by Marla Monroe
“Fuck! Hurry, Aden.” Roy dropped the phone on the seat next to him and put all his concentration into getting to the hospital as soon as possible.
It felt like it took hours to get there. The traffic had him cursing and praying the entire way. How had they gotten her there safely with the way the traffic was? Fear that she hadn’t made it threatened to suffocate him. He had to focus on breathing as he maneuvered his way to the hospital. When he arrived, there were several police and sheriff unit vehicles around the ambulance entrance. He parked and raced for the entrance.
“Whoa. Slow down,” someone said as he raced through the emergency room doors. “You can’t come in through here.”
“Get the hell out of my way. Where is she? Where did they take her?” Roy couldn’t think for fear that she was gone.
“Calm down. Who are you talking about?”
Roy focused on the person speaking and realized by the uniform that it was an EMT or Paramedic. He should know where they had taken her.
“Cynthia. They brought her in from Gatlinburg a few minutes ago,” he said.
Immediately the man’s expression softened. “She’s in the first trauma room, but they won’t let you in there while they’re assessing her. Why don’t I…”
Roy didn’t give him a chance to continue. He wasn’t waiting anywhere except next to her. He raced through the double doors ahead of him and skidded to a stop amid a crowd of uniform-covered men. He felt like a bug under a microscope with all of the eyes turned in his direction. Then he settled on a familiar face.
“Deputy Henley, right?” Roy asked.
“That’s right. I assume you’re here about your friend,” he said.
“What happened? I was on my way to pick her up. We thought she would be safe there at the shop.” Roy cursed when his voice broke.
The other man didn’t acknowledge that he’d heard it. “The best we can tell right now is that a man entered her shop and followed her in the back when she must have gone back to get something. We found some items on the floor. They struggled and she somehow managed to get to the front counter where she pressed the panic button on her alarm system. They continued to struggle while the noise of the alarm alerted people that something was wrong, and they broke in to help her.”
“How bad is she hurt?” Roy asked.
“I’m not sure, sir. I haven’t seen her. I just arrived myself,” Henley told him.
Roy started for the door to the trauma room, but several of the uniformed men stepped in front of him.
“Get out of my way,” he demanded.
“Sir. If you keep trying to get in there, you’re going to get yourself arrested. They can’t take care of her with you in there. You’ll be in the way and a distraction,” the deputy said. “Stand out here with us until they finish checking her over.”
Roy eyed the group of determined men and acknowledged that he was outnumbered and would only cause a distraction for the doctors and nurses taking care of Cynthia. He wasn’t about to take away from her care. He nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets.
Less than ten minutes later, Aden shouldered his way through the doors with several security guards trying to stop him. Deputy Hayden shook his head and walked toward the struggling group of men.
“It’s okay. We’ll watch him. You’ll have less trouble if you let him wait here with us,” the deputy told the two red-faced men.
Their disgruntled scowls made it obvious that they didn’t like it, but were not going to waste their time struggling to make him leave. If Roy hadn’t been so worried about Cynthia, he would have seen the humor in it and laughed at them. Instead, he pulled Aden into a hug.
“I don’t know anything yet. We’re waiting for them to finish assessing her,” he told his friend.
Aden cursed quietly and turned his head for a few seconds. Roy understood the need to compose himself. Roy had needed the time himself. Not knowing anything was torture akin to what they’d had to deal with overseas. No doubt Aden was thinking that same thought.
Nearly fifteen minutes passed before anyone left the trauma room. The nurse had several vials of blood in her hand and raced toward the back of the emergency room. As much as Roy wanted to know what was going on behind the doors, he wasn’t about to slow her down. She was obviously in a hurry and it involved Cynthia. He and Aden exchanged glances before returning their gazes to the double doors leading to where their life’s blood lay hurt.
The longer they waited, the harder it became to believe that she was going to be okay. His gut churned harder than chopper blades even as his heart kept a steady pace with it. Time seemed to stand still yet for every second they waited, it was another second that they knew she was alive. It all stopped and became real the minute the doors opened up and a doctor stepped through.
Aden’s hand squeezed his shoulder as they pushed forward to find out the status of their woman, the love of their life. He couldn’t swallow around what had to be his heart lodged in his throat.
“Doctor? Is she going to be okay?” He heard Aden ask while he tried to ignore the blood covering the man’s scrubs.
He looked from them to the uniformed men behind them. Evidently someone gave a nod that it was okay to speak in front of them because he looked back at them and sighed.
“She’s going to be fine with some rest and time to recover.”
Roy finally drew in a full breath at the sound that she was alive and going to be okay. He nearly missed the rest of the doctor’s list of her injuries as the blood rushed back to his brain.
“I put four stitches in a small head wound and twenty in the one on her side. Thankfully, it was a flesh wound and there was no internal damage. She’s going to have a fair amount of bruising all over, but her throat was what I was most worried about. There doesn’t appear to be any damage to her vocal cords, but she will be hoarse for a few days,” he said.
“When can we see her?” Aden demanded.
“Give the nurses a few more minutes to get her cleaned up and then you can sit with her as long as you don’t upset her,” the man said. He turned to the officers. “That goes for you all, too. I think one of you questioning her is enough.”
Roy and Aden exchanged relieved grins and pats on the back before he turned to where Deputy Henley was talking with several of the policemen standing there.
“Thank you for letting us stick back here. I’d have gone crazy sitting out there waiting to find something out,” he told the man.
“Just don’t cause any trouble and make me regret it,” the man said.
“What happened to the bastard that hurt her?” Roy asked.
The deputy grimaced. “He’s in surgery. She stabbed him in the gut with an umbrella.”
Roy smiled. “Good for her.”
“That wound on her side was probably from that. She was so determined to get him off of her that she didn’t feel it, according to the paramedic that brought her in,” one of the policemen standing near them said. “She gave him a tough fight. She got him pretty good in a couple of places. They said it looked like she broke off a heel of her shoe in the top of his foot.”
“That’s our girl,” Aden said with a growl.
Several of the officers headed toward the elevators to wait on Cynthia’s attacker to get out of surgery. One of the policemen and Deputy Henley waited with them to see Cynthia. Roy didn’t want anyone near her but he and Aden, but understood that they had to take her statement. He was just glad they had the bastard and didn’t even care why he’d done it, just that it was over with.
While they waited for the nurse to come out and give them the all clear to go in and see her, Roy thought about how he was going to be able to let her go back to work when she was recovered. All he could think about was the dangers of her being in that shop by herself at times. Even when she had a helper, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t try and rob them.
“We can’t keep her locked up in the house all the time, Roy. You know that.” Aden voicin
g his thoughts let him know that it wasn’t just him worrying about her returning to work at the shop.
“I know. But it’s tempting as hell,” Roy confided.
“Don’t even mention it to her or she’ll walk away. You know she will, Roy. We’ve got to figure out how to keep her safe enough that we can handle it.”
“Yeah. The only thing I’ve been able to come up with so far is a fucking bodyguard. Not only would she refuse, but I don’t want another man spending that much time with her without us around,” he confided.
Aden chuckled. “Think you could settle for a guard dog?”
* * * *
Cynthia moaned as the nurse helped her relax back against the stretcher. They’d raised the head of it so that she was nearly sitting up now. Putting on the gown had done her in though. Her side and back hurt to move and her head was pounding like someone was playing Woody Woodpecker with a sledgehammer on her skull.
“You’ve got some people here to see you. Do you feel like letting them in or do you want us to send them away?” one of the nurses asked.
“If I was her, I’d sure want to see these guys. They’re hot,” another one said.
Cynthia was pretty sure they were talking about Aden and Roy from that statement. She smiled as best as she could. The stitches in her head pulled when she changed expressions.
“Let them in. I’m afraid if you don’t they’ll just barge in anyway,” she whispered in a hoarse voice.
“Try not to talk, honey. You need to give your vocal cords a rest.” The first nurse patted her arm then followed the other one out the door.
A few seconds later it opened to reveal two obviously worried men. Both Aden and Roy had hand-mussed hair and serious expressions on their faces.
“Hey there, guys. I’m fine,” she whispered.
“Shh, baby girl. Don’t talk.” Roy reached her first and kissed her lightly on her cheek.
Aden stepped up to kiss her as well when Roy stepped back. “We were so worried about you. Just close your eyes and rest for a few minutes.”
She was too afraid to close her eyes. Every time she did, she felt as if she was right back there with the man’s hands around her neck. She reached out for their hands with both of hers. They took them, but Aden settled the one with the IV running into it back on the cover.
“I’m not going anywhere, sweet Cyn,” he assured her instead.
Roy let her squeeze his hand with her other one. Despite her resolve to keep her eyes open, they slowly drifted closed.
Seconds later, the door swooshed open again and she jerked awake, fear coursing through her veins. Aden cursed as a policeman walked through.
“She’d just gone to sleep and you woke her up,” he accused angrily.
“Sorry. I gave you a few minutes, but I’ve got to get her statement, guys,” the man said.
“It’s okay,” she whispered.
“She isn’t supposed to talk,” Roy complained.
“Just a brief statement for now and then we can get a full one once she’s allowed to talk again.” The officer wasn’t going to leave.
“I’ll talk to him, Aden. It’ll be okay.” She smiled at him then winced when it pulled on those damn stitches.
“Just a few words, baby,” Roy said.
The policeman frowned and looked from Roy to Aden and then back again. Then he shook his head and pulled out a pad and pen to take her story down.
Cynthia told him in as few words as possible what happened, pausing to cough from the roughness in her throat caused by talking. As soon as she finished, the officer nodded and thanked her before leaving them alone again.
Aden handed her a cup of water with a straw as Roy settled the covers around her again. When she’d finished with the cup, Aden set it on a table out of the way and kissed her lightly on the lips. It wasn’t the kiss she really wanted, but she knew he wasn’t going to give her more while she was hurt.
“Now close your eyes and rest while we wait on the doctor to return,” Aden admonished her.
She didn’t scowl at him like she wanted since she was sure it would pull the damn stitches even worse. Instead she closed her eyes and concentrated on her men and how thankful she was that they were with her. She was sure the reason she wasn’t freaking out or having flashbacks was because they were in the room with her, keeping her safe.
Each breath she took settled her more and more until she finally felt like everything would be okay now. Deep in the back of her mind, she worried that she’d somehow caused all of it. Had she somehow caused that woman to decide to leave her husband, or at the very least, look for something better? The idea that she’d inadvertently initiated the woman’s dissatisfaction scared her and hurt her. She’d started her store with the hopes of bringing some happiness to people’s lives while making a living. Cynthia felt as if her dream was crumbling around her.
“Shhh, baby girl. Everything’s fine. You’re safe.” Roy’s voice settled over her.
He thought she was having a dream about her attack when in actuality, she was having a nightmare about her reality. How could she keep her doors open if it was all a lie? She drifted off to sleep believing that she’d ruined a marriage. Her heart ached at the thought.
Chapter Eighteen
Friday afternoon, Cynthia finally felt well enough to sit on the couch in the living room after spending the last two days in bed. The guys had taken turns sleeping with her since neither one of them wanted to sleep on the same side as her injury. She was going to be much happier when she was completely well. She needed both of them holding her. She felt as if her world was falling apart.
She hadn’t said anything to Roy or Aden about what she was afraid of or about her worries over keeping the shop open. Instead, she remained silent, mostly, to allow her throat to heal. They encouraged it, so it wasn’t hard to not say anything about her fears.
Today, though. She felt much better and her throat was no longer as tender or raspy. Aden had said that the police would be back to talk to her and get her full statement. She wanted to find out from them about the man’s accusations as well. Her plans for the future hinged on how much truth was in his words.
“Need anything else, honey?” Aden asked.
“I’m fine. You’ve got half of the kitchen in here with me. Go get some work done before the police get here.” She smiled at him, thrilled that the stitches didn’t pull quite as much as they had in the beginning.
She still had another five days till they could come out. At least the ones in her side hadn’t bothered her nearly as much as the ones in her head. She ached more in her side. Once she got past the pounding headache, all she had to deal with there was the pulling sensation when she made a face of some type. With Aden and Roy, that was a constant battle. They either annoyed her or made her smile anytime they were near.
She sipped the ice-cold lemonade sitting on the table next to her before losing herself in the book on her kindle. Before she knew it, over an hour had passed and the doorbell rang. She started to put the book down and get up to get it when the movement reminded her of her injuries. Nope. She would wait on Aden to answer it.
Less than a minute later, Aden followed by two officers walked into the living room.
“Do you feel up to talking with them, Cyn?” he asked with a worried frown.
“Of course. The sooner we get it over with the sooner I can forget about it,” she said.
“You sound much better than you did the other day,” one of the men said.
She was sure she should have remembered him, but she couldn’t. More than likely it was the result of the pain medication they’d given her at the hospital. She smiled.
“Thanks. I feel much better.”
He got right to business and asked her some questions then had her give her story in detail. He had her repeat parts of it several times, then nodded and stood up to leave.
“Officer? Can I ask you something?” she forced herself to ask.
“Sure. I’ll answe
r if I can,” he said with a smile.
“The man said it was my fault that his wife left him. Is that true? Did she really leave because of something I said or did?”
He frowned. “No. Not at all. They had been separated twice in the last three years. He had a habit of slapping her around. She told us that he was always complaining about how she looked. So she bought a nice outfit at your store when they got back together the last time in hopes it would be different, but he ridiculed her over it and said she looked like a slut. The next time he hit her, she filed for divorce. You in no way influenced her to leave that bastard. Don’t even go there.”
“Thank you. I was so worried I’d caused it all. It was tearing me up inside,” she confessed.
He patted her hand then he and the second officer nodded at Aden. “We’ll see ourselves out.”
Aden sat on the couch next to her and lifted her hands to his lips where he kissed each of her fingers. She nearly broke down and cried at how tender he was, or maybe it was about finding out that she hadn’t been the cause of the woman leaving her husband after all. Either way, she had to bite her lip to keep it from trembling.
“I can’t believe you’ve been worrying about that all this time. Why haven’t you said anything, honey? You know Roy and I would have listened, don’t you?” he asked.
She cupped his cheek with her hand. “I know, but it was something I needed to work out for myself. If it had been my fault they’d gotten divorced, I couldn’t have kept my store open. If I’d told you and Roy, you would have been upset and denied that I had anything to do with it. I know you would have.” She smiled when he started to say something.
“What’s going on?” Roy walked in. “Is something wrong? Are you hurting, baby?”
“Nothing’s wrong, Roy. The police just left. I went over everything again and then asked them about the reason behind why the man attacked me,” she said.
“She’s been worrying that it was all her fault all along. She thought that somehow she’d convinced that poor woman to leave the bastard. If she’d just said something to us, we could have told her what we knew and she’d have gotten past it,” Aden fussed.
