His Lover's Killer

It All Makes Sense

It didn't take long for Jake and the others to get here. To my surprise though, they took a helicopter here, I suppose for any medical emergency, which I desperately needed. As I was softly being shook by someone, I slowly opened my eyes and with the last remaining energy I had left, I focused on the figure in front of me.

"Hey, buddy, you okay in there?" The voice sounded so familiar but my head kept throbbing that I could barely process much around me.

"What?" My voice was practically almost gone, and when I tried to swallow, my throat burned that I coughed the nothingness out of it.

"Don't worry Nick, we've got you covered, just hang on a little longer." That familiar tone made me recognize that it was my wingman Jake talking to me. That made me slightly grin, knowing that he's been by my side the whole time, but that smile quickly turned into pain as Jake started to help me off the ground.

"Told you you were stressing this out too much, now look at you." He tried to amuse me as he held me up. Everything in my body hurt like hell, but the pain from my stomach had vanished. Thank god.

Before Jake started to walk me out towards outside, I stomped my one good foot on the ground to pause for a bit. "Wait."

Jake looked at me puzzled. "Nick come on, I can't just leave you here like this."

I took a deep breath, trying to revive my strength and looked up at Jake. "I just wanted to say thank you, for everything you've done to get me this far." I gave him a tiring smile and wrapped my other arm around him, giving him a friendly hug. I could feel his shoulders tense up a bit but accepted and hugged me back.

"No problem, I'm always here to help you out buddy." He replied sweetly, hugging me more close. I haven't had a hug this decent in awhile, it was a nice feeling to have.

"You two can hug all you want after you get fixed up." My brows narrowed by the unrecognizable voice. I turned around and saw Chef stand before us. Jake and I awkwardly and embarrassingly departed, as both of our faces turned red. But Jake nodding, understanding that I need to be left alone and patted my back gently as he left to check up on the body. I stood there alone, facing my boss.

I cleared my throat. "Chef, I uh-" He held out his hand to shut me up.

"I'm proud of what you've accomplished with this case of yours Nick." He told me, as if I were his own son.

I looked up at him shocked but nodded. "Thank you sir, it wasn't the easiest I've done."

He understood and walked closer to me, staring like he was trying to study how I really felt.

"I also understand that if you want to take time off, you are allowed to do so." He told me, knowing how much of a struggle this has been for me. My eyes widen with confusion.

"Sir I can't-" I tried to explain to him but I realized how much I would really need this break. So I simply nodded my head, smiling. "Thank you chef." He reached his hand on my shoulder and gently pat it. 

"Nick." I sharply turned my head towards the voice, which was coming from Jake by the body. "You might want to see this." Puzzled, I slowly walked towards him and crouched right beside him.

"What is it?" I asked him. He held a picture that was stained with blood. 

"Look closely at it and tell me that these aren't the same." He explained as he held up Devin's pale droopy left hand.

I studied closely at the photo and looking back at his hand. "I dont ge-" but something clicked. That ring on his finger was clearly not the same on in the photo. In fact that ring looked very familiar, like the one-. I paused, brought up my hand that had my wedding finger and looked back at the one soon Devin's finger. It couldn't be the same, the only way to find out was to-. I quickly forcefully took off Devin's ring and looked in the inside of the jewelry. Jessica Kendall, it said carved into the side. My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach. It was Jessica's ring... But how did he-. He didn't, the kid did. Now pieces of the puzzle were finally making the bigger picture. I finally get why it all happened, the murdering, the kid trying to distract me, the pain in my chest from the lost. Everything was putting into place. My eyes widen as I exhaled my breathe deeply.

Jake looked at me concerned. "Nick, what's happened?" But I couldn't get a single word out of my mouth. 

All my love, everything that I've put into was this ring that for her, and he fucking took it away. That's why I felt so empty. I slowly stood up, still holding the ring in my palm and clenched my fist into it. I decided to let a couple of tears drip down my face, as I stood frozen, my shoulders shivering a little.

"Nick, are you okay?" Jake asked as he put his hand on my shoulder, making me jump a little.

"Yeah..." I quickly whipped the tears off my face. "I'm okay... I'm okay..." I lied to him, but he could clearly tell by the tears flowing down my face that I wasn't okay, I was heartbroken. He stood there, silently shocked as I stared at the ring that I gave my wife 5 years ago... It would've been our 6th anniversary this June... the first year without my second half... the first year of being a lonely man. 

I quickly shook my head to get the thought away and straightened up. "I should go get checked out." My raspy voice managed to say as I turned and slowly walked towards the helicopter outside. 

"Nick, wait." I turned towards Jake, who was now more worried than ever. 

He swallowed the hard lump in his throat. "Get better soon, please. I'm always here for you if you ever need it." He said like he was afraid that he going to mess up, but smiled at the end.

I gave him a weak smile and short nod in return before continuing my request towards the chopper. I've managed to get there on my own, but needed a little help getting up. When the chopper started to glide up, my thoughts were keeping me occupied as the medics started to treat me. I thought about what I would do when I got home, how quiet it's going to be, no one around to make me feel loved, just me and my thoughts. I shook my head and sighed deeply. This was going be a struggle to get used to, since I was so comfortable with my regular life. But things change, for better or worse and you couldn't do a damn thing about it.