His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) (12 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Kade sat at the small table in the café across the street from the hospital, and beside him, but not close, sat Krista with her elbow on the table and her head resting in her hand. She continued to look down at the table, while she stirred her coffee that she hadn’t added a thing to. The nurse had met with them in the small hospital room and informed them that some of the tests were taking longer than expected, and she would let them know something as soon as possible. Now he was sitting with Krista, waiting. She looked small, so defeated, and so damn sad. He was at a loss. He didn’t know what to do or what to say to her, what he could do to make her feel better. He didn’t know a damn thing. And. He. Fuckin.’ Hated. It! He reached out to touch her and watched her move her arm away. His heart dropped. Just that little movement of her arm away from him felt like a knife shoved into his heart. Then she finally looked up at him.

“Why are you here?” She really didn’t know why he’d come here? Kade was just stunned she could ask him that question.

“When I heard that a 911 call had been sent out to your street, and there was a transport by ambulance for an unconscious patient and you hadn’t answered your phone, I was worried something had happened to you. I got here as fast I could.”

“Wow.” That was all Krista could think of to say.

“What?” He was confused. Did she really think he wouldn’t have been worried about her? Just her not answering her phone sent him into panic mode.

“You said all that without the use of even one curse word.” He tried to smile at her response, but it felt a little off. It wasn’t what she said, it was the way in which she said it. She didn’t sound like herself at all. Her face was blank and her voice was flat, devoid of any emotion. What happened to his Krista? Did he do this to her? Was she that worried about Mrs. Worley, a woman she couldn’t have known longer than six months? How could she feel that deeply for someone she hadn’t even known a year? Then it hit him…he’d only known Krista for just over a week now, and he was falling for her and falling hard and fast.

“Baby, look at me,” he whispered to her as he leaned on the table toward her. She turned and looked at him, but, again, her eyes were blank and flat. “Talk to me,” he damn near begged. He would if he had to. To get his Krista back, he would drop to his knees right here in this little café, and beg her.

“I don’t…I can’t…I…” Krista shuddered and dropped her head. When he placed his hand under her chin to lift her head, she didn’t jerk away. He lifted her up until he saw her eyes. They were no longer void of emotion. They were filled with so much pain that it leaked out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks. A pained look that was so fuckin’ deep it was impossible to fathom the true depths.

“Baby.” He choked up, his heart breaking for her.

“I can’t watch someone else I love die, not again. I can’t!” she cried out, then dissolved right into him as the tears and pain racked her body. He brought her over into his lap and held her tight to his chest. He just held her while she cried and cried. He never knew someone who could cry so damn much over a loss, especially a loss that was some time ago. When he felt the wetness of her tears soak into his shirt, he moved. He’d never liked little café chairs, but for once, he was glad to be sitting in one of those little chairs which barely held his ass. Grabbing his wallet, he pulled out a few bills, and threw them on the table before he walked out the door, carrying Krista tightly to his chest. Reaching his truck, he unlocked the door and helped her inside before he got in after her. He turned in his seat, tucked her back to his chest and just held her. Had she watched someone else die? Her mom? Her dad? Both? He had to know, and she had to let some of this pain go, pain that had been eating away at her for years. He continued to hold her, murmuring softly, until she finally, finally, stopped crying.

“Baby, I know the timing is for shit, but can you tell me what happened to your mom?” he spoke softly. So softly, he almost hoped she didn’t hear him. Bu, when her whole body tensed up, he knew she had. She sat quietly for a while, so long, he didn’t think she would even answer. He wouldn’t push her. At least, not right now. Then he heard and felt her taking a deep breath.

“She was killed in front of me, and I couldn’t do anything to save her.” Krista sounded so sad and defeated. He held her just a little bit tighter, trying to lend her his strength. He knew her mom had died, but killed in front of her, and she was only fourteen? He remembered her telling him that her mom had died when she was fourteen. Fuck! He wanted to scream, wanted to go back in time to save her and to save her mom.

“Will you tell me what happened?” He knew he didn’t want to hear what this beautiful woman had been through when she was only a little girl, but he also knew he had to know. He had to somehow find a way to help her, and if he couldn’t help her himself, he would find someone who could. If it took every damn cent he had, he would do whatever it took to un-break this broken soul. That was when he heard her take a deep breath, and he mentally braced for what was to come next, but she just held that breath in…and held…and held…and then he heard her blow it slowly out, and he knew then, that it was bad. Real fuckin’ bad.

“My dad had to go out of town. I can’t remember why, or if I ever even knew why. I just knew he was gone for few days and then it was the day he was coming home. I had school that day, but I begged and begged my mom to pick me up early so we could make a special dinner for dad when he got home. She didn’t like me missing school, especially with me being sick so often that I’d already missed a lot. But, I begged until she gave in. Said she would only work half a day and then would pick me up and we could go by the store and pick out what we wanted to fix. So, she did. We were fixing roast, with all the extras and apple pie too. All of his favorites. We were at home at a time when we shouldn’t have been, wouldn’t have been, if it wasn’t for me.

“Two men broke into the house. I’m not sure why, and cops never really found out the why, but one of them grabbed my mom and held a knife to her neck. The other one grabbed me, trying to drag me from the kitchen. I heard my mom start screaming and I managed to jerk away, and I ran to my mom, but the one who held her pushed the knife into her neck and kept shouting ‘shut up, shut up.’ I froze at the sight of my mom’s blood running down her neck. It wasn’t a lot of blood, but still it scared me and my mom too, because she stopped screaming. The other guy grabbed me again, but this time, I fought him, or I tried to, until the one who was holding my mom said, ‘little girl, watch this,’ and when I looked back at him, he sunk the knife into my mom’s neck, and then dragged it across. I looked into my mom’s eyes and watched as the life leaked out of them, as the blood ran out of her neck. When the one who was holding her let her go, her body dropped to the floor and she was gone, and I just stood there, couldn’t move, and I don’t know if I even tried. I just stood staring down at my mom’s body. Then the one holding me laughed. He laughed and laughed and then jerked me around and ripped my dress down the middle and then…and then he…he—” She never once looked at him as she told him of her fuckin’ nightmare.

“Stop, baby.” Kade was begging her, whispering into her hair while he held onto her. He knew the ‘and then’ part, he knew what had happened to her. “You blame yourself for what happened to your mom?” He stated it like a question, but he already knew the answer.

“It was my fault. And, my dad thought so too,” she whispered this last part, her heart breaking as she remembered. Kade could feel the pain and guilt seeping out of her pores, it was so thick in her words.

“Your dad tell you that?” There was no way the same man she’d talked about before, the one reading fuckin’ Romeo and Juliet to a child, could ever blame that child for something so absolutely horrible.

“No, he never said it, but he changed. Everything changed after that. He was not my same dad, ever again.” More tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

“Krista, baby, look at me, sweetheart,” Kade spoke softly and waited until she looked up at him. “What happened to your mom, what happened to you...” He shook his head. “Not your fault.” When she dropped her head, he nudged it back up to look at him again. “That man you told me about, reading Romeo and Juliet to a child, changing his voice to make you smile, to make your mom smile.” He shook his head again, thinking of it all. “No, baby, that man could never blame that child. All you wanted to do was something nice for him, something sweet for him. What happened was fucked. It was completely fucked-up, and should in no way, ever have happened.” He dipped his chin to meet her eyes when she started to look down once more. “Sweetheart, what happened to his wife. To his only child. His little girl. Baby, that broke him. It would any man, not being there to protect what was his. Yeah, baby, he changed, because he had no other way, but that man who loved his daughter would never blame her. Himself, yeah. His little girl? No fuckin’ way.” He leaned in, kissed her forehead, and with his lips still pressed to her, he whispered softly, “Believe me, baby, and know that’s the truth.” Then he kissed her again.

Chapter Eighteen

Krista sat in the waiting room of the hospital with Kade at her side, his arm around her shoulder, her head resting on him. Still waiting…waiting for Lance and Marissa to finish going over everything with the doctors so far. Waiting for more doctors to come back with more test results. Waiting to see how Mrs. Worley was doing from Mrs. Worley herself. But most of all, Krista was waiting to see what Kade would do, or not do. Could what he said be true? ‘Could my dad have been so broken that he just couldn’t be my dad again? Did he really not blame me, but blame himself for not being there to protect us?’ she silently questioned.

“Kris.” She heard her name and looked up to see Lance heading her way. She stood about the same time Lance made it to her, and he walked right up to her, grabbed her up, hugging her tightly to him. “Thank you,” Lance whispered into her hair, his voice full of emotion.

“What?” She heard what he said, but didn’t think she heard him right. Did he thank her? For what? Lance stepped back and ran his hands down her arms to her hands, and held one in each of his.

“Thank you. You saved her life. The doctors said it was her sugar. Her blood sugar got too low and caused her to pass out. If not for you finding her when you did…” Lance shook his head. “They don’t know if we would have her with us now.” He finished on a sad but relieved smile.

“How is she doing? Have you seen her? What did the doctors say? Can I see her?” Krista fired off question after question without giving anyone the chance to answer. She felt Kade at her back and he whispered to her softly.

“Baby.” That one word was all Kade said as he wrapped his arms around her. She leaned back into him, took a breath and started over, more calmly.

“Sorry. Have you seen her yet?” Krista sounded calm but anxious at the same time.

“No, but she should be back in her room anytime now. Marissa is there now and she said she would text me as soon as Mom was brought back into her room.” Lance explained what was going on and with a small smile at her, he assured her further. “Yes, of course, you can see her anytime you want. You’re part of the family,” he told Krista and she felt that acceptance down to her soul. Family.

“Thank you,” she whispered, choking up.

“The doctors said that barring any other complications, she should be just fine, but they’re going to keep her for a few days to make sure her sugar is regulated, just to be on the safe side. After that, she should be able to come home.” Krista was so relieved. She stepped out of Kade’s hold, and hugged Lance again.

“I’m so glad she’s going to be okay,” Krista said while giving Lance one last squeeze, then stepped back, only to feel Kade’s arms immediately wrap back around her.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Lance asked her, and she felt Kade’s arms tighten just a little.

“Uh…I’d like to see Mrs. Worley. I mean, if that’s okay?” Krista answered back, still a little unsure of herself and where she stood.

“Yes, of course, it will be okay for you to see her. I think Mom would be disappointed if you didn’t. But, what I meant was, Marissa and I would like to take you out to lunch. We’ve been talking, and there are a few things we would like to run by you, get your opinion on.” Lance explained his plans to her.

“Oh. Okay. Um, sure, yeah, that will be okay.” Krista was still unsure of what they wanted her opinion about and it showed in her voice.

“Great.” Lance smiled big at her. “Marissa hasn’t eaten anything since early this morning, and she’s been too upset to eat ever since you called us, so I’m going to walk over to the café.” He nodded his head in the general direction and then looked back at her. “Can I get anything for either of you?” Lance looked from Kade to Krista.

“No,” Kade replied with the one word, rather curtly, before Krista jumped in.

“No, but, thank you.” After Lance left for the café, Krista turned her attention back to Kade. “Aren’t you supposed to be working today?” she questioned. He pulled her close into his chest, laying his cheek on the top of her head.

“Fuck, baby, I’m sorry,” he whispered back to her.

“Sorry for having to work?” she asked, and he could hear the confusion in her voice. He stepped back so he could look down at her face, when she looked up at him.

“I’m sorry for being a dick to you. You didn’t deserve it, and baby, you gotta know how fuckin’ sorry I am about that.”

“I know, you said that earlier, but you also left my house to go to work, and you said it was some stuff going on, so…” She let her voice drift off on the last word. Kade stood there, slightly confused. She wasn’t mad at him? Did she forgive him and really just wanted to know if he needed to get back to work?

“Baby?” He used the one word to ask every question. But, what was the question? Did she hate him? Could they move past this? Fuck, he didn’t know what he would do if she said no.

“Kade.” She still didn’t call him ‘Irish’ and he felt it like a punch in the gut. “Yes, you were a jerk. No, I didn’t deserve to be spoken to, or dismissed, like you did. But, I also get that you’re a cop, and that’s important to you, so if you need to go back to work, I get that too.” She didn’t sound pissed, but she didn’t smile at him either, and fuck, he missed that smile. But, her calling him ‘Kade.’ Yeah, he fuckin’ did not like that at all.

“Krista, I’m not leaving you here.” He was going to get his Krista back. He was going to make up for all he had messed up. He wasn’t sure how yet, but, right at this moment, he would give his left nut just to hear her call him ‘Irish’ again.

“I’m fine. Mrs. Worley is going to be okay, and I’m going to go see her, and stay until they kick me out. Then, I’ll probably just go home.”