“He’s checking on Kenny, baby. He’ll be right here,” Dane explained softly in her ear.
“They’re dead, right?” she asked looking one officer straight in the eye. He was older and had caring, soft brown eyes, with lines all around his face that made her believe he laughed often. On the tall side, he still had a bit of a belly that she bet if he had young grandkids, they probably loved pretending he was Santa at Christmas. He reminded her of her own Grandpa, always smiling and laughing, dressing up as whatever character the holiday was. She never let on that she knew it was him because she knew he loved doing it as much she loved him doing it.
Leaning down so they were eye level, he squeezed her fingers that were holding onto Dane’s forearm tightly. “They’re dead, sweetie, they can never hurt you again, or anyone for that matter,” he told her gently.
Looking to Kenny, she nodded her head at her friend, saying sadly, “They’ll hurt her forever, though.” Watching as the paramedics push her gurney inside the ambulance, followed by Linc and Creed.
Siren’s wailing and police cruisers, as well as Nate and Ty in their SUV, followed them; they were out of sight in seconds. Watching as Coop walked closer to her, she saw a change in his body language she didn’t like. His shoulders were hunched forward slightly, almost in defeat, and his head was down. She could see the creases in his forehead from his deep thoughts. “Cooper?” she asked softly, not sure he would hear her until his head popped up and his gray eyes met hers. Shocking her with their intensity, they were so light they almost shined like the brightest star in a dark sky at night.
When he came running to her, she got up from Dane and threw herself into his arms, needing to know he was ok. She knew they were as close to Kenny as brothers. They had known her for years and loved her. Emily’s guilt was ten times worse, knowing she was the cause of so much pain for so many people.
“Will she be ok, Cooper?”
“I don’t know, baby girl, I don’t know.” He breathed in her ear with tears clogging his throat. “Her folks will be at the hospital waiting for her to arrive,” he explained.
Nodding her head, she pulled back to look at him and tears streamed down her face. She waited for the accusation that if she’d never been in their lives this wouldn’t have happened to the young woman. On that thought, deep sobs racked her body so intensely that they stole her breath. Her knees went weak, she slipped from Coop’s arms to the ground as she curled in a ball and cried for everything that had happened. Wishing she’d just given in to him. Let him have her years ago. Wishing that everything that had happened to Kenny had happened to her instead.
“Oh God!” She screamed loudly, her voice hoarse from the power and emotion behind it. “I’m so sorry! I wish it were me, make it me, please,” she whispered like a prayer lost in the wind, just like her wish, never to be heard or granted.
“Baby, no, this isn’t your fault. You can’t do this to yourself.” Coop tried reasoning with her, sitting on the cold hard ground beside her and trying to pull her into his arms. But she wasn’t having it. She didn’t understand how they didn’t blame her when she did? Kenny must. With what happened to her, who wouldn’t?
“Emily don’t,” Dane told her harshly from behind, pressing himself against her. He grabbed her shoulders, giving a little shake until she looked up at him. “This is not your fault. Never could anyone have guessed that this would happen; and if they did, then we should have been the ones to figure it out, not you.” He emphasized. “This,” he waved his arms indicating their surroundings, “has not one fucking thing to do with you, Emily. And I, no, we won’t allow you to believe for a single second longer that it was. You could not have stopped these maniacs on your own. And baby, if you hadn’t come to us for help, then we never would have met,” he said so softly, with a twinge of hurt in his voice like he thought she regretted meeting them when he couldn’t be further from the truth.
Reaching her hand out to him she told them both. “I could never regret us, but letting go of the guilt over Kenny will be hard. It wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t know me. I brought this to her. I will always feel the blame for that. I just hope, one day, she will be able to forgive me. That woman hurt her so bad. The things she did… how can Kenny come back from that? How could anyone? And he just watched it happen, let her… he enjoyed it. I always grew up with stories of how protective my daddy was of Mom and me. She told me that any man worth his salt would never allow a woman to be hurt, and I believed it. I will continue to until my last breath. You’re bigger, stronger; but he got off on hearing her scream, seeing her bleed with every slice.” She sobbed out. The thought of her mom not knowing what was happening breaking her heart all over again; she missed her so much.
“C’mon, baby girl,” Coop said offering her his hand. “Let’s get you to the hospital and looked over, and we’ll check on Kenny, ok?” At her nod, they helped her up and into the back of the ambulance, telling the officer, “When we get to the hospital, she will answer your questions. The guilt is eating her alive right now; she won’t be able to tell you anything, anyway.”
Nodding his head, he agreed, “I’ll have a few officers bring you and your friend’s SUVs behind us.”
Arriving at Bay City’s hospital, Matagorda General, thirty minutes later, they waited in the hall while the doctor and two nurses checked Emily over. Dane was reeling from the idea that she thought any of them would blame her for what happened. They all knew it was the psycho couples fault. He couldn’t bring himself to say their names; he was so disgusted with what they had done to countless women all across the country.
“Did you get a hold of her mom, Coop?” Dane asked.
“Yeah man, she was a mess. She’s got a few things to share with Em once she gets here, but she feels terrible that this all happened.” He explained.
“She know about us?”
“Yup.” He smiled proudly. “She was a little leery at first, but I think she’s mostly just happy our girl’s ok.”
“Good. She’ll see when she gets here that we’re good for her, and she’s perfect for us.”
Watching the hospital staff bustle about the hallways made him nervous; too many unknown people. And even though the threat to her had been neutralized, he was still nervous about letting anyone near her.
Seeing Creed and Nate coming towards them, he stood up from his leaning position and met them halfway, along with Coop. “How’s Kenny, man?” He worried.
“She’s been sedated again. Woke up just before we arrived and freaked the fuck out, man. The paramedic almost lost an eye, she scratched him so hard,” Creed explained. He had a noticeable tick in his jaw that had never been there before, and Dane could clearly see the stress around his friend’s eyes. Deciding not to dwell on that, he listened as they explained the extent of her injuries; how they had to basically sew her back together. Her jaw was being wired shut because it was broken, she had two broken ribs on the left side that had to be wrapped. The lacerations in her wrists from struggling against the ropes were so deep she would need stitches all the way around them, and the
worst— they had sodomized her with something wooden and large. They had to remove splinters from inside her and sew her back up. The last made him want to vomit for the pain she must have been in, and to go back to that cabin and torture them both.
“Fuck!” Coop nearly yelled.
“They’re talking about putting her in a medically induced coma so she can heal. Because every time someone comes near her, she flips her shit,” Nate told them, the devastation clear in his voice. “She did something to her larynx, too, from all the screaming. It’s not looking good for her, man. She has a long road ahead of her.”
Placing his hand on his friend’s shoulder, he brought him in for a hug and patted his back. “She’s got a great family, and she’ll back to harassing us all in no time at all.” He tried lightening the mood but knew it wasn’t working when Nate just nodded before heading back to her.
“You alright, Creed?”
“No, man. That girl…” He trailed off, making them think there might be more to his anger than he was letting on. “She went through hell. The shit she was mumbling when she was out, though, it’s gonna give me nightmares for years to come,” he told them just as the doctor exited Emily’s room, coming towards them. “Go ahead, guys, I gotta find Linc. He was pissed as fuck,” he told them as he walked off to find his brother.