Secured Heart

by Measha Stone

  She braced herself for the harsh strike of the leather.

  “What the—” A loud tumbling sound came from the stairwell. Ted’s crumpled form rolled off the last step and landed in a heap at the foot of the stairs.

  “You dumbass, did you slip?” Peltner left her and went to inspect his partner. Just as he reached the unconscious Ted, Kendrick turned around the corner of the stairs and pointed his semi-automatic pistol at him.

  Peltner stared down the chamber and put his hands in the air. “Shit. Kendrick, you scared the crap out of me.” He gave a forced laugh. “We got him good. Kelly, here, was excellent setting a trap. I just got here. He had her—”

  Kendrick struck Peltner on the side of his head with the butt of the pistol, shutting him up and knocking him out at the same time.

  A surge of relief washed through Kelly as the sight of Kendrick registered in her mind. Her jaw was sore from the many slaps she’d taken, but she called out to him.

  He stepped over the heap of bodies he’d created and stood in front of her.

  “My shoulder,” she whimpered.

  His eyes, stone firm and distant, swept over her body in an inspection of sorts.

  He nodded and reached up to let her loose of her binds. He caught her as she slipped down and kept her from falling to the ground.

  “They tore my clothes up,” she said, wrapping her arms around her breasts.

  “Here.” Alex was there, standing beside Kendrick.

  She hadn’t seen him walk in. When did he get there?

  He gave her his long black coat.

  “How did you find me?” she asked Kendrick.

  “I knew where Ted lived, not too far from Krush.” Kendrick took the coat from her, draped it over his shoulder then turned his attention to her shoulder. He carefully lifted her arm and watched her face.

  She winced when the pain was too much, and he put her arm back down.

  “It’s not out of the socket. You probably pulled a few muscles; you’ll be sore for a few days.” He took the coat and helped her into it.

  She could smell his aftershave. He was so close to her. Why hadn’t he held her yet? Why wasn’t he picking her up and carrying her out of the nightmare he found her in?

  “I’ll wait for the cops down here, make sure these two stay down. Alex will take you upstairs,” he said and handed her over to Alex.

  She watched his expression, waiting for it to soften, for the concern to show up. Nothing. All business.

  “Kendrick.” She turned back to him, but he had turned away, pulling out his cell phone.

  Alex urged her on and helped her step over her two attackers.

  “He hates me,” she whispered as she walked up the steps.

  Alex didn’t correct her.

  Kendrick stood under the hook, where he’d found Kelly hanging and took gulping breaths of air. The whirlwind of nausea that was his stomach threatened to revolt at any moment. She had looked so vulnerable, so helpless. A light bruise had already begun to form on her jaw, where she must have been struck.

  He wanted to wake up the assholes, so he could knock them out again.

  The belt Peltner had been holding still lay on the floor, and he found himself clenching his fists. They were going to beat her, use her, rape her. If she hadn’t told Alex what her plans had been, he wouldn’t have been able to help her. If she had gone off halfcocked like usual, no one would have been able to stop them.

  But she hadn’t, he reminded himself. She had told someone. She had at least done that much to assure her safety. She had still gone too far with her little plan to capture Ted, but she hadn’t been completely impulsive. Once he was done being terrified for her, angry at her, and had calmed his nerves, he might convince himself she was trying to do what she thought was right.

  “They’re here,” Alex called down to Kendrick, who was waiting for the squad to come down the stairs.

  One of their own was laying on the ground; he’d have to explain that. He’d have to tell them that their detective was one of the bad guys they put their lives on the line trying to find.

  It all went as he’d expected. Long list of questions. Pictures of the room. More questions. One officer went up to speak with Kelly, while Kendrick answered what he could with the rest in the basement. The ambulance came to collect the two men who had begun to wake. Peltner tried to convey his innocence, but he was given a sedative to quiet down his temper.

  After two long hours, Kendrick climbed the stairs to find Kelly. Alex was sitting with her in the living room. The lights had been turned on, and he wished they’d left them off. The grime and the dirt of the house only attested to Ted’s filth.

  “I don’t think he lived here. I think he just used the basement. It doesn’t look like much else has been touched,” Alex offered when Kendrick entered the room.

  He merely nodded that he’d heard him. He saw Kelly watching him, and he wanted to touch her, to comfort her, to kiss the breath out of her. “Alex, can you take her home?”

  “Sure.” Alex stood from the couch and helped her stand.

  Tears sat on the brim of her lids, and he could tell she was trying to hold them back. If he touched her, he wouldn’t be able to stop. He’d let himself loose. The fear, the anger, it would all spill out, and he needed to keep himself composed.

  “Kendrick?” She paused at the doorway.

  He looked over his shoulder at her. A stray hair had fallen in front of her eyes, and a lone tear finally fell and slid down her cheek.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  He nodded. “I know.” He turned away, not wanting her to see the tears he was fighting off.

  CHAPTER thirty-one

  Aftermath

  Kelly laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling fan going round and round. It was the most her brain was able to process at the moment. Her phone rested on her chest; a box of tissues sat beside her. The crying she had done had given her a headache, which at least distracted her from the pain in her shoulder.

  Alex had done his best to comfort her when he’d brought her home the night before. He’d explained that Kendrick just needed to process everything, that he would call her. She told him he was the one being an idiot.

  “He’s never going to forgive me.” She had cried into the sleeve of his coat. “First I dump him, cuz I’m an idiot. Then I go off trying to be all undercover and shit, cuz I’m an idiot. Who wants an idiot for a girlfriend, or a wife for that matter?”

  “He will forgive you. He’s gonna be pissed for a little while, but he’ll forgive you. It’s what you do.” Alex had managed to get her out of his coat and get a night shirt on her without much discomfort to her arm.

  Luckily, she had some pain meds in her bathroom, and he’d gotten a dose down her. He’d given up the fight about her going to the hospital and settled for getting her comfortable in her own bed.

  “It’s what you do for what?” she asked, turning onto her uninjured side and pulling the comforter up to her chin.

  “It’s what you do when you’re in love.” She heard the words, but had already begun to drift to sleep and didn’t react.

  When she woke in the morning, Alex was gone. Her phone and the tissues were on the bed with her and a note from him telling her to call when she woke up. She decided a text would take less energy and had sent him two words. “I’m alive.”

  She looked at the clock on her nightstand and decided she would get up and get on with her life. If she rushed through her shower, she would make it for her nine o’clock class.

  The heat from the shower helped soothe her angry muscles. Her shoulder was still pretty pissed at her, but she did her best to wash and dress herself, pushing through the pain. She took one look at the mangled mess that was her hair and decided to leave it. It would hurt too much to try and braid it or tie it up.

  The cab driver was more than willing to get her to school as fast as possible, in exchange for the extra twenty she promised him. She welcomed the speed of
the cab and the jostle of the car. It kept her mind on the discomfort of her body and away from the sharp pang in her chest.

  Kendrick had been so distant, so angry; she’d never seen him in such a state. He barely made eye contact with her, and he hadn’t touched her at all. All she wanted was his arms around her, to blanket her from the mess and pain. Instead, he had handed her over to Alex, as though she were any other woman on the street.

  “Here you go,” the cabbie said with his thick accent as he pulled to the curb in front of her building.

  She handed him the obscene amount of travel pay and exited the car. Two of her colleagues saw her and joined her as she made her way into the building toward her office.

  The day would go on. Her heart would simply have to wait to be dealt with. She’d been dumped before. Her heart had been broken before; she would heal again. She was beginning to wonder if it was normal to lie to herself so often.

  Thankfully, her classes ended early on Friday. She longed to find her bed and sink into the mattress and stay there until Monday. Having wasted so much on the cab ride to work in the morning, she opted for the bus home.

  As usual, the bus was filled with college students at first, but by the time she rounded toward her own neighborhood, the bus was a mixture of students, people getting off of work, and families. It was always the families that caught her eye.

  A mother with two little kids read them a book to keep them quiet. A man sat with his daughter on his knee, showing her pictures on his iPhone as the bus swerved through traffic. More than ever, she wanted to be swallowed up by her bed, and she was gloriously happy when the bus pulled to her stop.

  She readjusted the strap on her bag as she stepped off the bus and began her block walk to her apartment building. A beige sedan drove past her, and for a moment, she hoped to find Kendrick pulling up at her building.

  It didn’t stop.

  “Get a grip,” she muttered to herself as she climbed the steps to her front door.

  She tossed her bag and her purse on the loveseat of her living room and began to strip out of her work clothes. The blouse slid from her arms, and she began to reach for her bra hooks.

  A new pain shot through her shoulder, and she decided to leave it. Gingerly, she maneuvered her arms through her robe sleeves and fell onto her bed.

  “Shit!” she said to the empty room. It was Friday; her friends would be expecting her at dinner.

  The ring of her doorbell convinced her to roll off the bed. She pressed the intercom button, but before she could speak, she heard Jessica and Alex bickering.

  “I just don’t know what possesses you to help her with her harebrained ideas!” Jessica’s voice came through her speakers.

  Kelly released the button, not wanting to hear Alex’s retort, and buzzed the door open.

  She unlocked her door and left it slightly open before she situated herself on the couch. Whatever was coming up the stairs, she figured she’d need more energy than she possessed at the moment. Of course, Alex had told Jessica what happened; he told her everything.

  The door pushed open, and Jessica ran into the room, plopping herself down on the couch beside Kelly.

  Kelly allowed herself to be pulled into a hug, while Alex shut and locked the door.

  “Are you okay? Where are you hurt? Why didn’t you go to the hospital?” Jessica’s questions fired at Kelly, leaving no room for any actual answers. Her arms squeezed Kelly, which caused a hot pain to shoot through her shoulder. Only when she grimaced, did Jessica loosen her hold and pull away to look at her.

  Kelly tried to give a half smile, but the tears streaming down her face gave her away.

  “I pulled a bunch of muscles in my shoulder. I’ll be fine in a few days,” Kelly assured her, but the tears continued to fall, and her voice was shaking from the effort to keep her ugly sobs inside.

  Alex sat on the coffee table in front of the two women. “Did you take any ibuprofen today? That will help.” His voice came across as soft and concerned.

  Kelly shook her head. “No, I just got home a little while bit ago. Can you grab me some?”

  Alex patted her knee and went in search of the medication.

  “Jess, I really fucked it all up this time.” She let the hard sob take over, and she leaned against the back of the couch, beginning to shake from her cries. “He’s never going to forgive me.”

  “Yes, he will,” Jessica said with a certainty Kelly didn’t believe. “Why did you break up with him? What happened?” Jessica pushed away a clump of hair from Kelly’s face.

  “Because I’m an idiot. I got it into my head that I couldn’t possibly have both things I wanted. That you can’t have a family and be a submissive at the same time.”

  “Did Kendrick tell you that?” Jessica’s soft voice was braided with accusatory undertones.

  Kelly shook her head and sniffled. “No. I didn’t talk to him about it. I just decided for us. See. Not very submissive-like either. And I completely disobeyed him by helping to catch Ted. Which ended up just being a trap for those two sick fucks to kidnap me!” Her sobs became louder, and she buried her face in the couch.

  “Technically, you didn’t disobey. If you were broken up, then you weren’t—”

  “Here, take these.” Alex interrupted Jessica and shot her a glare as he pulled Kelly to sit upright.

  She took the three little pills and downed the glass of water he handed her.

  “Kelly, you need to get back in bed. Get some sleep and don’t worry about Kendrick. He will come around and forgive you. He loves you too much to let you just waltz out of his life.” Alex shoved the empty glass at Jessica who took it with surprise in her eyes. He then helped Kelly to stand from the couch and walked her to her room.

  “You keep saying that. But you saw him last night. You saw how much he hated me.” The sobs came again, quieter, but they were there.

  “I saw an angry man who did what he could to keep the insane situation controlled. You get in bed and stay there. If you need something, you just say something. I’m in the living room, and Jessica will hang out until Royce comes to get her.” He helped her out of her robe and didn’t bat an eye at getting her bra off and aiding her in slipping on a nightgown.

  Kelly eyed him suspiciously. “When did you get so take charge?” she asked, while he maneuvered her sore arm into the nightgown.

  He remained silent as she slid into bed, and he pulled the comforter up to her chin.

  “Just rest,” he said and turned off the lamp beside her bed, darkening the room.

  She watched his figure leave her room. He left the door open a crack before he went back to Jessica in the living room.

  “What was that? I was talking to her—”

  “You were giving her bad advice.” Alex’s voice was forceful. “She doesn’t need excuses for her behavior. She did fuck up, and she will have to deal with it with Kendrick. She doesn’t need you filling her head with crap like ‘we were on a break’.”

  Kelly knew Alex was right. If there was to be any chance with Kendrick, she’d have to own up to her mistakes. She’d have to come clean about everything. She could do that, as scary as it sounded, she could do it. But would he take her back? Or would he walk away?

  CHAPTER thirty-two

  Women

  Kendrick stared at the empty dungeon room at Gallant Domination with a heavy sinking sensation in his chest. He’d been unable to shake the dark feelings and had decided he’d go to the club for a bit to clear his mind.

  His five mile run that afternoon hadn’t done much to help and sitting at his apartment only made him more anxious and annoyed.

  “Hey.” George clapped Kendrick on the back. “I didn’t think you’d be in tonight.”

  “Where else would I be?” Kendrick scoffed and turned away from the play space and headed to George’s office. He kept a bottle of bourbon in his desk, and Kendrick wanted it.

  “I heard what happened with Ted. I thought you’d be with Kelly.” G
eorge followed him to the office and shut the door behind him when they were inside.

  Kendrick rifled through the top drawer, looking for the key to the liquor cabinet and glared up at George when he couldn’t find it. “Where’s the key?”

  George grinned widely and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know love is blind, but Christ, man.” He laughed. “It’s in there.” He pointed to the drawer when Kendrick’s glare turned murderous.

  After another shake of the contents, Kendrick succeeded in his search and headed over to the mini cabinet George had in the corner of the room.

  “What the hell happened?” George asked as he plopped down in his chair and threw his fee on his desk. “I thought you two were going good.”

  “We were.” Kendrick slammed a glass on the counter and opened the bottle. “Something spooked her, and she broke it off.” He screwed the top back on and picked the glass up.

  “Her choice,” he said and threw back the bourbon in one swallow. He licked his lips and planted the cup back on the tabletop.

  “What spooked her?” George asked, eyeing him as he poured a second glass.

  “I don’t know. She wouldn’t say. Just said that what we had couldn’t be a long term thing, and that was it. Then I get a call from her friend telling me she’s at Krush trying to trap that bastard.”

  He threw back the second glass and left it on the countertop, then headed over to the large chair in the corner of the room.

  “Do you know how I found her? Hung up from the ceiling. Naked. Barely able to touch the ground with her feet. The bastards had twisted her so much her shoulder was all fucked up. She’s probably in a hell of a lot of pain today.”

  The memory of finding Kelly in such a position brought back all the terror he’d felt the previous evening. Driving like a mad man through the busy city streets to get to her before Ted could do something, only to find out they’d dragged her out of the club before he’d gotten to her made his blood run cold. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out where they’d gone, but every moment he’d spent getting to her, he’d feared was a moment she was being tortured or raped.