by Pavan Kaur
This is so much bigger than I'm used to. Even Ethan’s bedroom in the apartment is only about half the size of this room. I continue following him around the room. “What’s in here?” I ask.
“The massive closet, which has gotten a little bigger since I met you.” Ethan laughs as he opens the door. I stop and give him a 'don't be a smart ass' look.
“Wow, this is very nice,” I say. Walking in further, I stop feeling overwhelmed when I see all my shoes on the back wall of the closet.
“I don’t think you can buy enough shoes to fit in here, now.” Ethan wraps his arms around my waist from behind. “You have over half a wall to fill,” he says, kissing my neck.
“This is amazing, thank you!" I turn to face him. “I can’t wait to go shoe shopping,” I say, kissing him. I never thought I would have a closet, much less a wall just for my shoes.
“Does this give me more brownie points for the bedroom?” Ethan smirks at me.
I shake my head. “I can think of a few ways to say thank you.” He licks his lips, then huffs air between them. Is he about to break? When I suck his bottom lip between my teeth, he pulls away from me.
“I think I need to get back to work.”
“Why? I thought we could have a little—”
“I know what you were thinking. I won’t hear the end of it if I give in first, and that’s not about to happen. Never lost before, not going to start now.” Ethan puts his hands in his pants pockets and adjusts himself, causing me to start laughing.
“Give me two minutes.”
“Yeah, I have a very good idea of what you will be doing in those two minutes,” he says, walking out of the room, and I stay there feeling very happy with myself.
As soon as the clock hit ten, Selena was here. They’ve both been working non-stop on the paperwork for Edward and Angie. They’ve been on the phone with the lawyers several times and I can see Ethan starting to lose his temper. I’ve kept myself out of the way because I want this finished so he can put it all behind him.
Grabbing my phone off the table, I see Tanya’s name flashing. “Hey,” I answer.
“Teresa.” My body tenses and I walk over to the bedroom. He's done exactly what I was afraid of—he got to someone I care about. “I’m going to send you a message. I want you to come alone, or this beauty might get to meet your daddy very soon.”
“No, I’ll come, don’t you hurt her,” I whisper so Ethan won't hear me.
“Of course not. She isn't who I want to hurt. You're the person I want to hurt, and I promise to make it painful.” An ice-cold rush of blood runs through me, terrifying me.
The phone goes dead, and I wait for the message to come through. Ding. Looking at the address to the old warehouse, I wonder why he would want me to go there. Looking back at the address, it hits me. This is the old warehouse where all the drug addicts go. No one really goes around that area.
I'm panicking, but trying to act normal as I make myself walk back to where Ethan and Selena are still sitting. “I’m going to meet your sister for coffee,” I tell him. I'm scared. Scared I might not see him again the moment I walk out of the door.
“That’s nice. The one around the corner?”
“Yeah, where else would I go?” I say with a smile.
“Okay, have fun.”
“I love you,” I say, kissing him. Taking my bag, I leave the apartment and get a cab to the address.
Looking at the building, I wipe the tears from my cheeks and take a deep breath, preparing myself for what I know will be a fight for my life.
As I walk into the old building, I feel a cold breeze rush over me. The walls are covered in spray-paint graffiti. I look around and see nothing on the bottom floor, but two men lying on the ground. They’re so high on whatever they’ve taken, they don't even see me walking past them.
As I make my way up the stairs, I look around again to make sure no one is close by. As I get to the top step, I see her tied up to a chair, and I hurry over to her in a panic.
“Tanya,” I say while pulling the tape from her lips. “Are you okay?”
“Lexi! Lexi, get out of here!” she yells at me.
“Her name is Teresa,” a cold, viscious voice says, and my heart races in terror. Carefull standing up, I turn around and see Sam walking closer to me.
“You said if I came you would let her go,” I tell him. I'm trying to keep a confident tone to make him think I’m not scared of him, but inside I want to run. I want to run so fast and so far because I know what he can do to me.
“No, I said I wouldn’t hurt her,” he shouts at me. Grabbing my arm, he pulls me closer to him, and I begin to tremble.
“You let go of her, you sick fuck!” Tanya shouts.
I hear scraping sounds behind me. When I hear it again, I realize it's the wood of chair legs against the floor. Tanya's trying to free herself. I scream as my side begins burning in excruciating pain. I grab where it hurts, hoping I can stop whatever is causing it. The sensation of warm liquid coating my palm has me pulling my hand away. A thick, red substance drips from my fingers when I hold my hand up to inspect it. Looking back up at Sam, I see he has the biggest smile on his face.
“I told you I would hurt you,” he whispers.
Trying hard to take a deep breath in, I feel my blood dripping down my stomach.
Again, I feel the metal dragging across my body. The point of the knife slices through my skin with little effort, and digs right in. I cry out in agony. A searing burn flares up my side, consuming me in white-hot pain, making my mind go blank. Besides the onslaught of sharp attacks enveloping me, dread rises to the forefront of my senses.
I always knew this could happen. My pulse races and my heart pounds against my chest like a sledgehammer as I wonder if I’ll make it out alive.
Sam jerks the knife in further before yanking it out. Tears cloud my vision, then spill down my cheeks and drip off my chin like rain. I feel the cold, hard concrete underneath me as I drop, my legs giving way beneath me. Slamming into the ground, the only thing I'm capable of doing is lying there and shivering, my pain intensifying to levels I never knew existed.
I can barely turn my head, but it's enough that I can just make out Tanya moving in her chair. Then, Sam is standing above me and saying something. I see his lips moving, but the words don’t make it to my ears. He crouches close to me, and his hands reach out, his fingers wrapping around my upper arms. His nails press into my skin as he begins to pull on me. I look up toward the lights as the room begins to fade away. My eyes flutter closed, and I’m shrouded in darkness.
Ethan
Was today a work day? No, but at least I have one less thing to worry about. After going back and forth with the lawyers all day, we finally got the contract ready to send to Edward and Angie. The sooner I can get them out of my life the better.
Lexi and Tanya aren’t back yet, so they must be having a good chat. I’m happy they’re getting along, because family is very important to me.
Heading to the shower, I stop when I hear a knock on the door. I open it to see Travis standing there.
He walks in and looks around the apartment. “Is Tanya here? She was supposed to meet me for drinks, but hasn’t shown up, so I thought she might is here with Lexi,” he says, then looks over at me.
Fuck! Getting my phone out of my pocket, I call Lexi. “Come on, Lexi, pick up the phone.” “She told me she was meeting Tanya for coffee.” I dial again. “Is Tanya not answering?” I look at him, and he doesn’t need to answer me. I’m sure all the color drained from my face as a cold rush of dread runs through me.
“Lexi where are—” I stop when I hear a man’s sadistic laughter.
“Took you a long enough,” a man says, and I know I must be speaking with Sam. I put the phone on speaker so Travis can hear and I won’t have to repeat everything.
“If you hurt her—”
“I think you mean, if I hurt her more,” Sam cuts me off, and I look over at Travis as my heart threatens to
jump out of my chest. “Can you hear her?”
I put the speaker up to my ear to make sure I can. All I can hear is heavy breathing, and then, “E…th…an,” in a very faint voice and I break out in a cold sweat. What has he done to her?
“Lexi, I—”
“I what, Ethan? I’m going to watch her die in front of me. I’m going to watch every last drop of blood drain from her body, and listen as she drags in her last breaths.” The line goes dead, and I stand frozen staring at the phone.
“Drink.” Travis puts a glass of whiskey in front of me.
Taking the glass from the tabletop, I throw it against the wall and stand there watching the glass shatter across the floor. Walking over to the laptop, I look over at Travis. “Does Tanya have the Find My Phone app?”.
“No, her phone is off.” He looks at me and says nothing else.
Lexi’s phone is on, so if I can pinpoint it, I’ll know where to go and can get there fast. The way she sounded over the phone petrifies me.
“Where is this?” I ask, looking at the red dot flashing on the screen.
“That’s the old warehouse building where all the—” He stops talking when he sees the look of dread on my face.
I can’t hear the last part of that sentence. I can’t think about all the drugged-up people being there when she can’t look after herself. I don’t think I could survive if I dwelled on those thoughts.
“Let’s go,” I tell him, grabbing my keys and running out of the apartment. The one thing I feared the most has happened. I didn't want her to leave the apartment without me. Why the hell did I let everything else cloud my concentration and forget that it wasn’t okay for her to go anywhere alone? It’s my fault that crazy fuck got her.
Speeding out of the garage, I take a second to look around and make sure I don’t hit anyone.
“Hey, she’s a fighter. You know that.” I hear Travis, but I don’t look over at him. “Ethan—”
“Travis, please stop talking and let me drive.” I can’t let him tell me things that might not be true.
There’s nothing I can do at the moment but drive and get there as fast as humanly possible. One thing is for certain, though. Once this is over, and Lexi is safe, she won’t be leaving my fucking side.
Parking in front of the warehouse, Travis and I jump out and run in. The place is void of anyone or anything. It’s like a ghost town. “Lexi!” I call out, hoping against hope for a response.
“Ethan!”
“Tanya?” I look over at Travis as he runs past me, and I follow him up the stairs. Reaching the next floor, I watch Travis run to Tanya, who’s tied to a rickety wooden chair. I look around for Lexi but don’t see a trace of her at first glance.
I walk over to Tanya and Travis as he unties her from the chair. “Where’s Lexi, Tanya?” I kneel in front of her.
“He st-st-stabbed her.” Tanya looks at me with tears coming down her cheeks, “Twice.” She whispers the last part, and I think I just heard my heart shatter into pieces. I look at what Tanya's fixated on—a trail of blood.
Following the trail, I look at a group of people on the ground with needles still in their arms. I look back at the ground and follow the trail of blood. “Travis, call an ambulance!” I shout, so he can hear me in the other room. I want them on the way here to save her when I find her.
Opening the door, I look around the room and shove the table that's against a wall out of the way. I rush over to Lexi when I see her body lying on the dirt-ridden ground I quickly drop to my knees and stare at the blood soaking through my jeans. There’s so much. How can she survive this amount of blood loss? Looking down, salt water fills my mouth, and I want to vomit. Her chest isn’t moving. Why isn’t it moving?
“Lexi? Babe? It’s me." I gently move her hair away from her face. She’s as pale as a ghost. Looking at her body, I see a needle sticking out of the crook of her arm. Pulling it from her sticky skin, I sling it across the floor. “Please, wake up,” I say, pressing my forehead against hers. “I can’t lose you—I won’t lose you.” Moving my hand down her neck, I feel for a pulse.
“Ethan?” Travis calls out, walking up behind me.
“She’s not breathing,” I choke out as I continue feeling for a pulse. For the first time, I feel like I’m losing everything good in my life. “Lexi, please… Fight this. Fight for me—for us.” It feels like the weight of the world is sitting on my chest. My heart is crumbling and I'm helpless to do anything but watch her slowly fading away. It’s killing me that she isn’t moving. My heart feels like it's sinking into an abyss of despair. The pain is quickly turning into ice-cold anger, leaving me numb. My vision blurs with the tears building in my eyes. I see Travis’ lips moving, but no sound reaches my ears. My focus is solely on Lexi. Feeling for a pulse, watching for any sign of her chest moving, listening and begging for a whoosh of air as she takes a breath. Anything to give me a little bit of hope that she's still with me.
I move closer to her ear, hoping it'll help her hear me. “Lexi, wake up, and I promise I’ll show you how much I love you every single minute of every single day. I promise I’ll never hurt you or let you be hurt again, but you have to stay with me,” I say, focusing on where the blood has come from. I long slash has cut through her side, the source of the blood that’s still oozing from her. Pulling my jacket off, I place it over the wounds. The blood begins to seep through my jacket, but I couldn’t care less about my garments. I only care about helping Lexi—my Lexi.
“Sir, we need you to move so we can get to her.” I hear someone say, but I’m frozen and can’t get my body to move out of the way. I’m afraid to leave her for even a minute.
“Ethan.” Travis, says, pulling me away.
I sit on the floor trying to understand what the medics are saying, but can’t focus on anything other than them putting a mask over her mouth. “Is she alive?” I ask. They wouldn’t put it on her if she weren't, would they? “Is she alive?” I ask again, watching as they look at each other.
“Stretcher,” one says to the other who pulls it over to them. “Count of three. One, two, three.” They pick Lexi up, place her on the stretcher, then start rolling her out of the room.
“I’m coming with you,” I tell them as I throw my car keys at Travis.
“Your relationship?”
“I’m her boyfriend,” I shout at the medic. I’m going whether they fucking like it or not.
He gives me a nod. “The police will want to talk to you,” he tells me.
“We have the number of the detective already assigned to her case. I’m going to call and let him know what has happened. Maybe they can find Sam before he gets too far away,” Travis says from behind me.
As the medics slide her into the back of the ambulance, I jump in and sit on the bench by her side. I watch as he attaches her to monitors and continues working on her, while the other starts driving and talking on the radio. The words he’s using sound like a foreign language to me.
Taking Lexi’s hand, I’m shocked at how cold it is. “Why is her hand so cold?” I ask the medic.
“She’s lost a lot of blood,” he replies. Lifting her top, he examines her wounds and puts some sort of bandages on them.
“Is she going to be okay?”
The man looks at me then turns back to Lexi as the monitors let out one continuous loud tone. “Code blue!” Even though the medic remains calm, his eyes look a little frenzied, and I begin to panic.
“Here!” The driver shouts at him as the medic in the back with me climbs on top of Lexi and starts chest compressions. The back doors to the ambulance are slung open, and a slew of doctors and nurses run over and begin pulling the stretcher out.
“Status?” the woman in the white coat asks, running behind them as the driver gives their report and the other medic continues CPR. I tune them out, knowing the words wouldn’t make sense to me, anyway. My eyes lock on Lexi and the man trying to keep her alive.
“That’s the boyfriend,” the other man
tells the doctor.
“I’m sorry, sir, but you can’t come any further.” She stops me by the double swinging doors.
“I’m not leaving her!”
“I’m not saying you have to leave. I’m saying you can’t come through these doors.” I attempt to take a step forward, but the doctor pushes me back. “Sir, you have two choices. You can continue this fight, making me waste my time here trying to stop you, or you can sit down so I can save your girlfriend.”
“Please, just save her. She's my everything, and I can’t lose her.” I make direct eye contact with her. “Save her, please,” I beg her. She bobs her head once then runs through the doors. I stand there unable to move, waiting for someone to tell me what's happening. Even though I know it’s only been a few seconds since she went in there, it feels like hours to me.
“Ethan?” My sister stands in front of me and wraps her arms around me. “Mom is on her way, and Travis has gone back to get you some clothes,” she tells me.
I look down at my baby sister. “Are you okay?” I ask her, looking back up at the doors.
“Shaken, but I’m okay.” She looks at the doors. “They'll do everything they can to save her.”
The doors open, and I look through, trying to get a glimpse of what they are doing as the nurse runs out. The beeping of the monitors echoes in my ears. As the nurse runs back in she looks over at me, but her facial expression is blank, not giving me a hint of what is going on.
I’ve never felt this helpless or this lost before. I feel like I have nothing left to live for. At that moment, I know without a shadow of a doubt that Lexi is my soulmate and my life wouldn’t be worth living without her.
“Ethan?” I turn to see my mom running over to me with Jackie right behind her. She wraps her arms around me and I tighten my grip on her. They say a mother’s hug can make you forget everything. If I can forget, even for a second the way Lexi was lying motionless on the floor, then I’ll take it.