Fighting Perfection (The Perfection Series Book 2)

by Guimond, Heather

  Inevitably, we made it back to James’ house. It was nearing eight o’clock, and we were both beat from our very active day. We showered together eager to get the trail dust off our bodies. As anticipated, once we were clean, we made sure to get each other nice and dirty all over again.

  We met with Zach and Pumpkin late the next morning for breakfast at a place called The Vineyard Restaurant. They had the most amazing breakfast menu filled with tons of hearty dishes along with the usual waffles and pancakes. I ordered a Denver omelet while James and the guys decided to have an eating contest and ordered the all-you-can-eat pancakes. I ate slowly while the guys wolfed down at least eight pancakes each. When they ordered more, I looked at them in wonder. All three guys were in great shape. I had no idea how they were able to eat like that.

  “Where do you all put it?” I asked incredulously.

  “Well, you see, Mimi,” Pumpkin began, “I got this here hollow leg…”

  “Seems like you all have two, if you ask me,” I observed.

  James leaned back patting his stomach, while I sipped my coffee. “I think I can just about manage room for four more,” he said. “But no more than that. I do have to maintain my girlish figure around Mimi. She’s insatiable for it.”

  I swatted him with my napkin. “We don’t need to share those details with the guys, James.”

  “Yeah,” Zach said, “The last thing I even want to think about is your hairy, girlish figure.”

  “You just wish you had an ass like mine,” James teased.

  “Okay, the absolute last thing I want is anything to do with your ass.” Zach retorted.

  “Good, because it’s got Mimi’s name stamped all over it.”

  I held up my hands in a universal time-out gesture. “Can we please stop talking about James’ ass? I’m sure we can find much more stimulating conversation.”

  Pumpkin piped up, “Yeah. Like your ass. Let’s talk about Mimi’s ass.”

  Zach just snorted as James jumped in saying, “Hey, hey, hey. As far as you two are concerned, that’s my ass, too.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “No offense, babe.”

  I just shook my head, defeated. There was no way to reign these guys in. I could only imagine what their days at work must be like. With their senses of humor, sarcasm, and constant castigation of each other, it had to be a blast. I was good-naturedly envious of the camaraderie.

  After the guys wolfed down another four pancakes a piece, they begged me to find wheelchairs to roll themselves out of the restaurant in. Each was feeling the consequences of overeating. To his credit, Pumpkin won the eating contest by eating four more.

  We dropped the guys’ at Zach’s place where they planned to do nothing but watch the remainder of Sunday football for the rest of the day. James and I went back to his house, and while I was certain he would have liked to sit on the couch and watch football for the rest of the day too, I had to get ready to leave. He begged me to stay just a little bit longer, insisting that since I didn’t have school on Monday, there was no need for me to rush home. Not wanting to face reality any earlier than I had to, I was easily talked into a ‘nap.’ It lasted three hours with only forty-five minutes of that time spent actually dozing. I had to hand it to James, even on an enormously full stomach, the man gave it his all.

  Around five p.m., we were standing in his driveway saying our goodbyes. He made me promise to call when I got home. He pulled me into his arms, taking hold of the back of my head and bringing me tightly into his body. He kissed me long and deep, trying to make up for the time we’d lose during the week. When we finally parted, he said, “Drive safe and remember all the way there that I love you.”

  I pecked his lips once more and got into my vehicle. With a wave and a bittersweet ache in my heart, I pulled out onto the road and set my GPS for home.

  When I arrived home, it was well into full dark. I had neglected to leave a light on in the house, but at least the porch light was on. As I strode up the walk way, I noticed a dark bundle in front of my door. The most ominous sense of dread filled my veins and the hair on the back of my neck prickled. I scanned my surroundings, but the night was eerily quiet. I nervously approached the door and to my complete dismay I discovered it was not a bundle at all but a dead cat. It wasn’t some poor pet that had wandered off to die, as its throat had been cut and blood was pooling around its body. I dropped my overnight case and clapped a hand over my mouth as I screamed. And screamed. I whirled around in a circle, looking for her. She had to be nearby for this one. The blood looked fresh, none of it congealed around the poor, lifeless animal. I knelt down to touch it, and it’s body was still faintly warm.

  With my hands trembling, I drew my cell phone out of my purse. I couldn’t call James in this state, he’d probably get in his car and drive all the way to my house. Unable to think of anyone else who could help in this situation, I called Justin, having to make several attempts at tapping the right buttons my hands were shaking so badly. After I sobbed my situation into the phone, he promised he’d be over in minutes. I went and sat in my car while I waited for him, unable to bring myself to step over the tiny little corpse. I was hysterical and crying uncontrollably. I was terrified because there was only one person who would want to terrorize me this way. If Delia was willing to murder an innocent animal to scare me, what would she stop at? With her willingness to violate my home this way, I could no longer live in denial. She meant me real harm. I sat there worrying she was out there somewhere in the dark watching me and delighting in my misery, making her next plan to torment me further.

  When Justin arrived, he pulled me out of the car and into his strong embrace. He shushed in my ear and stroked my back in an effort to calm me down. Finally, I was reduced to little sniffles, and he pulled back to look at me.

  “I’m not going to ask if you’re okay because I know you’re not. Let’s call the police and get them out here. They need to see this firsthand.”

  I immediately agreed. Justin took out his phone and called the local precinct and explained the situation, including the prior incidents that had occurred at my home. A squad car pulled up in my driveway about half an hour later. They took photos and asked if anyone had been in the house. I handed them my keys and advised them that I hadn’t gone in at all since I’d been home. The police did a thorough search of my house returning to say it was empty and it didn’t appear as if anyone had been inside. Next, they did a search around my property and came up with a large hunting knife with blood smeared on it, which they preserved in an evidence bag to take with them. They made their report and advised the detective would contact me the following day. They then called animal control for me to come take the little body away.

  After everyone had gone, all we had left to do was clean up the mess. Justin sent me inside to change and re-pack my overnight bag because he insisted that I stay at his place for the night, while he hosed off the porch and poured bleach over the entire area. My welcome mat had been destroyed so he disposed of that as well.

  When he came into the house once all traces of the murder of that poor animal were gone, I explained that I already had plans to stay at Grace’s house for a few days. He wanted me to stay with him where he felt he could keep me protected from Delia, but I argued against it.

  “Justin, if I go to your house it will only make her crazier, you’ve said so yourself. Look what she just did! You and I have hardly spoken in weeks, I’ve been gone for days, so there was nothing to set her off this time. What do you think she’d do if she actually saw me at your house?”

  Justin sank down into one of my sofas with his head in his hands. “I’m really not good at this riding the line bullshit, Mimi.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, sitting down next to him.

  “I have been trying to be diplomatic, to be calm, and to be patient. I have gone against my nature so far in an effort to keep things peaceful and to keep you out her brand of madness, but it’s not working. I need to know if this is my child s
he’s having, so I’ve been playing along by her rules, mostly. I can’t do it anymore. If it’s my child, I’ll still do the right thing and support him or her financially, but I can’t have any contact of any kind with that woman. She calls me night and day and stops by the house two or three times a day. I’m not getting any work done. In between the times she’s bugging me, she’s harassing you. This has to stop. I am tired of feeling like some puss-boy who is at her mercy. That’s not me, you know it’s not.”

  “You’re right, it’s not you, but what are you supposed to do? Slap the shit out of her? As satisfying as it sounds, you can’t. Not just because she’s an expectant mother or female, but because we’re not dealing with someone who is all there.

  “I know your inclination is to handle this with force, but the only thing you can do at this point is go to the police yourself. Get your own restraining order against her. It’s only a matter of time before she points this anger and hostility at you.”

  Justin laid his head back against the sofa and blew out a big breath. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I really tried to make this peaceful, to keep her under control, but I never had any control over her at all.”

  “It doesn’t seem like anyone does. The girl needs help, no doubt about it, but there’s nothing we can do to get her some. She somehow thinks she’s justified in doing all this. The only way to get her out of both our lives is to involve the authorities. There’s just no way around it. They can either put her in jail or get her some help, or both.”

  “Still, I can’t help wanting to go to her house and shoving my own gun into her mouth while I tell her how it’s going to be for her if she doesn’t stop.”

  “It won’t do anyone any good if you get arrested, too.”

  Justin waited while I gathered my things together for my stay at Grace’s. After a quick call to her to apologize for being so late, I was ready to go. He walked me out to my car and gave me another warm hug. He promised to go to the police station straight away and give a report, then file for a restraining order the following day. He assured me he’d call me the following afternoon. Once I was safely tucked inside and had the engine running and doors locked, he jumped on his motorcycle and followed me until we had to go in different directions.

  I called James as soon as I was back at Grace’s place.

  “Did you just get home?” he asked. “It’s nearly midnight. What took you so long?”

  “I’m sorry, but I came home to a gruesome surprise from Delia.” I relayed the events of the night to him, and he blew up. He ranted over and over about her instability and how frustrated he felt about being so far away.

  “This does it. You need to come up here and stay with me until this is all resolved. I can’t have you in that situation. Here you will be safe. There’s a small but decent police force here, and she can’t get on base so you have natural security built in. You can’t ask for better protection than a few thousand of the U.S. Navy.”

  “You know I can’t do that. I have school to worry about, too. I’m already behind in my studying, and my grades have been affected already by all of this. I am not going to drop out of my program.”

  “Mimi, you can retake the class next quarter. I know you don’t want to prolong the time you’ll be in school, but please, be smart about this. A few months more in school is worth your safety.”

  I agreed to consider it. I absolutely hated the idea of essentially being forced into hiding, but I had run out of options. We hung up so James could get a decent amount of rest before work, but not before he made me reiterate my promise to him.

  Justin confirmed with me the next day that he had indeed, filed a harassment report against Delia and obtained a temporary restraining order. Neither one of us had hopes she’d stay away considering she hadn’t after I got mine against her, but as with me, at least he was on record with the police.

  Later in the afternoon, I received a call from Detective Lazarus who was assigned to my case. He reported that they were able to lift a fingerprint from the knife the officers found, and it did belong to Delia Ortega. Of even further interest, he informed me that she was in their database because she had a prior arrest for stalking and harassment. Those charges had been dropped, but she remained in their records, naturally. He said that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for not only stalking and harassment against me, but for animal cruelty as well, and that they had picked her up and booked her for the charges. She was in custody pending a bond hearing. I was relieved that it seemed something was finally happening to stop her from her madness.

  I called Justin to tell him the good news, but he, too, had also been apprised of the developments. He said that they’d charged her for harassing him as well. We agreed to go to Rosie’s Bar for drinks to celebrate.

  We chose a booth near the back of the bar by the billiard tables and dart boards. We both breathed a sigh of relief as we sat down, then started laughing about it. We both felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from our shoulders.

  “I’m sure she’ll find a way to post bail once it’s been set,” Justin said. “I don’t know how long that will take her, but we probably shouldn’t get too comfortable.”

  I agreed and said, “If she’s smart, she’ll mind her P’s and Q’s. She’s developing a history of this behavior. Surely with the evidence the police have now, she’ll straighten up.”

  “Or become more careful so as not to get caught,” he said. “Sorry, but at this point, I wouldn’t put anything past her.”

  I took a sip of my martini and nodded. I knew I was wishfully thinking, but I had to stay optimistic somehow or this would completely overwhelm me. Since neither of us wanted to spend any more time thinking of her that night, we had a few drinks over a couple of rounds of pool wherein Justin smoked me every time.

  When I arrived back at Grace’s, she was home from work. I shared the news with her, and she too, insisted on celebrating. She cooked a dinner of grilled steaks, a garden salad, and baked potatoes. We ate sitting on her backyard patio enjoying the warmth of the late summer night. I informed her of James’ demand that I go stay with him.

  “You know you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to,” she advised, “but there’s wisdom in what he’s saying. He can do a lot more to protect you than I can.”

  “I think I am going to. I hate extending my program, but James made the excellent point that it was worth my safety to do so. I’m going to contact the administration office tomorrow and put everything on hold until the next quarter starts in December.”

  “Good girl. It sucks that she’s disrupted your life this much, but who knew she was so disturbed? Are you going to head up north tomorrow?” she asked.

  “If not tomorrow, then sometime this week. I’ll call James in a little while and find out what time he expects to get home. If it’s not too late, then I’ll head out sometime after noon. If he plans to be home late, then I’ll postpone it until whenever he will be free to meet me at a decent hour. I’ll go home in the morning and pack a bigger suitcase since I don’t know how long I’ll be there.”

  “I’ll miss having you here. I had been hoping for lots of gossip and girl-bonding, but it can keep. Now, to get our minds off this nasty business, let me tell you about Ike and me.”

  We spent another hour chatting about her blossoming relationship. Ike seemed to make Grace really happy and although I thought it was an odd pairing, something akin to the princess and the frog, I recalled how happily that story ended. From all that Grace told me, it did indeed sound like he was a real prince in disguise.

  After we went inside, I called James to let him know I was taking him up on his offer. He assured me he’d be home by four, so we made plans for me to arrive around five the next day. He was relieved that I was following his advice and admitted he was also happy to just have me closer on a daily basis. In spite of all the chaos that was going on in my life, I had to agree that it would be a wonderful opportunity to grow closer to each other.
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  I reached James’ house just after five the following evening. On my way there, Detective Lazarus called to let me know that Delia’s bail had been set at ten-thousand dollars, and she had already posted the bond. She was free pending her next hearing, so I’d gotten out of the city none too soon. I let him know that I was out of town indefinitely, but he could still reach me at the same number. I also gave him James’ landline and cell phone numbers in case he couldn’t get hold of me. Lazarus advised that at some point I would have to come back down and testify at a preliminary hearing, but the district attorney would let me know when I needed to be present.

  James and I stayed in that night watching mindless television just to give me an opportunity to decompress and relieve my mind of the worry I’d been carrying around. At his suggestion, we took a bath together. He must have planned it out in advance because he lit fragrant candles around the bathroom and added some bath oil to the water. It was actually kind of comical in the beginning because he only had a standard-size tub, and he was a big guy. It took a little bit of maneuvering, but we finally found a position that we could comfortably sit in.

  “I obviously didn’t think this through well enough,” he said once we’d gotten settled. He was sitting, relaxed against the back of the tub, while I laid draped over his chest and between his thighs. “Are you sure you’re comfortable like this?” he asked.

  “I may not be able to maintain this position for long, but right now, I’m very comfortable,” I said as I drizzled water over his chest.