Page 12 of Wanted

Tears instantly streamed down her face, followed quickly byuncontrollable sobs.

Running my fingers over her cheeks and trying to catch her tears,I tried my best to soothe her. “Please, don’t cry, Sara. It’s over. It’s done.”My voice was as calm as I could manage, and I think my composed tone was whatfinally settled her.

“Talk to me, baby. Why areyou crying? You’re safe now. He will never threaten you again.”

She finally spoke, a breath of relief rushing out of me.

“I’m relieved he’s nolonger here, Alek, but the fact you were the one to end his life is what I’mupset about.” I was going to interject, but she instructed me to let her finishwith a simple glance. “I never wanted you to be the one who would have to livewith the regret of taking his life. It should have been me. I should have put astop to this…to him.” Her look was pitiful and I almost chastised her,demanding she stop blaming herself and allow me to carry the burden. “I’m sosorry,” she whispered.

“Stop it right now. I don’t ever want you to be upset about whatI did. I chose to end him, Sara, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, overand over if I had to. He threatened your life for the last time. I did what hadto be done. Plus, I couldn’t live with myself if you’d been the one to pull thetrigger, because I would never wantyouto bear that burden.”

Our eyes locked. It was as good a time as any to fill in whateverblanks she had about what happened. So I dove right in, telling her all thehorrible details, making sure to express how upset I was with her for puttingher life in danger, to which she simply smiled and stroked my cheek.When she questioned how Samuel had even foundher, I hung my head in regret.He wasable to locate her whereabouts because of my carelessness.I’d been selfish.I’d been the one to drag her out to thecharity event.At the time, Samuel hadbeen securely locked up but I still should have known better.I hadn’t given it a second thought when thepaparazzi snapped photos of the two of us.Not protecting her identity had been one of my biggest mistakes.

A little while later, after all questions had been answered, shedecided she needed the pain meds after all. It didn’t take long before she wasdrifting off into what I hoped was a peaceful sleep.

~8~

Sara

My stay in the hospital lasted for atotal of eight days. Initially, I was healing rather well but on the fourth day,I developed a pretty nasty infection in my wound. Luckily, it was able to be flushedwith a heavy concoction of antibiotics, taking until day six to feel somewhatnormal again.

Thankfully, I was given the all-clearto go home two days later and boy, was I ready.

I was so sick of lying in that uncomfortable bed. I was tired ofpeople having to go out of their way to come see me, the only purpose being tocheck in and see how I was coping. Alek stayed with me the entire time, onlyleaving to attend meetings he simply couldn’t cancel. I argued with him to gohome and rest, but he wasn’t listening to me. He would placate my demands witha simple nod. Then when I fell asleep, he pulled the cot the nurse had broughtin for him close to my bed, holding my hand until he drifted off.

Alexa and Matt had come by many times to say hello and check onme. I appreciated their concern, but I wanted everyone to stop fussing already.I was going to be fine. I’d survived worse.

Or was that the worst ofit?

The weeks after my hospital stay were a blur, my time eaten upwith physical therapy appointments four times a week. The thing whichfrustrated me the most was there didn’t seem to be an end in sight.

Trent, the therapist assigned to me, informed me it could take upto six months before my arm was back to normal. He was optimistic I would havefull range of motion, but only if I was faithful in keeping up with all of myset appointments. Otherwise, I could suffer slight immobility. There was no wayI was going to let that happen, though. Wanting all traces of what had happenedto be gone, I grunted through each session.

But no amount of therapywould erase the scars which were left behind.

Both physical and emotional.

Alek was extremely tolerant the entire time, which I reallyappreciated because there were times when I wasn’t the best patient. He droveme to and from my appointments, insisting he stay the entire hour.

I knew some of his reason was due to the fact my therapist was aman, who was also easy on the eyes. Alek’s whole body would tense up when Trenthad to touch me, but it was his job. He had to ensure I was properly stretchingand completing all of the rotation exercises.

Each time his hand made contact with my shoulder, or any otherpart of my anatomy, I would glance over at Alek and watch as his chestexpanded, his hands balling into tight fists as he stared at us. Once he caughtmy eye, he would give me a tight smile, silently telling me he was working onhis jealousy issues.

One time, when he thought Trent was too touchy, he approached himand threatened physical violence. I apologized and had to take Alek into theback of the room to chastise him.

“You have to stop this. Now. He’s not being inappropriate with meat all and you standing there, brooding the whole time, is not helping me. Andit’s not helping Trent do his job properly. Don’t you want me to get better?” Iwas beyond irritated with him, with my recovery…with everything.

“Of course I do!” he hollered, his own frustrations barreling offhim.

“Then stop acting like a jealous teenager,” I chastised.

“Then tell him to stop groping you.” He stood his ground andwaited for me to back down. Well, it wasn’t going to happen.

“If you don’t knock it off, Alek, you’re going to have to leave.”When my threat did nothing to dissuade him, I decided to try a differentapproach. Moving closer, I placed my hand on his cheek. He leaned into my touchand for a brief moment, I thought he was going to loosen up. But he remained asstoic as ever. “I’m not attracted to Trent, not in the least. All I’m thinkingabout the whole time he’s working on me is how I’ll be able to throw my armsaround you and hold you tight.” Dropping my hand from his face, I took a stepback. “But if that’s not something you would like, then please, keep actinglike a jealous fool.”

He showed his surrender to the situation by simply nodding,giving me a quick kiss and retreating to lean against the wall.He shoved his hands deep into his pockets butI could tell he was still clenching his fists, the fabric of his pants bulgingwith every action.

Alek was acting exactly how I knew he would. It didn’t excuse hisbehavior, but I understood where his head was at. I knew how I would have feltif the situation was reversed and a beautiful woman had her hands all over him,even if she was acting in a professional manner.

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