Touching Scars(88)

“Kat, get out of here. Go get help!” I grunted as Adam’s free hand socked me in the stomach.

“You’re dead! Don’t you fucking talk to her!” He sounded completely psychotic.

Using my free hand I grabbed hold of his collar and lifted his head off the ground, then brought it back down. His head hit the wood floor with a hard thud. I did it a second time, noticing his grip on the gun loosening. I was still fighting to maintain control when I lifted him a third time. He anticipated my move and bucked up with his hips, flinging me over to the side. He shook his head as I was sitting up. He still had the weapon in his hands. I’d failed to get it away from him. In the middle of all the commotion, Kat was still frozen in place, screaming for me.

As Adam came to a sitting position, everything started happening in slow motion. Kat came towards me. I turned to look at her and then back to him. All I saw was the gun being lifted in her direction. I watched Adam’s mouth turn up into a menacing smile. It was so familiar. I found myself seeing the dark eyed Iraqi woman staring at me, and Holt’s body plowing into mine as he shouted my name. My ears were ringing just as a shot went off. In the short span of a few milliseconds, I realized that this was why I was the one that lived. I was meant to save her. My life was coming full circle and I needed to do everything I could to protect her. He wasn’t going to win.

The clarity gave me a chance to shove myself off the ground and go full force at Adam, throwing myself in front of the gun.

Kat let out a blood curdling scream. She knew I was hit.

We both went tumbling back to the ground in a heap. Somehow, the gun fell from Adam’s hand and slid over to where Kat was standing. Adam took advantage of my pause when I’d looked up at Kat and flipped me over onto my back, straddling me. His hands were around my neck and he was choking every bit of air out of my lungs. He was going to kill me, right here in front of her, and I’d never know if she made it out. Oh, God, please give her the sense to pick up her damn feet and run!

I had no way to yell at her to go with his grip being so tight. Stars began to cloud my vision and I felt myself blacking out. But then something happened. His hands loosened, and I looked up at him, confused. There was red seeping out of his dark gray shirt and spreading across his chest. Adam was looking up at Kat, with a bewildered look in his eyes as he registered what she’d done.

“You shot me,” was all he said.

“You don’t hold the power anymore!” Her voice rang loud and clear through the room. My chest swelled with pride that she slung my words at him.

Adam slowly slumped down until his entire weight was crushing me. He was limp and I was too weak to push him off. Kat saw me trying to roll him over and she came to help me. I knew she didn’t want to touch him, but she gave him a good shove, and he moved.

“Oh, God, where are you hit?” she asked, as she lifted my head onto her lap.

Her small hands were flying all over me, trying to find the source of my bleeding. “Right here.” I showed her the center of my stomach.

“Shit, I don’t have my phone. Shit!”

I started to cough and felt light-headed. “Kat, baby, listen to me. My phone is in my back pocket. Get it out and call 911.”

She nodded and did exactly what I told her to do. I heard her on the phone with the paramedics, explaining what happened. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and my head was feeling really heavy.

“No! You stay with me, damn it! I can’t live without you, please don’t close your eyes,” she pleaded.

I desperately wanted to go to sleep. I was so tired. Her cries for me to stay awake held me there with her a little longer. I heard sirens screaming in the background and I thought to myself, thank God. She’s finally safe. Kat was putting pressure on my stomach and it made me groan. I remembered back to me holding Holt just like this. It seemed so ironic to me that she was now the one begging me to stay with her. Was this what Holt felt like when he was slipping away? I barely felt any pain. In fact, the only sensation I felt was how cold it was in the room. Had he known, just like I did now, that his time had come? The edges of my vision were melting away, and I knew it wasn’t going to be long.

“I love you,” I croaked.

“I know you do. Just please keep fighting, Timber. I can’t be alone.” Her small tears fell on my face and warmed my cooling skin.

“He’s gone now, Kat. No more nightmares. I love you.”

“No! Open your eyes!”

And just like that she was lost to me.





I FELT COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY ALONE. The desolation I’d felt inside after Adam raped me the first time had been an unbearable thing to live with. When he attempted it a second time, I honestly wasn’t sure I wanted to live anymore. Except, the thing of it was, I had a light. A light that was a towering six foot three man that guided me back to wanting to live. He gave me so many reasons to fight for my life, to want to live for the next day and the day after that. But that will to live came with a stipulation. A price that was non-negotiable. I couldn’t do it without him by my side. My life became so entwined with his that I only felt like I could breathe when he was with me. Right now I was suffocating.