Suddenly, a bang at the door pulled his attention away from me. He ripped his hand away, grabbed the gun, and got up off the mattress. I scurried away, balling myself up into the farthest corner I could get.
“Who’s there?” he called out.
Another cling against the door was all I could hear.
“Everything okay in there?” I heard a voice call out.
Jace turned to look at me and held his finger up to his lips, signaling for me to be quiet. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly as the tears rolled down my cheeks.
“I heard a loud bang in there and am just checking to make sure you are all right?”
“Everything is fine,” he barked out. “Just dropped something,” Jace lied.
I glanced to the side doors and realized that Jace had forgotten to lock the roll door from the inside, which meant that whoever was on the outside could get in if they tried.
“You sure? Do you need any help?” the voice asked from the other side of the door.
I sat there praying someone lifted the door and noticed that Jace was now staring at me and turned to follow my line of sight. His eyes practically bulged out of his head when he noticed the door had not been secured. He took a few steps towards the door and did his best to lean over stuff that was in his way to reach the lock. I reached around, ripping the tape from my mouth, and let out a cry for help while Jace fought to make his way to the latch.
Jace turned in my direction and raised his gun just as the door was lifted.
“Drop your weapon.”
A shot fired out. I rolled into a tight ball, and then a burning pain flooded my body. The last thing I remembered was falling off the mattress before I passed out.
Bright lights shone into my eyes, and a dab of something cold and wet touched my forehead. Immediately, a surge of panic flew through me, and I flung my arms in front of me to stop whoever was there, a searing pain ripping through my arm causing me to stop.
“Whoa, whoa, calm down,” I heard, as I felt firm hands grab hold of mine. “Shh, it’s okay, you’re okay.”
I slowly calmed and allowed my view to come into focus. A doctor stood in front of me. “Becca, I’m Dr. Ava Moody, and you are at St. John’s Hospital. We are treating you for a bullet graze to the arm and a few minor cuts and bruises,” she said, taking a step closer to me and continuing to dab at my head.
“Bullet graze?” I slowly questioned as the once-cold liquid began to burn.
“Yes. Do you remember what happened?” she questioned.
Images flashed through my mind as I remembered Jace turning and pointing a gun at me, followed by the loud shots that rang out. “A little.”
“Well, let me finish getting you cleaned up, and then you can speak with the officers in charge,” she said, continuing checking me over and dabbing at my face in spots.
A little while later, I lay in bed on my side with my eyes closed. I’d been kidnapped during the bomb threat at work, and Jace was now dead and I was alive, thank God. I heard the door to my room open, but I didn’t bother to roll over. I felt the bed dip down on the opposite side and felt a large, warm hand rest gently on my leg.
I let out a deep breath and rolled over partially onto my back to see Grant sitting beside me. I placed my hand on his. My brother stood at the end of my bed.
“Thank God you are all right,” Chris said, grabbing hold of my foot.
“We were worried about you,” Grant continued.
“If it hadn’t of been for you circling those charges on your credit card records and Grant here, we might not have found you,” Chris continued.
I was overcome with emotion as I lay there looking back at both of them. My brother, who had placed Grant in my path to protect me, and Grant, who had done nothing but his best to make sure I was safe, to make sure I felt safe, were both here by my side.
“I’m sorry I failed you, Bec,” Grant said, gripping my leg.
I looked to my brother, who stood there shaking his head at Grant. “You didn’t fail her. She’s alive, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, and scarred for life.”
“Man, you are so stubborn.” Grant turned and glared at Chris.
When I cleared my throat, Grant instantly hung his head, and Chris looked at me, shaking his.
I looked back at my brother. “Chris, can you get me a juice, please?” I asked before the two most important men in my life took a swing at one another. “Orange, if possible.”
Chris looked at me and back to Grant then nodded. I had remembered a letter Grant had written to me after his troop had been attacked and how he had felt he had failed as a leader because three of his men would not be able to return home. He had stated how he wished it had been him who had died in the explosion. It had taken me a few weeks to figure out what to say to him after receiving that letter. I couldn’t imagine how torn he must have been, or what it must have been like to be fighting that inner turmoil. Although, after all this time, I still had my doubts about what I had written to him. I feared my advice had been juvenile and probably didn’t make him feel any better.
As soon as the door to my room had closed, I slowly sat up and pulled my legs into a criss-cross position. I scooted down towards Grant, trying hard not to use the arm that had been injured. I leaned in and wrapped my arms around his neck and held him. He didn’t move, yet I stayed that way for a while, until I finally felt him wrap his arms around me. I even felt him place a kiss on my neck. We stayed like that for what felt like forever, until I placed my hand on his cheek.
“Do you remember the letter you wrote to me after your accident overseas?” I practically whispered.
Grant gave me a questioning look.
“The one you said you wished it had been you that had been killed when that IED went off?”
“How could I forget? I still live with that memory and that guilt every single day and will for my entire life.”
I nodded in understanding. “I’m going to be honest with you. I never really knew how to answer you when I read that letter. I sat on it for two weeks, and what I wrote to you still probably didn’t help you. I know you still carry that guilt with you that you failed people.”
“Of course I do, but Becca, don’t be ridiculous. You listened. You tried to help me. Of course, your words comforted me when I needed them most, like they always had.”
I smiled and shook my head. “I think it’s time that you let that guilt go, Grant. I want you to know that you didn’t fail as a leader.”
“Well, thank you, but I hate to tell you I did.”
“But you didn’t. If it had been you that night, then you wouldn’t have been there to save me. You saved me.”
Grant laughed. “I didn’t save you, Becs.”
“You did. You were the one who found those charges. You were the one who remembered you had put those cameras in.”
Grant raised his head and looked into my eyes. “How did you know about that?”
“Jace. He told me that my boyfriend wouldn’t be able to come and save me. That they had disconnected the cameras. So, if you had died that night, I would probably be dead now.”
“Boyfriend? That’s a joke.” Grant huffed under his breath.
The door opened to my room, and Chris came striding in holding up an apple juice. “They were all out of orange,” he said, cracking the lid of the bottle.