(Chapter 3)
"Catherine! Catherine!" Vincent tried to open the car door with his normal human strength, but it was too mangled. He heard her heartbeat growing weaker, receiving no response, and her breathing was becoming more shallow. That was enough to send his adrenaline into overdrive and caused him to change; taking the form of the beast. He ripped off the car door, removing Catherine's lifeless body out and cradled her petite frame in his arms. His beast started to become frantic, looking for an escape route to take her far away, and wanted her safe. However, the doctor in him knew Catherine needed medical assistance asap and waited, hoping someone would come along. Then it happened all at once, her heart stopped, and the breathing came to a halt.
"Catherine!" Vincent yelled, waking with a gasp. His heart pounded against his rib cage, still replayed that damned nightmare in his head and remembered seeing the car accident. His senses picking up not only the smell but hearing the tire screeching along with the crunch of the metal and shattering of glass. He feared something had happened to Catherine when he saw both vehicles were in the middle of the road Immobilized. He still felt responsible since he was pissed at her and didn't want to answer the damn phone.
After talking with Alex, Vincent returned to the warehouse, and needed to get some sleep; especially after what happened the night before. He had put his phone on vibrate and forgot to turn the ringer back on. He grabbed the phone off the nightstand and looked at his screen. He noticed there were five missed calls from Catherine along with a voice message. His heart pounded nervously against his chest while he listened to the message she left; someone was stalking Alex, and she was on her way to check on her. Hastily he hung up the phone, throwing it on the bed beside him, before running his right hand frustrated through his hair and resting his elbows on his knees. He thought of how he had developed these intense feelings for the woman he only saved nine years ago, but not once did he check on Alex. Why? Could it be the fact that Catherine and his lives intertwine because of Muirfield? Just as Vincent finished brushing his teeth and grabbed a clean shirt from one of the drawers; when he heard JT enter the warehouse and make his way up the stairs announcing. "Dude, you know Cat has been trying to reach you,"
"Yeah, I know." Vincent sighed while putting on a shirt.
"What?" JT questioned him as he saw the concern look on his friend's face.
"Catherine left the hospital to go uh, help Alex," Vincent stated, not liking her decision to take it upon herself to help protect Alex. Especially just coming out of surgery.
"She mentioned it might have been Muirfield, but I didn't think she would leave the hospital," JT shared as he saw the questionable expression on Vincent's face and could tell something was bothering him. "What? She tried to get a hold of you, but you weren't answering your phone."
"I was with Alex," Vincent stated and then clenched his jaw tightly.
"You went to go see Alex?" JT asked, he couldn't believe Vincent would want to risk getting exposed again.
"Yeah. To tell her to move on."
"Vincent, we talked about this. You had gone to see Alex only to risk exposing not only yourself but…..." JT explained, but got cut off by Vincent.
"I know, man, but I had to. Alex never thought to tell me about this?" Vincent wondered if Alex was so worked up seeing him that she forgot to mention some guy stalking her.
"Maybe she didn't think it was a big deal." JT guessed.
"Not a big deal? JT, Catherine is putting herself in danger again because of me." Vincent commented while getting up from the couch. He wasn't about to have her risk her life for him, not while she was injured. Not only did he have to worry about Alex's safety, but now the one who captured his heart too. Is she looking to get herself more injured or worse? Vincent looked at him questionably again. Where did she get that idea from? "Why the hell Catherine thinks it would be Muirfield?"
"Probably because someone was wiretapping Alex, I guess she'd figured it was them."
"I'm gonna go check on them." Vincent said as he was about to grab his phone and jacket when JT blocked him from leaving.
"I don't think that'll be a good idea."
"Come on, man, I got to do something." Vincent responded, his gaze flicked upward, grimacing and still trying to move past his best friend.
"Cat probably doesn't want you to risk getting yourself exposed again," JT told him, while blocking him and tried to reason with him.
"She wouldn't have been in the hospital because of me." Vincent admitted, clenching his jaw. He was too filled with guilt of leaving her at the damn reception when he did, and then her getting shot after the car accident only made it harder for him. It's a good thing she made out alive because he wouldn't know if he could have handled it if she didn't.
"Come on, V, that wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known what was going to happen to her." JT pointed out, trying to reason with him.
"I know, but you weren't there pulling her lifeless body out of that damn car and not being able to do anything, man." Vincent mumbled as he brushed past his best friend and headed for the door again. Adding. "I'm not gonna sit here while they're both in danger."
"Okay, okay, just be careful this time then," JT called to Vincent as he opened the door and left the warehouse. He knew it was useless to try to reason with him again, knowing what happened the night before.
Vincent approached the empty lot behind the warehouse and pulled out his burner phone; dialing the precinct number. He stated through the phone. "Yeah, uh, actually, her doctor needs her to go home and rest," He didn't like that she left the hospital and especially in her condition, and waited until one of the operators to pick up the phone before proceeding to tell them about Catherine leaving the hospital without her doctor's okay. He knew she was trying to help out and that she was also too stubborn for her good.
"Thank you for letting us know, Dr. Zalanski. We'll make sure she gets the rest that she needs."
"Um...Yeah, okay." Vincent ended the call as he quickly hung up the phone and pocketed it into his coat. He knew Catherine wasn't going to be happy when she found out, but he'll be damned if she injured herself more. He then started to head over to Alex's.
Catherine slowly made her way down the street towards Alex's apartment. She saw some guy holding Alex with a knife to her throat and knew she had to help her, but she wouldn't be able to aim her gun at the guy; due to her injury. She was afraid she would miss and accidentally hit Alex, so the only other option to get his attention was by raising her gun in the air and pulling the trigger painfully.
"What the hell?" The guy yelled as he heard the shot coming from the direction where Catherine stood. He quickly let go of Alex and then started heading off down the street.
"Stop!" Catherine shouted while letting out a painful groan. She tried to run after him, but her shoulder started bothering her, and she leaned against one of the buildings for support.
"Oh my god!" Alex ran over to help her. She was shocked to see Vincent's handler come to her aid. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Catherine gasped in pain again while nursing her shoulder.
"Here, let's go to my place, and I'll help change the bandage." Alex offered, aid Catherine by helping her back to her apartment.
"I don't even know how to thank you," Alex said while putting on the clean bandage. "How did you know I'd be in trouble?"
"I, uh..." Catherine hesitated. She knew she couldn't tell her about looking her up on the police database because she was close to Vincent and maybe in danger. So she came up with a believable excuse. "I didn't. I was just stopping by to say thank you for the great health care."
"Or maybe you started keeping tabs on me because of Vince?" Alex smiled at her but then paused when she saw the confusion on Catherine's face. Then continued. "Of him coming to see me, I mean." She again saw the confused look on her like she didn't know about it.
"It's okay. It's okay. Vince told me everything. Obviously, that's... that's just what you do when you're somebody's handler." Alex smiled again at her.
"Alex, uh," Catherine paused for a moment and tried to get over Vincent, calling her his handler. After the fact, he had the nerve to risk exposing himself by coming to her father's wedding and pulling her out of that wrecked car. Why would he risk seeing Alex like that since Muirfield was out there? And why the hell did he call her his handler? "who was that guy?"
"Uh... I'd never seen him before, but..." Alex hesitated while shaking her head as she was getting her thoughts together. "he seemed to know me. He said he'd been thinking about doing this for years. Detective Chandler might be the person that's been watching me. I had a break-in a few weeks ago."
"Oh, really? Did uh, they take anything?" Catherine inquired while taking a couple of aspirins from Alex to ease the pain in her shoulder and swallow.
"No. It was weird." Alex stated as she watched the detective get up from the couch and make her way into her bedroom. "I think whoever it was just went through my closet."
"I'll check and see if the prep left any evidence," Catherine said while she started to examine some of the things in Alex's closet when she came across a bunch of letters addressed to Alex from Vincent. He wrote to her saying how much he missed her and couldn't wait to get back to the states to marry her. She could feel a painful tightness in her throat as she looked through some of the photos. Seeing them together happily, smiling, and embracing each other. She continued to look through the pictures and came across one where a much younger Vincent was standing by the beach, smiling, looking happy and sexy as ever. She noticed that he still looked the same on the outside, but she knew it was a different story on the inside and had to wonder if Vincent even told Alex about the 'new' him. She quickly pocketed the photo of him after he entered the apartment and made his way to the bedroom.
Vincent arrived at his ex-fiancee's apartment just after the sunrise, hoping both Alex and Catherine were okay. He knew she could take care of herself, but with her condition now, she could get herself more injured. He really didn't want to be here, but he would still be at the warehouse if it weren't for Catherine's condition. He knocked again and addressed; waiting for Alex to answer. "Alex, it's Vince. Open up."
"Vince?" He heard the surprise in her voice, the rapid beating of her heart, and the sound of her shoes walking quickly towards the door. Alex nearly threw herself into his arms after opening the apartment door.
"Hey. You okay? Uh, Catherine called and left a message. What's going on?" Vincent asked, giving Alex an abrupt hug before stepping into her place. Having her this close in his arms, it was nothing like the same feeling he got when he held Catherine in his arms at her father's wedding. The way her petite body felt against him, that electric spark that went through his entire body to his groin, and the smell of her sweet perfume. He always wanted to get that close to her since that time he saved her. He used to feel like that with Alex, but not anymore.
"Oh, she's... she's amazing. Your handler, she... she saved my life" Alex babbled on as he sensed her overwhelmed by the fact he showed.
"Alex, we talked about this." Vincent criticized her as he took a mental sigh while following Alex inside her apartment.
"I, uh," Alex hesitated for a moment before reaching out for his cheek to caress it. "I wasn't sure if I was gonna see you again."
"Yeah, well, I'm here now." Vincent's voice was apathetic as he pressed his lips together and quickly pulled back from her hand. He could hear Catherine's heart beating rapidly from the bedroom. She was nervous about something. "Is she in there?"
"Oh yes, sorry." Alex was shocked. She couldn't believe that Vincent again pulled away like he did last night. He never reacted towards her like that before when they were together. She pointed towards the direction of where Catherine was and answered. "She's right in here, the bedroom,"
"Handler, really?" Catherine gave him a hurtful expression as she slowly made her way towards the door, meeting him.
"I didn't..." Vincent trailed off, when he saw Alex approaching them and decided it wasn't the best time to explain. He figured that Catherine must have heard Alex referring to her as his handler.
"Sorry, uh, no trace of the perp," Catherine said to Alex while ignoring Vincent and changed the subject.
"Well, they already dusted for prints, so I figured it was a long shot," Alex remarked while pushing her hair aside.
"He was in the apartment?" Vincent asked, looking worried.
"Yeah, we think it was a couple of weeks ago, so any scent of him is probably long gone." Catherine hinted, maybe it'll be an excellent time to try and use his 'secret abilities'. Before looking back at Alex asking. "They find any other evidence?"
"A hair, some mud from my shoes, but I never heard back."
"Probably booked it into property without it. Sometimes it's easier to call someone crazy rather than face the facts." Catherine explained it to her and then looked at Vincent ordering. "You stay here with her. I'll be back."
"No, you need to go back to the hospital and get better, okay." Vincent observed, gently grabbed her arm and tried to stop her. He could smell the scent of her blood seeping through her bandage, and it was driving his senses off the wall. He needed to check on that bandage before it would get infected and probably worse.
"I need you to stay with your fiancée in case the stalker comes back," Catherine informed him as she left Alex's apartment; before Vincent could stop her again. She needed to get some space after reading those letters and looking at the pictures; some time to think and figure out if going forward with him would be such a good idea.
"Catherine."
"I tried calling you." Catherine snapped as she felt Vincent's hand gently grab her but tried to get away from him.
"I know, but uh, I, I was..." Vincent explained, stepping closer to her, blocking her. He needed to tell her what happened between Alex and himself.
"I figured you were with her." Catherine retorted with a hint of jealousy in her voice, cutting him off. She figured that it was the real reason why he didn't pick up the phone. Just like at her father's wedding. "Just stay here with her in case the stalker comes back."
"Catherine, wait." Vincent said, following her down the street but stopped when he saw Catherine held up her hands up to stop him. He could hear the distress in her voice as he watched her turn and walked away before heading back inside.
Catherine couldn't figure out why he acted so weird, like he was more protective of her than his own fiancée. Someone he should be more concerned about, right? Considering there's someone out there stalking her. She started towards the precinct, hopefully, to get more information on who was going after Alex. And hoping it wasn't Murfield related. Maybe she could get Evan to check it out.
"What do you mean you let her go? You were supposed to attack her until Keller showed up." The male voice demanded through the phone angrily.
"I did, but then her cop friend showed up," Conner answered while he paced his apartment nervously.
"Her cop friend?" The voice questioned through the receiver. What the hell was he talking about? The ex didn't have many friends to begin with.
"Yeah, some small petite woman with long brunette hair," Connor recalled every detail of that sexy cop.
"Detective Chandler. It can't be." The man growled through the phone, the last of what he heard was she was supposed to be dead.
"So you do know her?"
"Yes, she's connected to Keller too." The voice hesitated before continuing. "And she was supposed to have died in a car accident a couple of days ago."
"So, what do you want me to do now?"
"I want you to take care of the fiancée still." Answered the voice, then added, "The way that we planned it."
"Okay, but what about the cop?" Connor said he already had a gut feeling that they weren't just going to let her go.
"We will take care of her later; just make sure this time that he shows up." The male voice answered, menacing and pausing again. "And Connor, don't mess this up. Or you wouldn't get the money we'd promise you." The voice continued before hanging up the phone.
To be continued…...
Author's Note: Still in the process of continuing. Thanks for the reviews and for hanging in there, good people. I hope you are enjoying it as I am writing it.
