I stood there in utter shock for a moment. Finally finding the strength to speak, I yelled, “Eric, get the fuck out of my house!”
99
Blac parked Theresa’s car one street away from her house. He cautiously walked through two backyards and made his way to the back of Theresa’s house.
Moving through the driveway, he listened for the voices of any of Cutty’s men toward the front of the house. Not hearing anything, Blac continued in that direction.
Standing out front, he didn’t see the truck down either side of the street.
Feeling his heart start to slow, he walked up to the front door.
He was easily past his deadline by two hours and was surprised Cutty’s men had not been camped out front, ready to shoot him on sight.
It would be only a matter of time if he didn’t get Cutty’s money, Blac thought, sliding his key into the front door lock. He needed a plan. Cobi wasn’t going to budge, so Blac had no choice but to go to the other man in the photos, the senator.
He would do that first thing tomorrow morning, he thought, pushing the door open. And if this senator was a smart man, he would give up the money without a hassle, and everything would be fine.
As soon as Blac entered the house and closed the door, he knew something was terribly wrong.
One of the lamps in the living room was on the floor, the shade crumpled, the base shattered. There were sofa cushions scattered about, and two of the kitchen chairs were flipped over.
Blac froze, his eyes wide, his pulse revving again.
There had been a scuffle. Someone had been in this house. He thought to call out to Theresa, but he kept his mouth shut. They could still be there.
Blac moved quietly but swiftly to the closed bedroom door and pressed his ear against it.
He heard muffled crying sounds and knew they were coming from Theresa. What was happening in there?
He wished he had carried with him the gun he had taken off Ballard, but it was stuffed under the mattress in the bedroom.
He gripped the doorknob firmly and told himself that however many men were in there, he would have to fight like hell and kill if it came to that.
Blac threw open the door, slamming it against the wall behind it, and was startled to see no one.
The room was a mess, drawers hung open from the dresser, the nightstand was toppled over, the portable TV lay on the floor, the tube smashed in.
“Theresa!”
He heard sniffling. It came from the other side of the bed.
He ran around it. There on the floor, Theresa lay curled in a ball, covering her face. Her shirt was ripped, exposing most of her bra, and her jeans had been yanked down to below her hips.
Blac threw himself down on the floor with her. “Theresa,” he said, gently taking her by the wrist, pulling her arm away so he could see her face. What he saw sickened him.
Both of Theresa’s eyes were purple and swollen almost completely shut. Her face was bruised in several places, and fresh blood still streamed from her nostrils and a gash in the center of her bottom lip.
“Who did this?” Blac said, scooping her up in his arms, trying to control his rage. “Who did this to you?”
No answer came as tears spilled out of the swollen slits that were Theresa’s eyes, and then between her sobs, she said, “Someone named Cutty.”
100
I sat on the edge of my bed, head lowered, still stunned by what I had seen.
I didn’t know how Blac had gotten those pictures. I didn’t believe him when he said he had gotten them from my brother, but maybe I should’ve. Blac hadn’t lied about Eric fucking Austen, so why would he have lied about the other?
I couldn’t bring myself to even think about Blac’s attempt to blackmail me. What required all of my attention now was the situation with my brother and Austen.
Eric had left soon after putting on his clothes.
I stood there, my arms crossed, and watched him shamefully get into his jeans, pull on his shirt, and step into his shoes. He was silent the entire time, never once looking at me or Austen.
When he was finished, he looked over at Austen, and said, “Sorry.”
“Don’t speak to her!” I ordered.
He immediately averted his eyes to the floor and started walking toward the door, near where I stood.
Eric paused, as if about to say something before he walked out.
“Just get out,” I said, before he could open his mouth. “There is nothing I want to hear from you.”
He walked out, leaving me and Austen in the room alone.
By that time, she was standing in a bathrobe, staring at me. “What should I do?” she asked in a meek voice.
I turned and walked out, slamming the bedroom door behind me.
From my bedroom, I called Sissy, told her everything that happened except the part about the blackmailing. I didn’t want to be scolded by Sissy about sleeping with Blac.
“You put Eric out, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want to say I told you so, but—”
“Then don’t. Just don’t, Sissy.”
She insisted that she be allowed to come over and take care of this.
“Fine,” I said, then disconnected the call.
Sissy had gotten here fifteen minutes ago, let herself in, and had come up to my bedroom.
She made me stand from my bed and give her a hug. My knees barely felt strong enough to hold me up.
“We’re going to get through this, okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, not believing that.
“Just stay in here, and I’ll take care of everything.”
That was only moments ago, and only now did I feel confident in my strength to stand, and the courage to find out what happened.
I slowly walked toward Austen’s bedroom door and stopped just outside of it.
I saw Sissy standing in the center of the room. There was an open suitcase on the bed, and Austen was filling it with her clothes.
“Move it. We don’t have all night,” Sissy said.
“Why did you do it?” I said, stepping through the door.
Sissy and Austen both turned to me, surprised to see me standing there.
“Cobi,” Sissy said. “Don’t you think it’d be better if you just—”
“You were sleeping with my brother,” I said, ignoring Sissy. “Why did you do it?”
Austen finished rolling a pair of socks into a ball, set them in the suitcase, and said, “It just happened. You had me locked up in this house, controlling every aspect of—”
“No one had you locked up, and no one was controlling you,” I said. “You had complete freedom. Don’t go blaming this on me.”
“Complete freedom?” Austen chucked sadly. “Your sister had me followed everywhere I went.”
I couldn’t believe that, and the look I gave Sissy said as much.
The look Sissy gave me back did not deny the accusation.
“Your brother and I were both going through a lot. He didn’t want it to happen, he didn’t push for it. I did. I needed someone, in that way, you understand. I needed that kind of attention, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to get it from you, was I, Cobi?”
“That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“But do you understand what I’m saying? I needed to feel love, or something close to it right now. Eric needed the same thing. And I bet you did too, didn’t you?”
“I have nothing to do with this.”
“But you do. You’re always out late at night. I see you stepping out all dressed up, and for what? Business meetings? No. You’re getting your needs met. You have someone to listen to you when you talk about your problems, someone to hold you.”
“Did Eric talk to you about—”
“No,” Austen said. “Eric didn’t say anything about your personal life or about who you date. But I know you’re seeing someone. Everyone needs someone, and for you and your fucking sister over there to think that
you can sign me to a contract, lock me up in a room, and expect me to behave like a nun, you were very wrong.”
“Okay, bitch,” Sissy said, stepping up. “I’ve had enough of—”
“I’m sorry, Cobi,” Austen said over Sissy. “I truly am sorry for this happening. And I’m sorry that I’ve fallen for your brother, because it was wrong. But don’t either of you say you’ve never found yourselves in situations where you were involved with someone you had no business being involved with.”
I felt Sissy’s eyes all of a sudden on me. I thought about Blac, and of course I thought about Tyler. Blac was Eric’s friend, yet I slept with him behind my brother’s back. Austen was nothing more than my friend at the moment, so was I being hypocritical, considering Eric slept with her? And the Tyler thing was something I couldn’t even compare. I knew he was married, had a family, yet I continued seeing him, even considered ratting him out to his wife.
I turned and walked out the room.
“Cobi,” I heard Sissy calling from behind me. She stopped me in the hallway. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You want me to finish having her pack her things and get her out of here, right?”
I took a moment, thought about all that was going on, all that was just said, and I even thought about Eric, who was Lord knows where, and then said, “No. Let her stay for now.”
101
The next morning, Blac sat parked outside the gated subdivision, where he believed Senator Tyler Stevens lived.
He found the man’s home address early this morning after searching the Internet for better than two and a half hours.
Last night, Blac had carried Theresa out to the car and sped her to the nearest emergency room.
There, the doctor told him that she had not been raped, only badly beaten. She had a mild concussion, bad bruising, a very fine facial fracture that would heal on its own, but no major breaks.
The doctor said they would bandage her up and release her later in the day with pain medication, and that Blac should expect her to have a full recovery.
That was at 1:30 a.m.
Afterward, Blac walked out to the parking lot, his cell phone to his ear, listening as his phone rang the number he had dialed.
“I knew my little visit would get your attention,” Cutty said. “Got my money, yet?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you? I owe you the money. She ain’t got nothin’ to do with this.”
“Your ass wasn’t around, so we did what we needed. But be grateful, Blac. Your girl got a nice, fat ass, and Bones was really wantin’ to fuck that. I held him off this time, but next—”
“Won’t be no next time, okay. I’m gonna have your money, but I need one more day.”
“Aw, Blac. Isn’t this how all of this shit started?”
“I’m gonna need one more day!” Blac yelled into the phone. “Haven’t you done enough? Give me the goddamn day so I can get your money and we can be done.”
There was silence on the phone. Blac held it worriedly up to his ear, waiting.
“You know what?” Cutty finally said. “Okay. Fine. But we found the cutest little thing when we was in your girl’s house. On the fridge, there was a letter with a picture.”
Blac froze, the phone to his ear.
“You got a sister and a little nephew in Racine, Wisconsin, don’t you?”
“Motherfucker, don’t you even think—”
“Told you, bitch. Don’t tell me what to think. You have my money by tomorrow, or me and two of my boys gonna come back and fuck your girl so bad, all the thread in the world won’t sew that pussy back up. And if you still ain’t got my loot, we gonna take a little trip out to the address on this letter and make this a family affair. Clock is tickin’, motherfucker,” Cutty said, then disconnected the call.
Now, sitting behind the wheel of Theresa’s Chevy, Blac watched as a Lexus LS 430 pulled out of the gate of the subdivision. He had gotten a good look at the driver and saw that it was indeed Tyler Stevens.
Blac started the car, stepped on the gas, and sped up the quiet, residential two-lane street. In seconds, he overtook the Lexus, cut the wheel hard to the right, and swerved in front of the big car.
The tires of both cars squealed as the vehicles screeched to a halt, and Blac was quickly up out of his car, his door hanging open, as he ran toward the driver’s side of the Lexus.
As Blac approached the car, he heard the power locks engage, and saw as the driver’s side window rolled up the last inch and sealed completely.
“Open the door! I gotta talk to you,” Blac yelled at the window.
Tyler looked frightened, cowering away from the door. “Who are you?”
Blac reached into his back pocket, pulled out the single, extremely graphic photo of Cobi and Tyler having sex, slapped it up against the window so the man inside could see, and said, “This is who I am. Now open the fucking door!”
102
I sat in my office at work and realized I still had no idea just how much of a role Eric played in this. I had to find out from him. To this point, I had put off doing that, because the last thing I wanted to discover was that Eric had been involved in some plan with Blac all along to rob me of my money. I had prayed that was not the case and even asked Austen that this morning, after filling her in on everything that was going on.
We were at the kitchen table. I had called her down and told her that I needed to speak to her.
“I know I haven’t known him long, but I know he’s not that kind of person, and you should know that, too, Cobi,” Austen said.
“I know I should, but I’m just not certain anymore.”
“He’s never told me, and I know the two of you just found each other again, but by the way he talks about you, I can tell your brother loves you,” Austen said. “He really does.”
It was good to hear that, even if I wasn’t sure it was true.
“How do you feel about him?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Last night you said you didn’t mean to fall for him. Do you have feelings for my brother?”
Austen hesitated, seeming afraid to hurt my feelings.
“You can tell me. I won’t be jealous.”
“Yes, I do have feelings for him,” Austen said.
“And if I freed you from this contract, would you continue to see him?”
“I don’t want to be freed from this contract. You know I need the money.”
“You should’ve thought of that before you fucked my brother,” I said coldly.
I reached across my desk, grabbed my office phone, and tried to dial Eric but was unable. I needed, wanted to speak to him but just couldn’t find it within myself to get past my feelings of resentment and betrayal.
The phone rang and startled me out of my thoughts.
I snatched it up.
“Mr. Winslow,” my secretary said, “Senator Stevens is on line one for you.”
This was the wrong time. I didn’t feel like talking to him right now, but said, “Put him through.”
When I heard the line click over, I said in my best cheery voice, “Hey, how—”
“Some thug practically ran me off the road, demanding I give him three hundred thousand dollars or he’s going public with some very sensitive pictures. What the hell did you do, Cobi?”
103
Blac sat in the emergency room waiting area.
A nurse told him she would be bringing Theresa in a wheelchair to be discharged in just a few minutes.
While sitting there, Blac checked his watch. It was already 6:00 p.m. Senator Stevens had just two hours left to get the $300K together.
Blac had upped the price. He needed more, considering all the shit he had gone through and what he expected he would need to give him and Theresa a clean start. There was no way he would feel comfortable leaving her where she was after the comments Cutty said Bones made about her. He thought about maybe still going to Wisconsin and taki
ng Theresa with him. Whether he did or not, the $150,000 he would keep for himself would make things a hell of a lot easier.
This morning, after Blac had finally gotten the senator to roll down the window, he told the man his demands.
The senator sat there quietly, obediently nodding his head as if Blac had a gun on him. He was much easier to handle than Blac thought he would’ve been.
“And where do you want me to bring the money?” the senator asked.
“There’s a J & J Fish on Cottage Grove.”
“I don’t know where that is.”
“Find it, and bring the money there at eight o’clock, or you’re gonna see these pictures on tomorrow morning’s news.”
104
Eric was too troubled to go to work today. Instead he sat in a McDonald’s, watching the news on a wall-mounted flat-screen TV while sipping a Coke.
He was exhausted.
He had slept in his car last night after Cobi put him out.
He and Austen weren’t supposed to have gotten caught. They weren’t even supposed to have had sex last night. But Eric was so happy to have seen his daughter, to know that he would be able to continue seeing her, that he wanted to share that with Austen.
Eric stood there in her bedroom after telling her the good news.
She hugged him, kissed him on the cheek, then said, “I’m so glad for you. You deserve another chance with her.”
Austen stared in his eyes, and Eric could feel the sincerity in what she had just said. The way she looked at him made him feel like she really cared what happened to him, and he couldn’t remember the last time someone made him feel that way.
“I want you,” he said.
“Then what’s stopping you? Your brother’s not here.”
“This can’t ever happen again,” Eric said. “He’s done too much for me. This is wrong, and he would be so hurt if he ever found out. I don’t want to do that to him.”
No One in the World Page 24
