Safe (31 page)

“She’ll be right in.”

“Well, looky here! Hi Ms. McKenny! I’m Julie, your nurse. I’m gonna check you out and then get the doctor in here.” Her voice was way too fucking bubbly right now. I really wanted her to shut up. I nodded.

I felt Landon walk to the other side of the bed, but continued to touch me the entire way around my body. Once on the other side, he held my hand. His touch was so warm.

“Water,” I croaked.

“I have to check you first and then the doctor. After that, I’ll get you some ice chips. You’ve been out for quite a while.”

I nodded. I lay there while Nurse Julie and Doctor Baldy—I said that because he had no hair—poked and prodded me for what felt like hours. As my frustration level grew, Landon must have been able to sense it. He squeezed my hands gently, rubbed my leg, and whispered words of comfort in my ear. He kept me grounded.
Safe
.

“You’re awake!” I heard my mother’s screech come from the doorway. Everyone’s eyes turned to her as she ran to the side of my bed where the doc just left.

“Sweetheart,” she whispered and placed her body on top of mine, hugging me tightly. I gave a small whimper and she pulled back.

“Did Rob do this to you?” Mom’s voice changed in a nanosecond.

I nodded. I felt a gentle squeeze on my hand and watched the tears fall from my mom’s eyes. This was a different kind of pain that I wanted to protect her from, but at the moment couldn’t.

“Where’s Seth?” My voice was still raspy as hell.

“Iraq, last I heard. Why?”

Shaking my head, I couldn’t process this.

“Talk to him?”

“Not in a while. What’s going on?”

“Told. Seth hurt.”

“Who told you that?” Mom stared, glaring down at me.

“Macy.”

“Why on Earth would she tell you Seth was hurt? So that’s why you came home?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I don’t know why Macy told you that, but I haven’t heard from Seth in a while. I’ll put out an email and try to get in contact with him. Let’s not worry about it now. Let’s get you better first.”

I nodded, but the confusion was eating at me.

After Ms. Happy brought me some ice chips, Landon graciously fed them to me. My eyes started drooping. I did not want to go back to sleep. Hell, I’d been sleeping for seven freaking days. But my eyes had an idea of their own.

“Tired,” I said, my croak sounding a little bit more like me.

“Sleep, baby. I’m not going anywhere.” Landon kissed my forehead, sat back in his chair, and continued to hold my hand.
Safe
.

My eyes drifted shut.

“No …” Rob grabbed me by my hair, pulling me down to the ground.

“No …” I finally found my voice with him and wanted to use it.

“St-op!”

I heard myself saying the words, but felt as if I was somewhere else.

“Sadie, baby, wake up, you’re dreaming.” Landon’s voice pulled me out of sleep.

I woke with a start. I looked around the room. White walls, beeping machines … hospital. Turning, I saw the man who was calling my name. I smiled at him.

“I’m so glad to see that smile, baby,” he said while stroking the side of my face.

“Bathroom.” My voice sounding like my own now, but my throat was still so sore.

“Okay baby, I’ll help you.” I didn’t protest. If I didn’t get there soon, I was going to piss all over the floor.

Landon helped me out of bed to the bathroom that was in the room. My legs were heavy and difficult to move, but somehow they made it. He helped me sit down and stood there as I went.

I should have probably been a bit freaked about that, but at the moment, I didn’t give a shit. Landon helped me up, and I moved over to the sink.

Looking up, I saw my face.

My gasp was loud because I couldn’t believe my eyes. Never had I looked this bad. Never had I had this many stiches.
Never
.

Above my left eye was a huge gash about two inches long, with a shit-ton of stiches throughout it. My lip and cheek were also stitched up. I turned my head; my ear had several stiches on it, too. I took my hands and lightly traced all the spots on my face, which was a beautiful shade of yellow. At least it was healing.

The eyes looking back at me were scared and haunted. I didn’t want to see them anymore. I turned away from the mirror and saw Landon staring at me. I didn’t want him to see me. I wanted to hide. I tried to brush past him, but he stopped me.

“You’re beautiful.” I looked up into those big blue eyes, and I could see that he meant it. I didn’t know how, considering the way I looked, but he did. One by one, the tears began to flow. Landon wrapped his arms around me, and I melted into him.

“Come baby; let’s get you back in bed.” Landon helped me back into bed, wiping my eyes. A knock at the door had both Landon and me turning to it.

Fear—unadulterated terror—ripped through me. Cops. I grabbed on to Landon as he was my lifeline, pulling him in front of me. My entire body was shaking, and I couldn’t get it under control. I couldn’t do this anymore.

“Ms. McKenny, I have a few questions for you,” the officer at the door said.

“She’s not in the mood for questions,” Landon growled.
Safe
.

“It can’t wait any longer. It’s been eight days, and we have to get this report going.”

I tensed. “You called the cops,” I whispered.

Landon turned to me. “I didn’t. Your mom did. As much as I hate this, it’s the right thing to do. We have to make a report and get this on file.”

“I can’t Landon. He’s a cop.” I looked up at him, pleading.

“He’s a bastard who put his hands on you. This has to stop.” I knew he didn’t understand, but I had to make him.

“They won’t believe me Landon.”

“Believe you or not. They have to make a report and they have to follow through with it.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. Rob always told his buddies that I liked it rough, so that was what these guys were going to think. I didn’t want to talk to him, but Landon waved him into the room. Behind him was a woman in uniform.

She was tall, blonde, and very pretty. My eyes were glued to her. I wanted her to talk to me. I didn’t want to talk to the guy. Her bright smile came to me. “Hi Ms. McKenny. I’m Officer Briggs, and this is my partner Officer Sams. We need to ask you a few questions.”

Landon stood in front of my bed. I felt as if he was my shield. I could still see the officers, but they stayed near the door. I nodded.

“Can you tell us what happened?” The woman pulled out a notepad and paper. Was this woman actually going to believe me? I began talking ,explaining my reasons for coming back home and everything in detail about what Rob did.

Feeling the fear ripple off Sadie was tapping into my anger. I wanted to kill that bastard. I wanted to beat him as badly as he did Sadie and then kill him.

“Did he rape you?” This question whipped me out of my internal tirade. I stared down at Sadie. I didn’t want to know this answer.

“Not this time,” she said quietly as if she didn’t want me to hear.

“Not this time. How many times have there been?” I asked, stunned.

Sadie turned and looked at me, her eyes welling up. “Too many to count.” Grief … terrible grief washed through me. Grief for Sadie and what she had been going through for years. Grief … “Oh. Baby.” I squeezed her hand.

I had a burning question that I needed answered. “Is that why you ran from me?” Sadie closed her eyes. I wiped the tear falling from her face with my thumb.

She nodded. “You called me
honey
,” she whispered.

“Huh?” I asked, surprised.

“He always called me honey,” she said. Then it dawned on me. I did call her honey. I didn’t think anything of it. It was just an endearment, but she saw me as him.
Fuck
.

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking in her eyes.

“I know,” she said quietly and turned back to the officers.

I sat there and listened to her account of everything that happened. Every blow to her head, back, stomach … everything. I wanted more than anything to take all that pain away from her. I would gladly take it all on me.

I tried my damnedest to keep my temper in check, but every blow she recalled made it more difficult for me to control.

I needed to hit him.

“Ms. McKenny, we want to thank you for your time. We have tried to bring Officer Sage in for questioning, but we haven’t been able to locate him. Do you have any idea where he could have gone?”

Sadie’s grip on my hand became almost painful. I knew she was scared. I drew lazy circles around her hand trying to calm her, not that anything at this point would work. She had a right to be scared this fucker was out there.

“No,” Sadie finally said.

“We’ll be in touch,” the officers said, turned, and walked out the door.

I turned around and sat next to her by the bed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“For what?” What the hell did she have to be sorry for?

“For not telling you. I never told anyone. Ever. I should have told you.” Sadie closed her eyes as the sadness hit her again. I would give anything to keep her from crying.

“I wish you would have. It explains a lot, but I do understand why you didn’t.” I really did. I needed her to know that.

She looked at me, shocked. “You understand?”

“Sadie, you thought you were protecting your family.”

She closed her eyes again. “Stupid, huh?”

“Sadie, look at me. You are nowhere near stupid. Should you have done things differently, yes. But that’s all over now. You have me.”

She closed her eyes again and sobbed. I climbed on the bed and pulled her into me, holding her as she fell asleep in my arms.

She’d been awake for five days. We’d been stuck in this hospital room for that time, but today was the day Sadie got to go home.

Her mom and I have been arguing over where her home is. I wanted her in Georgia. She wanted her here. I’d been trying to keep these discussions away from Sadie, but she overheard the last one.

I lost.

Well, I didn’t want to look at it as really losing. She wanted to spend time with her mom, and I couldn’t blame her after the hell she went through. We came to a compromise. I’d stay here for a week with her, and then she’d come back down to Georgia with me. Hopefully forever.

I knew I was being selfish, but I couldn’t stay away from her. Over these last two weeks, I came to one huge conclusion … I loved her. She was under my skin, coursing through my veins. I wanted to be with her, protect, and love her. I need her. I’d not relayed that information to her yet, but one day, soon, I would.