Carter's Treasure (29 page)

“Do you?” Marcie’s face twisted in disgust as she took a step forward, demanding Molly’s attention. As if Molly could focus on anything else.

“I met…um…you a couple of weeks ago. With Dylan that…um night.” Molly tried to keep her voice steady, to keep the shaking to a minimum. She didn’t want Marcie to know she was even more petrified than she appeared. But the fumbling for the words was a dead giveaway.

“No, bitch, before that,” Marcie snorted. “That pencil dick was just the easy in I’d been waiting years for.” Marcie pierced Molly with her glare. “I know you know who I am.”

Molly looked at Marcie. She’d never seen the girl in her life. Her circle was pretty small and only included family along with the newly added Carter, Eli, and Jesse. No. She was damn sure she’d never seen this girl before.

“No,” she finally answered meekly.

“The name Lynda ring a bell?”

Molly shook her head. There was only one Lynda she’d ever met, but that was years ago at an amateur’s track down in Texas. The big-bosomed, bleached blonde with the big Texas curls held in place by a can and a half of cheap smelling hair spray. That lady was nice. She’d run the concessions at the small track. Molly had only talked to her once, maybe twice. Something stupid, like the woman giving her a popsicle for free when it was really hot one day. Molly shook her head at the recollection, not even sure why she remembered the woman’s name.

“No. It doesn’t.”

“She knew you. She liked you, liked to give you snacks from the stand.”

Molly’s head spun. She didn’t know what Marcie was talking about and she didn’t care that some Lynda had liked her, didn’t know why it mattered.

All Molly could discern was that she wanted out. She needed to be back in Carter’s arms. She needed this nightmare to end.

It had to end.

She could feel it coming, the rapid beating of her heart, the struggle for a solid breath. She knew the signs of an attack. She tried to concentrate on Marcie’s question. Molly’s silence once again pissed off the knife-wielding maniac.

Marcie stalked up and grabbed Molly by the waist again, holding the knife to her throat this time. The scream that came from Molly was bone-chilling, even to her own ears. There was no way she was getting out of this motorhome alive. The threats and story started to play on around her. She could feel the wave building. It wouldn’t be long before the panic attack took her under. At that point, she was a sitting duck. Molly knew this Marcie girl’s anger would be pushed to the brink and she would be defenseless.

Molly tried to piece the words Marcie was shouting together, but they were not coherent enough to make much sense. Lynda was my mother…She loved Ray so much…You took him away…

The last few sentences rang louder than the rest, mainly because they were screamed in her ear.

“It was all your fault. You put him away. It was you. You killed her.” Her words became desperate, disjointed. “The blood…it was everywhere. I was ten years old and held her while she died. I begged her to stay with me.”

Molly held her eyes shut tight as a palpable rush of anger shook Marcie and she pressed the knife harder against Molly’s neck.

“I was ten years old, bitch.”

Molly’s fear was crippling her, her words barely audible. “I didn’t know.”

“Well, my gramma always said, an eye for an eye, just like The Good Book says.”

When Marcie’s hold tightened even more, the wave crashed down hard on Molly. She screamed and her knees went weak. She felt the knife slice through the skin of her neck as she crumbled to the floor.

“I want S.W.A.T. on all sides. Have the ambulance drive in—no sirens. Nothing startles whoever is in there, got me?” Mike’s commands were precise.

There was steel in his voice, not like the softness he used on Molly. Carter had never seen his brother in this mode, with this kind of power radiating from him. He could hear the racking sobs coming from the thin walls of the coach. Every second that ticked by was another moment that something could happen to Molly. He knew from the crying she was upset or hurt or both. Carter wrenched his fingers through his hair as he watched Mike working with the crisis commander. Why weren’t they working faster? He needed them to hurry, to make it all end. Carter felt himself being torn in two. He knew his brother would do everything in his power to save Molly, but Carter wanted to go in guns blazing and kicking ass. Anything they had to do to save the girl inside. He paced a three foot line back and forth, continuously rubbing his hands over his face and up into his hair, all the while staring at the door of the motorhome. From inside, Molly cried out again, sending a fresh wave of fear through his body. He turned toward his brother. “God, Mike! Do something! Please!”

When soft arms wrapped around his waist, he closed his eyes and gripped Erin tighter to him. It was Brody’s hand on his shoulder that he didn’t expect, a sudden understanding of everyone’s new roles in Molly’s life. They were all in this together. There was no blame laid, no screaming at who should have been watching her. There were only silent tears and prayers as they all hung on every word and noise they heard coming from the motorhome.

The vicious story bled from just inside the walls, causing Carter to want to tear his hair out as he listened to the deranged girl blaming Molly for the choices her mother had made. It was a woman holding Molly hostage, just like Mike had assumed. A wave of sympathy hit Carter as a picture of a little girl holding her bleeding mother imprinted itself in his mind, that emotion melting like ice in his veins when the woman screamed, “An eye for an eye, just like The Good Book says.”

Then all hell broke loose. There was no more waiting. The next two minutes of time went by in a flash, but like he was watching it through someone else’s eyes. Like a movie. Guns were drawn, the door and windows were kicked in, and the screaming and yelling from every direction was deafening.

Then it was over.

He saw the green and purple haired girl. The words that fell from her lips as she passed by in cuffs would haunt Carter for the rest of his life.

“Ray should’ve finished her then I wouldn’t have had to.”

From inside the motorhome, Mike’s booming voice called for the paramedics, but Carter beat them to the door. He fell to the floor beside his brother, not even registering his brother’s warning not to move her. The only thing he focused on was her. “Molly…no,” he mumbled incoherently as he scooped the bleeding girl into his arms.

Chapter Sixteen

The waiting room of the ER had been overtaken by their family and friends. Carter figured the hospital had seen its fair share of injured motocross riders over the years. There were three local tracks within driving distance and the SuperCross series came through every year. Carter was quite sure there had never been any other riders brought through the doors with Molly’s injuries.

He was three shakes past becoming a basket-case. They wouldn’t let him back to see her yet because the police had followed wanting more information. One look at Brody and her parents, and he knew he wasn’t alone.

Everyone kept assuring him that she was going to be okay, but there was no chance he’d be able to relax until he saw those bright blue eyes.

Carter could tell Mike was trying to hurry things along, and he appreciated it. He didn’t know what he would have done if it hadn’t been for Mike, his brother, the badass. He inwardly smiled at the thought, but the motion never actually made it to his mouth. He vaguely remembered hearing Mike say something about calling their parents and something about them coming on the next flight. Maybe, Carter wasn’t sure, but right then, he wanted as many people around Molly as possible.

His parents had fallen in love with her immediately. Even under the circumstances and the fact that Molly had been so withdrawn, they could tell what a sweet, loving person she was. Carter knew his mother was ready for him to settle down. She’d made it known how she was ready for grandkids from her boys. Mike’s divorce two years prior had only fanned the flames. Sam hadn’t been married a year yet, but their mother was on him. Carter would let Sam take the heat for awhile. He wasn’t about to explain to his mother that Molly would have to retire first, and there was no way he was going to allow her to climb on a bike if there was even a hint of a chance she could be pregnant. Well, that and the fact he hadn’t even asked her to marry him…yet.

The doctor came out and Carter jumped to his feet, along with her parents, Brody, and Mike. They all converged around the doctor, everyone’s anxiety palpable as they awaited the news. The dangling cross in the doctor’s hand caught Carter’s attention. It was covered in blood. As the doctor continued to talk, Carter stared at the necklace swinging back and forth in the doctor’s hand.

“She’s sedated due to the panic attack. We’re finishing getting her stitched up and bandaged. I’m running some fluids into her now, plus we’ve done a blood transfusion. She lost enough to be concerned, but nothing we can’t take care of here. We’ll monitor her for a few hours then let her wake up on her own. If she’s doing okay, we’ll release her as long as she’s got someone to stay with her through the night. I’ll write a script, I have a feeling she’s going to need a few sleeping pills just to get her through the next few days at least.”

Carter drew in a deep breath, listening but unable to look directly at the man. He was transfixed on the blood-stained necklace—her blood. It shouldn’t have been there. She shouldn’t have been in Dylan’s trailer. He should’ve protected her. That thought superseded all others. The guilt was crushing.

“Oh, here, I almost forgot.” The doctor held up the diamond cross. “She’s a lucky girl. The way she fell against the knife and the cuts she sustained, it could have been a whole lot worse. The chain was laying over her carotid, it kept the blade from slicing through.”

“That little chain?” James questioned.

“Based on what I’ve seen of knife wounds, her attacker hadn’t purposely tried to cut her neck, yet. Molly must have fallen down, probably as the panic attack hit its peak. The cuts were more of a scraping motion against the blade. What little pressure that the blade had against her skin cut her right over where the carotid lies…” The doctor lifted his chin and tilted his head as he gestured to the area. “They’re deep, but not life threatening. Somehow the carotid wasn’t even nicked. So yes, that thin, little chain protected her. That…or the cross hanging from it did. Depends on how you want to look at it. As a medical professional, I have to tell you the facts. As a man, I believe in miracles myself.”

Carter felt her parents and Brody all look at him. After a long few seconds, he held out his palm and watched as the doctor lowered it into his hand.

“As soon as you are all done out here with the police, feel free to come on back. She’s still out, but I know you’re all anxious to see her. The nurse will show you how to take care of her wounds.”

“Wounds?” Carter’s voice shook.

Carter watched the doctor’s mood go somber. He took a deep breath and nodded. “There’s several. I’ll go over everything with you when you get back there.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” James said.

Carter stared at his hand. The tiny cross, a piece of him she always wore. He closed his eyes and fisted the cross in his hand.

Brody’s voice broke into his mental self-berating. “She’s tough…she’ll be okay, Carter.”

He should have been ecstatic at the encouraging words from the one person who tried to keep them apart. Instead, he lashed out.

“She shouldn’t have to be tough. She shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t have been in that trailer! I should have protected her. I should’ve kept her safe. I promised.” He glared at Brody and gritted his teeth. The words came out in anger—anger at the whole situation—but mostly anger at himself. “I promised you…I promised her.” Carter had let down the one person he cared about most.

As Carter began to withdraw, he noticed Mike closing in, ready to console him, brother-to-brother.

But it was Brody’s arms that went around him first. The shock would hit him later, he was sure. In the meantime, he grabbed onto the lifeline Brody was throwing him.

“I’m so sorry, Brody. I’m so sorry. I should’ve been there.”

“Carter.”

Brody pulled away. When Carter thought it was safe to finally open his eyes, he looked up to meet Brody’s face, waiting for the I told you so, waiting for the hatred to come bubbling out.

“Carter, you saved her life.”

Carter shook his head. “No…I didn’t.”

“You did, though. When you found out about everything, you demanded your brother come help. Without him…well?” Brody shrugged. “You did that. You knew who could help her and you made it happen…even when I fought you. And you were the one who went straight for Dylan’s trailer. You saved her, Carter. Thank you.”

With tears welling in his eyes again, Carter looked at the outstretched hand. He gripped it hard then looked up. Brody’s eyes matched his own. It was an understanding, a common ground. Brody was offering his blessing, in so many words. Desperately trying not to cry, Carter squeezed his eyes shut tight and nodded.

~

Carter stood by Molly’s head, never taking his hand off of her as visitors came in and out of the small room. The nurse shuffled people around as she attached a new bag of fluids for her IV. Carter watched quietly as she checked the bandages for excessive bleeding, took her vitals, and typed notes on the computer by Molly’s bed. Molly had yet to stir, but they weren’t concerned. The doctor and nurses kept assuring him that the more she slept the better, that her body needed that healing time.