All The Pieces (Pieces of Lies 3) (5 page)

And now I had to deal with these two characters. I honestly didn’t know how Norah would react to Samuel and Clint being here. .
I mean, why the fuck are they here?
Why are they claiming they were sent here? And by her Dad of all people? It just didn’t make sense. It was fucking crazy, is what it was. When Norah finally got together with Josh, she put a lot of effort into distancing herself from these two guys, and for good reason too. They had both caused her a lot of heartache and pain, and with Josh, Norah was finally in a good place in her head and her heart. Norah had opened up to me so much more since she was with Josh too, especially about her feelings, so I knew first-hand, that these two being here, would not elicit a happy reaction. She had told me once that she had tried to extend an olive branch to both guys before her big art show, but they wanted nothing to do with it. To me, that just made them bigger assholes. Especially after everything they put her through. They weren’t even decent enough to support her work and recognize a friendly heartfelt gesture. No, they just ignored her, like she never even existed to them. I told her she shouldn’t have even tried to speak to them again, but Norah, being Norah, trusts very few people in her life and I think she still held onto their sweeter memories. It was a time in her life when she trusted them both with her heart. I guess she was still mourning the loss of their friendship. I know how very few friends she had. I told her that their pride probably kept them away, or perhaps work or other commitments that kept them away from coming to the show. I didn’t have the guts to tell her they probably went back to their old habits — lying and manipulating women. It seemed to be who they really were after all.
Fucking dicks!
So why now were they showing up to save the day?

As awful as it was seeing Norah like this, it didn’t take long before all our eyes drifted around to the state of the apartment. Around her, the room had been completely demolished. Norah had destroyed everything in a fit of rage. I knew this because I had seen her fury unfold in front of me. I had witnessed Norah completely ripping up the contents of this room, screaming and crying and breaking everything she could grab. I didn’t know how to stop her rampage. I had tried to hold her back from breaking chairs and smashing cups and plates or anything else she could get her hands on, but it was no use. Her rage gave her strength I didn’t know she had locked inside that tiny frame. I couldn’t even hold her down when I had tried to restrain her. She had almost punched me in the face a few times as I attempted to take hold of her arms. But I was a useless obstacle, so I stood back and watched her craziness unfold. It lasted a solid hour before she collapsed on the floor and passed out. I managed to move her into the bed to make her more comfortable, but before dawn, she awoke screaming in her sleep. She then twisted herself off the bed and into that position on the floor, and hasn’t moved since. I didn’t know what else to do except leave her where she lay crumpled and go about picking up some of the bigger pieces of broken decor and make sure she wasn’t near anything sharp or dangerous. I was hoping whoever her Dad had sent would know how to help her in this state.

Now I was standing next to her two ex-boyfriends. They were the last two people I expected to be here, apparently sent by her father to help. I needed to make sure that was, in fact, the case. I couldn’t trust that these two didn’t have ulterior motives. I mean, why would they come, even if her Dad asked them? What help could they really be? It all seemed really unbelievable and I wasn’t buying any of it. Something about this whole thing felt deceptively dirty and I needed to get to the bottom of it before they caused Norah anymore unnecessary pain.

“I want to call her Dad,” I stated flatly. “I want to make sure you two are telling me the truth about being the ones sent here by him.” They both just stood and continued to stare at her. I clicked my fingers in front of both their faces before turning to Samuel. “Hey you...Italian boy — give me your cell so I can call her Dad and confirm what you told me.” Samuel flinched at my aggressive tone, and then reached into his pants to retrieve his cell, and, without any kind of fight, handed it over to me.
That was easier than I expected
. I flipped it open and searched the names. Right at the top of the list for most recent calls was ‘Joe Rossi’. I hit call on his number and waited. I couldn’t believe I was calling the infamous Big Joe, but this was no time to get freaked out anymore than I already was. I had to keep my shit together for Norah. She is my best friend and needed me.

I heard a deep masculine voice pick up, but I frowned when I realized it was just a recording saying he was unavailable. I huffed and slammed the cell shut.  
Damn it! Now what?
What are my options?

“Is she wearing...the dress...is that a...” Clint stuttered as his eyes remained transfixed on Norah on the floor.

Oh crap, the wedding dress.
Norah wouldn’t let me take it off her, even when she had passed out. It was like her heart refused to let go of the little symbol of hope that was going to be her happy future. The fact she was still wearing it made this even more sad and depressing.

I turned around and stood in front of Norah, addressing both guys, who each had that same question plastered on their faces. For some reason, their now innocent and questioning eyes made me feel queasy, like it was going to be extremely awkward to give them the news. I swallowed, and rubbed my neck, trying to avoid their pained glances
. Fuck, I could be such a girl at times.
I knew my voice sounded a little too restrained and compassionate as I began to speak. “So...since I will have to just take your word for it that you are in fact the guys who have been sent by her Dad, I will need to catch you both up with what has happened.” I took a deep, nervous breath. “Well...Norah and Josh were not just in Europe on holiday. They were here to elope in secret. And yes, what she is wearing, is in fact a wedding dress.”

“Did they get...” Clint trailed off. The hurt in his voice was obvious. He looked like something had swallowed up his heart and spat it out in front of him. For a brief second, I felt really bad for the guy. But that was only for a second. I shifted my eyes to Samuel, who looked like he was holding himself together a lot more than Clint. I felt I could keep talking if I kept him in my line of sight.

“No, they haven’t been married yet, so please guys, keep your applause to a minimum.”

Clint seemed to stumble a bit on his feet but then righted himself. Samuel’s eyes only seemed to get darker. They clearly weren’t here to stop them getting married because by the look on both their faces, they didn’t know that Norah and Josh planned to tie the knot.

Fuck. So very awkward.

And why do I feel so bad for them?

I turned to look down at Norah, pushing the words I needed to say, out of my mouth. “When Josh was kidnapped by the Lappell, Norah called her Dad and told him what happened. He told her to stay put because he was sending some guys who would help her. Then she had this...this...meltdown, and went ballistic and destroyed the room...And then she checked out, mentally speaking.”

The mood shifted from the boys being floored about Norah’s impending nuptials, to her broken state of mind. That was now taking precedence. Then, Samuel’s head went back and forth between me and Clint, looking like he was waiting for us both to recognize something.

“What?” I finally said, annoyed by his obtuse glances. “What is it?”

“So neither of you know what this is? With Lenorah I mean?” Samuel was waiting for one of us to come to some mass realization about what was going on.

“Obviously not,” I said, stating the obvious. I looked to Clint, who shrugged his shoulders back at me. “What? Do you know what
this
is?” I pressed Samuel.

Samuel smirked at both me and Clint, walking closer to Norah and kneeling down in front of her. “Well, don’t I feel special?” Samuel said with an air of arrogance in his voice, like he knew some big God damn secret. His attitude was quickly making me want to smash his smug face.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, getting really impatient that he didn’t just spit it out. I think he was purposely enjoying the fact he knew something that Clint and I didn’t. He was definitely taking a moment to work out what that could mean for him. He knelt down in front of Norah and placed his hands gently on her shoulders and looked back around to us.

“This,” Samuel said softly, trying to make his voice soothing and calm, “is one of Lenorah’s episodes. A really bad one by the looks of it. Sometimes Lenorah does this when things are...” Samuel paused trying to find the right words, “too much.”

Samuel pointed to me now. “You, Red. You’re her best friend. You’ve never seen this?”

Had I seen this before? I thought hard, trying to think of something, anything that might resemble the horrific insanity I witnessed over the past day. I then suddenly remembered Norah’s paint room she had destroyed back in Morewell. Was that a result of one of these episodes? It was becoming clear to me it probably was and I had no idea at the time. “My name is Tess. And yes, I think I’ve seen the aftermath of one of these before, but I’m not certain.”

Samuel snorted. “Well that doesn’t help.” He switched his focus to Clint. “Weston?”

Clint’s head flicked up. “No, I never saw this side of her.”

There was sadness in Clint’s voice but I wasn’t sure if it was because he felt disappointed in knowing he never knew Norah fully, or if he felt despair about how to help her right now. Maybe it was both, but he looked like he was going to crumple to the floor. Samuel held a sly grin on his face, like he was better than both of us. Clint’s face then hardened, refusing to let Samuel feel superior and was quick to bite back.

“I guess when Norah was with me, things never got
too much
for her to end up like this.”

Samuel’s face fell at once at Clint’s daggered words. But in thinking about it, he did have a point. If Norah never did this around Clint, there mustn’t have been much cause to. He must have been doing something right when they were together. It must have been the same with our friendship too. Suddenly I didn’t feel so bad for not knowing how to help Norah, rather, I was thankful she never got to this point around me. But even if Clint and I had the advantage of never having to see this before, we still didn’t know how to help her. I sighed, knowing Samuel was the only one here with real knowledge of Norah’s  dark side. I had to recognize that.

“Samuel please. Do you know how to snap her out of this?”

“I do,” Samuel said, as he inched himself closer to Norah’s face whilst on his knees.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Do it. Do it now!” I yelled at him, wondering why he was taking his time.

“Steady on Red. Of course I will, but I just need to make sure you won’t rip my balls off if I do.”

I looked at him confused. “What the hell does that mean?”

Samuel twisted his face up to me, making sure he could engage me seriously. “It means, I will have to get even closer to her, talk to her. Put my hands on her face. Are you okay if I do that?”

I thought about it for a second, weighing up the positives and negatives of Norah waking to her ex-boyfriend all over her. It would not go down well, but she would be with us and that was our number one priority. I nodded at Samuel. “It’s either your way or we wait this out. And I don’t think we have anymore time to waste. So yeah, do what you need to do.”

With my permission, Samuel smoothed his hands over Norah’s back and then leaned in really close to Norah, whispering something into one of her ears. I could hear the tone of his deep voice, which sounded calm, relaxed and precise. Samuel then dragged his lips across her cheek until he found her lips, and then...he kissed her.

WAIT! WHAT! HE IS KISSING HER? NO!

Both Clint and I stepped forward, almost leaping at Samuel, not comfortable with him kissing Norah while she had no idea what was going on. Samuel lifted both hands up, stopping us from charging him as he removed his lips from Norah’s mouth to wait. Both Clint and I stood in shock, waiting to see if Samuel did in fact have some magical way of bringing Norah back to life with his kiss, like something out of a fairy tale and he was Prince Charming. A minute passed and nothing happened. Norah remained the same as before, lifeless and broken. Samuel huffed, sounding a little defeated and stood up.

I could almost see the steam radiating off Clint from the anger he was trying desperately to hold in. He looked like he was ready to explode with rage. Then through gritted teeth, Clint mumbled, “I guess you’re not so special after all.”

Samuel’s feet shifted towards Clint. He looked ready to drive him into the ground, but composed himself and walked to the back of the room to cool down. The fact that Samuel couldn’t bring Norah out of this state looked like a victory to Clint. The obvious competition for Norah was still very evident with these guys, and again, I was becoming very uneasy as to what they were doing here in the first place.

Samuel then walked back to where we were both standing, glaring at Clint, his fingers running through his hair in frustration. Then he brought his hands to his hips and looked to me. “I have one more idea that might work. Can I?” His eyes looked down to Norah and back to mine. “Please Tess?”

He was asking for my permission again because he knew that Clint would get in the way.

“What, didn’t your magic words or face rape work?” Clint bit out at Samuel. Clint then turned to me to try and get me on his side. “I don’t like this Tess. I think he should stay away from Norah and we should call her Dad.”

Samuel made a throaty noise like that was out of the question. “Trust me, that’s a call you don’t want to make. He will send us back for sure. Do you really want that?” Samuel’s eyes were getting more fierce with Clint. A minute passed as they stared each other down. The tension in the room was getting out of control.

“No,” Clint finally breathed out, knowing we didn’t have a alternative.