Destiny Revealed (There's Always Tomorrow Book 2)

by Saperstein, M. D.

  “Mmm, figure out who I am, did you? Right, so if I were you, I'd remain quiet; otherwise, as soon as your pretty boyfriend walks in the door, he's dead,” Damien sneers.

  Damien removes his hand from her mouth and smooths it down her neck and chest to cover her breast, which is only covered by a tank top. He squeezes and a surge of anger consumes Melina. He bends his face down and nuzzles her neck as his hand moves lower, skimming over her belly to slip into her underwear, but she’s not having any of that. He has made it known that he intends to kill her, so she has nothing to lose. And she will do anything she can to save everyone in this house, everyone she loves. She isn’t going down without a fight.

  “Oh, baby. I cannot wait to tell Vance how I fucked his girlfriend,” Damien moans against her neck.

  “Not happening, asshole,” Melina grits out while struggling to wrench herself free from under him.

  “Be quiet and stay the fuck still,” Damien snaps, his tone clear that he has definitely lost his ever-fucking mind.

  Melina clamps her mouth shut and squeezes her eyes closed, but there is no way in hell she is going to stay still and let this monster rape her. Damien grabs her by her waist and yanks her closer. Melina starts to formulate a plan, praying for a miracle. Damien then nudges her knees wide.

  “Oh, fuck yeah,” Damien groans from above her.

  As Damien begins to unbuckle his belt, Melina takes the opportunity to do whatever she can to escape. By the grace of god, and only the strength she could obtain with pure adrenaline coursing through her veins, Melina is able to catch Damien by surprise. She pretends to be putting both of her feet onto his chest as if she’s giving him easier access to her, acting as though she is submitting. When his body relaxes minutely, she takes the opening to lift her hips and push, hard, with all of her might, throwing him off balance, off the bed, onto the floor, and into the dresser. Pleased with herself after hearing the dull thud, Melina jumps out of bed and makes a run for it.

  Melina gets out of the bedroom door, but just barely, before Damien is hot on her heels. She starts to scream at the top of her lungs. “I love bacon! I love bacon!” But she only gets it out twice before Damien catches up with her, wrapping one hand over her mouth and gagging her, and his other holding both of her hands roughly behind her back.

  Damien drags her down the stairs and into the living room. “I told you to be quiet, bitch. What the fuck you yelling about bacon for? Just for that, your cocksucking boyfriend’s gonna eat a bullet when he gets home from work, ya dumb cunt.”

  Melina can only pray that at least one of the guys heard their secret code to call the police. She is so thankful that Vance had the aforethought to call a family/house meeting after Damien’s last attempt. They all came up with the plan to yell the phrase “I love bacon,” which would alert anyone in ear shot that they need to call the police. Melina pleads with god to help her and make sure at least one person has heard her.

  “The second Vance walks through that door, we’ll be waiting for him with a big surprise,” Damien says, amusement in his tone. This guy is completely sick and twisted.

  Melina can only “meep” in fear and frustration.

  Damien strides to the windows facing out to the front of the house, his hand firmly latched onto Melina's hands, and a knife now adorned across her neck. She struggles to keep up, afraid of tripping and the knife severing an artery. Damien pulls her closer, and then keeps glancing out the windows, seemingly watching for Vance to pull up.

  Damien’s eyes go wild as he hears the footsteps upstairs. He probably didn’t really expect Melina to start screaming when they were upstairs. She worries what he will do when the guys get there. The first to make it down the stairs is Tripp, with his gun raised and his finger already on the trigger, but he stops just short of the bottom step.

  “Motherfucker,” Tripp bites out when he gets visuals on Melina and Damien.

  “Tripp?” Dayne questions from behind him. “Focus,” he hisses.

  “Three o’clock. Knife,” he explains where Damien and Melina are and what weapon he is brandishing.

  Before Melina has the chance to start panicking, all of the guys file down the stairs and form a semi-circle around them. Tripp, Dayne, Ryder, and Xander. All of them equipped with guns. All of them ready to kill for her. Anna and Harper must be hiding upstairs. Good, she doesn’t want Damien to know that they are there. Damien’s back is against the windows and he is using Melina’s body to block their shots.

  Tripp is the first to speak, “Come on, brother. You don’t want to do this.”

  “Just put the gun down, man. Nobody has to get hurt,” pleads Ryder.

  “You can still get out of this, D. You can still walk away,” begs Xander.

  “We’re family, bud. Forgive and forget,” Dayne tries.

  But Damien doesn’t answer…verbally. He just stands there stoically with a menacing smile on his creepy face.

  Vance’s day sucked and his night isn’t looking any better. He hasn’t been able to break the assholes in interrogation and is just about to give up for the night when his phone vibrates with a text. Normally, he would just ignore it, but with the shit mood he’s in, he’s hoping for a sweet message from Melina wishing him a good night. Instead, his worst fears are brought to the surface when he receives a text from Xander with one word: Bacon.

  “Motherfucking shit!” he screams to nobody in particular, then storms out of the room.

  Chief Shawn Peterson hears Vance’s outburst from all the way down the hall and comes running out to see what is going on.

  “Gotta head home, Chief, there’s been an emergency, send back up!” Vance hollers as he runs past Shawn and speeds home like a bat out of hell.

  Vance’s tires screech up the driveway less than seven minutes later. Before he bursts through the garage door, which he would rather do, he takes a brief moment to assess the situation. He can hear voices talking very loudly. That’s good, very good. Much differently than how he arrived home while in his alternate reality. This time, Damien didn’t go on a killing spree. Vance unholsters his gun, checks the chamber, and then cocks it. He walks through the door slowly with his weapon raised, ready for anything.

  What he wasn’t expecting to see, was all of his friends circling Damien, with the love of his life held captive in the middle. A sense of pride fills his heart knowing the lengths they have gone to keep her alive. That’s a fleeting thought, though, as his head begins to fill with fear, but mostly anger.

  “So nice of you to join us,” Damien teases.

  Vance’s eyes flicker to Damien, then Melina, then the knife at her throat. He sees a little blood trickle, and white-hot anger clouds his vision.

  “Let her go, asshole,” Vance bites out.

  Damien just chuckles then leans down and talks into Melina’s ear. “Got yourself a brave one. Huh, bitchface?”

  “Watch yourself, Damien. I’ve got a gun pointed at your head, and I’m not afraid to use it.”

  Vance starts to move closer to the rest of the guys, but Damien stops him dead in his tracks. He pulls a gun from who the fuck knows where and points it at Vance. “Not another step,” he demands.

  “Damien, come on man, what the fuck are you doing? This is ridiculous,” Dayne says calmly.

  “I'm going to make Vance feel the pain that I've felt my whole life. He took my brother from me, then he took Melina, and now he's going to pay for it.”

  “Tripp doesn't want anything to do with you, and neither does Melina,” Vance grunts.

  Damien’s eyes flip to Tripp and an ounce of pain shoots through them. But he shakes it off quicker than it had appeared. “Then there’s no reason for any of them to live.” He shifts his gun back and forth between Vance and Tripp.

  Vance turns to Tripp to speak. “Tripp, man, please don’t hate me,” he begs.

  Tripp looks at him in utter confusion. “What the fuck you talkin’ ‘bout, man?”

  “I’m about to kill your brother,” i
s the last thing Vance gets to say before all hell breaks loose.

  Before Vance gets the opportunity to take out his nemesis, Damien takes a shot, hitting Vance squarely in the chest. Melina struggles against her bindings as she cries and screams Vance's name. The force of the bullet hitting his vest causes to Vance slam back into the door to the garage. He slides down to the floor, landing on his ass. He lets out a pain-filled yell through clenched teeth and puts his hand over his chest. Damien just chuckles evilly behind Melina.

  Xander is screaming and fighting to get past Ryder and Dayne so that he can get to his brother. But the guys wouldn’t put it past Damien to shoot Xander, too, so they hold him back. Vance's face twists in pain and he seems to be having trouble breathing. It only takes a millisecond, before he passes out.

  Within seconds, the wall of windows behind Damien explodes, and Damien hits the floor with a gunshot wound to the head, blood gushing all over the place. Melina yelps then scrambles away as fast as she can, running into the arms of Xander. Dayne and Ryder run over to check on Vance as Tripp goes to make sure that Damien is definitely dead.

  The blackness that Vance is experiencing is freaking him the fuck out. It’s the exact same way he felt when he was shot during the bank robbery. Instead of feeling at peace, he is completely afraid of the blackness. It’s not calming, and he feels a heaviness on his chest, like the world is crashing around him. He has been so stressed and worried about finding and capturing Damien. So vigilant about protecting Melina. Even though that’s finally over, he can’t just relax or let go. Because the last time he did, it ended in a devastation close to death.

  All of a sudden, Vance feels like his whole chest is stabbed. He tries to fight it, but the second stab is harder and more forceful. The third stab yanks him out of the blackness. He gasps for breath, an elephant seemingly sitting on his chest. Vance moans in agony.

  “He’s okay!” someone shouts over the other voices that are yelling around him.

  “Summers! Can you hear me? I need you to breathe,” another voice asks very close to his face.

  It takes Vance a couple of tries before he can drag his eyes open. Then it takes him a minute before he can focus on the faces hovering over his.

  “You’re gonna be alright, Vance. Hang in there for me. Hear me?” an EMT asks.

  Vance gives him a small nod. “Melina?” Vance croaks, his voice barely audible, but the EMT seems to have understood him.

  “I’m right here, baby,” Melina answers, with a bit of a shaky voice, as she kneels down beside him.

  “Dead?” He is barely able to breathe, let alone speak, but he needs to know that Melina is safe.

  “Yeah, baby. Your boss took him out,” she whispers, a knowing smile on her face.

  Vance just stares at her, looking totally confused.

  “The Chief, my love. Shawn Peterson took the shot that killed Damien.”

  Vance's eyes well up so fast. He nods and blinks away the tears. The EMT pats his cheek, nods at someone, then gets up and moves out of the way so Melina can scooch in closer. He knows the moment Melina sees his face because of the strangled cry that escapes her.

  The EMTs load Vance into the ambulance and Melina goes along for the ride to the hospital. When he’s being wheeled through the emergency room, they are greeted by Dr. Stein. Vance laughs to himself but just accepts it for what it is. His life isn’t necessarily exactly like Groundhog Day, but it’s pretty damn close. Dr. Stein was the doctor who fixed him up last time he was shot. In his dream, he was also the doctor who saved Melina after her car accident. At this point, laughter is the only solution.

  Vance watches a very pale Melina take Dr. Stein's hand. He pulls her toward him and situates her at the top of the bed. Then he moves away to do other things. Melina frames his head with her hands and drops her face to his, pressing their cheeks together. She just cries, unable to get out any words. Vance, too, just cries. He thought he was dead. He thought he'd never see her again. Melina starts kissing Vance all over his face.

  “I thought I lost you.” Melina sobs, kissing him on his lips.

  Dr. Stein comes back into view. “Vance, we have to take you into surgery to repair any damage to your lungs. Even though the bullet hit your vest, when you slammed your back into the garage door, I think you may have some internal bleeding.”

  “Okay,” Vance chokes out. He brings his arm up and laces his fingers into Melina's hair. “I love you,” Vance tell her, their faces still pressed together.

  “I love you, too. You're gonna be just fine, okay?” Melina promises and smooths her hand over his cheek a few times.

  “You’ll be here when I wake up?” he asks hesitantly.

  “You can’t get rid of me this time.” She smirks.

  Vance nods. Melina kisses him one more time before she lets him go. Vance is wheeled into an operating room where they transfer him to the operating table and start setting up everything. The anesthesiologist comes in and speaks to Vance a little bit, as he sets the medication needed to put him under into his IV. Vance quickly gets pulled under and fades into nothingness.

  Vance has no idea how long he’s been out, but it feels like forever. He hisses. His whole body hurts, but his chest is the worst. Vance drags his heavy eyelids open and looks around the fuzzy recovery room.

  “Vance, welcome back,” he hears Dr. Stein say from his right side.

  Vance rolls his head over to the right to look at the aging doctor with the white hair and laugh lines at the corner or his eyes. “Hey,” he rasps, his throat dry and raw.

  “How are you feeling?” he asks.

  “A lot of pain,” Vance moans.

  “I'm sure you are. A bullet wound, plus a couple of badly bruised ribs, is not a party.” Dr. Stein frowns.

  “Not like I wanted to get shot, Doc.” Vance smirks.

  Dr. Stein chuckles. “I don't know anyone who wants to get shot, Vance.”

  Vance makes a noise of agreement, “Hey, Doc, did Melina get checked out?” he asks, praying that she had.

  “You know privacy laws prevent me from discussing that with you,” Dr. Stein admonishes.

  “You’re right. I know. But, come on, give me something,” Vance begs.

  Dr. Stein huffs. “Fine, but only because she has you listed as her emergency contact.”

  Vance's eyes snaps up to his. “I am?”

  “Yep, you sure are.” He chuckles. “I checked the wound and it was superficial. She didn’t even need any stitches. Now, mentally, that may take a little more time to heal.”

  Vance sighs in relief, but at the same time gets a little choked up. He can't imagine what she must be dealing with. The mental damage that Damien caused is going to far surpass the physical.

  Dr. Stein places a gentle hand on the top of Vance's head. “She's okay, Vance. She seems like a strong woman. I'm sure she will recover from this.”

  Vance can only nod and brush away the tears that roll down his face. About twenty minutes later, he is doped up with morphine and in his own room. He is dozing off when the door opens. He cracks open an eye to see who it is. Tripp, Dayne, Ryder, and Xander walk in. Tripp walks right up to the side of the bed, grabs Vance's face, and plants a big fat kiss on his lips.

  “Duuuude,” Vance drawls when Tripp pulls away, unable to do much else.

  Tripp drops his forehead to Vance's. “I thought I fuckin’ lost you,” he croaks.

  Vance grabs onto the back of Tripp's neck. “No, you saved me. You would have killed your own brother to save me. I love you, Tripp, more than words can even express,” Vance whispers.

  Tripp breaks down. He tucks his face into Vance's neck and balls his eyes out. Vance holds him as tight as he can. Vance glances over at his other friends and brother to find them all crying. Even Dayne, who rarely ever sheds a tear, is choked up. What a bunch of pussies they are.

  Once Tripp finally gets himself together, he moves away so Xander, Ryder, and Dayne can give Vance a hug. Over the next few hours, Vance
has a bunch of visitors who all relay their version of what happened. If he hadn’t just survived the nightmare, he would’ve been thoroughly entertained.

  After each visitor leaves, he asks for Melina, but she has not shown up yet. Vance is starting to worry that she’s changed her mind about him. She’s gotten an inside glimpse of his dangerous job and he’s afraid that maybe she’s realized that she’s not cut out for being a cop’s girl.

  “Got room for one more?” Melina asks softly from the doorway.

  Vance's head whips around to look at her. God, she’s gorgeous. Her long brown hair is laying in soft waves over her shoulders. Her face is flushed, but not because she’s embarrassed; it’s more like she has taken a seriously hot shower and burned her skin. She is in faded jeans and a white t-shirt.

  “I'll leave you two alone,” Vance's mom says, giving him a kiss on the forehead before heading for the door. She gives Melina a hug and kiss before walking out and shutting the door behind her.

  “Lina, baby, come here,” Vance says softly, holding out his hand.

  Melina hesitates, the look in her eyes saying that she is unsure.

  “Melina.” Vance frowns. “Please. Please come over.”

  Melina wraps her arms around herself and seems to have to force her feet to move. She stops just out of his reach. Tears start down her rosy cheeks. Now that she is closer, he can see her eyes better. They are completely bloodshot and puffy from crying. And she has four small butterfly bandages across her neck. Vance's heart shatters. She is in pain and there is no way for him to help her.

  Vance sighs and lets his hand drop. He lays his head back on his pillow and closes his eyes. He is really tired. The pain medication is also starting to wear off, so his body is throbbing. And every time he moves, he gets a searing pain.