A Forever Love…Beautiful Disaster part 2

Here is an excerpt from “A Forever Love” the sequel to Beautiful Disaster.
Let me know what you think! cover reveal coming shortly:)

Chapter One:

Amber woke up to her phone ringing. She saw Jason asleep next to her and she thought about promising to wake up next to him each morning. Looking at her watch, she saw it was 8 am and then her heart jumped. Something was wrong.

“Hello?”

“Amber, are you okay?”

“Yes, Uncle Jake. What is it? What happened?”

Jason sat up when he heard her and tried to listen to her side of the conversation and make out what happened. Something was very wrong.

Amber hung up and sat down, her hands shaking.

“What is it?”

She looked at him. “Titan got his son out of jail and they are missing. Ben’s house was surrounded by paparazzi yesterday, but Jake hasn’t checked on him yet today,” she started to cry and looked at him. “What if he goes after you or Ben or someone else I love? What can I do to be free of him?” she got up and ran into the bathroom.

“Fuck,” Jason picked up his phone to call Luke.

“I heard; Laurie called us. What do you want to do?”

“Why don’t you guys come over and we can figure things out, okay?”

Luke agreed and hung up. Amber walked out of the bathroom and she was white as a sheet.

“Hey, come here. It’s going to be okay,” he stood up and she went into his arms.

“I’m sorry Jason. This is so stupid. I can’t believe I’ve brought this to all of you.”

“We will figure this out; I promise.”

******
Everything hurt, from his head to his toes. His leg felt like it was on fire and he could feel something wet on his face. Greta. Ben opened his eyes and went to get up when he realized he couldn’t move. He was tied to a chair.

“What the hell?” he said.

He tried to see where he was, but it looked like some sort of barn. “Help!” he yelled. “Greta?”

He heard moaning and turned to see two men lying on the floor, bleeding. He recognized them from his house. He saw one was dead and the other was still breathing, albeit very shallow. He turned a little more and saw a sight he knew he would never forget.

“Greta?” he looked at her, covered in blood and holding the gun at the men. She was frozen and he had no idea if she was shot.

“Hey, Greta, can you look at me? Can you move?” he struggled with the ropes and finally got one of his hands free. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his knife and cut the ropes the rest of the way off. He picked up his cell phone and dialed 911, letting it just ring as he put the phone down and walked to Greta.

“Are you okay?” he approached her and she pointed the gun at him.

“Okay, I’m not coming any closer,” he put his hands up and stayed back. “It’s Ben. It’s okay,” she didn’t blink. She didn’t move. She was frozen in a moment and he didn’t know what had happened.

“Can you give me the gun?” he asked from afar. “No one is going to hurt you, okay? Can I have the gun?” her hands were shaking and the gun was really unsteady. He was afraid she wouldn’t hesitate to shoot again.

He heard sirens and moved to go to the door of the barn. He flagged the police in and Jake and Laurie were right behind. The officers ran in and approached her and she pointed the gun at them, causing all of them to draw their weapons.

“Stop it. She isn’t going to shoot you. She is afraid and you aren’t helping,” Ben said.

Jake saw the scene and got the officers to step out. Laurie looked at the men and then at Greta. “Leave us alone for a minute.”

“No, I can’t leave,” Ben said brokenly.

Jake took his son by the arm and walked him out. “Let her help Greta. She might not need a man right now, especially someone she cares about.”

Ben looked at his dad and his face was full of anguish. “Oh God. What if they touched her? How could I let this happen?” he collapsed into his father’s arms after they walked out and Jake motioned for the medic to help.

”Ben?” Jake said and tried to rouse him, but he was out. The paramedics rushed to attend to him.

Laurie walked to Greta and sat down close to her. “Hey sweetie, I’m going to help you. Just like before, okay? If you give me the gun, I will make sure it is safe,” she spoke soothingly to the shattered woman.

Greta didn’t move, still. She did drop the gun and Laurie took it. “Good, that’s good. Can we go out of here now?”

Greta didn’t say a word. She just closed her eyes and fell back.

“Jake? Come in here now,” she screamed and he ran in with the officers.

“She needs help, now,” Laurie said, not leaving her side.

“Go with her and Ben to the ER and I’ll stay here and make sure we properly secure the scene. I’ll meet you there.”

She nodded and ran to the ambulance.

*******
Amber was pacing around the room after everyone had gathered. Evan was on the phone with his contacts in Michigan and everyone was trying to get word about Titan. Finally her phone rang and she jumped.

“It’s my Uncle,” she said and answered. Everyone waited to hear and when she hung up she faced them.

“They found Ben and Greta and they are taking them to a hospital. Harold and Edward are both dead,” she looked at Luke. “Where is your dad?”

“He is with my mother. What aren’t you telling us? Why are they going to the hospital?”

Jeannie held his hand and looked at Amber. “Is my mother okay?”

“My uncle wasn’t sure, but they think Greta shot them both. She isn’t talking right now, but Laurie is with her and she won’t leave her side. I don’t know what happened to Ben exactly. He will call me with an update soon, but he seemed to think they will be okay.”

“Oh God. What happened to her? Again? I’m going to be sick,” Luke paced in the room and Jeannie walked to him.

“Come outside with me and let’s get some air. It’s okay,” she rubbed his back.

Amber watched them walk out and looked at Jason. “What have I done? How could this have happened?”

He hugged her and looked at Evan.

“I’m on it,” he said and walked out to make a call.

Elizabeth walked to Amber and Jason and they all sat down.

“We need to look at this in a different way. Both Titan’s are dead and that’s a good thing. We will figure out how to help Ben and Greta, but I doubt they assaulted her. They were after something, and it wasn’t her,” Elizabeth said softly. “I’m not saying it’s okay, but we all need to stick together and get through this.”

Amber nodded and wiped her eyes. “Okay. I know.”

Luke and Jeannie walked back in. “I’m going to wait to call my dad until we know more. We need to get Laurie on the phone.”

Jason nodded. “Evan is working on it.”

*******
“Let me up right now,” Ben struggled with the nurses and doctor.

“You have to relax, sir. You have a concussion and you lost a lot of blood. We had to restitch your leg and we are waiting for the MRI results to see if we need to do more,” the doctor said.

“I will relax and do whatever you want if you just let me see Greta. I am getting up with or without your approval, so please step aside.”

“Let me handle my son, please,” Jake said as he walked into the room.

The doctors and nurses shook their heads and walked out.

Ben started to get up and Jake held him back. “Stop being an ass and sit for a minute.”

“I need to go see her, dad. I need to help her, please,” he said as his eyes filled.

“You can’t see her right now,” Jake sighed.

“What? Why? What the hell aren’t you telling me?”

“Greta is in a severe state of shock. Laurie is with her, but she hasn’t spoken a word since we found you guys. She won’t let anyone touch her and I don’t know what to do. They are calling psych for her but her family is across the country and I haven’t been able to get a hold of her father,” Jake sighed.

“Let me see her, dad, please. I can help her, I know I can.”

Jake nodded and helped him up, taking it very slowly. Ben leaned on Jake as they walked to the wheelchair and he sat down. Jake wheeled him down the hall and into the secured area.

“I’ll go from here,” Ben said and Jake helped him up. He limped to the room and Laurie was standing inside, on the phone.

“Can I have a minute?” he asked her.

She nodded and squeezed his arm before she walked out.

Ben walked to the bed and his breath caught in his throat. She was lying on the bed, her clothes still covered with blood and her eyes wide open. She was looking at him, but she wasn’t seeing him.

“Greta? It’s Ben,” he sat down and went to touch her hand when she moved away from him. “Okay, I won’t come any closer.”

She stared at him and her blue eyes were ice cold. He felt his own tears fall as he looked at her.

“I’m so sorry I failed you. I’m so sorry this happened,” he put his head in his hand and sobbed. “My job has always been to serve and protect and I have been such a colossal failure. I’m so sorry.”

Laurie walked back in and was surprised.

“She hasn’t let me get that close to her without trying to get out of the bed.”

“What can I do?” he asked her.

“See if you can get her to change into a gown so we can examine her. We need to clean her up and check for internal injuries,” she said gently.

Ben wiped his face and nodded. He looked at Greta. “Can you let Laurie help you change? We need to clean you up and then you’ll feel better.”

Laurie approached her and Greta moved away.

“Okay sweetie, I’ll leave you be.”

He looked at Greta and got up and grabbed a gown from the chair. He walked back to her and sat down. “Greta, I can’t let you do this. It’s time you let someone help you. Remember what you told me before? While we watched the movie? You said that surviving was what you learned to do, but living is what you wanted,” he put his hand close to hers and smiled. “You can do this. You can find your way out of this.”

He turned to Laurie and sighed. “I think you should help her,” he went to get up when Greta grabbed his hand. He looked at her and her chin quivered as her tears fell. “It’s okay. I won’t leave,” he looked at Laurie and then back at Greta. “Would you like me to help you?”

She squeezed his hand and closed her eyes.

He nodded. “Okay. You just hang in there,” he nodded for Laurie to leave and he took a deep breath. He could do this. It was the least he could do.