The Perfect Catch

by Shania Tyler

  “Yes?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “It can wait.”

  “You sure?” I asked, hoping that I might be able to coax something out of her.

  “Yes, your team will be waiting for you if I keep you in here too long.” She smiled warmly at me and shooed me out of the door with a gesture of her hand.

  “I’ll see you later then.” I had to force myself out of the room.

  * * *

  26

  .

  .

  .

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  .

  Ruby

  All day, I found myself thinking of how Major had entered my office with the intentions of talking to me privately, and I sure as hell knew that what he’d said wasn’t what he had really wanted to talk to me about. I could see it in his eyes the entire time that he was speaking. Something else was on his mind, and he wasn’t willing to tell me what it was, at least not yet. I had to give him time to man up and get whatever it was off his chest. Yet I still couldn’t get it off my mind. Throughout the day, I was caught off guard several times staring into space thinking about what he could possibly have wanted to talk to me about. Mary questioned me on it but what could I tell her? That I thought Major was getting ready to admit something big to me about his past or something even worse?

  By the time the end of the day came, I was only halfway through my work and there was no way I was going to be able to head home until it was done. I knew that if I did, it would simply be playing on my mind and I’d have an awful night’s sleep. I was the kind of woman who took work home with me if it wasn’t completed during the working day. I couldn’t face doing that tonight and so I decided to stick around late.

  A knock on the door caused me to jump and I looked up, half expecting to find Major. Perhaps it was more hopefulness than expectation, but I was disappointed when the door clicked open to reveal Mary.

  “Is everything all right?” I asked her with a smile in an attempt to hide my disappointment.

  “I was just coming to check whether you needed a hand with anything before I head home,” she explained as she stepped a little farther into the room. “I wasn’t expecting you to still be here at this time.”

  “I wasn’t really expecting it myself.” I shrugged with a sigh and looked at the mountain of paperwork on the desk in front of me that I still had to sort through, sign, and file away.

  “I can give you a hand if you like,” Mary insisted. “I don’t have anything to do tonight.”

  “No, you go home and relax. You have enough of your own work to do without helping me with mine.” I smiled at her. I saw how hard she worked at the front desk, taking call after call and handling awkward people who came in seemingly just to annoy her.

  “It’s not a problem at all,” Mary assured me. “I don’t mind giving you a hand, so you can get home a little quicker.”

  “Its very kind of you, but the truth is I like to get this stuff done on my own,” I said. “Gives me a good sense of accomplishment.”

  “Well, all right, if you are sure?” She raised an eyebrow at me as though she half expected me to change my mind and ask for her help.

  “Thanks.”

  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.” She stepped back toward the door and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “Have a nice evening.”

  “You, too.”

  I watched her go before I turned back to my mountain of paperwork and began to flick through sheet after sheet.

  I wasn’t sure how long I worked, but it seemed as though I was on autopilot, going through pile after pile of paperwork, signing documents that needed to be signed, filing away pieces that needed filing.

  It wasn’t until the lights suddenly cut out that my brain switched back on. My heart jumped into my throat and I jumped up from my seat. My stomach flipped, and I gasped in shock. In all the years I’d worked here, there had never been a power outage. It was the last thing I’d been expecting.

  Feeling around on my desk, I found my phone and flicked on the flashlight, relieved to see that my phone still had half a battery of life in it. There was no way I could continue working with the lights off, so I began to make my way toward the security desk even though I knew the security guards would probably already be working to fix the problem.

  Everything in the building looked far more menacing in the dark. Shadows seemed to loom and lurk around every corner and the things that I took for granted in the light seemed to jump out at me from the darkness as though they were living, breathing beings who wanted to do me harm.

  Several times, I paused mid-step to listen for any signs that I wasn’t alone. It wasn’t until I stopped for the third time that I realized that in fact, I could hear footsteps walking toward me. My heart hammered even harder in my chest, and I held my breath as I stood still and listened. The footsteps were loud and ominous as though the person was making no attempt to hide the fact that they were there.

  “Hello?” I called out. “Who’s there?”

  I glanced down both directions of the corridor, not quite able to tell which direction the footsteps were coming from. The sound seemed to bounce off every wall and window and it disorientated me to the point that I felt my head was spinning.

  “Hello?” I called out again when there was no answer and my heart jumped into my throat again. My pulse raced so rapidly that I could hear it pounding against my eardrums, and I thought that if I didn’t get a response soon, I might well pass out with the trauma of it all.

  “Who’s there?” I called again a little louder.

  Suddenly, I felt somebody grab me from behind. My scream was cut off by the hand that came down over my mouth, and I was forced back against the wall. This situation was all too familiar, reminding me of the attack I’d experienced at the Black Orchid and for a moment I thought that my attacker had found me for round two.

  Then I smelled the familiar scent of his cologne, and I knew exactly who my attacker was. I recognized him by the way he pressed his body flush against my own. I didn’t need to see his face to know that this was Scotty. I could sense it with every fiber of my being. I had been this close to him so many times that my body knew every inch of his.

  When his hand came away from my mouth, it was replaced by his lips, and I almost gagged on the bile that rose in the back of my throat. My phone dropped from my hand, causing the light to flicker and dance as it hit the ground and I tried to force Scotty away from me. He was too strong. His body forced me back against the wall and I felt his hands all over me as he stroked down my hips and came to cup my buttocks as I used my entire body against him.

  There was only one thing left to do. I kissed him back. For several long agonizing seconds, I allowed him to believe that he was getting what he wanted. I allowed him to believe that I wanted to kiss him back. Then, just as he began to drop his guard, I took his lip in-between my teeth and bit down as hard as I could. The taste of blood filled my mouth and I quickly spat in his face as he stumbled backward.

  “Ahh! You bitch!” he yelled at me, but I was already running down the corridor. I had no hope of getting away from him in my heels, but I was damned if I wasn’t going to at least try.

  I heard his heavy footsteps coming after me and my heart felt as though it was going to burst out of my chest as I forced myself on with as much effort as my legs would give. My entire body felt as though it was made of lead and I struggled with every footfall.

  Just as I turned the corner, I found myself stopped by what felt like a brick wall. I screamed and struggled as arms wrapped around me and I realized that Scotty couldn’t have been alone. He had brought help with him to ensure that I didn’t get away from him. I felt as though I had dropped into a horror movie and I was done for. I would soon be dead in Scotty’s trunk next to the shovel that would dig my grave.

  “Whoa, hey! Ruby! Calm down!” Major’s voice was like that of an angel
as it washed over me, and my heart instantly began to calm.

  “Oh! Major!” I gasped, and I felt the tears of relief begin to stream down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them as they flowed forth like a torrent of emotion and I was soon blubbering into Major’s chest as I wrapped my arms around him. He held me back with such fury that I felt as though I was going to melt right into him.

  “What’s going on?” he questioned. “What’s happened?”

  When his words only made me cry more, he stopped asking and simply stood silently holding me. I knew that Scotty was somewhere in the building, probably right around the corner but I knew him, and I knew he was too much of a coward to come out while Major was around. I knew that I was safe in this man’s arms. As long as he didn’t let me go, I was safe.

  I trembled in his arms for what could have been hours or simply just a few seconds but when the lights suddenly flickered back on, I felt brave enough to pull my face from his chest and look up at him.

  “Ruby, what the hell is the matter? Don’t tell me you are scared of the dark?” he smiled down at me as though he was trying to lighten the mood and I couldn’t help but give him a sad smile back. I had to admire him for trying to cheer me up.

  “He… he attacked me,” I gasped. I couldn’t get the words out. I couldn’t voice what had just happened because the truth was I simply couldn’t make any sense of it. What was Scotty doing here? Why had he attacked me like that? I knew he was determined but I didn’t think he was a psycho.

  “Who attacked you?” Major looked past me then as though he half expected some kind of wild ax murderer to be rushing toward us.

  “Scotty, he… he pushed me against the wall and he… he….”

  “Scotty? Your boyfriend Scotty? He attacked you? I’ll kill him!” Major’s face grew red hot with anger. For a moment, I was overwhelmed with the emotion in his voice and then it suddenly dawned on me what he had said.

  “My boyfriend?” I gaped at him and quickly pulled away. Those words stung. They would once have given me little butterflies in my stomach, back when things had been good between me and Scotty. Now then only aided in making me feel even more nauseous.

  “Scotty is not and never will be my boyfriend!” I snapped at Major, and his eyes widened in shock. He raised his hands as though he was signaling surrender and I realized that I must have looked like a crazy woman with mascara streaming down my face and an angry expression, not to mention the way my hands had tightened into fists as though I was ready to punch his lights out.

  “Don’t shoot me!” he told me. “He came to my office claiming to be your boyfriend. I took him at his word!”

  “Is that why you have been avoiding me?” I asked him, and I wasn’t sure how it was possible, but his cheeks grew even redder.

  “You noticed that?” he sighed as though he wasn’t proud of it. “I’ve been avoiding you for a lot of reasons but, yes, he was the main one.”

  “Scotty is not my boyfriend,” I repeated the words just to be sure that he had heard them.

  “Then, in that case, there is something I need to do,” Major told me and with that, he stepped forward, took hold of my cheeks in his palms, and pressed his lips firmly to my own. My head spun, and I felt as though the ground beneath my feet was moving as I placed my palms on his chest and kissed him back. A moan escaped my parted lips as his tongue slipped into my mouth and I tasted the sweet scent of mints on his breath.

  When he pulled back from me, my eyes fluttered open and I gazed up at him feeling as though my head was filled with fog. “Wha… what was that for?”

  “That was what I wanted to do in your office this morning but the only thing stopping me was Scotty,” he told me. “I needed to do that at least once before I told you the truth.”

  “The truth?” I scowled at him.

  “Let’s go back to your office and call the police,” Major told me then and he suddenly reminded me that there was a lunatic loose in the place somewhere. “Then we can have this conversation.”

  A part of me wanted to stop him and make him tell me everything but I knew he was right. We had to take care of the Scotty problem first.

  * * *

  27

  .

  .

  .

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  .

  Major

  I wanted to go out there, find Scotty, and throttle him for what he had done to Ruby. I wanted to hurt him for the terror he had put her through. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to leave her and so I simply walked her back to her office and pulled my phone from my pocket.

  After calling the police, I turned to Ruby, who sat at her desk with her head in her hands.

  “They should be here any minute,” I told her gently as I walked around the desk and dropped into a crouch beside her. “After they take a statement and see if they can find him, I’ll take you home.”

  “What if they can’t find him?” she protested with a shake of her head and her eyes widened with terror. The look on her face made my heart ache and I wanted to take her into my arms and hold her until she felt safe. “He knows where I live! What if he comes to my apartment?”

  “It’s all right,” I promised her as I reached forward and placed my hand on her knee. “I will stay with you until the police have him in custody.”

  “And what then?” She sounded as though she was close to hysterics. “What about when they let him out because they can’t charge him with anything?”

  I could feel her leg shaking beneath my hand and I struggled not to grab hold of her and shake her until she came out of it.

  “We will cross that bridge together when it comes to it,” I assured her. “Ruby, I am not going to let him get anywhere near you again.”

  I was shocked then as Ruby flew off her chair and wrapped her arms around me. “Thank you, Major,” she sobbed, and I realized that she was crying again. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  The urge to tell her everything there and then was so overwhelming that I had to bite the inside of my lip to stop myself. Instead, I simply wrapped my arms around her and held her until she began to calm down.

  It wasn’t until somebody in the doorway cleared their throat that I realized we had been holding each other for quite some time. Ruby suddenly pulled away from me, her head snapping around to the door as though she half expected Scotty to be standing there. My gaze followed hers a little more slowly to see the two police officers. They both looked sour-faced and bored as though they hadn’t been having a very good shift and I suddenly began to worry that they might not be much help.

  “We received a call about an attack on a Miss Bowman?” the male officer spoke up from beside his female counterpart, and I couldn’t help but look at her and wonder what she could do against a much larger man if she had to try to subdue him.

  “That’s me.” Ruby’s voice shook, and she pushed herself to her feet.

  “Could we take a statement from you?” The female stepped forward and pulled a notepad and pen from her pocket.

  “Yes.” Ruby still didn’t sound steady.

  “Do you believe that the culprit is still on the premises?” the male asked, and Ruby and I both nodded.

  “We haven’t looked for him, but he definitely didn’t come past us on our way to the office,” I explained.

  “And who are you?” the man asked, looking suspiciously at me as though I might actually have something to do with the attack on Ruby. That thought made me sick to my stomach. The thought that I could do anything at all to harm this beautiful woman made me want to hit myself.

  “I am the one who called you,” I said simply. “My name is Major Lawson, I’m the coach here.”

  The officer raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. He turned to his partner and whispered something in her ear before he turned and headed out of the room again. I watched him go, wondering whether he had said something about me to his partner. Ye
t there was no way of me knowing.

  “I shall take that statement from you and then my partner would like me to escort you from the premises,” she explained, and she clicked her pen. “What can you tell me about your attacker?”

  “It was my ex-boyfriend,” Ruby said and when I felt her reach for my hand, I didn’t try to stop her. I wrapped my fingers through hers and held on to her as I felt her shaking hard. She was clearly still traumatized by what had happened.

  “What makes you say that?” the police officer asked even as she was writing down information in her notepad. “Did you see his face?”

  “Well, no.” Ruby didn’t sound too sure as though she realized that she wasn’t as confident as she thought she had been in identifying her attacker. “But I smelled his cologne and it was the same cologne I bought him for his birthday. It felt like him, too. There was just something familiar about him when he pushed up against me.”

  “And what did he try to do to you? Did he say anything of significance that would lead you to think it was him?” the officer asked, and I held my breath as I waited to hear what Ruby had to say.

  “The only words he said were, ‘Ahh, you bitch.’” Ruby flinched as she said the words as though she was remembering how he’d said the words. “It was definitely his voice.”

  “Are you sure that your mind was simply trying to make sense of the situation and you simply heard your ex-boyfriend’s voice?” the woman asked, and I felt Ruby tense further beside me. “Have you had any contact with your ex recently that leads you to believe it was him?”

  “I called him to ask if he knew anyone looking for a job,” Ruby explained, and my entire body stiffened. I instantly felt sick to my stomach as she added, “He pointed me in the direction of Major.”

  She gestured toward me and I felt even more nauseous.