Chapter 36
Max
Scraps of her clothing were littered across the road, her pants, her shirt and her undergarments cut up and scattered like random garbage. Pete called me as soon as he found the clothes, he said he wasn’t sure if they were Megans, but I recognized the outfit she left that morning wearing. Hours have passed since we held the meeting in the port, who knows where she could be.
Ryan and Derek have been arguing in the backseat since we put them in there together, I feel bad for Roark having to listen to them bicker. Ally confirmed Ryans story about Megan being a champion swimmer. Apparently she was top on her high school team. It was interesting to find out these little tidbits about my little one, I just wish it was her I was hearing them from. My biggest concern right now is finding her. It’s well into the night and the water must be freezing. Monty commandeered a small boat saying it was for official police business, flashing his badge and everything. I hope that doesn’t get us screwed over.
Tony called Rick because I threatened to jump in the water after her. He threatened to come down here and remove me from the scene. Andy has been pouring over maps of the waterways and all the places she could possibly be. I didn’t want to think of what shape she was in.
“Max, take a look at this,” Andy called from his car. “There is a small little beach or outcropping that she could have possibly reached from where she landed in the water. If she’s as good a swimmer as Ally says, she might have made it there. I don’t want to think the worst Max, but we really need to find her.”
He didn’t have to tell me the alternative of not finding her. “How far is it from here to get to the beach?” I ask, heading for my car.
“About a five-minute drive with a two-minute walk down to the beach itself. Want one of us to come with you?” Andy offered. I nod, not thinking that I don’t have the space for someone other than Roark and the dumbass brothers in my car.
“Take mine, we got things from here,” Tony said as he tossed me the keys to his challenger, it was a nice car, loud as hell, but fast too.
“Thank you,” I said looking over at Andy who was already hopping in the front seat. A boat horn blared below us, I’m hoping it’s Monty and he found her. I hope she’s alive and safe. I hop in the driver seat, revving the car to life. She purred nicely, not as nice as my hellcat, but I wouldn’t complain. I threw the car into gear and sped back the way we came. Andy giving me directions from the passenger seat as if this was going to take an hour so some shit.
He said five-minutes, more like three. The hike down the rocky incline would be where I lost time. The horn blared again, only this time I was a lot closer to the source. Should enough, Monty was blaring the horn and aiming the light on the boat at the shore. I sped up my pace to make it over the last bit of rocks when I saw her. Her pale skin glistening in the moonlight, the only thing on her was her fucking boots. No wonder she was able to run and not fall.
I threw myself over the last little incline and raced over the sand to get to her. Her pulse was weak, her breathing was barely existent. She was freezing cold and wet. Andy tossed me his jacket as I removed mine and covered her with both. I pulled her up into my arms and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m here Mrs. Carter. Come back to me,” I whisper into her ear as I push her hair from her face. Her breathing was ragged, yet soft. Her lips a pale blue parted ever so slightly.
Andy was already on the phone as Monty pulled up closer to the shore, he threw down the anchor and a rope ladder. “Dude that won’t do shit to get her up onto the boat,” I say as he climbs down looking completely uncomfortable on that thing.
“No shit, but there is a wench onboard. Maybe we can make something to hoist her up onto the boat using that,” Monty stumbled in the sand, you could tell he wasn’t a fan of the grainy sand beneath his feet. The air from the sea drifted on a light breeze to dance around us. A weird calm came over me, all I knew in that moment was that I needed to get her warm and somewhere safe.
Andy and Monty climbed back aboard the ship and found a flat board for medical evacuations aboard. Well, that was fucking handy. Andy also found blankets and disposable heat packs in the cabin. Who the fuck did he take this boat from?! They managed to get the flat board and blankets down to use without any problems. I loaded her onto the board and hooked it back up to the wench. If I thought it could handle both of us, I would be right on that damn thing with her.
As she made her way up to the boat, I began my climb up the rickety ass ladder that had no fucking support what so ever. Fuckers made this shit look so easy. She made it to the top way before me and luckily Monty and Andy were gentlemen and only moved the flat board from the wench to the cabin, covering her with more blankets to bring her body temperature back up. I walked into the cabin behind them and watched as they took care of her with pure gentleness. Neither of them were medics, but they both had basic medical knowledge. Monty looked back at me and nudged Andy. They both moved from where they were standing at went to steer the boat back to the pier.
I curled up next to Megan, pulling her body up against mine, keeping her wrapped in the blankets. My body heat should help bring hers back up a little quicker than if she was just in blankets. She curled up to my chest, her body shaking and freezing cold. There were bruises forming on her face and I could feel knots on her head. I growled at the thought of someone hurting her. I swear I will kill Derek; I’ll saw his head off with a rusty dull saw until it falls into his fucking lap.
“I called Mitch. Him, Brian and Captain Woods are at the port waiting for us to get there. Do you want Roark and Pete to take the Paxley brothers back to the warehouse?” Andy asked from his seat across the cabin.
“Yeah, I don’t want them out any longer. Tony and Ally should head there too. If Captain Woods says Megan doesn’t need a hospital, we will set her up in the makeshift medic room we have at the warehouse. I don’t want her waking up again in a fucking hospital,” I growl between gritted teeth.
“I’ll make the calls then,” Andy replied, pulling his phone back out of his pocket and calling up Roark. He relayed my message without any issues, I could hear a woman’s voice coming through the phone, but I couldn’t make out if it was Captain Woods or Ally
He hung up and looked over at me, “Ally and Tony are going to meet us at the warehouse. Ally wants to stop at her place and grab something for Megan to wear so they Paxley’s don’t have a chance of seeing her naked,” Andy said, keeping his eyes on mine. Monty kept his out on the water.
“Thank you, I wasn’t even thinking about getting her clothes,” I sigh. That should’ve been my first fucking thought was getting her clothes. The blankets would only provide so much coverage. Megan stirred in my arms, the blue slowly slipping from her lips. She began mumbling, her eyes moving rapidly beneath her eyelids. I couldn’t make out what she was whimpering, her lips barely moving.
“Is she okay?” Monty called back over his shoulder; he could hear her stirring but wasn’t taking his eyes off the darken water.
“I don’t know. I can’t tell what she’s —,” I was cut off but her yelling.
“MATTY DON’T LEAVE ME AGAIN!”
Andy looked over at me, his eyes flickering from the still semi-unconscious Megan to me. I could see anger in his eyes. Or maybe the anger in his was a reflection of the sadness in mine. She wasn’t thinking about me. She was thinking about him, and I couldn’t even be mad.
She settled calmly back into my chest, nuzzling closer to me as if she couldn’t get further enough into my skin. I looked at Andy and shook my head. “He’s her dead fiancé dude, I can’t be mad that she was on death’s door and she’s thinking of him.”
“I get that, but you would think that she would be thinking about the man she’s been with for the last few months. Not the man who left her years ago,” Andy said, his teeth were tight together.
“Dude, if you’re going to give her shit for this, don’t be around her when she wakes up. If I can be okay with it, you think you would be able to deal with it. He was murdered and she doesn’t know that we might’ve figured out it was Ryan Paxley, or at least a hit he put out on him,” I said, I could feel the rage building. Thank fuck she’s against my chest and her perfume, faint as it is, is wrapping it’s way around my senses. I would probably break anyone’s neck for looking at her with disgust.
“I’ll contain myself. I’m not happy about it, but I’ll do it,” Andy got up and left me there with my baby girl, curled up to me. My head spinning from everything going on. I’m going to have to ask her about why she asked him not to leave her again. Hopefully she will remember what was happening.
“We’re close to the shore, I see the ambulance. Looks like they’re waiting on the dock,” Monty said over his shoulder. Andy had left the cabin, probably to take a breather. I know why he’s upset, but she’s not Sandra. She’s not cheating on me, and I can’t make her stop thinking or mourning him. I never would ask her to.
Monty pulls the ship up to the dock, Andy opening the door and making way for Captain Woods to come in to take Megan from me. “I promise I will take care of her personally Max,” she said as her and Brian got her on the stretcher. They rushed her out of the cabin and into the ambulance to work their magic. Now it was just a waiting game to know that she would be okay. I went to follow, but a hand rested on my shoulder keeping me in place. I looked down at Monty’s hand then up to his face.
“Are you okay?” He wasn’t being accusatory with his question, a friend just worried about another friend.
“No, a lot of what was said tonight is running through my head and I want to kill them all,” I replied. Slowly Monty removed his hand from my shoulder. I looked around the cabin and noticed that Andy made himself scarce. Good.
“I mean about her calling that dudes name out. You seem hurt, but you’re more understanding than I would expect you to be seeing as what you’ve been through,” Monty headed to the door, I followed him out. The night air was so cold and brisk, the wind picking up off the water.
“I’m sad, not hurt. I understand her thinking of the man she thought she’d be with for life. He’s not someone she can run to so he can fix everything. Monty, if he was alive, she wouldn’t be mine. Then again, if he was alive, she would probably be safer, no us in her life, no Ryan Paxley to abuse her, no one to mark her for trafficking. I can’t bring him back for her, but I can do my best to be what he should’ve been and still should be for her,” I said, looking over at the ambulance, watching them work on her. They were checking her vitals. A good sign that she would be okay. If not, they would’ve already taken her to the hospital. Fuck what I wanted.
“Damn, I’m sorry. That’s a lot of pressure to live up to someone you’ve never met. I’m sorry she’s making you do that,” Monty and I headed off the boat, the captain still sitting on the dock. Monty handed him the keys and thanked him for allowing us to use his boat to save her life. The captain seemed happy to be of service and went about his evening.
“She’s not making me. I just want to do the right thing by her. He was taken from her, she doesn’t deserve this bullshit dude,” I say as I follow him to the ambulance. Andy already waiting with his back pressed against the side of the vehicle.
“Roark and Pete are back at the warehouse already. I seriously would recommend not letting Roark drive your car again,” Andy states as we get closer to him. “I’d also suggest a ball gag for those fuckers before Pete kills them himself.”
“Pete having issues?” Monty asks but we know better. Pete’s sister was trafficked off when he was fifteen, it’s why he joined our efforts. Something tells me they might have said something about his sister if he’s ready to kill them.
“Tell him to keep his cool, once we know Megan is good we will head there,” I said, pulling out my phone to let Rick know that we got her. I got a good work response and tucked my phone back in my pocket. He’d tell Melissa and she could finally get some sleep.
Captain Woods came out of the back of the ambulance, “She’s all good for transport to the warehouse facility. Her body temperature is rising and she’s not at risk of going into hypothermic shock. She’s lucky,” she said as I walked to the back of the ambulance. “You can ride with us, but these two are gonna have to catch another ride.”
“My car is around the corner. I’m guessing Tony and Ally took her car. So, you can ride with me Monty,” Andy said and with that they nodded at us and headed for their car.
“Let’s get going Max,” Captain Woods ushered me into the back of the ambulance, closing the doors behind us. Mitch and Brian were already in the front seats ready to leave.
Megan as resting on the stretcher, Captain Woods on one side keeping an eye on her vitals with me on the other side just wishing she would wake up. I pressed my lips against her forehead and whispered, “Come back to me Mrs. Carter.”