Dangerous Embrace (Embrace #1) (43 page)

“She’s stable. We’re running tests to check for brain injuries. She has a broken hand and several lacerations.”

“Is she awake?” Mark asked.

“She woke up screaming and fighting. We needed to sedate her.”

Mark felt the blow to his stomach when he heard this. Sarah was stuck alone in her nightmares.

“Doctor, the baby?” Ava sniffled.

“The baby is fine, no distress.”

“The baby is okay?” Mark asked.

Dr. Davidson nodded.

“Did he...was she?” The pain in his chest took his breath away, keeping him from finishing his sentences.

“It doesn’t look like she was raped. You must have gotten there just in time.” He reached over to put his hand on Mark’s arm. “I’ll come get you when she’s back from—”

“No, I want to see her before you take her...let me talk to her. It’ll calm her down.”

“She’s calm, trust me, the medication is working.”

“Please, please just for a minute.”

The doctor nodded. “We have to hurry. If she has a head injury, we need to know ASAP.”

Mark rushed after him toward Sarah’s room. When he entered, the sight of all the monitors and machines stopped him in his tracks until the sound of the static heartbeat coming from the baby monitor drew him forward.

Sarah lay naked under a sheet, her skin pale where there were no bruises. She had a blood pressure cuff on one arm and a tube in her nose for oxygen. The baby monitor stood out, a small square strapped to her belly and hidden under the sheet.

Mark inhaled sharply as he examined her bruised face and matted hair. Her lip was cut in two places, both of her eyes were black, and both cheekbones bruised up to her temples. He leaned in and kissed her forehead, and then both her cheeks.

“Baby, I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “Sarah, can you hear me? The baby is safe. It’s okay, he can’t hurt you anymore.” He leaned in close to her face, and her eyelids flickering slightly when he talked to her.

Mark placed his hand on her small belly. Tears stung his eyes again as he forced them back. When the doctor appeared in the doorway, he kissed her gently again. “Sarah, my love, Sarah...just know that I love you.” He heard the monitor beep and looked up quickly. The doctor stepped inside and looked at the readout.

“You’re right. It did calm her down. Her blood pressure is lower and her pulse normal.” He smiled at Mark. “She’s doing better. Now let me take her for the tests.”

Mark nodded weakly as he turned to leave the room. He wandered back to the waiting room in a daze. He could hear phones ringing and people talking. None of it meant anything to him. His head and heart were with Sarah.

“How did she look?” Ava asked when he entered the room. He looked at her, confused. “Mark, did she look okay? Tell me something.”

“She looked...hurt. Her face is bruised and cut. She looked hurt.” He slumped into the nearest chair and lowered his head to his hands. He tried to remember the last time he’d seen her smile...laugh. This morning—just this morning when she was safe and whole. They’d made a date for tonight. She’d promised to take care of herself and the baby. She’d tried. Seth said she‘d tried to fight back.

Sarah had warned him this would happen. She had said she couldn’t fight him off.
He’s too strong...too big.
Mark hadn’t listened to her. He shouldn’t have left her alone.
Why did I leave her?

He sat there for what felt like hours. He could hear Ava and Shane both on the phone. It was hard to pay attention to them. His mind was too overcome with regret and fear.

He heard Brian’s voice but didn’t look up. “Mark, how is she?”

“She’s stable. They took her for some tests,” Shane said.

“Bennett is on his way here. I called him when you left. He had just landed in Arizona. Never even made it out of the airport.”

Mark nodded, not really paying attention.

“He should be here anytime now, it’s a short flight.”

The room grew silent, but Brian’s sharp tone forced Mark to look up. “Lewis is dead.”

“Good.”

“Two shots to the torso, one to the head.”

Shane snickered. “That was Mark’s.”

“You know it, brother.” Brian smiled. “He’s always gone for the head shots, never the chest. He got him right between the eyes as if his lady wasn’t under the bastard. You’d think it would have thrown his shot off a little.”

“It’ll never happen.” Shane’s chin jutted out. “At least he’s in Hell now.”

“I’ll have an officer take both your statements later,” Brian said.

The doctor entered and all heads turned in his direction.

“Mark, you can come in now.”

He nearly jumped out of his chair and headed for the door with Ava right behind him.

“I’m sorry ma’am—”

“I need to see her, we’re family.” She grabbed Mark’s arm. “I won’t get in the way.”

The doctor looked at her concerned face and nodded.

“We’ll wait here, Mark,” Shane said.

Mark looked up at the sound of his name. “Jamie needs to be—”

“I already called your parents and Ali, don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks.”

When Mark entered the room, he carefully lifted Sarah’s small hand and kissed it. “I’m here, baby. I won’t leave your side again, I promise.”

He looked up when Ava sobbed. He couldn’t comfort her. It was all he could do to keep from sobbing himself. He laid his head down on Sarah’s hand and prayed.

Mark didn’t move again until he heard his name. He looked up, squinting at Brian.

“Mark...bro, how is she?”

Mark shook his head. The only response he had ready.

“This is Detective John Bennett from Nashville Metro.”

Mark put his hand out to shake Johnny’s. “Thanks for coming.”

“Call me Johnny, please.”

Mark wasn’t surprised to see that Johnny was tall and good-looking. As an ex-boyfriend of Sarah’s, he expected it. But he didn’t expect the scruffiness with a five o’clock shadow and longer hair. He certainly didn’t look like a cop and nothing like Mark.

“It’s good to meet you, Mr. Summors,” Johnny said in a drawling accent. Mark fought to suppress a smile and remembered Devon teasing Sarah about her sometimes reoccurring accent.

“You, too.”

They approached the bed and looked down at Sarah. “Mark, man...I’m sorry if I gave you guys a false sense of security.” Brian shook his head. “I should have parked a patrol outside your house. Damn, I’m sorry. She looks awful.”

“I shouldn’t have left her,” Mark said in a cracked voice. “I should have listened to her. She was scared and I...” Mark looked from Brian to Johnny’s pale face as Johnny stared at her.

“That motherfucker!” he raged.

It didn’t sound as scary with the accent, but Mark could relate to Johnny’s feelings anyway.

“How could he do this? Look at her, she’s so tiny.”

“Mark, how’s the baby?” Brian asked.

Mark looked over at the fetal monitor. “Hanging in there, she did a good job protecting her stomach.”

“She’s pregnant?” Johnny asked with a hint of a smile.

Mark nodded.

“I went over to Summors’ and had a look at the video. She didn’t go down without a fight. Did you teach her all those self-defense moves?” Brian asked.

“Yeah. A lot of damn good they did her.”

“Dude, she stabbed him with a butter knife. If only she would’ve gone for the throat. You need to teach her that.” Brian gestured a stab to the neck.

“I’ll try to remember that.”

“What’s her prognosis?” Johnny asked.

“She has a concussion and several lacerations. He beat the hell out of her...bruises all over her body and a couple of broken fingers.”

Johnny raised an eyebrow. “Broken fingers?”

“She punched him a couple of times,” Brian said smugly. “She has a hell of a punch. She broke Maylyn’s nose with that punch.”

“Yeah, she hurt Carl pretty bad too.” Mark lifted her hand and kissed it. “Kevin’s the person who taught her how to throw a punch. He was an amateur boxer.”

“Motherfucker,” Johnny muttered.

“He cut her clothes off with that damned hunting knife. That’s where the cuts came from,” Brian explained. “Too bad she didn’t break his nose, the bastard.”

When Brian said this, Sarah started to move around and tried to open her eyes. Mark leaned in. He wanted to make sure he was the first thing she saw when she woke up.

“Listen, we’ll get out of here and check on you guys later,” Brian said, backing out of the room.

Mark could hear her murmuring as she tried to open her eyes. “Baby, can you look at me. Sarah, open your eyes.” When he said her name, she stopped struggling and batted her eyes open. When they met Mark’s, they filled with tears.

“You’re safe, baby, he can’t hurt you again,” he whispered.

She let out a heartbreaking sob as she squeezed his hand.

“Sarah, relax or they’re going to medicate you again and make you sleep.” Her eyes calmed and her mouth started moving. He felt her hand flutter toward her stomach.

“The baby is fine. She’s fine...I promise. You kept her safe.”

She took a deep, ragged breath of relief and nodded.

“I love you. I’m so sorry I left you alone.”

She shook her head, looked at him with concerned eyes, and murmured a faint, “I love you.”

It was nearly nine o’clock at night when Mark wandered into the waiting room to find Ava, Ali, and, his parents still waiting. He took the seat between Ava and Ali.

“How’s Jamie? Did you tell him what happened?” he asked Ali after a few minutes.

“I told him she was hurt and in the hospital, but no details. He’s worried, but Mom is keeping him busy.”

They all turned at the same time when Johnny Rhay walked into the waiting room. Mark stood up to greet him. “Hi, Johnny.”

“Hey, Mark. How is she?” he asked. Johnny was moving slower than earlier, clearly exhausted.

“She’s awake but the doctor is in with her now. You can see her if you don’t mind waiting.” Mark looked around the room and then introduced everyone. “Johnny, this is Sarah’s best friend, Ava. These are my parents, Beth and Phillip, and Ali.” When he finished, Johnny gave them all a very charming, southern greeting stopping at Ali.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Miss Ali.”

“Johnny is a detective from Nashville and an old friend of Sarah’s.”

“Yes, she was my very first girlfriend,” he said with a charming smile that irritated Mark.

“Oh, are you Johnny something?” Ava asked, wagging a finger at him.

“Yes, ma’am, Johnny Rhay Bennett,” he said, shaking her hand.

“I’ve heard about you. I bet I still have the letters Sarah wrote me when she was in Nashville.”

“Oh, Sarah Jean wrote you letters, huh? That’s a hell of a lot more than anyone else got.”

Mark turned when he heard rushing footsteps coming up behind him.

“Mark, what’s going on? How is she?” Devon said.

“I can’t believe you got here so fast.”

“I left as soon as Ava called. Is Sarah okay?”

“She’s better. When the doctor is finished, you can go in.”

“Devon?” Johnny drawled from behind Mark. Devon’s eyes squinted, and he turned to peer around Mark.

“Son of a...Johnny Rhay, holy shit.” Devon smiled big and jumped into Johnny, doing a body slam that almost shook the room. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I was investigatin’ Kevin Lewis, but he snuck away from me.”

“Investigatin’,” Devon said, mocking his accent. “What are you talking about?”

Mark smiled. “I guess you better get your radar fixed, Dev. Don’t you recognize a cop when you see one?”

Devon’s eyes widened. “I don’t believe it.”

Mark left the room so they could catch up. He didn’t like being away from her, but he wanted to stay out of the doctor’s way. He stood in the hall and waited alone until Ali came out of the waiting room.

“How are you holding up?”

“Barely,” he said as she hugged him. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have left her alone.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. She’s going to be okay.”

Mark leaned against the wall trying to avoid her eyes. She was right but that didn’t lessen his guilt.

“You really love her, don’t you?”

He tilted his head and glared at her. “Why do you sound surprised?”

“I’m not surprised. She’s beautiful, smart, sexy, and rich.”

“Ali—”

She held her hand up. “She loves Jamie...and she loves you, too.” She smiled at him. “She’s timorous—I imagine that has a lot to do with Maylyn—but even as timid as she is, it’s obvious she loves you.”

“Ali, why are you here?”

“I came to show my support. It’s the least I can do after what Carl did to her.”