Love's Return: A Christian Romance (Protected By Love Book 1)

by T. K. Chapin

  “I figured you might need a little help getting out of here,” Jax said, coming around the bed.

  Confusion wrapped around my thoughts and I approached them. “No, wait. You can’t just leave.” I looked over at Jax. “Jax, reason with him. He needs to rest!”

  Holding his arm out with the IV in it, Jax grabbed his wrist with one hand and with the other pulled the IV out. “Sorry, Jessica. Gotta listen to Dekker here.”

  Kirk came over to me as he finished buttoning Charlie’s loaner blue button-up shirt. It was a size or two big on him. Stopping just an inch or two from me, Kirk looked into my eyes with those piercing brown gems. “I have to keep you safe, Jess, and that means you have to trust me. He knows you would be here at the hospital with me, which makes this place not safe.”

  Jax came up beside him and patted his shoulder. “Kirk’s one of the best we have at WIN. Listen to him if you want to stay out of harm’s way.”

  There is a time to argue and a time not to argue. I sensed I’d better comply with the professionals if I wanted to stay out of harm’s way. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

  Chapter 41-Kirk

  AFTER CUTTING THE ID BRACELET from my wrist, we started on our way down the hall. We didn’t have much time to get out of the building before someone caught on. Walking together in a pack, we made our way quickly down the hallway to the stairwell leading to the bottom floor. Avoiding the elevators, we would be able to avoid any possible interactions with staff who would be able to identify me.

  Making it to the end of the south hall, we started down the stairs. A gnawing pain gripped me at the side where the bullet had passed through, but I pushed it aside.

  “Winston aware?” I asked, glancing toward Jax.

  He nodded. “I told him what happened after Jessica called.”

  “Good.”

  Jess slipped on one of the stairs and I caught her hand just before she tumbled. A sharp pain ripped through my side and I let out a groan.

  “I’m so sorry!” she said.

  Shaking my head, I wove my fingers between hers. “Don’t be sorry. Just try not to fall too hard for me.” I winked.

  She laughed.

  Coming to the exit at the bottom of the stairs, we headed outside. The cool air was a relief after fighting pain. Jax went to his car while Jess and I headed over to hers. As we crossed through the parking lot, she and I released our hands from one another.

  “Jax came up only to help you escape?”

  I shrugged over at her as I smiled. “We have each other’s back. It’s what we do.”

  Climbing into her car, I turned to her.

  “We’ll go to my place,” I said. “It’ll be safer there than your apartment. It’s secured almost better than The White House. There’s no way I’m going to let you out of my sight, Jess.”

  “I have a job, Kirk. I’m already on thin ice for ditching out of work to stay up at the hospital and—”

  Raising a hand, I looked at her. “What good is a job if you’re dead?”

  Reality appeared to set in for the first time for her. She was silent, then the tears began. I didn’t want to scare her, but it was more serious now than ever. It was life and death. This guy wasn’t someone who just wanted to get close to her. He was busting down doors and shooting at bodyguards.

  Seeing her cry hurt more than the bullet wound in my side.

  With tear-soaked eyes, she went to turn the key in the ignition, but I grabbed her hand softly, causing her to look over at me.

  “You’re safe as long as you’re with me. I promise.” The words came off my lips with absolute confidence, but there in the back of my mind, I worried I could be wrong. If something happened to her, I’d never forgive myself.

  Chapter 42-Jessica

  LEAVING ME IN THE LIVING room at his house, Kirk headed down a hallway to go get changed and to make a phone call. At first, I stayed on the couch, intimated by all the alarms and cameras in his home, but the pictures on the far wall piqued my curiosity enough to bring me to my feet and over to look at them.

  There was a picture of Kirk’s old life, with his family. Bethany, Scott, and him. The smile on Kirk’s face was like nothing I had seen in our time together since being reacquainted. He looked truly happy in the photograph. Though he didn’t tell me exactly what had happened with his family to make it all fall apart, I suspected he took a lot of the guilt on himself. As I continued down the wall of pictures, I saw more. Bethany and the baby as a newborn in the grass, the sun in the background shining down on them. She looked happy too, just like Kirk.

  “Hey.” Kirk’s voice startled me.

  Turning quickly to him, I raised my eyebrows. “What’d Winston say?”

  “He is going to stand guard for me tonight so I can work on the stalker. He agreed that I’d be best for tracking this freak down. Plus, he lives really close to the church so it made sense for it to be him. I also made a phone call down to the police station. They said they’ll be actively looking for the red BMW, but they haven’t had any leads except for there being two red BMWs reported stolen in the last few weeks. So we aren’t sure if the one he was driving even belongs to him.”

  “You don’t seem too enthused.” We both took a seat on the couch.

  “I’m not. I love law enforcement, don’t get me wrong, but they have a lot going on and I don’t feel that they’re taking this seriously enough.”

  Nodding and glancing back over to the photos on the wall, I said, “Can you tell me about what happened?”

  He frowned for a second and then rocked slightly forward. It was easy to see it was painful for him to talk about it, to think about it. After a moment, he adjusted back into the couch to a more comfortable spot and let out a sigh. “Bethany and I met shortly after I moved here. It was a whirlwind romance and we married after only eight months of dating. Soon after, we got pregnant and then Scott was born. He was perfect. Life was perfect.” Clearing his throat, the next part came out sounding strangled. “Scott was six months old when he passed away.”

  I covered my mouth and my eyes welled with tears. “What happened?”

  Uneasiness seemed to fill Kirk and he rose to his feet. He walked over to the wall with the pictures and lowered his eyes to his feet as he spoke. “My wife found him in his crib one afternoon when he was taking a nap. He wasn’t breathing. They called it SIDS. They couldn’t find any medical reason it happened.”

  My soul crumbled at hearing his words come off his lips. Silent tears ran down my cheeks as my heart panged over Kirk’s loss.

  He continued. “Things fell apart from there in my life. I stopped going to church and started drinking. Bethany and I fought all the time, and then when the fighting stopped, I really knew we were in trouble. We grew apart from there and she eventually ended up leaving me. She died a month later from an overdose. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to tell her there was nothing we could have done, it could’ve happened to anyone. The look on her face showed her true feelings. She took it all on as her own fault.” He shook his head, and I heard a sniffle from his direction. He crossed his arms and frowned.

  “I’m so sorry, Kirk.” My voice was a whisper.

  “Thanks.” He came back over to me at the couch and kneeled beside me. He took my hands in his and looked deeply into my eyes. “I failed my wife, but I won’t fail you, Jess. Since reconnecting with you, I have realized that no matter how badly I’m hurting, I need to be on the lookout for others and not just myself. Loving others as Christ loves us is more important than anything else. I joined WIN to protect the innocent, to stand up for those who cannot. We’re going to get through this together.”

  Chapter 43-Kirk

  CHOPPING UP CHICKEN ON THE cutting board for our Caesar salad, I couldn’t help but enjoy the lingering smell of Jess’s perfume in the air. I had loved the fact that she was with me, protected, safe. Sitting on a stool on the other side of the island, Jess was sipping on tea in a glass mug.

  “Your house
is so big,” she commented. Her eyes were pointed up, surveying the overhead lights over the island.

  “Go big or go home, right?”

  She laughed, her eyes dropping to me. When her emerald green eyes caught mine, my heart dipped. I considered myself strong in every sort of way. It was my job to be strong, after all, but every time our eyes met, all that strength vanished.

  “How’ve the last five years been for you?”

  She raised her eyebrows and shook her head. “Just been working and living. Not much really happened until I bumped into you.”

  I laughed, smiling as I lifted the chicken off the cutting board with the side of the knife and dropped it into the salad bowl. Leaning slightly over the counter as I brought my eyes to hers, I said, “Maybe I’m bad luck?”

  She laughed and swatted a playful hand my way. I dropped my shoulder, dodging it. “I think you showed back up at the perfect time.”

  Walking over to the fridge, I retrieved the Caesar dressing and shut the door. Turning back to her, I twisted the lid to open the bottle. “You think?”

  She stood up and came around the island, brushing past me as she did on her way to the sink. Glancing over her shoulder, she said, “God does work in mysterious ways.”

  Chapter 44-Jessica

  WHEN I SAW MY DAD calling for the fourth time, I knew I had better answer it. Excusing myself from the chicken Caesar salad dinner Kirk and I were having, I walked out of the dining room and into the kitchen.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “I saw the cameras were out for a while and now there is a busted front door leaning up against the doorway. What is going on there? Where are you?” I had avoided his calls for this reason. I didn’t want to explain how the crazy stalker had become insane.

  “It’s the stalker, dad, but Kirk is with me now. He’s protecting me.”

  “Chloe’s old boyfriend?” he asked, almost laughing as he did so.

  Furrowing my eyebrows, I walked over to the sink and looked through the window outside to Kirk’s backyard. There in the back was a fire pit and a playground. Imagining how his boy would never play on it, a piece of my heart chipped off.

  Focusing on my conversation with my dad, I turned around and leaned against the counter. “Yeah, he’s a bodyguard now. He’s a trained professional. He’s not the same man he was back then.”

  “You sure are protective of the man who’s supposed to be the one protecting you. I sure hope he isn’t a love interest for you. He was a ladies’ man, from what I recall.”

  I didn’t respond.

  “Okay, let’s focus. A stalker busted down your door. Okay. What else has he done?”

  “He shot Kirk and—”

  “He’s shooting at people?” The weight of my father’s worry sounded heavily in his voice as he let out a sigh. “You know, it’s noble what you’re doing out there in Spokane, but I think it would be best if you came home.”

  “Dad, I’m not a kid. I can handle it. I have a bodyguard and we’re going to catch him.”

  “I just feel it’s dangerous, Lilly.”

  “I know it’s dangerous, but Kirk’s going to catch him.”

  “This isn’t a fairytale. This is real life. All I am saying is think about coming back to Albany. I’m sure Hester would get you on with the paper here and you could be near your mother and me and you’d be safe. Just think about it, okay, Lilly? We love you and just want you safe.”

  Kirk joined me in the kitchen, a concerned look scattered across his face.

  “I’ve got to go, Dad. Love you.”

  Hanging up, I set my phone down on the counter, the pressure of my father’s suggestions weighing heavily on my mind.

  “You okay?” Kirk asked, coming over to me. His voice was smooth, comforting as it invaded my stress and my thoughts and settled my nerves. Looking at him, I found comfort in his warming brown eyes.

  “What are we, Kirk?” I had to ask. There was too much going on not to know. I needed to and I wanted to know right then. I wasn’t sure if I was just some stupid girl who was falling for the man who protected her again or if this was real.

  “What?”

  “Are we together or is this all because of your duty to protect—”

  Interrupting my words, he moved closer to me and kissed me. His warm, full lips pressed against mine and tingles rushed over me like a pouring waterfall over my body. All the stress of everything vanished. He brought a hand up and pulled my face closer to him as he kissed me deeply. I wasn’t sure of much in my life right at the moment, but I knew I was exactly where I wanted to be, in his arms.

  Chapter 45-Jessica

  THAT EVENING, WE DECIDED TO watch a movie. He had his arm around me on the couch and I was comfortably sitting up against his non-injured side. There was a crazy man on the loose who was looking for me out on the streets, but I had never felt so safe. Kirk was fading in and out of sleep. It was cute, as he would exhale through his lips every so often, making almost a whistle sound when he did so.

  Just as the movie was about to end, his phone rang.

  I moved out of the way as he was suddenly alert. He stood up and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

  “Dekker.” He started to pace as he listened.

  Stopping, he brushed his hand through his hair as his eyes widened. “No …”

  Our perfect evening was suddenly over, and worry rose within me as I watched in anticipation.

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Hanging up, Kirk went over to his coat rack near the front door. Glancing at me, he said, “I need to borrow your car. Winston was shot.”

  “What? When? How?”

  “He was out at Diamond Lake, standing guard for me.”

  My heart shuddered and my stomach flipped. “That could have been you.”

  Pausing at the door, he began to unlock his security system with a variety of buttons, and beeps followed. Glancing over at me, he said, “I know. It’s my fault.”

  My heart jolted at his words. As he opened the door, I said, “No, that’s not what I meant.”

  “It’s fine. Look, this security system is top of the line. Nobody will get in here. There are over two dozen cameras, and the motion detection goes straight to my cellphone. He’s up at Sacred Heart so I’m heading there. I promise not to be longer than needed.”

  Jumping up from the couch, I was about to grab my purse, but he shook his head.

  “Maybe you misunderstood. You’re staying here, Jess. I can’t have you at the hospital. I’m guessing this guy probably shot Winston to draw us out since he isn’t aware of your location.”

  Fear gripped my insides.

  “But what about you?” I asked, approaching him as he stood near the door, one hand on the door’s side.

  “Don’t worry about me.”

  “I want to go.”

  “Please, Jess. Just listen to me. This is the safest place for you right now.” His lips didn’t convince me, but the look in his eyes did.

  “Okay.” I took a step back.

  Letting go of the door, he came over to me. Brushing back a strand of hair behind my ear, his palm grazed my cheek, his warmth radiating across my skin. Looking into my eyes, he leaned in and kissed me. Another surge of warmth crashed over every part of my body.

  “Don’t be long if you can help it,” I said, releasing from our kiss.

  “I’ll try my best.”

  Grabbing my car keys from my purse, I handed them over.

  “Thanks.”

  “By the way, Serenah said Charlie would tow your SUV into the driveway and leave it there until you can pick it up.”

  “They’re good people.” Holding up the keys, he said, “Thanks for the wheels.”

  He left, shutting the door behind him. As the door closed, I heard it lock as all his security devices took over. Turning around, I saw the movie paused on the TV and I thought of how he had drifted in and out of sleep as we watched. I smiled. Walking into the kitchen, I opened the cabinet to find
a mug for some hot cocoa. When I opened the first cabinet, I didn’t find mugs, but I did find medicine. Noticing a prescription bottle, I glanced at the label and my jaw fell open in disbelief.

  Chapter 46-Kirk

  ON MY WAY UP TO the hospital, I prayed fervently that God would keep Winston alive, that the injuries wouldn’t be too much for his body to handle. Winston saved my life the day he hired me on. I couldn’t lose him. Jax’s voice on the phone was shaky and I expected the worst.

  Arriving at the hospital, I parked and headed straight into the ER waiting room. Finding Jax and Garrett in the waiting room, I also saw Marie, Winston’s wife. My heart raced as I hurried over to them. I gave Marie a hug.

  “He’s strong, Marie. Don’t you worry about him.”

  She nodded, smiling. “Thank you, Kirk.”

  Jax pulled me away from Marie, out of earshot. His eyes were bloodshot red and kept jumping over to Garrett and Marie.

  “It’s not good, man.”

  “What are they saying?” My eyes shifted to Marie, then back to Jax.

  “He’s being operated on right now. A bullet was lodged in his spinal cord.”

  My heart fluttered, but then a calmness surrounded me. “Is he going to live?”

  “He has a chance of dying on the operating table. The best-case scenario is he can’t ever walk again.”

  Feeling behind me for a chair, I grabbed the armrest and sat down. My mind tried to process it all. Jax sat down beside me and brought his hands together between his knees as he leaned forward and shook his head, chin dipping to his chest.

  “It should be me in there fighting for my life.” My words were laced with pain and regret.

  “No, that’s not true.”

  Pushing a finger against my chest, I turned to him. “It was my job he was doing!”

  Jax didn’t reply.

  I sat back in the chair and brought my hands above my head, clasping them together. “Who did this?”