Define Me (24 page)

“Too late darling.”

Who the hell was that, I thought it was just Hunter, but who was that woman?  She was standing behind me, I couldn’t see her but the voice sounded familiar. 

Vincent

“Hey what you doing back, I thought you were only coming back late this afternoon?”

“No, got a flight back yesterday
, late.”

“Oh great, how is your grams?”

“Much better, they are putting her into Hospice today.”

“Caitlin will be so happy to see you back; she was a real bitch this week without you.  Hardly went anywhere, spent most of her time locked in her room.  Even last night when we got home, she must have been asleep, did not even come down for supper when Heather called her.”

“Yeah, I bet, she missed me.”

“What do you mean?  You sound pissed”

“I am, not in the mood to talk about it right now. How did things go at the shop?”

“Like you can see all fine, great, things did not fall apart without you
, Heather should be here soon.”

“Yeah, seems like I’m not needed.”

“V I N C E N T!    You back thank goodness, where is Caitlin?”

“What do you mean Heather, she’s not with me?”

“WHAT, if she is not with you and she is not in her room then where is she? When we got home last night I thought she was asleep, but this morning when I went to go check on her, her bed was empty like she was never there.”

“She is probably with Brent; they were cozying up to each other yesterday on the beach.”

“What, when?”

“I wanted to surprise Cat yesterday but was I surprised to find her in Brent’s arms on the beach.”

“Dude, what did you do?”

“Nothing, I walked away.”

“Vincent, no, Caitlin will never do that to you, she loves you, you must be wrong.”

“Well, phone Brent and find out, I bet you she is with him.”

“No need to phone me, I’m here. What’s going on?”

I couldn’t believe this piece of shit had the arrogance to walk into my shop and pretend nothing had happened.  I felt like beating the living shit out of him. 

“Like you don’t know where Caitlin is, I assume she is with you, you were very close yesterday when I saw you on the beach.”

“What do you mean?  Caitlin is not with me, she saw you and ran after you, and I thought she left with you. Nothing happened between us…  She never came home last night?”

“No, I went to check on her this morning and she was not there.”

“Did you try calling her?”

“Yes but I found her phone on the kitchen counter, she left it there, Oh shit where can she be?”

I couldn’t believe it, fuck I hoped the psycho had not got her.  How could I have been so stupid, I should have confronted her at the beach?  If what Brent said was true and nothing happened, then maybe we could have prevented this? 

“Start phoning her friends maybe she went to Sam, maybe she just didn’t want to be alone at home after what happened.”

Everyone started phoning around.  We needed to find her. 

Caitlin

I
couldn’t believe Rebecca had done this; working with Hunter was she freaking crazy?  Did she know what she had gotten herself into?  The last 12 hours had been a nightmare.  My arms were killing me, the restraints were so tight, I couldn’t feel my hands anymore.  It was nothing compare to my head.

My ears were ringing, my left eye was busted up badly, I couldn’t even see out of it.  I could taste blood in my mouth.   Hunter had been at it the whole night shouting, hitting, throwing water in my face every time I passed out.  (I just want to die.)  I didn’t think anyone knew I was gone. 

It had been quite for a while, I assumed Hunter had passed out, between the beatings, the name calling, he shoved his face close to mine trying to kiss me, I could smell the alcohol on his breath.  Just before I passed out the last time I heard him say, that no other man will ever want me after he was finished with me. 

It was cold but there was some light coming through the window on the far side of the room.  There he was sleeping on the dirty mattress in the corner.  I wondered where Rebecca was, she was here through the beatings.  Perhaps she could not take it.  I remembered her screaming at Hunter that it was enough and then he started hitting her.  (I have to say as much as I hate that woman, to see him do that to her was killing me.)  I didn’t want anyone else having to suffer.

Vincent

Why th
e hell was the bitch at the shop again, I didn’t want to talk to her. 

“What do you want Rebecca, I told you it is over.  I never want to speak to you again, stop calling me otherwise I will call the cops. What happened to your face?”

“Vincent, I am so sorry, I didn’t know ….”

“What are you talking about Rebecca?”

“Hunter, he has Caitlin, he is going to kill her.”

I grabbed Rebecca and started shaking her.

“What do you mean Hunter is going to kill Caitlin, how do you know Hunter?”

“I helped him kidnap Caitlin yesterday, after you left.”

“You fucking crazy bitch!  Where is she.”

“What the hell is going on here?”

“Brent, call your
friends, Hunter has Caitlin, and he is going to kill her.”

“What, how do you know that?”

“This fucking bitch helped him.”

“Where are they?”

“Get in the car; you are taking us there now!”

“I don’t want to go back he’s going to kill me too.”

“I don’t give a shit, you started this, and you will show us where to go.”

“Vincent bring her, I will drive, the guys will follow us, I have phoned the police as well, let’s go!”

I couldn’t believe this was happening, I couldn’t lose her. 

“COME REBECCA! I promise you if anything happens to Caitlin, You will pay for it.”

Rebecca rattled off the address to Brent; we drove in silence to the address.  It was an old abandoned house near one of the shipping yards, it was a filthy place and it stank.

I had never in my life prayed as much as I had in those moments.  “Please GOD, keep her safe.”

By the time we got to the house neither the police nor the rest of Brent’s team had arrived.  I was not going to wait; I needed to get to Caitlin.

“Do you have a gun on you?”

“Yes, check under the seat, there is a glock; the ammo is in the glove compartment.  I have mine on me.  You do know how to use a gun, don’t you?

“Fuck you, yes I do. You ready or do you want to wait for your buddies.”

“No lets go, will she be ok in the car?”

“I don’t care, what happens to her, let’s go.”

Brent took out a pair of handcuffs and secures Rebecca inside the car; I didn’t want to know why he had those.

“Ok, let’s go.  I will go round the front and you take the back, from what this woman said he is in the basement and when she left he had passed out.”

Brent made his way to the front of the house and I took the back.  This place must have been a crack house or something, the windows were all busted.  The grass was, I would not have seen if anyone was hiding in there. 

Fuck I could hear Caitlin screaming, we needed to get to her and fast I didn’t even wait for Brent’s signal, I busted the back door down, there was no one inside.  I could hear Brent coming from the front.  He must have heard Caitlin as well; I found the door to the basement quick enough. 

“No Hunter, please no, I’m sorry please don’t …”

What the hell was happening, it was so dark down the stairs, and Brent tapped me on the shoulder signalling for me to be quiet going down.  What I could hear Hunter was not aware that we were in the house, it meant we had the element of surprise on our side.  Very slowly and quietly we made our way down.  When I turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, I nearly died. 

Caitlin was standing with Hunter pointing a gun at her head, screaming at her, he had gone totally crazy.  We were still standing in the dark, he was so focused on Caitlin that he didn’t notice us, but Caitlin did, I showed her to be quiet.  The look in Hunters eyes was that of a psycho on drugs.  Brent showed me to get down and then signalled to Caitlin to drop when he counted to 3 on his fingers.  I waited, focused on Caitlin, when she dropped Brent let off one shot hitting Hunter in the head, right between the eyes. 

I jumped up and ran to Caitlin scooping her up in my arms.  I needed to get her out of there.

“Get her outside now, I will stay here until the police arrive.  Quickly, I already phoned the medics they should be here any minute.”

I looked at Brent, God how can I ever thank this man for what he had done. 

“Just go we will talk later she needs help.”

Caitlin’s arms were wrapped so tightly around my neck and her little body was shaking.  I needed to get my girl out of there and to the hospital.  She looked pretty beaten up.  As I made my way up the stairs I was stopped by the police coming down. 

“He’s down there, he is dead. If you don’t mind I need to get her to the hospital, she is badly beaten up and he was about to shoot her, if it wasn’t for Brent this would be much worse, he saved Caitlin’s life.”

The police officer stepped aside to let me pass.  Once outside the house I spotted the ambulance arriving.  Caitlin was holding so tightly and wouldn’t let me go.

“Cat, baby you need to let go so the paramedics can check you out, please baby, I’ll be right here but you need to let go.”

“No Vincent, no don’t let me go.” 

Brent walked up behind us. 

“Go with her in the ambulance, I will sort this shit out and meet you guy later, Vincent look after her, she needs you know.”

I turned around with Caitlin still in my arms; I know she heard what he just said.  She lifts her head looking up at him. 

“Is he dead?”

“Yes”

“Get her away from her.”

“What about Rebecca, is she still in your car?”

“Yes, the police will take her as soon as they are finished downstairs.”

“What about you.”

“We will need to see about that, but it is not for you to worry about right now, please look after your girl.  I am sorry what happened yesterday, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Brent I don’t know how to thank you for what you did today.”

“We will talk later, get her to the hospital.”

I walked to the ambulance, Caitlin was still not prepared to let go of me, but with me sitting and her on my lap she was at least letting them look at her injuries.  God it looked bad, what kind of monster could beat a woman like that.  She was covered in bruises and cuts.  I couldn’t imagine what these past 24 hours must have been like.  Thank God we found her in time. 

The drive to the hospital felt like it hours, I could feel Caitlin, finally relaxing in my arms, her breathing had eased and I thought she had fallen asleep.  I knew I should lay her down but to be honest I didn’t want to let go either. 

As we got to the hospital I had no choice but to let go, as they lay Caitlin down she opened her eyes.  The panic in them nearly sends me over the edge.

“Vincent, don’t go away, I need you.” 

“I will be right here baby the doctors need to look at you.”

I needed to do the hard job of calling Caitlin’s parents.  I promised I would look after her and I failed them, her dad was going to kill me. I was still on the phone when Cole and Heather arrived. 

An hour later the doctor attending to Caitlin came out to talk to us because her parents hadn’t arrived yet.  Her dad had given the hospital authorization to treat me as the next of kin.  Bitter sweet news, there were no major injuries, just a few cuts and bruises and thank god that bastard did not rape her, but to be safe they want to keep her overnight.  They moved her into a private room. 

As I pushed open the door of her room, the shock of what happened hit me, to see my pretty girl all broken lying in a hospital bed.  I could have lost her today, the thought of never holding her in my arms again.  (I don’t think I would have survived that.)  I was too scared to go close; she was sleeping and looked so peaceful. 

Sometime during the night Caitlin woke up screaming. 

“It’s ok, I am here, and I will not leave your side.”

“Vincent I am scared.”

“He is gone, he will never hurt you again, and it is over.”

“I love you Vincent.”

I leaned forward and kissed my girl. 

“I love you too, always and forever.”