Page 11 of Storm the Night

Colin looked defeated. “She’s in that room there but the door is locked. The keys are on the counter.” He motioned over to the kitchen.

Grabbing the keys off the counter, I made my way to the room he said she was in. “Sawyer, keep him on his knees. Shoot him if he fucking moves.”

Unlocking the door, I opened it slowly, raising my gun in case there was someone on the other side other than Calliope. I didn’t see her. The bathroom was right inside to the right, so I went in there first and cleared it. Looking up I noticed the window broken and that’s when I saw the blood. Moving to the other side of the bed, I saw Calliope laying there. I immediately kneeled down, setting my gun on the floor beside me. “Grace…” In that moment, I didn’t know why I called her Grace but that’s who she was to me. I tried to roll her over to figure out where she was hurt. She was bleeding from the back of her head. “Damn it.”

Reaching up onto the bed, I pulled a pillow down and removed the pillowcase. Using my knife, I cut it apart into long strips to wrap around her head. “Grace, it’s me, Ryder. Can you hear me? I’m gonna get you outta here. Help is coming.” I kept tying until her head wound was completely covered.

Without being intrusive, I tried to look over the rest of her body so I could attempt to carry her out of there. She had bruises all over her arms and if her arms looked like that, I could only imagine how the rest of her body looked. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to torture him the way he tortured her and then bury him so he could never do it again. The agony she’d been through. The pain.

Slowly, I picked her up and held her close to me. “Wake up, Grace.” I whispered to her as we moved across the room to the open door. “Wake up, pretty girl.”

When I reached the living room, Sawyer had Colin on his knees still. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to take her out to the van.” I said to him.

“She’s my fucking wife!” Just as Colin spewed that shit, Sawyer hit him over the back of the head with his gun, making Colin fall over onto the floor.

“Don’t kill him…not yet.” I said to Sawyer.

He kneeled to check his pulse and looked back at me. “He’s fine.”

I nodded. “I’ll be right back.” It was still storming outside, but D came running up to me. “D, take her and put her and stay with her please until I come back.” D reached for her and took her in his arms and then went for the van.

Once I saw them get inside, I turned back to the house. Walking up to Colin, I kicked him just as hard as I know he hurt Grace. “Get the fuck up, asshole.” Reaching for him, I forced him awake with a few slaps to his face and adjusted him into a sitting position. Sawyer and I both looked at the front door when we heard someone come in. It was Prez and he had Colin’s friend with him.

“Get over there with your boyfriend, fucker.” Prez said as he pushed him toward Colin.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble. Colin called me so I came.”

“Shut the fuck up.” I said to him. “We heard his conversation with you. You were coming here to help him figure out what to do about Calliope.”

“Calliope…” Colin muffled through his bloody lip. “Her name is Callie.”

Before I could think, I was on him with my gun shoved in his mouth. “Her name is Calliope Grace. Did you even know hermiddle name?” He shook his head no. “That’s what the fuck I thought, you selfish prick. Here’s how this is going to go.” Now he looked scared. “Calliopeis going to file for divorce and you’re not going to contest it. She doesn’t need your money. She doesn’t need anything from you. And if you come near her again… I fucking swear…”

“Ok ok ok…please…” His friend spoke for him.

Removing the gun from Colin’s mouth. “Please what?”

“You can have her. No wife of mine is a whore.”

I didn’t think, I just acted, hitting him over the head again and punching him relentlessly until his face was almost unrecognizable. Prez came and pulled me off before I killed him. Prez looked at his friend and said, “Hey… make sure he does what he’s supposed to do. Otherwise, next time, I won’t stop him. We’ll be watching you both.”

“I swear. I’ll make sure he doesn’t contest the divorce.”

“Let’s go.” Prez said.

Sawyer grabbed me as I stood standing over Colin wishing to just finish him. “Let’s go, Ry. Calliope needs you. We need to get her to a hospital.” Just the mention of her name snapped me out of my hate filled trance. I turned and ran out the door and to the van.

Climbing in, I took D’s spot and held onto Calliope as we took off. She still wasn’t awake. I leaned down to her face so she could feel my warmth. “Grace. It’s me, Ryder. Please wake up. We’re gonna get you fixed up. Hang in there for me, please.” We rode the storm out all the way to the hospital and I held her, praying to whatever higher being existed that she would be ok.

Chapter 9

Calliope

It had been two weeks since everything had happened, and I'd spent a few days in the hospital recouping from the beating I took at the hands of Colin before being released into Ryder’s care. It was an amazing feeling to be lying in my own bed that wasn’t at the house of horrors with Colin.

I heard a knock at the door. I was still under the covers, the blankets pulled up around my neck. “Come in!”

Ryder slowly came inside. “Hey you. How are you feeling?” He had flowers in his hands. He gave me flowers last week too.

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