Missing Link (The Finders Book 1) (21 page)

"Why?" He questioned, far more full of curiosity than the surprise I expected. "I need to say goodbye." He nodded as though he understood.

"I'll see what I can do."

We sat in comfortable silence as I picked at the food on my plate, my stomach was empty but I was having trouble forcing it down.

"When can I go..." I stopped for a minute, thinking about what I was about to say. "Home?" Link offered.

"I'm not sure..." I whispered. "Where is home now?"

Link frowned at me, "We are really having this conversation?" "Um..." Was the only word I could muster.

"Sam. I wanna be with you. I want every part of you, broken, beautiful, shy, fearless. I want everything. I knew it from the moment I saw you that you were special. I want you to be with me. I want to be your home." He gripped my good hand tightly. I couldn't help but smile.

"Okay."

The corner of his mouth twitched up, "okay?" I giggled and nodded.

"Good, now eat." He ordered, trying to be stern but I could see the happiness in his face. "The nurses said as long as there were no issues, you could be out of here by this afternoon."

I sighed in relief, "good."

I just wanted to go HOME, to Link's, and curl up in bed with him for days, months maybe.

"Already trying to escape huh?" A grinning Ethan appeared in the doorway, followed by a straight faced Dom. Dom eyed me before looking me in the eyes and lifting his head.  I knew this was his silent way of asking if I was okay. I nodded with a small smile, to which he seemed satisfied and move to sit in a seat in the corner of the room.

"I've had enough of being cooped up, if I don't get out soon I think the walls might start caving in." I told Ethan as he situated himself against the wall. He chuckled softly. "Where's Rome?"

"Still with Isla." Link said, taking the tray of food and putting it to the side. "She seems to have got quite attached to him, keeps asking him not to leave her alone".

My heart sunk as I thought about this poor damaged girl and how scared she must be.

"What about her family? Has anyone talked to them?" I asked looking at all the boys who conveniently all avoided my eyes. "What's going on?"

"Luther got away." My chest tightened a little as Link spoke. "He was in the house, but somehow he must have been tipped off that we were coming. We feel like for now it's safer if Isla stays here, away from her family, until we can guarantee she's safe."

I nodded, I knew here Isla would be in the best and safest hands necessary to protect her.

"Is she going to stay with us?" I asked Link, but he shook his head and a smirk started to form in the corner of his mouth. "I don't like that look..."

The boys all laughed, but Ethan spoke first, "seems our local Romeeo is quite smitten and is taking full responsibility for her."

For some reason I wasn't exactly surprised. I saw the way he'd looked at her, and he hasn't left her side. After seeing what happened between me and Link, I just hoped he treated her right.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I'd had a lot of questions for Link that night, but he would only tell me that I needed to wait until tomorrow so we could sit down with all the boys and explain, that it would be easier that way. I let him have this, as to be completely honest, I wasn't sure how much more I could handle. Link had talked to some people at the hospital and the funeral home where Teddy was being kept and had agreed to let me see him for a few minutes by myself. Link had offered to go in with me, but this was something I had needed to do alone.

When I saw Teddy laying there, there are no words to express the emotions that flooded my body. I cried silently. His face looked different, they had shaved him, he was pale and maybe even a little smaller than I remember.

"I needed to say thank you." I choked out, my mouth suddenly dry. "Thank you for being there for me, thank you for making me smile when all I wanted to do was cry, thank you..." I sobbed, gripping tightly to the side of the dark grained coffin.

His suit was impeccable, creased in all the right places, his hair flattened. I couldn't help but smile for a moment,

"You look so handsome." I told him as I ran my fingers over his collar before sighing deeply. "You kept me sane and made me laugh. You didn't deserve this. You should be here with me, celebrating, planning the future."

I pulled a small armchair from the corner of the tiny room and sat next to him, laying my head on the coffin edge.

"I'm not sure how just yet, but I know you helped them to get me out... Link is so special, Teddy. He cares about me, I can tell just in his eyes. I think I'm falling in love with him." I laughed softly. "He is my light, he helped me to fight through the darkness. But I'm pretty sure you had a hand in shining the torch on him, huh."

I don't know what I expected, I wanted him to jump up with some sort of smug look on his face and confirm my suspicions but he didn't move. With tears dried to my cheeks, I leant forward and brushed my lips against his cold mouth.

"I love you Teddy bear. I guess now we are both free."

I cried for the rest of the afternoon. Grieving for the loss of someone who had been my only friend for over three years. Link just sat and let me drench his shirt and when we climbed into bed that night he held me tightly as the sobs lulled me to sleep. I went over everything in my head, I could have done something differently, I could have gone with Charlie and Teddy may still be alive. But in the end, I couldn't stop him from sacrificing himself for me, I couldn't stop him from jumping in front of that bullet.

For the second time in my life, that night I prayed. I prayed that he had heard me, that he knew how much he meant to me, and that he knew I was sorry for the stupid things I said. And for that whole night, I slept soundly. I didn't have any nightmares, nor did I toss and turn. I didn't know if it was Teddy protecting me once again, or the fact that I only ever felt at ease in Link's arms. Maybe a mixture of both, but when I woke up, my heart told me everything was going to be okay.

We sat in Link's office the next morning, all The Finders were there including Rome who had a nervous Isla sitting close to him on the couch. I gave her a tight hug, talking to her quietly, asking how she was.

“I’m doing okay.” She said quietly, a small smile crossing her lips. It looked like it was actually causing her pain as she forced it on her face for my benefit.

“Don’t down play things, Isla. Please, if you aren’t coping, ask for help.” I told her, holding her eyes with mine very seriously. She nodded, her eyes flicking towards Rome who sat and watched our interaction quietly.

Isla wasn’t much younger than I was, but I felt very protective motherly instincts when it came to her. I knew her pain, but I also knew she had been through things that even I hadn’t even had to endure, things that may have broken me completely. She was still hanging in there, but everyone has a breaking point and I just hoped like hell she was teetering too far over that line that she couldn’t be bought back. I didn't miss the way Rome’s eyes checked her every few minutes as she twisted her hands together in her lap.

I was perched on Link's lap behind his desk, Dom and Ethan both sitting in chairs opposite us. When the door opened, my eyes widened as I watched Jet stroll confidently into the room wearing a pair of casual jeans with a pristine white collared top. The underneath of his eyes were still dark and bruised from where I'd hit him, making the situation just a little too real.

"What's... I don't..." I stammered. Jet dropped a large file onto Link's desk before shocking me with a wide smile. The boys didn't move for a full minute, then abruptly there were man hugs all around. I looked at Link who only smirked back at me, then back to the crazy scene in the office as Ethan gripped Jet and wrapped his arms around him. Finally everyone took their seats again, Jet leaning back against the wall, his smile still beaming.

"Sam..." Link spoke from under me. "I want you to meat Kale Sampson."

It took me a moment to recognize the name. Kale. The fifth member of The Finders. I stood up quickly, moving away from Link and eyeing all of the boys. Link reached for me but I dodged his grasp.

"Explain." I demanded quietly.

"I told you before, Kale has been on assignment." Link said softly. "We've been looking into Charlie for a while now, but we could never find a way in. We had someone come to us a couple of months ago, someone who could get us inside and give us the information that we needed."

My head was spinning, my stomaching turning along with it.

"Kale was the only one of us able to do it, we keep him very silent within the business for reasons like this. Nobody knows who he is or that he's connected to us." Link continued. The pieces started falling into place like a large jigsaw puzzle in my mind. Everything was finally making sense, all the blanks started to fill up.

"It was Teddy wasn't it. He came to you." I croaked out, tears burning my eyes and throat. A deafening silence hung in the air. Sadness came over Link's face, he opened his mouth to speak but Kale cut him off.

"He loved you, Sam. To him you were family. But he was scared too. He has a sister, cousins, parents, people that Charlie could hurt if he found out that he had been betrayed." I covered my mouth and swallowed the sob that threatened to escape. "The only other way he knew to help was to stick as close to you as possible. He knew he couldn't protect you from everything but at least he could be there for you in other ways, as your friend."

Link stood and pulled me into his arms as Kale continued to talk.

"He came to us one day when he overheard Charlie talking about The Finders asking questions. He said he would help if we did something for him... Get you out." I gripped tighter to Link's shirt. I knew in some way Teddy had a part in helping me escape Charlie, but I had no idea it was him that came to them. But it all made sense. The reason Link knew nothing was going to happen to him when he was in Charlie’s house that night, how he managed to know where I was; the doctor’s office, the gym. I knew these boys were good at their jobs, but they were really good.

“I thought you said you weren’t there to find me?” I said, suddenly remembering my conversation with Link, Dom and Rome at the small diner outside of town.

Link nodded, “True in some ways. We didn’t know it was you, Devon’s sister, that we were there to get out. He never gave us your name or many details about you and Devon had never told us much about you, just that you weren’t around anymore. All we were told was that you weren’t safe and we needed to get you out ASAP.”

I had no words, I couldn't explain at the moment how I felt or what was running through my head. No one spoke, it was like we were all having a minute to recognize Teddy's sacrifice. A sacrifice that I would never forget.

I sunk into Links arms, resting my head against his chest and listening to his heartbeat. He soothed me so simply.

"What's happening to Charlie?" I asked.

"He's pleading insanity." Dom spat in obvious disgust.

I stood a little taller, my brow tightly knit in confusion. "Charlie isn't crazy... Short tempered maybe, but not crazy."

"Apparently he was diagnosed with bi polar when he was younger, mid-twenties." Kale said, picking up the large folder he had dumped on the desk and flicking through it. "He hasn't been on medication for it for 10 years. Doctors said he was doing fine and didn't need it. But he's arguing that stress bought it back to the surface a few years back and that he has not been of sound mind, therefor instead of a jail cell, they lock him up in an institute."

I shook my head, "No. He's not crazy. Charlie is smart. He could have had his doctors forge something to say all this." Link rubbed his hands up and down my arms, I could feel my anxiety climbing. Charlie was going to get away with everything he had done. To me. To Teddy. By claiming he wasn't mentally aware of what he was doing and instead of a cold lonely jail cell, he's going to get a soft cushy room with great food and bingo days.

"Apparently his wife is supporting his allegations." Kale said softly.

"His wife?!" I yelled. I was in total shock. Charlie was married. I felt my knees weaken but Link pushed me toward his chair, sitting me down and standing behind me with his hands firmly on my shoulders.

Kale looked at my sympathetically. "Yeah. His wife. They've been separated for 5 years."

"Well this just keeps getting better and better." Rome said sarcastically.

Ethan threw him a look that said shut the hell up before he looked back to Kale. "So why is she supporting him now?"

"We aren't sure yet. There is still a long process of interviews and evidence to gather."

Link kneaded at my tense shoulders. I couldn't even speak. This was all too much, I felt like the walls were closing in on me, and it was becoming hard to breathe.

"Sam it's okay." He swivelled the chair and crouched in front of me, taking my face in his large hands. "Breathe pretty girl. It's gonna be okay."

I stared into his eyes. I started to smooth down the front of my pants but he gripped my hands.

"Is there anything else, or can we go?" I knew he wasn't talking to me, but his eyes never left mine for a second.

"The police have agreed to give Sam a few days before they come asking questions. So we can leave it at that for today." I heard Kale say from behind me. Link pulled me to my feet and I buried my head against his chest. Link was my safe place. Feeling him there with me caused my body to slump and the tension and anxiety to ease.

"You guys still want to have dinner today, or shall we give it a pass?" Ethan asked. I looked up at Link,

"Maybe we should give it a miss." He said.

"No." I said sternly. He looked down at me surprised. "We will have dinner. Whose house?"

"Um..." Link stammered. "Ours?"

"Great. Dinner it is."

"Sam..." Link started.

"No." I stepped back, still holding both of links hands, slightly awkward due to my cast. "I've let Charlie control what I did, who I saw, what emotions I felt for far too long. And now he's actually been locked up and I'm FINALLY free for good, I'm not letting him control me any more. I could sit at home sulking and trying to anticipate how he will try to destroy my life from his padded room, because I'm damn sure he will try. But he would still be owning my thoughts and running my life. I'm done! I'm tired of worrying about him. I want to fill my time with people who make me happy, my friends and the people I love. So we are having god damn dinner!"