10
Damon
I knew Cherry would be pissed I was in the patrol car outside of Gypsum’s Auto Body, but I couldn’t let her go alone. I didn’t trust that Michael wouldn’t be looking for her. And I didn’t trust he hadn’t been watching her for some time.
It made me furious, just thinking about it. This guy was a walking disaster. Hiring kids to do his dirty work, stalking Cherry. What the hell was wrong with this guy?
I knew I got lucky in my life. I had people who cared about me and tried to help me figure out my shit. Maybe Michael wasn’t a total lost cause, maybe one day he’d get it figured out. But he wasn’t going to do it now, and he wasn’t going to do it with Cherry.
I wanted him behind bars or out of Jubilee. My preference would’ve been behind bars out of Jubilee, but he hadn’t done anything severe enough to warrant state prison, mostly because crimes against women were rarely treated with the strong arm of the law like they should be.
I pulled out my phone, checking to see if any news came in from the hospital. Karina’s condition was eating me up with guilt. I should’ve been with her. But if I had been, Cherry would’ve been alone at the bakery with Michael. I couldn’t have been in two places at once.
Karina was my best friend. If she didn’t make it out of this, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I should’ve been at the hospital, willing her to wake up.
But once again, I couldn’t be in two places at once.
My messages were empty.
The lightning lit up the sky in the distance, thunder rolling over the clouds like the rumbling in a bowling alley. Great, another storm.
I turned my gaze to the garage just as the lights flickered out. So did the streetlight. Great. I couldn’t see a fucking thing. If the lights didn’t come back on soon, I’d have to go into that garage. And Cherry would know that I was stalking her now.
“Fuck.”
It started to rain a couple of minutes later while I hemmed and hawed, hoping the electricity would come back on before I had to make a decision. The storm would be at full force soon, and I didn’t really want to get caught out in it.
I gathered my shit and just as I was about to get out of my car, the lightning flashed.
Michael was standing outside of my car.
A muzzle flash and the crack of thunder mixed with a gunshot.
Lights out.
11
Cherry
I looked toward the glass of Logan’s store front. “Did you hear that?”
“The thunder?”
“No. Something with the thunder.” I stepped off the stool. “We should lock the doors.”
“Why?” Logan’s voice wavered as she moved toward the front door and locked it. She pulled the blinds closed, making it darker in the office, but somehow, it felt more secure. She moved back behind the desk and rummaged through a drawer.
“What are you looking for?”
“Flashlight.”
“Find one. But don’t turn it on.”
“Why not?”
“I’m going to need you to trust me on something.”
“I can do that.”
“Michael is here.”
“And the cop?”
“I’m pretty sure the cop is dead.”
Logan froze. I wasn’t even sure if she was breathing. “Why do you think that?”
I whispered, “I think I heard a gunshot.”
“Got the flashlight.” Logan was whispering too.
“How do we get up to your apartment?”
“There’s a door in here, in the garage. But the garage door is unlocked.”
“Logan!” I chastised in a harsh whisper.
“We live in Jubilee Falls. And before you came over with your stalker ex-boyfriend, it was perfectly safe.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m just scared.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“Krav Maga. We’re going.”
I grabbed Logan’s hand. “Do you have a gun?”
“I have tools. A battery powered drill will do as much damage as a gun if applied correctly.” The tone of her voice would’ve scared me if she weren’t on my side. How often had she thought about ways to protect herself against intruders?
“That’ll do.” I led us toward the garage. If we were going to run into Michael, I wanted to be the one who faced him.
But once we were in the garage, I wasn’t as familiar with the layout as Logan was, so she took the lead, heading to one of her toolboxes.
The sound of the office door rattling startled both of us and the rapid fire of thunder quickly following it left me shaky and breathless. We scattered into the garage to hide.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck was all that was going through my head while I tried to find a hiding spot. I ducked into a dark corner. It was all darkness and shadows in the garage. I just hoped he wouldn’t see me. I had no idea where Logan went, but I hoped it was somewhere safe.
I wish I’d called the police immediately. I just wasn’t thinking clearly. I’d heard the gunshot and processed it, and my run and hide instincts took over first. Damon would be so disappointed I didn’t call him first. Hell, I was disappointed.
The gunshot.
Oh God.
What if Logan was right, and it was Damon sitting out in the police car? What if Michael killed Damon?
Of course, it only made sense it was Damon out there. He wouldn’t trust anyone else to look after me.
I was such a dope. What the hell had I been thinking?
Someone burst through the door of the garage. A flash of lightning revealed my fears. It was Michael, and he had a gun.
“Come on out, Cherry, and no one has to get hurt.”
What the hell was I going to do? I should’ve hidden behind the door with a wrench and knocked him out. Ms. Maraschino in the garage with the wrench—it would’ve been the perfect end to this game of cat and mouse.
I didn’t have a wrench, though. What did I have? I glanced around my surroundings. Why didn’t I pay more attention all those times I visited Logan? It was too dark. I couldn’t see anything. I had no idea where Logan was. I didn’t want her to get hurt in the process.
Something had to give. That’s all there was to it.
Michael had his back to me. It was now or never. I couldn’t take the chance of this escalating out of control.
Or maybe that’s exactly what I was doing, but I wanted to be the strong, independent type who could handle her own baggage. There my baggage stood, right in front of me. I had to handle it, here and now.
I stood up out of my hiding spot. He still had his back to me as he trashed Logan’s garage. If I didn’t do something soon, he would destroy her business, just like the storm tried to destroy mine.
As I stepped toward him, I noticed something sticking out of the car that had its hood up. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it looked metal and heavy. I grabbed it.
But there was something on it, and it dropped into the engine with a series of loud clangs and bangs before it crashed to the floor. Michael jerked around, his gun flew up and trained right on me. I held the cool, metal tool in my hand. My breath was loud, and my heart felt like it was in my ears. I couldn’t hear anything but my own breathing and heartbeat.
“Michael, just stop!”
He pressed the side of the gun to his head, and his face contorted as if he might cry. He shoved the gun back at me. I knew that expression, he was upset about something. The first time he swung at me, he’d looked that way. Michael always seemed like he was fighting some demon no one else could see. But I could never help him before. He never told me about his life.
I kept my voice low. “What did you do?”
“Everything went to shit, Cherry. You left me. And now, I can’t stop ruining things.” The anguish in his voice surprised me.
“What have you ruined?”
“Everything. I’m not a good guy. You were right to leave me.” He kept crying.
>
What brought all this on? “Michael? What happened?”
“I shot Damon. I think he’s dead. I’ve never killed anyone. I didn’t want to kill him. I was just so pissed he was sitting outside here, watching you. Like you’re his.” He shook the gun at me. “But you are, aren’t you?”
“I’m what?”
“His.”
I wanted to deny it. I wanted to tell him I didn’t belong to anyone. But I did. I wanted to belong to Damon. I wanted our lives to be messy and intertwined together. I wanted him to be mine too. I wanted us to be partners.
“What do you want me to say?”
Michael’s arm went limp, and the gun was once again pointed at the floor. If only I could get the gun out of his hand. Then I might’ve actually felt like I had some control.
“Tell me the truth, Cherry. I need to hear it.”
“Yes, Michael, I’m his.” I swallowed hard and took half a step toward him. “Why don’t you give me the gun?”
Michael looked down at the hunk of metal in his hand like he’d forgotten about it for a second. He looked up at me and wiped his nose with the back of his arm.
“Why do you want it?”
“You’re scaring me, Michael. Please, just give me the gun.”
He glanced back at the door like he was considering running.
But he didn’t. He took a few steps toward me, then he thrust the gun right at me. It was an aggressive gesture, but he wasn’t aiming it at me.
I jerked back but made myself hold my ground as much as I could. Shaking, I reached for the gun and gently lifted it out of his open palm. The gun was heavy and felt even odder than the tool in my other hand. I quickly set the gun on the nearest work bench. I had never handled a gun before, and I didn’t want to be responsible for shooting anyone.
“Logan?”
“I’m calling an ambulance right now. And the police.” Her voice was stern as if she was expecting someone to argue with her.
We didn’t move from our spots in the garage. Police came in, armed and with flashlights. As soon as Michael was in handcuffs, being hauled out to a car, I pointed out the weapon to one of the other policemen.
“He came in here with that.” Without another word, I ran for the open door.
The EMTs were working on Damon. Was he dead? Would there be a white sheet over him? I came around the ambulance and found him being placed on a table.
“He’s alive?”
“Looks like the bullet just grazed him,” one of the paramedics said.
I covered my mouth with both hands and watched as they loaded him into the ambulance.
It was a blur of answering questions. Logan was pressing charges. I didn’t have a problem with it. I felt bad for Michael, but he knew exactly what he was doing. I would have to press charges too, it was the right thing to do. As much as it sucked, he didn’t deserve to get away with his indiscretions. And I wasn’t going to play the helpless victim anymore. I was in charge of my life as much as he was.
Logan took me to the hospital once the police let us go. I was a shaking mess, and she didn’t want me driving. I charged through the hospital, demanding answers, but I wasn’t family. No one even knew he and I were seeing each other.
No one would give me any information.
My mom called me while I was sat in the waiting room. I wasn’t sure what I was waiting for. I wasn’t even sure I was in the right waiting room. I just wanted him to walk out and find me. Finally, one of the police officers who had been questioning Michael in the hospital approached me.
“Ms. Maraschino?”
“Yeah?”
“You can see Damon.”
“Is he okay?”
“He is. He’s pretty groggy. They ended up needing to do surgery on his arm. Apparently, there was some damage from the earlier fight, and the way he tried to dodge this bullet took what should’ve been a hairline fracture into something worse. But other than that, it’s scrapes and bruises.”
I hugged him. He chuckled uncomfortably and patted me awkwardly on the back.
“Langley’s a tough one.”
“How is Karina? Did she wake up yet?”
The officer’s brow furrowed for a moment. “Oh, Union. Yeah, she woke up a bit ago too.”
Relief settled over me. I rushed to his room to find him trying to sit up.
“What are you trying to do?”
Damon’s eyes darted to me immediately, relief flooding his intense expression.
“Oh, thank God. Where the hell have you been?”
“I’m not family.”
“Bullshit. You’re mine.”
And suddenly, my world, which had been so skewed, relaxed and focused, and everything seemed okay again.
“Get over here.”
I did as I was told. He grabbed me with his good arm and held me to him. Cupping his face, I kissed him everywhere I could without hurting him, sobbing all kinds of things as he held me. All the events of the past couple of weeks, months, years poured out of me like I’d been holding them back with a broom. When I came out of my sobbing haze, I pulled back and blinked at him.
“Did anyone tell you that Karina woke up?”
“What? No! When?”
“A little bit ago.”
“I want to go see her.”
I nodded and pulled back. “I’ll see what we can do.”
He grabbed my wrist. “Fuck that. You’re not leaving my sight right now. Maybe not ever again.”
He shifted on the bed, then dropped down the railing, tossing his legs off the bed.
“Damon, you need to rest.”
“I need to see Karina.”
I sighed. “Stay here a minute.” When he opened his mouth to fight me on it again, I said, “I’ll literally be right back. I promise.”
He reluctantly let me go.
I found a wheelchair and hurried back to his room before anyone caught me.
“I’m not sitting in that.”
“Then I’m pushing the button and calling a nurse in here. She can give you a sedative and put you to sleep until you want to cooperate.”
“Fine, fine.” He grumbled the whole time, but he got into the chair, and I pushed him out of his room.
“I don’t know where we’re going.”
Damon directed me down the hall.
When we arrived at her room, she was awake, even half-sitting.
I pushed Damon in slowly.
Karina turned and looked our way.
“What the hell happened to you?” Her voice was raspy.
“Me? Nothing. What the hell happened to you?”
“I’ve been told a tree fell on me. I wanted to file charges against the arboreal assault, but apparently, my partner took a chainsaw to it to get me out.”
I didn’t feel like I should be witnessing them reconnecting. They were partners, friends. I didn’t need to intrude on them.
Karina’s flickered to me. “I see your girlfriend is taking care of you. You get hurt just so she would have to push you around?”
“She wouldn’t let me walk over here.”
“You do look like hell. What happened, Langley?”
Damon pulled me around to the front of his chair and pulled me onto his lap. I tried to keep my weight off of him, but he wrapped his good arm around me and held me against him, not leaving me much choice. The truth was, I liked his arm around me, and frankly, I didn’t really want him to let me go.
I mostly kept quiet and let the two of them catch up until the doctor busted up the reunion. He ordered Damon back to his room and Karina to rest more.
I pushed Damon back to his room, and he got back up into bed. He hid it well, but I caught him cringing, obviously in a lot of pain. I wished I could do something to help him. I felt like it was all my fault. But it wasn’t. It was Michael’s fault. Damon was a police officer, and he had a duty to serve and protect.
But I wanted to protect him too.
“I should let you get some sleep.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
“I don’t want you to leave. Please. I know Michael is locked away, but I need you here with me. I need to know you’re safe.”
“I need to know you’re safe too.”
Damon smiled, and my heart fluttered, and my stomach twisted.
I crawled up on the bed, feeling a little awkward at first. He was a big guy, and I wasn’t some small waif. Then, he pulled me in snugly against him, and everything felt right again.
It didn’t take long for either of us to fall asleep.
12
Damon
Cherry was gone when I woke up.
I grumbled, feeling frustrated. I wanted her to be right where I left her. I wanted her in my arms. I knew things were unresolved between us, but I didn’t want her out of my sight. I didn’t want her out of my bed. How was I ever going to convince her I wanted her to be mine forever?
The doctor released me later in the afternoon, and there was still no sign of Cherry. I tried calling her a couple of times, but her phone was off.
Where the hell was she?
I visited Karina before I left for home.
“Where’s your girl? I didn’t think you’d let her out of your sight after everything the two of you went through.”
“I think she went home. I’m not really sure.”
“It’s a lot to work through. Be patient with her, Langley. It’s obvious she’s crazy about you.”
“Yeah?”
“I wished someone looked at me the way the two of you look at each other.”
“Aw, Union, are you a romantic at heart?”
“Something like that.”
“You doing okay? Do you need anything?”
“No, I just need to get out of this bed and back to work.”
“Take it easy. I’m betting you have a long road ahead of you. I want my partner back, but I want her back in one piece.”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “If you and I were in different positions, you’d be pissed off you were still bed.”
“Hey, I was just there.”
“A whole twenty-four hours. How you’ve suffered.”
For Love and Donuts Page 12