All The Pieces (Pieces of Lies 3)

by Angela Richardson

  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 n
ot 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.

  “Then let me try once more. That alright with the two of you?” Samuel had lowered his voice so it was softer and sounded more reasonable.

  I don’t think either Clint or myself were happy with the idea of Samuel touching Norah again, but we didn’t fight him on it. We just nodded and tried to look away as Samuel got back into the same position he was in before. He copied the same movements, with his hands running along her back. He brought his mouth to her ear and whispered softly. When he was finished, he kissed her again. Almost as soon as his lips touched hers this time round, Norah blinked twice like she had snapped out of a dream, and once recognizing Samuel, she pushed him off her, quite forcefully. Her body twisted until she was sitting upright in one jerk-like action. Samuel looked away, with an annoyed look on his face that I couldn’t understand. Whatever he said this time round, looked like something he had hoped he didn’t need to say. His annoyance was quickly replaced with relief when Norah’s eyes squinted at Samuel in recognition.

  “And...she’s back!” Samuel said proudly, even though he looked anything but. I think he was trying to make the situation feel less intense. Norah shot Samuel a small smile, which I think was her way of thanking him for bringing her back to the land of the living. It was clear they had been in this situation before and I was now happy Samuel was here to come to her rescue. God knows how long Norah would have stayed like that without Samuel’s help.

  “I’m really sorry,” Norah managed to say as she looked at all our expressions and then pulled herself up off the floor.

  Clint tried to speak up. “Norah you don’t have to say sorry, you have nothing to be sorry ab...” Clint’s words halted as she stood, tugging her wedding dress down so it floated around her ankles. The boys’ mouths fell open at the sight of Norah in a wedding dress, the realization hitting them again about what she was going to do with Josh. She was adjusting it like she was getting ready to actually go through with it. That was, until she realized what she was doing and stopped to look again at Clint and Samuel, who were now standing, mouths agape at her. The tension was radiating off them all and here I was, standing off to the side like some weird onlooker who couldn’t take her eyes off them all, like it was a car crash. I didn’t how what to say in a situation like this. I was still blown away by the fact that Norah’s two ex-boyfriends had been sent here as the ones to help. Then, Norah clued into that realization too.

  “Wait. What are the two of you doing here anyway?” Norah queried, rather uncomfortably at Clint and Samuel.

  It was the million dollar question.

  “Your Dad sent us to help you,” Samuel spoke up.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Clint said, supporting Samuel.

  What? That’s all we get?

  I thought seeing the guys would make Norah spontaneously combust with anger and confusion, but she looked calm. Focused even. Norah nodded and then held out her hand. “Cell please. I broke mine.”

  That was my cue.

  “I already tried to call your Dad Norah, but it went to message bank,” I said, as I handed her Samuel’s cell.

  “Thanks Tess. He has more than one number I can contact him on. I’m going to the bathroom to call him to get some information and to change my clothes.” She looked back and forth between Clint and Samuel. “You guys better be telling me the truth.” There was clear hostility in her voice as she said it. She was suspicious too, which of course, was the response I knew she would have, and rightfully so. She walked over to a backpack that I had moved to the corner of the room and took it with her into the bathroom.

  “What was that?” Clint said, still taken back by Norah’s reaction and words.

  “Give her a few minutes,” said Samuel confidently. “Once she talks to Joe, she’ll know we are on board and be more responsive. Remember how it must look to her.”

  Clint look worried as fuck and Samuel was quick to try and calm him down. “Just relax. She’ll be out in a second and then we’ll explain everything to her.”

  I let my eyes drift out the window as I waited for Norah to return. I had no reason to make small talk with these guys now that Norah was back with us. Then Norah burst out of the bathroom. She had changed into tight fitting black pants, a black tank top and black boots. She had also tied her hair up into a high pony tail on her head. She looked like she was in full commando mode, ready to hunt down Josh. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, now embracing Samuel and Clint with a weird look on her face. This was going to be an interesting conversation, and I secretly wished I had some popcorn for the show.

  “So I’ve heard it from my Dad. Now I want to hear from the two of you. Why are you two both here? Why did you two choose to come?”

  Choose?

  “Well...I was with your Dad when you called him about Josh. I know how this looks, but I’m here to help you, I swear. You know I would never lie to you again And more importantly, I know how to make people talk. I asked him if I could come so I could help you get the information you need about Josh. I’m also here to protect you. Your Dad trusts me to do that.” Samuel glanced in my direction for a second and then winked at me. “I guess you can say, I’m the muscle of this operation.”

  Oh. Come. On. Who is this guy?

  Norah look
satisfied at Samuel’s response and then eyed Clint, who just stared back at her. For a moment, I saw her eyes shift down, unable to keep herself from looking up at him. She seemed sad seeing Clint, not angry. It was odd. I really thought she would have gone off a lot more than this. I guess after her ‘episode’ she was just trying to put these pieces together and focus on finding Josh with what she had to work with, but still, I saw something a little guilty in the way she tried not to look at Clint.

  “And you?” she said softly at Clint, still avoiding his eyes.

  “Your Dad and Sam came to see me when they couldn’t get answers from Kyser about where the Lappell had taken Josh, so they came to me hoping I could help. I told them I could because I know people and have connections over here and that I will be able to track him down. I’m here to help you Norah.”

  She stared at Clint now, her eyes big and round. “Who do you know who can help?”