by Kylie Walker
“That means a lot.” Lucas’ eyes visibly looked relieved, and his shoulders relaxed. “You are an incredible woman, and I’m lucky to have you in my life.”
“I’m glad I answered your call,” Abigail confessed.
“It wasn’t just a booty call.” Lucas grinned.
“I know.” Abigail nibbled on her bottom lip. “It’s just...the things you said. I felt the suffering you endured in your past. I connected to it. I understood it. I’m sorry I didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt. It sounds like your ex-girlfriend has some serious psychological issues too.”
“Yeah.” Lucas pushed his hair behind his ear and exhaled sharply. “Having psychological issues is just one of the many things that is wrong with her.”
Abigail chuckled. “What do you say we get out of this car and get some fresh air?”
Lucas pulled his shirt back over his head. “I would say that sounds like a fantastic idea.” His eyes twinkled with delight.
“Great.” Abigail clutched the door and opened it after slipping her shoes back on. “Should we go for a walk in the park to stretch our legs? Maybe find a pretzel vendor?”
Lucas pulled her back to plant a kiss on her forehead. “Anything you want.”
She relished in his embrace. They had come so far in just an afternoon speeding by. That made her feel like she could conquer anything with him by her side.
“I don’t know,” she chuckled. “I just try to go with the flow.”
Lucas nodded as if he appreciated that response. “A new transition for us starts right now. We can start over with a fantastic and flourishing beginning.”
Abigail smiled. “That sounds perfectly promising to me. See? I’m not the only one with good concepts.”
Chapter Twenty-One
ABIGAIL DIDN’T EVEN have one foot out the door of the car when she heard a heavy banging sound behind her. At first, she thought that Lucas was up to something.
What in the world would he be doing to cause that much noise?
“Lucas?” She cried out before instinctively spinning around to determine the problem.
Her mouth slackened in horror as she realized in a split second what was happening. She didn’t even have time to react. Christy’s balled up fist was slamming against the side of the window.
How was she even able to see that Lucas was inside? They could see Christy, but Christy shouldn’t have been able to see them because the windows were so tinted. That’s when Abigail realized her critical mistake.
She had already opened the passenger side door from the rear. Her body was halfway out. Christy would have seen her there and assumed that Lucas was also in the car. Abigail took a moment to stare in dread at Christy.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her lips were curled into a sinister stretch of anger. She was huffing. She was screaming, and spittle was flying out of her mouth with every obscenity in the book. Her hair was in disarray like an unruly bird’s nest atop her head. Abigail was frozen in shock. She couldn’t move a single muscle. Christy yanked the door open where Lucas had been leaning up against it.
He tumbled halfway out. Christy grabbed him by the hair and began tugging. He shouted and moved to grab her off him.
“Stop it!’ Abigail shouted. Her voice sounded far away as if she were screaming through a fog. “Let him go!”
“Shut up, stupid bitch.” Christy’s voice was a gnarly hiss. Her eyes were as black as stone, and her expression was filled with fury driven hatred.
“Shit...” Abigail mumbled under her breath as she pulled Lucas by the legs. Christy continued to grunt and pull Lucas from the other side.
“Stop!” Abigail grimaced against Christy’s force.
“Then let him go,” Christy demanded.
“He doesn’t want you,” Abigail told her. “He doesn’t want to ever look back. He’s not like you anymore.”
“Abigail...” Lucas trailed off as he pried each of Christy’s fingers from his hair. With a grunt, he slammed her arms down and to her sides, twisting so he could right himself in the seat and pin her arms. “Don’t try and rationalize with her. She’s crazy.”
“I can see that,” Abigail said, panting hard.
Lucas gave the crazed woman a shove backward and slammed his door shut, locking it. Then, he climbed over the seat into the driver’s seat.
“Come on,” he beckoned as he cranked the engine. “We have to get out of here before she does something unthinkable.”
Abigail’s heart pounded with fear. What was this drug addict capable of? It must be something terrifying if Lucas was having this kind of skittish reaction to her. He seemed to be completely rattled and derailing faster by the second.
Lucas shifted the car into reverse and peeled out. The tires screeched. Abigail was too nervous to glance out her passenger side window to determine whether a crowd was forming.
“What are we going to do?” Her voice sounded distressed in her mind, so she knew that Lucas probably heard and caught onto it too.
“We are going to get the fuck out of here; that’s what we are going to do.” Lucas set his jaw hard.
“Hey,” Abigail whispered pacifyingly and placed her hand on his arm. “Just take a moment to breathe.” She tried to soothe him in a consoling voice.
“We don’t have a moment,” Lucas barked back, then immediately softened. “You have seen for yourself. This bitch just won’t leave me alone no matter what I try to do. She stalks me and follows me wherever I go. How the hell else would she have been able to find me here?”
Abigail nodded. She agreed with him one-hundred percent that they were in a compromising situation at the moment. Everything had changed from the bliss that had unfolded less than ten minutes later. Now it seemed as if they might be fighting for their lives. What if this Christy person was high right now and pulled out a gun or something? Abigail shivered at the prospect. Lucas was right. They needed to high-tail it out of there, but not until he had calmed down even slightly.
“You can’t drive in this condition,” Abigail protested.
“What are you talking about?” Lucas asked in a hurried tone.
Abigail shook her head. “I mean, you can’t drive in this state of mind. Look at you. You’re pissed!”
“Of, course I’m fucking pissed.” Lucas cried. “My ex-girlfriend is going to be the end of us both.”
“Don’t talk like that,” Abigail said. “You are scaring me.”
Lucas reached over to stroke her cheek, but there was a blunt force vibration on the hood of the car. Abigail gasped in shock. Christy had thrown herself onto the front of the car.
“I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me.”
Lucas narrowed his eyes. “Fuck, I almost ran you over!”
“Do you think I give a shit pretty, rich boy?” Christy snarled. Her lips twisted into a mocking grin. “Will that make you embarrassed if the camera’s show up?”
Lucas looked at his wit's end. His cheeks were heated as he tapped his fingertips against the steering wheel. A few people wandering past gave them curious looks but otherwise didn’t stop. They had expressions on their faces as if they didn’t want to get involved. It was probably in their best interest.
Abigail wished she wasn’t involved either, but she knew she had to stand by Lucas. As long as he didn’t get out of the car, no one would be able to tell from this angle that it was him inside. It just looked like a crazy lady who had jumped onto someone’s hood. Maybe if they got lucky, a park ranger security officer would walk by and detain the deranged woman shouting expletives at them from the windshield.
“She’s just trying to get a rise out of you,” Abigail said. “Don’t listen to her. Just try to ignore her and don’t stoop to her level.”
She hoped that against the odds, he would take some of her advice, even if it was with a grain of salt. She knew it was probably difficult for him to concentrate on anything other than getting rid of Christy at the moment.
“She’s probably al
l doped up right now,” Lucas said and anxiously licked his lips.
“Probably.” Abigail felt as if she were sewn right into her seat. She didn’t know what to do or how to react. She pulled her phone out of her purse, and white knuckle gripped it. “Do you want me to call the police?”
“Let’s just see if she leaves on her own...” Lucas narrowed his eyes and peered through the windshield as if he was trying to determine whether he was just dreaming this nightmare or if it was unfolding in reality. “Calling to cops will only bring me bad press I can really do without.”
“Lucas.” Abigail shook her head and scoffed. “You can’t be serious right now. She is not going to leave. Look into her eyes. I mean, she is a raving maniac. She is losing her marbles right in front of us.”
Christy was pounding her fists aggressively into the hood of Lucas’ car. He didn’t seem deterred by the damage and the dents she was creating with her balled fists.
“I know. She has to be stopped.” Lucas stared at Christy as if she were a figment of his imagination that he could make disappear using mind control.
That just wasn’t the case. She was vividly real and becoming increasingly violent by the second.
‘I’m calling the police.” Abigail dialed 9-1-1 with trembling fingers. She could barely hang onto the phone without dropping it.
“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” The dispatch responder asked calmly into the phone.
“Yes.” Abigail cleared her throat. She felt like she was shouting through a wind tunnel. She had lost all perspective. “I need assistance at the Bentford Park Parking lot.”
“Are you hurt?” The operator asked.
“We are being attacked by a woman on drugs,” Abigail said. “Please. Hurry. We are in a red Lamborghini.”
The operator said she would dispatch a unit of officers to the scene. Abigail breathed a sigh of relief. Now all they had to do was wait for the police to arrive.
“They should be here in less than five minutes,” Abigail said. “At least, that is what the operator told me.”
Lucas stared at her blankly. “Huh?” He seemed dumbfounded by the entire situation.
“The police?” Abigail returned his vacant expression. “They are on their way.”
Lucas nodded abstractly. “Good. That is good news.”
He turned his head and gazed back at Christy. She had set up camp on the hood of his car and was refusing to get up until Lucas got out of the car and talked to her. Much to Abigail’s relief, Lucas continued to silently refuse.
A few minutes later, Abigail heard a police siren whelp through the air and saw the flashing blue and red lights as they approached her on the right side.
“They are here!” She exclaimed with joy.
Christy jumped off the car as soon as she saw the patrol units pull in next to Lucas’ car. She tried to take off running, but she stumbled over her own shoes and hit the ground. She plummeted face first and smacked her head on the sidewalk.
She was down, but not out. She clutched the side of her head and grimaced as the wound visibly sent her reeling. She attempted to bring herself to a standing position, but she wasn’t as fast as the police.
They were by her side in an instant. She tried to squirm out of their grasp as they held onto her and forced her to stand up.
“Get off of me,” she shouted and spat in their faces. They immediately handcuffed her to keep her from turning into a rabid animal right before their eyes. She was kicking them and trying to bite them.
One of the other officers approached the car. “This is the woman who was bothering you, sir?” He asked with a pitched eyebrow.
Lucas confirmed that it was. “I’ve seen her like this before, sadly. Certain drugs brought out a demon in her, ones that like to destroy anything in sight.” He gave the cops Christy’s information. The taller officer had a tablet in his hand and was entering information about Lucas’ statement as Lucas unleashed the story. Every once and a while the officer would nod and glance over his shoulder at his team members who had Christy in check and were trying their best to shove her into the back of their squad car.
After Lucas gave his statement and they watched Christy being escorted from the scene, Lucas sighed deeply and leaned his head on the arch of the support headrest.
“Well, that was crazy,” Abigail said after a few minutes of stale silence between them.
Lucas rubbed his temples for a few seconds and then squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
“Me too. I’m sorry that happened to you.” Abigail tried to sound supportive and sympathetic, but she was really terrified to her bones. She’d never encountered violence before and certainly never from a strung-out woman on a revenge kick.
Lucas looked at her with fond appreciation. “I should be the one apologizing to you.”
“It’s fine; don’t worry about it.” Abigail tried to sound breezy, but she had been through the ordeal too. It was going to take a minute to recover. It would probably stick with her for a long time.
“I don’t know how I would have ever gotten through that without you.” Lucas gave her a look of admiration and cupped his warm hand over hers. She had the urge to pull away but tempered herself. It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t drive Christy to this.
“Luckily, you’ll never have to worry about it again. Jail will be good for Christy. Maybe it will finally be the wakeup call she needs.”
“If anything, she’ll have to sober up in there,” Abigail mentioned.
Lucas managed a smile. “Hopefully. She went to rehab once, and it didn’t go well.”
“Do you want to get out of here?” Abigail didn’t think she could stomach another second in this park.
Lucas put the car into drive and sped away before she had even finished the question. He didn’t look back, and neither did she. Instead, she took his free hand in hers and held on tightly.
They were only going to go up from here.
Chapter Twenty-Two
LUCAS GLANCED AT HIS hands and noticed that they were still visibly trembling. He had watched the police car holding his ex-girlfriend in the back until it turned down a side street and disappeared altogether.
He exhaled sharply. “She’s gone.” It was as if he had to state the words out loud for them to feel real. “She’s gone.”
“Yes.” Abigail gently touched his shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Lucas blinked and stared at her. She was remarkably beautiful, a gorgeous, natural type of pure beauty.
“I can’t believe you have stuck by me through this.” He shook his head, dumbfounded. “Most women would run screaming.”
Abigail chuckled. “I’m not like most women.”
“No, you aren’t.” Lucas grinned and softly grazed her cheek with the side of his thumb. “Thank you.”
“For what?” She continued to keep her eyes locked on his.
“For being strong. For being there for me. For not judging me when I told you about my past.”
Abigail shrugged and smiled. “The past is the past. There’s no reason to unearth it.”
“I guess that’s true.” Lucas turned on the engine. It let out a purring hum in response.
“Let’s get out of here,” Abigail said.
“Good idea.” Lucas floored it and never looked back.
Once they were nearing the area of Chicago where Lucas lived, he pointed to a little pizza dive down the street.
“Are you hungry?”
Abigail pondered. “I could eat.”
“I know it must be weird for you to go on about your regular life as if nothing happened, but I figured we might as well try to take our minds off of what happened back there at the park.”
“I agree,” Abigail said with a sigh. “Yes.” She nodded with more enthusiasm the second time around. “Let’s grab some pizza. Who doesn’t love a greasy slice of pepperoni and an ice-cold beer?”
Lucas grinned. “You are going
to love it there. The food and the atmosphere are both amazing.”
“You don’t have to twist my arm,” Abigail joked.
A few minutes later, they walked inside and sat at a table next to the window. Lucas pulled his beanie cap over his head and tucked his hair behind his ears.
“What are you doing?” Abigail frowned in confusion.
“Hiding from the paparazzi that will most likely get wind of everything and find me here,” he chuckled. “Does this look bother you?”
“No.” Abigail grinned. “You look sexy in a cap.”
“I am just trying to decrease the odds of being recognized. To be honest, I’m not in the mood.”
Abigail rubbed her temples. “I’m not even famous, and I would love to second that motion.”
They ordered a couple of beers and a pizza pie to share. When their drinks arrived, Lucas held the bottle by the neck and raised it across the table.
“To new beginnings.”
Abigail smiled contentedly. “To new beginnings.”
Their glasses clinked together. Lucas took a few guzzles. He was feeling better already. He could allow himself to relax now that he didn’t have to constantly look over his shoulder and wonder whether he would encounter Christy again.
He didn’t even want to think about her. The mere image made him cringe. He stared deeply into Abigail’s gorgeous eyes. She was the only thing he wanted to focus on for the night. Forever.
Not only had she forgiven him for acting like an ass, but she had listened to his story and given him the benefit of the doubt even after all the drama had unfolded. In his book, she was a keeper.
She was up for the challenge. It must have stood for something. It was in that compelling, life-altering moment that he realized how much he loved her. He smiled.
“What?” She blushed and chuckled as she stared at him as if trying to figure him out.
“I want to tell you something,” he said in a vague way to keep her guessing.
She raised her eyebrows teasingly. “Are you saying there is more to this story?”
