Chapter Twenty-Eight
Beck
“Kels,” I yell, trying to sit up. “Kelsey!”
“Sir, please, just lie back,” a voice I don’t recognize says. “We need you to calm down.”
“Fuck that,” I say, a jolt of pain shooting through me as I try to sit up again. “I need to find Kelsey.”
“The other officer has got her,” the voice says. “But I’m going to need you to lie back and calm down, you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
I feel hands push on my shoulders as another shot of pain hits me. All of sudden, I feel woozy, almost like I’m going to be sick. The entire room starts to spin and whatever I’m lying on is jolting from side to side as though we are moving.
“Sir?” the voice says again. “Sir, can you hear me?”
“What?” I say, my voice suddenly garbled as though my mouth is filled with cotton. “What did you say?”
“Sir, I need you to stay with me,” the voice repeats and I can’t help but think, stay with you where?
What’s going on, where am I and what is happening to me?
All of sudden, everything goes black, a heavy weight settling over me and pushing me under. The last thing I remember before everything disappears is an image of Kelsey, half naked as a man hovers over her.
NO!
When I next open my eyes, I’m lying in a bed and my entire body feels heavy. My throat is sore and scratchy and when I lift my arms, trying to work out where I am, nothing moves.
“Beck, don’t,” comes a voice I never expected to hear again. “Just relax, I’ll get you some water.”
I force my eyes to open and when they do, I see her. Kelsey is sitting on the side of my bed, staring down at me with so much love on her face, it makes my chest ache. But then I see the bruises and cuts, the black eye she now sports and all of a sudden, I’m filled with anger.
“Fucking hell,” I say, my voice hoarse and rough as I try to sit up.
“Shhh, baby,” she says, gently pushing me back onto the bed. “I’m okay.”
I shake my head at her, my eyes unexpectedly filling with tears as memories of what I saw when we stormed the farmhouse, flash through my head.
The second I heard her scream, I’d legged it to the front door, my shoulder slamming into it with enough force to open it and knock the wind out of me at the same time.
I’d had to stop for a breath, and as the door hit the wall, I heard a second scream.
It was enough to have me raise my gun and go running into the house.
The front rooms had turned up empty, the sound of a running shower, drawing me to the back of the house.
I looked in a bedroom that had a single bed, the imprint of a body that once slept in it, left behind.
“Fuck Kels, where are you?” I’d said, just as another scream rang out, followed by a loud thump and a frustrated, “Fuck!”
I’d immediately left the room, turning and walking down the hall in the opposite direction to what appeared to be the master bedroom. When I’d stepped into the doorway however, I felt like everything came crashing down around me.
Lying on the ground was a half dressed Kelsey, her pants around her ankles, as a naked Jason hovered over her, holding her down as he tried to rape her.
I thought I was going to throw up, but when Kelsey turned and saw me, all of the pain and fear on her face strengthened my resolve.
In that second, I knew I wasn’t going to throw up, I was going to kill this motherfucker.
Lifting my gun so it was aimed straight at his head, I’d called out, “Get the fuck off my girl,” just as Jason had turned to me.
It was then that I noticed the gun in his hand, the gun that was now pointing directly at my chest. I wasn’t wearing a vest; Gloucester and Rockport police not issuing vests because they didn’t fit the mandate for small towns.
I’d had guns pulled on me before, but never like this. I’d forced myself to lock onto his eyes, swallowing down my nerves as I readied myself to pull the trigger. The only thought running through my brain was, you are not taking her away from me.
I heard the noise before I felt the pain, the shock not setting in until I found myself falling on my ass, my gun still leveled on Jason. Without thinking anymore, I pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times, smiling as each round landed solidly in his chest.
Then I’d blacked out, only coming to when I must have been in the ambulance. I’d had no idea where Kelsey was, or what had happened to her. I’d seen the bullets hit Jason, watched as his body had collapsed, but had I killed him? And had he had a chance to hurt her first?
Now, looking at her face, I was certain he had.
“Beck, Beck are you okay?” she asks, her voice worried as she brings me back to the present. “Do you want me to get the nurse?”
I shake my head, tears falling down my face as I implore her to come closer. She must understand, because the next thing I know, Kelsey has wrapped her arms around me and her face buried in my neck as she starts to cry.
“Oh god, I thought I’d lost you, Beck,” she says. “I thought I wasn’t ever going to see you again and then you showed up and saved me, but he shot you and fuck, I thought I’d lost you all over again.”
Her words are all said in a rush, caught up on her sobs as she cries into my shoulder. I force my arms to move and wrap around her as I hold her against me.
Eventually she stops crying, her body no longer shaking as she lifts herself off me. Sitting back to look at me, I watch as her hands brush away the tears.
“You…” I try, my voice still hoarse. “You…”
“Here,” she says, handing me a cup. “Drink this first.”
I take it and drink the water in one go. Handing it back to her, I push my body off the bed, wincing as a sharp pain shoots through my right shoulder. Kelsey leans over me and adjusts the bed using a button on the side and I smile as it starts to rise behind me.
“Thank you,” I say, my voice finally strong enough to talk.
“Thank you, Beck,” she says, grabbing my hand in both of hers and lifting it to her mouth for a kiss. “Thank you for saving me.”
My stomach lurches again as I think about what happened. “I’m so sorry, baby,” I say, my voice catching on the words. “I’m so sorry I let this happen to you.”
“What?! No, no, you didn’t do anything, Beck. You saved me, you rescued me from him.”
I frown up at her, freeing one of my hands as I gently stroke her unbruised cheek.
“I let him take you,” I whisper. “I wasn’t there to protect you, like I promised and he…
” I have to stop and swallow hard before I can continue.
“Look what he did to you, baby. What he was doing to you when I walked in.”
“Beck,” Kelsey says, her voice firm as she looks me right in the eye. “This isn’t your fault, okay? None of what happened is your fault. You can’t be held responsible for Jason’s actions, the guy was a straight up psychopath.”
I’m shaking my head before she’s even finished. “But if I hadn’t gone back to Boston,” I say. “Hell, if I’d never moved to Boston in the first place, none of this would have happened.”
“No, Beck, I don’t want you thinking that,” she says, her hand reaching out and cupping my cheek now.
“We have no idea what could or would have happened, okay? And there’s nothing we can do to change it now.
Just know that I am forever grateful for what you did for me today.
For not giving up the search and for being such a protective, macho ass,” she says, smiling as she teases me and tries to lighten the mood.
But I can’t smile back at her; I’m still too heartbroken over what happened.
“And,” Kelsey says, her smile disappearing.
“As for what Jason was doing to me.” She stops and takes a deep breath, the hand that’s still holding mine, squeezes tighter, stopping me from breathing.
“I know what it looked like, Beck,” she says, her eyes never leaving mine.
“But he didn’t, okay? He tried, but he couldn’t, so… ”
But I don’t hear anything else as I tug her closer so she collapses onto my chest and I press a hard kiss to her mouth, ignoring the pain that’s radiating through my shoulder.
“Well, well, well, not too injured after all, huh,” a familiar voice says. “Do you need a minute to take care of your girl or…?”
Kelsey pulls back and I glance over to see a smiling Ryan standing in the doorway of my room, Erin beside him and his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“We can give you, what, five minutes,” he says, glancing at his watch. “That’s all you need, right?”
I finally smile, gesturing for them to come in as I mutter, “Fucker,” loud enough for him to hear.
Ryan and Erin both come in and take a seat in the chair next to my bed, Ryan pulling Erin onto his lap.
Kelsey and I glance at each other and smile.
Kelsey stays sitting on the bed beside me, her hand still in mine as she watches me fill them in on everything that happened, jumping in when I can’t quite remember something.
Apparently Jason’s shot hadn’t been far off the mark, lodging itself in my right shoulder, close enough to my heart to be a real concern.
Mine on the other hand, hadn’t missed at all.
And with three bullets to the chest, the only place Jason was going next, was six feet under ground.
I couldn’t help but smile at the thought.
After I’d passed out in the ambulance, I’d gone straight into surgery.
It was during that time that Kelsey’s cuts and bruises were treated.
She’d been relatively lucky, if you could call it that, only requiring a couple of stitches to the cut above her eye.
She’ll have a decent shiner for a while though, but I know it’s still going to be a long time before I stop seeing the evidence of what he did to her.
“Where’s Finn?” I finally ask, when I realize my brother isn’t around.
“He was sitting outside when we came in,” Ryan says, glancing at the door. “Want me to go get him?”
“I think he blames himself,” Kelsey says, her voice quiet. “He was pretty cut up about what happened to you.”
“What?” I ask, squeezing her hand.
“It was pretty bad, Beck,” she says, running her fingers through my hair. “For a second there, no one knew if you were going to make it.”
I exhale hard, not realizing how close it had been.
My own death had never even crossed my mind, not after Kelsey had been taken.
The only thought driving me for the last twenty-four hours was getting her back in one piece.
Getting her back so I could make good on my promise to never leave her again.
“I’ll talk to him,” I say, looking up at her. “I’ll sort it out, don’t worry.”
After Ryan and Erin leave, I ask Kels to get my brother so I can talk to him in private.
She smiles and presses a quick kiss to my mouth.
I hold her against me, my good hand sliding to the back of her neck so I can deepen the kiss, the other hand sliding over her ribs, my thumb gently stroking the underside of her breast.
“Beckham O’Loughlin,” she says in a flirty voice. “You’re in no condition to even think about that sort of action.”
I smile against her mouth. “Baby, when it comes to you, I’m always ready for action.”
Kelsey laughs. “I’ll remember that,” she says, pressing another kiss to my mouth before leaving the room and sending Finn in.
“Hey,” he says as he walks in. “You okay?”
I nod, gesturing to the chair by the side of the bed. Finn walks around but doesn’t sit, so I take a deep breath and say, “I’m fine, Finn, really. How are you?”
Finn shrugs and finally takes a seat, his body all but collapsing in the chair.
When I look at his face, I can see just how exhausted he is.
It’s as though the last few months have all finally caught up with him and if he doesn’t take a break and get some proper sleep, he’s going to collapse in a heap.
“Finn?” I repeat.
“I don’t know, Beck,” he eventually says. “A lot of shit went down today.”
“It did,” I say, nodding in agreement. “But the main thing is, that fucker is dead and everybody is fine. Me and Kelsey,” I say, stressing the point.
Finn nods but doesn’t say anything.
“Bro,” I say, waiting until he looks at me. “I’m fine, okay. Totally fine.”
Finn exhales, running a hand through his hair as he glances at my shoulder and then back at me. “Yeah, I know you are,” he says. “It’s just, for a second there, I didn’t think…” he trails off and that’s when it hits me.
I might have come back to Rockport to look after Kelsey and I might be staying in Rockport because I love Kelsey, but she’s not the only reason.
Coming back here has also given me the opportunity to reconnect with my family.
Get to know my brother and Pop all over again, after shutting them out for ten years.
If something had happened to me today, if I’d died, Kelsey wouldn’t have been the only one who’d suffered.
I reach out my hand, as if to shake Finn’s. He stares at me for a few seconds before lifting his hand to mine. I grab it, squeezing his fingers as I say, “I’m okay, Finn. And I promise you; I’m not going anywhere. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” I add on, winking at him now.
Finn finally smiles, his whole body relaxing as he registers what I’m telling him. Squeezing my hand once, he drops it and sits back in his chair, smiling as he says, “So, what are you gonna do next?”
I smile, knowing this is without a doubt, the right move for me.
There’s no way I can even think about going back to Boston, not with how I feel about Kelsey.
And definitely not after I’ve finally woken up to how much I need her in my life.
Walking away from her might have been the dumbest move I ever made, but staying now, well that’s gotta be my smartest.
“I’m gonna talk to Pop about finally retiring and letting me run the pub,” I say.
Finn cocks an eyebrow in surprise. “You sure about that?” he says. “What about the dream of being a big hot shot detective?”
I shrug, wincing again as I’m reminded of the pain. “Yeah, been there, done that, got the scar to prove it,” I say, smiling at him as I gesture to my shoulder.
Finn looks at me as if he’s trying to work out what I’m saying. As though maybe he doesn’t really believe me.
I take a deep breath as I continue. “I’m not gonna lie, Finn,” I say.
“Being a cop, a detective, is all I ever wanted to be. But…” I stop, take another breath as I try to work out how I can say this and have him believe me.
“Coming back here, finally acknowledging how I still feel about Kelsey, how much I’ve missed her and you and Pop,” I say.
“Well it’s kinda shown me what’s really important in life. ”
Finn’s nodding at me, as though he approves of what I’m saying. “So, you’re gonna stick around then, huh?”
I smile. “Yeah, thought I might stick around permanently actually,” I say, grinning at him. “You know, spend time with my brother and Pop again. Maybe finally make that woman out there my wife.”
Finn grins at me now as he says, “She know that yet?”
I smile back at him. “Not yet, but she will.”