Deadly Obsession

by K. L. Humphreys

  I hear the relief in Soph’s voice. “Thanks, Sammy, you both will have a great time if you go. Just be patient with her.” I’m glad she has stopped warning me off. I thank her again and hang up. I wander into the living room and boot up my laptop. I’m excited. Once the laptop is ready, I search the nearest theater, and sure enough, they have the marathon of Lethal Weapon on today it starts at 2 pm. I send Winter a text.

  Me: Morning Sweets, will you spend the day with me? I promise it’s just as friends.

  Sweets: Morning Sammy!

  I love that she calls me that.

  Me: So, will you spend the day with me?

  Sweets: Um, I would love to, but what happens if I have an anxiety attack? I don’t want to embarrass you.

  Me: First of all, you won’t embarrass me that could never happen. Secondly, I’ll bring you home, if you get one.

  Sweets: Then I’d love too. What time?

  Me: Now?

  Sweets: Um, can you give me 30 minutes?

  Me: Sure, I’m taking you for breakfast first.

  Sweets: First? How many things are we doing today?

  Me: You’ll see.

  Sweets: Okay 30 minutes.

  I’m over the fucking moon I get to spend the day with her, while I have my laptop on I search a few things, I plan the best date I can, yes I know were taking things slow, this is a friend’s date.

  Thirty minutes later I’m standing outside Winter’s apartment, I knock on the door. I hear her moving around. The door opens, and it’s like a sucker punch. I can’t stop staring, I’ve seen her without makeup once before, and today, she isn’t wearing any. She’s wearing a pair of jeans that hug her curves perfectly, she has a baggy tank and a pair of boots, she looks phenomenal.

  “Hi, Sammy.” Damn, she is so fucking cute. Her voice has a sweet tone to it.

  “Hey Sweets, you look really beautiful.” She actually blushes, she ducks her head down and tucks a strand of her dark hair behind her ear.

  “You don’t look too bad yourself Sammy.” I smile, she seems so shy. I can’t wait to get to know everything about her.

  “You ready to go? We’ll get breakfast then you and me have a full day ahead of us.” She has a bright smile on her face, she looks happy, she still has pain and fear in her eyes, but her happiness dulls the pain.

  “Yes, I’m ready.” With that, she walks out of her apartment and locks up behind her. She turns to me with that smile on her face.

  We walk three blocks to Home Sweet Home, it’s a small diner, it’s one of those places that people would just walk past because it doesn’t look the greatest. It may be small, but the food is out of this world. We take a seat, and I wait for Winter to look over the menu. Gloria walks over to us, she’s in her late fifties and is the only waitress here, she’s here every morning until they close, she and her husband own it.

  “Morning Samuel, how are you today?” she has a smile on her face as she gives Winter an appraising look.

  “I’m good thanks. Gloria, this is my friend Winter. Winter this is Gloria.” Winter has a wide grin on her face as she watches us interact. Gloria walks over to Winter’s side of the table.

  “Hello Darling, as Samuel said, I’m Gloria, and welcome to Home Sweet Home. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She’s curious, I’ve never brought anyone here before.

  “It’s lovely to meet you, Gloria. I never even noticed this place before.” She doesn’t say it in a malicious way, her tone is curious.

  “Oh Darling, that’s usually the way. We don’t look like much from the outside, but once someone comes in and eats, well they’re customers for life.” Gloria says with a laugh. “Don’t believe me? Just wait until you’ve eaten.” She takes our orders and leaves us. Winter still has that wide grin on her face.

  “She’s so lovely, is she like that with everyone?” I laugh.

  “Oh yeah, the first day I came here she told me the exact same thing. She is right, I will be a customer for life. Gloria, she loves interacting with people. It’s just her and her husband Harold, she gets to talk to other people every day.” Damn, I’m rambling. I look up into her face, she’s enthralled in what I’m saying.

  “I think that is so lovely, she gets to talk to her regular customers every day, but also meet new people, that’s an amazing thing to have.” I want to kiss her. She’s so sweet when she doesn’t have her entire walls up. When she lets some down I can see the real Winter peeping through.

  “Yeah, she is really nice, she treats everyone the same, no matter what they look like or where they come from. You could be a gang member or a businessman, and she would talk to you as though you were her best friend,” I say with a laugh, it’s true, the woman will talk to everyone. Winter smiles at me, she looks as if she wants to say something, but she catches my eyes and drops her head, her hair falls down in front of her face obscuring her from me.

  “Sweets, why are you hiding from me?” Her head shoots up, and she stares at me. “Look at me Winter, don’t ever hide from me. If you have a question ask it. I’m not going to lie, and I’m not going to get mad, I’ll always tell you the truth. If I can’t answer your question, I’ll give you a proper explanation. Do you understand?” I know I wasn’t meant to come on strong with her, but I need her to be herself around me. I don’t like her hiding from me.

  “Yes, Sammy. I understand.” She’s getting stronger, she didn’t mumble that response, it was loud and I understood everything she said. I give her a big smile; I see her eyes widen as I do. Gloria comes to the table with our food, Winter’s eyes light up when she sees the amount of food on the plate, I don’t think you can see the white porcelain of the plate at all.

  “Okay. Now what was it you were going to say to me?” she looks scared. I hate this. I know it’s going to be a long struggle for her to trust me.

  “Umm. Okay, so this is a ‘get to know you’ day right?” I nod at her, I’m glad she is getting better at talking to me.

  “Okay so tell me about you growing up.” She says and It’s not a question, it’s a request. My smile must be massive.

  “Okay, I was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. No, I didn’t live on Evergreen Terrace.” Her brows crease for a few seconds before she starts giggling. I’m enthralled. I can’t take my eyes off of her. “My mom and dad were high-school sweethearts, my dad worked construction and mom was a stay-at-home mom, she loved it. My sister Laura is six years older than me. We were really close growing up. I had a great childhood. When I was fifteen, my dad had a heart attack and died. It devastated all of us.” I swallow the lump in my throat. I miss my old man. Winter reaches over and squeezes my hand, but quickly pulls away.

  “My mom, she changed a lot, she became a person I didn’t know. She had to start working, they didn’t have a lot of savings, she works in the local store, and she loves it there. My sister, she seemed to have taken it the hardest. She turned into a wild child even though she was twenty-one. She dropped out of college and partied every night, she was always drunk. Then there was me. I grew up wanting to be in the Army, and my parents were supportive of that choice but when dad died my mom didn’t want me to enlist. I did though because my dad wanted me too. So, I enlisted and went to Fort Jackson.” That was a great day. I was so relieved to be leaving home. I was happy because I knew my dad would be so proud of me. She is really quiet; I don’t like it. Her face is blank, and I can’t read it.

  “Why did you want to join the Army?” She asks and I’m taken aback, she literally just blurted it out. She’s getting relaxed around me. When I look at her eyes, I see a sparkle of happiness in them, she ducks her head when she sees me looking at her. She’s so shy.

  “Honestly? My Dad is the reason; I grew up with him always telling us how much he respected military personnel. How amazing they were, and listening to him have so much admiration in his voice, it made me want him to talk about me like that. I told him I wanted to join the Army. I saw so much pride in his eyes, from that moment I was deter
mined to make him proud. Even when he died, I knew it was something I wanted to do.” I get choked up just remembering the old man and the conversations we use to have. He’d always say ‘Follow your heart son, it will lead you right.’ And I always have. It’s exactly what I’m doing now.

  “Do you regret enlisting? After everything that happened? I know I’m not supposed to know, but I wanted to know what happened to my best friend. She came home a different person, and I found out about the torture and Smithy dying and then that fucker following her and that asshole Caleb. I’m so glad she is alive, and I know she doesn’t, but what about you? Do you regret it?” This is probably one of the easiest questions anyone will ever ask me.

  “No. I don’t regret enlisting. I regret not being able to help Soph sooner. I regret not killing the bastard in Afghanistan. I definitely regret not looking closer at my best friend and not seeing who he really was.” I hate that we were played. But to be played by a teammate, by someone we trusted. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

  “I don’t know how you could just move on from that. I’m not saying that in a mean way. I mean it in the way of I need to learn how to do it. Any suggestions?” she laughs it off, but I see in her eyes that she means it both ways, and I respect that. I understand, it’s a cold way of being just to pretend someone who you cared about no longer exists for you.

  “I don’t want you thinking that I’m a cold bastard. I have so much guilt when it comes to Caleb’s actions. I was the one closest to him. I’m the one who lived with him. I should have seen through the façade. I should have seen something that didn’t sit right. But I didn’t, and that is on me.” I failed us all, and it’s something I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. Knowing you failed your team, it makes you second guess yourself.

  “Don’t. Don’t think that. He managed to infiltrate the United States military. You can’t blame yourself. You’re all alive except him, that other fucker is caught, and the she-bitch is also locked up. I’d say that’s a win for the A-Team.” She says it so passionately. How the hell did she know what I was thinking?

  I burst out laughing. “The A-Team?”

  She is nodding her head; her face is serious. “Yeah. You’re the A-team.” I can’t say anything to stop her thinking that. She is so adamant about it. I don’t think we are, if we were, Soph wouldn’t have been hurt, and Caleb wouldn’t have betrayed us.

  “What about you? What was it like growing up in the Cortez household?” I ask I want to know how she grew up. She rolls her eyes at me. Damn that is hot.

  “Ugh. I’m an only child, my dad left my mom when I was a baby. I don’t know the man and I don’t want to. My mom is kind of flighty. She does what she wants, and she doesn’t care about the consequences. She really doesn’t know that she does things that hurt me. She is currently on husband number five. I’ve only met him once, which was the last time I was home, so three weeks after Liam was born. We had an argument over it, we haven’t spoken since. My family consists of Sophia, Scott, Luke, and Steven. Steven and Lydia, they were amazing when I was growing up, they were there if I needed an adult. I owe them so much. Anyway, once I graduated high school I went on to work with a woman who owned a party planning company. She taught me everything, and I worked with her for about four years.” She had a peaceful look on her face when she spoke about Sophia’s parents. I know from Soph how amazing they were for her.

  “So where do you work now?” I want to ask about the attack, but she has let down so many walls already that I don’t want them to be rebuilt.

  “I work for myself, I started my own business when I moved to Maui. I have a few clients that always come back, and they also refer me. I have taken a few months off to get settled then will start up again. But I’m thinking that won’t be the case. I need something to do, and I love my job, so when I’ve had enough of being idle, I’ll look into the parties that need planning. I also need to get a building, so that would be first on my list. Not doing anything is making me go stir-crazy.” She tells me animatedly. I know a building that could be perfect for her business. She uses her hands to talk, and I’m enthralled watching how at ease she seems to be around me. I spotted the tattoo she has on her arm the first time I saw her, but I know that tattoos have special meanings for people.

  “What about that tattoo on your arm? Is it the same as Sophia’s right? Is it the only one you have?” I ask, and she turns so I can see the tattoo on her inner arm more clearly. It’s the exact same as Soph’s it says Dream big: Live bigger.

  “Yeah, it’s exactly the same as Soph’s, we got it when she came home. Her mom Lydia always use to say it to us. It is the only one I have so far. What about you? Do you have any?” She got a sad look when she spoke about Soph’s mom. It’s obvious from the way she talks about her that she loved her.

  “None yet, we are waiting on Soph, she came up with an idea to get the Army motto and Smithy’s name, it’s something we all thought was an amazing idea. We agreed we’d all get it done together, whenever that happens.” She smiles at me making her whole face light up. Gloria comes over with the check, I pay it and tip her well, she deserves it.

  “Thank you, Gloria, it was so good. You’re right, you’ll have a customer for life. Thank you.” Winter says to her, and Gloria’s whole face lights up.

  “I’ll see you soon Gloria, tell Harold I say hi.” He hates coming out front so he’s always in the kitchen.

  “I will Samuel. Enjoy your day with your lady friend.” She says as she waves us goodbye. As we leave Home Sweet Home, I tell her about the detour I want to take.

  “So I have the whole day planned, but something you said, I have the perfect thing for it so we are taking a detour there first.” she just nods and has a wide-eyed stare.

  We arrive at the building I think she may want to rent, it’s across the street from our office building. She’d be close to Sophia and me.

  “I wanted to show you this building. It’s currently available for rent. It’s close to Soph as well.” She seems excited, she’s bouncing on the balls of her feet.

  “Wow, it looks amazing. I’ll call the realtor tomorrow and try and get a viewing. It would be awesome if I got it.” She seems a bit lighter, her walls are definitely crumbling around me, I hope I can get them to stay that way, I can’t fuck this up. I want her more than I’ve ever wanted anyone or anything in my life. Getting her to trust me and open up to me is a mission I will not fail.

  We’re on our way home, we’ve been to a small art gallery called Mirrors. We spent almost two hours in there. I’ve never really been appreciative of art, but being with Winter and having her explain everything she sees and feels when she sees the artwork was something indescribable. She even got me to do one and she didn’t laugh when I told her it looked like a clown that was high. She said that I have a really funny imagination.

  Winter loved the movie marathon. It turns out that she loves just about all action films. I also found out she had some weird food fetishes when she proceeded to mix peanut M&M’s and popcorn together. She offered me some, but I couldn’t it looked gross, the chocolate melting into the warmth of the popcorn.

  She had a smile on her face the whole day. I was feeling pretty amazing at having been able to put it there. When we stood in front of her door at the end of the day. I bent down level with her face and warned.

  “I’m going to kiss your cheek okay.” She nods and has a tiny grin playing on her lips. I brush a kiss across her cheek, she leans into my touch.

  “Okay Sweets, in you get, lock your door. I’ll talk to you soon.” She opens her door and walks in.

  “Thank you, Sammy. Today, well today was everything.” She closes the door, and I hear her lock the door. Good. I walk back to my apartment in a daze. Today was everything? I’m floored, I knew she had a good time, but that means she had a great time right? My phone beeps letting me know I have a message.

  Winter: Thank you for the best day I have had in years. It was everything
. Goodnight Sammy. Sweet dreams. X

  Me: You’re very welcome Sweets. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.

  I got a kiss. I’m extremely pleased with myself, I fall asleep with a smug smile on my face, knowing that the Winter I saw today, is the Winter I want in my life forever.

  Chapter Four

  Winter

  I called the realtor first thing this morning and managed to snag an 11AM spot someone had just cancelled. I’m excited and giddy. Winter’s Party Central would look amazing in the building that Sammy showed me yesterday. Yeah, I know the name isn’t very original, but it works. I’m going over the e-mails I’ve received since leaving Maui, I have opened it up so that I could travel back and forth between New York and Maui. I need to do something since not working is driving me insane.

  I’m replying to an e-mail from Kathy, I haven’t spoken to her since I left Maui, I promised I’d keep her updated on any progress I’ve made, she told me she’d be here for me no matter what all I need to do is call, text or e-mail. She was my rock when I left New York the first time. SOAR really did help, what those ladies do, there is nothing in this world I can do to repay everything they have done for me.

  SOAR stands for Speak Out Against Rape. They have so many different Projects and Programs. I needed to get away, I wanted something where I could heal without feeling as though he was watching me. SOAR SPA did that. The SPA stands for Something Positive Afterward. It’s a weekend retreat that helps survivors and their families heal, it was something I needed that I didn’t know existed.

  SOAR SPA is there to rejuvenate, inspire, motivate, and encourage survivors and their supporters in the healing journey. Throughout the weekend there are workshops for personal exploration, growth, acceptance, and healing. There is group work as well as individual time to reflect and set goals.