Predator - A Stand Alone Suspense Romance (16 page)

Damian~

I just had to see her up close. I drive back to the motel I’m staying at. I won’t leave until she tells me to.

The month we’ve been apart has not changed a thing. It has only made me miss Cara.

Leah was the last woman I loved. I don’t think I’m capable of loving someone again. But if there’s a possibility of a future with a woman by my side, that woman will be Cara.

There are so many reasons why it has to be Cara but the main one is because of her inner strength. Every day that she wakes up, choosing to live, is a day that she won the battle. She’s fighting back. She’s not letting what happened beat her down. She’s doing what Leah couldn’t.

Cara~

I stare at the cell. It has one number on it - his number - and I know if I phone it, I’ll hear his voice. I know if I ask, he’ll come get me.

I haven’t told Annie, but I think she suspects something is up. It’s been five days since he came. Five days of tossing and turning, and tonight is no different.

I sneak outside and close the door behind me so I won’t wake Annie. The stars are clear and the nights are getting warmer. I walk a small distance from the house so the porch light fades some, making the sky clearer.

There’s a slight breeze, ruffling my hair and the nightgown I have on. Annie insists every woman has to have a nightgown. She makes them so big that I feel lost in them. They just hang straight down from my shoulders, and most nights I get twisted up in them.

The cell vibrates and I shriek, dropping it. I stare stunned at the glowing screen. My heart races as I pick it up. It shows that I have a message and I press the button to open it.

‘Go inside.’

I read it over and over and over until the words blur. It vibrates again, and my fingers get all twisted to press the right button.

Go inside before I kidnap you.

My head snaps up and I look frantically around. He’s here. He sees me. It’s dark out and frustration spills into me. He can’t be this close and I can’t see him.

I press reply and type as fast as I can.

Where are you?

The response comes seconds later.

Not at home with you.

I press my forehead to the cell and moan. This is torture. The cell vibrates.

Now if we were home, I’d be breathing in that moan.

My breathing hitches and I glance around again.

“Damian,” I whisper, not that I’ll wake Annie. She sleeps like the dead.

There are no sounds. Even the crickets have gone quiet. I strain my ears to listen for him. I close my eyes to try to feel where he is.

And then I feel his warmth and I take the step back, right into him. My body melts, and I reach for him as he moves around me.

My hands slip around his neck and my heart starts to beat violently. I don’t know what’s happening between us but it’s the first time in a long time that I feel something other than despair or disgust.

I lift myself a little higher by standing on my toes, but before I can do something stupid, his head snaps up. He rips his body away from mine and he turns his back on me.

“Stay behind me. Don’t get in my way.” The words rip through me.

His hand moves in behind his back and for a stupid moment I think he’s reaching for me, but then the metal reflects in the moonlight and my world stops spinning.

“Unless one of you get visitors at two am that I’m not aware of, we might have a bit of a problem,” he says, sounding way too calm.

“No visitors,” I whisper hoarsely.

“Get down.” He glances back at me. “Fuck! You’re wearing white. You’re like a damn glowing sign out here,” he snaps.

I hunch down. I can’t take the gown off. There’s not a chance of that happening. I huddle behind his legs and close my eyes like the coward I am.

A horrible scream echoes through the night. “Annie!” I yell. I dart up and run. The nightgown pools around my knees in my full out sprint to get to her. I’m a coward if it comes to my own life, but not hers.

I slam the front door open and grab the broom she sweeps the porch with. I storm through the house searching for her.

A man has her by her throat, shouting demands in her face. I swing my arm back and then I slam the broom as hard as I can against his back. He lets her go and she sags to the floor, gasping for air.

The man swings around, shock registering on his face. His face is set in a dark scowl as he lifts his arm, and then I see the gun. I hear a gunshot right outside the house and I lift the broom to smack the man again.

I hear two loud shots.

I hear Annie scream.

I hear the broom fall to the floor with a clatter and then I see the man fall to the floor.

My eyes find Annie, and I manage a smile. She reaches for me with a trembling hand, her face a picture of horror.

A rattling cough overwhelms me. I cough up something horrible and I try to catch it so I don’t make a mess on the floor.

“I’m sorry, Annie,” I choke the words out and then all my strength fades. Arms grab me from behind as my legs give way.

“I have you. You’re safe.” His voice comes to me and then the pain follows.

It feels like something is shredding my insides to pieces. It’s a cold sharp pain that robs me of my breath.

“It hurts, Damian.” I start to shiver and his hand presses down hard on my stomach.

“I know. I know,” he says and his voice breaks.

I want to cry but I don’t. My mind grows foggy, as if I’m about to fall asleep.

I can hear Annie’s weeping.

But I can’t feel Damian’s hands as he presses down on me.

“I … I” I try to tell them that I love them so they’ll know how grateful I am for them both, but a horrible garbled sound overwhelms me, and then everything fades to black.

Damian~

“Cara!” Her face is a ghostly white. I feel her body go limp under my hands. “Fuck! Did you reach them?” I yell at the crying woman.

“They’re coming,” she sobs. She sits down next to Cara and she starts to brush hair away from her face. “It’s going to be okay, Honey,” she keeps saying through sobs.

I don’t dare lift my hands from the wound. She’s losing too much blood! Fuck.

Fear is not a feeling I’m used to. I hate fear, it makes me feel weak. I drop my chin to my chest and close my eyes as the woman who has finally stirred something in me bleeds to death.

Minutes drag by agonizingly slow as her blood seeps through my fingers. When I hear the sirens outside, I want to cry with relief.

Williams comes in first, followed by paramedics. I only move away when the one paramedic starts nudging my hands away from the wound.

“Don’t let her die,” I hiss at the man.

I watch as they work on Cara. When they wheel her out to the ambulance, Williams walks over to me.

“Who are you?” he asks, and I can see the anger burning in his eyes.

I look down at my bloody hands. I’ve had blood on my hands a lot, but never the blood of someone I care for.

“I’m …” I clear my throat and look back at the man in front of me. “Damian Weston,” I let the name slip over my dry lips.

“Weston? You’re related to Karen?” He takes out a notebook and starts to write.

“Yeah.” I clear my throat again and then say something I never thought I’d hear coming from my lips. “She’s my wife.”

Cara~

When I open my eyes I see white. White walls, white sheets, there’s just too much white.

“Where am I?” I croak, but there’s no one to answer me.

The fogginess starts to clear and I start to remember the shooting. Annie! Damian! Are they okay?

I grab hold of the IV stand next to my bed and pull myself up. Using it as a crutch I stumble out of the room.

“Mrs. Weston! You shouldn’t be up. You’re almost see-through, you’re so pale,” I hear panicked voices, and I see a blur of two figures moving before everything goes dark again.

I feel hot tears running into my hair as I wake up. There’s an excruciating, piercing pain in my abdomen. I try to move so I can curl up but the pain intensifies and I whimper.

“Cara?” I feel hands move up my arms and they frame my face, and then I see Damian. He looks awful, worse than before. “Cara,” he says again.

“It hurts really bad,” I croak. “Make it go away.” I don’t even have the strength to lift my hands.

“I will.” There’s promise in his voice and it already makes me feel better. I hear a beeping start above my head. I hear him talk but I don’t listen as I drift off to sleep again.