TWENTY-ONE
CASEN
“What? Why?” I ask in disbelief. You’d think a guy who just got shot would gain a sympathy yes.
She sits back and gives me her full attention. “Because I want you to ask me when death hasn’t knocked on your door. I want you to ask me when there is no drama going on in our lives, when your best friend didn’t try to kill you.”
The memory of facing Reece when I was in that room haunts me. His eyes were maniacal like he just couldn’t help doing what he was doing. “Reece shot me. He killed Ian.”
“I know.” She confirms. “He’s at the police station. He turned himself in. Trinity took him this morning.”
“Good. No more drama. So marry me.”
She laughs. “No. Not yet.”
I squeeze her hand. “I don’t mean right now. Just say yes and we can play it all out later. I just want to know that you want to be my wife.”
“Casen, I do want to be your wife but I feel right now we need to focus on what happened to all of us. Deal with all that. Your best friend tried to kill you months after he killed Ian.”
I remember the pictures of Embyr all over the walls. “He was stalking you, Embyr. He knew who you were the whole time. He knew where you went to college and where you moved to when you got back. He had to have recognized you that first time I introduced you in the fire station.”
“Wh-wh-what?” She stutters. “He was stalking me?”
I nod. “He had pictures of you all over his walls. From high school all the way to recent ones of you and me on the streets. He had newspaper clippings about Ian’s death, Patrick’s arrest, and all of Thad’s coming out shit. Even stuff about Wesley. I think he followed your every move. There is no knowing how far he went or could go.” I grow tired and my eyelids begin to flutter closed.
“We can talk about this later.” She kisses my forehead. “You need to get some rest.”
I don’t argue. I’m tired and the medicine the nurses gave me is beginning to kick in. I don’t remember much of what happened after Reece shot me, but they told me I had surgery and I was lucky to be alive, hence why the spontaneous proposal. I don’t want another day to go by without going for exactly what I want.
“Are you going to leave?” I question, my eyes secured shut. “Please don’t leave.”
I hear a chair being pulled alongside my bed and feel her hair drape over my arm. Her cheek rests on my forearm. “No, I’m not leaving you. I’ll be here when you wake up. I promise.”
She isn’t there when I wake up, and as disheartening as that feels, I understand why. Two detectives are standing just outside my room. The nurse comes in and gives me more pain meds before allowing them to speak with me.
I tell them everything I know…every heartbreaking detail. Most of the information I give them they are already aware of. From the room in his house to Ian’s death, Reece spiraled out of control. One detail they hadn’t heard yet was the video that was sent to Embyr’s work. He hadn’t confessed that to them. I’m hoping Embyr isn’t mad that I told them but I felt like to know the whole story, they needed to know where it all started and how it all ended. They leave their card and ask me to call and make an appointment once I’m up and moving.
I only had a few scary moments back at Reece’s apartment to think about what he did before everything went dark. Now that I sit here after the detectives left and soak it all in, I’m wondering how I could have been so blind. It was over a decade of secrets he kept. How many times could he have told me he was interested in Embyr? Why make that bet? Why squirm over it right alongside me? What man has an obsession so strong with a woman that he followed her through her teens and twenties, hiring someone to follow her at college? He knew where Annie was when I asked him to talk to Ian for me. I know that he tried to talk me out of it but maybe if at any point in the past ten years, if he would have talked to me we might have been able to get through it. He killed Ian over Embyr and he almost killed me over her as well. I know the stress of trying to help your parents out must have taken a toll on him. Add not getting the promotion and Trinity leaving him probably made for the perfect storm.
It doesn’t excuse what he did.
“Casen?” My sweet mother’s voice breaks the horrible memories of yesterday. I almost lost my life at the hands of my best friend and that can almost break a guy.
I smile wide. She’s a vision. “Mom.”
Her eyes fill with tears that are threatening to spill over. She looks like she hasn’t gotten any sleep and I don’t blame her. I can’t imagine what she went through.
Her arms gently wrap around my body and she squeezes lightly before pulling back and slapping my arm. “Don’t do that to me again!” she jokingly yells. “Parents are supposed to go first, and that’s after you give me beautiful grandchildren.”
“I’m sorry, Ma. I’ll make sure not to get shot again. At least until my wife pops out a couple of babies and you die first.”
Her eyes slit. “That’s all I ask, baby boy. It’s all I ask.”
“Son.” My dad comes to the other side of the bed. “You feeling okay?”
I glance at the monitors and point to my IV. “They gave me some meds a little bit ago so I should be feeling fine very soon.”
He laughs, but you can tell it’s strained. It must have torn them up. “I love you, Casen.”
