Page 47 of Secret Redemption

Chapter Eighteen

Ava frowned in concern as she touched her hand to Riley’s forehead, her little man was burning up. His cheeks were flushed and hot even as he burrowed lower under the covers feeling cold. He had been in and out of sleep all afternoon, only waking to drink small sips of water.

Thankfully the sickness had stopped, but now the fever was making him feel dreadful.

Rising from the bed, she slipped out of the room, the monitor in her hand as she went to look for some medicine to reduce the fever and make him more comfortable. Entering the kitchen, she saw her dad at the table, his head in his hands. He looked pale and feverish too.

“You okay daddy?” she asked as he raised red eyes to her. She went to him and felt his head. “Jesus, you too! Get yourself to bed dad.”

“I will in a little while. I need to go and get some pain meds first. My head is killing me.” She pulled open the cupboard in the kitchen where Zack kept all the medicines he’d shown her earlier, before promising to stock up on his way home. Zack, it seemed did not get sick, and never having had a child, it seemed he didn’t keep a lot of medications on hand.

“It’s okay dad, I can go. There’s a shop a few miles away that’s bound to have a few supplies, I saw it on the way here. I’ll pick up some stuff for you and Riley and maybe some ice-blocks to help get some fluid down him and cool him at the same time. Will you be okay to watch him while I’m gone?”

Her father raised his head and looked her dead in the eye, obstinance and pain were not a good combination. Add manly pride to that, and she got one grumpy sick patient.

“Girl, I survived shit ten times worse than this, don’t insult me.”

Ava hid her smile and crossed to kiss his cheek. “Okay, I won’t be long.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever. Go we’ll be fine,” he said waving her away, “and be careful, make sure you take your gun. I don’t give a shit about these concealed weapons laws. I want you safe.”

Grabbing her bag and keys, Ava unlocked her gun from the cupboard in Zack’s office and left. She stashed the gun in her bag, dumping it on the front seat of the Black Volkswagen Tiguan SUV Zack had given her the keys to that morning. She drove up the long drive and pulled out, headed for the small local shop smiling despite herself as she thought of the previous night. Somehow the memories of Zack hadn’t done him justice. He was hotter now, and more commanding than ever and yet more tender too. It was a deadly combination that left her wanting him with a desperation that made her almost weak.

The way he had touched her, and kissed her made her shiver to just to think about it, his hands had been rough and so strong as he used them to bring her to orgasm before he had fucked her with such raw passion, she swore she would never get enough.

If that hadn’t been enough, he had then taken her to bed and made love to her so tenderly that she had been left in no doubt how he felt about her. His words had been the most beautiful she had ever heard uttered from him, and when he’d said them, she had known she would never love anyone else until the day she died. He was it for her.

Zack owned her, heart and soul, and now for the first time ever she knew he felt the same. A smile crept over her face that was so wide she thought her cheeks might crack. She was engrossed in her thoughts, it took her a while to realise a car was coming up right behind her.

Her heart pumped faster as the car came closer, flashing its lights, and honking its horn. Then the car overtook her, and a couple of kids were in it, making rude gestures and laughing.

Just idiots, not madmen intent on killing her. She let the breath she was holding go on a shaky laugh and felt silly as she pulled into the car park next to the little shop and post office.

Jumping out, Ava clicked the button and went inside. She nodded to the older lady behind the counter and noticed there were only two other people in the shop. One was a kid of about nineteen, grabbing as much junk as he could carry, the other was a lady of fifty or so, who was looking at magazines.

Dismissing them both, Ava went in search of medicines, finding them easily, she grabbed all she needed for Riley and her parents and then went to the freezer section to grab ice-blocks. Going to the counter, she put all her purchases down and then realised she had left her bag in the car. “Sorry, I left my bag in the car,” she told the older lady who had started ringing up her purchases.

“No problem lovey, you go get it, and I’ll finish scanning this through.”

Ava smiled apologetically,

“Thanks.”

She raced outside and pressed the lock on the car. Just as she was leaning over, reaching to grab the strap on her bag, someone grabbed her roughly from behind and shoved her forward holding her around the neck, cutting off her airway and the ability to scream. Her heart raced as she tried to kick out, but she was pinned to the seat, the weight of a hard body pressing into her and making movement impossible.

“My boss has a message bitch,” a deep voice with an accent she didn’t recognise said. “Tell your boyfriend to stop looking into things which do not concern him. Or next time, someone dies.”

Pain then seared through her head as she was hit from behind and blackness overtook her as she passed out.

~~~

Ava felt as if someone was squeezing her brain out through her eyes as she opened them to see several faces she didn’t know looking at her. Voices she didn’t know where muttering as she tried to sit up, nearly throwing up as her stomach roiled from the pain in her head.

“Hey, cool your heels sweetheart that’s quite a knock you have there,” the old lady from the shop said, as the kid and the other customer peered over her shoulder at her as if she was specimen under a microscope.

“What happened?” Ava asked as she tried to look around her.

“Lois here had come to look for you. You was holding up the line a bit. She found you slumped over the driver’s seat unconscious, a bleeding bump on yer noggin. She was right worried, so we carried you in here.”