Before A Perfect World: Movie Trilogy, Book Two (The Movie Trilogy) (27 page)

I
wrenched at the chain again, and he pressed harder against her head. Vivian moaned, flattening her body against Fowler’s.

“Kiss him,” I finally growled, my fist balled at my sides. “Fucking kiss him.”

“I’m not going to let him hurt you,” Fowler said quietly, sliding his hands over her face. Derrick finally pulled the gun away, and he tilted her chin up to look at him. “Tell her it’s okay Keaton,” he added, turning sideways to meet my icy glare. “Tell her it doesn’t matter, and that you love her no matter what,” he urged me.

His words flat
lined my temper.

“It doesn’t matter, V,” I finally said, letting my face fall.

She rose to her tiptoes, tears slipping down her cheeks as she met his lips.

His arms went around her, and he lifted her against his body.

“How’s that, Director? Either she’s a really good actress, or she’s enjoying herself,” Derrick taunted. “Tell him to take off her clothes.”

“
No,
” Vivian cried, breaking away. Her entire body was shaking, and Fowler- Matthew- was doing his best to comfort her.

“Take them off.” I backed against the wall, sliding down the wooden panel.

She turned to look at the gun, continuing to sob as she removed my coat and her dress.

Her abdomen was barely there, just the slightest
curve that I’d memorized over the past few months. She tried to cover her breasts with her arms.

He waved the gun at
Fowler. “All of it. Off.”

“
Fucking
asshole,” Matthew hissed, pulling his bloodied shirt over his head and wrapping it around her shaking shoulders.

Derrick
looked my way. “Tell them to get on the bed.”

“Get on the bed,” I ordered
tersely, unable to hold back the need to rile the fuck out of him. “Get on the bed and fuck her. Don’t finish until she does. Vivian, make sure you scream the right name. We don’t want to have to do this more than once.”

My words had the exact effect that I’d intended.

Derrick turned to me, his ugly face a mask of frustration. “Isn’t this just killing you, knowing how much she still loves him?”

“I guess.” I shrugged, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Keaton,” Vivian hissed.

I didn’t expect him to shoot, but he did.

The gun firing was only noise at first.

And then it was pain.

Vivian was screaming, and Matthew was holding her back from running to me. My shoulder felt like it’d been torn from its socket; I tried for an even breath, and then the fucking fires of hell crept into every torn and mutilated muscle.

“Keaton!
Keaton!
” She was screaming so hard, her voice grew thin.

I tried to breathe evenly, but my natur
al instinct was to pant to make up for the incredible pain.

“
I don’t know why it’s taking you so long to realize that I’ve killed women. Killed them. Trying to pin it on you. I am
going
to kill you, Thane, and whether or not I put a bullet in
her
head is up to you.”

“No,” I exhaled quickly.

“Good. Now, tell them to fuck.”

Vivian was gripping my jacket to her c
hest, sobbing. Matthew had gone completely cold and sober, gripping Vivian by her shoulders and turning her to him. “It’s just me,” he said, under his breath. “It’s just me, baby. Okay? Come here.”

God, I wanted to die. If he truly wanted revenge on me for what I’d done to him, he couldn’t have planned it better. I was growing so fucking cold, and I had a feeling I was going into shock.

While watching Fowler kiss and touch my future wife.

I wished he’d have shot me in the head
as I watched Fowler lifted her into his arms and gently place her on the dirty mattress.

His hand slid up the side of her leg, and she winced, still gripping my jacket to her chest.

“Great,” Derrick called, moving behind the camera again. “Put your hand between her legs. I want a close-up.”

“
I’m sorry,
” Matthew whispered to her, his hand disappearing between her thighs as he moved his mouth over hers. She sobbed, turning to face me before closing her eyes.

“What do you think, Director?”

I couldn’t talk. My entire body began to shake, and only then did I realize that blood was pouring down my arm, soaking my t-shirt.

“
I can’t do this,” Matthew said, his forehead dropping to her chest.

“Is
she too dry for you? I’ll help.” Derrick started toward Vivian, and I closed my eyes, praying, praying to the God that I knew existed.

He had to exist.

I had Vivian, our baby, a future and a
life
ahead of me for a few brief, fleeting moments.

He shoved the gun into Matthew’s temple, reaching between Vivian’s legs.

At that moment, Vivian’s sharp movement stoked my consciousness.

She pulled the toothbrush from my jacket pocket, reared back, and screamed as she stabbed the fucking plastic stick right
through his eye
.

The stunned second of silence rocked the entire cabin with a surreal hum.

He roared, flying backward and stumbling. At the same moment, Fowler made a break for the gun.

Derrick
swung his arm in my direction and aimed at my chest.

Fowler shoved him hard, and the gunshot sounded even as the weapon flew from his hand. I slammed against the wall, managing to reach for the gun at my side and take aim.

I fired at his head.

Within a second,
I realized that he’d shot me in the chest.

“
Keaton!
” Vivian sobbed, running to me and dropping to her knees. She slid in his blood, skin and matter covering the ground near my feet. “Keaton! Please, God, Keaton don’t die!
Keaton!
”

Her voice grew softer as she screamed, something I’d never understand.

I managed to smile at her before I closed my eyes.

V

“
Dial! Vivian,
dial!
” Matthew shouted at me.

I was vaguely aware that he’d fished a cell phone out of the murder’s pocket. I dropped the phone into the pool of blood, moaning as I reached for the device.

“He still has a pulse. Dial, maybe they can trace us,” he urged.

It was an iPhone. Every time I tried to touch a number, my finger slipped on the bloody screen.

9-1-1.

Matthew took the phone from me, and I heard him speaking from somewhere far-away.

“
Keaton?
”

He lay slumped over, blood all over him and around him.
I was naked, shivering, and dripping with blood.

So much blood.

“
I love you,
” I whispered, reaching for his hand and threading my fingers through his. “I love you,
please don’t leave me,
” I begged.

“They’re trying to find us,” Matthew said, turning to me. “Is he breathing?”

“I don’t think so,” I exhaled sharply, lowering my forehead to his hand. “Keaton, breathe, please,” I pleaded.

“There’s… so much blood… I can’t tell if it’s from his arm or his chest,” Matthew said, trying to peel away Keaton’s t-shirt. “Vivian. Jesus Christ, I don’t think he’s breathing.”

“
No…
”

The world tilted around me.
I curled against Keaton’s hip, sobbing, trying desperately to determine why this was all happening.

I couldn’t bury Keaton. I wouldn’t survive.

“I… I think I hear sirens.”

Matthew’s arms wrapped around me, tentatively at first, and then more firmly.

“I’m not leaving him.”

“I’m not asking you to. But you have to back away so they can work on him, beauty.”

His name for me sounded almost foreign to my ears. It forced me to remember a time when I never knew Keaton, when I couldn’t imagine loving anyone as much as I loved Matthew.

That time was over. Gone.

I
love Keaton.

Ambulances. Police. FBI.

I was shaking uncontrollably as I was urged to lie down on a stretcher. I watched as several paramedics hovered over Keaton and fired orders at each other.

“I can walk, and I’m staying with her,” Matthew said firmly, shrugging one EMT away. “I’m not leaving her side.”

“Is he alive?” I begged, even as a needle was jabbed into my arm.

“
How far along are you, honey?” one of the female medics asked, tenderly probing my abdomen. “Ten, twelve weeks?”

“Keaton!” I screamed, trying to get their attention. “Is he alive?”

One man stood up from where he’d been working over Keaton’s body, walking to me. “Miss Hale, his pulse is very weak, but it’s there. Please let the medics take care of you, and you’ll be together soon, okay?”

I nodded quickly, letting Matthew take my hand.

The quick rush of cold in my veins stunned me, and I gripped his fingers as they began to carry me out of the horrible cabin.

“
Matthew don’t leave,
” I whispered, and he shook his head firmly.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

The bright lights of the ambulance interior forced me to squint. Finally, I closed my eyes, too overwhelmed to deal with the scene around me any longer.

. . .

I jolted awake.

“
Keaton!
” I tried, my throat dry and stinging.

“Vivian, it’s okay, sweetheart.”

My mom? I turned to her before glancing around the room.

“Mom? Where am I? Where’s Keaton?”

“You’re in a hospital. We’re in Utah,” she added, running her hand over my hair. “Let me get the nurse.”

“Mom, where’s Keaton?” I begged, stiffening at the ache in my muscles.

She lowered her narrowed eyes. “We’ll talk about him in a moment, Vivian. Let me bring the nurse in.”

The next few minutes were efficiently managed by a nurse as she checked my vitals and asked me several questions about my needs. I accepted the cup of water that she offered me gratefully,
the cold fear mounting deep within my chest.

“I need to see Keaton,” I forced, turning toward the door as Matthew walked in.

“I’ll be right outside in the hallway,” my mother replied, patting my head again before exchanging a look with Matthew.

“How are you feeling?” he asked quietly, and I lowered the cup to the sliding table at my bedside, lifting my eyes to his.

“Tell me. I need to know.”

Matthew listened to my pleading words, his chest rising and falling with a deep, even breath. He wore hospital scrubs.

I remembered our clothing on the cabin floor soaking up the pool of blood.

Keaton’s blood.

“I can’t remember all the terms that they used,” Matthew began, reaching for my hand as he lowered to the chair at my side. “He had some kind of stroke from all of the… blood loss,” he managed, lowered his eyes to the ground.

“Had?”

I dug at my neck, scratching as my eyes began to burn. He tightened his grip on my hand.

“He’s alive, Vivian. He’s in a coma, but he’s alive. For now.”

“Take me to him,” I begged tearfully. “Please. Matthew-”

“They don’t know how long he has.”

I tried to sit up, reaching for the bedrail. “Take me to him. Now.”

“Vivian-”

“
Now
,” I snapped, the unexpected anger taking over my reason. “Where is he?”

“His family is with him. His
… father is here. They’ve given him his last rites.”

“
No
,” I cried, my feet finding the ground.

Matthew wrapped one arm around me, leading me to the door. My knees were incredibly weak, and I knew it was from terror, not trauma.

Not Keaton.

With a jolt of anger, confusion and helplessness, I jerked my body out of Matthew’s arms. He stood stunned for a moment, continuing to walk beside me.

“Don’t hold me like that,” I said, nearly breaking into a run. “Not anymore.”

He looked away, nodding once and leading me to the elevator.

We arrived on the critical care floor, and Matthew spoke to the nurse behind the desk. When she realized who I was, she nodded, making a phone call. Another nurse came around the corner only moments later.

“The family is through here. You are his fiancée?” she clarified.