by J. L. Drake
A pair of boots stepped over me. Noah? His voice hissed at someone to hurry. Manuel bent down and shook me. I saw him, but I couldn’t respond. My arms and legs were like they weren’t connected.
“Nah, he’s out,” Noah assured him. “Their eyes don’t always close.”
“Fucking creepy.” Manuel pulled the knife out of her stomach and wiped it clean with my blanket. Wilfred! I loved that blanket. It was my only friend when I was here. He protected me from all the evil in this house. Manuel wiped the handle then wrapped my fingers around it.
What was he doing?
He carefully jammed the knife back into her and tossed Wilfred next to me. I wanted to reach down and hold him to my face. His silky edges made me calm, but now he was full of blood—my mother’s blood.
Manuel lowered himself to the floor and looked directly at me. “I’ve never hated someone as much as I’ve hated you. Now it’s your turn to feel some pain.”
His face changed as he pulled out his cell phone and made a dramatic call to 911.
I was crying on the inside, but I couldn’t move. Pain ripped through me. It was all too much, and I let the hurt in, let it swallow me whole. I let my mind go and fell into a sea of darkness…
My vison came back into focus, and my eyes honed in on my brother, my own flesh and blood, knowing he had killed our mother.
So many questions came at me, but the only one that made it off my tongue was, “How?” I fought the rage. “How could you do such a thing? I was seven, just a kid. We share the same blood.”
He shrugged like we were talking about the weather. “It was easy. They couldn’t prove anything, and I knew the Logans would get you the best hotshot lawyer.”
“Was it worth it? To have me blame myself my whole life for killing Mom?”
He smirked. “It was the icing on the cake. The bitch was gone, I got the trailer, and I had my all-American brother bail me out whenever I needed it. It was a win-win!”
Pop!
Half of Manuel’s neck was splattered on the wall. Air lodged in my throat. Noah lowered his gun and watched as Manuel’s body slumped to the ground.
“Now that the drama is over,” Noah pulled a rag from his breast pocket and wiped his mouth, “we have a debt to settle, and you’re still short.”
I stood frozen. Oddly enough, there was no emotion running through me. I wasn’t sad that Manuel was gone. It was a huge relief to know the truth. Truth has consequences, and I guessed this was his. Now there was Noah. I now knew he was part of my mother’s murder. Here he was, telling me I had to pay off my brother’s debt to him. This was too much.
As these thoughts swirled in my brain, Noah’s gaze flicked around the room. “Did you know your mother had a tattoo on her pelvis?” He patted himself in that general area as I channeled all my pain into anger.
Son of a bitch.
“When Manuel told me of his plan to get you to pay back his debt to me, I couldn’t help but play along. The best part for me was playing cat and mouse with your pretty lady friend.”
The skin tightened around my knuckles, and I glanced at Dell, who looked just as angry. “She shook as I stood behind her in the dark. I could hear her breathing when she sensed me.” Noah’s eyes lit up. “You know that feeling, where the hair on your arms stands up, your heartbeat quickens, and your brain is almost too scared to process what’s about to happen?” He smiled like he was visualizing it. “Then she felt me, and I couldn’t help myself. I needed to have her.”
Nothing registered as I hurled myself in his direction and slammed him to the wall. My forearm crushed into his windpipe as he tried to fight me off. The skinny guy yelped as Dell knocked him unconscious.
“On the ground!” Cole’s booming voice ripped through my murderous rage. Shots started to fly, and I grabbed Noah’s head and crushed it. I wasn’t me anymore. All I saw was Mia under this asshole fighting to get free.
I sensed movement and looked up as the bartender pointed a shotgun in my direction, but right before he pulled the trigger, I twisted and let Noah take the hit. His body jerked at the impact, and I stared into his eyes as the life drained out of them.
“Good luck on the other side.”
Keith took out the bartender before he could get off any more shots.
I dropped Noah and glanced at my brother again, still feeling no remorse for his death.
“You all right?” Cole shouted as he elbowed a man who came running in to see what was going on. “We have to get out of here. We don’t have much time.”
Dell wavered and seemed to stumble. Wait…oh shit…
I raced to his side as he fell. I caught him and lowered him to the concrete floor.
“Dell?” Blood soaked through his jacket. I ripped it open and saw a quickly spreading dark stain on the right side of his chest. “No! No way, not again!”
Keith dropped to his knees, ripped off his vest and shirt, and started to pack the wound.
Cole turned and shouted, “We have to move—” His face dropped when he saw us. “Grab him and let’s go.”
“Shit.” I grabbed Dell’s arm, and Keith took the other, and we carried him out of the room between us. Cole cleared our path as we raced toward the front door. Shots from behind us told me we didn’t have much time. “Fuck, Dell, use your feet.”
Our training kept us moving. You forced the pain aside until you were safe. It was hard to do when it was one of your own.
Keith closed his eyes briefly when we stopped at a corner. He was placing his anger. He was better at it than I was.
“Move,” Cole whispered over his shoulder, but he wouldn’t look at us. We were all too terrified we were carrying another corpse.
“Lopez,” Keith turned to look at me, “focus on Mia. Let’s get out of here. That’s it right now, nothing else.”
I gave a quick nod and removed Dell’s gun from his hip. We ran with Keith and Dell between us.
We were moments from the door, and the men behind us were catching up fast. Their footsteps were close, and it fueled us on. Keith was as strong as an ox and made Dell look like he weighed as much as a rag doll.
We passed some dead bodies piled on top of one another. I recognized this as Cole and Keith’s work. We didn’t want to go out the same way we came, so we had to take a detour out a side door.
As Cole burst through, we were greeted by a team of agents and an ambulance. Cole must have called them before they came to get us.
Keith ran over to the paramedics and placed Dell on a stretcher.
“Damn, dude!” Dell hissed. “Gentle.”
Keith shook his head. “Couldn’t have spoken up before?”
“Then you wouldn’t have carried me.” He laughed, but then coughed in pain.
Cole moved to stand over him. “When you get home, we need to talk.”
“I know.” He nodded before the paramedics wheeled him off.
I asked a paramedic if I could use one of the trucks to make a quick call. The truck was warm and helped with calming my nerves. Mia’s phone went straight to voicemail again. Damn, where are you, Mia? With a swipe through my contacts, I called the nurse’s station at the hospital.
“North Dakota Hospital, this is Molly.” Her cheery voice didn’t match my mood.
“Hey, Molly, it’s Mark—”
“Oh, my God, Mark! How are you? Why are you calling this line?”
I squeezed my eyes shut at her chatter. “I need to speak to Mia.”
There was a long pause.
“She’s not here, Mark. She took a job in Boston. Left a few days ago with Nurse Taylor. They went together. I just hung up from talking to her, and they seem to be settling in okay.”
What? Thank God! So Noah was bluffing. Mia wasn’t even in North Dakota. I sank down in the seat; my body felt like putty.
“Mark? Mark, are you still there? I’m sorry. You didn’t know?”
“No, I didn’t.” I rubbed my sore neck. “Thanks, Molly.”
***
Savannah had planted a tree in the front yard in Paul’s memory, since his family wanted to bury him back east. I thought it was great idea. It was like a part of him was still here. Cole had to help because the ground was mostly frozen, but she insisted on doing it now rather than in the spring. She said we needed a place to go to let the pain out.
“Meow,” the kitten squeaked as she weaved through my legs in the kitchen. I bent down and picked up my tiny Mexican spitfire. She took a swipe at my nose and then shoved her paw into the milk on my Cheerios.
“Did Scoot put you up to this?” I glanced over at Scoot, whose ear was being tugged off by Olivia. He looked pissed, but I knew he didn’t care. We were all suckers for that little monster.
Lowering the dish, I let Little Lady have the whole bowl.
“Well, hello, there.” Dr. Roberts stopped at the island and scooped up Lady. “What’s your nam—” Lady quickly batted his face and caught his cheek with her claws. “Wow, you are a feisty kitty.”
I wanted to see what he was going to do. To my surprise, he smiled and examined the moody, sometimes downright nasty cat.
“Is she yours?” He peered over his shoulder.
“I rescued her, but she’s not really mine.” Lady swatted at his nose again and added a kitten-sized hiss. “She could use a good home.”
“Lady, huh? Not quite the name I’d pick for such a feisty little devil. Poor thing. She just needs someone who understands her, don’t you, sweetie? Perhaps you should come home with me, hey?” He set her down so she could go back to eating. But she attacked his shoelaces instead. I laughed. She was such a little shit. Maybe she was pissed I thought she was a boy at first. “Hey!” He tried to move, but she chased him, latching onto his ankle. “Ouch!” he yelped.
“She’s all yours, Doc.”
“Thanks,” he muttered and tried to free himself.
“Good luck with that.” I chuckled on the way out of the kitchen and headed down the hallway.
I had skipped the service the NYPD had for Manuel. I’d no interest in watching my brother be laid to rest. As far as I was concerned, the first seven years of my life never happened. He could rot in hell for eternity, for all I cared.
“Mark,” Cole stood in the doorway, “Frank is downstairs and wants to have a word with you.”
Shit. Guess it’s time.
Taking two steps at a time, I hurried to the conference room. I knocked before I entered.
“Frank,” I addressed him as I stood behind a tall leather chair. “I suppose you want a detailed summary of what went down.”
“Yes, but it can wait.” He chewed on the inside of his mouth while he thought. “Sorry about Paul. He was a good soldier and a good man. How are you holding up?”
I let out a long breath. “Hanging in there.”
“Good.” He nodded. “Look, Mark, I’m a man of a few words, so I’ll cut to it. Mia and I have had a rough go for the past ten years. Since she moved to Boston a few days ago, we haven’t heard a word from her.” He stopped and rubbed his chin. He seemed like he was battling with himself. “Life’s too short not to have the ones you love around you.” He looked over at me. “I realize now I was wrong in how I reacted when I saw her here and heard she was dating you. I’ve tried hard to keep Mia away from this world. It may be 2015, but the Army is not the place for someone as kindhearted as Mia. She’s my baby, always will be.” He cleared his throat. “I still see her with pigtails jumping into my arms and calling me her hero. Hurts a dad’s ego when you see her looking at someone else that way.”
This was a side of Frank I never expected to see.
“If it counts for anything, you have my blessing, Mark.” He stood and offered me his hand. “You’re a good man, and I know she cares a lot about you.”
It took me a moment to catch up. He always was direct, and this time was no different.
“That, ah…that really means a lot, Frank.” I shook his hand, completely blown away by his honesty.
“Right, well…” He started for the door. “She’s working today, so…”
“Yeah, all right.” I leaned against the table.
“I want that report by Monday.”
“Will do.”
Cole came in, but leaned back to make sure Frank was gone. “You get ripped a new one?”
“No,” I was still in shock, but checked my watch, “I actually just got his blessing.”
“What?” Savannah squealed behind Cole. “Oh, my God!” She clapped Livy’s hands together. I smiled, and it felt nice. It’d been a while.
“Where did you come from?” Cole wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist. He kissed her cheek then did the same to Livy.
“I’m everywhere.” She winked, which lightened the mood. “So what’s next?”
I shrugged. “Even if she did take me back, how could it work?”
Savannah beamed at me. “Actually, we’ve come up with a plan.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, but first you need to go get her.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Mia
I hated it there. The staff wasn’t nearly as friendly as North Dakota, and Dr. Rice was way too hands on for my liking. To make matters worse, he was at least a few years younger than I was.
I was happy to leave my old apartment, even though the new landlord, Chris, was nice, and he seemed genuinely sad to see me go. Not that I really knew the man at all. He was a funny fellow. I wasn’t the happiest in that old building anyway since my friend moved out, and after the attack in the basement, it held too many bad memories.
My father and I were working on repairing our relationship. He did a background check on Chris, and he was harmless, just a bit creepy. Regardless, I was happy to be away from him. I never did find out who left the antifreeze in the courtyard, but if I were to guess, I would bet it was the man who attacked me. My father informed me the man was working with Mark’s brother, but I didn’t need to worry about him anymore. I pushed back the pain that followed whenever I thought of anything to do with Mark.
The only thing keeping me going was that Vikki Taylor transferred here with me, since her son was now going to school here.
With my legs curled under me, I opened my book and sipped my coffee while I tuned in and out of the craziness of the ER. The weathered pages of my novel made me happy. I loved this story. It was one I always fell back on whenever I needed to feel love. Jodi Ellen Malpas stole my heart with Jesse Ward. Who didn’t like a great love story? Especially one you could read over and over and know this was one story that would always end the same way—with happiness. Wasn’t that what everyone went through life searching for?
They said the moment you stopped looking for love, you’d find it. I thought that was crap. I was determined to stick to my books to find love. That way I knew I could cry, get the release I needed, and still close the cover and feel happy with the ending.
“What are you reading?” Dr. Rice studied the cover. “This Man? This man, what?” I rolled my eyes. Men. They’ll never understand the romance book world.
“Something I can help you with?” I tucked my book in my bag and picked up my coffee as I stood.
“You looked lonely, so I thought I’d grant you my company.” He raised his cocky arms. “I’ll walk you back to your floor.”
Gee, thanks. What is it with doctors always hitting on you? I guess it’s just that they don’t get out of the hospital enough.
“So, Mia, you have any plans tonight?”
I’m wide open, I have no life. I have only one friend here. The last week, I’ve spent every night sobbing into my pillow over my ex. The worst part is I can’t even smell him on it anymore! I hate it here, and would sell my soul to rewind my life about five months.
“Sorry, I have plans.” Lies, lies, lies.
“Tomorrow?” He stopped me when I started to speak. “It wouldn’t hurt for you to make some friends. Where have I heard that before?”
&nbs
p; True.
“Mia,” Vikki caught my attention as she pointed behind me, “the patient in room 2056 is asking for his pain meds. Could you please help me out and administer them for me?”
“Sure.” I was happy for the out.
“Oh, Mia?” she called.
“Yes?”
“Drinks tonight at the wine bar, on Barrington Street.”
I began to decline when her hands moved to her hips. “Sounds good.” I supposed it couldn’t hurt.
The rest of my shift crawled by at a snail’s pace. My hands acted independently from my mind, which wandered back over things I couldn’t change, only bringing me more heartache. After my shift, I changed, closed my locker, and headed outside. I decided to stop on the way home to buy a bottle of wine. I might need a bit of buzz to get through tonight.
My place was cold and empty when I returned home. My only joy was seeing Butters stretched out on the couch. “Well, at least you’re comfy.” I chuckled at him, and he barely moved except for his thumping tail. I was so thankful Ed was fine with me bringing Butters with me. I thought he was more thankful than I was; Ed wasn’t really a dog person.
“Hi, buddy.” I kissed his head. “Can you help me pick out something to wear?”
Three outfits later, I decided to go with something pretty versus sexy. I didn’t know anyone, anyway, and didn’t want to make the wrong impression. I ran my fingers over a purple long-sleeved lace dress. It stopped above the knee, and my boots stopped just below the knee. It seemed like a good choice. My hair hung long, and I curled it at the ends for an extra bounce. I looked all right on the outside. I only wished I felt all right inside.
Before I could open that wound, my buzzer rang to let me know the taxi was here. Weaving through my unopened boxes of crap, I hurried down the stairs and gave the cabbie the address. The sky was black, with angry clouds whipping by at a good pace. Must have been windy up there. It brought me comfort. I could relate to the weather tonight. It seemed to reflect what was brewing inside of me.