BJ cleared her throat. “So she’s not his sister?”
“No, bird brain, he’s a liar and a killer, and he wants to silence Kristen. Have you not been paying attention?” I pulled the phone from my pocket and dialed the marina, knowing I’d go to voice mail.
Rain hammered the windshield so loudly that I hadn’t noticed the unfastened seat belt alarm. BJ never took her hands off the wheel nor did she look at me. “Please put on your belt, Hayden, that chime is shattering my already frayed nerves.”
She accelerated a bit more when I had clipped myself in. I watched as one hand slipped from the wheel and lay on the seat between us. BJ ticked off her fingers as though she were counting. She glanced at me, and though I didn’t know what the hell she was trying to indicate, I kept my expression neutral. Again, she began counting off, slowly this time, and it hit me what she was about to do. I grabbed the door handle and tried to expel all the air from my lungs as her little finger popped up.
BJ stomped the gas as the car left the roadway. The sedan plunged into the soft shoulder and went up on its nose. I saw grass and sand coming up to meet me fast just before the airbag exploded in my face. I had no idea how many times we flipped, but on one of the rotations, Stinslin flew past me, then I felt the weight of him on my chest, then he was gone again.
The car finally came to rest upright. The roof was caved in around me. The only sign of BJ was a limp hand dangling inches above the floorboard. Blood streamed off the unmoving fingertips. Panic seized me when I realized my only escape was the broken-out windshield. The crawl space would’ve been a challenge on a good day, but every inch of my body felt like it had been shredded and was on fire.
“I feel, that’s good,” I said aloud just to see if I could make a sound. Rain pounded on and in the car. If Stinslin was still alive, he wasn’t making a peep.
I started with my toes first. It hurt, but they did wiggle. Slowly and methodically, I moved everything, and even though it sent blinding pain through my body, I was grateful that my limbs still worked. Blood dripped onto my hand as I looked down at the seat belt and unclipped it. I said a silent prayer of thanks that I didn’t feel any numbness as I moved my neck.
I took as deep of a breath as I could manage and prepared myself to move. But as I slowly leaned forward, a hand grabbed my shoulder. The reaction was instantaneous, rage surged through me. Stinslin had survived and was going to finish off what was left of me. “You sorry son of a bitch,” I said through clenched teeth and sprayed the dashboard inches from my face with blood.
“Hayden, it’s me, Jacob.”
“Jacob.” I repeated the name a few times just to make myself believe it.
“I’m going to let down your seat,” he said as I felt him tugging at something. Slowly, it moved backward, and I looked into his dark eyes with relief. “Are you pinned?”
“I don’t think so.”
He nodded as he studied my face. “I’m going to pull you out. There’s a strong smell of gas. I’m afraid the car might blow.”
Panic gripped me anew at this revelation. I started pushing frantically with my feet as he pulled. Jacob dragged me a few feet from the car and sat me gently on the sand. Elaine came into view, her face pale and drawn.
“Colie and the others are on the way,” she said. “It won’t be long.”
“BJ.” I gripped Elaine’s arm. “You have to help BJ. She’s still in the car.”
“Stay still.” Elaine ran around the other side of the car where Jacob was already working with a tire iron.
The car was smashed top, front, and back. There was no sign of Stinslin. If he had managed to be thrown in the backseat, he would’ve been visible from my vantage point because the rear of the sedan was torn open like a tin can. I tried to put weight on my right arm to pivot and get up on my knees, pain that had been barely tolerable became blinding. I gasped for breath, then tried the left. I was sobbing and nauseated by the time I got to my knees. Gingerly, I stood, feeling like the world was swirling around me.
Rain fell on my face as I closed my eyes to get my bearings. I could hear Jacob and Elaine yelling back and forth as they tried to free BJ. I staggered past the mangled car unnoticed and looked for Stinslin. He’d come to rest between two boulders, and except for his right leg that was in an unnatural shape and bloody face, he looked as though he were simply watching the spectacle with calm detachment.
I finally understood how my level-headed Adrienne could consider taking justice into her hands. It wasn’t because Stinslin would’ve most certainly killed BJ and me. A switch had been hit in me the minute Kaia was put into my arms. Though I felt the same way for Adrienne and my loved ones, I felt an even stronger need to protect that innocent child, my child. The women Stinslin had murdered were someone’s children, too, and I had decided that I’d make sure he would pay in full. I knelt with a cry and picked up a rock the size of a grapefruit. My stomach roiled as I straightened, but I took the last few steps with murderous intent.
Stinslin looked at the rock in my hand, then his gaze trailed up to my face. “What’s that for?” he asked before coughing.
“For Kristen, for Abby, for my family, and all the women and families you destroyed. I don’t want to see you in court. I don’t want my taxes paying for your health care, your stay in prison.” The fear in his eyes gave me great satisfaction. If I’d had the strength, I would’ve pretended to throw the rock at his face a few times just to see him flinch. I raised the rock above Stinslin’s head. He blinked rapidly as his reflexes told him to run, but his body failed to heed the command. “I’m going to bash your skull in and no one will ever know.”
“They didn’t suffer…none of them…I was merciful.”
It was my turn to blink rapidly. “And your point is?”
“Hayden.”
Elaine’s voice was close. It sounded so much like Adrienne, I almost cried for wanting to be in her arms. I couldn’t turn and look at her. I knew I would lose my nerve.
“Hayden,” she repeated calmly. “No one would blame you for doing this. You have a good heart, though, and I think you’d come to regret this.”
“Go back and help Jacob.” I stared into Stinslin’s eyes.
“Hayden, don’t do this.”
“He was after your niece, and you’re a mother. Surely, you understand the need to protect.”
Elaine stepped directly in front of me. Her hand rose slowly and stroked the side of my cheek. “Right now, I’m protecting my daughters and granddaughter.” She pushed the rock from my grasp, and it landed in the sand with a thud. “He’s going to die, anyway. Look at the front of his shirt.”
Elaine moved beside me, and I sagged against her. I had not noticed the protrusion just above his waist. He looked down, as well, then back up at me in horror.
“A fitting end for a vampire, though when you were impaled, the stake missed your heart.” I laughed mirthlessly. “Guess it’s gonna take a while for you to die.”
I felt Elaine’s arms at my hips steadying me. Then I felt another pair and looked into an unfamiliar face. “I have medical training,” he said before everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty-two
“Hayden…Hayden…Hayden.”
I could hear the voice, but as I got closer to it, pain filled my head and body. I wanted to retreat into the darkness where I couldn’t feel a thing.
“My baby…my baby.”
It was Mom’s voice. I opened my eyes and looked into her tear-streaked face.
“Hayden Tate,” an unfamiliar male voice said. “Can you hear me?”
I closed my eyes until I heard her voice. It seemed to be miles away and called me from the blackness that I craved to take refuge in. My eyelids felt heavy as I lifted them again. Adrienne was fighting against the arms that held her. I watched as she reached toward me, and I thought I said, “Let her come,” but the words never passed my lips. And though I fought it, the blackness came, and I was helpless but to give in to it.
*******
“…and then there was the time you ran into the dishwasher. That was your second concussion. It was the old kind that you had to pull across the kitchen and hook up to the sink. I don’t know why I bothered with that thing. It would have been less time to just wash the dishes. But anyway, you were running through the house like a wild animal. I opened my mouth to yell, ‘stop running,’ and you blasted into the kitchen and ran slap into the side of the washer. I swear I saw your eyes cross before you hit the floor.”
It was Mom’s voice. I couldn’t understand why she was at a crash site talking about dishwashers.
“I think the third one happened when you tried to jump off the house with an umbrella. I blame Disney and Mary Poppins for that. Tom and Jerry were the worst, though. Your brother thought he was Tom and you were Jerry. I caught him banging you on the head with a toy hammer. It’s no wonder you’re so accident prone. Your poor head has always taken a beating.”
I opened one eye, and the brightness of the room made my head ache, but the rest of me felt pretty good as long as I didn’t move or breathe. “Adrienne, Kaia?”
Mom appeared above me smiling but sporting red eyes with dark circles beneath them. “They’re fine. We couldn’t bring the baby into the hospital, so they’re staying at a hotel nearby. Adrienne comes in every hour to check on you.”
“Water.” Mom raised the head of the bed slightly so I could sip from a straw. I lay back wondering if I’d ever move without the sensation of razors in my side and back. “BJ?”
Mom smiled. “She made it. She had to have surgery, but she’s stable in intensive care.” Mom toyed with a lock of my hair. “I’m afraid to touch you. You’ve managed to bang up nearly every inch of your body. There’s a nasty cut above your eyebrow and you have some broken ribs on your right side. The rest of you is either bruised or stitched. And you have another concussion.” Mom raised her hands and shrugged. “Other than that, you’re just fine.”
“Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.”
Mom grinned. “I’ll try to behave. The smile slipped from her face. “I’ve been in so many hospitals with you, Hayden, but this time, I swear, took years off of me.” She swallowed. “I saw you before they flew you here. I was so afraid, and Adrienne was inconsolable.”
“I’m okay now, though.”
Mom smiled, though her bottom lip was trembling.
“And Stinslin?”
The smile vanished from her face. “He’s dead, honey. He won’t hurt anyone else.”
I felt the air rush out of my lungs and my side throb. It was news I wanted to hear, but when it was delivered, I felt hollow. Somewhere, his parents were grieving and probably horrified to know what their child had done.
“They…uh…found things in his house, hair and...” Mom cleared her throat and gripped her chin. “Families will have closure now.”
I couldn’t bear to hear anything else. “Will you call Adrienne?”
“Absolutely.”
*******
Soft kisses covered my face. I knew it was Adrienne before I opened my eyes. I knew those lips, and her scent filled my senses and eased my pain. “I didn’t go looking for Stinslin,” I said as I opened my eyes. “I had no choice.”
“I know.” Adrienne’s lip quivered as she ran her fingertips across my cheek. “None of that is important now, only that you’re here.”
“Will it be important later? Because if you’re going to fuss at me, I want to be heavily medicated.”
Adrienne laughed despite her tears.
“I’m ready to go home with you and Kaia. Can you spring me out of here?”
Adrienne pursed her lips. “Not today, love, but soon.” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “I hate not being able to stay in here with you.”
“I have to touch you.” Slowly, I raised my good hand, and Adrienne pressed her cheek into it. “You have to be mommy to our girl, and my mommy will mother me. Although…I did awaken to her talking about antique dishwashers. She may be getting into my pain meds.”
Adrienne smiled and rubbed her cheek against my palm.
“I was going to kill him.”
Adrienne opened her eyes.
“He couldn’t move and I was going to—” A lump so big formed in my throat that I could barely speak. “Elaine stopped me.”
Adrienne sniffed as fresh tears filled her eyes. “Let’s not talk about that right now.”
“No, I have to. I have to confess, so I’ll stop feeling so damn guilty.” My head started to pound. “Why do I feel that way? He deserved it, right?”
“I don’t think you would’ve done it even if Elaine hadn’t been there.” Adrienne wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “As much as he deserved to die, I don’t believe you had it in you to make that final blow.”
I felt exhaustion sweep over me. I blinked to stay awake.
“Sleep now, my love, we’ll be going home soon,” Adrienne said as the light began to dim.
My last thought before I drifted off was of Adrienne and me one day taking Kaia for her first swim at the beach. And that…Adrienne was wrong.
Chapter Twenty-three
“Adrienne, there’s a spot on the ceiling. How’d that get there?”
She stood on the bed and looked at where I was pointing. “I think that’s a spider.
“A what?”
“A spider.” Adrienne wiggled her fingers. “You know those things with all the legs.”
“I deeply resent your use of sarcasm while a deadly arachnid is dangling directly above me.”
Adrienne put her hands on her hips and looked down at me. “You’re a whiny patient, my love.”
“Regardless, me or the crawly thing has to go. Either you kill it or grab me by the foot and drag my ass out of here.”
“You can walk, you know,” Adrienne said as she climbed down from the bed.
“You’re gonna see me run if that thing moves.”
“For the love of Pete, Mike, and Uncle Earl.” Iris came marching into the bedroom with a broom. With one swipe, the spider was gone.
“I can’t rest until its body is found. I have to know it’s dead.”
Iris grimaced and waved the broom at me.
A week and a half in bed had worn my patience thin. Being trapped indoors, even in my own home, was something I couldn’t tolerate. I had no idea how Adrienne had coped when she’d been sent to the couch for all those days. “I need to get out.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Adrienne said. “I can set you up with extra pillows on a chaise lounge. The fresh air will do you good.”
“I mean, I want to go see BJ.”
Adrienne looked at Iris, who shrugged. “I don’t know, love. That’s a long trip and I’m not sure you’re up for it.”
“I’ll take Drew and a pain pill.”
Adrienne cast a doubtful look at Drew, a small pillow I’d drawn a face on when boredom overtook me. I’d been inspired by Wilson in Castaway.
“BJ’s going home soon, and I want a chance to thank her in person. Please, Adrienne.”
She shrugged. “Okay, if you think you’re up for it.”
Who knew that taking a short trip without the baby was such an ordeal? Adrienne had to express enough breast milk to supply Kaia while we were gone. The baby had to be cooed over, assured we’d be back soon and we were already missing her, and that was just me. Adrienne had to have her turn. In all, it took us three hours to leave the house, and both of us were nearly in tears. But Mom and Elaine convinced us that Adrienne and I needed our time together and that we should take advantage of their help while they were around. So we did with very heavy hearts.
“Ow.”
Adrienne looked over at me as I squirmed in the passenger’s seat. “Are you sure you can make this trip?”
“Yes. Ow.” The roads on Cat Island were rough to say the least, but until you have a few broken ribs, you don’t have a firm grasp on how bad they are. “Ow, it only hurts when you hit a bump. Aside fro
m that, I feel really good.”
“You’re stoned. Your eyes look like two marbles.” Adrienne looked down at the pillow protecting my ribs and chuckled at my attempt to draw a Saints jersey. “Congratulations, honey, you finally got to name something Drew.”
“Drew, I’ll be so blue if I ever lose you,” I sang.
Adrienne put a hand over my mouth. “No, baby, no.”
*******
The roads in Nassau were better, and the cab driver was very sympathetic to my plight. He did his best to dodge potholes. Adrienne rode next to me with my hand clasped in hers. She’d nearly rubbed a hole in the back of it with her thumb when I asked, “Thinking about the baby?”
She turned to me and smiled. “Busted.”
“I’m thinking about her, too. I feel like we left of a piece of us behind.”
“We did.” Adrienne smiled, raised my hand to her lips, and kissed it. “You got up three times last night and went into the nursery.”
“I had to look at her, touch her. I’m sorry I woke you up.”
Adrienne shrugged. “It’s okay. I do it in between feedings, too.”
I thought of Elaine then. I wondered how she felt watching her daughter and granddaughter.
“We’ve had a lot of time to talk,” Adrienne said suddenly, privy to my thoughts. “Especially when you were in the hospital.” Adrienne released me and twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. “We’ve been thrown together with no time to really dwell on how significant this is, but the turmoil has formed a bond between us.”
“Can you hear her thoughts?”
Adrienne shook her head. “No, and it’s the weirdest thing. She can’t hear mine, either. It’s almost as though we cancel each other out. Your thoughts come through loud and clear. Ela—Mom,” Adrienne smiled slightly, “I’m still getting used to calling her that. Mom heard your thoughts the day you were getting into the car with BJ and Stinslin. Your dad had gone for a walk down the new trail, and there was no time to get him, so she ran to the bar where she met up with Jacob. He’d seen the car pull up, but you were gone before he was able to get to you.”
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