Beautiful Innocence (19 page)

“I started to think maybe it was someone Ava met recently, but then I was walking out and the waitress yelled back for me.” He pauses to take a deep breath. “She held up Ava’s bag and told me she left it behind.”

“Where is it?” I yell unable to calm down.

He points to the front door with his chin.

I bolt outside and sprint down to the parking lot. I grab it and dump everything out onto his seat, rifling as fast as I can through it. No phone. I run back in to hear Dane on his cell. Sam is still sitting nervously on the couch sucking back Tequila. Jason is right up Dane’s back, attempting to listen.

He flicks his eyes up to me just as he hangs up. “She has her phone. Johnny’s tracking her right now, but they’re moving.”

Suddenly I can breathe again.

“They’ve got at least a good three hours on us, heading up north.”

“He’s taking her back to Maryland.” I say, not realizing I’m voicing my concerns out loud. But Dane and Jason nod.

“It looks that way. Jason already has a call into a friend in Virginia who is home from deployment. He’s on the move to the last known address and will stake it out until we can get there. He knows to grab her the first chance he gets.”

“What about the cops?” Sam asks.

“We can’t call the cops, since his brother will find out and most likely tip him off.”

I’ve heard enough. I grab my keys. “Where are you going?”

I don’t look back. “I’m going to get her.” I hear the loud footsteps follow me out and I jump into my truck.

Dane slips into the passenger seat. “Don’t just sit here, let’s go.”

I’m glad he’s with me. I need someone to back me up and keep me sane until I can reach her. Once I hit the highway I don’t think twice about pushing my truck to its limits.

Jason calls in every half hour to report to us if they stopped or if they’re moving. Unfortunately, they haven’t stopped, and my patience and hope of reaching her in time is running on empty. I just pray our back-up waiting at the house will be able to save her if I can’t. The truck is quiet as we both focus on the road ahead. Dane keeps his eyes on every car as we go past, glimpsing into the windows just to make sure she isn’t in one of them.

The sun is gone and only five hours have passed instead of the fifty it feels like when Jason calls sooner than expected. “Yeah, got it.” Dane pulls out a small notebook from his pocket and jots down whatever Jason is feeding him.

“They stopped at a small budget hotel in a town called Halifax.”

“Where the fuck is that?”

“The border of Virginia and North Carolina.”

I nod frantically, realizing that all hope isn’t lost yet. Dane’s hand comes down and grips my shoulder. “We’re gonna get her, okay? We have just under two hours until you see her again.” He stops and peers out the passenger window before addressing me again.

My insides tremble with fear that she’s hurt. When Dane grabs me again that I realize my entire body is shaking.

“Josh, bro, you need to stay calm when we reach her. I know you’re fucking going crazy inside that head of yours, but think about Ava first. Don’t go in without the two of us coming up with a plan first.”

“Yeah, I know.” A few minutes later I grip my steering wheel so tight my knuckles are white and my fingers lose some feeling. “I’m going to fucking kill that son of a bitch.”

“I know, man. I know.”

Dane types in the motel address on his Google maps app and lets it guide us to Ava, the entire time hatching a plan. Once we have only a few hundred feet before we reach it, I slow down to a steady twenty-five, taking in all the cars. For a shit motel it’s busier than I would like it to be. “Let me go in and talk to the clerk. You keep an eye out,” Dane jumps out. I park my truck in a spot a few feet away. Breathing slowly I grab my pistol from the glove box.

My gaze falls over every room window and notice only two have the curtains drawn. I go into motion, keeping my gun by my side and work my way from room to room. Dane comes up from behind me. He keeps his voice low. “The check-in clerk hasn’t seen her, but said he’s only checked in one male just about an hour ago. He’s in room four. The rest checked in earlier, so he has to be the man with Ava.”

Sure enough, room four has drawn curtains.

Gritting my teeth I ask. “Should I just knock and charge in when he opens?”

Dane shakes his head, grinning, and holds up a set of keys. “Look what I found sitting behind the counter when the clerk walked his fat ass back to wherever he came from. Fucking guy stunk like he was eating a ten pound salami.”

I smile back. “Let’s do this.”

“Josh, I’m going to open this door, but man, please promise me to be careful. Think before you do anything stupid.”

I nod. I’ll agree to anything right now.

Dane slips the key inside of the lock of the door with Ava behind it. I know she’s in there. I can feel that invisible string that tugs at my heart whenever she’s near. He nods as he slowly and quietly turns the knob. Dane kicks the door open with a fierce blow. Dane and I both go in with guns held out, Ava lies on the bed tied up and her clothes disheveled. I freeze for a second before going to her. “Ava, baby.” She doesn’t move. She doesn’t speak. Dane runs to the bathroom and screams for help. I jet toward the bathroom to find Dane with his gun pressed into the back of a man escaping through the small bathroom window.

“Keep your gun on him.” I shove mine into my waistband and drag him down by his collar, slamming him against the wall. My fist flies out and rams into his face so hard I hear his jaw crack. “Who the fuck are you?”

He spits in my face, so I slam into him again. “I said who the fuck are you?”

He grins, spitting blood at my feet. “I’m the guy who just fucked your girlfriend.”

I see red. It takes all my control not to pull my gun out and shoot him right in the balls. I think about it, but Dane must sense that I’m about to blow and calls for me to keep calm. With both hands, I grab his collar and slam his head into the wall several times, sending plaster everywhere, and my knuckles are dripping blood. It registers that whoever it is I’m beating the shit out of, slumps lifelessly when I throw him to the ground.

“I’m calling the cops. I got him, Josh. Go tend to her.”

I kick him in the ribs before I walk out and listen to Dane ramble off the address to 911. Ava lies motionless on the bed, with her hands tied behind her back. I roll her over gently, crying out her name, but she doesn’t respond. My hands shake as I fumble with the knot. I pull my switchblade out and use it to cut her free. “Baby, can you hear me?” I tremble while I move my hand over her neck to try and find a pulse. I feel it, but I question myself since I want so much to find one. I sit and pull her limp body to mine and wrap my arms around her. “Ava, please, baby wake up.”

I lie back, pulling her down with me and press my cheek up against her heart. The steady thump has me almost in tears, knowing that she’s alive, but passed out cold and still with me.

Dane comes out a few minutes later, dragging the guy’s body and tossing it down. I feel his eyes on us and then see him hovering over the bed as I hold on to her. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, I think.”

The sirens make us aware that the cops are here. They barge in and stop when they look at me holding Ava. They holster their weapons while Dane goes over everything before handing over a wallet.

“David Barker, not Cahill like she thought. He lives in Annapolis and is twenty-four years old.”

His name plays over in my head as I commit it to memory.

Barker stirs from the beating I gave him just in time for a cop to place cuffs on him. I stand up and leave Ava’s side for that one more second that I need with this motherfucker. I glare at the cop to give him a knowing look. He backs away a few feet. I tilt my head just enough and whisper in David’s ear. “I’m going to kill you. Not today, maybe not even tomorrow, but trust me when I say this, You. Are. Dead.”

I back away and let them take him out just as two EMT’s come in with a stretcher. I pick her up and place her on the contraption so they can strap her in. They shoot off question after question. I give him all the basics about her before they rush her off with me following close behind. I toss Dane my keys. “Follow us.”

Before the ambulance begins to move they hook her up, and I can’t keep my eyes off the screen showing her steady heartbeat. “Sir, do you have any idea what’s she on?”

I shake my head.

I hear the driver call in and estimate our time of arrival. I hear that her blood pressure is low but I hear the most important thing, that her pulse is slow but steady. I hold her hand the entire ride, afraid to let go, like if I do she’s going to wake up and be scared and alone or that she’ll leave this world and not know that I am here begging her to stay.

An eternity later the back doors fly open and people in scrubs are talking and they’re pulling her hand out of mine and taking her away from me. I want to break down and cry, but I don’t. I don’t have the time to fall apart. She needs me. I jump out and follow and know without a doubt that Dane is coming up from behind me as I hear him rattle off something to someone.

I follow her toward a room that we are directed into. “Sir, can you step outside?” I shake my head, and then stuff my fist into my mouth, biting down on something to induce the pain anywhere other than the kind pounding in my chest.

“Sir, we need to check her vitals.”

I lean down, softly placing my hand on her stomach as I kiss her lips one more time. My hand runs over her lifeless body for a second and then I stop when I feel something. Suddenly, I’m lifting her shirt and stuffing my hand down her pants. The nurse is screaming at me to stop and leave, but it all comes to me. I yank out her cell that she must’ve hid in order for me to find her. And if it’s still in her pants, that means he didn’t do what he said. I drop to my knees, thanking god as I rest my head on the stretcher. “Sir,” she screams one more time.

I feel Dane’s hand come down on me. “C’mon, man, step away for five minutes. We need to talk and you need them to help her.”

I rise, holding up her phone, showing him. “She fucking hid it in her pants. She hid it in her pants, Dane. Oh, thank god, baby.” I shove it into my back pocket and follow Dane out, relieved that I didn’t have to tell her that he abused her, because I wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle that.

AVA

My arm hurts like hell. Why can’t I move it? “Josh,” I call, but my throat is scratchy and hoarse. Where is he? I want to see him but my eyes refuse to open. His familiar touch on my mouth makes me want to feel it again, but I don’t. Why isn’t he staying? Where’s he going? “Josh,” I try again.

“I’m right here, baby.”

“My arm hurts.”

“Yeah, I know. David shot you up with something called Propofol. It’s going to be sore for a day or two.”

“David?”

“Gone, baby. The police are holding him. He’s going away.”

I swallow hard as it all starts to come back to me. I’m safe. Josh found me like I knew he would. “Can you kiss me again?”

He sighs and I feel the warmth of his hands on my skin. His finger traces lightly over my lips. Softly he presses down on my mouth with his. “I love you.”

I force my eyes open to look at him. He loves me. He finally said he loves me back.

“I love you too.”

He kisses me again.

“I’m so tired.”

He runs his hand down my cheek. “I’m not leaving, baby. Go back to sleep.” His warm breath tickles my ear. “I’m right here,” he whispers. “You’re safe.”

When I wake up Josh is pacing outside my hospital room door. I see his family trying to calm him down, but he just keeps shoving them aside. Something must be wrong for him to be acting so roughly with them. My throat is scratchy and I ache to call out for him, but can’t. Ashton looks into my room and offers me a gentle, but sad smile. She says something that causes Josh to turn and come back inside.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing I want you to worry about.” He bends over and kisses me softly. “How are you feeling? You slept through the night.”

“Good, I think. I’m hungry.”

“Okay.” He turns and barks orders at his family about finding me some food.

“You didn’t need to do that.”

He sits on the edge of my bed and comes down to rest his head on my chest. “Jesus, Ava, why did you get in the car with him? I was scared to death.”

I turn my head at his question. I let everything come back and flood my memory. The lies, his fist, to my final good-bye to Josh and to his needles that kept me asleep, to his guarantee that I wasn’t coming back to Josh.

My Aunt yells outside my room that she wants to see me. She barges in and stops to look at me. “There are those beautiful eyes. Honey, how ya feeling?” She practically shoves Josh away from me, but my hand shoots out and grabs his.

“I don’t want to talk about any of it.”

She pats my hand. “That’s understandable. You shouldn’t have to.” She glares at Josh before bringing her smile back to me.

Josh excuses himself while she helps me to the bathroom and helps me brush my teeth. After Ashton drops off some food from the cafeteria Josh peeks in and checks on me. He doesn’t stay, since my Aunt is still with me. She finally leaves when Sam shows up. He looks horrible and sad, and I hate that my stupidity caused this.

“I’m so sorry I was late.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry I went with him.”

“Shit, Ava, I feel like it’s all my fault.” He hugs me loosely, but doesn’t let go until Josh clears his throat.

“Sam, let her breathe.”

Sam pulls back and glides his hand down my face, stopping at the black and blue mark on my cheek. I see he’s fighting an internal battle with himself.

“I’ll be back later, okay?”

I shut my eyes trying to prevent the onslaught of tears I know that’s coming. “Babe, please don’t.”

“I’m so sorry. I was so stupid.”

Josh rushes to my side and dips his head down until our noses touch. “No, you weren’t. You did real good hiding your phone.”

I start to shake as I cry in his arms. “I want to go home. I just want to go home, Josh.”