Keeping Her Love

by Tiger Hill

  She laughed a little. “I’ll have to consider it.”

  Their joined lips were tighter on each other this time, and Rhett let himself really lay into her. She responded to his movements, letting out moans and rocking with his body. Their bodies had been apart for so long that it didn’t take long for the hard rush of their orgasms to hit them. Tula came first, gripping hard at Rhett’s arms as she fell over the falls of pleasure. Hearing her become filled with so much pleasure just spurred Rhett on, and he followed after her not long after. They peppered each other with soft kisses in the afterglow, remaining close to each other as they caught their breaths.

  When Rhett slipped out, he just paused to gaze at her face. She was so lost in her peace of mind that she almost seemed ethereal. They just looked at each other, studying the lines and planes of each other’s faces.

  “I’m so glad that I decided to come here,” said Tula. “I’m so happy here with you.”

  “I am, too. I’m glad you don’t regret it.”

  “Speaking of which, I need to talk to my mother. I know that she’s probably been wanting to talk to me.”

  Tula put her clothes back on, as if for some reason she were going to talk to her mother in person, and picked up her phone off of Rhett’s cabinet.

  “Oh my,” she said to herself as she stared at the screen.

  “What is it?” Rhett asked, reclining on the pillows.

  Tula turned around, her gaze still on her phone. “My mom called me thirty-two times. My dad wasn’t much better. I think he tried about a dozen attempts.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “Max didn’t call me at all, though. Hmm. Some text messages here from my mom… I’m not surprised. She’s not happy.”

  Tula wandered back to the bed, and Rhett wrapped his arms around her as she read the messages. Most of what Mrs. Florian had to say concerned how Tula was making a big mistake, and that she could potentially be ‘forgotten’ by the family for this.

  “What are you going to do?” Asked Rhett. “Will you still call them?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” responded Tula. “They’re upset and I don’t need any more stress in my life. They know what my decision was. I’ll send Mom and Dad one more text message explaining myself, but I’m going to hold off on the deep conversations for when things have cooled down. Does that seem like a good idea to you?”

  “It’s probably what I would do in your position. You can’t really reason with them, right? They were pretty cold when they had that ‘talk’ with us over the dinner table about leaving.”

  “Yeah,” she said absently, typing her responses. “They’ll just have to deal with it. At worst, I suppose they’d come to my work to chew me out. Whatever, Karma could always throw them out if it starts getting to harassment. I don’t care.”

  He planted a kiss on her cheek, holding her close.

  “I need to go to bed,” she said with a yawn, placing the phone on the bedside table. “Tuck me in?”

  Rhett smiled, wrapping some covers around her as he held her. The future felt so bright at that moment.

  Chapter 10

  Rhett didn’t wake when Tula left for work the next morning. He had wondered when he fell asleep the previous night if that would be the case. Not that it would have bothered him too much, but now he knew with some certainty that he was a heavy sleeper.

  Tula might need me to help her when she starts her business, he thought as he pulled his work clothes on. I might have to start waking up in the middle of the night like she does. Hmm. I guess if I’m waking up with her, it doesn’t bother me too much. I’m sure she got a nice rest last night after all of our activity.

  After going through his usual routine of cleaning up and having some breakfast, he headed off for work. His phone buzzed on the passenger seat, and when he gazed down for a moment, he saw that Tula had sent him a text message:

  Love you, honey bear. CU tonight.

  He smiled, but the warm feeling of gratification passed quickly. Right before his eyes, a white van slammed on the breaks, the squealing of the tires slicing through the air. If Rhett hadn’t been a careful driver, along with having the good reflexes he did, he most certainly would have rear-ended the man in front of him. When he stuck his head out of the window to see what had caused the abrupt stop, he saw a lime-green tennis ball bouncing towards the divider, followed shortly by a small white poodle.

  Freaking dogs, he thought with a grumble. I could have just been seriously injured. If my eye had been down towards the phone for just a second longer… It might have even turned into a hospital visit.

  Continuing on to the shop, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something suspicious was going on. It could have been nothing—it likely was—but he had also taken Tula away from her family recently. He had his suspicions that Max might be up to something again considering his track record, but with no way to look into it or check on the guy at the moment, there was nothing he could do but wonder.

  When Rhett pulled up to the shop, he was shocked to see that the front windows to the office had been broken and that his co-workers were standing in a circle with their coffees, observing the damage scattered on the pavement.

  “What happened?” He asked to no one in particular.

  “Some idiot vandalized the place,” said an old mechanic with long white whiskers.

  “Vandalized it? It looks like someone tried to break in,” said Rhett.

  “Well if they were, they suck at it,” said a middle-aged man with tufts of red hair. “The idiot didn’t get far. Look—he couldn’t get past the solid door leading into the garage. Wonder what the guy thought he was going to do in the office. There’s no money in there at this hour, and the place looks immaculate. See?”

  Rhett peered inside. It looked as it always did—framed certificates and photos on the wall, a Buster Posey bobble head on the end of the desk, some papers sitting idling on the right side. The floor was as dusty as it ever was, with no amount of important documents or items thrown on the floor, something one would expect of a break-in. The only thing scattered on the ground were some small red bricks.

  “So the guy came, broke the windows, tried to get into the garage, and left?” Asked Rhett.

  “That’s what we think,” responded the mustached old man. “I mean, why else would someone throw some bricks through a window well enough to make a path?”

  They all hummed their approval of the comments. Not long after, their boss came by and forced them to scuttle. And then not long after that, the red and blue lights of a squad car showed up, two police officers exiting the vehicle as soon as it parked. Rhett headed for his red Camaro inside of the shop, seeing it tucked at the back unharmed.

  I had only moved it yesterday, he thought. Was it Max trying to further damage it? I could definitely see it as something he would do. With no way to prove it, and no real damage done, I can’t really say it was him. My gut tells me that he had something to do with it, and even if I’m right, what can I do? I just need to get through this day. Christ… This whole thing makes me want to take Tula to the Bahamas or something and just stay there for good.

  He took his phone out of his pocket and tried calling Tula. The line rang a few times before he was forwarded to her voicemail.

  No use in trying to talk to her right now. She’s probably busy making some pastries. I’ll talk to her later about all of this later. Maybe I could stop by the bakery. I’ve just got this crazy feeling right now that something is seriously wrong. I could be completely incorrect about that, but seeing her face would make me feel a lot more at ease.

  As he worked that day, he made more mistakes than he would have liked to admit. If his fellow mechanics hadn’t discovered some of the things he was doing wrong, he would have been in deep trouble with his boss later that day. It was enough that the garage itself had been broken into, Rhett didn’t need the old man yelling his head off about a customer coming in the next day with a broken engine.

  He was tempted when lunch roll
ed around to just call it a day. Not that he really could just walk off the second half of his work day, but the feeling was strong in him to do just that. He went to his Honda parked outside, got in, and headed for Karma’s Bakery.

  No more bad things today, he thought as he drove down the road. I’m gonna see her, have a good lunch break, and then get back to the shop to work some more.

  When he got to the parking lot of the bakery, he saw that Tula’s car was in her regular spot. He walked up to the front counter, greeted the cashier, and then inquired on where she was.

  “Oh, you didn’t know?” The cashier mentioned. She had been around for a few months, more than a dozen piercings dispersed around her head.

  “Know what?” Rhett asked, his heart rate increasing.

  “She’s didn’t show up today. Karma got a text early in the morning that she was deathly ill. Don’t you guys live together?”

  Rhett swallowed, his world going a few shades darker. “Yes, we live together. She left before I woke up this morning. Her car is out front.”

  The cashier shrugged. “Yeah, I noticed that, too. Weird, huh? I wonder what’s going on. Maybe she tried to get here and had to go to the hospital or something.”

  As the morbid possibilities of what might have really happened raced through his mind, he found that his legs momentarily lost their strength. In the humid heat of the building, he felt that he wanted to throw up right on the tiled floor.

  “Are you okay man?” She asked, pulling her slim body over the front table to more closely observe him.

  “Um, I’m okay… I think… I need to find her. I need to know where she is.”

  “Man, you don’t look so good. You’re as pale as a ghost.”

  “I’ve gotta go,” was all he could manage to spit out before he exited the bakery.

  As he raced to his car and pulled his keys out of his pocket, he realized that his hands were shaking. The first place that he thought he could go was Mr. and Mrs. Florian’s house. Where else could he start this investigation? Tula would never skip out on work without letting Rhett know about what was going on, and she had seemed perfectly healthy the night before. Besides that, it was suspicious as all hell for her car to be at the bakery while she herself was absent.

  He pulled his phone out one more time, first trying to call her and coming to a dead end. Next he texted her, tripping himself up dozens of times with spelling mistakes.

  Tula, where are you? Was at the bakery. Please, answer me. I’m desperate. I need to know you’re okay. Please please please give me a sign.

  He started up the car, heading for the other side of town. When he got to the house, he slammed the car door shut and ran to the entrance. When he pulled his keys out of his pocket, he dropped them right on the cement before doing a poor job of finding the house key. Shoving the metal in, he turned the doorknob and stepped inside the house. As he walked down the hall, he recalled that he hadn’t noticed any extra cars out in the drive when he got there. Pushing the door to Tula’s bedroom open, all he saw was her neatly-made bed and computer desk. There was no trace of her, though he did a quick job of looking around for her as if she were an Easter egg. Looking under the bed, in the closet, and even between small crevices, he found no trace of her.

  “Tula?” He called out from his place in the center of her room. When no one returned his call, he apprehensively exited the bedroom, taking one last peek into the space to illogically see if he had somehow missed her. He went to the living room and saw not a trace of her, along with Mr. and Mrs. Florian’s room and his old bedroom. The house was silent, and Rhett was sure that not a soul was inside there.

  There was one room left to check—the one he’d been dreading as he rummaged through the rest of the house. He’d already gotten in trouble concerning trespassing Max’s room, and the thought of having hundreds of spiders flung on top of him again didn’t exactly warm his heart. But he knew that he had to find Tula. If he neglected to go inside of that room because of his own ridiculous fears, and it turned out that something horrible was going on inside, he’d forever regret it.

  Turning the handle on the door, he found no resistance as he pushed it open. His first impression was that the room was exactly as he had seen it the last time he was inside. Tula was nowhere to be seen, though he called out her name to see if she was somehow in a spot he couldn’t see. His eyebrows pressed up in worry, he backed out, and closed the door as he went out. Pulling his phone out as he went down the stairs, he hoped to see some kind of response from Tula. The statuses that his phone had to report were sadly lacking.

  He called his work and reported that he had an emergency he had to attend to. He couldn’t imagine having to go back to the garage at that moment; he wouldn’t be of much use even if he did haul himself back there. His boss didn’t sound happy about the absence, but being much busier with other things, said it was all right. Rhett let out a sigh of relief in the knowledge that he wasn’t being fired at that moment.

  But now that he had the time off, and was scared out of his mind that Tula was in danger, where could he go and what could he do? She hadn’t be missing for long enough to report her to the police, and there weren’t any other places that he would think that she would go to in an average day, especially since her car was at the bakery.

  Should I go to the hospital? He thought. The cashier didn’t seem to know what was going on either, but I’ve got nothing else to go on. Maybe I should head back to the bakery and talk to Karma himself. Maybe he would have more information for me on her whereabouts.

  Feeling like he was going in circles, he headed back to the Honda and got in. Just as he was down the suburban street and heading towards the main drag, he felt his phone buzzing. Excited at the idea of getting a response from Tula, he pulled over and grasped the phone from out of his pocket. What he saw, whoever, horrified him.

  Displayed there on the phone in the form of a picture-by-text was the image of his dear Tula in tight restraints, tied to a chair. Bizarrely enough, there was no kind of background behind her; for the most part, it was only black. He almost wanted to punch the window of his car our or cry his eyes out, he didn’t know which. Her nose had blood sliding down from it, her left eye was swollen, and the makings of a bruise was forming on her cheek. He double-checked to make sure where the text message was coming from, and saw that it was indeed from Tula’s phone. There was no message to go along with the picture. Rhett was sure, without a doubt, that this was Max’s doing.

  He’s fucking with me, he thought, his grip around the phone getting tighter and tighter. Observing the image more closely, beyond the dark border of which she was situated in, he noticed that there was greenery. Maybe we whole thing is photoshopped. Why would this guy ever want to harm her?

  And then it came to him: Because she left him when she met me. Because she moved with me to my mom’s without a word. Because his whole plan of eradicating me failed, and he wants someone to pay… Preferably, both of us.

  He didn’t want to look at the image, but felt that he must in order to get a clearer idea on what the next steps were. He fixated on the corner of the image, both because he wanted to gain a clue as to her location and also because it hurt him to see her in the shape she was in.

  Trees…. Leaves… What are the possible places?

  His first impulse was the river Tula and he had visited the day before. He could have been wrong, but that was where his instincts had taken him. The realization struck him that he should call the police.

  But calling the police could mess things up. Max seems really unstable right now, so if he got a hint of an idea that the cops were going to mow him down, he could flip a switch and decide to kill Tula.

  He sighed. There were only a few things he could see himself doing to resolve this, so he made the first step towards making a resolution to this whole thing. First, he texted back to Tula’s phone.

  I don’t care what the price is or what you want. Just don’t hurt her and let her go
.

  To his surprise, he got a response right away:

  Kill yourself. Then I’ll let her go.

  He swallowed. You know I’m not going to do that.

  Another response: Then I guess you don’t love her enough to save her. I have her here with me. Maybe she’ll make me mad again, maybe she won’t. Come to the river and I’ll kill you myself. Then she’ll be free, I promise.

  Rhett’s forehead fell down against the steering wheel in aggravation. He couldn’t let Max hurt her, but he had the feeling that there wasn’t much he could do to prevent Tula’s brother from going completely psychopathic. Was Max completely insane, with the idea of killing all of them if Rhett showed up, or would he simply kill off his rival?

  He wants to bury someone in the woods today, that’s apparent enough, he thought. He can’t be too bright if he sent this by text. It could be anyone sending me these messages through Tula’s phone, true, but he’s still leaving a paper trail. I feel like if I don’t go right now, something terrible is going to happen. I’ll face the bastard… But I’m not going alone.

  He started up the car, and instead of heading for Karma’s Bakery, he turned towards his mother’s house. Once he got there, he went in her room and removed the handgun she’d had since Rhett was a small child.

  I never thought that I would have to use this outside of the context of a home invasion, thought Rhett. But so be it. I have no idea what kind of weapon he has, and maybe he assumes that I’ll come unarmed. This is risky as all hell, but I’ll regret it—as a man—if I let him get away with this.

  Hopping back in the car, he felt a dark cloud was following him as he drove for the river trail he and Tula had been on only the day before. His mind drifted towards the idea of calling the police once more, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a bad idea… That they would only muddle what he was trying to accomplish by going alone.