Unforgivable Sin

by Isabel Lucero

  “Uh, excuse me!” an annoyed voice says.

  I realize I just stepped out in front of a woman, blocking her path. “Sorry,” I say, half distracted.

  When I move and look back across the street, into the window, the person I thought I saw is gone. I decide it’s best to just grab the food and go. I’m clearly thinking too much into this.

  After the walk back to my job, I give Audrey and Chris their food and take mine to my office. My phone goes off as soon as I sit down. It’s a message from Troy.

  Troy: Hey, babe. I’m sorry. I have two flat tires, and I’ve been trying to get someone out here to tow it. I’m going to have to get a ride back to my house to get my other car.

  Me: Oh no. How’d you get two flat tires?

  Troy: I don’t know. I left the meeting and went to go grab some food for us, but when I came out, both tires on the driver’s side were flat.

  Me: Oh. Well, okay. I just sat down to eat anyway. Whenever you get your car, you can swing by and get me. I think I’m ready to leave.

  Troy: Did you leave to get food??

  I roll my eyes. I already know he’s gonna be mad that I walked somewhere and back, but at least I’m alive.

  Me: Uhh… yeah. But I’m back and in one piece, so it’s okay. I needed to eat.

  Troy: Emilie, I wish you would have had somebody else go grab you some food. You don’t know if she’s out there watching you.

  When he says that, I’m instantly reminded of the strange feeling I got when I was near the restaurant. I did think I saw her across the street, but it could have been anybody. There were too many people out to know for sure. I decide not to mention that.

  Me: Yeah, well, I didn’t. I’m okay, though. Hurry, okay? But be safe.

  Troy: Okay. Stay inside. I love you.

  Me: I love you.

  After I put my phone back in my purse, I scarf down my food and then run to the bathroom to freshen up. Troy probably won’t make it back here for another hour or so, but I don’t have much else to do. I walk to the front to see if they need any help out there before I leave.

  “Hey, do you guys need anything? Angel and Maria won’t be here for another two and a half hours, and I’ll be leaving in an hour or so.”

  “Yeah, actually, can you take the trash out? We got swamped while you were gone and I haven’t had time to empty it,” Chris replies.

  “Sure.”

  I grab the trash from each can and take it out the back to the dumpster. Being as quick as I can, since I didn’t put on a coat, I toss it in the large container and rush back to the door of the building. I notice a car idling across the street, which isn’t too abnormal, however it looks like the person in the driver’s seat is staring in my direction. When I stop to look back, it speeds off.

  Strange.

  I go inside and wait for Troy to arrive, and luckily it isn’t too much later.

  “Hey,” he says as he strolls inside.

  “Hey!” I say excitedly. “I missed you.”

  He lets out a low chuckle. “Oh yeah? Work is overrated, huh?”

  “Maybe,” I say as I squeeze him around the waist.

  “Are you okay?” he asks.

  “Yeah, of course. Why?”

  “Just curious.”

  I look up at him and recognize a bothered look on his face.

  “What’s goin’ on?” I ask.

  “When the tow truck guy showed up to take my car, he said the tires had been slashed. There were long gashes in each one, neither consistent with me running anything over.”

  My brows furrow instantly. “What the fuck?” The look he gives me says it all. “You think it was Carla? Why would she slash your tires?”

  “I’m thinking it was so I couldn’t get to you.”

  “But, that doesn’t make sense.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she was planning on coming over here and wanted to make sure I wasn’t here, or couldn’t get here.”

  “What would she do to me here? I mean, there are always people around.”

  “Who knows, baby. Let’s just get back home.”

  I nod and collect my belongings. After I clock out and say goodbye to Chris and Audrey, Troy walks me to his second car, a silver Charger.

  “Shit, it’s cold out here,” I exclaim as I stuff my hands in my coat pockets.

  Troy wraps his large arm around my shoulders and pulls me close to his body. I go to pull my hands out of my pockets so I can wrap my arms around him, but a piece of paper falls to the ground.

  “What’s that?” Troy asks.

  “Not sure. Old receipt, probably. I have a habit of saving those.”

  I bend down to pick it up, but when I look at it, I realize it’s not a receipt. It’s a typed note.

  I freeze in place.

  “What is it?”

  I don’t respond. I just keep re-reading the typing.

  Look who’s finally come out to play. Ready or not, here I come.

  “Get in the car,” I demand as soon as I read the note.

  Emilie obeys immediately. I open her door and wait for her to get inside before I rush around to the driver’s side. I look around, hoping to get a glimpse of Carla lurking somewhere. When I don’t see her, I slide in and start driving back to my house.

  “Fucking shit! She saw you out today.”

  “I know,” she replies softly.

  “Emilie, I told you this wasn’t a good idea. I told you that you needed to stay inside or always be around someone.”

  “And I told you I have to live my life. I had to go get food, Troy. It was just down the block, I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

  “It could have been. She was watching you.”

  “Okay, you were right. Are you happy now?”

  “No, I’m not fucking happy. I have no clue what she has up her sleeve. I’m not happy when someone is trying to hunt down my girlfriend.”

  She’s quiet for a little while as she stares out her window.

  “I thought I saw her today.”

  “What?”

  “Today, when I was close to the restaurant, I thought I saw her across the street.”

  “She was a lot closer than that, Emilie. She put a Goddamn note in your pocket.”

  “I know. I felt a tug on my coat, but when I turned around, nobody was there. Well, nobody that I recognized, just a lot of pedestrians. I figured someone just bumped me.”

  “Fuck!”

  The thought of Carla capturing Emilie again scares the shit out of me. Not a whole lot scares me, but considering what she did last time, I can only imagine that she’ll go further if she gets her alone again.

  “If she was that close, then why didn’t she grab me, or say something to me?” Emilie asks, pulling me out of my own thoughts.

  “You said yourself there were lots of people around. She’s just trying to fuck with you. Get in your head and scare you. This was her warning.”

  “We need to go to the cops with this.”

  “We will, but it won’t do any good. She obviously knows to stay clear of them. They have no idea how to find her.”

  We drive the rest of the way in silence. I continue to stew in my anger and frustration. Frustration because I can’t do anything about this. That’s what pisses me off the most. I’m supposed to protect my girl. She is my responsibility, but this crazy bitch keeps getting close to her. The first time, she almost killed her. I’m sure if there is another time, there will be no almost about it.

  I tried keeping Emilie in my home and with me, but she got tired of that, and the second I let her out of my site, this happens. I’m gonna have to talk to her about this again. If she insists on needing to go to work, then she’s gonna have to deal with the fact that I’ll have to be there.

  There’s one other plan that I’ve thought about, but I’m sure Emilie won’t like it or want to go along with it. For now, I’ll try anything else, but I may need to bring my plan up to Emilie at some point, and hope she won’t hate me fo
r it.

  We arrive to my house, and I make sure to set the alarm and check all the windows and doors. I don’t think Carla will ever try anything while I’m around, but I can’t be too safe.

  “Troy, what are we gonna do?” she asks softly.

  Maybe this is the perfect time to tell her my plan. I open my mouth to tell her, but her phone rings.

  “That’s Adrienne. Hold on a sec,” she says as she pulls her phone from her purse.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Pause. “Right now?” She glances at me briefly. “Okay. Yeah, no, that’s fine. We’ll be there.” Another pause. “Okay. Bye.”

  “What’s goin’ on?” I ask.

  “Jace and Adrienne want us to go over.”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know,” she says with a shrug. “Seemed important.”

  I huff. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  I don’t mean to have an attitude with her, but the last thing I want is to have Carla following us all over the place. I just want to keep Emilie safe.

  On the way to Jace’s, I keep an eye on the rearview mirror and try to make sure nobody is following us. The last thing we need is for her to find out where our friend’s stay.

  We arrive and realize we’re not the only people who were invited. There are a few more cars parked along the circular driveway.

  “I wonder what’s going on,” Emilie says.

  “I don’t know, but I’m not really in the mood to mingle and party.”

  She gives me a sad smile. “I know. I’m sorry. We don’t have to stay long.”

  We walk hand in hand to the front door and before we knock, Emilie looks up at me.

  “Don’t look so angry. People are gonna know something’s going on as soon as they see your face.”

  “This is just my face.”

  “It’s your mean face.”

  I sigh. “What face should I have?”

  “Just not a face that will instantly put everyone on edge.”

  I smile as big as possible. “Better?”

  She starts laughing and slaps my arm. “Oh God, just forget it. That’s your creeper face.”

  I let out a small laugh and ring the doorbell. “I didn’t realize I had so many faces.”

  “You do,” she says with a smirk.

  Adrienne answers the door with a drink in her hand. “Hey! Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

  “Of course,” Emilie replies.

  “How’s it goin?” I ask as we step inside.

  “Good. Just having some drinks with everybody.”

  “Who’s all here?” Emilie asks.

  “Marc, Nico, and my dad.”

  “Impromptu party or what? Emilie questions.

  Adrienne shrugs. “I guess. Hey, how was work today?”

  “Really good,” she replies.

  Adrienne turns to walk to the living room and Emilie shakes her head at me, letting me know not to bring it up.

  “Well, that’s good. I’m sure you were glad to get out of the house,” Adrienne states.

  “Yeah.”

  “Troy! My man!” Nico yells from across the rooms, his arms up in the air.

  I smile and raise my hand in acknowledgment.

  “You see who’s here?” he asks as he walks towards me.

  “Who?”

  “Marc. He’s not out being a pimp or anything,” he says with a laugh.

  “I heard that,” Marc says, appearing from the other room.

  “Well, I said it loud enough.”

  “You’re always loud, Nico,” I laugh.

  “Emilie!” he yells, like he just noticed her standing next to me.

  “Nico!” she yells back.

  “Is this guy treating you alright?” he asks as he turns her away from me. “You know you can tell me if he’s not,” he says quietly while looking over his shoulder at me. “I always thought me and you would be a better fit anyway.”

  I push him away. “Alright, get outta here.”

  Nico laughs. “I’m just messin’ with you, man.”

  He walks away, but turns around and mouths call me at Emilie.

  “That kid is something else,” Marc says with a laugh.

  “He’s lucky I like him.”

  “So, do either of you know why we were all invited here?” Marc asks, looking between me and Emilie.

  “Nope,” we both answer.

  “Hey, everybody. Can you all come into the theater room?” Jace announces.

  “Guess we’re about to find out,” Marc states.

  When we get into the room, we each take a seat and wait for Jace to say whatever he needs to say.

  He walks to the front and stands in front of the screen.

  “First, I appreciate you all comin’ over. I know I didn’t give you much notice, but I’m glad you all could make it. I had something planned for today, but at the last minute I changed my mind. Adrienne doesn’t even know what’s going on. Sorry, baby,” he says with a smile in her direction.

  She smiles back at him, her legs pulled up into the seat.

  “Adrienne,” he says, moving towards her. “I have to admit something to you, and I hope you aren’t going to be mad that I changed my mind.”

  Adrienne squirms a little in her chair, clearly getting nervous.

  “Today I was going to ask you if you would move in with me.”

  She gasps and puts her hand to her mouth.

  “We’ve been together for almost a year now. I’ll never forget the first time I saw you. You had just stepped out of a cab, but you didn’t pay me any attention. I watched you walk away, and didn’t think I’d ever see you again. When I did, I knew I had to speak to you. Unfortunately, you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  Everybody laughs. “Oh she did!” Emilie calls out.

  Jace smiles at Emilie before turning back to Adrienne. “I knew almost instantly that you were going to change my life, and you did. You made me a better person and made me look at life in a whole new way. I’ll never regret holding your phone hostage in order to get you to go out with me.”

  Adrienne lets out a small laugh and Emilie lets out an aww.

  “You made me feel again, Adrienne. The feelings I have for you aren’t like anything I’ve ever felt for anyone. I know without a doubt that you were meant and made just for me. We both had to go through some things to get to where we are, but I’m so happy that our paths crossed. It was fate, and not coincidence that we kept running into each other.”

  Adrienne begins sniffling. I look over at Emilie and her head is tilted with her fingers locked together under her chin.

  “Most people assume that when you’re in love, the next logical step is to move in with each other to figure out if you’re really, truly compatible. I don’t think that way. I know that you and I are compatible. I know we’re in love, and I know we’re gonna be together forever. There’s no way in hell I’d let you go.”

  He drops to his knee in front of her and the tears start streaming down her face. I hear Emilie gasp and when I look over at her; I notice she’s got tears running down her face, too.

  “I was just going to ask you to move in with me today, but I changed my mind. I already know what I want. I want you. Forever.”

  He opens a small ring box. “Adrienne, please say you’ll marry me.”

  “Yes, oh my God, yes,” Adrienne cries without hesitation.

  She throws her arms around his neck and sobs. After a minute, he pulls her up to stand next to him and faces us.

  “You all are our family,” he says, looking at each of us. “Marc, Nico, Troy, you are my brothers. It doesn’t matter that we don’t share blood, I’m glad to not only have a brother again, but three of the best brothers I could ask for. Emilie, I know you and Adrienne are like sisters, and besides her dad, you’re all she has. I knew she’d want you here, and I wanted my family here, too.”

  Adrienne and Emilie both continue to cry, and I won’t lie and say I didn’t start feeling a little emotion
al myself. I’ve always considered Jace my brother. I don’t have any siblings, and when we met, we became close almost immediately. I’m couldn’t be happier for him. I never thought I’d see the day that he wanted to get married. Then again, I never imagined I’d find a woman I wanted to have a relationship with either.

  He turns to Adrienne. “I asked your dad for his blessing earlier.”

  She quickly looks to her dad who is sitting in the front, holding back tears of his own.

  Mr. Miller stands up to hug them both. “I’m so happy for you two.”

  Adrienne falls into her father’s arms. “Thank you, daddy.”

  “Your mom would be so proud of you.”

  At that moment, I think it’s hard for everybody to hold back the tears.

  Jace walks over to us and allows Adrienne to have a moment with her father.

  “Congrats, man,” I say, standing up to give him a hug. “I’m so happy for you. Thanks for letting us to be here.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad you guys could come.” He turns to Emilie who is still wiping tears from her cheeks. “You okay?”

  She sniffles and nods. “I’m glad you two found each other. You guys are perfect.” Emilie stretches up on her tiptoes and gives Jace a hug.

  “I think I owe you a lot. I know you pushed her to talk to me, so thank you,” Jace says with a smirk.

  “I pushed her to do something else besides talk to you, but you’re welcome,” Emilie says with a laugh.

  “Thanks for that, too,” he says with a big grin. “I’m gonna go talk to the other guys, I’ll be back,” Jace says before walking towards Marc and Nico.

  Pulling Emilie into a hug, I wrap my arms around her waist, and kiss the top of her head. “Okay, maybe I’m not so mad about being here now.”

  She laughs. “Good. So, we can stay for a while?” she asks, stepping back and looking up at me with her beautiful blue eyes.

  “Of course we can,” I reply as I caress her cheek with my hand.

  She nods. “I don’t want to bring up what happened with Carla. Not tonight. They deserve to have this moment.”