Stranded with My Stepbrother Chapter 91

\-Caleb-

I was sleeping when he came in. It was a good thing, too, because if I’d been awake, I would have hit my call button.

Or tried to strangle him with the cord

As it was, Masterson’s voice had my eyes flying wide open the moment he began to speak. “Hello, Caleb.”

I looked up at him and felt around for my call button, but the bastard had taken it off the bed, and now it dangled uselessly over the side where I couldn’t even reach the cord. “Asshole,” I hissed.

“Yes, yes, I know. I just wanted to come and personally give my condolences on your loss. Poor Jacey. If you’d only just stayed with me and done my bidding, everything would be fine. But no, you had to be a hero.” He sighed.

“This is witness tampering,” I reminded him. “And don’t say her name. I don’t want to hear it coming out of your filthy mouth.”

Masterson chuckled. “Jacey. Jacey. Jacey.”

I struggled to sit up, but I was still in too much pain. More pain than I had been in before, actually.

“You know, those damn morphine pumps, you can’t ever rely on them. So touchy,” he grinned, and I glanced at the pump. Sure enough, he’d lowered the dose to zero.

“Glad you’re enjoying this,” I grunted. “But I promise you, I am sending you to hell. I’m only more determined now.” They haven’t found a body, I told myself. I’d been telling myself this over and over through every sympathetic look I’d gotten from the Attorney General, guards, detectives, everyone.

“Life is full of little pleasures if you know where to look,” he said. “But, as I’m sure you know, I have an ulterior motive in coming here. Since Jacey is roadkill…”

I shot up at that, and he took a surprised, cautious step back from the bed. I instantly regretted my move, however, and couldn’t follow it through.

He smirked. “... Since Jacey is roadkill, I thought you might be more concerned about the rest of your family now. You can still save them.”

“You can still let them go,” I shot back. “The best way I can save them now is to put you in jail and pray that some big guy named Bubba makes you his bitch.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Even if I did go to jail, people like me go to Club Fed, not Sing Sing.”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” I said.

Masterson sighed. “You are such a stubborn little shit. Well, there is another way for us to both get what we want. In fact, I’ll be doing you a favor.”

“Oh? How’s that?” I asked.

He slipped a syringe out of his jacket pocket. “You can die. Then I won’t need your family, and you can go be with Jacey.”

Fuck. I looked around for something, anything, I could do. “You’re a sore loser, Masterson.”

“Silly Caleb. I never lose.” He uncapped the syringe.

“Something tells me that’s not antibiotics,” a new voice drawled.

Masterson whirled around, dropping the syringe. “Who the—?”

A state trooper stood in the doorway of my room, leaning casually against the door frame. “Actually, I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to be here at all.”

“Officer…” Masterson began.

“Alexander. Officer Alexander,” he said.

“Officer Alexander, I’m not sure what you think you saw…” Masterson continued, recovering his convincing nature. “But I assure you—”

“Yeah, yeah. No, I don’t want money. Yes, I know the syringe is going to disappear. Yes, I do expect you’re going to have fifteen of these nice hospital staff testify that you were never here. Yes, I’m sure the cameras are even now malfunctioning. Just go, asshole.”

Masterson drew himself up to his full height. “You’re going to regret not taking money.”

“I’m sure I will. Now get going.” Officer Alexander folded his arms over his chest.

Masterson snatched the syringe off the floor, re-capped it, then strode out.

The officer barely made room for him to pass.

“Are you my new guard?” I asked him. “Because it doesn’t seem like my old one liked his job very much.”

“He’s probably halfway to Bermuda.” He walked over to my bed. “So you’re Caleb Killeen.”

I nodded. “That’s me.”

“She said I should come check on you. Good thing I did. Seems you can’t stay here,” he sighed. “I’m just trying to think if I should check you out AMA or if I should just steal you out of here and let them all try to figure out what happened.”

“You did say the cameras were off. The Attorney General asked you to come check on me?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. Jacey did.”

I blinked at him. “They found her?! Is she okay?!”

“She’s a bit banged up, but she’s fine. And as far as finding her, she’s not officially ‘found,’ exactly. We’re all hoping to avoid the kind of problems you almost just had,” he explained.

“Oh. Okay. Can you take me to her?” I asked.

“That’s the idea. In fact, since the cameras are down anyway, I think I’ll just wheel you on out.” He walked back out into the hall briefly then came back in with a wheelchair. “Horace can get you some pain meds once we get where we’re going, but for now, you might just have to grin and bear it. Looks like that asshole turned off your drip, too.”

“I can do anything. Just get me to Jacey,” I said.

He started disconnecting me from my various wires and feeds. When a monitor started to blare, he turned it off.

It still flagged someone, because all of a sudden, there was hospital staff at my door. “What do you think you’re doing?” a doctor demanded.

“Getting the patient some fresh air. Why, you want me reporting that your cameras are down, and you let someone try to come in and kill him?” Officer Alexander asked sweetly.

The doctor turned red, and the staff around him paled. They’d clearly been waiting to come collect my body.

I scowled at all of them. “I’m leaving. Go fuck yourselves, and I hope it was worth it.”

“Mr. Killeen,” the doctor began. “I think you’re under the mistaken impression—”

“I’m not mistaken about anything. You all can go to hell. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s right where you’re headed at the end of your days,” I snapped.

Meanwhile, Officer Alexander finished disconnecting me and carefully put his arms under my knees and the back of my head. “This is gonna hurt like a sonofabitch,” he warned me.

I gritted my teeth and nodded.

The pain was, indeed, excruciating, but I kept Jacey on my mind and in my heart as he transferred me to the wheelchair. If I could just soldier through the pain, I’d see her soon.

“I must protest your actions. The patient is unwell,” the doctor said stiffly.

Officer Alexander tucked a sheet around my legs. “Move,” he simply replied, eyeing the staff.

Those who were at least moral enough to look shamefaced at their actions stepped aside while the doctor and two others blocked the door. “You’re not taking him,” the doctor argued. “You—”

Officer Alexander took his taser off his belt. “Who’s first?” he asked.

The remaining three looked at the taser, and even the doctor got out of the way.

“Billy,” Officer Alexander called as we approached the door. “Watch my back.”

A man in a flannel shirt appeared out of nowhere, staring the gathered hospital staff down while Officer Alexander wheeled me out.

Staff here and there stopped to watch, openmouthed, as Officer Alexander wheeled me through the hospital, but no one else got in our way.

I kept my teeth dug into my lip to stifle any sounds of pain.

“Don’t you worry, kid. Horace has the good stuff,” Billy assured me from behind us as we walked.

“Who’s Horace?” I managed to ask.

“Veterinarian,” the men said together.

The pieces started falling into place. “Jacey was treated by a vet?”

“A really good one, too. No hospital records. No one knows she’s even alive,” Officer Alexander assured me quietly.

We got to the parking lot, and I saw a state trooper’s squad car. I also saw the Attorney General walking up toward the door. When she saw me, she stopped in her tracks.

“Caleb Killeen, where do you think you’re going?!” she demanded.

“Ma’am, there’s just been an attempt on his life. Respectfully, he’s going where you can’t find him. You name the day and the time, and he’ll be in court, but there’s no way he’s going back in there,” Officer Alexander said.

The Attorney General gaped at us. “An attempt… court… what?!”

“Oh. We’ve got Jacey Collins, too. Don’t try to find them. You’ll be sorely disappointed,” Officer Alexander informed her.

Her eyes widened. “You have… I don’t… but… deposition!”

“There won’t be any more of that, either. They each gave one, as far as I know. If you couldn’t keep them civil and on track, that’s on you,” Officer Alexander grunted. “Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

“I most certainly will not!” the Attorney General yelled.

“Tough.” Officer Alexander, Billy, and I shouldered past her. “Get ready for some more pain, Caleb.”

I braced myself as Billy opened the back door of the squad car. Officer Alexander carefully picked me up and laid me inside.

“I want to see your badge,” the Attorney General said, coming up beside the squad car.

“It’s good to want in life,” he responded. “If you need anything, call the state police. I’ll get the message one way or another.” Then he gently, but firmly, pushed her aside.

Billy returned the wheelchair to the hospital entrance, then walked past the bewildered Attorney General to get into the passenger seat. “See you later, ma’am,” he said.

“But…”

Officer Alexander threw the car into gear, and we sped away, leaving her in the dust.

It was a very uncomfortable ride to wherever we went, and I didn’t ask where we were going because I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want there to be any possible way I could betray Jacey’s location, just in case Masterson pulled some sort of stunt on our way there.

Luckily, we got to our destination without incident. As far as I could tell from my laid back position, we were on some kind of farm. I could see a silo and part of the top of a barn. That and the excruciating dirt road we went down were sort of clues.

Officer Alexander parked, then came to get me. “Last time. You’re doing great, Caleb.” He picked me up with a strained grunt, and I didn’t make a sound, but it was damned difficult. I wanted to scream.

Billy walked ahead of us and unlocked the front door of a quiet, unassuming white farmhouse. “Take him to the back. Figure they’ve probably shared a bed by now. Might as well let them go on sharing one. Then they can both be on the first floor.”

“Good idea,” Officer Alexander said. He carried me through the farmhouse, past the kitchen and a cozy little TV room, and stopped just shy of a large back porch. Billy opened a door on the left, and Officer Alexander sidled through with me.

“Took you long enough,” an overweight, balding man grumped from beside the bed. “Thought I might have to sedate her.”

I looked over and saw Jacey, bruised and with a casted arm, but alive, lying on the far side of the bed.

“Jacey…” I breathed, and my whole world shifted back into focus. Gravity returned. Everything was okay again.

Her lower lip trembled. “Caleb.” She burst into tears.

“Be real careful. Maybe just hold his hand,” Office Alexander warned her as he settled me down on the bed next to her.

She wrapped herself around my arm. “Caleb, I was so worried.”

“Don’t worry. Masterson only tried to kill me once,” I quipped. “Okay, maybe twice if you count jail…”

She smacked my ribs, and I drew a sharp breath, but at least it was above my kidney. She winced, but still said, “It’s not funny!”

“They told me you jumped off a building,” I scolded her. “That’s not funny, either.”

“It was the Trinary! I didn’t have a choice,” she replied miserably. Her breath caught. “Bea and Hansen are dead.”

My heart sank. “I know, baby.”

“Caleb, when does this ever end?!” she wailed, and I wished I knew what to tell her.

“After the trial,” Officer Alexander said firmly. “If I have to, I’ll disappear you both myself.”