Catching Summer (18 page)

“Summer,” I shouted, pounding on her door. She hadn’t answered her phone in hours and when I’d checked the restaurant she was gone, but I’d spotted Philip’s car just down the road from her house. If that fucker had done anything to her, I was going to kill him. “Summer!” I was about to kick her door down when it opened. “Thank fucking God,” I growled, stepping closer.

But it wasn’t Summer standing on the other side. It was Philip, with an evil leer. “It’s good to see you again, Mr. Townsend.”

Anger boiled in my veins and I pushed past him. “Fuck that. Where’s Summer? If you’ve touched her in any way, I’m going to rip off your goddamned head.”

“Even if that means losing your football career?” he taunted.

“I’d risk anything for her.”

He stepped closer, his nostrils flaring. “So would I.”

He was blocking the way to the stairs, but if I couldn’t get Summer to answer me, I was going to plow right through him to find her. “Summer!” I shouted.

Philip sighed and rolled his eyes. “She’s not going to hear you; I drugged her. It’s all part of the plan. However, I have to say I’m disappointed. You showed up before I could have some fun.”

“You son of a bitch.” Fists clenched, I growled and stepped forward. “What did you do to her? Were you planning on killing her like you did Emery?” His eyes grew wide. “Yeah, I know all about that. I also know about the money you bribed Levi with to attack me on the field. And worst of all, getting Peter Trazinsky to run me off the road. I hope you enjoy being ass-raped, because that’s what you’re going to get when you go to jail.”

His nostrils flared again. “It’s a good thing I don’t plan on sticking around.”

I stalked closer, ready to fight. “You’re not going anywhere. Even if I have to kill you myself.”

“Not if I kill you first.”

“Stop!”
For a split second, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Summer was okay. With a murderous glare in her eyes, she held a gun in her hands, pointing it straight at Philip’s head.

“If you so much as move, I’ll put a bullet in your head,” I snarled, glaring at Philip.

He lifted his hands in the air. I could see a syringe still clutched in his hands. Evan wanted to come to me, but Philip blocked his way. The tension was thick, and I knew he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

“How?” Philip asked.

I scoffed. “You must really think I’m stupid. It wasn’t hard to figure out when I saw you put something in my tea. You’re a murderer, a liar. I hope you burn in hell.”

“Did he touch you?” Evan growled.

My jaw tensed and Philip bellowed, “I did more than touch her. She sure does taste sweet, doesn’t she?”

The energy in the air crackled like fire and there was nothing I could do to tame it. Evan lunged for Philip’s legs and they went down to the floor, breaking everything in their path. “Dammit,” I growled, rushing down the stairs. “Look out, Evan! There’s something in his hand.”

Evan fumbled back and Philip elbowed him in the nose, gaining the seconds he needed to get off the floor. He charged after me. Before I could rush up the steps, he grabbed my ankle. I screamed as he pulled me down. The breath whooshed out of my lungs and my vision blurred when my head smacked against the hardwood floor.

With a viselike grip, I held the gun and refused to let go. After that, everything happened so fast. Evan grabbed Philip around the neck, but Philip was still able to slam my wrist against the floor, bones cracking with the impact. I cried out in pain and lost hold of the gun. Philip grabbed it, but it slid across the floor when Evan punched him in the ribs. Sounds of fists hitting flesh and growls of anger were all I could hear. The pain in my wrist radiated up my arm, making my eyes tear, but I wiped them away and got to my feet. The guys grappled on the floor, and I couldn’t tell who had the advantage since both of them had a hand on the gun. But that wasn’t my concern. On the floor, beside my broken coffee table, lay Philip’s syringe. As fast as I could, I lunged for it, carefully picking it up off the floor. Unfortunately, events had come to a standstill.

Wiping the blood from his nose with one hand, Philip held the gun in the other, pointing it straight at Evan. “This is where it ends, Townsend. You see, I always get what I want in the end.”

“Philip, don’t,” I begged, stumbling forward.

Evan tried to reach for me, but Philip grabbed me first and jerked me into his arms. “Sorry, my love, but as long as he’s alive you won’t have a place for me.”

“Let her go,” Evan demanded. “She’s not going to love you if you kill me.” He had a gun pointed at his head but his focus was on me. There were so many things I wanted to tell him, and I hoped to hell I’d have a chance to say them.

Philip chuckled. “Yes, she will. She won’t have a choice.”

His bruising grip held me tight across the neck and I could barely breathe. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the syringe in my hand and unscrewed the top as gently as I could. I’d been a nurse for years and knew exactly how to administer a shot with one hand. Leaning close to my ear, Philip’s hot breath fanned down my neck, making me cringe in disgust.

“This would’ve been easier if you’d just fallen in love with me.” With his finger on the trigger, I knew this was the time to act. “When you see his bleeding corpse, just remember it all could’ve been different.”

The syringe cap fell to the floor. “You’re right…it could’ve been. But now it’s over.” As hard as I could, I jammed the syringe into his thigh, pushing in every ounce of liquid inside the vial. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop him from pulling the trigger.

Clutching my neck, Philip grunted and pulled me down to the floor, but luckily Evan was there to catch me. Picking me up in his arms, he carried me across the room away from Philip, but still where we could see him. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the sound of sirens in the distance.

Holding me tightly, Evan kissed me hard and held me to his chest. “Thank fucking God, I got here in time. Are you okay?”

I looked over at Philip, who was convulsing on the floor, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Tears filled my eyes and my body shook. “I’m fine, I promise. I wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t shown up when you did. You saved me from a fate I don’t even want to think about.”

“What did he do to you?”

Swallowing hard, I could still feel Philip’s hands on my body. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. I’m just glad it’s over. Whatever he had in that syringe worked.” If he had succeeded in his plan, I would’ve rather been dead. Thank God I didn’t have to worry about that, but for a moment there I’d thought my life and Evan’s were over.

“I guess he made the wrong choice then,” he murmured, pointing down at the gun.

I peered up at him. “What do you mean?”

“There were no bullets. If he’d chosen the syringe, I don’t know if I’d be here right now. Did you know the gun wasn’t loaded?”

“I did. I was hoping my bluff would make him back down.” It was a gamble, but I’d been desperate.

Taking my face in his hands, he rested his forehead on mine. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here earlier. When I couldn’t get in touch with you, I knew something was wrong. The thought of him—”

“Stop,” I whispered across his lips. “I’m okay. It’s over.” Looking over at Philip, I held Evan close. “Or at least I hope it is.”

“Out of all the nights Grayson and I could’ve taken off, it had to be the one when you’re attacked,” Lara cried, lying over me. I’d been at the hospital for three hours and neither Grayson nor I could get her to stop crying.

I patted her head. “I think
you
should be the one in this hospital bed. Clearly, you’re the one who needs help.”

She snorted and sat up. “How can you be so calm? You have a broken wrist and could’ve easily ended up dead.”

“But I’m here and I’ll get through it. My wrist doesn’t hurt…much.”

Evan came to my other side. “We need to see if they can give you some pain meds.” Pain meds would be nice, but I didn’t want to be in a fog.

“When will we find out the test results and what’s going on?” Grayson asked from across the room.

Evan tensed and huffed through his nose while Lara began to cry again. The doctors wanted to be sure I hadn’t been raped during the time Philip had succeeded in sedating me. I knew my own body and tried to tell them nothing had happened, but they wanted to be sure. It left doubt in Evan’s mind. He was tense and on edge.

“Hopefully soon. I’m ready to get out of here,” I replied.

While we waited, I made Evan climb up on the bed and hold me. After everything that had happened, I needed his touch. I wanted to erase all memories of Philip’s hands on me. Grayson eventually left to check on the restaurant while Lara lay snuggled up in the recliner, half passed out. Our parents were on their way down from Virginia, but they still had a five-hour drive ahead of them. I was on the verge of falling asleep when the door opened and Dr. Scott strolled in.

Evan hopped off the bed, but stayed close and held my hand. My heart began to race, especially when I saw the expression on her face. “What’s wrong?” I asked her.

Sighing, she looked down at the file in her hand. “Honestly, I don’t know how you’ve handled this so well. Coming from a friend and not just your doctor, I have to say you’ve grown a set of balls. After everything you’d been through with your husband and now this…” A tear escaped her eye and she wiped it away. She cleared her throat and continued, “Sorry, didn’t mean to choke up there.”

“First and foremost, do you have my test results? They,” I began, flourishing my hand at Evan and Lara, “need to know that I wasn’t raped. They need to hear it from someone other than me.”

Angel glanced back and forth at them both. “She wasn’t violated.”

Evan squeezed my hand and instantly relaxed, while Lara squealed, “Thank God for that. I was going to find his room and cut off his dick if he had.”

Angel cleared her throat. “That wouldn’t be possible anyway.”

This time it was I who tensed and felt sick. “Why is that?” I asked, swallowing hard.

Blowing out a tired breath, Angel closed her eyes. “He’s dead. The syringe that you stuck him with contained a lethal dose of heroin. Judging by your police statement, I assume Dr. Parker was going to use it to kill Evan. He was also probably the one who killed Peter Trazinsky after he ran Evan and the others off the road.”

I put a hand over my mouth, covering a gasp. “Oh my God, I killed him.” I was prepared to do whatever it took to keep Evan safe, but I never realized how tormented I would feel to know I’d taken a life. My heart monitor skyrocketed out of control.

Evan grasped my face and turned me to look at him. “Sunshine, calm down. You didn’t know what was in the syringe. He deserved what he got. Don’t ever feel guilty for that. If this didn’t end with you, then he would’ve done it to someone else. He’s killed people, Summer.”

A tear fell down my cheek. “He was my friend. I trusted him.”

“And that’s what makes this difficult. But now he can’t hurt anyone else.”

“Unfortunately, I have to add to the situation,” Angel pointed out. We all looked up at her, waiting. “When we ran his blood tests, we found not only heroin, but high doses of a fertility drug that’s mainly found in Brazil. It’s most often given to men to significantly increase their sperm count.”

I clutched my stomach, swallowing down the bile. “I saw him inject a vial of something into his arm when he spiked my tea. It all makes sense.”

“What does?” Evan asked. They all looked at me for the answer.

“Before, Philip had told me about him wanting kids and how his wife could never get pregnant. Tonight when he thought I was asleep, he said he couldn’t wait to get me pregnant and to get Evan out of the way so we could be a family.”

“Which is why you had traces of another fertility drug in your system as well,” Angel added. “I assume he wanted to up his chances on getting you pregnant.”

“That son of a bitch,” Evan growled. “That fucker better be glad he’s dead.”

“What happens now?” I asked her.

“Well,” she said, coming to my side. “You’re not going to be in any trouble for trying to save your own life and Evan’s. Frankly I’m glad Dr. Parker’s gone, because if he wasn’t I’m afraid he would’ve made your lives a living hell, at least for nine months.”

“Why is that?”

Her lips pulled back into a grin. “He would’ve tried to claim your baby as his, even though he never slept with you. Now he can’t.” Mouth gaping open, I stared at her in shock. Even Lara and Evan were speechless. Angel chuckled. “Do you understand what I just said?”

I glanced up at Evan and then back to her. “I’m not sure. Can you repeat it?”

She brightened. “I said that you’re pregnant. When I examined you, I had a feeling then, but I wanted to get your blood tests back first to confirm. You’re only about three weeks along. As soon as you’re ready, I’m going to release you so you can get home and rest. You’re going to need it. Just make sure to make an appointment with your gynecologist first thing.”

“Oh my God,” I cried.

Angel smiled and started for the door. “While you’re processing all of this, I’ll give you some privacy. I’m sure you and Mr. Townsend have a lot to discuss.”

Lara cried even more and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I’m going to be an aunt. This is amazing. I’m so happy for you, sis.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I nodded and wiped away my tears. “Do you mind giving Evan and me a minute?” She nodded and scurried out the door, shutting it behind her.

Evan sat down on the bed and pulled me into his arms. “I can’t believe this. I’m going to be a father,” he murmured. I listened to his racing heart and breathed him in.

“You’re not upset?” I asked, peering up into his eyes.

He brushed the hair off my face with a gentle touch of his finger. “Hell, no. We both knew the risks with what we were doing.” Placing a hand on my stomach, he leaned down and kissed my belly. “I’m ready for this if you are.”

“I sure hope so. Because there’s no way I can handle a boy if he’s going to act like you.”

Chuckling, he kissed me hard, smiling widely. “And there’s no way in hell I could handle a little girl like you, especially if she gets your looks. I’ll be sitting on the front porch with a shotgun every time her boyfriends come over.”

I could see it all in my mind and I laughed. “Does this mean you see a future with me?” I asked softly.

Kissing me gently, he pressed his forehead against mine and looked into my eyes. “I don’t just see my future when I look at you. I see my whole world. I would give up anything and everything to be with you. Just tell me you feel the same way.”

“Hmm, I don’t know if I could give up everything. I kind of like my chocolate. Can we compromise and let me have you
and
chocolate?” I teased with a wide grin.

He shook his head, laughing. “Anything for you. I love you.”

“I love you, too…always.”