Protective Love (Hidden Secrets) (33 page)

I walked back out
of the bedroom and through the doors to the deck.  Leaning against the railing, I stared out over the lake. 

“You are so lucky to look at this view every day.” 

He walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head on the top of mine. 

“Only one thing I like looking at more.” 

Leaning my head back against his shoulder, I took a deep breath. 

“There is a view better than this?”

“Yes, you.  I could look at you all day.”

Laughing
, I said, “Oh, so original there, Mr. Gold.  If I search your dresser will I find “How to Woo… Corny Lines to Make Her Love You” guide book in there.”

He shrugs.  “Maybe
,  I know you would find, “World’s Dumbest Jokes” in there,” They laughed.  “There are also four additional bedrooms upstairs complete with their own bathrooms and walk in closets too.”

“So much space for a single guy. It must get lonely.”

“It did, but then again, I’m not single, now am I?” Jason lifted my left hand and kissed my ring finger before he handed me a key.

I looked up at him and my heart sped up.  After all things considered, I hadn’t even factored in the fact that he might want me to move in with him.

“Jason,” I whispered.

“Listen, I know today has been an overload on your emotions between getting engaged and making love for the first time, but I want you to know that at any time you are ready you can move in here.  Until then you can stay here whenever you want.  My house is safe.  I have alarm systems that will make it impossible for anyone to get in here without either us knowing or having to let them in.  We will take this at a pace you are comfortable with, sunshine.”

I looked back out over the lake.  It was a breathtaking sight watching the moonlight dance across the water.  I held the key in my hand.  It meant more than just a step to me.  He knew of all the things I felt I had taken from me was my safety and there he was giving me that.  Jason had given me so much, and I would be forever grateful to him for it all.  A tear slid down my cheek, as I wondered what I have given him.  He had been shot, run ragged, fought nightmares, and so much more.  What could I possibly have given him?  My body jerked as I fought to control my tears.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

He turned me around and cradled me against his chest as I cried.  He ran his hand from the top of my head, down my back to my waist and back up.  How can I make everything up to him? How can I thank him for all he’s done?

“You have given me so much; everything.  What have a given you other than difficulty?” I sobbed into his chest.

“Hey,” he pulled my head back and made me look him in the eyes.  “You have given me so much more than you know.  Kayla, things haven’t been easy for us, but together nothing seems to be too big for us to handle.  When I’m with you, nothing else matters. Please don’t start feeling that this is one sided.  It’s not. Okay?”

I nodded my head and he wiped the tears from my face.

“I love you,” I whispered.

He took a deep breath.

“I will never get tired of hearing you say that.”

He kissed me long and slowly.  It was the kind of kiss that made you feel cherished and loved.  Jason was the man of
a woman’s dreams and here he was in love with me.  He wants to spend the rest of his life with me. 

“Stay with me tonight, please?  I know you have work in the morning, but you can leave from here.  I, uh, had Mary pack you a bag and she gave it to me before you came out of the bathroom.  Nate took it to my car.  Are you mad?”

As much as it would have made me scared before, Jason had changed me some.  He has taken a lot of my fears away.  I was happier, and it is all because of him.  There is no amount of thank you’s I could say to make up even for that.  He was piece by tiny piece giving me my life back.

“No, I’m not mad.  I’m not mad at all
,” I rose up on my toes and kissed him with all the passion I felt. 

We made love again that night.  It was spectacular and consuming and unforgettable, but nothing will ever top making love under the stars for the first time after getting engaged. 
Yeah, he may have been frustrated, but I couldn’t think of a better way to have our first time have happened.  He pledged himself to me and I to him.  We promised that we will embark on a life together.  We promised that we would never be alone in our journey.  We promised this all in him asking five words and me answering in one.

Tonight, I fall asleep in Jason’s
warm, safe embrace.  Visions of the future were dancing inside my head instead of nightmares.  For once, I will look forward to tomorrow and the future.  I owed it all to the man who held me.  The man that whispered he loved me over and over again as we both came apart in each other’s arms.

Morning came way too early.  The sun shone brightly through the still open doors.  I sat up and walked quietly out
onto the deck, taking in the scenery. 

This
is a view I wouldn’t get tired of waking up to.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air, I moved quietly inside.  I didn’t want to wake Jason, who looked sexy as hell sleeping with this bare chest exposed, one arm extended out where I had been laying and the other behind his head.  The blankets covered him from the waist down.
 

Walking over and grabbing my overnight bag, I carried it into the bathroom and quietly shut the door
to begin getting ready for work.

When I came out of the bathroom, Jason was still sleeping.  I walked into the kitchen and left him a note before heading out of the house and taking Jason’s car again.  I will have to call Nate and see if he can take the car back to Jason.  I didn’t like the thought of leaving him with nothing.

The smile on my face would not falter.  It was a strange feeling to be happy.  I almost didn’t know how to act.  Happiness was not exactly a normal emotion for me.  Fear, sadness, loneliness, pain, anger… those I can do something with.  Happiness was a complete alien feeling for me.  As I turned into the parking lot, the sun caught my engagement ring, sending shimmering lights around the inside of the car.  I smiled.

He loves me.  Today is the first day of my happily ever after!

Walking into my clinic, I am immediately greeted by a frantic Jenny.  She is talking a million miles a minute and I can barely keep up with her.  She walks with me as she talks and I take my purse to my office.  Just as I was about to drop my purse in the drawer it rang.  Silencing Jenny for a moment to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Kay?  Do you know where Jason’s at?”

“Nate
, hey.  Uh, yeah, he’s at his house.  Do you think you can come pick up his car and take it back to him?  I had to use it to drive to work.”

“Yeah, I’ll walk there now.  I’m just leaving your place.  See you in a few.”

“Actually, I’m super busy.  I will leave the keys with Jenny.”

“Sounds good.  You okay?”

“Yes.  Never been better,” I beamed as I spoke.

After hanging up, I dropped
my purse into my drawer and walked out with Jenny, giving her the keys.  It was appointment after appointment.  They almost seemed to be never ending.  One of my other vets called in today and I had to pick up their appointments.

It was well after noon when I was walking back to my office.  Jenny looked just as tired as I felt.  I gave her a small smile and continued on to my office.  I did find out that Cara
was back to her normal self.  It was just the news I needed to push through the rest of my day. 

Looks like I need to talk to Jason about Cara.  Wonder if he remembers I do have a dog and if he will object to having a dog in the house?

I had just walked into my office when he moved toward me slamming into the wall.  I screamed a blood curdling scream as his fist flew toward my face.  My head snapped hard to the right.  Looking toward the door, I could see Jenny headed toward my office.

“No! Get help! Call Ja—“

My pleas for help were cut short as his fist made contact with my face again.  He had me held against the wall by my throat.  When he let that hand drop, my body fell to the ground.  He slammed the door to my office shut.  The clicking of the lock echoed in my head.  It was like a gun fire echoing through the night because that is what it felt like.  I was locked in my office with no escape.  I had no idea if Jenny was calling for help or if they would even get here in time.

His foot made contact with my stomach and the urge to vomit came at me full force.  He was kicking me over and over again, screaming at me, but I couldn’t hear anything.  Breathing was difficult and my heart pounded so loud in my ears that I thought my ear drums were going to burst.
 

Suddenly, I felt like I was floating.  I could feel a breeze flow over my body.  It wasn’t until my back made contact with my table that I realized he had thrown me across the room.  Using every bit of strength I could muster, I tried to move away from him.  Blood trailed into my
eyes, making it impossible to see.  It hurt to shift my body, and I was finding it very difficult to breathe.

Pain coursed through me like the blood did down my face.  It was constant and didn’t slow one bit.  Fear was no longer the front runner in how I was feeling at the moment.  Pain
- teeth clenching, bite through steel kind of pain - surged through me with a vengeance.  He wasn’t letting up.  I tried to beg; to plea for my life, but it was falling on deaf ears.

“Not so tough now, are you bitch?!”
he screamed at me.

Everything around me was disappearing.  Sounds were beginning to muffle and my vision was going.  A sudden sharp pain shot through my chest and the last of my breath left my lungs.  The pain that had been constant was lessening.  It was like I was going numb.  Suddenly I felt like I was no longer part of my body.  I felt like I was watching him hit, kick, punch and toss me.

There was a crashing noise and more noise sounded in the room.  It was like someone else had come into the room.  The pain was leaving me and with it everything faded as well.

“Oh God, baby.  Hang on sunshine the…”

A feather floating in the breeze has no weight, but glides seamless to its final resting place.  The feather floats through the air, raising and lowering with any breeze.  No matter the amount of wind that may be there, the feather will land and rest on the ground.  Gravity takes hold of everything, even something as insignificant as a feather, changing the direction it could have been and taking it where it wants, but the end will be the same.  The feather will land on the ground.

Like the feather floating casually to the ground, everything around me did the same.  It all faded until there was nothing left.  I was nothing. 
Suddenly, what seemed like a bright and happy world dimmed and disappeared; lost to me…

CHAPTER THIRTY

~JASON~

When I woke that morning, Kayla had already gone to work.  When I walked out
to the kitchen to make me some coffee, there was already some made and a note beside the machine.

Good Morning Sleep
ing Beauty (the male version HA!),

I didn’t want to wake you.  You looked so peaceful while you were sleeping.  I headed to work and took your car.  I will see if Nate can bring it back to you.  With all the time off, I am going to try and take some of the load off
my other doctors.  Maybe try and come up after lunch sometime and we can visit while I work on paperwork and whatnot.  You don’t have to, but I thought it’d be nice if you did.

I love you.

Your fiancée,

Kayla

Smiling at her signing ‘fiancée’, I drank my cup of coffee.  After cleaning up my mess, I jumped in the shower.  Just as I was walking out of the bedroom I heard my phone ringing.  I answered it right before it went to voicemail.

“Yeah.”

“Hey asshat!  Up for a visit?  It seems I have your car.”

“Yeah, man.  Come on over.  You know how to get in.”

Hanging up the phone, I went back to my room to shift all the items in my closet around to make room for Kayla’s stuff.  She may not move in now, but she will eventually and I couldn’t wait to share everything with her.

Before long I heard my door open and Nate
calls for me.

“I’m in my room.”

“What are you doing?”

“Shifting shit around to make room for Kayla’s stuff.”

“Kayla’s moving in with you?”

I looked up at him with a huge smile on my face.  In my head, I’m telling myself to wait to tell him until Kayla was with me, but my heart was already spitting out the words before I could stop them.

“We’re engaged.”

“You’re what?”
he screamed with a smile on his face.

I felt like a chick smiling and nodding like I was, but damn it I was so fucking happy.  My life finally had
a purpose.  It had meaning and it had a direction all because of Kayla.

“I asked her last night and she said yes.  We are taking it slow and I told her she doesn’t have to move in here right now, but she will be eventually.  Part of me thinks she wants to move in here for the safety, judging by the look in her eyes.  I just want to have it all ready for her when she does.”

“Man, I’m so happy for you!  Come on we’re going to lunch to celebrate.”

Checking my watch I see that it’s after one already.  Kayla said to come up after noon.
 

“Come on bro.  You’re marrying her.  You can come to lunch with me and get back to her.”

“Yeah, okay.  Let’s go.”

Lunch was eventful and funny.  Nate hit on every waitress there.  I told him not to say anything because we hadn’t told anyone and I wasn’t sure when Kayla wanted to tell anyone.  We talked for a while and by the time we left
it was almost three o’clock.  I didn’t regret spending time with Nate.  He has been like a brother to me.  If it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.  We drove to the clinic where he got out and got in his car and left.  I walked inside the clinic.  Jenny came running at me full bore.

“OH. MY. GOD.”

“What’s going on, Jenny?”

“Kayla, she’s
… his…”

She didn’t have to finish her sentence
, I heard Kayla scream.  I bolted for the door and tried to open it.  It was locked.  I kicked and kicked, but it wouldn’t open.

FUCK!!!

I could hear things breaking and Kayla screaming and my only thought was that I wasn’t going to make it to her.  My chest tightened and for the first time in my life panic took over and couldn’t think clearly.  Somehow, through the panic, the voice in my head said to call Nate and go to the glass doors.  I screamed at Jenny.

“Call Nate!  Tell him to get his ass here
now!”

Running out the side door and through the dog park, I leaped over the fence.  When I arrived at the glass doors, what I saw knock
ed the breath from my lungs and almost knocked me off my feet.  There was my beautiful angel being thrown across the room, hitting the table, and falling to the floor.  He was an asshole before, but he was about to be a dead fucking asshole for EVER putting his hands on what’s mine. 

Without thinking a second further, I ran full force at the glass door and broke through them.  I could feel the glass cutting into me as I smashed through the door, but no pain registered.  The only thing I was focused on was my sunshine and making sure I saved her.  I headed straight for him.  His head shot up to mine and a look of panic crossed his face when he met my death glare.

“You fucking asshole!” I screamed as I landed the first punch in his stomach.

He grunted out, but I wasn’t even close to being done.  Bringing my hands to his head, I brought his face down to meet my knee
- hard.  He fell to the floor and I kicked him repeatedly.  At that point, I didn’t care if he lived or died.  The only thing that kept running through my head was the image of Kayla’s body being thrown.

“What’s wrong fucker! Can’t fight back?” I screamed as I kicked him in the chest.  Continuing to kick, I screamed some more at him.  “What
, is it because I’m not a woman?”

I bent down and grabbed him by the face
.

“You touched the wrong fucking woman.  You touched my woman.  Regret that now don’t you, you sorry piece of shit!”  I punched him again and he was out cold.

My attention immediately went to Kayla.  I was afraid to touch her.  Kneeling next to her, I moved the hair out of her face as I said, “Oh God, baby.  Hang on sunshine the ambulance is almost here.”

As I got the hair out of her face, her eyes were shut.  I touched her face gently.  It was already swollen.  Tears pooled in my eyes and spilled over.  Had I been too late?  I felt her neck for a pulse.  There was a small one.  Here was my beautiful angel—my sunshine—beautiful as
the morning sun and she lay there on the ground at my knees, bleeding, and there was really nothing I could do to help her.

My dream suddenly came back at me full force.  I couldn’t lose her.  There was no way I was losing her yet.  We barely had any time together.  It wasn’t enough
- not even close.  I wanted so badly to pick her up and hold her, but without knowing how bad she was hurt, I just didn’t want to make matters worse.

“I’m so sorry.  I should have been here.  Please be okay.  Please.  I love you
,” I sobbed.

Nate burst through the door.  “Fuck! Where is the son of a bitch!”

I pointed, but said nothing, still staring down at my life and wishing it were me instead of her.  I would gladly switch places with her because if I were to lose her, I couldn’t survive without her.

Vaguely, I was aware of someone moving me out of the way.  It was the paramedics.  Seeing them work on Kayla snapped me out of it and I was immediately alert to my surroundings and asking questions.

“Sir, you need to be seen yourself.  You have some bad cuts.”

“No! I’m fine.  I want to know how my fiancée is!”

“I’m sorry Sir, but we can only talk to her spouse or family.”

They moved her out on the stretcher and I was running after them.  When they got out the door, Nate grabbed me and pulled me back.  I fought against him with everything I had.

“Damn it Nate!  Let me the fuck go!  I need to be with her!”

“Man, you can’t go with her.  Let me take you in the car.”

The ambulance pulled off with Kayla in the back and I sagged into Nate’s hold in defeat.  I nodded my head and he helped me to his car.  My eyes burned with unshed tears.  I kept trying to tell myself that she would be okay, that I got there in time.  But it didn’t ease the pain or heaviness in my chest.

“She’ll be okay, J
ay.  Keep telling yourself that.”

“If I hadn’t gone to lunch, I would have been there.” I murmured.  “Oh God, I have to call her family.”

“I already did on my way over.  They are probably at the hospital now.”

“I failed them
.  I failed her.  I didn’t protect her.”

“STOP!  You have done everything to protect her!  You have done it all, Jason!  Kayla knows that!”

When we pulled up to the hospital, I was out of the car before Nate could even stop.  When I made it into the emergency room, Kayla’s parents and siblings were already there.  I felt the tears when they all looked at me.  Larry walked up to me.  I braced myself for yelling.  There was no way to prepare for it, but I know I deserved it.

“I know I let you down.  I’m so sorry. If—”

“Stop, son.  You got there.  What I want to know is who the fuck did this to my daughter?”

“Wait, you’re not mad at me for not protecting her better?  For her being hurt?”

“This was not your fault.  You didn’t do this to her.  But I’ll say it again, I want to know who the fuck did this to my daughter?” he bellowed.

I was just about to answer when a nurse came out.  She talked briefly to Larry.  When she
left, he walked over to me and took my hand in his held it tightly.  The minute I felt it press into my hand my knees buckled and I fell to the floor.  In my hand I held her engagement ring.  I started to cry.

“We were so fucking happy last night…” I sobbed.

“I know, son.  You will be again.  She’s going to be just fine and be back to her ‘I’m in love’ self.  You’ll see.”

Right
then, in my moment of pain, I just couldn’t see that.  All I could see was her hitting the table and falling to the floor.

“I take it by the ring you asked my daughter to marry you?”

I nodded my head.

“You will make a mighty fine addition to the family
,” Jane smiled through her tears.

I stood up on shaky legs and tried to pull myself together.  The ache in my chest just won’t go away.  My stomach turned again and again.  I felt a little dizzy.  Shaking my head, I tried to focus on what was being said to me.

The sounds fading in and out and I couldn’t understand a damn thing that Larry or Eli was trying to say to me.  I stumbled backward as Nate came up.  I thought I heard about something bleeding or something, but I wasn’t sure.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital bed.  I shot up in the bed and tried to get out of bed, but someone stopped me.

“Dad?  Mom?”

“Yes, son.  We got here not long after you passed out.  They had to stitch you up pretty good.  Nate went home and got you some clothes.”

“How long have I been here?”

“A few hours.”

I was out of the bed before my dad could stop me again.  Once I found my change of clothes, I changed and was heading of the room in search of news on Kayla.  My dad stopped me at the nurse’s desk.

“She’s in the ICU. Come on son, we’ll take you up there.”

The elevator ride seemed to take forever.  I just wanted to be with Kayla.  My foot bounced as the need to move faster ran through me. 

It would have been a hell of a lot faster if I would have taken the stairs.

My father looked like me, only thirty years older.  His hair was more gray now than dirty blond, but he still knew how to calm me when I needed it.  No one really said a word on the ride up, which may have been worse than them trying to talk to me.

Finally arriving at the ICU, I waited for them to ask the Williams’ if I could be back there.  Another excruciating wait
that in reality probably took mere minutes.  When I was finally led back to Kayla’s room they all stood outside the door, Larry holding Jane and one of the twins.  I couldn’t tell them apart.

“H-how is she?” I said just above a whisper.

They turned around and looked at me.  Jane’s eyes filled with tears and she hugged me.  She held me for a bit, no one was saying anything and I didn’t know how to take it.  She finally pulled back and smiled at me and kissed my cheek before turning and walking back to her husband.

“Jason, who did this?  Who has done this to my daughter?”

“It was Captain Dale Day, Sir.”

Everyone froze and stared at me.  I could see the looks on Eli and Larry’s face.  They had been looking into him trying to get proof.  Nate and I were doing the same thing.  Maybe that
was what caused him to snap.  It occurred to me then—not that I cared—if he was still alive.

“How much damage did I do to him?”  I said grimly.

“He’s not in as bad of shape as Kayla, but you still did a number on him,” My dad said.

“Good.  Please tell me about Kayla.”

Larry told me about the surgeries and her crashing several times on the table, and that now they were just playing it by ear on what happened next.  I turned and looked in her room.  My chest tightened and I could hear her laugh echoing in my head; I could see her smile, feel her kiss.  Without looking at anyone, I spoke.