by Ryan Michele
“That bitch,” Rob cut, “is the only reason you’re here and not with one of my clients right now. So shut the fuck up.”
“What?” True shock hit her face.
“Yeah, clients … you know, money. The shit you don’t have. But don’t worry. After this, I’ll make sure you have some regulars.”
“I’m not doing that.” Macy rose to her feet still butt-ass naked, arms crossed against her breasts. Rob backhanded her across the left side of her face with a crack that echoed the walls.
Macy’s head snapped to the side from the blow, her hand instantly coming up to hold her cheek. Tears began welling up in her eyes. She stormed directly to me, slapping me across the face, but my head didn’t move.
“You bitch. This is all your fucking fault,” she spat at me. “You’ve always had everything. Nice family, nice clothes. Me, I’ve had nothing. Then you get Rob and dump me as a friend. You don’t deserve him. He’s supposed to be with me.” Her hand lifted as she went to slap me again, and I readied myself for the blow. Before she could land it, Rob grabbed her and threw her across the dirt floor. I could hear Macy crying now. I really wanted to protect her, even though I knew I shouldn’t.
“You stupid whore!” he yelled, walking toward her as she lay on the floor. He began kicking her, hard. With every kick, I heard him grunt and her whimper. I knew what those kicks felt like. I hurt for her. Rob landed a powerful one to her head, and Macy stopped moving.
I gasped, hearing the small sounds coming from Lainey and Lauryn, too.
“Like that, honey? She called you a bitch so I had to defend you.” He smirked. I watched Macy. I could see her chest rising and falling slowly. At least she was still alive. Rob walked slowly up to me like a predator—like I was his food, and he was ready to eat.
I didn’t move or flinch. I knew what was coming. What came every time that look was in his eyes. “I told you, you couldn’t get away from me.”
“You’re supposed to be in jail,” I whimpered.
“Funny what money can buy.”
“I saw the picture.”
“I knew you would. You’re not stupid like these other bitches. You’d want proof. But it was easy to do. I paid a junkie a wad to get fixed up like me. I even punched him in the eye a few times, so even if he didn’t look exactly like me, no one would be the wiser.” He smirked. “I gave the little shit my ID and had him make himself visible … Done.”
My heart sank. It wasn’t him. I could have sworn it was. I looked so damn close at that picture to make sure.
“How did you find me?” I asked softly. I needed some answers because chances were, I wouldn’t survive this one, which was hard to make peace with.
Rob laughed. “Still not smart enough to figure that one out, huh? Maybe you are stupid.” He stopped about three feet in front me and crouched down low so our eyes were at the same level. His were laced with malice, anger and hatred. I hated those eyes.
“Let me clue you in. All those conversations with Macy, I was sitting right there. I knew you couldn’t stay away from her. Why else do you think I fucked her? She’s just a hole.” He shivered. “Everything was going great. I had her tell you that Seth was hurt because I knew you’d come running for your precious bother.” Rob rolled his eyes. “But your bitch of a mother had to show up and ruin it … I had to change plans.”
I watched as his eyes crept over my body, causing me to want to gag. “I really started searching for what to do next because you were not getting away. One of my guys came across your aunt’s information. And well …” His cocky smirk was pissing me off.
“Well what?” I asked.
“See Lainey there … she and I have been seeing each other for a while.” My eyes grew wide. The wind rushed out of my body. Fucking shit … Robert Steven … Steve. “I see you get where this is going now,” Rob said, standing back up, walking over to Lainey.
Lainey had tears rolling down her face. “All I had to do was fuck her and pump her for information. How else you think I learned of this party?” Rob grabbed Lainey’s chin forcefully. “I’m gonna get paid lots for this one.”
Lainey’s slits for eyes went as big as she could get them. “Don’t be so shocked. You’ll love your new home. Fucking whomever, whenever, however, I say. You’ll get to be the little whore I know you are. Doesn’t that sound fun.” His sarcastic tone was eating at me.
I kept trying to get the ropes untied behind me, but making very little progress. Rob let go of Lainey and moved to Lauryn, grabbing her chin in the exact same way, but there were no tears coming out of Lauryn. She was glaring back at him.
“And this one, I have a client list a mile long already looking for a hot blonde. You’ll have so much fun whoring around.” He shook her chin and released her, coming back to me.
“Tell me what you want, and I’ll do whatever, if you let them go,” I said, barely knowing my own voice.
“Oh, it’s too late for that shit now, Sadie. I told you before what I wanted. You … whenever I wanted, but you ran. So now this is what I have to do. I can’t leave the L girls and Macy to tell on me, so I gotta stick them underground and make some cash. Then, you and I will disappear.”
“Don’t do this. They won’t say anything. I’ll leave with you if you just let them go,” I pleaded.
Rob slapped me across my face. This time my head snapped. “Shut up! You’re the one who ruined all of this. Everything.” His anger rising, he slapped me again on the other cheek. Pain surged through me, causing small spots to cloud my vision, but I took it and chalked it down.
“If you would have just stayed home, we could have been together. I would still have a job, and none of this would be happening. You did this! You caused this!” Rob sent two powerful punches to my stomach.
Those hurt. I felt the tears threatening to flow, but I wouldn’t let them.
“Then, I hear from Lainey that you’re fucking her brother.” Rob landed more slaps to my face—one to my eye, the other to my lip.
“I told you before that you’re mine. No one will have you. Don’t worry, though, I’ll make damn sure your little fuck buddy gets what’s coming to him next.” Fear spiked through me. I would not let him touch Landon. I would die before he did anything to him.
“Aww, you don’t want anything to happen to your precious fuck buddy. Too bad, you did this! You’re causing me to do this!” he yelled.
I really needed Landon. I needed him keep us safe.
The party seemed to be going well. I talked with every freaking person here and introduced Sadie to them. I thought it was funny how she told me she couldn’t remember all their names.
But that was Sadie.
I was ready to get the hell out of here and make love to her. I hated not being able to just kiss her senseless, even though I did sneak a few in. God, I loved that woman. She is everything to me. She was absolutely perfect.
I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life with her and tonight I’d ask her. I wanted her to be the one I woke up with every morning, and the one I fell asleep with every night. She was my world. I would do anything for her. Anything.
Looking at my watch, I realized it’d been a bit since she went to the bathroom. Making my way there, Sadie was nowhere around.
I wound through the crowd of people looking for her, but didn’t see her anywhere. Where the hell was she? Finding my mom and brothers, I asked if they had seen her, but no one had. This was strange. She wouldn’t have left without me.
Stepping outside, I saw some of the neighbors. “Have you guys seen Sadie anywhere?”
“She walked toward the barn about a little while ago,” Russ said.
“Thanks,” I said as I took off for the barn. Why in the hell would she go to the barn? That didn’t make any sense whatsoever. I walked in the beautiful night to the barn door. Inside I heard a loud smack, almost like a hand slapping a leg. I slowly opened the door.
What stood in front of me was my worst nightmare come true.
&
nbsp; A man was standing in front of Sadie, his back to me. He slapped her across the face as I watched as her head fly to the side. Then across the room, I saw a woman lying on the floor, unmoving. My gaze swept to the two women with tape on their mouths: Lauryn and Lainey.
Oh. My. God. What in the hell happened to my sister? Her face was barely recognizable. Her eyes widened as much as they could when she saw me, and she shook her head slowly. I wanted to run to her, but I knew I needed to find out what the hell was going on.
The man’s head snapped around, causing my eyes to flick to him. Rob the fucker. Anger radiated through me. That fucker was supposed be behind bars.
“Nice of you to join the party, fuck buddy. You can see firsthand what I’m going to do to Sadie.”
Sadie’s eyes snapped to mine. She mouthed, ‘Please leave,’ but to hell with that. I wasn’t going to leave her like this.
“What’s wrong … can’t speak?” Rob was egging me on, but I wasn’t going to take the bait. I needed to keep my head on. Rob lunged at me, but I quickly moved away before he touched me.
I saw my opening. “What’s wrong, Rob? Can’t lay a punch on someone your own size?” His arm swung, but I ducked out of the way, moving away from Sadie and the girls.
“Come here, you fucker!” Rob screamed. What a fucking pansy.
I smiled at him. “Come and get me!” I challenged.
And he did. I landed two good, hard punches to his stomach and one to his face. He returned the favor and got my eye and lip. Before I realized it, we were punching each other in earnest—one after the other. The anger from seeing him hit my girl was powering me.
I wanted to take this fucker out. My feet were unexpectedly kicked out from under me, and I fell hard to the dirt floor. Rob and I kept kicking, punching, and yelling at each other. Him on top, punching; me on top, punching.
Through this I heard a feminine voice yell, “Get the fuck off of him,” but it wasn’t a voice I recognized. Then I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye. Sadie. How the hell did she get free?
She ran behind me, and I couldn’t see where she went. I kept struggling with Rob, trying to subdue him. His punches were beginning to get softer, so I knew he was getting tired.
I just needed to get him off his game enough to really knock him out. A loud bang filtered through the fight, and pain coursed through my body. I turned to see Sadie standing there with the gun pointed at us. Shock, disbelief, and pain overtook me.
She shot me. Two more shots went off, and everything went black.
This was my fault. I did this to him. I did this to Landon. I shot him.
I lay my head next to his hand; his body still unconscious from the emergency surgery to get the bullets out of him. Yes, bullets. I didn’t just put one in him, I put two. Tears free fall from my face, and the agony sets in. This is my new normal. Tears. Tears. Tears.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to him. He didn’t answer back, and all I wanted was for him to wake up. It’d been twelve hours since we got out of that barn. Twelve hours I had been scared shitless.
Once I was able to untie myself from that damn rope, I ran toward Macy who had a gun pointed at Landon and Rob. I didn’t give two shits if she shot Rob, but Landon, it wasn’t gonna happen. I tackled her before she could get any shots off. I began punching her, hard, the anger from her betrayal taking over.
I had never been on this end of a fight before, and the surge of empowerment came over me. Fighting for something right. After she stopped fighting back, I quickly tied her up. I grabbed the gun. I was going to yell for them to stop fighting, but my voice caught in my throat.
The blood dripping down Landon was enough to set me off. I wished to God I had listened to my mom about getting shooting lessons. They would have come in handy at this moment.
I aimed and fired the bullet, shooting for Rob, but instead it landed in Landon. Fear spiked through me. I just fucking shot him. Oh. My. God.
His eyes turned and focused on me. The pained look on his face crushed me. I could see the anguish and hurt in his eyes from that shot. I didn’t have time to think. Rob was coming up to punch him again. I began shooting. Three hit Rob, and one other hit Landon.
Then everything stopped. No movement from either of them.
I killed Landon. I rushed over to him and found him still breathing. Rob was, too, but his breaths were sporadic.
“Shit!” I yelled.
I heard the girls mumbling, but I had to see where Landon was shot. I saw the entry wounds in his chest and arm. I ripped my shirt off and pushed hard on his chest to stop the bleeding.
I ran over to the girls and untied them.
“Oh God. Sadie, is he dead?” Lainey asked.
“No, Landon isn’t. Neither is Rob. Go get help,” I barked. Lainey and Lauryn took off out of the barn. I ran back over to Landon.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.” I kept whispering in his ear, holding his hand.
Before I had time to think, the barn was filled with all kinds of people. They tried to get me away from Landon to work on him, but I wouldn’t leave him. The cops wanted to talk to me, but I stayed with him all the way to the hospital. And this was where I sat, waiting for him to wake up. I hadn’t left him, except for his surgery.
“Sadie?” I pulled my head up from Landon’s hand and tried to smile warmly to Lainey. Her face was badly bruised, and I was actually surprised she could see at all with her eyes being almost swollen shut.
“Hey. How are you?”
“Here. How is he?”
“Still out.”
Lainey looked to the ground, seeming to want to avoid eye contact. “How are you doing?” she asked quietly.
“I shot your brother, so not so good.”
“You didn’t mean to.” Lainey reached out, putting her hand on my shoulder. Her touch was warm and comforting.
“But I did. Now he’s here because of me.”
“No, he’s here because of me.”
Turning quickly, I looked her in the eyes. The agony and hurt was etched into her stare. “You didn’t do anything.”
“I brought Steve … I mean, Rob here. It’s my fault.”
“No. You didn’t. It’s all on me. I did this.”
“Sadie, I thought I loved him.” Tears began to course down Lainey’s cheeks, falling to the floor below.
“I did, too.”
“Everything was a lie. How could I be so stupid?”
“It’s Rob.” I sighed deeply, not knowing exactly how to comfort her in this moment. “How did you and Lauryn end up in the barn?”
“Steve … I’m sorry, Rob called saying he was here. I’d been waiting for him to show up. I was so happy he was here.” Lainey’s eyes traveled down to stare at her entwined fingers. “I asked Lauryn to come with me ‘cause I wanted them to meet … I never should have.”
Lainey’s tears became heartbreaking sobs. “He said he parked out by the barn so he didn’t block anyone in. I didn’t think anything of it.” Lainey paused. “When I saw him, I ran into his arms and began kissing him. I don’t know how everything happened. It was so fast.”
I stood and pulled Lainey into my arms as she sobbed. With her head buried in my neck, her entire body began to shake. “He grabbed me, hit me, and dragged me into the barn. I looked over for Lauryn, and she was out cold. That woman was dragging her underneath her arms.”
“We’re all okay now.”
Lainey pulled back from my arms. “No. We are not okay, Sadie. Stuff happened before you got there. It’s not okay.”
“What happened?”
Lainey fell to her knees on the floor with me following her. “I can’t. I just can’t.”
I wrapped my arms around her again and didn’t push. I wanted to know what happened, but I didn’t want to make it worse than it already was.
“Where’s Rob?”
“He’s upstairs, in a coma, unconscious. Doctors don’t know when or if he’ll wake up. One of the bullets hit a
spot in his neck, severing an artery, causing him to lose a lot of blood.”
“Good. Serves him right. I want him dead.” He needed to be dead, and I wished I had better aim. If I had learned to shoot, he’d be gone, and Landon wouldn’t be lying unconscious in a hospital bed. I was so fucking stupid.
I put all these people I loved in danger, exactly what I didn’t want to do.
I was the one Rob wanted, not everyone else. But they got it because of me. Tears streaming down my face, I kissed Landon’s hand and lay my head next to it. This was all my fault. I did this to him.
If Rob woke up, it would only be worse. He’d come after me with a vengeance. I couldn’t let anything else happen to the people I loved. Fear ripped through me. What was I going to do?
“I’m so sorry, Lainey. I brought him here. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
Lainey held me tightly. “I don’t know what’s going on with Lauryn. She won’t talk to any of us. Renzo even tried, but she refuses.”
“Excuse me, ladies?”
Our heads popped around simultaneously at the sound of the man’s voice. In the doorway stood a man with light brown hair and a white jacket, his hand extended to mine.
“I’m Dr. Daniels. I came to update you on Landon.”
Standing, I took his hand in return. “This is Lainey his sister. Let me get the rest of his family. Hang on just a minute.”
I called out the door. “Doc’s here for an update. Come in.”
The family piled in the room with me. They’d been really good at letting me stay with him and waiting outside, even though I knew it had to be really hard on his mom, but I knew she had her hands full with Lainey.
After introductions, the doctor started, “As you know, Landon suffered two gunshot wounds.” I looked down at the floor, embarrassed, not wanting to see their faces. I was the reason for their sadness.
“We were able to remove all the bullet fragments and repair all the damage.”
“Why hasn’t he woken up?” I asked.
“He was in a lot of pain, so we gave him some strong sedatives. So technically, he’s not unconscious, just resting. The shot in his chest made him lose a lot of blood, but we were able to repair the damage. He will have a bit of scar damage, though.”
