OBSESSED WITH TAYLOR JAMES

by Toye Lawson Brown

  He looked up at her and her heart melted on contact. “Good morning, Taylor,” he said respectfully.

  She stood in the doorway with her weight braced against the arch. “Good morning. How are you doing?”

  “I’m here and thankful for that. How are you?”

  “Sore all over. Anyhow, that is not my purpose for being here. I came to say goodbye. Today is my last day. I’ve been formally given the boot.”

  “You’re kidding,” he said setting his mug on the desk. “Anderson let you go today.”

  She nodded. “Todd gave me the news a minute ago. I’m leaving before the office is full, and the rumors go flying off the hook.”

  “So where are you going when you leave here, back to Sabrina’s house?”

  “No, I am going home. I’m sure the place is stinking of rotting food from the electricity being off.”

  “Taylor, I don’t think it is safe for you to go home.”

  “What am I supposed to do? I cannot abandon my home. My car is there. Everything I need to function is there.”

  He scrubbed his hands down his face. “I can’t with good conscious let you go home alone.” He removed a set of keys from his pocket. “Here are the keys to my house. Go there and wait for me.”

  “Mario, my problems are not your responsibility. You are no longer obligated to help me.”

  “I’m doing it because I am concerned about your safety. You will have privacy to call a private investigator to help you solve your problem.”

  “I don’t feel right doing that. I messed up. I can’t accept help when I know how much you hate me right now.”

  He got up from the chair slowly, holding the ache in his back. “I don’t hate you. I could never hate you.”

  She stretched her arms as if to catch him if he fell. “Look what I’ve done to you. If I’d been the girlfriend you deserved, I would be taking care of you.”

  Mario inched his way to stand before her. Taking her hand in his, he lifted it up to kiss the back of it though his gaze stayed focused on her eyes. “Perhaps I forced a relationship with you too soon. Nonetheless, I do not regret what we shared together.”

  She squeezed his fingers with hers. “I have no regrets what we shared either. You are the first man I’ve come close to loving in years.”

  “I normally take pride in my accomplishments. With you, I fell short.” He released her hand. “It won’t be the same around here without you.”

  “Nancy Quinn will likely assist you with finishing the Gallop matter. She is attractive, and I hear she is single again.”

  He nodded of his head. “Yes, but she is not you. I’ll miss you, Taylor.”

  “We can’t be friends anymore?”

  He placed a hand on his chest covering his heart. “What I hold in my heart is deeper than friendship. I don’t see how it would be possible for us to hang out as friends only.”

  “I understand. I wish you the best, and I have the last two text messages we exchanged late last night as a keepsake.”

  “What text messages? I didn’t text you last night.”

  “Oh, that explains why the last text I sent wasn’t responded to. After all, I did wrap your expensive car around a tree. Why would I expect you’d want to talk to me ever again?”

  “Taylor, I did not text anyone last night. The pain pills had me out in a flash. Did my number appear in your phone?”

  “No, it was unknown. I assumed it was you because we texted often and at night. Well that clears one mystery. Goodbye, Mario,” she said leaving his office. Fighting the misery and pain breaking her heart, she walked back to her office to pack.

  Chapter 18

  Dillon heard talking as he neared the den. He’d taken the day off work after visiting the doctor and receiving the bitter news concerning his options for removing the tumor. Listening through the door he heard Kelly. She was on her cell phone. He had a strong feeling she was up to something but could not get her to talk. He had caught her on the phone talking oddly to someone more than once. She claimed the calls were regarding wedding arrangements. He pressed his ear against the door to hear the conversation, determined to know if she was behind Taylor’s mysterious stalking.

  Her voice low and soft left him unable to hear anything but her saying goodbye. He hurried to the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee. Standing at the sink, he pretended not to hear Kelly enter.

  “Good morning, baby. Are you hungry?”

  He opened the fridge to pour cream in his coffee. “Not really. I’ll make me a slice of toast.”

  Kelly perched her hand on her hip. “You will eat a healthy breakfast. You will need all your strength for the surgery. Sit down and drink your coffee while I make you breakfast,” she ordered going to fridge to gather ingredients.

  He rimmed the edge of the coffee mug with his finger. “Kelly, who were you talking to on the phone?”

  Kelly cracked eggs in a bowl whisking them with rapid motion. “That was mom. She wanted to come for a visit this weekend. I told her this would not be a good weekend to come.”

  “Why didn’t you let her come?”

  “Dillon, we have a lot to discuss concerning the wedding and your surgery. I didn’t want my mother throwing in her two-cents.”

  He drank the coffee letting her dig herself in a deeper lie. “I’m not having the surgery, so that is not up for discussion. As far as the wedding, why do you want to marry me knowing I may be dead in a year or so?”

  Kelly dropped the glass bowl on the floor shattering it to pieces. “Why don’t you want to fight for your life!”

  “Why can’t you get it through your head I don’t want to be a fucking vegetable? I refuse to live the rest of my life confined to bed with tubes and ventilators pumping life into me.”

  Kelly braced her arms on the table. Her eyes blazed with anger. “It is not always about you! There are other people you should consider, Dillon. You have parents. You have sisters; me if I am even on the list.”

  His lips thinned. “This is my life, therefore, my decision!”

  She stood straight lifting her eyebrow. “We’ll see about that.”

  “Kelly, the subject is closed.” He moved from the table to get the mop to clean the mess in the kitchen. “You don’t have to wait for me to lose my abilities to function. Go out and find a healthy man. Get in a relationship, get married, and be happy.”

  Kelly parked her hand on her hip. “God, what a wonderful man you are. Not many men would give their woman permission to cheat.”

  “The mold was broken when I was made,” he said wringing the mop and applying it to the mess on the floor again.

  “Dillon, if Taylor had not accused you of stalking her and the friendship was strong as ever, would you have the surgery for her?”

  He stopped cleaning. Holding the mop stiff, he twisted his lip. “Do you want me to answer that honestly?”

  She crossed her arms. “Yes.”

  “Okay, I will be brutally honest. If Taylor and I were together romantically, yes I would have it done for her.”

  Kelly burst out crying. “I can’t do this anymore. I have no way of reclaiming your love.” She twisted the engagement ring off her finger and put it on the table. “I’m tired of competing with a woman that doesn’t even want you,” she said walking away.

  He called after her. “Kelly, wait! Where are you going?”

  She stopped in the hall not facing him. “I’m packing my stuff and going home.”

  He dropped the mop in the bucket and went to her. “You’re going back to Nebraska today? Kelly, you have a contract with the school board. If you nullify it, you will lose your pension.”

  “So what, I’ve lost everything else. Why do you even care?” She asked narrowing her brows.

  He fingered her dark hair away from her face. The face he once dreamed about when he’d first met her. “Kelly, I do care about you. You are crowding me and making decisions without listening to me. When I asked you to postpone the wedding, it was not bec
ause I didn’t want to get married….”

  “Please, Dillon. When Taylor came home, it was over between you and me. Like a fool, I kept clawing and hoping I would rise above her in your eyes. That did not happen and it never will.”

  “Did you ever think the clawing and over-compensating are probably what pushed me closer to her. Kelly, you try too hard to impress. You are a beautiful woman. Any man would be lucky to have you. I’m sorry I have to find myself before I commit to you or anybody.”

  She nodded with tear-filled eyes. “Whatever. Were you finding yourself when you would buy me gifts? You wanted me to be Taylor so bad that you bought me the same type of clothes she wore. We ate at the restaurants she liked. We saw the movies she suggested. We did everything Taylor suggested. What did we ever do that I suggested?”

  “You’re exaggerating as usual.”

  “Am I? Dillon, if you could turn me black like Taylor, you would.” Her chest heaved from the surging adrenaline. “You had me! I’m a good woman willing to do whatever you wanted. I was proud of you when you passed the bar exam. I was filled with joy watching you being sworn in. I got drugs for your headaches when the aspirin stopped working. But, none of that matters; all you do is criticize and belittle me. I can’t even hang the toilet paper right in the bathroom.”

  “None of what you’re saying is true, Kelly. We had problems before Taylor returned to Cleveland we just didn’t discuss them and pretended they weren’t there. For instance, how many times did I tell you I didn’t want a baby, yet you came up pregnant anyhow?”

  “I didn’t do it on purpose and you had a hand in getting me pregnant. Why are you sweating that now? You took care of the problem, and I’m still with you.”

  He balled his fists at his side. “That was an accident. I didn’t see you on the stairs.”

  Her tongue played with the inside of her cheek. “Yup, that has been your story, and you’re sticking with it. You win. I’m done with you. I’m done being your bucket to kick around.”

  Dillon was dizzy. An unfamiliar sensation other than the normal headaches he would experience. “Kelly, half the house belongs to you. I will move out and continue making my obligation to the mortgage so you can stay here.

  “Don’t do me any favors.”

  “I’m trying to be fair. You were all those things to me, and you deserve to have the house.”

  “You are pathetic. Anyhow, good luck getting Taylor away from Mario. She really loves him and she isn’t going to leave him for you.”

  He asked. “How do you know they are in love? They’ve only been dating a few months.”

  “I know for certain they are in love.”

  “How do you know, Kelly? Did Taylor tell you?”

  “Don’t use mind tricks on me. I can almost hear the gears clicking in your damaged brain.” She shoved two fingers in his chest. “I’m not stalking her if that’s what you’re thinking. I have nothing to do with cameras being installed in her house or any of that spying crap. But, I know who does.”

  He rubbed the spot in his chest nervously. “I didn’t say you did.”

  She ran the tip of her finger across her glossy red lips. “Hmm but, are you stalking her?”

  “What?”

  “It would make sense. You disappear late at night. You’re never where you say you are going to be. Are you stalking, Taylor?”

  “You have totally lost your mind!” He fumed.

  “Have I? Or have I caught…” Suddenly she ran past him to the den closing the door.

  His head whipped in her direction as she fled to the den. He tried to open the door, but she’d locked it. Banging on the door, he yelled, “Kelly, what are you doing? Open the door.”

  “Come on, come on,” she mumbled nervously while Dillon pounded on the door. The search bar dragged. She shifted her eyes to the door cracking under the weight of Dillon’s fists, and back to the computer shaking with fear evidence of Taylor was on the computer somewhere.

  The door broke open. Dillon’s haunting rage zeroed in on her as he yelled, “What the hell is your problem!” He went over to the desk shoving her over. “You’re searching our computer. What are you looking for, Kelly? Are you looking for pictures or videos of Taylor?”

  Kelly’s jaw dropped. She may have pushed too far this time. “I have to know if you are stalking Taylor.”

  “I told you I wasn’t. Why don’t you believe me!” He grabbed his head staggering as whitening pain seared behind his eyes.

  Kelly froze as Dillon fell to the floor appearing to have a seizure. “Dillon!” She yelled. Fumbling for the phone, she dialed 911.

  *****

  Taylor paid the taxi driver and took a deep breath and stared at the front of her house. Balancing the box in her arms, she promised Sabrina and Edward she’d wait for them to arrive before going inside her house. Going to the mailbox, she sat the box on the porch and removed the mail shuffling through it before sticking it in her purse. She dug the keys to her house from her purse and went to the garage. She wanted to back her car to the apron. Inserting the key, she manually unlocked the garage door. The door was heavy, and her body was too sore to lift the heavy door by herself. She dropped the door, slamming it to the ground.

  Sebastian came to her rescue. ”Hey, you need help with that?” He asked pushing the heavy door up enough for her to go inside.

  “Thanks, Sebastian. That dang door is heavy.”

  “The door isn’t that heavy it’s the steel attached to the frame of the door making it heavy. Why didn’t you just use the garage remote? He asked lowering the door so it wouldn’t slam.”

  “It’s in my car and, as you can see, my car is in the garage. I didn’t stay home last night.” She opened the car taking her cell phone from the front seat.

  “Is everything okay?”

  She stalled uncomfortable they were alone inside the semi-dark garage. “My power is out. I stayed with my sister last night.”

  “Let me take a look,” he offered.

  Taylor grabbed his arm. “You don’t have to bother with that. I have someone coming to check it out later,” she replied sending Sabrina a text message.

  “I don’t mind,” he said walking to the door. “Unlock the door…I’ll check out the electric box in the basement.”

  She sensed his eyes following her strode to the door. The garage, connected to the house, but had a separate door leading inside. Placing the key in the lock, she turned it as he continued to make conversation. “So you haven’t been home because of a power outage. You could have asked me to look at it for you, Taylor. You probably tripped a circuit.”

  She opened the door to the small hallway. The stuffy heat and odor of rotten food coming from the kitchen smacked her in the face. “I didn’t even think about that, Sebastian.” She frowned waving her hand under her nose. “You know where the basement is. I’m going to open the windows and start cleaning the fridge.”

  She turned around to Sebastian staring at her from the archway leading to the basement. “Do you need a flashlight?” She asked as her knees knocked together.

  His emerald green eyes locked with hers. “I don’t need a flashlight.”

  Taylor swallowed and stepped a single foot back only to have the kitchen island block her path. “Sebastian, I really appreciate your help.”

  “Why, Taylor?”

  “What?” She asked wishing she paid attention when people warned her against doing stupid stuff.

  “Why haven’t we gotten to know each other better? I’ve lived across the street from you for years.”

  She struggled to keep her tone upbeat and her fear intact. “I speak to you all the time.”

  “Yeah, we speak in passing. We never invited each other over for coffee until recently. I really want to get to know the neighbors. We should have a block party or something before the summer is over.”

  Suddenly, his large frame filled her space and was intimidating to her. She smoothed down her hair. “Yeah, that sounds like a plan
,” she said backing around the island. “We should discuss it at the next neighborhood watch meeting.”

  A loud noise from upstairs drew their attention to the living room area. Sebastian motioned for her to be quiet. “You said no one was here?”

  Taylor shook her head. “No one is supposed to be here. My sister and brother-in-law are on the way over.”

  “Wait outside while I take a look.”

  She panicked shaking her head. “No, let’s call the police from your place.”

  “Good idea since I don’t have Thor,” he said.

  Before they were able to leave, Sebastian fell to the floor with a thud by the basement door. Taylor’s heart stopped as blood oozed across the beige tile. “Sebastian!” She scrambled to get to him, but a pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind throwing her against the kitchen island.

  Taylor staggered holding her chest after falling hard against the edge of the granite counter. She attempted to fight the arms holding her by flinging her arms about. “Let go of me!” Reaching her hand for the counter feeling for the knife block that sat on the edge, she couldn’t get to it before the intruder.

  He grabbed the knife block with one hand throwing it to the floor scattering the knives in different direction. “You won’t need those.”

  Her breath became in short, as panic spread through her body. “What do you want from me?”

  He cornered her against the counter. “You are one hot ass babe. I see why you are menacing to other women,” he said tracing a finger down the side of her face.

  The callous on his finger scratch her skin. “What other women are you talking about?”

  The untamed hairy eyebrows over dark eyes, and pocks from bad skin acne scarred the pink face of the man smiling and exposing off-white teeth under a thick unkempt moustache. His breath was raspy as he moved closer to her face. “Seeing you in person, I would assume any woman is threatened by you.”

  Her mind sped faster than the second hand on a clock. She had to think fast if she wanted to survive. Sabrina and Edward were apt to walk in on them at any moment. She had to get this maniac out of her house before he killed them all on the spot.