Trauma and Love in a Warehouse
WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT AND LOTS OF CRAZY MADNESS! Be careful please :) enjoy some Lemansky
This is super long, super graphic, and might cause problems. It’s traumatic and GRAPHIC> YOUVE BEEN WARNED!
She was an officer on the street force, Lem was her former partner who now worked on Vic’s strike team and you had to get a new partner.
“Hey! I’m out for the night, can you walk me to my car?” She asks, peeking into the Strike room. Lem looked up at her for a moment with concern but nodded.
“Everything okay?” He asks as he saunters next to her. She nodded, eyes not meeting his. His hand stops her from getting into the car. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She waves it off and gets in.
“You’d tell me, right? I know we’re not partners anymore but you can still talk to me.” He smiles sadly at her. He could tell something was wrong.
“I know, Lem. It’s cool though. I’m okay.” She smiles, patting his hand that rested on the window frame.
“I’ll swing by in a couple hours. That cool? Just to check in on you.” He chuckles, patting her hand back. She nodded and bid him goodnight before she headed home.
Lem went back inside, his stomach flip flopped like a fish. A bad feeling filled his heart and stomach.
“Guys, I gotta go. I don’t have a good feeling. She hasn’t asked me to walk her to her car since that creepy guy was hanging out. I’m gonna head over and check on her. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” He heads to his motorcycle, flooring it to her house. He was so nervous, his hands shook on the grips.
“Vivian?” He calls as he steps into the house. He hears a muffled word or two from the back of the house. “Vivian!” He shouts, trying his best to clear the room before heading towards the back of the house.
“Lem!” She got a shout out and he sprinted back to find the Armenian standing there, her hugged back against him, gun to her head.
“Shit, man.” He breathes.
“Your girlfriend says you don’t know her. She lied.” He shrugs, shooting her in the leg.
“No! Shit! Just let her go man!” He shouts, putting his hands up. The Armenian nods to someone behind him. Lem is tackled to the ground, hands bound with rope and the two are thrown into a van and driven somewhere.
When she came to, she smelled mustiness and a dim blue hue to the room. She looked to the corner of the room and saw Lemansky there, her heart sputtering as she noticed he wasn’t moving.
“Lem?” She whispers, scittering across the floor to him, pulling him up into her arms. “Shit, Lem I’m sorry.” She shakes his shoulders and he slowly comes to. “Oh shit, you okay?” She asks, hand cupping his cheek gingerly.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” He nods, hugging her gently. “Where are we?”
“Some kind of warehouse I imagine. The lighting in here sucks. They’ve been on the phone with some cop most of the time I’ve been awake.” She informs softly, holding to his arm. An Armenian starts walking towards the cage, unlocking the door and heading straight for her. The man grabs at her, but Lem kicks out a boot and connects with his calf, a groan escaping when something hits Lem in the back, electrocuting him and he drops to the floor violently shaking.
“You give us the money, we go away. Leave you and Lemon boy alone.” The man’s thick accent drawls.
“What money?” She asks, grabbing at the Armenian.
“Our money that Lemon boy and his cop friends took. Cletus? You know him?” He asks, showing her a picture of Shane.
“Yeah, I work with him. What money are you talking about?” He uses a scalpel and makes three little marks on her arm, pouring salt on them and rubbing them. She screamed in pain, the burning searing hot pain.
“Tell me about money!” He shouts in her face. She screams in pain as he continues to grind the little salt grains into her arm. She felt as if glass were being shoved into the wounds.
“I don’t k-kn-kn-ow anything!” She shrieks. He shakes his head, making three little marks on her other arm. Just like before he rubbed salt and sand into the marks, a little deeper and and little longer than the others. Blood trickled down her arms and she had almost lost her voice in the two hours they’d tortured her. He sliced a thin piece of skin from her arm, leaving a wide open wound, pouring alcohol all over it. Her arm was on fire and she screamed with all she had left. She could no longer find any strength, and sagged against the chain link fence defeated and tired. She was dragged back to the cell and tossed onto the cold cement floor. Lem rushed her, his eyes worrying over every visible inch of skin he could see. Unbuttoning his shirt, he pulls off his button down shirt and rips a sleeve off, wrapping it around the wounds on her arms.
“Christ Viv, I’m so sorry.” He whispers, hugging her to his warm body. She felt the warmth under her quaking fingers, but she couldn’t move, so she reveled in the warmth that she could feel.
Every day was the same, they arrived at some point to take her away, torture her, only for her to say the same thing over and over again.
“Please! Christ! I know where the money is! Let me show you!” He cries, fingers gripping through the fence. He pleaded for them to stop, threatened them, he cried for them to stop.
“We torture until Vic Mackey show up.” The man growls, taking out of his sight. He paced the cage back and forth, back and forth, wondering what they were doing to her. When they brought her back, she was sopping wet, much like a drenched towel, and mimicked the sound it made. He was quick to pull her wet clothes off, drying her with what was left of his button down before putting his white tee shirt over her. His stomach gurgled so loudly it woke her.
“Hey, how you feelin?” He asks, giving a sad chuckle.
“Could be worse I suppose.” She gives a small smile and the tiniest chuckle, which is met with hacking and coughing, spitting out white foamy substance.
“They give you a shower back there?” He asks, holding her tightly against his own body to share what little body heat he had left.
“Water boarded, want money. Know anything?” He shook his head against hers.
“Nah, you okay? They dropped off a couple bottles of water for us. If you can handle it.” He whispers, brushing his cheek against hers.
“Yeah, could use some.” She whispers, hugging his warm torso. “You remember the time when we went to investigate that murder of a guy and his—“ She started to cough so hard against him that he had to hold onto her.
“And the guy was alive? Holed up in his backyard? You took off after him and tackled his big ass. When I got there you had that poor guy crying.” He chuckles, and so does she. She pats his knee in thanks. They drifted in and out of consciousness the rest of the night. As the morning light peeked through the window way above their heads waking up Lem.
“Viv, wake up.” He whispers, shaking her a little. She snorted and he agreed. What did she really need to be up for? A man reached through the fence, grabbed Lem’s arms as another man grabbed her and dragged her from the cage. They removed Lem’s shirt and and tossed it back into the cage with him. “What are you doing? Where is she?” He shouts, knuckles white from gripping so tightly. The man didn’t respond as Lem grabbed the shirt from the ground. He could hear her screams, hear something smacking something. Almost sounded like she was being whipped. “Man why don’t you let her go? She didn’t do anything! Just let her go!” A scream echoes through the building and he cringes.
“You tell us where money is, we stop torturing girlfriend.” The man drones before disappearing. He was a caged animal, wound for sound. He made a plan of attack when they brought her back. He dives through the door as they drop her on the floor. He jumps the man, knocking him on the floor and biting his ear off, spitting it on the floor. His fists hit the man’s face relentlessly until he is pulled off and thrown into the cage. The door slams shut, a taser hitting him in the back, leaving two half-dollar sized welts on his shoulder as they left them.
“Lem, shit.” She whispers, she sounded so tired and weak. His heart broke. As he regained his muscle function, he pulled her close to him. She hissed in pain and when he saw what he’d touched he vomited. Of course nothing but water came up, but he couldn’t help but gag. Her back looked like raw meat that wasn’t quite ran through the grinder.
“Dammit!” He shouts, pulling her gingerly over to lay on top of him, flattening the rest of his button up and ripping it up to cover her back. “I’m so sorry. Shit, Viv. I knew something was up. Why didn’t you tell me someone was following you? You knew!” He hissed, but she couldn’t hear him. She was completely gone for the next few hours. They appeared one more time, dragging her away from him. One stayed in the cage, kicking and shoving him, punching him into unconsciousness. As they brought her back without earlobes, Lem was groggy. He thought he saw blood running down her neck, but he couldn’t be sure. He wrapped the last scrap of his shirt around her head like a headband, using a button to fasten it.
“I’m sorry, Viv. Christ I’m sorry.” He sobs, rocking her gently as he breathed softly and slowly, finding it so hard to breathe. He was sure they’d busted a couple ribs. “Viv,” he whispered, smoothing his thumb across her cheek.
“You remember, Lem, when that guy shot you in the shoulder?” Her voice wasn’t more than a whisper, he wasn’t sure he’d really heard her.
“Yeah, told him,” he winced in pain. “Told him he was an asshole and the next time he’d better have good aim. You were pissed that I didn’t tell you until I got it checked out.”
“You bled,” she took a shaky breath. “All over the car.”
“Yeah, I remember. You told me the next time you were gonna make me walk to the station if I didn’t tell you.” He chuckled, grabbing his sides.
“Yeah. Love you, Lem.” She hushed, pressing a trembling hand to his cheek.
“Pineapples,” he whispers, grabbing her hand and holding it against his cheek.
“Pineapples.” She whispers, sagging against him. He heard the sound of lots of trucks running, the Armenians were leaving. In his heart, something broke. He listened to the shallow breaths she sucked in and prayed someone would find her.
“Lemansky! Vivian!” Lem was sure he was hallucinating. It was seven days without food or enough water. He gave a sad laugh. This was it. He was sure he would die soon.
“Lem? Lem!” Shane stood in front of him, a whole squad of people standing behind him. Lem pulled his tee shirt over her sleeping body and pushed her back against the wall and stood in front of her. “Lem? It’s Shane and Vic, we got you buddy.” He assures, busting the lock off the door and welcoming Lem and Vivian to leave. The big blonde’s legs gave out from under him and he crawled to her and shielded her body with his own and fell into unconsciousness.
“It’s okay, I’m sorry, Viv.” He whispered. Shane and the whole squad watched on in shock. Even in his unconsciousness he tried to shield as much of her as he could. He no longer had a shirt on, his back covered in burn marks, cuts, and bruises.
Shane pulled her away from him, but his elbow swung out and hit him in the nose.
“Damn man! It’s just me, dude!” He grabs her arms again, and this time Lem’s eyes blink open for a second, and Shane’s hand rests on his shoulder. “I got her, man.” Lem’s head hit the concrete and Shane carried her from the warehouse.
“Shit! Her back man! Her back!” Vic shouted while he watched as Shane pulled her from the cage, and Vic reached for Lem’s arm.
“Lemonhead, it’s me. I’m gonna get you on your feet now, okay?” He asks, patting the blonde’s arm as he pulled him to his feet. The minute Vic and Ronnie got him pulled to his feet he tumbled forward, heading for the ambulance. “Lem! Let us help you!” Vic calls as he runs to grab him before he falls again.
“Viv! I need Viv! They’re gonna hurt her!” He calls, jogging towards the leaving ambulance. He lands on his knees, shouting at the ambulance. “Vivian! I’m sorry! Vic, man. Vic. They hurt her so bad.” He cries, grabbing his bald leader’s arm and helping him pull himself up.
“I know, Lem. It’s gonna be okay. Go over here with me. Let’s get you checked out so you can go see her. Hmm?” He asks as he leads him to the second ambulance.
“Okay. She’s safe? She’s in the ambulance, right?” He asks as they sit him down.
“Yeah, bud. She’s safe. In the ambulance. Quit worrying right now. Focus on being safe.” Vic assures, patting his arm. His phone rings and he answers, walking away from Lem for a minute.
“It’s Shane, man. They say she’s pretty banged up. Can you ask Lem if he knows what they were rubbing into her cuts?” He asks, and when Vic’s eyes meet Lem’s nervous ones he groans.
“Lem, Shane’s with her. He needs to know what they were rubbing in her wounds.” He calls as he heads back over.
“Salt and sand.” He calls back, gripping the edge of the gurney.
“Damn, alright.” He puts the phone back to his mouth. “He said salt and sand.”
“Alright cool. Does he know what they whipped her with?”
“You know what they whipped her with?” Vic asks, sitting next to the tech on the bench seat as they close the bus doors and head for the hospital.
“Nah, I couldn’t see her. It sounded thick and plastic-y though. Like maybe a plastic coated cord of some sort. Ya know? She’s rough, man. Is she gonna make it?” He asks, grabbing Vic’s forearm.
“Yeah, she’s gonna be fine.” He assures, “said it could be a cord of some sort, it sounded plastic-y when it hit her.”
“Okay, last question, her lungs were full of water.”
“They waterboarded her.” Lem chokes on a sob, remembering how tattered she was in his arms. Vic repeated the information to Shane.
“Shit guys, I wanna kill these Armenian assholes.” The Georgian growls, and he punches the wall in her hospital room. “They’re currently stitching her earlobes and the biggest cuts on her back. From there they treat her lungs and get her on a drip IV for fluids. Say about a week and a half she should be able to go home. Doc says she’s gonna need a lot of counseling. He also said to tell Lem good war doctor skills. Said if Lem hadn’t used his shirt she’d have bled out.” Shane hushes, not wanting Lem to overhear it.
“Yeah, glad that worked. Listen, we’re here now. Got Lem goin’ in for liquids and possible broken ribs. I’ll meet you up in her room in an hour.” Vic hangs up as they wheel the big blonde into a room.
“Vic! Tell her I’ll be up when I can! Tell her man!” Lem shouts as they pull him away from Vic. “No! I gotta see her! Please! They’re gonna kill her! Please let me go!” Lem shrieks, jerking at the restraints.
“Shane, go get a camera out of the truck.” Vic barks as he steps into the room. She almost seemed a zombie wrapped in so much gauze.
“Yeah, so Lem can see her in his room. Put his mind at ease.” Shane disappeared, getting a video camera and attaching it on the wall opposite her bed.
They hooked it to the tv in Lem’s room.
“Hey kid, got ya a video camera, little stalker.” Vic chuckles, patting his hand. Turning on the tv, he hears Lem heave a huge sigh seeing her in the hospital bed on her tummy, her back covered in gauze.
“It’s okay, thank you a lot. It helps a little to see her. Sorry for acting so dumb earlier.” He whispers, eyes glued to the screen.
“It’s alright Lem. You saved her life, ya know?” Vic smiles a little. Lem’s eyes meet his darkly.
“No, I got her into this mess. They thought she was my girlfriend. Thought I told her about that train. They beat her to a pulp because of me, Vic.”
“No, Lem. They didn’t. Listen to me, okay? She was kidnapped by Armenian mob guys. We don’t know why, probably because we got the long-haired foot jesus and Armadillo. Okay? We’ll get to the bottom of this. Now you need rest. It’s been a long seven days, okay?” He asks, hand reaching for the blonde.
“Nah, can’t sleep unless she’s in the cell.” He mumbles as he falls asleep. “Need her in the cell. Need Vivian!” He shouts, jolting awake. His eyes fall on the screen to find her still there asleep.
“Sleep Lemonhead.” Vic whispers, patting his head and leaving the room.
She waited for Shane and Vic to come back impatiently. She needed to know what was happening to Lem. The minute the two entered the room she grabbed Shane’s arm and dragged him to her side.
“Where’s Lem? Is he okay?” She asks, gripping his hand so hard he groaned.
“He’s fine, got one cracked rib and lots of little burns from what looks like—“
“A taser.” She whispers, eyes filling with tears.
“Darlin’, don’t cry. Lem’s watchin’ you. We put in a little camera for him so he could see you. Said he couldn’t stay in his room without you.” Shane smiles, pointing to the camera on the wall. Her eyes look back to the camera and she gives a gentle, weak smile and a tiny wave. Grabbing her nurse call button, she pushes it gently to get assistance. A nurse appears moments later, concerned.
“Hi, I just need to be rolled on my back please. I can’t sleep like this. Please, at least call the doctor and ask?” She asks, grabbing her hand. The nurse’s eyes looked back to the door for a moment and she huffed softly. Shane gives her a wink, and she smiles shyly and nods to you.
“Let me change your dressings really quick and I’ll flip you.” She gives in and starts to pull gently the gauze from her back.
“Lem.” She whispers, giving Shane a look. He moves in front of the camera for a moment while her dressing is changed. Once they finish, she gets rolled onto her back. Wincing in pain, she moves a little to get comfortable before watching the nurse heading out the door. Shane follows close behind, telling her what a hero his friend was and how distraught he’d been to find them. She chuckles as the door shut.
“Vic, what’s going on?” She asks very seriously. He gave her a confused look. “You know what I mean, the money. They thought I was Lem’s girlfriend. Said you guys stole some money. I’m gonna guess it’s more than a hundred bucks.” She gives him a look.
“Look here, they got to you because of the foot stealing Jesus and Armedillo, nothing more.” He assures, patting her arm.
“Vic, they said your name. Vic Mackey.” She whispers, grabbing his hand. His eyes met the camera which looked back at Lemansky.
“I was a major part of the Armedillo case. Arrested the asshole and arrested the asshole that killed him. They were probably getting back at Lem for what the Strike team did.” He coos, giving her a sweet smile. “I’m really sorry about what happened to you and Lem. I’m gonna kill these bastards.” He assures, leaving the room. She pushed her call button once more, and the same nurse appeared once more.
“I’m sorry, I was just wondering if there was a way to call another room.” She whispers, tears filling her eyes.
“Sure! Here’s the phone, dial nine and then his room number. It’s three-two-eight.” She whispers as she hands her the phone. She waited, watched as the girl in the bed dialed, waiting to hear his voice.
“Hello?” He rasps, waking up to the ringing.
“Shit.” She whispers, a hiccup caught the tears in her throat and she cried like a baby. “Hi Lem.” She whispers, gripping the phone tightly.
“Hey, you okay?” His gruff voice was gentle and he sounded so tired.
“Yeah, I’m good.” She looks up to the camera, and he felt a tear slip down his face. His heart started to pound, he closed his eyes and felt the rush of being back there, the cool concrete under him, the cold metal fence against his hot back, raw from the burns there. “Lem, it’s okay. Open your eyes. Lemansky!” She barks, and his eyes flash open and meet the screen. She was looking back at him. “It’s alright.” She whispers, gripping the phone in a quaking hand. Tears tracking down her cheeks as she looked into the camera.
“I can see you, the tears.” He chuckles, sniffling. “Quit crying, it’s okay. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. How’s your back feel?” He asks, quickly trying to change the subject.
“It’s okay. Hurts in a few different spots but the doctors said it was mostly just swelling though. There’s a few gashes he said, but mostly just gonna be sore and bruise majorly. How you doing?” She asks, wishing so badly to see him. Her heart ached for him. For seven long days, the two of them were all they had and now they were separated and she felt anxious and scared.
“I’m good. One cracked rib and lots of bruising and burns from the stun gun shocks. I’m okay, though.Superficial shit if you ask me.” He chuckles.
“I wanna see you so bad.” She whimpers as she pulls the phone away from her mouth as she said it. He heard her though.
“I know, it’s okay. I’ll see you soon. I just know it.” He assures, hands winding in the blankets. He hears whispering on the other side and he starts to panic. “You okay? Vivian? What’s your room number?” He yells.
“Three-twenty-five. I’m okay. It’s just Dutch and Claudette.” She smiles, greeting the two and waving to the camera. Lem smiles at her, though she couldn’t see him her heart was at peace. “Pineapple.” She giggles. He retorts the same word, grinning at the grin on her face. “Bye, call you in a few.” She hung up and his heart rate spiked. A few nurses were brought it and they calmed him down.
“Lemansky, calm down.” He started to hyperventilate. His heart beat so hard and fast he couldn’t breathe. He kept sucking in, but he couldn’t breathe.
“Need Vivian. Need her. Armenians have her. In pain. Need her. No! Don’t touch her!” He shrieks, eyes squeezed shut trying to concentrate but all he could see was her being dragged away from him.
A nurse stepped into her room and grabbed her bed another nurse grabbed monitors.
“What’s going on?” She asks, concerned as Claudette and Dutch followed close behind. They wheeled her silently across the hall and down a few doors, popping open another door and let her into the room. Lem, her sweet partner, back arched off the bed and hands gripping the blankets. His teeth were clenched together so tightly, he foamed at the corners of his mouth, eyes squeezed shut. She gasped and sat up, her back aching and burning as she moved so quickly. She heard people talking in the background but all she could see was Lem. “Lem! Lem!” She shouts, grabbing his face.
“Lem! It’s Viv!” She shrieks, her hands framing his chin and pulling him carefully to her chest. “Breathe, breathe Lem.” She begs, hugging him.
“Viv? Did they hurt you? Are you okay?” He gasps, breathing in her warm sweet scent.
“Yeah, Lem. I’m okay. I’m okay sweet boy.” She coos, smoothing her knuckles across his cheeks.
“Darlin’. Shit. You’re okay?” He asks, heaving a few huge breaths.
“I’m okay.” She giggles. Lem slides over on the other side of the bed, patting the empty spot next to him.
“Lay down.” He whispers, pulling her carefully into the bed. He pulls her to him, cuddling her against him. Heaving a heavy sigh of relief, he whispers to her, like he’d done so many times the past seven days.
“Lem, tell me about the cock fighting you went to with Shane.” She hushes, her head resting on his chest.
“That was crazy. Shane did really good though. But he’s a redneck by nature. We infiltrated this cockfighting ring, with his prized rooster, and he won a few fights, lost a few. But I felt bad for the poor rooster.”
“Yeah, Lem wanted to to take them all home.” Shane calls from the door, making the room full of people chuckle. The nurses stood by smiling at their problem-solving abilities. Seconds after she heard Shane’s voice, she was sleeping soundly against Lem.
“Don’t wake her up.” Lem hushes, waving the group out the door.
“Lem, we gotta talk, man.” Shane whispers, eyes on her sleeping face while he spoke.
“No. We don’t. I’m gonna sleep. You can go.” The blonde nods, waving the brunette out of the room.
“No, man. We gotta talk about —“
“No, Shane. We don’t. This is my fault. Just please, go. I can’t lose her yet. Not like this. Let her heal first.” He whispers, tears filling his eyes as he thumbed her cheek.
“No Shane! If we hadn’t gotten in this trouble, she wouldn’t be here like this. She’s traumatized. Doc says she may never return to the force. She may never trust another person ever. And I don’t wanna be part of the last group yet.” He growls, shutting his eyes and gripping the hemmed edge of her gown back.
“Lem? What are you talking about?” She asks, groggily coming to.
“Nothing, just some shit at work.” He chuckles, eyes meeting Shane’s in fear.
“Quit working, you’re still on leave.” She giggles, patting his chest to make sure he was still real underneath her.
A couple weeks droned on, the two barely were without each other. She found her best times were with Lem close enough to touch. She’d been severely traumatized. The first shower they tried to give her she went into shock. They had finally been put in an apartment together with a physical therapist and a psychologist who met with them once every other day. They were on twenty-four-hour surveillance.
“Shane, that money wasn’t supposed to get us into this kind of trouble.” Lem spoke low, as she wasn’t currently in the room and he didn’t know what she could hear.
“I know man, but we needed the money.” Shane argued.
“No! You and Vic needed it! I wanted it, but I didn’t need it. Now she’s in psychotherapy for what I did, what we did.” He growls, pointing a stern finger at him.
“Lem? What are you talking about?” She steps into the room, eyes wide and glossy with unshed tears.
“The money?” She gasped, grabbing her chest. She sank to the floor and cried so hard her body shook. Lem tried to get close to her, but she shoved him away.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out. I—-We.”
“Save it!” She screamed, grabbing her bag and heading out the door.
“Don’t go! Shit I’m sorry! Let me call someone to come get you!” He shouts, running after her.
“No! You’ve done plenty!” She cries and storms down the sidewalk. Lem sank into a corner of the room, arms hugged to himself, rocking back and forth. Shane watched him revert back to the mentality of the warehouse.
“Viv, Viv I’m sorry.” He whispers, crying as he rocked himself.
“Lem-“ He didn’t finish. He felt his heart break as the big, goofy blonde tipped sideways and laid flat against the floor, sobbing so hard and uncontrollable. Shane knelt in front of him only to be kicked back on his ass.
She went to the station. She didn’t know what else to do. She found Vic in the Strike squad room, filing some paperwork.
“You, Lem, Shane, and Ronnie.” She whispered, falling on the floor and heaving a sigh. She had no tears left to cry anymore.
“I heard Lem. I can’t stay there.” She whispers, pulling herself onto her feet. Vic’s phone rang as he kneeled in front of her.
“Vic its Shane! Lem’s losin’ it man! Says he’s gonna turn himself in!” Shane shouts as his boot hit the pavement in the background.
“Well stop him!” He barks back, grabbing his keys and her and tossing her over his shoulder. He rushes out and gets into his car when he sees Lem come rolling in on his motorcycle. “Please, if you love him, go stop him. I have a plan to get this off our backs, I just need a little time. Please stop him.” Her eyes fell onto the blonde storming into the station. Taking a moment to breathe, she nods. She jogs to catch up and grabs his arm.
“Lem, stop.” She ushers him back to his bike. He pulls her tight against him, careful of her back.
“I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. I wish I never got involved. Please let me turn myself in and make it right. It’s my fault. All of it. I’m sorry.” He whispers, tears falling on her shoulder as he hugged her.
“Lem, it’s not on you. Okay? Let’s go back to the apartment and talk about it. Okay?” She asks, getting him onto the bike and clipping on his helmet. “Let’s go home. Okay? Let’s talk about it.”
“No, let me turn myself in. I just can’t live with this. I might as well have tortured you. I might as well have. Me. Whipped you, waterboarded you, beat you. You didn’t have aa clue. I tried to tell them, but they wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t listen to me. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. Viv, say something!” He cries, hands gripping her shoulders.
“Lem, let’s go talk about it at home.” She whispers, tears falling down her cheeks.
“You hate me.” He chokes out.
“Do you?” He barks. Her eyes look at the ground. “Do you hate me?”
“I hate what they did to me. I hate what you did, but I don’t hate you.” She mutters. “The waterboarding, the torture, it brought us close, Lem. I do love you, trust me. After what we experienced together, you’re my night in shining armor. I’ll see you as my hero for the rest of my life.” She states, holding his hands in hers.
“You mean you love me?” He asks, eyes wide.
“Jesus, Viv. You love me? For real?” He asks. She grabs his cheeks in her hands and pulls him down to kiss him.
“I love you.” She whispers, her lips inches away from his. He closed the gap once more in a warm, sweet kiss. “Now let’s go home and talk about this thing. I wanna understand, I gotta know how to save you.” She smiles, climbing on the back of his motorcycle as he drove to his apartment.
