Roxanne's Redemption (27 page)

Everyone winced
. The doctor did his check-up and was out of the room half an hour later after talking to Sebastian. Roxanne heard most of it, but
stopped
listening
after
he said something about physical therapy.

“Start talking,” she
said
as the door clos
ed
.

“What do you remember?” Lexi asked
a few minutes after returning
.

“Not much.
But
w
hat
I do remember is
blurry
.”

“Well this is what happened…”

An hour later and
after she had heard
the full story Roxanne lay gaping at Sebastian after her friends left
, promising to return in the morning.

“What?”

“The Ashley Woodland we know is a fake. Her real name is
Gracie Harris
and she’s on
e of
the FBI’s most wanted
.
According to Shaun her victims are
always
men, but if they ha
ve
a woman in their life, whether it’s
a wife,
a
fiancé
e
or
a
girlfriend
,
she kills them.
After dating the m
e
n for a while she would kill them after getting a large sum of
money
from them, and then start over in a different state. She’s the reason you almost died
,
but when you
survived she came
here
to finish what the crash failed to do.”

“I heard wha
t you said the first time.
It’s
just that I'm in serious
shock.”

Ashley…Gracie whatever her name is
,
was trying to kill her so she could get Sebastian. She was right from the beginning
.
Something
was
wrong with that woman, but still Roxanne never thought she would resort to killing
or be one of the FBI’s most wanted
. This was too much
for her
tired
brain
to process right now. What she needed was a good night sleep
,
before
she
started thinking about how close she came to dying
—
twice in one day.

“Who is Shaun?” she asked
with a tilt of her head
.

“That’s
D
etective Williams
’
first name
.”

Okay, now for the hard one. “Where is Ashley?”

“She’s dead
.
” She couldn’t help
it;
she flinched at how detached he sounded
.

Don't ask. Don't ask. Don't ask. “How?” she asked as she called herself ten different names for feeling sorry for the woman who wanted her dead
so bad
ly
that
she
tried
a second time
to kill
her
after
failing
the first time.

“Shaun came here to warn me about who she really was and saw her entering
your
room. It’s my fault she
tried
to
kill you and
almost
succeed
ed
the
first
time
,
a
n
d the
n came back
a
second time
when
she failed
.
If I hadn't
left the room
she would
n
’
t ha
ve
been able to enter
. Anyway he saw her with a gun pointed at your head
and
he tried to talk her out of it, but she
wouldn’t listen.
Just
before she pull
ed
the trigger, she started telling him about how she
ran you off the road
. He shot her when she was about to shoot you.”

“The
accident
wasn’t your fault
,
Sebastian.
It
could’ve happen
ed
to anyone who ha
d
a crazy stalker
/murderer
intending
on
kill them
.”

“Isn't it?”

“It’s not.
I love you
,
Sebastian
,
and I would
help you
again
, even
if it meant I
had
to
protect you from a crazy woman
.
W
e were meant to be together and we are, so everything else will work out in time.
”

He kissed her forehead. “I love you too
.
Get
some
sleep;
I’ll be here when you wake in the morning.”

She smiled
. She was
falling aslee
p when she heard him mutter.
“I wish I could feel like it wasn’t my fault.” She wanted to reassure him or hit him upside the head, but she was too tired to open her eyes even
for
a minute.

*
*
*
*

Around one o’clock when Roxanne woke again Sebastian was there like he’d promised. She’d woke
n
up
at
six o’clock this morning asking for pain medication and
,
although he was glad that Ashley was out of their lives for good, Sebastian still couldn’t fight the regret he felt for not being the one who pulled the trigger.

“Hungry?” he asked
when
she opened her eyes.

She grimaced. “Very.”

“I’ll get you something from the cafeteria
.
W
hat do you want?”

“Burger, fries and soda, please.”

He smiled. She was already getting back to her
old self
.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

“Marry me,” he said ten minutes after returning with her food. “I know you’re afraid of getting hurt again,
and
I promise I'm not like your past boyfriends or your ex-fiancé. I’d rather
cut off my leg than hurt you. I love you
Roxanne
and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you don't—”

“Yes,” she said cutting off his babbling.

“You will?”

“Of course I will. Sebastian
,
I already know that you’
re not like Daniel or the other men
from my past and
,
as I said last night
,
I love you
,
so of course I’ll marry you.”

He smiled widely and kissed
her
.
W
hen he
c
a
m
e
back up for air
,
he
murmured
, “Hurry up and get better so we can start our life together.”

“Definitely,” she said
,
pulling his
head
down
and began
kiss
ing
him again
.

Epilogue

“Sebastian Khaidyn Ferguson!”

Sebastian winced. What did he do now?
They’d
been married for
s
i
x
months and Roxanne only
called
him by his full name when he was in trouble. He usually kn
ew
what he
’d
done
and fixed
it, but
not this time
. She came around the corner
,
st
an
d
ing
in front of him
with her
hands on her hips.

“What did I do now?” he asked
, trying to make his voice sound contrite
.

“You’re keeping something from me. What is it?”

Oh shit!
“No I'm not.”

“
Why are you lying and keeping secrets? Sebastian, if I find out from someone else what you're hiding from me
,
you won't like what I
’ll
do.
”

“I'm not lying nor am I keeping anything from you.”

She smirked. “
Sebastian,
did you know that when you lie your nose twitches
.”
He was so screwed! Only his mother had found that out about him, but he hadn’t thought Roxanne would notice. “I'm surprise
d
it
hasn't
started growing like Pinocchio’s yet.”

He scowled. “You lied to me too.” Okay that was low, but he didn't want her asking again.

“No I didn't.”

“You didn't tell me your ex-fiancé had come to your house
six
months ago.”

She
rolled her eyes
. “If yo
u had asked I would've told you.
Besides
six months ago
,
we weren’t
in a real relationship so don’t
chang
e
the subject.”

“I love you. Have I told you that this morning?”

“I love you
,
too
,
and you did tell me three times already, but I still like hearing it
.
If
you won't tell me what you’re hiding from me I'm not wearing that new baby doll
outfit
I bought from Victoria
’s
Secret
for you
tonight.”

H
e
grew
hard
as he wondered what her new lingerie looked like
.
What was he suppose
d
to do now? Sebastian sighed. He didn't want to give his secret away but he didn't want Roxanne mad at him and he really wanted to see the new baby doll outfit. “Michael’s moving back here after his divorce is final.” Later he’d make her promise not to make Lexi move away
.
Michael ha
d
a right to know he
’d
fathered a son.

“How quickly you
tattle on
your brother
.
”

He grimaced. “I love
Michael dearly
, but when you threaten
ed
not
to
show me all those sexy things you
bought
from Victoria
’s
Secret
,
I had no choice but to
talk
.”

She snickered. “You
didn't have to tell me
.”

“Are you mad
,
woman? Didn't you hear me say
sexy things from
Victoria
’s
Secret?”

She giggled.
“Lexi has to know,
”
she said
,
biting her lip
.

He sighed. “I know, but what if she decides to take a vacation or move away with Zach
after
you tell her
?”

“
Lexi wouldn’t move away but she’d make
sure
Michael doesn't hurt Zach when and if he decides to leave California again
.
H
owever you also have to understand that her behavior toward Michael will not be pleasant
.”

He considered that
before
he
nodd
ed
. “You know I never thought I had a sweet tooth until now.”