This Love of Mine (Raine Series #1) (4 page)

Just
then, I started to feel a line of blood slowly dripping down my face, but I had
bigger things to deal with. The knife in my leg, for one. Before I even tried
to slide my hand down to the handle, I made sure to listen for voices. After
about thirty seconds of nothing, I took my chance.

My
trembling hands shakily locked around the handle, as I prepared to remove the
object. I wasn't sure exactly how deep the knife had gone, or if it had pierced
anything, but I didn't have time for questions like that. I needed to get the
fuck out of this house before one or both of them returned. I took in a deep
breath and held it as I slowly started pulling the blade from my thigh. I swear
I could hear every tear of the muscles and tendons that the blade was slowly
slicing through. I grit my teeth, trying not to scream out in pure torture. As
soon as I felt the blade give a little, I tugged one last time and freed it.

The
metal clambered against the tile floor beneath me and I instantly clutched my
thigh. The tears had returned, but I honestly didn't care this time. I quickly
ran through the survival skills we were taught at Girl Scout camp back in third
grade. Tourniquet, that's what I need. I quickly reached out for my blood
soaked shirt, and tied it as tight as I could around the wound. I squeezed my
eyes shut as the knot dug into the now gaping hole in my leg. Once I regained
some of my composure, I slid my hand down to my sock to find my phone. I let
out a sigh of relief when I felt the money still in my other one.

Without
a second to lose, I quickly dialed my one and only friend, Cami. I prayed that
she would pick up. After the second ring, I ended the call and instantly
started calling her back. If she didn't answer, I didn't know what I would do.
She was literally the only friend I had left.

Still
there was no answer, so I called one more time. I figured if she didn't answer
this time, then I would just call a cab. Just as I was about hang up again, I
heard her voice on the other end. She sounded like an angel, an angel who could
save my life.

"Ca.."
I cleared my throat before trying it again. "Cami?"

"Kayla.
Kayla, is that you?" I could hear the worry in her voice reach eminent
proportions.

"Come
get me, please." I choked out.

"Oh
my god, I'm on my way. Are you okay?"

"N..no..I...I...come."
I could feel my body slowly shutting down and I couldn't even hold the small
phone in my hand anymore. It slipped through my fingers and across the tile
floor. My eyelids instantly became heavy and all I wanted to do was sleep. I
knew I needed to get out of this house, but I was beyond caring, I wanted to
just sleep this day away. After what felt like hours later, I heard a loud gasp
come from above me. She had made it. She had come for me.

"Oh
my god, KJ, what the hell happened to you? We need to get you to a hospital,
now!”

I
reached out for her hand, pulling it into my chest. “Please no hospital, I need
you to take me to the bus stop.” I barely managed to get the words out, but she
must have understood me.

“Are you
sure, honey?” I could see the tears starting to well up behind her eyelids.

“No
crying. Just help me out of the house. We need to leave, NOW!”

“Okay.”
She whispered.

She
knelt down beside me and slowly started helping me sit up. I groaned as the
pain of every broken piece of me screamed out in pure torturous pain. When she
got me in a standing position, she glanced over at me and the floodgates opened
up wide. Of course once
she
started
crying, I followed suit shortly after. I have to say, I was amazed that she
could even bear most of my weight. She was a petite little thing, standing at
only five feet tall and weighing a hundred and five soaking wet, but she was
managing to hold her own quite nicely. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders as
we made our way to her car. Once she had me safely in the passenger seat, she
ran into the house and gathered the rest of my belongings, the ones that were
left, and threw them all in the trunk before hauling ass out of my
neighborhood.

"Never
again!" Was all I could manage to say.

Madison

The
truck ride wasn't too bad as I slept, but after I woke up, it turned into an
uncomfortable silence, real fast. The look on my grandpa's face led me to
believe that he was thinking about something. I didn't want to pry though, so I
just kept looking out the open window on my side of the truck. Grandpa was
never one for small talk, but when he had told me to come along, I was hoping
it was for a reason.

We were
almost at the town limits, when I just couldn't take it anymore. I reached
forward to turn on the old stereo in his dinosaur of a truck. I knew my options
were limited to country or oldies, so I went for country. As I settled back
against the bench seat, my grandfather took the opportunity to bring up, what I
could only assume had been bothering him since we started this little adventure.

“Son, I
need you to make sure you are on your best behavior around this girl. I don't
reckon that you'll see her all that much, but she just needs to be left alone
for a bit. You hear me?”

I didn't
know exactly what he meant, but I simply nodded in agreement. I turned my
attention back to the outside world, but now, I couldn't help but be curious
about this "off-limits" girl.

“Sir,
have you ever met her?" I knew the question sounded dumb, but I was sick
of sitting in silence and whether or not I wanted to admit it, he had peaked my
interest with his warning.

"Well
son, you actually know her too. She is Jasper and Marie's granddaughter. You
probably don't remember her all too well. She is a few years younger than you,
but y'all used to play together when you were really little. Your grandma and
Marie were best friends in high school, and Jasper and I were on the same
football team all throughout school. When we moved up here to great granddad’s
land, the property right behind us went up for sale, and Jasper and Marie swooped
in and bought it up.

 
It's not as much property as your Grams
and I have, but it's a fair amount. Because the land is still kind of far away
from theirs, you and that little girl used to play together when her momma
would bring her out. She's out here every summer though, same as you. Well not
any more."

His face
was serious enough, that I didn't want to push any further, but I found it
quite odd that I hadn't seen her in the past couple years I had been coming
out. "What's her name?"

"Kayla
Anne, but I reckon everyone still calls her KJ. Better off you askin' her, just
to be sure."

I didn't
know what else to say, so I tugged my hat back down over my eyes a bit. I kept
repeating her name over and over again in my head, but not one single memory
surfaced. Obviously, we weren't like amazingly good friends back then. Now that
I knew her name, I tried to picture what she looked like. Did she have blonde
hair and blue eyes, maybe brown hair with hazel eyes, or maybe my favorite
combination of brown hair and blue eyes? Who knows, all I knew was that I was
gone in two days so it wouldn't really matter anyway.

That was
the last bit of talking we did for the rest of the ride. I wasn't quite sure
what to say to my grandfather and I reckon he felt the same. Now, my thoughts
were consumed by this girl Kayla that I don't ever remember knowing, and it was
driving me nuts. I couldn't quite fathom why anybody would take a bus to Abernathy
from Phoenix, but far from me to judge anyone. And why wasn't she coming with
her parents? Oh man, who the fuck cares?

We were
only about twenty minutes out now, and I wasn't looking forward to meeting this
new
girl, regardless of who her
grandparents were. I'm sure she was some snobby, self-centered daddy's girl. No
thank you. I had my fair share of those girls, and trust me they don't ever
change. The way I led my life didn't really leave a whole lot of room for
anything or anyone else. I just needed to stay focused, make it two more days
and then I could get back to my own life.

I saw
the big blue Greyhound sign as we turned onto the road leading to the next
town. I let out an audible sigh and then felt my grandfather's hand connect
with the back of my head.

"Ow,
Sir. What was that for?" I started rubbing the back of my head to dull the
pain he had inflicted.

"I
told you to be on your best behavior. You better start straightenin' it out
now."

"Alright,
I'm sorry. I'm just sayin' though, if she is some rich, snotty entitled little
princess, then I'm riding in the bed of the truck."

"Sounds
mighty fine to me." He winked in my direction and I couldn't help but
smile. My grandfather was such an amazing man, always looking out for others
and never taking life too serious. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I
strived to be exactly like him someday.

We found
a close enough parking space and after my grandfather parked, he exited the
truck without a word. I wasn't sure whether or not to follow him, seeing as he
didn't say anything. I looked around and scanned the parking lot before exiting
the truck also. He was standing against the tailgate when I approached him. We
gave a nod and I leaned against the truck just as he was doing. I wasn't sure
what time she was supposed to be getting in, but my grandfather looked as
though he was willing to camp out, even if it took all night long. Luckily we
didn't have to wait too long at all, because my grandfather elbowed me and
tilted his head in a girl's direction a few minutes later.

Kayla

As much
as I wanted to just jump on the next bus out of here and leave, I was in no
condition to do so. The gash on my head seemed fine to me, but there was no way
I was going to be able to travel for twelve and a half hours with the knife
wound I was sporting on my leg. Cami's brother was a nurse at the local hospital,
so I agreed to let her take me there first, and then to the bus station. There
was no way I was spending another night in this messed up town.

We
pulled into the parking lot of Good Samaritan Hospital a few minutes later and
I was relieved that I could get this thing stitched up without anyone knowing.
I reached for the door handle to get out, but felt Cami's tight grip around my
elbow.

"Um,
what do you think you're doing?"

"What
do you mean? You're the one who told me to get it fixed, so I'm getting out to
get it fixed." I rolled my eyes at how ridiculous she was being.

"Not
that stupid. You're not walking. Let me go get a wheelchair for you. No
arguments!" She gave me a stern glare before hustling inside.

She
emerged through the sliding glass doors a second later, wheelchair in tow. As
ridiculous as I thought she was being, I knew there was no way in hell I
would've been able to walk in there, even with her help. I stepped out onto the
sidewalk and then maneuvered my way into the wheelchair. I was in a tremendous
amount of pain, but I didn't want Cami to notice anything. It was bad enough I
was going to have to tell her I was moving to Texas, this would send her over
the edge.

Once
inside, a man in blue scrubs came sauntering up to us and I instantly
recognized her brother Mike. Of course, he was having to see his baby sister's
best friend like this, which was just my luck. Her brother was handsome and so
hard not to look at. Cami and her brother could have been twins, except for the
fact that he was six years older than us. He had short dirty blonde hair, Cami
had the same color but hers hung just above her waistband like mine. They both
had piercing green eyes and a perfectly round face, and to top it all off, they
were both in incredibly great shape.

They
sucked!

I
laughed a little to myself before her brother interrupted me. It took him less
than a second to look over me and my injuries before he was hustling us back
into a private room. I was thankful to him for this, seeing how my shirt was no
longer on my body. I quickly wrapped my arms over my bra-covered chest, as Cami
started pushing me back to the room.

There
was a lot of commotion back here, but I was okay with the distraction. Once we
reached the last room at the end of the hall, I pulled myself over to the bed
and threw my head back. I wasn't looking forward to having to explain my
injuries and how I came to get them. Luckily, Mike new a little bit of my
history and didn't ask too many questions. Once he had me all situated, he
looked over the open wound on my leg, and then ran out to go find the nearest
doctor.

A few
minutes later, a short middle-aged, balding man in a white coat came walking
towards me. Mike must have explained the situation, or lied about how it had
happened, because the doctor didn't ask any questions. Mike had already pulled
off my shirt that I had been using as a tourniquet, so the doctor was all set
to go.

"Well
Kayla, it looks like the stab wound is deep, but the bleeding has stopped, so
that's good. I'm just going to take you for a quick x-ray to better survey the
damage, if any. Is that okay with you?" I simply nodded.

His eyes
raised up looking at the gash on my head and swollen jaw before settling back
on my eyes.