“What’s your name? Can you at least tell me that?” the man asked. “You look awfully familiar.”
“Lucas,” he whispered. “My name is Lucas.”
Then, all went dark.
Epilogue
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The sound penetrated past the deep fog that blanketed his mind, and he blinked his eyes open. The harsh light burned his eyes, and he had to blink a few times to clear his blurry vision.
“You’re awake! How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been run over,” he gasped as he looked over at the nurse who stood beside his bed, checking the monitors.
“I’m Kieran, and I’ll be your nurse this evening. Can you tell me your name?”
“Lucas. Lucas Wheeler.”
“Good. Your husband stepped out and will be back shortly. He’ll be happy to see you’re awake.”
Hearing the word husband instantly had Lucas on alert.
“M-my h-husband?” Lucas rasped as fear turned his blood ice cold.
The words were too familiar from the last time he’d woken in a hospital, and Lucas glanced wildly at the door as he started to tremble uncontrollably.
The nurse frowned at Lucas. “Are you okay, sir?”
“Wh-where i-is h-he?” he asked through chattering teeth as he quickly sat up, even though his head and body tried to revolt against the movement. “Keep Pierce away from me!”
Kieran stood beside Lucas’s bed as he tried to calm him down as the monitors started to beep loudly, and when the door opened, Lucas let out a scream and shrank back against the bed.
“Lucas? Calm down, honey. It’s me.”
Lucas’s eyes and ears must’ve been playing tricks on him, or he was hallucinating from too many drugs. How else could he explain what he was seeing, or how the voice sounded so damn familiar? Yet, when the hand belonging to the other person touched him, it felt soothing.
“Shaw?” Lucas asked in disbelief.
“Yes, baby. It’s me.”
Lucas reached up a tentative hand and ghosted his fingers across his husband’s face. He saw the tell-tale sign of faded bruises and scratches that’d scarred over. But it was him. It was Shaw, and he was alive and breathing and with Lucas again. The eyes he loved so much were staring at him in awe and filled with so much love it nearly took Lucas’s breath away. Tears sprung to his own as he buried his face in his hands and sobbed uncontrollably. Lucas felt the bed dip beside him before Shaw’s strong, familiar arms wrapped around him and pulled him close.
“I thought you were dead,” Lucas cried on Shaw’s shoulder.
Shaw rubbed his hand in slowly circles on Lucas’s back until his sobs subsided to quiet whimpers. “It was a close call, but as you can see, I’m okay. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Lucas pulled back to stare at Shaw. “You have?”
“Yes. I didn’t believe for a second the text sent from your phone saying you were leaving me. And when Maurice came to me about hiring the P.I., we knew something had happened to you. Maurice agreed to pay for another P.I. to track you down, and we’d been looking for you for weeks. He heard about a Lucas Wheeler being checked in here after being found by a river, and we knew it was you. We came here as fast as we could.”
“What text? I didn’t send you a message,” Lucas hiccupped. “I was t-taken by some psycho who believed I was his h-husband.”
Lucas started to cry harder, and Shaw hugged him close. “It’s okay, Tiger. You’re safe.” He tensed up at the use of the nickname, and Shaw must have felt it. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Please, don’t ever call me that again.”
“What?” Shaw asked. “Why not?”
Lucas pulled back to look into his husband’s bright blue eyes and opened his mouth to tell him what’d happened when the doctor entered after a brief knock.
Soon, there was a flurry of activity in the room—the doctor wanting to do an assessment, the nurse checking fluids since he’d been interrupted by Lucas’s outburst, and finally a detective wanting to ask questions. Shaw held onto Lucas’s hand the entire time, and when he heard about what Lucas had been through, Lucas thought Shaw was going to break his fingers from how hard he squeezed them.
“Who saved me?” Lucas asked. He wanted to know the man’s name so he could find a way to repay him for saving his life.
“A fisherman named Fred Jacobs. The rapids carried you quite a bit down the river, and luckily Fred had taken some time off work to spend the week fishing. It was lucky he did or hard-telling what would’ve happened to you. He recognized your face from a flier that’d been posted in his store and called it in to the police.”
Lucas shivered at the thought. “What about Pierce?”
“You’ll be happy to know the detectives at Boulder Lake were able to pick up Damien Scherrer after he was stopped for a traffic violation. I can’t go into any more specifics, but rest assured he is in police custody. You’re safe, Mr. Wheeler.”
“Who is he?” Shaw asked, “besides a crooked P.I.?”
The detective glanced down at the tiny notebook in his hand where he’d jotted some things down. “He’s not a practicing P.I. At least, not anymore. His license was revoked when he was a suspect in the death of his husband.”
Lucas sucked in a breath. “His h-husband d-died? H-how?”
The detective sighed. “Accidental overdose on sleeping pills. He was finally cleared after the initial autopsy, but when someone young, fit, and healthy dies unexpectedly that way, the spouse is always brought into questioning. Once he was acquitted he fled the state.”
Something nagged at Lucas until he had no choice but to ask his next question. “What was his name?”
“Duncan.”
Of course, it was. “That explains why he was hellbent on calling me that name. He was trying to replace who he lost.” Lucas’s voice was soft and hollow, and he knew in his gut that Duncan’s death was no accident.
“I’ll be in touch if I have any further questions. Try and get some rest now that you know he is behind bars and can’t ever harm you again.”
Lucas breathed out a sigh of relief, and after he and Shaw thanked him, the detective left to go do whatever it was detectives did.
“When can I go home?” Lucas asked the doctor who re-entered the room.
“We’re going to keep you overnight for observation. Your ankle is severely sprained—again—and you were very dehydrated when you were brought in. But if everything looks good tomorrow, then I’ll be able to release you.”
“Sounds good,” Lucas said. He was tired of hospitals and just wanted to be home with Shaw—his real husband.
Shaw shook the doctor’s hand before he left the room. When Shaw went to move, Lucas reached out and grasped his husband’s hand tightly in his. “Please, don’t leave me.”
Shaw smiled softly and leaned over to place a soft kiss to his husband’s lips. Lucas wasted no time in deepening the kiss. Tears sprung to his eyes when it hit him—once again—how close he was to losing Shaw, and his own life as well. And he knew never to take another kiss from his husband for granted ever again.
“I’m never leaving you, baby. Not now, and not ever. I was only going to sit in the chair so you could be more comfortable.”
“I don’t care about being comfortable. I only care about you.”
Shaw smiled softly and ran his fingers through Lucas’s disheveled hair. “We have the rest of our lives to care about each other. Right now, all you need to do is heal so I can get you back home and we can live out the plans we’ve made. There are kids out there waiting for us to bring them home, and we can’t do that with you in the hospital.”
“I love you, Shaw. I was so scared I’d lost you. I don’t ever want to feel that way again.”
“Me either, baby. I love you more than I can ever put into words, and I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that to you.”
“Don’t leave me. Promise me. I don’t want to open my eyes to
find you gone.”
“I promise you. Like I said in my vows, you are forever mine, and I am forever yours.” Shaw kissed him again, but only briefly. “Get some rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Only then did Lucas allow his eyes to close. Thanks to the medication he’d been administered, he was allowed to sleep peacefully with no nightmares of what’d happened with Pierce. And when he woke up, Shaw was seated in the chair right beside his hospital bed. When he saw his husband, he felt deep in his bones that everything would be okay.
“Time to wake up, sleepyhead, it’s time to go home,” Shaw said softly and kissed Lucas’s temple.
“Get me the hell out of here.”
“It’d be my pleasure.”
Hours later, Shaw carried Lucas across the threshold, much like he’d done on their wedding day. After looking around the living room of their condo and taking in the furnishings they’d picked out together and photos that decorated the walls, Lucas sank down on the couch and quietly let the tears trickle down his face.
“How could I have forgotten all this?” he murmured with a sniffle.
“You were drugged and had no memory. I didn’t like hearing what you went through, but I understand how you could’ve believed what he said.”
“I kept dreaming of me with another man, and that entire time it was my memory trying to tell me it was you I should’ve been with, not him.”
“You finally did remember me, and we’re back together. That’s all that matters.”
Lucas stared at Shaw with wide, tear-filled eyes. “I am so sorry about everything. So very sorry.”
Allowing Pierce to put his hands on Lucas’s body and pretending that he liked it had been the most difficult thing Lucas had ever done, and he hated himself for letting it happen. Pierce had brought the manacles with him, and Lucas knew he’d have been shackled before they’d turn in for the night. Lucas’s plan was to seduce Pierce into trusting him enough that he wouldn’t use them when it was time for bed, and he hoped he’d be able to slip out and run for help after Pierce had fallen asleep. It scared him to think how far Lucas would’ve allowed things to go had Pierce not caught on to him. And even though Pierce had choked him into unconsciousness after he’d figured it out, Lucas was grateful they didn’t go all the way. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to forgive himself if they did, and he was already having a hard time dealing with it when all they did was kiss.
“Shh, don’t apologize. You’re home and you’re safe. The rest we will work through together.”
“Together?”
“Together,” Shaw said again vehemently.
“Forever mine?” Lucas asked. It was a line from their vows, when Lucas and Shaw pledged to belong to each other forever.
Shaw leaned over and gave Lucas a kiss on his forehead. “Forever yours.”
Lucas believed him. How could he have ever believed Shaw would cheat on him? That was his own insecurities casting doubt in their marriage. The fact he was there, battered and bruised, and continued to search for him after Pierce sent that bullshit text showed Duncan how much Shaw loved him. Lucas needed to keep that in mind the next time self-doubt wanted to rear its ugly head.
It was going to take time and a lot of therapy, but he knew Shaw was right. They would get through this, and their marriage would be stronger than ever. They would have their happily ever after. The pitter-patter of footsteps would eventually fill their home. Lucas refused to have it any other way. After all, Shaw was forever his and he was forever Shaw’s, and nothing—not even being kidnapped—would ever tear them apart.
The End
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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I need to thank all of you who are taking a chance with reading this book. This isn’t the typical romance I am known to write, but something was telling me to write this story and I couldn’t ignore it. I know this storyline isn’t for everyone, but I had a blast writing it.
To Aimee, what can I say? You are freaking amazing, and I love you! Thank you for putting up with me while I was writing this book, and for giving me ideas to help make it even better than I could have ever imagined! You challenged me to push myself, and I will always be grateful for that. Your support and encouragement are what kept me going when I wanted to give up on this book, and I could not have written this without you.
To Racheal and Kelly, thank you for reading these guys when the story was still a mess, and for giving me such awesome feedback! I am so glad you enjoyed reading these guys, and I am glad I didn’t traumatize you with my characters.
To Aly, thank you for taking time out of your hectic schedule to edit this book and helping make it better than I ever imagined it’d be.
To Kate, thank you for formatting my books for me. They always look beautiful thanks to you!
To the ARC readers and everyone else, thank you for coming over to the dark side with me, and I hope you enjoy your stay!
About the Author
Brittany was born in Enterprise, Alabama and moved to a small town in Indiana when she was thirteen. And, even though the town is named Kokomo, it’s nothing like the Beach Boys song. During her free time, she loves to read amazing books, watch mindless television, and spend time with family and loved ones. Oh, and squeeze in writing some time throughout the day as well. She is also the mom to an adorable, yet precocious, Border Collie named Delilah. When not doing any of those fun-filled activities, she works at a hospital as a switchboard operator.
Also by Brittany Cournoyer
The Consequence of Destiny
Fated Heroes
Dark Saviors
Forever in Middlebury
Teaching Tenderness
Teaching Trust
Teaching Truthfulness
Personal Protectors
Vow of Protection
Promise to Shield
Oath of Valor
Badge and Bullets
At a Stranger’s Mercy
Out of Darkness
Captivated
Sinister Shadows Page 18
