Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Thank you all for the reviews and favorite/follows. Your encouragement keeps me posting! I promised this chapter on Wednesday and I was going to post it after I woke up, but a faithful follower let me know that technically, 12:01 is in fact Wednesday. So, DragonflyFriday...this is for you!
Lifetime of Love
Chapter 7
Ranger strategically placed his building in Trenton so he and his men could respond to any alarm in the city by at least fifteen minutes. I've timed the guys response time to my apartment before, and it was around nine and a half minutes. It had been around twenty minutes and they were still not there.
For twenty minutes, I had to allow that man to grope and grab me. He removed my clothes in the first five minutes. His were still on, thank God, but I could feel his desire building and I knew his were going to come off soon. I blocked what he was doing to me out of my mind. I couldn't think about it. I didn't want to.
The first time he tried to kiss me, I bit his tongue. That little act of rebellion got me a nice long cut down my chest from the wicked looking knife that I had no idea he held. I learned after that cut to stop fighting. He wouldn't have a problem killing me. I was sure of that.
At around the fifteen minute mark, his fingers entered me, roughly. I did my best to hide the revulsion even though it hurt terribly. I was dry and unprepared for his assault. I turned my head away and swallowed the bile that I had in my throat. I couldn't turn my self anymore because the pain in my back was too intense, I couldn't kick or move my legs because he had them pinned with his body. All I could do was scream and cry and when I did that, it turned him on more so I stopped. I tried my best to detach myself from the situation.
Twenty minutes of being assaulted by this man. Twenty minutes and no sign of my heros. Maybe I didn't press the button hard enough. Maybe they were pissed and didn't really care that I needed help. No, I couldn't accept that. I heard the sound of a belt buckle being released and the sound of a zipper and I knew my time in denial land was almost over. I was going to be raped and there wasn't a whole lot I could do to stop it.
"Now, my beauty. Why don't you go down and give little Leroy a kiss." He pressed my head down so I was level with his disgusting crotch. I almost vomited on it, and the more I thought about it made me realize that maybe I should have.
"If you try anything I will kill you; but only after cutting you all over your luscious body." He held the knife right beside my neck as he guided my mouth to him. I was just about to take him in my mouth when the apartment door burst open. Finally!
He picked me up and wrapped his arms around my waist and neck. He still held the knife in his hand and I was, unfortunately, still naked with blood running down my front from the wound on my chest.
"Guess our play time is over for now. Let me have this conversation and we'll resume our time together." He licked the side of my face. His breath smelled like stale cigarettes and cheap whisky. The smell alone about made me want to puke. Add in the fact that his nasty tongue was touching me and I started to heave.
It felt like we stood in the corner of the room for hours. I knew someone else was in the apartment, but they hadn't shown themselves in the bedroom. I felt the tingle, so I knew Ranger was here. My unknown assailant knew it too.
"The big bad Ranger decided to join the fun. You know who I am and why I'm here. The question is do you care about the snatch that I have in my arms?" I could feel the man behind me chuckle as his hands roamed over my naked body.
"What do you want, Leroy?" Ranger finally appeared in the doorway and I could tell by expression that he was close to losing control. Most people wouldn't see it, but his jaw was clenched and his eyes were hard and his hands were in tight fists.
"You can't give me what I want. You took it away from me. Now, I'm going to take your play toy away. Eye for an eye, right?" His hand grabbed my breast roughly and I cringed. I kept my eyes locked on Ranger's - looking for any hint of a plan. All I saw was rage.
"She's not mine. Never has been, and never will be." Ouch. That hurt more than I was willing to admit at that moment. The tears started to fall with Ranger's proclamation.
"Let her go and you and I will have a nice long chat. What do you say, Leroy?" Ranger was slowly working his way into the room and around the bed to where we were standing.
"She's too sweet to let go. You'll have to pry her from my dead cold fingers." He used the hand around my waist to move his fingers down and shoved them inside of me again. I yelled out in pain at the sudden intrusion. Ranger's jaw clenched more when he saw what the guy did.
Ranger kept walking around toward us and Leroy kept turning so we were facing him. He wasn't paying attention to the other men who were standing in the open doorway. Zero held one gun pointed at the guy's head and Les held another pointed in the same spot.
"If you let her go, maybe I'll spare your life. If you harm her again in any way then all bets are off and you'll die a very slow and painful death. You fucked with the wrong man." Ranger's words were harsh and I could hear the venom dripping from them. If the guy was smart, he would let me go. But apparently he wasn't very smart. He slipped the fingers out from between my legs and then stuck them in his mouth. The moan he let loose was enough to push Ranger's control over the edge.
"Zero." The fast command was all the man needed to hear to pull the trigger. In that instant time slowed down. I heard the gun shot a felt the blood splatter on me from the guy's brain exploding behind me. I felt his knife slice through my shoulder and before I was dragged to the ground with his corpse, I was grabbed into strong arms and wrapped in Ranger.
I didn't even realize that I was crying until I heard Ranger whispering in my ear.
"Shhh, querida. I've got you now. You're safe. Breathe Babe. Just breathe." His soothing words were calming, but I was still crying and couldn't calm myself. Suddenly I heard Ranger yelling for Bobby and I knew something was wrong. I wanted to calm down, and I wanted to talk to the guys, but I couldn't.
Darkness swarmed around me and the frantic voices around me became distant. I knew that I was going to loose consciousness and right before the darkness engulfed me, I heard Zero's voice beside me.
"Please don't leave me, Breá. I need to see your gorgeous eyes. Can you open them for me?" He sounded so worried and I wanted to assure him that I was okay, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything but let myself get carried into the nothingness of sleep.
I'm not sure how long I was unconscious. I could hear snippets of conversations and frantic doctors yelling orders back and forth. I heard angry voices from the guys when they were asked to leave the room. I assume that the guys were eventually forced to leave the room because the tension left with them. The doctors calmed and I felt gentle hands working on me. My thoughts were somewhere between consciousness and dreamland. I stayed somewhere between the two as I continued to hear bits of information as the medical personnel worked on me. I assume they were able to fix whatever was wrong with me. I didn't care. I let sleep claim me once more while they worked.
When I woke again, the room was dark. I heard the steady beep of the heart monitor and could feel the tubes in my nose forcing oxygen into me. I didn't hear any talking or any other noises outside that of a normal hospital room. That surprised me. I expected the guys to be sitting by my bed.
When I finally got my eyes opened I looked around and noticed only one person in the room with me. Joe was lounged back in the guest chair and his eyes were closed. He was sleeping and I didn't want to wake him. He looked exhausted even in sleep.
I tried to reach my call button to get the nurse but I couldn't quite reach it. I flopped back onto my bed in a huff and made a disgusted sound. That noise was enough to wake up Joe and he was beside my bed in a second.
"Cupcake. Thank God you're awake! We've been so worried." He placed a kiss on my head. Maybe I had been asleep longer than I thought.
"What day is it?" I rasped out. My voice was rough from not being used and my throat was raw.
"It's Thursday, Steph. You've been asleep for two and a half weeks." Holy shit. No wonder he looked like shit.
"Two and a half weeks? What the hell happened to me?" I vaguely remembered being attacked in my apartment, but nothing happened to cause me serious injury. Joe looked uncomfortable at my question.
"What's the last thing you remember?" He pulled the chair closer to my bed and grabbed my hand.
"I remember being attacked and then Ranger and the guys coming to rescue me. I heard a gun shot and then...well, then nothing. I have vague memories of conversations, but nothing concrete. Why was I asleep that long? Nothing serious medically happened to me." I had tears running down my face. I couldn't believe I slept that long.
"I know it's scary, Cupcake; but everything is okay. The doctor warned us that your body and mind just might need that extra time to heal from the attack. You were sexually assaulted and cut with a knife. You needed some time to come to terms with that. The doctors weren't worried, but we sure as hell were." Joe's explanation made me feel a bit better.
"So nothing is wrong with me?" I clutched his hand in mine.
"No. Your stitches have already been removed and you should be good to go after the doctors do a few more tests. I need to call them and RangeMan. Yesterday was the first day that Ranger left your bedside. And his guy Zero wasn't any better. They fought over who got to be in the room with you." Joe shook his head and chuckled. "You've got two men fighting over you again, Cupcake. Didn't you learn from me and Manoso?" I rolled my eyes. I didn't know how I got myself into those positions.
"Go call whoever you need to, but I want to talk to the doctor before anyone else gets here." He nodded and left the room to get the doctor. I caught a brief glance of the two men in black positioned outside my door. I prayed they didn't call their boss before I was ready.
The doctor came hustling in my room a few minutes after Joe left.
"Ms. Plum. I'm so glad to see you awake again. Detective Morelli said you wanted to talk to me?" He smiled at me and grabbed my chart.
"Well yeah. I guess I want to know what's wrong with me." He put my chart down and smiled again.
"Nothing is wrong with you. You had a couple cuts that we were able to clean and suture, but those stitches were removed a couple of days ago. Both wounds are healing nicely. The trauma you sustained from your attack didn't cause any lasting damage, physically. The mental damage was enough for your body to demand rest. You've been asleep for two and a half weeks. We knew there was nothing physically wrong with you, so we allowed you to remain asleep so you could heal. We kept you fed and hydrated through tubes. We knew that you would wake up when you were ready, and we were right. How do you feel?" I tried to digest everything he said.
"I feel fine. I don't hurt anywhere except my breasts, they are a little tender. My back doesn't hurt and the cuts don't seem to bother me. So, I am perfectly healthy? I just needed the sleep to heal from the mental trauma." The doctor nodded.
"I'm going to order some blood tests and some other things before I release you, but if everything comes back normal; you should be out of here by tomorrow morning. Do you have any other questions?" I shook my head and watched as the doctor walked out of the room.
I was left alone for a few minutes to think about what the doctor had said. I couldn't believe that I had been asleep for two and a half weeks. I really must have needed that time.
I heard a faint knock on my door before it was opened and Joe stuck his head in.
"Is it okay if I come back in?" I smiled and nodded. At least he asked permission first.
"Ranger and Zero are outside and want to see you. Are you ready to see them? It's okay if you're not, I'll tell them to come back later." I thought about it for a moment. Was I ready to see them?
"You can send them in. I need to talk to them." He nodded and kissed my forehead before exiting the room again.
The door opened a few seconds later and Ranger stepped through with Zero right behind him. The looks of relief on their faces warmed my heart. Ranger walked around to one side of my bed and placed a kiss on my cheek.
"Babe. It's so good to see your beautiful blue eyes again." I smiled as he stroked down my face with his rough fingers.
"Sorry I scared all of you. The doctor has already told me what happened and I guess I just needed the rest." Ranger nodded.
"Yeah, Bobby agreed with the doctors here. We just wanted you back with us." He glanced up at Zero who was standing on the other side of my bed. I smiled and took his hand in mine. The gesture wasn't missed by Ranger.
"I hope you aren't in trouble for killing that guy. I can't stand to think of you going to prison for protecting me." Zero smiled the sexy smile and bent down to place a kiss on my lips. I heard Ranger growl but didn't care. I was being kissed by Zero.
"I'm not in trouble, Breá. The cops deemed it justifiable homicide. After they saw what he did to you and after we told them our witness statements, they were more than happy to call it case closed. I would do anything to protect you, Steph." He kissed me again.
"So I guess my only question is, who the hell was he? I wasn't aware that I had a stalker until he was standing in my bedroom with me." I looked to Zero first who stared daggers at Ranger then I turned and looked at Ranger. He looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole.
"The man was Leroy Alvarez. I was tasked to pick up his wife in Atlanta about six months ago. She ran a brothel and was starting to get into the human trafficking trade when the warrants came down. I was the one who led the takedown that led to her death. She was waiting for us with a gun and killed herself before we could stop her. Her husband blamed me for her death even though she pulled the trigger." He paused and wiped a tear that I didn't know escaped from my eye.
"I'm so sorry that he found you. I wanted to protect you from this type of thing. This is why I don't do relationships." I rolled my eyes and turned toward Zero. I didn't want to hear his excuses anymore. I've heard them before and they don't change. I was so tired of hearing the same story over and over.
The nurse came in before I could ask any more questions. She drew four vials of blood and pulled the curtain around my bed for some sense of privacy. She quietly asked me about the tenderness in my breasts. There were faint bruises from the assailant's hands, so I assumed the pain was from them. She then excused herself with the vials of blood after opening the privacy curtain and told me someone would be in to take me to radiology for some more tests. I smiled and nodded.
"If everything checks out, I get to go home tomorrow." I was happy about that. I wanted to go home.
"Where is home, Babe?" Ranger's voice was soft and almost sounded timid.
"Well, if the apartment on four is still available I would like to stay there. I don't think I can go back to my apartment. I'll look for somewhere else to live." Ranger and Zero both smiled at me. God they were sexy men. I heard a commotion at the door and a poor nurses aide was stumbling over the wheel chair she was pushing. Poor girl didn't stand a chance against these men.
"You can stay there as long as you need Babe. We'll talk about it more when you get back from your tests. I'll be waiting here for you." I accepted the aides help to get into the wheel chair and glanced toward Zero.
"Will you be here too?" He smiled and nodded.
"I'm not going anywhere until you do. Promise." He kissed my head and let the aide take me from the room. I wasn't gone long and was quickly returned to my room. I heard the voices before we got to the door and I wasn't going to like what I found when the door was opened.
Zero and Ranger were toe to toe both speaking in angry Spanish, much like I found Zero and Les a few weeks ago. They didn't even notice the aide and I when we entered the room, but she cleared her throat to get their attention. In a second they were both back under control and by my side helping me back into bed. The aide excused herself and I got positioned in the bed. I was ready to confront the two men in the room with me. I'd had enough of this bullshit. It needed to end now.
A/N - well, we found out who the mystery man was but not what's going on with the guys. You all have to wait until Friday to find that out! : )
I did the final edit of this chapter on my iPad so excuse the typos that I missed. Also, I'm not a medical professional so I used some creative liscense in Steph's condition.