by Jenn Hype
Mark doesn’t relent, and as soon as Wyatt is past him he does a karate chop-type move at the bend of Wyatt’s arm which causes him to immediately release his hold on me. Mark takes the opportunity to step in front of me protectively, and the fact that if he fell over he would fall right on top of me is probably the only reason Wyatt doesn’t jump him right then.
“Enough!” I yell, stepping out from behind Mark. I put myself between them and I hear Mark say my name gently, coming out as a plea-slash-warning to not put myself in danger. I reach out and touch Wyatt’s arm, wincing when he flinches and jerks away from me. It’s enough to pull his attention from Mark and back onto me, and when he looks at me his face immediately softens. I touch his arm again and this time he doesn’t move away.
“Wyatt, listen to me,” I say with a shaky voice. “Please calm down for a minute. Let me say bye to Mark and we’ll go. Can you give me a second?”
“Fine,” Wyatt grits out through clenched teeth. “But I’m waiting right here by the door, and don’t go too far so I can still see you.” It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes at his dramatic demands, but right now all I want is to diffuse the situation.
“Thank you,” I say on a sigh, thankful to have put a stop to the potential bloodshed.
I pull Mark far enough away from Wyatt that he can’t hear us, then start in with the apologies.
“Brailey...honestly, you’ve hurt me more than that brute.” He says he’s hurt, but he just sounds angry. “I was being patient, trying to give you time and space to find your footing, not wanting to overwhelm you. I understand you lost your memories, but you have to at least be able to understand how hard it is for me to see you moving on when not that long ago you were telling me you loved me.”
My head rears back. Shock, anger, confusion...which emotion to pick? It’s probably the wrong one, but I settle on anger.
“You’re right Mark, I did lose my memories. And I understand this must be hard on you, too, but maybe if you’d told me anything about our relationship it might be different. Hell, some random nurse was the one who told me, and you only admitted it once I dragged it out of you. I don’t want to hurt you, but you’re right that I need to find my footing. I’m not the same person I was before, it’s like I’m starting new, and I’m sorry if it hurts to hear, but you aren’t an active part of this new life. Not because I don’t want you to be, but our paths are just heading in different directions right now. So, I appreciate the concern, but maybe you and I need to put some more space between us for a while.”
“Fine. Guess I don’t have a say in the matter. Just...just be careful with him, Brailey. I don’t trust him,” Mark says, gesturing with his head in Wyatt’s direction.
Yeah, I think to myself. I’m not sure if I do yet, either.
Wyatt
There are no words to describe how it felt to walk back into the bar and see Brailey sidled up next to Mark with his arm around her. I would have been jealous, but she looked so uncomfortable. I started to walk over to her and drag her away, but Keegan stopped me and told me the asshole who kept staring at her chest when she wasn’t looking was Mark - which I knew - but I had to pretend I was clueless.
It didn’t help my already suspicious thoughts when the fucker had the nerve to smirk at me when Brailey wasn’t looking. At first I assumed he thought I was her boyfriend and he was enjoying making me jealous, but something in his eyes just seemed...predatory. The way he looked at me like he knew me, knew my secret...I snapped. All I could think about was getting Brailey as far away from him as possible.
I hadn’t meant to overreact, shoving him up against that wall like that, but when I saw his fingers digging into her shoulders and then not let up when her body pulled inward from pain, I just lost it. The fact that he had the balls to taunt me, challenge me, even while pinned up in the air by someone twice his size, tells me that he’s definitely no good for Brailey.
This would be so much easier if I could just tell her the truth. If she knew everything then maybe she would cooperate.
The longer this drags on the angrier I get. I can’t keep this up much longer. I can’t keep lying to her and hiding things, it’s eating away at me. Denying that I’m starting to develop real feelings for her is useless at this point, and knowing that she’s going to hate me when the shit finally hits the fan is killing me.
All I can do is hope that she doesn’t hate me so much that she can’t forgive me, because I don’t know if I can go back to my life as it was before Brailey came into it.
Chapter Twelve
“Oh, hell no!” If he thinks I’ll be joining him in that cab he’s hailing, then he’s lost his damn mind.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” He has the nerve to get pissy with me? Seriously?
Who the hell does he think he is acting mad at me when he’s the one who just made a scene and acted like a jackass?
“I don’t know who you think you’re talking to with that shitty attitude, but it better not be me,” I say angrily, refusing to stop and talk to him even though he’s been chasing after me for half a block.
“Will you please slow down and talk to me?” He pleads and tries to stop me, but I jerk away before he can touch me.
“Don’t touch me, Wyatt. I can’t even look at you right now, and if you put your hands on me there is a good chance I will break every bone in your fingers.” When I hear Wyatt chuckle at my threat, my already fast walking speeds up to almost a jog.
“Oh, c’mon, Peaches. Don’t be like this.”
“Why the hell do you call me that?” I ask as I spin around abruptly and stab him in the chest with my finger.
“Uhhhh, well…” When he trails off I don’t bother waiting for an answer. I just turn and start walking again. “Seriously, Brailey. Just talk to me?”
“About what, exactly?” Wyatt jumps in front of me to stop me from walking, so I push as hard as I can and the jerk doesn’t even budge. “Do you want to talk about how you just humiliated me in front of someone really important to me? How about we talk about you acting like a jealous boyfriend, dragging me away like it’s your right to dictate who I talk to. Or we could talk about your anger issues and constant mood swings.”
Wyatt’s eyes narrow and once again, he’s acting like a raging lunatic. “What do you mean he’s important to you? Who is he?”
I throw my hands up into the air, exasperated by the fact that the only thing he took from that was me saying Mark is important to me.
“None of your fucking business!” I’m making a scene on the sidewalk, but I don’t care. I’m way past caring.
Wyatt runs a hand nervously through his hair and after a few seconds of him not responding I just huff and walk away from him again. I can tell he’s still close behind me the whole way back to our building, but he at least has the good sense to shut up for a few minutes.
As much as I hate to admit it, by the time we actually get to the building I’m feeling pretty torn between wanting Wyatt to give me some space and wishing he would just push me up against a wall and ravage me. My conflicting desires are making my stomach churn and I’m pissed at Keegan for not helping me put a stop to what happened back there. Come to think of it, where the hell is Keegan? She didn’t follow us out of the bar. I’m a shitty friend. I should have been less concerned over being pissed off and more concerned about making sure my friend wasn’t abandoned at a bar we’ve never been to before.
When we get inside the building Wyatt continues to trail behind me silently. Since he followed me to my door, I have no choice now but to turn and talk to him, because there is no way he’s coming inside with me.
“I’m going inside alone, Wyatt. Let me cool down and we can talk tomorrow.”
“Sorry, no can do. We’re gonna talk this shit out. I’m not leaving with you pissed at me.”
I sigh and lean back on my door, but when it falls open behind me I stumble backwards. Wyatt grabs my hand and keeps me upright, but his eyes widen as he l
ooks over my shoulder and the shock on his face confuses me. I don’t even have time to register that I hadn’t unlocked my door yet before Wyatt is pulling me to the side and pushing me up against the wall.
“Don’t go in there, Brailey,” he says in a no non-nonsense tone.
“What? Why?” He pins me in with his arm when I try to move away from him.
“I’m serious. Go knock on Keegan’s door, see if she’s home. She took off a few minutes before I interrupted you and that jerk.”
“You’re scaring me, Wyatt,” I whisper with a shaky voice. He trails his hand softly up my arm until he reaches my face. He pushes his palm to my cheek and gently rubs the pad of his thumb back and forth, and the soothing motion combined with the tingling I feel where his skin is touching mine, distracts me enough that I forget where we even are.
The sound of Keegan coming up the stairs pulls us out of our little bubble, and we both turn to look at Keegan, who is giving us both a shit eating grin.
“Hey B, you gonna explain to me why you never mentioned Mark is a hot piece of ass?” She asks as she smacks on a piece of gum like a ditzy teenager. Wyatt pushes off the wall and I have to push my back flat against the wall to keep from moving forward, my body craving his warmth like it’s necessary for survival.
“Hey Keegan, can you take Brailey inside with you for a minute?” When Wyatt doesn’t offer up an explanation for his odd request on my behalf, Keegan takes it upon herself to do some spinny-twirl-ninja-type move to get around him. When she sees whatever it is inside my apartment that Wyatt is hiding from me she gasps and smacks her hand over her mouth.
“Holy shit!” She mumbles through her hand. I make a run for it, but as soon as I reach Keegan’s side I instantly wish I had just listened to Wyatt and stayed away.
My entire apartment is trashed. Not just a few broken items and tossed couch cushions...I mean completely destroyed. It looks like someone took a knife to my couch and chopped it into tiny pieces, the padding strewn all over the room. All my paintings and pictures are torn off the walls and have been gutted just like the couch. Hell, even the fridge door is open and all the contents are spilled out all over the kitchen floor.
My dishes, my lamps, even the carpet that’s nailed to the ground...all destroyed. Why would someone do this? What on earth were they looking for?
~
“I mean it Brailey, don’t keep looking into Mayra. You were suspended for a day before you even knew Mayra was missing, just for walking to a closed area of Mayford. You know you can’t afford to lose your job, and now after getting suspended for two days just for asking about her, I’m pretty sure if you get caught again you’re looking to be standing in the unemployment line.”
He’s right, I know that. Doesn’t mean I’m going to listen to him. So my first day back at work, what do I do? Exactly what I was warned not to. I mean, how could I pass up an opportunity like the perfect one laid out before me?
The director of Mayford, AKA Madame Bitch as the staff likes to call her, just bolted out of her office after being called onto campus for a patient emergency. In her haste, she didn’t lock up her office. Her office is always locked. I’ve been inside a time or two when a little chastising was deemed necessary, so I know what she keeps in there.
Archived files.
Back when Bryce and I very first started looking for Mayra, he had given me a tiny camera that would easily and discreetly fit inside my pocket, just in case. Luckily, I still carry it around, and I dart inside the office without even looking around to see if anyone is watching. I’m taking this opportunity no matter what, and if I get caught then I’ll deal with the consequences later.
Every expletive known to man is currently screaming on an unending loop when I find Mayra’s file. Reluctantly, I take pictures of as much as I can before I hear voices approaching. Shoving the file back in place, I briefly consider hiding, but screw that...I’ll just walk out like I was in her office on purpose and hope no one notices. Fake it till ya make it.
My shift isn’t over for another two hours, but screw that noise. Once I safely exit the director’s office without being noticed, I make a beeline for my car. Taking out my phone to call Bryce and tell him the good-slash-horrible news, I see he’s already left me a voicemail.
“Hey, B-ray. The hospital called while you were at work. They had some sort of anonymous donation for Shaun’s surgery, wouldn’t tell me who. Obviously. Turns out the donation had been made at the perfect time, because they’d just gotten a call with a match for Shaun, so I’m dropping him off at the hospital. You did it, Bray, he’s getting his new heart.” A tear slips down my cheek when I hear the catch in his voice, and I unattractively wipe away snot from my nose with the back of my hand while listening to the message over hands free while I drive. “So listen, you’ve got time. Go home and shower and pack a bag. I’ll get Shaun admitted and settled. I have to take off to run a quick errand, but I swear I’ll be right back. Can’t wait to see you.”
Making a quick U-turn, I book it to the bank. I’m not risking anything happening to this SD card, not after everything we’ve gone through to get this information. After safely locking it in my safety deposit box, I head for home.
I’m both exhausted and giddy - Shaun is getting his surgery. I can’t believe it. I was really starting to feel like this day would never come. I swear, it’s like the sun is brighter and the grass is greener and I can’t help waving to my grumpy old neighbor with a bigass smile on my face, earning me a confused scowl. “Have a great day, Mrs. Trudy!” I yell, making her scowl even bigger and my smile even wider.
Nothing could ruin this day. We got answers about Mayra and Shaun is getting his heart. Things are finally going our way.
“Hello, Brailey.” The unexpected greeting startles a scream out of me, my purse crashing to the floor and the contents of it scattering all around me. He’s hiding in the shadows of my dark living room so I can’t see who it is, but it doesn’t really matter. The only two people that could possibly be inside my house I know for a fact aren’t, which can only mean whoever it is is an intruder.
Dropping to the ground, I frantically start feeling the floor all around me, trying to find the pepper spray I keep in my purse. My eyes stay locked in the direction of the shadow that my intruder is lurking in, too afraid of looking away in case he decides to approach. I want to be ready for him.
My shaky hands finally graze what I can instantly tell is the plastic cylinder containing the spray. My palms are so sweaty it nearly slips right back out when I grip it tightly in my hand.
Before I can stand back up, my intruder appears seemingly out of nowhere, hovering over me and give me my first good look at his face. He looks down at me with evil eyes, wearing a smirk that has me growling at him.
“You.”
~
When I come to I’m lying on Keegan’s couch and she’s gently shaking my shoulders.
“Are you okay, sweetie? Do you need anything? Something to drink? Maybe a Jack and Coke, hold the Coke?” She’s being serious, but I can’t help but laugh anyway. Without even trying, Keegan always knows how to make light of even the worst situations.
“I’m okay, really. Where’s Wyatt?” I whisper hoarsely, rolling my neck back and forth to try to get rid of some of the stiffness from the position I was laying in on her couch.
“He called the police. After they came and talked to him and took some photos he stayed over there to try and clean up some. Are you really okay?”
“Aside from passing out in the hallway, yeah actually, I’m okay. I don’t understand it. Who would do this?” It’s a rhetorical question, because obviously Keegan doesn’t know who would do something so horrible. I expect reassuring words or clichéd responses, but like always, Keegan surprises me.
“I don’t know, but you can bet we’ll catch that fucker and then I’m gonna tear him up.”
We both burst into laughter, and it doesn’t escape me that I’m actually laughing and not freak
ing out about what’s going on.
There’s a small knock at the door and Wyatt doesn’t wait for an answer, he just walks in like he lives here. Typical. He looks so timid and unsure at first, but when he sees us laughing his whole body shifts gears and he relaxes. It’s obvious he wasn’t sure what he was going to be walking into, and considering I passed out for the second time in one day, he most likely was worried I was going to be in bad shape.
“It’s all cleared out. Your carpet needs replaced, the drywall needs repaired in a lot of places and pretty much every inch of the apartment is going to need fixed. It’s going to take at least a week or so to get it back into shape, but as soon as it’s done, we’re putting new locks on your door and I’m going to talk to the building manager about putting security cameras up, even if I have to pay for them myself.”
“That’s just ridiculous, Wyatt. No need to go spending your own money on cameras over this.” While I find Wyatt’s need to control every situation frustrating, in this case I actually appreciate it. Doesn’t mean I’m going to let him use his own money to have cameras installed.
“Nothing about this is ridiculous, it’s fucking serious, Brailey,” he barks out at me. Even when I wince at his harshness he doesn’t back down. “Someone broke in and went to great measures to mess with your head. It’s not like this is a random break-in where some meth head was in need of another fix. Whoever did this targeted you specifically and was either looking for something specific or were just trying to terrorize you. Not to mention…”
“Enough!” I cut him off, standing from the couch and ignoring the wave of dizziness that hits me with the sudden movement. “I get it, Wyatt, I do. No one gets it better than me. But if it’s all the same to you, maybe just for the rest of the night, I can pretend it’s not a big deal. Because when I wake up tomorrow I know shit is going to start hitting the fan, so if tonight is the last night that I get to sleep in blissful ignorance then dammit, I’m going to make the most of it.”
