The Crush (17 page)

“Not at all, you guys won’t have many free nights with me and Collins gone, so go out grab some margaritas with Grams and Aunt Gracie and have some fun.”

“Alright, bye sweetie. We’ll make a big ole breakfast for you and that boy of yours before you head out on the road.”

All three of them left after peppering me with about a million kisses and walked out the front door with their arms looped together.  I closed out the register and locked up the office before continuing my cleanup.

After wiping down the counters, sweeping the floors and filling all the condiments I was finally finished up. I switched off the lights and went to throw my apron in the dirty hamper in the back when I heard the front bells chime, alerting me that someone had come in.

“Sorry we’re closed,” I yelled over my shoulder from the back room and when I didn’t hear anyone reply back I went out front to see who it was.

“I bet you weren’t expecting me were you?” I heard whispered in my ear, making the hairs on the back of my neck prickle and before I could let out a scream for help, a hand was covering my mouth. My chest instantly clenched up and I went into panic mode at the sound of the familiar voice from my nightmares.

“Don’t even try to escape or I’ll gut you like a fish.” He made his point loud and clear by pushing up my shirt and running the tip of his knife against my bare stomach, just enough to puncture the surface which caused tiny trickles of blood to drip down onto my shorts.

I hung my body limply as he dragged me to a corner booth and shoved me down fast first onto the table.

“You and your mother just think you’re so smart trying to make me look like a fool,” he hissed out as he kneed me in the back to push me all the way down.

“Well now it’s time you were taught a lesson. You just had to go and ruin everything for me with that big mouth of yours that you can’t keep shut. It’s not my fault you were constantly acting like the little slut that you are, parading around the house in barely any clothing and having sex under my own roof with that little jackass, you were just asking for it.”

I tried to twist my body around so I could gain some kind of leverage but he wouldn’t budge. I lifted my feet up to try and kick at him but he quickly dodged my tries and ripped my shorts down. I instantly felt the coolness of the blade running up and down my legs.

I whimpered knowing exactly what he was planning on doing, something that he wasn’t able to finish before. I tried to think of something quickly but this time he had the threat of a weapon and no one was coming to save me.

“Now I have this all planned out, that’s why it took me so long to get back to you. I needed an alibi and I finally found one in some stupid woman that actually believes I’m in love with her. Right now I’m at home in Michigan having a nice dinner and a glass of wine. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”

 I heard the snap of something behind me and I soon found out what that was when he dangled a finger in front of me.

“No fingerprints to prove I was here and thanks to your little show at the beach earlier with that star quarterback of yours, this will all be pinned on him. Do you think he’ll make it very far with his football career if he’s accused of rape and murder? And you surely won’t be talking much to come to his defense.”

I tried to slam my head backwards into him, I needed to escape now. I couldn’t let this man ruin Griers life too, it was not going to happen. But it seemed like nothing worked. I made contact with something but he quickly shoved my head back down, slamming it against the table and I heard a loud crack before I saw stars.

“Now you just made things a little bit easier for me.”

And then there was blackness.

Grier

“Did you have a nice time tonight honey?”

I followed mom into the house while holding the door open for her and flicked on lights as she went. We had just gotten back from having dinner with dad and things had gone pretty well. Mom and dad had always gotten along pretty well after the divorce but when dad was drunk he always seemed to ruin things.

“Yeah I can’t believe how far dad has come since I was home last. He seems to be doing pretty good for himself. This is probably the longest he’s ever held down a job.”

“I know I hope he can just keep up at it. Your daddy is a good man but he sure does get mean when he drinks. I’m glad you two are finally starting to rebuild your relationship. Hopefully he’ll stay well enough that he’ll make it to some of your games. I even told him we could carpool to all of the home ones.”

My phone rang and I saw a name flash across my screen that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I was contemplating whether or not I should answer it, when mom gave me a confused look and I figured I should just get it over with.

“Hey Lexie….what….slow down…..okay I’m on my way.”

My heart started to beat fast like it was about to explode out of my chest and I ran out of the kitchen, leaving mom behind but I couldn’t stop to explain myself. I had to get to my girl.

                                                     ****************************************

“Where is she at?” I yelled out to a slew of nurses that were running around the emergency room. One stopped and grabbed me by the arm to drag me over to a counter.

“Calm down son. This is a hospital and you need to act accordingly. Now who are you looking for, I can tell you where she is and if you’re allowed to see her.”

“Wynn Wakefield,” I managed to tell her even though my whole body was shaking like a leaf and my pulse was racing. I noticed the quick grimace that flashed across her face but she covered it up like a blank slate putting her professional face on.

“Ah yes. They just brought her in, I don’t think her family was even contacted yet. How did you get here so quick?”

She didn’t wait for me to answer, just motioned for me to follow after her.“Now they only let family in but I’m sure being her husband and all Mr. Wakefield there won’t be a problem.”

She pulled back a stark white curtain and revealed a hospital bed where Wynn was laying. My heart instantly dropped at the sight of her and I bent my head forward to balance my elbows on my knees to catch my breath.

“Don’t worry honey, it’s worse than what it looks like. She has a slight concussion and a few minor puncture wounds but I’m sure she should be waking up pretty soon here. The police are waiting down there to get her statement when she wakes up.”

She pointed down the sterile white hallway towards a waiting room where I saw the two uniformed men and caught a flash of familiar platinum blonde curls.

“Do you mind staying with her for a minute? I don’t want her to be alone but I need to talk to them real quick.”

She gave me a little pat and I placed a quick kiss on Wynns pale face, my fingers lingering on her cheek before I managed to pull away. I made my way down the hall, Lexie met me halfway and she looked like a mess, something I’ve never seen before. Her mascara was streaked down her cheeks like she had been crying and her hair was a wild mess, it looked like she wearing a crumpled uniform that really took me back.

“Lex what happened, why are you here, why were you the one that called me?” All the questions that were running through my mind couldn’t come out fast enough.

“Slow down Grier, it’ll be alright.” She led me over to the two officers and introduced me as Wynns boyfriend.

“Like I was telling these nice gentlemen, I ended my shift at daddy’s hotel and I was on my way home. I walk by the diner every night and I noticed that one of the backlights was on. Now you know the Wakefields aren’t my favorite people but I thought it looked suspicious so I peeked in through the glass door and saw what was happening.”

She paused to take a deep breath and I could tell even Lexie who normally knew how to handle herself in any situation was shaken up.

“What did you see Lexie?”

“Um I saw Wynn and he was… he was standing over her. And there was all of this blood and I could hear her trying to scream but he must have had his hand over her mouth or something. But I could tell she was so scared. I knew I had to do something, the man seriously looked crazy and I’m pretty sure he was trying to kill her. Her shorts were on the ground and he was holding her down……..”

She trailed off noticing my expression and I held up a hand to stop her. My head was already spinning from all of the information she had just told me and I didn’t think I could handle anymore without finding the guy and killing him with my bare hands.

“I don’t need to hear anymore, I just need to be with her now when she wakes up so she’s not scared.”

I turned towards the police officers who had been listening to Lexies story again and taking notes.

“Did you catch the guy?”

The one whose name badge read Reynolds gave me a quick nod and went back through his notes.“Yes Ms. Brockett here was able to intervene by catching the suspect by surprise. He’s been taken down to the station, a Mr. Richard Campbell. Is this someone Ms. Wakefield knew?”

I swallowed over the lump in my throat and answered him back. I couldn’t believe after all this time that jackass had come back for Wynn.

“Yes, he was her stepfather. He’s actually tried this once before but he was stopped and somehow he got all of the charges against him dropped.”

“There sure are some sick people in this world. She’s lucky Ms. Brockett happened to walk by and acted quickly. We’ll be waiting here to get her statement when she wakes up.”

I nodded my head in reply at him and turned to give Lexie a hug. She had saved my girls life and was probably the last person I ever expected to do that.

“Sorry Grier,” she whispered in my ear before I made my way back to Wynn to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. I was never going to leave her side.

Wynn

I woke up to the sounds of beeping and the murmur of low voices surrounding me in a darkened room. I tried to lift my head up but knew that was a mistake as soon as I felt the pain radiating through it.

“Hey girl you’re finally up.”

I heard the scratch of a chair and in an instant Grier was by my side, gently cradling my hand and placing a light kiss on the back of my hand like he was afraid I would break.

“What happened, where am I?”

His jaw tightened and I could tell he was working it to stay in control. His blue eyes looked like they were filled with so much pent up anger but they instantly softened when they met mine again.

“Baby your just fine. You’re in the hospital, nothing major, we were all just waitin’ for you to wake up.”

I craned my head around the room and noticed that the small space was filled to the max with just about everyone I loved.

“Hi sweetie,” Mom whispered as she stepped forward and took a hold of my other hand, wiping at her eyes. “Do you remember what happened?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think of the last thing that I could recall. I had been closing up the restaurant and just about ready to leave when someone came in. Richard. The memories came flooding back in invading my head like a bad movie.

“Yeah I remember,” I whispered out, grabbing on to Griers hand a little tighter, knowing that he would keep me safe. I felt the warm trickle of tears run down my cheek and Grier leaned down to kiss them away.

“I thought he was going to kill me, what happened?”

Grier gave a soft laugh before kissing my hand again.“Lexie Brockett is what happened. Apparently her nosiness paid off for once and she surprised that jackass. She mauled the shit out of his face with those claws of hers.”

Wow that one really took me back. Lexie and I hadn’t gotten along since the first day I came to town. I think she sensed the attraction between me and Grier and I was thankful that she just didn’t turn the other cheek. I owed her my life.

“So they got him then?” I held my breath waiting for their answer, I don’t know what I would do if he had escaped, lurking somewhere in the shadows until he found another opportunity and would finally succeed.

Mom cleared her throat before dragging a chair over to sit down next to me.“Yes and he won’t be able to worm his way out this time. Do you think you’re up to talking to the police? They’ve been waiting for you to wake up so they can get your statement.”

I gave a nod of my head and Grier leaned down to whisper in my ear, his breath warm on my neck.“I’ll be right back, I promise.”

He left the room and Grams took over his vacated spot. Hallie and Vance were both there too with their arms wrapped around each other, standing at the foot of my bed being unusually quiet for the pair of them.

“Hi sugar, you gave us all a real scare. Your mama got that call and we high tailed it out of there. Unfortunately, we all had one too many by that time so we hitched a ride on Mr.Mallorys golf cart. I’m sure that was one funny sight.”

I let out a small laugh, leave it to Grams to lighten up the mood a bit. “Margarita night got ruined, huh? Where’s Aunt Gracie?”

“She’s out in the waiting room talking to Collins. That girls ready to turn right back around to be by your side but we told her just to sit tight until you woke up. I’m sure once your feelin’ a bit better you can talk to her.”

Grier came back into the room followed by two uniformed police officers and everyone but Grier left the room so I could give my statement.

“We’ll tell the nurse that you’re awake. I’m sure you’re pain medicine we’ll be wearing off soon enough and you’ll need some more.” Mom placed one last kiss on my head and everyone followed her out.

“We’ll try and make this quick Ms. Wakefield so you can get some rest. We got most of the story from Ms. Brockett but we’d like to hear your side of things.”

I explained what had happened with Richard back home in Michigan and I how I hadn’t seen him again until tonight. I told them all about his plan for killing me and laying the blame on Grier. I remembered how he had a knife that he had traced all over my body and had ripped my shorts off. Griers face kept getting paler and paler as I went on and I could see his normally tough demeanor crack as the tears dripped out, wetting his thick black eyelashes to fan across his cheeks.