Scars From Within (The Franklin Blues #1) (5 page)

Chapter Eleven

Shawn

I
’m not sure what happened, one minute Hailee is talking to me, the next she went limp in my arms. I shook her and yelled her name to try and wake her up. She’s so tiny in my arms, I’m afraid if I shake her too hard, I’m going to hurt her.

Her eyes have rolled into the back of her head, and her breathing is very shallow. She’s moaning as if she’s in pain.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket very carefully, so she doesn’t get hurt. I dialed the one person who I know can calm me down in high stress situations.

“Dude, we just got off the phone about an hour ago, do you think you could let me sleep at all today, or do you wanna grow a pussy and talk about our feelings some more?”

“Hey, asshole, I need your help. Get to my place as soon as you can. Hailee passed out, and I can’t get her to wake up. Please just hurry. I’ve done everything I can think of to wake her up. I think someone used to beat her dude. I’m telling you right now, if that’s the case you’re going to have to stop me from killing someone. But the signs are all there. She’s called me Brandon and begged me not to hit her, she’s had panic attacks, and I’ve noticed her having some kind of flashbacks.”

“Okay, Thompson, calm down. I’ll be there in five.”

The line goes dead, then I just keep begging Hailee to come back to me over and over. “Scarlett, please help her come back to me. Don’t let God take someone else that I care about. I almost went crazy losing you. Just imagine what would happen if I lost someone else, I cared about. Just please help her come back to me.” I looked out of the bathroom window after I heard the front door open and close. I could hear human footsteps, along with the scrapes of Jax’s paws against the hardwood.

Lance peeked his head into the bathroom, and just took in the scene. He doesn’t look like he’s a detective. In fact, outside of the station, he looks like a punk, but he’s a damn good cop. He has a phenomenal record of always getting the guy when crime does hit our small town. “Hey, has she woken up yet? I saw the guest bathroom, and I’m guessing it wasn’t you who broke the mirror. I saw her phone on the counter, but I didn’t want to grab it in case you didn’t want me to, but being the good detective I am…I did go through her phone.” He looked at me expectantly.

This guy seemed to forget, I’ve known him since we were in diapers. So, I know when he’s hiding something from me. “Spit it out Underwood, you might as well just tell me. What did you find out on Hailee’s phone? Wait a minute though, before we get into the specifics of what you found. Help me up, so I can get her into bed.”

He offered me his hand and I took it to get myself off the bathroom floor. I bent down and gently picked Hailee up. I carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, so when she wakes up, I’ll still be with her. I sat on the bed and waited for Lance to tell me what he found. “Okay, come on, either tell me or just give me her phone.”

“Oh, all right, but you gotta promise me that you’re going to stay calm. What I have to tell you isn’t pretty, so just sit there, and listen to everything I have to say before you butt in okay?”

I let out a sigh and nodded my head.

“Okay, so I walked in and saw all the broken glass, and found Hailee’s phone sitting on the counter. Now, all I’m going to tell you is someone is after her, and I’m not sure who but I can guess why.”

All I’m seeing is red. What kind of bastard would threaten a sweet little thing like Hailee? I have this anger and rage building inside me that I didn’t know was possible anymore when it came to anyone else except Scar’s killer.

Lance, being my best friend, and the good cop, noticed my rage. “Hey shit head, did you listen to what I said? You need to calm down for when Hailee wakes up. If our suspicions are true, when she wakes up and sees you in this state, it’s going to scare the shit out of her. Now, I’m only going to say this once, Calm. The. Fuck. Down. Now.”

We sat there for a few minutes just talking when we both yawned. I guess I feel asleep because the next thing that I know I feel Hailee moving off the bed.

Chapter Twelve

Hailee

I slowly awoke up from the fog of the flashback that I had…It seemed so real except for hearing Shawn’s voice instead of my dad’s. When I opened my eyes, I noticed I’m on a bed with someone sitting next to me. I inhaled, and realized that it’s just Shawn, but I noticed he’s not alone either. I jumped when the unknown male voice said my name.

“Hailee, it’s about time you woke up. You about gave Shawn here a heart attack when you passed out. How are ya feelin’ lil’ lady?”

I curled my body into a ball because I should know what comes next. They’re both going to have their way with me. It’s happened before, and I know what all men want. They liked to share their property with their friends. Why did I ever believe Shawn was different? I’m so stupid, I have to get out of here.

I make my move off the bed; which must’ve woken Shawn up. Damn, I’m in for it now. I slowly looked over at him, and he’s staring at me with so much concern that it almost makes me believe he’s different. He raised his hand up to my face, and I flinched slightly, knowing what’s coming.

However, instead of hitting me, he caressed my cheek. “Hey Shortcake, how ya feelin? You gave me quite the scare, and I didn’t know how to wake you up. But while you were out, I could’ve sworn you were having a nightmare.”

The concern in his voice broke me out of my trance, and I’m finally able to talk. “I’m okay, really, no need to worry about me. So, do you boys want to do this? It’s not like I haven’t done this a time or two. Are we going to do it individually or together? If you ask me, separately works better, so neither of you get jealous.” I got up off the bed to strip. I know the routine, they wanted me compliant, just there to get off with. I’m just a toy to use to pleasure themselves.

I get about half way undressed when they both seemed to clear the shock from their minds. “Whoa there, hun! What do you think you’re doing?” The still unidentified man asked. “I know for a fact that what you think we want to happen is not what we’re thinking at all.”

I looked over at him in confusion. Then I gazed over at Shawn, who looked like I just slapped him.

“Hailee, no sweetheart. We want you to tell Lance who you think would vandalize your apartment. He needs as much information about you as possible, so we can find this fucker, and put him away. My God, Hailee, we would never make you do something like that! What kind of monsters do you think we are? I need some air.” With that, he got off the bed and stomped out of the room.

I turned to gaze at who I assumed is Lance, and I can’t help but notice that he doesn’t look like a cop; much less a detective.

He’s wearing jeans with more holes in them than necessary, an Avenged Centerfold t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and a beanie on his head. Then he winked at me.

I felt my cheeks flush and I cleared my throat to speak, “So, you must be the detective friend, who’s here to get my statement. I’m Hailee, but I guess you already knew that. I’m sorry about that earlier, I just didn’t know what to expect. You can obviously tell I thought something else was going to happen.” I kept my head bowed, I felt like such an idiot.

“Hey now, sweetheart, it’s okay. It’s obvious you’ve been through some tough shit. I’m here to get your statement, but I need you to tell me everything. Can you do that Hailee? If I’m going to catch this asshole—sorry guy, that’s doing this to you, then I’m going to need you to be totally honest with me.”

I gazed back up at him, realizing for the first time that he’s going to know everything that happened. I don’t know if I could do this, but if I wanted a new life I guess this is what it will take. I swallowed hard, and launched into my tale, “I was seventeen when I met Brandon. He was an all-star lacrosse player, and class president. Every girl in school wanted him, but for some reason he chose me. I never understood why either. I mean he could have any girl he wanted, and yet he chose me. I was a year younger than him, and we dated throughout my senior year of school. During his sophomore year in college, he blew out his shoulder; leaving him unable to finish out his lacrosse career. His second passion was firefighting, and I think that’s only because he was a pyromaniac. As soon as he graduated from the academy, we got married…” I paused as I remembered those early days when it really seemed like we were happy.

Lance nodded his head for me to continue.

“Well, he was great during the first six months, and then something changed. He started getting pissed off at the smallest things. He would yell at me for over cooking dinner, when he was the one who wanted to have sex while it was still cooking. Then one day, he saw me talking to the guy at the grocery store. He only had like two items, so I let him go ahead of me while I waited for Brandon to come back, since I forgot to grab his beer. When he came back, I could tell something was different. He looked pissed, but it was more than that. I couldn’t tell at the time what was really going on until we got home. That was the first time he hit me. It wasn’t hard or anything, but he did backhand me. He told me it was all my fault; that I was planning on leaving him, and that he would never let me go if I tried…” My voice faltered as I remembered the first time he attacked me.

Lance let out a sad sigh, but he didn’t say anything, he just waited for the rest.

“…After that day, the hitting became a regular thing. If I didn’t make enough eggs for him for breakfast he’d hit me. If I didn’t bring him another beer when he or his friends were out I’d get hit. But the worse part was what happened when he was drunk.” I took a deep breath, and tried to compose myself. This was going to be the hardest part, and I was silently begging my dad to give me the strength I needed to get through this next part.

“Hailee, is there more to this story? If you need to take a break, we can. I don’t mind. I have all day, so I just want you to take your time.”

His words were supposed to be soothing, but right now, I just felt numb. “I’m good, Lance, I promise. If I don’t do this now, I’ll never finish the story, and I need to finish it.” I cleared my throat, to tell him the last part of my horrific tale. “When Brandon was drunk, he would let his best friend come over, and he would let Josh touch me. He let Josh rape me right in front of him while he jerked off to it. Who does that? What kind of man lets another man not only touch his wife without her consent, but then to get off to it? Sometimes, when he was really drunk, he’d join and they would both rape me at the same time. The first time it happened, I started kicking and screaming, and telling them to stop that I was going to call the cops. Brandon just laughed, and beat me within an inch of my life. He told me that if I ever screamed like that again, and threatened to call the cops that he would kill me.” I halted and glanced up at the detective.

His face was red with rage and he balled his hands into fists. When he caught me looking, he seemed to calm as he motioned his head at me.

“After that, I just imagined I was anywhere else but where I was. Then, about a year ago, I was bringing in groceries, and our new neighbor, Eddie, saw me trying to carry everything in at once. He stopped to help me, but I tried to get him to leave me alone. I was going to do it all myself, but he just wouldn’t listen. He carried all my bags into the house for me. I know he saw the bruises on my arms from a few days before that, but I tried to play it off. All of a sudden, Brandon was in the house, and he saw Eddie in there. I knew immediately, I was in some serious trouble. Eddie took one look at me, and I knew he didn’t want to leave me alone. When he walked out the door, Brandon hit me so hard that I still don’t remember anything that happened because I blacked out. The next thing I remember I woke up in the hospital. After I was released, Eddie and his partner put me up in a hotel until we could figure out our next move. I guess they had heard me screaming for help, and called 911. Brandon plead guilty to attempted murder, and was sentenced to 15-30 years in state prison.” The numbness was starting wear off. I’m beginning to cry hysterically, and yet, I felt lighter because not even Amy knows this story. It felt good to let everything that happened to me out in the open.

“So, is that it Hailee? There’s nothing else right? I just wonder how it could be this Brandon if he’s in prison? Maybe he hired someone…I just need to make sure there’s nothing else, since I know that was hard on you, and I don’t want make you tell it again, if it’s not necessary. I hate that you went through all that, but I’m glad it brought you to here, and to Shawn. Let me give you some advice, don’t give up on him. While it’s not my story to tell, just know this, he is a broken man but he cares about you. If he didn’t care, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

I gazed up, and noticed him leaning against the pole of the corner of the bed. I hadn’t even been aware that he moved from the chair in the corner of the room. “Thanks for all this Lance. I really appreciate you taking time to come over here and listen to my story. It means a lot to me. Who knows? Maybe one day, we will become friends.” I attempted to smile at him through the tears filling my eyes again.

“Not a problem, Hailee, it’s what I do. It’s my job to put the bad guys away, and I promise I’m very good at my job, so I will find this asshole who is tormenting you.”

“What do you suggest I do now? You’ve read the messages, and I can’t put anyone’s life in danger. Eddie and Steven put a lot on the line to help me. I’m afraid that if I don’t leave Shawn and this life, that Brandon will come after the ones I love. So, Mr. Detective, what’s my next step?”

Shawn came barreling into the room like there was a fire or something. He looked like he wanted to kill someone, and I wasn’t sure I liked that look. I’d seen it before, and it usually led to bad things for me. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was standing behind Lance, waiting for Shawn to attack me.

Shawn’s face immediately softened, and he took a step towards me.

I took a fearful step back out of habit. The look on his face about gutted me when I realized what I’d done. I stepped away from Lance, and made my way over to Shawn on the other side of the room.

“Hailee, you aren’t going anywhere, you hear me? I finally realized something this morning; I was meant to be the one to protect you and keep you safe. I can’t do that if you leave here. You need to stay here with me. I wouldn’t be able to sleep or eat, not knowing what is going on, or if you were safe.”

The look in his eyes convinced me that he would keep me safe. I instantly believed what he said to me. I released the breath I’d been holding while listening to him talk. Even though I knew, it might not make any difference, because the problem wasn’t him.