Together Forever (13 page)

“Phone,” she whispers. I look at Paxton. Her eyes widen. She turns abruptly and leaves the room only to come back a few seconds later with Allie’s phone. She hands it to me, and I show it to my girl. She flinches.

“Love, is there something I need to hear? Help me,” I plead. She looks at me, her eyes red and swollen from her tears. She lightly takes her phone from my hand and punches in numbers and hands it to me. I put it up to my ear and listen. I start growling when I hear the voicemail. I’m gonna kill the motherfucker, I swear! I shut it down and turn to Rock. “Call Detective Stiles. Now! Tell him I need him over here!” I bark. Rock nods and leaves the room.

I look at Paxton and tell her to get something to help calm Allie down. Once she has left the room I hold my girl tighter and whisper in her ear that everything is gonna be ok. I’m proud of myself for not hitting something in front of her, making her more scared than she already is. I feel her hand on my face. She tries to smile, not succeeding very well. “That’s my girl. Here drink the rest of this, it will help.” She takes another sip of Jack and coughs a little. “That’ll put hair on your chest,” I say smiling. That gets a little laugh from her.

Paxton brings her a pill and a glass of water. Shortly, she begins to stop shaking so much. Detective Stiles shows up about 30 minutes later, Rock stays on the porch in a protective stance and Paxton leaves us to talk.

“Allie, I’ve gotten a copy of the restraining order from the LAPD faxed to me but I need you to get another one here, ok?” She nods and takes a deep breath. “I really need to get a statement from you and I’m sorry, but I need to know what all happened.”

She snaps her head to me. The fear in her eyes makes me want to find that fucker and kill him, so she doesn’t have to go through all this. I rub her arm and nod. “Love, you need to do this. I know it’ll be hard, the hardest thing you’ve ever done, but you have to do it. I’ll be there with you and every step of the way.” I hold her close and shut my eyes. I hear Stiles clear his throat bringing me back to reality.

She moves in my arms and turns towards Stiles. “Ok. When do you want me to do this?” She asks timidly. That’s my girl! Fuck, I love her!

We set it up to go into his office tomorrow so she can make her statement. Once he’s gone, I fix my girl another of her favorite lattes and get her back in my lap. Best place for her to be. I wish I could do more.

I take my girl up to bed. We get in our favorite position and fall fast asleep. What a fucking nightmare the day turned into. This needs to end soon, damnit!

The next morning I fasten my love in my truck. Starting the ignition I look over at her and see her wringing her hands in her lap. I put my hand over them and her head turns to me quickly. “I’m sorry you have to go through all this again. I wish there was something I could do to take away your pain, love. I’d do it in a heartbeat.” I try and give her an encouraging smile.

“I— I know. It’s just—” She tries to smile but I can tell it’s hard for her. “I hate living it over again, ya know?” She looks down at our hands. “I— I want to tell you—”

I remove my hand from hers and gently place it under her chin, moving her face towards me. “Shhhh. You don’t have to tell me anything, love. I love you, no matter what. You know that, right?”

That got me a genuine smile. “I know, darling, and I love you too. It’s just— I just want to tell you a few things before we get there, ok?” I smile and nod my approval. “I was in the hospital for a week. I had several broken bones, arm, cheek and leg. Lots of bruises, everywhere.” She looks down at her hands again. “Court was horrible. He had friends there who stared at me the whole time, made faces at me. I got the restraining order against him but—” She looks up at me. “Shane. They let him off. He didn’t even spend any time in jail.”

My hand forms into a fist. Mother fucker! “How the hell did that happen?” I growl. I take a deep breath. Calm down, man! Shit, I’m gonna scare her. I never want her to be scared of me.

She starts wringing her hands again. Damnit! I unclench my fist and laid my hand over hers. Her head jerks to me quickly, giving me her sexy smile, then frowns. “Well, not understanding all the technical jargon, he got off because there were no witnesses, no fingerprints, no evidence, pretty much nothing but my word and pictures the hospital took but nothing that couldn’t prove it was him.” She shrugs and lets out a big breath. “They at least gave me the restraining order against him.” She turns in her seat to face me slightly, taking my hand in hers. “Weirdest thing, I haven’t heard from him in over a year, why now? Why all of a sudden is he doing this?” Shaking her head her bottom lip quivers.

I move her over to the center and put my arms around her. “Shhh, love. I have you. You’re mine and no one messes with what’s mine.” My lips kiss hers and move up her face, kissing her cheeks, nose, eyes and forehead. I bend my head down and look at her. “We’re together now. Together Forever. And nothing—” I flick her nose with my finger. “Nothing will keep us apart. Not now. Not ever.” I lean in and kiss my girl properly until my phone starts ringing. Fuck!

“Barton!” I scream into the phone. “Oh, shit! Sorry! Ok, we’ll be right there.” Laughing, I shut the phone and look at my girl. “Guess we’ve been sitting here longer than I thought. We’re late.”

We sit in a conference room in Stiles’ office building, which is located two hours away, for four fucking hours. Allie is a mess by the time we leave. He informed us he got the restraining order faxed from L.A. and his assistant took it over to the courts, along with Allie’s phone. Not sure how he did it, but we have a new restraining order already. Had no idea his daddy is the big judge in the courts here. Works for me!

I take my shaky girl home and pamper her all night. And, no, I don’t mean in the sexual way, although my cock is always up for that. I mean, I drew her a bath with bubbles, poured her a glass of wine, sat next to the tub and bathed her. Her skin was pruned but smelled yummy by the time I took my sleepy girl to bed. We got in our favorite position. I’m cuddled behind her sexy body, my hand over her breast. Ah! This is where I always want to be.

New Year’s Eve is in a couple of days. And we are all going to the next town over to a night club that’s having a huge party. It’s pretty ritzy so Pax and I went shopping at the mall for some new fancy duds. I bought a silver gown, matching earrings, necklace and pumps. I even bought a silver clip for my hair, which Pax is going to fix up for me. So nice to have my bestie here. I hate that she is heading back to L.A. in a few days.

She’s gonna have trouble keeping all the guys at bay, especially Tuck, with the sexiest dress I have ever seen. It cost her a small fortune. A light lavender with gold speck’s covering it, a slit to her upper thigh on one side, gold loop earrings with diamond’s around them, the matching necklace that hangs low into her ample cleavage and gold high heels. We both got small cocktail clutch purses to match our attires too.

We get home and my feet are killing me. Did I say I hated shopping? Paxton went to take her ‘Beauty Rest’ and I went to my laptop. I drum my fingers on the desk as I wait for it to boot up. Finally, the screen comes to life, and I open my emails. Junk, Junk, Junk, wait! My editor? I’m reading the email, and my body starts to shake. Her second run through only had a few minor things to edit, then I’m ready to publish. Oh. My. God! I quickly get Lana on the phone, both of us squealing until our ears start to bleed.

She tells me to publish, the cover reveal is set for tomorrow and the book tour is next week. I’m giving her the link to my published book as soon as it’s up and running for her to give to everyone. I’m so excited and fucking nervous as hell.

I get it all edited, set up, my finger on the publish button and…My phone rings. Shit!

I look at the phone and it’s my darling, sexy man. “Hi, sexy man. Where are you and when will you come home to me?” I’m anxiously waiting for my man’s deep voice.

“Fuck you, bitch! He won’t be coming home tonight, or ever! See what you did? See what you made me do? Are you proud of yourself?” My heart is racing. Oh, my God, Shane! What have I done? “I told you I was the only one to have you. NO ONE ELSE!” Click.

Shit! Shit! Shit! I drop my phone and run upstairs to Paxton’s room. I collide with the bed and start smacking her on the arm. “Pax! Pax! Wake Up! Shane’s in trouble!” She jerks up and grabs the hand that’s beating her.

“Allie! Allie stop! What’s wrong? What about Shane?” She screams. She stands up and takes my shoulders and shakes me. “Calm down, baby girl. I can’t understand you, just calm down.”

I take about two breaths and my rushed talking continues. “Phone, that fucker called from Shane’s phone. He’s in trouble! He has him.” I start looking around. “I don’t know what to do. Wait! Stiles!” I lead her in a race to my phone downstairs. I slam into the desk in an effort to stop myself at the desk. Ow! Shit that hurt! I pick up the phone and call Stiles office.

“Hello? Stiles—” I cut him off.

“Shane, he has Shane! You have to help! Hurry! I don’t know what he’ll do to him! He has Shane!” I scream.

“Allie? Allie Richards?” He asks.

“Yes! He called on Shane’s phone. He has him! Hurry! Help him!” I am crying so hard I can hardly talk or breath. God, what am I going to do? If he hurts him, I will find a way to kill him myself.

“Ok. Paul has him, right? Ok, let me get my men on this. When did you last see Shane?” I am sniffling and trembling. Shane. Oh, my god, Shane.

“This morn— morning. He left for— for work. I. I haven’t talked to him all day. Oh, my God!” My crying has reached hysterical proportions now. My legs begin to buckle so I sit, hard, on the floor. I feel my phone slipping from my grasp. Paxton catches it and continues the conversation.

“Detective Stiles. Paxton here. She is beside herself, as you can imagine. Yes. Ok. Thank you.” She hangs up and sits down next to me. Her arm is around me, rubbing my arm. She punches in another number. “Tuck. Yeah, don’t even think about it. Get over here now! Allie needs you. That fucker has Shane. Yes. Stiles has an APB out on him and men out looking. Ok.”

“Pax, I need to do something! My man is out there, hurt, maybe— maybe—” I continue wailing as she tried to comfort me. “It’s all my fault! I should have— he wouldn’t have gone after Shane if I would have— NOOOOOO!”

Pax is talking on the phone to Jesse, and I hear her tell him to call Tuck and to get over here fast.

My thoughts are racing with worry when the front door opens with a bang, making me and Paxton jump. Jesse and Tuck coming racing over to us. My brother picks me up and carries me to the couch in the living room. “Pax, go get some ice to put on her leg, she’s got a nasty knot and bruise forming here. Tuck, get on the phone with Stiles to see if there is any news. Go!” I love when Jesse takes charge, that’s why he’s such a great and protective brother.

I hear Tuck talking on his phone, “Buck, where’s Shane? Something’s up, go look around for him. Ok. Let me know.”

We all are sitting in the living room, Jesse’s pacing while Tuck is watching Pax texting on her phone. No word, yet, but it’s only been 30 minutes. Shit! It seems like hours. I am about to lose my mind! Pax has been making coffee for everyone and warmed up some leftovers, but no one is eating. How can we?

I finally get my knight in shining armor, my first and last love, and he could be hurt somewhere, alone or dead. My lip trembles but no more tears can be shed as my eyes are all dried out. He said we would be together forever.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“Fuck!” I moan. My head feels like it’s going to blow up. What the fuck happened? I try to move my arm and cry out in pain. Shit, I think it’s broken. I wish I could clear my muggy head. I can’t think straight. I am laying on the ground and it’s dark out. I use my good arm and push myself up until I sit against the wall. My hand instinctively goes to my forehead. Shit, that hurts. Feels like a lump there. My hand comes back full of blood. I squint in the darkness trying to figure out where I am. I look and see I’m in the alley behind Buck’s shop. Shit! I reach for my phone and it’s gone. Great!

I manage to get on my knees. Fuck, my leg hurts. I inch my way up, my good hand pushing on the wall. I limp over to the door of Buck’s and grab the handle. Pain is everywhere, my head, my arm and now my leg. Damn, I’m fucked up. I finally get the door open, which feels like it weighs a ton. I can hear Buck talking up ahead but my eyes are blurry, so I can’t make him out. I lean against the wall. My body slowly slides against the wall as I try to get to him.

“Shane? I was just coming out there looking for you. What the—” Buck yells as I start dropping down to the floor until I sit.

Fuck, I’m dizzy. My hand is on my forehead trying to stop the pounding. “Uhhhhh,” I moan.

“Fuck! Henry! Get an Ambulance! Hurry!” Buck yells. “Shane, man, hang in there. Hang on buddy.” He moves my hand out of the way and presses something against my head.

“Ohhh,” I groan. Shit, I feel like I was hit by a fucking truck. I hear ringing in my ears, wait, that sounds like sirens. “Buck, I think you’re being raided again. You need to leave.” I try pushing him away, but he’s like a fucking brick wall. I lean my head back. Man that took a lot of energy. I need to work out more.

“Shane, sit still man. You’re gonna hurt yourself worse,” he tells me. What? Damn, the room’s spinning. Weird. I try to bring up my left arm and pain shoots up my arm. “Uhhhhh!” I yell.

Two men are in front of me, one squatting down beside me, and the other bent over digging around in a black bag. “Hey, man. I’m Carlos and I’m here to help you. Can you tell me what all hurts?” The man in front of me asks.

I look at him and squint. I blink a few times. Damn, why are my eyes still blurry? “My head, left arm and leg.” He nods and starts talking to the other guy. Buck’s pacing the floor behind them. “Ow!” I screech as Carlos works on my head. “Shit, man. Be careful!”

“Sorry, sorry,” he quickly answers. “Gotta get this cleaned up a bit then I’ll put a dressing on it until we can get you to the hospital. My man, Mike over there—” he nods to the other guy. “He’s gonna put your arm and leg in a splint, just in case anything is broken, ok?” I try to nod, but my head feels like it could fall off my shoulder and bounce to the floor. “Do you know what happened?” He asks.