Breathe

I hate this whole apartment.

  I hate Patrick.

  I make my way over to the sitting area and plop down on one of the big chairs. I may as well stay in here and make myself comfortable. As I start to finger through a Cosmo, Patrick's phone rings.

  “What,” he snaps. “Yes...Yes...NO!” He looks to me. “You may not speak with her. She is no longer your concern.”

  I perk up. I’m sure it’s either Linc or Miles.

  He begins to pace. “You did not do a good enough job taking care of her during my hiatus. You don't deserve to spend any more time with her. I will be taking care of her now. And you can tell your father that his money won't get him anywhere. She came with me willingly. We're starting our life over, together.”

  Miles.

  “I said no. You will no longer be speaking with her. None of you will. I am the only family she needs.” He hangs up. “So, that was Miles.”

  “I heard.”

  He comes over to me and kneels by the chair. “It's just me and you now.” Pushing a strand of hair behind my ear, he leans in to kiss me.

  His phone rings.

  “Hold that thought, Bunny.”

  I back away and roll my eyes.

  “Yes...Ah, I've been waiting for your call...Yes, I have her...No. She's mine now.” He stands and starts to pace again. “You messed up with her, Lincoln. She doesn't want you anymore, or that little boy. She's back with me and we're going to start our life over. We’ll get married like we should have months ago. Start a family. You have no part in this equation.” He stops pacing right behind the chair I'm sitting in. “Fine. Two minutes.” He hands the phone to me. “Say your goodbye to Lincoln, Bunny.”

  “Linc?”

  “Yeah, Grace. I'm here.” He groans. “Don't say anything, okay. Miles got a track on his phone when he talked to him a few minutes ago. Your brother and I are going to come and get you. It's gonna be a little bit to get the plan going, but we're coming. Keep listening to him but don't let him touch you. And don't leave the apartment. He's gone ten shades of fucked-up crazy. We'll be there as soon as we can. Stay calm. Can you do that?”

  “Yes.” Tears are running down my face and my breathing is getting rushed.

  “Grace,” He sighs one more time. “Just breathe. I love you.”

  “Times up, Bunny. Goodbye, Lincoln.” Patrick grabs the phone out of my hand and throws it on the table. He kneels down in front of me again. “I know that may have been hard for you to say goodbye to him, but it's for the best.” He touches my face. “He can't take care of you like I can. We'll have a good life, Bunny. Just wait and see.”

  You bet I’ll wait.

  Linc is coming for me. I don't know when but he is.

  So, I'll just sit here in this room as long as I can.

  And wait.

  And breathe.

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  I refused to get in the bed for fear of Patrick coming in and wanting to lay there with me. He left the apartment a while ago, leaving me with his douche best friend. I have no idea where he’s gone off to but at least he's out of my sight for a while. As for David, he's easy to handle. Give him a drink, the more the better, and he's good to go.

  After reading Cosmo front cover to back cover, I shut my eyes and try my hardest to fall asleep. At least sleep can help pass the time faster.

  I startle awake with the worst feeling in the pit of my stomach. I sit straight up and look around the room. My surroundings are familiar yet not. I'm in my bedroom, but not in my own apartment. I was hoping that this was all just a bad dream. I pinch myself in the arm.

  No such luck. This is as real as it gets.

  I pick up another magazine, Vogue this time, and flip open the cover. As I start to thumb through the hundreds of designer ads, I hear Patrick's voice on the other side of the door.

  I quickly lay back down and pretend to sleep. I know, I know. Juvenile, but it has to be done. He opens and shuts the door. I'm not sure he's even in here but I lay as still as possible anyway. If he thinks I'm sleeping he may leave.

  Again, no such luck.

  “Bunny,” he whispers in my ear and strokes my hair. “Wake up sweet face.”

  Yuck. Just the sound of his voice makes me want to vomit in my mouth. I feel as though my face is taking on weird shapes. As in the look you may get if you get salt in a paper cut or your dog pooped in your favorite Jimmy Choo's.

  “Bunny.” The stupid nickname comes out long and drawn out.

  I blink my eyes a few times pretending I'm just now waking up.

  “Ah. There's my girl.”

  “Here I am.” I play along and give him the best fake smile I can.

  He gives me a quick kiss on the lips. I internally cringe and try not to let bile spew out of my mouth.

  “Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?” I shake my head in the negative. “Well, then. Make yourself at home. This place is yours now. I want you to feel comfortable here.” He bends and kisses my lips again. I pull back, not being able to stomach any more interaction with him.

  “What's wrong, my love?” His brow furrows. “You don't seem yourself.”

  This is getting weird. Of course, I don't seem like myself. You took me from my home and are under the illusion that I actually want to live here with you. What an idiot.

  “Nothing's wrong.” I shake my head again and look down at my fidgety hands. Rubbing the lily charm is the only calming action that I can do to get me through this.

  He stares at me for what feels like two lifetimes. Once he finishes his one-sided staring contest, he takes me into his arms and starts rocking us back and forth. “I love you so much, Bunny. Nothing will ever tear us apart again. I was so stupid and I'm sorry.”

  Damn right you were stupid. You still are.

  Patrick starts to lean us down so we’ll both be laying on the couch. Just as my side is hitting the cushion there's a loud bang in the other room. The sound of wood cracking fills the emptiness. Deep voices follow, but I can't make out what's being said.

  This is it. Linc has come for me.

  Patrick sits us back up again and covers my mouth with one of his disgusting, sweaty hands. “Shhh. Don't you dare make a sound.” His voice has changed from sweet and loving to cold and harsh.

  The voices are getting louder as the seconds tick by us.

  “Where is she?” I hear.

  “We know you have her.” A second voice bellows.

  “She went out. She's not here, man.” God, David's shaky voice makes him sound like such a pussy. Which he is.

  “Then you don't mind if we look around.” That's Miles. His voice is right outside the door.

  Patrick turns me to face him but keeps my mouth covered. “Listen to me, Bunny. They are going to come in here and try to take you from me. I need you to cooperate and tell them the truth. That you came here on your own free will and don't plan on leaving. Can you do that?”

  I begin to move my head just as the door opens and bangs against the wall.

  Miles bolts in and heads straight for us. Patrick stands and pulls me up with him.

  “Hey, bro.”

  Miles stops on a dime. “Seriously?”

  “Come for a visit?” Patrick questions back calmly.

  “What the fuck?” Linc barges into the room and stops just past the doorway. Our eyes lock. Panic rises in me as his eyes turn dark with anger and I start to lose my breath. He stands his full heights and clenches his fists. “I'm here to get my girl.”

  “Ah, the hero has come to save the day again.”

  Linc takes a few steps further into the room.

  “No.” Patrick shakes his head and back us up. “She doesn't need saving this time.”

  “I'm not saving her. I'm taking her.”

  “She's not yours to take, Lincoln.”

  “The hell she isn't. Like I told you before no one touches what's mine. Especially you.”

  “Do you want to go, Bunny? Do you want to be taken by this thug?” He swee
ps his eyes over to Linc with a look of disgust and then back to me. He’s tearing a hole right through me with those devil eyes. All I really want to do it scoop them out of their sockets with a spoon.

  I don't return his stare because I can't take my eyes from Linc's. They’re begging me to stay calm and let him take care of me. That is what I want. This whole strange situation we're in needs to end. I want everything back to normal.

  Linc narrows his lids and gives me a slight nod.

  I shake my head to answer Patrick and he slowly takes his hand from my mouth. “Go ahead, then. Tell him.”

  I know Patrick would never hurt me, but with the state that he's in right now I'm not sure of what he might do to anyone else. It's almost impossible for him to hurt Linc physically, short of pulling a damn gun on him. That's pretty obvious. However, he can hurt him mentally by using me. Patrick would definitely use me against him if he's backed up against a wall.

  And right now, his back is literally flat against said wall.

  Pulling me against his front, Patrick removes his slimy hand from my mouth as I look up to him. His eyes are frantic, searching mine. He wants an answer. He wants an answer that I can't give him. I glance over to Linc for a quick moment and back to Patrick. In an instant, his eyes turn cold and distant, like he's disconnecting from reality and planet earth. His arms around me slide tighter around my waist and chest. The sudden movement startles me and my breathing becomes slightly erratic.

  “You asshole. Can't you see you're scaring her?” Linc yells.

  Patrick says nothing and remains still.

  I begin to sweat and the room starts swaying in and out of focus. My body starts shaking.

  Just breathe.

  Miles steps forward. “Damn it, Patrick! Let her go!” He gets within a few feet from us and reaches out.

  Patrick squeezes in more.

  Oh, God. I can't breathe. My body goes limp in his arms. Nausea starts to swirl around in my stomach and up into my throat. I'm pretty sure that small amount I've eaten today is about to show up in reverse. My eyes are quickly losing focus.

  I can sense Linc getting closer to us.

  “Baby,” he whispers. “Just breathe. Can you do that for me?”

  I can't answer him.

  “Don't come near her.”

  My eyes close.

  “Come on man. Let her go,” Linc says calmly.

  “Can't you see what you're doing to her?” Miles adds.

  “I'm not doing anything. It's you that's causing this.” I'm being moved.

  I think.

  I could be falling.

  Everything in my mind is moving in slow motion and I'm having trouble comprehending. I feel like I'm spinning in a free fall with no way to stop. It's an uncontrollable feeling. I'm fading fast.

  What is happening?

  I need my hero.

  Suddenly someone yells as I finally fade completely out.

  “Patrick!”

  THEY SAY THAT THE HEARING is the last to go or the first to come back, whichever way you want to look at it. It's the glass half empty, half full concept.

  I feel this is the truth.

  I can hear everything going on around me. I just can't move my body or open my eyes.

  It’s chaos.

  That's what it sounds like.

  Utter chaos.

  Voices Yelling. Feet moving quickly. Cameras clicking.

  I can feel things. A pair of hands grip tightly onto one of mine. A leg is acting as a pillow for my aching head. Another hand is taking long strokes over my hair. I think I'm lying in Rafe's lap and holding Briar's hand.

  I concentrate hard to try and figure out what is going on in this room. There’s so much movement and so many voices.

  Through all the noises, I can hear him. The one voice that I want to hear. That I need to hear. It's like a siren calling to me.

  “I don't give a fuck. He did this to my girl. He deserves everything he's about to get.”

  That's my hero.

  My savior.

  My love.

  My life.

  Linc.

  “No. I'm not talking to anyone or making any statements until she wakes up. That girl there is my life. I can't just leave my life lying on that couch while I talk to some asshole who wants something on record. They can wait. She can't.”

  The hands holding mine are replaced with a bigger masculine one. He holds both my hands in one of his and touches my face with the other. I can feel him over me.

  “Wake up, Gracie,” he tenderly whispers. “Ho bisogno di te la, mia ragazza bella.” (I need you my beautiful girl) He softly kisses my lips. “Come back to me.”

  Wake up, Grace. Come on. You can do it.

  “Please,” he chokes out. “Please come back to me.” He gets close to my ear and whispers, “Just breathe, Grace. Just breathe.”

  I concentrate on my eyes and start to slowly blink them. They finally open and focus in on Linc's face. His beautiful, scruffy, worried face.

  Once he realizes that I'm fully awake, he smiles and kisses me with little pecks all over my face.

  “Oh my God, Grace.”

  Kiss.

  “Oh my God.”

  Kiss. Kiss.

  “Your awake.”

  Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.

  He stops his kiss fest and stares down at me with the sweetest grin I’ve ever seen planted on his face.

  I smile the best I can. “Hi.”

  “Jesus Christ, you scared me.” He carefully lifts me to sit in his lap on the floor. “You scared us all.”

  I nuzzle into his chest as he wraps his two giant arms around me. “What happened?”

  “You had a panic attack and passed out.” He starts to Rafe us back and forth. “We'll talk about the rest later.”

  “But Patrick.”

  “Don't worry about him. You’re safe now.”

  Miles comes into the room and crouches down in front of us. He touches my cheek and sighs. “How's my Gracie?”

  “Okay. Confused.”

  “Everything's going to be fine now. I've taken care of everything.”

  “Taken care of what? I don't know what's going on.”

  Miles looks up to Linc and they share some kind of tense look.

  “Patrick is in custody now.” Linc states. “He can't hurt you or anyone else. Miles and Landon got what we needed to nail him with attempted murder on Kennedy and kidnapping on you. His dumb-shit friends are going down with him.”

  “You got him?”

  He kisses my forehead. “Yeah, baby. We got him.”

  Tears are gliding down my face. Years of my life spent with him. Most of my teenage years given to him. Almost all of my firsts taken by him. All of it has come to an end. For good this time. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling. Sadness. Remorse. Anger. Sure, I feel all those things. Those are my feelings for Patrick.

  The one good feeling I have at the moment, that stands taller than all the rest, is love. That is the strongest feeling of all. That is what fills my heart, my body and my soul.

  Love and comfort are the only feelings I want to have right now.

  Linc is the only one I want to feel right now.

  Epilogue

  Today is New Year's Eve day.

  Five days have passed. Five days since I thought my life with Linc may be over. Five days since I've seen Patrick. Five days since he screwed himself and his friends out of a life in normal society. New York high society.

  Five days.

  On the bright side, five days ago I feel my life started over again.

  With Linc.

  Since we've been home, Linc hasn't left. He’s driving Kennedy and me crazy. Daddy made arrangements with the magazine that I would work periodically if they needed me, but it would be from home. He’s hired a new housekeeper since Amy is now living with him. Linc would only let Daddy do this if he could sign off on her. He wanted to be sure she would be the “right fit” for our family. Magdalena has turned o
ut to be great so far. She does her work, keeps the kitchen stocked full of food since there are three growing boys living here and she helps keep things in order so I don't have to. She’s done so much around here that I have nothing to do during the day but sit and read and watch movies. I don't know why I'm complaining. It's not like I really do much work around this apartment anyway.

  Kennedy and I have really bonded seeing as we lay on the couch together most of the time. He’s taken an interest in movies from the eighties. We've watched both Ghostbusters I and II, Gremlins, Adventures in Babysitting, E.T., Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Back to the Future I, II and III, The Great Outdoors, Big, The Blues Brothers and my personal favorite, The Goonies. We then moved into the nineties with Home Alone, Beethoven and The Mighty Ducks. Kennedy went crazy over that one, so we watched it twice...in one day.

  Tonight, we have plans to stay up way past midnight, watch more movies, kid friendly of course, and eat crappy food until we’re so full we have to throw up. Great plan, right? I think so.

  Linc will be at Mercury all night. It’s an important holiday for a club owner.

  Magdalena got home a few minutes ago with all the groceries we requested. She won't let me help her put them away under strict orders from you-know-who. It’s quite ridiculous. Putting a few groceries away is not going to hurt me, so I go ahead and help her.

  “Miss Grace, you are not supposed to be helping me,” Magdalena says in her thick Dutch accent. “Mr. Lincoln will be upset if he knew you were.”

  “Magda, Linc doesn't need to know. I need something to do other than watch movies and play games with a kid,” I say as I take a bag of chips out of a bag and slowly walk it over to one of the cabinets.

  “But-”

  “Please let me help you. He'll never find out.” I spin around to face her and use the saddest eyes I can muster to reel her in. It works on all the men in my family, maybe it’ll work on her.

  I can tell she’s contemplating this suggestion, so I go in for the kill. I bat my eyelashes and sigh.

  “Okay, Miss Grace. I will not tell.”

  I let out a small squeal. “Thank you.”

  I push my iPhone onto the dock, hit shuffle and turn up the volume. We go about the kitchen putting away all of the treats, snacks and all around bad food while dancing and listening to random music. When we're finished, I start to unload the dishwasher. Magda gives me a sideways glance. I smile politely at her and go about the task. It feels good to be doing something around here. Who knew that I would actually want to do some chores.