Just One Moment: A Black Alcove Novel

by Jami Wagner

  “Why can’t we just … be honest with each other?”

  “We come from different lives is all. Learning to make one together isn’t going to be easy, but if we want it, we keep trying. Right?”

  “Right.”

  I kiss the top of her head and then rest my cheek there. “We need to call the police or someone, Sky. That guy wants trouble, and I don’t think he’s leaving here without causing some.”

  “He’ll leave. He won’t waste his time on something he can’t control.”

  “I’m not sure about that. I think he’s planning to control this situation.”

  “Luke, I grew up with Mack. He’d never do something that would tarnish his company’s reputation.”

  “I honestly believe that—”

  “Luke, I don’t want to argue with you.”

  “But I think something needs to be done, or he’ll be back.”

  “He won’t be back.”

  “You’re so sure about it?” I ask.

  “Yes.”

  “Fine.” My gut tells me the guy isn’t leaving. If Sky won’t believe me enough to be cautious, I’ll just have to make sure I’m around to protect her. “Let’s close up and head upstairs.” I don’t want to be around if Mack decides to come back tonight.

  “I think you should stay at your place tonight,” she says without looking at me.

  If Mack comes back tonight, she’ll be alone. I take a huge breath and release the fists my hands have formed.

  “Yeah, okay.”

  In one big step I’m in front of her, pulling her toward me and crashing my mouth onto hers. The sweet taste of lemon meets my lips. I press harder, her tongue sliding its way into my mouth. She’s kissing me back. That’s a good sign. But it’s not enough for her to want me to stay. I don’t look back as I walk out of the store. How do I make her see that I just want her to be safe?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Skylar

  Dinner is cooked and ready to go for the moment Luke arrives. It wasn’t on my list, but I’ve always wanted to cook a meal for someone else. I hope I did okay. Both Alex and Beth said you can’t mess up spaghetti.

  They had better be right.

  I put the cheesy toast into the oven and set the timer for six minutes.

  Six minutes and Luke will be here. Thankfully.

  I can’t believe I even doubted him for a second last night after Mack showed up. He looked so scared that I wasn’t going to believe him. I don’t know how, but I saw myself in that look and because I didn’t do it, I knew he didn’t do what Mack was accusing him of either. I don’t understand why we keep doubting each other. Am I insecure? Is he? It doesn’t matter. I want this to work.

  The rattle of knuckles on the door startles me into a slight jump. I twist, facing the door and immediately know that isn’t Luke. Luke just walks in now, and the girls knock once and then come in.

  The knocking resumes, this time louder. By the time I reach the door, I really, really wish there was a little peephole to look through, but why do I need one when you have to get through the bookstore to get up here? And the bookstore was locked last time I checked.

  “Open the door, Skylar. I know you’re home.” Mack’s voice flows through the door, sending spikes of fear all over my body. I step back and don’t answer the door.

  “Go home, Mack. I don’t know why you’re still here.”

  “Just let me in so we can talk about it.”

  “Mack, just go. There isn’t anything to talk about. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re going to open this door, Skylar.” There is a warning in his voice. “We’re going to talk this out, face to face, whether I have to break this fucking door down or you open it like the fucking lady your mother taught you to be.”

  He can’t see me, but that doesn’t stop the tears from starting or me from shaking my head no.

  “Skylar.”

  I don’t say anything. My eyes flash around the room looking for something, anything I can defend myself with. Where is that damn phone?

  “Skylar,” his voice is lower now and angrier. “Open. The. Door.”

  I still don’t make a sound as I back into the kitchen.

  “Skylar!” he yells one last time before he breaks the lock and the door is flying open to bounce off the wall behind it. Mack steps in, looking the part of a man who hasn’t slept in nights and with determination in his eyes. He isn’t leaving here until he gets what he came for.

  A scream slips past my lips. I turn, sprinting for the drawer with my kitchen knives, but Mack is faster than I am. His arms wrap around me. A hand grips my wrist and twists it till the knife drops from my fingers. I cry out as a burning pain darts up my arms. He shoves me to the ground and stands above me.

  Cradling the arm he injured, I scoot back against the wall. I watch him as he surveys the room, his neck turning slowly. I catch the tick in his jaw when his eyes fall on the table.

  “A fucking candlelight dinner for two, huh? I never got that sort of treatment. Why not? I gave you everything.”

  “Mack, things are different now. You deserve someone who will give you this, but that woman isn’t me.”

  Two fists come down on the table, causing the plates, silverware, and everything else to bounce into a new position. “I don’t fucking want anyone else!”

  “Mack.”

  A wicked laugh comes from deep inside him as he watches me. “You can’t use your sweet voice to change my mind. You’re my fiancé, and I’m not leaving here without you.” He jerks me back up to my feet and shoves me forward. My hip hits the table. I catch myself, the view of our dinner knifes on the table. I know you don’t need them for spaghetti, but I’m relieved more than ever that I still put them out. I don’t think twice as I reach for the knife and swing at him. I don’t know what I’m doing. My eyes close as I swing again and again, until I hear him cry out. Opening one eye, I see I’ve struck his arm and now he’s lunging for me. My back hits the table, knocking it over, and the fire from the candle catches on the cloth. A blaze begins on the floor of the apartment. I kick back at him to get him off me as I crawl on the floor toward the sink. I have to get water on that before it’s too late. Except I don’t reach the sink. Something hits my head from behind. Everything goes blurry and then everything goes black.

  * * *

  My eyes hurt to open, but I can’t stop coughing. The room filled up in a haze, and I can’t see anything. I cough more, pushing myself to my knees to stand. Mack’s face comes into view with a smile. “If you’re not going to be with me, you won’t be with anyone, Skylar.”

  Pain takes over the right side of my face when he strikes me. I stumble but manage to crawl away from him. I can’t see anything, so instead I feel around until I’m on the other side of my bed, the same side that is near the apartment door.

  “You can’t run from me. Every time you make a noise, I will find you.”

  I hold my breath, my hands touching every inch of the wall behind me as I try to place where exactly I am and how many steps I might have to the door. It will bring attention to me the moment I open it and the smoke starts to rush out, but it’s hot in here, and if I don’t get out fast I’m not sure I ever will.

  I can’t hold it any longer. My coughing resumes, and I take two quick steps for the door before a hand clenches around my throat. My fists beat and punch at his chest, but it’s not working. He isn’t losing his grip. My fingers curl as I dig my nails into the skin around his wrists. Still, his hold on me is tight. The smoke burns my eyes, and I close them, praying I’ll be able to open them again soon and this will all be over.

  Luke

  I tossed and turned all night, dreaming of Sky alone in that apartment. I had nightmares that Mack showed up and she left with him. I hate when dreams feel like real life. So when she texted me this morning, inviting me over for dinner. I packed a bag of clothes before I left, praying she lets me stay the night at her place.

  I’m about a block from the store when
the smell of smoke creeps in through my rolled down window. I look around me but don’t see where it’s coming from.

  I turn the corner of the bookstore street to see a few people gathered around the store and smoke coming from the roof. Sliding to a stop from the ice on the road, I jam the gear into park and take off with the best ice-restricted sprint I can.

  “Sky!” I shout, searching faces in the crowd. “Sky!”

  Wide-eyed faces stare back at me as I keep yelling. I don’t see her.

  “I just saw a man go in there not too long ago. I don’t think he ever came out,” a woman to my right says to another woman. My heart drops into my stomach and then lurches up to my throat as I take off for the entrance. That bastard!

  “You can’t go in there!” a man voice roars behind me when I reach the front door.

  “This is my store!” I yell back. “Call 911!”

  “The building is on fire, son. It’s not safe for you to go in there!”

  I can see it’s on fucking fire.

  “My girlfriend, she lives in the apartment upstairs!” I scream back, and take that moment to go inside. I have to make sure she’s not in there.

  The store is filled with smoke and it’s warm, but not so warm that the flames have made their way down here yet. Waving smoke away from my face, I reach the stairs in record time. I take them two at a time until I’m up the steps. Her door is already open and a glow of fire can be through the entire place.

  “Sky!” I call out.

  Nothing.

  “Sky!”

  Nothing.

  “Skylar!” I give it my best this time.

  “She wasn’t supposed to pick you.” I hear him, but I can’t see him. “She was supposed to pick me,” he says again, and I move toward his voice. “Now, now she won’t be able to pick either of us.”

  A hand grips my ankle, jerking me back. I fall forward, my hand reaching out to stop myself from hitting the ground. Only it doesn’t hit the ground without touching flesh first. When I’m able to push myself up, all I make out in the haze is an unconscious Sky. I pull her to me and get to my feet. With her slumped over my shoulder, I head back for the door. Again, a hand grabs my ankle, but this time I balance myself to kick. I hit him right in the face and leave him lying on the floor. When his grip loosens, I dash down the steps with Sky and out the door. People cheer as I bring her out and lay her on the ground. She coughs, giving me hope that she is okay. A woman rushes to help her as I look back up at the burning apartment.

  I’m a fucking idiot.

  I make it back up the stairs and hook an arm around Mack to help him out. He’s barely conscious and leans most of his weight on me. His feet are dragging by the time we make it to the street, and I can hear the sirens close by. I don’t lay him down near as gently as I did Sky. I actually find joy when his head bounces a little.

  Sky is where I left her; the lady is now on her phone providing details of what happened. Even with all the soot covering her face, it’s obviously she is injured badly. The urge the beat Mack while he’s unconscious or to put him back inside the building is strong. The need to make sure Sky is safe is stronger.

  I strip off my coat and my shirt. I wrap her leg with my shirt and then cover her with my coat as I hold her in my arms. Her eyes flutter over and over as she continues to look up at me. Her lips are moving, but she isn’t actually saying anything and then she coughs and it sounds like it’s coming from somewhere deep. She coughs and winces a couple more times before settling back into my arms.

  People are standing all around us on their phones, and it’s a good thing because I don’t know where mine is, but I know someone called it in because a fire truck is pulling up.

  “Luke.” It comes out in a whisper, but one word is all she has to say to keep my full attention.

  “I’m here. Don’t worry, I’m here.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispers again. Her eyes have stopped fluttering and she looks more responsive now.

  “You didn’t do anything wrong, Sky. No need to apologize.”

  “But the apartment is gone.”

  “And you’re alive—that’s all that matters.”

  An ambulance pulls up on the curb in front of us and two EMTs rush out.

  “How long was she in there?”

  “What caused the fire?”

  “I … I…” I can’t find the words because I don’t know the answers.

  “Sir, please give us room,” one of them says to me, pushing me out of the way. I don’t want to let her go. “Sir, please, you will have to step back.”

  I do as they ask because I don’t want to stop them from helping Sky, but it feels like a hook, jabbing my heart over and over in the same wounded spot.

  I watch as they lift her on to the orange board. Watch as they stick a needle in her arm and strap her down. Watch as they lift her into the truck. The doors start to close when I grip on to the handle, ready to jump in to ride with her.

  “Sir, are you family?”

  “I’m her boyfriend.” My answer is hurried.

  “I’m sorry, sir, you’ll have to meet us at Summit Hospital. You can’t ride in here unless your immediate family.”

  “She needs me!” I refuse to take no for an answer.

  “Sir, please step down. She needs to get to an emergency room.”

  I don’t argue this time because I just want her to be okay. I need her to be okay. Someone says my name, but I ignore them. I’m focused on Sky, and the last thing I see before they close the doors is her eyes on me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Luke

  I’ve hated hospital rooms ever since I sat in one waiting to hear whether or not I was going to ever be able to speak to my father again. Maybe it’s the fact the outcome was no, I’d never get to speak or hug or do anything with him for the rest of my life.

  “She’s going to be fine, man,” Conner assures me for the hundredth time. I know Sky was talking to me after I pulled her out of the store, but that doesn’t mean something could have had an aftereffect. It was clear she has a bruise across her face, a broken leg, and three broken fingers. She was in a fire. She could have burns I didn’t notice. And that was just the outside. I don’t even want to think about her lungs or her head. What if she hit it wrong, or her lungs are failing from the smoke? Mack did a number on her. If he weren’t in a hospital room himself being watched around the clock by the local police, I’d be out looking for that sorry son of a bitch and leaving him with ten times worse than what did to Sky.

  “I keep thinking I should have stayed with her. I knew that guy was watching her. I just … I didn’t think—”

  “There was no way for you to know that he would do something like this.”

  “The fact I even knew he was in town should raise a red flag, and in a way it did. I just didn’t think he would try to kill her. I didn’t think people like that actually existed. Thought it was all for big cities and the movies.”

  “Desperate people do desperate things. You can’t blame yourself.”

  But I do.

  I glance up at the clock. It’s been six hours. Someone should have come out by now. I start to pace the room, looking out the small window of the door. The same clerk who was here when we arrived is still sitting behind the desk. She must know I’m looking at her because she spots me. Her eyes narrow. I may have made a bit of a scene when they wouldn’t answer my questions after the first hour. I’m not family. What kind of bullshit is that? I am her family. Her friends are her family.

  The nurse’s view of me is blocked by a fancy charcoal suit and a shimmering red dress that’s accompanied by more diamonds than I’ve ever seen in my life. The nurse points toward the door I’m still peering from and the couple looks at me. I meet the woman’s eyes first. Although they are red rimmed, they look exactly like Sky’s.

  I can’t believe her parents are here.

  Now they’re moving in my direction.

  “Fuck,” I shout, causing
everyone in the room—Conner, Alex, Beth, and Sarah—to jump in their seats. “Sky’s parents are here.”

  “I thought they disowned her.” Alex stands.

  “They’re probably coming to cover up whatever attention this is going to put on them. Sky hasn’t told me much, but they don’t sound like very good people.”

  The next thing I know, the door is opening and her parents are standing in front of me. Sky has been through too much tonight to have to put up with this bullshit, too. I’ll use them to get as much information as I can out of the nurse, and then I’ll make sure they get the message to leave. Sky is happy without them.

  “You must be Luke.” Her father offers his hand to me. I take it and give him the firmest shake I can.

  “Should I know you?” I ask.

  He smiles, but it’s not a real smile. It looks exactly like the smile Sky used to have before … well, before I fell in love with her.

  “I wouldn’t imagine you would and if you had, I’m certain it wouldn’t have been anything positive. My name is Maxwell Atwood, Skylar’s father.”

  “Clayton called us,” her mother says from behind him. Her voice soft, just like Sky’s. For a family that’s so much alike on the outside, how can they be so different on the inside?

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know who that is.”

  “I’m Skylar’s mother,” she adds. “Clayton is Mack’s cousin. He called us earlier this evening. Told us Mack was trying to bring Skylar home, but that he had a bad feeling something was going to happen. Something that might hurt our daughter.”

  “We tried to reach her,” her father adds, “but her line has been disconnected.”

  “She’s been living here for months, and tonight was the night you just learned that her phone line was disconnected?” My voice is rising, but I don’t care. No parents should treat their child the way these two have. “Did you not care she was living in the park or that she went nights without food?”

  “Luke.” Beth’s hand rests over my forearm.

  “Or that all she wanted in life was to make her own decisions, paint her fucking fingernails pink, and own a dog!” I shrug Beth’s off arm. I don’t want to be touched right now.