by Jayton Young
I blushed because I didn’t really mean to do that. “Sorry, Garret. It’s habit now.”
“It’s alright. What were you saying?”
“Oh, yea, um…today and yesterday, I’ve answered a few strange calls.” I said hesitantly thinking he would probably think it was my imagination. “They are hang ups. Just breathing, no talking, and then they hang up.”
“Why didn’t you get me as soon as it happened?” He asked, concern lacing his voice, and immediately coming to my side putting a hand at the small of my back, sending shivers down my spine.
“Well, yesterday, you know why, and today I tried to explain it away, but I can’t. All other calls come through fine. It’s just making me kind of nervous.”
He moved to put both of his hands on my shoulders, rubbing them slightly, and looked down into my eyes. “Please, Dina, tell me when anything happens that get you nervous, or makes you think something is happening or someone is watching you. I have to be able to trust you to do that. It’s the only way I can protect you and keep you safe.” He ran the back of his fingers down my cheek. “I know you’ve been ignoring what I said before I confessed, but I’m not going to let it go. I really would like to be with you, but I’ll wait as long as you need.”
I could see the sincerity in his eyes. I was speechless. This Adonis of a man wanted me? How the hell did that happen?
Chapter 5
When we made our way to the parking deck on the side of our office building, I saw a black 2011 Lexus LX SUV sitting in the first parking space that I started drooling over, and Garret walked right over to it. I looked at the sign designating who the space belonged to, and sure enough it had his name and occupation on it. He opened the passenger door for me to get in, and the only thought in my head was ‘WOW’. The whole interior was done in Cashmere leather with African Bubinga wood accents. It had a CD player with an iPod port, and a GPS in the middle of the dash.
“This is a really nice car.” I said after he helped me in and then got in on his side. It was an understatement, but I didn’t know what else to say. I was still very confused and nervous about the conversation we’d just had. “Oh, yeah! Can you take me to my place so I can change? I can’t do much of anything in these clothes.”
“Sure, no problem. I can check on Ma while I’m there.”
“No, she said she’d be at Rose’s house until around nine tonight playing Bridge with the ladies.”
“Does she have a ride home?” He asked. “She can’t drive in the dark; she can’t see well enough at night anymore.”
“I know. I offered to drive her and pick her up, but she said Michael was going to do it.” Michael was Rose’s son who was still living at home while he went to college.
“Alright. Do you want me to come up with you?” He asked. It was probably my imagination, but it sounded like he was hoping I’d say yes.
“No, thanks. I’ll only be a minute.”
When we arrived, I got out and headed up the steps beside the garage that led to my apartment. When I went to unlock the door, I saw that it was already unlocked. I must have forgotten to lock it that morning. I had been in a hurry to get to the coffee shop to talk to the Davis’. I went in and went straight to change into some sweats to work out in.
I had four messages on the answering machine, so I decided to check them before I left, but as I hit the play button, my phone rang.
“Hello?” I answered, listening to the empty space on the message before it hung up and the next message started.
“Hey Di, what are you doing?” Doc asked, sounding like he was in a very good mood.
The next message was the same as the first.
“Hey Doc. Did you happen to try to call me today?” I asked as the third message turned out the same as the others.
“Yeah, about half an hour ago. I was trying to catch you before you headed to Mrs. Chambers’ house.” Sure enough, his voice came on the last message telling me to call him before I did anything else. “I have great news.”
“Hold on, Doc, I think Mr. Starr is knocking at my door.” I laid the phone down on the counter since it was a corded phone, and went to let Garret in.
“I was wondering what was taking so long.” He said as he stepped in.
“I’m sorry, Garret. I changed, but decided to check messages, and then my friend called, so I’m on the phone.” I said as I headed back to finish talking with Doc. “Anyway, I’ve only been in here for ten minutes.”
He laughed. “Sorry, I forget sometimes how long it can take a woman to change.”
I shook my head at him as I picked the receiver back up. “Okay Doc, so what’s the good news?”
“Can you ask him to call you on my cell? We need to go.” Garret asked.
I cut Doc off as he was beginning and asked.
“Where are you going with your boss?” Doc asked, not sounding too happy. He had always been wary of anyone I had talked to.
“He’s taking me to the gym where Stefan is going to show me some self-defense techniques and see if it is something I would like to pursue.” I explained.
“Okay then, give me his number.”
“I should ask you if it’s alright to talk about you. I don’t want to say your name or do anything you don’t want me to.” I asked quietly. Garret was in the living area of the apartment, so I didn’t think he would hear me. I knew he would ask questions later.
“Diana, I will be around you when I move there, so I’m guessing they’ll meet me anyway. I’m coming so we can finally be friends, out in the open, and I can help you to make a stand if or when the time comes. I don’t want you to have to be running anymore. You shouldn’t have to fear every move you make.”
I was stunned. That was the first time he’d really said anything like that to me. It took me a second to gather myself, and I just figured that I would think on what he said later. “Ok, so do you want to call me on Garret’s phone, or do you want me to call you back when I get home?”
“You go hang out with your friends and try the self-defense. I mean for you to really try, too. I know you don’t like to fight, but this could save your life. You can just call me when you get home.”
I said my goodbye to him and then headed out the door with Garret following me. I made sure to lock my door this time.
“So was that the friend you’re going to stay here for?” He asked casually, but I could tell he really wanted to know.
“Yeah.” I wanted to see if would just drop it, or whether he’d give in to ask.
“Is he going to be calling you on my phone?”
I was laughing in my head, but I kept a straight face as I answered. “No, I told him I’d call him when I got home tonight.”
We rode for another few minutes before he broke. “So, are you going to tell me about him, or are you going to make me ask twenty questions and guess?”
I giggled. It was fun to tease him. He was the type of man who had to be the first to know everything. “His name is Dustin Stevens, but I call him Doc. I’ve known him for about eight years now. He has helped me out a lot, and He has always been there for me when I called, no matter what he was doing. He’s an ER doctor. That’s where I met him.”
I got to thinking about what he’s said earlier. I hoped he didn’t think that I’d been hiding our friendship out of embarrassment. I’d really gotten to know him over the years, and he was a good man. A man anyone would be proud to be friends with. It actually made me feel better that he’d stand with me against Chuck when he came. And I did know he would be coming. I was wondering about the hang ups. It made even more nervous now that it was happening at home, too. I looked over to Garret and told him about it. He was silent, and he had a look on his face that I couldn’t decipher.
When we pulled up to the gym, we both got out and I started to head in, but Garret stopped me.
“I would really like you to think about staying with one of us tonight.” He said. “If your ex has your phone number, he might know where you s
tay. At least until I can pull your phone records and the ones from the past couple of days at the office and see if any numbers match up. Even if they don’t, we should be able to at least see where the calls are coming from. I’m going to call Margie and have her move in with me for a while.”
“Oh my God! She’s going to hate me!” Tears welled in my eyes. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to get close to anyone. They always end up getting hurt or losing something important to them because of me.” I couldn’t keep the tears back and started crying.
Garret took me in his arms and held me while I cried. “None of this is your fault, Dina. The blame lies solely with that crazy SOB who is terrorizing you.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to cry.” I said as I backed up trying to dry my eyes. I hated that I always seemed so weak. I had to toughen up some. I’ve been surviving on my own for this long, just because I had friends didn’t mean I needed to burden them with the crap that always seems to happen to me. “I’ll just move to a motel for a while. There are a couple of them around here that don’t care about names, so Chuck shouldn’t be able to track me there.”
“No, all of those would be in the bad parts of town; you don’t need to stay in a place like that. It wouldn’t be any safer for you than staying in your apartment.”
“If I move in with someone, that’s just going to transfer the problem to them, and I still won’t be safe.” I thought about it for a moment. “I’ll stay at my apartment for tonight and talk to Doc. He’ll know what I should do. He’s hasn’t steered me wrong yet.”
It looked like he was going to argue, but he just shook his head, and put his hand on my back to lead me into the gym. We made our way to the back, where a door led to another large room. Garret left for the locker room to get changed, leaving me with Claire.
“You don’t take these classes?” I asked her.
“Lord no, Di. I’m a black belt in most forms of martial arts. I’ve been taking lessons since I was seven. When Chris wanted to do it, I had to do it, too. Even back then I was the feminist having to prove I could do anything my brother could do.” Chris was two years older than Claire, and she’d told me that though he’d made fun of her a lot when they were little, once she started school it all changed, and he became very protective of her. They grew really close, and are still good friends.
“What all martial arts do you know?”
“Karate, Judo, Krav Maga, Taekwondo, and Aikido. I started out with one, but when I conquered that, I’d move on to the next. The thing about any form of martial arts is that there is always room for improvement. There is always more to learn, so I guess I said it wrong when I said I conquered them.” She said looking off at nothing like she was thinking. It was weird to think that Claire could do all of that. She was only four inches taller than me. She was built though. I had thought she was plump, but looking at her in her exercise clothes, I could see that most of it was firm, like muscle, not the way it looks in the clothes she wears to work.
“Do you think I would ever be able to do any of that kind of stuff?” I asked wistfully. “I really would like to be able to defend myself and my friends from Chuck, but I always thought I was too small and weak.”
“You have to think of it this way. Most children that take karate start when they are five or six. Like I said, I was seven when I started. Do you really think that you are smaller or weaker than a five year old?”
“No, of course not. I just never thought about it that way.”
“Well, it’s always been my belief that anyone can do anything they set their mind to if they put their all into it and try. Just don’t start out with the big stuff. Start with this self-defense lesson, and then if you want to, just move to the next level.”
I watched the class that Stefan was teaching. It had girls and women of many different shapes and sizes. There was even a teenager about my size that put Garret down. It was funny to watch, and Garret just gingerly got up and congratulated her; telling her she did a good job. When the class only had about twenty minutes left, Claire ordered Pizza for the four of us to be able to eat before Stefan and I started our lesson.
When the class had been let out and we were eating, Garret filled them in on the phone calls, and what I said about staying in my apartment.
“Well, I understand that you don’t want to risk our places, but if you don’t stay with me, I’m going to stay with you.” Claire said. “I’m not leaving you to get taken, beaten, or worse yet; killed by some man whose ego is so low, he has to beat a woman into staying with him instead of finding someone who actually wants him.”
“I don’t think its ego. I think it’s a feeling of possession.” Stefan piped in. “It’s more his thought that if she won’t be with him, he don’t want her to be with anyone. In his eyes, she belongs to him only.”
“Yes, he has said that many times.”
“So my place or yours?” Claire asked.
“Mine.”
During the lessons, Stefan told me to picture him as Chuck and take out all of the anger and frustration on him and attack, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t attack him, no matter whether I was thinking of Chuck or not, so we worked on defensive blocking. He said it was a good place to start and that he should have done that to begin with, but he had wanted to gage my fighting ability.
“I have no fighting ability. I used to fight back in the beginning, but never to any effect. I was always more of the peace maker in school. I’ve never really been in an actual fight.” I explained.
We worked at it for another hour before calling it quits for the night. Claire had ridden there with Stefan and didn’t have her car, so she left with me and Garret. We took her to her house to pack a bag, and then headed over to my apartment, but when we got there, we all went in to talk to Mrs. Chambers first. She agreed to stay with Garret and went to pack herself a few things to take to his house. She waited out in his SUV while he walked us up to my place.
When we got there, the door was again unlocked.
“Didn’t I see you lock it as we left?” Garret asked, already knowing the answer, I think.
All I could do was nod. My heart has hammering in my chest, and I could barely breathe.
“Back up.” Garret told us. When we did, he opened the door slowly before swearing. “Stay back!” He yelled going into the apartment.
Clair grabbed me, pulling me to stand behind her. As she did, I heard a loud gunshot and felt a searing pain in my left shoulder before I blacked out.
Chapter 6
I became aware slowly, first hearing a beeping sound, and then hearing voices talking softly. I moved my head toward the voices, but the movement sent shards of pain through my left shoulder. I must have made a sound at that, because I heard a familiar voice asking me if I was alright. When I opened my eyes, I had to blink rapidly before they finally adjusted to the light.
The first person I saw was Garret. He was on my right side holding my hand, and amazingly, my first thought was how nice and right it felt. I smiled at him before my mind flashed to what had happened. I remembered Garret telling us to stay back and being pulled out of the way, and then nothing.
“What happened?” I croaked out. My throat was dry and scratchy.
Garret poured me a cup of water to sip on as he spoke. I noticed Claire and Stefan in the background, but my focus was on Garret. “Someone broke into your apartment last night. When I opened the door, everything was thrown all over the place. The furniture was shredded. When I told y’all to stay back, Claire pulled you behind her, trying to protect you, but someone shot you.” I took several sips from the cup he was holding for me.
“Are you all alright?” I asked looking around. “Did anyone else get hurt?”
“No, honey. It was only you.” Claire answered. I could see her eyes all red and puffy from where she’d been crying. If there is one thing I knew about Claire, it was that she never cried. She said she would never show any weakness; it would only give someone else the up
per hand, so for her to have been crying was humbling to me. I knew she liked me as a friend, but I really didn’t realize how much she cared.
“I’m okay, Claire.” I told her. She came over to me, sat on the edge of the bed, and bent over to hug me as much as she could with my injury and the bandages.
“We were worried for you, Di. You were shot in your left shoulder. The bullet missed anything vital, but you lost so much blood.” She said as she sat back up.
“How long have I been out?”
“Not even twenty four hours.” Stefan spoke up. “You’re a tough cookie, short stuff.” He said, with a smile, but I could see the worry in his eyes. I had some really good friends, and I hadn’t even realized it. I had almost left them.
Then I remembered that I was supposed to have called Doc last night. “Can I use your phone?” I asked Garret. “I need to call Doc. He’ll be so worried since I didn’t call when I said I would. I never miss a call.”
“Don’t worry, Dina.” He said. “He called my phone last night when he couldn’t get you at home, and I told him what happened. He said he’s on his way down here and will be here either tonight or in the morning. He made me promise that I would stay with you until he got here. He was almost panicked from the sound of it.”
“What, is he driving down?” I wondered.
“That’s what it sounded like.”
The doctor came in a few minutes later and checked me over. He said everything was looking good and I would be able to go home the following day. They had put me in a full arm cast that encased part of my shoulder. I was told that the bullet went through my shoulder blade, breaking it but not shattering it, which of course was a good thing, but I couldn’t move my arm at all for six weeks.
Stefan and Claire went to get us some food, but I was feeling queasy. I was in pain, but didn’t want anyone fussing over me, so I didn’t say anything. Garret and I spoke of random things for a while before a question came to mind.
