Keeping Her (The Lexington Series Book 2) (18 page)

“Where are you hiding little birdy?”
she called out.

I held my breath. She cleared the
stairs and began walking into the room. I took a step forward and let out a war
cry as I swung the chair at her head. She spun around to face me just as the
metal crashed into her. She dropped back and fell to the floor hard. I kicked
her to make sure she was out and ran up the stairs. The door led into what
appeared to be a family room. I ran across the room and looked for an exit. I
traveled from room to room looking for the front door. The place was massive. I
finally spotted the foyer and began running towards the door when I felt hands
grip me. I cried out.

“You bitch!” Jasmine screamed and
pulled me back tossing me to the ground. She climbed on top of me and I got a
look at her face. I got that bitch good, and it spurred me on. She grabbed my
arms and tried to pin me down. Thank god for Landon’s aggressiveness. I’ve been
in this position plenty of times when I was feigning disinterest with sleeping
with him. She was no match to his strength. I lifted my hips pulling us off the
ground. Her eyes widened in surprise and as she was momentarily distracted I
tossed her off of me. I crawled over to her and pulled her hair. She let out a
blood curling scream. I knew that shit hurt because I put my back into it. “Let
me go!” she snarled and I pulled harder.

She spun around and grabbed my left
ankle. I brought my right foot up and kicked down on her head
hard
. She
immediately let go and I got up and tried to run for the door. I got it
unlocked when something crashed next to me. I spun in time to see her tossing a
lamp my way. I ducked and ran to the side. I went around towards the kitchen
and she was hot on my heels. I ran around the breakfast bar and she was on the
other side. I fainted right but she caught on. We continued circling each other
before I spoke.

“Is this really the answer? You think
that hurting me and Landon’s baby will give you a chance?” I asked.

She laughed. “Of course. He just
needs a little push in the right direction. You won’t be around to influence
him.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re delusional.
He loves me and our baby.
Don’t you get it? He will hate you if you do
anything to me or our child. He wants our baby.”

She scoffed. “He’s confused and
you’re crazy. Who would want a baby with you? It should be me! He should be
with me!” she screamed and flew across the breakfast bar at me. I backed up and
knocked over stuff on the counter. I ran to the other side as she got herself
up. I backed myself up against the counter since I knew I wouldn’t make it to
the door. I gripped onto the counter preparing myself to fight. I have to be
careful I can’t keep tossing myself around like this. My hands fell on
something and I gripped it. I have no idea what it was but she was charging at
me. She gripped me by my neck and her hands tightened. I struggled for air and
tightened my grip on whatever it was. I slid it off the counter and brought it
up behind her back. It was a large cutting knife. My body entire shook, I
didn’t want to kill her I just wanted to get out. Her eyes went wild and her
grip tightened. I tried to pry her hands away with my free hand but it was no
use.

“That baby and you should be dead.”
She said in my ear as I began to see black dots. I used all of my strength to
meet her eyes and she smiled. “That
thing
in your stomach was the
biggest mistake in his life.” I couldn’t get any air into my lungs and I was
beginning to panic. This just couldn’t be it for me.

In a barely there whisper I told her,
“No one will ever hurt my baby.” And then I plunged the knife into her. Her
eyes widened and her grip on my neck fell slack. I gripped onto the counter to
hold me up. She slowly fell down sliding across my body and my knees gave out.
I fell down to the floor struggling for air. My breathing came out in rapid
short pants and my lungs were blazing. It hurt so much to take in air and I
didn’t have the energy to move. I heard noises as I kept trying to get control
of my breathing but I could only hear beating in my ears. I collapsed on top of
Jasmine. I felt a hand on my arm right before I passed out.

Landon

Four hours ago…

“Nick I’m fucking losing it man. I can’t
deal with this shit. I need to know where she is and if she’s ok. The longer it
takes the worst the shit in my head is getting.” I confessed.

“It’s alright man. We’ll find her,
it’ll be ok I promise you. Lucy is a strong girl. She has to be to deal with
you. Truth be told I’m sure she can take Jasmine. She’s going to be ok.” He
promised me.

I nodded but I was on pins and
needles. If anything happens to Lucy I have no idea what I’m going to do. She
was carrying our fucking baby! I couldn’t lose either of them. I paced for another
hour before my phone rang it was Frank from the security department. He
informed me that he was sending me everything they found on Jasmine. I
immediately grabbed my laptop and accessed the email. She was in therapy but it
didn’t say why. Go figure the girls a fucking nut. She had to be if she thinks
she’s going to do something to Lucy and get away with it. I’ll break her neck
myself. I continued reading until something caught my eye. There was
information about her seeing someone in jail. I scanned through the documents
and found that the person she was visiting was Dan. How does she even know him
I continued to sort through the information and I found the connection. They
were cousins through their mothers, which is why they had different last names.
Apparently they were close. I kept reading and my blood boiled. She was working
with Dan? That’s what this is all about; I thought we were rid of that fucker.

“Nick, she’s Dan’s cousin.” I told
him by way of explanation.

Nick paled. “Are you serious? That’s
why she’s gunning for Lucy something to do with him?”

I nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking.
She’s not on campus, so where could she have taken her? I’m trying to think if
we had any homes around here that she could be at. The picture didn’t give much
to a background. They could be in a warehouse for all I know.”

Just then James and Sam arrived.
After we filled them in James went into a spin. He was on the phone nonstop
pulling in favors and contacting the police. We had Chris hard at work looking
for family properties close by. So far he came up with nothing. Nick rubbed his
chin then told Chris to also check for Dan’s family properties. He nodded and
expanded his search.

James finally got off the phone and
sighed. “I’m surprised we haven’t found her yet.”

That pissed me off, I felt like he
was accusing me of something. I tensed. “What is that supposed to mean? We’ve
been trying everything we could!” I argued.

He put his hands up in defense. “It’s
not that. I would have just assumed with your ridiculous protectiveness you
would’ve chipped her or something by now.”

I slammed my fists down on the table.
“Fuck! I’ve been so damn stressed I’m not thinking. I did tag her, the ring.” I
looked up at Chris. “You know how to trace those and see where she is?”

Chris shook his head. “That’s outside
of my expertise but I know someone who can.” He offered.

I nodded. “Call him.”

He placed the call and 20 minutes
later there was a knock on my door. I swung the door open and was face to face
with Dylan. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I roared.

He threw his arms up. “Chris told me
to come here to help him with something. If I known it was for you I wouldn’t
have come.”

My eyebrows flew up. “You know
computers?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Believe it or
not football is my pastime. I prefer computers and technology, now do you need
my help before I change my mind?”

I nodded. “Lucy was kidnapped.”

He paled and came into the house.
“I’ll help however I can.”

He entered the house and made his way
to Chris. “What’s needed?” he asked taking out a laptop from his bag.

“He needs to trace a chip on her.”
Chris told him.

Dylan’s eyebrows flew up. “You chipped
her?”

“Yes the fuck I did, now do we have
an issue?” I asked.

He held his hands up in defense. “Not
at all, I just didn’t realize that you guys were that serious.”

“Are you fucking blind? This boy is
mental over her, now can you trace it?” Nick chimed in.

Dylan nodded. “Yes but I’ll need some
information to locate that chip.” I ran up to our room taking two stairs at a
time. I shuffled through my papers until I found the one with her information
on it. I took it back downstairs to them. “I’ll need a while to connect to the
chip then get the location.”

I nodded then I hugged James. Like a
real honest to god hug of love. “You’re a fucking genius man.”

He shook his head and muttered, “I’m
surprised it’s only the ring.”

I chuckled for the first time in hours.
“Yea, I’m working on that. You think she’ll agree to one in her wrist or
something.”

James glared at me. “No, she
wouldn’t.”

I shrugged. “There’s ways around
that. After this, she’ll be lucky if I let her out the damn room. I’m going to
strangle her ass once I know she’s ok.”

Two more hours passed before Dylan
narrowed down a location. It was an estate that belonged to Dan’s parents about
an hour away. As soon as he gave me the address I was out the door. Nick hopped
in the passenger side just as I sped off. My entire body was shaking. The
closer I got the more nervous I became. What if we were too late? It would be my
entire fault for forgetting about the damn tracker. I slammed my hands down on
the wheel. How am I going to live with myself? It seemed like everything was
against me. I couldn’t catch a green light, and I was strongly considering
breaking every traffic law. It was the longest hour of my life. When the GPS
told us we arrived I hopped out of the car, not even bothering to cut the
engine. I could see there was a light on and then I heard a crash. Me and Nick
sprinted to the door. It was locked and it took me a few tries before I was
able to get it open. There was shattered glass by the door and the carpet was
shifted. It looked like they were struggling. Me and Nick split up and ran
through the house. My heart was in my throat the entire time. I found the
basement and looked around and I recognized this place from the picture. I saw
blood on the floor and a chair and my palms started to sweat.

“LANDON!” I heard Nick scream for me
and I ran back up the stairs. My heart was frantic and I had a million and one
thoughts running through my mind. I found him in the kitchen and he was pulling
Lucy up. She had blood on her shirt and I panicked. I ran and picked her up
from his arms and ran towards the door. I needed to get her to the hospital.
Nick nodded to me. “Hurry up and get her to a hospital, I’ll call the cops and
get an ambulance here. She’s out too.”

I didn’t even respond. I got her into
the backseat and sped to the closest hospital. Thank fucking god for google
maps, it got me here in 10 minutes. I carried her into the ER and looked around
frantic. I ran to the front desk with Lucy in my arms. “Please you have to help
her. I don’t know what’s wrong but she won’t wake up and there’s blood. She’s
pregnant.” I pleaded.

The nurse said some code into the
speaker and people ran out with a stretcher. I placed Lucy down and followed
them down the hallway. They only let me get so far before they made me sit in
the waiting room. I called James to tell him where we were and then I sat there
and waited. Nick finally showed up and he looked exhausted and pale. James
appeared not 10 minutes later while Sam stayed home with Max.  

“How is she?” Nick asked.

I shook my head and the tears I’ve
been holding in came out. “I don’t know, and I’m so fucking scared.” I
admitted.

He took a seat next to me and patted
me on the back. “She’s strong man. If that house is any indication, she didn’t
let us down. She fought and she still had a pulse, I checked.”

I nodded and let the fear consume me.
There was nothing I could do to fight it, it was there like a black hole
waiting to devour me alive. I prayed to every god I’ve ever heard of that she
and the baby were ok. That’s all I need in life. “Please, please, please…” I
begged.

We were waiting for about an hour or
two when the doctor finally came out. “James Fielder?”

We all stood and walked to him. “Yes,
that’s me… and this is the rest of her family.”

“You’re her father correct?” the
doctor asked.

“I am. Now please tell us how my
daughter is doing.”

“Ok, well….”

Lucy

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I groaned, I knew that sound all too
well. I was in the hospital…
again
. I’m getting sick of being here. My
head was hurting and I slowly opened my eyes. Landon was lying next to me in
the hospital bed. Nick was lying across a couch in the corner and James was in
a chair that looked mighty uncomfortable. I reached up and moved a piece of
hair off of Landon’s forehead and he stirred. I smiled when those intense green
eyes found mine.

“Hey baby.” He murmured.

I smiled. “Hey Landon.” I croaked out
then cringed. God dammit that hurt. My throat was on fire.

Landon frowned. “What’s the matter?”
he asked.

I pointed to my throat. “Hurts” I
told him in a hoarse whisper.

He sighed and ran his fingers through
my hair. He placed a kiss to my forehead. “Other than that, how you feeling?”
he asked and I gave him a thumbs up. He got up and left the room, I’m assuming
to tell the nurses I was awake.

“Great to see you there young lady.
You must be very popular to have a room full of hot guys.” The nurse told me
with a smile. The sound of her voice caused Nick and James to stir.

I couldn’t help myself. “You can have
them if you like. They’re a hell of a lot of trouble.” It hurt like hell to
talk, but it was worth the scowl that Landon threw at me.

She laughed. “Oh no honey they don’t
seem like they’re leaving you.” Nick stood up and stretched and his shirt rose
up as she was checking my vitals. She whispered, “But holy hell, I’ll tell you
I would if I could.” That made me snicker. “Well everything seems fine. I’ll
let the doctor know that you’re awake and he will be in here to speak with you.
If you need anything you let me know.”

Nick came over and stretched out in
the bed where Landon was. “Hey there cupcake, how’s it going? Do you know that
selfish bastard over there,” he gestured to Landon, “wouldn’t rotate with me
last night? I considered trying to squeeze in on your other side but he
threatened me. I mean you
are
carrying my baby.” He rolled his eyes and
kissed me on the cheek. “I missed you muffin. How is my girl and my child
doing?” he asked.

Landon growled and I laughed. “We’re
doing ok I think. The doctor will know more than me right about now.” I told him.
Truth is I was worried about the baby. I still
felt
pregnant, but I have
no idea what kind of crap could’ve gone wrong with all that wrestling and shit.

The doctor came in a few minutes
later. “Hi Lucy, its great seeing you awake. Now most of your bumps and bruises
are artificial. Your neck will be hurting for a while from you being choked,
but there is no permanent damage. You should try to have more hot drinks and
ease your way into cold. I know you’re thirsty so I would start with some tea.”

Nick stood up. “I’ll go get it.” he
told us and left the room.

“Let’s check on the baby, shall we?”
he setup the equipment for a sonogram. “I see here that you are around four
months pregnant. When they initially brought you in, there were some signals of
distress with the baby. The ordeal that you went through put a high dosage of
stress on your body and that reflected on the baby. However, you will need to
take it easy for the remainder of this pregnancy and stay away from stress.” He
applied the goo to my stomach and added the wand. It only took him a few
seconds to find the baby and I smiled. He was moving, which meant he was ok. I
grabbed Landon’s hand and squeezed. He pressed a button and a heartbeat filled
the room.

“I can’t believe you kids are already
making me a grandpa. He’s beautiful.” James said.

I looked over at him and raised an
eyebrow. “He? We don’t know if it’s a boy or girl yet.” I told him.

He nodded. “Well I already know.
That’s a boy, and if he’s like his daddy you’re going to have your hands full.”
The doctor shut down the monitor and told us all looks well and exited.

I nodded and laughed. Nick came back
with the tea and I drank it happily. I didn’t realize I was so damn thirsty. It
stung to drink it but it was worth the pain. A guy in a cop uniform entered the
room and I already knew the protocol. Before he began I put up a hand to stop
him. “I know the drill. My throat is sore so you’ll have to bear with me.” I
told him.

He nodded and took a seat. I sat up
and Landon took a seat next to me. “She saw me at the party that Naiyla and I
went to. She kept asking me questions and trying to hold a conversation. She
asked me to come over and help her with her car. When I got close enough she
covered my face with a cloth and I blacked out. I woke up in the car and then
she knocked me out. Hit me in my head with something. I woke up in a basement
and she told me I was out of it for several hours. She basically went on to
accuse me of being the reason why she couldn’t have Landon and why he didn’t
love her. She intended on trying to perform an abortion then I guess kill me?
In her fucked up brain she thought that if she got rid of
us
that she
could undo whatever brainwashing I did to Landon and they’ll live happily ever
after. Then she blamed me for the reason why her psycho as hell cousin attacked
me. Saying I made him fall in love with me and had him believe I’ll run away
with him or something. I cracked her in the head with a chair and tried to get
out. Unfortunately I didn’t know the layout of the house so she caught up with
me before I could get out the door. We scuffled some and I got away again. When
I almost got out the door she started throwing shit so I ran to the kitchen.
That’s when I think she lost her last shred of humanity and she choked me. The
knife was on the counter so when I started blacking out and she was talking
about our kid I stabbed her. It was hard to breathe and I remember collapsing.
Now here I am.”

Landon cursed under his breathe.
“This was about me and me not giving a rat’s ass about her? What the hell is
wrong with that family?” he asked frustrated.

I shook my head and gave the officer
a pointed look. “Let us know now if there is any other bat shit crazy people in
that family that I need to watch my back from.”

He shook his head. “Not that I know
of, we have enough information here to lock her up.”

I sighed. “How is she?” I asked. I
needed to know what type of damage I caused this time.

“She’s going to be ok. She lost quite
a bit of blood, but you didn’t hit any organs or such. I will say you did a
number on her… I have to ask how she got that knot the size of a boulder on her
head?” he asked.

I laughed. “No clue. It could’ve been
when I cracked her with the chair, or when I pulled the crap out of her hair,
or
maybe
it was when I kicked the shit out of her head. I don’t know how she
didn’t have a concussion.”

“Oh she did actually. We think the
adrenaline pulsing through her kept her going. She also had drugs in her
system.” He told me.

I shook my head. “Good riddance.” The
cop excused himself and I turned to Landon. “When can you bust me out of this
joint?” I asked.

He chuckled. “When they say it’s ok
so don’t rush it Lucy. You heard them say that all the stress from the night
affected the baby. I need you to just relax.” He told me.

I sighed and snuggled into him. I
placed a kiss on his chin. “Don’t try to get sweet with me now girl. I’m still
going to kick your ass. How many times do I have to tell you to just fucking
listen to me? Why is that so damn hard for you? Do you just
like
being a
pain in my ass?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Sure you are tough
guy. I’m shaking in my boots.”

His hands flexed on my arm. “I’m
serious Lucy. You need to cut all this independent bullshit you have going on.
I’m telling you this for your own good. I just don’t want anything to happen to
you baby that’s all.”

I grabbed onto his shirt and he
looked down. “I know LJ, thank you.” He gave me a soft kiss and I heard someone
gag. I looked up and Nick was looking at us like he was going to be sick.

“You two are gross. Did you forget
there were other people in the room? Can you spare us the mushy stuff?”

I laughed and waved him over. “It’s
ok, thank you too Nick. You can have a kiss too.”  He smiled and skipped over
to us. He came to the other side of the bed that Landon wasn’t on and bent over
giving me his cheek. I leaned forward to kiss him and he grabbed my face at the
last minute and smacked a wet kiss on my lips. I laughed and Landon shook his
head grabbing me back up.

“Beat it Nick.” He shooed him off.

James stood up. “I’m going to head to
your house so that Sam can come see you. She’s worried sick.”

I nodded. “Thanks dad. I’ll see you
soon.” He placed a kiss on my forehead and left.

Nick headed home when visiting hours
were over. Landon pulled his normal shit and ended up spending the night with
me. They let me go the next day with strict instructions to avoid stress and
take it easy. I would need to make an appointment with my OB to check the baby
next week. Landon took care of that as soon as we got home. He provided her
with all the information the doctor told us she needed to know and got me
settled. He made me get in bed and wouldn’t let me move unless I had to use the
bathroom. I rolled my eyes at him and argued that he couldn’t keep me chained to
the bed forever. When it was time for me to return to classes for finals he
almost lost his shit. When the doctor said take it easy, he thought that meant
I was an invalid. After effectively ignoring him as I got ready for school he
finally let it go.