Stoned (The Stone Series) (48 page)

I spend the next few hours and into the early morning having scans, x-rays, blood tests and exams. I am given a sedative to calm my nerves and allow them to poke and prod me. They finally cast my wrist and arm due to broken bones, they wrap my ribs that are fractured and reapply ointment and dress my self-inflicted wounds on my arms. I do not have any head trauma as the doctor had been concerned about but they still want me evaluated by a psychiatrist.

As Damian is helping me to get dressed he notices for the first time the hand print on the insides of both of my thighs. The bruises are just starting to darken and be visible. 

“Oh, baby. He was going to rape you again. Look at what he did to you. It’s all over now and it’s going to be okay. My team will take care of everything” Damian tries to sooth me but I know he’s saying this just as much for himself. I ask him how bad he’s hurt and he shrugs it off but I see his cut lip, bruised cheek bone and how he winces each time he picks me up.

“I want them to have a look at you too, please for me. It’ll make me feel better if I know you’re okay” I beg and not to upset me he agrees.

Damian is told he only has a few bruised ribs and some scraps and scratches that I think might be from me. When I ask him he brushes it off as nothing.

The psychiatrist that was at Damian’s earlier asks to speak with us in his private office. Even though it’s six in the morning he leads us through the hospital corridors to a door with his name on it, “Dr. Stuart Klein, Ph. D. Psychiatry” it reads.

He ushers us in and asks if we want anything, coffee, tea, water but we both decline. Damian and I are motioned to sit together on the sofa and Damian clasps our hands together and casually places them in his lap.

“Sydney, I’m sorry to hear about what you’ve been through recently. Are the physical injuries bothering you or did they give you meds for the pain?” Dr. Klein gently inquires.

“I’m okay, they gave me meds to take but I don’t like to take much. I’m fine for now.”

“You should take them if you need to. You don’t have a history of drug abuse, do you?” he asks.

I shake my head no and Dr. Klein says. “There’s no reason for concern then.”

“Okay, if I need them later I’ll take them, they gave me something when I arrived so they’d be able to exam me.”

The doctor asks if we can talk about what happened last night to begin with.

“I don’t remember much. I remember being at S&S. I remember Brittany calling and then Parker and Drea showed up then Mark and Ryan. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way and I didn’t know what to do. Ryan had me and Mark had Drea, they pushed us into a car and we sped off leaving Parker screaming on the sidewalk holding my phone with the GPS system to track me. I knew I still had on the wire and the other GPS that was sewn into my clothes but I remember Drea screaming, she was so scared and I couldn’t tell her it would be okay. I couldn’t tell her that Damian and the team would know where we were. She didn’t even know that I knew her brother.”

Dr. Klein asks me to continue and I tell him all I remember. Once in the car Mark began bounding Drea’s wrists behind her back and making comments to her about bondage and Damian and how she must like it rough too and then he told her he couldn’t wait to find out. Damian interjected with a brief synopsis about his sexual lifestyle. Dr. Klein continues to take notes and says that’s a topic to consider for possible exploration later in our therapy together. “So you think I need continuous therapy?” I ask. He assures me that I do stating that right now he wants me to only focus on what happened during the kidnapping and in future sessions we’ll work on my past, my relationship with Damian and my future mental well-being. 

I continue to tell Dr. Klein the rest of what I remember. Mark was bounding Drea’s wrists in the car, she was screaming. Brittany was driving and Ryan was touching me. He was stroking my hair and telling Mark that I would be easy like I always was. He was bragging about not needing to bind me. I remember thinking that I should play along to keep free then if I had the chance I could try to lash out at him. I knew I couldn’t just get away and I couldn’t leave Drea. I remember the car pulled over and stopped and we were shoved out of the car. I recognized where we were instantly, The Society and my old neighborhood. Mark and Ryan pushed us through the doors. I still couldn’t understand how they had gotten in but I hoped that someone Damian knew would be there and we’d be saved.

Damian tells us that they somehow hacked into the locking system then cut power to the building, turning off the security and camera systems.

“The last thing I remember was when we got inside. Ryan panicked that I might have a wire on and he pulled open my dress. When he saw the wire he hit me, that’s the last thing I remember” I say as I cry through my tears and find myself crawling into Damian’s lap. “Shhh, baby. You’re safe. I’ve got you” Damian soothes me.

“It took us about ten minutes to get to and inside the building so for those ten minutes that her wire was off I don’t know. Drea might” Damian speculates. Dr. Klein says he’s already spoken to her and that he can fill in the ten minute gap. Drea told him that Ryan ripped open my dress and found the wire, he looked demonic. He slapped me hard across the face causing my lip to burst open. I put my hand up to feel my lip as he tells us, Damian covers my lips with his and they instantly feel better. Dr. Klein continues to tell us Drea’s report of the story. “Sydney, Drea says that he grabbed you by your hair then he slapped you in the face and made your nose bleed. You’re lucky he didn’t break it.”

Damian balls his hands into fists but manages to gently kiss my nose then he mutters under his breath, “Fucking douche bag pussy, hitting a girl.”

Dr. Klein continues, “After that he flung you to the ground and kicked you, that’s how we’re guessing he broke your ribs.” I flinch as I remember the blows to my side. Damian puts his hands on my sides and leans in to kiss my forehead.

“After that he pulled you into a room, Drea was left with Mark.” Damian adds, “He brought her into my room at The Society that motherfucker. He was going to rape her in my fucking room. He had her on the floor with her dress ripped open on the top and the bottom hiked up around her waist. He had pushed her thighs open and he was between her legs. When I got there he was undoing his pants. Mac entered the building with me and found Mark trying to rape my sister. Mac stayed to deal with him and I went to Sydney. The rest of the team was surrounding the building, dealing with Brittany and securing Parker and my family, we didn’t know what else they might have planned to do.”

Dr. Klein asks if I was alert during any of what I just heard. I don’t know, I don’t remember any of it.

“She was awake when I got there but she was; I don’t know how to explain it. She was not in her body, her body was empty, her soul was gone, and she was an empty shell” Damian tells Dr. Klein. “She slips under into what we refer to as subspace very easily for me; I know the look of her being there, this was not that. She was not enjoying what was happening, she was terrified and trying to self-preserve.”

Dr. Klein agrees, he believes that I was trying to protect my psyche from the attack that I was anticipating. He believes that’s why I can’t remember any of it. He thinks I may when I’m ready or I might never. He asks Damian to continue.

“I couldn’t get in the door to my room at first; the power was cut so my code wasn’t working. I shot the control panel to the lock. Ryan saw me when I entered and he smirked at me. It was like he was thinking about still raping her right in front of me. I ripped him off of her and we went at it. He got in a few lucky shots to my face. That’s how I got the shiner. He got my ribs a few times and bruised one or two but I beat the shit out of him. I should have just shot him when I walked in but I wanted to hurt him as bad as he hurt her all those years ago. She was only a little girl, she should have been protected, should have been safe. I wanted to make him pay for what he did to her, for what she still lives through every second of her life. I’m not a violent man unless it involves Sydney’s safety then all bets are off, Dr. Klein, I’m kinky as hell but I’m not violent. Tonight however, I wanted to feel him die in my hands but I stopped myself. I stopped and went to Sydney. Ryan was on the floor, I thought he was unconscious. Sydney, she was in a ball in the corner rocking and I knew she needed me to get her out of there. I bent to pick her up then he hit me from behind, I fell and he grabbed her. I had no choice; he would have killed her or raped her which would have killed her all the same. I shot him.” Damian says as he looks at me.

“He’s dead?” I ask and Damian shakes his head yes. “You killed him?”

“Sydney, I told you I would kill or die for you. I meant it when I said that.”

“Why did you have a gun? How do you know how to use a gun?”

“Baby, I’m a very wealthy man with a few enemies. I’ve held a gun permit for years. I shoot once a week but now that I have a security team I don’t usually carry my gun anymore. I only had it today for protection; honestly I didn’t plan to use it. If I was going to kill him I truly wanted it to be with my hands” Damian tells us.

“What’s wrong with you? Why did you kill him? What if you go to jail?” I sob.

“I’m not going to jail. He kidnapped you, broke into my building, beat you and was going to rape you. When I shot him Sydney, he was reaching for a gun, it was in self-defense, he would have shot me and then done God only knows what to you.”

“I can’t lose you, Day. They can’t take you away from me. Promise me, they won’t take you away from me” I beg as I franticly burrow my body deeper into Damian’s.

“Baby, it’s going to be fine” he says to me then turns to Dr. Klein, “She’s had a very long day and she needs to rest. I think I should get her home now. We’ll call you later in the day or first thing tomorrow morning and set something up for next week.”

We exit the office and Damian and I find Jonesie and Dominick waiting for us in Dr. Klein’s lobby. Dominick tells Damian the police will not be patient with him much longer. Damian agrees to go see them once he has me home and settled.

“Is Mac with my sister?”

“Yes, she’s shaken but not hurt. Mac got to her in time” Dominick reports.

“What happened to Mark?” I inquire.

“Mac happened to Mark. He won’t bother you again.”

“Is he dead?” I ask and Dominick looks first to Damian then back to me before he answers.

“He is” is all he says and I decide not to ask how.

We arrive back at the penthouse to find Drea on the couch in Mac’s arms and Alex sitting beside Parker. The rest of the people from earlier have gone. I’m glad to see Mr. and Mrs. Stone have left, I know I’ll have to deal with them soon but I can’t handle them right now. Mrs. Ford is nowhere in sight but she has left a breakfast spread out on the island and I’m sure she’ll reappear shortly to change it to lunch. The security team other than Mac, Dominick and Jonesie are down at the police station waiting for Damian. The NYPD left shortly after Damian and I did, Damian being the only one left they need a report from, he’s planning to speak to them on my behalf no doubt. I know he’ll do whatever he can to shelter me from reliving the experience yet again.

Damian bends down to kiss his sister on the head and asks how she is.

“I’m fine, Day but you have so much explaining to do.”

“Syd will fill you in on us, I’m sure even in this turmoil that’s what you’re referring to, am I right?” Damian says while smiling at his sister whom he clearly adores.

“Mmm hmm” she nods at him with the same look of admiration on her face.

Damian asks to speak to Mac. Mac stands and kisses Drea on the lips then him and Damian head into the office for some privacy. It’s the first time I am without Damian and I’m already feeling jittery. I sit next to Parker and she tries to lighten the mood. “It looks like we have a lot of catching up to do too!” she teases me. “Mmm hmm, yes we do but not right now, okay?” I beg.

Mac and Damian return and Damian tells me that he has to go to police headquarters but he’ll be back as soon as he can. He says Mac is going to stay and he asks Alex to as well. I know the danger is over but I’m still scared not to be with Damian. I try to plaster a smile on my face when he kisses me but I know I fail. “I love you” he whispers into my ear before he kisses my forehead and inhales my hair. “Everything is going to be fine. Stop worrying about me, baby. It’s fine. They just need me to make a statement, that’s all. I’m not going to jail. I’ll be home within an hour. I promise.”