Saving Her

 

Vin was speeding down the road, looking for house numbers, but there was nothing to see. Just a country road with houses set back. He passed one quickly and saw a flash of yellow in the driveway and swung around, recognizing Piper’s car.

He had his door open before the car fully stopped and then was out and running up the front porch. He didn’t bother to knock, just shoved the door open and called her name. Nothing, though. No sounds to be heard.

Something told him to go out back, so he did. That’s when he saw them at the back of the yard. But it wasn’t Skip. It looked to be a woman with Piper, in front of a tree, and he took off in a run.

He pulled his gun out. “Step away from her right now,” he shouted.

He was in the zone. At war. In that state when you’re so focused on what is in front of you that outside interference was just that, on the outside.

He wasn’t worried about dropping his guard or an enemy coming up behind him. He was only worried about the woman he loved and saving her.

The woman choking Piper wasn’t moving, and clearly had no intention of stopping. He could see Piper going limp and he fired without thought, hitting the woman in the leg. It was the safest shot without worrying about hitting Piper. It was enough for the woman to fall down and Vin to pin her to the ground. Piper was coughing, so he wasn’t moving until he made sure she was safe.

“Back off, Steele,” he heard, and turned to see Detective Myers there, pulling cuffs out.

Vin rolled off and moved to Piper. “Come on now, Piper. Open your eyes. I’ve got you,” he said, cradling her.

“Ambulance is on the way,” Myers said.

“Vin,” she croaked out. “You found me. You saved me.”

“I did. Don’t ever scare me like that again,” he said.

“It’s cuz you love me. You were afraid to lose me,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” he whispered back.

“Good, cuz I love you too.” Then she was out cold again.

 

***

 

Piper blinked her eyes open, then took in her surroundings. She was in the hospital. Looked like the ER. Vin was sitting next to her and holding her hand.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like someone choked me.”

He let out a not-so-cheerful laugh. “Kaylee won’t be anywhere near you ever again.”

“So I didn’t dream it all. It was really Kaylee?”

“You didn’t dream it. She’s being guarded now.”

“Did you shoot her?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Just a flesh wound. It got her off of you.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t more than that. I’d hate to have to visit you in jail.”

This time he smiled. “But you would have, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course.” She squeezed his hand. “How did you know it was her? I figured it out when I saw all the flowers on the property. Then I felt all those things I’ve been feeling. All the things I’ve been pushing away or trying to ignore. I knew it right then. It was like you were in my mind telling me to be aware. Telling me to recognize it.”

“I didn’t. I thought it was Skip. I was shocked to see it wasn’t. I got a call this morning that the poison used on the rats was the same one used on Smokey.”

“Are you saying Smokey was poisoned?” Her heart broke. Smokey had been her pet. The only one she’d ever had. He might not have lived with her, but he was still hers. She took care of him. Her poor cat was killed because some crazy woman thought Piper was after her man. Because she was too afraid to see what had been in front of her all along.

“I had a hunch to have Smokey’s bowl tested. It was all the same. It was homegrown. Manufactured. Then I remembered the Shaffers mentioning Skip’s lab kits and him being a science major. I was calling Myers to look into it when he said Sam mentioned Skip’s name today. It was too much of a coincidence in one day. When Sam said you were on your way to their house, I thought thirty years were shaved off my life.”

“Kaylee said she was always watching me. She works around the corner from the shop. I’d forgotten about it, and that her father trained her to be a locksmith. That’s how she got in the shop. And the poison for the mice she made to use around her house. She said Skip wanted me and she thought we were having an affair. I didn’t want to believe he did, but he was always touching me. Hugging me, kissing my cheek, flirting. He did it in front of her too.”

Piper was always going to wonder if she could have handled this all differently. If she could have stopped this from happening. Maybe if she’d told Skip that she had no interest in him. Reminded him he was engaged like Kaylee had done so many times.

“I thought Kaylee was delusional, but she saw what I didn’t. She caught him leaving flowers at the apartment. He’d been secretly leaving me flowers like he did when he first met her. When he tried to win her over. That first night you and I were together, she’d watched through my window. The curtains were open. She saw a man and thought it was him. Then the next morning she left her friend’s apartment and walked down the hall in our building hoping to catch him leaving and saw the flowers on the doorstep, and said that was proof enough in her eyes. I think Kaylee just snapped then.” She was crying now, just so upset.

“Shhhh, it’s over with.”

“I never thought of him that way. I never would. I told her that, but she didn’t believe me. The last thing I remember is her hands around my neck.”

He pulled her in and hugged her tight. “Don’t talk anymore, please.”

“The only family I ever had is gone now,” she said, sobbing even more.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Piper. Just remember that. They have to deal with this on their own. What Skip did was wrong and only he knows why he did it, but it’s not on you.”

“I don’t want to think about it anymore. Don’t leave me. Please stay. I can’t lose you too.” Was she never meant to have anyone? Any family at all? Everyone always blamed her. Said she was a troublemaker, but she wasn’t. She’d only wanted to survive.

“I’ll never leave you. I love you. You know that.”

She pulled back. “You do?”

“You told me I did back at Skip’s. I said you were right. You don’t remember?”

“No. I guess it’s a good thing. Because now I can remember you said it to me first.”

He kissed her gently and held her more. “That’s right. You’re my first.”