Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The walk back to where Mitch had parked his truck was long and silent. Numbness pervaded every part of Nadia’s body.
How had things gone so wrong?
She didn’t even know if she wanted the job in Boston. As much as it had been everything she thought she’d wanted, her values had changed. She’d changed during her time in Kerrville. She’d found herself and she wasn’t sure she would fit back in the city now in her new skin.
Being part of a smaller community was fulfilling in a way she’d never imagined.
Working in an inner city ER wouldn’t give her the opportunity to get to know her patients in the way she did where she currently worked.
It was all about clearing out the waiting room in the city.
Burnout was a real thing with city doctors and something she hadn’t considered before when she’d been applying.
It wasn’t as cut and dry as Mitch made it out to be.
If she’d gotten the call about the job three months ago, things may have been different.
She’d have jumped at the chance to get out of small-town Kerrville.
It would’ve been a travesty if she had, because she’d learned so much.
And she’d found the man walking beside her.
While she’d been in the shower she went over the night they’d spent together. Every conversation they’d ever had over the course of their relationship, and especially in the last couple of weeks. The way she’d wanted to do anything possible to help Mitch through his attacks.
Every little detail confirmed this was where she was meant to be, but if Mitch didn’t want her then why should she hang around? Why stay with someone when she wasn’t who they wanted? Maybe Mitch had been using her and now that they’d slept together, he was looking for any reason to move on.
That didn’t ring true with the man she knew him to be. He definitely wasn’t the wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am type of guy.
Her breath whooshed out of her when she walked into someone. Lost in her thoughts she hadn’t seen the group walking toward them. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” She offered the man a smile, but it froze on her lips.
Danger! Danger!
The word screeched in every facet of her mind. The group of men they’d run into weren’t a group out for an early morning stroll, they were a group on a mission and somehow she and Mitch had become their targets.
The man she’d run into had a scar running down the left side of his face. His eye was covered with a patch. It was obvious the reason for one was because of the other. There was nothing friendly about his face or his demeanor.
“I’m sorry.” She tried again, but her words fell on deaf ears and her arm was yanked behind her. “Ouch.”
“Hey asshole, leave her alone,” Mitch said and tried to grab her back but the others in the group all descended on him, dragging him away.
A scream caught in her throat as they started to kick Mitch. “Stop! What are you doing? What do you want? I’ll give you my purse, phone anything. Just let us go.”
Nadia was babbling. Saying things she shouldn’t but all she wanted was to change everything about the morning. If she’d been honest with Mitch about the job offer and talked to him, they could’ve still been in the hotel room. Safe and sound. Away from the danger they’d walked into.
“Hey boys did you hear that? This bitch is willing to do anything.” He ran a hand down her back and squeezed her ass. Her stomach turned and her skin crawled and she struggled to get out of the creep’s hold but he was just too strong.
She looked over at Mitch and her fear increased ten-fold.
He was on the ground, blood pouring from a cut in the middle of his forehead.
His bottom lip was split and a bruise was already forming on his cheek.
But it was the blank stare in his eyes, that had her knees buckling.
A look she recognized all too well. Mitch was lost in his mind.
Lost in the well of fear where reality and memories coalesced.
Lost and she wasn’t close enough to be able to reach him and help him out.
Nadia only hoped that somehow, someway he would find the strength to beat his demons.
The hands holding her tightened their grip to the extent she almost couldn’t breathe. She wouldn’t give in to them. She’d fight with everything she had. No way would she make it easy for these bastards to take her down.
Nadia looked again at Mitch, they were now kicking him in the ribs. Mitch had curled in on himself to minimize the damage from the blows. At least his self-preservation instincts were still intact.
Maybe she could pull him out of it. She had to try. Their time together couldn’t end this way. Nadia didn’t want the last thing he remembered about her to be their argument.
“Mitch!” She screamed his name. “I need you. I love you.”
The declaration popped out of her but she didn’t care.
It hadn’t been her intention to say she loved him.
She hadn’t known for sure until this second, but amidst the fear coursing through her, peace settled in too.
If her life was about to end at the hands of these men then she wanted him know.
Wanted Mitch to know she loved him. That she’d declared it for the universe to hear.
And she hoped he heard it too. He had to know that no matter what happened he was loved.
How the hell was he under attack? He was on base. Wasn’t base supposed to be a safe place? There was no such thing as a safe place in war.
Air rushed out of him on a gasp as another kick landed right above his kidneys.
If he didn’t do something he was going to die in this hellhole and he didn’t want to die.
Not now. Not when his life was looking up.
But how could that be? Nothing monumental happened to him when he was deployed.
Relationships were always the last thing on his mind.
However, in the far recesses of his consciousness Mitch acknowledged that yes, his life was looking up. That there was a big reason for him to live.
“Mitch! I need you. I love you.”
The voice sounded familiar and he wanted to grasp onto it like it was a life raft in the stormy seas of his life. He opened his mouth to tell the person to keep talking, but nothing came out.
“Mitch please. Come back to me.”
Yes!
Yes!
He wanted to come back. To her. To this shadow woman who needed him. Who loved him.
Loved him.
Nadia.
Nadia loved him?
Gaps appeared in the fog of his brain. Mitch shook his head, a sharp stab of pain pierced his skull, but he ignored it.
Nadia needed him.
“Oh, you’re gonna be so tasty, bitch. I can’t wait to rip that pretty little dress off and feast on your pussy.”
“No.” The word roared out of him. Adrenaline spiked the neurons in his brain.
Awareness of the situation returned. He and Nadia were being ambushed by a group of men on the streets of San Antonio.
Men who were going to hurt and possibly rape Nadia.
He wasn’t going to let that happen. Not to the woman he loved.
As quickly as the notion entered his mind he latched onto it and held it close.
Because it was true. This woman saved him in so many ways he didn’t even recognize.
Until she’d stormed into his life, he hadn’t known what he wanted.
What he’d been missing. Now that he had it, he wasn’t letting go.
And he intended to fight these bastards so he could have a future with Nadia—if she’d have him.
Mitch grabbed the leg that attempted to kick him again.
He may have been an Army surgeon, but he’d also done some hand-to-hand combat training with the guys on the base.
They all needed to let off steam and he found physical activity was a great way for that.
He twisted the foot he held hard. The man yelped but didn’t go down.
There was no way he could take them all down, but he could fight.
Maybe someone had heard Nadia’s screams and had called for help.
He could only hope and pray that was the case.
Pushing to his feet he ignored the screaming pain in his side and back. He didn’t think his kidney was badly damaged and he didn’t care if it was. All he cared about was getting to Nadia and keeping her safe.
Taking a moment he didn’t have, he looked over to where she stood.
Their eyes met, fear marked every inch of her face, but her eyes held hope and love.
Once again, she’d pulled him from the depths of his demons.
He nodded to her, hoping she got the message that he would do everything he could to get them out of this.
Her answering nod assured him she had and she raised her leg, stomping her foot down on the man holding her, as her elbow went back and she poked him hard in the belly. It was enough for him to loosen his hold and Nadia managed to break away.
“Run. Get help.” He shouted as another two men attempted to grab him. He whirled his leg around, catching one of the guys in the jaw. He went down with bang on the pavement, his head jolting as it connected with the unforgiving surface.
Mitch threw punches and kicks and received a few of his own, but in the background he could’ve sworn he heard sirens.
The sound was getting louder and louder but he didn’t want to risk a look and leave himself open to be hurt.
A second later the person he was fighting was pulled away and arms banded around him.
“Police. Don’t move.” Voices yelled and immediately Mitch relaxed his stance, to try and transmit that he wasn’t the threat.
That he wasn’t the one who needed to be carted off to jail.
Blood obscured his vision but he could see that there were at least half a dozen policemen surrounding them.
A woman officer had pulled Nadia to the side, away from the group of men.
Mitch wanted to go over to his love, check her out for himself to make sure she was okay and not hurt.