Unwanted Heat

Nicholas

“Are you sure she’s okay?” I ask Mom for probably the hundredth time.

“Yes, sweetheart, she’s fine,” she assures me as I watch Kenzie sleep on the bed next to me. “The pain medicine is going to keep her out of it for a couple more hours at least. That combined with the adrenaline wearing off…”

She’s explained this to me countless times, but it doesn’t make me feel any less worried that Kenzie hasn’t woken up yet. She’s lying in bed with several broken ribs, a broken wrist and numerous stitches from her battle with the piece of shit, sorry excuse for a man. Her wrists and ankles are bandaged, allowing the contusions from the rope to heal. Her face has countless bruises on it and her lip is still swollen-I don’t need to ask her what caused them.

“It’s truly a miracle, that she wasn’t more severely injured,” Mom comments. Although, I know she’s right, Kenzie shouldn’t have been hurt at all. That asshole should never have come after her-he should have been locked up a long time ago for what he did to her. “I never thought I would say this about another person, but I’m glad the bastard is dead.”

“Me too, Mom,” I sigh and sit back in the uncomfortable hospital chair that I’ve occupied for the last two hours.

Carter arrives about an hour later, after finally having been released from questioning by the police, still in clothes covered with blood. I had called Mr. Brown, and asked him to represent Carter, as soon as Kenzie was declared stable by the onsite paramedics. I knew the police would want to question Carter, even though it was clear as day he killed Westbrook in selfdefense.

“How is she, sir?” he asks immediately.

“Stable,” I sigh barely noticing my mom stepping out of the room. “They’ve given her pain medicine which knocked her out. She has several broken ribs, a broken wrist, stitches… and well the bruises.”

“She’s strong, sir, she’ll get through this.”

“She shouldn’t have fucking had to.”

“Agreed, sir.”

“If you need to go home and change-”

“I’m fine, sir. Not going anywhere.”

I know better than to argue with Carter, even though I’m not at all surprised by him wanting to stay here until he can see for himself that Kenzie is okay. They’ve become close over the last year, and he’s the only person besides myself, who saw the pictures of what her ex previously did to her. He knew what him having her today meant-he knew the chances were high that that bastard was going to kill her.

“Nicholas?” Kenzie’s soft voice is barely a whisper, but Carter and I immediately rush to her side.

“How are you, baby?” I ask.

“Sore… I feel like I got ran over by a truck.”

“I can ask the nurse for more pain medicine-”

“Not yet; maybe later. I don’t want to be knocked out again. Tell me what happened…”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” I glance at Carter at the same time he looks at me. We’re both wondering if she remembers Carter shooting Westbrook.

“Carter hopefully killing him,” her voice is full of question but her eyes… they’re filled with something I can’t exactly place. “He’s dead, Kenzie,” Carter confirms.

“It’s really over?” she asks.

“He’s dead-I checked myself,” Carter answers.

“He’s gone, baby,” I assure.

“Wait… the person who was bringing another car. Do you know who that was?” she asks.

“A woman named Bree… she was someone I used to know,” I

cringe and shake my head in utter disgust. “How did he know her?” she asks.

“We think through Harper,” I answer.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

She takes a sip of water, adjusting herself in the bed showing only minor signs of discomfort. Her lip is swollen, more than double its normal size, but the swelling in her eye has gone down some so she can at least open it.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

“Oh my God! What happened with Hunter? And Ben? They were still in the car… I think,” Kenzie looks between me and Carter. Out of all the news I had to give her when she woke up, I knew this would be the toughest. Carter looks to me as I haven’t had a chance to update him on Hunter since he got here a few minutes ago.

“Hunter is a few doors down, recovering,” I take a deep breath. “His leg was broken and trapped from the collision as the truck hit right into his door. He was also shot in the shoulder-”

“He was shot?!?!?!” she whispers. “He shot him?”

“From what we can tell from the footage from a nearby building, you were knocked out from the impact. During which time, Westbrook shot both Hunter and Ben before he… took you from vehicle.”

“I heard Hunter calling for me… I only remember bits and pieces of what happened. I knew someone hit the SUV, but everything kept going black.”

God, just hearing her say that kills me. I wish like hell I would have been there. We thought it would be safer traveling separately; that it would be less obvious that we were leaving our house if we left in two different cars at two different times. Fuck, we should have done something else… we should have done something more…

“But, Hunter’s going to be okay?” Kenzie asks.

“Yes,” I immediately assure her. “The bullet thankfully went straight through and didn’t do any major damage. They repaired it while they had him in surgery for his leg. It was a complex break so they had to reset it.”

She just nods; there’s not much you can say. But it’s the next part that I dread telling her about the most.

“And Ben? I don’t remember…”

“From what we can tell, he tried to disarm Westbrook and was shot in the chest during the battle,” I pause not knowing how to put the next part.

“He didn’t… oh, tell me he didn’t…” tears are in her eyes, as she tries to ask the question, that I know she doesn’t want to hear the answer to.

“He didn’t make it-he had died before the paramedics arrived on the scene,” I sit on the bed next to her and gently bring my arms around her. I want nothing more than to pull her on my lap, to hold her against my chest, and kiss her tears away. Unfortunately, with her injuries, that’s the last thing I can do; I can’t risk hurting her any more than she already is. “He died… because of me…” She whispers.

“No, he didn’t, Kenzie,” Carter says firmly his voice leaving no room for any doubt. “When he, hell, when any of us sign up for a job like this, we know the risks. Hunter, Ben, Smith, myself-we all knew taking this job, that our lives were on the line. We all agreed to the risk, for you and Mr. Parker. He died doing his jobprotecting you. Don’t let his death be a source of guilt for you, Kenzie, he wouldn’t have wanted that.”

“But his life wouldn’t have been at risk if it wasn’t for me! He wouldn’t have died-” she snaps.

“That’s not true, Kenzie,” Carter quickly interrupts her. “If I hadn’t have hired him, someone else would have. He served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was talented soldier with high accommodations. I was lucky to have grabbed him when I did: he had just come off an assignment for a politician who wasn’t reelected. I promise you that if I hadn’t had hired him, another security firm would have. This was what he wanted to do -what he enjoyed doing. He didn’t go into this assignment blind: he knew the risks and chose to accept the position still. We all did.”

“It’s not fair, Carter! He shouldn’t have died,” she sobs.

“You’re right he shouldn’t have, baby,” I agree because there’s no arguing her statement. “Your… Westbrook was a sick, fucking bastard, who should never have hurt you to begin with. All those years ago, when you first met him, he took advantage of you, baby. He never should have controlled you and hurt you the way he did. Harper and Bree, they’re two fucked up women who never should have wanted to hurt you, or anyone, else for that matter. All three of them… they’re all fucking crazy. But none of it was your fault.”

“They caught her? The police… they caught Bree?”

“They did,” I smile at the only part of the last twenty-four hours that I can smile at. “She pulled in front of the building, literally seconds after the police did. The moment she stepped out of the car, she was handcuffed for questioning. When they heard that Westbrook had called someone to arrange another vehicle they called back the last dialed number of his cell phone and her phone, in her pocket no less, rang right there in the back of the police cruiser.”

“They’re going to charge her, right? I mean, even though…”

“She started confessing the moment her phone rang; they’re charging her with several crimes, I’m sure. I have my attorney staying on top of everything; he will ensure that no one gets away with what they did to you, baby.”