Jenna is living her best life, or so she thought. Until tragedy strikes. Working as an assistant trainer for a sports entertainment promotion, she is happy with her life. Until, one night a deranged fan got back stage and she was attacked and just b...
Love this song. Fala Amo is Portuguese for Speak Love.
The drive to his beach house was done in relative silence. He and Daniel were in one large black SUV, while Angus and Elizabeth were in another, right behind them. He normally didn't have company here at his beach house. It was his sanctuary. The place he could come to escape his profession, to unwind and relax. To unplug, as Angus would put it.
Eric looked over at his friend. Daniel was looking out of the window at the passing scenery. "This place is really beautiful, Eric. I can see why this is your go-to place to escape."
"It's private, and no one knows about this place. I deliberately kept it in my grandmother's name, so that it wouldn't be connected to me. I grew up here. The salt breeze is like a welcome home hug from an old friend. I miss this place, and I'm sorry that we're only going to be here for only a few days. This is where I will live when I retire. My parents live close to town. Our family has been in this area for at least for eight generations. Our history in this area goes way back to before the Civil War. We had moved away when I was young because of dad's job. I was glad to come back. Mom and dad came back when he retired."
Silence fell in the SUV as Eric drove the last ten minutes to their destination. When they pulled up at his beach house, Daniel let out a whistle of appreciation. "I thought you said it was a small beach house."
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"I believe I used the word was. It's not my fault that you mistook my meaning. It did start out as a small cabin. When I inherited from my grandmother, it was barely 750 sq. ft. I brought in an architect and a builder that specialized in coastal builds. They worked together and built this around my grandmother's original cabin. The stables are through the trees to the left of the rear of the house." Eric looked at his home with pride. Knowing that Jenna was inside waiting on him made his heart beat a little faster and made him want to get out of his vehicle a whole lot faster.
"Where's Jenna? I thought she might come out on the porch to greet us at least.' Angus asked as he and Elizabeth came to stand next to he and Daniel, his arm around his wife.
"I'm not sure. I called dad and let him know that we were on our way from the airport. He said that Jenna was here and didn't have anywhere to go today. Who knows, she may be out in the stables or downstairs in the gym, working out." Was Eric's reply.
The three men gathered the luggage and walked toward the house. As Eric opened the front the music hit his ears. Almost assaulted them.
He followed the sound of the music to the gym downstairs.Sure enough, there she was. She was on an elliptical, and from the looks of her, she had been on it for a while. She had sweat running in rivulets down her face, back, neck, and even her arms. Her hair was drenched. She was breathing heavily, but refused to stop. Eric could see the determination on her face. When he realized what was going on internally, Daniel appeared next to him. Reaching over, he turned down the music on the sound system so they could talk. Jenna however, didn't appear to notice.
"Is that really good for her. I mean it's only been about a month, right?"
Eric felt panic overtake him when he realized for sure that Jenna was stuck in a memory of the attack. Looking closer, he saw her eyes were glazed over and tears were rolling down her face. "Get Elizabeth down here." When he didn't move, just stood there looking at the obviously emotionally torn woman, Eric roared at him. "Now!"
Eric stood back and watched Jenna. He knew she was lost in her memories. What she was reliving was obviously her attack. Whether or not she could see her attacker was another story.
"Approach her easy, Eric." Elizabeth said from his side. "She may be in a fugue state, and hurt herself or one of us. You come up to her on one side and I'll approach from the other. Angus will be within earshot in case she needs to be restrained."
Eric looked at his friend and said, "If anyone is going to restrain her, it will be me. I'm the largest and strongest of all of us." At Elizabeth's nod, they approached Jenna carefully. Just as they reached the elliptical, Eric reached out and laid a gentle hand on Jenna's arm. The instant his hand made contact with her skin she reacted.
Instantly, Jenna began screaming and batting at his hands. In desperation, he grabbed her wrists. Not just to stop her, but to keep her from falling off of the elliptical. That was a bad choice. If she had been panicked before, she was hysterical now. Without waiting any longer, Eric reached over and picked her up and held her gently against his chest. She was kicking and screaming, tossing her head back and forth. Eric held her gingerly, not caring that he was getting his shins pounded or the he was getting soaked from her sweat. This was Jenna, and he would do what was necessary to take care of her.
Elizabeth looked to Daniel, who's eyes were wide with unbelief, and said, "Go to Angus and tell him that I need my bag. We're going to have to sedate her." He took off through the house looking for the Scotsman. When he found him and they returned, Elizabeth opened her bag and prepared a syringe with a sedative. Walking up to Eric she said, "Hold her still as best as you can. I'm sorry, Eric. It's the only way." Elizabeth plunged the syringe into Jenna's upper arm and depressed the plunger, releasing the sedative into Jenna's body. Before the syringe was empty, Jenna stilled and fell forward onto Eric's chest, in a deep sleep.
"Dear God! Look at her numbers. She had to have been on this thing for at least three hours. How many other times has this maybe happened and she had no idea." Daniel said, looking at the digital display on the equipment. Eric glanced at the readout and gasped. Picking up Jenna bridal style, he carried her to her room. Elizabeth was close behind him.
"Do you want to help me undress her and bath her? She will need water and food when she wakes. I would like to try to get some water down her now." She said.
"I'll go to the kitchen and get several bottles of water and some fruit and cheese, while you undress her." Eric left the room before he broke down. He hurt seeing Jenna like this. He didn't realize that it was this bad. PTSD was not something that he understood, so he had talked with the psychologist that worked with the company. The things he had told him worried him tremendously. What he saw today had made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and tears prick his eyes.
Walking back upstairs, he saw that Elizabeth had indeed undressed Jenna, and had bathed her as best she could. Now she was checking her vitals.
"I think I can get her to drink some water, Eric. Her body will want it and should respond automatically. Hand me a bottle, please." Taking the bottle from the big man, she unscrewed the cap and held the bottle to Jenna's lips, talking to her, trying to coax her to drink. As Eric watched, Jenna did indeed drink. Greedily, in fact. The bottle went quickly and she drank half of the second bottle before settling back into a deep sleep that the medication provided.
"What happened? What set her off? Why did she do this, Elizabeth?" Eric asked, the pain in his voice evident.
"It's difficult to say. Why don't you check her phone and see if you can find anything. " Eric walked into the kitchen where the other two men were sitting. The island in the middle of the kitchen was where Jenna had left her phone. Checking it was not difficult since her phone wasn't password protected.
I'LL FIND YOU BITCH!! WHEN I DO, YOU WILL DIE!
Eric's cussing brought both men to their feet to see what the problem was. When he showed them, Angus and Daniel were horrified. Angus was the first to regain some composure.
"How!" Was the strangled question.
"I don't know. But someone does. I'm calling Dougal. He can get someone to check out Jenna's past. Surely, they will find some answers." Eric turned and headed upstairs to tell Elizabeth that he had found the answers that they sought. While Angus called Dougal to inform him of the situation.
