Caged (Bound by Cage Book 1)

by Brittany Crowley

  Failing to buck him off leaves me feeling defeated, he is too heavy. In a last-ditch effort, I go for his face trying to claw at his eyes. Getting one scratch across his cheek before trapping both of my wrists in one of his hands makes me yell out in pain when he twists my bad wrist at an awkward angle. Releasing my arms and putting each hand in my hair he slams my head on the floor more times than I can count. The pain is excruciating and I start to pray for him to end this fast. All the fight has left me and I have never felt such pain as I do right now.

  “What’s the matter Savannah? Can’t handle a little tough love? You should have thought about that before you went behind my back and started fucking another man!”

  Cocking his arm back he punches me in the face. I can’t keep my eyes open anymore, I am so tired and have an overwhelming need to sleep.

  “This next part I have been waiting a while for. It’s long overdue to claim you as my own again.”

  I faintly feel Luke shifting off of me and then his hands start to take off my pants. Before I can register the real fear of what he is about to do I can hear him undoing his belt buckle. Knowing that I need to do something, anything I move to the side.

  “Where do you think you’re going Savannah?”

  Pulling me back over he straddles my waste again.

  “Fuck you Luke. I will never ever want you. You can do whatever you plan to me but just know that I will never love you!”

  “Fucking bitch!”

  His fist connects with my head again and again. I can’t keep myself present anymore as everything fades to black…

  I can hear frantic voices jarring me back from my unconsciousness. I try to open my eyes but the pain in my head stops me. I can still hear people yelling and it sounds like something just crashed. Trying to open my eyes again, I find I can only slightly open my right eye. I’m trying to remember what happened, how I got here, when it comes back to me. I start to scream as I think of Luke being in the same room with me, touching me, waiting for him to violate me.

  “Shhhhhh Savvy it’s me, it’s Ashlyn you’re okay, everything is going to be okay.”

  I can hear how upset she is as a sob breaks free of her throat. Moving my head gives me an overwhelming need to empty my stomach as I throw up all over the floor.

  “Guys she’s really hurt! Zander get your ass over here and help me!”

  CHAPTER 23

  Zander

  I wake with a start when I hear the door shut. “Sorry dear, I’m just here to check up on our patient.”

  “No problem, I must have dozed off for a few minutes.”

  “Try a few hours, you were snoring during my last rounds,” she chuckles to herself. “You know you should go home and try to get a good night’s sleep. We will call you with any changes in her condition.”

  Condition. Looking up at Savvy I get an ache in my chest. She hasn’t woken up in four days. I have been here the whole time sitting by her side. I can’t bring myself to leave, I want to be the one here when she finally opens those gorgeous eyes.

  They ran a whole bunch of tests when she first got brought in by ambulance. She has a pretty severe concussion, broken ribs and a broken arm on top of all the bruising and swelling on her face. I can’t get the image of that sick son of a bitch connecting his fist with her face. Every time I close my eyes it’s all I see and it’s a wonder I got a few consecutive hours of sleep just now.

  Thinking about the state I found her in makes me want to march down to the police station and kill that sick fuck. I made the hospital do some tests to find out if he succeeded in what he obviously had planned. I have never experienced real fear like I had that day when I flew through her front door and saw her pants off with him straddling her. Wailing on her even though she was unconscious. A tear slides down my cheek and I wipe it away not wanting the nurse to see.

  “I’m good but thanks. I need to be here for her,” grabbing her good hand I place it in my own.

  After taking her vitals the nurse leaves the room. The doctor told us that it’s up to Savvy now, that she will wake up when her body is ready. The swelling on her face has gone down a lot already and the bruising isn’t as purple as when she came in. I have been praying every spare chance I have, which is a lot right now.

  Hearing the door open I look over to it and see Jack walk into the room with another huge bouquet of flowers. I don’t think he knows what to do with himself so he keeps buying flowers. Her room is filled with balloons, flowers and stuffed animals from all of our loved ones. I know it will brighten her mood when she finally wakes up.

  “Any news yet son?” He looks so nervous, I can’t imagine how hard it is to see your child like this, knowing there’s nothing you can do to fix it.

  “Nope, just waiting on Savvy here. You know how stubborn she is, did you really think she was going to make it easy on us?” He chuckles and grabs a chair pulling it to the other side of the bed.

  “Jack, I’m so sorry I didn’t get there in time, I…” I don’t even know what to say, this should have never happened. We knew that Luke was a threat, I should have insisted she was with one of the guys or myself until he was caught.

  “No, we’ve been over this already. That sick fuck did this to my sweet girl, not you. If you hadn’t gotten there when you did we could be in a whole different situation right now. He had a fucking gun, I’m just thankful this is what we’re dealing with right now. Don’t beat yourself up, you got there and saved our girl,” He looks up to Savvy and I can see the tears in his eyes. “I don’t even want to think of how much worse this situation could be.”

  Over the past four days this has become our routine. I stay and Jack comes back several times a day to sit with us for a few hours. Instead of small talk today I have something important I need to talk to him about.

  “Jack, I love Savvy with all my heart and I know when we got married in Vegas I never got the chance to ask you for your blessing. I beat myself up over that, I always imagined the day I found the woman I was going to marry that I would do everything the right way. I’d go to her father, plan a huge proposal and give her everything that she deserves. I can’t explain how devastated I was the day we found out our wedding wasn’t legit but in a way, I’m thankful. Now I can look at you, as the man that swears to make your little girl happy for the rest of her life and ask you for your blessing to marry her.”

  My palms are sweating. I have never been so nervous to have a conversation in my life but here I am doing it because Savvy is my heart. She is my home and I will make her happy for the rest of our life together and to start that I need his blessing.

  “Do you believe you are good enough for her son?”

  “Fuck no. There is no one out there good enough for Savvy, but I will do my best every day for the rest of our lives to try and prove myself to her.”

  “Well Zander, I never thought I’d look you “The Hitman” in the eyes and say welcome to the family son.” Sticking his hand out for a hand shake I think “fuck that.” Jumping up I go around the bed and pull Jack into a bear hug.

  “Just because I gave you my blessing doesn’t mean you can molest me now,” he says on a sniffle.

  Laughing with tears in my own eyes I pull back and shake his hand. “Thank you so much Jack. You have no idea what this means to me and what it will mean to Savvy.”

  “Okay, now that we’ve had our girl talk let’s talk shop. Any idea when your next fight is?”

  “My manager actually called me a couple hours ago, Buckley wants a shot at the belt and seeing as he is the number one contender I have agreed. The date is set for September so I have six months until we all head back to Vegas.”

  Looking up at Savvy I can’t help but smile. My next fight I’ll be someone’s husband, I’ll have my wife cheering me on in the crowd. I’m jarred from that thought when I feel something squeeze my fingers.

  “Holy shit, I think she just squeezed my fingers Jack!”

  Jumping out of his seat he sprints towards t
he door and yells for a nurse to get her ass in the room. Running back to the bed he looks up at Savvy with a giant smile on his face.

  “Alright boys what seems to be the matter here?” the nurse I saw last enters the room.

  “She squeezed my hand! She’s waking up! Come on baby, I’m right here with you. Open those gorgeous green eyes for me,” reaching my hand up I brush her hair to the side and start to stroke her face.

  “That’s a good sign but it doesn’t mean she will wake up right this second. Sometimes it could take hours for someone to wake up after they show signs of consciousness. Just be prepared that it might not happen until later today boys.”

  “I could care less as long as she finally wakes up.”

  Looking up at Savvy I breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in four days. Finally, my girls going to wake up and I’ll get to see those beautiful eyes. I’ve missed looking into them the past couple of days, among other things.

  “Come on baby, you can do it. Come back to me.”

  *****

  Pounding…my head is pounding. Freaking hell, what the hell did I do this time? I try to open my eyes and the bright light has me slamming them shut.

  “Hang on Savvy.”

  Someone shuts the lights off and I try opening my eyes again, succeeding this time. When they focus from the haze I see Zander sitting next to my bed with worry on his face.

  “Wha…” I clear my throat. “What happened? Where’s Luke?” He must see the fear in my eyes because he starts brushing his hands through my hair immediately calming me.

  “He is never going to hurt you again baby. He’ll be going to jail for a very long time.” I nod my head in acknowledgment causing me to wince in pain.

  “You have a concussion so try not to move your head too much. I’ll page the nurse and try to get you some pain medication.” Leaning over he presses the call button for the nurse.

  “Baby,” his voice is thick with emotion as he looks up and meets my gaze, “I can’t even begin to express how sorry I am that I let you down. You are my responsibility and I couldn’t protect you from him. If something happened to you…” he stops mid-sentence unable to go on. Bowing his head on the bed he kisses my hands.

  The nurse enters the room asking me my pain level on a number scale. I tell her 500 which makes her laugh but causes Zander to lose all the color in his face. I rub his arm trying to comfort him when the nurse leaves telling me she’s going to get the pain meds.

  “What happened? How did you even know what was going on?” I clear my throat again. “Babe can I have some water?” He reaches to the side table grabbing a cup and brings the straw up to my lips. I take a couple deep gulps. Much better.

  “Ashlyn tried all of our phones, not knowing the bastard stole them. She called the gym’s number praying that I was there or that she could track me down. Finally she got ahold of us, said what was going on and we all rushed over to her place. I told her to call 911 and try to flag someone down on the road. When I walked in and saw his fist flying towards your face…” he shakes his head. “That image will forever play in my mind, reminding me of how precious you are. After that, I honestly don’t remember much of what happened. I saw red and went into a trance, wanting to annihilate him. I don’t remember much until my brothers pulled me off of him, and all I can think is I wish they didn’t. I wish they let me finish the job so I know that sick fuck can never ever hurt you again.”

  “Babe look at me. I am going to be just fine. He may have gotten to me but you saved me before he could do any real damage. He had a gun, todays outcome could have been so much worse.” I thank my lucky stars that we are all alive and still here. I go to try and sit up and a pain shoots through my stomach as I gasp.

  “Baby don’t move, you have 2 broken ribs from that asshole. It’s going to be a while before they feel better, I know from firsthand experience. Today is Friday, you have been out since Monday. You’ve been in the hospital for four days’ unconscious and scared the shit out of me when you wouldn’t wake up. I need to give everyone a call letting them know you are awake.”

  He steps outside to make his calls after planting a kiss on my forehead. The nurse returns with my pain medication and puts it into my IV for quicker results. That’s fine by me the struggle is real with this pain. When it starts to work its way through my system I start to yawn feeling sleepy again. I look up seeing Zander walking through the door as my eyes start to feel heavy. I close my eyes not able to hold them open. When I feel him grab my hand, I smile.

  “Babe?” I question, my voice just above a whisper.

  “I’m here baby, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “Babe? Can we get married when I wake up?” I hear him laugh under his breath and feel him squeeze my hand slightly.

  “We can do whatever you want when you wake up.” I feel my lips form a giant smile as I give into the blackness of sleep.

  When I wake up again a couple of hours later I see my Dad sitting next to my bed reading the newspaper. My movements catch his attention as he looks up, a smile lighting his face.

  “Sweetie I was so worried about you,” he bends down and kisses my forehead. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I was brutally beaten,” I try to laugh but the pain in my ribs is too much and I end up groaning.

  “This is no laughing matter young lady, if Zander hadn’t got there when he did this could be a whole different outcome right now. I owe that man everything for saving you,” his voice is thick and full with emotion showing me just how worried he was.

  “Dad we can play the what-if game all we want, but right now I am here because Zander saved me. Luke is in jail where he belongs and right now that’s all I need to know.”

  Dad explains that Zander finally went home to take a shower and get a nap in seeing as he hasn’t left my side since I got brought in. We do the crossword puzzle together for the next hour to keep us entertained. When I was living at home we used to do them every Sunday morning. It’s kind of our thing and it makes me so happy to be able to do one right now.

  We’re a couple clues away from finishing when Zander comes walking in through the door looking like a fucking Adonis. I lick my lips and try to sit up but wince when the pain from my ribs hit again.

  He chuckles giving me a knowing smile. “Hey baby, how are you feeling after your nap? How’s the pain?” Walking over to me, he plants a chaste kiss to my lips leaving me wanting more.

  “My ribs hurt like a bitch but my head and wrist feel much better than before. How was your nap?”

  “Short. I didn’t want to be away from you for too long.”

  I reach out my hand and grab his, linking our fingers together. He explains to me that Ash, Judy and all of his brothers stopped by when they heard I was awake, but sadly I was already fast asleep at that point.

  “Well honey this is my cue to head on out.” Dad kisses my head then shakes hands with Zander before he leaves my room.

  “Can you lay with me babe?”

  “How about I sit next to you. If I get in that bed the odds of me hurting your ribs are pretty good.”

  Pouting my lips, he leans in and connects ours together. When I reach up to wrap my arms around his neck I groan out in pain as my body reminds me my ribs are still tender. Pulling back, he looks at me with concern.

  “I’m fine I promise. Moving around without triggering my rib pain is going to take some practice.”

  He takes the seat my Dad vacated as we talk about the situation with Luke and what he is facing. I guess he is going to be charged with attempted murder because he beat me pretty badly and he had a gun on him so the intent was there. Just thinking about him makes my skin crawl and I hope he gets what’s coming to him.

  While I was doing the crossword puzzle with my Dad I remembered a few things from the attack I need to talk to Zander about. It’s not a comfortable subject, but I need to know.

  “Zander,” I look down at my hands. “I remember when I was on the groun
d Luke…he took off my…I need to know…” Zander hushes me.

  “Nothing happened baby, that’s as far as it got.”

  A tear slides down my cheek thinking about what he could have done to me. I feel violated with knowing what he had planned and how far it had gotten.

  The nurse comes back into the room to check my vitals and gives me a tray of food, thank god because I am starving! I quickly eat my sandwich and french-fries before she administers my next round of pain meds. Once they hit my system I become drowsy.

  With my eyes closed I call out for Zander.

  “I’m right here Savvy, I will always be right here.”

  “Hitman…can we get married when I wake up?”

  “Of course baby, anything you want.” I feel my arm being pulled up as his lips meet my knuckles. I release a contented sigh as I drift off to dream world once again.

  CHAPTER 24

  The next day I am able to go home. I just want to sleep in my own bed next to Zander and not worry about being woken up every couple of hours by nurses. I’m feeling slightly better; my rib pain is still there but it’s not as intense. I looked in the mirror when I was getting ready to leave and noticed the swelling around my eye went down, but the bruising will take a week or so to disappear. Once in the car I notice Zander takes a wrong turn that would bring us to my Dad’s house.

  “Where are we going? Did you forget we were going home?”

  “Do you trust me baby?”

  “You know I do.”

  “Then don’t worry your beautiful little head and let me surprise you,” he brings our clasped hands up to his mouth kissing my knuckles.

  I hate surprises but I’ll deal with this one. I figure my Dad is throwing me some sort of “Yay you’re out of the hospital” surprise party.