Protecting Lyndley

by Amanda Bennett

  “I’m not sayin’ you’re a bad person, Lyndley.”

  “I know.” I whispered back as he dropped my arm and I walked inside. When I went to refill my glass, I noticed that Kristy was now awake. This was my chance to ask her anything I wanted with nobody around.

  “Can I ask you a question?” I sat next to her on the couch and handed her a glass of the same whiskey I had.

  “Of course.”

  “I’m having a really hard time fathoming that you are one of the bad guys.” I paused, staring into my glass as I swirled the liquid around in it.

  “That wasn’t really a question.”

  “I know. Why did you do it?” I looked up at her, but she refused to meet my gaze.

  “They have my sister. They said if I didn’t cooperate, then they would kill her.”

  “I’m sorry. I really am. Did you really have to shoot me though?”

  “Honestly, yeah. I know what I’m doing when I shoot, Lyndley. Trust me, if I wanted you dead you’d be dead. I just had to make it look that way to whoever was watching. I couldn’t chance them seeing me shoot and miss. They know me too well to pull that off. I promise I only want to help.”

  As I sat there staring at her worried face and trembling hands, I couldn’t help but want to believe her. I wanted to see the good in everybody, but lately everybody was making that nearly impossible. “So what’s next?”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t.” I looked at her with sadness. I was sad for her and her situation.

  “Well I won’t let them hurt you, as long as you’re honest with me. Deal?”

  “Why are you helping me, Sar-“

  “It’s, Lyndley.”

  “I know, I’m sorry.”

  “And I’m helping you because we’re both in an impossible situation. Neither one of us wants to be where we’re at.”

  “Oh I don’t know about that. I see the way you and Ky look at each other. You’re both so head over heels in love with one another, it’s ridiculous.”

  “That’s exactly what it is, ridiculous. How do you build a relationship with someone who has sworn to protect you, and nothing else?”

  Kristy was silent and staring in the doorway behind me. That’s when I knew that Ky was standing there listening to the both of us. Well if we weren’t having issues before, we definitely were now. As much as I preached to him to just let me in, I now found myself questioning his motives.

  Thirty Two

  Ky

  I heard voices floating up the stairs and into the bedroom that I was now alone in. I wasn’t sure when Lyndley had slipped out, but I could hear her and Kristy having a conversation downstairs. I threw on some clothes and made way down in the direction of their voices. I spotted Ruger out on the porch out of the corner of my eye, but paid no mind to it.

  I stopped just as I hit the archway that separated the living room and the entryway when I heard Lyndley telling Kristy she didn’t know how we could work. I hated to admit it, especially after what we had just done, but in some ways she was right. How were we supposed to make something work that was so obviously doomed to fail?

  I stood there, staring into her captivating eyes when I heard Ruger yell my name. My instinct to protect Lyndley immediately went into action as I reached for the shotgun that Ruger had left right inside the door. I grabbed it as I went running out onto the front porch.

  “Twelve o’clock, in the bushes. Do you see him?”

  “I do.” I raised the gun, aiming it directly at the person moving around in the bushes.

  “Wait, man. We don’t know for sure that it is the guy that followed her here.”

  “I’m not willing to take any chances when it comes to her. Sorry.” As the apology left my mouth, I let out the breath I was holding and squeezed the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the night and seconds later the man’s body collapsed to the side. I cocked the gun, ready to shoot again if necessary, but the man’s body lay unmoving.

  “I’ll go check.” Ruger stepped off the porch and just then more gunfire rang out through the vast open space.

  Ruger and I took immediate cover on the porch, searching for the direction in which the shots came from. Just then, I spotted a man off to the side of the house making his way toward us. I raised the gun and pulled the trigger again without hesitating. The man went down, and Ruger and I made our way out towards his body. When no other shots were fired, I lowered my weapon and ran off to the other guy I had shot first.

  When I ran up on the lifeless body before me, I recognized him almost immediately. I knew instantly he was dead. There was a decent sized hole where his heart should be, and there was definitely no coming back from that. I glanced over in Ruger’s direction, waiting for a signal from him. A few minutes passed as I waited, but he eventually put his thumb up. Both were dead, now we just needed to make certain that nobody else had made it into the house to get Lyndley, but first I needed Ruger to see who I had shot.

  “Ruger, come here.”

  Ruger came running over as fast as he could. “What’s goin’ on?”

  “Look who it is.” I pointed down at my feet.

  “Holy shit. Is that?”

  “Yep, that there is John Nelson.”

  “Fuck! Shit just got real.”

  “We have to check on Lyndley, Ruger. Like now.”

  I took off running as fast as my feet could carry me until I reached the front door. I searched the living room for any signs of an intrusion, but only found Lyndley holding Kristy in her arms, shielding her from the gunfire. I slowly made my way over to the both of them, pulling Lyndley up and into my arms.

  “We got em’. There’s nothing to worry about anymore.”

  “For now.” She whispered as she held me tight.

  “Kristy are you okay?” My eyes met with hers over Lyndley’s shoulder and she just shrugged. “All right, let’s get everyone into a safe room and try to get some sort of sleep. Obviously we are going to have to move on in the morning. Can you make it up to your room okay?” I was holding Lyndley’s face in my hands, afraid to let her go. She nodded yes, so I kissed her forehead and let her go.

  I made my way over to Kristy, un-cuffing her from the table and motioning for her to walk ahead of me. “You can take my room for tonight.” We were half way up the stairs when Ruger caught my attention. “Just go up to the room on the right. I’ll be up shortly.” She nodded in agreement and then I made my way back down towards Ruger.

  “Hey, I moved them both into the barn. As far as I can tell, it was just those two but we can’t be too sure. I’ll take first watch. I’ll come get ya in a few hours. Sound good?”

  “Yeah, that works. You wanna call it in or should I?”

  “I’ll do it. Go take care of your girl.”

  “Thanks, man.” With that, I turned and made my way upstairs to go straight into Lyndley’s room, but had something to do first. I leaned into my room and found Kristy curling up on the bed. “Hey Kristy?”

  She rolled over towards me. “Yeah?”

  “What happens if John gets taken out?”

  She sat up with a terrified look on her face. “Why…why would you ask that?”

  “I just need an answer.”

  “In the event that John dies, Ray would get out and take over. And he would make sure that any loose ends were tied up.”

  “Okay, thanks. Try and get some rest. We are just down the hall in the other room if you need anything.” I started to walk down the hall when I heard faint cries coming from the room. I turned and leaned back inside the door. “Kristy, we’ll make sure you’re safe. I promise.” She nodded and I left.

  Ruger and I ran into one another in the hallway, and he gave me a curious glare. “What did Tom say?”

  “Nothing, man. Don’t worry about it right now. Get some sleep. I’ll come get ya in a bit.”

  I nodded and walked into Lyndley’s room. She had only turned on a small bedside lamp, and the small glow lit up her sorrowful face. I could see ho
w tired she was and I wished that she would just lay down and try to get some rest, but I knew that she was going to be stubborn as hell about doing so. So I stood there and waited, and waited and waited, until I couldn’t take the distance between us any longer.

  Thirty Three

  Lyndley

  The rain tapped against the window as I stood staring aimlessly out into the night sky, and the home that we were once again being forced to leave. I wasn’t sure when my life would be mine again, and I found myself wanting to hunt these bastards down myself. A small groan escaped between my lips as a sharp pain radiated through my bandaged shoulder and down my arm. Just as I reached my hand over to rub the tight muscle, I felt another hand underneath mine.

  Ky gently massaged my shoulder that was now housed in an uncomfortable sling. The moment the bullet hit me, I thought things had finally gotten to where they needed to be, but the shootout that just occurred was when things drastically changed between him and I. We were no longer two people who were trying to fight our desire and attraction to one another. No, we were now back to U.S. Marshal Wakely and Lyndley Caverly, witness in protection.

  “You know this is all we can be for now, don’t you?” His words were like a dagger stabbing my fragile broken heart.

  As much as it killed me to hear him say those words, it killed me even more knowing that the one man I had ever trusted in my life, was completely unattainable to me. So here we stood, me and my protective duty and our shambles of a life hanging in the balance. After a few more minutes of us standing in silence, I turned and made my way over to the bed. All I wanted to do was sleep the rest of this shitty day away.

  ~~~~~

  I woke up sore and feeling like I wanted to die as the sun shone brightly in my eyes. I quickly moved my arm up to shield me from its scorching rays, but was quickly reminded by the shooting pain in my shoulder that I couldn’t use that particular arm. I let out an aggravated sigh as I rolled over to face away from the window. I half expected Ky to be lying next to me, but to my surprise or lack thereof, he was nowhere to be found.

  I quickly sat up in bed scanning the room for any sign of Ky. When I came up empty, I decided to get dressed and make my way downstairs. I reached the bottom of the steps just as a black sedan was pulling away from the house. I was utterly confused, and made my way around the house trying to find Ky, Ruger or Kristy. I all but threw my hands up in the air as I walked towards the fridge to grab something to drink.

  I was startled when the phone on the wall began to ring. I set the glass I was holding in my hand on the counter and slowly made my way towards the phone. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be answering any phone, especially Ruger’s, but something inside of me told me to. My hand was shaking as fear raked through my body as I reached for the yellow house phone.

  “He-hello?” My voice was trembling and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

  “Lyndley? Oh my god, Lyndley is that you?”

  I couldn’t believe the voice I was hearing on the other end. No, it wasn’t possible. I watched the coroner take him away. I watched him die. I stood there shaking my head in disbelief, as he continued to try and get my attention.

  “Lyndley, please answer me.”

  “How…how…I don’t understand.” Tears began steadily rolling down my face as his voice echoed through my mind.

  “It’s a long story, trust me. It was all to keep you safe. Are you safe?”

  My hand flew up to my mouth trying to conceal the hysterical sobs that were taking over me. I nodded my head, but soon realized that there was no way he could see me. I tried to speak through the tears as much as I could, but I’m sure I was still hard to understand.

  “Take a deep breath.” He whispered.

  “Reese, I can’t believe it’s you. Where are you?”

  “God, it is so good to hear your voice. Look, we don’t have long to talk. They’ll be back soon. Just know that I can’t wait to see you. Not being able to talk to you or see you for this long has been killing me.”

  “Me too. How are you able to call me? How did you even know where I was? Reese, what’s going on?”

  “Lyndley, slow down. I promise you’ll have answers soon. I have to go. Make sure they don’t know that you were on the phone.”

  “Wait Reese, tell me what’s going on.” Before I could even finish my sentence the phone line went dead.

  I stood there staring at the receiver in irritation, when Reese’s words came filtering back through my mind. I quickly slammed the receiver onto the cradle and went about what I was doing. I poured myself a tall glass of orange juice, and meandered around the living room. An unlikely smile formed on my face as I stood there staring out the front window. Just knowing that Reese was alive was all I needed on this dreary day. I may have lost the love of my life, but at least I knew I had my best friend to go home to eventually.

  The longer I stood there, the more enraged I became. It dawned on me that Ky most likely knew that Reese was still alive, and that thought made me sick to my stomach. Before I could think about it any longer, I ran straight for the hall bathroom and emptied the entire contents of my stomach into the toilet. When there was nothing left inside of me to give, I sat back wiping the sweat from my brow.

  “Lyndley, are you in here?”

  I could hear Ky’s voice echoing throughout the house, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him. Not after last night, and most definitely not after the phone call I just got. I slid my foot across the floor and quietly closed the door before he could find me. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and I jumped back afraid of who I might find on the other side.

  “I’ll be out shortly.” I half shouted so I didn’t have to face whomever it was on the other side.

  “Lyndley, we need to talk.” As soon as his voice hit my ears, something inside of me boiled over with rage.

  I rinsed my mouth and pulled back the door as hard as I could until I was standing face to face with Ky. “Who the hell do you think you are?” I pushed my finger deep into his chest. “How dare you lie to me about my friend. I watched him die. Right there in front of my eyes I watched as he was shot in cold blood. I watched the coroner take his body away like he was some piece of garbage, and you watched me suffer through it all, and never said a goddamn word. Do you know how many times I could’ve used the reassurance?”

  Ky stood back with his mouth open not saying a word. I could tell by the look on his face, he wasn’t expecting me to ever find out. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate him anymore than I did when I woke up this morning, I found it inside of me to hate him a little more. He was no longer the man I thought he was. Instead of being my knight in shining armor, now he was just a coward.

  Thirty Four

  Ky

  Before I could even formulate a logical response, my mouth was already doing the talking. “Why the hell are you answering the phone? You know you’re not supposed to be talking to anybody. What the hell am I going to do with you?”

  “Don’t you dare chastise me, Ky. I am not a child. Should I have answered the phone? Probably not, but I did and now here we are.”

  I couldn’t believe the way she was talking to me. After everything that we had been through, really? “Well stop acting like a child.” I knew the minute the words left my mouth that she was about to blow up on me.

  “UGH!” she shouted as she pushed past me and up the stairs. I just stood there watching her walk away from me and completely confused. After last night, I thought everything was fine. We knew we couldn’t be what we wanted to be to one another and as much as it broke my heart, I knew it was what was best for her and her safety. No matter how hard I tried I could never do right by her, or at least that’s how it appeared.

  I almost started making my way upstairs to try and talk to her about everything that had happened this morning, but I quickly changed my mind as I heard her bedroom door slam shut. I heard Ruger on the phone in the next room, so I made my way to where he was. When I walked
into the kitchen, Ruger was standing against the counter, the disappointment on his face evident.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Looks like your girl gets to go home.”

  I couldn’t believe what he was saying. There was no way they had the trial already. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying to me. How is that possible?”

  “Apparently someone inside found out about the Nelson brothers and had some unfinished business with Ray. They found him dead about an hour ago, and well you know where John is.”

  “You’re fucking with me right?”

  “No, man. Literally, there is nobody left to come after her. Kristy verified everything they were saying. That’s why they came and picked her up this morning.”

  I sat on the bar stool at the breakfast counter and dropped my head into my hands. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to be feeling at the moment. Of course the selfish part of me didn’t want this thing to be over. I needed more time with Lyndley. But obviously I was happy for her that she could now go back to her life and not live in fear everyday.

  “Look on the bright side, at least y’all can be together now. No?”

  I sat there shaking my head at him. “I’m not sure that’s what she wants, and honestly I don’t know if she could handle all of my insecurities and my past. That’s a lot of bullshit for one person to deal with for the rest of their life.”

  “The rest of her life, huh? I didn’t know y’all were that serious.”

  “No, no we’re not. I just meant”…Ah hell, who was I kidding? “Yeah, I see it that way, but after this morning, I would be surprised if she ever wanted to talk to me again.” I looked up at Ruger. “She knows that her friend is alive.” I muttered.