Unbreak Me

by Alicia Cicoria

  “No, she didn’t. It was an accident. Do you hear me? An accident. As for your girlfriend, the only proof you’ll have is the proof showing that you covered up your ex-wife’s crime with a retelling of how that night unfolded. You’ll lose her just like you lost your job.” He waved the gun around some more, walking around in circles.

  The one time I didn’t bring my gun would be the time I need it most. I contemplated my next move, what I should say versus what I should do. I knew if Lucas didn’t make it to a hospital soon, he’d die.

  “Let’s say the planting of false evidence works out in your favor, that doesn’t erase the fact you just shot a cop who might very well die because he’s lying in a puddle of his own blood. You can’t make that go away.”

  Ian stopped and stared out the window in the office we were in. “I’ll see to it you get the blame for that too. If I have to shoot you in the process, it’ll be a sort of murder-suicide incident. Won’t take long for that story to die down quickly and no one will be the wiser. You will have killed Lucas for not digging into police documents for you to get your job back but then taking your own life for having lost the job in the first place. Trust me, it’ll work out the way it needs to.”

  By the way Ian was talking, his voice monotone and eerie, I knew he wasn’t joking. Everything he had against me would stick. You didn’t have to be a cop to come to that conclusion. A brilliant plan, if I was being honest with myself.

  Ian was making sure I’d regret sleeping with Jessica that one time, though he didn’t know how often I thought about that night and how many seconds I spent wishing I could take it back.

  Mac drank. A lot. One night, after she and Jessica had gone out to a local bar, they ended up back at the house. I had a few drinks that night, waiting on her to get home. I was sitting in the pool when they came walking around to the back door. It started with Mac and Jessica stripping down naked and making out in the pool. I had zero intentions of touching Jessica that night, nothing about her had attracted me, and I had always been a one-woman kind of guy. Mac started flirting with me, something she hadn’t done in a while. She kissed me while letting Jessica touch her everywhere. It got out of hand quick and by the time I realized what was happening, the damage was done. We hadn’t slept together, I couldn’t bring myself to go that far. Mac kept trying to push me on her but I couldn’t do it. I did almost everything but that. I wasn’t attracted to Jessica in that way. After that night, I hadn’t looked at Jessica again. I avoided her at every cost since that night. Jessica pleaded with me not to tell Ian, that she would tell him so I let it go. I tried not to think about it again. To find out that she did tell him but fabricated something way out of proportion was insane. No wonder he wanted to ruin my life. There was even a possibility that Jessica told him what really happened but Mac was the one who told him that Jessica lied and Ian couldn’t distinguish between the two.

  I knew what it was like to be betrayed so I wasn’t about to blame Ian for taking things a little too far, but what he was doing went beyond even that. He was acting out of anger and resentment, revenge even. Maybe even a little bit of guilt since he had promised his dying wife he wouldn’t so much as think about Mac when she was gone. No doubt what he did day in and day out weighed on him and he had to have some kind of release.

  Ian approached me again, hovering over me like a deranged serial killer. He pointed the gun at me with a smirk on his face. The frenzied look in his eyes was unsettling. I knew right then that I would die.

  Chapter 32

  Greatest Love Story

  Amberly

  I had called Bryant ten times. Ten. Times. I’d ended up leaving two very cringe-worthy voicemails. He had said he wouldn’t be out long, but it was going on two hours now and I hadn’t heard from him.

  Sighing, I slammed my phone down on the bed next to me, it was pathetic and didn’t make quite the sound I had wanted it to. Not quite the satisfaction of if I’d had thrown it against the wall or something. Rational thoughts prevented me from doing that though, knowing I wouldn’t hear from him at all if I did that. I sulked for another thirty minutes before calling Cricket.

  “Hey, I don’t mean to bother you, but I haven’t heard from Bryant in over two hours. Can you come up to the hospital?” I hung up after Cricket told me she was leaving the apartment and could be here within the next twenty minutes.

  I couldn’t have asked for a better friend. I’m sure a lot of people say that about their friends, but Cricket was an angel in disguise. She thought Bryant was the reason I had come out of my funk and finally decided to face the world. What she didn’t know is that I would’ve never come as far as I had without her help as well. She had done so much for me and she had no idea how grateful I was for that.

  I started channel surfing, hoping to pass the time until she walked through the doors of my room. I couldn’t help but watch the hands on the clock, moving slower than I had ever seen them move. Then again, I’d never watched a clock with such intensity as I was now. Every time I looked at it, another minute ticked by, reminding me twenty minutes took much longer when you counted them down. She made the drive in fifteen minutes.

  “Stop watching that clock, Amby.” Cricket scolded me as she entered the room without a knock.

  I smiled at her, a very weak smile.

  “I give you an A for effort.” She sat down on the bed and slid an arm around my shoulders, giving me a slight squeeze before moving to an empty chair in the room. “Did he say where he was going?”

  I shook my head, pushing the power button on my phone so it would light up. No missed calls. No missed texts.

  “Maybe he decided to grab some clothes from his house.”

  “For two hours?” I grumbled, taking a calculated deep breath in. Every single part of my body was in pain and even breathing aggravated it.

  Cricket leaned back and crossed one ankle over the other. “He was pretty messed up when they brought you here by ambulance. I’ve never seen anyone that scared in my entire life.” She was staring up at the ceiling, her admissions were merely outspoken thoughts. “That man loves you. He is doing everything he can to get to the bottom of it all. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he’s being framed. In fact, Adam had told me about Bryant right before he started. Adam was worried about him and that’s when I’d found out that he had all but gotten fired from his position with the police force.” She uncrossed her ankles and sat higher in the chair, straightening her spine and looking at me head on. “This goes deeper than someone wanting it to look like he was responsible for the death of Haylie in some shape or form. And, according to Adam, he will stop at nothing to prove his innocence. Anyhow,” she clapped her hands together and stood up to look out the window, “Adam went looking for him.”

  When she turned around, I was in a heap of tears.

  “Oh, Amby, I didn’t tell you all that to make you cry or make you worried. As a matter of fact, I know that Adam will find him before anything bad happens to him.”

  “I can’t lose him, Cricket. I have been so stupid these last few days, accusing him of things he had no part in.”

  She took a seat next to me again and picked up my hand. “You’re not stupid. Any logical person would’ve done the same thing. Your first priority should always be about Haylie. No one in their right mind would fault you for that.”

  “Do you think he’s doing something he shouldn’t be doing?” I asked but didn’t want to know the answer.

  Cricket shrugged then nodded. “Love will make you do crazy things. I’m praying Adam finds him before something happens.”

  I felt my heart pick up speed, thousands of scenarios playing like little movies in my mind. The machine alerted anyone within ten feet, ratting me out.

  “Amberly, calm down. Adam is going to find him. You need to let me handle the stress, it’s not good for you. Especially since you’ve just had extensive surgery.”

  I steadied my breathing, doing as Cricket told me to. She’d been
aware of my condition for quite some time. I had felt obligated to tell her. “Don’t tell Bryant okay?”

  She lowered her gaze, avoiding me. “I have to admit, I almost told him. When you were in surgery, I almost broke down and told him. Adam stopped me. He threatened to leave me if I told him.”

  I grinned. “No way. Adam break up with you?”

  Cricket laughed before forming her stone face once more. “I wanted to tell him because I felt he had a right to know. One of these days he’s going to be your husband, and he’s going to have more of a right to know than me or Adam combined.”

  “I know. I plan on telling him. I guess I am afraid of what might happen when I do. What if it scares him away?”

  Cricket cleared her throat. “It will not make him run away. A guy like Bryant doesn’t get scared by something like that. In fact, there’s a chance he may be even more protective of you than he is now. He won’t even let you pee without him being within a foot of you.” She joked, causing me to laugh at the ridiculous possibility. “What I’m trying to say is, tell him. Tell him before you have an episode and he won’t know what’s going on or what to do to help.”

  I sighed. She was right. It was time for me to tell Bryant. I picked up my phone but she stopped me. “Not like that…”

  Her phone started ringing, interrupting her. She answered it, getting up from the bed and pacing around the room. “Okay good. Be careful. I love you too.”

  “That was Adam. He found Bryant’s truck.”

  Relief passed over me. I clutched my chest and tears fell down my cheeks.

  “Amby! Amby! What’s wrong?”

  I peered up at her, unable to control my breathing. The weird pain in my heart increased. I could feel the prickling of panic form, invading every single portion of my body. Everything got quiet. Cricket’s mouth was moving, but I could no longer hear anything she was saying. She was shouting, I could tell by the expression on her face. She ran to the door and then came back to my side. The fine lines outlining everything and everyone now in the room became blurry. Cricket turned into two people. I no longer had the strength to stay in the upright position. I let myself fall back against the bed and the room started spinning. I struggled to breath and I couldn’t tell if that was because of the panic attack I was experiencing or if something more concerning was causing it.

  Before long I had more than a few blurry figures standing above me. I tried my hardest to keep my eyes open, to stay alert. It was no use. Images of Bryant and Haylie emerged from the darkness behind my eyelids.

  They say the last thing you see before you die was what meant the most to you. Bryant had become my everything, much in the same way Haylie was. Now, I wouldn’t get to make more memories. I had to accept the fate I was dealt. I was never meant to check out of the hospital once they admitted me. However, I was going to die with the peace of knowing I had finally learned to live without Haylie in my life, that I had allowed myself to feel love again. I was going to die happy. Happy and free.

  Chapter 33

  Yours If You Want It

  Bryant

  The gun fire was so loud, it caused me to flinch. But—I shouldn’t have been able to flinch because that gun fire was Ian shooting me. Delivering me to my death. Right? I felt my chest. Nothing. I turned my head to the left and saw two shoes. The bottom of Ian’s shoes. I lifted to a sitting position and scooted away.

  “Come on, dude. We’ve got to get out of here!”

  “Adam?”

  He ran towards me and helped me to my feet. “I’ve called the cops, they’re on their way but we can’t stay to give statements. We have to get to the hospital NOW!”

  His voice was urgent and broken.

  “What is going on?!” I shouted as he dragged me outside of the building.

  He loaded me into his car but he still hadn't answer my question. My mind raced, thinking the worst had happened.

  "Please tell me what's going on." Adam was driving erratically down the roads, his hands on the steering wheel were wrapped so tight you'd think he was going to cut off the circulation of blood in them.

  "Look, I wasn't going to tell you, and I didn't want Cricket to tell you because it wasn't our place to give you that information. But, given the circumstances I think you need to know. Amberly has a medical condition she was going to have surgery for soon. With everything going on, we missed the mark on telling the nurses about it when she was taken to the hospital for that wreck. The medicine they have given her caused her to have an episode, though she's been taking other medication to prevent an episode." He paused, slowing down as we neared a light that had just turned red. He looked both ways before running it.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "A few months ago, Amberly was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome. She was at work and she fainted. They couldn't figure out the cause of it and, according to her, that wasn't the first time it had happened. But then she had a seizure. Doctors originally thought it was epilepsy. It took weeks for them to figure out what was going on with her and they got permission from the Medical Director to run a two-thousand-dollar test on her. It came back that she had the syndrome. At first the doctors were confident she could take medication and be fine. They put her on beta blockers and an anti-arrhythmic drug. After another seizure they started doing routine EKG's on her. They took it further and did genetic testing to discover she has the rare form of Long QT Syndrome that doesn't respond well to just medication. They scheduled a surgery to implant a defibrillator and there was talk about some cardiac surgery that I can't remember the proper name for."

  My heart stopped. Why hadn't Amberly told me?

  "She flat lined and they rushed her in for emergency surgery. I got the call from Cricket as I was trying to find you. After I hung up the phone with her, I decided to pull into the parking lot of the police department. You dumb fuck! I knew you’d find a way to prove your innocence but this is taking it too far. You’re lucky I found you in time. And Ian, what the fuck man?”

  I started crying, cursing myself for not taking better care of her. For not driving that damn car off a bridge. For keeping it to work on, not knowing it was the cause of everything that brought pain and suffering to her.

  "Dude. Are you okay?" Adam was staring at me. "It's going to be okay. She's a fighter. She's going to get through this."

  When we pulled into the parking lot, Adam took out his phone and dialed the operator, giving her information about where we were.

  "I called 911 before I barged in on what would have been your corpse. They're going to come get a statement from you when they get here. Come on." Adam shoved his phone back into his pocket and led the way to the emergency department. We took an elevator in the hallway to the surgical floor. My heart was breaking with every step. Every minute that passed that I wasn't in front of Amberly felt like a damn eternity, and I was starting to hate the word. I shouldn't have left her. I should've stayed by her side. The anger resided somewhere inside of me, little by little slithering up and out of me. I couldn't contain it, slamming my hand into the side of the elevator.

  "Bryant, come on. This isn't going to do either of you any good. You need to be strong for her."

  I didn't care. I couldn't care. I didn’t know what I would do if I lost her.

  When we stepped out of the elevator, Cricket ran up to Adam and held him close, her face covered in tears she wasn't in control of. "They said it's hit or miss right now. The nurse just came out and said they're doing everything they can."

  My body became liquid in that moment. I fell to my knees, bending over to feel the coolness of the tiled floor of the hospital. I prayed. I had never prayed before but I prayed now. I prayed that God take me instead of her. I pleaded with him, telling him she had a purpose on this Earth and he knew it. I bargained that her life was one in a million and the world needed her right now and he could take me because her life was more than mine. I begged him to not take her away. I confessed that I needed her and she needed me. I c
onfided in him that I wanted to unbreak her, that I wasn't done showing her the beauty of life. I requested that he have mercy on her and me.

  The possibility that I'd never feel her against me, hear her say my favorite three words, smell the aroma of her perfume, or see the smile she tried not to release because she thought it was unfair to Haylie became clear, too clear for me. I broke a million times over again. She was everything I wanted. Everything I needed.

  "Come on, bro." I felt Adam tug at the fabric of my shirt.

  If I could have stopped time by staying where I was, I wouldn't budge. But, I knew whatever was going to happen would happen whether I was on my knees or in a chair. God had no control of what happened. I could talk to him until I lost my voice, it wasn't up to him.

  "I can't lose her, Adam." I gathered the strength to say the sentence I would say for the rest of my life. It would always be true.

  "We're not going to." He promised. I knew his words were empty, without meaning, but we all wanted to believe it couldn't be the end.

  Adam's phone rang. "Hello. Yeah. We're on the surgical unit. Waiting room C." He hung up, locking his phone.

  "Who was that?" Cricket asked before turning to me.

  “We’ll talk about it later, babe. The cops are here to take our statements.”

  It took an hour for the officers to take my statement. The floor had been relatively empty, an occasional nurse or doctor taking their strides with such precision, I couldn’t help but watch them as they came and went. The officers grilled me for every piece of information I had before it became a blur. They felt the sooner they took my statement the clearer the details would be. I told them everything, from start to finish. From the moment I was fired from the department to when I had enlisted Lucas' help to now. Digging into police files was illegal, but they wanted to pin it all on Ian, though I wasn't one-hundred percent certain I could get off the hook. I even told them about Amberly's first wreck and her belief that someone was responsible and it wasn't a malfunction on the car. I didn't want to talk about her while she was in the operating room fighting for her life, but I didn't have a choice. I told them about the possible call to my insurance company placed by Mac. I showed them the pictures on my phone of the damage to the car I now had in my possession. They told me to make sure I contacted my insurance in the morning and have them fax or email me proof that Mac had indeed called.