Scarred - The Complete Series

by Kylie Walker

  “Never stop fighting,” Max told her.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  When Jake got to the studio to pick her back up, Chloe was showered, dressed and ready to go.

  “How’d it go?” he asked her.

  She smiled. “Good. I knocked Max on his ass!”

  Jake grinned and gave her a high five. “That’s awesome. At least I’m not the only one you beat up recently.” They both laughed and he asked, “Are you hungry?”

  “I am starving,” she said.

  “Me too. I went by Derek’s office to sign those papers his staff was asking about and I honestly didn’t stop signing or reviewing things until I finally just told them I absolutely had to go.”

  “Is his work getting way behind?”

  “I think we took care of the pressing things today. Dad and I both have power of attorney so they can scan or fax things to either of us if they need a signature. They’re just all so saddened and they seem kind of lost without him.”

  “I know how they feel,” she said.

  He nodded. “Me too. I need to go by the marina and check on the yacht. Do you want to just get something to eat on the pier?”

  “That sounds good.”

  Jake asked the driver to take them down to the marina. As soon as they turned into the parking lot, Chloe felt sad. She thought about the last time she and Derek had stayed on the boat together. It was the night that she’d been sure Jesse was watching them. She’d had that feeling many times since. She’d even begun to start trying to plan a way that she could be alone, just to get it over with. She didn’t want anyone else around when she took Jesse on. She couldn’t bear for anyone else to get hurt.

  She and Jake went onto the boat and Jake went down into the engine room to check on things down there while Chloe cleaned the old things out of the refrigerator. She had the water on washing dishes when she heard a creak. It sounded like someone stepping on an old wood floor…or the wooden stairs that led down to the living quarters. She stopped and listened. She didn’t hear anything else, so she went back to her dishes. A few seconds passed and she heard it again. She turned off the water and said, “Jake?”

  The creaking stopped and no one answered. Her heart began to pound relentlessly inside her chest and her breaths started coming faster. She could almost feel the adrenaline flooding her veins.

  “Jake?” she called out again.

  Silence.

  Chloe dried her hands on the dish towel and took a step towards the stairs. She heard the creak again.

  “Who’s there?”

  Silence.

  She closed the space between her and the foot of the stairs. They went halfway up and then there was a blind curve where you couldn’t see anything until you turned the corner. There was no one on the bottom half.

  “Jake?”

  This time she said it louder.

  Still silence.

  She reached out and took hold of the banister and pulled herself up onto the bottom step. That was when she heard the all-out pounding of footsteps running across the top of the yacht.

  “Jake!” she yelled at the top of her lungs as she ran up. When she reached the top, she slammed into a wall. It was Jake. He’d heard the commotion and heard her call out to him. He’d come up to see what was going on and Chloe ran right into him.

  “Did you see him?”

  “Who? Was Jesse here?”

  Chloe’s heart was slamming so hard against the wall of her chest that she felt like she was having a heart attack. She was trembling. “I didn’t see him. I heard someone on the stairs and when I started up, he took off.”

  “Stay right here,” Jake told her.

  “He’s gone, Jake. He accomplished what he wanted to do today.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He only wanted to scare me. He accomplished that. It was always one of his favorite things to do. He takes a perverse pleasure in it. It pisses me off!” The fright turned into anger, just like that. “I worked so hard to be ready for him. I did everything I could think of to chase the fear away. I knocked you on your ass; I knocked Max on his ass! I’m ready, damn it! Why the hell does he still scare me?”

  She was trembling and she felt the tears welling up again. One of them started to spill over and she swiped at it with the back of her hand. “Shit! Damn him! Damn him!” She broke down into sobs and Jake took her into his arms and just held her there while she cried. It was several minutes later before she was finally able to pull herself together. When she did, she was embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping at her face once more.

  “Don’t be sorry. He’s pure evil, Chloe. He scares me. It’s normal to be afraid of evil. We wouldn’t be normal if we weren’t. If I knew he was going to come at me face to face and fight me like a man, I wouldn’t have any qualms about it…and to tell you the truth, hand to hand - one on one, I firmly believe that you can take him too. But you’ve said it yourself a hundred times…that’s not how Jesse operates. Chloe just the fact that you stepped up on those stairs when you thought that he was there, scares me to death. You could have been hurt.”

  “I’ve been hurt and now he’s hurting the people I care about. I just can’t run and hide anymore Jake.”

  “Please Chloe; don’t do anything to put yourself in danger.”

  “I won’t.”

  “I’m serious. Imagine me having to tell my brother when he wakes up that something happened to you. Please don’t make me do that.”

  “I won’t.” She was already trying to figure out in her head how to get enough time alone to lure him in.

  This needed to end.

  They finished their business on the boat but they did it together, Jake didn’t leave her side. Then they walked down the dock until they got to the pier. They walked out almost to the end of it and they ordered a clam chowder bowl from one of the little food stands. They took them and sat on one of the benches about halfway out. Chloe was picking her bread bowl apart, tossing pieces out to the seagulls that gathered around them. After she hadn’t taken a single bite in fifteen minutes Jake said,

  “You know, if you starve yourself your body starts burning muscle and all that work you’ve been doing will have been for nothing.”

  She rolled her eyes at him and took a bite.

  He laughed.

  “What are you laughing at?” Chloe asked arching an eyebrow.

  “You’re going to give my brother a run for his money.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re just something else,” he said, still being vague.

  “Clarify,” she said.

  “Let’s see…in the couple of weeks that I’ve known you I have found you to be stubborn, obstinate, easily aggravated, overly…”

  “Thanks, I think I get it.” She stopped him bluntly by putting the palm of her hand up towards his face.

  He laughed again. “For the record, I can also see what my brother sees in you. I meant what I said before, I’m proud to count you as family.”

  Chloe chuckled. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t let the psychopath rule your life, okay?”

  “I don’t intend to,” she said.

  Before Jake could say anything else they heard the voice.

  “Well I’ll be damned! Is that Jake Stark?”

  The voice came out of nowhere and Chloe jumped up off the bench like a shot. It was the first time she’d heard that taunting voice in over two years…but there was no doubt, it was Jesse.

  Jake recognized it as well…either that, or Chloe’s face said it all. “Where are you, you cowardly little fuck?” Jake was looking down off the side of the pier. The beach was crowded and they were eight or nine feet off the ground.

  “Is that any way to talk to an old friend?”

  “He’s underneath us!” Chloe could see him standing underneath the pier smiling up at her. She wanted to jump up on the bench where he couldn’t see her. It freaked her out for him to be right below her. She didn
’t want him to know she was scared though.

  “Hey Jake, I’m real sorry to hear about your brother. That was a bad deal. I heard he was a vegetable?”

  “You’re dead you little fuck!” Jake looked at Chloe.

  She was already on her phone calling 911. He took off running towards the end of the pier. Chloe looked down as the voice on the line said, “911 operator, what is your emergency?”

  “My ex-boyfriend is wanted for the assault and attempted murder of my best friend. He’s here on the beach.”

  “What’s your name ma’am?”

  “Chloe Green.”

  “I have to run Kelly! It was good seeing you. I’ll see you again real soon okay, babe?”

  “Fuck you!”

  “Ma’am? Are you safe ma’am?”

  By the time Jake got down to the sand, Jesse had disappeared into the crowd on the beach. He was just gone, without a trace. Chloe told the operator she was fine and that Jesse took off on foot. Jake gave chase for a while but ultimately, he completely vanished. They waited around and gave a statement to two seemingly disinterested policemen. The attack on Chantelle was in New York. The police in Rhode Island would rather not get involved if they didn’t have to.

  When they finished up with the police, they both realized they’d lost their appetites. They left and headed home. By the time they got back to New York, Chloe felt like her sanity was hanging by a thread. She collapsed into Derek’s bed, curled into a fetal position and cried a torrent of angry, frustrated tears. She vowed that this would be the last time. After they wake Derek up tomorrow and she knows that he’s going to be okay, she’s going back to Rhode Island and one way or the other she was going to finish this thing once and for all. She’d cried too many tears for him. She wasn’t his victim any longer.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Derek was dreaming…or maybe it was a nightmare. Yes, it was definitely a nightmare. Jesse Donovan was there and he had his arm wrapped around Chloe’s neck. What does he want with her? Chloe’s eyes were glazed over and Derek could tell that she was about to pass out…but he couldn’t get to her. He could feel real terror in his chest. Jesse was holding her just a few feet away from him but his legs wouldn’t move. Why won’t my legs move? Jesse was laughing as Chloe lost consciousness. Derek was screaming for someone to help…but no sound was coming out of his throat. He felt like he was choking when he tried to talk. Move damn it! You have to help her!

  He concentrated on his legs…they wouldn’t move no matter how hard he tried. Suddenly he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He tried to stick his hand in and pull it out, but there was no pocket there. What the hell is going on? Jesse smiled and put the knife to Chloe’s throat…Derek screamed again, silently…Jesse wants to kill her. I have to stop him. I love her.

  “His hand moved! Derek? Baby, open your eyes.”

  Chloe? Is that you? Are you okay?

  “It’s okay to open your eyes baby. Open your eyes. Please. I need to see them. I saw you move. Come on honey, let me see those baby blues.”

  I need to see you, Chloe. I need to hold you. I need to keep you safe. Can you hear me? Why can’t I hear myself talk?

  “I think he moved his hand,” Chloe said, in an excited tone, this time to someone else.

  “Sometimes they make involuntary movements.” That voice was unfamiliar. Who is she talking to? “That’s not to say he didn’t move. We took him off of all the sedatives yesterday and his brain activity is more active today.”

  “What about the breathing tube?”

  Breathing tube? Why do I have a breathing tube? Brain activity? Am I a vegetable? Do they think I’m unresponsive but I can still process what’s going on? Chloe! What’s going on? Talk to me again. Please talk to me. I’m suffocating in this nightmare.

  “We’re going to ex-tubate him after he’s been off the sedatives for forty-eight hours…so tomorrow sometime.”

  Ex-tubate? I have a tube breathing for me and now they’re going to take it out? What if I can’t breathe without it? Chloe! Please talk to me.

  “If you need anything have the nurse call me. I have to go make rounds now and I’ll check back in on him later this morning.”

  “Thank you, doctor.”

  Derek felt Chloe’s warm hand in his. He tried to squeeze it but his hand wasn’t being any more cooperative than his legs. What the hell happened?

  “Wake up, baby,” Chloe told him again. “Wake up and give me one of those killer smiles of yours. I want to see your sexy dimples.”

  Derek tried to pull open his eyes. He wanted to see her too. He tried to smile, but his face wouldn’t cooperate. He wanted to know what was going on. He tried to ask, but no words would come out…no sound at all. His eyelids were so heavy. It felt to him like they were glued shut.

  “Maybe that’s too much,” she said. “Maybe just squeeze my hand, baby. Can you do that? Squeeze it for me.”

  Derek concentrated hard that time. He couldn’t squeeze, but he thought maybe his pinky finger moved. “That’s it!” Chloe said in an excited voice. “That’s it! One finger at a time, Derek! Try it again.” He put everything he had into that hand…this time his pinky and his ring finger moved.

  “Yes! You can hear me! You’re awesome, baby!”

  He was proud that he made her so happy. He didn’t know why moving his fingers was something to be proud of all of a sudden. He felt Chloe touch her lips to his forehead. Her lips were so soft and warm, but her cheeks were wet. She was crying. Damn it! He had to open his eyes and find out what was going on.

  He let his focus go from his hand and back up to his eyelids. Come on, pull them open. Just a crack so that she knows you’re here…He struggled with them, they were so damn heavy and so dry.

  “Your eyes are moving! That’s it, baby. Open those gorgeous blue eyes for me.”

  He struggled harder until at last a sliver of light assaulted his right eye. It burned and he closed it as quickly as he’d opened it up. “Yes! You’re doing awesome, baby. Take your time. I know it’s hard…I want to see your eyes so bad!”

  Derek struggled to open them again. It was giving him a headache, but he wasn’t going to give up. He wrestled with the lids that felt like they weighed a thousand pounds…finally they were both open just a slit. He couldn’t see anything except for lights and shadows. He tried to focus them. He needed to see Chloe.

  “Yes Derek! Hi! Can you see me?”

  No! All I see are shadows. Is that shadow you, Chloe? I wish I could talk to you. My voice won’t work.

  “I’m going to get the nurse, okay?”

  Derek told his hand to grip hers tighter…it did! He didn’t want her to go. Chloe squealed. “You don’t want me to go? I won’t go honey, I won’t leave you. Here, I’ll press the call light.” Chloe reached across him.

  He felt the warmth radiating off her body and smelled the light tropical scent of the lotion she wore. His eyes hurt because they were so dry and holding them open made them hurt worse. He was afraid to close them though. What if I can’t get them back open? What if they don’t work anymore and I never get to see her again?

  “Did you need something?” This time Derek heard a female voice he didn’t recognize.

  “Yes! Look, he’s opening his eyes. He squeezed my hand too!”

  Derek felt a presence on the other side of the bed.

  “Well, look at that. Hi there, Mr. Stark. I’m going to shine a little light in your eyes, okay?”

  Derek wasn’t completely sure what was going on, but he somehow knew that he was at her mercy. He felt his eye lid being drawn open by a finger. The light got stronger and the shadows deeper, but still no color and nothing solid…A light was shone directly into that eye and then she did the same with the other. The stranger slipped her hand into his on the opposite side of the bed from Chloe.

  “Mr. Stark, can you hear me? If you can, squeeze my hand.”

  Derek could hear her. He tried to squeeze her hand…he tried hard. He couldn’
t do it.

  “It’s okay, take your time.”

  He tried again. His head was pounding…Damn it! His eyes were closed again. When did that happen? His fingers started to curl and although he could feel that it was weak, he wrapped them around the small hand of the stranger.

  “He did it!” Chloe was so excited that he wanted to do it again, just to please her. “That’s a good sign, right? He can follow instructions?”

  “Yes, it’s a good sign,” the stranger said. “I’ll let the doctor know.”

  “Thank you!”

  Derek felt Chloe’s lips on his forehead again. He was happy that he’d made her happy, but now he was tired. He had to sleep for a while and then he would try it again. He would squeeze harder after he had a nap…

  Derek wasn’t sure how long he slept, but this time when he woke up the first thing he did was concentrate on pulling open his eyes. He had them open just enough to once again see the bright light. He couldn’t see anything else.

  “Hey! Derek? It’s Jake, buddy! Can you hear me?”

  Jake is here? Where did Chloe go? He concentrated on pulling his eyes open a little more and trying to focus them. The light is so bright. He blinked a few times and this time moisture actually accumulated in the corners of them. They weren’t dry any longer, that’s good…right? That will make it easier to keep them open anyways.

  “You’re in the hospital, Derek. There was an accident. Can you hear me buddy? If you can, squeeze my hand.”

  Derek’s head felt better from his nap. He concentrated hard again like he’d done with Chloe and let his fingers grip his brother’s hand. “That’s it, buddy! You’re doing it! I’m so glad! Can you see me, Derek?”