Scars From Within (The Franklin Blues #1) (10 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Shawn

S
omething was wrong…I felt it deep down. After finding out that she wasn’t at her apartment, I called Amy to see if she was there already.

She said never showed up and wasn’t answering her cell.

That was several hours ago. I called Lance to come over, and help me look for her. While driving down some of the side roads in her neighborhood, we spotted something on the sidewalk—her suitcase.

I knew instantly that Josh had her. I felt this sickening dread that I wasn’t going to be able to save her. She’s gone, and it’s all my fault once again—the woman I love will die. I must not be a very good cop if I can’t even save the women that mean more to me than life itself.

Lance had the whole department working on her disappearance. The first 24 hours are critical to finding her alive.

“Thompson, I finally got a hit on Hailee’s cell signal,” Wesson, our tech guy at the department called out to me. “It’s very weak, so her phone must be dying, but it’s strong enough for now to get a good enough read on where it’s at. It may not be much, but it’s all we got right now.”

I turned to Lance. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

“Whoa, where do you think you’re going Shawn?” Lance shook his head. “You know you can’t go with us. You’re too emotionally invested. We can’t go in all guns blazing. It would put Hailee’s life in danger. You know this!”

“I don’t care what you say, man, I’m going on this raid. That is the love of my life in there. I. Am. Going. End of discussion.”

He stared at me for a long tense moment. “All right, you can go, but I’m telling you right now, I’m in charge of this. You are to listen to me. If not, I will handcuff you to the inside of a squad car. Do you understand me? Our only mission right now is to get Hailee out alive.”

“Yeah man, I get it. You’re the boss, but can we go now?”

“Okay then, let’s go get your woman back, shall we?”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Shawn

P
ulling up to the old distillery, I knew I had to get Hailee out alive at all costs. I wanted to kill this fucker, but I needed kill him
after
I got Hailee back in my arms again.

“You ready for this Shawn? No matter what we see in there, you’re to stick with me, so we can make sure we get her out alive.”

“Damn, Lance, I get it. You act like I’ve never done this before. I’m not a dumb ass rookie!”

“You may have done this before, but never with someone you love behind those doors. Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen, or what we’ll find inside. Just keep your cool, he’ll probably try to push your buttons, but you can’t let him. You hear me? If he’s in there alone, we need him alive to tell us where Hailee is.”

I know Lance is just looking out for me, so I just nodded my head. I’m ready for this. I am so ready to get my girl back. I wanted her safe in my arms.

We carefully move up to the warehouse doors and pulled them open…slowly and quietly.

The first thing I noticed is a blood trail along the dusty warehouse floor. A chill runs through my body, because I just know it’s hers.

We hear talking coming from another room. With guns drawn, we quietly headed toward the noise.

What I saw will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Hailee is on a bed completely naked and covered in blood. I could tell her wrists are cut open, and she has gashes on her legs. Her skin looked pale and almost ashen. She has such beautiful porcelain skin, but this is almost ghostly white. My whole body became rigid with fear.

“Hailee, pumpkin, wake up baby! We’re supposed to be together, remember? You can’t leave me like this. I love you!” Josh is holding my sweet Shortcake in his arms and crying. It’s apparent that he believed she was dead.

By the looks of it—he is probably right.

“Freeze! Put her down and get on the ground,” Lance yelled.

His demand pushed me back to reality.

Josh snapped his head up and glared at us with tears running down his face. He looked at Lance first, then his eyes landed on me. “What in the hell are you doing here? Pumpkin didn’t want to be with you, or did you forget that she left you? She couldn’t even stand to look at you anymore, so she came back to me. She loves me and you can’t take her from me. We’re going to live happily ever after. So, just leave us alone!”

Holy shit, this prick is delusional. I just have to get him to see that she needed medical attention, and trick him into giving her up.

Lance beats me to it. “Okay, Shawn won’t take her from you, but we need to look her over. She’s hurt and bleeding. We need to get her to a hospital. You can come with us, even ride in the ambulance with her. I know she would want you there with her when she wakes up, but you have to let me take her out to the ambulance or she’s going to die. If she dies, then you are going to be in some hot water because it’ll be your fault. If you love her, you’ll help her survive.”

Josh picked her up into his arms as her blood dripped to the floor. He stared at us for a minute. “Okay, but only if you come and get her. Shawn can’t touch her or I’ll take her back you understand?”

Lance nodded his head. Then he slowly moved forward.

Josh dropped her on the ground and pulled out a knife.

That’s all it took, I put two swift bullets into his chest.

He went down quick and landed right on top of Hailee.

I rushed over to her body, and took my shirt off to cover her. I lifted her up and hurried her out to the ambulance.

My buddy, Mason met us with their gurney, ready to take my love away. He checked for a pulse and tilted her head back. “We need a defibrillator!”

His crew rushed over with equipment and medical packs.

“Charging to 60 and CLEAR! Again charging to 80, and CLEAR!”

I stood frozen. Fear pulsing through every fiber of my being.

“We’ve got a pulse finally,” Mason announced.

I thought my knees might buckle at the one sentence I craved to hear beyond all others.

His crew took over, prepping her for the hospital.

Mason looked over at me. “I really didn’t think we had real a chance to get her to come back. There must be someone she wanted to live bad enough for.”

I jumped in the back of the ambulance with Hailee as we made our way to the hospital. I vow on the way there that I would fight for her. I would fight with everything I had in me to win her back. I’m not sure what I am going to do yet, but it doesn’t matter. Shortcake is alive, and I am going to get my girl back one way or another.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Hailee

W
here am I? Last thing I remember is Josh being on top of me. I’m pretty sure he had sex with me. I should be in pain, but for some reason I’m not. I looked around, and I’m in a beautiful garden. There are trees everywhere, and a gorgeous pond.

“Hailee, baby girl, look over here.”

I heard someone talking to me, but I can’t figure out where it’s coming from. I spun around in a circle, and I spotted someone sitting on a near by bench. As I got closer I realized it’s my dad. “Daddy, what are you doing here? Am I dead? Is this heaven?”
I’m so confused. I guess I died and I’m going to be with my father now. I sat down by him on the bench.

“No, my sweet baby girl, you’re not dead. You’re in limbo right now. It’s up to you to decide when you’re ready to go back, but you are not going to die. I want to tell you about something. That man you’re with, well he loves you very much, and I can see how much you love him too. You need to give him the benefit of the doubt here because everything that you think you heard is not as it seems; I can prove it too.”

I just stared at him, and wondered how he thought he could prove it. All of a sudden, I heard another voice come from behind me. I turned around, but I don’t recognize the woman now standing behind me.

“Hello, Hailee. I’m Scarlett; Shawn’s wife.”

Oh no, she must be here to tell me I can’t be with Shawn, and that she doesn’t want him with anyone but her. I braced myself for her threats and rage.

“I know you think that I probably don’t want you to be with Shawn, but you couldn’t be more wrong. I want Shawn to be happy and I see how happy you make him, and I like that look on him. When I died, he shut himself off from everyone who cared about him. He hasn’t been with anyone else since my death, and it is time for him to move on and love again. I know he could do that with you. I know you can give him the love he deserves, and you could take care of him the way he needs to be taken care of. I already know you won’t take his crap, and you could have his children one day.”

“Whoa, that’s where you’re wrong. I can’t have kids because of the damage from Brandon and Josh. They told me that the last time I was in the hospital. I would love to have kids one day, but I know that isn’t possible. Shawn deserves someone who can give him a family, and that person just isn’t me.”

I heard my dad chuckling.

“Oh, baby girl, never say never. You never know what is going to happen in the future. Things happen when you least expect it.” He winked at me.

“If you say so, but I think you’re wrong. I just don’t think we should be together anymore. He’s obviously not over her death yet.”

“Oh, my goodness, Hailee, he is over my death. He’s in love with you now, and I’ll always have a special place in his heart, but you own it now. Please just trust me on this. Give him a chance.”

I now heard someone in the distance talking to me, and I knew that voice anywhere. Shawn was talking to me, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. “I think I’m ready to go back now, but I can’t guarantee that Shawn and I will get the ending you guys so desperately want for us.”

Next thing I know I am opening my eyes.

I looked around the room, and by the looks of it I was in the hospital…again. The lights hurt my eyes, so I quickly close them again.

“Hey, Shortcake, please don’t shut your eyes again. I’ve seen nothing but your eyelids for days now. I want to see those beautiful green eyes I fell in love with, and I need to know you are going to stay awake.”

I tried to speak, but my throat hurt too much. I gestured to the water pitcher.

Shawn finally figured out what I wanted, and poured me a glass of water.

I took a small sip from straw in the cup. “What happened? Last thing I remember, Josh had cut my clothes off. Did he hurt me like I think he did? Did he rape me Shawn?”

The alarms on the machines around my bed all start to go off. A nurse came in to check on me. “Mr. Thompson, she can’t get stressed right now it’s not good for her. Her blood pressure is through the roof. Do I need to kick you out of here?” She gave Shawn a look that I am sure a mom would give a child who misbehaved.

I can’t help the giggle that escapes me, though it sounded more like an odd gurgle.

Shawn gazed back over at me and winked.

Man—I have missed this man, but I have to remember we can’t be together. We are going to have a serious talk when the nurse stops checking me out.

She then updated me on my status, and to let me know that I lost a lot of blood; so I guess I am lucky to even be here right now.

Was it just a dream that I had with my dad and Scarlett, or was it real? I guess I’ll never really know. I’m pretty sure it was just a dream though.

The nurse finally left, so now it was time to have that talk with Shawn.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Shawn

I
can’t believe Hailee is finally awake. It’s been three long days waiting to see if she would ever wake up. Now that I have seen those green eyes; I never want to look away from them again. This woman is my angel, and I am never letting her go. I don’t care what she says; she’s mine, and I take care of what’s mine.

I have to say though, I don’t like the way she sounded when she said we needed to talk, and if she says we can’t be together I’m going to fight like hell to get her back. “Listen, Hailee, I’m pretty sure I know what you are going to say. You still don’t think we should be together. I can see it when you look at me. So, I’m just going to say what I need to say, and be here for you as a friend. I’m not going to leave you here in the hospital alone. Amy is here, but I’m still not leaving you. I want you to listen to me very carefully when I tell you that you died. You had no pulse when I brought you out of that warehouse. Do you know what that did to me? I saw another woman that I love dead in front of me; in my arms? I just ask that you please not give up on me, on us.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she replied, “Oh, Shawn, I don’t want to walk away from you, but I feel like you aren’t truly over Scarlett yet. I’m never going to be her, and I heard what you said after we made love for the first time. You were falling asleep, and I heard you talking to her as if you were talking to me. You said she was your everything and your world. Your wife was very special to you, and I would never try and replace her. But, I can’t go through any kind of pain anymore.”

“I’m sorry you ever thought you were in second place to Scar, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
You
are my everything now, and I don’t want to lose you. I plan on showing you how much you mean to me everyday for the rest of my life. You don’t have to come home with me, but please don’t leave me. You can go stay with Amy, and we can work this out.”

She stared at me through her tears for a minute or two. “Okay, I will try to get past everything, and all my insecurities. I want to make this work. I will be staying with Amy though, because I think we need to step away from each other, and live separately since we rushed into all of this so fast.”

“That’s fine with me, as long as you promise not to stay gone too long. Jax misses you like crazy. Let’s not forget that I miss you too. That bed is going to be awfully lonely without you in it.” I gave her my playful wink.

She smiled at me.

I could tell she was getting tired. “All right then, why don’t you get some rest? It’s been a long day. I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll be here when you get up.” I gave her the lightest of kisses and stood up to leave.

“Will you lay with me for a while? I don’t want to be alone right now.”

She looked so sweet asking me to get in the bed with her and there is no way I could tell her no. “Scoot over baby I’m coming in. I will always give you anything you ask for, always and forever.”

When I got into the bed, she barely gave me enough time to get under the covers, and she was cuddling up to me. I just chuckled to myself, because I know if it was like this now; there’s no way she will last very long at Amy’s house. I kissed her head. “I love you Hailee, and I’ll be here when you get up.”

It didn’t take very long for her to pass out against my chest.

As I lay there, I already know I want to propose to her, but I just have to figure out how and when I’m going to do it. She’s going to spend the rest of her life with me. As I fall asleep, I see images of her, pregnant with my child, and smiling as she looked at me. I can’t wait for these dreams to become a reality. With those thoughts in my head and in my heart…I fall into the best sleep I’ve had in days.