"Do you like stories, Gracie?" She venomously spits out my name. "Let me regale you with a tale about a beautiful girl named Veronica who got whatever she wanted. What she wanted was for some poor little puppy to follow her around and do whatever she told him to do. She found that in a handsome boy named Travis."
My eyes widen with horror as I realize this crazy bitch is Travis's ex-girlfriend. The one who started all of his trouble. Veronica throws her head back and howls with laughter as it becomes obvious that I know who she is.
"That's right, all I had to do was offer him a blow job or a quick fuck and your sweetie pie Travis did whatever the hell I wanted him to do. Granted, he did try to get me in trouble once but, I mean, he was the one carrying. Did he really think they would believe him over me? He'd probably still be following me like an obedient little lap dog if it wasn't for his meddling mother."
"What do you want from me?" I ask, tears flowing steadily down my cheeks.
"I want you to stay away from Travis. He. Is. Mine," she snarls.
"No, he isn't. He doesn't want anything to do with you. He thinks you’re washed out trash."
That warrants another slap across my face.
"That's not true!" she screams.
"Travis loves me. He'll never choose you over me!"
"Oh, you wanna bet?" She glances over at Mel. "Call Evan and find out where the hell he is."
Mel nods her head as she whips out her phone and begins to dial furiously.
Evan? He can't seriously be involved in this can he?
"You see cupcake, Travis doesn't love anyone or anything except fairy dust and Jack Daniels. He seems to have forgotten that and I plan on showing him his way back."
"He'll never fall for it," I tell her.
"Oh, yes he will. See we have it all planned out, granted things were supposed to go a different route but this way will work out much better. I want Travis back and to get him back, I need to eliminate his one weakness. You."
"So you're gonna kill me?" I whimper.
"Yes, so I can go to jail for murder," Veronica says sarcastically. "No, you stupid little tart. I want Travis, who wants you. Fortunately for me, Evan wants you too. Like me, Evan is also used to getting what he wants."
Veronica pulls a pill bottle out of her pocket and shakes it. "Here is how this is going to work. I'm going to put this in a drink, which you are going to enjoy. Evan is going to come here and have his way with you, at which time we will send Travis a message from your phone, complete with a picture, telling him that your relationship is over. Travis, being so distraught at losing you and at how quickly you moved on, will turn to me for drugs and dirty, rough sex, both of which I will be more than willing to supply him with. I get what I want, Evan gets what he wants and Travis gets a reminder that he can’t deny who or what he is anymore."
"Evan says he is a couple minutes away," Mel announces.
"Perfect!" Veronica sings as she claps her hands together. She tosses the pill bottle to Mel. "You know what to do."
Mel runs from the room, returning momentarily with a glass full of clear liquid. She crosses the room quickly, handing the glass to Veronica.
"Why are you doing this?" I whisper softly to her.
"Because you stole the one man I love and I want him back."
"And you think she will let you have him?"
Veronica grabs Mel's shirt with her free hand and pulls her closer, crashing her mouth against the smaller girl’s lips.
"This won't be the first time we've shared and it won't be the last." Veronica laughs.
She lets go of Mel's shirt and Mel giggles. Turning back to me, Veronica narrows her eyes and grabs a hold of my face. "Now drink."
I begin thrashing back and forth, trying to knock her off of me and avoid getting whatever this concoction is in my mouth. Veronica begins spewing out profanities before she gets pissed and throws the glass at the wall. Grabbing a hold of my throat, she gives me a good shake before her fists begin pummeling my face. I feel pain, followed by the gush of blood and then my world goes black.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Travis
I couldn't believe that Melanie was stupid enough to call Evan to find out when he was coming. How did they not see that he was up to something when he didn't show up? Fortunately, Liam had already called and told us that both Mel and Veronica’s cars were parked in the driveway and we had already turned around to go over there, and the police had been notified of Gracie’s abduction and where we expected she could be found.
Remy presses his foot down on the gas pedal, driving faster than he ever has before, which says a lot considering Remy considers anything less than twenty miles above the speed limit to be too slow. We pull up in front of Mel's house right as the first squad car does. I jump out of the car, running towards the front door when someone pulls me back.
"Get the fuck off me man." I blindly swing my hand behind me, trying to break contact with whoever it is that is holding me back.
"Travis, I know your girl is in there but the best thing you can do for Gracie is let us go in there and do our job," Officer Clemons says to me.
I spin around, jumping right in his face. "You have five fucking minutes and then I am coming in there," I threaten.
He pats my shoulder and runs up to the front door with a couple other officers. Officer Clemons moves to the front and knocks on the door. No one answers, so he bangs a little bit louder. There is still no answer. I am about to hurl my body through a window when he yells out “Brooksville P.D. open the door Melanie, we know you’re in there.”
A few moments later, a tearful Mel opens the front door. The officers try to ask her questions but she just stands there and cries. One of the officers slaps a pair of cuffs on her wrists while Officer Clemons and the other two officers run inside. I want to go with them. Gracie is in there. I know she is and I want nothing more than to be with her right now. I must start moving towards the door because I suddenly feel my arm being jerked back. I turn around to see my brothers shaking their heads at me.
“Don’t go in there yet, you don’t know what is going on,” Aidan says as he releases my arm.
I begin pacing back and forth. Mel is still standing there sobbing, which makes me want to completely flip out. What right does she have to be upset? I walk a little closer to her, but still maintain my distance. It’s taking everything I have to refrain from hurting her.
“What did you do, Mel?” I ask her.
“I love you, Travis,” she cries. “I did this because I love you and I think you love me too.”
“I don’t love you. I never once claimed that I felt that way about you, so you better come up with another reason.”
Suddenly, Mel turns off the waterworks. Her eyes narrow and her jaw sets hard. “I’m not saying another word without a lawyer. I did this for you, you asshole. You never cared about me.”
“Travis,” the officer holding Mel starts to say, but I hold up a hand to stop him. My heart begins to pound hard in my chest. The familiar squeal of an ambulance siren rings through the air. I turn around to see the ambulance speed around the corner and stop in front of Mel’s house. A bunch of paramedics jump out, grabbing their bags and a stretcher before running into the house.
I turn back to Mel. “I swear to God, if you hurt her, if you…I will come after you and make your life a living hell.” Then I turn to the officer. “You can put that threat on the record too.”
Officer Clemons walks out with another cop, who has Veronica in handcuffs.
“You psychotic bitch!” I scream when I see her. She has the nerve to smirk at me! “You are always trying to ruin my life!”
“Calm down, Trav,” Nathanial warns, stepping in between me and Veronica.
I am so angry, I am literally seeing red. I can’t focus on anything other than the fact that I want to completely destroy Veronica and her little lackey, Mel. It takes a few minutes before I even realize that Officer Clemons is trying to get my attention.
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“Travis!” he shouts out.
My head snaps to his direction. In that moment, the adrenaline begins to leave my body and I realize everything that is going on. Gracie was kidnapped and put through lord only knows what, by Veronica and Mel, who were just trying to get to me. I don’t know what they did to her. I don’t know if she is okay. Oh God, what if she…
“Gracie?” I cry out.
“She’s unconscious but she is alive. The paramedics are tending to her right now. She’s got a gash on the back of her head, some cuts and bruises on her face and a bloody nose. They are going to take her over to the hospital to run some tests on her. You can follow the ambulance. In the mean time, we are taking Melanie and Veronica and I am going to need you to come down to the station for questioning, Evan.”
Evan nods his head, before averting his eyes to the ground. For a moment I feel a twinge of remorse for him, but then I think about how he was involved in all of this and I want to kick his ass. If anything happens to her, I’ll do it too. All of this because a girl picked me over him. I would like the chance to hit him, just one time, for all the shit he put us through these past few months. Closing my eyes, I can picture myself bum-rushing him. I can feel the impact of my fist hitting his face. I can hear the sound of his nose cracking right before the blood rushes out of it.
The sound of clanging wheels pulls me out of my daydream. I whip around towards Mel’s door just as the stretcher is being wheeled out. Breaking away from the small crowd, I rush over to her side, grabbing a hold of her hand.
“Oh my God, Gracie!” I cry.
Her face is more battered than I expected. It’s swollen and bruised, she has one black eye, her nose and lips are bleeding and I can see dried blood caked into her hair. My heart feels so hard and heavy with sadness that anyone would treat such a beautiful soul like this. I let go of her hand as they load her up into the ambulance.
“Come on, Trav, I’ll drive you,” Remy says quietly.
“We’ll follow in my car,” Aidan adds.
I nod but don’t move. Remy grabs me by the shoulders and leads me over to my car. I am completely numb as I climb inside. Somehow I feel like this is all my fault. Like I brought this onto her just because I had a questionable taste in women before she came into my life. I should have done more to keep her safe and protect her. Maybe I didn’t do it then, but I sure as hell will from now on. I just need her to wake up. I mean, she has to, right? Officer Clemons said she was okay.
As we drive, my mind wanders back to the first time I was rushed to the hospital. I wonder if this is how my family felt. Like they could possibly lose someone that meant everything to them and their world was about to come crashing down. Clearing my throat, I keep my eyes focused on the dashboard as I say, “I really am sorry for everything I ever put you guys through, Rem.”
“Water under the bridge, Trav,” he says.
Someone must have called my mother, because she comes rushing out of the emergency room doors as we pull into the parking lot. Remy barely has a chance to turn off the car before she wrenches the door open and yanks me out of my seat.
“Everything is gonna be okay, baby. She’s gonna be just fine,” mom says as she runs her hand through my hair.
I want to scream at her that there is no way she could possibly know that but I know she is just trying to comfort me. I wonder how many times someone had to do this to her because of me. I nod my head, without saying anything and move away from her embrace. It’s not that I don’t want it, I just want to get inside and find out how my love is doing.
I walk into the hospital, followed by my mom and my brothers, and go straight to the check-in counter.
“Gracie Whitmore,” I say somberly. “She was just brought in a couple of minutes ago.”
Josie, the girl checking in patients, offers me a sad smile. “Have a seat in the waiting area, Travis. Someone will be with you shortly.”
I start to turn but hesitate for a moment. “I just need to know if she’s okay.”
“They are back with her now. As soon as they know anything, they will talk to you.”
I nod, knowing that is the only information I am going to get from her. Turning away, I walk over to where my family is and drop down into a seat between Remy and Liam.
“You know,” Remy says teasingly, “it wasn’t that long ago that you would have ripped that poor girl a new one for not giving you the information you wanted. There was no way you would have just accepted that response and sat down.”
I immediately want to get defensive and tell him he is wrong, but I can’t. He’s right. A couple of months ago, I would have flipped out on her and caused a scene until I was given an update on Gracie or I was forcibly removed by security. I like the person that I am, but it doesn’t mean that I want everyone to take notice of it like Remy has. I shrug my shoulders. “What can I say? She’s changed me. I need her, Remy. If I lose her…” I trail off.
“I know, Travis, ” he says quietly. “I know.”
It feels like we have been sitting there for an eternity when the doors part open and a tall, thin doctor with salt and pepper hair comes walking out.
“Hello Dr. Bullard,” mom says as she jumps to her feet. “I expect you have news for us?”
I crack a small smile at the way my mother works. She doesn’t ask if he is here to talk to us, she basically tells him that he is. If he were to say no, she probably would have dismissed him and told him to go find out whatever he could on Gracie’s condition, which he would have reluctantly done because he knows my mother wouldn’t be easily put off.
“I do,” Dr. Bullard says.
I jump to my feet as he crosses the room, coming to a stop right in front of me. I feel like someone has hit the slow motion button on my life. Everything feels like it is coming to a stop. My heart, my breathing, every single thing around me comes to a crashing halt.
“She’s awake and she is responsive. We are just waiting for her labs to come back before we can decide where to move from here, but she is asking for you and you can all go back to see her as long as you don’t overwhelm her,” Dr. Bullard says.
It takes me a few minutes to process everything that he is saying to me. She’s awake…she’s responsive… “She’s okay?” I ask in disbelief.
“She’s okay, follow me and I’ll take you back to her.”
Mom clutches tightly onto my arm as we follow the doctor back to Gracie’s room. He opens the door and I am greeted to the sight of Gracie sitting in the bed, staring back at me. Her face is still swollen and bruised, but they cleaned the blood up the best that they could, and someone washed her hair out. Breaking away from my mom, I hurry over to her.
“Oh my God, baby, I thought I lost you. I thought…This is all my fault,” I tell her.
Leaning down, I press my forehead lightly against hers, not even caring that my mother and my brothers are sitting here watching the exchange between Gracie and me.
“I died so many times today thinking that I lost you,” I admit softly. “It made me realize that I don’t ever want to live without you. I’m not proposing to you, because, well, it would be pretty unromantic to do it in a hospital room, but I am telling you right now, Gracie Whitmore, I never thought I would get married, ever, but I want to marry you. I’m gonna marry you and I’m gonna spend the rest of my life doing whatever I can to keep you safe and make you happy.”
“You already do, Travis, but just so you know, my answer is yes. It will always be yes.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Gracie
My entire body feels exhausted, but I’m afraid if I fall asleep everyone will leave, and all I want right now is to be surrounded by Travis and his family. Shortly after they were brought into my room, Travis’s father, Henry, showed up. Connie has been fussing over me for the past hour, making sure I am comfortable and that I don’t need anything to eat or drink. I want to cry at the way they have accepted me into their family, but my face hurts too bad.
&nb
sp; The door opens up and the doctor walks into the room flipping through my chart. I had come to in the ambulance on the way here and told them while they were checking me out that I wasn’t entirely positive that I hadn’t ingested any of the concoction that Veronica was trying to get me to drink. As soon as I told them that, the doctor ordered a urine sample.
“How are you feeling, Gracie?” Dr. Bullard asks me.
“Tired and sore,” I respond.
Travis shifts slightly from where he is sitting next to me on the hospital bed. He slides his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into him so that I can rest my head on his shoulder. My heart leaps at how sweet he is being.
“Well, I suppose that is to be expected. I’ll have the nurse come in and give you something.” He pauses for a moment, glancing around the room briefly before returning his gaze to me. “I have the results from your toxicology report and it came back clean.”
He pauses again, which makes me nervous. I glance over at Travis, who frowns back at me. Why do I feel like I am about to be given the worst news in the world?
“After going over your health background with you, we ran a urinalysis, which is a pretty standard thing when someone comes into the emergency room. We check for any undiagnosed health issues.”
“Are you about to tell me I am going to die, doc?” I ask him, laughing nervously.
“No, Gracie, you’re not going to die,” Dr. Bullard chuckles. “You are, however, pregnant.”
“I’m what?” I ask at the same time Travis says, “Come again?”
“I can see that this is coming as a surprise to both of you,” Dr. Bullard says.
A surprise is an understatement. We’re typically good about using protection, although that isn’t always foolproof. There was that one night we didn’t, right after New Year’s Eve but that seems so long ago. I mentally count how long ago that was in my head. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…shit that was seven weeks ago.
“I’m going to schedule an ultrasound so that we can get an accurate date for you and also to check and see how the baby is faring after today’s attack. You haven’t mentioned any pains and you aren’t bleeding, you’re early enough in your pregnancy that there shouldn’t have been any serious damage done to the fetus, so most likely everything is fine, we’ll just check to give you peace of mind.”
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