My Salvation (25 page)

Owen groaned, causing Mia to turn her head
toward him. Steven took that as an opportunity to move forward to
knock her to the ground. Mia’s head snapped up as Steven was going
for her. His gun aimed at her head.

Mia still had her gun pointed at Cali and pulled
the trigger. As soon as she did, Steven pulled his. One bullet flew
toward Cali as Erik threw himself in front of her to block the
bullet, but he wasn’t fast enough. It hit her on the left side of
her abdomen.

The bullet that left Steven’s gun hit Mia in the
head, right between the eyes. Cali saw her head fly back from the
impact and her body hit the ground. Cali felt the bullet hit her,
but the shock of everything was numbing.

She reached to the side of her stomach. She felt
something wet and when she pulled her hand away it was covered in
blood. A muffled sob came from her and she fell to the floor. Erik
caught her and yelled for help. He laid her on the floor and held
her hand. She truly thought she was going to die.

Her voice shook when she tried to speak.
“T-t-tell Owen that I love him.”

Erik spoke in a low, soft voice. “Ssshhh, try
not to talk. Help is on the way.”

The last thing she remembered was the scared
look in Erik’s eyes as he told her over and over she was going to
be okay.

* * * * * * * *

Owen opened his eyes and blinked a few times,
trying to figure out where he was. He heard beeping and noticed the
lights in the room were dim. The bed he was in was slightly
elevated and white blankets covered him.

He tried to move, but his body felt heavy.
Lifting his arm slightly, he noticed someone was sitting next to
him, slouched over in a chair. He tried to talk, but all that came
out was a groan.

The person next to him woke at the sound and
reached over for him. “Owen, thank God. Don’t try and talk. I’ll
get the nurse.”

Ethan reached over him and pressed a button on
the remote at his side. “You’re in the hospital. Mia drugged you
and you were unconscious.”

Trying to search his mind, he couldn’t find
anything. He didn’t even remember seeing Mia and wondered why she
would drug him, but he did remember going to work with Cali. That
was the last memory he had.

“Cali?” came out on a whisper. He didn’t like
the look on Ethan’s face. He had shut his eyes and taken a deep
breath.

Opening them, he said, “Owen, I don’t know how
to say this. Cali was shot in the abdomen by Mia. There was blood
everywhere. It was awful. I’ve never been so scared. When I got
there, she was unconscious and Erik was holding onto her. Steven
shot Mia, killing her.”

His chest constricted and he felt like he
couldn’t breathe. He tried to sit up but Ethan was pushing him back
onto the bed. A nurse came through the door with a doctor behind
her.

The doctor moved quickly to his side, putting a
hand on his shoulder. “Mr. Matthews, you have to relax.” He was
unable to fight against their hold, his body still feeling
heavy.

“Now that you’ve calmed a little, let me
introduce myself. I’m Dr. Lee. You were brought in unconscious.
After we did some testing, we determined you had been drugged with
Rohypnol. You may also know this as the date rape drug. You should
start feeling better within the hour and be able to go home soon.
Do you have any questions for me?”

The doctor said he could leave soon. It was
Caliana he wanted to know about. “Cali? I need to see her.”

“Your girlfriend, right? I’m not her doctor, but
I’ll find out what room she is in and let you know.” He nodded and
closed his eyes.

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours to check on
you.”

Once the doctor and nurse left, Ethan spoke.
“Mom’s in the cafeteria getting some coffee. You gave us quite a
scare. I don’t remember ever seeing her that upset. Plus with
what’s going on with Cali,” Ethan paused to shake his head. “We
just want you to both be okay.”

“Want to know about Cali,” Owen said. His head
was still a little fuzzy, but he was fighting it.

“When Mom comes in I’ll go see what I can find
out. Her parents are on the way. They took the first flight they
could get.”

“Thank you.” His eyes became heavy and fought to
stay awake, but eventually gave in.

An hour later he was awake, but this time was
more alert and his body felt lighter. Ethan and his mother were
sitting beside him. He was getting anxious and wanted to go see
Cali.

He buzzed the nurse and asked if he could be
discharged. The doctor came in and signed the papers to be
released. She told him if he started feeling sick he needed to come
back in.

Before he could leave the room, a police officer
came in to take his statement. He really didn’t have a statement to
give though. He remembered the morning, but nothing after. The
doctor had mentioned memory loss is common with being given the
drug.

He quickly got dressed and left. Standing
outside was Steven. He walked up to Owen and hugged him. “Glad to
see you’re all right, my friend. I was worried about you for a
little bit there.”

“Thanks, but you know you’re not going to get
rid of me that easily.”

Steven chuckled. “Oh I know.”

“Walk with us. I want a quick rundown of what
happened, but I need to see Cali.”

Ethan led the way to her room. Steven gave him a
high level account of what happened and he could hear his mother
sniffling behind him, upset by what she was hearing. He kept
walking unable to stop to comfort her. Cali was all he wanted in
the moment.

He was glad Mia confessed to everything before
she was shot. They now knew who was responsible. Steven told him
the last thing he knew the police found Rob and Ian and arrested
them both. Owen wished he would have gotten a hold of them first so
he could have beat the shit out of them.

Reaching Cali’s door, a nurse approached them.
“You can’t all go in. Only one at a time and only for fifteen
minutes. She just came out of surgery.”

“How is she?” Owen asked.

“Are you her husband?”

“No, but I’m her boyfriend and she lives with
me.”

“I’m sorry sir, but I can only release that
information to her family.”

“I am her family! Her other family hasn’t
arrived yet. Please, I need to know if she is going to be okay.” He
was pleading with the nurse, not knowing what else to do.

“All I can say is she is in critical condition
and on a ventilator, which you will see when you go in.”

He had to put a hand on the wall to hold himself
upright. The room started to spin. The thought of a machine
breathing for her and she wasn’t able to do it on her own, made it
difficult for him to keep his balance.

~ 24 ~

Owen froze the second he saw her. She was
covered with a blanket and had tubes coming out of her. The worst
was the one coming from her mouth. He slowly walked over to the
side of the bed and pulled a chair over.

He brought his hand up and lightly brushed her
hair from her face. “I’m so sorry, Cali. It’s my fault you’re
laying here. I swore to protect you and when you needed me most, I
couldn’t help.”

A lump formed in his throat, but he forced it
down. He had so many emotions rolling through him making him feel
sick. His mind whirled with all of the ways he could have avoided
her being shot, but it didn’t matter. She was shot and there was
nothing he could do to turn the clock back.

There was blood in her hair, presumably from
someone touching it with bloody hands, maybe even her. Her face was
clean, but he noticed a little blood on her nails. She looked pale
and fragile. He always considered her fragile, but seeing her in a
hospital bed, he worried any minute she was going to leave him. He
didn’t know what he would do if she were gone.

He wasn’t very religious, but in that moment he
sent up a prayer, promising to always stand by her side. To protect
and love her for as long as he lived, if she would just pull
through.

Owen pulled the chair as close to her as he
could. He took her hand in his, careful to not disturb the IV. He
felt like he was in a nightmare and kept hoping he would wake. It
would all be a terrible dream.

He stayed in the chair well over the fifteen
minutes. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when someone
knocked softly on the door. Lifting his head, he saw Cali’s parents
standing in the doorway. Her mom had tears in her eyes and her dad
looked like he was barely keeping it together.

Owen stood, embracing Cali’s mom in a tight hug.
She started sobbing into his shoulder and he shifted to help her
sit in the chair. Her dad bent and kissed Cali lightly on the head.
None of them said anything, just sat and stared at the hospital
bed.

A half an hour after her parents arrived, the
doctor came in. She was tall, slender and had short brown hair and
black framed glasses. “Hi, I’m Dr. Bradley,” she said, extending
her hand to each of them.

After introductions were made she spoke to Owen.
“I’m sorry, but can I please talk to Caliana’s family in
private?”

His body became rigid. He didn’t want to leave,
but knew how the privacy laws worked. According to the law he
wasn’t considered family and knew he needed to leave. He took one
step before a gentle hand gripped his arm. He looked down to see
Cali’s mom holding onto him.

“I want him to stay,” she said. “Whatever you
have to say to us, you can say to Owen. He’s her family too.” He
sagged in relief and made a mental note to thank her later.

The doctor nodded. “Caliana had a bullet wound
to her lower, left abdomen. She lost a substantial amount of blood
by the time she arrived in the emergency room. Once we assessed the
wound, we rushed her into surgery and began operating.

“The damage to her small intestine was repaired
quickly. We were pushing blood into her the entire time, replacing
what had been lost, but her vital signs started rapidly
deteriorating as we were closing. Life-saving measures were needed.
We were able to bring her back and keep her stable from that point
on.”

Looking over at her mom, Owen saw her holding a
tissue to her nose as she cried quietly. Standing behind her, with
a comforting hand on her shoulder, was Cali’s dad.

“Right now we are keeping her sedated so she
doesn’t fight the tube in her throat. Tomorrow we will wean her off
of the sedation and ventilator. We’re hoping she does well once the
sedation stops and starts to fight the tube. She isn’t out of the
woods yet. Even when she does wake, recovery will take some
time.”

No one could speak. The room was silent except
for the steady beeping of the machines. Dr. Bradley checked Cali’s
vitals and said she would return to check on her again in a little
while. She also said if they had any questions to have the nurse at
the desk outside page her.

He felt like the air had been sucked out of him,
unable to form words. The thought of her almost dying made him
lightheaded. He took a step back and sat on the windowsill. Guilt
washed over him as his body began to tremble.

After sitting with her parents for a bit, he
asked if they wanted some coffee. He needed to have Steven tell him
the entire story, then would send him home to sleep.

Stepping out of the room he saw Erik sitting in
chair to the right of the door. He didn’t notice him until Owen put
a hand on his shoulder. Owen nodded to him and Steven, who was
leaning against the wall opposite of him. Both men were to
follow.

He noticed Ethan and his mom were no longer
there, but knew they would be back. Cali was as much a part of his
family as he was a part of hers.

Walking to the cafeteria, they both gave every
detail. He couldn’t believe what had happened while he was knocked
out. He always thought Cali was brave, but standing her ground with
a gun pointed to her head was true courage.

And when Steven told him how Erik threw himself
in front of her to block the bullet, he couldn’t have been more
grateful. It solidified the decision he had been mulling over.

“Erik, I would like for you to become a
permanent part of the team. That is, if you want to. I know the
position was only temporary until we figured out who was
responsible, but you’ve proven to be someone I don’t want to lose.
A substantial pay increase would also be provided. You don’t have
to answer me now, just let me know when you decide.”

There was no hesitation when he said, “I accept.
There is nothing to think about. I will continue to protect her and
you with my life.”

Owen nodded, clapped him on the shoulder and
pulled him in for a hug. He saw that Steven was smiling over Erik’s
shoulder. Pulling back, Owen said, “We are honored to have
you.”

The men helped Owen carry the coffee and told
them both to go home and rest. He would keep them posted if there
was any change. In the room he handed the cups to Cali’s parents
and took a seat on the opposite side of the bed.

Exhaustion was evident on their faces. He placed
a call to a hotel close by and booked a room for them. A cab was
also called to meet them at the hospital lobby.

They fought about leaving, but were assured they
would only be a couple of blocks away and if her condition changed,
no matter the time, a call would be made. Finally giving in, they
thanked him and left to get some rest.

The nurses were not happy about letting Owen
stay overnight. He wasn’t leaving unless someone tried to
physically drag him out and knew no one would be able to. Every
time a nurse came in to check her vitals, he woke. The reclining
chair wasn’t the most comfortable thing, but he would sleep on the
floor if it were his only choice. He didn’t care as long as he was
close to her.

He must have fallen into a deep sleep, because a
hand shaking his arm woke him. Sitting up quickly, Ethan had to
jump out of the way to avoid having his head slammed into by
Owen’s. “Hey man, didn’t mean to startle you. Just wanted to let
you know we were here.”