Unexpected Angel (23 page)

(Tasha)

Holly tries to pull me in the back door of the house but I stand my ground. “Please, Tasha,” she begs me. I look down at her and see tears in her eyes. “You have to talk to him.”

“I have to talk to who?” My voice cracks, the drinks I consumed earlier in the night
are traveling up my throat.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” she sobs. I still have no clue what’s going on, but I know now that I’ve been duped. Dylan was right
; this was all a set-up. Holly was there tonight for me.

“Sorry for what?” I ask, tears filling my own eyes. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”

Before she can answer, I hear the creak of the screen door opening. I look up and see the man I shared a bed with for so many years. “Long time, no see,” he cackles. The man standing in front of me might be my ex-husband, but he’s a stranger to me. His eyes are vacant, his hair disheveled.

“Nick, what are you doing?” I cry, instantly fearing how he’s going to react to my tears. Nick Romero has no time for weakness, that’s one thing I know for certain hasn’t changed. “Why are you doing this?”

“You wouldn’t come to see me,” he states. “So, I had to do what I could to bring you to me. Lucky for me, your little friend can’t keep her nose clean and it got her in trouble.”

Holly’s sitting on the top step of the porch, her face buried in her hands. Even in the dark, I can see her body heaving as she cries. I wish I could join her. No, I wish I could grab her hand and we could get away from here.

“But why?” I beg him. It makes no sense that he’s suddenly interested in seeing me when he did nothing but tell me I was worthless when we were married.

His arms wrap around my waist and I turn to retch. I continue losing everything in my stomach as he runs his hand up and down my back, sliding lower, pausing on the swell of my butt.

“Stop, Nick. Please,” I wail. “Just tell me what you want so I can leave.”

Nick reaches into his pocket for a handkerchief. I turn my head when he moves in to clean vomit away from my chin. I’d rather deal with that crusting on my skin than feel his touch on me.

“Oh, silly little girl. Let’s go inside and talk,” he urges me. I can’t set foot in his house. If I walk through the doors, there’s no telling what’s going to happen. Nothing good, that’s for sure.

“Let’s talk out here,” I suggest. “It’s a nice night out and I’m hot.”

“It’s freezing out here and you’re shaking like a leaf,” he observes. His voice is calm. Too calm. This is the voice that scared me when we were married. “Let’s go talk for a while and then I’ll tuck you into bed. You still like to sleep low on the bed so your foot is sticking off the end? I left the sheet untucked just so you’ll be comfortable tonight.”

As Nick grabs hold of my wrists, Holly stands up and gives him a shove. “You said you wouldn’t hurt her,” she screams at him. “You said you just needed to talk to her for a few minutes.”

Nick cocks his head to the side. “And you really thought that was going to be enough for me? You know how hard I’ve been working to get Tasha back and you thought I would talk to her on my back porch when it’s forty degrees out and then send her on her way?”

“You fucking prick!” Holly shrieks, lunging at him again. This time, Nick lets go of my arms long enough to backhand Holly across the face. In all my time with him, this is the first time I’ve seen him strike anyone.

“Nick!” I shout, knowing he will punish me for raising my voice to him. “Stop! She didn’t hurt you, just stop!”

His head whips in my direction. “I’m going to let that behavior slide for tonight,” he warns me.
“If it happens again, you know the consequences.” For the first time in my life, I’m not sure I do. The Nick I married would have pushed me against the wall for yelling at him, but then he would have given me the silent treatment for days while he calmed down. I can only imagine what this Nick is capable of.

“Yes, Nick,” I say softly. If I don’t challenge him, my hope is that he’ll do whatever he lured me out here for and let me go.

He grabs my arm, leading me into the house. I look behind me and see my best friend, curled in a ball on the worn wood, bawling.

(Tasha)

One lamp in the corner illuminates the living room. My formerly obsessively clean ex-husband is a slob. There are beer bottles strewn over the coffee table and onto the floor. A stack of empty pizza boxes act as an end table.

Nick shoves me onto the 1970’s sofa. The scent of stale cigarettes, sweat, and cheap perfume fills my nostrils. At least he hasn’t been sitting in his filth, celibate this entire time.

“What do you want?” I beg him again. As I watch him pace in front of me, I remember Zeke’s words last weekend at dinner.

“Tommy’s fairly certain Nick has been distributing cocaine up here for a while now. There’s also evidence that he has a meth lab, but until they know where he moved, they don’t have enough the final piece to nail the fucker to the wall.” Zeke grabs my hand, knowing his words are going to be a shock. “They’re close to having a case against him, but until then, they don’t want to bring him in. They need to know where that lab is.”

“But what does that have to do with me?” I ask, uncertain why Dylan and Zeke both look so concerned.

“Precious,” Dylan says softly. “We think Nick is the one who has been stalking you. We think he’s behind the text messages.”

“
But I know his phone number. It can’t be him.” I look from one man to the other, desperate for them to see my logic. “Besides, he called me at work. If he was stalking me, he wouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s a disposable phone,” Zeke informs me. He slides his chair closer to mine. In a moment of distraction, I wonder what we must look like to other diners, the two men sitting as close to me as they can bring their chairs, me sobbing into my hands. I don’t want to hear anymore.

“I’ve realized I was wrong about us,” Nick says when he stops in front of me. “I thought you were too sweet and innocent for me, but rumor has it I was wrong about that.”

I stare at him, cataloging all of the disturbing changes in the almost three months since I last saw him. His face has thinned to the point of looking gaunt. It’s been over a week since he bothered to shave the face he once insisted on shaving daily, twice if he had a business function at night.

“I… I don’t understand what you mean,” I say in the obedient voice that makes me cringe. It’s the tone of voice he conditioned me to use with him when I’ve displeased him.

“Don’t be c
oy with me, you little bitch,” he sneers. He steps closer to me and I back up until my body presses into the arm of the chair. I can feel upholstery nails digging into my flesh, but I would rather feel that than have him any closer to me. “I’ve seen you cuddling up to that pervert, Dylan Caprese.” The way he says Dylan’s name makes it sound like poison.

“So tell me, you little slut,” he snickers, no doubt proud of himself for still being able to elicit such a reaction out of me. “Does he cuff you to his bed and fuck you until you beg him to stop? Does he pull out his whip and lash you until you bleed?”

“Stop!” I yell. I don’t care if he slaps me for the outburst; I’m not going to sit here and listen to him describe what he thinks goes on in our bedroom between two people who love each other. “You divorced me, Nicholas. You have no right to know anything about what I’m doing or who I’m doing it with.”

I clench my eyes, readying for the blow I know I’ve earned. It never comes. When I feel the couch dip next to me, I dare to open my eyes and I see Nick sitting inches away from me.

“Yes, but now that I know the woman I was married to isn’t who I thought she was, I want to make it work.” He says sweetly. Too sweetly. “Baby, we vowed to love one another in good times and bad, until
death
do us part.”

The way he emphasizes the word ‘death’ sets off warnings in my mind. If I don’t give him what he wants, is Nick capable of making sure I don’t live to tell Dylan how I feel about him? Sitting in this dirty room, I’m certain that I have fallen in love with him and I want to tell him. Even if he’s pissed off at me, I need him to know how I feel.

“Yes, but promises are made to be broken, aren’t they?” I say with more than a hint of hostility in my voice. Nick lied to me the entire time we were married. It took Dylan, Zeke, and Tommy to get me to see that.

“You don’t know shit, you stupid bitch!” Nick pushes me harder against the edge of the couch,
his body leaning over mine, his erection pressing into my stomach. The sensation makes it harder to stave off the anxiety attack I’ve been doing well to keep at bay for this long. I know what he plans for us and the thought makes me sick.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Nicholas,” I say sweetly, using the given name he hates. “I’ve had quite the education recently. I didn’t believe it at the time, but now I know
they told me the truth. I can only hope that
everything
I’ve learned about you is accurate.”

“What’s that mean?” He
challenges me. “I’m hoping it means you’re finally willing to admit what a kinky little slut you are for me.” He grinds against my stomach again, his tongue slowly working its way from my collarbone to my ear.

As Nick slides his hand under the hem of my dress, the opening chords of
Bring Me to Life
by Evanescence breaks the uneasy quiet. Nick springs off the couch, reaching for my purse. He looks at the caller ID before hurling the phone across there room. I watch it shatter against the wall.

“That stupid fucking cunt,” Nick mutters, his attention momentarily distracted from me. I look at the front door, debating trying to run. All I need to do is get to the edge of the property and then I can duck into the trees if he’s behind me.
I see the chain on the door and know there’s no way I can unlock it before he sees me.

He continues stalking away from me, leaving me confused and alone.

(Dylan)

“It rang this time!” I yell to Tommy. He’s still trying to get Nathan to tell him where Holly might be, without much success.

“Did anyone answer?” Tommy shouts, latching onto Nathan’s arm, bringing him with to where Zeke and I are sitting on the hood of my Barracuda.

“No, but it’s good that it rang, right?” There’s no way to hide the panic in my voice. Until tonight, I knew I really liked Tasha, but not having her here with me, not knowing if she’s okay, I don’t want her away from me ever again. I’ll do whatever it takes to get past our fight if it means I have her back in my life.

“Yeah man, that’s good,” Tommy assures me. A bit of the tension in his voice has eased and I’m hopeful we’ll find her. “Here, stand there and see if you can get him to talk. Do
not
hit him. I don’t want to have to explain that. I’m already going to have my ass in a sling if anything goes wrong.”

Tommy walks away from us as he makes a phone call. I hear him give the person on the other end of the phone Tasha’s phone number.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Zeke moving. His knee lifts into Nathan’s groin, causing the man to double over in agony. I stifle a laugh, knowing Tommy specifically said not to hit him.

“The girl we’re looking for is special to me, you stupid fuck. Kind of like a little sister. You have one of those, right?” I glance at Zeke, impressed that he seems to have done his homework on this
asshat.

Nathan nods, still unable to stand upright. I see Tommy shaking his head as he looks in our direction. “You better not touch a hair on her head, you miserable fuck!” The words are strained as he tries to catch his breath.

“Nah,” Zeke says. “See, unlike some assholes, I believe in going after the punk responsible. But in this case, you won’t tell me where to go, so I have to take it out on you. Does that sound about like what you’d do if you were in my shoes?”

When Nathan doesn’t respond again, Zeke impresses upon him how serious the situation is by means of a fist in the gut. I look over to Tommy, raising my hands to show him I have nothing to do with this justified assault. “Did you have something to say?” Zeke prods him.

“Romero,” Nathan mumbles. Had I known that was all it would take to get him talking, I wouldn’t have let Tommy talk me out of hitting the fucker. “But I have no clue where he is.”

“Why? What does he want with Tasha?” I plead with Nathan, hoping to get a better picture of what’s going on. “And where the fuck are they? You have to know. You have to have some fucking clue!”

“I don’t, man! And that’s the truth. He told me he just moved out of town. A cheap house somewhere quiet. That’s all I know.” He flinches at the slightest movement and I know we have him scared.

“You better fucking hope she’s okay.”

Two uniformed officers walk around the corner, once again derailing my plan to hit Nathan for the role he has played in Tasha not being here right now. If anything happens to her, I’m holding both him and Nick Romero responsible, and no one will stop me from making them pay the price.

“You fucking asshole,” Nathan screams at Tommy as he realizes he’s going to jail, even though he spoke up. “You said it was either/or. You lying fucking pig!”

Tommy storms over to where the officers are cuffing Nathan, getting right in his face. “That girl is my family, too. You fucked with her; I fucked with you. How’s it feel?” He pushes Nathan’s head down to the hood of my car. I really hope the fucker’s not bleeding; I don’t want to deal with cleaning that up.

(Tasha)

I can’t see what’s going on from where I sit, but I can hear Nick outside, screaming at Holly. As curious as I am to know what’s going on, I can’t move from the end of the couch. The conversation outside isn’t meant for my ears even though the volume is loud enough I would be able to hear it from a mile away.