Engaging (Alluring Book 2) (29 page)

"Are you gonna stay out of my fucking business?"

He pulled on her hair, yanking at her scalp so her head would tip back.  She stared into his face.  Anger, all she could see was anger.  "Yes," she whimpered.

"I don't believe you."  He gave her hair another yank, twisting her neck at an odd angle.  She whimpered again, and he gave her another slap, starting a ringing in her ear.

He threw her to the floor and kick at her chest and stomach.  He wore some type of work boot that felt heavy and hard.  She tried to bring her knees up, tried to form a ball, but the blows came too fast, leaving her barely able to take a breath. 

Her arm got in the way of a blow, and he kicked it.  Her forearm went numb instantly.  In fact, her whole body was numb at this point, thankfully. 

He squatted beside her and pinched her chin, angling her face to look at him.  "I think you've learned your lesson.  What do you think, bitch?"

Cassie was beyond speech.  Her brain was shutting down, trying to block out the horror of the last ten minutes. 

"Answer me when I talk to you, bitch."

Cassie opened her mouth and managed to breathe out, "Yes."

"If you go to the cops with this, what I did to you, I'll do to the rest of your family.  Don't forget, I know where you live.  Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"Yes, no cops,"  Cassie mumbled.

"Good."  He stood and kicked her in the head.  And that's the last thing she remembered.

Cassie slowly came awake and several things hit her all at once.  The bright glare of the sun shining into her slitted lids.  The pain coursing through her body.  The difficulty she was having, trying to breathe.  And the fact that she seemed to be lying on the backseat of her SUV. 

She tried to sit up, gasping at the intense pain that hit her chest, halting that endeavor.  She lay perfectly still, taking shallow breaths, trying to remember what happened.  Then it all hit her in a flash.  Jeremy and the beating churned through her head in one, big, ugly blur.

Cassie craned her neck, trying to see out the window.  She didn't know where she was other than in her car.  It was early still, the sun shone brightly overhead, but she didn't know the time.  She couldn't pick up Logan in this condition, but she needed to call someone that could. 

She awkwardly maneuvered her left arm behind her back and under her butt to reach her cell phone.  Her right arm was achy and swollen, and she wondered fleetingly if it was broken.  She managed to grasp the phone with her fingertips and pulled it from her back pocket.  Cassie decided to call Gage.  She knew it wasn't the smartest choice (he was literally going to have a seizure when she told him about this), but it was the wisest choice (if he found out about this from someone else, he would literally have a seizure then kill her).

The phone rang twice before he picked up.  "Everything okay, Sunshine?"

Cassie tried to speak but discovered only a croak would form.  Her face felt swollen, her jaw was sore, and the position she was in made it impossible to take a full breath.  She cleared her throat and tried again.  "Gage?"

"Cassie, what's wrong?  Where are you?"

"Um..." 

"Um's not an answer, Cassie.  Tell me what the fuck is wrong and tell me now."

She could hear the worry behind the anger in his tone.  But she had to get her main concern out of the way first.  "Gage, you need pick up Logan.  I can't do it."

"I'll call Sam and have her get him when she gets Kyle.  Now tell me why you can't make it."

"Um...."  She cleared her throat again.  Her voice sounded stronger, but she still had trouble speaking.  The whole left side of her face throbbed.  "Do you promise not to get mad?"

"I can't promise that, Cassie, but I can promise if you don't tell me soon, it's gonna happen anyway."

Cassie sighed, "Okay, I'll just tell you straight out, but remember after you get done freaking out, I need help."  She thought she heard Gage growl through the line.  She plowed on.  "I did something stupid, snooped around where I shouldn't have been, and had another encounter with Jeremy Beckett.  This time the outcome didn't turn out so well for me."

"Where are you, Cassie?"  Gage asked, in a low, menacing voice.

"I don't know.  I just woke up.  I'm in the back seat of my car, and I don't know where I am."

He must have heard the fear and panic in her voice because his next words were said in a soft and soothing tone.  "Okay baby, flip over to your GPS, pull up your location, then tell me what it says.  But hurry, okay.  Don't keep me waiting long."

In her panic, she had forgotten she could pull up her location on her GPS.  Her heart rate calmed a little knowing Gage would come for her soon.  "Okay, hang on."

She tapped her GPS button, discovered her location, then flipped back over to Gage and told him where she was.

"Okay baby, I want you to stay on the line with me, don't hang up.  I'm on my way now.  I'll be there soon, understand?"

"Yeah, just hurry."

"I will, baby.  I'll hurry."

* * * * *

Gage quickly made his way to the kitchen.  He had a landline there.  No way in hell, he was hanging up with Cassie to make the phone calls he needed to make.  His first call was to Sam.  He explained, as briefly as possible, that Cassie and he had an emergency, and could she watch Logan until they were free.  She asked a few questions, and he gave her vague answers, telling her he would fill her in later. 

His next call was to 911.  He told them he needed an ambulance and police at the location Cassie had given him.  Then he got the fuck out of the house, jumped in his SUV, and drove like hell to Cassie.

He had his phone on speaker and every few minutes, he would make Cassie speak to him.  Nothing taxing, he just wanted to hear her voice, reassure himself that she was okay.  He worried at what he would find.  She didn't sound good.  Her breathing was labored and every once in a while, he would hear her gasp. 

His grip on the steering wheel was tight, his knuckles turning white as he tried to keep his anger under control.  Cassie needed him, and she needed him to stay calm and focused.  He could go after that shithead Jeremy Beckett later, after he made sure Cassie would be all right.  And go after him he would.  It would be his pleasure to beat the ever living shit out of him.

His feelings for Cassie were all over the place at the moment.  On the one hand, he was pissed as fuck that she went and stuck her nose somewhere that it didn't belong, getting herself into trouble, especially when he told her not to.  But, on the other hand, he was so panicked at the condition he would find her in, that overshadowed the anger, leaving him with nothing but a feeling of urgency to reach her. 

He heard sirens over the line and knew either the paramedics or the police had arrived.  "Baby, help has arrived.  Make sure the car is unlocked, so they can get to you."

"Where are you?" 

"I'm almost there.  Just a few minutes away."

"Okay."  Her voice sounded weak like she was fighting sleep.

"Stay with me, Sunshine," he said, loudly into the phone, trying to keep her focused.

Gage pulled up to a scene of chaos.  Three police cars and a paramedic van, lights flashing, surrounded Cassie's SUV.  A stretcher was out, waiting to be filled while a paramedic leaned into the open back door of Cassie's SUV, hopefully assessing her condition.

He screeched to a halt, put the car in park, and jumped out not even bothering to turn off the car.  Nobody stopped him as he opened the passenger side, back door and climbed into the back seat with Cassie.  Either he moved too fast for them to take issue or the determined look on his face made him someone they didn't want to fuck with.  He was guessing it was the latter.

His body tensed at his first sight of her.  The whole left side of her face was swollen, red, and puffy, and she had a large, purple goose egg in the center of her forehead.  Dried blood was caked under her nose and smeared along her cheek.  Her right arm was cradled protectively against her chest, and he could tell it was most likely broken by how much it had swelled.

Her eyes were closed, and the paramedic held his fingers on the pulse at her neck.  His breathing stilled, and his heart rate picked up speed until he saw her take a shallow breath.  Gage hesitantly placed his hand on her leg, just above her knee, hoping like hell it was a spot that wasn't injured.  "Sunshine?"  His voice came out rough, raspy.  He cleared his throat to repeat her name, but she opened her eyes before he could speak.

He smiled at her, and she tried to smile back but it turned more into a grimace, and her eyes narrowed in pain.  The paramedic, not wanting to miss his opportunity, chose that moment to shine a light in her eyes, causing her to flinch, which in turn made her moan, pissing Gage right the fuck off.

He glared at the paramedic.  "What the fuck!  You need to do that now?"

"Sir please," the paramedic said, looking over at Gage, then he turned his focus back to Cassie.  "Ma'am, we need to move you to the stretcher."  He turned back to Gage once more.  "Sir, you need to move.  My partner needs to get in on that side to take her feet."

"I'll take her feet," Gage said, in a tone the brooked no argument.

The paramedic didn't heed the warning.  "I'm afraid that won't be possible.  My partner
–
"

"I said, I'll take her feet.  Don't fuck with me right now."

The paramedic stared at him a moment, then came to the right decision.  He gave Gage a nod.  "Okay, grab her feet.  We lift on three.  One... two... three." 

The paramedic held Cassie under the shoulders, her head cradled on his upper arm.  She whimpered then cried out as they carried her from the SUV.  They gently laid her on the stretcher, and the paramedics immediately got to work on her, assessing her injuries and starting an IV.

During this, a police officer walked up to Gage.  "Sir, can you tell me what happened."

Gage gave the officer a run down of everything that had taken place, ending with Jeremy Beckett and the beating.  He also gave him Officer Cruz's card, letting the officer know that everything he told him had been documented.

Gage watched the paramedics load Cassie into the back of the ambulance then went over to Cassie's SUV to close the back doors and lock it up.  He noticed her cell phone laying on the backseat.  He snatched it up, put it in his back pocket, got in his Escalade, then followed the ambulance to the hospital. 

Gage called Laurie from the waiting room of the hospital, and she informed him she'd be right over.  Next, he called Sam, filling her in on what had happened, and she assured him she would watch Logan for as long as they needed.

Gage paced the waiting room, getting antsy waiting for the doctors to give him news of Cassie.  He pulled out Cassie's cell phone and searched through her call log.  All her recent calls were either from him or to him except for one call to Sam two days ago.  None of that was any help to him. 

Next, he went into her GPS and pulled up the places she'd been to that day.  Three addresses popped up not including her last known location.  He studied the addresses of the places she had visited and plugged them into his phone. 

He went into her photos.  A picture of Logan popped up.  He scrolled back through her photos.  There was one of his mom and Logan, one of his dad and Logan, all had been taken yesterday during his parents visit.  He stopped at a photo of a piece of notebook paper.  He enlarged the image and saw it had addresses written on it and three of the addresses had been where she had been that day.  Bingo.  Her address list.  He e-mailed the photo to himself, put both phones back in his back pocket, then resumed his pacing.

Chapter Twenty-four

Gage sat for what felt like hours, waiting for news on Cassie.  Laurie had shown up soon after he'd called and now, the two of them sat silently, waiting for someone, anyone to give them some information. 

"For Cassandra Wagner."  Gage and Laurie stood and advanced toward the doctor.  He was a middle-aged man, on the shorter side, graying at the temples, with laugh lines around his eyes.  At least Gage hoped they were from laughter and not from squinting.

Gage held out his hand.  "Gage Hunter, Cassie's fianc
é
."

"Doctor Greene," he said, taking Gage's hand and shaking it.

Gage put his hand on Laurie's shoulder.  "This is Cassie's aunt."

"Laurie Wagner," Laurie said, shaking the doctor's hand as well.

"Cassandra, or Cassie I should say," he gave them a small smile, "is resting comfortably.  The ulna of her right arm is fractured as well as two ribs on the right side.  She has numerous bruises and some lacerations along her torso conducive to being punched or kicked."

Gage felt Laurie grab his hand and squeeze.  He squeezed back, letting her know everything would be okay.

"The left side of her face is bruised and swollen, but nothing is broken, and she has quite a large bump on her forehead which is what we believe gave her a slight concussion.  She will be very sore for quite a few days, but should make a full recovery."