His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) (24 page)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“Kris, sweetie that’s unnecessary,” Mrs. Worley said.

“I have to and besides it will only take a moment. I know exactly where it is, and you’ll have it packed with the rest of your cookbooks and recipes,” Krista answered. She had been visiting with Mrs. Worley and her family for over two and a half hours. She was helping pack while they chatted about this and that when Krista realized she’d forgotten to return one of Mrs. Worley’s cookbooks she had borrowed weeks ago. She jumped up from the floor. “It will only take a quick second. Besides, it will be the last time I’ll get to walk from my house to yours.” Krista smiled at Mrs. Worley right before she leaned over the chair she was sitting in and kissed her cheek. “Be right back,” Krista called over her shoulder as she rushed out the kitchen door, around the house and down the wooded road which led to her door.

Kade paced the floor in Lee’s home office. Yeah, he knew he told Krista he had to work and knowing she would think he’d be ‘working’ at the station, he did nothing to clear that up. She didn’t need to know that Lee had called him and told him they’d found more information about Price. So when he dropped her off at Mrs. Worley’s and had seen for himself the amount of people who were there along with her promise not to go anywhere with anyone, he’d headed to Lee’s to work and not the station. Now his gut was telling him he needed to be with Krista. The information that Lee and Draco had discovered had a lot to do with that gut feeling.

Apparently, fuckin’ Damon Price had been stalking Krista. Hiding out in the woods around her house from what it looked like, at least a week and maybe longer than that. Had he been in those fuckin’ woods when Krista was at home alone? How many times had Kade walked right into her house and how many times did he remind her about locking the fuckin’ door? Was Price there then? Had he been watching her and watching Kade come and go? He had to get to Krista! His gut was screaming. He turned toward Lee and Draco.

“Krista is at Mrs. Worley’s saying goodbye and visiting with her and her family and the woman’s got a shit load of family. She should be safe. She said she wouldn’t leave but with that son of a bitch being so close…” Kade didn’t finish his thoughts out loud. He didn’t have to. He saw the look that passed over Lee’s face.
Yeah, he got it
, Kade thought.

“We’ll be right behind you. Goin’ to call it in and possibly bring in some back up or at least have back up on standby in case that bastard is somewhere close.” Kade heard everything Lee said as he was walking to the door and then out. He heard Lee barking orders already on the phone for back up, but Kade wasn’t waiting. He had to get to Krista. He had to see for himself that she was safe.

Krista had forgotten for a minute about the break in of her house and forgotten about anyone being after her, until her house came in to view and she saw the police tape across the door. She stopped and thought maybe it would be better to wait. Was she even allowed back in yet? Lee had told her he would let her know when she could go back in, but he could have told Kade, and she knew Kade wouldn’t tell her it was okay unless Price was caught. Should she call Kade?
It’s just a book
. Besides, her finger prints were already all over the house, but she still hesitated, thinking maybe she should wait. Kade would be back to pick her up and she could go and get the book then. She could hold back the box she was packing and wait until she had the other book in the set.
Yeah that would be best
, she thought, and turned to go back to Mrs. Worley’s when hands grabbed her from behind so quickly she didn’t have the time to make a sound before she felt the edge of a knife at her throat and then she heard that awful voice from her past.

“You make a sound and I’ll slice your throat just like your mama’s.” She heard the words whispered crudely in her ear. Krista stood frozen. At the first sound of that voice she was back there, back when she was a little girl and terrified out of her mind. “Walk,” Price ordered, but she couldn’t. She was too terror stricken to move, to even think. Then she felt the knife move away from her throat along with the arm that restrained her, only to feel a clammy hand crushing her arm and then she was being jerked along as he walked. He was physically dragging her to her house. “You’re mine. I told you that when I left you, little girl. You were the first little girl I ever had and that made you mine. You weren’t my last, but I’m goin’ to be yours!” He cackled and taunted her. “Told you I’d be back for you,” he hissed at her, but didn’t turn around to look at her. He just kept jerking her arms after each statement was made. When he made it to the door, he kicked it in, and then tossed her into the house.

And then, she saw him, saw his face. He was only a few feet from her and she could see him clearly. He had aged, and not in a good way, plus he was dirty. His hair was greasy, his clothes where covered in dirt, but his eyes…his eyes were the same as she remembered—evil. “Goin’ to take what’s mine,” he snarled as he looked her up and down. “Grew up, didn’t you? Not that little girl anymore. Been givin’ what’s mine away. Turned into a whore just like they all do, didn’tcha?” He seethed with pleasure. “I had you first, busted that cherry. Now goin’ to have you last.” He took a step toward her where she was laying on the floor. Her body jolted with his step, just once, but it was enough to bring her back to the now. She knew he was going to rape her again, and this time he would kill her.

“No!” she screamed before she even realized she’d opened her mouth. He lunged for her, but she jumped to the side out of his reach, just far enough for him to stumble when he couldn’t grab her. She tried to run, tried to move fast enough, but he grabbed her arm before she could make it back out the door. He spun her around to face him.

“Don’t run from me, bitch, you’re mine and you know it. Always were,” he said as he clamped down harder on her arm, so hard she couldn’t help but cry out from the pain. Then he guffawed. “Love it when they cry!” he muttered, still laughing...to himself? She wasn’t sure but wasn’t going to take the time to find out. Krista shifted herself, just enough and brought her knee up as hard as she could to hit him dead center in his crotch. He squeaked in pain. The grip on her arm loosened just enough for her to wrench her arm free. But in a split second, she could see that from where he stood hunched over and holding himself, that his body blocked the front and back doors.

She turned to run into the bedroom, praying that her gun was still where she’d put it and that the cops hadn’t moved it or taken it. She hit the bedroom door and froze. It was ten times worse than the living room. The clothes from her closet were scattered all over the place. Her dresser drawers were dumped out on the floor and her bed. It looked like a tornado had been through and had only struck her bedroom. Crap, she’d used precious seconds distracted by the mess of her bedroom.

“I’m goin’ to kill you, bitch, goin’ to kill you real slow, make you hurt so bad you’ll be begging me to kill you before I do.” She heard him and with each word he was getting closer and closer. She moved then. She ran to the bed and dropped to her knees, reached her hand in between the box springs and mattress, and felt…nothing! No! She prayed as she moved her hands around, searching. Then he was there, in her doorway, one hand massaging his crotch, the other holding on to the door frame as spittle was flying from his lips with every word, looking down at her on the floor. “You’re dead, bitch.”

Kade was becoming more and more agitated the closer he got to Mrs. Worley’s. By the time he turned onto their road, he was sweating even though he had the AC on high. He slammed the truck in park, jumped out and ran up the few steps and into the house, not even bothering to knock.

“Krista!” Kade shouted and saw lots of faces turn to him, but none of them were his Krista.

“Hey, Kade, calm down, man. Kris is in the kitchen with mom,” Lance told him and was moving in that direction ahead of Kade. “Mom,” Lance called out to Mrs. Worley. “Where’s Kris?” Kade watched as Mrs. Worley raised her head from a book she was looking at with a young girl. When she recognized Kade, she smiled.

“Hello there, young man. Kris said you were working today,” she said sweetly.

“Krista! Where is she now?” he asked more sharply than he intended, but he had to find her, right fuckin’ now, was all he could think.

“Oh, she wanted to return my cookbook. She insisted it needed to be packed with the rest. She’s such a darlin’ girl. I’m going to miss her so. She should be back anytime now. Would you like something to drink while you wait?” Mrs. Worley continued to smile at Kade.

“Where exactly did she go? Where was the book?” Kade asked calmly, praying for her not to say it, but knowing, he fuckin’ knew where that damn book was.

“Well, her house of—” That was all Kade had to hear and he ran back out the door, not even bothering with his truck as he took off running down the road toward Krista’s house.

As she watched Damon Price take a step into the bedroom, she finally found it…her gun. She wrapped her hand around it securely, her finger near the trigger, but not touching it, not yet. Krista jerked the weapon out and stood up, pointing the gun at him.

“Stop!” she yelled at him. He looked down at the gun, and then he looked back at her face and cackled again.

“You think you can shoot me, little girl?” he asked low and ugly. At her hearing him call her ‘little girl’ again, her hand shook. Her mind wanted to take her right back to the past. Freeze her in the past, to the worse nightmare she’d ever endured. Trying to fight the memories, the nightmare from the past, she tried to focus on him now.
Don’t think about then, it’s over
, she told herself and kept repeating it like a mantra in her head, so at first she didn’t notice when he moved closer to her until he was almost on her.

“Stop!” she shouted as loud as she could without losing sight of him.

“Goin’ to kill you and then that cop, think he can have what’s mine. He’s dead, just like you. Goin’ to have you, though. Don’t matter to me if it’s before or after you’re dead.” He guffawed, spittle flying, and then he stumbled on something on the floor, and fell into her and…pain…she felt pain all of a sudden in her side, a pain like she’d never felt before. She jerked, pushed him backward and with him already being off balance, he stumbled back a few feet from her and that’s when she noticed the knife still in his hand. He regained his footing, raised the knife and came at her. He was right there, face to face, eyes to eyes, his nasty breath in her face. All she could see was the evil that filled his eyes and all she could think was…”Irish.” She didn’t know if she said his name aloud or not, but she knew she could never let anything happen to him, and then she heard the gun shot.

Kade was running across her yard to the door when he heard a gunshot. He paused for only half a beat before he jumped the three steps and shoved open the door.

“Krista!” Kade bellowed as he was running through the living room and then rounded the corner to her bedroom and stopped dead. Krista, his Krista, stood there white as a sheet, gun in her shaking hand, staring down at Price. He lay at her feet, blood puddled around him, blood on her. “Krista,” he called softly. “Baby.” He repeated when she didn’t move.

“Irish.” He heard her shaky whisper so low he almost couldn’t hear it. “He’s going to kill you. He’s going to rape me again and then kill me or he might rape me after he kills me. But, then he’s going to kill you.” She never took her eyes off of Price, never moved a muscle. He stepped carefully and slowly toward her.

“It’s okay, baby. You’re okay,” he murmured nonsense to her until he reached her and then he slowly reached out to the gun in her hand which was still steadily pointing at Price. When his hand closed around the gun, he carefully removed it from her. He squatted down, never taking his eyes off of her, and checked Price for a pulse. He was pretty sure just from the size of the puddle of blood growing under the man, that he was dead, but he wasn’t taking any chances. When he felt no pulse, he looked down at the body and checked again. When he was absolutely certain, he looked back at Krista and that’s when he saw there was blood running down from her side. He stepped over Price’s body toward her again. “It’s over, baby, he can’t hurt you,” he whispered as he lightly touched her arm. She flinched and he glanced down at her arm and saw bruises already starting to form and wanted to check her for other injuries. “Krista. Look at me,” he spoke a little louder but just as firm. Finally, she looked up at him with wide, unfocused eyes.

“Irish, he’s going to kill you,” Krista said and then collapsed into him. Quickly scooping her up, he rushed out of the bedroom back into the living room, kicking shit out of his way and laid her on the floor just as Lee came through the door.

“Call rescue now!” Kade shouted at Lee, panicked. He applied pressure to her side, only to have his hands almost immediately covered in blood. Ripping her shirt open, he found the stab wound and it looked like the fuckin’ knife had been dragged down, ripping her side open. “How the fuck did she stay standing?” he spoke aloud to whoever was near enough to hear him.

“Here, pack the wound tight.” He glanced up to see Draco leaning over Krista, placing towels near her wound.

“Hold on, baby. Please hold the fuck on.” Kade kept whispering to her brokenly, and then he leaned over and kissed her forehead as he held the towels pressed to her side to try and slow the blood flow. “I love you, baby.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Kade stood staring unseeing out the hospital window, while his Krista, his beautiful Krista, was fighting for her life. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the glass. “Fight, baby, stay with me. I can’t lose you,” Kade whispered, or prayed, or both. He wanted his Krista. The last sight he saw of her was her being loaded into the back of the rescue squad and hearing one of the EMT’s shouting ‘we lost the pulse,’ then doors slamming and sirens blaring. He stood helpless, watching them speed out of her driveway. Now his Krista was back there, in the back of the fuckin’ emergency room, fighting for her life a-fuckin’-gain.
How many times? How many times does one person need to prove she wants to live?
He should’ve been there. If he had only gotten there sooner!

“How many fuckin’ times does she have to fight for her life before the powers that be leave her the fuck alone?” he asked to whoever was standing close enough to him to hear what he was saying. He straightened and turned to face Lee. “I promised her, I fuckin’ swore to her I’d keep her safe.” His voice was hoarse from the unshed tears he refused to let fall. “She’s back there.” He gestured with his head toward the emergency doors. “Fighting for her fuckin’ life, because I didn’t keep her safe,” Kade barked bitterly. Then he turned back to the window. “She’s been back there for over three hours. Three hours of fighting. Three fuckin’ hours!” he hissed the words out and drew back his fist to slam it into the window, only to have his arm grabbed by his friend.

“You don’t want to do that,” Lee said low.

“No.” Kade jerked his arm free from Lee. “What I want to do is slam my fist into fuckin’ Price’s face!” He shot back as he turned to Lee. “Is he dead?” Kade asked. He was pretty sure he was, but if there was the slightest chance...

“Yeah, he’s dead.” Lee confirmed.

“I can’t lose her.” Kade looked Lee right in the eyes, his filled with grief, pain, and guilt. “I can’t fuckin’ lose her.” He repeated right before he heard his name called.

“Mr. McKaden.” Kade turned suddenly to see Dr. Miller. “She’s stable for now. The initial stab wound wasn’t as deep as we first thought and it didn’t hit any major organs. The gash that ran down her side was long, but again, not deep. They’ve both been stitched up and baring any complications, should heal with a minimum of scaring. However, she did lose a lot of blood, more than what she had in reserve.” Dr. Miller’s voice was filled with sorrow.

“What the fuck does that mean, ‘more than what she had in reserve?’” Kade demanded.

“You are aware of her blood type and what that means for her, right?” Dr. Miller asked Kade but didn’t give him or anyone time to really answer. “Kris kept a blood supply in reserve here at the hospital. She can’t be given anyone else’s blood because there is no other type that matches hers,” the doctor stated, trying to remain professional.

“So what you’re saying is that you can’t do a fuckin’ thing to save her?” Kade growled.

“Right now we’re doing everything we can. She’s been placed in a medically induced coma, and packed in ice to lower her body temperature while we wait…” Dr. Miller was trying to explain but Kade interrupted, shock in his voice and his expression.

“Wait. What the fuck are you waiting for?” he barked.

“Man, calm down and let the doc finish.” Lee had stepped up beside Kade and now placed his hand on Kade’s shoulder.

“We are flying someone in that I believe will be able to give blood to Krista without her body rejecting it.” Dr. Miller was finally able to finish explaining.

“You believe? But you don’t fuckin’ know, do you?” Kade asked.

“Unfortunately, no. I don’t know how much Kris has explained to you but with her blood type, no one knows, no one can be sure of anything, just like with the treatments she receives. I do the best I can given the circumstances and the research I’ve done as well as tests other doctors have done in her past. Right now the only things I’m sure of are procedures that don’t work.” Dr. Miller suddenly sounded weary himself.

“The person who you’re flying in, it’s the other woman who has a rare blood type like Krista’s, but not like hers exactly?”

“Yes. Krista told you about her?” The doctor couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“Yeah, some, but she said this woman’s type is not the same as hers so how is she going to be able to help?”

“My hope is that since she’s been able to donate her blood and thus far has had no other types reject hers that Krista’s blood will do the same.”

“Can I see Krista?” At this point Kade didn’t give a fuck whose blood she got as long as she would be okay.

“Yes and no. Yes you can ‘see’ her, but no, you cannot be in the room with her. She’s in a completely sterile room to reduce the chances of infection from the surgery or added complications.” When the doctor said no more, Kade started toward him.

“Then let’s go,” Kade said, taking over, and started walking toward the doors, leaving Doc Miller to follow.