Her Protector Page 3

  “Sorry, sometimes she hogs the bathroom. Gotta change somewhere, right?” I said.

  Her cheeks were pink and she nodded.

  “It’s alright, kid. She’s not that bad. You’ll be out of here before you know it,” I told her.

  I tossed my bag over my shoulder and nodded to MacManus.

  “Dara? Would you like to meet the officer before we leave?” I called out to her.

  “No, we’ll be fine, thank you Detective,” she called back to me.

  MacManus shrugged and opened the door. When we were on the other side he said, “That was dumb, kid.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told him.

  “Yes I do! It doesn’t matter if it’s a guy and a girl or two girls. That after fuck scenario looks exactly the same. Hell, that rookie in there is pretty fucking sure!” he said.

  “Like I said, you don’t know what you’re talking about and if that rookie says a word, I’ll knock her on her ass!” I sneered.

  “Oh, shit! You’re falling for the actress!” he grinned.

  “MacManus, do me a favor? I don’t ask you about this kind of shit. Stop asking me about it!” I replied.

  “Hey, by rights I should call it in and have you pulled off the detail. I should but I won’t because I think we’re friends. When you say shit like that to me, though, I wonder if we really are!” he replied, injured by my statement.

  “I’m sorry. We are friends. I just haven’t wrapped my head around this thing yet. I’d rather not talk about it now,” I apologized.

  “Alright, kid, but just be careful. I don’t want you to jeopardize your career and I don’t want you to get your heart broken again,” he put his heavy arm around me and pulled me in to his massive chest, “Remember, if you ever want to try dick again I have one,” he teased.

  “I’ve heard it’s a big one, too,” I smiled.

  “Really? From whom?” he chirped.

  “From you, asshole!” he squeezed me hard as I laughed.

  He was my friend and I knew that his concern was coming from a place of love.

  MacManus dropped me at home and pulled out of the driveway. I opened the door to my empty house and sighed. It was like leaving paradise to return to a lonely prison. I walked to the laundry room and emptied my duffle bag in to the washer before heading up stairs to finish fixing my hair and face.

  I couldn’t stay in the house and pine away all day so I decided to go shopping. I wanted to buy some food for the hotel room and maybe a gift for Dara. What do you buy for a rich woman who can have anything her heart desires? I wasn’t sure but at least I’d have something to occupy my mind for a while.

  I drove in to town and pulled in to the nearly vacant mall remembering the days when it was the go to place for everyone. Online shopping had certainly taken its toll on mall culture. Mall rats had been replaced by senior citizens who needed an indoor space to power walk.

  I met my two first loves in this mall. David, who took my virginity when I was sixteen and Candice who I would love from a distance until we were twenty-two and she married an asshole from Wisconsin. She was the first girl that I had sex with. We were eighteen and drunk when I decided to give in to the feelings that rose in me every time I saw her. We had just left a party and fell on to my bed, our heads spinning from the beer and I pinned her down and kissed her. I thought she would scream and push me away but she didn’t. She wanted me, too. We explored each other’s bodies without saying a word. It was that night that I realized who I really was. I understood why David left me feeling unsatisfied even though I was sure that I adored him. It was also the day that Candice realized that she was not gay. She enjoyed our night together but wasn’t interested in a repeat performance so I kept my hands to myself even though she had my heart on a string. It was the worst time of my life and I hated who I was. I thought I would be alone forever.

  I shopped the liquor store and the organic food market first. The bags were heavy and I decided to make a run to the car before looking for something for Dara. I was closing the trunk on my packages when I heard the sirens then the sky light up in red and blue. Something big was going down! I fumbled for my phone and dialed MacManus. He didn’t answer so I got in the car and tore off in the direction of the flashing lights.

  I pulled up behind a line of patrol cars and flashed my badge at the uniform who was manning the barrier. I slipped by him and scanned the crowd of suits and blues who were scurrying around. Behind them was an ambulance and I watched as three EMT’s loaded a gurney in the back and closed the doors.

  I saw MacManus and rushed to his side, grabbing his arm, “What it this?” I asked.

  “Your girl’s husband, that’s what. We got the son of a bitch!” he grinned, “That’s him in the meat wagon.”

  “Who shot him?” I asked.

  “I did. One in the leg and one in the shoulder. The son of a bitch rushed me. He wanted to die but he ain’t getting off that easy,” MacManus said. I could smell the adrenaline seeping from his pores. He was putting on a good front.

  “How did you find him?” I asked.

  “He was holed up in an apartment, there!” he said and pointed to the high rise, “Some stupid bitch was actually letting him stay with her! Can you believe it? How gullible people are. Anyway, he got a little too rough with her and she told one of her girlfriends about it. That sealed the deal. The friend called the hotline and ratted them out. She said she didn’t want to wait until her pal was the next victim,” he explained.

  “Amazing. He could have been out of the country ten times by now,” I said, more to myself than to MacManus.

  “He wasn’t finished with your girl, kid. He wasn’t gonna leave town until she was dead,” he replied, “Obsessed people do crazy shit.”

  “So, what now?” I asked.

  “You’re off the hook, that’s what. He’ll be in the hospital under guard and she’ll be back home before your next shift. You’re free,” he told me.

  I wanted to cry. I didn’t want to be free! I wanted to be back in that little room with Dara.

  “Are you going to escort her home?” I asked.

  “I am,” he replied.

  “Can I come with you?” I asked, averting my eyes.

  “I’ll do one better. I need to go to the precinct and file my shooting report. I’ll call in and let them know that you’re going escort her home for me. She’ll be ready and waiting when you get there,” he replied.

  “I love you, man. If you need me, call me. I’m serious!” I told him, squeezing his arm.

  I ran to my car and sped off toward the hotel.

  Homecoming

  I knocked on the door and waited for the “Clear” before turning my key. Inside the uniformed officer was sitting on the sofa. I looked for Dara. The girl said, “She’s making sure she didn’t forget anything,” and rolled her eyes. I was her just four days ago. I assumed that Dara was just a sad, damsel in distress who needed protecting but would never show any gratitude. I was wrong.

  “Are you coming with us?” I asked her.

  She smiled and said, “No, MacManus is sending me a car. She’s all yours again. Sorry.”

  I tried to appear disappointed. I was certain that I was failing.

  Dara opened the bedroom door and walked in to the room. She looked at me and nearly dropped her suitcase on her floor. It dawned on me then that she was expecting MacManus. She smiled at me and said, “I didn’t think you’d be here.”

  “MacManus has paperwork to see to. He asked me to escort you home,” I replied.

  “I wanted to thank him for his service,” she told me.

  “You’ll get your chance. You haven’t seen the last of him. Shall we go?” I said. I was aching to have her alone.

  “Of course! Officer, thank you for spending the day with me,” she said.

  The uniform nodded at her and scurried out the door behind us. She was in the waiting patrol car and out of side before we loaded Daras’ bags in the c
ar.

  “I was afraid that I’d never see you again,” she told me.

  “You couldn’t keep me away if you tried,” I winked.

  She got in to the car and waited for me to close the trunk and move to the drivers’ side. When I got in, she grabbed my hand and held it all the way to her house.

  The reality didn’t set in until we pulled up the driveway. She stared at the house as if there was a ghost peering out the window back at her.

  “He’s in the hospital under guard. He can’t get out,” I told her.

  “I haven’t been here since that night,” she muttered.

  “Listen, I know this is hard. If you’d rather come to my place, I’ll bring you there,” I told her.

  “And then what? I can’t stay there forever. I’ll need to come home eventually. If you promise to stay with me, I’ll stay here,” she replied.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I said, squeezing her hand. I had no intentions of leaving her anyway.

  I carried her bag inside and asked her where I should put it. She motioned down the hall.

  “There’s a guest bedroom on this floor. Put it in there. I don’t want to go upstairs,” she told me. I reached up and squeezed her shoulder then carried the bag to the bedroom at the end of the hall. It was a large room with a king size bed and I placed her luggage on it. It was strange to think that people actually lived this way. Her guest bedroom was bigger than my living room.

  I returned to the main room and found her pacing the floor.

  “What is it?” I asked her.

  “Do you swim? I haven’t had any exercise all week and I need to burn off some energy. Will you swim with me?” she asked me.

  “I don’t have a suit,” I replied.

  “Aren’t we past that now?” she smiled.

  Was she expecting to go skinny dipping with me in broad daylight? I tilted my head questioning her with my eyes. She shrugged and grabbed me by the hand pulling me down a different hallway. I stopped and stared at the Olympic sized pool and hot tub that were enclosed in a wall of glass.

  “The pool is in the house,” I stated.

  “Pool, hot tub, bar and sauna. We have a weight room and meditation room. Everything you could possibly need,” she told me as she slid the door open allowing the smell of chlorine to waft out in to the hall.

  She shed her clothes as she approached the pool and by the time her feet met the deck she was nude and diving off the edge. I wasn’t a great swimmer so I took my time undressing hoping she’d tire of doing laps by the time I joined her.

  I stepped down in to the warm water. It felt good but I’d rather be sitting in the hot tub with a cold beer. She swam to me and bobbed up in the water to plant a kiss on my lips. I put my arms on the deck and sunk down in the water so that she could straddle my hips and put her arms around me. I pushed her hair back and ran my tongue up the side of her neck. She moaned and leaned back in the water providing me access to explore her entire body with my hands and mouth. I no longer feared her changing her mind about us. She knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it from me.

  We played in the pool for hours then moved to the bedroom where she decided to reciprocate. She made love to me and I let go for the first time allowing her to please me in the same way that I had been pleasing her. That was a level of trust that I didn’t easily give to anyone. It was the first step in admitting that I loved her.

  We lay in bed fondling each other until the night grew old.

  “I’m hungry!” she said and leapt out of bed, “Do you want a sandwich?”

  “No, but something to drink would be nice,” I said.

  “I’ll bring some iced tea,” she said as she left the room.

  I closed my eyes consumed with a feeling of absolute bliss. I was replaying our love making in my head when I heard a crash from the kitchen. I sat up expecting her to cry, “Oops!” or something like that but she didn’t. It was suddenly too quiet so I slipped off the bed and peered around for anything that I might use to cover my naked frame. I spied a white robe hanging from a hook on the bathroom door and yanked it down. I cinched the belt and tip toed in to the hall. My gun was in my jacket in the living room and I needed to get there without being noticed. I ducked down low as I passed the kitchen. There was no movement in the room so I continued on the path to the living room. It too was vacant. I rushed to collect my gun and once the cold steel was in my grasp I began sweeping the house room by room. The first floor was clear. Dara said that she wasn’t going to go upstairs so I knew she didn’t go willingly. I hugged the wall and took the steps on my toes doing my best to remain silent. I didn’t know the layout of the house and could be taken by surprise.

  I reached the landing and heard Daras’ voice coming from the last door on the left of the hall. She was pleading with someone, “Don’t do this! Just go! I won’t tell anyone that you were here!” Then, I heard the sound of an open hand striking her. My blood boiled and my pace quickened. This time Donovan Quinn wasn’t going to the hospital. This time he was leaving in a body bag.

  I could see in to the room and saw Dara sitting on the edge of the bed sobbing. I couldn’t see Donovan so I thought he was standing behind the door. He should have been facing her which would mean that he’d have his back to me. Good, I thought, I’ll shoot him in the back. He deserves nothing more. I was about to slip in to the room but Dara saw me. Donovan must have seen the expression on her face because he rushed the door and grabbed me by the throat bouncing my head in to the wall. I raised my weapon but he caught my hand and banged it on the door until I lost my grip and my revolver fell to the floor.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he shouted, spitting in my face.

  “Leave her alone!” Dara cried.

  “First I’m going to fuck her then I’m going to kill her while you watch. When I’m done, it’s your turn!” he shouted to her. He yanked the belt free from my robe and reached inside twisted my tit as though he expected to rip it off. I clenched my teeth and slammed my head in to his making myself dizzy from the impact. He wrapped his hand around my throat and squeezed, “You’re a tough cunt. You must be a dyke. Have you been fucking my wife?” he snarled.

  He was a big man and it was easy for him to lift me off my feet. He held me against the wall by my throat and unzipped his pants. I flailed my legs trying to kick him. It was no use. He laughed at my effort and dropped me to the floor quick to pounce on me before I could crawl away.

  I felt the pain of him pushing his way inside me and in that moment I wanted to die. I could live with the knowledge that this man had raped me. I couldn’t go on knowing that I’d failed to protect Dara. His hand was on my face holding me in place while he thrust on top of me. My mind was racing. There had to be a way to stop him but I pinned to the floor. His pace quickened. It was almost over and I turned my head to look at Dara but she wasn’t there. He was grunting like a pig when the gun went off. I felt the spray of warm blood slap me in the face as his body slumped on top of me. My ears were ringing and I lost my breath under his weight.

  “Sam, Sam,” Daras’ voice slowly came in over the clamor of bells in my ears. She was trying to roll the big man off of me. She managed to push him to one side and a slid out and scampered to my feet. I grabbed the robe and put it on still wobbly on my feet.

  Dara was kneeling beside her dead husband. She still had my revolver in her hand. She had opened the back of his head with it and the contents were slipping out and staining the white carpet around her.

  I sat on the bed and dropped my head. I moved my jaw in a circle trying to clear my ears.

  “Dara, come here,” I said, “It’s over. You killed him.”

  She looked at me with a blank expression. She was in shock and shaking.

  “Dara, I can’t come to you. You have to come to me,” I told her.

  She rose to her feet and stumbled to me, still holding my gun. I held my hand out and she gave it to me.

  “Call the police,” I told her. She
nodded and walked toward the phone on the nightstand but stopped just short of it and said, “They’re already here.”

  The room came alive with blue and red swirls of light and I heard the front door crack in its casing. Then, the sound of boots on the stairs and men’s voices.

  MacManus led a group of officers into the bedroom with their guns drawn. He nearly stepped on the corpse of Donovan Quinn as he rushed in to the room.

  A New Day

  I woke up in the hospital and saw Dara asleep in a chair beside my bed. I tried to smile but it hurt my face.

  “How ya feeling, kid?” MacManus called from the other side of the room.

  “Like shit,” I mumbled, touching my swollen lips.

  “Yeah, he got a few good shots in, didn’t he? The fucker!” MacManus replied stepping closer to the bed, “Don’t fret. You’ll be back to work in no time.”

  “That’s probably not a good idea,” I said.

  “What are you talking about?” he gasped.

  “You shot that guy twice and he still managed to overpower me and almost kill me. He could have killed her, too and I was supposed to protect her. I guess I’m not as tough as I thought I was. I shouldn’t be allowed to come back,” I told him.

  “Don’t be stupid!” MacManus said, “He managed to take down a uniform and escape from a hospital full of male cops, too. They couldn’t stop him. If you shouldn’t be allowed to come back to work none of them should either. You’re tough, Sam. You’re not invincible. There’s nobody else that I’d want to have my back.”

  “How is she?” I asked, nodding toward Dara.

  “She’s good. Stronger than we thought, too. And, she loves you. She hasn’t left your side once,” he told me.

  “I guess everyone is wondering why I was there, huh?” I asked.

  “They were until I told them that you and I agreed that you would you stay with her until he was stable enough to be moved to the jail,” he smiled, “Looks like we were right. You can never be too careful.”