained to Cooper, the first day in the hospital, the reason Laney had trouble breathing. Three consecutive ribs had been broken. The ribs support the lungs, he’d told her, and when that big of a section was weakened, the lungs had trouble expanding correctly. There wasn’t much to be done about it other than get the rest the body needed to heal.

  Laney agreed to take a week off, but spent those first several days restless, as Steve Bertrand had somehow managed to elude the police at the high school and disappear. The S.W.A.T. team wasn’t in place when he made his break and he had the advantage of knowing the building better. But, before the week was out, they received a call telling them Steve’s body had been found in his car at the beach. He had driven his car to the water’s edge, put a gun to his head and taken his own life. Cooper hadn’t had the heart to tell Laney about the blood-splattered note left on the passenger side front seat, which simply read, “I love you, Laney!”

  All the same, she had fallen into a strange funk, feeling guilty, to Cooper’s consternation, for Steve’s choosing to take his own life. It confounded him that the man who still haunted her dreams was able to claim her daylight hours as well. But all the people who had come to love Laney, his parents and brothers and sisters, Aidan and Jenna, all of them took turns looking in on her and trying to keep her mind off the torturous hours she had spent as a victim to Steve’s fractured soul.

  But, strangely enough, it was returning to the room, the room where she had been held captive and beaten, the room where they had to wipe her blood from the floors and walls, it was there she started to make her recovery by reclaiming herself. Her students were understanding and patient with her when she would sometimes space out in the middle of speaking to them, and take on a stricken look. They would ask her a question to snap her back to the old Ms. Essex, and after a while those moments became few and far between.

  Now, as he looked at her smiling face at the top of the ski slope, the sun shining on the beautiful, blond hair projecting out the bottom of her stocking cap, Cooper knew she had turned a corner. He hadn’t seen her blank out all day, it had been nothing but smiles and sunshine, and his heart leapt with the promise of a new beginning for them. She pulled her ski goggles up onto the top of her multi-colored cap and squinted up at him, the snowflakes sticking to her eyelashes as she spoke, her cheeks rosy from the cold. “What are you thinking about?” she asked, grabbing him around the middle clumsily with her huge, gloved hands.

  He bent and kissed her. “About how lucky I am.”

  She sighed. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “It’s your mom’s ‘quaint, little cabin.’”

  Laney smiled, perhaps thinking about the expansive lodge snuggled into the side of a mountain they would be returning to later in the afternoon. Cooper was thinking, himself, about how fantastic it would be to take her back to the room they had all dubbed, “The Love Grotto,” a hot tub surrounded by rock, stuck in a nook in the wall.

  “Yes, but it was you who made me leave all the research papers behind and come up here to spend time together, and I can’t ever remember a time when I’ve felt happier to be freezing my tush off.”

  Cooper moved his gloved hands to rub them over her rear. “But it’s such a cute, frozen tush. Did I tell you I think you make the cutest little snow bunny?”

  She smiled. “A couple of times.” She looked up now, in the way that always had his heart skipping a beat. “But I was more interested in you showing me.”

  “Mmm,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her impossibly warm ones. “Last one down pours the wine?”

  “Hey, you two losers!” Jenna shouted as she whizzed by, the sleek, black shape of Aidan following in her tracks.

  “Winner gets ‘The Grotto’!” he called.

  Cooper did a hop to free his skis from Laney’s and planted his poles. “I’ll wait for you at the bottom.”

  Laney laughed, pushing off herself as she pulled her goggles back down. “We’ll see about that!”

  * * *

  Cooper decided dressing in layers was as hot as seeing Laney in something skimpy, even with all that glistening skin to tempt his eyes. As he slid his hands under the thin, ribbed turtleneck sweater clinging to her and felt the silky flesh beneath, he concluded peeling off her clothes to discover the pleasures that lie hidden was just as much of a turn on. Like a boy unwrapping his presents on Christmas morning, he pulled off her clothes, dumping them on the floor with little ceremony. He released her breasts from the confines of her lacy black bra, fondling her while he contemplated the perfection that was a woman’s body. He let his hands skim down over her flat stomach, around her luscious hips, to slip beneath the back of her jeans and cup her flesh there. She did a hop and wrapped her legs around his waist while he carried her to the bed and then lost himself to her.

  When they woke up later, naked, under the thick covers of a white down comforter, a fire still roaring in the small fireplace of their room, they relished the pleasure of making love in the middle of the day without anyone being the wiser. Exc
ept maybe Jenna and Aidan, who had seen them coming in before slinking off to “The Love Grotto.” And since they were probably doing the same thing, they wouldn’t be standing in judgment.

  Cooper and Laney got up and cooked a fabulous pasta dinner for all, working in tandem in the enormous kitchen. They spent the evening in front of a huge fire while a storm raged outside, playing cards and laughing into the wee hours, before parting and going to their separate wings of the house, creeping down dark hallways over cold wood floors, to the welcoming warmth of their bedrooms.

  The next day, the men dug them out while the women cooked a brunch that would have fed an army. Before they left, they got into the mother of all snowball fights, where Aidan and Laney became a team, discovering a natural fort/bunker offering them advantage over Cooper and Jenna. At one point, as they lay, giggling, behind the shelter of their snow walls, waiting for a sneak attack waged by Cooper and Jenna, Laney looked over and said, “Aidan, you know I love you, right? I mean, not like Jenna loves you, but—”

  “Yes, you nut!” He lifted her chilly, mittened hands to his lips. “And I love you, too.”

  “I’ve never thanked you for everything. For…helping us to get out of that school alive. For being there the first couple of weeks afterward...”

  Aidan seemed touched. “You know I’d do anything for you guys.”

  “I know, and I love you for it. Just thought I should tell you.” She smiled at him. “Now, what do you say we take those two losers out?”

  He smiled conspiratorially. “I’ll follow your lead.”

  The two charged out of their cover, surprising Cooper and Jenna, who were trying to erect some form of protection themselves, barreling through their snow walls and tackling their respective lovers, rolling around in the snow until a hot chocolate break was called for.

  * * *

  They had been back from the mountains for a week. Laney sat up in bed, reading papers, her red pen poised to either make corrections, or praise good work. Cooper was watching ESPN, rubbing Laney’s feet as he lay on his stomach, finding out why a former Trojan football star had been arrested in Mexico.