The Broken (21 page)

I
haven’t seen her for four long, painful weeks. How
am I going to move on, knowing she’s marrying him? Knowing she
chose him again. God, this bottle was full an hour ago, now it’s
empty and I can still feel. Why am not I numb yet? Jasper called to
say he picked up the keys for Bella’s; I bought it for her. I was
hoping to talk Blaydon into letting me help run the garage so River
could have her own studio, but then she let Danny put a ring on her
finger. How could she let me touch her, kiss her soft skin, stroke
her body and be inside her if she didn’t want to be with me? God,
now all I can think about is being inside her tight, warm body;
she’s ruined me for anyone else. I’ve been with some dirty chicks,
chicks down for anything, and some good girls that just wanted to
let loose for a night, but I’ve never experienced a girl like
River. She was raw, real, beautiful and passionate. God, I still
have the marks on my back. They’re faint scars, but they’re still
there and they always will be. Our passion embedded in my skin
forever. Fuck, I can still smell her sweet scent if I close my eyes
and picture her. I fucking miss her. I need another bottle.

“Sammy,
someone’s on the phone for you. He says it’s important.”

I scrub my
hands down my face and roll onto my back, the effects from drinking
the night before pumps into my brain. I stand up with a grumble
about being woken up early when I notice the time. Six p.m. I’ve
slept eighteen hours.

I snatch the
phone from my dad. “Hello.” I sound groggy as fuck.

“Sammy, its
Blay.” I reach for the glass from my dad’s hand and give him a head
tilt as thanks. “What’s up, Blay?”

“It’s
River.”

I sigh.
“Listen, Blay. I can’t talk to you about her, man.”

I hear his
heavy breathing down the line. “She loves you, Sammy, and she needs
you. She’s really going to need you. Don’t let her stay with him.
She loves you, Sammy. Look after her for me.”

The dial tone
buzzes down the line

“Blay?
Blay!”

I dial River’s
mobile but get no answer. I try Blaydon’s and Danny’s. Nothing.
Panic, that’s what I’m feeling right now. Blay sounded weird. What
the fuck is going on? I rush out of the room and through the
house.

“Dad, I need to
go. I’ll call.”

I jump in my
car, start her up and hit the road. I keep trying everyone’s phone
and eventually get Jasper.

“Dude, I’m
fucking busy. Fucking being the operative word.” He chuckles.

“I need you to
do me a favour.”

I hear a giggle
in the background. “Yeah, I’m a little busy, man.”

“A lot busy,”
some chick croons down the phone.

“Fucking hell,
Jasper! Listen, I need you to go over to River’s and check shit
out.”

I hear a
shuffling of movement.

“Why, is she
okay?”

“I don’t know.
Blaydon phoned me being really weird over two hours ago. I need you
to check on River. I’m on my way home.”

“I’m getting
dressed now, man, but I’m over an hour away. I’m with some chick I
met.”

“I’m about the
same distance. Just meet me there, Jasp. I’m freaking out.”

I hear a door
close.

“I’m leaving
now.”

I end the call
and break a few speed laws. I pick my phone up again to call River,
but it’s dead and I’ve left my charger at my dad’s.

When I pull up,
I see everyone’s cars here, including Jasper’s. I smell smoke and
hear muffled voices coming from the back of River’s house. I follow
the smoke to River’s back yard, and stop short.

Flames surround
her, and she’s kneeling, holding Blaydon. He’s a vile, grey colour.
I rush up the steps and come nose to nose with a muzzle of a gun. I
let my eyes travel the length, seeing Danny is the one holding it.
That’s when I notice Jasper lying, bleeding. There’s so much blood
staining his shirt. My mind is struggling to cope. What’s
happening? Everything is happening so fast. Words are spoken, and
then I’m on the ground, bleeding, a burning pain shooting through
my shoulder. I watch Danny drag River away, and lurch to my feet,
trying to follow, but he’s gone so fast and so is she. I grab the
house phone,
and
dial for an ambulance and
the police, before staggering out the front door. I need to find
her. I can hear sirens, and some squad cars screech to a halt.

Derek jogs
towards me from a black, unmarked car.

“Sam, what’s
going on? I got a cryptic text from River.”

He tries to
make me sit down but I shrug him off. “I need to find them!”

“Who, Sam? Come
sit down, you’re bleeding.”

I spin to face
him. “Danny shot me and Jasper, Blay’s dead, and he took River! He
took her! I need to find her.” I’m whimpering but I don’t give a
shit. Danny’s gone crazy and kidnapped the woman I love.

“Please help
Jasper,” I beg.

“The officers
are with him, Sam, and the ambulance is just pulling up. I need you
to tell me everything you know about Danny, any places you think he
would go.”

I close my
eyes, trying to think. When I open them, I see paramedics rush into
the house. One stops and asks to look at my wound but I shrug her
off.

“Sam, you need
to get medical attention. These things seem minor but can be a lot
worse than they look. When I find and bring River home, she’s going
to need you healthy.”

“Fine.”

The paramedic
cuts my favourite shirt away from my skin, leaving me exposed while
she checks the wound.

“The bullet has
missed everything vital. It will hurt for a while, but shouldn’t
leave you with any permanent damage. We need to take you in to get
it cleaned and stitched.”

Her voice cuts
off when two paramedics rush from the back garden with a gurney. A
pale, unconscious Jasper lays lifeless on top of it. I push the
girl from me and run to Jasper. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He’s lost a
lot of blood. We need to get him into surgery.”

Oh my God.

“Sam, did Danny
kill Blaydon?”

I shake my
head. “I think he killed himself.”

His face pales,
his face contorting in grief. He stands, unblinking and I reach up
towards him and shove him. “Derek.”

His eyes snap
to mine. “Will River try to contact you?”

I try to think
if River would even have her phone on her, my mind buzzes with
images and information, trying to work through everything that’s
happening. “Maybe if she can escape him.”

I rush to my
car and grab my phone. I run up the steps to my house. Jasper has
the same phone and always leaves his charger plugged into the
kitchen wall. I plug my phone into it and wait for some life to
show on the screen. When it finally comes on, it signals a message.
I hit the voicemail button and put it on speaker.

The message
ends and I realise Derek has followed me in.

“She was
standing with Blaydon on that decking, fire around her. She was
going to kill herself,” I whisper in disbelief. My wonderful,
beautiful girl was so fucking broken, and I left her twice. I watch
a uniformed officer walk into my house and up to Derek.

“One dead body.
We found this note in the house addressed to River. It’s a suicide
note from the brother.”

Derek takes the
note and reads it, grief shadowing his features again before he
says, “I knew something wasn’t right with them. I could feel it. I
looked into Danny’s past. His sister’s death was classed as an
accident but it’s unusual for an eight-year-old to drown. Now his
father has gone missing.” He sighs. “I should have got her out of
there. I could sense something with her. I should have saved her
before any of this happened. Now her brother’s gone, she may not
survive that loss after everything else. She came to me asking
questions, being all cryptic. She was going to confess tomorrow. I
shouldn’t have let her leave.”

I walk right up
so we we’re nose to nose. “I left her with a rapist for four
fucking years, and now he’s taken her after shooting my best friend
and me. Let’s not go over who’s fucked up the most, let’s just find
her.”

He nods in
agreement. “Let’s get you to the hospital and get you fixed
up.”

I don’t argue.
My shoulder is on fire and I think I’m going to pass out from the
pain. I want to welcome the unconsciousness. To let it fade out all
the pain I heard in my River’s voice, to make it take away the
images of Danny stealing her innocence. I want it to take away the
guilt that has manifested inside my veins for leaving her all those
years ago, but she needs me and if she calls I need to be there to
answer. If Derek gets a lead, I have to be there to follow him on
it. I need to be awake for when she comes back to me.

Derek drives me
to the hospital and charges my phone in his car on the way. I stare
at it, willing it to ring but it doesn’t. I keep going over
everything in my head, everything I know about Danny to try and get
a clue to where he would take her. I know he loves her but he’s on
the crazy train right now and I’m terrified he’ll hurt her.

We pull up at
the hospital and Derek leads me straight into the back, past the
nurse station. “I’ll find out what’s happening with Jasper. You get
sorted out. I’ll be back.”

I sit on the
gurney to wait for the nurse.

“Agent, I heard
the coroner is bringing in a Blaydon Kane. Is he any relation to a
River Kane?”

I jump from the
bed and go to the curtain to listen to what the nurse is saying to
Derek.

“Yes, how do
you know her?”

“She was here
earlier today. We treated her for a head injury. I flagged her
chart because the man who came in with her seemed off to me, and
then he stole the results to her urine sample.”

What the fuck?
Why did she have a head injury?

“Why would he
steal urine sample results?”

I hear her feet
shuffle. “Well, he informed the doctor he’s sterile when we asked
if Miss Kane could be pregnant, but the test confirmed she
is
pregnant.”

She is
pregnant, she is pregnant, she is pregnant.

The words were
swimming in my mind repeating. My version became unfocused, white
dots clouded my view and then I fainted.

I
hurt all over. I lift my head and try to focus. My
eyesight is blurry and I’m restrained. Oh, God. I’m bound to a
wooden rocking chair, my hands and legs tied. My eyes clear enough
for the room to come into focus. There’s enough light emanating
from a few lamps to highlight all the dust particles floating in
the air. I want to hold my breath so I don’t breathe them in.
Clearly no one has been here in a while, and we’ve disturbed the
place. The walls are all wooden; it looks like some type of cabin.
There’s a soot-covered fireplace. By the cold feel of the place,
everything had been left dormant until Danny brought us here, but
where is here? The cabin has a couch and a coffee table; it isn’t
big but there are a couple of doors which lead further inside.

“I love you.
I’ve never loved anyone, but I loved you from the first day I saw
you, when Blaydon invited me over. You were thirteen and
beautiful.” Danny comes closer, startling me, stroking his hand
down my cheek. “You only had eyes for Sammy back then, so I waited
and watched you blossom. I was determined to have you. You were
meant for me.”

I shake my
head. “No, I wasn’t. I was made for Sammy.”

His callous
laugh sends chills into my spine. “Well, Sammy is dead.”

The realisation
of everything he took from me crashes into me like a tidal wave of
fear, pain and grief. I feel flayed open; raw and bleeding. I’m
done, I can’t do this anymore.

“Kill me,
Danny. Just kill me.”

He gasps and
grabs my hair, pulling my head back so I can see his face. His eyes
are emotionless, void of anything human. “I can’t do that. I won’t
live without you, and I’m not ready to die yet. I’ve been working
on getting us set for life, and in a couple of days, everything
will be ready. We’re going to be happy.”

He’s fucking
delusional. “Fuck you, Danny. I will never play nice with you. I
hate you!” I bawl, tears flooding onto my face. How many tears can
a body produce? I feel like I’ve produced an ocean’s worth. Too
many for one person to ever shed.

“I fucking hate
you. You took everything from me,” I choke.

There’s no
physical pain that can compete with the emotional agony I’m
feeling. Every cell in my body cries for what I’ve lost. My soul is
wilted, dying. If you could touch death, you would feel me because
I’m truly dead in my spirit, my heart, my soul. I’m nothing but ash
inside, burned up and destroyed by the Devil himself. Only he would
send such evil to collect me, break me, end me.

He bends down
into my face. “Blaydon was fucking weak, so was your mother.
Blaydon knew what her death did to you, and he still bled himself
dry.”