Save Me From the Dark (26 page)

The silence is killing me.

“Bella, baby, I love you, but I need you to try and get something more specific.”

“Wait, there’s someone coming down the road.”

Again, more silence.

“Oh thank God, it’s Heath.”

The relief in her voice stuns me momentarily. Then it dawns on me the name she says.

“No, baby. Don’t go near him. Bella? Bella!”

Bella

Hearing his voice gives me the strength to pull myself up off the floor and outside. He’s trying to stay calm as he talks to me, but I can hear the strain in his voice. Looking up then, I see someone walking toward me. After a few minutes of staring, I see that it’s Heath.

“Oh thank God, it’s Heath.”

Dropping the phone to my side, I try to move quicker to Heath.

“Ms. Bella, are you okay?”

“No, can you take me back to Ace please?”

Moving around him, I start walking the way he came. “Are you on the phone?”

“Yes with Ace,” suddenly remembering he was on the phone. “Ace, Heath’s…” he cuts me off.

“Baby, run please God run. He’s the one that took you!”

My eyes widen and I turn to run. I’m not sure how far I got before he tackles me to the ground and the phone falls from my hand. I scream as he tried to gain control of my hands. Punching, kicking, I fought him off the best I can, but in the end he won. He cuffs my hands behind my back.

Moving off me he grabs the phone, puts it on speaker, holding it away from his ear so I can hear. “Hello Ace, seems I have something you want,” his voice low and menacing.

“Get your hands off her Heath,” Ace growls into the phone.

“Sorry, but I can’t. I think I might keep her for myself,” he runs his hand down my face.

“Stop touching me,” I scream as I hit him with my cuffed hands.

“You keep your hands off her or I will personally rip them from your body.”

Heath recovers quickly from my hit, grabs a handful of my hair. “You’ll pay for that you little bitch!”

“You think you’re hurting me? My dad did ten times worse to me. You can’t break, bruise, cut or hurt any place that he hasn’t already hurt, you bastard. I may be cuffed right now, but I promise you that I’m not weak.”

“Baby, please, God, don’t egg him on. Please,” Ace pleads.

“Better listen to pretty boy there. You’ll only be hurt in the end.”

Getting tired of looking at him, I spit in his face. It works to distract him for a few seconds. Scrambling to my feet, I start to run away. The sound of pounding feet behind me causes my heart to race even faster. The pain that shoots through me with every step takes my breath away. My father did enough damage that it could screw me up right now. His one final blow.

Dodging trees, I push myself to a level I’ve never been before. No matter how hard I try, he only seems to get closer. Just as I am rounding a tree, he catches me knocking my head into one of them. I remember pain searing my body like never before and everything turns black.

Groaning, I lift my head. My eyes feel as though they’ve been glued together. It was an effort to peel them open. Trying to lift my hand, a clanking noise feels my ears and my hand is met with resistance.

The smell of alcohol fills my nostrils and I begin to gag.
Where am I?

“Look who finally woke up,” Heath says hatefully.

“Let me go, Heath. I won’t tell them where you’re at, I promise.”

“Right. Like that’ll happen.”

Swallowing to try and sooth my extremely dry throat, “Why are you doing this? Ace has been good to you.”

“Sure he has. I’ve loved my job. But then you came along and ruined everything.”

Trying to move my other arm, I cry out in pain. His laughter only pisses me off and I glare at him. Where this is funny is beyond me. If I ever got free from this, I might kill the bastard.

“Ruined what exactly?”

“I got stuck on being your protective detail. Then you ruined things for my sister.”

I start coughing. My chest hurt to breath. “Your sister?”

“Oh, you didn’t know? Alexis is my sister. She’s been in love with Ace for years, but he’d never give her the time of day. So we decided to get me on board so she could have constant access to him. It was working well, until you entered into the picture.”

Shaking my head, I look at him for a moment. “I don’t get it. He didn’t like her. Thought she was annoying and always had Gary interrupting any interviews she had with him. Why would you want to keep putting your sister through that kind of rejection?”

“She wanted something and I was helping her get it. That’s what brothers do.”

“Ha! I don’t have any brothers, but even I know they are supposed to protect their sisters from pain of any kind. You were hurting your sister on purpose and I suspect it was for a selfish reason.”

A smirk spreads across his face. He bends down and pulls out a baton. Involuntarily, I swallow.

“See, I had a nice talk with your dad before I kidnapped you the first time. He told me all the things he did to you. Now, I don’t have a bat, but this will have to do.”

The baton hits across my legs and I have to bite my cheek to keep from showing him how bad it hurts. With my father, it only kept him swinging. I’m not sure what it would do with Heath, but I didn’t want to find out. After a few more hits to my ribs and chest, he walks away laughing.

“You’re still a bastard,” I yell weakly.

“We’ll see about that because you and I will be together for a while. My sister is on her way to Ace. Your man has already forgot about you.”

“Yeah, right! I just talked to him,” I hiss back.

“Three days ago.”

“He loves me. He wouldn’t have forgotten about me in that time.”

Three days? Holy Shit!

“You don’t think so?  Tell me, does he look like he’s missing you in this picture?”

He shows me a picture of Ace with Alexis laughing about something as they sat holding hands. My heart stops in my chest at the smile that is on his face. That is my smile.

“Yeah, I thought so. He forgot about you. He’s moving on to my sister. Get over it.”

With that, he walks from the room, slamming the door. The tears fall immediately. I curl into a ball and let my heartbreak out. He really didn’t love me. All those times we shared were just him getting what he wanted? Three days… Three days is all that has gone by and he is already with Alexis. How could he love me and move on so quickly.

Looking around the room, I saw an end table that had a tablet and pen sitting on it. My mind churns over and over that image of him with Alexis. How could I have been so stupid? So blind?

Days pass by in a blur. I feel like I’m at home again. He beat me whenever he wanted and left me alone with barely anything to eat. Honestly, at this point, I just don’t care anymore. The notebook and pen have become like a siren even in the dark begging me to write it, to write it all out.

The thoughts swim in my head at a rapid pace. The more I see his smiling face and happy laughter the more I know I can’t handle anything outside of him. How could I have believed that someone like him would even see someone like me, let alone love me? My mother left me, my father hated me to the point he beat me, I had no friends. The world knew how worthless I am, why did I ever believe one person would see me as anything other than that.

Reaching over, I grab the notebook and pen. I etch out the very words my broken heart has been saying for days. When I finish, I place the letter down on the table, reach up unscrew the light bulb.

Holding it in my hands, the urge takes over. The voice screams louder to put the world out of its misery and just remove myself from the problem. It grows louder and louder until I can no longer ignore it. Cracking the bulb on the floor, I pick up a piece of glass, staring at it for a moment. It is a symbol of freedom.

Pressing the piece to my wrist, I slowly drag it across both wrists. Staring down at the blood falling from my wrists, I smile knowing that soon all the pain will be over. Soon I’ll no longer deal with the world walking all over me. Soon I’ll have peace. The peace I once thought I had with Ace. Alas, I know that I’m only meant to be pushed around and mistreated.

Dizziness starts to overtake me. I close my eyes and picture moments with Ace. My only happy moments.

“I’ll always love you Ace even though you didn’t love me.”

Ace

Hearing her fight him kills me, but not hearing anything kills me more. Throwing my phone onto the ground, I watch it shatter. It did nothing to curb the pain I’m going through right now. Dropping to my knees, I punch the ground.

“Son of a…”

“Listen to me…” Gary starts.

Standing quickly, I whirl around and shove Gary. “If you would have just let me stay home today or bring her with me, she’d be with me right now.”

“Go on Son. Get angry, take it out on me, but let’s also try and think about where she could be. I’m sorry, AJ. I’m so sorry.”

“I love her so damn much,” I sob.

“I know. We’ll find her. If it’s the last thing I do, we’ll find her.”

Standing up, I wipe my eyes and pull myself together. As heavy as my heart is, Gary is right. We need to keep a level head to find her. There’s no option, I
have
to find her. She’s my forever.

Turning around the flashes of cameras and million questions start immediately. Turning to Gary, he nods his head.

Holding up my hands, they all quiet down and hold out their recorders.

“Today my girlfriend was kidnapped. The people responsible are Heath Graves and Alexis Harver. I don’t know their motives or where they’re holding her, but please if anyone has any information on my girlfriend’s whereabouts or that of Heath or Alexis please call my head of security here.”

Quickly, I duck into the car that still waits nearby while Gary takes over with all the details. With my elbows on my knees, I dig my hands in my hair. Frustration is consuming me. If she’d only come with me today, she’d be in my arms right where she’s supposed to be, where’s she meant to be.

Gary climbs into the car a few minutes later. He’s silent for a moment and it is okay this time. I’m wracking my brain trying to figure out where the hell she could be, if he hasn’t moved her yet.

“You know there is still something we haven’t figured out yet?”

“You mean aside from where the hell Bella is,” I hiss.

“Yes. Dawn is missing too,” he says softly, but sternly.

“Shit,” I utter quietly.

Gary takes a deep breath. “My gut is telling me that she’s tied to Bella’s disappearance somehow. Not that she is involved, but that she was used. I fear she’s in danger too, but I also think she might be able to help us as well.”

“Have we heard from Jarrett since the record company?”

“No, but I’m already calling him.”

The conversation between Gary and Jarrett is hard to read. Honestly, my mind isn’t here. I keep picturing the love of my life in pain and scared. All I know is that I won’t be whole until I find her.

“Well, Jarrett is a total mess. He needs you. He’d be here for you if Dawn wasn’t missing too. But I think we might have a lead. We need to get back to their place to get him to calm down and think rationally.”

One clipped order and we are heading to Jarrett’s. Once we arrive, I’m running through the building and heading to Jarrett’s floor. When we built this hotel, Gary chose to have a small two bedroom apartment on my floor and Jarrett got the floor below me. Because his is not the top floor, he couldn’t have two stories like mine. So his layout is the same as mine minus the stairs.

Pounding on the door, I finally pull out my key and let myself in and immediately run to the room that I know he’s in.

When I enter into his gym, I see him punching the crap out of his punching bag.

“Jarrett, please tell me you know how we can save both our girls?”

He stops punching and turns to look at me. “My girl doesn’t need to be saved. She managed to get free.”

“What,” I ask confused.

He throws his gloves across the room. “She left me. Something about something Alexis told her. She wouldn’t fully explain it to me. I don’t know what to do. My heart only beats when she’s with me. Dawn is my forever. Why can’t she see that?”

“She does, she’s just letting her past get in the way. You know what she’s been through. You know how much she’s been through. Give her a little space, but never stop letting her know how much you love her,” I give him the advice that I would take if Bella chooses to walk away from me after all this.

“I know man,” Jarrett says dejectedly as he drops to the weight bench. “I can’t live without her.”

“I know. I feel the same way about Bella. She’s the air I breathe, but we can’t control them and we can’t make their pasts disappear. Take a breath, and remember that before all this, she never doubted you once. Give her time, that’s the only advice I’ve got.”

I love my brother, but my heart is screaming to tell me about where I can find my Bella. No matter how badly I want to find her, I wasn’t going to push my friend aside. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long.

“Dawn told me that Alexis said they were taking Bella so Alexis could be with you. Alexis forced her at gunpoint to call Bella and lure her to the park. They held her in a horse stall. It was on a forested hunter’s land she remembered Alexis saying. She said it’s North of the park about a twenty minute drive, but she never saw or heard Bella. That’s all I can give you buddy. I hope you find her. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for anything, Jare. Just try and think of a way to make your girl remember your good times,” I gave him a hug and apologized for needing to leave and ran out of the hotel.

I’m not even sure how much time has passed, all I know is that my girl is still missing and we haven’t come across any sign of where they could be keeping her. Barely sleeping has left me irritable and a bit of a loose cannon. Even the police are afraid to approach me with any updates, suggestions, anything.

It’s been days and as uncomfortable as I have been, I worry that Bella’s time has been so much worse. I try not to complain. The police have decided to veer off another direction, but my gut is telling me we need to go the opposite way. So after Gary and I talk things over for a bit he informs the officers that we would be heading in the opposite direction. A few officers stay behind with us and we head out.

A few hours later, we approach a river. My heart skips a beat. “Bella said she could hear a river.”

“That’s right,” Gary says his energy and hope returning.

Our speed picks up and soon we are running down a path.
This has to lead to my girl. It just has to be the right way.
After what seems like forever of running, I see something lying on the ground. Walking up closer to take a look at it, I see that it’s a cell phone.

“She was here,” I exclaim.

With a whole new sense of urgency, I take off down the path. Before long I come across a cabin. It is small, but this had to be the place she was leaving. In my heart, I knew I was close. Just as I was about to burst through the doors, I was pulled back and stopped.

“What the fuck? My girl is in there.”

“We need a plan,” one of the officers say.

“I have a plan. Get in there, kick his ass, save my girl, the end.”

Gary laughs slightly before clearing his throat. “Let us go in first and deal with Heath. You go save your girl. Okay. Focus on finding our girl. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, Sir. I’ll do whatever as long as I can get in there now.”

He nods his head and they move in before me. Thankfully, the cabin was small only a one bedroom from the looks of it, so it won’t take me long to find her… I hope. We definitely catch Heath by surprise. As the men deal with Heath, I move toward the two doors on the opposite end of the cabin. The first one turns out to be a bathroom. The minute I step into the other room, I hear the most chilling thing.

“I’ll always love you Ace, even though you didn’t love me.”

Her voice is slightly mumbled. My eyes couldn’t believe the scene that lay out before them.
Bella was trying to kill herself? Because she thinks I don’t love her?
Quickly moving into the room, I wrap whatever cloth I could find around her wrists. It is then I saw the picture of what is supposed to be me and Alexis, but is of me and Bella.

Someone made this picture to look like me and Alexis.
Oh God, what she must have thought.
Gathering her in my arms, I carry her out of the room. Her body hangs limply in my arms. Looking up, my eyes meet Gary’s and I see him visibly pale.

She’s been in the hospital for a week now. They say she’ll wake when she’s ready, that she lost a lot of blood, but I’m dying here. What if when she wakes up, she pushes me away? I’m not sure my heart can handle it. I need her. I want her. And I can’t live without her.

Pulling out my guitar again, I start playing the song I wrote the first night here.

Closing my eyes, I get lost in you

Lost in the love, in what you do

When I take a deep breath and breathe you in

You fill my soul, my heart to the rim

There’s no love in the world that can compare

No place is home unless you are there

Bella, Bella, Bella

You are my only girl

You make my whole world

Bella, Bella, Bella

I love you with all of me

And we will live happily

Bella, Oh my Bella…

When I think of you I smile

It stays there for a while

You bring me peace

Give me a new lease

On life… ohhh

Bella, Bella Bella

You are my only girl

You make my whole world

Bella, Bella, Bella

I love you with all of me

And we’ll live happily

Bella, Oh my Bella…

Just then, the door opens cutting my song off. Gary walks in and places his hand on my shoulder before walking over to Bella’s bed and kisses her lightly on the forehead.

“She doing any better?”

“Still no change.”

He nods his head thoughtfully before turning to me. “You need to go home, get something to eat. Something. You need to get out of this room, Son.”

Shaking my head, I look at my girl. “No, this is right where I’m supposed to be. I’m not going anywhere.”