Chapter 26
Alyssa
I hear noise… a tapping sound. It’s steady, quick paced, and I have no clue what it is.
My head hurts so bad and before I even try to open my eyes, I raise my hand up to touch it. I moan as the pain spikes when my fingers find wetness near the hairline of my temple. I don’t have to see the red to know it’s blood.
I slowly open my eyes, thankful that wherever I’m at, it’s gloomy dark. I don’t think my head could take bright light right now.
The tapping noise starts a quicker pace, and I turn my head in the direction of the sound. I focus… something dark.
Maybe a hand holding something dark and tapping it on a wood floor.
As my eyes clear, it all comes back to me in a rush. Chad has me.
He’s sitting on a wooden floor a few feet away. He has a gun in his hand, and he’s tapping the barrel against the floor. “Bought time you woke up, sleepyhead.”
His voice causes my body to shudder, because it’s sweet and caring, but I know that’s the sound of someone who is totally maniacal.
Memories rush in fast. I pulled up to The Haven and walked into the kennel, never for a moment thinking anything could be wrong. As soon as I stepped inside, I saw Chad. I had no time to run or even scream when he hit me in the head and blackness engulfed me.
I turn my head the other way, taking in my surroundings. I’m in a room with a wooden floor, wooden walls, and heavy, wooden shutters over the windows. It takes a moment, but then I understand. We’re in the lifeguard shack at Tar Hole.
My heart sinks because we are in a fairly remote place with no houses or businesses nearby. The beach is eroded, which makes it fairly deserted. No one will be coming to help me here.
“I’ve been waiting for you to wake up,” Chad says quietly. “It’s no fun when you’re unconscious.”
I turn back to look at him and try to sit up. Nausea rises but I tamp it down, struggling to push up to my elbows. “Why are you doing this, Chad?”
“Why do you think I’m doing this?” he sneers. “Give it a go and let me see if you’ve learned any lessons by now.”
My eyes search his for some semblance of normalcy… for anything I can reason with. I don’t see anything, and it causes my frustration to peak.
My mind spins frantically, trying to think of the best thing to say to diffuse this situation. “Chad… listen. You’re in a lot of trouble right now. If you kill me, you’re going away forever. Don’t throw your life away like that.”
He laughs… high pitched and highly amused with me. “I’m not going to kill you, Alyssa. I’m just going to dirty you up a bit. I’m sure your new boyfriend won’t appreciate that too much.”
The man basically just said he’s going to rape me and rather be scared or worried, anger rises in me. Fury that he’d try to hurt Brody through me.
He just made a huge mistake. He screwed up by telling me he doesn’t want to kill me, and he screwed up by saying he wants to hurt Brody.
Those are fighting words to me.
I try to decide if I want to throw myself at him in attack, or just casually get up and try to walk out, put him to the test of what he’s really going to do to me. But before I can even weigh the pros and cons of each option, he launches himself across the floor at me, knocking me back to the rough wood. The air expels from my lungs in a massive whoosh and I’m left gasping, starved for oxygen.
Chad wraps one hand around my throat and places the gun to my temple. Leaning down close to me, he whispers, “I don’t want to kill you, but I will… if you push me, so I suggest you be a good little girl and take what I give you.”
His words terrify me, but they don’t subdue me. I’m not going to give him a single second of what he wants. I buck underneath him furiously, which only manages to push his pelvis against mine. I’m sickened when I feel his erection, and he moans, “That feels good, baby. Keep it up.”
I bring my arms up and start pushing at his chest, scratching at his wrists. He just laughs at me. “Go ahead and fight… you’re just exciting me more.”
Oh, this f*cking pervert. He gets off on a woman’s terror and there’s no doubt in my mind, he did this to that other woman.
Chad pulls the gun back and slides it a few feet away. It’s still within easy reaching distance but it frees up both of his hands, which he now uses to try to push my shirt up my torso. I twist and turn, bucking again hard and punching at him.
“Stop,” I scream. “Get off me.”
Chad is panting hard, from exertion, from excitement, I don’t know, so I scream again. He slaps a hand over my mouth to quiet me and I bare my teeth, sinking them into the meaty flesh of his palm. I bite hard, envisioning me ripping his hand off, and I taste his blood.
Chad screams as he rears back until he’s straddling my waist, clutching his bleeding palm to his chest. He glares down at me in outrage and raises his other hand to hit me.
I don’t hesitate… not for a second. I buck as hard as I can, which throws him off balance, and I flip my body to the side. He rolls right off of me, and I swing my right arm as hard as I can toward his crotch. My fist connects solidly with his nuts, and he cries out before he doubles over on himself.
Scrambling to my feet, I turn, place a well-aimed kick at his ribs, and scream, “You motherf*cker!”
Then I spin and push the door open, running down the ramp. Just as my feet hit the sand, I look left and right, hoping that some moonlight stroller will be along to help me, but the beach is deserted and there’s not a single home within sight.
“You f*cking bitch,” I hear, turning to see Chad lurching out of the door. He barrels at me down the ramp and I turn to run, but he’s grabbing the back of my shirt. His momentum propels us both forward a few feet, and we both go falling face-first into the sand.
He loses his grip on me and I start crawling away, but his hand snatches my ankle, pulling me back. I turn to look at him, and his face is awash in fury. I’m pretty sure rape isn’t the only thing on his mind anymore. He starts to stand, and I pull my legs up to kick out at him when something dark comes flying out of nowhere, catching Chad in the chest and throwing him several feet back into the wet sand by the surf’s edge.
Turning on my side, the moon provides enough light that I can see someone on top of Chad, pulling an arm back and launching it toward his face.
It hits with such force that I think I hear a bone crack.
“I told you I’d end you.”
Brody!
He found me.
He pulls back his arm, hitting Chad again in the face with his fist.
He does it again, and I can see blood fly from Chad’s mouth, who is now screaming at Brody to stop.
But he doesn’t… he keeps hitting Chad, and all I can do is sit there and watch.
Someone else goes flying by me… Wyatt, I think, and he tackles Brody.
“Oh, God… Alyssa, are you okay?” Gabby says as she throws herself down on the sand beside me, wrapping her arms around me tight. Hunter walks by casually and stands nearby, watching carefully over Chad to make sure he’s not going anywhere.
We both turn to see Wyatt struggling with Brody, who’s trying to break his hold to get back at Chad. “Let me go, Wyatt… I’m going to kill him. I told him I would end him if he touched her.”
“Stop it, Brody,” he yells as he struggles to push Brody back. “You want to go back to prison?”
Brody pulls free of Wyatt, his fists clenched and arms stiff at his side. He screams, “Yes! I’d gladly go back and spend the rest of my life there if I can end that miserable f*ck for hurting her.”
“No, you don’t want that, man,” Wyatt says quietly, trying to bring Brody down.
Pushing out of Gabby’s hold, I stand up on wobbly legs. “Brody… baby… I’m fine. I’m okay.”
He turns his head, rage still swimming in his eyes. In just two steps, he’s in front of me, his hand coming up to touch the blood at my temple. His breathing is ragged, and he closes his eyes. “I want to kill him, Alyssa.”
Wrapping my hand around his wrist, I tell him, “I know. But you’re not a killer, and I don’t want you to go away. I need you with me.”
Brody lets out a long gust of breath from his mouth and touches his forehead to mine. “He needs to suffer.”
“He will,” I tell him softly, my hand coming up to cup his jaw. “You know he will. You’ve been to prison so you, more than anyone, know he will suffer.”
Nodding his head at me, I can feel the fight start to ease out of him. Brody pulls me into a hug and whispers, “Christ… I was so scared.”
Chad groans from down on the sand, and we both turn to look at him. His nose is flattened and pushed to one side, with blood pouring out of both nostrils. “You’re going back to prison, you a*shole. You just assaulted me and if I’m not mistaken, that violates your parole. I demand that you arrest him,” Chad says as he looks up at Wyatt.
Wyatt leans over and pulls Chad to his feet by the front of his shirt, who then gives a triumphant look to Brody. “I might be going down, but you’re going down with me,” he sneers.
Chad is still grinning at Brody with bloodstained teeth, when Wyatt pulls his arm back and punches Chad in the jaw, sending him sprawling back to the sand where he lays unconscious. Holding his hand out, Wyatt flexes his fingers and winces. I see his knuckles are bleeding, so he must have nailed Chad in the teeth.
Shaking his hand out to ease the pain, Wyatt turns to Brody. “I need you to hit me.”
“What?” Brody asks, stunned.
“Hit me… and make it good.”
“No way,” Brody says, the adrenaline spike he was hazing under a moment ago completely dissipated.
“Come on, dude. Pretend I’m Chad, hit me good enough to leave a mark so I can put in my report he hit me first.”
Gabby giggles behind me, and Hunter takes a step toward Wyatt. “I’ll do it.”
Wyatt turns to him and bends at the knees a bit. He moves his neck side to side to loosen up, shakes his shoulders, and then says, “Okay… I’m ready.”
Hunter doesn’t hesitate. He cocks back and hits Wyatt on the left cheekbone, which causes him to stagger but he doesn’t go down. “F*ck that hurt,” he grumbles, flexing his jaw back and forth. “But, good one.”
“Thanks,” Hunter says with a grin.
Wyatt walks up to Chad and nudges him with this foot. Chad doesn’t even move. “Let’s get the story straight. I’m the only one that touched him tonight,” he tells us. “That’s what I’ll put in the report. He’ll say otherwise, but no one will believe that dickhead, not when all of us witnessed otherwise. Are we clear?”
Brody nods and I wrap my arms around his waist, resting my throbbing head against his chest. “I want you to take me home.”
“Baby, you need to go to a hospital. I think you need stitches.”
“And I’ll have to take your statement,” Wyatt says.
“Okay,” I agree, because I don’t have any fight left in me. “Then I want to go home and just have you hold me.”
“Forever and ever,” Brody says.
***
It seems like we’re at the hospital forever. Wyatt had called police backup to take Chad in, as well as an ambulance. They checked me out and I have a small cut to my head, which apparently bled like a stuck pig and needed a few stitches. They highly recommended a ride to the hospital because I suffered a blow to the head, and after I fought with Brody for five minutes, I finally agreed. He rode with me in the ambulance, and Wyatt gave Hunter and Gabby a ride.
Casey and Brody’s parents showed up within minutes of our arrival, and everyone sat in the waiting room while Brody stayed with me. He asked me if I wanted him to call my mother, but I just shook my head and closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them back up, Brody looked at me with sympathy.
I reached out and touched his hand, telling him, “You’re the only one I need.”
I had to undergo a CT scan of my head, and then I was stitched up. We killed two birds with one stone and another detective interviewed me while I was in the ER, since Wyatt was still at the police station booking Chad with kidnapping, attempted rape, and attempted murder. He wouldn’t be seeing the outside of a jail cell for quite a while, although his parents had a high-priced lawyer already show up and invoke his right to remain silent.
No matter… the detective that interviewed me said they had enough evidence with my testimony to lock the charges in tight against him. His guess was that he’d take a plea deal, but he was still looking at several years behind bars.
We finally were able to leave around midnight. Everyone hugged me tight as we stood outside of the hospital entrance. Gabby and Casey both silently double teamed me with a crushing embrace. Then Brody’s mom fussed and fretted over me, trying to get me to come to her house so she could baby me. I politely declined, because I wanted to sleep in my own bed. After Hunter gave me a light kiss on my forehead, Brody took me home.
He gently removes me from the car, carries me up the stairs, and right into the bathroom. I watch as he starts filling the tub, adding some bubble bath I have sitting on the edge.
When it’s ready, he gently takes off my clothes. He doesn’t say a word, and I’m too tired to talk. He smiles at me softly, but I still see residual fear in his eyes. When I’m naked, Brody takes his clothes off as well, holding my hand while I step into the tub. I scoot forward, because I want him to sit behind me… so I can lean back and let him just hold me.
That’s exactly what he does, and the back of my head goes to his chest. I stare at the opposite wall for a moment, then close my eyes and relax. I feel safe and secure. Even though I’ve had the worst day ever, it’s ending on the highest of notes.
When the water starts to cool, Brody washes me gently, sometimes placing a kiss on my shoulder or my neck. Softly and chastely, just to show he cares.
He pulls me out of the tub… dries me off. I hold onto his shoulders, while he kneels before me to dry my legs, my feet. He kisses the side of my knee once, and my heart almost explodes from the deep feelings I have for this man.
We haven’t said a word to each other this entire time, and yet that’s okay. Brody leads me to my bed, pulls the covers back, and I get in. He crawls in behind me, wrapping my body up in his arms and, within minutes, I’m sound asleep.
I don’t think I’m out long, but I wake up and see Brody sitting on my bedroom floor, his back against the wall underneath my open window. The curtains are fluttering from the ocean breeze, and I could hear the waves pounding on the shoreline. He’s staring at me, and I wonder what he’s thinking about.
The fact that he was going to beat Chad to death with no fear of returning to prison… for me… that has me feeling all kinds of strange.
I don’t know what it means. Is he just territorial? Can he not control his own rage? Or perhaps he has feelings so strong for me that he would suffer any consequence?
I get the feeling he’s afraid I might break or something, but I don’t push the issue. I feel like I should be worried… that Brody is sitting on the floor, in the dark, staring at me. He acts a lot like he did when he got out of prison those months ago, removed and alone.
But I’m not worried. He’s working through something, I can tell. He may be brooding and reflective, but he’s got determination in his eyes, and I’m going to follow along until he’s ready to reveal his thoughts to me.
I am so tired, so I close my eyes and fall back asleep.