by M K Dwyer
While driving to the last motel on the list, he prayed he would find Theresa and he prayed she would be unhurt.
There were three cars parked in front of the Spencer Arms motel, but only one matched the description of the car Mark had been driving around town since Terry’s men caught up to him again. He couldn’t believe his brother was idiot enough to park the car right outside the room he was staying in like a calling card, but he took note of the room number closest and went to the front desk. He sent the address in a text to the group updating them on what he’d found. He had two options for handling the front desk clerk. He could’ve gone in acting official, flashed his badge and hope the clerk didn’t see that it said “Las Vegas” instead of “San Diego”. It was unethical but might’ve been effective. Except he looked around and knew that a clerk that worked at that place wouldn’t do a cop any favors and wouldn’t likely be afraid of one either. So, he tried a different angle.
He walked in the front door and walked straight to the desk were a young guy sat craning his neck to see the television that was on in the lobby. Dressed in a stretched-out t-shirt and stained jeans, he looked more like the maintenance guy just filling in for regular clerk which Blake hoped would work in his favor.
“Hey man. Can you help me out? I’m supposed to meet my brother here, but he’s not answering his phone. I’m afraid he fell asleep. His name is Mark Banner. Can I get his room number, so I bang on the door?”
“Sorry. I can’t do that.”
“Really? It’s an emergency. He drove all night to see our dad before he passes. He would be heartbroken if he missed saying good-bye just because he laid down to rest while he waited for me and fell asleep.”
The man appeared to consider the lie Blake told him, and then nodded.
“Okay. Fine. Whatever. You look just like the guy, so you have to really be brothers, right?”
For the first and probably only time, Blake was glad Mark had changed his looks. “Yes. Exactly.”
The stand-in clerk opened a ledger. Good God. They handwrite the reservations. Looks like he’s in room 109.
“Thank you, so much. He’ll be so glad he got to say good-bye.” Blake rushed out of the office like his pants were on fire and called Terry.
“Spencer Arms Motel, Room 109. It’s confirmed. Get here. I’m going in.”
“Not without backup, you’re not. You have no idea what you’re walking into.”
“Maybe not. But I know the woman I love has been alone with a madman for hours now and I’m not willing to let that happen for another minute.”
Terry sighed so loud that Blake heard him clearly through the phone. “I understand, more than anyone, but you’re not thinking. You could end up a liability instead of her knight in shining armor. You don’t even know if he has a gun.”
“But I do, and at least I know how to use one.”
“You don’t know for sure that he doesn’t know how to use one either. I am less than ten minutes out, and the other guys are right behind me.”
“Fine. I’ll wait eight minutes, but that’s all I’ve got in me.” He didn’t wait for Terry’s response because he would’ve just tried to convince him otherwise.
He paced out of sight of Room 109. He checked his watch and only two minutes had passed. He watched the road willing Terry to hurry up. He was yards away from Theresa and he knew Terry was right, but logic was not winning the war raging in his head. Another two minutes passed, and he’d had enough.
He beelined it to the door and knocked. No going back, now. “Maintenance.” He didn’t think Mark would believe he was housekeeping and he hoped Mark wouldn’t recognize his voice, muffled as it was through the door.
“What do you want?”
He listened for a second before responding and thought he heard a woman’s screams or grunts or some noise he couldn’t quite identify. “I got a call that the toilet in this room was running.”
“Well it’s not.”
“I need to check and make sure.”
“I said it’s not.”
“I heard you, but I need to see for myself.”
“Says who?”
“My boss. Sorry, man. Just trying to do my job.”
“Well, give me his number. I’ll call him myself.”
“Sure. Let me write it down for you.”
“Ugh. Fine.”
Mark opened the door and as soon as the shock registered on his face, Blake rushed him and knocked them both to the floor as the door shut behind him. Blake spared a look at Theresa and saw her tied to the headboard with a gag in her mouth. She looked so helpless on the bed, but mad as hell at the same time. That’s my girl. Then he noticed her legs were bare and all his worst fears came true. His stomach rolled, and his vision blurred. He was both devastated and angry as hell. He prayed he’d managed to interrupt Mark before he could get very far, but he couldn’t tell from his vantage point on the floor if her underwear was still on.
While he was distracted, Mark recovered and dived for a bag sitting on a table by the bathroom door. Terry was right. He should have waited for backup. His head wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and if he couldn’t get on track fast, then he was just going to fuck everything up. He went after Mark, but Mark drew his gun, first pointing it at Blake and then at Theresa.
“Come any closer and I’ll shoot her.”
He put his hands up in surrender as he backed away from Mark and closer to Theresa. He had a hard time believing that Mark went through everything just to shoot her in the end, but he wasn’t going to push his luck by out-right questioning him. Clearly logic was a tough concept for Mark as of late.
He had to think fast. He’d tucked his gun in his waistband before knocking on the door, but he knew drawing it was not the right move in that moment.
“All right, Mark. I’ll stay right here but tell me what you want.”
“Huh?”
“Talk to me. Tell me what you’re trying to accomplish here.” He was ready for Mark to name his price, but since he wasn’t sure how Mark would react to learning he didn’t owe a loan shark anymore he didn’t say anything.
“Why? You want to help me all of a sudden?”
“Pretend I do. What can I do?”
Mark thought about it for a moment. He spared a glance at Theresa, so Blake did too and they both saw her looking firmly at Blake. “You can die.”
Blake whipped his head back to Mark in shock just as Mark pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed past his head and shattered the window behind him. He dove over Theresa as he heard the door crash open. Then he heard more gunfire and watched Mark slump to the ground.
It happened in the blink of an eye but felt like slow motion at the same time. Before he knew which way was up, more police were rushing into the room with guns drawn.
He felt Theresa tremble beneath him and saw tears when he looked up into her eyes. He sat up, took off her gag, took her bruised face gingerly in his hands and brushed a kiss on her lips.
“Don’t cry, beautiful. It’s all over. It’s going to be okay.”
“I’m so sorry.”
He was confused. What did she have to be sorry for? “What? Why?”
“Your brother.”
He spared a look over to where his brother fell to the floor and Mark’s lifeless eyes stared back at him. He flinched, turned back to Theresa and started removing the bonds on her wrists.
“Oh, beautiful. Don’t be sorry, for you, for me, or for him. He…” Blake paused as he tried to come to terms to the fact that his brother was gone. “Only he could have changed the outcome.”
In a daze, she just nodded that she’d heard what he said. “And Joe?”
He knew what she was asking. “Mark never got near him. They were at the movies last I heard with no idea anything was amiss.”
She looked relieved but didn’t say anything. Her adrenaline was wearing off and shock was setting in.
He stood up and held his hand out to her. “Can you stand?”
>
She nodded as she took his hand. Pulling her to her feet, he released the sheet from the bed and wrapped her in it. Then he picked her up just as EMT’s rushed into the room after getting the “all clear” from the police.
The paramedics took her back to the ambulance and as they were checking her out, Detective Jayson Garrett came over.
“Credible enough for you Detective?”
The man barely spared Blake a glance before turning to Theresa. “I’ll need you to come into the station tomorrow and give a full statement, but can you tell me a little bit about what happened?”
Theresa recounted her story and Blake’s heart physically hurt hearing what his brother put her through. The gun had been a surprise to both of them, but at least, he had no idea how to use it based on how badly he missed shooting Blake.
Then Detective Garrett turned to him. “I owe you and Mr. Fortunato an apology. After going over his very thorough notes and checking into the backgrounds of the two of you, I see I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge when you said you had information on a case.
Sometimes in our line of work, it’s hard to believe that some people really are just trying to help. In fact, when I called to tell Terry that, he informed me he was on his way here and what happened to Ms. Braun. We were just getting into position when a bullet shattered the window and grazed the top of my SUV. I suppose when we test the weapon your brother fired at you, we’ll match it to the one that killed Mr. Jones.”
“Mr. Jones?” Theresa asked.
“Tank.”
“Oh.”
“Your guess is as good as mine, friend.” Blake wasn’t a fortune teller, but if he had to put money it, he couldn’t imagine where else his brother would have procured a weapon.
“Here’s my card.” He handed one to both Blake and Theresa. “Call me when you can come in for an official statement, but don’t wait more than a day or two.”
“Will do.” Blake tipped his imaginary hat to Detective Garrett as the man walked away. He had redeemed himself in the end, but Blake’s sarcasm wasn’t easily turned off.
The paramedics completed their on-scene examination and tried again to convince Theresa to go to the hospital to no avail. Her shock wasn’t severe, and her injuries weren’t either. The bruising would get worse before it got better, but her split lip and cheek were easily closed by butterfly bandages. He promised the EMT’s that he would watch over her and they reluctantly conceded.
“What do you want to do now, beautiful? Go see Joe?”
“No!”
He was surprised by how adamant she was. “What?”
“I don’t want him to see me like this.”
He could understand that and not understand it at the same time. “Okay, beautiful. Whatever you want. How about room service and snuggling?”
∞∞∞
Room service and snuggling went on for over a week, and as much as Blake loved holding Theresa in his arms every minute of the day, he was beginning to wonder if she’d ever want to see her son.
Not wanting his parents to hear it from an officer notifying next of kin, he’d had to call and tell them what happened to Mark. They knew Mark had problems but were still understandably shocked to learn he died in a shootout with the police. He didn’t go into too much detail and even skirted the truth a bit, but he wanted to preserve Mark’s memory for his parents. He would go to the grave knowing what he knew if it meant his parents had peace.
When the police investigation was over, there would be a small family memorial for Mark back in Las Vegas to scatter his ashes, but nothing more.
While his sister stayed with his parents, Blake could focus on Theresa and getting her through the trauma she endured, but he still couldn’t figure out why she was holding back from seeing Joe.
The threat was over, and they were only a few miles from her ex’s house, but she resisted leaving the hotel room. Her cuts were healed and as severe as her bruising had been the little that was left would’ve been easily covered by make-up. So, her original argument about the way she looked didn’t make sense anymore, and he couldn’t imagine why she was hesitating.
They were laying on the bed watching, or not really watching, the television after breakfast.
“So, beautiful, what are we going to do today?”
“Same as yesterday. Same as tomorrow.”
He was quiet. It was two days before Christmas. He couldn’t believe she didn’t want to see her son for Christmas. Especially after she pushed so hard to be there when they were still back in Montana.
“What’s going on, beautiful? Talk to me. I’m here for you.”
“Why do you keep calling me beautiful? I hate when you call me that. It’s annoying.”
“You might be annoyed by it, but you don’t tell me not to do it anymore.”
“Well, I’m telling you now.”
“Really? You are? Or are you just picking a fight, so I stop asking you what you’re really hiding from?”
She was quiet, and he started to second guess whether she was ready to talk about what was going on in her head until she finally spoke. “I ran off and left him all alone. I don’t deserve to spend Christmas with him. What if he’s mad at me? What if he doesn’t want to see me?”
“Oh, beautiful, he loves you, and he misses you. He knows you would never stay gone unless you had a good reason. And he wasn’t all alone. He had his dad, and I’m sure it was a good bonding experience for the two of them.”
“Oh, what do you know? You’re not a parent. How would you know how he feels?”
Her words were hurtful, but he decided not to be hurt by them. She was dealing with a lot already and he knew her well enough to know she didn’t mean what she was saying. “I know because I’ve been talking to Will and that’s what he told me.” He didn’t care if she was mad at him for talking to her ex behind her back. At least one of them had to be thinking straight.
“What? Why would you do that?”
“Because I wanted to get him a present or two for Christmas, and I figured you would too. We’re invited to Christmas Eve at Will’s house if you want to see Joe, but he’s not expecting anything if you’re not ready. It’s completely up to you.”
She got up, walked to the bathroom and shut the door. Half an hour passed before she emerged again while he patiently waited for her on the bed.
“I needed to be by myself for a bit.”
“That’s all right, beautiful, but you could’ve just told me. I would have left the room for you to be alone in comfort.”
“I know you would have, but I was fine.”
He just nodded so as not to interrupt whatever she needed to get off her chest.
“I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have said you didn’t know what you were talking about because you’re not a parent. You actually know better than I do, apparently. That was a wake-up call. I’m supposed to be the one that knows what’s best for my son, the strong one when everything else is falling apart, and instead I was the one falling apart.”
“Thank you for the apology, beautiful, but it’s already forgiven and forgotten. I know you’re having a hard time, and it’s okay to fall apart sometimes.”
“No. It’s not. Not for me. I have to act strong even though I’m not. That’s my deep, dark secret. I’m not strong at all. I put on a brave face, but it’s all fake. They say, ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ but I’m always faking it.”
He went to her and took her in his arms. He loved holding her anytime he got the chance. “Oh, but you are making it. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met, and I’ve met some pretty tough sons of bitches.”
She smiled at his words and that felt like a win to him.
“You’ve been through hell these last few months and when most people would have given up, you didn’t. Then you knowingly walked into a trap to protect someone you love. If that’s not strong, then I don’t know what is. It’s okay not to feel strong, but from now on, I’ll be here to remind you th
at you are.”
She didn’t believe him. He could see it in her eyes. But he had all the time in the world to convince her. The rest of their lives if he played his cards right.
“From now on?”
He smiled, glad she was focusing on that part. “Yeah. From now on.”
“You never answered my question.”
He thought for a second but came up empty. “What question?”
“Why you call me beautiful all the time.”
He tucked a stray hair behind her ear and kissed her lips. “You spent so long being torn down by my brother that your face lit up the first time I called you ‘beautiful’. I’d only just met you, but I knew in that moment that I wanted to bring that smile to your face over and over again. That I wouldn’t rest until you were not only comfortable hearing me call you ‘beautiful’, but that you believed you were beautiful as well, inside and out. I’m not a liar. You know that about me. I don’t call you beautiful to flatter you. I call you beautiful because it’s true, and you deserve to be reminded of that fact every day.”
She didn’t respond so he kept going. No going back now. “I love you, beautiful, and I want to see you happy always. We are in the clear. No more threats. Let’s start living like it.”
Chapter Nineteen
Theresa
She stood on her tip toes and pressed her lips against his.
“Thank you. You are right about Joe. My head knows you are, but my emotions haven’t caught up yet. I’m still worried he hates me, but I want to see him for Christmas more.”
“That’s my girl.”
“And… I… uh… I think I love you too.”
“Well don’t shout it from the rooftops or anything.”
She laughed. “No. I do. I do love you. I just… I’ve never said that and really meant it to anyone but family.” She paused before adding, “Don’t break my heart. Okay?”
His smile got huge and she got all tingly inside knowing she put that smile there.
“Never, beautiful. Never ever.” He hugged her tight.
“And I have a confession to make.”
