by Lis, Heidi
“When are we doing this?” I don’t have the energy to open my eyes and look at him anymore. I might be delusional and sick, not even in the right frame of mind, but this idea is beyond wicked.
Sensing Max is moving around quietly, I use my last breaths before I drift off to sleep.
“Wh…when, are, we, doing this?” My words are getting harder to speak. I need sleep, I need to rest.
I feel a pinch in my arm, but I’m too weak to wince or yelp. I can feel his face close up against mine. His lips place a tender kiss on my forehead. He gets close to my ear, and I can feel his breath against it.
“We’re doing this right now!” That was all he said.
WHAT? My brain heard him. But what the hell does it mean? OH SHIT. LET ME LIVE THROUGH THIS.
Then the darkness came.
Peaceful.
Quietness.
Tranquility.
I’m aware my body is being moved, I don’t feel any more pain. Voices are getting louder, not sure what the hell is happening. I vaguely recall talking to Max before things got fuzzy. Oh my, whatever Max gave me it’s definitely working. I haven’t felt this at ease in a long time. I have no sadness or sorrow, I just feel, peaceful. God, what a great feeling, if these voices would just stop shouting, they are interrupting my peace. Jesus! Let me have a moment of serenity.
IT’S A BEAUTIFUL WARM summer day, I’m sitting on a grassy hill overlooking the lake. All the horror of the past few months is now just a distant bump in the road of life, a way to better times, and the road that led me to Braxton. Laying my head back, I take in the heat of the sun, the distant laughter of Eve fills my ears. I smile at how at ease I am with her and Braxton in my life. It’s like we were meant to be this, us together. The other laugh of a little girl makes me damn right giddy, I can barely see a tired Braxton as he is chasing them tirelessly on the beach.
“Eve,” Braxton huffs out loudly, “Willow, I’m too damn tired to chase you all over the beach. I tell you what, you stop running from me, and I’ll let you bury Iz in the sand.” He chuckles as his idea will no doubt have the girls over the moon excited to bury me in the sand. The last time they did, I had sand in places, well let’s just say, places where sand should never hide.
It’s the manly grasp of a hand on my shoulder that snaps me out of my peaceful retreat.
“Looks like that did it, now I can sit back and relax,” chuckling he sits down next to me. “All at your expense, the girls sure love to get you under the sand. But I just like to get you cleaned up afterward.” Leaning into me he lightly brushes his lips to mine. The minute his wet lips connect with mine, my animalistic nature takes over and I grasp his neck pulling him on top of me. Taking ownership of his lips, he moans his approval.
Nipping my lower lip, he smiles, saying, “You’re an animal you know that?”
My throaty laugh is topped off with a fit of giggles. “You love it and you know it. Wouldn’t want me any other way, would you big guy?”
Rolling our bodies, Braxton’s lies over mine and I swear I can feel his heartbeat over mine.
Lips parting, he says, “Oh, don’t you know it babe.”
“Momma, time to play with us. We're going to build a sand castle around you. Come on, come on, come on…”
Boy oh boy, she is so excited my heart melts with joy. Both she and Eve are pulling at me ready to bury me in the sand. Hearing my little girl call me, ‘Momma’ just about fills my eyes with tears every time. It’s something I never thought I would ever hear.
My moan is shallow not wanting to show my lack of enthusiasm it’s just I dread sand in my shorts again. I will not disappoint the girls, it’s taken us a trip through hell to get here. Let the fun begin.
Just like I thought I would, I had sand in places I never knew possible. Walking into the cold lake to wash myself, I’m amused remembering Braxton saying he looked forward to cleaning out the sand in my shorts. We ended up splashing all four of us laughing like the family we had become.
I look at each of the smiles on their faces and I swear tears form at the sight. Once Willow was found safe, it was pretty easy with Max’s help to get her out of her home. The parents were a couple that barely knew Dominic, but were afraid of him, so they did whatever he asked. Max filled Liam in, and both of them delivered Willow safe to me. It was as if a part of my heart healed instantly.
My brief moment of happiness came to a screeching halt. One minute I am on the beach with my girls and the love of my life, the next I hear shouting and gunshots.
What the hell?
I can’t move, was I shot? Why can’t I move? I start to panic as I can’t open my damn eyes. The shouting is getting louder and more threatening. I try to move my head in the direction of the voices, but I can’t. I try to open my eyes, but I can’t. I try to speak, but I can’t.
It’s then the nightmare that is my life rears its ugly head to swallow up and destroy the happy moments of my dream. I was never out of this nightmare, never on the beach. Never in the arms of the man I crave, and not being buried in sand by the girls. Wait. Oh my god. Willow, she was never with us.
It’s then I realize I’m still stuck in Hell!
Hell is just like I’d imagine it to be as I’m being jerked around and then feels like being carried over someone’s shoulder. It’s loud, scary, and there is not a damn thing I can do but go along for the ride.
“Liam get her the fuck out of here, if Dom gets wind she is alive, he will kill us all.”
Not needing my eyes I know that voice belongs to Max.
The deep growl, that responds, is no doubt Liam. “Max, I need to get my guys out and then we can get the hell out of here.”
“Arrgghh, Dammit!” Max cries in utter pain. Hissing he argues with himself about how their master plan was not going according to plan. They had it all laid out, from listening to his rants. I’m both amazed and astonished Max orchestrated this idea. All to get me out, to get me back home.
All, I can hear, is the rustling of people and a flurry of activity.
“Get in the van, you have to be there to wake Izzy the fuck up man,” said an aggravated Liam.
The sounds of gunfire explode nearby, I would jump if I had any control over my body the fact is I’m scared still, literally. Without eyes, it’s amazing what I can pick up with hearing alone. I sense feet shuffling, quiet, menacing chatter and loud thuds of items being tossed in the vehicle.
Liam’s shouting thunders out. “Brax, where the hell are you man?”
His screaming is so loud my eardrums might have just exploded. Add in the sporadic gunfire and the constant hollering of many men, it’s all not helping my already pounding head. I wonder if part of the plan was to have my brain explode because it just might. Then all of a sudden things calm down.
“Max, tell me what the hell is going on here?” Dominic’s voice is murderous.
Hearing Dominic’s voice so close scares me to death. Oh shit, not good. I panic, can he see me? Will he find out I’m still alive? Max’s grand scheme seemed like an excellent plan. Only I was never given a chance to ponder on it as I was injected with something as soon as the words left Max’s lips. Not a nice thing to do and I will point this out to him as soon as I can come back into my body.
“Dom, she’s gone. It’s only right that Kara gets a say what happens to her now,” Max’s voice changes from uncertainty to lethal. “You did this. You killed her, you lost your chance of having a say.”
I have never heard Max stand up to Dominic before. It’s frightening and yet finally, someone has the guts to do it, besides me, of course. Max has walked away some as their voices have quieted a tad bit. I imagine Max walking away was a way to make sure Dominic is not near my lifeless body. It seems not far enough as Dominic’s voice bellows.
“The fuck you say, my sister has nothing to do with this. I loved that woman, she should lie in rest where I choose.”
A hint of remorse is weaved in his words, too bad I don’t buy them. It’s
the thunderous ominous voice, that shakes my world and more precisely at the moment, is vengefully shouting a steady flow of insults directed at Dominic. Hearing Braxton’s voice does wonders for my soul, but nothing for my bundle of nerves as the devil is face to face with my prince yet again.
“Listen up you bastard, that woman is the love of my life. You sick fucker! You cut her! You hurt her! What part of you being the reason she is dead doesn’t register with you?”
Braxton’s aggressiveness scares me, I’m terrified Dominic will shoot him. I can only hope someone intervenes.
“Dom, get out of here. Leave it alone, let her have some peace for once. She died in pain, she suffered not only from your hands, but also the loss of her daughter. You took it all away from her. Give her this, give her peace.”
Max’s words are sincere and the way his voice cracks I’m sure he has tears filling them. It’s oddly chilling hearing them talk about me as if I am actually dead.
I hear what sounds like a gun being readied to fire. My impulses tell me to hold my nonexistent breath. It may seem that I am dead, but my damn hearing is crystal clear, it’s quite frightening actually. I hear the gun discharge and then silence. No one is saying a word, no one is moving around. Oh my god, someone’s been shot.
My mind is working overtime as I’m desperately waiting to hear someone speak. No one does at first.
A familiar voice yet startles me. It’s a voice I have grown to love over the years, the girl who stood up for me all those years ago. She is standing up for me once again. I gasp in my mind, but I know I make no noise.
Shaken, Kara stutters. “It had to be done. He was never going to let us leave with her body. If not Izzy, it had to be me to end this once and for all. Thank God Liam’s guys took out most of Dom’s men already. It would have been a bloodbath.” She says solemnly.
With the hushed voices, it’s easy to pick up the gurgling noise from a person, I can only assume is Dominic. His moans and breath sound labored.
“Why, why would you do this to me?” Dominic says as if he is truly shocking.
It’s hard to understand them as more voices are joining in on the conversation. Damn don’t they know I can hear them? With all of this activity going on it’s easy to assume, they forgot I’m still alive and in a coma. They’d better hope I come out of this or else I’m coming back and haunting their asses.
“Dominic it’s only a matter of time before you take your last breath as I hit you right in the neck.” She must have poked at it because I heard him hiss.
She leads with a sinister chuckle. “I have a secret for you before you finally die. She’s not dead. Izzy is still alive, only put in a coma so we could fake her death. We played you brother.” Her voice turns menacing, as she says, “How does it feel you sick bastard?”
It’s then the shuffling of feet and low muffled voices descend all around me. Seems like a lot of activity, and the low voices make it increasingly hard to make out what is happening. I’m beyond frustrated.
Dominic’s voice bellows out. “You bitch, should have taken care of you years ago. I should have taken Izzab…” he suddenly stops speaking. “I had her first, I did things to her that no man can erase. I damaged her, she’s damaged goods.”
He tries to laugh, but then screams loudly and gurgles as it sounds like he is being strangled or perhaps drowning in his own blood. To say I feel sorry for him, hell no, I don’t. He did this to himself. The only regret, I may have, is that it wasn’t me who pulled the trigger. Now Kara will carry this burden around with her for the rest of her life.
“Sorry, you sick piece of shit, you will never say her name ever. My woman is never going to be hurt by you again. Just know she is not damaged, she is a precious gem of a woman and plan on showing her for the rest of her life just how special she is. And don’t worry about your daughter. I’ll be raising her too. She’ll never know you ever existed. KNOW that dick!”
The strong and fierce words Brax said in my defense are leaving me speechless. How did this happen, how did I find a man so unbelievably strong and loving of a girl like me? If I could, I would curl up and wrap my arms around him sobbing until the end of time. I want to do just that, show him how much a girl like me could love a guy, just like him.
The crunching of the gravel is all I hear and then I’m being moved again. This time, I am cuddled into strong arms. Oh, I know these arms. I don’t need to see him to know who he is. The beat of his heart, his fabulous scent, and the overall feeling in his embrace, melt me to him. I wish I could open my eyes to see his face, the face I was not sure I would ever see again. He is here, and I can’t talk or see him. The comfort of his arms and hands rubbing me is enough. I feel safe, finally.
Heavy breaths fan my face. “Baby, if you can hear me, I’m so sorry. I feel like I have failed you. He hurt you honey and the thought of you having to endure that just guts me. He’s gone honey, Kara shot him and I just sped up his demise. He died knowing I was going to get to keep on loving you. He died knowing you were still alive.”
Braxton kisses my head as he whispers in my ear cradling my body into his, with sweet rocking. Having no idea, I’d heard most of the conversation. I can sense we are not alone, the sounds of bodies rustling and the shutting of doors alert me we must be ready to leave.
“Max, you better be damn ready to get my girl out of this! Ready to rock and roll, I want my woman back.” Braxton’s words are intense and anxious.
“Brax,” Max sighs, adding, “I won’t lie. It’s going to be touch and go she still has a bad infection. I will bring her back, but she needs to heal and get this infection under control. I wanted her in the hospital, but Dom would not hear of it.”
Braxton interrupts.
“She dies, you will as well. Understand?”
No mistaking my man’s words. I just wish he knew how much Max has done for me, not just now, but over the years as well.
Irritated, Max huffs agreeing, “Yeah, I understand. Don’t worry, it’s good for you I want the best for her as well. I came up with this idea to get her out remember? Do you have any idea how over the years I hated having to stitch her up after he hurt her? It’s twisted and downright sick.”
It’s so hard to listen to this.
“Then why did you not help her before?” Braxton asks with more control over his emotions.
Max huffs out a big breath. “I couldn’t. I was not in a position to do shit.” Sounding defeated.
Kara tries pleading with Braxton.
“Brax, Max is a good guy. You have no idea what it’s like in Dom’s home. He’s guarded, heavily. Max is like a love sick fool around my best friend. If it wasn’t for Dom, I think Max would have snatched her up in a heartbeat, a long time ago. He has always watched out for her the best he could.”
Kara’s voice trails off at the same time I feel a cold hand on my shoulder. My best friend is once again my champion, it's hard to imagine how she is feeling right now. Close or not, Dominic was her brother and killing him could not have been easy.
“Great, now I have you to contend with?” Braxton says.
“It’s true I have strong feelings for Izzy, but she never shut her mouth about you the entire time. Got on my nerves too, she only has eyes for you man. Just hope you realize what a great fucking girl you have.”
“Woman, not a girl and I know what a great fucking woman she is. Never knew a woman as strong as my Izzy. That ‘woman’ has been through hell and back, only to be dragged back into it all again. She will never feel that hell again.”
I can feel his arms tighten around me. Hearing them both, If I could I swear I would blush. He may not be able to see me smile, but on the inside, I am smiling from ear to ear.
A hand touches my forehead, an ice-cold hand at that.
“Jesus Christ, she’s burning up. We need to get her somewhere fast, I need to get an IV started, and these antibiotics started. Only then I can give her medicine to wake her up.” Max says with a slight hitch in his voic
e.
I can sense Braxton is eager to disagree. “Why can’t we wake her up first?” He says astonished and surprised.
It’s Max’s growl that pauses his response. “The infection could take her life, and that has to come first. Her body can’t fight the infection and wake itself up all at once.”
I know Max well enough, he knows what he is doing, and hopefully Braxton will leave him to it.
Warm lips scorch my forehead. “Listen here Izzy baby, you rest and kick this infections ass. Then wake the fuck up to me. You hear me Iz? You are not dying on me now, not when I finally got you honey.”
His whisper sends shivers down my spine as my head swims with possibilities. It’s then the darkness takes me under.
I HAVE NO IDEA HOW much time has passed. With a flutter of my eyelids, I’m waking up and able to recognize what happens to be my bedroom. The feel of my warm fuzzy comforter under my fingertips feels fantastic. My eyes widen as the realization overwhelms me, I made it, and I’m alive.
Max’s plan has worked. I can’t help but squeal with delight. My door suddenly a squeak as it slowly opens, sending my heart racing in fear. My instincts tell me to panic with fear, so I close my eyes concentrating on my breathing. The dip in the bed alerts me that someone is sitting next to me, and I’m frightened. Dominic’s face is all I can see. I’m not sure how long I’ll be looking over my shoulder thinking he is there waiting for me. It’s going to take time… and patience.
A gentle hand moves my hair away from my face. The faintness of the touch and the aroma of cologne clue me into who is sitting next to me. Yep, I know who it is, it’s the hands of my man. I lie still so I can absorb his touch, and much wanted words.
“Izzy, baby you are a sight for sore eyes,” Braxton says thinking I’m still asleep. “The fever finally broke late last night, and Max finally injected the medicine that allows you to finally wake up. It’s all about you now honey. We are all waiting for you to come back to us.”
