Tommy storms over to where the officers are cuffing Nathan, getting right in his face. “That girl is my family, too. You fucked with her; I fucked with you. How’s it feel?” He pushes Nathan’s head down to the hood of my car. I really hope the fucker’s not bleeding; I don’t want to deal with cleaning that up.
(Tasha)
I can’t see what’s going on from where I sit, but I can hear Nick outside, screaming at Holly. As curious as I am to know what’s going on, I can’t move from the end of the couch. The conversation outside isn’t meant for my ears even though the volume is loud enough I would be able to hear it from a mile away.
“I told you to find a way to get her fucking phone and turn it off!” Nick shouts. The sound of his hand making contact with Holly causes me to flinch. When I hear Holly moan in pain as she hits something, part of me wants to rush to her. The bigger part of me wants to know how she could betray me this way.
“I’m sorry, Nick,” Holly wails. “I tried, but she wouldn’t let go of her purse. What was I supposed to do? Wrestle her for it?”
He hits her again, this time she knocks something to the ground as she falls. “Don’t talk back to me, you fucking whore! You’re the one who couldn’t pay for your shit. I gave you a way to get out from under your debt. I was very clear on what you had to do and you failed!”
This time there’s no sound other than Holly groaning. The crying stops and I hear the screen door slam.
“Now, where were we?” Nick says, as if he hasn’t been outside beating someone.
(Tasha)
“Why are you doing this, Nick?” I cry, sounding like a broken record. I know he’s not going to answer me, but it’s the only thing I can think of right now.
I duck away from him when he tries to brush the hair away from my face. His house is stifling, causing me to sweat, even in my skimpy dress. I wish I had a pair of jeans or sweatpants on right about now.
“Baby, you know I don’t like it when you won’t let me touch you,” he purrs. He leans over, crushing his lips to mine. Even through the closed-mouth kiss, I can taste stale cigarettes and cheap beer. His hands clamp over my wrists, pulling and pinning them above my head. The only thing keeping me from a panic attack is thinking of Dylan. Even faced with the man who originally caused my issues, I’m able to keep my breathing steady, confident he’ll find me soon.
“You don’t get to call me that,” I hiss. “I am not and never will be your baby. Now please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone what you did if you just let me go.”
“I can’t do that,” he says, his voice devoid of emotion. “Let’s go to bed. We can talk more in the morning.”
If I don’t go with him, I know I’ll be in no better shape than Holly.
What did he do to her? Is she conscious out there?
“I need to see if Holly’s okay,” I say, delaying the inevitable.
“Fuck her,” Nick yells. “That stupid bitch has always been worthless. She’s lucky I’m the one her dealer owes money to and that she means something to you. Anyone else would have met a worse fate much sooner.”
“She’s still my friend, Nick. You know she’s even more to me than that. She’s the sister I never had. Do you really want something to happen to her?”
He pulls me up from the couch, still holding my arms. As we stand there, I force my body to relax, hoping he’ll release me. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to stay calm. He crosses his arms over his chest, legs spread wide as he seems to consider my request. I wrap my arms around his neck, leaning into him. I need him to trust me. His body is tense and I worry he sees through my act.
I tilt my head, pressing my forehead against his. “Please Nicky, let me go see if she’s okay. Then, I promise we’ll go to bed.”
I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“Tasha, I told you, Holly’s nobody.” His voice is softer now, but still within what I refer to as the danger zone. The way he’s speaking, he’s either on his way to being the loving, caring man I once knew or he’s ramping up for another fit of rage. Now that I know what he’s capable of, I’m even less certain than I used to be when he was this way.
“She’s not, Nicky. Not to me. Please, you need to let me go see if she’s going to be okay.” I rub my hand up his chest, knowing there’s nothing in the world that will make my hand feel clean after this.
When I feel Nick’s body relax as he shifts to kiss me, I jerk my knee into his groin and immediately pound my foot into his instep. Sadly, the extent of my self-defense training has come from Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality.
I watch as Nick falls to the ground, sputtering a string of profanities that I can’t understand. Wasting no time, I run to the kitchen to retrieve a knife. Unless it was another in a long string of lies, I know Nick absolutely hates guns. If he comes near me, I will be able to defend myself.
Throwing open the back door, I see Holly lying on the ground in a pool of blood. I feel around the dark yard for her purse, hoping she has a cell signal out here.
The screen door opens and I see Nick limping towards me. I shuffle my body to the other side of Holly, carefully placing the knife beside her torso. If he keeps coming this way, I’ll have no choice but to attack him.
“You stupid cunt!” Nick screams. “I should have known you’re no smarter than you ever were. You’re more fucking trouble than you’re worth!”
For once, I refuse to allow Nick’s words to hurt me. He’s wrong about me. He’s wrong about so many things.
I see movement out of the corner of my eye, the reflection of the moon off a pair of sunglasses tucked into the collar of a shirt. There’s only one man I know who is almost never without his shades. I should have known he would find me.
(Dylan)
Seeing as this is his area of expertise, I defer to Tommy when Zeke asks me how we should handle getting into the house to rescue Tasha. If not for his connections, we’d no doubt still be sitting in the parking lot of the club trying to get Nathan to tell us where Nick is hiding out.
We leave my car up the road, stalking through the shadows in an attempt to go undetected. Luckily, Nick is too stupid to have motion-activated lights and the darkness blankets us all the way to the side of the house.
Zeke’s hand wraps around my wrist when I hear Tasha scream. I need to get to her, make sure she’s not hurt, but Zeke won’t let go of me.
“Wait,” Zeke whispers. “Tommy’s checking the other side of the house. He’s going to text me when it’s clear. Don’t try to be the hero just yet. You make one wrong move, Nick’s going to do something stupid.”
“Too fucking late,” I hiss. If I have my way, he’s leaving his house in a body bag for what he’s put her through.
“Think with your big head for a minute,” Zeke chides me. “Calm the fuck down and let Tommy show us what all that training translates to in real life.”
The back door slams against the wall. “Holly!” Tasha sobs. It breaks my heart to hear how she’s hurting. I even worry about Holly’s well-being since I know that, no matter what, she is Tasha’s best friend. I never wanted anything to happen to her, I actually kept hoping she would get her head out of her ass so she wouldn’t be such a toxic influence on my girl.
“You stupid fucking cunt!” Nick’s voice is strained. “I should have known you’re no smarter than you ever were. You’re more fucking trouble than you’re worth!”
I spring out of my crouched position and look around the corner. Tasha’s kneeling on the ground with Holly in front of her, completely still. Before I can take another step, I hear the pop of Tommy’s gun, see the flash in the muzzle, and almost instantly, Nick is falling to the ground.
Seeing him down, there’s nothing that will stop me from getting to Tasha. “Precious, are you okay?” I yell as I cross the backyard.
“Dylan, oh my god, I’m so sorry!” She gets up slowly, her eyes still on her friend. “I shouldn’t have left with her. I’m sorry, baby!”
I lift Tasha off the ground, my arms tightly wrapped around her waist. “I’m just glad you’re safe,” I sigh before placing kisses all over her face. “I was so fucking scared. Don’t do that ever again, okay?”
Tasha nods, our lips still pressed against one another. I feel her shivering in my arms, likely a combination of the cold and shock from everything she’s been through tonight.
I look over Tasha’s shoulder and see Tommy where she was just kneeling. He’s on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, explaining the situation. I don’t understand half of what he’s saying, but it doesn’t sound good. When I hear him tell dispatch that she’s still breathing, I let out a sigh of relief.
I can’t find it within myself to stay angry with Holly. It’s obvious something deeper is going on here and she has more than paid the price. Now, I just hope she’ll recover, and maybe I can help Tasha talk her friend into going to rehab to finally work past whatever demons she carries inside of her.
“Is she…” Tasha’s sobbing uncontrollably as she turns to see her friend’s nearly lifeless form on the ground.
“No, baby,” I answer, not making her finish the question. “She’s still with us. Tommy called an ambulance, they’re on the way.”
A moan escapes Nick, reminding us what caused all this turmoil. I motion for Zeke to come and stay with Tasha because I need to have a few words with Nick before the cops get here.
Standing over him, I debate what I can do to him to cause him as much pain as he has caused Tasha. “You’re wrong about her,” I snarl. “So. Fucking. Wrong. You are a miserable piece of shit who took a beautiful, intelligent woman and convinced her she is worthless. You placed fear where there used to be innocence. Because of you, she might never be able to fully trust another man.”
“You think I give a shit what you think about me, Caprese?” Nick wheezes. I’m not concerned that he’s going to bleed out too quickly; it looks like Tommy only got him in the shoulder. And if he does pass out before the ambulance arrives, he has it coming. “You think you can do better? She’s a pain in the ass. She’s lazy in and out of the bedroom. And she whines constantly. You might think you know her, but you don’t know shit about her. Do yourself a favor and cut your losses.”
I’m not about to sit here and listen to him any longer. Rather than kick him or get close enough to break his nose, I place the tip of my shoe on his open wound.
“You do not ever speak about the woman I love that way. You get me?” I lean into the foot resting on his shoulder, causing Nick to howl in pain. “In fact, I don’t want you to so much as think about Tasha from now on. You had your chance and you blew it. Now, she’s with a real man. A man who knows how to appreciate her. A man who will cherish her. And beyond all that, a man who knows how to dominate her without crossing the line to abuse.”
Sirens wail in the distance, announcing the impending arrival of the police, and thus, the end of my fun.
“I knew you were bad news the night you walked into the diner. I knew you were worthless the first time you came to an event. It wasn’t until I found out who you are that I hated you. And now, I can honestly say you’re one of the few people on the face of the planet I wouldn’t mourn if you died.”
(Tasha)
Zeke won’t let me get up from the picnic table. I want to be by Holly’s side, to make sure she’s still breathing, but he tells me to let Tommy do his thing.
The entire time Dylan’s on the porch talking to Nick, I’m holding my breath, praying he doesn’t do anything else to Nick. It’s not that I worry about Nick’s injuries; I just don’t think I can handle the thought of Dylan facing prosecution because of me.
“Whatever you’re thinking, you need to stop,” Zeke scolds me without looking at me.
“And how do you know that?”
“I’ve learned a few things about you, Tasha. One of the biggest is that you always try to find a way to pin the blame on yourself.”
I roll my lip between my teeth without a comeback. “But Nick only--”
“I said stop,” Zeke says more firmly.
The moon has shifted behind a cloud causing near total darkness to fall over the backyard. It seems a fitting backdrop seeing as Holly is fighting for her life on the ground, Nick is slowly bleeding on the porch, and I have no clue if Dylan and I will be able to get past this.
“You know he loves you, right?” Zeke says quietly, draping an arm over my shoulder.
“I know he likes me, but I don’t think he loves me.”
“Bullshit. How can you not know that he’s head over heels for you?” Zeke turns my body so I’m looking at him. “Tonight, when you pulled that little stunt, the boy came unhinged. Dylan doesn’t lose his shit like that for no reason. What I told you before still stands…”
I stare at him, trying to figure out what in the world he’s talking about.
“He might act tough, but he’s fragile, just like you. If you’re not in this for the long haul, I suggest you break it to him soon. But not tonight, I think dumping his ass after he saved yours would be poor form.”
We both laugh. Leave it to Zeke to crack jokes at a completely inappropriate time.
“I’m not dumping him,” I inform Zeke. “I realized tonight that, no matter how much I didn’t want to, I went and fell in love with him.”
“All of him?”
“I don’t believe that’s any of your business,” I scold Zeke. “But yes, all of him. Even the parts that used to scare the crap out of me.”
“Good.” Zeke stands, turning back to me as he walks away. “I’m going to go tell him to get his ass over here, that way he’s not hovering over that prick’s body when the cops pull in. We’ll talk about how pissed off I am at you later.” He winks and I know he’s upset, but not truly angry.
I watch him push against Dylan’s broad shoulder, urging him to keep me company. It’s interesting to watch the two of them. Dylan has a few inches on Zeke, but the smaller man can definitely hold his own.
Before Dylan makes his way across the yard, I see headlights pull into the driveway. I turn to see the flashing red and blue lights on top of the squad car, followed closely by an ambulance.
For the next hour, two officers question me about what happened. Tommy tried to explain the situation, but they said they needed my statement. Luckily, Tommy had written up reports on all of the text messages, so they had that as evidence that there was a significant threat to me.
The entire time I stand there, all I want to do is get to the hospital to check on Holly. She was still unconscious but breathing on her own when they loaded her into the back of the ambulance.
When the last squad car leaves, Dylan walks me to his purple Barracuda. We don’t make it to the end of the driveway before he throws me over his shoulder, ignoring my protests that I can walk. I look up to see Zeke and Tommy following behind us, laughing at how ridiculous we look.
Dylan places me on the hood of his car, wrapping my legs around his waist. “So help me, if you ever do anything that stupid again…”
“You’ll what?” I taunt him. At this point, I don’t think there’s any threat he can issue that will scare me.
“I don’t know, so I guess you’ll just have to trust me from now on when I tell you to do something.”
“I know and I’m sorry. I just… she wanted to talk to me. I thought we were going outside, and then she wanted to go for coffee. Now, I’m wondering if this was the plan all along but she didn’t want me to tell her I wouldn’t go with her.” I lean my head on Dylan’s shoulder, wishing I could go to sleep but knowing it’s still going to be a long night. “I know you don’t understand it, but she’s still my best friend. I never had a sister growing up, so she was it for me. I know you don’t like her, but I can’t turn my back on her.”
“I know,” Dylan says tenderly. “But you have to trust me. We’re going to get her help once she’s healed.”
I begin to cry again, knowing there’s a chance she might never be th
e same girl she was just hours ago. She might never wake up. And even though her actions are responsible for where she is now, I can’t help but feel a tinge of guilt for that as well.
“Look at me,” Dylan says firmly. “I need to say something to you.”
I lift my eyes to his, overcome by the emotion shining through, even in near total darkness.
“The first night I saw you, I told you that you’re precious to me,” he whispers. “You didn’t believe me, but I saw it in you. Tonight, I thought I lost you and I felt like my world was coming undone. It made me realize that you’re more than precious to me. You’re what I’ve been searching for. You’re the missing piece to my puzzle. I went to the club that night expecting to observe people I couldn’t stand, trying to keep them from hurting one another. Instead, I found an angel in white and I took her home.”
“Dude, it’s fucking cold out here. You wanna unlock the doors?” Zeke grumbles. Dylan flips him the middle finger, never taking his eyes off mine. “I love you, Precious. And I never want to lose you.”
The tears start coming faster, this time out of joy. “I love you too, Dylan. I told you that night that I would never be yours, but I was wrong. Once you showed me what claiming me meant to you, I couldn’t imagine a greater gift than to have you want to claim me.”
“God, would you two get a room or something?” Zeke laughs, still bouncing on the balls of his feet, trying to warm up. This time I stick my middle finger in the air.
“If the offer is still on the table, I think it’s time to let go of my house and stay with you.”
“I’m pretty sure that wasn’t an offer, Precious,” Dylan laughs. “But as usual, you seem to have issues following orders.” He lifts me off the car, landing a sharp smack on my butt. “Now, let’s go check on Holly and then you’re going home to bed.”
“Is that a promise?” I ask, not sure I have the energy to do anything, but needing to feel the intimacy of making love with him.
Unexpected Angel Page 20
