Irreparable (Wounded Souls) (8 page)

I grab for my shirt, trying to cover my body when I see Mason coming up to the car. “Shit Sam! What the hell happened?” He takes off his shirt and puts it on me.

“Don’t… Don’t… call…. Luke,” I say and start crying hysterically.

“Sam, baby, I have to. He’s been worried sick,” he says. “But first, I’m taking you to the hospital. I will have the cops meet us there.”

Mason picks me up and cusses loudly a long stream of words I have never heard him use and then he’s calling the cops to meet us at the hospital.  He starts to sit me down in his truck but I scream out. 

“Mase don’t!” I yell out and he looks at me crazy.

“What? Sam why not?” He eyes me “Are you too hurt to sit? Who did this shit? I’ll kill them, I swear I’ll fucking kill them,” he growls out and I wish I could smile. Mason, Luke, and Jameson were always so protective of me. 

“I’m bleeding. I’ll… I’ll get blood on the seat,” I whisper and wince as I say it.  His shoulders sag a little but he looks me in the eye.

“Sam, a little blood isn’t going to hurt my truck. Now stop acting like that. I’m taking you to the hospital.”  He puts me down and runs to the driver side and hops up and speeds off to town.  After three long hours in the hospital and a long police report, I am finally able to go home.  I thought the nightmare was over but it was only just beginning.  Two months later, I found out I was pregnant. 

Again, how do you tell the one person you’ve loved all your life about this? I don’t know how I am going to, but he’s staring at me and I see in his eyes he knows, or at least he thinks he knows.  He thinks he wants to go into the hell I call reality. Well he had better hold on because it’s going to be one hell of a ride.

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Jameson’s Reaction

I don’t press Sam.  I gather her in my arms and carry her to the couch. I know what she’s going through, not the details but I know it’s not easy. I can imagine that as a woman, that is the worst thing you can go through, next to losing a child.

Finally, she turns to me and with sad eyes she says “Jameson, my story isn’t pretty.  It’s not something you’re going to want to hear, but I need to get it out. I’ve loved you since we were twelve.  I wanted to tell you when I was sixteen, but Mary-Beth came into the picture, and you were happy so I backed away.  I wanted you to be happy; you deserved that happiness.” She pulls on the skin on her thumb and I smile. I remember her doing that when we were younger. Another nervous habit, like when she twirls a strand of hair around her finger. 

“Sam, nothing you can say is going to make me love you any less than I already do.  You know that night we danced in the rain? I fell for you and I didn’t realize it until tonight. I love you Samantha Lynn.  I do and I will spend every day of the rest of my life proving it to you.”  I grab her hand and kiss it and then sit back and wait for her to continue on with her story.

“The night after you left for Afghanistan, my life changed forever, I will spare you the details but I was singing at Lou’s and Luke had left a bit earlier to go drop something off to Kara. He was going to meet me at the IHOP a few blocks over.” She shuffles and I can tell she’s reliving the night. “I never made it there. Three guys came up to the car and I had seen them in the bar several times before that, but that night they weren’t there to be friendly. They were drunk and they wanted to hurt someone.” My blood is boiling. I thought Sam was raped by one person and it turns out it was three bastards.  I swear I’ll kill them.

“I know what you’re thinking Jameson. They got jail time and I made sure of it. I would have killed them for what they did to me, but would I be any better than them?” She smiles and goes back to telling me her story.

“They drove up the ridge, and they ripped my clothes off and held me at gun point.  I was a ragdoll to them, something they could just throw around. They took what they wanted and for two hours, they took turns doing things to me that they shouldn’t have.  Mase came looking for me that night when I didn’t show up at IHOP. Somehow he managed to find me and they took off when they saw his lights.”  Mason, he saved her. They left because of Mason. 

“The cops found them as I arrived at the hospital. They were walking and were just getting to the edge of the ravine when the cops spotted them. . One of them threw the gun they had used and the cop saw him do it. They were caught and each one got 5 years in jail without parole. Had Mason not shown up, I think they would have shot me in the head.” I growl at this. A world without Sam in it isn’t a world at all. Funny how I used to think that about Mary-Beth.

“A couple months later, my worst fear was confirmed as none of them had used protection on me. At least they were all clean, but I was pregnant. I considered abortion, but I couldn’t do it.  No matter how that baby came into the world, it was a baby, another human being and I couldn’t end its life.  Even if it was conceived in hate, I couldn’t not let it live.  So I talked to mom. No one but Mase and the family knows about what happened.  We found a school a few states away and I moved there on a full scholarship.  I quit playing the guitar, I quit singing… hell I quit living.”  She won’t look at me. My Sam had to go through this and while she was right that I may have had a lot of trials in my life,  I didn’t go through the stuff she’d been through.   She could have taken the easy way out, hated everyone that came around, but what did she decide to do?  She decided to help others. For that, she has become my hero.

“That’s why you became a physical therapist to wounded people,” I say and she looks at me and smiles, but it still doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Yes it is.  I want to help fix people, make them whole again, because for me that’s not possible.” She smiles and looks at me.  “I’m not done with my story.”  She bites her lip and I try my best to ignore it.

“Oops.  Sorry, habit.” She looks down and I laugh softly. “Keep going Samantha.”

She takes a shaky breath and taps her foot on the floor. “I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on March 26
^,
2011. I couldn’t keep her though because she represented everything I had lost, everything I had given up.  A family that I had been staying with while I was in college adopted her. They had been trying to have a baby for years and they couldn’t. Heather was a wonderful mother and Declan was a great man, the type you wanted to have for a father.  So I had the baby and gave her to them. Isabella is her name. Heather named her.  She’s almost three now.”  The tears are streaming down her face and I know she’s reliving everything.  I could kill the bastards that did this to her.

“Now you know everything.  I know you’ve been through your own inferno and so have I. I don’t know what you want from me Jameson, but I have lost my faith. I have nothing to offer you. I can’t be who you want me to be; that girl you knew, she no longer exists.” Finally her blue eyes look into mine and I see it. There is light, it just needs the right spark to set it aflame. I’ll be that spark or I will die trying. I will see the light in those beautiful blue eyes again

It’s been two weeks since Sam told me about her past, her secret. In those two weeks,
we have gotten closer than I could imagine.  She isn’t ready for a relationship just yet, but we hang out all the time.  I also opened up the store Uncle
Scott talked to me about. It’
s going to do pretty damn well I think. 
Who knew so many people in small town Hickory liked music?

I’m strumming on a guitar along with a kid who hangs out sometimes, just playing a few chords. The kid can’t be more than thirteen years old and when Sam walks in wearing short cut-off jeans and a purple tank top and cowboy boots, he can’t help but stare
.  Anybody that looks at her would think that
her outfit doesn’t fit the tattoo and the hair, but that is the Sam I remember.

“Eyes off kid,” I mumble and he laughs.

“Dude, I don’t think so. She’s smokin’.” This kid is looking for a bruising.

“Hey babe,” I smile and kiss her on the cheek and she blushes when the kid whistles.  I don’t think she’s used to the attention, but damn if you’re going to wear an outfit like that
people are going to stare. They can’t help it; it’s like a mosquito attracted to the blue lights in a bug zapper.

“Hey, I was looking for a new guitar and someone told me you were the place to come.” She smiles and bites her lip and I groan. Is she really trying to make me hard in my store? This shit can’t be happening.

“Well ma’am, today is your lucky day. I happen to have one just for you.” I smirk, and lean in and whisper in her ear, “And if you bite your lip again, I’m going to have something else for you too.” I laugh when I see the color come back into her cheeks. That’s a goal of mine these days is making Sam blush.

“Well, Mr. Carter, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to see the new guitar I’m about to purchase.” She smiles and heads to the back room with the acoustic guitars.

“Christopher! I will tell Lyla if you don’t quit staring at my ass! Or better yet, I’ll get your momma on the phone!” Sam says over her shoulder and I hear the kid laugh,

“Sorry Sam, you just look so good in them shorts!” he says and she turns and slaps him upside the head.

“Hey!” he yells and sets the guitar down. “Alright I’m leaving! Thanks for playing with me Jameson! I want that guitar. Can you save it for me?” he asks and I shake my head and keep walking to get Sam’s guitar.

I pull out a case and hand it to her and watch as she sits down,
opens the lid, and gasps.  “Jameson, really?” She looks at me
with tears glistening. Damn, why does everything I do make this chick cry?

“Happy late birthday! I’ve got about five years to make up for.” I smile and she jumps up and hugs me, then sits down and pulls the guitar out of the case. It’s a nice deep purple and has her name in silver across the bottom.

“Jameson! It’s beautiful!” she squeals and plays a few chords, then tunes it and plays a few more. I smile and walk away as I hear a customer coming through the door.

“Hey man, where is she?” Luke asks me and listens hearing someone strumming. “Gave it to her huh?” He laughs softly and shakes his head.

“I love her man. I am going to prove it.” I shrug and sit down behind the counter while Luke sits down. “So, um she told you?” He looks at me and in that instant I realize he knows I know.

“Yeah man, and I want to kill those fuckers,” I roar and he looks at me.

“Sam did a pretty good job getting them to jail, and I’m pretty sure they are getting a lot worse than Sam ever did. They were pretty boys.” I can’t help but laugh at him and he scowls because he was extremely serious.

“Sorry, sorry it was just funny. Pretty boys?” I laugh and he looks at me.

“Dude, they went to that prep school upstate. They would come to the bar and just hang out all the time. I never thought anything of them. Turns out one wanted Sam and she wouldn’t give him the time of day, so he took her. His friends were drunk and decided they were going to help him.” I can see his veins bulging on the sides of his neck as he speaks and I know exactly how he feels.

“I would have killed them. I know this sounds shitty, but I’m glad I was gone. I’d be in jail and not those pretty boys” I say with a smirk and he punches my arm.

“Dude, stop. For real. It was funny, I get it, but I hope some guy with a big schlong is using them all, taking turns on them.
I hope they live in that hell every day for five years, just so they know what my sister lives in every day of her life.”  He stands up and blinks back the tear that threatens to fall.  “Speaking of my sister, I’m going to check out this birthday present.”

He bumps my fist with his and goes back to see what Sam’s doing. Of course, because life always deals a shitty hand in walks Mary-Beth.

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“Your momma told me you opened a shop. I’m happy for you Jameson,” she says and I scowl. Is she really going to come in here and act like we’re okay? We are not and probably never will be okay ever
again.  That dress she has on isn’t going to do the trick either
. Why didn’t I ever notice how she dressed before today? Oh, I liked it then. Those dresses that came down to her mid-thigh, the kind that barely covered her ass? Yeah,
not my thing anymore.  I prefer those cut-off jeans on the blonde in the back.

“Thanks Mary-Beth. I’m enjoying it. It’s been years since I picked up my guitar and Uncle Scott has reminded me that I love to play the guitar,” I say and she grimaces. I quit playing the guitar about a year after we started dating.

“I just, I wanted to come and say I’m happy for you. I hear you’re with umm, I hear you’re with Samantha.” She looks at the ground and then back up at me. Does she expect me to not move on? She’s the one that left, not me.