by Ash Johnson
“From the second I met you there was always someone else, Adelaide. I never worked in the office past six at night. I went to strip clubs with my friends, or picked up other women at bars, but it was always good for business when I could show off that I had a loving wife at home. That’s the only reason I married you.” I nod, realizing his admission stings a bit, but not as bad as I thought it would. I lightly clear my throat and let my eyes connect with his before I speak.
“That’s okay. You were lousy in the sack anyway. My vibrator gave me more pleasure than you did in the two years we were together. And now I have a real man that satisfies my every need. I thank God every single day that I never had a baby with you, you scum sucking low life.” I smirk through my tears, watching his face turn dark before he leans forward and puts the red cherry of his cigar out on the apple of my right cheek.
I whimper trying to keep my lips closed as I do. As soon as he pulls the cigar off my face, I hear a loud clamber in the front of the apartment. At first I think that Millie must have just dropped something, but then I hear her high pitched scream and men yelling.
Rob turns his focus back to me and picks up the knife, his eyes wide and fearful as the bedroom door flies open and two men with guns rush through screaming at Rob to get on the ground.
Rob reluctantly obeys their command, dropping the cigar and the knife before lowering his body to the ground. After the police officers enter and handcuff him, one of the men approaches me and cuts the ties on my hands and feet before cutting the dog collar off of my neck.
I try to sit up, but my ribs scream at my every movement. The police officer tells me to lie back down on the bed until the EMT comes in with a stretcher. I obey immediately, knowing the routine from the years of working in the E.R.
It takes about ten minutes to get Rob and Millie out of the apartment and get a stretcher in the room for me. After the EMT’s come in and get me strapped to the stretcher, I see someone making their way over to my side. Through the tears still swamping my eyes I can barely see Ronan standing over me, looking at my cuts, burns and bruises with sadness in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you baby girl. As soon as Jay called and told us that you had been taken I called the phone company, screaming at them to pull the information and after lots of yelling and waiting, we found out that the phone number belonged to Millie. We got here as fast as we could, it just wasn’t fast enough,” Ronan mutters, reaching out and grasping my hand softly. I squeeze his hand and smile at him.
“Ro, they were planning on killing me, so I’d say you got here in just the nick of time,” my smile growing when Ronan’s lips turn up.
“Well, I will call Jay on our way to the hospital and tell him that we found you. He’s been driving me crazy, calling me every ten minutes like he’s a high school girl with a crush on me.” Ronan rolls his eyes and smirks when I let out a small giggle which causes me to wince. He gives me a sympathetic smile and lightly squeezes my hand.
“Is it okay if I ride with you in the ambulance so you can give me your statement?” I nod, more than ready to get out of this apartment and back to Jay.
Chapter 32
Jay
Elle, Blake and I are all piled into my Jeep as we fly to Desert Regional Hospital, to Ada. I’m driving well over the speed limit and may have run a few red lights, but I need to get to the girl I love and make sure that she’s okay.
I’m scared about what I’m going to see when we make it to her room, but I can’t think about those things now. She’s alive and in the hospital so I just have to focus on being with Ada.
We pull into a parking spot outside of the emergency room and the three of us sprint out of the Jeep toward the large building. When we make it inside, we are met by an older woman with a white beehive piled on her head and her hand outstretched, telling us to stop where we are.
“Hold it, who are you looking for?” beehive asks.
“Ada Michaelson, she was just brought here about ten minutes ago,” I say breathlessly. After a few seconds of typing on her computer, beehive looks back to us.
“She’s on the third floor, room 317, but she can only have one visitor at a time right now. There is a waiting room down the hall from her room where two of you can wait,” beehive tells us, but all three of us basically tuned her out and ran to the elevators as soon as she told us the room number. I know I should let Elle go see her first because that’s her best friend, but I can’t offer her that because I have to see Ada and make sure she’s okay.
Before the elevator doors open on the third floor, Elle grabs my forearm and smiles solemnly.
“You go see her first lover boy, but don’t take too long or I’ll come in there and kick your ass myself,” she giggles when I reach out and pull her into a tight hug and kiss the top of her head.
“Thanks Elle, I promise I won’t take too long,” I say, knowing that I’ve already broken my promise to Elle before I’ve even made it in to see Ada. I’ll never leave Ada’s side again.
I sprint down the hall and notice that the door to room 317 is closed. I take a deep breath and I’m about to knock lightly when an older nurse wearing pink scrubs walking swiftly down the hall meets me next to the door.
“You must be Jay,” she smiles.
“Yes, ma’am I am Jay,” I furrow my brow, but then remember that Ada works here and she’s probably told a few of the nurses about me. She holds her hand out and I grab it softly, shaking it and smiling back at her.
“My name is Carla. I’m friends with Ada. She’s going to be okay, but I just gave her some medication that might make her sleepy so you may only have about ten or so minutes before they start taking effect. Just be careful with her, she has a few broken bones and lots of bruises, but she’ll be okay.” I frown, wondering what these sick fucks have done to my beautiful girl. I nod and open the door to make my way toward Ada, but turn around when Carla calls my name again.
“By the way, Jay, congratulations,” she smiles and walks away. Now I’m really confused. Why the hell is she congratulating me?
When I walk into the room, I see Ada’s tiny body barely filling the hospital bed. The bed is slightly tilted up so her upper body is a bit propped, she has on a worn blue hospital gown and she has a light blue blanket draped over her right leg. Her left leg is on top of the blankets and banded in a temporary cast with pillows underneath to prop it up. There is a large square bandage on her right cheek and her right eye is swollen and purple.
I look to her face and see a set of dull eyes, one blue, and one green which is now outlined in dark purple, are staring at me. There is a small smile on her lips that tears at my heart. I try my best to compose myself before I take a seat in the chair that is next to her bed and reach out to lightly run my fingers through her golden hair.
“Hey bunches,” I say quietly, barely managing to keep my emotions in check.
“Hey bear, I missed you,” Ada whispers, a tear sliding down her cheek and soaking into her gauze bandage.
“Don’t cry baby, you’re safe. Jesus Ada, you’ll never know how sorry I am that I didn’t just have you come to the locker room with me. You would have never been taken if you would have come with me,” I shake my head slowly, still pissed at myself for being so stupid.
Ada’s right hand reaches out, searching for mine. When I grab her hand, I notice that she has deep red marks around her wrist and I have to fight to keep from growling. She barely squeezes my hand and smiles softly.
“Shut up, Jay. Neither of us thought something would happen to me there, and even if it wouldn’t have happened that night, they were so determined to kill me that it would have happened another time. I’m just glad it’s over with and we’re okay.” I smile with her, but then purse my lips together, confused by what she just said.
“We’re okay? Who’s we?” I ask, watching her face flash with both excitement and nervousness.
“Well, I don’t know how you’re going to take this news so I’ll just c
ome out and say it,” she mutters and takes a short breath, wincing while she does. “I’m eight weeks pregnant Jay. That’s why I’ve been throwing up lately. I don’t know how it happened but we’re going to have a baby,” she whispers, eyeing me and waiting for my reaction before she reacts herself.
My mind goes blank and I’m sure my jaw is on the floor. I wasn’t planning on ever having kids, but I’ve never found someone that I’ve been in love with before Ada, either. I automatically get a flash of my future, a little brunette boy with different colored eyes playing football in the backyard, laughing while Ada and I chase him around, the three of us laughing; a happy family.
Then I think back to the day we had Ada and her friends over for the barbeque. I forgot to put a condom on when I was with her that day and that must be when she got pregnant. We’ve been very careful every other time we’ve been together. I look back to Ada and must have a look of hesitancy on my face because Ada gently clears her throat and quickly starts stuttering.
“J-Jay, I know we didn’t plan this and I’m just as shocked as you are, honestly. I thought we were always careful, but don’t think that I’m forcing you to do this with me. I totally understand if you don’t want-“ I don’t let her finish her sentence. I lightly put my fingers over her lips to silence her and smile.
“Ada, shut up. I’m beyond happy to be having a baby with you,” I chuckle and lean down to softly kiss her lips. Our kiss deepens just a bit, but I feel her body jump when she takes a deep breath, so I break the kiss and decide to talk to her instead.
“Are you excited to have a baby?” I ask her, wondering if she really wants this or not. She smiles brightly and places her left hand, which has an IV in it, gently over her lower stomach.
“Yes. I’m beyond thrilled to be a mom. I have always wanted to have kids and have a house covered in art projects and mud, but after I got divorced, it seemed like it would never happen for me. I thought it would take forever, if at all, for me to find someone I loved and start a family. I guess it happened a lot sooner than I thought it would have.” I smile and can’t resist leaning back down and softly kissing her again.
After a few minutes of talking about how excited we are to be parents I decide to ask her what’s broken. I don’t want to know about who did this and what they did to her right now because I’m still too raw and might go ape shit on whoever it was. Getting myself kicked out of the hospital while she’s still here would not be a good idea.
“So what’s the damage Rocky?” I whisper, rubbing the red ring around her wrist and noticing that she has one on her other wrist. Then I note that she’s taking short breaths and trying to calm the tears forming in her eyes before answering me.
“Well, I have two broken ribs, my left shin bone is broken but they have to put a plate in it to set it back in place before they can cast it, six cuts that were deep enough to need stitches but only one of them needing more than fifteen, and a few burns that will turn into nasty scars. The doctor said that the plastic surgeon will be in tomorrow to look at them and see if the scars can be reduced at all,” she shrugs. I point to the bandage on her cheek.
“Is this one of the burns?” I ask. She nods, but is having a hard time keeping her eyes open. The medication must be working. I kiss her lips one last time before speaking again.
“Why don’t you get some sleep, baby? I’ll be right here when you wake up, I promise,” I say, rubbing my thumb across her knuckles as softly as I can. She nods and turns her head toward me, but her eyes are closed.
“I love you, Jay,” she mumbles.
“I love you too, Ada. So much,” I reply, but she must be asleep because I get no response. After a few minutes when I know for sure that she’s asleep, I pull the blanket down and push her hospital gown to the side. I look at her beautiful flat stomach, which is covered in dark bruises from just under her breasts down to her belly button and has another large gauze bandage covering her skin just to the right of her belly button.
Her sunflower tattoo looks like it was cut in half and now has stitches running through the center of the flower.
I immediately get pissed off that someone could be so brutal to such a small woman, but even with all of the bruises, I lean forward and stare at her stomach with awe. Ada is carrying a piece of me in there. A huge smile breaks out across my face as I lean in and place small butterfly kisses across her tiny waist.
A few minutes later, Elle appears in the doorway scowling at me.
“I thought I told you to hurry it up, Hunt. Now you leave me no choice but to kick your ass,” she smiles.
“I’m sorry Elle, I must have lost track of time. How did you get in here without getting your head chopped off? The nurses here are brutal when it comes to the rules,” or so Ada’s told me. Elle smiles and starts walking closer to Ada.
“Ada and I have gone out with Carla and a few of the other girls here a couple times. We’re all pretty close,” she smirks and shrugs one shoulder.
“Close enough that she told you how Ada’s doing?” I cock my head to the side and smile. Elle shakes her head and then stops at the end of the bed, picking up Ada’s chart to scan it. After a few seconds Elle’s eyes shoot up to mine and my smile gets bigger. Elle drops the chart at the foot of the bed and rushes toward me, throwing her arms around my neck. I stand up and hug Elle back, beyond excited that she’s happy with this news.
“Congratulations Jay! How did Ada take it?” she asks, letting go of my neck and grimacing at the thought of Ada being upset.
“She was smiling when she told me about it, but then tried to tell me that I don’t have to stay with her if I don’t want to take on the responsibility,” I look back to Ada and shake my head at her thinking that I would ever do that.
“You’re going to stay and help her, aren’t you?” I shoot my gaze over at Elle, wondering why she would think otherwise. I thought I’ve made it very apparent that I’m in love with Ada.
“Of course I am. The night she was taken I was going to surprise her by showing her the plans to the house I’m having my dad build for us. I was going to have her make sure that everything was what she was looking for and then I was going to finalize them and get the house built. I know you’ll be sad that she might move away, but there are empty lots by your place and we can build a house that’s only a few blocks away from you. We’ll be over all the time.”
Elle’s smile is so big it actually looks a bit scary, and then she squeals and jumps up to wrap her arms around my neck again.
“Yay! I get to be Aunt Ellie and I get my house back to myself,” she whisper yells in excitement, trying not to disturb Ada while she sleeps. I pull back and smile, but my brows are pushed together, wondering why she would want Ada to move out.
“Oh come on Jay. You know I love having Ada live with me and I would do anything under the sun for that girl,” Elle points at Ada as she explains this to me. “But since you two got together I haven’t gotten one good night of sleep on the weekends. You two are so freaking loud while you’re going at it that it keeps me awake. You need to learn to speed the process up a bit, dude,” she jokes and then lightly slaps my abs.
I laugh and shake my head a bit.
“Well it’s a good thing that I’m having a house built for us then, because I think Ada would beat the shit out of me if I tried to speed up the process.” I laugh a little louder when Elle starts shaking her hands in front of her and grimaces.
“I don’t need to hear that, I just want to make sure my girl is okay you pervert,” she says, going back to Ada’s chart. I decide to give Elle a minute and run down to the cafeteria to grab some coffee. On my way out I see Blake still sitting in the waiting room, texting on his cell phone. He spots me and jumps out of his chair, walking with me.
“Is Ada okay?” he asks, true concern in his voice.
“Yeah, she’s pretty beaten up and has some broken bones, but for the most part she’s okay.” Just thinking of how my girl looks in that hospital bed is enough to
piss me off all over again. I ball my hands into fists and then have to flex them open and closed because they are starting to go numb.
“Good to hear,” Blake says, nodding before silence falls over us again while we enter the cafeteria. After we have each bought a coffee and we’re making our way back to the elevators, I decide to ask the unanswered question from before we found out that Ada was alive.
“Blake, where were you when Ada went missing?” I look at him and watch his gaze drop to the floor. He clears his throat and looks back up to me, a look of uncertainty in his eyes.
“Well, I didn’t want to say this in front of Elle, but it’s just as hard to say to you because you guys are all friends.” Blake takes a deep breath and blurts his answer out.
“I’ve been seeing another girl behind Elle’s back; actually a couple of different girls. I know that Elle and Ada are best friends and I don’t want either of them to hate me. I really like Elle and I want to keep seeing her but I don’t think I’m ready to be in a committed relationship with her yet.”
I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding in one giant puff of air.
“That was it?” I ask, my voice bouncing off the walls of the hospital hallway. “Jesus Blake, I thought you were in on Ada’s kidnapping for Christ’s sake! I’m your best friend; why the fuck would you keep that from me?” Blake shrugs and thinks about his answer before he gives it.
“I don’t know. I was afraid that you were going to slip and say something to Ada and she’d tell Elle. I really do like Elle and I really like sleeping with her, but I just feel like I should date a bit longer before I commit to just one girl. I mean, look at you,” Blake says pointing at me and smirking.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What’s wrong with me?” I scoff.
“Nothing’s wrong with you, you’re just pussy whipped now. You have your head so far up Ada’s ass I don’ t know where she stops and you begin,” Blake says quickly and then takes a tentative step away from me to make sure he’s out of reach of my fist.