Double the Trouble (Texas Trouble 3) (33 page)

With her heart in her throat, Karlie walked into the room and around the curtain, then walked up to the bed where Gabe was hooked to all kinds of monitors.  He had a tube under his nose, that she supposed was for oxygen.  Grabbing his right hand, she leaned by his ear and whispered, "
I love you, Gabe.
"

She jumped back when he squeezed her hand right back and opened his eyes.  He gave her a weak smile, and his eyes were hazy with pain and medication, but she still saw the love there.  "Hey, darlin'..." he said in a low gravelly voice, then tried to swallow.

Emotion
surged up into her throat, and she covered her trembling mouth with her hand, then said in a teary voice,
"Oh, thank god...I've been so worried."

"I told you I'd be okay...they're fixing me up and I'll be good as new in a couple of days," he tried to reassure her.

"They said the anti-
venom
is working, and you have only minor tissue damage," she told him then took his hand again.

"Someone needs to go to the cabin and find that thing and kill it.  I just flung it against the wall," Gabe said then tried to laugh. 

It sounded more like a rough bark, and Karlie asked him, "You need some water?  I'll go ask the nurse," she said then turned to go out.

"Wait, I'll push the call button," he told her then picked up the cylinder and pushed the top, and a nurse came in right away.

"You need something, Mr. Kelley?"

"Could I get some water, or ice chips please?" he asked nicely with a half-smile.

"Sure, you can...just give me a second.  Do you feel like eating something? Jello or broth maybe?"

"How about a pureed t-bone?" he asked
,
then managed a chuckle.  Karlie laughed too, because it was a great sign that his sense of humor was back.

"I'll see what I can find,"
the woman
told him with a
wink
, then left the room
.
 
He was so damned cute the woman would probably actually get that for him, Karlie thought with a stab of jealousy.

"Sabrina and Cole are here...she's in the waiting room.  I probably shouldn't hog up all your time, but I don't want to leave you."

"You better not leave me," he said with intense blue eyes, then told her, "I love you, sugar..."

Karlie leaned down to place a soft kiss on his lips, "I love you too, Gabe
,
and I'm not going anywhere, or your sister would
probably shoot
me," she told him with a smile.
  "She told me to quit feeling sorry for myself and suck it up."

"
Good for her
...
bout damned time somebody did,
" he
told her then added firmly,
"We're moving you into the cabin when I get out of here, no ifs ands or buts about it
...after w
e've had a snake wrangler go through
the place to
make sure it's clean
, that is
.
"

Ignoring the moving in the cabin part of his statement,
because she wasn't sure that's what she wanted yet,
Karlie shivered and nodded
.
"Definitely worth the money having that done.
..I'm going get Sabrina,
and
I'll see you in a little bit,
"
Karlie
said then
kissed him again,
before she headed
out the door to find his sister.
  She found Cole and Sabrina in the waiting room, hold
ing hands and talking quietly.

Her heart sighed and she thought, if she had some assurance this is what domestic bliss would be like between her and Gabe, she might well consider his offer, but there were no guarantees, and she wasn't ready to take that risk.  Karlie truly didn't want to ruin their budding love, by moving too quickly.
  If Gabe started looking at her like Jake had after a while, it would crush her.
  She'd never loved Jake, she'd just been lonely, but that was beside the point.

Karlie walked over to them and smiled widely
, and they both stood up, Cole's hand automatically went to Sabrina's lower back and he pulled her close to him
. "Gabe's awake and harassing the nurses for something to eat, so he must be on the mend," she announced with relief in her tone.

She saw the tension in Cole's shoulders ease and Sabrina huffed out a breath then said, "Thank, goodness...can I go see him now?"

"Yep, I told him I'd come and get you," Karlie told her then looked at Cole, "They'll only let one of us back at a time."

He looked down at Sabrina and told her, "You go ahead, sugar, I'll go next."

After Sabrina nodded then left, Karlie went and took a seat, then Cole sat beside her.
  She crossed her legs and then her arms under her breasts and said to him, "I'm sorry for causing all this trouble for you and Gabe..."

Cole hesitated a second then
said
earnestly, "I was joking with Gabe, I don't think
any
of this is your fault, sugar.
..
I'm
sorry you heard that and believed otherwise.
"

"Sometimes, there's truth in humor, Cole...if I hadn't come here, you guys wouldn't be getting hurt and having issues," she told him honestly.

"If you hadn't come here, Gabe would still be inside of his head about what happened with Kenny
, and Sabrina would still be worried sick about him
.  He's getting better because of you, Karlie...he loves you."

"I love him too, but sometimes that's not enough is it?
  Sometimes outside things make it impossible for that to be enough.
"  That's how she
felt where Gabe was concerned.

"It can be enough if you let it, and quit using outside forces as an excuse to keep
people
at arm's length...to run
,
so you don't have to deal with things.
  I know someone else who did exactly the same thing, and when she stopped, she became my best friend's wife.
"

"Cassie?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Yep...because she ran off when things got
out of control
or she got confused, she wasted ten years of her life, and Luke's.
  You might want to talk to her,
"
Cole suggested.

"I might just do that...and thanks," she said then leaned over to kiss his cheek.
  "I've got to go check on Sarge, I left him in the car."

"We'll take him with us when we leave, so you don't have to worry about him," Cole offered and she nodded then got up and headed for the elevator.

Karlie's wheels were spinning about what Cole had told her about Cassie and Luke, one of the most intimate and in sync couples she knew.  They made being in love and in a relationship look so easy, effortless, just like Sabrina and Cole.  But they didn't have a crazy ex on their tails trying to kill them, they had peace, which allowed them to focus on each other.  Karlie didn't have that luxury, yet.
..hopefully, one day she would get there.  If they could put an end to Jake Johnson's bullying.

Walking out the front door of the hospital, Karlie went to the cruiser and unlocked the door, then opened the back and
gave Sarge a scratch,
before she
clipped on
his
leash. 
She needed to find her cell phone and thought
it might be
in her purse in the trunk...with the dead snake in the pillow case.  A wave of horror filled her, but she walked to the trunk anyway and opened it,
then
grabbed her purse. 

Before she could shut it, a heavy hand fell on her shoulder and she was shoved against the trunk and knocked her head on the lid.  Seeing stars, she shoved back against the heavy body pinning her to the car, but it didn't move, instead a smug voice she would never be able to purge from her mind grated near her ear, "Can't seem to kill
you or
that boyfriend of yours, huh?  Maybe next time that fucker won't be so lucky.
..and neither will you.
"

Fear shot through Karlie and her brain froze
, then her
body started trembling.  Trying to get her foggy brain to kick into gear, Karlie took a deep breath getting ready to scream, and Jake put one of his big hands over her mouth, and squeezed her shoulder so painfully
, tears filled her eyes. 

God, if he took her, nobody would know it.  She was out here in this virtually empty parking lot, and nobody would see.  They wouldn't know what happened, or where to look...and Jake would kill her.
  Karlie's eyes searched the too clean trunk for a weapon, and didn't see any. 
She wished Gabe had gotten her that taser she'd asked him for.
  I
f she got out of this, she was going to buy one herself.

The jack handle, she knew was under the spare, so she wasn't going to be able to grab that.  A blanket and an emergency road kit wouldn't be any help either, she thought.  Then her eyes fell on the rattlesnake in the blue pillow case.  She closed her fist around the top, so when he jerked her away from the car, she dragged it out and dropped it on the ground.  Maybe
that would give them
the message that it was Jake that had her.  She hoped so anyway, it was her only hope.

Jake dragged her across the lot toward where she saw his big black truck parked at the back of the lot
.  When
they got there, he slung open the passenger door and stuffed her inside roughly, then grabbed up Sarge and threw him in just as roughly
.  He
slammed the door, and ran around to the driver's side.
  Her foot hit something on the floor, and she looked down to see a pole with a hook on the end, the kind snake handlers used, and her heart
did a somersault in her chest, then anger surged through her.  She grabbed it and swung it at Jake's neck when he went to get up in the truck.  It caught him on the side of the face and left a long gash. 

With a yelp, he grabbed the end
of the pole
and
pulled it out of her hands, then
threw it out the door
.  He
got inside and
slapped her on the side of the face hard, causing
her head
to slam back against the window and her teeth to rattle. 

"
Bitch!
  You're going to pay for that one, and all the other trouble you've put me through lately.  The best thing you can do, if you want to stay alive
for a while
,
is to cooperate."

Karlie stared in horror at the blood gushing out of the gash on his face and down his neck
.  With a
whimper,
she
slid as close to the door as she could
, then gr
abbed the door handle to try to open it,
but
he pushed the lock button, then slapped her again
,
causing her neck to snap back and her brain to jiggle around in her head. 

She looked up and saw someone in a car a few rows away staring at them, and sent up a silent prayer of thanks. 
M
aybe he'd go inside and tell someone there was a crazy man beating a woman in a truck in the parking lot.
  Karlie felt her cheek swelling and there was the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.  Either she'd bitten her tongue or cheek on the last slap, or he might have knocked a tooth out.  Running her tongue around in her mouth, she was relieved to find her teeth in tact, but her lower lip was busted at the corner.
 

Sarge, who was on the floor board did something she'd never heard him do before, he growled, then s
unk his teeth into Jake's ankle, and tugged.  Jake howled, then reached down and tried to pull him off of his leg and couldn't
,
so he kicked him in the head with his other foot hard
. 
Sarge yelped then tried to bite him again, but Jake kicked him again,
then
he whimpered
and
laid down on the floor by her feet.  "Keep that damned mutt under control, or I'm going to put a bullet in him
and
you."