Love, Unwanted (Discovering Love #3) (16 page)

Her heels come toward me once again. I’m still having trouble breathing, but I have to gather as much strength as possible if I want a chance to get out of here.

Before she can grab on to me again, I sit up quickly and punch her in the face. She stumbles back and cries louder when more blood pours from her lip and nose.

Now that she isn’t paying attention to me, I jump to my feet and hit her again. I wrap my hands around her neck. I don’t choke her as tight as she choked me. I don’t want her to die. That would be too easy. I want to expose her as the piece of shit human being she is, and I want to see her spend the rest of her life behind bars.

I walk her back until she’s pinned against the wall. “It’s over, Marcy,” I say, but I spoke too soon.

Not two minutes later, I hear the second voice say, “What the fuck is going on here?”

Before I can let her go and turn around to finally reveal the identity of the man who wants me dead, I’m struck in the back of the head and the darkness sweeps me under once again.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

He Has To Be A Dream

If I thought I hurt my head before, it’s nothing compared to the agony vibrating through my skull now when I wake the second time since being taken.

Just like last time, I want to move my hands to the back of my head, but this time I can’t. It takes my mind a few seconds to fight through the pain and realize why. My hands are tied above my head and I’m suspended from an old barn ceiling. Like my hands, my feet are tied, but they’re anchored to the ground.

“I can’t believe you almost let her get away,” the male voice growls.

“She’s a fucking librarian. How was I supposed to know she could fight like that?”

“She shouldn’t have had the chance to fight, you idiot. The instructions were for you to go get her. We both would have been screwed if she had gotten away.”

“I’m not an idiot. You think I don’t know what would happen? I do, which is why I didn’t want to even do this in the first place. This was your idea so you could continue getting your precious money.”

“You may have not wanted to do it, but you’re fucking here now, sweetheart, and if you think you’re leaving now, I’ll put you in the grave right next to that bitch.”

Marcy is silent after that ominous threat, and I can’t blame her. It’s clear from the tone of his voice that he’s serious about what he said.

I look around the cold, dark barn, but I can’t see where they are just yet. My last hope is to get free from these ropes before they come back in and run. I believe I was in a house before, but if I could get out of this barn, I could run into the night and hopefully hide until I have a chance to go find help.

As soon as I start pulling on the ropes, though, I run out of time. “Well, look who’s awake, Marcy—your best friend.” I look up from the ropes tied around my ankle and finally come face to face with the man who wants to end me.

Mick?

I understand Marcy’s reasoning for wanting me dead. It’s bloody insane, but I understand it. For the life of me, though, I can’t figure out why Phoenix’s manager would want me dead. He stands in front of me.

“Why?”

“It’s nothing personal, honey.” He laughs. “You were a distraction for Phoenix, one I couldn’t afford. And, well,” he pauses to look back at Marcy, who’s standing off to the side, staring at us. I’ve noticed her sadistic smile is gone. Now she just looks…unsure. “You know why she’s here.”

“I don’t understand. I’ve never done anything to you,” I yell, but I regret it because the pain in my head makes its presence known once again. I can’t help it. I was determined before, but now I’m just angry. I’m about to lose my life at the hands of these crazy people and I have no idea why.

“You know it wouldn’t have come this far if you had just listened to the letter. You had your chance to leave, but you continued to be ignorant and ignore all the warnings and all the chances I gave you. Well, I’m sorry. I’ve been Phoenix’s manager from day one, his money is my money, and I would sooner die than let you take that away from me.”

It comes as no surprise to me that he was the one to give me that letter. What I don’t comprehend is why he thinks I would want to take Phoenix’s money.

“I don’t want his money. I’ve never wanted his money. I’ve only wanted him. You don’t have to do this,” I plead.

I close my mouth as soon as Mick looks me in the eyes and smiles. I briefly close my eyes when he pulls out a handgun from the back of his jeans. “Like I said, it’s nothing personal, but you are a distraction. Since you entered his life, he doesn’t want to do shows, he doesn’t want to make as many appearances. All of his time is taken with you. Time is money, and I’m losing it. I’ve worked too hard for that.”

Any hope I had is gone. It doesn’t matter what I say. These two came here with one thing to accomplish and they aren’t leaving this barn until I’m dead. So, with nothing else to do, I speak the truth.

“It doesn’t matter what you do to me. Phoenix hasn’t wanted to do shows because
he
doesn’t want to. It has nothing to do with me. People like you and her,” I look at Marcy, “use him and make him feel like he’s worth only the amount of money he makes.” Marcy turns away from me like she can’t stand to hear the truth.

I look back at Mick and finish what I am saying. “So go ahead and kill me. It won’t change anything. Phoenix is still going to be sick of that lifestyle, and one day he’ll see you for who you really are.”

My words trigger anger in him. His whole relaxed, blasé attitude flies out the window the moment I finish speaking. I wait for his response, but he doesn’t give one. His face just gets redder and redder and I can only assume my words are replaying in his mind.

I suck in a breath when he aims the gun at my head. “I think you’ve said enough.”

I squeeze my eyes closed when I see his finger squeeze the trigger. There’s a loud crash that follows, but it doesn’t come from the gun.

My eyes shoot open when I feel a burst of cold air. I have to be seeing things. I’m dead or dying and my mind is concocting this image.

I don’t know what’s happening, but I refuse to believe Phoenix just crashed through that barn door. It’s easier to believe he’s a figment of my imagination when the whole room pauses. No one says anything. Not even him. I watch as he surveys everything.

He looks at Marcy and takes in her busted up face. His eyes go to Mick and the gun and last his eyes come to me. I watch as he looks at my hands and feet. I see the pain written on his face when he looks at my bruised and battered face.

It’s that pain in his eyes that tells me this is real, he’s really here. For the first time since waking up tied up in this barn, a tiny flicker of faith ignites inside of me.

I don’t think he understands right away what’s happening because his eyes bounce around the barn again at all of us, but when he looks at Mick the third time, he gets it. He knows what’s happening, and I swear I see fire in his eyes.

He never says anything. Instead he releases a loud roar and takes off running full speed at Mick. I scream, “No!” when I see Mick turn the gun and point it at Phoenix, but he pulls the trigger too late.

Once Phoenix reaches Mick, he grabs the arm holding the gun and pushes it upward, sending the bullet Mick fires through the roof. I pull in a relieved, shaky breath when I see Phoenix is not hurt.

They both struggle to get control of the other, but before Mick can aim the gun back at Phoenix, Phoenix lands a punch to his face and the gun falls and skids across the floor.

Mick stops to look at the gun, but Phoenix doesn’t waste any more time. “You son of a bitch! How could you do this? You’re sick,” he screams as he continues to deliver blow after blow.

“I was doing it for you, Phoenix! I’m doing this for the band. You think that whore really cares about you? No. I was trying to protect you!” Mick sputters out through the blood pouring out of his mouth.

“You’re crazy,” Phoenix says in disbelief. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” He rears his fist back to land another hit to Mick’s face, but the sound of the gun going off makes all of us stop.

In the commotion, we all forgot about Marcy. I was so engrossed in watching Phoenix I didn’t see her grab the gun nor walk toward me and aim it at me. “Marcy! What the hell are you doing?” Phoenix asks after seeing her and throwing Mick to the floor.

“I’m doing what I should have done a long time ago,” she says. “We belong together and I’m sick of her keeping us apart.” When she shakes the gun at me, I can’t help the whimper that escapes me.

“What are you saying?” Phoenix asks. He’s in shock. It’s written all over his face. He’s feeling exactly how I felt a moment ago, completely and utterly confused.

“I’m saying I know you love me!” she screams as desperate tears cascade down her face. “I know you love me and we can be together now. You don’t have to hide your feelings anymore. I’m going to get rid of her for us and we can be together.” She smiles.

“No,” Phoenix says sternly.

“What?”

“I said no, Marcy. I don’t love you. I love Caroline.”

I love Caroline.

I love Caroline.

Even in this crazy situation, I feel his confession in my soul. My eyes leave Marcy and go to him, and I’m surprised to see that he’s already looking at me. “I love you, Caroline.”

“No! No, no, no! You don’t love her!” Marcy shouts. She’s losing what little control she has left as she carelessly slings the gun in her hand around.

Phoenix and I both know we don’t have a lot of time before she fully and completely loses it and I’m gone. He takes a step toward her to presumably calm her down, but it only serves to bring her that much closer to snapping.

“Marcy…”

“Don’t come near me!” She aims the gun at him. “You’re a liar. I know you love me. You always have. I gave you the time you needed to come to terms with it, I let you be with all those women because I knew, in the end, you would end up with me.”

I must be going insane. This woman has kidnapped me and wants me dead, but the desperation on her face and in her voice has me feeling sorry for her. She looks at Mick, who has remained quiet, but managed to stand up and get a little bit of his strength back.

“You told me he loved me,” she screams at Mick. “You said he wanted this, that he wanted me to get rid of her so we could be together.”

Now it makes more sense why she’s obsessed with Phoenix. Mick has been feeding her all of this; I can only imagine for how long. It was all for his personal gain. He knew Marcy would get nothing from this. Mick would reap all the personal benefits. Marcy was just his goon.

“What are you waiting for, you stupid bitch? Shoot her!”

“You lied to me!”

“Yeah? So what! You were an easy target. I needed someone to help and I knew you were just stupid enough to do it. So what? I lied to you, I used you, and it would have fucking worked if you weren’t such a goddamn idiot. I mean, really? Who would love you? You’re useless—”

I scream when Marcy aims the gun at Mick’s head and shoots.

He falls in a heap to the ground and I know instantly he’s dead. I hated that man, but the fact I just saw someone get killed right before my eyes makes what little strength I had left crumble. I scream a blood-curdling scream.

Marcy hasn’t stopped looking at Mick’s body on the ground when she whispers, “He never shuts up. I just needed him to shut up.”

Phoenix runs over to me and quickly unties my hands and feet.

It’s the worst time, but he grabs my head in his hands and starts peppering kisses all over my face. “I love you, Caroline. I’m so fucking sorry I was too scared to say it earlier. I promise you, I’ll never let you get hurt again. I’ll never hurt you again. I love you so fucking much.”

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing those words. I swear I cry more tears in that moment than I have my entire life. “I love you too, Phoenix.”

“You love her.”

I jump when I hear Marcy’s voice. The fear comes back when I see she’s turned back to us and just heard what we’ve said to each other. I have no clue what she’s about to do to us.

“I’m in love with her, Marcy. I’m sorry.” There’s nothing in her eyes after Phoenix’s confession. They’re so empty. I imagine it must be the way she feels inside.

“Then I have nothing to live for.”

“Marcy! No!” I scream and jump to my feet when she puts the barrel of the gun to her temple. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling or what would drive her to be like this, but I can’t see her give up.

I don’t see her as the bitch I’ve known her to be since I met her. I see her as someone who is sick and in desperate need of help. When her eyes wildly snap to mine, I put my hands up and slow my steps toward her to let her know I’m not a threat to her.

“I know right now you may think this is the only way out, but it’s not.”

“You don’t know anything!” She tightens her finger on the trigger. Inside I’m freaking out.

“I know you’re hurting right now and I know you’re sick, but we can get you help, Marcy. This doesn’t have to be the end. Please, let us help you.”

I feel that amazing relief again when she lowers the gun and starts to sob. “I just want someone to love me.” I don’t waste any time grabbing the gun from her hand and handing it to Phoenix, who’s behind me.

Then I do something I thought I’d never do. I grab Marcy and hug her to me. “I just want someone to love me,” she whispers.

“I know.” I look at Phoenix and his eyes are trained on us. They hold sadness for her, but when he looks at me…I see nothing but love.