Ride-along (Bounty County Series Book 1)

by Maren Lee

  David, the monster, wouldn’t leave her alone. He’d transitioned multiple times from sitting in an old wooden chair staring at her and screaming obscenities at her to standing over her and kicking her anywhere he could make contact. Her entire body throbbed. She tried to curl up in a ball in an attempt to shield herself from the blows, but all that did was just make other parts of her body vulnerable. After the last kick to her ribs, she could feel herself struggling to breath. The pain was too much. She drifted in and out of consciousness. Chloe knew she needed to continue to fight for her life, but she felt herself losing the will. When she blacked out, she didn’t feel the pain. At this point, that was preferable to her. But David wasn’t having that. He wanted to watch her struggle.

  He stood from his chair and marched over to her, “Get up!” he demanded.

  There was no way she could move. No. Fucking. Way.

  “Did you hear me, bitch?!”

  Chloe managed to choke out, “I…can’t”.

  “If you aren’t going to get up on your own, I’ll make you get up.”

  David grabbed a rope off of the shelf behind her. Oh God, what is the rope for? She watched him tie one end of the rope into a rudimentary noose. He tossed the other end over the beam spanning the length of the cellar. Oh no. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her knees, “If you aren’t going to stand up when I order it, I’ll make you stand up!” He wrapped the noose around her neck and pulled hard on the other end, pulling Chloe up by her neck. She brought her hands to her throat, gasping for breath, and tried to pull it away. This only caused him to pull harder.

  “Put your hands down by your side. Now!” he shouted.

  Chloe obeyed, but she could feel her brain shutting down. David released the tension on her neck enough to allow her to gasp for air, but the rope was still holding her in place. If he pulled hard enough, he could easily choke the life right out of her.

  He tied the rope to a hook on the wall behind her and leaned into her ear, “Stop fighting. Understand?”

  Chloe nodded with what little strength she had left. David walked to the shelf he’d gotten the rope from and grabbed a knife. Is that a knife? Fuck. The blood continued to leak from the wound in her head, burning her eyes. She blinked to try to clear her vision. He walked behind her and ran the cold steel up and down her arm. Definitely a knife. Fuck.

  He moved his hand around her waist and started to tug her bottoms down. Oh my God. He’s going to rape me. Please, Justin. Please save me. Just as that thought crossed her mind she heard a loud slam followed by the sound of shattering glass. David stopped and stilled. Chloe’s heart began to race.

  Please let it be him. She heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She squinted to see who it was, but couldn’t clear her eyes enough.

  Then she heard, “Put your fucking hands up!” Justin. She wanted to shout for him but she couldn’t get the words to come out of her mouth.

  David pulled her tight to him and held the knife to her throat. Fuck.

  “Put the gun down or she’s dead!” David shouted

  More footsteps came down the stairs.

  She heard Jake’s voice, “Drop the knife, motherfucker!” Backup. Thank, God.

  “This is happening one way or the other!” David screamed. Please. Save me.

  Chloe felt the knife pull tighter and pinch against her throat. She felt blood trickle down her neck. Fuck, she was going to die. “You don’t have the shot,” she heard Jake’s low voice.

  “I have the shot,” she heard her love.

  “You don’t have it.”

  “I have it. I have to have it.” And in that same moment she heard a gunshot. She felt something warm spattered her face and hair. The grip David had on her loosened and she heard the knife drop and felt him crumple to the floor. Holy fuck, he was dead. Her knees began to buckle and the rope began to tighten even further around her neck.

  “Chloe, baby.” Justin ran toward her and caught her before she collapsed and choked herself. He released the rope on the hook and pulled her into his arms. Her knees gave out and she let herself fall into him.

  “Chloe, stay with me. I’ve got you, darlin’. Oh my God, Jake. She’s been shot. So much blood. It’s not good!” she heard his voice catch. As she continued to listen to him direct Jake and make calls over the radio, he sounded like he was talking under water. She tried to talk to him. She tried to apologize for leaving the hotel. ]She tried to tell him that she was okay as long as he was with her. But she couldn’t make a sound. Her mind and body went numb as the voices faded.

  ➰

  Justin held Chloe in his arms as he whisked her up the stairs and out of the hell hole she’d been in for the past twelve hours. He watched her fall in and out of consciousness. She was nearly unidentifiable with all of the blood and bruising on her face. That piece of shit had done this to her. Thank God that motherfucker would never be able to put his hands on her again. He’d be where he belonged. Six feet under. Justin knew he had the shot, regardless of what Jake had said. He wouldn’t have risked Chloe’s life if he didn’t have the shot. Thank God he had the shot.

  “Jake, how far out is the ambulance?”

  “Last ETA was 40 minutes, that was 7 minutes ago.”

  “Fuck, she can’t wait that long. I’m going to take her to the clinic. Can you get Doc on call and headed there. And call Lifeflight in.”

  “Justin, you know I can’t make the call for Lifeflight. What if she she doesn't-”

  “Don’t even fucking say it. Don’t even think it! God damn it! Just get them headed to the clinic!”

  “Done. Say no more. I’ll handle the scene here. I’m here if you need me for anything, bro.”

  “Thank you.”

  He ran as fast as he could down the driveway to his rig with Chloe in his arms. He swung the passenger door open and laid her in as gently and securely as he could. He laid the passenger seat down so that she was as close to horizontal as possible. She was struggling to breath. He checked her pulse. It was erratic. He needed to get moving. He rounded the front of the vehicle, jumped in the driver’s side and slammed the door behind him. He put vehicle into gear, floored it, and skidded out on the gravel as he headed for the highway.

  “Come on, Chloe. Hang on, baby,” he said over and over.

  Justin thought that the feeling of not being by her side and not knowing what was happening to her was the worst feeling he’d ever had in his life. But he was wrong. Seeing her like this. Struggling for her life. That was, hands down, the worst feeling ever. He would give anything to take her place and take the pain away from her right now. She let out a groan of pain. He looked over and saw her eyelids flutter.

  “Baby, we’re almost there. We’ll get you some help. Hold on, baby. Please hold on.” She didn’t respond to any of it. He body was limp and her chest struggled to take in air.

  “Five more miles, my love. Hang in there.”

  When he finally pulled into the parking lot of the clinic, he saw that the helipad lights were on. Thank fuck, Doc was already here. He hopped out and ran to Chloe’s side pulling her out of the seat and into his arms. Justin kicked the door to the clinic in an effort to knock. He didn’t want to have to put her down to open the door.

  Doc came around the corner and flung the door open, “Get her inside.” Justin followed his orders. “Let's get her on the gurney and ready to roll.”

  Justin placed her down gently. The white sheet on the gurney and the fluorescent lighting highlighted her injuries. She was bruised all over. There were cuts on her face. One of the cuts was particularly deep. Blood was still dripping down her face. Her pant leg was soaked in blood from the gunshot wound. His heart ached.

  The doctor placed the oxygen mask on Chloe and hooked the pulse/ox on her finger. “She’s not getting enough oxygen on her own.” He looked at her chest and ran his hands along her rib cage. Chloe winced when he put light pressure on the bottom half of her left ribcage. “Just as I thought. Broken ribs. I�
�m assuming one is puncturing her lung, but we won’t know without an x-ray.”

  Justin snapped, “Well can you do it? Just do one. Let’s do it right now.”

  Doc gave him a stern look. Justin knew he was about to get an ass chewing. When the spouses or friends of victims questioned him or the paramedics, it always pissed him off too.

  “It’s not that simple, Officer. She needs more help than what I can give her here. Lifeflight is just minutes away from landing. There is no point to getting her stripped down to get an x-ray here when they are going to do a whole barrage of tests on her at Billings Regional.” Justin nodded and agreed. He’d shut his mouth and let him do his job. Moments later he heard the propellers of the helicopter. Thank, God.

  Doc wheeled her to the automatic door on the east side of the exam room that led straight to the helipad. The moment he saw the helicopter touched down, Justin gave Doc a “get moving” look. He was being a bossy, pushy asshole with Doc and he didn’t give two shits. It’s because you love her. Yep. That was definitely it. Chloe was the real deal. His one and only. He wasn’t normally the praying type, but he was praying for her to wake up so that he could tell her to his face.

  The paramedics on the Lifeflight crew met them in the middle of the concrete pad. One moved toward the doctor, the other grabbed the gurney and wheeled her to the door.

  “You riding?” the medic shouted.

  “Yes!”

  “Get in!”

  Justin hopped into the helicopter and slid to the far side, out of the way. Chloe was loaded and the medic followed her in. He began prepping her arm for an IV as the second medic jumped in behind him and shut the door. He leaned to the pilot and gave him the go ahead. They were on their way. Chloe's IV was inserted and the medics continued to do their thing. Justin wanted to touch her, to have some physical contact with her. He was hesitant at first and didn’t want to interfere with the care being given, but his need to give her a physical sign, to let her know that he was there with her, overcame his need to stay out of the way.

  Justin reached for her hand. When he grabbed it he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I’m here. You’re going to be alright baby.” He felt her squeeze his hand. Could she hear him? “Chloe baby, squeeze my hand again if you can hear me.” He felt a faint squeeze. It was all the confirmation he needed.

  He bent down again to whisper in her ear, “Darlin’, seeing you like this is killing me. I never knew what love felt like until you came along. I mean I thought I knew, but I had no idea. Chloe you mean everything to me, I can’t go another day without you by my side baby, ever. I want you to be the first person I see in the morning, and the last person I see before I close my eyes at night. I love you Chlo’, so goddamn much. I want you by my side, forever, alright baby? Please pull through this and we can get married.” He lifted his head to see if there was any reaction. It took a moment, but she nodded her head. Thank God. She’d heard him. She was going to be his love, his partner, his sidekick. His wife. For the rest of their lives. He kissed her knuckles. “I love you baby. You are the David Spade to my Chris Farley. Fuck, that’s a terrible comparison right now. God, I’m so sorry. I’m so bad at this. Bonnie to my Clyde? No, they are fucking criminals. You know what I mean darlin’.” She didn't shake her head or squeeze his hand again, but he knew she understood. He hoped so anyway.

  The shouts of the medics caught his attention, “Corporal, get in the harness and prepare for landing.”

  Justin acknowledged their request and seated himself.

  Alright Chlo’, hang in there baby.

  As soon as they landed Chloe was whisked away into surgery. He sat in the waiting room. Restless. Waiting for any news at all. He wouldn’t be able to visit her until she was out of surgery and stable.

  He called Jake on his cell and asked him to pick up Emery and take her to the kennel at his house. She’d have everything she’d need there for at least 48 hours. He called Brenden and gave what little update he could. They were headed to Billings. Brenden was driving Justin’s rig, Sierra was following. The next 90 minutes were excruciating. When he saw Sierra and Brenden enter the waiting room he let out a sigh of relief and welcomed the company. After all, they would be family soon enough.

  Chapter 20

  The waiting was agony. When the doctor finally came to speak with them in the waiting room, Justin was on edge. “Please, Doc. Please give me good news.”

  The doctor smiled hesitantly, “The surgery went well, but she’s had a lot of trauma inflicted on her, so we aren’t out of the woods yet. We’re moving her to the ICU. We’ve put her in a medically induced coma to allow her body time to heal and rest.”

  “I assume her ribs were broken? She was having trouble breathing. I tried to get her to medical care as fast as I could.”

  “You did great, officer. Yes. In addition to the gunshot wound to the leg -- it wasn’t clean, we had to remove the bullet -- she had four broken ribs and one of those ribs punctured her lung, which would explain the difficulty breathing. She also has bruised kidneys, so we are going to need to keep an eye on that for a while. Lacerated eyebrow and eyelid. We stitched that up. She’s going to look bruised and swollen and pretty beat up, because, well frankly, she was beat up. She’s going to need your help to get through the next few weeks.”

  “Can we go see her?” he asked.

  “Yes. Just one at a time while she’s in the ICU, though. Once she’s more stable, we’ll move her and you’ll have more flexibility.”

  Sierra put her hand on Justin’s. “You go see her first, Justin. She’ll want to hear your voice.”

  Justin had seen her already. So he already knew what he was getting into. But nothing could prepare him for seeing her so lifeless. So bruised. So swollen. Hooked up to beeping machines. So many wires. So many tubes. The love of his life could have died. But he saved her. Please, don’t die on me.

  He sat down next to her and held her hand, careful not to touch the IV line. “Hey, baby. I’m here. Doc said you did real well. I’m here, honey. I’m not leaving you, except to give Sierra some time with you. So you just go ahead and rest and get better and come back to me,” his voice cracked as a tear streamed down his face. “Please come back to me.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. It was wrapped in a bandage, but he hoped she could feel it through the white gauze. Feel him. Feel his presence. Fuck, she has to pull through. She has to. How the fuck would I ever live without her?

  ➰

  Sierra sat contently next to the hospital bed reading people magazine to Chloe. Justin had refused to leave Chloe’s side even for five minutes unless there was someone with her. He made it his mission to never leave her alone. Chloe had been out of surgery for 48 hours now. Justin had been with her for 44 of those hours. They’d moved her from the ICU into a larger, private room.

  He left her yesterday to go home and shower and go shopping for a ring. He asked, she said yes -- he wasn’t going to waste any time in locking her down. He called Sierra and asked her to sit with her cousin while he “took care of some shit.” Sierra was curious, but Justin told her to mind her own business. She doesn’t need to know every detail of everyone's life. And she’s certainly not going to know about the engagement ring before Chloe sees it.

  He’d also called Chloe’s friend Alyssa yesterday and asked her to bring Chloe’s dogs up to Imminence as a surprise for her when she got out of the hospital. He wanted everything to be perfect when she woke up and was released. Having her fur babies there would take some stress off of her mind and allow her to relax while she recovered. Alyssa was willing to drop everything for her friend and Justin met her about an hour ago ago. He got Bella and Arnie comfortable in his backyard with toys and fresh water and then sped the 75 miles back to Billings.

  Justin caught the doctor on his way to the room. “What’s the word, Doc?”

  After a quick briefing, Justin practically sprinted through the door of Chloe’s room.

  “What’s up with you?”
Sierra asked.

  “Just talked to the doc. They’re going to bring her out of the coma.”

  “Really? Yay! When? I’ll stay here until she wakes up.”

  “They’re doing it in about ten minutes. No telling how long it will take. Could be hours. Could be days. Why don’t you head home and I’ll call you just as soon as she wakes up?”

  He really was her protector. It made Sierra smile. She was so happy for her cousin. She just needed her to wake up now.

  “I am not driving 75 miles just for you to tell me to turn around and drive back, Justin. But I am tired. So I will go get a room down the street and take a nap. We can trade off if this takes a while.”

  “I’m not leaving her, Sierra. Not this time. Never again.”