Taylor’s protectiveness was a different story. There was something about the way he ordered me to listen to him that turned me into an obedient submissive…and I liked it. That scared me, too. I shouldn’t like being ordered around, because I just wasn’t wired that way. I liked my alone time before…but now? I’d give up my free time to spend it in his arms.
I didn’t know what the hell it was that made my mind and body respond to his demands, but I wanted it…I craved it. I already knew that I gave up my control when we had sex. Hell, he knew that I gave it up to him behind closed doors. I’d never been that way with anyone else in my life. Not that there had been many men keeping my sheets warm, mind you, but Taylor was the only one that I felt I could be myself with at any time. I didn’t need to hide behind the bitch mask I so frequently wore.
Taylor didn’t let that go to his head. Hell, he seemed to be keeping that little bit of information to himself and not gloating to his buddies that he could order me around when he was buried between my legs. No, he respected that and knew that as soon as my clothes were on, I was back to being my usual tough as nails self. I enjoyed letting him call the shots, but only in private.
Grabbing a rolling cart, I pushed it off to the side of the stage so I could grab another one to start filling up with gear. Liam said he’d take the one I’d just filled out to the trailer and be back to grab another one. Josh and Kevin were finished and said they were going to grab showers. They looked around and noticed several employees still working to clean up the mess left by the patrons at the bar. It looked like they’d be sweeping and wiping down tables for a while longer.
“I’ll be okay,” I said, gritting my teeth. “There are people around.”
After they left, I tried to control my anger at the situation and finish up my job. One of the bartenders turned on some overhead fans and propped open the front door so they could air out the place from all of the cigarette smoke that hung thickly in the air. It wasn’t as bad as some of the places I’d been, but it was nice to have someone take the time to clean up the air.
I looked at my phone and frowned when I noticed it’d been about ten minutes since Liam had left with the case. In my daydreaming, I’d lost track of time. He should’ve been back by now. If he was outside, I could just peek out the back door and yell for him to hurry up.
Grabbing another rolling case, I hurried toward the back door, not seeing any of the guys in the hallway leading to the exit. The lights on the inside of the bus were on, so I figured the band was already inside, preparing for bed.
The black trailer that was pulled behind the bus was open. The door pulled down so that we could roll the cases inside, to be packed accordingly. Just as I rounded the corner, I froze in shock over seeing Liam laying on the ground, his eyes closed as though he’d been sleeping.
“Liam!” I screamed, rushing to his side, but I never made it. Strong hands folded around my throat, squeezing tight and cutting off my breath.
“You fucking bitch!” Doug barked, backhanding me so hard that I fell to my knees. “You cost me a ton of money. It’s time you pay up!” He looked haggard, dirty. His jaw had sprouted a patchy, uneven beard. His teeth were yellowed and his dark brown eyes were glassy. He smelled of stale cigarettes and beer.
“Fuck you!” I spat, climbing to my feet. I wouldn’t let this guy hurt me again. My lip was swelling, but that would be all he was able to do.
Doug lunged for me, but I sidestepped him and threw a punch to his jaw. He cursed and grabbed my arm, causing me to cry out in pain. “It’s time you paid!”
“Yeah, yeah, asshole,” I jeered. “You already said that.”
“Shut up, bitch,” he snarled. Greasy brown hair fell into his eyes as they darkened with lust. I felt a knot at the back of my throat and fear shoot up my spine. He wasn’t here just to beat my ass for spilling his precious dope. It was dark out, but the lights outside the building caught on the needle he produced from his pocket. I struggled, pulling at his hold as he uncapped the syringe by putting the cap between his rotten teeth, giving me a creepy smile.
“After you get high, little girl,” he mocked, almost demonically. “I’m going to fuck you and you won’t even care to fight me.” Like most people say…it happened all so fast.
“Taylor!!!” I screamed as he plunged the needle in my arm. “What the fuck did you inject me with?”
“Heroin, bitch!” he snarled. I cried out when he tore my shirt, baring my bra covered breasts for his viewing. My body started to sag and my vision blurred.
Oh, God!
My mouth instantly dried, my need for water overpowering almost every other thought. I could’ve sworn I felt a cool breeze on my legs and warm hands touching my thighs, but I could’ve been wrong. Why did I feel so warm? Or was it cold? Everything was just so fuzzy.
“Cora…”
“Motherfucker! What did you do to her?”
“Police! Call the fucking police!”
“Paramedics are coming. Clear her mouth. Check her breathing.”
Voices…I could hear voices, but I was just too out of it to move. Can I go to sleep now? Please?
“No, baby. Please. Oh, God…Please, Coraline.”
So…tired. “Sleep,” I mumbled, aloud. Did I say that?
I had no idea what was happening to me or even what was happening in general, but from the frantic voices around me…I knew it wasn’t good. The only thing that gave me peace was the scent of fresh rain and manly musk that drifted across my nose.
Taylor was here. He’d take care of me. And this time, I was going to let him do just that, because I was too damn tired to worry about myself.
So, so very tired…
Oh, sweet oblivion...
Sleep…
Chapter 22
Taylor
“Taylor!!!” I heard Cora scream at the top of her lungs. We all jumped to our feet and ran off the bus. I looked to my right and saw her on the ground and Doug was there, trying to rip her clothes from her body. Anger bubbled to the surface and I felt my heart stop beating.
“NO!” I screamed, racing forward. The bastard dropped something to the ground and looked up as I approached. His eyes flashed fear the moment I tackled him, throwing my fist into his already bloody face.
“Motherfucker! What did you do to her?” I bellowed, twisting his shirt up into my fists, shaking him for an answer.
“Ha!” Doug laughed, but didn’t answer me. “I’m paying back your little whore for fucking with me.”
“She’s not a whore!” I hated that word. I hated that Coraline had used it to describe what she felt like when I didn’t call her back. I hate it because she lost our baby…our sweet angel, because she thought I saw her as a whore.
My fists rained down on his face as I heard Ace screaming for someone to call the police and an ambulance. Braxton stopped me from killing the guy by pulling me back as Cash grabbed Doug from his place on the ground.
“I’ll kill him!” I raged, trying to push away the hands holding me. My shirt was bunched up around my neck as Braxton kept a tight hold on my upper body by placing a steel arm across my chest.
“Cora needs you,” Braxton growled in my ear. “We won’t let him get away this time, I promise. She’s vomiting, Taylor. I think he shot her up with heroin.”
“No!” I choked out, spinning around to see Josh holding her over on her side.
“Don’t touch that needle,” someone yelled.
Pushing Josh away, I pulled Cora’s small body into my arms, stroking her hair away from her face. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. There was blood on her lip where she’d been hit, the swelling proved that as well.
Sirens wailed off in the distance as I prayed she’d be okay, “Come on, baby. I’ve got you.”
I felt her body convulse again, and I quickly turned her onto her side, but nothing came out when she dry heaved onto the concrete. An officer arrived, squatting down to check over the woman in my arms.
“Can you te
ll me what she took?” he inquired.
“She didn’t take anything,” I snarled, rage vibrating my voice. “That motherfucker shot her up with what we believe may be heroin. She has a restraining order against him and he did this. We need to get her to the hospital.”
“What’s her name?” he asked.
“Coraline Maddox,” I spat out, still watching every rise and fall of her chest.
“This is the lady that two other officers spoke to earlier tonight?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied, sighing in relief as the ambulance arrived. I stood up, ignoring the officer’s protest, and walked to meet the paramedics.
“Sir,” a paramedic said, stopping me from climbing into the ambulance. “We can take her from here.”
“No,” I protested, feeling wetness trail down my right cheek. “I’m not leaving her.”
“Sir,” the other EMT, a woman, interrupted “we have to get an IV started. You can stay with her, but we have to get her to the hospital and she must be looked over. I promise you that she will be in the best hands. You can ride with us.”
“Thank you,” I slouched, calming only slightly.
Laying her on the stretcher, I took a seat where I was told to and watched as they worked over my girl. She’d never taken drugs a day in her life and that syringe was very large. I hope to hell he didn’t overdose her.
“We’re ready for transport,” the female said, nodding to her partner to close the door.
“Taylor,” Cora suddenly croaked, moving her head from side to side. The female paramedic continued hooking her up to monitors and started an IV.
“Right here, baby,” I told her, biting my cheek to keep from bursting into tears. She was so tiny, fragile. God, please don’t let this take her from me.
“Sir?” the paramedic interrupted. “Does she have any allergies we should know about?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” I answered, shaking my head. Fuck, I didn’t even know anything about her…things that I should know. Hell, when was her birthday? I didn’t even know that!
“Was this her first time?” she asked, gently. My eyes shot to the woman, knowing I looked like I was ready to kill someone.
“That guy…he shot her up with something. My drummer said he thought it was heroin. Did you get the needle?” I clasped Cora’s hand into mine and stroked the back of her fingers with my thumb. I needed the connection with her. I had to feel her warmth under my hands to prove to myself that she was okay.
“Yes, sir,” she nodded. “We will get it analyzed at the hospital.”
We arrived at the emergency room and the paramedics rushed Cora inside to be looked at by the doctors. A middle aged nurse pushed me back, saying someone would come talk to me. I had to grab a seat against the wall, because my legs were about to fall out from the stress.
I had to call her cousin. He was going to have to be told and the police in Phoenix would probably want answers.
Kane was also going to fucking kill me for letting her get hurt.
“Hey, man,” Kane answered, his voice bright. It was one in the morning in Nashville, but on the West Coast, it was only eleven. Thankfully, I didn’t wake him with this news. I needed all of the help I could get to keep him from going ballistic when I told him Coraline’s life may be on the line.
“Doug attacked Coraline,” I announced, but paused when he let out a string of curses.
“How? What the fuck happened, Taylor?” he demanded.
“I’m not exactly sure, but he got to her and…it’s bad, Kane. Really bad,” I shuddered, standing up to run my hands through my hair.
“What. The. Fuck. Happened. To. Coraline?” I knew he was going to be pissed, and I knew that he was going to have my ass for this, but I had to tell him.
“The crew was packing up. I left her with Josh and the boys. We all were going to meet on the bus after everything was loaded up and we had all hit the showers. It’d been about an hour when I heard her scream my name. And when I found her, Doug had her on the ground behind the equipment trailer. He…he was tearing off her clothes and he’d injected her with something. We think…we think it may have been a large dose of heroin.”
“Oh, my God…No!” he screamed, his voice cracking from the strain. “Where are you? I’m coming.”
“Nashville,” I said, telling him what hospital we were at and that I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I knew anything.
“Was she…,” he paused, but I knew what he was asking. Was she raped?
“No,” I replied. “I pulled the fucker off of her before he’d ripped all of her clothes off, but that was what he was attempting to do when I found them.”
“I hope you killed the motherfucker,” Kane roared. I heard a series of doors open and close. He paused in our conversation to relay the information to his wife, Delilah. They had been friends for years, and from what I knew, they were as thick as thieves. I heard Kane’s wife crying on the other end of the line, and I swore again that I would kill Doug given the chance.
“Okay,” Kane said, after comforting his wife. “I’m bringing the private jet. I’ll call you when I have a time of arrival. If anything changes, call me or Ash, okay?”
“Yes,” I promised. Looking up, I saw my band rush into the waiting room, behind another stretcher carrying Liam. Josh was stuck to his son’s side as they took him back as well. “I’m so sorry, Kane. I failed her.”
“You did not fail her,” Kane sighed. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you,” I replied, ending our call.
“Family of Coraline Maddox,” a nurse announced. I jumped to my feet and felt Braxton at my back. I wasn’t sure if he thought I was going to fall, but I was glad he was there, because the doctor’s words were what I’d prayed he would say.
“Is she okay?” I asked, my voice breaking at the end.
“Follow me back to the family room,” she motioned, her eyes giving away nothing. “The doctor is waiting for you.”
The nurse showed us to a room, not far from the emergency waiting room. She held the door open and nodded to the doctor who was standing in the middle of the small room surrounded by several chairs. A television in the corner was on, showing some infomercial, and the sound was muted.
“My name is Doctor Mason, and I was the doctor who saw Ms. Maddox when she arrived,” he paused. “Can you tell me what happened exactly?”
I relayed everything that we knew, even going into detail as to what had happened to her in Phoenix. Doctor Mason took all of the information we gave him and then asked more questions about her general health. It took all of my control not to insist he just get to the point and tell me about Coraline. He finally sighed heavily, running his hand through his light brown hair, and continued.
“The amount of heroin in her system was lethal, but thankfully you got her here in time,” Doctor Mason reported. “We’ve been able to administer an antidote to Ms. Maddox. She is doing much better if you’d like to go in and see her. She’s resting now, and we would like to keep her for at least another twenty four hours for observation.”
“Is…is she going to be okay?” I asked, praying for good news.
“The medicine we gave her basically cancels out the heroin in her system,” he paused again. “With the amount of the drug he gave her, we had to administer it twice. That seems to have done the trick.”
“Is she going to have any lasting damage?” I continued asking questions.
“That, we cannot tell right away,” he frowned. “She will need to be watched carefully for the next few weeks to months. I was told that she wasn’t a drug user, so this could be tricky.”
“Tricky?” I growled. “What the hell does that mean?” I felt Braxton lay a heavy hand onto my shoulder, silently telling me to calm the fuck down, but I couldn’t.
“She was given an powerful drug…one that millions of people get addicted to every year, Mr. Vaughn. Her body could very well crave this drug now that it’s been introduce
d to her system. She needs to know the signs of that addiction and the people around her need to make sure she doesn’t get so bad off that she starts looking for this stuff on the streets. The needle that was used could’ve been used before, so we’ve run blood tests on her for a whole host of diseases that she could’ve been exposed to when she was administered the drug. She will need to be checked periodically by her regular physician to make sure she is healthy.”
“That’s not going to be a problem. I’ll make sure she gets the medical attention she needs and that she is watched for any signs of distress from this,” I promised on a growl. “She will overcome this.”
“That’s what I’m praying for,” Doctor Mason said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That woman didn’t deserve this, and she could possibly suffer for years to overcome an addiction to something she’d never wanted to try in the first place.”
“No she didn’t. And I’m glad the asshole responsible is behind bars,” I said. “She won’t be alone. Coraline has plenty of people to help her.” Me, being the one person who would make sure she never suffers from this one day in her life. Kane would give his life to help her too.
“I’ll take you back to see her, and once I check on her tomorrow morning, I’ll hopefully be able to release her into your care.” He told us to follow him to her room as Braxton held the door open.
“I need to call Kane,” I mumbled as we followed the doctor out of the waiting room.
“Let’s see her first,” Braxton said, taking my arm again. “Once you see her, you’ll be able to give him a better explanation.”
“Okay,” I mumbled. I felt as if I were in a fog, not quite believing the things that were happening right in front of my face.
Braxton walked beside me as the doctor lead the way to a bank of elevators. When we arrived on the floor, he stopped at the nurse’s station to sign off on what I assumed was an important piece of paperwork in Coraline’s chart. He pointed to a door, telling me that was our destination, and I had to take a deep breath when I saw her name written on a board by the room number, 514. The doctor said he’d give us some private time with her and be back to check on her in about an hour, smiling weakly as he returned to the nurse’s station.
Fatal Desires (Fatal Cross Live! Book 1) Page 13