Only One (20 page)

The other one grew more impatient as the minutes continued to trickle by. Suddenly he came to me, trying to untie my feet, but the other man yelled out that there was no time, that the police were almost here.

“I’m coming back for you. I know he’s here and hiding. If you see him before me, Chiquita, you tell him that I will find him and the disk he stole.” He tried to press his dirty lips on to mine, but I forcefully turned my head to the side. He gripped my chin in his hand roughly. “You bite me, I will shoot your mother while she sunbathes on the beach tomorrow.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t breathe, move, or even blink. His nasty breath assaulted my nose as he came closer and closer until the heat of his mouth-smothered mine. His tongue made every attempt to invade my mouth, but my lips stayed sealed tighter and tighter as he tried time and again.

“Hurry, I can see the lights coming,” the jerk not trying to invade my mouth shouted.

“Until next time, Chiquita,” he murmured against my mouth. “Next time it won’t be my tongue I ram in that dirty mouth of yours.”

Within a few minutes the glow of blue lights came from the hall and sirens blared as they pulled up. Instantly the tears fell harder than I’d ever cried in my life.

Cole

Annabelle’s voicemail kept picking up while I called her over and over again. When she didn’t answer, I tried calling her mama and AJ, but those calls also went directly to voicemail. Every fiber in my being told me something was wrong. I’d played one of the best games of my life against Georgia with the feeling that I had to get it done—to get to her. There was an earlier flight leaving Atlanta that I was able to hop on to arrive in Savannah an hour earlier than scheduled.

I tried Dane, too, but he assured me that AJ and his Mama were planning on hitting a movie, so they probably had their phones turned off. During the entire hour car ride I convinced myself that he was right, but there was this nagging voice deep inside of me screaming that something was wrong with Annabelle. It wasn’t like her to not wait for my call after my practice or my first game to hear the outcome. If she were heading out, she would’ve sent a text—something so I didn’t worry. Because that was all I did anymore, considering I wasn’t there anymore to keep an eye on her. How the fuck was I supposed to stay in Alabama for another nine months not being able to keep my eye on her.

As I broke the speed limit for too many miles down North Forest Beach, the blue lights and the crowd of people gathering hit my line of vision first. Slamming my rental into park, I shoved through, screaming, “Annabelle.”

They police stopped me almost immediately as I continued to call out her name. They shoved me back. “Sir, you need to calm down.”

I shook my head, feeling the wetness in my eyes as my heart pounded so hard that I wasn’t sure if my legs were going to be able to hold me up much longer. “I need to get up there. That’s my girl up there, please, you have to let me through,” I begged. Two uniformed men held me back, but I pushed and shoved, hollering her name over and over until they finally relented. I ran up the steps and inside so fast the scene in front of me sucker punched me so hard that I fell straight to my knees. Cops surrounded the couch. AJ was crying on the phone, Aunt Ashton was curled around my Belly, hysterical, and Annabelle looked more frightened than I’d ever seen her. Her face swollen, her lip bloody, and the light in her beautiful green eyes that I loved—gone.

As I forced myself to stand and go to her, she saw me and stared into my eyes. I searched and searched her face for anything she was willing to give, but her eyes were so empty and sad. “Belly,” I whispered. Tears poured down her cheeks, and I realized that my worst nightmare had come true. I hadn’t been there for her when she’d needed me. I’d let her down.

Ashton unfolded herself from Annabelle when she heard me call out her name. She stood, throwing her arms around me, like she was unable to let go. I let her cry in my arms for a few seconds, but pulled away and handed her off to a very shaky AJ.

I sank down on the couch next to Annabelle.

“Baby,” I whispered, pulling her to me. “Shh, I got you.” I rocked her, trying to stop her tears.

Annabelle whispered my name so softly I almost didn’t hear her over the noise of the police. AJ and Ashton were huddled on the chair, watching us. I knew they wanted to hold her, too, but I couldn’t let go. I couldn’t share her right now, because before I came in here, I’d thought the worst. I’d thought I’d lost her. “Cole,” she whispered.

“Yeah, baby. I’m here.”

“I’m tired. I want to go to bed.”

I nodded. “Okay, I’ll take you.”

“Cole, promise me that you won’t leave my side tonight.”

“Baby, I’m not leaving your side ever again.” I kissed her forehead and then scooped her up in my arms.

Ashton stood up, still shaking. I tucked Annabelle to me. “I’m taking her to bed. Is Dane coming?”

She nodded. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

I didn’t care one bit about the policeman telling me he still had questions for her to answer, I just kept walking until I slammed the door shut with my foot.

She tightened her grip on my neck. “I need a shower, Cole. I feel dirty.”

Closing my eyes, I stopped. “Baby, what happened? Who was it?”

“He tried to stick his tongue in my mouth, Cole. His breath. I’ll never forget that smell as long as I live.”

“Let me put you in the shower and clean you off.” I swallowed hard. “If you’re up to telling me tonight, or whenever you’re ready, I’m here for you, okay?”

She hugged me tightly to her. When I turned the faucet to start the shower, she was still glued to me. I stood her down. “I’m going to take off your shirt, okay?” She barely nodded, but lifted her arms. Once I had her undressed, I quickly removed my clothes and then I scooped her up, taking her back in my arms before helping her stand under the warm water. She closed her eyes while I washed her hair and cleaned her body with the sponge. Not once while I did all of it had she opened her eyes. She stood there like a statue, and it scared the hell out of me that she just might not recover from whatever had gone down.

As I dabbed her lips with the washcloth her eyes popped open. “He’s coming back for me, Cole,” she whispered with panic drenched in her quiet voice.

“Who is, Belly?”

“They tied me up, he hit me. I tried to be brave. I had a gun in the drawer that I couldn’t get to. He threatened Mama and AJ.”

I tensed, every muscle constricting at the thought of her having to use a gun, but forced myself to stay calm for her. “What else, baby?”

“Aaron.”

With that one name I almost threw up. If only we followed up on him more. If only I had taken a flight out there and killed him after she told me what he had done to her. But I hadn’t, and now I was one to blame for her being hurt. The last I knew of he was in Arkansas, too far away to get to her.
How the hell did this happen
? “Aaron did this to you?”

She slowly moved her head from side to side. “They want him and are trying to lure him out by using me.”

“Okay.” I paused, thinking about what she had said, trying to make sense of it. “Aaron wants you back. Why do they think that?”

“I have no idea, Cole. They said he keeps pictures of me on the wall. They’re all over a room in his house, like a shrine of some sort.”

I swallowed back the vomit that had been making its way up. “Why do they want him?”

She shrugged. Another tear dripped down her cheek. I wiped it away with the cloth. “Some disk. I don’t know what’s on it, but if they find him, they said they were going to kill him.”

I shouldn’t be happy at the prospect of any human being’s death, but I was. I wouldn’t mind knowing that man was six feet under.

I shut off the water and wrapped a towel around her. I grabbed her favorite hairbrush off the counter and guided her to the edge of the bed. I threw my sweats back on and then sat behind her and started brushing her hair. Stroke by stroke, and tear-by-tear, Annabelle fell asleep, propped up against me. When her head fell to the side, I knew all the events of the night had exhausted her.

After placing her under the covers and turning the lights down on low, I sat in the chair and watched her. So many emotions ransacked my heart and my head that I couldn’t focus on any one thought in particular. The only one I did know and stood firm on were my feelings for her. I was angry with myself for putting other things in front of her, angry for not being there, angry for not figuring out who the fuck was doing this, angry at seeing her cry, angry that she’d needed me to wash her to erase the dirt she felt from him touching her. Just angry at the world.

Dane’s voice boomed as he entered the house. Not wanting him to wake her, I jumped up and sprinted to the door before he could come in and raise hell. If there was one thing I knew about this man, it was that he loved her just as much as I did. And I knew without a doubt he was blaming himself for letting it get this far, too.

“Where is she?” he asked.

It crushed me to hear the desperation and pain in his voice. I pulled the door closed behind me. “She fell asleep. Let her be tonight, please.”

His hand fisted through his hair so harshly that I was positive that he was going to pull it all out. My eyes landed on Josh and Jason comforting AJ and Ashton. I pulled Dane to the side after he glanced to the closed door. “She talked a little. It’s about that asshole, Aaron. Someone’s after him for some disk or something.”

“Okay,” he answered robotically, like he wasn’t really paying attention, but then stopped on his heels and turned. “What does Belly have to with the disc?”

“Nothing, as far as I can tell. They were using her as bait.”

He contemplated all this as he paced the floor for a couple of minutes. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“There’s more,” I told him.

His head shot up.

“Whoever had her told her something about Aaron. Apparently he keeps pictures of her. She called it a shrine or something.”

“Fuck!’ he muttered.

Josh and Jason stepped over and handed off a bottle of whiskey to him. Dane took one crazy, long-ass gulp and handed it back.

“What’s the word? How is she?” Josh asked.

“Can you fill them in? I promised her I wouldn’t leave her. I already feel guilty being out here.”

Jason pulled Dane away, but glanced back and smiled approvingly to me.

Josh stayed behind and handed me the bottle. “It helps. Trust me.”

I waved him off. “Nah, I’m good. I need to be awake in case she needs me.”

“It’s not your fault, man. I can see it written all over you. Just like Dane is blaming himself, so are you. Don’t do that. You won’t be any good to her if you can’t forgive yourself. Shit happens all the time. I went through this shit with Ava years ago. Trust me when I tell you she needs you.” When I didn’t respond, he continued, “from what the cops said we were real lucky he didn’t hurt her any more than they did.”

“She said they were coming back for her. Why would they come back?”

Fear stretched across his profile. “Does Dane know that?”

I shook my head. “No, I forgot to tell him. Do it for me, would you?” I looked back at the closed door. “I need to get back in there.”

“You’re a good man, Cole. We’re all real glad you two finally got together. Not that any of us doubted it, but we’re real glad, anyway.”

I flashed him a half-hearted smile and headed back to Belly.

My eyes fell to the nightstand and the closed drawer. My shaky hand gripped the knob and opened it. Inside lay the small handgun she’d mentioned. Part of me wished she had shot that bastard, but the other part rationalized that she probably would’ve never been able to forgive herself for killing someone, even someone who deserved it. Or worse, he could’ve killed her with her own weapon. After several minutes of just staring at the revolver, I shut the drawer, and slipped underneath the sheets, unable to think anymore.

I pulled her as close as I could get her, kissing the top of her head, and closed my eyes while I made her a promise. “I’m never going to let anyone ever hurt you again, Belly. I promise you. I’ll give it all up to protect you.”

I held onto her, letting myself break down from sadness, from tears of joy that she was alive, but most of all, tears of gut-wrenching love and what I would have done if something had happened to her.

She stirred beside me the next morning, making me aware that she was starting to rouse, but not wanting to have her wake yet, I pulled her to me and whispered for her to go back to sleep. Annabelle whimpered softly, murmuring that she was still tired and then quickly tucked her head into the crook of my arm and was out again.

For the last hour my mind had raced on what would happen next. Would she be all right after what happened to her last night? Could she move past it all? Would we catch this SOB? Where was this Aaron guy, who I plan on beating the shit out of the moment I lay my eyes on him. What about school? Football? Could I walk away? No, I knew I couldn’t. Maybe she’d come with me if I asked her, or maybe we’d just keep it like it had been, but safer.

“What are thinking about?” Her small voice stirred me from my thoughts.

Leaning down, I kissed her forehead. “Nothing. How are you feeling?”

She scooted up and rubbed her eyes. “Okay, I guess.” Loud voices out in the hall thundered, startling us. We both turned toward the door.

The door cracked open. Dane popped his head inside. “You mind if your old man comes in and finally sees you? I’m dying out here.”

I lifted my arm that had been tucked behind her. Annabelle pushed back the covers to get out of bed. Dane stepped toward her and wrapped his arms around her. And once he did, he held on to her until she got all the fresh tears out.

Exhaling, I ran my hand through my hair before getting up. “I’m going into jump in the shower. I’ll be out in five,” I told Dane.

By the time I showered and got dressed I stepped out into the living room to a house that was alive with people. The television was on, coffee was perking and Belly and her Daddy were out on the deck.