Splintered Oak (Winsor Series Book 3) (17 page)

My eyes darted to his shoulders and I knew the minute he lunged for me. Working on complete instinct, because I had been taken through this drill more times than I could count, I turned my body and rammed my knee right into his crotch. He doubled over in shock and I immediately jammed my elbow into his back with force, sending him to the ground. Before I could run to my phone, which I had carelessly placed on the counter, his hand grabbed my foot and brought me tumbling to the ground. I kicked at his face as hard as I could with my free leg until he released his grip.

Scrambling up, I grabbed the phone along with a kitchen knife and called 911. The operator barely began when I gushed out the situation and address and put down the phone, leaving it connected. I stood ready, knife in hand, while I watched him slowly stand. He glared at me and started to reach into his pocket. My stomach dropped as I knew this was it. He was going to kill me.

Blood ran from his nose, which halted his movement. He quickly caught it with a handkerchief and glanced at the phone when the operator asked if I was still on the line.

He appeared to contemplate his next move and then backed towards the elevators. “I’m done here anyway,” he mumbled before escaping behind the closed doors.

I felt like fainting as the adrenaline drained from my body. Remembering Issy, I dropped the knife in the sink and ran back to the bedroom. She had attempted to crawl to the hallway and lay just inside the entryway of her bedroom.

Kneeling beside her, I was horrified by how fragile she looked. Her body was limp and her hair was damp from the blood spilling out the back of her head. Stroking her swollen face, I whispered her name and told her it would be okay. Her eyes fluttered open a little as she tried to talk.

“At least this time if I die, I know where I’m going,” she whispered with a broken smile.

Tears came without notice as I listened to her raspy voice. “You’re not going anywhere, Issy,” I promised all the while praying it was true in my head.

“Tell Grant I love him.”

Choking on my sobs now, I scolded, “Tell him yourself.” But she didn’t hear me because her eyes closed as soon as she finished speaking.

I screamed her name and shook her, but she didn’t move. My screams were so loud, I didn’t even hear the police until one grabbed me and moved me out of the way as the paramedics started working on her. They were actively doing CPR as I stared in horror. I could hear voices yelling but nothing made sense. I continued to stare as they shocked her lifeless body with paddles, sending her chest surging into the air.

Falling on my knees, I prayed harder than I ever
had in my life. I knew God could change this, could alter this path we were on. I prayed he would, that he would spare us the loss of someone who was only beginning her journey. I prayed for Jake and for Grant as I watched the paramedics rush her into the ambulance. I knew losing her would destroy both of them.

19
. LOSS

JAKE

The phone call came not even two hours after Naomi had left the apartment. The numbness gained from Apocalypse had been short lived as all the emotion came back the minute Naomi mentioned Issy’s name. Pacing my room as I waited for her return, I answered the phone on the first ring, trying to sound as casual as I could.

“Hey, I thought we had dinner plans,” I stated calmly into the phone.

Naomi was silent, but I could hear her light sobs.

“Naomi, are you okay?”

She finally found her voice. “I’m at the hospital, Jake. Issy was attacked. She’s…”

My body froze as Naomi’s words sunk in. “I’ll be right there.” I hung up before she could say more and flew out the door. Amazed I didn’t get pulled over for the speeds I hit on the way to the hospital, I parked my car and ran as fast as I could to the emergency entrance.

Looking around the waiting room, I didn’t see anyone so I approached the desk in a fury. “Issy Summers,” I yelled, and then corrected myself. “Issy Forester, I mean.”

Before the nurse had time to look at her computer, I saw Naomi slowly walking down the long hallway and ran to her. She looked emotionally exhausted. 

“Where is she?” I whispered.

“She’s in ICU, room 1080.”

I took off for the elevators barely hearing Naomi’s next words.

“Jake, you don’t want to go in there yet…”

The elevator closed, cutting her off. My whole body shook as my mind refused to process that we could be here again. Shutting off the conscience starting to eat at me, I ran towards her room as soon as I hit the floor, ignoring the voices of the nurses as I passed their station.

Issy’s name was on the door when I pushed it open, but I almost had to double check when I saw her lying there. Her face was unrecognizable. I stood in horror as my eyes trailed over every mark that marred her perfect white skin.

So lost in her, I didn’t even register Grant in the room until I felt a splitting pain move across my face. Stumbling from the blow, I felt my shirt tighten as he grabbed me again, throwing me up against the wall. The viciousness of his voice was lost a little through his sobs.

“I’ll kill you for this!” he screamed, slamming me again and again into the wall. “This is your fault! Yours!”

“Get off of me!” I yelled back, pushing him away. He came again, but I moved too quickly for him that time. If Grant wanted a go a
round then fine, we’d have one. I stood ready, postured for the fight that was long past due.

“All this time, you knew,” he hissed. “And you never said a word.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I yelled back. “If you were so worried about her, you never should have left in the first place.”

Grant lunged at me again, this time knocking over the bed stand on his way. I hit the floor hard, allowing him to get another good punch in before I got my bearings. Just as I was about to retaliate, a security guard pulled him off of me.

“Get out!” Grant screamed at me, attempting to push the uniformed guy away from him.

I looked around at the mess. Naomi stood in the doorway next to a very worried nurse. Grant was still being held back by the guard and was breathing almost as heavily as I was. I glanced down at Issy’s broken body one more time and felt a sob form in my throat.

She had opened her eyes and stared right at me with a look of hurt and betrayal so intense that I could feel my heart breaking in two. “Why?” she rasped as she continued to stare at me.

The room seemed to come alive. Grant and the nurse rushed to her side, but she never moved her attention. It was as if I could hear everything she had to say in that one look. She knew I had worked with Robbie, that I had given him information that ultimately led to this moment. Her accusing eyes said it all. I wanted to scream that I didn’t know he would go this far, that I would never hurt her, but the words caught in my throat.

She slowly turned her head to face Grant, who was beside himself with tears at this point. I’d never seen a man so openly broken before. He held her face, kissing every one of her bruises all while whispering how much he loved her and how sorry he was for leaving her. She was so weak, she couldn’t even lift her arm to touch him back.

Vomit stung the back of my throat as I pushed through everyone blocking the path between the hallway and me. Unwilling to wait for the elevator, I ran down the stairs until I hit the landing and just collapsed.

The hits that Grant had laid on me were nothing compared to the pain ramming at me from that one look. Putting my head in my hands, I just let it all out. The guilt, hopelessness, and regret coursed through me like a knife stabbing at every inch of my body.

“I didn’t know,” I sobbed, but maybe I did. Looking back, Robbie had made comments that should have warned me, alerted me at least to the fact that he was after her. I never heard them, only the other words he would use to provoke me. Provoke my anger and revenge. He knew I was blinded by it. Hating myself, the tears and pain consumed me.

Suddenly, arms were around me and I felt Naomi’s hair against my arm. I wanted to hold on for dear life, but knew I had to push her away. I would ruin her, take her down with me into this pit. I knew it like I knew my own voice and I couldn’t do it to her.

“Go home, Naomi,” I ordered, pushing her off. “You can’t help me; I destroy everyone who tries to.”

Naomi stood and looked down at me, irritation and determination flashing in her eyes. “First, don’t tell me what I can or cannot do. You’ve obviously made some really stupid choices lately. But, I am your friend, and I’m not going to just leave you sitting here, drowning in self-loathing.”

I stared at her, the surprise of her outburst just what I needed to get myself under control.

She pulled on my arm, forcing me to stand. “We’re going to go get my car, and then order pizza cause I’m starving. And when I’ve eaten and calmed down, you are going to tell me who Robbie is and what idiotic thought went through your head when you decided to work with him.”

She turned and opened the door to the stairwell, waiting for me to exit with her brow raised. My body followed her without hesitation as my mind scurried around, trying to figure her out. Add mystery to my growing list of things I liked about her. As I watched her square her shoulders and lead us to the car, I became fascinated with her strength. I could chalk it up to her being raised by mostly men, but deep down I knew it was more than that. She radiated light, and I was
quickly becoming addicted to the rays.

20.
THE BATTLE FOR FAITH

NAOMI

My hands were still shaking as I turned on the bath water. The shock and fear of the evening had worn off and I felt completely exhausted…and angry. My anger was at Robbie, but I could feel it manifesting everywhere else. I was also angry with Jake for being such an idiot and for owning ever
yone’s suffering. No wonder he was a train wreck!

The shower eased some of the tension, but I still felt the chill of the moment when Robbie’s eyes turned to me. Dark and determined. Well, he made a mistake. I was an eye witness and already gave my testimony to the cops. He wasn’t going to get away with it!

Wrapping a towel around my body, I scrubbed the steam from the mirror and stared at my reflection. The outside was completely untouched, not one inch of visual evidence that the night had even happened. Then I saw Issy all over again, heard her broken voice in my head, and nearly doubled over in pain. I stumbled over to my bed and fell on my knees, still gripping the towel around me.

“Thank you!” I cried out to God as the tears began to fall. I had witnessed a miracle tonight. I had seen her die, saw the minute her soul left her body and knew it was over. I also saw the very moment she came back and knew God had answered my prayer.

He had no reason to, nothing but the cries of his child, and he still did the impossible. Humility and awareness shook me as I continued to sob away the emotion I had kept locked inside of me all night. I had seen God move in mighty ways, but never this clearly. I felt ill over all the years I doubted or hid my faith. Never again, I vowed. The events of the night were intended to break me, but they wouldn’t. I would be strengthened by this. I knew it clearer than anything else. 

When I had exhausted the last of my tears, I stood back up and got dressed. Brushing my hair and squaring my shoulders, I went out to face Jake.

The pizza had already arrived, and Jake sat on the couch with his head in his hands.

Broken, defeated. Those were the two words that shot to my mind every time I looked at him lately. Why couldn’t he see that God could fix that for him—give him hope and peace? I imagined that Jake had never known peace, not like I
had. That awareness filled me with compassion as I watched him mourn in silence.

I walked to the kitchen and filled both our plates before sliding his in front of him. He looked up at me and attempted to smile, although it was lost in the glassiness of his eyes.

“Thanks. I was beginning to think you weren’t coming out of there,” he admitted sadly as he pressed his fingers to his eyes to hide the vulnerability I had already seen.

Studying him, I took a slow bite of the pizza and tried to put my thoughts together. I didn’t want to be Jake’s counselor, but I needed to know why tonight happened. I prayed for the ability to separate the two. 

“Jake, why did you call Robbie your business associate?”

“Is that how Grant and Issy found out? You told them?” His words weren’t accusing, just resigned as if he knew it was inevitable that they would discover the truth.

“No. Actually Robbie is the one who told us right before he gave Issy enough heroin to kill a four hundred pound man. He said you made it possible for him to pull it off.”

Jake stood, ready to hit something. “Never! I thought he wanted to get back at Andrew Summers. We made a deal so we could take him down. Issy had nothing to do with it. Then he started asking all kinds of questions about Grant, obsessively so. I backed away, told him I wouldn’t give him anymore information. But I never realized she was in danger. If I had…”

He fell on the couch again, burying his face in his hands.

I
softly touched his back. “Is Robbie the one who hit you?”

Jake nodded, confirming my question. “I should have known he was dangerous. All the signs were there. I just heard what I wanted to.”

“Is that what you guys were fighting about this afternoon? Did she tell you to leave?”

Jake leaned back in his seat and rolled his neck, regret all over him.

“No. Not even close. I had my first counseling session, so I was already edgy and tense to say the least. I went to Issy’s place to talk to her about it, get some reassurance I guess that I’m not a complete jerk. Avery was there.” He said the last part with such finality that I assumed I should know why that was significant, but I didn’t.

“And?”

“Avery’s the only girl I’ve ever cared about outside of family. The only girl who’s ever gotten under my skin, and I completely messed it up. I treated her terribly and drove her into the arms of another man. By the time I got my head on straight, she was gone. I tried everything, but it was too late. She’s marrying him now, all because I couldn’t face a real relationship.” Jake sighed and put his head in his hands again. “Avery’s been a battle between me and Issy for almost a year now. I had no idea they were still in touch. But they are, so much so that Issy was going to be in her wedding.”

I stared at Jake. “When did y’all break up?”

“I don’t know, around Thanksgiving, I guess.”

“So you are telling me that Avery has been dating her fiancé for eight months now, plans to spend the rest of her life with him, and she’s doing all of this because you couldn’t commit? Man Jake, I knew you had an ego, but you really must think a lot of yourself to own this one.”

Jake looked at me and his face turned hard, hateful even. “That’s not what I’m doing. I lost her. She met him the day we broke up. Don’t tell me I didn’t play a role!”

I matched his rigid stare, unwilling to lose this battle. Jake needed to see that the universe did not revolve around him before he would ever understand a higher power in his life.

“Did you ever think that maybe it was God’s plan that Avery and whatever his name is got together? That if you hadn’t broken up or dated even, that they still would have met and fallen in love? Did it ever occur to you for one minute that her journey was never to end with you; that you were just a bump in her pathway?”

Jake just leaned back and shook his head. “No.”

“Well, maybe if you did realize that, you’d finally be able to let her go. Let go of this idea that you can somehow change the past. You can’t. And bad choices aside, you are not responsible for everything bad that happens. You didn’t force Avery to fall in love with someone else, and you didn’t beat up Issy, Robbie did.”

Jake stood and started pacing, his stance defensive and ready for battle. “You have a bad habit of minimizing the big stuff, Naomi, and blowing the little things way out of proportion.”

I forced my voice to remain calm, soothing. “Jake, I’m not minimizing the situation. I’m minimizing your role in it. You feed off guilt, Jake. I’ve watched you do it for years.”

Jake finally sat back down but still kept a rigid posture. “So what, I’m just supposed to let it all go? Just forget the fact that Issy lay battered in a hospital bed because I didn’t keep my word to protect her? Forget that I slept with Avery, was her first, and then walked out on her the next day? I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

His blunt response stung a little, and I prayed again for wisdom in what to say. “I didn’t say forget, Jake. You are putting words in my mouth. It’s good you know your faults, because without recognizing that you are completely lost and broken on your own, you will never recognize the need for a savior. But Christ can take away that guilt, Jake. He can take away all that pain…”

Jake slammed his hand down on the table before I could even finish, making me jump from the noise. “Dammit Naomi, don’t preach at me!” he yelled, glaring at me. “I quit believing in God a long time ago. I get so sick of all you trying to cram your beliefs down my throat! Just stop!”

I stared at his wild eyes, so on edge that I wondered what my next words would do to him. I tried to remain calm, but I could sense the fire starting to burn again. “Your believing or not believing doesn’t make God any less real, Jake. Issy died tonight. I watched it, and only by the grace of God did she come back to us. So you go ahead and scream and bang the table and yell that God is not real, but it won’t change the fact that He is and that you are missing it!”

We faced off with each other in silence as the tension swirled around us like a visible force. I refu
sed to back down, though. I had been backing down my whole life.

Jake was the first to break the silence as his calm and deliberate voice filled the air. “Where was your God when my mom died? Where was He the years that I prayed for healing? When I bargained and pleaded for Him not to take her? What kind of loving God lets people suffer like that?”

I didn’t know what to say and for the first time since our conversation began, I didn’t have an answer for him.

He stood in anger and turned towards his room. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. No thanks. I’ll take the guilt.”

The slamming door was the last thing I heard as I felt frustration grip me. My first chance to truly share the Gospel, and I had failed miserably.

Jake was gone when I woke up the next morning. I had already emailed my professor that I wouldn’t be in class and headed straight to the police department to find out where things stood with Robbie’s arrest. The fight with Jake had kept me up most of the night, tossing and turning, and I needed to feel a resolution in something.

I asked for the detective who took my statement, and the desk officer led me back to a small room with just two chairs and long table. I looked around, feeling very much like I now starred in my own crime television show.

Just when the environment started making me sweat, Detective Edwards walked in and plopped a large file down on the desk before having a seat. He was the stereotypical city detective, wearing an ill-fitting suit that pulled against his large belly. His mustache seemed to move on its own and twitched before I ever heard a word come out of his mouth.

“What can I do you for?” he asked in a booming voice as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and studying me.

“I wanted to see if you had arrested Robbie Marsh yet,” I answered calmly.

“See missy, this is where we have a problem. Your story just doesn’t match up.” He was calm and factual as he spoke, as if he was bored with my presence already.

My demeanor was not so calm. “What do you mean? I told you exactly what happened.”

“Well, I went to see Mr. Marsh last night. Imagine his surprise when I stormed in during the middle of his dinner party. A party he had been at all evening according to his guests. Not to mention, neither of the guards on duty could remember seeing anyone but Mr. Matthews, yourself, and Mrs. Forester go up to her apartment.”

“I told you there were no guards when I got there!”

“See, now that’s another problem. The cops on site said the guards let them in, got them up the elevator even. Both swear they had been manning the desk all evening. They could even describe what you were wearing.”

“So check the video cameras. You’ll see no one was there,” I hissed, unwilling to accept that Robbie would get away with it.

“Yeah, that’s the thing,” he continued, scratching his bloated chin. “An electrical short killed the feed. Our last footage was from earlier that afternoon when Mr. Matthews stormed out. He’s got a bit of a temper on him, doesn’t he? His file says he’s been accused of assault before and is even in anger management counseling.”

“What are you saying?” I asked in horror. “You think Jake beat her up?” The words were so ridiculous I couldn’t even hardly say them.

“How long has Mrs. Forester been addicted to drugs? Was she using when you lived with her?” The detective was now looking at the file and taking notes. He glanced up at me when I didn’t respond, my mouth still gaping open.

Finally finding my voice, I glared back at him. “I told you I watched Robbie drug her.”

“You and Mr. Matthews are living together, right? Maybe your relationship with him has clouded your vision and possibly your judgment on this case. Something like this could be really bad for his probation.”

It was hopeless. He wasn’t even hearing anything I had to say. I stood and grabbed my purse. “I’m not going to sit here if you are going to distort the truth.”

“That’s fine, missy. You were always free to leave…unless…we find more holes in that story of yours. Then we may have a lot more to talk about.”

A promise or a threat, I couldn’t distinguish between the two. But one thing was clear; Robbie would remain a free man.