Page 50 of Anders and the Girl Worth Fighting For
“Like I’m getting my way now,” he said as he pulled her hair again. She let out a muffled cry. I inched forward again.
“If you let Grace go, we won’t involve the police,” I said. He didn’t know the police were almost here. He just needed the let go of Grace. “You can go on your way and then we can meet under better circumstances to negotiate a deal. Let her go, and we will get you what you want.” I said. I needed his guard down enough to get to him.
He relaxed his hold. Just enough to let me know he thought about it. Just enough to give me the second I needed to rush him and knock him to the ground. I heard the knife clang to the floor before my fist slammed into his face. The impact rocking through my hand like a baptism of pain and satisfaction as his nose crumbled under my fist. Red clouded my vision as I rained my fury down on him for daring to touch what was mine.
“Anders,” a familiar voice whimpered in the distance and I drew up short. Grace. Shame at losing cooled the rage burning through me. I’d knocked Bill out cold. Blood ran down his face and I didn’t know which of us the blood on my fist belonged to. “Anders. He’s out. I’m safe. Help me get free.” She begged desperately, pain coloring her voice. Shit.
She shouldn’t have had to fucking beg. I couldn’t believe I lost control like that. I threw Bill back on the ground and rushedover to where she was tied up to the pole. I kicked the knife away from her and away from Bill, in case he woke up and got any bright ideas.
“Who’s that woman?” I asked to distract us while I started untying her.
“Kaye. She’s pregnant. The baby is Bill’s. She said this was her plan, but didn’t realize I was awake,” she slurred, her voice weak. Fuck. What did they do to her? I scanned the room, keeping the bastards that did this in my sight while I worked for free her.
Duke holstered his gun to tie up the woman. He’d already tied up George. When he finished with Kaye, he came over and dragged Bill to their pile of evil and tied him up as well, just in case.
I came around to Grace’s front and took stock of her. I could see blood welling on her lip. The bruises I saw earlier covered the side of her face from hairline to jaw like she had been punched repeatedly. I stopped regretting unleashing hell on Bill. Her pupils seemed odd, and we were going to have to get her checked for a concussion and drugs in her system. “Fuck.”
“It’s ok, Anders,” she said. “You’re here now and I’m safe. I’m alive.” She seemed alert despite the obvious head wounds. Good.
I realized then that I hadn’t cut her feet free and grabbed my knife to slice through the zip ties. My hands shook as I re-sheathed my knife and examined her legs.
“Where else are you hurt? What did they do?” I couldn’t suppress the feral tone of my words.
She raised her bloody hand to my cheek. The warmth of herhand seeped into me, urging me to look at her. I did. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, but she held my gaze steadily.
“Deep breaths,” she said. “Do you need to count?”
I laughed at that. It was harsh and short. Was she really asking me this right now? Her blood was outside her body and she wanted me to calm down?
“No,” I bit out, but did it anyway.
“Good,” she said as she pet my face, calming me more with every brush of her fingers on my cheek. “When you’re ready, my wrists need bandaging and they gave me chloroform after they tried to knock me out by punching me. My ribs hurt a little. I don’t think anything else can be tended to right now.”
The deep breaths helped. I spent a decade in the Marines dealing with the most stressful situations the government could manufacture and somehow none of it prepared me for seeing her like this.
“Let me see them,” I said, steadier than before. I lifted my hand to hers where it rested on my face and brought it around with the other to examine them. They were so bloody and torn that I couldn’t tell exactly where the damage was. I pulled a water bottle from my bag and poured it over the wounds so I could see what I needed to do. I used gauze to dab away the bloody water and saw the mangled skin that hid underneath. I gently wrapped a fresh bandage around each wrist, applying enough pressure to slow any further bleeding. She would need to be checked by professionals, though.
“You tried to get free,” I said as I realized why her wrists were so bad.
“I did get free,” she said. She sounded proud of herself.
“Good girl,” I lifted her face and examined at her eyes again. They looked clearer and more alert than just a few minutes ago. Good.
I leaned down and kissed her forehead. She smelled likesweat and blood and vomit and Grace.
“I’m going to take you to the hospital and have you checked out. I want to make sure there aren’t any lingering effects from your head wounds and the chloroform and have them check out your wrists, and see if you need stitches.” I wasn’t sure who my words were supposed to calm more, me or her. Maybe both.
“Anders?” she asked. Her voice sounded tired.
“Yes, baby?”
“Hold me.”
“God yes.” I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my lap. She burrowed down into me as if she could hide herself inside me, fitting perfectly in my arms, like she was fucking made for me.
It wasn’t until that moment that I allowed myself to acknowledge just how terrified I was that I would never see her again. My hands shook as I ran them down her back, a lump forming in my throat at just the thought of losing her.
I could see the officer taking down statements and calling in backup. I hadn’t even noticed when he showed up. Duke stood guard over Bill, George, and Kaye. He looked over at me briefly and I nodded to him. I could never thank him enough for his work here tonight.
