Page 113 of Unstoppable Love

“See you soon, Ava-baby.” I was thrown forward, the sliding door slammed open, and he took off.

“Ava!” Isaiah shouted my name as I crumpled to the floor. My knees slammed into the tile, and Isaiah was there, picking me up.

“Go!” I flinched and rubbed my throat. “Go get him.”

“Cops are…”

“Go,” I rasped again, needles stabbing my throat as I tried to speak. “Please go.”

“Shit.” Isaiah stood, grabbed his gun, and then raced out the backdoor. I crumbled to a ball on the floor and was still there when Isaiah returned and more cops hurried into my home.

There was the beep of walkie-talkies and curse words being thrown. There were demands being made and orders given, but I stayed on that cool, cold tile until Isaiah was in front of me, picking me up.

“Careful, deputy,” someone said.

“I know,” he clipped and set me on a chair at the kitchen table. “Hey. Ava. Look at me, okay? You’re okay. You’re okay.”

He went to wipe away my tears and paused.

“We need to do some things you’re not going to like, okay? But we need to get some pictures and get you to the hospital. And I’m sorry, I can’t touch your jeans. We can’t… we can’t ruin his prints.”

Jimmy’s prints. Fingerprints on my body. On my jeans. On the button and zipper he’d…

A tremble racked through me, and Isaiah turned. “Someone get me a blanket!”

“I can’t.” I shook my head. “I can’t, Isaiah. He was…”

“I know, kiddo. I know. We all know what he was going to do, but he didn’t, okay?”

I blinked into my brother’s face and couldn’t recognize him. There was a look on him I’d never seen, never knew he could give. Pure rage rolled off him, and I scooted back.

“Why were you here?”

He shrugged. “Sixth sense. Didn’t feel right when I dropped you off. Got to the light before I circled back to make sure you were really okay. Saw him on you when I reached the porch. Debated about arresting him or straight out killing the bastard.”

He came back. My brother came back. A fresh wave of fear, of fury and terror rolled through me, and a sob broke through. “He would have… he would have… why? Why would he do this?”

“I don’t know, sis.” A blanket was draped over my shoulders, and then my head was resting on Isaiah’s shoulder. His arms went around the blanket, and he rocked me back and forth as I sobbed so painfully my gut clenched. “I don’t know, but we’ll get him, and he’ll never do anything like this again.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” my mom cried and rushed to me, a fresh round of tears falling free as my mom pulled me into a hug in the hospital room.

I’d been here for hours. A full night of no sleep. How had a night that started off so exciting become so horrible? A surgery for Cameron, a massive injury, then me… a night of tests and answering questions and choking over everything that happened to me. There’d been pictures and tests and someone had come and tried to get prints off my jeans. Isaiah or one of the other deputies that had been swarming my house, thankfully, had thought to grab me fresh clothes, so I was dressed in sweats and a sweatshirt, only my underwear on beneath, but I couldn’t wait to get them home and burn them. Everything else I’d been wearing had been taken away in an evidence bag.

The only time Isaiah left my side was when my jeans had been removed and I’d been able to change clothes.

Until now. As soon as my parents ran into my room, Isaiah grabbed my dad’s arm and stepped out.

“We were so worried, so worried when Isaiah called us.” My mom scanned my face and then cried as she took in my throat.

It hurt to talk, every word sliced pain through me, and I could only imagine how bad I looked.

“You’re okay.” She brushed back my hair, trying to soothe me. It didn’t help. I wasn’t sure any touch would soothe me for a while. Every time her fingers pressed against my scalp, I thought of Jimmy, of how he’d grabbed me and thrown me. My temple still thumped, and when I’d brushed my finger against it, a lump had been growing.

My mom caught my flinch and dropped her hand. “I’m so thankful Isaiah came back. He told us, he told us everything he could.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay.” She patted my hand gently. “We can sit, sit and wait, and then you’ll come back with us, okay? Stay with us for a few days? Until you’re… until you’re ready…”

---