He turned and left the room without another word. I got what I wanted, but suddenly it felt wrong. Was it regret for what I had said? I didn’t know and right now I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I got dressed in some yoga pants and t-shirt and then crawled back into bed. I didn’t want to go out there and face anyone now. I was sure his mom and dad would think me a total bitch for the way I just talked to their son. I would just stay in bed all day and avoid them.
His mom came in some time later with a tray of food for me. She was very sweet to me and fussed over me to no end. She made homemade chicken noodle soup and it tasted delicious.
“This is amazing soup. I feel like I’ve had this before.”
“You have, dear. I made this for you at Cole’s when you were recovering from…when he found you. I came over and helped him take care of you. He insisted on being the one to help you, but he thought maybe you would be more comfortable with a woman around.” She let out a laugh. “I remember when you took a bath and fell asleep. You were freezing and he was so concerned with getting you dressed and warmed up. He started pulling out clothes and then realized that you needed underwear and a bra. He started looking through the bag and pulling stuff out while we watched. When he looked up we were both staring at him and he got all nervous and practically threw the underwear at me and ran out of the room.”
I laughed along with her. I could just imagine him sorting through my underwear. I was once again reminded of how Cole had taken care of me and the smile fell from my face. Everyone seemed to think that Cole was great and I was pretty sure that was true, but I didn’t know what their expectations were and that made me nervous. It would make it very uncomfortable to stay with them if I couldn’t find a way to balance out what I felt with what people were telling me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Cole
I sat in the other guest bedroom trying to rein in my temper. I was feeling totally gutted after my talk with Alex. I knew that she didn’t remember anything and I couldn’t blame her for her emotions, but it was like she had decided that I wasn’t worth knowing. She would try to get to know me. What did that even mean? She had already told me she would be out the door and moving on with life when she was healed. She meant the world to me and I meant nothing to her. I was a guy that happened to enter her hospital room and suddenly became a part of her life.
I remembered the way she asked me to stay with her after she had woken in my house. She had instinctively curled into me while we slept and wanted me to stay with her every night. This woman flinched away from me and then only stayed with me reluctantly. She didn’t want me to get my hopes up that this would amount to anything. I suddenly felt the need to clear the air with her and decided now was the time to do it. I made my way through the house and ignored my father’s protests to leave her alone. I stormed into her room and she jerked her head in surprise at my intrusion.
“Are you really gonna just leave after you’re all better?”
“Excuse me?”
“The woman I loved wanted to be with me. She wouldn’t have just run away from me. You’re not even giving us a chance.”
“You’re not giving me a chance to adapt. I don’t even know you, yet you expect me to just accept what you say as the truth and go with the flow? What if I don’t remember?”
“Then I’ll help you remember or we’ll make new memories. No one ever said it had to be the same as before.”
“And what if I don’t want to stay here? Did you ever think that being here is a reminder that a chunk of my life is missing? Maybe I just want to move on to a new place and forget this ever happened.”
“Forget that I happened you mean.”
“No, I mean that I’m confused and you’re pushing. That doesn’t encourage me to get to know you. I need time.”
“Well, I need you! I can give you time. What I can’t give you is a free pass to up and leave. We had something and you’re just gonna rip it away?” I was shouting at her now and could see that I was upsetting her, possibly scaring her.
“Cole!” Dad’s voice was booming behind me. He held a warning in his voice that I needed to back off and I knew he was right. If I didn’t leave, my anger would take over and I would say something I didn’t mean. I couldn’t stay here with her and pretend like my heart wasn’t being ripped out every day.
“I’ll be at my house if you need me. Mom and Dad will let you stay as long as you want. I know…” I paused not knowing what to say. I had exploded on her, but it didn’t seem that anything I said would make this right.
I stood and walked away from her. Mom was in the living room with her hand over her mouth. She reminded me to do my breathing exercises and Dad handed me the keys to his truck as I walked out the door.
When I got home, I walked into the bedroom and immediately regretted coming home. Everything here reminded me of her. The bedroom had been cleaned. There were no signs of spiders, snakes, or rats anywhere. I would have to call Sean and thank him for taking care of the house for me. I was certain he was the one that had done it. I had a few other things I needed to discuss with him and I pulled out my phone.
“Hey, man. How ya doing?” Something about him was different. His voice seemed lighter, maybe because his sister’s kidnapper was no longer a threat.
“Thanks for taking care of the house for me. Looks good as new.”
“No problem. I didn’t want it to be a mess when your lady came home.”
“She’s over at Mom and Dad’s right now. Listen, I haven’t really heard anything about the case yet. Do you have time to stop by and tell me about it?”
“Sure, but I think you’re gonna want to talk to Sebastian also. I’ll give him a call, see if he wants to come out with me.”
“Alright. See ya soon.”
I walked around the house and sulked for a while. I didn’t know what I was going to do now. I always ran when my mind went crazy and that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. Alex was at the house so I didn’t know if I would be going to do any woodworking, and hanging out here would be torture. I winced at my choice of words. I checked the fridge for food and found only moldy stuff left. I hadn’t really thought about it as I left my parents’ house.
Sean and Sebastian showed up a little while later and I felt relief at seeing some friendly faces. Sean pulled me in for a hug.
“Glad your okay,” Sean said as he slapped my back.
“Yeah, I’m getting there.”
Sebastian pulled me in for a hug and slapped my back also.
“I am so sorry for what happened. I should have seen it coming, and I’m sorry Alex got hurt because of it.”
“How about we go inside and you can tell me what happened.”
We went inside and grabbed beer out of the fridge. There may not be food, but there was plenty of alcohol.
“So, how did this guy find us? He was always three steps ahead.”
“It was Cal from John’s team. Remember John’s team set up the security at your house and then they were posted outside the first safe house? Your house was linked to our offices, so he just made sure Jeffrey had a link into our system. At the safe house, Cal placed bugs around the house after it was swept. The psycho heard everything that was going on in the house.”
“That explains the music.”
“What do you mean?” Sean asked. I hadn’t given my statement to the police yet. Dad and the nursing staff had run off the police when they tried to question us.
“When we got to the second location, after the lights went out, the fucker started playing music that Alex and I had danced to.”
Sean shook his head and rubbed a hand over his jaw. “That’s one creepy, sick fucker.”
“His plan was to push us out of the first safe house to a secondary that wasn’t secured yet. Cal knew the next closest safe house, so the guy was waiting there for you. The note on the map in his house was a trick to get you out of there and to the next location. He knew we’d call to tell you to get out.�
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“How did he get into my house?”
“He went in through the bathroom window. Cal made sure he was able to bypass all the security so he could enter. He snuck in the window, left his presents, and got the hell out of there.”
I could tell that all this was weighing heavily on Sebastian’s shoulders. He had taken full responsibility for security and it hadn’t turned out as planned. Nothing in life ever did and he had done everything he could to ensure Alex’s safety. It wasn’t his fault a team member turned on him.
“But why didn’t he take Alex then? There were no personal security guards at that time. I was out of the house and Sean was in the other room.”
“He likes to play games. That was all part of it.”
“So why did Cal do this? Derek was pretty sure that no one on the team would willingly turn on anyone.”
Sebastian face turned sad. “He took Cal’s wife and two kids. He took video of them tied up, similar to how Alex was. If they didn’t cooperate, he was going to kill them. Turns out, the fucker was planning to anyway. They were in the cellar of the cabin when it exploded. Dental records confirmed it. At least they died quickly.”
I felt sorry for Cal. It couldn’t have been easy to make the decision to betray his friends. I’d like to say I would have gone to Sebastian if I were in his shoes, but when you’re in that situation it’s totally different.
“I’m sorry, Sebastian. What’s gonna happen to Cal?”
“I haven’t decided yet. He can’t be trusted on the team any more, but he just lost everything and I don’t know if I can just toss him aside. I’ve known him for ten years. I never would have suspected him. Most of the guys feel the same way. They aren’t happy with him, but they understand what was going through his head.”
“What about Derek, Lola, and Hunter? Are they alive?”
“Yeah. Derek had a bullet wound to his thigh, but it was a through and through. He just needed a blood transfusion. Hunter was hit in the head with a rock and has a pretty severe concussion. He has swelling on his brain, so they put him in a coma to allow the swelling to go down and then we’ll see. Lola..” He paused and I could tell this was going to be bad. “Did you see what that fucker did to her?” I shook my head. I had been unconscious for the better part of the time he had been torturing them.
“He drew lines around her forehead and told her he was going to scalp her. He made her hold the mirror so she could watch. Told her if she didn’t, he would go slower and make it more painful. She has a pretty nasty cut around her hairline from one temple to the other. Overall, it’s not too bad, but psychologically, she’s a mess. He really fucked with her head.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes while we absorbed what Sebastian had said. Sean turned to me with a questioning look.
“So, we know from Derek what happened up until he got shot. What happened after?”
“I went down the hall to guard Alex. I was about to open the door and got knocked in the head pretty damn hard. I was out. I woke up to him kicking the shit out of Alex. She pulled a gun from her back and shot him. I made my way over to her and she was really freaking out, but I got her calmed down. I was trying to get her tape off when, out of nowhere, the fucker stuck a knife in my ribs. I didn’t see him move or hear him even. I collapsed and saw the gun Alex had dropped. I shot him right before he was going to stab me again. I remember giving Alex instructions, but the rest is a blur. How did the ambulance get there so quickly?”
“Derek was supposed to check in as soon as he got there. We have trackers on all the vehicles, so when he didn’t check in within five minutes of arriving, we called the police and told them to send ambulances.”
I leaned back in my chair and blew out a breath. I needed another beer.
“You guys want another beer?” I asked, standing and going to the kitchen.
“Yeah, better bring the case,” Sebastian said.
Sean grabbed one from me as I came back into the room.
“The nurses wouldn’t let us talk to Alex at the hospital. They said she wouldn’t be able to tell us anything. What’s going on? Is she okay?”
I rubbed my bleary eyes and took another swig of beer. “She doesn’t remember anything from the past six to nine months. She doesn’t know exactly how long it’s been. She doesn’t remember her kidnapping, the attack at the house, or me. It’s all blank,” I said as I waved a hand in the air in front of my face.
“Shit. So now she’s staying with your parents and you’re staying here?” Sebastian asked.
“I lost it today. She didn’t want anything to do with me. She basically told me that she was sticking around until she was better and then she was moving on with her life. Said she doesn’t want to remember any of it, which I can’t blame her for, but she won’t even give me a chance.”
“How bad was she hurt?”
“She has a shattered cheekbone. Her face is swollen and they have to wait for the swelling to go down before they can do surgery. She also has a few broken ribs. I was staying with her at mom’s, but we had a fight about her leaving after she’s healed, so I had to leave. I couldn’t stay there when she really didn’t want me. So, I came home. I have no clue what’s gonna happen now.”
“Well, you’re not gonna win her back or help her remember you if your ass is sittin’ here,” Sean said dryly.
“No shit, but I can’t push her to talk to me. I need to give her a few days to think about things. Maybe she’ll be more open to me then. Mom will take care of her.”
We sat around drinking beer and talking about lighter topics for the rest of the evening. I passed out on the couch some time during one of our conversations. I know it wasn’t late in the evening, but I was tired after the day I’d had.
The sunlight was shining brightly through my eyelids. I hadn’t thought to close the curtains because I wasn’t planning on spending the night on the couch. The guys stayed with me the whole night and I wasn’t sure if it was because Alex was gone or because I was injured. Sean was in the kitchen making coffee and Sebastian was on the phone on the back deck. I sat up and groaned in pain as the wound in my side pulled. I didn’t feel too great this morning, sort of like I had the flu. I was cold and shaking as I made my way to the kitchen and cursed myself at how long it took me to get there. By the time I got to the kitchen, I was out of breath, sweating, and slightly light headed. I could feel tightness in my chest and knew I needed to do my breathing exercises or I was going to have problems.
Sean brought me a cup of coffee as I sat down at the table. Like he read my mind, he also set down the spirometer. I took it and did my exercises. It was more difficult to do this time because I hadn’t been doing them as frequently as I was supposed to. In fact, I think I had only done them once since leaving the hospital.
“You don’t look so good. Have you been taking your pills and doing your exercises?”
I thought about it and couldn’t remember the last time I took the pills. I think Mom gave them to me when we got to the house yesterday. Shit. That wasn’t good. In fact, I didn’t even bring them with me. At my hesitation, I heard Sean curse.
“Where are your pills?”
“At Mom’s house. I stormed out of there yesterday without them.”
A moment later, he was on the phone with my mom. I felt like a two year old as he called her and told her that I hadn’t been taking my medication.
“Well, he isn’t looking too good… Kind of pale and sweaty… Alright, see you soon.” Sean ended the call and turned to me with a grin. “You are in so much trouble. She’s gonna chew your ass out.”
“Thanks for that.” I couldn’t seem to hold my head up anymore, so I laid it down on the table. My head started to swim and I thought maybe I just needed some coffee. I lifted my head and reached to take a drink from my cup, but my hands were shaking so bad that I decided against spilling hot coffee on myself. I laid my head back down and waited for the meds to arrive.
When Mom got here, she ran ov
er to me and smacked me on the back of the head.
“Dear Lord, you’re sweating like a wildebeest.” She lifted my head and felt my forehead and then called Sean over. “Sean, we need to take him to the hospital. He has a high fever. Help me get him to the truck.”
“I can walk myself.” I started to stand, but the room was growing dim and everything was spinning. My chest was burning and the act of standing was making me breathe hard. Maybe I wouldn’t be getting myself to the truck. I took a step and it felt like I was stepping off a cliff. My leg gave out and I fell hard to the floor on my knife wound. I felt hands roll me over and I looked up at the ceiling, panting and wondering why I couldn’t catch my breath if I was lying down. All I could think was that now would be a good time to close my eyes and take a nap.
I felt a sharp slap against my cheek and I sluggishly opened my eyes. Sebastian was standing over me and I could see mom looking worriedly down at me. When I didn’t respond to him and my eyes started to droop again, he slapped me a few more times. I slapped my hand at his to stop him, but wound up hitting air.
“Stop fucking slapping me,” I panted.
“Let’s go. Let’s get you up and to the hospital. We can’t have you survive a psychopath only to die from stupidity.”
He hauled me to my feet and Sebastian and Sean helped me to the truck. They all piled in and we drove to the hospital. As we backed out of the driveway, I thought about how I had fucked up a lot in a little over a day. That was the last thought I had as I passed out.
✯✯✯✯✯
“I’m fine, Dad. I can walk on my own.” I had spent several days in the hospital being treated for pneumonia. I was feeling a lot better now and was tired of being babied by my mom. She had been great the whole stay and I was a little disappointed that Alex didn’t show up. Mom said that she wasn’t up to the drive yet. I’m sure that was true, but I also knew that she just wasn’t ready to see me. Mom insisted that I go back to her house since “I nearly killed myself after being home for a day alone”. I couldn’t really argue with that. It had been my fault because I wasn’t taking care of myself.
Cole: A Romantic Thriller Novel (For The Love Of A Good Woman Book 2) Page 16