Slow Burn (Boston Beauties #2)

by Dawn Edwards

  We walked in, closing the gate behind us, making almost no noise. They walked almost silently, even though it was crushed rock and they each weighed a good two hundred pounds of pure muscle each. Tom put up his hand in a stopping motion that I’d seen on TV and in movies countless times. He glanced around the corner and then looked back to me. ‘What kind of car does she drive?’

  ‘A maroon Saturn,’ I answered while Nyall took a look.

  ‘Breton,’ Tom said. ‘What kind of vehicle does the boyfriend drive?’

  ‘Cargo van,’ Nyall said to me over his shoulder.

  We followed Tom across the aisle and then down the first row, assuming we were going to do some recon, but I was anxious. I just wanted to run up to the locker and get Jessa, presuming she was here.

  We stood at the corner, seeing a single locker without a lock on them while every other one had one. The bottom of the door was slightly ajar. ‘Get the bendy camera and let’s have a look inside that storage locker,’ Tom said.

  Nyall looked back to me. ‘I need you to stay put. I will call you in when we know it’s safe.’

  As much as I hated it, I agreed with the guy. There was no sense in coming all this way to save Jessa if I was going to get hurt in the process. I knew they were only here as a personal favor to Breton, and that was why I was allowed to come along. That and they likely thought Lisa was harmless, at least physically.

  I watched as they slowly approached the door and slid the small tube-like camera under the small opening, looking at the image that was appearing on the screen Tom held. All the while, Nyall was moving the camera with one hand.

  I saw him pull it out and the two of them retreated back to where I stood. ‘She’s not in that one.’

  ‘Don’t you have any heat sensors you can use?’ I was impatient and growing even more anxious.

  ‘Not on us, it’s too warm out,’ Tom informed me. ‘But we’re just going to keep looking for other busted-off locks first. There are only five rows of lockers, there aren’t many.’

  It was down the third aisle that we saw her vehicle and a lock on the ground next to the door that was closed completely. Nyall looked back to me and put his finger to his mouth and indicated that I needed to stay here. They walked halfway down and squatted with the camera, looking as if they were shimmying it under the door, then everything seemed to happen in a flash.

  Tom dropped the screen he held and leaped to the other side of the door, while Nyall sprung up, grabbing his gun before squatting just as Tom reached the bottom of the door and threw it open.

  ‘Freeze!’ they yelled, and it took everything in me to remain in place. There was incoherent yelling that I couldn't make out over the pounding of my heart and the blood rushing through my head. I saw Nyall haul Lisa out and slam her up against the car, cuffing her hands behind her back.

  ‘Breton, get an ambulance to us right now,’ Nyall said into his chest and looked up to me the same time Lisa did.

  I ran up to her. ‘What the fuck did you do?’

  ‘I did us a favor.’ The delusional bitch smiled up at me. I’ve never wanted to hurt a woman before, but it took all my self-restraint not to murder this psycho standing in front of me with my bare hands. I looked into the storage locker to see Tom huddled over. I walked in to see Jessa, lying, lifeless it seemed, on the concrete floor, blood pooling around her thighs.

  ‘Is she?’ I chocked on the words as Tom looked up to me with pained eyes.

  ‘She has a pulse, but just barely,’ he told me. ‘I just don’t know where all the blood is coming from.’

  I felt a tear roll down my cheek, knowing that she was losing our baby. ‘I think it’s a miscarriage.’

  ‘I’m so sorry man.’ His face fell, and he stood to hold my shoulder. ‘Breton, where’s that ambulance? We need to get Jessa to a hospital...Yes, she’s breathing, but her pulse is very weak.’

  CHAPTER 37

  JESSA

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  I reached out for my phone on my nightstand next to my bed only to find a plastic rail in the way and wires limiting my movements. I wanted to open my eyes, but I sensed it was too bright and the effort to open my eyes was proving to be too much for my body to handle.

  ‘Jessa?’ I hear Drew’s tired voice calling my name. ‘Cupcake, what do you need?’

  ‘Turn the alarm off,’ I moaned through a scratchy voice.

  ‘There’s no alarm,’ he whispered, and I finally managed to open my eyes a crack. Looking around, I realized that I was in a hospital room and saw the source of the annoying sound was the machines monitoring my vitals.

  With a flood of memories coming back to me, I frantically tossed the blanket that covered me aside, pulling up the hospital gown that I was wearing to look at my stomach, rubbing my hand over it. Seeing the bruises brought tears to my eyes.

  One of my last conscious memories was of begging Lisa for a doctor.

  Lisa had been gone for a while; I could see the light getting dimmer and dimmer through the small opening at the bottom of the door until it was completely dark. I could only assume it was now night and I was starving, not to mention in an incredible amount of pain from my hands still being bound behind my back.

  I had been dozing in and out of sleep, from sheer boredom and the energy my body was using up from being completely panicked and my anxiety in overdrive.

  I stirred out of my light slumber when I heard the door opening to see Lisa enter again, carrying a brown bag with a fast food joint written across it.

  ‘Wake up, you lazy whore,’ she screamed at me as she closed the door behind her. ‘Seems like no one cares about you. You haven’t even been reported missing and it’s going on day two of your disappearance already.’

  I kept my face neutral, that wasn’t right; I knew Drew would be losing his mind over me being gone. It was likely that Breton was already working on finding me and the police might just be keeping this low-profile, as it didn’t look good that I’d taken off again right under their noses.

  ‘That’s a good thing then,’ I commented in a low voice.

  She walked up to me and slapped me in the face. ‘I don’t want to hear your fucking voice, you cunt.’

  She looked down at me and started to laugh before she walked to the other side of the locker and sat at the makeshift table she had arranged earlier today, turning on the radio and pulling a burger and fries out of the bag she had brought with her.

  I could smell it all the way from where I sat, and while I was starving, the smell of the bacon now was enough to make me want to vomit the little water and chips that were in my stomach from earlier.

  The smell of bacon once made me salivate, but my pregnancy has turned one of my favorite foods into a vomit-inducing smell. I even got nauseous last week when I saw a commercial for a bacon loaded burger from one of the fast food joints. There were other foods that I had no interest in eating, but bacon was by far the worst.

  I shifted a bit where I was sitting, trying to get comfortable. ‘Are you hungry?’ she asked me mockingly.

  I just looked at her and nodded. ‘If I can’t finish this. I’ll think about feeding you my scraps like the bitch you are.’

  I took in a deep breath through my mouth, trying to limit smelling the bacon, but it was really overpowering.

  I sat there listening to the police radio while she was eating, not trusting to really take my eyes off her for too long, but soon I knew I would lose the battle and likely fall asleep again.

  I looked to the ceiling and said a silent prayer, Please Breton, find me soon.

  Lisa pulled out her phone and started scrolling through. ‘You like Miley?’ she asked me as if we were now best friends; I looked to her and nodded, forcing a smile on my face.

  ‘You reading the story she’s been posting?’

  Again, I nodded; she was on her second one and it was so addictive. I’d missed the last two or three days since I’d been in here. ‘They are go
od,’ Lisa commented. ‘I’m just playing catch-up, late to the game and all, but the girl can tell a story. I always picture Drew as Ayden; do you think Drew would make a good Ayden?’

  I smiled, this time a real smile. I had always pictured Drew as the lead male character. ‘Yeah, it’s like she’s met him and described him perfectly.’

  ‘Except Ayden seems to be a bit different in bed, there’s no way Drew would do half those things,’ Lisa seemed disappointed, but I wasn’t going to tell her that Drew was way more giving than the fictional character being depicted. Perhaps not with her, but with me, he always was.

  ‘I’m just starting the second story, so maybe they get a bit more experimental,’ she commented and went silent as she read for a while. My thoughts drifted to the story, wondering what had happened and if I’d ever get to read the chapters I’d missed. If I’d ever see Drew again and if Lisa would get away with this.

  I was nearly falling asleep when I heard the chair move and opened my eyes to see Lisa walking towards me. ‘The food’s cold enough now, here,’ she told me, holding the burger out in front of me. The smell had me gagging immediately. ‘Eat!’ she demanded.

  I tried to take a bite of it, for the sake of keeping my blood sugar up and getting some energy. I knew I had to at least try to force it down. However, after I swallowed two bites and was working on my third, it was too much and I felt it coming back up. I tried to move as quick as I could, but I still ended up getting some on Lisa’s shoe.

  ‘I’m so sorry, it’s the bacon. I haven’t been able to stomach it or the smell recently,’ I apologized, looking up to see the rage in her eyes.

  ‘You disgusting whore,’ she screamed and kicked me straight in my stomach.

  ‘Please no,’ I cried, trying to bring my knees up to protect my stomach, to protect my baby, but she pulled me up by my hair and drove her own knee into my stomach, then let me fall to the floor onto my face. As my hands were still behind my back, I couldn’t brace myself.

  She gave another kick to the side of my stomach. ‘With any luck, the bacon issue will solve itself and there will be no more reason for Drew to want to pretend to be with you.’

  The pain shot through me and lingered in my stomach and the side of my face that broke my fall.

  I started to sob, for the first time breaking down and not caring about Lisa’s wrath. ‘Please,’ I begged. ‘Let me go and you can have him, I’ll even give you money if you want it.’

  ‘Spoiled little rich bitch, I’ve been taking your money my whole life by overcharging your ass at the bar. Your money means nothing to me. And Drew hates rich people, why he even bothers with you and your family is a wonder to me.’

  She tossed some French fries on the ground next to my head. ‘Here’s a snack for later in case you get hungry. I’ve got to go get me a change of shoes.’

  She opened the door and I saw that it was indeed dark; I listened as well as I could, but I still couldn't hear anything. When she closed the door, I didn’t miss the sound the lock made. She wasn’t risking anything; she had me here and had no plans of letting me go anytime soon.

  What was her end game?

  I needed to be smart and think of how I was going to get myself out of this situation

  I fell asleep with a sore stomach and the makings of a horrible headache. I might have a concussion and should really try to stay awake, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I’d hear her coming back; at least with her gone, there was no risk to my personal safety if I decided to sleep.

  ‘What the hell have you done?’ Lisa stood over me, her voice dripping with shock. When I tried to move, a sharp cramp shot through my mid-section, and I let out an agonizing cry. I looked down to see the concrete floor around me covered in blood, clearly coming from between my legs.

  ‘Oh no,’ I cried out. ‘Please, you have to get me to a hospital.’

  ‘No chance,’ she paced.

  I forced myself to sit up, feeling lightheaded, and I was losing a lot of blood. I didn’t have a medical degree, but even I knew this wasn’t normal. ‘Lisa please, there’s something really wrong, I’m going to bleed out.’

  My breathing was labored and it was hard to keep my eyes open. ‘Please,’ I begged once more, before lowering myself back down to the ground. ‘Please, I don’t want to die.’

  ‘Well, that makes one of us, now shut the fuck up and let me think.’

  ‘Please…’

  ‘I’ll gag you again, whore. Your whining might get you what you want with everyone else, but not me.’

  ~

  Looking up to Drew, I saw a single tear in his eye. Eyes that looked tired and bloodshot, like he’d too been crying.

  ‘Jessa, I’m so, so sorry!’ he started to sob, covering his face with his hands.

  I clutched my stomach and closed my eyes, willing myself back to sleep, for I hoped that I could wake up to find this was all a bad dream.

  ‘It’s all my fault,’ I heard Drew say, and it broke my heart, but I just didn’t have the words at the moment to console him.

  It wasn’t his fault, at the root of this was me and my so-called disappearance. If I had never gone away, Drew would have never been involved with Lisa, she wouldn’t have been heartbroken and she wouldn’t have kidnapped me.

  She was a disturbed individual and I, unfortunately, had to find that out firsthand the hard way. I looked to Drew; hearing his sob broke me just a little bit more. I reached out for his hand and he let me take it, but he couldn’t look at me. He was grieving too.

  ‘I’m sorry too,’ I whispered. ‘I tried…’

  ‘Cupcake, no, this isn’t your fault.’

  ‘It’s not yours either…’

  ‘But I dated…’

  ‘Because you thought I was dead and gone.’

  He looked at me, shaking his head. ‘This isn’t your fault.’

  ‘I know, just as it isn’t yours.’

  There was a knock at the door and a woman I didn’t know in nursing scrubs walked in. ‘I thought I heard voices.’

  ‘She just came to,’ Drew informed her, wiping his eyes and trying to cover me back up.

  The nurse looked to me with a pitying look, ‘So he told you then?’ I nodded, wiping my own set of fresh tears away. ‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’

  ‘I’m going to call your parents.’ Drew stood and walked to the other end of the room while the nurse did a quick examination.

  ‘Do you have any pain?’ she asked me.

  ‘A bit,’ I touched my face. ‘How bad does it look?’

  ‘For an MMA fighter, not too bad.’ she winked at me.

  I couldn’t help the small smile on my lips. ‘If I can have some ibuprofen, I think that’s all I’ll need.’

  ‘Sure thing,’ she told me, covering me up and recording some vitals in my chart. ‘I’ll be back with them shortly. I’ll also bring you some food.’

  Drew sat next to me and took my hand. ‘Have I been out long?’ I asked him.

  ‘Just a few hours,’ he kissed my hand. ‘Your parents are on their way.’

  ‘Was it Breton who found me?’

  Drew nodded, ‘Yeah, and two of the guys he works with. They did the rescue.’

  ‘And Lisa?’ I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat.

  ‘She’s in custody; the police want a statement when you’re up for it.’

  The nurse came back in with some meds and a tray of hospital food. It was supposed to be some kind of pasta, but I wasn’t sure it could even be classified as food. I ate the crackers and Jell-O, and drank the juice before I fell back to sleep.

  I awoke a few hours later to hear my father’s voice coming from the hallway, ‘...and when she’s awake and our lawyer is present, you can talk to her, but until such time, you are going to have to wait. You have enough evidence to make an arrest on the grounds of kidnapping alone. Do that, and if you need to add more charges after speaking with my daughter, then do so.’

  ‘Mr. Cahill,’ a
woman's voice sounded impatient. I knew that voice, it was detective Landry. ‘You are impeding an active investigation.’

  ‘You are impeding the healing of my daughter, now I suggest you get out of here before I have to call your boss, who I can assure you is a close personal friend of mine,’ my father said forcefully.

  ‘She really needs to know when to back down,’ I moaned, looking around to see my mother asleep on a chair and Drew asleep on the bed next to me.

  My father walked back in and took a seat on the other side of me. ‘How are you doing, kiddo?’

  ‘I’ll live,’ I sighed. ‘Any chance we can go home?’

  ‘In the morning, we were told,’ he took my hand and smiled. ‘They just want to keep you overnight for observations.’

  I arrived home the next day after being released to a big lunch prepared by my aunt Deb and Abby setting the table.

  Breton and his team were long gone, back to England, and already out on another mission. I wanted to see him, but they weren’t able to postpone any longer. As it was, they were already in a lot of shit for coming to find me.

  After showering, I sat down with my family to eat, ever so thankful for them and to be home again.

  Drew hadn’t left my side, and I appreciated his concern, but at some point, he would need to go back to work and I’d have to start to heal. The woman who’d been my mentor for life coaching put me in touch with a local psychologist. After everything I’d been through, the doctors at the hospital felt it would be useful to speak to a professional who dealt with trauma.

  ‘Let’s eat before the Wicked Witch of the Cape returns,’ Drew said, taking a seat next to me.

  ‘I’ve set the appointment with the Barnstable Police Department personally,’ Abby said, scooping potato salad onto her plate as Drew served me a grilled chicken breast. I was relieved to see no bacon, and I was pretty sure that was all Drew’s doing.

  ‘And I’ve spoken with her boss. I don’t think she will be an issue after today’s meeting,’ my father added.