by Alison Mello
Flames erupt from the hood just as he crashes into a tree. I scream for the driver to pull over. Just as he does, Derek jumps out of the car and it explodes, sending Derek flying into the air. He lands hard on the ground.
I jump out of the car to run to him, but Jordan catches me. “No,” I scream. “Let me go.”
“You can’t touch him. You may make him worse. The ambulance is on the way,” Jordan says while I weep into his chest as he tries to calm me down.
We hear sirens, and then all of a sudden the ambulance pulls up along with the fire department and the police. Cameron gets out of the car to talk to them since he pretty much saw everything. They obviously know me and what has been going on.
I’m quickly released to jump into the back of the ambulance with Derek. I shout to Jordan. “Call Patty and Carter. Tell her to get ahold of Richard and let him know what’s going on.”
“Go, I’ll take care of it,” Jordan assures me.
Derek is lying on a stretcher, banged up from the accident. There’s a brace around his neck, and they’re trying to get him to lie still.
He’s moaning from the pain. “Where’s Bella?” he asks weakly.
“I’m right here, babe. I’m fine. Just relax and let them take care of you.” I try to soothe him, but it doesn’t appear to be working. “Brakes snapped,” he says in a hushed voice.
“Babe, don’t worry about a thing. The police will take care of everything.” I pull my phone from my purse and text that bit of information to Richard so he can tell the police. “Richard will meet us at the hospital, but I need you to relax because I need you to get better.”
He suddenly goes quiet and lies completely still. We’ve pulled up to the hospital, and there’s a doctor already waiting for us. They’re yelling random things to the doctors and won’t answer my questions. I’m freaking out inside. They usher me to a waiting room, where I sit down, rocking and silently praying. Please don’t take him from me. Please don’t take him from me. I just keep repeating it.
Damn it, I love him. He can’t leave me now. Tears run down my face as I realize how foolish I’ve been lately. We could have been spending more time together loving each other and building our relationship, but instead I was distant because of my irrational fears. Now I could lose him and I didn’t even get to tell him what he means to me.
My face is buried in my hands when a set of arms wrap around me. “Shh, he’s strong. He’ll be okay,” Patty says. I’m so thankful she’s here to be strong for me.
“I was talking to him one minute, trying to calm him down, and just as we pulled up, he went limp. God, please tell me I haven’t lost him.”
“No news is good news. That means they're still working on him,” she says as she rubs my back.
It feels like we’ve been sitting there forever when suddenly the doors fly open. When I look up, hoping to find the doctor who has healed the love of my life, I see Sandra and Richard.
“I’m sorry we’re just getting here,” Richard says. “I was in court. What happened?”
I tell him the entire story, starting with when we left Patty’s house, trying not to leave anything out. I make sure to let him know what Derek said about not having any breaks.
“Richard, you have to get this guy, please. I just got Derek back. I can’t lose him now.”
“I have one question. How did this guy know you guys were at Patty and Carter’s?” he says with his eyebrows raised.
Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “I don’t know. I’m not even posting on my fan page because this guy is finding out everything about me and I was getting scared. The only people who knew where I was going was Jordan, Jared, Cameron, and our family.”
“He has to have another way of tracking you then,” Richard says.
Richard is rubbing his chin as he paces the room. “He’s not tracking your car because you’re not driving it.” He looks up at me. “Has he ever called you?”
“No,” I answer firmly.
“Okay. He could be tracking your phone if he has your number, but I think if he had your number he would be calling you too.” He stops pacing. “Tell me about your routine when you go to the studio because we’re assuming he’s a model, right?”
“I think he is a model, although if it’s the guy I’m thinking of, he isn’t there often.”
“Okay, well, tell me anyway.”
“Um, Okay. I get up, shower, blow dry my hair. I dress in everyday clothes and usually drive straight to the studio. I don’t work out on shoot days.” I bite the inside of my cheek for a second. “When I get to the studio, I usually place my bag down by the door of Sid’s makeup room. He usually takes me right away. Then I change into my clothes and go about my shoot.”
“That bag right there?” he points to my leather Michael Kors handbag.
“Yeah. I have three Michael Kors bags, but I usually carry this one.”
“Can I see it?” I hand it to him, and he starts looking at the lining and trying to figure out if something is wrong with it.
“What are you looking for?” I ask, totally confused.
“A tracker that he could have placed on your bag,” he says, feeling around on the inside lining. “I’d like to have this bag thoroughly searched.”
“Fine with me. Take it.”
Suddenly, the doctor comes through the door. “Thompson,” he shouts.
“That’s us.” I stand up and walk toward the doctor.
“He’s pretty banged up, but he’ll be okay. He had some internal bleeding from the crash that we were able to stop. He’s resting comfortably now, but you won’t be able to see him for a few hours. We have reached his parents and they gave me permission to give you any information you request and they asked me to let you know that they’re on their way up.”
I sigh. “Great, but this is not how I wanted to meet his parents,” I say as Sandra steps up behind me and wraps her arms around me. I tell the doctor, “I’ll be here when he’s ready for visitors.” The doctor nods and walks away as I turn to Sandra.
“What am I going to say to these people?” I take a seat. “‘Hi, I’m Bella, and my stalker is what almost killed your son. Sorry about that.”’ I sigh. “These people are going to hate me.”
“They are not going to hate you,” Sandra says. She squeezes my shoulders. “You just need to give them a chance to digest everything that has happened and get to know you. You are a beautiful, sweet girl. They’ll see that.”
“Thank you, Sandra.”
The doctor finally allows me into his room, but the silence is deafening. I want him to open his eyes, but he won’t. He’s been sleeping for quite some time now, and the doctor just keeps telling me to be patient. I’ve been trying to talk to him off and on for the last hour now, but it’s hard to talk to someone when they won’t talk back. Because of the silence, I keep replaying the crash in my head. I swear that’s something I’ll never be able to unsee.
I look down at my watch for about the tenth time as I wait to hear from Richard. He’s taken my purse to the lab. He thinks there’s a bug in it somewhere, and the lab workers will be able to find it.
I run my hands through my hair as I start thinking about how this guy could have gotten to my bag with no one seeing him or saying anything. Then again, there’s so much hustle and bustle in there I’m not surprised no one saw anything.
A sob escapes me as I replay the last few weeks over in my head. “I just want this guy caught and out of my life.”
“I know you do, baby,” Derek says in no more than a whisper.
“Derek!” I jump up and carefully wrap my arms around him as I sob. “My God, Derek, I’m so sorry.”
“Hey, this isn’t your fault. I should’ve been more careful until this guy was caught. I’m just glad you weren’t in the car with me.”
“Your parents are on their way,” I inform him.
His eyes go wide. “Why?”
“I’m not your next of kin. They had no choice but to call them. How
ever, they gave the doctors permission to speak with me as well as to let me be with you.”
He gives me a small smile. “My parents are pretty great, but I can’t believe they’re coming up.”
“I can. You’re their only child. Of course they’re coming.”
“Who’s coming?” Patty asks as she and Sandra walk in with food for me. It’s already after one, and I haven’t eaten all day. Sandra hands me a takeout container containing egg whites, mushrooms, broccoli, and spinach.
“Derek’s parents,” I say to Patty before turning to Derek. “I need to call the doctor so we can see if you’re allowed to eat now that you’re awake,” I tell him as he stares at my food. I press the button, and in a matter of seconds, a nurse appears.
The nurse says, “Welcome back, Mr. Thompson. I’m nurse Nancy, and I’m going to be with you until after dinner tonight. How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling fine,” he tells her as she checks the machine that’s monitoring him.
“Well, I’m not sure you’re fine, but you’ll be fine soon enough. Do you feel like trying something to eat?”
“Sure.”
She grins at him. “I’ll be back with a snack for you.” She pats him on the leg and walks out of the room in search of some food. I can’t stop smiling as I watch him lying in bed, awake.
“What time are my parents getting here?” he asks with his eyes closed.
“I’m not sure, babe. I haven’t spoken to them. They spoke to the doctor and all he told me was they were on their way.”
He nods as he continues to lie down with his eyes shut.
“Babe, if you’re still tired, then sleep and we’ll be here when you wake.”
Nurse Nancy comes back ten minutes later with crackers, apple juice, and tea, but he’s fast asleep so I tell her to leave it and he can try to eat when he wakes up.
“Listen, darling. We’re going to go get you guys some things to have here with you and we’ll be back. I also want to touch base with Richard to see if he has any updates.”
“Okay, don’t rush. I’m fine the way I am, but please text me if you hear from Richard about the case.”
They nod, hug me, and walk out the door.
Chapter 12
Derek
I wake to find my mother and father sitting in chairs by my bed and Bella with her head resting on the bed next to my leg. “Good morning,” my mother says.
“Shh, she hasn’t left since we were brought here via ambulance. She’s really tired,” I say.
My mother nods. “How are you feeling?”
I take a sip of my water and eat one of the crackers left from yesterday. “I’m hungry, but other than that I’m fine. You guys didn’t have to come home.”
My mother gives me an evil eye. “Did you really think we were going to stay in Florida while our only son is lying in a hospital bed with injuries that nearly killed him?” Her voice starts to increase the further along she goes into her statement.
“Thank you for coming, but really, I’m going to be fine,” I tell them as Bella starts to groan and talk in her sleep. I rub my fingers through her hair to try and settle her, but she jumps up, startled, instead.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was trying to settle you so you’d continue to sleep.”
“It’s fine, babe. Did I wake you?”
“No, he woke all by himself.” She jumps and turns to see who is behind her.
“Bella these are my parents, Vanessa and Jesse Thompson.” I point to my parents.
She instantly stands and puts her hand out. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, but I’m sorry they’re under these circumstances.”
My dad shakes her hand, and my mother pulls her in for a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you too.”
When they pull apart, Bella looks her in the eye. “I also wanted to thank you for giving them permission to speak with me. I was a mess waiting to hear something.”
“Thank you for being here with him and taking care of him,” my mom says to Bella with a warm smile. It’s really nice to see my mother and my girlfriend getting along, even under these circumstances.
“Can you tell us what happened, son?” my father asks as Bella takes a seat by my side. She looks down at the bed, embarrassed at the situation.
“Bella, you need to stop. This isn’t your fault.” I take her hand in mine and kiss her knuckles. Starting from the beginning, I go through all the details of what we’ve been going through over the last few months.
I’m just finishing the story when Richard walks through the door with Sandra in tow. “I’m glad you’re awake,” Richard says as we shake hands.
“Richard, Sandra, I’d like to introduce you to my parents.” They all shake as I go through another round of intros.
“Any news, Richard?” After I ask, I inform my father that Richard is the DA. Richard smiles proudly.
“They’ve been combing through your car, trying to find anything that’ll link Bella’s stalker to you. They have plenty of fingerprints, but because there are so many, they’re not done processing them all yet. As you know, we have his picture and we’ve finally identified him as Brian Wood. He is a friend of Brock’s and has been in love with Bella since she and Brock met. From what the police have gathered, Brock told Brian about his and Bella’s breakup a few months after the actual split. That’s when Brian became obsessed with Bella. He started telling Brock he was an idiot and was going to show him how a woman should really be treated.” He pauses, trying control his emotions. “Anyway, long story short, he’s pissed that you’ve scooped up his woman and he wants her back. Now we just have to figure out where he is.”
“What about my bag?” Bella asks as I give her a look of total confusion. “While you were being treated, we were trying to figure out how he knew where I was. I hadn’t put any info out about me staying at Patty’s on social media, and only a few people knew. It was obvious that none of them leaked it.” I nod as we look to Richard for the answer.
“I was right. He planted a tracking device in your bag and has been following you. It’s our belief that when he found out you were at Patty’s and realized there was no way for him to get in, he sat outside and waited to see if you would leave, but caught Derek going in instead.”
Bella gasps, and I know it’s because this is making her feel more like it’s her fault. Richard continues. “He must have waited for you to get settled inside to mess with your car. I know the break line was messed with, but I’m not sure what caused the fire just yet. The car is charcoal.” He gives me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, Derek.”
“I’m just glad Bella wasn’t in the car with me. I’m not sure I could have gotten us both out in time.”
A tear escapes her as I try to comfort her, but nothing I do right now is helping. It’s making me feel a bit helpless.
“I’m sorry, Derek,” Bella says. “We should have figured this out sooner. We should have stayed apart longer, something to keep you safe. We made him mad.” She starts to ramble, but I cut her off.
“Stop. I made him mad, and I did it on purpose. I wanted him to stop going after you and come after me. I just didn’t realize he’d do it so quickly, and I got careless. This is not your fault, do you hear me?” I demand.
She gives me a small nod, but I know she’s not buying it. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close to me so I can comfort her. I wince at the pain in my ribs. She tries to get up, but I won’t let her.
“You definitely made him mad. One of the officers called me just before we got here. They found pictures of you in his house. They all had drawings on them showing he wanted to eliminate you.”
“So, what’s next?” my father asks Richard.
“The police have a warrant for his arrest, and as soon as they find him, he’ll be taken into custody. He just upped the charges from stalking to attempted murder. Once we have him, he won’t be going anywhere.”
“But you still have to find him. Wh
at if he’s on the run or in hiding somewhere?” my mother asks, panic in her voice.
“He won’t get far. From what Brock has told us, he has no friends and no family. That means nowhere to hide. Unfortunately he’s a classic stalker, depressed and lonely. He wants someone to love him, and in his mind he can make Bella love him.”
Richard’s phone rings. “Excuse me,” he says as he steps out of the room to take the call.
“Why didn’t you tell us about all of this?” my father asks me.
“I’m sorry. I just figured you guys were all the way down the coast so there was no sense in worrying you.”
“You know, Derek, if you worried less about everyone else and more about yourself, you may not be in this bed right now,” my father says, frustrated. I know his frustration comes from fear and my injuries, but it still stings. They’ve never really been mad at me like this.
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“You should be. Do you have any idea how worried we were when we got the phone call? It helped to know you weren’t lying here alone, but we were still panicking nonetheless,” my mother says. Christ, I’m thirty two years old and I’m being scolded by my parents in front of my girlfriend. Bella’s breathing has calmed down. I’m actually hoping she fell asleep.
The nurse pushes a tray of food into the room. Thank God, because I’m seriously hungry. It’s too bad Bella has passed out on my arm, making it difficult to eat. The nurse chuckles and rolls the table with my tray to the other side of the bed so I can try to eat with my left hand.
The nurse looks up at my parents. “Do you folks need something to eat?”
“No, thank you,” my father says. “I’m going down to the cafeteria.” The nurse nods and walks out the door. “I’ll bring back a coffee for Bella.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I say as he walks out the room, leaving me with my mother.
“So, this thing with the two of you is serious?” my mother says, concern in her voice. I know she’s probably worried that I’ve gone and gotten hurt over just any ole girl, but Bella isn’t just any ole girl, and I need to make sure they realize that.