by Lee Heaven
“Alright Maggie spill it. What the fuck is going on.” Max demanded after we made it a few steps down the street.
I spilled the story to Max. I told him everything. Well almost everything, I didn’t tell him Jon was married. That’s all I needed, if Max ever spilled my story, I didn’t want the world knowing that Tobias Charles’s girlfriend had slept with a married man.
As we walked up to my building, I pulled Max into it. I know he was just expecting to walk me home and leave so when I steered him to the door he looked at me weird.
“He’s watching us. You said Sarah gave you an interview you need to come in so it looks like you were telling the truth. Please.” I know my please came out as begging but it was also laced with fear.
“Maggie you need to put a restraining order on this guy. Is he always watching you? Has he come after you before?”
“He’s only come after me once before, I haven’t been out by myself since then. He follows me every day. Always in the shadow, never lets me see him, but I can feel him. I know he’s there.”
I usher Max into the living room and grab us a couple of bottles of water from the fridge. I don’t know how long we sat on the couch. But before I knew it Sarah was walking in the door with Jimmy and Josie talking a mile a minute about her day at school.
Jimmy took one look at Max and froze mid step. Sarah slammed into the back of him. “What the fuck Jimmy! Get your fucking ass out of my way,” her ‘Jersey Trucker Mouth’ rambled as she side stepped him and then froze at the sight of Max sitting on the couch. “What the fuck Maggie?”
Max stood and looked at me, “Spill it to her or I will. I’ll catch you later,” he said as he headed for the door sidestepping Jimmy who looked like he was about to lay him out.
I was crying and spilling the whole story before the front door even closed. Jimmy picked up my arm and turned it over and for the first time I noticed the bruising in the shape of fingers on my wrist where Jon had gripped me. He flipped my other arm over and there was more bruising.
Jimmy was on the phone and walking away without saying a word. My phone rang making me jump. I looked at the screen and saw Tobias’s smiling face. I couldn’t face him right now. I knew the boys would be back tonight after the game, but speaking to him now, with the emotions coming out of me at this moment there would be no way to hid what happened and this wasn’t a discussion we should have on the phone.
Jimmy was back just as there was a knock at the door. There was a bustling as one of the other guards walked to the door, but I ignored everything as I hung my head in my hands. How could I have been this stupid? I watched Sarah get abused mentally for months and then only a few months ago had the shit kicked out of her and a few weeks ago was kidnapped by her psycho ex. Now here I was with my own psycho stalker.
“Ms. Hemsworth?” I heard a male voice ask. I recognized it but couldn’t place it without looking at the face. I didn’t want to look, that would involve having to admit there was an issue and I didn’t want there to be an issue.
“Maggie, Detective Kelly is here you need to talk to him,” Sarah said from besides me as she rubbed my shoulder.
I grunted as I looked up at him. It was not fair. Couldn’t my life ever go easy for once? I didn’t want to always be the weak one, but I always was. No matter how strong I thought I was I was always beaten down and shown to be the weak one.
“Detective Kelly, you are here way too often in the past months, we ought to start paying your salary,” I joked as I looked up at him. “And you know better by now, call me Maggie.”
He chuckled and a smile spread across his lips, “So true Maggie. With the mess you two girls keep getting into, you will no doubt keep me a busy man till I retire.”
Sarah burst out laughing. Detective Kelly was probably only in his mid-thirties and had a long career still ahead of him. “Detective Kelly, if that is the case please do me a favor and make up some charge to lock me up. I don’t want another twenty years of trouble.”
“Will do Sarah, How are you feeling? Has your ex tried to contact you again?” I was shocked at his question, I had no idea her ex tried to contact her. Wait which ex?
“No, they made sure he lost his phone privileges.” Ah Kevin. The psycho who kidnapped her, I wonder why she didn’t tell me he tried to call her. I looked at her weird and she shook her head and flipped her hand at me as if she was saying not now.
Detective Kelly turned his attention towards me, “All right Maggie, it’s your turn. Start spilling your story.”
I relayed my story once again. I made sure to cover everything from the day he pulled the gun on Jacob and Landon, to how our relationship –was it even a relationship, I don’t know- started, how he trapped me in the street a few weeks ago to following me every day and ending with today’s events.
“I want to talk to Max Phillips,” Detective Kelly said.
“I’m sure he’s around let me call him. I bet he could be here in a matter of minutes,” Sarah said as she got up from the couch and pressed a few buttons on her phone.
My phone rang again and noticing it was Tobias I looked up to Jimmy who grabbed my phone. I didn’t say anything, but I’m sure my eyes pleaded with him not to tell him. He shook his head at me and disappeared into the dining room. I just prayed that he didn’t spill what was going on. I didn’t want that conversation with him over the phone.
Like Sarah said, not even two minutes later Max was walking in the door. He was also followed by another man. But the second guy certainly wasn’t a reporter, he looked more like a body guard. He was probably 6’4” maybe even taller and had sandy brown hair. His arms were thick and one had a twisting barbed wire tattooed down it. His shirt was tight and stretched across his chest showing off his muscles and I’m more then sure that his abs were defined and ripped. His thighs were huge and the jeans he wore stretched across them I’m sure was only being held together by a miracle as I’m betting they were stretched to the limit.
Max shook Detective Kelly’s hand and started relaying his side of the story. How he knew as we stood in front of the dentist something wasn’t right. How he followed me afterwards and waited for Jon to make his move. Max didn’t tell me he followed me. But I did know he knew something wasn’t right this morning. Then he relayed how when Jon came up behind me it was my facial reaction that told him there was something wrong and how he was able to get me away.
Detective Kelly thanked him, gave him a card and told him if he thought of anything else to call him. Max smiled at me and then left. The big guy that came in with Max didn’t leave with him and I was now just staring at him not paying attention, even though I knew Detective Kelly was talking to me. But I was too busy having a have stare down with the tree of a man standing in the living room.
Jimmy came back in from the living room and walked over to the ‘Tree’. They did that half chest bump male hug thing. They talked for a minute and then walked over to me. I still stared at the ‘Tree’. Never taking my eyes off his, they were this clear icy blue color. If I didn’t stare at his eyes long enough I would actually think his eyes had no color they were that clear.
Jimmy clapped his hands in front of my face twice and pulled me out of my trance. “Have you heard a word anyone has said to you?” He laughed at me.
I closed my eyes and shook my head to shake the fogginess out of my brain. I knew I was blushing since I had been caught staring at this man and not paying attention to anyone else. I noticed Sarah laughing next to me and Detective Kelly was smiling and shaking his head.
“Maggie, this is Liam Littlesmith. You are to go nowhere without him. You cannot take a step outside this apartment unless you are covered. Nowhere. Do you understand me?”
“Got it, Jimmy. Tobias?”
“He thinks you’re in the shower. You need to call him back in a little. They get on the plane in two hours and should be home around eleven tonight,” Jimmy said as he handed my phone back to me.
I turned my attention back to Detective Kelly, �
�What now? What are my options?”
“I’ll go back and file my report. We’ll issue a temporary restraining order and in a few days there will be a court hearing to determine if a full restraining order is warranted. In the mean time I suggest you head the advice of your friends and take this guy with you everywhere, Maggie don’t be alone. I’ll have someone swing by with a copy of the restraining order after it’s issued. Jon will be served with one to.”
“Thank you Detective,” I said as I stood up to shake his hand. As Jimmy showed him out I grabbed my phone off the table and locked Sarah with stare, “You and I will talk after I get off the phone with Tobias.” She didn’t need me to say anything else she knew what I was talking about.
I flopped down on my bed as he picked up. “Hey sweetheart,” he swooned through the phone.
“Hi,” I whispered back. I didn’t trust my voice not to crack if I spoke normal.
“Maggie what’s wrong?” His voice was serious.
“I just miss you. I hate when you go away,” I said as my voice cracked.
“Ahh, sweetheart, I’ll be home in a few hours. We actually look like were running early, so we may be home earlier. But how about I make you happy now?’
“What do you mean Tobias?” I asked confused.
“How about I take you out on an official date when I get back this weekend. I know we’ve been out but it was always just as friends, how about this time I take you out for real. Dinner and the works. You name it, whatever you want.”
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. I was so excited. “Tobias…” I was able to say around my huge smile.
“How about I also take you to Sarah’s fundraiser that she’s planning for in the beginning of July?”
“Tobias you’re going to make me cry if you don’t stop.”
“I’ll hope they would be tears of joy. I never want to make you cry tears of pain. Sweetheart, I have to run so we can get to the airport. I’ll see you when we get home. Wait up for me.”
Like always he hung up the phone without allowing me to say a word. Someday I’ll have to ask him about that.
I squealed like a teenage girls as I leapt from my bed and sprang into the kitchen. Sarah was standing at the stove making a pot of what smelled like spaghetti sauce, a lump of dough was rising on the counter. It’s amazing what she pulled off in the kitchen in a matter of a few minutes.
If Sarah was happy we all ate wonderful meals, but if she was nervous or upset, all we ate were cookies, cakes and bread and it was major carb overload. I usually had to make some reheats that night. We worked well together. Knew each other faults, when to push each other and when to back off and leave each other alone. It’s like we have known each other for years instead of a few months.
“Good news?” She smiled over her shoulder at me. I knew she heard me squeal but she would never say otherwise. She was cool like that. Just like she knew I would never talk about the nights I heard her screaming from nightmares or the night I heard the bed slamming against the wall as her and Decker had sex.
“Tobias finally asked me on a real date. A REAL DATE!” I bounced from one foot from the other.
“Haven’t you guys already been out?” She asked confused.
“We’ve been out to lunch and on errands together. We’ve been out to dinner with you and Decker. But never on real date. He also asked me to your fundraiser.”
“Well in that case, it’s about time. So the “Tree” out there,” she said as she cocked her head towards the living room, “are you going to be ok with him.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “I can’t believe you called him a tree, that’s exactly what I was thinking when he was just standing there. I think I need him.” That was the end of the discussion, we both knew it.
I walked over to the iPod dock and placed my phone on it, Hunter Hayes started singing Wanted and Sarah and I started dancing around the kitchen with each other, singing along with the song. Trying to do our best impressions of ballet moves that we could possible think we could pull off.
We were breathless and giggling by the time we were done and we really burst out laughing as we noticed Jimmy and Liam aka the Tree leaning against the doorjamb watching us.
~~~
The clock was pushing close to twelve-thirty, Tobias had text me almost two hour ago and said they landed and would be home soon. I knew Sarah got a similar text from Decker and was probably thinking the same thing I was ‘Where they hell were they’. It’s never taken this long to get home and neither one of them are answering their phones.
Jimmy and Liam sat at the poker table with Jimmy’s girlfriend Chelsea. The boys were losing to her bad. I wasn’t sure how she did it but she was better at poker then anyone. You think Jimmy would know better than to play his girlfriend in poker but I guess he just figured he wasn’t really losing his own money if he lost it to his girlfriend.
Sarah reached for her cell phone, pressing buttons she was up and pacing by the front door. I hear her rapidly talking into the phone, even though I can’t hear what she is saying, I could tell she was nervous and probably leaving another voicemail for Decker.
I’ll give them another fifteen minutes and after that I’m on the phone and calling Detective Kelly again. Sarah was right, having to deal with this man all the time would want me to have him make up a charge and put me in jail. I’ve never dealt with the police as much as I have these past few months.
What could possibly be keeping them? I notice Sarah has left the front hall and went into the kitchen. I can hear the cabinets being opened and slammed shut. I knew without even looking that we will be eating cookies or something soon.
I know once the preheat beeps on the oven that will give the boys five more minutes and once that time is up I am on the phone. I try Tobias again and it goes to voicemail. I think I might actually join Sarah in making whatever she is making.
I walk into the kitchen to find Sarah standing in front of the mixer staring into space. I could see the tears running down her cheeks and I know she’s thinking the worst things possible. I know she’s afraid of something bad happening. She always feels that she is doomed for failure and bad things in her life; it’s the way it’s been in her life for almost twenty years. It’s the way my life has been for all my life, so I know how she feels.
I turned the mixer off and removed the bowl. She has chocolate chip cookie dough going. Yum! I pulled out the cookie sheets and lined them up on the counter. As I started to ball them out a dish went flying past my head. Just as it shattered on the wall I heard the front door open.
I stood there staring at her. I couldn’t believe she almost just hit me with the dish. Just as I was about to say something Decker came into the kitchen wide eyed and worried. She whipped around to look at him, tears began falling again as he quickly swooped her up in his arms and I slowly backed into my room with Tobias moving with me.
“Where the fuck have you guys been and why the fuck haven’t you answered your phones?” I hissed at Tobias between my teeth as he closed the door to my bedroom.
He dropped his bag as he started walking closer to me, peeling off his jacket and tie. He reached for me just as he popped the top two buttons on his shirt. He sealed his lips over mine.
I was panting when I pulled away and locked him with a stare. I cocked one eyebrow at him, “So?”
“Long story short, car accident on LIE, cell phone batteries died, chargers broken and then we get not one but two flat tires and needed to wait for tow to come. I take it Sarah didn’t take us missing very well?”
I laughed “Did you see her out there. She has been through so much and Decker means freedom to her. There is still so much of her past that scares her. I’m sure she was thinking of the worst when we couldn’t get a hold of either of you.”
“How many dishes did she break tonight?”
“Just the one when you came in.”
“And the new guy that was following Jimmy into the kitchen when we a
ppeared?”
Ah fuck! Now I was going to have to tell him. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to tell Decker either. I hated having to have Liam around. I held up my finger and walked over to the door, looking out I saw Sarah and Decker in the kitchen still. I cleared my throat and they both turned to look at me.
“The ‘Tree,’” I said to Sarah.
She shook her head and led Decker over to the kitchen table. I turned back toward Tobias and motioned him to come into the kitchen and sit at the table with Decker. By the time I turned around Jimmy and Liam were standing at the other end of the kitchen, joined by Daniel who was Decker’s body guard and had guarded Sarah until she found Jimmy, even though Jimmy wasn’t full time he always seemed to be around.
Sarah waved her hand at me and I knew it was my cue to start talking. I opened my mouth a few times, not finding the right words. Not knowing how to put it. Sitting there was driving me insane. I stood and started pacing in front of the island where the cookie sheets still laid half full of raw cookie dough. Then it was like a verbal upchuck. Keeping my back to them I spilled the whole story. I let them know everything about Jon. There were no sounds coming from the two men. I was expecting something, questions and grunts, anything but silence.
When I finished my story I turned around to look at them. They were both white knuckled and pissed off looks on their face. Jimmy stepped behind me and started explaining, “As soon as I got home and found out my first move was to call Liam,” he cocked his head towards Liam, “my second call was to Detective Kelly. He already has a temporary restraining order; Maggie has to be in court Tuesday to appear on issuing a permanent one. I also want to take both girls to the shooting range and teach them how to use a gun. Possibly get them licensed, just to be on the safe side.”
“I know how to shoot. I used to go hunting all the time,” Sarah said out of the blue. All eyes swung to her in amazement. She turned red and hid behind Decker’s shoulder. “What it’s not that big of a deal,” she said when all eyes continued to stare at her. When Decker raised an eyebrow she said “Kevin taught me when we were fourteen. I was a good shot to. Better them him.”
