Read Make Me (Bully Me #2) Online
Authors: C. E. Starkweather
She laid down and closed her eyes. So this is what it felt like to go insane.
20
"It’s about a mile walk through here," Colton told Shane and the six officers who were gathered by the woods. "You all know your coordinates. Nobody go in until I say so. Got it?"
They all agreed and headed into the woods. "Don’t move at all until we get her out safely, ok? I don’t need you messing things up." Colton said to Shane.
"I won’t," Shane promised. They walked through the woods, checking Colton’s GPS to make sure they were headed the right way. Shane could see why Camden would take Kaine here. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. "So what’s the plan?" Shane asked.
"I go in with the warrant."
Shane waited. "That’s it? What if he doesn’t let you in?"
"We break the door down."
"But what if…"
"Look," Colton said. "We have contingency plans for every situation. My guys know what they’re doing. Let us handle it."
"Yeah, I know, but…" Shane was cut off by a scream. "Shit! That’s Kaine!" He exclaimed, running ahead.
"Wait!" Colton hissed after him, but it was too late. "God damn it!" He muttered, running after Shane.
Shane ran as fast as he could toward the yelling and the screaming. He paused for a second, disoriented until he heard shouting. "Shut up!" He heard Camden yell. "Shut your fucking mouth!"
He ran toward the sound and froze for a split second when he saw Camden in the middle of the yard on top of Kaine. Camden slapped her in the face and Shane immediately unfroze, charging him as hard and fast as he could. He watched as Camden sat up and unzipped his jeans. Kaine spit in his face and he hit her again. Shane crouched down and smashed into Camden, taking him by surprise. He punched him as hard as he could. Camden tried to fight back, but the sight of Camden hitting Kaine was enough to push Shane over the edge. He punched Camden until he stopped fighting, then kept punching him until he felt hands drag him away. "Let me go!" He shouted. "I’m gonna fucking kill him!" He broke out of the grip of the two police officers and jumped on an unconscious Camden, wrapping his hands around his throat. He was pulled back again. "Calm down!" Colton yelled at him.
Shane was about to try to jump on Camden again until he saw Kaine laying on the grass, unconscious. He ran to her and cradled her in his arms. He couldn’t believe how thin she had gotten in just three weeks. Her lips were dry and whitish, and her skin was pale. She looked dead.
"Kainie, it’s me," he said softly. "You’re ok. Come back to me, baby." He pressed his forehead against hers and kissed her gently.
Kaine heard distorted voices and vaguely wondered what was going on.
"Come back to me, baby."
She gasped and opened her eyes to see Shane’s bright blue eyes staring into hers. "Shane," she choked out.
He smiled at her. "It’s me, Kainie. I’m here. You’re ok."
"Where’s Adam?" She asked weakly.
"He’s fine," Shane assured her. "He’s with Jay."
"Jay’s dead too?" She asked, looking around.
"What? No. Nobody’s dead. Are you ok?"
She looked at him again, her face crumpling. "You're alive," she sobbed, grabbing his face. "Oh my god, you're alive. He told me..."
"I'm ok, baby. Everyone's ok."
She wrapped her arms around him. "Hold me," she said shakily. She still couldn't believe that he was ok. He wrapped his arms around her gently and she sobbed into his shoulder. "I thought I'd never get to hold you again," she sobbed. "I thought..."
"Shh, calm down," he said softly. "I'm fine. Adam is fine. He misses you like crazy, but he's fine."
"He said you were dead. He had a video..."
"It wasn't real, baby." He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his chest. "You feel that?"
She closed her eyes and nodded. "It looked so real," she whispered. "How did he..."
"It’s ok. I'm ok, Kainie. Are you ok?"
She hesitated, then nodded. "I'm ok now. Where's Camden?" She tried sit up.
"He's knocked out and being taken away by about six policemen. He won't hurt you anymore," Shane said. "He won't ever hurt you again."
Kaine stared up at him. "Kiss me," she whispered. Shane brushed her hair away from her face and pressed his lips gently to hers. He pulled away when she started crying again. "I want to go home," she sniffed. "I want to see Adam."
"Hold on," he said. He got up and walked away as she forced herself to sit up. She fought through the dizziness that threatened to overtake her and looked around the yard, realizing the commotion going on around her. There were about twenty people in the yard, going in and out of the cabin. She looked frantically for Shane and saw him talking to an officer. She forced herself to stand up and stumbled over to him. She couldn't believe he was here, and she never wanted to let him out of her sight again. He caught her as she fell into his arms and gently lowered her to the ground. "Stay here. You need a hospital."
"No I don't," she protested. "I need to go home."
"Kainie, you can barely stand," he said. "You're going to go to the hospital, and they're going to help you. I'm going to get Adam, and we're going to meet you there."
She shook her head furiously. "Don't leave me. Please."
"Ok," he immediately said. "I won't. I'll have Jay bring him."
She breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes.
"When's the last time you ate?" He asked quietly.
"I just had some toast," she said weakly.
"What about before that?"
"I don't remember," she mumbled.
He caressed her face. "You're so thin. Did he starve you?"
"No. I mean yeah, at first. But then I couldn't eat. I thought..."
"It's ok," he said. "Just relax. The ambulance is on the way."
She nodded weakly and laid with her head on his lap.
"Everyone misses you," he said, trying to keep her awake. "Once we get you home, we should have a big party. We'll have our parents, Jay, Logan, Lucy, Layla...who else?"
"No party," she murmured. "Just you."
"Well I'll be there too."
"Just you and Adam."
He looked down at her, wondering what Camden had done her to make her seem so broken. He feared that he already knew the answer.
Finally, the ambulance pulled up and wheeled out the stretcher. "What took you so long?" He snapped, watching as the EMT took Kaine's vitals.
"If you have to ask that, you didn't take the road here," the EMT retorted as he shone a light in Kaine's eyes. "How is she?" Shane asked nervously.
"Vitals are pretty good. We should see improvement after we get her started on an IV," the EMT assured him. "She's pretty severely dehydrated. Have you been eating?" He asked Kaine. She shook her head as he moved her to the stretcher. Shane climbed in the back of the ambulance with her and held her hand. "I love you, princess," he said softly. She closed her eyes and gave him a small smile. "I want Adam," she mumbled.
"I'll call Jay as soon as I have service," he promised, bringing her hand to his lips. "You're ok, baby. You'll see Adam soon, and Camden Lawson won't ever put his hands on you again."
She closed her eyes and kept them closed for the rest of the ride to the hospital.
Shane watched as the nurse attached an IV to Kaine. "Is she ok?" He asked nervously.
"We'll work on getting some nutrients back in her body. She's pretty weak. The doctor will be in to give her a full exam in a few minutes."
Shane held her hand to his face and waited until the doctor came in. "Hi, Kaine," he said, smiling at her. "How are you feeling?"
She gave him a small smile. "Tired."
"That makes sense," he said, looking over her chart. "You've been through a lot. Can you tell me what happened?"
"He kept me in a small room."
The doctor waited when she didn't continue. "Is there anything else he did? Any other injuries you might have?"
She shook her head. "Would you mind giving us a few minutes?" The doctor asked Shane quietly. He looked at Kaine. "Baby, I'm going to go outside for a minute, ok? I'll be right back when the doctor is done."
She started to shake her head. "I'll literally be right outside the door," he assured her. "I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry."
She looked at the doctor and gave him a small smile. "Don't go far," she pleaded. He knew how she felt. The thought of leaving her even for a minute made his heart hurt. The only reason he agreed was to get Kaine to talk to the doctor. He was afraid that there were things that she was too embarrassed to say in front of him. He took a few deep breaths as he left the room, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Daddy!"
He turned to see Adam running towards him. "Hey, buddy," he said, picking him up and swinging him around.
"What's going on?" Jay asked quietly.
"I don't know," Shane said, frustrated. "I have no idea what happened to her. She's ok. Physically, she's ok. The doctor is in there with her right now. I'm kind of terrified to find out what he did to her."
Jay blew out a breath. "This guy is in custody?"
Shane nodded. "Yeah. Listen, try not to act shocked when you see her. She's lost so much weight."
The doctor opened the door and motioned them inside. Kaine's eyes filled with tears when she saw Adam. "Oh my God," she sobbed, holding her arms out. "Mommy!" Adam cried, squirming out of Shane's grip. He climbed onto Kaine's bed and she held him, crying quietly.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" The doctor asked Shane. He nodded and followed him to the hallway. "She claims she wasn't raped," the doctor said quietly. "I did a test, and if she was, it wasn't recent. There are no signs of trauma."
Shane closed his eyes. "I want to believe that so badly, but I'm having trouble. I just can't believe he would have her for all this time and not hurt her."
"I did a few tests regardless. Besides being dehydrated, she seems to be in decent shape. Don't be concerned if she's lethargic for a few days. Keep her eating small meals every few hours. We're going to keep her here until she doesn't need the IV anymore. Don't let her tell you she's not hungry."
Shane glanced back in the room. Kaine was still holding Adam tight with her eyes closed. "Is there anything else?"
"Right now? No," the doctor said. "I'll run the blood test and let you know. Go be with her."
Shane gave him a half smile and went back in the room. He had to smile at Jay making faces at Adam. Adam was laughing hysterically.
"Don't get him all excited," Kaine scolded Jay. She still looked exhausted, but seemed to be a little more alert.
"That's my job. I'm the fun uncle. I get him all riled up then give him back to you. Right dude?" He asked Adam.
"Right!" Adam yelled. Kaine rolled her eyes and held her hand out to Shane. He took it and smiled at her. "Hey," he said quietly to Jay. "Can you take Adam to the cafeteria and get him something to eat? I need to talk to Kaine for a minute."
"Sure. Come on, dude. Let's see if we can find some ice cream."
The mention of Adam's favorite treat was enough for him to forget about what was going on. He jumped off of Kaine's bed and ran out the door with Jay chasing after him. Kaine watched them leave with a pained look on her face.
"Babe, he'll be back in a few minutes. I promise."
She gave him a small smile. "I know. I just never thought I'd see him again. Or you. He told me you were both dead. I didn't want to believe him. But he had so much proof. When I saw you...I can't even describe how I felt. I feel like part of me is being ripped away whenever one of you leaves for even a minute."
"Don’t ever worry about that," he said, kissing her hand. "Whenever I leave, I'll come back to you. You don't ever have to worry about that."
She sniffed and nodded. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"I need to know what happened. I know it's hard to talk about, but please just tell me. I can't stand to see you suffering and not know what you're going through."
She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it right now."
"I know, but..."
"I just need to rest. I can't even think straight right now. Please, Shane. Can you just hold me so I can fall asleep?"
"Of course, babe. Just relax. I didn't mean to upset you." He gently laid his head on her chest. "I love you, Kainie. And I'm not going anywhere."
"I love you too," she murmured before drifting off to sleep.
21
Kaine's eyes fluttered open as she looked around the room. Shane sat in the chair next to the bed, sleeping. She laid in bed and watched him for a minute. She still couldn't believe that he was here. "Shane," she whispered. He woke up with a start and jumped up. "What is it? Is everything ok?"
"I'm fine," she assured him. "I just wanted you."
"How are you feeling?" He asked, standing up and stretching.
"Better. Where's Adam?"
"Jay took him home to sleep."
"Already? How long was I out?"
Shane checked his watch. "Six hours or so."
"Have you been here this whole time?"
"Of course. I didn't want you to wake up without me here. The doctor was in a few hours ago. He wanted to talk to you, but I convinced him to let you sleep."
"Is something wrong?" She asked, worried. Shane gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure everything is fine."
She held her hand out and he took it gently. "I feel like this a dream," she said softly. "Like I'm going to wake up and I'll be back in that terrible little room with him."
"Did he hurt you, Kainie?"
"No. Not really. Not physically, at least."
"I saw him hit you. I had to watch him hit you twice before I reached him. I would have killed him if the police hadn't pulled me off of him."
"I'm glad you didn't," she smiled. "I'd be devastated if you were ripped away from me again."
"So what did he do to you?"
Kaine stared at the ceiling for a minute before responding. "He just kept me in that room and held me a lot. He threatened to rape me a few times, but he never did. I think he wanted me to want him. I don't think he wanted to hurt me."