This Love of Mine (Raine Series #1) Read online

  When my watery, puffy eyes caught site of the black and chrome handle of one of our steak knives, I gasped in horror. My breathing became erratic as I tried with all of my might not to move. I knew I needed to get to my cell phone that was in my other sock, but every time I tried to move, something new would start hurting. I kept pressing the shirt to my head as hard as possible, but the loss of blood was making my extremities extremely weak. As darkness quickly swept through me, I felt myself fading away. At this point, I could only pray someone would find me.

  Doubtful!

  *****

  I had no idea how long I had been out, when I eventually came to. I was still in the exact position I had been in before, but all of my things were gone. I quickly tried to sit up and squealed out in pain, as I remembered what had been hindering my movements in the first place. The knife still stuck out of my leg, almost taunting me, in that I-told-you-so kind of way. I pulled back the t-shirt that had been pressed against my forehead and saw that the blood had at least stopped pouring out of the open wound.

  Just then, I started to feel a line of blood slowly dripping down my face, but I had bigger things to deal with. The knife in my leg, for one. Before I even tried to slide my hand down to the handle, I made sure to listen for voices. After about thirty seconds of nothing, I took my chance.

  My trembling hands shakily locked around the handle, as I prepared to remove the object. I wasn't sure exactly how deep the knife had gone, or if it had pierced anything, but I didn't have time for questions like that. I needed to get the fuck out of this house before one or both of them returned. I took in a deep breath and held it as I slowly started pulling the blade from my thigh. I swear I could hear every tear of the muscles and tendons that the blade was slowly slicing through. I grit my teeth, trying not to scream out in pure torture. As soon as I felt the blade give a little, I tugged one last time and freed it.

  The metal clambered against the tile floor beneath me and I instantly clutched my thigh. The tears had returned, but I honestly didn't care this time. I quickly ran through the survival skills we were taught at Girl Scout camp back in third grade. Tourniquet, that's what I need. I quickly reached out for my blood soaked shirt, and tied it as tight as I could around the wound. I squeezed my eyes shut as the knot dug into the now gaping hole in my leg. Once I regained some of my composure, I slid my hand down to my sock to find my phone. I let out a sigh of relief when I felt the money still in my other one.

  Without a second to lose, I quickly dialed my one and only friend, Cami. I prayed that she would pick up. After the second ring, I ended the call and instantly started calling her back. If she didn't answer, I didn't know what I would do. She was literally the only friend I had left.

  Still there was no answer, so I called one more time. I figured if she didn't answer this time, then I would just call a cab. Just as I was about hang up again, I heard her voice on the other end. She sounded like an angel, an angel who could save my life.

  "Ca.." I cleared my throat before trying it again. "Cami?"

  "Kayla. Kayla, is that you?" I could hear the worry in her voice reach eminent proportions.

  "Come get me, please." I choked out.

  "Oh my god, I'm on my way. Are you okay?"

  "N..no..I...I...come." I could feel my body slowly shutting down and I couldn't even hold the small phone in my hand anymore. It slipped through my fingers and across the tile floor. My eyelids instantly became heavy and all I wanted to do was sleep. I knew I needed to get out of this house, but I was beyond caring, I wanted to just sleep this day away. After what felt like hours later, I heard a loud gasp come from above me. She had made it. She had come for me.

  "Oh my god, KJ, what the hell happened to you? We need to get you to a hospital, now!”

  I reached out for her hand, pulling it into my chest. “Please no hospital, I need you to take me to the bus stop.” I barely managed to get the words out, but she must have understood me.

  “Are you sure, honey?” I could see the tears starting to well up behind her eyelids.

  “No crying. Just help me out of the house. We need to leave, NOW!”

  “Okay.” She whispered.

  She knelt down beside me and slowly started helping me sit up. I groaned as the pain of every broken piece of me screamed out in pure torturous pain. When she got me in a standing position, she glanced over at me and the floodgates opened up wide. Of course once she started crying, I followed suit shortly after. I have to say, I was amazed that she could even bear most of my weight. She was a petite little thing, standing at only five feet tall and weighing a hundred and five soaking wet, but she was managing to hold her own quite nicely. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders as we made our way to her car. Once she had me safely in the passenger seat, she ran into the house and gathered the rest of my belongings, the ones that were left, and threw them all in the trunk before hauling ass out of my neighborhood.

  "Never again!" Was all I could manage to say.

  Chapter 6

  Madison

  The truck ride wasn't too bad as I slept, but after I woke up, it turned into an uncomfortable silence, real fast. The look on my grandpa's face led me to believe that he was thinking about something. I didn't want to pry though, so I just kept looking out the open window on my side of the truck. Grandpa was never one for small talk, but when he had told me to come along, I was hoping it was for a reason.

  We were almost at the town limits, when I just couldn't take it anymore. I reached forward to turn on the old stereo in his dinosaur of a truck. I knew my options were limited to country or oldies, so I went for country. As I settled back against the bench seat, my grandfather took the opportunity to bring up, what I could only assume had been bothering him since we started this little adventure.

  “Son, I need you to make sure you are on your best behavior around this girl. I don't reckon that you'll see her all that much, but she just needs to be left alone for a bit. You hear me?”

  I didn't know exactly what he meant, but I simply nodded in agreement. I turned my attention back to the outside world, but now, I couldn't help but be curious about this "off-limits" girl.

  “Sir, have you ever met her?" I knew the question sounded dumb, but I was sick of sitting in silence and whether or not I wanted to admit it, he had peaked my interest with his warning.

  "Well son, you actually know her too. She is Jasper and Marie's granddaughter. You probably don't remember her all too well. She is a few years younger than you, but y'all used to play together when you were really little. Your grandma and Marie were best friends in high school, and Jasper and I were on the same football team all throughout school. When we moved up here to great granddad’s land, the property right behind us went up for sale, and Jasper and Marie swooped in and bought it up.

  It's not as much property as your Grams and I have, but it's a fair amount. Because the land is still kind of far away from theirs, you and that little girl used to play together when her momma would bring her out. She's out here every summer though, same as you. Well not any more."

  His face was serious enough, that I didn't want to push any further, but I found it quite odd that I hadn't seen her in the past couple years I had been coming out. "What's her name?"

  "Kayla Anne, but I reckon everyone still calls her KJ. Better off you askin' her, just to be sure."

  I didn't know what else to say, so I tugged my hat back down over my eyes a bit. I kept repeating her name over and over again in my head, but not one single memory surfaced. Obviously, we weren't like amazingly good friends back then. Now that I knew her name, I tried to picture what she looked like. Did she have blonde hair and blue eyes, maybe brown hair with hazel eyes, or maybe my favorite combination of brown hair and blue eyes? Who knows, all I knew was that I was gone in two days so it wouldn't really matter anyway.

  That was the last bit of talking we did for the rest of the ride. I wasn't quite sure what to say to my grandfather and I reckon he felt the same. Now,
my thoughts were consumed by this girl Kayla that I don't ever remember knowing, and it was driving me nuts. I couldn't quite fathom why anybody would take a bus to Abernathy from Phoenix, but far from me to judge anyone. And why wasn't she coming with her parents? Oh man, who the fuck cares?

  We were only about twenty minutes out now, and I wasn't looking forward to meeting this new girl, regardless of who her grandparents were. I'm sure she was some snobby, self-centered daddy's girl. No thank you. I had my fair share of those girls, and trust me they don't ever change. The way I led my life didn't really leave a whole lot of room for anything or anyone else. I just needed to stay focused, make it two more days and then I could get back to my own life.

  I saw the big blue Greyhound sign as we turned onto the road leading to the next town. I let out an audible sigh and then felt my grandfather's hand connect with the back of my head.

  "Ow, Sir. What was that for?" I started rubbing the back of my head to dull the pain he had inflicted.

  "I told you to be on your best behavior. You better start straightenin' it out now."

  "Alright, I'm sorry. I'm just sayin' though, if she is some rich, snotty entitled little princess, then I'm riding in the bed of the truck."

  "Sounds mighty fine to me." He winked in my direction and I couldn't help but smile. My grandfather was such an amazing man, always looking out for others and never taking life too serious. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I strived to be exactly like him someday.

  We found a close enough parking space and after my grandfather parked, he exited the truck without a word. I wasn't sure whether or not to follow him, seeing as he didn't say anything. I looked around and scanned the parking lot before exiting the truck also. He was standing against the tailgate when I approached him. We gave a nod and I leaned against the truck just as he was doing. I wasn't sure what time she was supposed to be getting in, but my grandfather looked as though he was willing to camp out, even if it took all night long. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long at all, because my grandfather elbowed me and tilted his head in a girl's direction a few minutes later.

  Chapter 7

  Kayla

  As much as I wanted to just jump on the next bus out of here and leave, I was in no condition to do so. The gash on my head seemed fine to me, but there was no way I was going to be able to travel for twelve and a half hours with the knife wound I was sporting on my leg. Cami's brother was a nurse at the local hospital, so I agreed to let her take me there first, and then to the bus station. There was no way I was spending another night in this messed up town.

  We pulled into the parking lot of Good Samaritan Hospital a few minutes later and I was relieved that I could get this thing stitched up without anyone knowing. I reached for the door handle to get out, but felt Cami's tight grip around my elbow.

  "Um, what do you think you're doing?"

  "What do you mean? You're the one who told me to get it fixed, so I'm getting out to get it fixed." I rolled my eyes at how ridiculous she was being.

  "Not that stupid. You're not walking. Let me go get a wheelchair for you. No arguments!" She gave me a stern glare before hustling inside.

  She emerged through the sliding glass doors a second later, wheelchair in tow. As ridiculous as I thought she was being, I knew there was no way in hell I would've been able to walk in there, even with her help. I stepped out onto the sidewalk and then maneuvered my way into the wheelchair. I was in a tremendous amount of pain, but I didn't want Cami to notice anything. It was bad enough I was going to have to tell her I was moving to Texas, this would send her over the edge.

  Once inside, a man in blue scrubs came sauntering up to us and I instantly recognized her brother Mike. Of course, he was having to see his baby sister's best friend like this, which was just my luck. Her brother was handsome and so hard not to look at. Cami and her brother could have been twins, except for the fact that he was six years older than us. He had short dirty blonde hair, Cami had the same color but hers hung just above her waistband like mine. They both had piercing green eyes and a perfectly round face, and to top it all off, they were both in incredibly great shape.

  They sucked!

  I laughed a little to myself before her brother interrupted me. It took him less than a second to look over me and my injuries before he was hustling us back into a private room. I was thankful to him for this, seeing how my shirt was no longer on my body. I quickly wrapped my arms over my bra-covered chest, as Cami started pushing me back to the room.

  There was a lot of commotion back here, but I was okay with the distraction. Once we reached the last room at the end of the hall, I pulled myself over to the bed and threw my head back. I wasn't looking forward to having to explain my injuries and how I came to get them. Luckily, Mike new a little bit of my history and didn't ask too many questions. Once he had me all situated, he looked over the open wound on my leg, and then ran out to go find the nearest doctor.

  A few minutes later, a short middle-aged, balding man in a white coat came walking towards me. Mike must have explained the situation, or lied about how it had happened, because the doctor didn't ask any questions. Mike had already pulled off my shirt that I had been using as a tourniquet, so the doctor was all set to go.

  "Well Kayla, it looks like the stab wound is deep, but the bleeding has stopped, so that's good. I'm just going to take you for a quick x-ray to better survey the damage, if any. Is that okay with you?" I simply nodded.

  His eyes raised up looking at the gash on my head and swollen jaw before settling back on my eyes.

  "Kayla, can you open your jaw?"

  "Yes but not very far. It hurts real bad." I answered through clenched teeth.

  "Well it looks to be dislocated. I highly doubt it's broken, but we will take an x-ray of that as well. As far as the gash on your head, we can fix that real easy with some butterfly strips. Now, let's get you back to x-ray."

  I tried to give my best smile, but it hurt too bad to move. I was once again back in the wheelchair and being carted off to x-ray. They didn't take too long, and I was back in my room in no time at all. I was relieved that my little trip to the emergency room was taking less time than expected. Who knows how long I had until one or both of them came looking for me. The doctor returned about twenty minutes later with my x-rays in hand. He pushed them up onto the light board and flipped the switch.

  "It looks like your jaw is not broken, but just as I suspected, it is dislocated. That's an easy fix though. I'm not going to lie it's going to be painful, but easy nonetheless. Your leg on the other hand, we are going to have to stitch up. I don't know who pulled the blade back out, but they did a good job of missing any arteries and there was minimal damage to the muscles. I'm going to have the nurse, Mike, come in and administer some pain medication so it won't hurt too bad, when we put your jaw back in place. Sound good?"

  "Yes, thank you." I muttered.

  The doctor nodded and then left the room. A minute later, Mike was back in the room He wasted no time coming back with my pain medication. "What is that you're giving me?" I asked.

  "It's morphine. It's the best we got here. I just need you to roll over onto your other side so I can give it to you."

  I did as he asked and within five minutes, I was starting to feel the effects. I felt loopy and out of it, but the pain was gone and I was thankful for that. Another fifteen minutes later and I was good to go. The doctor came in and quickly set my jaw in place. He said he was going to count down for me, but that must have just been a way for me to not know it was coming. Even with the amount of drugs I had on board floating though my veins, it still hurt like hell.

  "Okay, onto the stitches. As far as your jaw goes, make sure to ice it and try not to talk for the next couple of days."

  About an hour and a half later, I was stitched up and feeling no pain at all. Mike made sure to get me a prescription for the pain and even gave me one more shot for the road. Cami and I thanked Mike and then we were headed back to her car.r />
  "Cami, I need you to take me to the bus depot now. I have to catch the last bus to Texas."

  I cringed as I waited for her response. This was the first she was hearing of my leaving, but she must have just assumed it was for the summer, just like every year before.

  "Are you sure you're going to be okay riding on a bus for twelve hours? I'm really worried about you KJ. I need to know you're going to be okay."

  "I'll be fine Cami, I promise. I just need to get to my grandparent's house. I have plenty of medication to keep my comfortable on the way there, and when I arrive there, I can always fill my prescription if I need it.

  "Okay." I knew she was at a loss of words, and I wasn't sure I could even try to comfort her, because let's face it; the situation was far worse than it had ever been.

  We were both silent the rest of the car ride to the bus station. When we pulled up outside, I quickly jumped up and hobbled my way to the trunk of her car. She was instantly at my side pulling out my small bag. I wasn't sure where my mom and Wren had stashed my other bags, but they had left this one and my purse, so I was okay.

  I turned and pulled Cami into a tight hug. "I'll call you as soon as I get there. Oh and thank your brother again for me, for the shirt and everything else. I don't know what I would do without you. I love you girl."

  "I love you too, honey. Be careful and I will tell him. Please don't forget to call. I don't care how late it is, just call."

  "I will." I grabbed my bag and limped up to the ticket counter. I purchased my ticket and turned to wave good-bye to Cami, before disappearing into the actual station to see where I needed to go.

  Texas here I come!

  Chapter 8

  Madison

  The girl walking in our direction was not at all who I had been expecting to see. I didn't know for sure if this was Kayla, but my suspicions were confirmed when my grandfather pushed himself off the truck and walked towards her. She looked like she was having a hard time walking, but I paid it no mind.