Post by MrsCarterRivera on Jan 28, 2021 12:37:07 GMT -5
The day is warm as soon as the sun peeks over the horizon. They lie in a tangle of limbs and sheets, her head on his chest, his arm around her shoulders. She can feel the rhythmic thump of his heart against her cheek. His skin is soft beneath his fingertips, the muscles hard underneath. He smells delicious.
Rosa didn't realise life could be so good. As Carter sleeps, she lets her gaze drift to the window; the pane pushed up, letting in the early summer breeze, the sounds of birds and traffic, the sight of the pinky blue sky without a single billowing cloud.
Life is perfect.
Carter wakes beside her. Blinks sleepily, smiles that beautiful, butterfly-inducing smile, and rolls to cuddle her close. "Morning, gorgeous," he murmurs, lips already at her throat and they roll so she is pinned beneath him and she's laughing and everything is bliss...
Rosa woke from her dream with tears already slipping silently down her face. It was cold and she shivered where she curled up on the cold damp stone and tried to hold that image of Carter in her mind. Glittering brown eyes and his warm, welcoming smile.
What was he doing now? Was he looking for her? Had he given up? No, he would never give up... Rosa shut her eyes as a quiet sob escaped. She had lost count of the hours that had passed since she'd been brought here. There were no windows, so she didn't even know if it were day or night. The cuffs around her wrist anchored her to a thick rusty metal ring embedded into the stone floor. And she was cold. So cold.
***
Carter hadn't slept for four days. He stood in his office and stared at the map pinned up on the board. Every possible place she could be, every reported sighting, had been circled and searched. Big red crosses showed him the places where she wasn't. The map was full of crosses.
His eyes itched with the need to sleep, yet he refused to give into his body's basic needs. He needed to be here in case there was any news, in case she was found... She would be found. She had to be. Safe and alive. He couldn't allow any other possibilities into his head.
***
More time passed. Rosa fell into a dreamless sleep and when she woke, she wasn't alone.
A figure moved about the dark room and she heard the rustle of a plastic bag. Nick seemed to sense eyes on him and turned to face her. He was clutching a carrier bag in one hand and a sandwich packet in the other. He moved close.
"Breakfast."
Rosa shut her eyes again. A second later, his hand gripped her jaw and forced her to look at him.
"Eat."
"I can't."
With an impatient sigh, he rooted in his pocket for a key. Once her cuffs was unlocked, he forced her upright and shoved the sandwich hard in her chest. He stood and moved away. "Eat that." Rosa let it roll and hit the floor, making no move to pick it up. He turned and stared at her. "You wanna starve? I don't care." She didn't answer, just looked away. Nick gave a cold laugh. "Seriously? Over some dick'ead copper?"
"He's not a dickhead," she hissed, eyes flashing as she glowered at him. He smirked.
"I doubt he even knows you're missing. There's no news reports. Even Jock isn't looking for you."
"Youre lying."
"I am?" He cocked an eyebrow and moved close to kneel in front of her. For a moment, he looked sad. "You're so naive and stupid, Rosa. C'mon," he said softly. "You really think they're gonna waste their time chasing around some druggie? You've ran away before."
"I didn't run away and they know that," she spat, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them tight.
"Do they?" Nick stared at her for a long while, then stood. "I feel sorry for you."
"Why?"
"Cause you think they all care about you. You think they actually give a shit." He laughed again. "Like I said. Naive and stupid.: And with that, he walked out the door and slammed it loudly behind him.
"I'm not the only stupid one," she muttered, looking down at her wrists; he hadn't cuffed her back up.
***
Nick strolled across the zebra crossing and hit the other path with a brisk stride. Rosa was pissing him off, pining over that fucking cop. What was her problem? It wasn't as if they were even a thing. Not like her and Nick. They had real history, and a dark one at that. She seemed to forget she wasn't Little Miss Innocent and it was about time he reminded her of that. He thought back to when she wouldn't have dared speak against him, when he'd had her well amd truly wrapped around his little finger. And things had been perfect before that ginger oaf Jock had gotten in the way. Put ideas into her head, made her brave; she wasn't the only one who was going to pay.
Nick continued down the road, too distracted to notice the police car pulling up behind him. A moment later, something heavy collided with his back, sending them sprawling to the ground. His chin hit the pavement and he felt the instant rush of hot blood. "Nick Walker, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Rosa Croft-"
As someone wrestled him into handcuffs, arms twisted painfully behind his back, Nick realised he recognised that voice, and as the officer turned him onto his back, he flashed a bloody grin. "Copper now, Robert?"
"Anything you do say," Robbie continued loudly, hauling him to his feet, "may be given in evidence."
"Fuck you." Nick spat at his feet. "I hope your fuckin' sister rots." A moment later, he was being roughly hauled into the back of a police car. He smirked at Robbie through the window, but in truth, his stomach had twisted anxiously. He'd had plans and none of them had involved being arrested.
***
"Mate, he's 'ere, we got 'im."
"And Rosa?" Carter shut his eyes, murmuring a silent prayer. He heard the tension down the line as Robbie cleared his throat.
"... No sign. He won't say a word-"
"I'll be there in five." Carter hung up and jammed the phone into his pocket, already rushing out his office and down the stairs to where they interrogated (or interviewed, as was politically correct) suspects. He flew down two flights of stairs and belted down another corridor. His superior was already in the room when he burst in; she was staring through the glass at Nick in the next room. His voice flooded over speaker by the computer; everything he said was being recorded. Robbie was in the room with him, cheeks a dark red as he glowered at Nick from across the table.
"We know you have her," Robbie was saying over the speaker. "Just tell us where she is." Nick acted as if he didn't even hear the young man speak. His cold gaze drifted to the glass, and for one heart-stopping moment, his eyes met Carter's. "Is she still alive?" Robbie asked, voice a little more urgent.
"I knew putting Croft in there was a bad idea," his superior muttered, not taking her eyes off Nick. "He's too close to the case..."
"She's dead," Nick shrugged. "Or was she alive when I left her? Who knows."
"Tell me where," Robbie hissed, leaning forward. Nick smirked at him, waving a hand.
"Somewhere. Where's the fun in me telling you?"
"Look, is she hurt? Just give us something."
Nick's gaze drifted to the mirrored window and lingered there. "She was fine last night. Couldn't wait to spread her legs for me. Will do anything for a fix, your sister. Right little whore. You know how many cocks she's sucked just to get high?" Before Gibson could react, Carter had stormed from the room into the ajoining one. Robbie jumped to his feet when he saw him, but it was too late; Carter ploughed into the back of Nick, sending him crashing into the table. It collapsed beneath their weight as Carter pummelled him with blows and then Nick was laughing, looking manically at him from the floor as Robbie hauled Carter back by the arms. "I was waiting for you, I knew you were listening, you fuckin' scumbag. Rosa's dead. She's fuckin' dead and you'll never find her."
Carter reeled back, shaking Robbie off as Gibson ran into the room, furious. "Out!"
"You won't find her!" Nick taunted as he stalked out. Gibson slammed the door shut behind them and rounded on him.
"Are you insane? Do you realise what you've just done?!"
"He deserved it!" Carter shouted back, feeling childish at the same time. He paced away, pushing a hand through his hair.
"Go home, Rivera."
"What?"
"I said go home! Go and sleep, just get out of my sight." She stared back as he glared at her, before stalking off down the corridor towards the reception. His blood was boiling, knuckles aching from where they'd collided with Nick's face. Nothing was moving fast enough and as the minutes ticked into hours and then into days, the chance of finding her was becoming less and less.
***
Rosa knelt by the door holding a small rusted nail. For the past hour she had been trying to unscrew the door handle and so far, had only managed to get one screw of the four loose. A cold draft came through the bottom of the door, chilling her, fingers numb and cramped from clutchig the small nail but she didn't dare stop. Not when Nick could return at any minute. When the second screw came loose, she gave a small weep of relief; half-way there...
Rosa had no idea how much time had passed when the final screw clattered free. Her fingers and hands were in agony, as were her knees from the cold stone floor. Nick hadn't returned and her stomach was clenching in a mix of fear and hunger. She carefully pulled the handle off, reaching in to turn the metal bolt. The door clicked open and she got up, wincing, to her feet. Pushing her way through, she saw she was in another room, which looked like an old farm building. She ran to the door but it was locked. "Fuck!"
Rosa ran to the small window, rubbing away a patch of grime to look outside, but she saw nothing but trees. Running back to the other room, she grabbed the discarded metal door handle, raced back and threw it at the window. It smashed loudly, sending shards glittering and tinkling to the floor. She dragged an old crate beneath it, then hauled herself up. Glass cuts her hands and arms, her knees and legs, but she didn't stop pushing through until she was free, laying in her back, panting and staring up at the dark night sky.
***
She's dead... you'll never find her... she's dead...
The words played around Carter's head for the rest of the afternoon. He hadn't gone home. He'd kept his phone on him, but there had been no news. Only one message off Robbie, He won't say a word, leaving Carter with a growing sense of desperate frustration. Was Nick telling the truth? Was she...
No. He refused to let his thoughts wander down that avenue. He couldn't afford to. Carter pulled his car into a layby beside some dark woods, cut the engine and climbed out. He didn't need the map to already know by heart the places that had been searched. He couldn't think of anywhere else to look. Instead, he had cruised around, wracking his brains, until a disturbing thought hit him. Was she even still in the country?
Carter moved into the trees, pulling out his torch and following the beam of light as it shone ahead of him. His mind was whirring, going through all the possible locations she might be, in this area, or abroad. Where did Walker have links? The copse of trees wasn't very big. It backed onto fields and it was there he found the old outbuilding. When he tried the door, it was locked. Moving around, he looked down as his boot crunched glass. It littered the dirt beneath him. A little further away rested a rusty door handle. Carter knelt and shone the light on it. It was rusted except for the bright shiny circles around each hole that had once held screws. It had been removed recently; if it had been sat out here, even for a few weeks, the circles wouldn't have looked so gleamingly new.
Carter stood and shone his torch at the building, finding the broken window and the scarlet blood illuminated across the jagged edges of glass that remained. Rummaging in his pocket, he pulled out a latex glove, slid it on, reached up and touched the glass in the frame. Claret smeared across his finger.
The blood was fresh.
His heart leapt, while that logical voice in his head told him this might not even be related. He chose to follow his gut. "Rosa?" He shouted, pacing around the building, flashing his light into the trees. "Rosa!" He went back to the broken window and scanned the floor. There was disturbance in the mud where she must have fallen from the window; specks of blood flecked the dirt on closer inspection. Footprints from a trainer, small enough to be a woman, led away from the mud and glass, but he lost the trail in the trees that headed back to the road. Carter knew he had to make a choice. Follow his gut, which was screaming that it was Rosa, or head back to the station to report his findings and let the team take over. All the while she was wandering, alone and bleeding.
He knew what he was doing to do before he'd even finished the thought. He carried on through the trees in the direction the prints had pointed, scanning every inch of undergrowth and bush. She had to be here somewhere.
***
Rosa was tired. Trailing down the dark road, blood dripping from her hands, her jeans ripped and stained claret, Rosa found she kept looking over her shoulder, terrified and certain that Nick was going to jump out at any moment. He'd know she was missing soon. He was going to be so angry when he found she'd escaped. What would he do to her then? Hide her someplace else, somewhere further away?
She felt weak, collapsing down beside a low ruined wall that used to encase a field. She curled up on her side, exhausted, hungry and bleeding. She just needed to sleep. Just a little sleep...
***
Carter had searched the trees amd found nothing else that alerted him to the fact that Rosa was nearby. He was struggling to contain his emotions too; anger and dejection and frustration and loathing for that animal, Walker, spun around like a tornado inside him so much that he didn't know what to feel. All he wanted to do was go back to the station and smash his arrogant face in even more.
Heading back to his car, he yanked open the door, got in and pulled away, tyres squealing in dirt. He didn't know what to do, where to go... He was so distracted that he nearly missed the figure laying on the edge of the road beside a low tumbled down wall. His headlights illuminated the gleam of blonde hair, and he stamped on the brake hard. Carter leapt from the car, heart hammering in his throat and making it hard to breathe. "Rosa!" Falling to his knees alongside her, he lifted her gently. Her head lolled but he could see the pulse in her throat and he sent a quick word of thanks up to God.
She was bleeding from the cuts she'd endured from climbing out the window, and he felt a rush of pride and love at her for not giving up. For fighting to be free. Had she feared he had given up? Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he called Robbie, who picked up the first ring. "I've found her, Robbie. I found her. She's alive."
***
When Rosa woke, it was to white walls, beeping machines, and a warm and cosy bed. For a moment she was confused, but then piece by piece, it came flooding back to her. Walking from the chippy, heading to Carter's, only to be blocked by a car swerving into the pavement. Nick grabbing her, a chemically-stinking cloth pressed over her face. Waking up in the old building, wrists cuffed to the floor. And her escape and walking down the road... She was in hospital, she thought, with a rush of something close to relief. She'd been found.
She sat up and realised she wasn't alone. Carter was sat in the chair beside her bed; one hand, the wrist wrapped in a familiar silver bracelet, rested on her sheets as he slept. He looked exhausted; there was deep bags beneath his eyes. Rosa's own hands and wrists were heavily bandaged, as were her knees on closer inspection, so all she could do was reach out and bat his head with a ridiculously oversized hand. He grunted, woke, looked around in a panic, saw her and stared.
"Mornin', gorgeous," she whispered, already feeling the burn of tears. Carter quickly moved to sit on the bed with her, pulling her in tightly so she was crushed against his chest.
"I was so fucking worried," he hissed, throat tightening. He ran a hand through her hair. "When I found you, I thought you were - Mierda." He cursed softly in Spanish, unable to finish the sentence as he held her. Rosa pressed herself as close to him as possible, savouring his warmth, the familiar scent of his aftershave. Then she pulled away with a gasp. "Nick! H-He's still out there!"
"We got him, Rosa," he replied softly. "Judge has refused to grant him bail. You're safe now." Carter reached out to touch her bandaged hands, which looked more like white boxing gloves. "I love you."
I love you too. Her words were broken by fresh tears as she leaned across to kiss him until she was breathless. Carter swallowed hard, thumb grazing her bottom lip.
"I swear, I'll never let anybody hurt you again."
(I have no idea how to end things this is the end bahaha 😂😂)
Rosa didn't realise life could be so good. As Carter sleeps, she lets her gaze drift to the window; the pane pushed up, letting in the early summer breeze, the sounds of birds and traffic, the sight of the pinky blue sky without a single billowing cloud.
Life is perfect.
Carter wakes beside her. Blinks sleepily, smiles that beautiful, butterfly-inducing smile, and rolls to cuddle her close. "Morning, gorgeous," he murmurs, lips already at her throat and they roll so she is pinned beneath him and she's laughing and everything is bliss...
Rosa woke from her dream with tears already slipping silently down her face. It was cold and she shivered where she curled up on the cold damp stone and tried to hold that image of Carter in her mind. Glittering brown eyes and his warm, welcoming smile.
What was he doing now? Was he looking for her? Had he given up? No, he would never give up... Rosa shut her eyes as a quiet sob escaped. She had lost count of the hours that had passed since she'd been brought here. There were no windows, so she didn't even know if it were day or night. The cuffs around her wrist anchored her to a thick rusty metal ring embedded into the stone floor. And she was cold. So cold.
***
Carter hadn't slept for four days. He stood in his office and stared at the map pinned up on the board. Every possible place she could be, every reported sighting, had been circled and searched. Big red crosses showed him the places where she wasn't. The map was full of crosses.
His eyes itched with the need to sleep, yet he refused to give into his body's basic needs. He needed to be here in case there was any news, in case she was found... She would be found. She had to be. Safe and alive. He couldn't allow any other possibilities into his head.
***
More time passed. Rosa fell into a dreamless sleep and when she woke, she wasn't alone.
A figure moved about the dark room and she heard the rustle of a plastic bag. Nick seemed to sense eyes on him and turned to face her. He was clutching a carrier bag in one hand and a sandwich packet in the other. He moved close.
"Breakfast."
Rosa shut her eyes again. A second later, his hand gripped her jaw and forced her to look at him.
"Eat."
"I can't."
With an impatient sigh, he rooted in his pocket for a key. Once her cuffs was unlocked, he forced her upright and shoved the sandwich hard in her chest. He stood and moved away. "Eat that." Rosa let it roll and hit the floor, making no move to pick it up. He turned and stared at her. "You wanna starve? I don't care." She didn't answer, just looked away. Nick gave a cold laugh. "Seriously? Over some dick'ead copper?"
"He's not a dickhead," she hissed, eyes flashing as she glowered at him. He smirked.
"I doubt he even knows you're missing. There's no news reports. Even Jock isn't looking for you."
"Youre lying."
"I am?" He cocked an eyebrow and moved close to kneel in front of her. For a moment, he looked sad. "You're so naive and stupid, Rosa. C'mon," he said softly. "You really think they're gonna waste their time chasing around some druggie? You've ran away before."
"I didn't run away and they know that," she spat, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them tight.
"Do they?" Nick stared at her for a long while, then stood. "I feel sorry for you."
"Why?"
"Cause you think they all care about you. You think they actually give a shit." He laughed again. "Like I said. Naive and stupid.: And with that, he walked out the door and slammed it loudly behind him.
"I'm not the only stupid one," she muttered, looking down at her wrists; he hadn't cuffed her back up.
***
Nick strolled across the zebra crossing and hit the other path with a brisk stride. Rosa was pissing him off, pining over that fucking cop. What was her problem? It wasn't as if they were even a thing. Not like her and Nick. They had real history, and a dark one at that. She seemed to forget she wasn't Little Miss Innocent and it was about time he reminded her of that. He thought back to when she wouldn't have dared speak against him, when he'd had her well amd truly wrapped around his little finger. And things had been perfect before that ginger oaf Jock had gotten in the way. Put ideas into her head, made her brave; she wasn't the only one who was going to pay.
Nick continued down the road, too distracted to notice the police car pulling up behind him. A moment later, something heavy collided with his back, sending them sprawling to the ground. His chin hit the pavement and he felt the instant rush of hot blood. "Nick Walker, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Rosa Croft-"
As someone wrestled him into handcuffs, arms twisted painfully behind his back, Nick realised he recognised that voice, and as the officer turned him onto his back, he flashed a bloody grin. "Copper now, Robert?"
"Anything you do say," Robbie continued loudly, hauling him to his feet, "may be given in evidence."
"Fuck you." Nick spat at his feet. "I hope your fuckin' sister rots." A moment later, he was being roughly hauled into the back of a police car. He smirked at Robbie through the window, but in truth, his stomach had twisted anxiously. He'd had plans and none of them had involved being arrested.
***
"Mate, he's 'ere, we got 'im."
"And Rosa?" Carter shut his eyes, murmuring a silent prayer. He heard the tension down the line as Robbie cleared his throat.
"... No sign. He won't say a word-"
"I'll be there in five." Carter hung up and jammed the phone into his pocket, already rushing out his office and down the stairs to where they interrogated (or interviewed, as was politically correct) suspects. He flew down two flights of stairs and belted down another corridor. His superior was already in the room when he burst in; she was staring through the glass at Nick in the next room. His voice flooded over speaker by the computer; everything he said was being recorded. Robbie was in the room with him, cheeks a dark red as he glowered at Nick from across the table.
"We know you have her," Robbie was saying over the speaker. "Just tell us where she is." Nick acted as if he didn't even hear the young man speak. His cold gaze drifted to the glass, and for one heart-stopping moment, his eyes met Carter's. "Is she still alive?" Robbie asked, voice a little more urgent.
"I knew putting Croft in there was a bad idea," his superior muttered, not taking her eyes off Nick. "He's too close to the case..."
"She's dead," Nick shrugged. "Or was she alive when I left her? Who knows."
"Tell me where," Robbie hissed, leaning forward. Nick smirked at him, waving a hand.
"Somewhere. Where's the fun in me telling you?"
"Look, is she hurt? Just give us something."
Nick's gaze drifted to the mirrored window and lingered there. "She was fine last night. Couldn't wait to spread her legs for me. Will do anything for a fix, your sister. Right little whore. You know how many cocks she's sucked just to get high?" Before Gibson could react, Carter had stormed from the room into the ajoining one. Robbie jumped to his feet when he saw him, but it was too late; Carter ploughed into the back of Nick, sending him crashing into the table. It collapsed beneath their weight as Carter pummelled him with blows and then Nick was laughing, looking manically at him from the floor as Robbie hauled Carter back by the arms. "I was waiting for you, I knew you were listening, you fuckin' scumbag. Rosa's dead. She's fuckin' dead and you'll never find her."
Carter reeled back, shaking Robbie off as Gibson ran into the room, furious. "Out!"
"You won't find her!" Nick taunted as he stalked out. Gibson slammed the door shut behind them and rounded on him.
"Are you insane? Do you realise what you've just done?!"
"He deserved it!" Carter shouted back, feeling childish at the same time. He paced away, pushing a hand through his hair.
"Go home, Rivera."
"What?"
"I said go home! Go and sleep, just get out of my sight." She stared back as he glared at her, before stalking off down the corridor towards the reception. His blood was boiling, knuckles aching from where they'd collided with Nick's face. Nothing was moving fast enough and as the minutes ticked into hours and then into days, the chance of finding her was becoming less and less.
***
Rosa knelt by the door holding a small rusted nail. For the past hour she had been trying to unscrew the door handle and so far, had only managed to get one screw of the four loose. A cold draft came through the bottom of the door, chilling her, fingers numb and cramped from clutchig the small nail but she didn't dare stop. Not when Nick could return at any minute. When the second screw came loose, she gave a small weep of relief; half-way there...
Rosa had no idea how much time had passed when the final screw clattered free. Her fingers and hands were in agony, as were her knees from the cold stone floor. Nick hadn't returned and her stomach was clenching in a mix of fear and hunger. She carefully pulled the handle off, reaching in to turn the metal bolt. The door clicked open and she got up, wincing, to her feet. Pushing her way through, she saw she was in another room, which looked like an old farm building. She ran to the door but it was locked. "Fuck!"
Rosa ran to the small window, rubbing away a patch of grime to look outside, but she saw nothing but trees. Running back to the other room, she grabbed the discarded metal door handle, raced back and threw it at the window. It smashed loudly, sending shards glittering and tinkling to the floor. She dragged an old crate beneath it, then hauled herself up. Glass cuts her hands and arms, her knees and legs, but she didn't stop pushing through until she was free, laying in her back, panting and staring up at the dark night sky.
***
She's dead... you'll never find her... she's dead...
The words played around Carter's head for the rest of the afternoon. He hadn't gone home. He'd kept his phone on him, but there had been no news. Only one message off Robbie, He won't say a word, leaving Carter with a growing sense of desperate frustration. Was Nick telling the truth? Was she...
No. He refused to let his thoughts wander down that avenue. He couldn't afford to. Carter pulled his car into a layby beside some dark woods, cut the engine and climbed out. He didn't need the map to already know by heart the places that had been searched. He couldn't think of anywhere else to look. Instead, he had cruised around, wracking his brains, until a disturbing thought hit him. Was she even still in the country?
Carter moved into the trees, pulling out his torch and following the beam of light as it shone ahead of him. His mind was whirring, going through all the possible locations she might be, in this area, or abroad. Where did Walker have links? The copse of trees wasn't very big. It backed onto fields and it was there he found the old outbuilding. When he tried the door, it was locked. Moving around, he looked down as his boot crunched glass. It littered the dirt beneath him. A little further away rested a rusty door handle. Carter knelt and shone the light on it. It was rusted except for the bright shiny circles around each hole that had once held screws. It had been removed recently; if it had been sat out here, even for a few weeks, the circles wouldn't have looked so gleamingly new.
Carter stood and shone his torch at the building, finding the broken window and the scarlet blood illuminated across the jagged edges of glass that remained. Rummaging in his pocket, he pulled out a latex glove, slid it on, reached up and touched the glass in the frame. Claret smeared across his finger.
The blood was fresh.
His heart leapt, while that logical voice in his head told him this might not even be related. He chose to follow his gut. "Rosa?" He shouted, pacing around the building, flashing his light into the trees. "Rosa!" He went back to the broken window and scanned the floor. There was disturbance in the mud where she must have fallen from the window; specks of blood flecked the dirt on closer inspection. Footprints from a trainer, small enough to be a woman, led away from the mud and glass, but he lost the trail in the trees that headed back to the road. Carter knew he had to make a choice. Follow his gut, which was screaming that it was Rosa, or head back to the station to report his findings and let the team take over. All the while she was wandering, alone and bleeding.
He knew what he was doing to do before he'd even finished the thought. He carried on through the trees in the direction the prints had pointed, scanning every inch of undergrowth and bush. She had to be here somewhere.
***
Rosa was tired. Trailing down the dark road, blood dripping from her hands, her jeans ripped and stained claret, Rosa found she kept looking over her shoulder, terrified and certain that Nick was going to jump out at any moment. He'd know she was missing soon. He was going to be so angry when he found she'd escaped. What would he do to her then? Hide her someplace else, somewhere further away?
She felt weak, collapsing down beside a low ruined wall that used to encase a field. She curled up on her side, exhausted, hungry and bleeding. She just needed to sleep. Just a little sleep...
***
Carter had searched the trees amd found nothing else that alerted him to the fact that Rosa was nearby. He was struggling to contain his emotions too; anger and dejection and frustration and loathing for that animal, Walker, spun around like a tornado inside him so much that he didn't know what to feel. All he wanted to do was go back to the station and smash his arrogant face in even more.
Heading back to his car, he yanked open the door, got in and pulled away, tyres squealing in dirt. He didn't know what to do, where to go... He was so distracted that he nearly missed the figure laying on the edge of the road beside a low tumbled down wall. His headlights illuminated the gleam of blonde hair, and he stamped on the brake hard. Carter leapt from the car, heart hammering in his throat and making it hard to breathe. "Rosa!" Falling to his knees alongside her, he lifted her gently. Her head lolled but he could see the pulse in her throat and he sent a quick word of thanks up to God.
She was bleeding from the cuts she'd endured from climbing out the window, and he felt a rush of pride and love at her for not giving up. For fighting to be free. Had she feared he had given up? Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he called Robbie, who picked up the first ring. "I've found her, Robbie. I found her. She's alive."
***
When Rosa woke, it was to white walls, beeping machines, and a warm and cosy bed. For a moment she was confused, but then piece by piece, it came flooding back to her. Walking from the chippy, heading to Carter's, only to be blocked by a car swerving into the pavement. Nick grabbing her, a chemically-stinking cloth pressed over her face. Waking up in the old building, wrists cuffed to the floor. And her escape and walking down the road... She was in hospital, she thought, with a rush of something close to relief. She'd been found.
She sat up and realised she wasn't alone. Carter was sat in the chair beside her bed; one hand, the wrist wrapped in a familiar silver bracelet, rested on her sheets as he slept. He looked exhausted; there was deep bags beneath his eyes. Rosa's own hands and wrists were heavily bandaged, as were her knees on closer inspection, so all she could do was reach out and bat his head with a ridiculously oversized hand. He grunted, woke, looked around in a panic, saw her and stared.
"Mornin', gorgeous," she whispered, already feeling the burn of tears. Carter quickly moved to sit on the bed with her, pulling her in tightly so she was crushed against his chest.
"I was so fucking worried," he hissed, throat tightening. He ran a hand through her hair. "When I found you, I thought you were - Mierda." He cursed softly in Spanish, unable to finish the sentence as he held her. Rosa pressed herself as close to him as possible, savouring his warmth, the familiar scent of his aftershave. Then she pulled away with a gasp. "Nick! H-He's still out there!"
"We got him, Rosa," he replied softly. "Judge has refused to grant him bail. You're safe now." Carter reached out to touch her bandaged hands, which looked more like white boxing gloves. "I love you."
I love you too. Her words were broken by fresh tears as she leaned across to kiss him until she was breathless. Carter swallowed hard, thumb grazing her bottom lip.
"I swear, I'll never let anybody hurt you again."
(I have no idea how to end things this is the end bahaha 😂😂)
