by LYNN, K. C.
Stable… My thundering heart begins to settle.
Sawyer frames my face between his hands, lifting my eyes to his. “Everything will be okay, Grace. I promise.”
I nod.
“Come on, let’s go.” He laces his fingers with mine, offering me the strength I need, and pulls me out the door.
We arrive at the hospital quickly and rush through the emergency doors, hand-in-hand. I immediately spot Cooper by the nurses’ station. He looks terrible, his hair is a mess, his uniform and face covered in somethin’ that looks an awful lot like soot. His head lifts at our approach, revealing a horrible gash on his forehead.
“Cooper, are you all right?” I ask, hurrying over to him, my arms wrapping around his waist.
He hugs me back but it’s strained. “Yeah don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”
“What the heck is goin’ on? Where’s Mac?” I ask, steppin’ back to look up at him.
My heart plummets at the remorse in his eyes. It’s now I realize that whatever has happened is much worse than I originally thought. I have a feeling this has nothin’ to do with a heart attack and everythin’ to do with me.
Miguel.
“No,” I whisper, shakin’ my head. “He’s here, isn’t he? He’s found me.” My words sound distant to my ears, like an echo in a tunnel, my entire body vibrating in fear.
“I think so, yes.”
Sawyer wraps his arms around me, giving me the stability I need. I soak in his warmth and fight hard against the panic threatening to take me.
“What did he do to Mac? Tell me he’s okay.”
“He’s going to be all right but he’s pretty banged up. He was at the diner, closing up, when someone struck him from behind. His face was pushed into the floor so he never got a look at the guy, but the attacker was demanding to know where you lived. He beat Mac repeatedly when he wouldn’t give him any information.”
My breath hitches as I stifle a sob, my heart shattering into a million pieces.
“That’s not all.”
My watery eyes snap to his, terror gripping my chest like a tight vise.
“He set the diner on fire and left Mac to burn.”
“No!” My knees buckle, an agonized sob tumbling past my lips.
Sawyer lifts me into his arms and walks us into the waiting room, taking a seat in a chair. I bury my face into his neck, tears of sorrow staining my cheeks. “This is all my fault. I knew it was only gonna be a matter of time before he found me.”
He grabs my face between his hands, forcing my eyes to his. “This isn’t your fault, Grace, none of it. Do you hear me?”
Despite his words my eyes drift closed, guilt threatening to claim me.
“Look at me, baby.”
I follow the order, his face blurry before me.
“The good thing about all this is now we know where he is and that’s going to make it a hell of a lot easier to catch him.”
“How bad are Mac’s injuries?” I ask, looking over at Cooper.
“Apart from aggravation of the smoke, the majority of his injuries are from the assault. I was on my way home shortly after the fire was set. I was able to get to him in time.”
“And the diner?” I ask, my breath stalling in hope.
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Grace, but it’s gone…all of it.”
Devastation consumes me as I cover my face and cry into my hands. Everything…he lost everything because of me.
Sawyer’s arms tighten around me. “It’s all right, baby. Mac’s okay, and that’s what’s most important.”
Sniffling, I wipe my wet cheeks with the back of my hand. “I want to see him.”
“I’ve arranged that. They’re only allowing family in to see him but I explained that you were the closest to a relative he has.”
“Thank you.”
“You need to be prepared though. He’s in bad shape.”
I don’t think anything will prepare me for this but I will be brave for Mac’s sake. Climbing to my feet, I follow Cooper and continue to lean on Sawyer for support.
An older nurse steps out of the room as we approach. She gives me a sad but kind smile. “Are you Grace?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“He’s expecting you, just not too long, all right? He needs his rest.”
“I understand.”
Sawyer drops a kiss on top of my head. “I’ll wait right here for you.”
Nodding, I reach for the door and take a deep breath, bracing myself for what’s on the other side of it and enter quietly, The room is fairly dark, only a soft glow from the bathroom light, but it’s not enough to conceal the horror in front of me. Bile inches up my throat as I take in Mac’s battered face.
The door clicks shut, drawing his attention to me. “There’s my darlin’,” he croaks painfully, “you bring me any pie?” His attempt to lighten this horrific moment has my heart crumbling.
Tears stream down my face as I rush to his side. I hug him gently, making sure to be mindful of his wounds. “I’m so sorry, Mac. So sorry this happened to you.”
“Hey now, none of that, you crazy girl. This isn’t your fault, Grace.”
I shake my head, disagreeing with him. “You should have told him where I was.”
“Hell no! Look at me.”
I lift my head and peer into his swollen face.
“Nothing would have made me tell him where you were—nothing. I’d die before I ever gave you up to him.”
Hearing that only has me crying harder. “You lost everythin’—all of it because of me.”
“No. If I would have lost you, then I would have lost everything.”
My wounded heart warms from his kind words.
“The diner is just that, Grace. It’s just a building. I had planned to shut that place down and retire a while ago. But I never did, because two years ago a beautiful, sad, broken girl walked in, asking for a cup of tea and messed with my heart like no other. When I found out she needed a job and made the best pies this world has to offer, there was no way I was gonna let her go.”
A smile lifts my trembling lips, his confession meaning so much to me.
“The point is, Grace, I’m more than okay to retire. I kept it as long as I did for you.”
I hug him again, making sure my arms are gentle. “I love you, Mac. I don’t know what I would ever do without ya.”
“I love you too, kid,” he replies gruffly. “Don’t worry about me. Thanks to the sheriff, I’m gonna be just fine. You worry about yourself. Stay safe and don’t leave Sawyer’s side. I like that cocky son of a gun, he’s good for you, and I know he’ll protect you.”
“I like him, too,” I whisper.
He grunts. “I think you more than like him.”
I nod. “You’re right, I do.”
The nurse walks in, interrupting our moment. “I’m sorry but it’s time for some more pain medicine for our big tough guy here, then he needs to rest.”
“Just give us another moment, sweetness, we’re almost done here,” Mac says, flashing the nurse a wink from his swollen eye.
She blushes, clearly flustered. “All right, I’ll be back in one minute.”
When she backs out of the door, I look at Mac, quirking a brow at him.
His puffy face gives me a sly grin. “She’s a looker, ain’t she?”
“She is. I think she has a crush on you.”
“You can’t blame her for that, I’m one good-lookin’ son of a bitch…even messed up like this.”
I chuckle, wiping the remainder of my tears. “You are.”
He gazes back at me, his expression softening. “I expect you to come back every day with some pie and grace me with your sweet face, all right?”
“I will.” Lifting my fingers to my lips, I press a kiss to them then lay them gently across his battered cheek. “I love you, Mac.”
“I love you too, darlin’. Remember what I said…don’t leave Sawyer’s side.”
“I won’t.” Pushing to
my feet, I head to the door but turn back to Mac one more time, blowing him another kiss before walking out into the hall.
Sawyer is waiting for me like he promised. He gathers me in his arms once again, knowing what I need. “You okay, Cupcake?”
I shake my head. There’s no sense in lying. This isn’t okay and it isn’t going to be. Not until Mac is out of here and Miguel is caught.
Bending down, he sweeps my legs out from under me, cradling me into his arms. I hug him close, thankful for his support.
“I’m taking her home now, call me with any news,” he says to Cooper.
“Will do. Take care, Grace.”
“Bye, Cooper.” I rest my head on Sawyer’s shoulder as he walks us out of the hospital, feeling too defeated and tired to hold it up anymore.
“Don’t worry, baby, he’s going to fucking pay for this. I promise.”
I hope he’s right. I pray Miguel pays for every horrible thing he has done. He deserves no mercy and come judgment day, may justice be served.
Grace
The stress and heartbreak brought the nightmare back full force, sucking me into its black abyss. There’s no fighting it, no stopping it, and I’m forced to relive the night I finally escaped the evil I had lived with after my mother’s death.
The click of my bedroom door pulls me awake. Before I can fully open my eyes, his heavy weight settles over top of me, his hand slamming over my mouth. “Don’t you make a fucking sound.”
Panic thrashes through my veins, his beer-stench breath sending bile surging up my throat. I don’t obey his demand and fight with everything I have, hitting him in the chest. It earns me a blow, the back of his hand connecting with my cheek. The crack is so loud it rings in my ears. My vision blurs and my lungs scream for air.
“You’ve been a bad girl, Grace. I know you fucked him. I could smell him on you when you got back.”
He’s talking about the weekend I spent with Adam. Not wanting to make him angrier, I lie and shake my head beneath his hand.
He grasps my hair in a painful grip, forcing my eyes to his bloodshot ones. “Don’t lie to me. You’re a whore, just like your mother was.”
My blood heats at the insult, mixing with the dread coursing through me.
He settles himself between my legs and the feel of his erection takes my hysteria to a whole other level. I fight back even harder, refusing to let him make me a victim any longer but I am no match for his strength.
“Consider this payment for everything I have done for you, you ungrateful little bitch.” He pushes up with all of his weight on the hand covering my mouth, crushing my jaw.
Defeat settles over me, drowning me into a pit of despair.
“Grace, wake the fuck up!”
I crash out of the nightmare and shoot upright, a scream ripping from my throat. My body is covered in a cold sweat and tears soak my cheeks.
Sawyer’s face appears before me, his green eyes filled with concern. “Jesus, are you all right?”
“I’m so sorry.” They’re the only words I can manage at the moment, my throat raw from screaming.
“Who the fuck is Earl?” he asks.
The mention of his name has a sob bursting from my mouth. I climb onto Sawyer’s lap, my arms wrapping around his neck as I absorb the feel of his body; wanting to replace the one I just felt crushing me moments ago.
He holds me close, his hand coasting up my back. Once I manage to compose myself, he pulls back to look at me, his eyes hard and determined. “It’s time, Grace. I want to know who the fuck he is and what he did to you.”
I promised myself to never speak of that man again; to pretend he never existed but there’s no use. He will always plague me, just like Miguel.
Gazing back at Sawyer, I finally decide to open up and for the first time in my life, I tell another soul what I went through after I lost my mother.
Sawyer
Rage has me wound tight, every muscle in my body coiled and restricted. The fear in Grace’s eyes is a damn good indication that whatever I’m about to hear is only going to drive this overwhelming fury higher.
“He hated me,” she whispers. “He just…hated me so much, and I don’t know why.”
I shove aside my emotions for the time being and bring her to lie down with me, holding her close. “Who is he?”
“My uncle,” she answers. “Since my father wasn’t on my birth certificate I didn’t have a legal guardian after Mama passed away. I knew she had a brother, but she rarely spoke about him, she said they never got along. I eventually understood why but not before it was too late…”
She pauses, collecting herself.
“A couple of days after the murder, he came to the police station. He was nice and seemed to genuinely care about what happened to Mama. He told me he hated how his relationship with her turned out and wanted to help me. He offered for me to come stay with him in Virginia. Since I didn’t have any other options, I accepted.”
She pushes up on her elbow, lifting her eyes to mine, revealing what looks a hell of a lot like shame.
“You have to understand, Sawyer, I had no one, no other family. Not even my friends’ parents offered to take me in.”
“Hey.” I cup her cold cheek, my fingers grazing her soft skin. “You don’t have to justify anything to me, Cupcake. You’ve done nothing wrong. I just want to know what happened.”
Her eyes drift shut and she takes a hard swallow before continuing. “The first six months weren’t that bad, but I quickly realized he was not at all who he portrayed to be. He drank excessively and never held down a job. Yet he was buying things for himself, including a new truck, and I never understood where he was getting the money from since we rarely had food in the house.”
Her jaw ticks, the first sign of anger peeking through her despair.
“When I started questioning it he became angry and defensive and that’s when living with him became unbearable. He’d hit my shoulder with his, hard enough to leave a mark, or stick his foot out when I walked by to trip me. He always claimed it was an accident but the hate in his eyes told me otherwise. Once the trial was over, I got a job so I could make enough money to leave. I stayed away as often as I could but it wasn’t often enough.” Her words trail off on the saddest whisper.
I brush a piece of hair off her shoulder, hoping to offer a small measure of comfort.
“One night we got into a fight about having a funeral for Mama. We had both agreed to wait until after the trial to have one, but he kept prolongin’ it. Well, that night he told me he wasn’t payin’ for a funeral. He said he’d already paid for her to be cremated and that was enough.”
Who doesn’t give their own sister a fucking funeral?
“I asked him about the money from her life insurance, said we could use that. That’s when I found out he spent it. All of it, Sawyer, that’s where the new truck came from, all the new shit he had bought, he spent all of her money that was supposed to be for me.”
My muscles tense, jaw flexing so hard I fear it’s about to snap.
“It didn’t take me long to realize that’s the only reason why he asked me to come live with him. He wanted any money there was. That night I tore out of the house and purchased a bus ticket to go see Adam. Only, when I got there he wasn’t the person I remembered and well…you know how that turned out.”
I do, and to know he did that to her when she needed him most only pisses me off more.
“After that, I truly felt like I had no one. I ended up going back to Earl’s to pack my stuff and leave for good. I had a little bit of money hidden in my room. Not much but enough to take care of myself for a few weeks until I could find another job. Only, when I got back, my room was in disarray and the money I had been saving was gone. He took it all. I was furious and told him so, and I paid the price dearly for it.”
Those last few words have fear boiling in my gut. “What does that mean?”
“He hit me,” she whispers. “He backhanded me so hard I fell t
o the ground and he didn’t stop. He took off his belt and whipped me repeatedly.” Her eyes lift to mine, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He hit me so much, Sawyer, I couldn’t walk for days.”
I pull her into my arms, fighting to breathe through the fiery rage pounding in my veins. All I see is red, dark and rich, his blood that I will shed when I extract my revenge.
“I stayed in bed until I was well enough and knew I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t wait for more money. But the night before I could make my escape he took his volatile feelings for me to another level.”
I have a feeling I know what level she’s about to tell me but I pray I’m wrong.
“His girlfriend, Candy, was sleeping over. She was a drunk like him, but nicer and she was a good distraction. Usually she kept him away from me, but not that night.” She pauses, her entire body beginning to tremble.
“What did he do, Grace?” I ask, my voice tight.
Her breath hitches, tears of sorrow once again staining her cheeks. “He came into my room and forced himself on me,” she cries. “He told me it was payment for takin’ me in. I fought with everythin’ I had, but I couldn’t get him off of me, I was still weak from the beating he gave me.”
Fire races through my blood, fury barreling through me at the thought of him touching her. “He raped you?” My voice doesn’t even sound like mine. Cold, hard—detached.
She shakes her head, sending relief through my fiery chest.
“His girlfriend woke up and called for him. It gave me the chance I needed. The moment he snuck back out of my room, I packed everything I owned and climbed out my window, never looking back. I took a bus with the intention to go see my father but I chickened out, fearing for his rejection. I knew my heart wouldn’t be able to handle another blow. Not at that time.”
Can’t say I blame her. I’m surprised her heart handled all she had been through up until that point.
“I ended up meetin’ a really nice, old lady on the bus. She told me about Sunset Bay and how beautiful it was. Since it was close to Charleston, I decided to check it out until I had the courage to face my father. It was then I stumbled upon the diner and met Mac…my angel.” The softest smile steals her sad lips but my emotions are too all over the place to share in her one salvation she found.
