Safe (30 page)

I went to say something, but I kept my mouth shut.

“Sadie met Rob right before her daddy died. She didn’t handle his death well at all. None of us did. Rob was there for Sadie during her grieving, and I was in a state where I couldn’t function, let alone worry about anyone else.”

Sarah’s eyes fell to the floor. “About a year into their relationship, Sadie began having accidents. I was stupid and just brushed them off.” I could see the tears forming in her eyes now. They were threatening to spill over, but I just sat there and listened.

“She would fall or run into something or have a car accident that didn’t get reported to the police. Sadie broke it off with him shortly after the stint she spent in the hospital due to the car accident. But even after she broke it off with him, he kept coming around saying he was going to marry her. Her accidents didn’t stop. They actually got worse and worse. Slowly, I started to put two and two together, but when I was about to really confront her about him I got a call from the hospital.”

Sarah’s eyes were fully shedding tears, and her voice was cracking as she spoke. “This time had been the worse, up until this one, that is. I tried to get her to talk to me, but she wouldn’t. Rob came to visit her in the hospital.”

I felt the blood in my body boil at the sound of that asshole’s name.

“I didn’t want to leave him alone with her, but she pleaded with me. So, I listened at the door. Rob threatened to kill me, Seth, and Macy.”

“Why didn’t you go to the cops?” I asked.

“She didn’t want to go to the cops because he is one.” Apparently there was a lot of shit I didn’t know about Sadie. I pushed that back. I gotta deal with one thing at a time here.

So many thoughts were running through my head. I needed to prioritize here. “So Sadie moved to Georgia to get away from her abusive cop ex-boyfriend, and no one bothered to tell any of us down there?”

“Landon, she wanted to start new and leave the past here. That’s what I wanted to give her.”

“You were wrong.” Then the realization hit me like a tons of fucking bricks. She was yelling that it was all her fault when she busted the mirror and had her breakdown.

“Sadie believes it’s all her fault,” I whispered.

Maggie knelt in front of me and grabbed my hands cautiously. “Landon, it’s very typical of a woman who’s being abused to take all the guilt and blame from the abuser and put it on herself.”

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

“I do. I know what it feels like to be in Sadie’s shoes. She felt as if she were protecting the ones she loved. After all, she wouldn’t want them to get hurt the way she had. She was taking that pain on.”

I stared at Maggie because surely Jim didn’t hit her. She must have read my thoughts. “I can see you’re trying to piece this together. It was before Jim. Landon, I have to tell you that it took the love of a very strong man like Jim to help me see who I was and help me heal. It took years to feel whole again. It’s a very hard journey. I know that you just started building something with her, but you have to know what you’re getting yourself into here.”

“I’m not leaving her,” I growled.

“Good, I didn’t believe you would. I just wanted to lay it out there for you.”

“Police report. Did you file a police report?”

“Yes, they’re coming by here in a little while to take pictures of her.”

I moaned. No way I wanted those fuckers taking pictures of her. “I want to be there when they take them,” I demanded.

“That’s fine.” Sarah’s calmness in this whole thing was starting to piss me off.

“Where is this asshole?” I growled.

“The cops said he’s off the radar.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“They went to pick him up and he was gone.”

“What kind of gone? There’s gone out for a fucking burger or left the state or country gone,” I barked.

“Landon,” Maggie’s warning tone brought me back. I breathed in deep, really trying to get myself in check and nodded. “Gone, as in packed a bag and no one has a clue where he is gone.”

“Fuck!” I yelled, grabbing the back of my neck. I needed to move. I got up and began pacing the floor. “So, what about his parents?”

“They haven’t heard anything from him. And just so you know, they don’t believe their boy did this to Sadie. And if Sadie doesn’t wake up and ID him as the attacker, there will be nothing we can do.”

“This just gets better,” I muttered.

Waiting … Waiting … Waiting …

The police came and took pictures of Sadie. That was a fucking experience that I would make sure Sadie never had to do again. It was so fucking horrible seeing them lift her arms, legs, and body to get the picture they needed.

It also sucked that I got to see what was under that hospital gown. Even on TV I had never seen a human being so bruised up. That asshole did a number on her.

I’d love to get my hands around his fucking throat!

Sarah replayed everything she saw from her end. And of course, without Sadie’s confirmation that it was Rob, the only thing they could do was question him, but since he was gone, that wasn’t about to happen. My frustration level with everyone was paper-thin. At this point I didn’t want to talk to anyone but Sadie.

Days were growing long. I was either sitting here in the waiting room or in with Sadie, talking to her. The doctors said that they were waiting for her to get a bit stronger before they tried to pull her out.

Yeah … tried. There was a fucking chance they wouldn’t be able to wake her up! I wanted to tear that little piece of shit doctor limb from limb when he told me that.

So now we waited …

Five days. Five long days here. Sadie’s bruises were healing, but her lung was still a concern. So we waited.

Today was the day. Seven days she’d been under. Seven days!

The doctors told me they were going to start weaning her off the ventilator that was helping her breathe. They said it could take hours for this depending on how her body responded.

My nerves were shot to hell. My body wouldn’t stop shaking. I just wanted her to wake up. I wanted to see life back in her eyes. I wanted to hold her while we fell asleep. I sat here waiting for her to wake up. The doctors turned the ventilator all the way down and removed that God-awful tube from her throat.

I could hear every breath she took as I watched the monitors all around her beep and buzz. Her brainwaves were moving the way they were supposed to, or so they said, and her heart was pumping normally.

We just waited …

What in the hell is all that beeping? Is it my alarm clock?

I tried to lift my arm to stop the sound, but it didn’t want to move. My legs didn’t want to either. My head was groggy and nothing seemed to make sense. I wasn’t feeling pain as I couldn’t feel my body—just confusion. I heard soft voices, but they were not recognizable.

I tried to open my eyes, but there was no luck there. My fingers. I would try my fingers. Please move … please move. I felt my pointer go up and down. I smiled to myself. I continued to try my fingers. I believed they were moving.

I hear the murmured voices coming closer to me. “Sadie, baby, time for you to wake up.”

Landon? What? I remembered leaving Georgia, driving in the dark, the lights … panic began to fill me … Rob. I had to get away from him. NOW!

My arms began to move and I tried desperately to push him away. I heard my moans, but words weren’t forming. I want to yell at him to get away from me. My legs were joining my arms in trying to fight Rob off me.

“Sadie, calm down, baby. You’re safe.” I knew that was Landon’s voice, but he couldn’t be here; my mind was playing tricks on me. I was willing my eyes to open, and the panic was fully engulfing my body. My eyes felt like sandpaper scraping as I began to open them.

The light in the room was too bright.
Someone please turn the light off
. I could feel my body moving all over the place, and the voices in the room were getting louder.

I looked around the room, but everything was fuzzy. The large figure in front of me was trying to hold me down. “No,” I croak out.

I could hear the voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. My body was now moving, unlike before. I had to fight him off. I had to get away from him. I started hitting and kicking, using everything in my might to get him off me.

“Sadie! Stop!”

My eyes started to focus on blue eyes. Landon.

“Sadie, baby. It’s okay. Calm down.”

He was here. He was really here. Confusion and relief washed over me, and tears freely fell from my eyes. I felt strong arms wrap around me, but these were gentle, kind, and safe. Landon. I melted into his arms and breathed him in. It really was him. My body began to settle.

“It’s all right, baby,” Landon whispers in my ear, drawing lazy circles around my back. How could he be here? He was in Georgia. I was in Michigan. My body froze and ice ran through me sharply.

My voice croaked out, “Rob.” I looked up at Landon. He was still as gorgeous as ever.
Safe
.

“Did he do this to you?” His voice was calm, but I heard the anger in it.

I nodded.

“It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you now.” Landon continued to rock me back and forth in his arms. My throat was on fire, and my body felt weak. Was I okay?

“Throat,” I managed to get out. I really needed some water or something for my throat.

“I’ll buzz the nurse.”

I nodded and stared at the beautiful man before me.

“Seth?” I hoarsely whispered.

“What about Seth?”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The flow of panic was instant. He was hurt, and I needed to get to him. “Whoa. There.” Landon’s voice tried to get through, but I thought of nothing besides getting to Seth.

“Seth. Hurt.”

“I haven’t seen or heard from Seth since I’ve been here.”

“Long?” I turned and looked at Landon.

“Yeah, baby, seven days.” I felt my eyes grow wide. Seven days? I was out for seven days? I had never been out that long.

Things were not registering for me. Macy said Seth was hurt. If Landon had been here seven days, he should know. “Mom?”