Kisses to Remember (35 page)

Sabrina’s posture relaxed, and she ran her own fingers along Holden’s throat. “I have some making up to do. I’m sorry.”

Holden shook his head. “No need to be. You come here to get me and find I’ve been living with some redhead and her brat. I’m surprised you want me back.” He hoped he wasn’t overestimating her desire for him. By the way her pupils expanded to huge, black disks as she looked at him, he didn’t think he was.

“I need a partner like you, Holden. In business, in pleasure. We’ll pick up where we left off and enjoy all that we deserve. I have big plans. Big.”

She kissed him while Johanna and her dying son were a mere two feet away. Again, Holden struggled to remain in this foolish character he’d built. 

Just a bit more, man. You can do this.

Sabrina motioned to Claus and Eli. “Check the house one more time. Kill anyone you find and bring them here. We’ll get rid of the bodies all at once.”

Claus and Eli made their way to the hatch and climbed down the ladder one at a time. As soon as their feet stopped clanging on the rungs, Holden turned to Sabrina. With one arm around her waist, he reached the other to his back pocket. He nuzzled the curve of her neck and her body melted against his.

“Oh, Holden…”

After kissing a line up to her ear, he whispered, “Let the festivities begin.”

Holden arced his other arm up, flicked off the gray cap on the end of the Epi-pen, and jammed it into Sabrina’s neck.

****

Bastard.

Sabrina clamped a hand to her neck where Holden was impaling her with something. A hot sting radiated under her flesh, a piercing bolt of pain sliced into her brain, and her vision darkened. 

She prided herself on her instincts about people. She could read them. She could almost crawl inside their minds and hear their thoughts. It was what made her so successful in business. Why the hell had she let Holden trick her? His fucking good looks and convincing kisses had blinded her. She was pissed at him but angrier with herself. Letting herself down was something she rarely did.

Especially now. When she was so close to skyrocketing her company to the top. So close to… 

****

A scream tore from Johanna’s throat as Sabrina’s body dropped to the cabin floor. Holden followed her down still holding the Epi-pen to her neck. Sabrina’s eyes rolled back then closed. The muscles in her face sagged almost as if her flesh were about to melt off her bones. Then she went still, so still.

Holden released the Epi-pen, letting it clatter to the floor, and stared at his own hand.

“Is she dead?” Ted asked.

“She will be.” Holden shuddered. “Vaughn told me that accidental intravenous injection can cause stroke or cerebral hemorrhage.”

“Couldn’t happen to a better person,” Ted mumbled. “Now let’s get my grandson to a hospital before he ends up in the same situation as Dragon Lady here.”

Holden nodded. “Tie her up.” He pointed to Sabrina. “Just in case.”

Johanna stood there for a moment, so Holden grabbed her by the shoulders. “C’mon, Johanna. We have to move here. I’ll fly us to a hospital. Kam’s going to be all right.” He leaned in to kiss her, but she scooted away.

“You said—”

“Forget everything I said.” Holden stepped closer again. “I love
you
. I would never forget you. You know that, Johanna.” He reached out to her, but she shook her head.

“Get my baby out of here.” She picked up the ropes that had bound her and used them to tie up Sabrina.

“Get in that cockpit, kid,” Ted said. “Kam’s lost a lot of blood.”

Holden ran to the front of the plane, pulled up the ladder, and closed the hatch. He disappeared into the cockpit and in a few minutes, the plane’s engine roared to life.

Johanna moved Sabrina’s body though it made her want to vomit to do so. A pulse still beat erratically in Sabrina’s neck, but her body already felt like a corpse as Johanna maneuvered it against a seat. When she finished securing Sabrina, she sat next to Ted and pulled Kam’s feet into her lap.

“Hang on, baby. Don’t leave us.” She leaned against Ted as he held Kam’s T-shirt to the gunshot wound.

My baby has been shot.
The thought made her stomach lurch.

Her stomach felt even worse as the plane rolled across her field and took off into the sky. She glanced at Sabrina’s distorted face then to the cockpit.

“How do we know he’s going to take us to a hospital, Ted? He said he didn’t remember us. He kissed her. Said they were lovers.”

“What makes more sense, Johanna? That he wants to be with that,” he waved a hand at Sabrina who looked absolutely horrific at the moment, “or he wants you?”

“We’ve seen the illogical happen before, Ted.” She looked at Kam. “We’ve also lost a child before.” She couldn’t stop the tears from pouring out. “He’s so pale. What if he doesn’t make it?” She’d die right alongside Kam. She couldn’t live without him.

“Shhh,” Ted soothed. “We’re not going to lose him. He knows we need him.”

During the ride, Kam woke up a few times, mumbled unintelligibly, then passed out again. Johanna had gotten towels from the bathroom to press to his wound. How much blood could a little boy lose and still live? She remembered donating blood when Kallie was in the hospital, but it had been too late for her.

Please, don’t be too late for Kam
.

“We’re about to land,” came Holden’s voice from the cockpit. “Strap yourselves in as best you can. I’ve called for two ambulances to meet us at the airfield.”

Johanna shot a look at Sabrina. She hadn’t stirred once. From the looks of her, she wouldn’t stir ever again. Johanna never expected to feel relief over someone’s death, but this woman had put Kam in danger. She deserved no sympathy.

The plane landed and Holden opened the hatch. After lowering the ladder, he rushed to the back of the cabin and gathered Kam from Ted’s lap. Cradling the boy against his chest, he said, “Everything’s going to be all right. You’ll be playing with Legos and pining for Christina Darren in no time.”

He spun around and hurried to the hatch where EMTs were boarding. Holden passed Kam to one and pointed another one to Sabrina.

“I released epinephrine into her neck,” he said. “I think she’s dead.”

He grabbed Johanna’s hand and guided her to the ladder after her son, then another EMT helped Ted down. Miles was carried out last. Kam was placed on a gurney and shuffled into one of the waiting ambulances. Johanna climbed in next to him, answered questions about what had happened and his medical history.

As the doors to the ambulance closed, she caught sight of Holden and Ted talking to a police officer. Before the doors were sealed, Holden mouthed the words
I love you.

She wanted to believe him. Looking at Kam’s little body on the gurney, blood-soaked towels still pressed to his chest, she
had
to believe Holden. She needed him to lean on, to keep her from falling to pieces, to be there if Kam didn’t make it. She couldn’t do this alone. Not again.

“Mom…” Kam’s dark eyes fluttered open.

“Right here, baby. I’m right here.” She took his hand and squeezed it in hers.

“My shoulder burns.” His voice was weak and his eyes closed again.

“We’re going to fix you up,” the EMT said as he slipped an IV into Kam’s arm. “You rest, okay, buddy?”

Kam nodded and his hand went slack in Johanna’s. She darted her eyes to his chest, making sure it still rose and fell, that her boy still breathed, that the cruel universe had not taken him from her.

“The hospital is right around the corner.” The other EMT rubbed Johanna’s forearm with a latex-gloved hand. “The man that called us said he’d meet us there.”

She wanted Holden to be there, and yet…

Johanna didn’t take her eyes off Kam’s chest. She was afraid if she did, he’d stop breathing, stop fighting, stop living. He’d leave her here, childless, broken, alone. How would she ever face the years ahead of her without him? Kam was the nucleus around which she revolved. If she hadn’t had him, the loss of Kallie, Alex’s arrest, and the divorce would have totally crushed her. She only managed to soldier on because of Kam. He’d needed her to be strong, to keep it together so he could have something of a life. He’d needed his mother, and she’d done the best she could.

And yet somehow, we’ve ended up in this situation.
She was riding in an ambulance with a hole blown through her baby’s shoulder. She’d been on the target side of a gun herself today. A woman got stabbed with an Epi-pen. The man she loved said he didn’t remember her.

Johanna had had some wretched days in her past, but this one was award winning, and she had only one person to blame.

Herself.

“Over here,” Ted said as he took a right toward the hospital waiting room.

Holden skidded to a halt beside Ted as his gaze fell upon Johanna. She sat in a chair, bent at the waist with her head resting on her knees. She looked lost. Small. Alone.

Am I too late?

The police had taken him and Ted aside at the airfield. He’d had to answer questions about Sabrina because he had, in fact, taken her life with that Epi-pen jab. He unloaded the entire story starting with what he and Vaughn had discovered about DE being involved in weapons manufacturing. Although he had no physical proof himself, he gave the names and last locations of Claus and Eli and Aaron. Someone would talk. Someone would rat out Sabrina and Donovan Electronics in exchange for immunity.

Ted had corroborated Holden’s claims, and finally the police had agreed to let them go to the hospital.

“Johanna.” Holden’s voice was still scratchy, but she looked up at the sound of her name.

Ted’s crutches clacked on the tiled floor as he maneuvered around Holden and went to Johanna. As soon as he lowered beside her, she started crying. Her shoulders shook as Ted pulled her close and rubbed her back.

Holden froze where he was in the middle of the waiting room. He prepared himself—unsuccessfully—for hearing Kam was gone. His eyes stung with unshed tears and swallowing was a near impossibility.

This is your fault
, his mind berated.
Sabrina came here because of you.

“He’s in surgery,” Johanna managed to say between sobs.

Holden let out a breath. Surgery was better than what he’d been thinking. He dropped to his knees in front of Johanna and rested his hands on the arms of her chair.

“I’m so sorry, Johanna. I tried to get back to Nebraska as fast as I could, but Sabrina had a head start.” Would she ever forgive him? Could she?

“It’s not your fault, Holden,” she said, sniffling back more tears. “It’s mine.”

“What?” Ted and Holden asked together.

“How is any of this your fault?” Ted scrunched up his nose.

“I lost my focus.” Johanna inspected her clasped hands in her lap. “For three years, it’s just been me and Kam.” She looked at Ted and took his hand. “And you. We were doing okay, right?”

“Sure,” Ted said. “Sure we were, sweetheart, but—”

Johanna held up a hand. “No. I should have listened to you, Ted. You said we shouldn’t bring a stranger into the house. You were right.”

Stranger.
The word hit Holden squarely in the chest. Arguments spun around in his head, but none made it out of his mouth. While she was wrong in blaming herself, she was correct in thinking she should have stayed away from him. Had he known his presence would have brought this suffering to the Wares, he would never have allowed Johanna to take him in. He’d been confused, his memory a muddled mess, but most of all he’d been selfish. Selfish to insert himself in the lives of these people, to attempt to call them his own. He hadn’t earned them. He’d only hurt them.

Slowly, he rose to his feet. Looking at Ted, he said, “I’m going to get a room at the hotel across the street. Please call when you get word on Kam. I’ll take Miles with me. You can pick him up when you’re able to.”

Ted looked at Johanna who was staring at the floor, tears still sliding down her cheeks. Glancing up at Holden, he said, “I’ll walk you out. Be right back, Johanna.” He squeezed her arm then hoisted himself up on the crutches.

He led Holden to the corridor outside the waiting room. “She needs some time, kid.”

Holden shook his head. “No. I need to go. Kam never would have been near a psycho like Sabrina if it weren’t for me. Promise you’ll call and let me know how he is. I have to know.” He swallowed with difficulty and ended up coughing.

“Maybe you ought to get checked out yourself. That bitch did a number on your neck. It’s already bruising.”

“I’m okay.”
My heart hurts far worse than my neck
.
Nothing a doctor can do about that.

“You’re not okay.” Ted rested a hand on Holden’s shoulder. “If Johanna is there and you’re all the way over here, you’re not okay. Neither of you are. I’ve seen the two of you together, Holden. Johanna and Alex didn’t have half of what you guys have. My son fucked up. Lost an amazing woman. Don’t make the same mistake. Don’t give up. Don’t give
her
up.”