Touched Read online

  I’m more than pissed, and I’m prepared to do whatever’s necessary to save my Angel.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Pain shoots down from my shoulders as Alex continues to hold onto my wrists behind my back straining my arms. We’re standing in our gym right in front of the mirrored walls at the far end but facing towards the door. The lighting is dim making it hard to see with the weight machines and exercise equipment all around us. If only I could get one of the weights and hit him on the head or do something to distract him, so I can get him on the ground and get his gun. He’s so strong. Dammit! I’m more scared of Knox running in here, right now, than I am for my own life. “Ow! Give it a break, Alex. You’re hurting me,” I yell as he tightens his grip pulling my arms back, my shoulders aching and my wrists burning.

  “Fuck you bitch! Wait! I already did and it was an ok fuck. Maybe we should do it again before I kill you, hmmm?” His tongue licks the side of my face as I quickly turn my head away from him. My head turns back and I spit at his face, my saliva hitting his mouth, and he slaps me across the face, burning pain sweeping through it. “No, fucking’s too good for you.”

  We both look towards the front of the gym when we hear a noise then over to our right when we hear something loud hit against the floor. He releases my wrists and wraps his arm around my neck so tight it’s hard to take a breath, my hands grabbing his arm trying to loosen it as his gun barrel presses against my head. “STAY BACK! I’M WARNING YOU! I’LL KILL THE BITCH NOW!” he screams around the room. Another loud bang on the other side of us and he turns us that way, the gun pressing even harder against my head and his arm tightens around my neck.

  “Don’t…” is all I can choke out then we abruptly turn again towards the front when the door slowly opens. My hands begin pulling on his arm desperately when Knox walks quietly into the room and stops. My eyes grow wide and I try to shake my head at him, but I can’t move.

  “Let her go, Myers. It’s all over now,” Knox speaks quietly and carefully.

  “FUCK YOU, DUNWAY! IT’LL BE OVER WHEN I SAY IT’S OVER AND NOT BEFORE!” Alex screams, the gun shaking in his hand with his anger. His head turns back and forth as he looks around the room then lands back on Knox. “GET OUT AND TAKE WHOEVER IS HERE WITH YOU OR I’LL END HER LIFE NOW!” he yells as he starts taking steps backwards, dragging me with him. I stumble, and his grip around my neck tightens once again.

  Knox raises his hands, palms out, and starts slowly taking small steps. “No can do, Myers. I go, she goes. Alive. I’m not leaving without her. Obviously, you don’t know what true love is. I’d die for her.”

  Then everything happens so quickly. Alex releases me, holds his arm out with the gun aiming for Knox, and I elbow him in his stomach and turn, kneeing him right in his balls. I then jump turn and sweep my legs behind his, knocking him down but another force hits me and my body goes flying. BANG! BANG! My head hits the corner of the weight machine. My eyes fill with tears and spots. I look over and see Alex laying down facing me, his lifeless eyes staring right at me and a hole in his forehead right between them. Looking to his right Emerson is just getting up and turns to run when I hear, “GET AN AMBULANCE!” Ralph’s voice pierces my ears and my head turns, and I see Knox laying on the floor several feet away, Ralph hovering over him and Emerson running towards them. Knox.

  I struggle to rise and push myself up by pressing my hand against the weight machine, blood dripping over my eye and down my face. Limping as fast as I can I manage to get to him, grabbing Ralph’s arm to help lower myself to my knees and lean over Knox’s stilled body. “Knox?” No movement. Ralph is holding a cloth over his chest close to his heart, and blood is already seeping through it. “Knox?” My hand reaches out and lays on his stomach then moves to his arm. My eyes fill with tears as I feel the coldness of his skin, and I quickly look at his paled face. “NOOOOOOOO!” I scream as I cover his body with mine, sobbing into his bloody shirt and gripping his clothes in my fists. “NOOOOO!” my cries echoing in the room. My body is being tugged from him, and I hold on as tight as I can.

  “Jade, Jade! Let the paramedics take care of him. Come, child. Come with me,” Ralph’s voice barely penetrates my cries but then someone’s arms wrap around my waist, lifting me up, and I’m being moved away from him. I start kicking my intruder, clawing at his arms with my fingernails and screaming.

  “LET ME GO! LET ME GO…OO…OO…OO…OO!” My head leans back against their shoulder, excruciating pain radiating through it and my body racks with my sobbing. “We just found each other. You don’t understand… We just found each other again, and he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know! Oh, God!”

  “I’m not letting go, Jade. Let the people that know what they’re doing tend to him before it’s too late, girl.” I look over and see three paramedics working on him. Knox’s shirt is ripped open. One of the men is using the defibrillator on him, and I jump every time his chest snaps up and then back down. My cries bellowing out each time. The paramedic looks at the others and nods then places an oxygen mask over his face while another tends to his wound. My swollen eyes look up at Emerson as he sits down on a weight bench with me on his lap, still holding me tightly, one of my eyes barely able to see him through the blood, tears and swelling.

  “Miss, let me take a look at your head.” A man’s voice jolts me to turn, and I start shaking my head.

  “No! Move! I can’t see him! Get the hell out of my way!” I start pushing against his chest, my legs kicking out and my screaming hurting my own ears. My eyes quickly dart down to my arm when I feel a pinch and watch as a needle is pulled from it. When I look back up at him, I tilt my head, my eyes begin blinking then slowly closing and opening as he moves in and out of focus. “Don’t. Please. I have to know…”

  My head is pounding as my eyes try to open, the light in the room too bright, and I can barely open one of them a little bit. In my grogginess, I try to turn my head, but it feels too heavy to move. Finally, I manage to open my good eye and move it to my left and see Emerson sitting in a chair next to me, a bandage around his upper leg, and over one side of his face, his eyes sad and staring at me. “Knox,” I choke out. My mouth feels like it’s full of cotton. He reaches beyond my vision but then leans over and holds up a straw to my dry lips. I suck and water pulls into my mouth, and I swallow feeling the relief of some wetness. I drink a little more than push the straw out with my tongue, and he takes it away. “Knox. He’s dead isn’t he?” My chin begins to quiver. My eye closes and tears quickly form.

  “No, girl. He’s alive.” My eye opens and looks at him, a small grin on his lips. “He’s sedated though, pretty heavily. They had to do emergency surgery, lost a lot of blood.” My heart begins to race in relief, fear and confusion. “The bullet was close to his heart but they got it out.” He sits up and leans his elbows on his knees, his face growing serious. “He’s not out of the woods yet. They’re really keeping a close eye on him. But he’s strong and he loves you. He’s not gonna give up fighting for you.”

  A sob racks through me, my hands begin to fidget as my body shudders. “He needs me, Emerson. Take me to him. I… I need to see him, talk to him and touch him. Please?”

  He looks down at the floor and then shakes his head when he looks back up at me. “They don’t want you moved, say you have a nasty concussion and bruises but…” I look at him with hope in my eyes, and he smiles. “I’ll see what I can do.” He stands and grabs a cane that I didn’t see before and starts to walk to the door but his head turns back at me when he stops. “Don’t move, you hear me?” I give him a small smile and can hear him mumbling as he gets to the door. “Stubborn woman, won’t listen to me anyway, not sure why I even say anything, best woman fighter I’ve trained and…” My smile grows a little more at his words but quickly fade when I think about Knox.

  I’m having a hard time staying awake and Emerson is taking too long. I’m about ready to throw my covers off and go find Knox myself when the door opens, and Tabbie and Amber come
running in. Amber just about has me in a headlock while Tabbie is rubbing her hand up and down my arm and crying. Finally, they both release their holds on me and Tabbie sits in the chair Emerson was using while Amber stands by the bed, taking my hand in hers.

  I look at Tabbie with my one good eye and can tell she’s been crying. I reach my hand down, and she takes it, squeezing it gently. “He’s holding his own. He’s a fighter you know especially where you’re concerned.” She sniffs and reaches for a tissue with her other hand then dabs at her eyes.

  “He’s a fighter for you too, Tabbie. He loves you so much, always there for you and to protect you.” Now I’m crying but the wetness seems to be loosening up my swollen shut eye.

  “I know. He has and he’s always taken the heat for me.” She starts sobbing and I almost can’t bear to see her or listen to her. “I can’t lose him.” Her head bows as she cries and my hand tightens.

  “He loves you both and I know he’ll pull through this. He’s just as stubborn as you,” Amber shrieks and Tabbie and I turn our heads, looking at her like she is crazy and then we both burst out in tears and laughter. “Well, he is.” Amber shrugs, and I laugh harder. We all stop abruptly and turn towards the door when Emerson comes limping in with a nurse behind him pushing a wheelchair.

  “Whelp. Time to go see your man,” Emerson says gruffly. I start to sit up but moan as my head pounds, but I’m determined to see Knox, so I grit my teeth and Amber takes my arm and helps me to sit up. Tabbie pulls down the covers on my bed and takes my other arm, helping me into the chair. The nurse smiles as she pulls up the footrests and helps set my feet on them. She walks to a cabinet and retrieves a blanket and then comes back and covers me with it.

  “I would suggest only one of you to be with him at a time,” she explains.

  It’s excruciatingly bright from the overhead fluorescent lights as she pushes me down the hallway. We enter a small elevator but thank goodness we all could fit in. I watch the numbers move from two to three, and then it stops on four. When the doors open I immediately see a sign ‘ICU’ and my heart stops. She takes me down the hall and around the corner, and we keep going until we stop at the last room. My first look at him is through a big window, and I see all the tubes and wires coming out of his body and into different machines around him. As she pushes me into his room, and we get nearer to him, I think how white and pasty his skin looks, how lifeless and still he is. It almost seems like a dream. I don’t notice if anyone else but me and the nurse are in the room. I only have eyes for him. Or, I guess in my case an eye. My hand reaches over to his, and I lean until I can rub down his arm, his wrist and then put my hand around is. I can hear whispers behind me, but I don’t move. I can’t stop looking at him. I want to see his blue eyes. I want to hear his sexy voice, and I want him to tell me everything’s going to be ok.

  I feel movement and my eyes dart to my left to see the nurse smiling at me. “Here’s a small table and some water for you, dear. I’ll bring in some food in a few minutes. You need to eat to get your strength up. Dr. Whiteman said we can bring another bed in here and he wants you to get some sleep. If you need something for the pain you can use his call button on his bed. The nursing station here knows you’ll be with him.” My chin quivers as I nod shakily and give her a sad smile. She leaves and I notice no one is outside the door, so I turn my head back and look at Knox, the tears start streaming down my face and one drops onto his hand. I rub it off softly as I stare at his handsome face.

  I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here, my body’s starting to cramp a bit and my head feels like it could explode, my eye getting heavier and heavier. Finally, I release his hand, grab the bed rail and pull myself up from the chair. I hold onto the bed, walking slowly around it until I reach the other side. Pulling down his covers and being careful of the tubes I slide into bed, covering us both back up. I lean my head on my hand and my other one rubs his arm.

  “I know you remember a little girl who used to play in the sandbox with you at the park. She was a silly and dirty little thing but you both had the best time together. You told her you’d never leave her and that you loved her.” I look at his face and smile. “I’m that little girl,” I whisper. “You see? We’ve been meant to be together, all our lives. So, you can’t leave me now. We have a second chance. I need you.” As the tears begin again, my finger traces his face lightly down his cheek and then outlining his lips. Leaning down, my lips gently touch his but there isn’t any warmth there. I begin to rub his arm again, laying my head down on my arm and just watch.

  § § § §

  Angel… Gun… Shot… Help her… My love. Thoughts flow through my mind, my eyes moving around under my lids, but they won’t open. Whispers of love, a little girl and sand running around my head. A belt thrashing, Jade’s smile and then she’s gone.

  “I found the picture when I was going through my boxes. I had no idea that little boy, my long lost friend, was you. Then when Tabbie came over that day she saw it and started crying. When she told me it was you and me in that sandbox I couldn’t believe it.” Jade’s sweet voice is in my head, and I can feel her soft skin rubbing against my arm. “Don’t leave me,” she whispers, and I feel her head on my shoulder. “I love you so much. You’re my life, don’t take that away from me.” Everything begins to fade again.

  “It’s been two days, Emerson. Shouldn’t he be awake by now? I’m so worried.” Jade voice is strong and sounds like she’s right next to me.

  “Girl, they said it would take time but his heart is much stronger. Don’t forget he’s a fighter. It’ll be all good.” Emerson. Humph, that’s odd. I wonder why he’s in our bedroom.

  “Hey, at least he’s out of ICU now and in a regular room where we can all be around him together. There’s power in numbers and in prayer.” Tabbie’s here too? I can feel someone move some of my hair from my face, a gentle touch. What in the hell is going on?

  More talking but their voices starts to fade. I’m so tired.

  “And you missed your birthday but we will celebrate when we go home. I have such a surprise for you. You’re going to love it. I have some other news too and I think you’ll be excited although I’m really nervous but happy. I hope you will be too.” Jade’s soothing voice in my ear makes me want to open my eyes so badly. I want to see her, touch her and make sweet love to her. I need her. “I know you’ll be so happy. Everyone’s been trying to get me to go home and get some rest but I just can’t leave you. I won’t leave you. You’re getting so much stronger but you won’t wake up. Please wake up. I need to see your beautiful blue eyes, your lips on mine and I need your strong arms holding me.” She sighs, her light breath on my face and I can feel her warm body next to mine. Dammit eyes, open! Sleep begins to pull me under.

  A shot, Jade screaming, fear, bullets flying. Angel.

  A soft crying and whispers. “When is he going to wake up? I can’t take it anymore. I want him back, in my arms. I need him to come back to me.” Jade’s crying.

  My eyes slowly open. They feel so heavy still. I’m confused when I see Jade sitting next to me weeping, Emerson’s hand is on her back and looking around. Tabbie is sitting in a chair with tears in her eyes, and Ralph’s standing behind her, a sad look on his face. What’s going on? I try to speak, but my throat is scratchy and only a garble comes out, but it’s enough that everyone’s eyes snap to me. A small smile lifts my lips when Jade’s hand cups my face, and she begins to shower kisses all over, her wet tears land there but her softness makes my heart beat faster.

  “Oh, my God! Knox! You’re back!” Her face away, barely, but far enough I can see her beautiful eyes better. “Let me see those gorgeous blue eyes. Yes. There they are. So blue, so alive. Oh, my God! Thank you for coming back to me.” She begins kissing all over my face again, and I choke a little when I try to laugh. Then she’s off me in a second, and I try to tell her to come back, but she’s there again. “Here, baby. Drink some of this. It’s water.” Her small hand moves behind my
head, helping me raise up as my lips form around a straw, and I begin to suck in some delicious water. “There that’s good.”

  She removes the straw and I smile, then everyone in the room starts to talk at once until the door opens, and Phillip walks in. “Ah, our patient has decided to wake up today. Good.” He looks over at everyone and then clears his throat. “Give us a moment will you? It’s time for a checkup to see how our patient is doing.” There’s some sighs and then everyone starts to walk out except for Jade, who is still lying on the bed beside me. “Jade, you know you can’t be on the bed when I examine him. Those are the only rules I’ve insisted on.” He smiles at her and walks to the end of the bed, picking up a chart. My eyes move to her when she sighs but looks at me with such love in her eyes, leans over and kisses my lips, and I can’t help but press mine against hers harder. “Ahem! Ok, you can have him back in two minutes if you’ll just unlock yourself from him.” There’s a little laugh in his voice and my lips feel cooler when hers leave them. I watch as she sits up and then stands from the bed.

  “Wait,” I choke, my voice a little gruff. She stops and turns, puts her knee on the bed and brings her face close to mine. Raising mine a little, I press my lips to hers and kiss her as hard as I can muster. “I love you.” Her chin quivers, a little and a fresh tear drops between us. “Don’t cry, Angel. I’m here now.” She nods, sniffs and moves back off the bed again but immediately sits down on a chair next to the bed.

  “Well, if you are done making out, may I examine you now?” Phillip’s humor is enjoyable. “Mr. Dunway, good to have you back with us.” He pulls down my covers and pulls up the ugly gown I seem to have on and lifts up a huge bandage. He presses around, causing me to wince a little, his eyes moving to me quickly as he lays the bandage back down and pulls the gown back over me. I watch as he checks some equipment behind me, and then his fingers are on my wrist as he places a stethoscope against my chest. Finally, he removes it and takes a step back. “You’re getting stronger by the day. How would you feel about walking with assistance a little later today?”