by P. A. Jones
I sat there holding my head in my both hands. I couldn’t believe the way Jim talked with me, but I couldn’t do anything. I was bound by the contract and it was my fault. I was late to respond, I didn’t complete my work and I got trapped by Lobo. It was all my fault. No, it's all your fault, Lobo.
“I’m so sorry, babe.” Eva was sitting on a chair nearby. She had listened to every word Jim said.
“It’s okay, Eva, it’s not your fault. Would you mind going out to get a charger cable for my laptop?” I had to take my anger out. I had to do something. I need to box for a little while. That was the only way I could release my pressure. That was a perfect stress buster for me.
“Sure, babe. But what should I ask them?”
“I’ll message you the details. Just grab it from Wal-Mart.”
“Okay. Are you alright, sweetie?” She came closer and fondled my hair; she cared a lot for me. I liked that, but now wasn’t the time I could appreciate it. My insides were burning with fire and it was best to get it out on the boxing bag rather than on anyone else.
“Yes, just get me that damn cable.” I tried to keep my voice calm.
In a few minutes, she left the house and I picked up my gloves. I didn’t even care to change into something comfortable. Hatred consumed my mind. I was imagining Lobo and Martha instead of my punching bag. I started landing the hits quickly.
My phone buzzed. Who the fuck is it now? I ignored it at first, but it continued ringing. It could be Eva, some issues with the cable? I picked it up.
“Hello, Mr. Brown. It’s Steve from Goliath Bank. I hope you remember me.” How could I forget his voice. He knocked my pants off last time; I wondered why he called me this time.
“I think I’ve paid my mortgage and you shouldn’t have any issue with that.”
“No, no. I absolutely don’t have any issue with that. I called you to inform you that due to your irregular history of the payments bank has decided to terminate your loan. You have one month to shift your loan to another bank or the bank will auction your property.” He paused. “And believe me, I’ll make sure that no other bank will give you any sort of loan.” He chuckled. “You messed with the wrong woman, dude, and it’s gonna cost you a lot.”
“Fuck you, Steve. If I ever get my hands on you, that day would be the last day when you will laugh with your own teeth.”
His laugh stopped instantly. “Whatever. You should worry about your apartment first. We’ll send you the official notice in few days. Wait for it.” He hung up the phone.
With a swing, I threw my phone on the couch and paced the hallway. I didn’t care if it broke or survived. The bag stood in front of me and now it turned into the unseen Steve and Martha.
“You have gone too far, Martha. I won’t take it anymore.” I punched it harder and faster. After some time, my hand started feeling numb, but I continued. The pain vanished a little after and only bloody faces of Martha and Steve remained in front of me.
“Nathan, what the hell are you doing?” Eva was pulling me away.
“Leave me alone, Eva, I wanna kill these bastards.” I pushed her away, but she resisted and came in between the bag and me. I gave up and walked back.
Chapter 12
Eva
“Honey, I’m back with your cable. Where are you?” I shouted when I came back with the charger cable. He didn’t reply back. He must be doing something in his workroom.
Indeed, he was doing something there, but not what I expected. He was practicing boxing wearing a suit and shorts below. “Men are men,” I muttered and walked near him. The sound of his punches echoed in the room, but for a microsecond in between his punches, I heard sound of a drip. Something was dripping from his hands. A red liquid. Oh, my God, it’s blood.
“Nathan stop, you’re bleeding,” I screamed from the bottom on my lungs. A dizziness filled my brain for a moment; I just couldn’t see him like that. Why the hell is he doing this? I recovered and ran to stop him, but he pushed me back and continued hitting the bag, like he couldn’t feel the pain at all. What is this craziness? My heart broke seeing him bleeding. I hugged him from behind; he stopped for a second and pushed me back again. I had no other choice; I moved in between him and the punching bag, and only then he stopped beating that bag.
His sudden outburst was beyond of my imagination. Is it because of that work call?
“Nathan, what happened?” Tears rolled down my cheek. “Why are you doing this to yourself?” I breathed hard. “Please tell me, babe. What’s wrong?” I hugged him and rested my head on his chest, wetting his suit with my tears.
“Please leave me alone for a while. Can you, please?” He held me away with his boxing gloves. As I looked in his eyes, I saw a wounded animal, his eyes filled all hatred. But for whom?
“Not until I see your hands.” I was determined.
He took out his gloves. The white cloth he applied on his hand was completely red, colored with his blood.
“Why did you do this, Nathan? Why?” My tears started flowing down again. I loved him more than anything and he was bleeding in front of me. Seeing him like that was utterly painful for me. “This is why I don’t like you boxing. When you get hurt, I feel like a knife pierces my heart. Do you understand that?” I held his arms and shake his body. He stood there with his eyes on the ground.
“There’s a first aid box in the cabinet above the laptop.” His voice still was full of angst.
He gritted his teeth together when I applied the bandage on his hand. If I could have, I would have taken away his pain and his angst, but sometimes I felt he didn’t share everything with me; this was one of those moments. He wasn’t ready to open up and his in his work area, I was out of my league to offer him any advice.
I slowly and carefully cleaned his blood; the wound inside wasn’t deep. I wanted to sit there, but he didn’t look like he wanted that. So I decided to do something else. “Okay. I’ll cook something then. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Sure.” He didn’t even look me while saying this. He wanted some time alone and I appreciated that.
After cooking, I opened up my iPod, checking for emails. The first email was from the university. I had six days left to decide on my scholarship. My heart felt like someone had dumped a ton of weight on it.
What am I going to do with this? Why the hell am I stuck with this? I wanted to talk with Nathan about the issue, but he surely wasn’t in any condition to talk about this. Chloe? I should visit the college as well.
But before I made any decision, I checked on Nathan. He was back on his computer, hitting the keyboard fiercely. My heart wanted to stay there, but I needed some sound advice. Only Chloe could give it to me.
I quickly changed into a comfortable pair of jeans and a tank top and peeked in Nathan’s work room again. “Babe, is it okay if I visit the college?”
“Yup, sure. I’m busy with my work, anyways,” he replied calmly.
“The lunch is in the refrigerator; call me if you need anything.” I waved him goodbye.
“My dear college, here I come.” I muttered and pushed the gas.
***
“Where the hell are you?” I screamed inside my mind. Chloe was nowhere to be found. I had already wandered everywhere on campus. I even checked the dorm; it was locked. Where could she go? I tried her cell and it was switched off; she only did that when she was in math classes. Hell, where the fuck is she? I cursed her.
I was heading to the canteen and I saw Noah coming out of a classroom.
“Hey, Noah.” I shouted his name. He panicked for a second but then looked at me.
His facial muscles relaxed as he saw me. “Hey, Eva, it’s been a long time. Where have you been, sweetheart?” Noah was a gay friend of Chloe. I didn’t like him, but Chloe and he were the best of friends.
“Where is Chloe?”
“Oh, sweetie, why are you always searching for Chloe? There are so many handsome boys out there; search for them.” He giggled like a girl.
“She must be behind some book cabinet in the library. She got a new, handsome boyfriend. Do you know that?”
“Terry?”
“Yes, he is so handsome that when I see him I sometime pee in my pants.” He giggled again. He was getting on my nerves now.
“Thanks, Noah, catch you later.”
“Sure, sweetheart. Come to my dorm sometimes. We’ll catch up on some gossip you missed.” Noah always tried hard to be in my good books, but I never liked him. Why, I couldn’t get.
I walked fast towards the library, which was the last place I expected Chloe to be. Our library was a deserted place and nobody visited it, not even the studious people because it didn’t have enough books. I peeked behind every cabinet. I found her in one corner. She had locked her lips with a boy and her hands were freely going inside his jeans from behind. He must be Terry.
“No way you are kissing your teacher in the library,” I screamed silently. This girl was changing so rapidly, I couldn’t recognize her actions anymore.
She separated from him for a second and looked at me. “Hi, Eva. We were just doing our ritual.”
“Ritual?”
“It’s a long story. But to tell you in short, we daily kiss each other somewhere on the college campus. Terry feels that it keeps our self committed to each other..”
“What?” I couldn’t understand her at all.
“Yes, we kiss somewhere alone every day, like the guys’ locker room, the library, an empty classroom.”
She was insane. She was kissing a teacher everywhere on campus; she would be getting expelled soon. “Still, what the fuck Chloe?”
“Leave it alone. Let’s go to the canteen. I’m so hungry today.” She smiled and dragged me out. Terry remained inside. I looked back at the door, anticipating he would follow us. “Don’t worry, he will come in five minutes. We need to be good at this or else he will get fired in no time.”
“I guess that day will come pretty soon,” I whispered.
“Did you say something, Eva?”
“Nope, let’s go to the canteen.”
When we were walking towards the canteen, we had to cross Mrs. Cooper’s office
I was avoiding any contact with the office; I was afraid that Mrs. Cooper will come out any time and ask me something. “Is that your mom?” Chloe elbowed me.
I looked up; my mom was coming out of Cooper’s office. “Yes, it is.” My heart beat skipped its tone by a little. She was the worst thing I could expect to meet at my college.
“Let’s get out of here.” I dragged Chloe out of the way, but somehow my mom’s sharp eyes caught us.
“Eva, come here, please,” she asked me in a loud voice.
“I’m gonna die today.” I cursed myself for coming to the campus.
In a matter of few seconds, we were standing in front of my mom. She was crushing me with her eyes. I wanted to get away or at least get my eyes out of her gaze, but I couldn’t do that; she had a hypnotizing effect on me.
“Hello, Martha, how are you?” Chloe tried to ease the tension between us.
“Are you thinking to get some stupid sports scholarship?” she asked me in a frightening tone.
“I’m not sure.” That was the thing for which I had come to meet Chloe, but now it seem that Mrs. Cooper already told her everything. I was pretty dead.
“Look, Eva, I have news for you. I’ve booked one ticket to Canada with your name and readied the divorce papers. Come to my hotel; get them signed by Nathan tonight and then fly to Canada. Or else, I’ll sign the papers to put you out of my will.” She looked away and looked back at me once more, disappointment in her eyes.
Chloe grabbed my shoulder. My mom’s words were slowly entering my system. It was the second time that day my heart was broken, first by seeing Nathan in that condition and now by my mom.
“Calm down, dear. We can work on this,” Chloe whispered in my ear.
“Wait, mom.” I followed my mom.
“Yes?”
“I don’t care if you throw me out of your will or do anything you want. I’m not going to divorce Nathan nor go to Canada for you. I may or may not take the scholarship, but I’m surely not working in your company, either way.” Determination was flowing through my whole body.
Mom looked tense. She surely didn’t expect that from me. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the exact words. She left me without saying a single word.
“That was brave.” Chloe patted me on my back. “Let’s go to the dorm. We have lots to discuss.”
Chapter 13
Eva
“Are you sure you want to go back home? If you ask me, you should spend the night here with me. Your mom freakishly kicked your ass today.” Chloe was insisting that I spend night in the dorm so we could talk more. With her, I could always share everything my heartfelt. Years of friendship were behind the bond between us.
We spent hours talking about my condition after mother left me at school. We discussed my scholarship and Chloe was leaning towards taking that option. After bailing out on Mom’s offer, I had pretty much only one option left; the scholarship. The only issue for me was that I couldn’t make that decision without consulting Nathan. We loved each other very much and we were married, so his opinion was important to me.
“I can’t, Chloe. Nathan is alone and I brought his car and he might need it. If he wants to go somewhere, he would be stuck without the car.” I checked my cell; there was no call from him.
“He is not a baby, and if he wanted the car he would have called you. Stay here. Terry will be coming soon and we can have a fun night.” She winked.
And that was the reason I didn’t want to stay there. If Terry wouldn’t have been coming, I would have just stayed.
“Sorry, dear, but I’ve to go. Maybe some other time.” I smiled at her and picked up my bag. “We will plan it for sure. And thanks for the talk. I needed someone level-headed to talk to after the whole drama.”
“Any time, sweetheart.” She blew me a kiss. She had changed a lot after meeting Terry. He seemed to be an interesting character.
***
I peeked in Nathan’s workroom when I entered the house. Nathan was sitting in front of his laptop, as expected. Not a single light was on in the house or in his room. First thing I did was to switch on the light in his room.
“Hey, when did you come?” He asked without looking at me.
I really wanted to talk with him about what had happened today, but he looked so distant that I couldn’t say anything about the drama that happened with my mom. “I’m going to order pizza. Do you want some?”
“Yup sure. Anything without pickles would do for me.”
“Okay.”
I was about to throw away my iPad when I received the same message for the fifth time. ‘Your Credit Card is declined. Please try another one. 'My stomach had started making sounds and that stupid iPod refused to pay for me. There was no way my credit card had some issues; it was the stupid iPod.
Finally, I gave up and decided to ask Nathan. “Babe, can I use your credit card? Mine is not working on this stupid iPod.”
“Take it from my wallet. Password is ‘Eva143.’”
“How sweet of you.” I liked that he kept my name as his password.
Pizza was my favorite food when I felt sad. Maybe it’s my saddest day ever. Still, choosing the scholarship remained a tough decision for me. The second thing I always did when I was upset was to drink some vodka and shop online.
When I opened the refrigerator, the only available choice of alcohol was Jack Daniels. Should I? Heck with it. I picked up the bottle and started drinking from it. The second thing was the shopping. What should I buy for myself? Shoes? Or some clothes? Nathan’s card was lying nearby. I didn’t remember how much I bought that night.
Nathan
“Sorry, sir, but your card is not working.” The salesman from the gas pump returned my card in a polite manner.
How could it be? The card was linked to my savings account and there was no way I’d run out of the balance. Two days ago, I had deposited my royalty from the boxing fight in it.
I dialed my bank’s phone number and asked them what was wrong with it. After verifying my details, I could speak to a customer care representative.
“Yes, sir. I understand your issue. Give me ten minutes to check your details.” The lady from the customer care didn’t sound American.
“Yes, please do it fast. I’m standing at the gas station and my card is not working. If I don’t get it working, I would have to walk back to my house.”
I’d had a one-on-one meeting with the client this morning. And while returning home my car gave up. Fortunately, a gas station was near, but then my card stopped working. This is harassment from the credit card company. I should change it.
The lady returned. “I can see the transactions on your card, sir, and there are two purchases last night. One is at a shoe merchant for three thousand and few other stores for four grand. So by this way you are already in overdraft mode and that’s why your card is not working,” the lady replied after a minute in soft voice.
“But that’s not my…” Then I remembered I had given my card to Eva and these could have been her purchases. Damn, what did she get me into? My financial condition was already worse and now she’d spent more than five grand on my card. What should I do? Why is she behaving like Samantha? Samantha maxed out my credit card many times. She even exhausted my overdraft limit lots of time. I’d had to spend my weekends doing extra work to pay that money. Please don’t behave like Samantha, please don’t.
I’d no other choice but to walk back home. I didn’t have a penny inside my pocket, so I couldn’t think of going by bus. The world started looking brutal; people were trying to get to me through all means. Lobo, Martha, Steve, everyone worked hard to bring me down. I was good in my old ways, booze, girls and more booze. It had been a fantastic world of self pity and selfishness. Yes, selfishness. I was selfish when I lived like the king of my heart and attitude. I did whatever I wanted and felt like doing.