On Thin Ice

Alex Burrow’s p.o.v.

By the time I woke up, I was in the hospital, being checked for concussion symptoms and broken bones. T thought hard to remember how I ended up in the hospital. It didn’t take me long to remember, “Mac!!! Shit, Price took Mac!” I tried to stand up, but a sharp pain shot through my body, and focuses on my ribs, leaving me breathless.

I looked down at my bandaged side, “I don’t even remember getting hit in my…..oh….” It must have happened when Carey initially punched my on the docks to get me down. I sucked in some air, and stood up, trying to bear through the pain by clenching my teeth together. As I was nearing th e door, it swung open, and my shaking legs gave out from underneath me.

“Alex!! What the hell are you doing out of bed? Are you crazy?!” That voice…it was Mac…Price didn’t have her. What a relief. She kneeled next to me and forced my arm around her neck as she led me back to the bed.

“Wait, what happened to Carey?” I squeezed out, wincing as I forced myself to sit up in the hospital bed.

She looked away from me, “He’s gone right now. He left. But he took me. After you were passed out on the dock, he threw me over his shoulder and took me onto this little boat. It was kind of like the one you had, but smaller… I tried to fight him... but it didn’t work…I tried to tackle him into the water, but he caught me, and I ended up losing both of my shoes into the harbor.” I noticed tears streaking down her face. I pulled her close to me, making her lay on the bed with me.

“What did he do, Mac? Did he hurt you?” I asked softly.

She nodded, “He told me what on the yacht two years ago. Price said he paid off the captain of your yacht to set explosives in the bottom of the ship. It was supposed to look like a tragic accident. He also mentioned to the captain that if anything went wrong, to help us out, and make it look like he had nothing to do with it. Your captain; who threw you a flashlight to help look for me, who helped us out of the water, tried to kill us.”

I kissed her forehead, “Is that all that happened when he took you?”

She shook her head, tears rolling down her face harder, “Alex, Carey….he said he’d kill you if I didn’t do what he wanted…I’m so sorry…I didn’t want to do it…but I had to….” She buried her face into my chest.

Rage seared through me, “Mac, what did he do to you?” I swear to God, I’m going to cut Price’s balls off, and gag him with it. Normally people would say they’d kill a man, but I have a girlfriend to protect, and being in jail is not in my interest.

There was a knock on the door, and Rostislav Olesz poked his head in, “Hey Burrows, you doing alright?” He entered the room with some flowers. “I know, it is kinda lame for a man to bring another man flowers, but you’re Machete’s boyfriend, so I though “Hey, what the hell?” you know?”

I forced a smile, not because I wasn’t appreciative of the flowers, but because there was something horrible that my girlfriend had experienced with her drunken ex-boyfriend, and I needed to figure out what it was. “Thanks. Olesz, I feel great, but do you mind if you give us a little privacy for little bit longer?” I inclined my head at Mac, with her face in my chest.

Olesz smiled, “Is no problem. I’ll try to ward off all the other visitors.” He turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. I could hear him speaking to someone, probably Salak, in Czech. He sounded like He was confirming something.

I turned my attention back to Mac, “Mac, you have to tell me what Carey did. If you don’t, he’ll get away with it. Do you want that?” She shook her head no. “Then you need to tell me. What did he do to you?”

She shook her head again, “He told me he’d kill you if I told anyone. I can’t lose you, Alex. We just got each other back. I love you too much to put your life in danger.”

I brushed her hair out of her face, and lifted her chin up, “I love you too. More than anything in the world…even hockey, and babe, I would die for you. IF I am killed because I know what Price did to you, then dammit, let me die, because I am not going to stand by and watch you get hurt again.”

I kissed her lips, claiming them as my own, and Carey Price would never get the chance to touch them with his lips ever again. She didn’t say too much after the kiss, but she did tell me what happened to her, and I almost wished I didn’t ask.

“Alex, you’ve been unconscious for two weeks….I was a prisoner of Carey Price’s until a couple days ago, when I found a way to escape… when Carey took me, he…he...raped me everyday that I was his prisoner….” She paused for a moment, “I’m so sorry Alex. There wasn’t anything I could do…”

“What is it? Baby, you don’t need to be sorry, it is not your fault. He’s a monster.”

“Alex, I’m pregnant with Carey Price’s child.”