A Rescued Heart (Rescued Heart Romance)

by Replogle, Natalie

  Her life felt like a double-edged sword. For Tessa’s safety, she needed to leave Ray. Get out of Dodge and never look back. But Ray had once told her if she told anyone about the abuse or left him, he would hurt Tessa.

  It was a gamble she wasn’t willing to attempt.

  As long as she stayed quiet, Tessa would be safe. Those words had become a broken record in her mind, reminding her with each hit that she had no other choice. Keeping Tessa safe was what kept her going and kept her from driving into a tree. Her sweet, angelic, little girl.

  Calling Ava had been foolish.

  Kim’s eyes darted around the dark bathroom as the faint sound of footsteps that started in her bedroom made its way into the hallway and down the stairs.

  Ray was awake. How did he hear her? She thought she had been slick as silk in her attempt to make contact with Ava. Her heartbeat pounded against her chest.

  How had she allowed her life to get to this point? She thought her life had turned perfect when she met Ray at a mutual friend’s party. Her first clue should have been that he and Ray were bar buddies, but who was she to judge? She had gotten pregnant at eighteen by an older man she had no business being with. Sure, he stuck around for a while, but last year he left one day and never came back, leaving her to support Tessa on a secretary’s salary in a house she couldn’t afford.

  It was a breath of fresh air when she and Ray started dating because he vowed to always support and take care of her. And he did, at first. He would wine and dine her, tell her how beautiful she was, important, one of a kind. For a single twenty-three-year-old mom, her prince had come to rescue her. After only a few weeks of dating she asked him to move in with her and Tessa.

  Enter in the worse mistake of her life.

  Perfection surrounded their first couple weeks. Ray had been so good to her and really stepped up to the plate and helped with Tessa. The downfall started slowly, but escalated quickly. Ray’s job became more stressful and he often took it out on her. Then he became obsessively jealous, always needing to know where she was and who she was with.

  The first time he hit her, he had been drunk and mad at her for going out with her co-workers after hours. He apologized for days afterwards and even cried.

  If she could have only seen then what her life was like now. The dominos had started to fall and she couldn’t stop them. Now he was hitting her at least once a week, with absolute no remorse.

  Last night was her breaking point. What pushed her to finally call Ava. As Ray threw her on the bed and raped her as she begged and pleaded for him to stop, Kim knew she needed help.

  However, as the footsteps became more distinct as they closed in, trapping her, she realized the horrible mistake she made. Panic surged through her. How would she get Ray out of her life … and before he someday just finally killed her? At this point, he was capable of anything. At least she was smart and updated her will last week to make sure if anything happened to her, her sister Stephanie would get full custody of Tessa.

  The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom. She pushed down a scream.

  A hard knock invaded the silence, mocking her that she would never be free. “Kim? Are you in there?” Ray’s gruff voice made goose bumps rise on her bruised arms.

  With a last second decision, she flushed the toilet and threw her cell phone in the trash, covering it with toilet paper. “Yep, just finishing up.”

  She washed her hands and opened the door to find Ray glaring at her with his arms crossed at his chest.

  “Why didn’t you use the upstairs bathroom?”

  Her voice quivered. “Oh, I didn’t want to wake you or Tessa.” She tried to maneuver herself around him, but he kept a hard stance on his position guarding the door.

  “I heard you talking.”

  Kim tried to swallow the lump stuck in her closing throat. She had never been quick with her words and she was a pitiful liar. “No I wasn’t.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Kim. I heard your voice.”

  Kim tried once more to get past him, but he pushed her back. She was stuck in more than one way. If he knew she had called Ava, he would do more than hit her, he would hurt Tessa. No matter what she said now, would it even matter?

  “I’m sorry, Ray, that I woke you up. I’m so tired. I must have been talking to myself.” She rubbed his bicep, trying to press down the nausea that came with touching him. “Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

  She thought she saw him loosen his shoulders, relax. But he refused to move. His eyebrows furrowed together and she had a sinking suspicion that he did not believe her explanation.

  “Kim, you know I hate it when you lie to me.” His voice rose with each word. His fist met her left cheek bone with force, knocking her back a few inches. She immediately tasted blood from his knuckle that caught her lower lip with his follow-through.

  Better her then Tessa.

  Kim closed her eyes and waited for the second blow.

  Only three weeks had passed since Matt and Ava took their trip to Lake Michigan, but it felt like months by the amount of time they spent talking on the phone and in each other’s company. Ava couldn’t believe the depth their relationship held with only knowing each other a handful of weeks.

  In the first week after their decision to continue dating she could tell Matt proceeded with caution. He called her once during the week and again on Friday night just before he took her out to eat and to a movie. The night preceding their date was when Kim had called. Ava struggled to keep her focus on Matt when all she wanted to do entailed running over to Kim’s house and pulling her and Tessa out of their nightmare. Matt understood her distance and helped by being a good sounding board.

  The next week he became bolder and called her more often. About every other night he would call in the evening just to see how her day went. He didn’t talk long, just enough to let her know he cared. That Saturday they spent the entire day together again. Matt took her out for a late breakfast followed by canoeing on one of the lakes just outside the city. He packed a lunch so they were able to spend most of the day at the lake. Afterward they grabbed Chinese take-out and spent the evening at his place watching television and playing games.

  The third week he threw all caution to the wind. They had spoken every night and she had even called him twice. One night they stayed up until after midnight talking. It reminded Ava of when she was back in middle school again, only talking to a boy, not a girl. Slowly she gained control of her emotions and letting loose of the fear. As long as she didn’t think about the “what ifs,” everything was fine.

  Friday night she went to the gym with Matt and worked out. Ava enjoyed spending time with him and sharing his interests. The view of him working out helped lessen the pain that surged through her muscles. She hadn’t lifted weights since high school and her legs burned the next day as a bitter reminder.

  Saturday night they had Kyle and Kate over to her place for dinner. She freaked out a little after she realized that she needed to make the meal. She cheated a bit and had Lucy come over and help her prepare the food before everyone arrived. She served lasagna, salad, and bread sticks, and Lucy made a cheesecake for her to serve for dessert. At some point she needed to break the news to Matt that he was dating a woman who couldn’t cook.

  The evening had gone well and the food turned out great. Ava gave all the credit to Lucy for the dessert but saved back the information that she’d also held her hand and directed it through making the main course.

  Throughout the evening Matt constantly made sure she knew he noticed her, whether by holding her hand at the table or putting his arm around her when they stood in the kitchen talking. He made her feel priceless and adored.

  The weeks went so fast because of her newfound relationship that she couldn’t believe that today had already come. It was a bittersweet day—the last day of school. Ava arrived early at her classroom to go over some last minute plans with the other kindergarten teachers. The last day of school remained pointless on the
education side of things, but easily the best day of the school year for the kids. The school made it a day of celebration for the kids as a reward for all their hard work throughout the year.

  In the morning all the classes went outside and had two massive kickball games going on at once. The older grades played on one side of the field while the younger grades played on the other. All the students looked like they were having fun and thankfully no one got injured.

  In the afternoon each grade got a turn to play in the gym. While Ava’s class waited their turn they had a party of their own with snacks and games in the classroom. They ended their time with her turning on some lively, kid-friendly music and encouraging everyone to dance. They all did, joyously and without abandon.

  Once the day was over and every child made it onto their bus or walked home, Ava headed back to her classroom to work on cleaning and organizing the room for the summer. As she closed one of the storage doors she heard a voice behind her. “Hello there, beautiful.”

  Ava turned around in complete bliss at the sight of Matt leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. He looked as if he had been standing there observing for a while. She quickly walked up to him and put her arms around him for the hug she didn’t realize she needed until she saw him.

  “Hi. This is a good surprise. What are you doing here?”

  “I was just driving by and had to see you. How did the last day of school go?”

  Ava let go of her hold on him, not happy about the release, but settled with his hand sliding into hers. She tugged him into the room while she explained about the day. “The kids did great and all of the activities we had planned went perfectly.”

  Watching the kids play kickball was hilarious, especially the sight of their little legs rounding the bases and watching them jump and cheer for their team. Ava could hardly keep in the laughter when they went to kick the ball, missed, and landed on the ground. It was her type of humor that others didn’t always appreciate.

  “I’m glad you had such a good day. You weren’t sad after all?” Matt asked while he rubbed her left shoulder.

  Her emotions the last day of school coexisted as a balancing act. She had put so much time and dedication into these kids and would miss them, but the other side of the scale tipped with the anticipation of freedom just around the corner. “I thought I would be sad, but we stayed busy enough that I didn’t have time to think about not seeing the kids all summer. I guess I’m looking forward to the break more than I thought.”

  “Well, how about I take you out tonight in celebration of the start of summer? I was thinking about trying out that new steak place downtown.” He raised his eyebrows while giving her his smoldering grin that left her defenseless. Not that she would have refused, but that face would not have given her the option otherwise.

  She was in the mood to tease. “A good steak does sound nice, and I suppose I could handle spending the evening with you.” He didn’t need to know that she had caved so quickly.

  “I guess I’ll just have to step it up tonight. I didn’t realize I’d have to compete with a steak even though it should be in a food group by itself. I’m under a lot of pressure here.”

  Ava loved how they could banter back and forth. She giggled while he brought her back into a hug. A vibration went off on her hip and she jumped back.

  Matt quickly grabbed his phone and pushed some buttons. “Ava, I’m sorry, but I have to go. It’s an SWAT emergency.” He started toward the door and looked over his shoulder. “I have to cancel tonight, but I’ll call you later.”

  Before she even had a chance to answer, he dashed out the door. Ava pushed forward through the shock and followed, watching as he turned the corner and ran down the hallway. This was the first time he had been called out for the SWAT team since they had started dating. Fear gripped her heart and caused her to stand there frozen, terrified for his safety.

  Matt raced back to the station with his lights flashing and siren blaring. He hated standing Ava up and leaving her like that, but duty called. He pulled into the parking lot at the same time his partner Derek Brown did and they jogged towards the building together.

  “What’s with the frown?” Derek asked as they reached the doors.

  “Am I that obvious?”

  “You look like a child whose candy was taken away from him.”

  “You are closer to the truth then you realize. I had to break a date with Ava.”

  Derek laughed. “Well, then I will leave you to pout while I go grab our gear.”

  When the SWAT team got called they often met first at the station, geared up, and were given a report of the situation. It was time-consuming, but they needed to arrive at the scene as a team, fully prepared for the crisis. Showing up without all the information would be unsafe and ineffective.

  The team loaded up into the armored truck and headed out to the old warehouse a few blocks south of the station. The department had sent in an undercover cop a few months ago to bring down a teenage drug ring. An exchange went sour this afternoon, leaving the cop and a few other guys at gun point.

  Matt pushed his earpiece further in and asked Derek to talk so he could check the sound. “Sheppard to Law Sheep, can you hear me? Over.”

  Matt laughed. The man didn’t have a serious bone in his body. “Loud and clear. Over.”

  The truck stopped and they filed out the back. The lieutenant gave them their instructions and his team headed into the side of the building. Matt and five other men slipped inside while the rest of the SWAT officers inconspicuously surrounded the building. They needed a surprise attack. It was always intense running into a situation, not sure what they were going to find. The only way of knowing what was happening inside the building came from the microphone strapped to the undercover cop, but fifteen minutes ago the signal went dead. They were going in blind.

  Once inside the warehouse, a musty scent encircled them. Matt’s shirt clung to his back from the stuffy heat that had no escape. It was an old packaging business that went under a few years back and now sat empty except for some birds that had made it a good home.

  Shouts sifted from the second floor and the team took the side stairs up. Their movement flowed swift and identical because of the long hours spent training together. Matt took point once they reached the second floor entry. He tapped Rick and Brad on their backs and pointed up to the third floor, and without question they continued up the stairs. Ben and Mark waited for their signal. Matt pointed to the right and then pointed to Derek to go left with him.

  Derek flung the door open and Matt entered the room first with his gun drawn. The team followed, running a sweep of the empty offices. Toward the back of the building there was a large conference room from which they could hear the shouting coming. Matt reported back to the lieutenant that the area was contained and they were in position. The lieutenant gave the green light and they prepared for forceful entry.

  Frustration laced his anger to think that just beyond these doors held a bunch of kids barely old enough to drive, yet holding guns. Some probably still had braces on their teeth and struggled with zit-covered faces. Their poor choices had led them to this moment and from here on their lives would never be the same.

  Preparing the team to enter proved difficult because these kids would be jumpy and nervous. They were dealing with a bunch of wild cards. Matt gave the signal and the door exploded.

  Ava had been unsettled the rest of the afternoon while finishing up her classroom. She didn’t want to be at the school but it helped to keep her mind off the thoughts consuming her about the situation Matt was in right now.

  She returned home around dinner time, found some leftovers in the fridge that Lucy had brought over, and sat on the couch to eat and catch up on the news. She gasped aloud when the news anchor announced the drug exchange that went bad. At this point all the news could report was that some people were held at gunpoint while the SWAT team surrounded the building. Ava automatically moved closer to the television,
as if that would cause her to see the situation better.

  Oh Lord. Please be with Matt and keep him safe. Give him the wisdom to handle the situation and protect him from those who want to do harm to him and others.

  Throughout the next hour the news continued between the reporter and the anchor who tried to get as many details as they could to the viewers. It wasn’t enough for her and she wanted to run down there herself. A little before seven the anchor announced that the drug dealers had surrendered and that no one had been hurt. Ava could see the SWAT team members returning to the truck and the drug dealers being escorted to the police cars. Ava couldn’t believe how young the boys looked. What had caused their lives to turn away from innocence?

  Distracting herself from the tears that threatened, she changed into sweat pants and a T-shirt for bed. Sitting back down on the couch, she tried to watch a baseball game, but her view became blinded by her tears. What was wrong with her? Matt was okay. She needed to grow thicker skin if she was going to survive dating a cop. Frustrated with herself she set off to the kitchen to make some tea.

  Leaning back against the counter she glanced around her digs. She loved her apartment. It wasn’t much to brag about, but it was her refuge.

  The kitchen sported a pale yellow with dark brown trim. The appliances were white and fairly new, not that she did a lot of cooking to justify the need for newness. A small dining room opened up on the side of the kitchen, but she used it more like a breakfast nook. A beautiful round oak table and chairs—a fortuitous garage sale discovery last year—looked just right sitting in the middle of the little room.

  The living room was spacious and comfortable, perfect for entertaining. Not that she did a lot of it, but it was nice to have the option.

  The walls donned a deep orange and showcased two original paintings by Lucy. A modest entertainment center held a flat screen television, the one splurge she’d made courtesy of this year’s tax refund. In the back corner she had placed a bookshelf and comfy reading chair for her hours of literary comfort.