“No!” I insisted. “Dalilah’s a liar!” While I spoke, I continued to try to wriggle out of the hold that he had placed on me, but since I wasn’t too good at fighting and it seemed as though each time I took a breath and exhaled, his weight made it even harder for me to take another one, it was to no avail.
I was still convinced that he was crazy and therefore, I didn’t want to yell out. I didn’t want to draw any attention to the fact that I wasn’t alone. If he didn’t know that Valerie was here, I wanted to keep it that way. But when he threw a hard jab to my side, it caused me to yell out involuntarily, and the sound of that incited a terrible sense of panic inside when I heard the bedroom door open and Valerie’s voice call my name.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Valerie
I stared at the phone for a really long time. Even though I was excited about calling my mother, I was also extremely nervous.
This would be the first contact I had with her since I was thrown out and I really wanted it to go well, but I wasn’t completely sure how I was supposed to make that wish a reality.
Regardless of whether or not Shawn was telling the truth about my mother and what exactly it was that my mother said to him, it was still sure to be awkward. However, I knew that no matter what, I had to try to call her, because if he was telling the truth and I didn’t call her, she would probably think that I didn’t want to talk to her. Then again, if he was just trying to get me to call her to break the ice, things could be made so much worse.
I continued to look at the phone, with her contact information glaring back at me, just waiting for me to hit send in an effort to try and mend our broken relationship.
I sighed and thought; Shawn would never let his mother out of his life, no matter how hard she tried to get away. It only took a moment to look around at the dingy apartment where I was staying in order to prove my point. Maybe he is just trying to get me to do the same.
Then, again, if he was being genuine with the whole thing, it would be terrible for me to lose time with my mom because I didn’t believe Shawn, potentially worsening the situation.
Besides, there were so many questions I was owed an answer to and since not contacting my mom had not answered any of them, I figured now would be as good a time as ever to get some of those answers, even if they initially hurt.
I finally decided that anything had to be better than not knowing. Before I could change my mind, I hit send and put the phone to my ear.
In the split second before it rang, I almost chickened out and hung up, but I stayed strong and kept the phone pressed to my ear.
“Hello?” I heard my mother pick up on the third ring and tears automatically began to fill my eyes.
“Hi, Mom…” I said cautiously, hoping that she would be as willing to work things out with me. “I just want to start with, I’m sorry.”
I heard her gasp and when she spoke again, her voice was shaking slightly. “Oh thank God you are all right!”
There was a part of my soul that was immediately relieved. I was so happy that she was at least worried about me and that also gave merit to what Shawn was saying. With hope, I thought that maybe he was telling the truth.
That truth would incite a lot of questions, but I could live with that. It was the fear of the unknown and being cut off from my family that was driving me crazy.
I smiled. “Yes, Mom…I’m all right.”
“What happened? I couldn’t get ahold of you and Shawn told me that you were given a note from me that told you to leave with all of your stuff packed?”
Even though I knew she couldn’t see me, force of habit caused me to nod before I answered, “Yeah, it was really weird.” I pulled the note out of my bag and read it back to my Mom, explaining that it was typed, not written.
When I was finished, I could tell that she was crying. “Valerie, I didn’t write that.” She insisted, “I might have been a little shocked and disappointed that you had given into temptation with Shawn, but I certainly wasn’t all that surprised and once the shock wore off, I was going to sit down and talk to you about it, but what you did was in no way grounds for being kicked out of the house.”
At that, I thought I heard a scuffle outside my door, but I didn’t really pay much attention to it, since I was too involved with the conversation with my mother.
“This doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” my mother answered solemnly. “And why couldn’t I get in touch with you?”
“I don’t know. My phone was on the whole time…”
“Wait a minute Are you calling from your phone?”
“Yes,” I answered, covering my ear from yet another bang outside of my door. I glared at the door and wondered what Shawn was doing out there, but paid little mind to it.
When she spoke again, my mother’s voice was uneasy. “Valerie, I believe that someone tampered with my phone.”
I felt my heart speed up a little. “Why do you say that?”
“Because your phone number isn’t saved into my phone, but I am looking at your contact right now…And the number is different.”
Wondering what could possibly be going on, I told her, “Mom, I think you need to come over. We need to figure this out and I don’t know how safe you are in your house. I’m getting a bad feeling.”
“Me too…” my mother said. “But I think I am perfectly fine here. How about we meet somewhere and talk?”
“Can you come here? I think that Shawn should be a part of this conversation too. Every little bit of input helps.”
“Okay,” she said, slightly hesitant.
With another thud and what I could have sworn was the sound of Shawn yelling out, as though in pain, I assured my mother quickly, “It’s just us here. Shawn’s mother is literally never home…but he sleeps on the couch.”
“Honestly, we have far bigger issues right now,” my mother said.
“I think we do,” I responded carefully, now getting up and listening out of the door, hearing voices, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. “Hey, Mom, can I call you back with a good time to come over?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you…” I replied, now beginning to get worried. The sound of the voices were not pleasant and I was afraid that something very wrong was going on outside the door. “I’ll call you back soon. I love you.”
“I love you too. We will work this all out, Valerie. We will get to the bottom of it, I promise.”
I smiled. “I know. It will all work out…Bye.”
Once my mom said goodbye, I hung up the phone and pocketed it, in case I needed it, before I carefully opened the door and called, “Shawn? Are you okay?”
There was a surprised silence that infected the apartment now and when his voice came back, it was mixed with another that I also recognized.
“Get out of here, Val!” Shawn answered, sounding as though he was short of breath and in pain.
Instead of listening to him, I made a straight course to Shawn’s aid. But another voice broke over Shawn’s and it stopped me in my tracks. “Valerie? Wait! Don’t listen to him. Stop…”
Hearing Zachary’s voice automatically made me angry, but when I came out into the living room and saw the blood, as well as the position that Zachary was holding Shawn in, I started to panic.
“Zachary, stop! Let him go!” I screamed, glancing around for a weapon.
“You’re safe now,” Zachary answered calmly.
“I was safe before!” I exclaimed. “Get the hell off of him!”
As I ran toward him, fury seethed through me. All I wanted him to do was to let go of Shawn and get out of his mother’s house. I had no interest in hearing a word that he had to say. Still, I heard him as he yelled over me quickly, “Dalilah told me what happened! I am so sorry…I came to get you away from this monster!”
I still had no interest in what he had to say and so, I continued to run at him, until I was close enough to ball up my fist and
throw my weight into a punch that actually meant something.
I heard Zachary yell out as he barreled backward and Shawn yell as his arm was twisted even further, before Zachary had to release him.
Shawn quickly rolled away from him and got to his feet while I continued toward Zachary and pushed him down when he tried to get back up. I was so angry with him, that I could hardly even see straight. I was wild with rage and so when I raised my hand to smack him again, he covered his head, while trying to put his hands up in surrender.
I stopped and screamed, “Get the hell out of here!”
He looked up at me and answered, “It’s okay. You don’t have to stay with him. You don’t have to take this from him. I can help you.”
I glowered down at him. “What are you talking about? I’m fine and I know that I don’t have to stay here. Did you hit your head?”
At this, Zachary stopped and looked up at me. “No matter what he tells you, you have a choice and you are the victim.”
I narrowed my eyes as the pieces of what he was talking about began to take shape in my mind. “Wait a minute…Do you think that…Shawn…that I…” I began to laugh, ignoring his confused expression. “No! You obviously know how hard he hits. He isn’t forcing me to do anything…” I paused, feeling slightly awkward admitting this out loud to anyone, but especially to my ex-boyfriend; still I thought that it needed to be said. “Every time that I had sex with Shawn, it was completely consensual. And I loved it. So, don’t believe everything you hear.”
“But…Dalilah told me…”
“Yes, and if you knew anything about Dalilah, you would know that she is nothing more than a lying bitch. The only abuse that went on during the relationship between her and Shawn was from her. Shawn would never hurt a fly.”
With almost perfect timing, Shawn ran up and smacked Zachary so hard that it almost knocked him out.
I immediately glared at Shawn and sighed, before looking back at a recovering Zachary. “Well, that wasn’t necessary,” I told him flatly before I rolled my eyes.
Shawn laughed dryly. “Yeah…like hell it wasn’t.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Shawn
Valerie might not have thought that it was all that necessary, but I certainly did. I was sure once the truth was wedged between those meathead ears of his and he finally understood that I wasn’t about to do anything to hurt Valerie, at least not intentionally and certainly not like that, he would understand too. However, if he didn’t understand, I was more than happy to let him know a second time…and this round, I would be more than ready.
After he recovered from the punch, I told him to get the hell out and never come back, so he did.
Once he was gone, I locked the door and turned around to meet Valerie very close to me. Before I had any time to react, she embraced me in a hug. She grasped me tightly and rocked with me for a moment, before she pulled away and asked frantically, “Are you okay?”
I smiled at her and even though literally every bit of me hurt, I told her, “Yeah…I’m fine. He really didn’t hurt me.”
“What was that all about?” She glowered at the door after Zachary.
I sighed. As much as I thought to turn her against the asshole even more than she was already and knew that this would be a perfect opportunity, I sighed and lamented as I replied in his defense, “I don’t think it was him. Dalilah told him a lie and trust me, she can be very convincing. She knows how to manipulate people and…she did it to get back at me.” I shrugged. “She threatened to call the police, but I guess she figured this would be easier and would leave less of a trail.”
My argument in her stupid ex-boyfriend’s defense didn’t hold up too well with her, because she answered, “That might be true, but he still came over here and just attacked you. He didn’t even bother to find out the truth.”
“He was angry,” I replied, realizing that the truth was better than trying to agree when I didn’t. “In fact, I think that seeing him do that makes me respect him a little bit more.” I breathed a short laugh.
“Why?” She demanded, now seeming to be angry.
I knew then that I had completely backed myself into a corner and I knew that expressing what I was thinking was really the only way out of it. I looked at her with a genuine expression, wrapped my arms tightly around her waist and sighed. “Well, because I know that if the roles were reversed, or if I had thought anyone hurt you, I would have done the same thing.”
She thought about this and I saw her eyes turn a little bit lighter. “Really?”
I nodded earnestly. “Of course.” I tightened my grip on her. “Even if we never speak again…you could do pretty much whatever you want to me and I know, as stupid as it sounds, as long as my heart is still beating, I am going to do whatever I can to help you…with whatever you need. I…”
Thank God I stopped there, I thought as I felt my breath draw back, close and quick with the surprise of what I was about to admit. Even though I was sure by now she knew exactly how I felt about her, there was still no point in expressing it.
She stepped closer to me and carefully snaked her arms around my neck before she turned her head to the side. “You what?”
If we weren’t interrupted then, I might have actually told her. I found that with her close proximity, I was getting completely lost in her eyes and I knew for sure that was going to be an issue. I knew that if I stared too much, I would become completely moldable and she could probably get me to tell her anything she wanted.
However, instead of me falling into her trap, the way that her hand moved hit an incredibly sore spot on my neck, and even though I tried to shift it away without letting her know that I was in so much pain, a rush of lightheadedness overcame me.
I swayed slightly and heard over the otherwise deafening, consuming darkness, Valerie yell, “Oh my God! Shawn!” I felt her hands clasp tightly around my arms.
When I came back to, after the black curtain that was forming in front of my eyes had opened again, I saw Valerie and realized that I was leaning against the door, sagging dramatically..
That would be the second time today a girl had to save my ass…I vaguely remembered thinking before I smiled at her and insisted, “I’m okay…Relax. I’m good.”
She pulled me quickly over to the couch and had me lay down before she almost reprimanded me, “You aren’t good, Shawn. You just passed out!”
I could tell by the look on her face that she was extremely worried, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do to make her feel better. I nodded. “Okay…But I am feeling better,” I told her and I was fairly certain that I was being honest with her. I couldn’t actually be sure, but I was almost positive that not passing out again was an improvement.
“What hurts?” She asked.
I shrugged, feeling slightly woozy again before I answered her in a silly way, “Everything? Is that an answer?”
This only made her appear more concerned, though, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I was just trying to focus on whatever it was that was going on with me and not have that black curtain come over my eyes again. To look at Valerie, you would have thought that I was dying. “It’s not a very good one!” she exclaimed. “Do you want me to call an ambulance?”
I could tell that her breath was heightening and I knew that if we continued to have this conversation, she was going to start legitimately freaking out and I couldn’t have that. I needed all of the help I could get maintaining my own composure. I felt sore and I knew that I was still bleeding a little bit. My head heart and my chest and back still felt tight from where Zachary had leaned into it.
I didn’t think that anything was broken, but I did feel as though there were many different ailments going on that I should probably be cautious of.
I tried to breathe deeply, but realized that it was fairly painful. I wheezed slightly, but shook my throbbing head in response to her question, which I was afraid was not convincing. “No. I will be fine…”
“Are you sure?” She stared at me with an inquisitive look and I nodded, even though I could tell that my eyes were scrunching, giving away the amount of pain it took to perform the motion.
After a long moment of consideration from Valerie, she finally said, “Okay, well at least let me get you some ice.”
“Thank you…” I said, feeling that my cheek was swollen and my limbs were sore, but by the time she returned, even without the aspirin that she gave me along with the ice, I was beginning to feel a lot better.
Apparently all my body needed was rest, but the other helpful nuggets didn’t hurt that much either.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Valerie
I was really worried about Shawn. Plus, as I tended to him and realized exactly what he had done and what he had gone through for me, I began to feel a little guilty.
There I was, trying to have a conversation with my mother and glaring at the little bit of noise he was making, all while he was trying to protect me from what he originally thought was a crazy ex-boyfriend.
I personally still thought he was crazy, but Shawn did have a point. However, I still refused to believe that he took the word of a total stranger to him, without even attempting to know whether or not it was the truth.
Despite that I was not a fan of violence and I was horrified by the brutality of their fight, I had seen a side to Shawn today that made me feel extremely safe with him. As much as I hated to admit it, while I loved everything about Shawn, I had never thought that he would be much use if we ever got into trouble.
I was almost certain that this was the first fight he had gotten in since the second grade and even that didn’t end well. But this one, even though he came out of it with a few bruises and cuts, he had done really well, especially against Zachary, who by contrast was always looking for a way to show the world that he was all man.
Dirty Stepbrother - A Firefighter Romance (The Maxwell Family) Page 83
