An Unknown Place (20 page)

Mac

I had woken up to beeping several times. The light was too bright to open my eyes against. I feared my corneas may be burned out of my head if I opened them. So I stayed safely in the dark. I had heard murmuring around me from time to time and had no idea where I was.

Purgatory maybe. I wasn’t in hell, I knew. If I had been in hell then Richard Cintas would be torturing me again as I watched helplessly tied to a chair. I also knew I wasn’t in heaven, because if I was my friends and Kellan would be there.

The last thing I remembered was hearing a gunshot. Had the torture session with Richard even happened? Or was everything that happened a vivid nightmare?

I had vivid nightmares every night for most of the year after I’d been raped by Richard, and then on and off after that. They had always been about the night he’d violated me, but the nightmare I’d had was a torture session of a different kind. One with knives, sledgehammers, giant fish hooks and scalpels he used on me in ways I didn’t ever want to think about again but would never be able to forget. Even in the darkness I felt a sweat break out over my body and felt it move as I shook like a leaf.

Once my body had dried off and stopped shaking, I decided I didn’t want to come out of this dark place I was in. I lost consciousness and embraced where I was.

I don’t know how long I was asleep for, but I woke up to a familiar voice.

“Why won’t she wake up?”

It was Lynn and she sounded upset.

“The doctor said the mind is protecting the body and vice versa. She’s trying to heal.”

Kellan’s voice was soothing and quiet. I hadn’t realized I was tense until I heard his voice and felt his presence bring a calm to me I hadn’t known I needed.

“Yeah, but it’s been two weeks. Isn’t that long enough?”

Leave it to Lynn to be twenty-questions and expect that it’s about time I should be done with whatever I was doing. She was like the big sister I never had and didn’t know I wanted.

“She’s been through countless surgeries on her arm, foot, hand, leg...she needs time. However long it takes.”

There was desolation and determination in his words. He wanted me back, was pained by the fact I was still out, but was willing to give me whatever time I needed. I felt someone brush the hair off my face.

“God, I hope she’s okay,” Lynn said more closely now.

“Physically, she’ll need rehab.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah. I know.”

They both thought I was some fragile bird with two broken legs. I used to be. If I hadn’t found Kellan and come out of my shell a little, I would probably have been happy to stay in a padded cell for the rest of my life. But I had things to fight for now. A job I loved. A man I wouldn’t be able to survive without. I loved Kellan. Whatever love I was capable of giving was his.

“May he rot in hell. Death was too easy an end for him,” Lynn said with venom.

“If I had anything to do with it, he would burn to death, rinse and repeat.”

I assumed they were talking about Richard. And as screwed up as it was, there was comfort in the fact he wasn’t on Earth to pollute it with his poison, anger and hate. A hand weaved through mine, and I knew it was Kellan. He kissed my knuckles. I squeezed his hand. I heard a scrabble and then something drop to the ground.

“Thank God,” He said.

I must’ve caught him off guard.

Kellan

I thought seeing Mac broken and bleeding was the worst thing I’d ever seen or would see. When I’d arrived at the address I’d punched into my GPS, I had no concern for myself for the first time in a long time.

Every decision I’d made in my life had been for me, with the exception of a few I made to help my friends and family. But when I heard her scream, in the thoughts I had that she might not survive – I had no concern for myself. I focused on what needed to be done when I got to Mac.

When I swung open the door to the small warehouse, she was tied to a metal chair and covered in blood. She had one arm free, hanging limply down at her side. Richard was on his knees in front of her. I didn’t need anything else, I aimed the gun and pulled the trigger, making sure I was far enough to the side so if the bullet went all the way through Dick, it wouldn’t hit her.

In the time it took me to pull the trigger, Mac went limp and I thought I’d lost her. I ran to her, jumping over the monster bleeding out on the ground. The fucker had zip tied her bare feet, and broken them, but used rope on her hands. I got her other hand free. I took off my shirt and pressed it to the wound on her leg, since it seemed the deepest. I heard sirens distantly. I pulled my phone out and called Ethan.

“Where are you? There’s a hundred goddamned warehouses here!” He roared at me before I could say anything.

There were only about ten, in reality, but more than one was too many.

“The one at the back nearest to the water. Bring an EMT – ”

I choked on the words, tears leaking from my eyes. I stopped talking but I could hear Ethan shouting orders not hanging the phone up, as I held my hands over a gaping wound in the only woman I’d ever loved.

Ethan came in guns blazing, him and four other officers. The EMTs were following on his heels. They pulled me off Mac and asked what I knew. One of them was working on Mac and the other was checking over Richard Cintas.

“DOA,” The EMT looked at her watch and called the time, “4:52 p.m.”

The only thought I had was
Thank God
. I had looked closer at Cintas and found a gaping wound across his neck. If I hadn’t shot him he probably would’ve died anyway. There was blood everywhere. Both of their blood mixed and covered almost every available surface. I tuned in to the EMT over Mac to hear what he was saying.

“Looks like deep wounds. Arterial bleeding. Call it in. Large bore IV, vascular clamp, broken toes, numerous punctures and abrasions.”

The other EMT called it in on her radio, and the one who was working on Mac put his hands inside her leg and clamped something, then did the same with her arm. Ethan moved in to help, holding up the IV bag. In no time, there was an officer that brought the rolling gurney into the warehouse and rolled her out. I followed behind ready to hop in the ambulance with them. I wasn’t going to leave Mac by herself.

I felt a pull from my elbow. Ethan stood with a pained look on his face.

“Maybe it’s better if you stay and talked to us.”

“I can’t leave her.”

“You just killed a cop, Kel. You gotta stay.”

I kept walking, Ethan shadowing my movements.

“I killed a monster. But if you have to arrest me, go ahead…” Up ahead, they’d already shut one side of the ambulance back doors. I jumped up the stair and grabbed the open door. “After I get her to the hospital and make sure she’s okay.” I shut the ambulance door as the siren turned on.

When we reached the hospital they took Mac immediately back to the OR, asking who next of kin was. I told them I was her husband. No one disputed it, or looked for a ring on my finger or hers. But once she was in the OR, I couldn’t do anything.

Ethan found me in the waiting room and took me in to the station. The bastard. I had to produce my CCW permit to prove I wasn’t a gun wielding lunatic. Ethan had been there when I’d gotten my permit, so I didn’t see the point but I knew what a stickler for rules he was. After I was put into an interview room some other plain clothes detective came in and asked me what happened. I told him everything I knew exactly how it happened. Then the douche had the nerve to ask me about my family. I shut down and asked for a lawyer. I protected mine.

Apparently my right to counsel wasn’t clear enough for this detective. I could get everything thrown out of court past that point because he didn’t stop asking me questions after I asked for an attorney. I could’ve told him everything I knew about my family’s business, which wasn’t much, and he couldn’t have done anything about it. Dumbass.

I was released a few hours later. My attorney had shown up and bonded me out. He said it was self defense and they wouldn’t have anything to go on. I didn’t really care. I had him drop me off at the hospital and I stayed by Mac’s side, only leaving to grab something to eat or go to the bathroom.

It’d been almost two weeks and Mac still hadn’t woken up. I had called in a few favors and had surrounded Mac with the best doctors around and they all said the same thing: she was recovering beautifully from the numerous surgeries, she would need quite a bit of physical therapy, she’d come out of her “self-imposed coma” on her own time. I just wanted to hear her laugh, to see her smile, or cry, or yell, anything. I just needed her to be okay.

Lynn and Cam had flown in from Vegas, taking turns being in the room with me at least twice a day. I think they were waiting for me to crack. I had come close a couple of times and was thankful they’d taken the time off to be there with her and, by proxy, me.

Lynn had come shortly after I’d woken up. She was asking more questions. Ones she had asked before but I guess she just needed to be reminded of the answers again. Drove me nuts but it was better than being alone in my head.

My mom had come into town to make sure we were okay and had done non-stop cleaning and cooking at the house. She brought clean clothes and meals for me every day. She also brought Mac food but Mac hadn’t woken up to eat anything yet.

There was an endless stream of people in and out of Mac’s room, her and me the only constants.

As Lynn and I had been talking about Richard and how we hoped he was rotting in hell, Mac squeezed my hand. It was such a small thing, but it’s the small things that fill us with hope. I shot to my feet, knocking my chair over but still holding her hand. I leaned down to her ear and whispered.

“Baby, please wake up.
Please
. Open your eyes.”

Her eyes fluttered and I knew she was trying. I dropped to my knees still holding on to her. I was unable to let go of her hand or to look away from her face.

Lynn squeezed my shoulder.

“Give me a call when she wakes up.”

I didn’t know if she was trying to give me a moment alone with Mac or if she thought I was full of shit about her waking up – either way I could care less. I just wanted Mac to open her eyes.

I sat watching her eyes flutter and a sweat break out on her brow, when her eyelids finally lifted an hour later. She was awake and I felt my heart beat again for the first time in weeks.

Mac

After Kellan had pleaded into my ear, I knew it was time to give up the dark. I fought for a while to get my eyes open, they just hadn’t been interested in listening. My eyes finally opened and I looked around. They hurt and I had to squint against the abrasive overhead lighting but I kept them open. Kellan came into view over my bed. He looked like an angel. I smiled sleepily.

“There you are,” Kellan said.

“Here I am,” My voice scratched.

Kellan brushed my hair behind my ears and kissed me. I had a split second of worry about him kissing me with my teeth not being brushed in god knew how long and the last thing I ate being Mexican, but the moment passed quickly with each stroke of his lips. He was being gentle. I ran my hand, the one that was half in a cast, in the hair at his nape. My other arm I couldn’t even move. But I still felt more alive in that moment than I had before I’d met Kellan.

Nurses rushed into the room as Kellan finished kissing me senseless, not that I had a ton of sense to me having been out of it for two weeks.

“You’re awake!” A little nurse screeched. Kellan leaned back and smiled at me.

The nurse couldn’t have been more than twenty five years old. She was a thin little thing and seemed genuinely happy I was awake.

“Just like Sleeping Beauty,” Kellan said.

I could actually see the Disney fantasy in her eyes and didn’t want to ruin the story she would tell to everyone she knew.

“How romantic. I could tell something was going on because your monitors went nuts,” The nurse said.

“Can you give us a second?” Kellan asked her.

“Sure, of course. I’ll page Doctor Perks, it’ll give you a few minutes.”

“Thanks Becca.”

The nurse left the room and Kellan locked the door. I was nervous.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” He said.

“You realize I didn’t have control over pretty much anything, right?”

Kellan brought the chair back up and sat back down next to me. He dropped his head into his hands and he scratched at his scalp. He wasn’t looking at me.

“Will you move here? Be with me?”

I realized he must’ve been terrified to ask me those questions before I’d been abducted. Was there anything holding me back from saying yes?

I had friends and family back in Vegas, but my heart was always with Kellan. I had meant to keep the promise I made to be as honest as I could if I made it through and I had, mostly.

“Where am I going to stay?”

It was the natural question. We had taken some steps at trying to be serious in our relationship, but I didn’t know if all of those things still held true. I would also need some help for a while. I could now feel the extent of my injuries. One arm only moved a little bit and the other had a cast. I couldn’t wiggle my toes. Not to mention the leg he’d sliced into felt like it had been cut into tiny pieces, which was about right.