I Need You Always

by Cynthia P. O'Neill

  “Marissa, what’s wrong?” Dane’s voice was laden with concern.

  He tried to hold onto me as I emptied my stomach, but I kept pushing him away. “Don’t touch me,” was all I could mutter before another wave of nausea hit.

  I saw him pull out his phone and speed dial someone. “Hey, Marissa needs you. You are? Good. See you in a few.”

  “Why won’t you talk to me, let me know what’s wrong?” I could see the panic in his eyes.

  I couldn’t talk; all I could do was to continue throwing up until I hit dry heaves. I managed to walk over to the sink and splashed a bit of water on my face, taking in how pale I looked, before washing my hands and rinsing my mouth out with water.

  “Come on, love. Talk to me, please.” He’d begged.

  I walked back into our office and threw both the note and picture at him. The note was from Tom. It read:

  The note scared the shit out of me, but it was the picture that made me hurl. It was of him doing it with Tiffany on her kitchen table. I watched as Dane’s eyes went big. All I could ask was, “Why?”

  He was about to rip the picture in two when he stopped and grabbed a magnifying glass out of his desk drawer. It was weird that our office had them, but sometimes they were needed to read the fine print on some of the contract negotiations with our accounts. They’d been a real life saver a couple of times.

  He held up the picture. “This isn’t what it looks like, Marissa. Here, look in the background.” He’d laid the photo down and pointed to what looked like a calendar on the wall. He placed the magnifying glass over it and sure enough, the picture had been from eight months ago, long before I’d met Dane.”

  Just as I was starting to wind down, in walks the “she-devil” herself. Dane spoke up before she could even say a word. “What the hell are you doing here? How did you even get past security?”

  The blonde vixen looked thin as a rail, dressed to seduce with a cleavage popping short dress, and red stiletto heels. “I only came to return this to you lover? You left it at my place a few weeks ago.” She threw a pair of his boxer briefs down on his desk and took a step forward to try and rub herself against him like a cat in heat.

  I grabbed my purse to leave and darted toward the elevator. Dane was quickly on my tail, while Miss Fake Boobs on a stick was running to catch him. “Stay the fuck away from me Tiffany.”

  He looked over to Marjorie. “Call security and have this bitch escorted out, please.”

  The elevator started to ding, announcing its arrival. “Don’t walk away from me, cara. You know you’re the only one in my heart. Think about it, where were we three weeks ago?”

  I stepped on, while he blocked the door. “I can’t think right now, my head’s hurting so much.”

  His facial expression looked lost as he pleaded with me. “We were in Germany, love. There’s no fucking way I could’ve been here. Granted I did have a pair of boxers go missing from one of the overnight bags we keep in my car. How she got to it, I don’t know. But, I’ve been loyal only to you, since that day in the elevator.”

  I shook my head. “I want to believe you, but I just need a few moments to myself, to collect my thoughts. Please give me that.”

  “Okay, I can deal with that. Just don’t leave the building without letting me know.”

  I nodded, but couldn’t tell him that I needed to just get in my car and drive for a while. I watched as the elevator doors closed and heard commotion outside, as I guess security finally showed up to get rid of the skank. I also made out the words, “Where is she?” The voice sounded familiar and panicked, but I was too far gone in my thoughts to care.

  The timeline did prove that Dane had done nothing wrong. But, I still felt uncomfortable that Tom was still harassing me. I felt a bit insecure about where Dane and I stood in our relationship, thanks to that stupid photo.

  I made it to the lobby and to the separate set of elevators that would lead me to the parking garage. My nerves were shot. I looked around the level I was parked at to make sure I couldn’t see anyone. I walked toward the car and began looking through my purse for my keys, when . . .

  “Hello, bitch! Did you miss me?” Oh, no . . . Tom!

  He grabbed hold of my shoulders and turned me around. I struggled with him, trying everything within my power to make him release me. Before I could do anything, I felt a sharp slap to the face. “That’s for slapping me at the wedding.” Then another one on the same cheek, making me disoriented.

  “I dug into your boyfriend’s past and found his last bitch, Tiffany. She was hard pressed for money that it didn’t take much talking on my part to convince her to give me some of her sex photos and stealing some of his clothing.” He leered.

  “I’m guessing she played her part well. I knew you valued fidelity and knew you’d come running this way, right into my waiting arms. I can’t wait to show you what I have planned for us.” Tom’s voice was laced with venom and hidden promises of bad things to come. “No one ever walks out on me until I say we’re through.”

  His hand grabbed hold of my hair and pulled hard, making me cry out. When I did, he stuffed something in my mouth and tried to force me to swallow. When I refused, he slapped me again, making me fall.

  I knew I was in trouble and I had no one to help me. I’d been careless. By not trusting Dane, I’d let my guard down and in turn, it looked like my life was either being thrust into a living hell or being pushed into the after life.

  I could feel my body falling in slow motion, about to hit the concrete floor of the garage. I heard Dane and my brother, Nate’s, voices and feet running toward me, as sirens began to draw close. I heard someone yell for Tom to put his hands up and step away from me.

  I remember the pain as my back and head finally hit the ground. I could smell Dane’s cologne, and feel his hands lifting me into his lap. “Don’t leave me, Marissa. I need you. You’re the only person to bring a smile to my face and fill my heart with love and laughter. When we’re apart, it’s sheer torture, because I feel I can’t breathe.” His voice shook as he held me closer. “I need you, my love . . . I need you always.”

  My eyes wouldn’t open. I was in too much pain to move. But, my ears heard the voice of my brother. I heard a scuffle and Nate yell, “Take this you jerk. No one treats my sister the way you have and gets away with it.”

  Someone grunted in pain and then I heard the sound of handcuffs being placed on Tom. “This ain’t over!” He yelled out.

  “An ambulance is on its way, Mr. Prescott.” It must be one of the security officers voices.

  “Thanks, Steve. If you could move that asshole away from Marissa, until the cops arrive. I don’t want her having to hear any of his vile words.”

  I felt Nate’s hand press against the good side of my face. “Why would he do this? I don’t understand?”

  Dane responded. “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out and put that bastard away for a long time.”

  I held on long enough to hear the ambulance and police arrive. As soon as I felt myself being loaded onto the ambulance, I let the darkness take hold.

  NATE AND I TOOK turns pacing in the waiting room. The paramedics had rushed her into the ER almost two hours ago and we hadn’t gotten any updates.

  “I don’t like how long they’re taking.” Nate admitted.

  “Me either. I don’t like this, not one damn bit.” I punched my fist into the seat next to me needing to release some pent up frustration.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Mr. Prescott?”

  I looked up to see Officer Rankin. “Hi, Zach. Please have a seat and feel free to call me Dane.” I glanced over toward Nate who waited for any word on Marissa. I extended my hand toward Nate. “This is Marissa’s brother, Nate Lawson.”

  “What brings you here, Zach?” I wondered.

  “I just checked with a couple of friends I have in the ER and Marissa is still being worked on, but doing good. I’m not allowed to state anything further regarding her, but I ca
n elaborate on what we found in Mr. Reynold’s car and home.”

  Nate looked up at Zach, with questionable eyes. “Do we want to hear this?”

  Officer Rankin nodded. “I think everything will make sense when you do.”

  He leaned back in his chair and started to elaborate. “When we arrested Tom, we searched him and found some capsules in his pocket. We aren’t sure if he forced Marissa to take any of them or not, but we passed word to the hospital that they might want to pump her stomach, as a safety. In the meantime, we sent a sample over to our lab and put a rush order on it.”

  He paused for a moment, letting us soak in what he was saying. “It turned out to be GHB or gamma-hydroxybutyrate. The drug is illegal and known as a date rape drug. It isn’t easy to manufacture and usually takes someone with a thorough knowledge of chemistry to replicate it. But, the one nice thing about it is that each replication has its own signature, because of it being difficult to make. So when we find a batch we can usually link it back to it’s source and shut down the producer.”

  “The drug sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?” I questioned.

  A smile spread across Zach’s face. “It turns out it was the same batch that had been slipped to Ethan.”

  Nate yelled out. “You mean, Tom? . . .”

  “Bingo!” Zach stated. “We’d been able to talk with Ethan and he remembered having a quarrel of words with Tom and two of his buddies. When Tom offered both of you drinks, he’d had the drugs in both. You were meant to get one too, Nate. But, because Ethan drank both, he had almost overdosed on the drug, which in turn caused him to pass out, which led to him hitting Gabi’s car, and now we’ve come full circle.”

  I shot up from my seat, causing the chair to fall on the floor with a loud crash. “That jerk. If he hadn’t been so damn possessive of Marissa, all this could be avoided.” I paced the room a few times and suddenly realized we were missing some information. “Do we know why he was so enamored with Marissa? Why he’d go to such lengths? What did he plan to do with her?”

  Zach’s face fell. “You’re not going to want to hear this and this is off record, or my job could be in jeopardy. He’d made some investments with Nate’s dad and they went bad. His father had encouraged him to try his hand at the market, he’d been envious of all that Nate had succeed and took a big gamble on a company that didn’t pay off. While his dad told him to “live, learn, and move forward,” he’d decided to make a personal vendetta against Marissa and Nate.

  “He had a descriptive notebook detailing everything he planned to do to both of you. He was going to have you beat up and your car stolen and sold for parts the night of the party, Nate. He’d wanted you drugged so you wouldn’t know what hit you. He’d planned on just beating up Ethan, nothing more. But, with Marissa, he viewed her as a piece of property. He wanted to own her, have her pay off her father’s debt to him, by using her for sex and as a slave to him.”

  It was no surprise that Nate flew out of his chair. “I’ll kill the bastard.”

  Zach stood up and placed his hands on both of Nate’s shoulders and guided him to sit back down. “We don’t need to make a scene and force me to escort you outside the hospital grounds, so settle down. Besides, you won’t have to worry about Tom trying to harm her again. We’ve got him on unintentional manslaughter charges for the death of Gabi, assault and battery, along with attempted kidnapping of Marissa, possession of illegal drugs, attempt to hold a person against their will and force them into slavery, attempted murder of Ethan, and some others that may come up as we process more of the information.”

  I had to ask. “Is there any chance he’ll make bail?”

  Zach just shook his head and smiled. “He won’t go before a judge until tomorrow. We have enough evidence to bring about a trial. Plus, his father has already refused to help him. He told us that his son made his bed, against what he’d advised, so now he could lie in it. If he ever see’s the outside of a prison wall, it’ll be a miracle. But, you didn’t hear that from me.”

  Zach left us to head back to his headquarters. We’d both thanked him for giving us a heads up and helping us make sense of this whole mess.

  Nate and I began to talk as we waited.

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of the gifts I’d had made at my father’s favorite jewelry store. I held it out in my hand to let Nate see. “Do you think she’ll like it or even want it?”

  Her brother picked it up and looked it over, with a smile building on his face. “She’ll love it man. I just hope you can convince her.”

  “So, do I have your permission?”

  He nodded. “Of course. As long as she’s happy, I’m good. But, if you ever treat her wrong, then we’ll have issues.”

  We were quiet for a while, until I asked. “Have you figured out what you’re going to do about your job?”

  Nate nodded. “I like to travel, but I feel the need to start settling down and being closer to home in case Marissa, my parents, or you might need me. I’ve put my resume out there, but I keep getting the “over qualified” and “you’d cost too much” excuses as to why they won’t hire me. If I don’t find something soon, I’ve considered giving my notice and going into business on my own, because I could charge less than what my company does and decide my own hours.”

  “Let me talk with my dad and see if he’s had any success talking with some of his buddies. The way things have been going lately, we might end up hiring you.” I admitted.

  He looked at me a bit funny. “You have some skimming going on?”

  I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. “I’m not sure what’s going on. Marissa noticed some of the figures weren’t matching up with sales and accounting. She thought she might have erred in entering the numbers, but your sister is just as meticulous as you are. If we see any more discrepancies, we’ll definitely be in touch.”

  Nate was about to respond, when we heard. “Mr. Lawson?”

  We both stood, as he said, “Yes?”

  “I’m Dr. Williams. I’ve been the one looking over your sister when she came in earlier.” He looked over at me and then back at Nate. “Is it okay to talk in front of him?” He asked pointing at me.

  Nate placed his hand on my shoulder. “This is Marissa’s boyfriend. We’re practically family.”

  The doctor nodded. “We pumped her stomach and didn’t find much, except for a partially dissolved pill. According to the police, they suspected it was GHB, so we gave her some medication that would attach to the drug and help flush it out of her system, where it won’t affect any part of her.”

  I had to ask. “How’s she doing?”

  “We’ve moved her up to a room and she’s resting comfortably now. She has a small hairline crack in her cheek and will have some bruising. Nothing is broken, it will just be sore and take time to heal. She has some scrapes to one of her arms and legs, when she fell, and a small wound on her head that required a few stitches to close.”

  Nate breathed a sigh of relief, as did I. “Thank goodness it is nothing worse.”

  “There’s more.” The doctor stated. “When we ran a blood test to see how much of the drug had entered her system, we discovered something.”

  “Is it something serious?” Her brother asked, as I held my breath waiting to hear the news.

  “It’s nothing bad. We’ll need to do an ultrasound to make sure things are all right and take some measurements. But, I’ll pass that over to Dr. Andrews. She’ll meet you at the nurse’s station upstairs to get your permission for the test.”

  I couldn’t take it any longer. “Good grief man, spit it out. What’ wrong with my Marissa?”

  He jumped a bit at my reaction. “So I take it you don’t know?”

  “No what?”

  “Miss Lawson is pregnant.”

  Nate fell back in his seat relieved that it wasn’t anything worse, while I was left wondering. “But, how? She’s on the pill.”

  “Sir, nothing is full proof. Has s
he been sick or on antibiotics recently?” Dr. Williams asked.

  “Yes. We were in Australia, when she got sick. She threw up several times over the course of a few days, before the doctor put her on some antibiotics, citing an infection.”

  The doc smiled. “That would do it. When she threw up, she probably vomited some of her birth control pill, reducing the effects it had in her system. But, when the antibiotics were added, it pretty much nullified the pill and would allow her to get pregnant.”

  Nate placed a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay with this?”

  I looked up at both of them. “I’d planned on taking the next step in our lives, having some time for just the two of us, but I’m overjoyed. When can we go see her?”

  “I can have the nurse walk you up now.”

  Marissa was slowly starting to wake up when we got to her room. Nate sat on one side of her, as I took up the other. We held her hands as she slowly came around. “Where am I?”

  “You’re in the hospital, sis. Do you remember what happened?”

  Her face filled with fear as she took in her surroundings, saw the IV strapped to her hand, and began to panic. I stood up, brushing my hand against the good side of her face and kissing her gently on the forehead. “Shh, love. We don’t need for you to get upset. Everything’s going to be all right. Tom is in prison, with no chance of making bail. He has a long list of charges that are pending against him.”

  “He can’t hurt me?” Her voice shook with fear.

  “No, cara. He can no longer hurt you.”

  I knew the next question that was coming. “Why?”

  Nate took that one and explained everything. We all breathed a little easier knowing that the culprit had finally been caught that had caused so much chaos in each of our lives. It was actually a bit ironic that through chaos and adversity, our lives began to intermingle and the result became happiness.