Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

39. Thirty Nine

Thirty Nine

Charlotte

B eep. Beep. Beep.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Ch-Charlotte? Baby, it’s me… Spike. Ca-can you hear me?”

A soft groan escaped my lips as I cracked my eyes open, the bright light forcing me to squeeze them shut again.

“Hang on, baby.” Suddenly the lights dimmed, and I was able to see clearly. “Is that better?”

“Much,” I muttered, my throat drier than sandpaper. “Water. I-I need water.”

My body was weak, and I could tell from the droopiness in my head that I’d been pumped full of painkillers. Spike rushed to my side with a bottle of water and a straw resting inside of it. He brought it to my mouth and instructed me to drink slowly.

“I-I love you,” he whispered, tears dotting over his fallen green eyes. “I love you so much. I-I don’t know what I’d have done if we lost you.”

I finished what water I wanted and then cracked a smile as he rested his palm against my cheek.

“I love you too, Spike.” I took my glassy eyes away from him long enough to glance around the room, frowning. “Where’s Phoenix?”

“He should be here soon. He had something to handle. But hey… We got him, baby. We got Perry.”

My eyes widened. “You did? ”

He nodded. “Carter is awake. Thankfully, he remembered everything that happened the night you were taken.” He paused, his green eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“Wh-what’s wrong?” I tried to sit up and failed. “What happened?”

“When they got Perry, they searched his house and found Peter there.”

My heart jumped to my throat, and I shook my head in denial as he said, “I’m sorry, baby. He’s gone. Perry killed him.”

“ No ,” I croaked, my chest heaving so hard that I broke, hoarsely screaming at the top of my goddamn lungs as I weakly, desperately tried to remove the IV so I could launch out of the bed.

“CHARLOTTE!” Spike wailed as I continued to scream, sobbing so fucking hard my ribs screamed in protest.

“PETER! OH, GOD! PETER!”

He forced me down against the bed, refusing to let go the harder I thrashed, bawling my fucking eyes out.

“PE-PETER… PETER!” Tears flooded my face and my jaw terribly trembled. “No… NO!”

I wasn’t sure what came over me, but somehow, I was able to shove Spike hard enough to send him crashing into a chair. Once I was on my feet, the IV ripped free, I fucking ran for it, right out the door and down the pale white hallway. I busted through the doors and then fell to my knees, panting hard as I struggled reading the signs.

I had to get to the morgue, but fuck , I was so doped up, I could hardly make out where I was going. My vision became blurry, and it was then when I glanced down at the floor and discovered the blood pooling from my arm.

My legs wobbled, buckling, and the last thing I saw was Spike catching me before I hit the floor as I weakly cried Peter’s name.

I woke up alone, not caring what time it was, and instantly burst into tears. I remembered everything. What Spike told me, how Perry was in custody, and how Peter was dead.

Peter was dead…

I sucked in my sob, holding it in deep, and painfully reached behind my head for my pillow, pressing my face into it. I let it all out, my sorrow, my pain, and screamed, sobbing so fucking hard it made my sore ribs ache in protest.

He’s gone…

First Blaire, and now him.

PETER WAS GONE!

“Charlotte?” Spike burst into the room, panting hard with his hands on his knees. “Are you okay? I heard you screaming from down the hall.”

“Go away.” I turned on my side, wincing from the movement, not wanting to see him or anyone right now. “I want to be alone.”

“I know that, but—”

I silently wept harder, ignoring whatever Spike was saying as I struggled to level my breathing. I knew it wasn’t his fault Peter was gone. It was none of their faults.

But the pain…

Losing Peter was unbearable. I was just with him, talking to him. He was fine. Alive and—wait… Did Spike just say that my parents were here?

The door opened again, and as I painfully lifted myself up, my swollen eyes rounded in frank astonishment when a woman with long dark hair, dressed in a black button-down and dark jeans, walked in. Accompanying her was my father, and his thinning dark hair was in a wild mess like he’d been frantically tugging against it for hours on end. He wore a black shirt and khakis.

“Oh no,” I whispered under my breath .

Dad rushed forward, extra careful as he wrapped an arm around me and pressed multiple, fierce kisses against my temple, sobbing softly as he said, “Thank God you’re okay. We’ve been worried sick about you.”

“You were?” I asked, completely flummoxed by his reaction.

Mom remained standing beside Spike, swiping away the wetness glued to her cheeks. Once Dad stepped away to give her some room, she came forward and got down on her knees, grabbing my hands and kissing each one gently.

“We came as soon as we got the news they found you.” Mom’s jaw trembled as she stared up at me. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

“Spike?” My vision slid away from her to him.

“Yes, my love?” he answered hopefully.

Mom and Dad quickly shared a disturbed look before they glanced back at him, their brows raised high.

“Can you-uh, give us a minute?”

“Of course.” He hesitated at first, then sighed through his nose as he rounded to the other side of the bed long enough to tenderly grasp my face and press a sweet kiss against my mouth. “I’ll be right outside.”

“Let me know when Phoenix gets here.”

He nodded, kissing me again before he offered my parents a brief nod and left.

“Why are you here?”

“What?” Dad blinked at me like I’d asked a ridiculous question. “I know we may have had our fair share of disagreements in the past, but you’re still our daughter, Charlotte. You-you were kidnapped…beaten…fucking shot! Why wouldn’t we be here?”

“You’ll understand once you have kids of your own,” Mom muttered. “ If you ever have kids.”

“ June ,” Dad stated in a firm hiss. “ Don’t start .” His wrinkles softened as he faced me again and asked, “Are you hungry? Would you like us to get you something to eat? ”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not hungry.”

“Nonsense,” Mom spat as she rose to her feet, lifting a hand and gesturing to my small frame. “Look at you. You’re skin and fucking bones. You need to eat—”

“Fine,” I growled in annoyance, my jaw ticking. If it got her to shut the fuck up and leave me be, I’d eat. “Get me a cheeseburger and fries from the cafeteria.”

Mom smiled, seeming pleased, then spun on her heel and left the room. Dad let out a relieved sigh when she was gone.

“She’s been a fucking nightmare the whole way here,” he said as he grabbed the nearest chair and scooted it over, plopping down beside me. “Always complaining about everything she has no control over. I’m honestly sick of it and her.”

“Dad…”

“This is all her fault, you know,” he continued despite my protest to hear any of it. “The reason why this feud between us ever started is because of her. I told her to back off and let you handle things the way you wanted with the divorce, but she—”

“Dad!”

He clamped his mouth shut, peering up at me through worried, glistening pupils.

“Can we not do this right now? I’m hours out of surgery, and I just found out the son of a bitch that kidnapped me, murdered Peter. I’m grieving and not in the mood for any of this shit.”

“What? Pe-Peter’s dead? Oh, sweetheart, I-I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know!” He got up, wrapping his arms around me as I broke down, crying out in pain when he put too much pressure on my injury. “Damnit,” he hoarsely whispered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He sat back down and grabbed my hands, squeezing them. “Are you okay?”

Now it was my turn to glare at him. “Really, Dad? ”

“What can I do? Wh-what do you need?” He squeezed my hands even tighter.

“Space,” I said flatly. “All I want right now is to be left alone.”

So much for that because the door opened again, and in came Spike, Phoenix following behind him.

“Charlotte…” Phoenix locked eyes with me, ignoring my father as he skittered around the bed, kissing my lips before peppering more all across my face. “Are you okay?”

From the corner of my eye, my dad gazed confusingly between Spike and Phoenix. That was a conversation I damn sure wasn’t ready to have right now, so I asked him to please leave the room so I could talk to the guys. Thankfully, he left with no objections.

“What the hell happened to you?” I looked at Phoenix, actually looked at him, and discovered his cheeks were bright red. His left eye was swollen, sporting a gnarly bruise that was already turning purple. His bottom lip was busted and there was a tiny trace of dried blood residing under his nose.

“It’s a long story,” he whispered, tears swimming across his sad green eyes. “I know you’re going through a lot right now, so I’ll tell you all about it when you’re ready to hear it.”

“Your mom,” Spike said a bit nervously. “She’s a real piece of work. She interrogated me out in the hall before she finally left for the cafeteria.”

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. Why was I not surprised?

“Just ignore her,” I said tiredly, reaching up to rub my aching temples. Great, now I have a headache. “Who the hell called them anyway?”

“It wasn’t me,” Spike retorted, “and it wasn’t Phoenix. It was probably Harley, Captain Burgess, or Chief.”

I nodded to that and let out a painful sigh. Out of the three, it had to have been Harley. She had access to all of my emergency contacts and since I’d taken Karl’s name off the list once our divorce had been finalized, there was nobody else to call but them .

“Speaking of Harley,” Spike said again, a miserable frown marring his handsome face. “She called just a minute ago. Perry is in interrogation. She needs me and Phoenix back at the precinct ASAP.”

“What?” said Phoenix, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “But I just got here. I-I want to be with Charlotte.”

“I know you do. I want to be here too, but we have to go, Phoenix.”

“Ha-has anyone updated Carter?” I asked.

Spike nodded. “I talked to him after you came out of surgery. He told me to tell you he’s glad you’re okay and that he’ll see you soon. Dr. Giles wants to keep him another week or so for observation. Your injuries aren’t as severe as his, so you’ll likely get released before he does.”

“Just tell me this,” Phoenix demanded, his eyes tightening when they locked with mine. “Did he…”

I immediately shook my head. “He didn’t rape me. He beat the shit out of me, but he didn’t rape me.”

Phoenix closed his eyes, and his jaw trembled for a moment before he got himself together and stormed out of the room with a shallow, “I love you,” tumbling from his lips.