“Hey, buddy, you doing okay?” I coo, bending down to open his cage. I run my hand over him soothingly. He whines in the back of his throat, lifting his head into my hand. I giggle, stroking his head through the cone we’ve put on so he doesn’t disturb his stiches. “You like that, huh? You’re gonna be okay. I’ll be back in the morning to check on you.”
His head lifts, his eyes filled with sadness, like he can understand my words. I feel tears build when he whines again.
“I’m sorry, but I gotta go.”
He whines again and tries to stand. This is always the hardest part of my job; walking away. I shut the cage when he struggles and make my way out, turning the big lights off as I go.
We have nightlights inside all the kennels, due to some of the animals being unsettled in a new environment. I’m hoping these additions will settle him when I’m finally gone.
Everyone’s left for the night, so the place is deserted. I’m proud of my accomplishments, but I never would have been able to do it without my grandma Mary’s help. She provided me the funds to kickstart my adventure, along with willing investors. Every day I miss her but having this place keeps her in my memory. It’s like I still have a piece of her with me.
After setting the alarm, I lock up, feeling the chill since I forgot to pick up my coat in my rush to get here. Thankfully, I remembered my phone and keys. The last thing I need is to wake my mum and dad up at this time of night to tell them I’ve locked myself out. I’d never hear the end of it.
The streets are quiet, something I’ve always enjoyed at this time of night. At midnight, the place is no longer buzzing with people, loud chatter or horns honking. It’s just peaceful. Still.
I’m passing Poundstretcher when someone wearing a dark hood steps out in front of me and reaches out to grab me. Out of instinct, I punch my attacker in the face, surprising them. My entire body chills and I scream as I run back towards the centre, hearing footsteps and cursing behind me. I’m nearly back at my building when I’m grabbed from behind, propelling me forward before gravity takes hold and I crash down, fast and hard.
I ignore the pain in my knees and hands as I hit the unforgiving concrete, especially when a hand fists a chunk of my hair and slams my face into the ground.
“Please, I don’t have any money. Please!” I beg.
I’m forced up by my hair and turned to face him—at least, I think he’s a he, going by his shape and strength. I grunt at the rough, jerky movements. I’m barely able to blink when pain, like nothing I’ve ever felt before, begins to throb in my cheek.
I kick out, not hitting anything, my hands doing the same. I’m a fighter; my dad and uncles made sure I was. That we all were.
Nothing could have prepared me for the real thing though. I’ve never been in a physical fight.
“Please, I don’t have any money. Leave me alone.” I struggle to get free, my top tearing as he grabs at it. I roll over, going against everything my family taught me, and try to crawl away. Once again, he smacks my head on the concrete. I’m stunned, my vision blurring and my mind fuzzy. I fight to stay conscious.
“You think this is about money?” The deepness of the masculine voice startles me, confirming my suspicions on my attacker being a male. If evil had a voice, it would sound like the man dragging me around, my shoulders scraping on the ground.
“What do you want?” I scream, still fighting. I manage to get my leg up enough to kick him in the gut, but he comes back with a sharper punch to my chest, knocking the wind out of me.
It hurts, but there’s no way I’m going down without a fight.
Not a chance in hell.
I’m still screaming, my voice hoarse and heavy.
His fingers pinch my cheeks, no doubt leaving bruises. “I told you to call off your dogs. You’re still searching for me. Whoever your geek of a fucking boyfriend is, call him off. Otherwise things are going to get ugly, and not only will I be back for you, but I’ll be back for him too. Killing that dog will just be the beginning.”
My mind is foggy, so his words don’t register. “Who are you? I don’t even know you,” I scream, struggling to get free. My hand connects with his face, but he grabs it roughly and slams it down on the pavement. I cry out in pain, feeling something snap in my wrist. My back slams against the concrete and I choke on air, fighting to keep conscious.
“You know me as Noah Anderson. Now, are you going to call him off?”
My eyes bug out, and I fight harder, needing to get away. There’s no knowing how far he’ll take this, or what he’ll do.
And he hurt Buster? A poor innocent animal. I scream out for the pain he’s put him through, but it’s useless.
I bend my neck to alleviate the pain of his left hand still clutching my hair forcefully.
“Please, leave me alone and I’ll tell them to stop.”
A flash of teeth under his hood reveals his sneer. I can’t see his eyes, just his mouth and the colour of his skin.
I’m scared, terrified out of my mind, and acting on adrenaline. I need to get away from him. He’s unpredictable.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I scream in his face, tears running down my cheeks. “I didn’t do anything to you.”
He laughs hauntingly. “You bitches are all the fucking same. You’re easy. You advertise yourselves to me. Me! If you weren’t so desperate, you’d realise you had a predator watching you.”
My skin crawls at the venom in his voice. He really believes we asked for it. That we set ourselves up for him to take everything away from us.
“You’re not going to get away with this.”
“Listen up, whore, I already have. Now you need to pay and let me carry on doing what I do.”
I’m taken aback by him calling me a whore and too busy trying to fight against his hands pinning me down to notice his head coming at me.
Everything disappears, including the pain.
*** *** ***
I groan awake, my face and body hurting badly. I roll to my side and hurl, my limbs weak and shaky.
Everything, from Noah jumping out at me to the last thing he whispered in my ear, plays over in my mind.
I’m beyond terrified. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life.
But there’s one thing Noah didn’t count on. I’m not the type of girl to keep my mouth shut because she’s scared. I can see why there are thousands of women out there that do. A part of me wants to lock myself away and tell everyone to drop it, but I’d never be able to live with myself if he did this to another woman. And he will. It’s just a matter of time.
A noise from the end of the dark alley has me jerking to my feet, crying out in pain. All I can see is darkness and a few shadows.
If he’s there, I don’t want him to hurt me any more than he already has. My whole body, especially my face and wrist, are killing me. I’d rather die than go through that again.
With a battle cry, I turn and run. I run with everything left inside me, even when it pains me to do it. It’s ten minutes to the police station. Ten minutes. I can make it.
I stumble and throw up a more times than I care to remember, but when I make it to the police station, I fall at the bottom of the steps, crying out again as tears fall.
I’m so close.
So very close.
The door opens and a few men and women walk out. With blurred vision, I manage to see them all pause before jumping into action.
It’s his voice that has me dropping my head on the second step.
He’s here.
“Faith? Fuck! Drew, get the car running, we need to get her to the hospital.”
“Beau, we should wait for the ambulance. Mandy called one.”
“Fuck the ambulance. She needs a hospital now!” he roars, making me wince.
“Baby, can I lift you?” he asks gently, watching my expression carefully.
I nod, but it causes me to wince in pain. Everything hurts. Hurts so goddamn badly. I have to bite my lip to stop m
yself from screaming out when his arms go under me. He notices me tense, and sorrow and regret fill his eyes for hurting me. He lifts me, trying to be as gentle as possible.
“I’m sorry, Faith. We’ll get you to the hospital, okay?”
“Yeah. Call Mum and Dad,” I croak out, before dropping my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes.
*** *** ***
My eyes drift open and, the minute I see both my parents beside me, they water. My dad has my mum in his arms as she cries quietly into his shoulder.
“Mum?” I croak.
Their heads snap in my direction when they hear my voice. My mum nearly trips over her own feet to get to me.
A heart-breaking sob tears from my mum as she looks down at me with a broken expression. Dad pulls her to his front, looking just as broken as he stares down at me.
“My baby girl. My baby.”
“It’s okay, Mum. I’m okay.”
She looks up at my dad before turning her disbelievingly stare my way. “Okay? You’re not okay! Mav, did you hear our girl? She said she’s okay!”
“I heard, darlin’. Faith, you scared us half to death. Do you remember what happened?”
I nod, tears slipping free. My face stings as they touch raw skin, but I don’t care. I’m just glad my parents are here.
Mum takes my hand in hers, and for the first time I notice it’s in a cast. “It’s broken?” I ask in a hoarse whisper, dread filling my bones.
“Yeah,” Mum tells me, trying to force a smile.
“Can I—can I still operate?”
Dad, seeing where I’m going, places his large hand on my knee. “The doctor said it should heal just fine. There wasn’t any nerve damage. But to be sure, you’ll need to come back and have another scan.”
“I can’t lose my animals,” I whisper.
My job means the world to me. If I lose the ability to perform surgery, I’ll have lost everything.
“You won’t.” Dad says it like he knows for a fact that is the case, but he can’t know. Neither of them can.
Another thought occurs to me. “Beau, he—he brought me here?”
Mum smiles, wiping her tears away. “Yeah, the young man called us on the way to the hospital. We could hear the sirens before he even spoke and knew something had happened to you. He explained everything he could. They just don’t know who did it. He’s outside in the waiting area with the rest of the family. Only two can come in so it’s been me and your father in here. We didn’t want to leave until you woke up.”
“It was Noah.” I try to sit up, but Mum fusses, telling me to lie back down. “No, Mum, it was Noah. The man who robbed me. He said to call off the person looking for him or he would come back to finish the job and hurt them. I know it’s Liam, Dad. You need to warn him.” My voice rises with hysteria and a nurse rushes in.
I remember what he did to that poor dog. I can’t have him hurting anyone else I love. Liam is like another uncle to me, since he grew up with them.
“You need to relax. Let’s take a look at your vitals.”
I ignore her, staring at my dad. “Please, Dad.”
“Okay, squirt. But you need to let the nurse look you over. I’ll go out and get Max to call him.”
He bends over the bed to kiss my forehead before walking out. I’m left with Mum and the horrible nurse, who’s poking me.
“Did he really stay out there all night?” I ask, whispering.
Mum smiles, her eyes shining. “Yeah, baby, he did. The others got back yesterday, preparing to pull something on him, but the minute they got here, saw his bloodshot eyes and how he was covered in blood, they decided to give him a chance.”
“He had blood on him?” I ask, eyes wide.
Her smile falls. “Yeah, girl. Your head was bleeding pretty badly. They’ve had to shave a bit to put in some stitches.”
My eyes water further. I shouldn’t be so vain as to worry over some shaved hair after everything that happened. I should be thankful I’m still alive. But it’s my hair. “Can you see it?” I croak out. My hair is long and thick, something I’ve always taken care of. If I have to cut it off, it will gut me.
The nurse interrupts. “You won’t be able to see it. You also can’t wash your hair until they get taken out. You need to keep them dry. How are you feeling? Would you like some pain meds?”
“My entire body aches, but it’s my head and wrist that hurt the most.”
She nods in understanding. “I’ll go get you some pain meds.”
She leaves us, and as the door shuts behind her, someone knocks on it. Beau pokes his head round, still wearing his uniform, but instead of the vest and all the crap he keeps on his belt, he’s only wearing his shirt, slacks and boots.
“Beau,” I whisper, feeling my pulse pick up at the sight of him.
His expression softens at the sound of my voice. He looks like he’s been in a wreck. The blood on his shirt…it makes my stomach turn. “Hey, your dad said you were awake.”
“Yeah.”
“How did you get past my offspring?” Mum asks, trying to lighten the mood.
He grins. “Aiden and Mark were busy fighting about who got to come in first, so they didn’t even see me and Lily. Lily said to come in first since she didn’t plan on leaving any time soon. She’s waiting for your dad to come back. They said since your awake, you can have three visitors.”
“Sounds about right. I’m just going to let everyone know you’re okay and ask the doctors when you can come home.”
Ahh, my mum thinks she’s being tactful. She’s not. It’s written all over her face that she wants to give us some time alone. And I love her for it. I need to thank Beau for saving me.
“Okay.”
“Love you. I won’t be long. Is there anything you need me to get while I’m gone?”
“Can you get me some water? And I love you too, Mum.”
She kisses my forehead, the same way my dad did, before leaving. I glance back at Beau, forcing a smile through the pain.
It occurred to me on the way to the station that I hadn’t been running towards the police, I had been running towards Beau. The thought not only scared me, but exhilarated me. When I was at my worst, at my most frightened, I’d wanted him. Not my parents, not my brothers or sister… Him.
In my life, family means everything, and Beau coming first… it’s monumental.
“You did good coming to the police station.” My head snaps to attention at the sound of his voice. It’s filled with so much heaviness and grievance.
“I wasn’t running to the police station,” I admit, not understanding why I blurted that out. I’m putting myself out there for a guy I hardly know, but feel like I’ve known my whole life.
I’ll never understand how billions of people walk around every day without knowing a thing about each other, but then you meet one person, just one time, and you can feel like you know everything about them.
It’s how I feel with Beau.
“What do you mean?” His brows scrunch up in confusion, making his tired and spent features look adorable.
I smile weakly, due to the amount of pain I’m enduring, and explain, my voice still a whisper, “I was running to you.”
His eyes flash as he leans forwards, taking my broken hand in his. He runs his thumb across my cast. “What do you mean?”
If we were in another situation, I’d giggle at his repetition.
“I was running to you, Beau. When I woke up, I didn’t want to move. It was like, for a split second I gave up and just wanted to die.”
His grip on my hand tightens, but I reach out with my good hand—hooked up to an IV—and place it over his.
“Don’t say shit like that. I thought I lost you, Faith. When you fell on those stairs, broken and in torn clothes…” He shakes his head, running a hand over his rough-shaven jaw. “I can’t lose you.”
I shake my head at him. “That’s the thing, it was only for a split second. And then I knew I had to get to you, that y
ou’d help me. You’ve got to find him, Beau. He hurt a dog to lure me to my office.”
Tears fill his eyes and he scrubs a hand down his face, looking more exhausted than he did when he first entered.
“I’m so fucking sorry this happened to you. When I started at the police academy, I knew I wanted to help people. I wanted to give victims a voice, a chance at hope, to know they had someone on their side. I failed you last night. We knew he was closing in and making demands. I should have been more vigilant.”
“You couldn’t have predicted what he’d do and when. Like you said, you have a job to do, you help people. I’d never let you, or anyone, stop their lives for him. He doesn’t get that, not from you, not from me, and not from all the other women he has hurt along the way. He knew exactly what he was doing when he cornered me. He thought I’d run and hide with my tail between my legs. But he didn’t count on me being a Carter. We don’t run, and we don’t fucking hide. We stand and fight.”
His expression softens, his lips forced into a small smile. “You really are an enigma, Faith Carter. You were so fucking brave last night, even if you did give me a heart attack.”
“From what I remember, you seemed pretty in control. You got me here. You called my family and stayed with them. Thank you so much. For all of it.”
We stare into each other’s eyes, lost in the moment. Beau blinks, a regretful look crossing his face.
“I’m sorry but I need to get back to the station. I’ve got to give a statement about last night. I just couldn’t leave without knowing you were okay, really okay. I know you’re not, I can see that, but I just needed to be able to hear your voice and see those pretty eyes of yours.”
My cheeks heat at the compliment. “You didn’t need to do that, but thank you. What will happen with Noah now? Have they found him?” I ask before he rushes off to work where I won’t be able to see him.
One’s thing is for sure, I’m not relying on his colleagues to be upfront with me about everything. Beau has been honest from the very beginning of this case.
His eyes harden at the mention of Noah. “We haven’t found him. We guessed where you were attacked last night and traced your footsteps. They found the crime scene and have started asking other store owners for any CCTV they have. A woman named Susan has already brought yours in. Apparently, some kids, a few weeks back, turned your camera from facing your front doors to face the street where you were attacked.”
Faith Page 13
