Solid Ground: a Wounded Love novel

by Megan Green

  “But why? It’s not like you need the money. You have plenty of money.”

  Again, he laughs, but this time, I see the tension on his face. The fear.

  “On the contrary, sweetheart. We’re broke. Bankrupt. Up shit creek. You see, when you owe money to certain types of people, the kind of people who aren’t afraid to break kneecaps and slit throats, they tend not to be happy when you can’t pay up. The drugs were my way of trying to make it up to them. Your ass would’ve been out on the street years ago if I hadn’t done them favors over the years in repayment for the loans they’d given me.”

  I stare up at him in shock. How could it be that I lived with this man for more than ten years and didn’t realize what was going on right in front of me? How could I have been so stupid? So selfish?

  James’s head twitches to the left, his face screwing up as if in pain. I use his temporary distraction to my advantage, shifting my weight to the side as I pull my hands as close to my back as I can. I can’t reach, but maybe if I can brush Cade’s hands against my back pocket, he’ll realize the same thing that just occurred to me as James spoke.

  My cell phone is in my back pocket. I’d tucked it in there as I ran from the supermarket.

  I have no idea why James didn’t take it from me after he knocked me out. He had to know I’d have it on me. He’d called me on it after all. But, for whatever reason, it was still resting safely in the pocket of my jeans.

  Maybe he thought I’d left it in the car. Or maybe the thought of me with a cell phone was just so foreign to him that he didn’t even think about it once he hung up. He never allowed me to have one while we were married. So, I guess the idea of him simply forgetting about it even though he’d spoken with me on it earlier today wasn’t too absurd. Or maybe fate finally decided to cut me some fucking slack and intervened on my behalf for once.

  Whatever the reason, I am grateful. So, so grateful for that tiny sliver of metal and plastic currently pressed against my ass. If I make it out of this alive, I’m going to give Joey the biggest damn kiss in history as a thank-you for insisting on the phone. If I make it out of this, it will be because of him.

  When. When I make it out of this, I remind myself.

  Leaning over to the right, I move my hands back and forth in the general area of my pocket. I try to turn and look at Cade, but my neck won’t twist far enough. And though James is still sitting with his face in his hands, I don’t want to risk trying to speak to Cade to let him know what to do.

  Luckily, my boy is bright. He quickly catches on to what I’m doing, his fingers sliding against the material of my jeans as he tries to remove the phone from my pocket.

  James’s head lifts then, and I abruptly straighten. He still seems distraught, out of touch with himself and his actions.

  Taking a chance, knowing this might backfire completely and end up with my head cracked against the pavement floor, I strike. “So, do these people you work for know what a pathetic junkie you’ve turned into? Are they aware you’ve been…what do they call it? Sampling the merchandise?”

  James’s nose twitches in agitation, his eyes blazing with anger. And I instantly regret my words. I was hoping this would goad him into more distress, keep him talking and distracted. But the old James flares to life under this fragmented shell of a man. The anger I’ve grown so familiar with over the years returns in full force.

  He storms over to me, his hand rising over his shoulder as he prepares to hit me. I tightly close my eyes, bracing for the impact, wishing like hell that Cade wasn’t tied to me so that he could run off like I’d taught him to. I don’t want him to see this.

  But the blow never comes.

  After a few seconds, I crack open my eyes. James is on his knees in front of me. His hateful expression has changed, his eyes softening and his lips slack. He reaches out a tentative hand, brushing the backs of his fingers over my cheek. I cringe away.

  He gives me a sad smile. “Did you really mean it when you said you thought I didn’t love you?”

  I’m stunned by his question, by his sudden change in demeanor. I can only nod my head in response.

  He looks disappointed, his head falling to his chest as he heaves a big sigh. When he looks back up at me, it almost looks like he has tears in his eyes.

  “If you only knew how much I loved you, Nichole. The things I’ve done to keep you. Did you know they tried to take you from me? He showed up one night at our apartment, right after we were married. Told me he could see right through the charade I presented. And he wanted me nowhere near his little girl.”

  A prickling sensation starts in my chest and quickly makes its way through my entire body, leaving me feeling numb and on edge at the same time. My lungs constrict, and it feels as if I can’t get enough air.

  “He wouldn’t back off, sweetheart. He wouldn’t let us be happy. And she was no better, taking his side and not listening to reason. I didn’t have a choice. You understand that, right? I didn’t have any other choice. I couldn’t let them take you from me.”

  Blinding pain radiates through me, and I feel as if a ten-ton weight has just landed on my chest. “Wh-wh-wh…” I stammer, unable to form a single word.

  “It was so simple, really. Your dad was driving too fast, trying to pull away from me and beat me back to their house. I remember you were supposed to meet your mom there, the two of you planning to get a jump start on your Christmas shopping that evening. The rain was coming down so heavy; it was all I could do to make out the taillights in front of me. And all it took was one clip of his back bumper. Your father overcorrected, and it sent the car tumbling end over end. By the time the car reached the bottom of the hill, I knew there was no way either of them could still be alive. And there’d be no way to tell the car had been hit before the fall. The police never even questioned it. It was nothing more than a turn taken too fast on a wet road.”

  A loud wailing sound fills the room, and it takes a minute before I realize the sound is emanating from me. I sink into myself, my head dropping as I attempt to curl myself into a protective ball as best as I can with my hands tied behind my back. I can’t even bring myself to hold it together for Cade.

  This man killed my parents.

  His hands are on my face, his lips following their path. I can’t hear a word he’s saying though. All I can hear are my dad’s words after the first time he met James.

  “I don’t like him, Nic. I think you should stay away from him.”

  I didn’t listen—obviously. I was certain my dad was just concerned because James wasn’t like Joey. But that was what I liked about him. He was everything Joey wasn’t. And, at the time, that was exactly what I thought I needed.

  Over the years, I wished repeatedly that I’d taken my father’s advice. So many times, I wished I’d listened to my daddy and run far, far away from the man who’d charmed me so thoroughly.

  But not until this very moment do I truly hate myself for what I’ve done.

  My parents are dead because I didn’t listen.

  My parents are dead…because of me.

  I feel James cutting the rope around my wrists, whispering something to me over and over. Once my hands are free, he lifts me into his arms, carrying me over toward the stairs that lead into the office area.

  “Remember our first time? It was right here. This boathouse holds so many memories for us, sweetheart. And we’re going to make even more tonight.”

  I don’t even have it in me to fight him as he kicks the office door shut behind him, his lips closing over mine.

  I’m completely and utterly numb.

  James closes the door behind him and Mommy, leaving me in the dark room all by myself.

  I know he is going to hurt her in there. And I also know, from the look on Mommy’s face as he carried her away, she isn’t going to try and do anything to stop it.

  I heard what he said. About killing my grandma and grandpa. I never met them. But it still makes me sad, knowing he killed them.


  And it made Mommy more than sad. I saw it in her eyes. She looked…dead.

  I know she isn’t. But I have to do something before he hurts her even more.

  Looking around the room, I try to spot anything that might be able to cut through these ropes. Something I can rub against that might be able to tear them free.

  But there’s nothing.

  My head drops to my chest, and I can feel the tears forming in my eyes. I don’t want to cry. Not when Mommy needs me. Not when she needs me to be strong.

  I blink hard, trying to make the tears disappear. And that’s when I see it.

  Mom’s phone.

  It must have fallen out of her pocket when James picked her up.

  I squirm on my butt, scooting across the floor, until my hands are hanging over the phone behind me. I wiggle my fingers, trying to hit the little circle at the bottom, until I see the phone light up and ask for the password.

  It takes me three tries, but I finally get the four numbers right, and the screen unlocks.

  Joey’s name is the only one in her phone, so that’s who I call.

  He answers on the first ring, “Hey, baby. I was just about to call you. You’ve been gone a while.” His voice is quiet through the small speaker.

  I lie down next to the phone. “Joey,” I whisper into the microphone, “we need your help.”

  “We need your help.”

  I bolt upright, the beer nestled between my legs flying to the floor. It lands with a loud crash, the amber liquid spilling out onto the wood floor and startling Onyx out of a sound sleep. But I can’t bring myself to give a flying fuck.

  Cade’s soft whimpers fill my ears.

  “Cade? Cade, where are you?”

  He sniffs hard, and his voice is thick with tears when he speaks, “I-I-I don’t know. James brought me somewhere. He picked me up after school. I tried to fight him. But he said he’d hurt Mommy if I didn’t listen. But, now, Mommy is here. And I think he’s hurting her anyway, Joey. He told me he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t hurt her if I listened to him. But he lied. He’s hurting her, Joey.”

  My heart bangs against my chest. Every possible scenario floods my head, none of them good.

  James hurting Nichole. James hurting Cade. James killing Nichole and Cade.

  Grabbing my keys off the entry table as I run, I’m out the front door before I’m even conscious of moving. “Cade, I need you to listen to me. I need you to try and describe where you are. What do you see?”

  Cade sniffles again, but I can hear him sitting up. He’s quiet for a moment, and I start to worry that maybe he’s disconnected the call. Or maybe James has. I’m just about to shout into the phone when I hear rustling against the speaker.

  “I’m in an old building. There’s lots of junk in here. It’s really old and dusty. It’s dark, so I can’t see.”

  I leap into the cab of my cruiser since Nichole took my truck to the grocery store earlier, grateful that Chief let me keep it even through my suspension. One perk of a small town: nobody waiting in the wings for my car. I crank over the engine and peel out of the driveway, not even bothering to check for oncoming traffic. Thankfully, nobody is around. I’m barreling down the street at full speed before I realize I don’t even know if I’m heading in the right direction.

  What if he took them out of town?

  “Cade, I need you to go to the window. I need you to look around and tell me what you see.”

  He starts to cry in earnest now. “I can’t. I’m tied up, Joey. The windows are all boarded up anyway.”

  “Fuck!” I shout into the phone.

  Cade moans into the phone. “Sorry, Joey. I’m so sorry,” he whispers the words over and over.

  Taking in a deep breath, I try to calm down. I’m not going to get anywhere if I keep upsetting the poor kid. I exhale slowly. My tone evens out when I speak, “It’s okay, buddy. It’s not your fault. Let’s see. Can you tell me how long you were in the car before James took you inside?”

  His tone perks up a little. “Yes. We weren’t in the car very long. I’m not sure how long. I was so scared. But I know it didn’t take very long.”

  “Did you see anything as you were walking inside? Anything big or out of the ordinary?”

  He’s silent again, but this time, I can hear his breathing, so I know he hasn’t moved from the phone or disconnected the call. I try to wait patiently as he thinks. But it’s hard to remain patient when the two loves of your life are in the clutches of a sadistic psychopath. So, instead of pressuring him, I relentlessly squeeze the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white as I rub my palms back and forth over the old leather.

  ”Oh!” he says suddenly. “I just remembered. When James called Mom, he told her we were taking a trip down memory lane. He said something about a boathouse.”

  My head drops back on my neck as I breathe out a sigh of relief. “Cade, are you in a big metal building? Or an office maybe?”

  I can practically hear the wheels spinning in his head as he tries to think.

  “It’s a big building. The thing over in the corner kind of looks like an engine. Like the ones I’ve seen on TV on boats.”

  “Does the place look run-down, Cade? Like maybe nobody has been there in a long time?”

  His voice trembles when he replies, “I don’t know, Joey. I’m sorry. I am so scared. I don’t remember.”

  I lower my voice again. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, buddy. I think I know where you are. You just hang tight. I’ll be there soon. You’ve been so brave. You’re so brave, Cade.”

  He sniffs. “Please hurry.”

  He doesn’t speak the rest of the way. He just cries softly into the phone as I drive. Five minutes later, I turn down the street to Stewart’s Marina. It takes everything in me not to just plow through the side of the building with my cruiser in order not to waste another second before I can get to them.

  But, instead, I slow the car to a crawl, not wanting to alert James to my presence before I have to. I creep up the old gravel driveway, the weeds helping to muffle the sound of my tires. When I turn the corner and the building comes into view, I sag with relief.

  My truck is parked out front. Along with a black Porsche.

  I’ve found them.

  I kill the engine where I am. I climb out of the car and take the rest of the way on foot. When I reach the building, I grab onto a window ledge and I pull myself up, attempting to peer inside through the thin crack between boards.

  It’s no use, however. It’s too dark inside, and I can’t see a thing. I quickly jog back to my cruiser, grab the gun I store in the console, and tuck it into the back of my jeans.

  Just in case.

  The first thing I see when I burst through the door is Cade lying on his side, his hands bound behind his back, his face pressed against the dirty floor. I rush to his side, pulling him into my arms and hugging him tightly against me.

  After a few seconds, I pull back, helping him stand. I undo the knots around his wrists.

  When he’s finally free, he throws his arms around me and buries his face in my neck. “I’m so glad you found us.”

  I pat his back for a moment before a crashing sound pulls my attention elsewhere. Reaching up, I break the circle his arms have formed around me, gently pulling away as I get to my feet.

  “Where’s your mom?” I ask bluntly.

  Cade looks around me, pointing to a closed door that I know leads to the office. Nichole and I have been here a million times throughout the years. I know this place like the back of my hand.

  I turn back to Cade. “I’m going to need you to go wait in my car, okay, bud? Lock the doors, and don’t open them, no matter what. No matter what you hear, you stay in that car. Do you understand?”

  He nods somberly.

  I quickly press my lips to his forehead and then push him in the direction of the door. “Go.”

  I wait until he’s out the door, and then I wait a few seconds longer to give him time to reach the car. I strain to he
ar the door shut, but the car is too far way. I don’t have time to go check on him and make sure he followed orders. I’m just going to have to trust him.

  I make my way to the closed door Cade indicated, walking slowly so as not to make a sound. When I reach it, I press my ear against the door, trying to make out any movement beyond the barricade.

  A gruff moan is the only sound I hear, but it’s enough. I kick in the door, coming face-to-face with my worst nightmare.

  Nichole is lying naked on the floor. James is hovering over her, his penis in his hand as he attempts to move her legs apart.

  I.

  See.

  Fucking.

  Red.

  I barrel into the room, unable to stop the uncontrollable rage that consumes me as I fly at him. I hit him at a dead run, sending him sprawling to the side, his head cracking against the wall. My hands wrap around his neck as he slumps, his eyes rolling back in his head.

  I want to strangle this motherfucker for what he was about to do to Nichole. I want to strangle him for everything he did to her in the past. I would like nothing more than to watch the life drain out of his body as I stare down at him, seeing him gasping for breath and pissing himself when he finally realizes the game is lost.

  But a soft moan from behind me has me dropping him to the floor, forgotten in a heap, and I rush back to Nichole’s side.

  Her eyes are glazed over, as if she’s just waking up from a trance. And I have to wonder if this asshole drugged her. It’s the only explanation as to why she wasn’t even putting up a fight.

  Smoothing the hair back from her face, I peer down at her, assessing her every inch. She appears unharmed. A few bumps and bruises, a few cuts and scrapes. But, otherwise, she seems fine. I briefly press my lips to hers in relief.

  Her eyes are clearer when I pull back. A confused expression on her face, her eyes narrow as she looks at me.

  “Joey?” she asks, as if uncertain that what she’s seeing is real.