Page 20 of Flynn (Foxy’s Rent-A-Date #4)

My knee bounced again and again as I waited outside the hospital room, my body aching from remaining so stiff these last few hours.

My knuckles were busted, and they’d likely bruise, but I couldn’t give a fucking shit at this point.

I kept replaying the last few hours, over and over, my mind stuck on a loop.

I’d been on the beach, too far away to move quickly.

The moment I saw her name on my phone, I’d been filled with a strange elation rather than unease.

I’d wanted her to call. I wanted to talk to her despite knowing we had no future.

But hearing the fear in her voice, the caution, and then hearing Ellis’s voice had been a shock to the system.

The minute I realized she’d called me so I could help, I started running full out on the beach, my phone clenched in my hand as I listened to what was going on.

I’d intended to go to the airport like I told her I would, but it was still early, and I wanted to clear my head.

So, I’d left my bags at reception and taken a walk on the beach in front of the hotel.

I hadn’t realized how far I’d walked and was now cursing myself for going so far.

I sent up a prayer of thanks when she managed to tell me where she was and what was happening, and I kept my eyes peeled for anyone nearby who had a car or another phone.

I wanted to call for help, but like hell I was hanging up this phone and leaving Chiara alone with that fucker any more than she already was.

I made it to the parking lot when I heard him hit her and her cry out.

I made it to one of the many parking lots that lined the beach in time to see Trev and Carol pull in.

One look at my face had Trevor on alert.

“Get in the car,” I growled. Neither of them hesitated in doing as I ordered.

“What’s wrong?” Carol asked, her voice shaking as she turned in the passenger’s seat to look at me.

“Trev, head for the resort and break every law getting there. Carol, call the police, tell them a woman is being attacked in the hotel,” I ground out, adding Chiara’s room number.

Trev’s blue eyes met mine in the rearview mirror.

I winced and ground my teeth so hard they could have cracked when I heard Chiara scream and Ellis punch her.

“Fuck,” I snarled, shoving my fingers through my hair, desperate to do something.

“Flynn?” “It’s Ellis,” I forced out, breathing hard.

“He’s got Chiara.” He was silent a moment, and I knew he was trying to wrap his head around what I meant.

“How bad?” Chiara whimpered on the other end of the phone, and I closed my eyes, struggling to breathe as Carol made the phone call.

“Flynn, how bad?” Trev asked again, his voice louder this time.

I opened my eyes to meet his gaze in the mirror and forced myself to answer.

“Really fucking bad.” “She on the phone?” he asked, his fingers gripping the steering wheel so hard his tattooed knuckles turned white.

“Yeah,” I answered, my voice raw. “She called me when he showed up at her room.” “Put it on speakerphone,” Trev ordered, and I shook my head when I heard Ellis continue his ramblings.

“Flynn!” “You don’t want to hear this, trust me,” I snarled.

“Put. It. On. Speakerphone,” Trev ground out, the energy rolling off him telling me not to fuck with him.

Flicking a glance at Carol’s pale face as she stayed on the phone with the police, I sighed and did as ordered just as Chiara screamed.

The sound was something that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Carol pressed a shaky hand to her mouth, her eyes filling instantly with tears and Trev swore and seemed to lose his breath.

The sound of a struggle continued on the other end, flesh hitting flesh, Ellis’s growls of anger and curses.

Chiara’s whimpers and cries of pain as she struggled injected a kind of poison into my veins I worried I’d never be able to work out.

The old me was bleeding in through the cracks, the violent one that wanted nothing else but to cause pain.

He had her. Ellis had my woman, and he was fucking hurting her.

I was going to make him pay. I was going to rip him limb from fucking limb, and I was going to laugh the entire time.

I wanted to paint the hotel walls red with his blood and put a different part of his body in every corner of this goddamn island.

Trev took a corner so sharp I swear we went up on two wheels, but it was barely more than a footnote in my head as I listened to Chiara fight for her life.

Come on, baby, keep fighting. I’m almost there.

Please keep fighting. Ellis swore again and there was the sound of glass shattering before a loud thump and a cry of pain.

There was the sound of someone struggling to breathe, and I knew it was Ara when Ellis continued to tell her they’d be good together, that he just needed a chance.

I clenched the phone so hard I thought it would break.

“Fucking fuck!” Trev snarled, slamming his hand on the steering wheel as he listened to the monster his son had become.

Another sharp corner, and he laid on the horn, narrowly missing a cyclist. Ara was still fighting as Ellis continued to make grunts of pain and mutter curses.

The sound of material ripping was followed by another blood-curdling scream from Ara and Carol began to sob.

Trev looked sick as I shook with rage and the need to murder that son of a bitch.

“Shut up!” Ellis roared, followed by Chiara’s scream turning to a sharp yelp of pain, a small sob following.

“Stop fucking fighting!” Ellis roared again.

The tires screeched as Trev slammed on the brakes when we reached the hotel, and I was out the door before the car even stopped.

I ran past reception, past Sofia who looked at me in alarm with Trev hot on my heels, and I ran right for the stairwell.

I wasn’t waiting for a goddamn elevator, not when Chiara’s sobs were echoing around me.

“Just give us a chance, Chiara. We can be good together. You’ll see!

” Ellis shouted, but Chiara screamed again, and I almost slipped on the stairs.

Before I knew it, we were a flight of stairs away and I pushed myself harder than ever, listening to Chiara cry out again, this time she sounded like she was in pain.

There was more struggling and something that sounded like another hit before Ellis started swearing in earnest, and I knew she’d clocked him one.

“Flynn,” Trev called behind me. I turned to look at my uncle and his face was ravaged.

“Please,” he whispered. I shook my head.

“He’s fucking dead. You can’t keep protecting him,” I snarled.

“Not for him, and not for me,” he insisted, meeting me at the stairwell door.

“For you. Don’t do something that will take you away from us too.

” I hesitated a moment before I nodded and threw open the door and raced down the hallway, my heart in my throat as Chiara gave another cry of fear.

This time I heard it from behind her door.

Trev got there first and was just reaching for the handle when it flew open, and a figure came barreling out and right into his chest. Seeing Chiara—even as bruised and frightened as she was—loosened something in my gut.

She was alive. The moment Trev reached for her, she started fighting again, her fear driving her into protection mode, and Trev tried several times to get her attention.

She’d stopped fighting so hard when Trev wrapped his arms around her, but she wasn’t with reality yet.

I wanted to take her from him, to hold her, but I waited.

Firstly, I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was, and secondly, someone had to deal with Ellis, and it couldn’t be Trev.

“You got her?” I asked, wanting to hold her, but wanting to choose violence as well.

“I have her. You got your shit locked down?” Trev asked, his blue eyes locked on me, his meaning clear.

Don’t kill Ellis. Not for his sake, not for Ellis’s sake, but for my own.

I struggled with myself a moment, forcing myself not to look at Ara or I knew I’d lose all control.

Instead, I drew in a breath and nodded. “I’ve got a handle on it.

” I stepped inside the room as Trev continued trying to bring Ara back around, and I noted the signs of a struggle first. As I rounded the corner where the bed was, I found Ellis kneeling on the ground with his fingers pinching his nose.

“Fucking bitch went crazy on me, man,” he insisted angrily.

“I wanted to take her out for a meal, and she fucking attacked me!” Red coated my vision at his lies, and I held up my phone that showed the call I was on with Ara, the call still active.

Ellis’s eyes darted to it in confusion before realization washed over him and he paled.

“I heard everything, motherfucker,” I hissed, taking a step closer, relishing in the fear that entered his eyes.

Before he could bother to say anything else in his defense, I stepped forward and picked him up by the collar of his shirt before driving my fist into his face.

He swore, and I did it again… and again…

and again. I saw nothing but red. The need to wring the life from this fucking waste of oxygen was riding me hard, and a small part of my mind started working out ways I could get away with it while the rest of me continued to pummel his face.

When that was a bloody mess, I started on his ribs, satisfied when the sharp, pained breath he took in told me I’d broken at least one rib.

“Flynn!” Trevor’s voice sounded through the rage fog in my head, and I hesitated on the next hit.

“Stop, son. Let him go, he’s not going anywhere,” Trev added, his voice ravaged.

It was that note in his tone that pulled me out of my anger, that let me see what I was doing.

Ellis hung limply in my grip, his face a bloody mess, already swelling.

Blood was everywhere, and as I looked him over, I saw how much of it was caused by Ara.

She’d done a number on him. I knew she’d broken his nose, but I finally saw the scratches and deep gouges in his skin, telling me she’d fought hard.

“Let him go, Flynn. Walk away now. The cops are on their way,” Trev said again, his voice low and filled to the brim with despair was about his son.

But still, he was here for me, trying to save me.

Swallowing hard, I forced my fingers to unclench.

Ellis fell to the ground like a ragdoll, a pained breath escaping his busted lip.

Ara’s phone was a short distance from his body, and I leaned down to get it.

As I was standing back up, my gaze landed on a scrap of lace kicked nearly under the bed and my vision bled red again.

He’d torn her panties right off her body.

“Flynn,” Trevor said again, his voice harsh and commanding.

“Leave, now.” Forcing myself to breathe, I took a step back.

Ellis tried to open his swollen eyes to look at me, and I shook my head in disgust, turning on my heel and marching from the room.

Paramedics had arrived at the scene along with the police, and everyone had been detained for questioning except for Ara and Ellis who had been taken for medical treatment.

I’d nearly been removed from the hospital when I found out they were keeping him in the room beside hers, and at my insistence, they’d moved him to the other side of the hospital.

It was a small hospital, but I didn’t give a fuck.

Whatever space they could give her from him, I demanded they do it.

I would have preferred for him to be in the morgue, but that wasn’t up to me.

I’d been questioned at the scene and again at the police station.

Carol and Trev were questioned as well, and all our statements taken.

And Sofia… I closed my eyes in dismay. She’d run after us, and she’d seen enough to know what had happened.

The look on her face wasn’t one I’d soon forget.

The denial followed by horror, the nausea and then despair.

She’d glued herself to Ara’s side the moment she got up there and hadn’t left her since.

At this moment, she was the only one allowed in the room with her.

I leaned forward in my seat, my fingers laced together as I continued to jostle my leg impatiently.

I just needed to see her. I needed to hear her voice, to know she was going to be okay.

I hadn’t even had a chance to hold her yet.

The moment I stepped out of the room, the police arrived, and I was forced to sit against the wall away from the chaos.

After that I’d been questioned and then taken to the police station to give my statement again.

Thankfully, they didn’t believe any of the shit Ellis spewed about Ara attacking him first, and with separate statements from me, Trevor, and Carol, he was fucked.

I’d prefer dead, but I’d take what I could get.

Trev and Carol joined me at the hospital, but they’d since left to find some coffee, leaving me alone to wait.

I wasn’t leaving until I got to see her.

I couldn’t. Fuck, I could have lost her.

I pushed back into the uncomfortable plastic chair and scrubbed my hands over my face before spearing them through my hair, closing my eyes and forcing myself to breathe.

What a fucking nightmare. Would this have still happened had I not come?

Would he have still tried for one last time to get Ara to be with him?

Would he have given up on her? Or was me being here the thing that sent him over the edge?

“Flynn?” My eyes snapped open at the sound of my name.

I jerked my head to the side to see Sofia standing a few feet away.

I was up in a second, scanning her face for answers.

Her skin was pale, shadows smudged deep beneath her eyes, and they were rimmed red, telling me she’d been crying.

“How is she?” I asked at once. Her smile was half-hearted, and she shrugged, wrapping her arms around herself.

“She’ll be okay… eventually. Her injuries aren’t anything too bad, but they want to keep her overnight for observation.

She has a slight concussion, and her left arm is severely sprained.

” I released a slow breath and Sofia continued.

“Other than a few bumps and bruises, there’s nothing else wrong with her.

He didn’t—” Tears filled her eyes and her lips trembled.

“He didn’t get a chance to—” Her voice broke, and her shoulders shook as tears spilled forward.

I stepped forward at once and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in close.

Sofia burst into tears, and I closed my eyes, holding her tightly to me as she broke.

The guy was my cousin—my adoptive brother—and I was fucking sickened to be related to him knowing what he'd tried to do to Ara. But Sofia had been in love with him. She’d been about to marry him, and he’d beaten and tried to rape her best friend hours before what was supposed to be their wedding.

She’d lost the man she loved, lost the vision of her future, and almost lost her best friend.

“Shh, she’ll be okay. Everything will be okay,” I whispered, running my hand up and down her back soothingly.

I wasn’t sure if I was lying or not, but I hoped like hell we’d all find our way back from this somehow.

I rocked her gently from side to side, my cheek resting on top of her bowed head, and I closed my eyes, trying to offer her whatever comfort I could.

I don’t know how long I stood there with her sobbing in my arms, but eventually someone tapped me on my shoulder.

Lifting my head, I saw my uncle standing behind me.

He looked like he’d aged fifteen years in the last few hours; he and Carol both.

Sofia was mourning, but so were they. They’d always worried about their son’s attitude toward the world, but they’d heard for themselves the monster he’d become and listened to him attack a woman they considered a daughter.

No one was getting out of this unscathed.

Trev nodded to Sofia and opened his arms. I nodded and kissed the top of her head before gently transferring her into Trev’s arms. Her breath hitched as she struggled to regain control of her emotions, but she didn’t fight it as Trev wrapped her in his arms and pulled her in tight.

His eyes glistened with unshed tears as he held his almost daughter-in-law, and he continued rocking her like I had been.

“Have you seen her yet?” Carol whispered, her voice thick and broken as she sidled up next to me.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and shook my head.

“No, Sofia just came out to let me know how she was doing. She’ll be sore for a while, but she’ll be okay.

She’s staying the night,” I informed her, my voice scratchy.

Carol sighed as she rested her head on my shoulder and I stood there watching Trev rock Sofia, my mind a mess and yet somehow blank.

“Are you good?” I asked my aunt. She shook her head and pulled away.

“I don’t know if that’s ever something I’ll be again, Flynn.

But I’ll be okay for now if you want to go in and see Chiara.

” I looked at her, weighing her words and she spared me a small smile.

“I promise, I’ll be okay. Go check on your girl and put your mind at ease.

” Leaning down, I brushed a kiss over her cheek and jerked my head at Trev who’d opened his eyes to look at us.

Dragging in a breath, I started for Ara’s room, my stomach knotting as I tried to prepare myself for what I’d see.

She’d looked a mess at the hotel, but I’d barely had much of a chance to lay my eyes on her before she was taken away.

I pushed open the door and hesitated a moment.

She was asleep, and I thanked fuck for that because I hadn’t taken the time to school my features before coming in.

She looked worse than I thought. Stepping into the room, I moved slowly toward her bed, not wanting to wake her and send her into a panic.

Her face had several purple-blue bruises and her right eye was puffy, but the worst of it was her jaw that looked incredibly swollen.

Her lip was split, too, making it look more painful.

With every new injury I took in, my chest felt heavier, as if a weight was pushing on it and squeezing the air from my lungs.

My gaze drifted over what I could see of her, and devastation washed over me again.

Her left arm was bandaged and in a sling, and there was a white bandage taped to the side of her head.

Bruises littered up and down her arms, and I could only imagine it was the same for her legs.

Fucking hell . She’d put up one hell of a fight, and she’d won.

We’d been on our way to save her, sure, but she’d rescued herself.

She was so strong, and so capable. I thought about every time I’d looked at her and seen that bright light shining from inside her, and I felt murderous all over again at the possibility that Ellis might have put it out for good.

Sucking in a breath, I leaned over and put my hands on my knees, struggling to take a full breath as all the possibilities suddenly hit me at once.

What if she hadn’t gotten to her phone in time?

What if Ellis had knocked her clean out?

What if I hadn’t answered her call or missed it altogether?

What if she hadn’t been able to fight him off long enough?

What if, what if, what if ? “Fuck,” I grunted and sucked in a deeper breath, heart squeezing painfully.

“Don’t swear,” a rough voice whispered. My head jerked up at once and fell to Ara who watched me between heavy blinks.

“You’re awake,” I croaked, pointing out the obvious as I straightened up.

She swallowed hard. “Yeah, and pretty doped up, apparently,” she told me with a lopsided smile, drawing attention to the side of her face that was badly swollen.

Rage and grief washed over me again, and I remained frozen in place, struggling to figure out what I was meant to be feeling right now.

Angry? Sad? Grateful? Guilty? I settled on some degree of each and raked a hand through my hair again as I watched her.

“You don’t have to stand so far away.” Dragging in another breath, I forced my feet to move until I was standing beside her.

Up close, her injuries were worse, and I swore under my breath and scrubbed a hand over my face.

“Language,” she reprimanded softly, and a jagged laugh escaped me.

How she could joke at a time like this was beyond me, even in her slightly drugged state.

“Is Sofia okay?” she asked. Forcing myself to get a handle on my emotions, I nodded and took the seat beside her bed and dragged it closer.

“She will be,” I answered honestly. Chiara’s pale gray eyes met mine and she grimaced.

“Trev and Carol?” I hesitated. “We’re all going to be okay, Angel.

It’ll take time, and probably some professional help, but we’ll get there.

We’re all just so glad that you’re… that we got to you and that you managed to get away from him.

” She squeezed her eyes closed and my breath stalled as I waited for her to process whatever emotions were bombarding her right now.

Gently, I reached out to take her hand in mine, desperate to touch her again.

Her fingers curled around mine at once and I didn’t realize until then that I’d stopped breathing.

You almost lost her. I could have lost her and any chance of seeing her again, of fixing my mistakes.

Because now I knew I’d fucked up. I’d been about to walk away from her because I was worried she’d be taken from me.

And I was right, she still could be, but I wasn’t going to save myself from any emotional fallout by refusing to be with her now.

I’d just be crippled with regret for missing out on the happiness we could have had together.

Hearing her struggle and fight with Ellis had me going over the deep end again and contemplating killing my own cousin, proving I was still capable of great violence.

But never against her. I knew on a deep level that no matter what I would never turn that anger on her.

I’d do anything in my power to protect her.

Sofia and Kate were right. I’d begun falling for Ara when we were teenagers.

She’s been this scrawny, quiet, soft-spoken girl with a weird amount of self-control and understanding about herself and her boundaries.

She wasn’t easily pushed away or swayed to do something she didn’t want to do.

She’d had this way of talking to me that didn’t feel like she was trying to empathize with me or tell me how to handle my anger or my grief.

She was just there. Whether we were sitting in silence, or she was talking to distract me from my rage, she was a quiet pillar of strength that never asked for anything in return.

I’d been fascinated by her, and the older she got, the more attracted I’d been.

But it was also clear as day that she was off limits for a guy like me.

It hadn’t stopped me from falling for her though.

Seeing her again after all these years had brought those emotions roaring back with a vengeance—as if they’d been silently building—and crashed through the walls I’d erected around my heart now that we were together again.

She was always meant to be mine; I was sure of it.

Silence fell between us, and for a long moment, all I did was watch her.

She was alive, she was breathing, and despite how banged up she looked now, she would be okay.

I’d be here to make sure of it. “Is there anything I can get you, Angel? I’m at your service, whatever you need,” I offered.

She swallowed hard and blinked again, eyelids heavy.

“No, I’m okay. I don’t want you to miss your flight.

” I sucked in a sharp breath and shook my head.

“I’m not leaving, not now.” She frowned and seemed to take a moment to compile her thoughts.

“You have to, Flynn. Your life is waiting for you back there. We… we knew this would end,” she said, her words slow as if it took too much effort to string them together.

I gently lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to it.

“No, Angel. I’m not leaving you. This isn’t the end for us.

I know now that I can’t just let you go.

We can make it together out there. I know we can.

It took me a while to realize it, but we can do this.

” She grimaced and shifted slightly, and I ached to help her even though I knew there was nothing more I could do.

“Flynn, I need you to go,” she whispered.

My breath stalled again as I looked at her bruised and battered face.

Swallowing hard, I gently lowered her hand to the bed again but refused to relinquish my hold.

“I… I know some of this is my fault. If I hadn’t walked away from you, if I could have figured out what I wanted earlier, you never would have been alone.

Ellis never would have—” She squeezed my hand and forced her eyes open wider.

“Stop.” My breath caught, and she looked like she was trying hard to maintain eye contact.

“Not your fault. Never. Do not go home thinking any part of this is on you. I don’t blame you.

” My heart pounded harder hearing her say that, but it left me confused as to why she wanted me to leave.

Unless… a knife seemed to pierce my chest as realization dawned.

Unless she feared—as I originally had—that I would one day turn my anger on her.

I couldn’t blame her after what she’d just lived through, but it stung like fuck to know she now thought I could ever hurt her like Ellis had.

She must have read my mind, because she squeezed my hand hard again.

“Not that, either.” “Not what?” “Never scared of you, Flynn. I always felt safe with you, still do.” I shook my head, relieved to hear her say that, but still confused.

“Then why are you trying to send me away? I don’t want to leave you, Ara.

I want us to be together, to start our lives.

I’ll quit Foxy’s, I promise.” She frowned.

“No. I… you are scared, Flynn. Scared that I could have died. You’re not thinking clearly.

You don’t know what you want.” “I’m thinking clearer than ever before,” I protested, but she shook her head and licked her lips before wincing.

“Not the time to make… big decisions. Go home. Go on with life. I can’t be with you now and say goodbye to you again…

if you change your mind.” Fuck, that sucked.

I did that, though. I put that doubt in her head that my feelings for her weren’t as strong as what she felt for me, and it was totally deserved.

I’d made her doubt our bond, doubt that we could overcome anything.

I had been a coward. “Angel—” She sighed.

“Please, Flynn.” I dropped my head down and pressed her fingers to my forehead, wishing I could hold her and convince her that I meant it now.

“You’re hurting. You’re scared. I get it.

We can talk about this later, but I don’t want to leave—” “I need you to go,” she rasped, swallowing hard.

I bit back my argument, desperate to make her see.

But she’d already had her wishes ignored more than enough for a lifetime today.

She didn’t need me telling her what she really wanted, and now was not the time to make a point and force her to accept my decision.

“I’m not giving up on you, Chiara,” I said softly.

“If you really want me to go, then fine, I’ll go.

But I’m not leaving you. I’m not running away, and I won’t change my mind.

” Tears brimmed in her eyes and I fucking hated that I couldn’t do anything to get rid of them.

Fuck, this was all such a mess. Forcing myself to let out a slow breath, I nodded and cleared my throat.

“I’ll go home because you asked me to, but I’m not going anywhere, not really.

I’ll give you time and space because I think you need it.

But I’ll be waiting for you, Angel. I’ll wait as long as it takes.

You and I were always meant to be.” A few stray tears spilled over onto her cheeks, and I reached up to gently wipe them away.

Relief coursed through me when she didn’t flinch or shy away, and I gently stroked her uninjured cheek.

Standing, I slowly leaned toward her, and when she didn’t shy away, I pressed a soft kiss on her forehead.

“I mean it, Angel,” I whispered as I pulled away.

“You need space? I’ll give it to you. You need time?

It’s yours. But you and me? We’re first and last loves, and we’ll find our way back to each other again whenever you’re ready.

” Her tears stabbed at me, but I needed her to know I meant every word.

For however long it took, I’d wait. Pressing another kiss to her fingertips, I gently put her hand back on the mattress and stepped away from the bed, hating every foot of distance I put between us.

As much as it pained me, I knew it was the right thing to do.

She needed this, and I’d do anything for her, even walk away.

“Flynn?” I stopped at the door and turned back to look at her, feeling like my every nerve ending was raw and grated.

“Yeah, baby?” “Thank you for coming for me today,” she rasped. “Always, Angel.”