Dark Heart

by Eve L Mitchell

  Was it a good thing that I could feel all of this?

  I was burning, my body was on fire. No, I was wet, why was I hot? Hypothermia. It wouldn’t take long for me to die outside in winter.

  Ok, c’mon Aaron think.

  Another wave of pain swept over me. Fucking hell what did they do to me?

  Come on, focus. You can move. You need to get up.

  I was going to die out here in these temperatures. I had to get up.

  I tried to move again.

  I blacked out.

  I was being moved. I knew I was being moved because the pain was excruciating, and the world was spinning. Darkness surrounded me still, but disjointed voices were floating in and out of my consciousness. I needed to defend myself. I tried to lift my arm, my leg, anything.

   Blackness took me under.

  “I’m going to fucking kill the next fucking person that tells me he isn’t going to fucking make it, so you better be fucking sure what next fucking words come out of your mouth, before you speak to me again.”

  Shadow... Am I safe?

  Unconsciousness took under me again.

  Movement around me disturbed me. My eyes were closed, I lay on something soft. A mattress? Had that been Shadow earlier? I heard the soft shift of movement again and a sigh. A woman. I forced myself to open my eyes. Ok. One eye. One was still closed. Swollen shut.

  I turned my head and met Maria’s eyes. Tears instantly streamed down her face. She was sitting so close to me, her belly huge in front of her. Shit, why was she out of bed! Her hand clutched mine tightly.

  “You stubborn bastard, I told them you would wake up too soon.” She pulled my hand to her lips and kissed the back of my hand.

  I tried to speak. Maria shook her head. “Shhhh, not yet. Please, we had to sedate him. Both of them.” Her voice was a whisper. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re awake already.” She leaned forward and stroked my hair, I winced. “You’re sore?” She pulled away, I felt my eye droop. “Sleep, Aaron. We’ll be here when you wake up.” I felt her lips on my hand again as I fell back into the darkness.

  I don’t know how many hours later it was, but when I woke again, Maria was still sitting there, in a chair in my bedroom. I wasn’t sure, but I think her clothes were different. She was dozing. I looked at her. I tried to move my hand and she was instantly awake.

  “Aaron?”

  “Can I speak?” I sounded like a frog. A dark-haired girl came into sight and my heart stopped for a moment, my mind mistaking her for Alicia. As I focused, I realised it was Arielle. I was genuinely too stunned to say anything. She leaned forward and with a firm confident hand gently tilted my head up as she held a cup and straw to my lips to help me drink. I swallowed a few sips before she took the cup away.

  “He needs more.” Maria held her arm, not preventing her from leaving, but holding her back from giving me too much. “Now.” Arielle leaned forward and dutifully allowed me a few more sips.

  The water was cool, but it hurt to swallow. My head was laid back down and Arielle stepped back. She didn’t meet my questioning stare once. Maria was waiting.

  “Shadow went crazy.” A few tears spilled over. Arielle placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “I’ve never seen anything like it. He went absolutely crazy. We couldn’t find you. They put the fire out at the garage.” I went to speak but she shook her head. “It’s fine. Nothing major. The Raptor is unsalvageable.” A sob caught her throat.

  “They thought you were in the truck.” Arielle spoke softly as she looked at me for the first time. She looked exhausted. “The truck burned so quickly and practically exploded, they didn’t know if you were in it, or if they would even know if they could identify...” She glanced at me once. “If they could identify if a body had been in it – it burned so badly.”

  “Fuck,” I croaked again. I reached out and Maria grabbed my hand.

  “He got there just as it went up,” Arielle said softly. My eye closed. Yeah, he would have gone crazy if he had seen that. I can’t imagine what I would have done.

  “But your cell phone rang.” Maria spoke again. “I don’t know how that crazy bastard heard it over sirens and flames and God knows what else. But he heard it. It was Lela. He knew you would never have left the phone if you were in the truck.” Maria was glaring at me now.

  Wasn’t I the one in the bed, hardly able to move? Why was I being glared at?

  “He called Matt!” Maria whisper shouted at me.

  “Why?” Whoa, that was not the question to ask.

  “Because my husband is an idiot and was out of his mind with grief. He called together a fucking army Aaron.” Maria was livid.

  “Ok, calm down, you’re on bed rest.” Death stare. I glanced at Arielle. Calling Matt meant pulling in Colton, which is why she was here. This was bad. Shadow had gone nuclear. I needed to do damage control. “Ok, babe.”

  “Don’t you babe me Aaron Jonson, it didn’t work when I was fourteen, it won’t work now – even if you are beaten to a fucking pulp,” Maria snapped. Arielle shushed her as she glanced at the door.

  “Woman!” I whisper shouted as I tried to rise off the bed. Both of them looked at me and shushed me at the same time. “What the hell are we all whispering for?” I asked furiously.

  “The doctor had to sedate him,” Arielle explained. “It took three of them to hold him down, it was horrible.” She glanced at the door again. “He had to sedate Lela too. She was just inconsolable. The doctor didn’t think you would survive but he said it in front of her and she went to pieces.” Her eyes flicked to mine. “I don’t actually know how you are alive.” My head dropped back on the pillows.

  “Because he’s the most stubborn bastard in the world and I told you he wouldn’t die on me.” If I could have smiled, I would have. Shadow entered the room and marched over to me, staring down at me with tears in his eyes. “You look like shit.”

  “I feel worse.”

  “Why the fuck did you drive to the yard alone?” he demanded.

  “I thought it’s because I was stubborn?”

  “I’m going to kill you.” He wiped his eyes. He glared at Maria once. “Then I’m going to kill my wife for letting a quack stick me full of needles.”

  “You were going to get yourself killed,” Maria snapped back from her chair. He turned his back on her. Maria rolled her eyes at me.

  “Is someone going to tell me what happened and how I’m not actually dead?” I asked instead.

  “Why don’t we wait until you have more rest?” Arielle suggested. She had taken a step back when Shadow came in; it was clear he intimidated her.

  “You can go.” Her eyes snapped to mine as Maria gasped at my rudeness. “No, I don’t mean it like that.” I actually didn’t. “I mean, I’ll be ok. You shouldn’t have been dragged into this; you can go home.”

  “I think he’s trying to say thank you.” Colton walked into the bedroom.

  “I don’t have room for all of you,” I muttered. I was so tired.

  “I was helping Maria,” Arielle protested softly.

  “He needs to rest; we need to get the doctor back to check on him. If he comes back,” I heard Colton murmur. My one eye closed and I drifted off to the sound of their voices.

  This time when I woke, it was daylight and Lela was on the bed beside me. She was careful not to touch me, except for one hand which was curled around my wrist. I turned my head to watch her sleep. Her already pale skin was lighter than normal. Even in sleep, black circles were under her eyes. Her hair was tied back off her face, she was just so beautiful. A shapeless cardigan was wrapped around her, as if she was using it to protect her from the outside world, from people who would hurt her, people like…me.

  I turned my head and stared at the ceiling. The throbbing in my head was intense, but at least I could move my head. My right eye was opening a little bit – but was probably going to be shut for a while yet. I flexed my jaw, stiff but not broken. My tongue ran over my teeth, all
present and accounted for. My nose felt ok, so my face was intact. The ladies would be delighted, I joked inwardly to myself. Sarcasm still worked – bonus points for me.

  I moved my arm. Pain radiated through to my shoulder, but nothing seemed broken. My left arm was worse but that’s the arm I’d taken the bat on. Still, lucky I hadn’t broken it. Maybe dislocated it though. Ribs? Bruised – didn’t feel broken; I’d had broken ribs before, I knew what they felt like. I knew my legs worked – I remembered moving them so there were no breaks there.

  Who the hell were these guys that all they could do was mess me up a little and not even break anything? Amateurs. I scoffed. Thank God for that. I let out a long breath – yeah that hurt.

  Next test. Standing. I tried to sit up. I woke Lela up instead when I grunted in pain.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped as she shot upright beside me.

  “I thought I might try standing,” I answered.

  “You can’t stand!” Lela scrambled off the bed and came hurrying over to me. “I can help you.” Which was a lie. Lela couldn’t help me because I couldn’t help myself, and I was no more than dead weight to Lela.

  She disappeared and within a few minutes, Shadow was in the room. “Need a piss?”

  “I wanted to see if I could stand,” I explained.

  “You’re an idiot. C’mon, you can go potty since I’m here.” He lifted me to my feet in one move. It was at the same time both humiliating and appreciated.

  “How long have I been like this?” I asked as he half walked, half carried me to the bathroom.

  “Five days.”

  I faltered.

  “Yeah.” Shadow’s grip tightened. “You got a fever after you woke the first time. Just to be difficult I think.”

  “Obviously,” I agreed. “Explains why I don’t feel as sore but feel like shit.” As we shuffled into the bathroom, I abandoned my pride and sat on the seat to piss. He turned his back on me. “I’m sorry I went to the yard,” I said after a moment.

  He grunted.

  “I’m sorry you went batshit crazy and scared the fuck out of your heavily pregnant wife,” I added.

  He snorted a laugh.

  “I’m sorry they stuck you with a needle when I know how terrified you are of needles.”

  He turned and glared at me.

  “And I’m sorry I mentioned your fear of needles, where other people might overhear us and find out about your completely irritational fear of needles.”

  He flipped me off. I tried to grin, but it still hurt. Shadow beamed like it was karma. Fucker.

  “Can I get up now?” I asked.

  My best friend looked back at me and shook his head.

  “No. You can’t get fucking back up now, you fucking prick.”

  I bit my tongue – whatever was coming, he needed to say it.

  “You scared the shit out of me. I thought you died.” He glared at me. I met his gaze steadily. “Died, Aaron. I saw that fucking truck in flames, and I swear to God I thought you were in it.” He looked away from me and took a breath. “You were reckless and stupid and how many fucking times have we said we do things together?”

  I nodded – he was right. I should never have gone to the yard alone.

  “I’m sorry,” I admitted. He glared at me. “I’m sorry, Shadow. I didn’t mean to put you through this.” He continued to glare at me. “Especially – you know – me sitting on a toilet bowl with my dick out and everything.”

  He burst out laughing and helped me stand.

  When I had washed my hands, Shadow looked at me and his eyes were hard.

  “When you can get out of bed without me, we’re hunting them down and we’re teaching them they can’t mess with us. Understand?”

  “Understood.” I nodded as I dried my hands.

  “All of them.” His voice was low and steady.

  “Every single one,” I agreed. Every single fucker would pay.

  I was assisted back to the room, where I asked to go to the couch. My request was denied. I was put back in the bed. Yeah, this shit was already old. I was getting out of this bed soon.

    Lela was perched at the end of the bed searching me for any sign of distress. Maria had come into the room when we had been in the bathroom.

  “So, who wants to fill in the last week from when my car went boom?” I asked.

  “What do you remember?” Shadow asked.

  I recounted the night’s events from meeting Gregor and his cousin to knowing I was being followed. I explained why I went to the yard, never thinking they would set fire to the shed or my truck. As simply as I could, I recounted the fire, the attackers, the bats, waking up cold and realising they had dumped me. Trying to move and blacking out.

  “So where did you find me?” I asked Shadow.

  “You were at South Boulder Peak. Remember the guy from the Warehouse the other night? Les?”

  I nodded.

  “He tried calling you earlier in the night – he had an idea something was going down. He had an idea of a few places where they may dump you.”

  “I don’t understand,” I admitted; I rubbed my forehead in confusion.

  “I got to the yard same time as Trey, he’s down as the call-out guy if something happens at the shop?” Shadow looked at me in question. I shrugged. “Anyway, the truck was a burning fucking inferno. I thought you were in it.” Shadow looked away from me. Maria reached out and took his hand. “Then I heard your phone ringing. Metallica blaring will always catch my attention.” We shared a grin despite the circumstances. “I grabbed the phone and told Trey to start calling your last five calls. Gregor and his cousin got jumped at the Roadshack not long after you left them. Trey called the unknown number, it was Les.”

  I nodded. This was beginning to make more sense to me.

  “Of course, by the time we got to Les, we had Mike and everyone else out looking for you. You had called Colton, so I called Matt,” Shadow told me.

  “Why?”

  “You had called Colton.” Shadow defended himself. “He had been one of your last calls and I had held off, but I was running out of options and I couldn’t leave Maria alone.”

  “Lela was here,” I offered. I turned to Lela who held my hand loosely.

  “Look, I made the fucking call ok?” Shadow snapped.

  “Fine,” I snapped back. We glared at each other for a few more moments. “Then what happened?” I sighed, the fight leaving me.

  “Colton and Matt came with me to find you. Les gave me a few places to look but couldn’t come with us, for obvious reasons.”

  I nodded in understanding. He worked for Tommy, he could hardly come and find one of his body dumps.

  “We found you.” Shadow shook his head and looked away again. “Jesus, I thought we were definitely too late this time.” He rubbed his hand over his face.

  “We all thought you were dead when they brought you home,” Lela whispered. I squeezed her hand. “Only Cole knew you weren’t.”

  “So, you met Colton too?” I asked with a sigh.

  “I already know Cole,” Lela said. “My dad sometimes works for his dad.” I glanced at her and then looked away. Of course he does. Everyone knows Colton fucking Dawson.

  “I had Doc Crofton waiting here for you,” Maria interrupted. “Trey picked me up and we got Crofton on the way over. He’s lost his bedside manner since leaving the hospital. He told us you wouldn’t make it.”

  “You should have been taken to a hospital,” Lela muttered angrily.

  “No hospitals,” Maria, Shadow and I all said at the same time. Lela huffed in reply.

  “You had a rough few hours when you came in, it seems they may have beaten you after you were unconscious,” Maria continued; she gave Shadow a long look. “In that time, my husband went out and beat the shit out of anyone remotely connected with Tommy who knew about what happened to you.”

  I looked at Shadow in disbelief; he met my gaze steadily. After what he had just said to me in the bat
hroom? Was he kidding?

  “You did what?” I asked incredulously.

  “My best friend was beaten and left to die. The doctor told me he wouldn’t make it through the night. So, yeah, I went out and I started to hunt down the bastards who did it.”

  Maria elbowed him and caught my attention, breaking the tension between us.

  “Gregor and his cousin also got jumped, seems Gregor’s cousin’s boss is some big deal apparently, and he has also come into Boulder asking his own questions. So thankfully for us at least, Tommy is laying low.” Maria’s focus was all on me. “You ran into complications though, we needed to get Shadow back, and that’s when doc had to sedate both of them.”

  I closed my eyes. This could be very bad. “Shit.” This was why we weren’t at a hospital. Hospitals had to report attacks like mine to the police. Any retaliations that may seem to be connected to similar cases would turn me into an instant suspect. No, there would be no hospital visits.

  “God, this is a lot of information.” I closed my eyes. “And the garage? How much damage?” I asked.

  “It was just the tyre shed,” Lela answered. “It didn’t reach the main workshop. The firefighters got there in time. They kept the real accelerants for your truck.”

  “Well that’s a relief.” I sighed, I was tired. “So, that’s it? They blew up my truck, knocked me unconscious, beat me up and left me to die of hypothermia?”

  “Yes.” Maria’s tone was sharp. “You make it sound trivial, but you look fucking appalling. You’re swollen up everywhere, you have suspected multiple fractures, internal bruising, possible – more than likely, probable – concussion, and on top of all that you had a severe fever. You’re so weak you won’t be getting up anytime soon.”