Breathe Into Me (33 page)

My father held up one hand to silence anything else Nate had to say. He was staring straight at me with and ugly snarl on his face.

“My, my, how you have grown,” my dad said as he walked along the wall, circling me like a wild animal stalking its prey.

“How did you get out?” I asked. My voice barely about a whisper.

“You would know if you would have been at the hearing a few months ago, sweet pea.” He grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

I shook my head.
This wasn’t possible. He was supposed to never get out that place. I was supposed to never have to face him again.

“What’s wrong? Not happy to see daddy?” he asked as he pulled a black handgun from his back.

My whole world stopped when he brought the gun up and pointed it straight at me. I closed my eyes. I heard the explosion of the shot and waited to feel the burn of the bullet piercing my skin. But it never came.

I opened my eyes to see that my dad still had the gun pointed at me but Nate was no longer standing beside me. Instead he was lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding from his abdomen.

Immediately I dropped to my knees and pressed my hand over his wound to try to stop some of the blood from flowing out of his body.

“Get up!” my father screamed, startling me and causing me to fall back on my butt. “I said, GET UP!” The gun rattled in his shaking hand as he pointed it at me. I scurried to stand, but I couldn’t stop watching the blood flow from Nate’s stomach. He skin was turning paler by the second.

“It was all your fault, you know.” I looked at my dad. “All of it. Everything that ever happened to her was your fault. We were fine before you came along. We were happy. Then she found out she was pregnant with you,” he spat the word
you
like it was the most disgusting thing in the world to him.

“I tried to talk her out of having you. I wanted her to have an abortion. She was MINE! I didn’t want to share her with
anyone,
but she threatened to leave me and raise you on her own, and I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let her go. So I let her have you as long as I could keep her.” He paused for a minute, as if he was reflecting back on the memories. “She loved you more than she did me. That’s why I did the things I did to her. She wasn’t supposed to love anyone more than me. I loved her so much,” his voiced cracked on his last sentence, and I wanted to throw up.

How could he beat her and treat her the way he did, if he loved her? I had always known my dad was evil, but I didn’t know he was a lunatic.

“How did you get out?” I asked him again.

He chuckled. “Smart thinking on your old man’s part when I ran back in the house and planted that knife on your mother. I knew eventually they would believe my story about self-defense and have my conviction overturned. I just had to wait and find a lawyer that wasn’t a complete moron to represent me.” He smiled, clearly proud of his victory. “It was more difficult to find you when I got out, than I thought it would be. Changing your name. That was clever.”

“I didn’t do it to hide from you! I wanted no reminder that you even existed!” I screamed at him, causing him to stalk over to me and slap me in the face.

“I can see that six years has not been long enough for you to learn some damn respect!” he yelled at me, and I spit the blood that was pooling in my mouth onto his shoes.

This enraged him and he tackled me to the ground. I fought against him, and in the struggle I felt a tug at my wrist and then a pop.
My charm bracelet
. I glanced at my wrist and could see it was no longer there. I started blindly slinging my fists in the air, hoping to connect somewhere on his face.

He was stronger than me though, and grabbed my wrists in his hands before forcing them to the ground above my head. He then held them together with one hand while his other hand came down to grasp my throat. I immediately struggled to pull air into my lungs. I could feel my eyes bulging with panic as I bucked my body to try to throw him off, but it was no use. I was going to die. And I was going to die just like my mom had.

I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of looking me in the eye as I died, though, so I looked anywhere in the room but at him. My eyes eventually fell on the door to the warehouse. I wasn’t sure if it was the lack of oxygen my brain was getting, but I could see Kane standing there. He put his finger to his lips in a ‘Shh’ motion.

I glanced at my father who was concentrating so hard on me that he didn’t see Kane come storming into the room. Kane hit my father with his body. Tackling him like some pro football player.

When my throat was clear of my father’s grasp and I was able to breathe again, I scurried to stand. My dad and Kane were still rolling around on the floor in a struggle. I couldn’t tell who was getting the best of who but then I saw the glint of metal in the light and I knew my father still had the gun.

“Kane! Watch out he has a…”

The bang from the gun stopped any other words from leaving my throat. The commotion from the two of them ceased and I waited for what seemed like eternity for one of them to move.

“No!” I screamed when my father stood and I caught sight of Kane lying on the ground bleeding. “You bastard!”

“You’re next, sweet pea.” He raised the gun and pointed it at me again. This time I wouldn’t close my eyes. I wanted him to see how much loathed him before he killed me.

But right as my dad’s finger rested on the trigger Kane’s arm shot out, knocking my father’ s feet out from underneath him. When my father fell to the ground, his gun flew from his grasp and landed at my feet.

I hurried and picked it up, and pointed it at where he now knelt in front of me.

Kane was no longer conscious. He laid behind my dad, still bleeding, with his eyes closed. The fear that he might already be dead ripped through my body as I placed my finger on the trigger.

My dad looked up at me. No fear in his eyes and said, “You don’t have it in you. You were always a coward. That’s why you did nothing to stop me that night from killing your mom.”

Anger and hatred toward this man took over my every sense. It was now becoming so clear to me that everyone was right. HE had killed my mom. Not me. He was the evil one.

“I hate you,” I said to him as I pulled the trigger and shot him square in the chest. His body fell back onto the floor. He blank eyes staring at the ceiling. I dropped the gun on the floor and rushed over to Kane.

His eyes were still closed and his shirt was soaked in blood. I lifted his head to cradle it in my lap. Tears streaming down my face as I held him.

“I’m so sorry, Kane. I’m so sorry I came into your life and caused so much damage.”

Kane’s eyes fluttered open and he looked at me. I laid my hand on his cheek that was becoming cold from the amount of blood he was losing. “I love you. I don’t care about what happened with Katie. I love you so much. Please hold on. Please don’t die on me. Stay with me.”

Kane slowly lifted his hand and rested it against my cheek. “I didn’t kiss Katie like you think I did. She kissed me. I pushed her away a few second after our lips touched, but I guess you had already turned away. I’m sorry, Kelsey. I’m sorry I didn’t just tell you right away. You were mad and I wanted to give you time to cool off before I approached you again. Then I saw you dancing with Nate tonight, and I thought I had already lost you.” He coughed and a tiny trail of blood ran from the corner of his mouth down his cheek.

“Kane, please don’t talk anymore. Save your strength. I’m going to go see if I can find you some help.” I started to lift his head from my lap but he stopped me.

“Called … police … before I came,” he struggled. “Found Jessi … at bar … said she had a text about Nate.” He coughed again and more blood ran down the side of his face. “Knew he would bring … you here. Called … police,” he finished and his eyes closed.

“No, Kane! Wake up! Stay with me!” I begged him through my sobs.

His eyes fluttered open to look at me. “I love you, Kelsey Rien.” He said as he closed his eyes one last time.

I traced the name that was carved in stone over and over. It had been too long since I had been here—to my mother’s grave. Kane stood a few feet behind me, letting me have a moment with her.

I didn’t like that he was standing back there like that. After the shot he had taken a few weeks ago, the doctors said he should be resting, but he insisted on coming here with me today. I loved him for that. He had almost lost his life trying to rescue me from my dad.

I thought for sure he would bleed out before the paramedics could get him to the hospital. They had rushed him into emergency surgery to repair the damage the bullet had caused to his most vital organs. It was touch-and-go a few times, but he had managed to pull through.

Nate hadn’t been as lucky as Kane. His injuries were far worse than the ones Kane’s had encountered and he had bleed to death before the police had even gotten there. I would carry the guilt of Nate’s death with me forever, just as I had my mom’s. Nate hadn’t been completely crazy. He was just spoiled and used to getting whatever he wanted, and what he wanted was me.

I brought the evil that had taken Nate’s life right to him. My father had been after me and he was willing to end anyone who got in the way of that. Nate taking me just so happened to present the perfect opportunity for my father to strike.

“I miss you, mom,” I whispered and I traced the date, seven years exactly now. When she first died, I felt like I would never be able to truly be happy again. How could I, after the way I had lost her?

I glanced over my shoulder at Kane, the right side of his mouth pulling up into a smile, causing that adorable dimple to sink deep into his cheek when it did. He slowly approached me, then knelt down beside me at my mom’s tombstone.

I laid my head on his shoulder and he took my wrist in his hand. I looked up at him, not sure what he was doing until I felt a coolness being draped across my wrist. When I looked down, I found a charm bracelet—no, not a charm bracelet. My charm bracelet.

Tears immediately pooled in my eyes and I struggled to speak. “I don’t understand. How did you get this?” I choked out. I was sure it had been lost when it was broken that night, but sure enough, here it was … every charm there, plus one.

I picked at the new charm, and Kane leaned in close. “That one is from me. I know this was something from your mom, and I will completely understand if you want to take it off, but the jewelry store I had taken the bracelet to, to have it repaired, had this charm and after everything … I couldn’t help but take it as a sign that you were meant to have that charm.”

I softly caressed the tiny dandelion with my fingertip. It was perfect. All this time the dandelion had represented my mom, and our longing to be set free from my dad, but it now also represented Kane. He had been the one to set me free, like the trapped dandelion seeds, all I needed was one tiny puff of air. Kane was my air.

I looked at him and thanked God that I hadn’t given up when I wanted to. That I chose to keep going even when it hurt too much. I was more certain now, than ever, that everything I had ever been through; I had been through for a reason. Because in the end, it had led me straight to him, to Kane. Straight to the one person who could help me find myself again. The person that would make me breathe again.

THE END