Reckless

Chapter One ; The Aftermath

“I said get out!” I yelled at her, her eyes glazed over and I could tell that I had sent her to a terrible place. I hadn’t meant to sound so angry with her; because I wasn’t angry at all at least not towards her. My reaction had been solely based on my desperate need to keep her safe. I could feel the burn radiating through my abdomen and I knew at this point there was a chance that if she stayed I wouldn’t be able to protect her. A twinge of pain ripped through my chest as I watched her turn and run from the house; running from me. As long as she got out of there I could apologize and explain to her why I had lashed out at her later.  Now that she was out I could focus on what was happening between me and my father. I took a deep, painful breath as my eyes met his across the room. His eyes showed no emotion as he looked over my wound.

“Son, I could have told you a girl like that would only be trouble.” He scoffed as he picked up his phone and dialed Eric, who happened to be a paramedic that did some side work with my father. Anytime we had an incident Eric would come and straighten things out so that there would be no need to go to the hospital. The less attention we got the better. I bit the inside of my cheek as I tried to make my way over to his desk, each movement felt like a knife boring deep into my side. “The fuck do you mean a girl like that? She didn’t do shit, if I’m not mistaken you are the one that fucking shot me.” I growled as I leaned against his desk for support.  My hand clutched over my wound, trying to apply as much pressure as possible to slow the bleeding. “Liam, she is damaged goods. I get she’s fun, but you don’t need a girl like that by your side. You need someone who will help get you where you need to be in life. If you are going to take over for me one day you need someone who can handle the pressure.” His words were enough to send me into a rampage, but this gunshot was making that extremely too hard. “You better be glad you shot me before you said that.” I clinched my jaw as I slumped over in the armchair closest to me. I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness, I must be losing more blood than I thought. I fought to stay alert, but I felt myself fading into dark before I could do anything about it.

A groan filled the room and then I realized that the voice behind the painful gargle was my own. I forced my eyes open, the room was dark, but I could tell I was set up in one of the guest rooms at my father’s house. The soft beeping of my IV monitor was the only other sound in the room. Trying my best not to further injure myself, I carefully climbed out of bed, lifting my shirt and viewing the damage. My stomach was bruised and there was an incision that had been stitched back up. I assume Eric had removed the bullet and set me up in here for my recovery. Anxiously, I removed the needle from the crook of my arm before reaching for my phone on the nightstand. There were some texts and missed calls from a range of people; however, none from Sam.

She couldn’t still be mad at me for yelling at her, could she? The memory of the look on her face as I yelled at her. I had to go see her and explain myself, I knew she had issues and the incident plus raising my voice at her probably wasn’t a good mix. I just hoped she hadn’t gone over the edge while I was out of it. At this point there was only one thing I wanted, and that was to go check on her. I was used to seeing people get shot and that type of episode, but she wasn’t. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling right now. I had to admit the pain medication they had put me on had me a little out of it, I stumbled around the living room looking for the keys to either my car or one of my fathers. After having no luck with my own I dug the keys of my father’s range rover from his desk drawer and made a beeline for the garage. Once I was seated behind the steering wheel, I slipped the key into the ignition and peeled out of the garage. It was harder than usual to focus due to the medicated fog I was in but I wasn’t about to let that hold me back.

The ride dragged on and on, my focus locked on getting back to her. I knew she would forgive me, but I still had the look on her face locked in my brain. The way her voice was full of panic when she saw I had been hit. Never in a million years did I think I would ever fall in love but now I don’t know what I would do without it. My mind was whirling with thoughts of her and how my heart ached to be wrapped up in my arms. We had a lot to talk about, like why she stole my gun and snuck off to shoot my father but that could wait. After being shot, it has a way of making you think about what’s really important and right now holding her in my arms again was the most important thing in the world.

After the long drive, happiness washed over me as I pulled up to her apartment. I didn’t even care to knock I just pushed the front door open and headed straight for her bedroom. “Sam?” I called out, pushing her bedroom door open. Confusion over came me as I looked around her picked over room. Most of her clothing was gone, along with her blanket and pillows. I ran to the bathroom down the hall and felt sick when I saw that her tooth brush was missing as well. My mind was overwhelmed with scenarios as to where she was at. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and dialed her number. My mouth went dry as the call went straight to voicemail. Quickly, I dialed Lacy’s number cursing to myself with each ring.

“Haaaay, jerkoff. What’s up?” Her voice rang in my ears. “Lacy, have you talked to Sam?” I headed back to the parking lot, my eyes scanning over the cars only to realize that her car was gone. “Um... Not since the party? Why what’s wrong?” Before she could say anything else I hung up and tried Sam’s number one more time; and again, it went straight to voicemail. I started going through my head making a list for all the places I needed to look for her. First stop, my house. Deep down, I knew I wasn’t going to find her there but there was a part of me that hoped she had just gathered her things and disappeared to my house. The cold feeling that I was wrong washed over me as I pulled up to my house. I glanced up and down the street for her car but there was nothing. Still, a small lingering hope clung to my chest as I rushed inside and up the stairs. I pleaded with every god I could think of, hoping I would open that door and her tiny frame would be sitting in the middle of my big bed. Reality hit me like a wall when I opened my bedroom wall and revealed an empty bedroom.

My next course of action was to find out if her disappearing had anything to do with my father. If he laid a finger on her I swear I would rip him to shreds.

It’s been three days since Sam disappeared. After confronting my father, he swore he hadn’t touched her but said it was probably a good thing she left. How could he think of her like that? The fact that my heart sided with her over blood proved how much she meant to me. No one had heard from her, not even Lacy, at least if she had she wasn’t telling me. Knowing Lacy couldn’t handle paying for her rent I promised that if Sam didn’t return that I would handle it for her. The thought of someone taking Sam’s spot in that apartment made me feel nauseous. The fact I hadn’t eaten much since she left didn’t help the nausea either.  My priority now was finding Sam; no matter what it took. The next logical explanation was that she went home, so now I needed to go scout out her grandma’s house for any signs of her. Yeah, this may seem just a little creepy but it was my fault she disappeared and now it was my job to find her.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Merry Christmas everyone! After receiving so much love at the end of Mercy I wanted to go ahead and post the first Chapter as a mini Christmas present to all my readers!
Xoxo