Second Chances (13 page)

He pinched
her nose closed and covered her cold, blue lips with his own, filling her lungs with his own desperate breath. He waited for her to respond and then blew in another before he placed his hands on her chest and began compressions on her heart. With the first one, she exhaled on a broken groan and coughed as she drug in another ragged half breath.

“That’s it, darlin’. Breath
e for me. You can do it.” His hands bracketed her head as he leaned over and looked down into her terror filled eyes. “Follow me, Claira. In through your nose, out through your mouth.” Matt breathed in deep through his nose and pressed his lips out as he exhaled, coaching her along. Her eyes focused on his and each breath she took came a little easier.

“Sir?”
A voice called from somewhere next to him as a hand clamped over his shoulder. He shrugged it off and continued to breathe with Claira. “Sir, you need to move so we can help her.” Matt didn’t move until he heard Officer Dryson’s voice calling him.

“Matt, you need to let them help her,” Benton said softly and held out his hand
to help him up. Matt raised his head and saw the EMT’s crowding in around them. He moved to Claira’s side but didn’t leave her. “I’m right here, darlin’. They’re going to help you, but I’m not leavin’ you alone.”

Her
eyes followed him when he moved to let the paramedics move in closer. When they crowded around her, blocking their gazes, Matt stood to his feet and let out a curse. Someone was going to pay for this.

“Matt?” Benton called over to where he stood near his patrol car. His h
ead jerked up, his eyes taking in Benton and the scene around them, wondering when the hell all the other officers and bystanders had shown up. Benton walked up and stood with his arms crossed next to Matt. “The house is clear. Want to tell me what the hell happened here?”

Matt turned to watch where they were loading Claira onto a stretcher and clamped his han
d onto the back of his neck. “Damn if I know, Benton. Mason and I, we called your dad about her water heater and met here about an hour ago to take a look at it. Claira wasn’t here. Frank and Mason took off to the hardware store to pick up a new one while I stayed here to disconnect the old one. When I stepped out back I heard a car door slam and thought either her or the guys were back. I jumped off the porch, only, when I rounded the corner, Claira fell out of the car screaming for me to get away. She was frantic, Benton. What the hell happened?” Matt didn’t think he would ever forget the look of sheer terror in her eyes.

“She called in a B&E and then dispatch lost her call after she screamed your name into the phone. The house is clear, no signs of forced entry. Is it possible she mistook you for a
n intruder?”

Matt paused, playing back
as much as he could remember. “It’s possible, I guess, but Benton I’ve never seen anyone that scared. And why would she get out of her car and run to me if she thought I was the one who had broken in?”

Benton unfolded his arms and placed one fist on his hip, the other palm rested on the butt of his holstered gun. He cocked his head and motioned for Matt to follow him. “I don’t know, but I want to show you something.

Matt shook his head, his eyes following the swarm of people around Claira. “I don’t want to leave her.”

“She’s fine, Matt. She’s probably just in shock. It will only take a minute.”

Matt fought the urge to push his way past the EMT’s to see her again. He knew he had to give them a chance to help her. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from punching something or someone and followed Benton up the stairs and into the house. The rooms were flooded with light and there were several officers milling around the living room. Benton paused as they passed through the front doorway.

“What do you make of this?” He turned and pointed to a thin, braided strin
g running down the wall.

Matt
knelt to his haunches and followed it through a row of tiny hooks to the bottom of the door. No matter how he looked at it he couldn’t make sense of it. “What is it?”

Benton flipped
on the nearby light switch, closed the front door and looped the end of the string over the switch. “Open the door,” he ordered, nodding for Matt to follow his lead.

Matt opened the door and the switch promptly fell into the off position. “What the hell?”

“Yeah, took me few minutes to figure it out myself.” Benton scratched his head. “I know my dad wouldn’t have put this up like this before he rented the place out.”

“Why would Claira do something like this?” Matt asked, feeling an uneasy stir in his gut.

Benton cocked his brow and then shrugged his shoulders. He flipped the switch a few times, peered at the globe from the front window. “The bulb must be blown. She probably panicked when she saw it wasn’t on. I was hoping you might be able to fill me in as to why she’d think up something like this.”

Matt shook his head. “I have no idea, but I’m going to f
ind out.”

“She
mention anything to you about being in trouble?” Benton asked him after they stepped back out onto the front porch.

Matt shook his head. “M
ason thought she might be hidin’ from somethin’, someone, but, no. She hasn’t said a word. We only met her a few days ago. There hasn’t been time…”

“You and your brothers seeing her?”
Twin emotions plays in Benton’s eyes. Shock and approval gleamed back from his cousin’s expression.

Matt nodded.
“Sort of.” He didn’t know if declaring their intentions to the local PD before talking to her about it was the smartest move, even if Benton was technically family.

“I’ll try to blow off the report since this technically isn’t a crime, but watch your back, cuz. If she is runnin’ from an ex-boyfriend or some psycho…
” A loud voice crackled over the radio at Benton’s side, rattling off a string of numeric codes before he could finish his warning. Benton responded with a string of his own and motioned for Matt to get moving. “She hyperventilated, probably in mild shock, but they’re taking her to the hospital in Hampton to be sure. I’ll call Mason and Grey if you want to go with her.”

Matt didn’t hesitate, his feet carrying him at a
dead run toward the ambulance before he could utter a response.
God, let that be all that’s wrong,
he prayed. The thought of losing her before they even got to know her was tearing his guts out.

Light flashed and flooded the dark room for a moment
just long enough for Claira to see that she was in her father’s study. The pounding thunder vibrated the polished hardwood beneath her bones, as if prodding her to get up. Her hip ached and her head was spinning, trying desperately to make sense of the darkness. Another flash, this one brighter than then last and the thunder closer behind it. The storm was getting closer. Shadows danced along the dark walls, creating a mystic play against the sounds of the storm. She wondered for a moment if she had fallen asleep, but fragmented memories filled her mind faster than she could make sense of them. Her brother! Her father and Stephan were arguing. Shouts of rage filled the room and helplessness ripped at her chest. He would kill Stephan if she didn’t do something.

Stephan! Claira pushed herself from the floor, bracing herself on the nearby footrest, nearly losing her stomach at the pain and nausea that wracked her
body. Holding a trembling hand to her midsection she braced her other forearm on the stool as she waited for another flash of light. Stephan!

When the next brief f
lash came, she crouched on her hands and knees, slowly crawling toward the door in the resounding darkness. Her hand landed in something sticky and wet, sliding out from under her. With a loud crack, her chin hit the floor and she rolled to her side trying to avoid whatever rancid waste she had slipped in. The smell was horrid and the nausea tripled in force causing her to wretch, losing the meager contents of her stomach.

Stephan!
Gasping for air she pushed herself up. Slipping again, this time she felt a hard bundle of something under her breast. Her hand pushed against it, shoving it away from her body. Her hands grasped the long, heavy object and a scream tore from her lungs as she felt the crisp hair along its surface. Hands trembling, she followed the familiar limb, feeling her way to his chest. Stephan! She prayed it wasn’t him, but somewhere in her shattered heart she knew it was. As if to deliver the final line to a tragic poem, another flash of light spilled through the windows and her eyes met the cold, dead stare of her only brother’s lifeless eyes.

“Stephan!
Noooo!”

“Claira, sweetheart.
Wake up.” Mason curled his body around her, trying in vain to protect her from whatever nightmare she was having. “Wake up, Claira. You’re safe, sweetheart. We have you, now.”

“We won’t let anything happen to you, darlin’. You’re safe here with us.” Matt was snuggled in beside her, his chest and neck soaked with her tears. He’d never felt this helpless in his entire li
fe. Not even when the doctors came to tell them about Sarah. At least then he knew what had happened, that the doctors had done everything they could to help her. He couldn’t fight this; couldn’t help her unless she told them what was wrong.

Claira’s sobs stopped suddenly and
her body jolted up as consciousness settled in around her. Through puffy eyes she looked at Matt and Mason lying on the bed on either side of where she’d been. “Where am I?” Before the words were out, more broken memories flooded her fuzzy thoughts and filled in a few gaps. “I’m at your house. How…?” She squeezed her eyes closed, trying to remember how she’d gotten there.

Mason sat up beside her, cupping her shoulders with his big palms
, his eyes searching to connect with her confused gaze. “Lie back down, sweetheart. You’re in Matt’s room. We brought you home from the hospital so you can rest and we can help you.”

“Hospital?”
Oh, God. They had taken her to the hospital. The women’s shelter she’d stayed at briefly before turning states evidence had warned her that being admitted into a hospital was like waving a white flag at your stalker. Wait. She hadn’t been admitted, if she was here. And even if she was, Lucian didn’t know her new name. All of her identification was in order. No one would question it, would they? Claira tensed, her eyes darting around the dark room. “Where’s my purse?”

“It’s on the table in the hall,” Mason spoke in hushed tones, trying to sooth her sudden panic. “Would you like for me to get it for you?”

Claira studied him for a moment, both concern and helplessness evident in his expression. It would seem silly if she said yes so she decided to let it go. Just as that fear left another one jumped right into the empty space in her mind. “Where are the twins?” She couldn’t let them find her in their father’s bed.

“They’re at our parent’s for the night, sweetheart. The doctors said you needed rest.”

She remembered snippets of the EMT’s treating her in her front yard, and Matt’s eyes staring down at her. Her head whipped toward Matt and her hand reached out to touch his face as her memory crystalized. He was okay. “I’m so sorry,” she sighed, her lips trembling to hold back another sob choking her throat. “I should never have…”

“Darlin’, don’t say that.” Matt sat up behind her
, wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “You did nothin’ to be sorry for. We should’ve called you before we came over to look at the water heater. Frank said it would be days if he had to do it on his own, so Mason and I met him there this mornin’ to help. He wanted to wait for you to come home but I didn’t think you’d mind. I’m the one who’s sorry, Claira. It was my fault they didn’t wait for you.”

Claira tensed at the thought of Matt in that house al
one with that monster. “But how did you get in? Frank didn’t have a key.”

“The door was unlocked when we got there. Sweetheart, this is a small town, but not that small.  And you live in the city
proper. You should lock your doors when you’re not there.” Mason met Matt’s stare over Claira’s head but didn’t understand the look he gave him.

“It wasn’t locked?” Claira didn’t understand. She always locked her door, as well as completed all the other safety warning steps she’d incorporated into her routine. Had she been so distracted by her thoughts of them that she’d
actually forgotten to lock the door?

“What about the alarm?” She asked
on a yawn, feeling slightly dizzy. Her hands absently massaged her throbbing temples.

“Frank punched in the code.” Matt said pulling her down to the mattress to lie beside him. He snuggled her to his chest and pressed his lips to the top of her forehead. “Just
relax, darlin’. It was all just a big misunderstanding. We didn’t mean to scare you. We can talk about it in the mornin’.”

That sounded right. Frank had the code. She just couldn’t believe she didn’t lock the door. Her lungs filled with fresh air on another deep yawn.

“The sedative the nurse gave you is still making you groggy, sweetheart. Let us help you sleep and we’ll talk about all this in the morning.” Mason stretched out behind her and settled his chin onto her shoulder, pressing a light kiss to her neck. His eyes locked with Matt’s again and he knew there was more to the story. Damn right they would talk.