Into You

by Sheena Binkley

  “You’re being an asshole right now. To even think I would do that, especially when I told you I loved you.”

  “Vanessa –”

  “Go to hell, Mark,” She snarled and pushed past me. I grabbed her arm. She tried to pull away, but I held onto her.

  “It has been two weeks since we’ve been apart, and I miss you like crazy. I miss those eyes, that smile, those sexy lips that I want to kiss right now. I've missed being around you, touching you, making love to you; so of course when I hear that you’re with another man, I’m going to feel some type of way. I'm going to wonder if you’re doing the same things to him that you did to me. Hearing that made me go fucking crazy, so I have every right to ask.”

  Vanessa glared at me as she shrugged her arm from me. “No, I didn’t sleep with him. Like I said, he was helping me prep for my interview. Remember that, Mark? The one you were supposed to help me with.”

  “Did you at least get the job?”

  She rolled her eyes at me and sighed. “I don’t know yet. They still haven’t contacted me.”

  I gently put my hands on her shoulders, and she looked into my eyes. “I’m really sorry, V. I guess I was just a little jealous that you were spending time with someone else, especially someone like Dominic.”

  “It was just a drink and a Spanish lesson. He didn’t try anything; we just talked and joked. I honestly think he needed it with everything that’s been happening. He’s actually pretty cool.”

  “He always has been; it’s just his weakness for women that’s the issue.”

  “But you were jealous of me and Dominic?”

  I looked down as Vanessa, and she put her hand on my chin, making me look at her. “You know I would never do that to you. The situation may have seemed a bit sketchy, but he knew not to bother me. He even said that we made a good couple.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “Oh.”

  “So next time, don't jump to conclusions. I’m glad you asked me though.”

  “I had to.”

  “But you still don’t trust me, do you?”

  “I've had a lot of time to think things through. I’m still a little hurt about the situation, but I don’t want to be angry anymore. Especially not with you. You really were in a rough situation, so I can kind of understand.”

  “Thank you, but I still should have told you about your dad and Simone. I shouldn’t have hidden that from you. I felt so guilty about doing it, and I’m really sorry.”

  “I know you are; but next time, please tell me the truth. No matter what it is, I can take it, okay?”

  Vanessa smiled. “Okay. So what does this mean?”

  I moved closer to t her, staring at her lips. “Do you still want to be with me?”

  “What type of question is that?”

  “I need to know. Do you still love me?”

  “I never stopped, Mark.”

  “So, are we back together?”

  Vanessa pulled me to her and kissed me. I grinned as I picked her up.

  “What are you doing?! We’re at work!”

  “I’m about to be part owner of Suds, so I can do whatever I want,” I whispered in her ear, making her shiver.

  “But it’s daylight. There are customers –”

  “You trust me, right?”

  “Of course.”

  I looked at the cameras and noticed they weren’t even on. I smiled as I led her to the employee restroom. I knew I was wrong for what I was about to do, but I couldn’t wait until later to be with her. I missed her, and I knew she missed me, too. I just happy that we were slowly getting back on track. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any other issues down the road; but if there were, I knew we would get through them together.

  Vanessa

  I walked back into the lobby, all smiles. Since Mark and I had reconciled, I felt like I was floating on air. I still couldn’t believe we were back together, but I’m so happy we are. The past two weeks had been sort of hard for me to deal with. Between my dad, the job interview, and not being around Mark, I felt as if I was slowly losing control. But at least now, I could talk to Mark about the issues I’m having with my dad. I still hadn’t confronted him about what Vivica told me. I was sort of nervous to do so because I didn’t know what else my dad was hiding. Now, I could definitely relate to what Mark was feeling. It’s didn’t feel good when someone you love continuously lied to you.

  I went back to my register, noticing that Maya was staring at me. “What’s with the goofy grin? Please don’t tell me you and Mark were getting busy somewhere. If you were –”

  “Oh hush, “I interrupted. “Don’t make me bring up about your little escapade with Avery.”

  “Like it matters. Almost everyone knows now.”

  “For your info, Mark and I are back together.”

  “Yay, you want a cookie?” Maya asked sarcastically.

  I smiled as I accessed my register. I looked at the door and saw a woman sprinting down the hall. She was almost at the counter before I realized who she was.

  “I thought she was banned from here,” Maya mumbled.

  Elena ran to my register, her face fiery red. She rushed behind the counter and slapped me across my right cheek. My eyes grew wide in shock.

  “What the hell?!”

  “You puta! You're sleeping with my husband?!”

  Several customers looked on, but I was speechless. I know this heifer didn’t just slap me and called me a bitch!

  “Excuse me!”

  “You heard me, you slut! You're fucking my husband!”

  She shoved me, and it took all of my strength not to throw her down on the cemented tile and beat her. I was trying to be the bigger person right now, no matter how horrible she was acting.

  Maya wasn’t even trying to stop the situation. She grabbed her bag of chips and started eating like she was watching damn TV. I rolled my eyes at her as Elena got into my face.

  “I want to hear it from you if you are!”

  “You better get out of my face!” I yelled.

  “Or what? You dirty…”

  And that’s when I went off. I put my hands around her throat and pushed her against the counter. Mark and Dominic ran into the lobby along with several employees who came to watch. Mark pulled me away from Elena as Dominic struggled with her. He grabbed her waist with one arm and pulled her other arm behind her back.

  “Vanessa, go take a break!” Dominic demanded.

  When Mark moved, Elena tried to kick me. I kicked her back, causing her to lose her balance.

  “Crazy heifer!” I yelled as Mark tried to calm me down.

  “I’m surprised you’re not defending her since you’re sleeping with her!” Elena exclaimed.

  “You really need to stop this! I’m not sleeping with her!” Dominic tried to reason.

  “But Rosa saw you two at –”

  “And that’s how rumors get started. I’m not sleeping with every woman I encounter, Elena! This is why our marriage is falling apart!”

  Mark let go of me, and we watched the two go at it. Several customers had their phones out, recording the incident. If this went viral, it would definitely lower my chances of getting that job.

  He looked at me and sighed. “I don’t even know how she got passed anyone. We gave specific orders to not allow her on the property. But are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “So, is it true?” Maya asked, laughing.

  “Does it look like it is?” I snarled. “Do I need to bring up –”

  “Oh please,” Maya retorted and went to her register.

  As Dominic urged Elena to go outside, Avery walked out of the office and shook his head. “Do I even need to ask?”

  “Go away, Avery,” Mark said.

  “I’m still your boss, so don’t talk to me like I’m one of your ‘amigos,’” he insulted, using air quotes.

  “Do you really want me to deck you right now, because my hand is ready.”
Mark threatened.

  “Alright, we've already had one altercation, we don’t need another one,” I stressed.

  The two mean mugged each other before Avery sighed and went outside.

  Mark glanced at me and shook his head. “While we were in the break room, Carmen talked to Maya. She ended up telling her a couple of things that Avery had been doing.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m not going to discuss it here, but it’s bad, V. I don’t know how he was able to get away with so much for so long.”

  “And he told Maya about it?”

  “She recorded him, V. She figured he might turn on her to save himself.”

  “You don't think she’s a part of it too?”

  “Who knows? Either way, neither of them will be here much longer. I’m just trying to do things the right way.”

  “You have to build a case against him.”

  “Bingo. With that, and the lawsuits, he’ll be going to prison really soon.”

  “But the lawsuits were settled.”

  “They were, all except for one. That’s all we need.”

  I nodded. “And I’m still going to file a complaint. He can’t get away with what he's doing.”

  “Exactly.”

  I watched Mark walk off, glad things were slowly turning around. I turned to look at Maya, who was trying to pretend she hadn’t been listening.

  After taking a quick break, I went back to my post and got myself together. There were some customers hanging out to see if anything else was going to happen, but it wouldn't. At least I hope not.

  I was bending down to get some pens from the cabinet; when I stood up, I nearly had a panic attack.

  “Hello, V. Good to see you.”

  I took a deep breath. I hadn’t seen him since that night at The Soul Player, so I was hoping he was out of my life for good. As if the day could get any more worse.

  “What do you want?”

  “I just came to get my car washed, and you just happened to be here.”

  “I bet. So I guess you got your windows repaired.”

  “I did, but Simone will still be hearing from my lawyer.”

  “Whatever.”

  “But back to you, it's not always about you, Vanessa. Haven't you learned that by now?”

  “I know it’s not, but when people make it their mission to terrorize someone, they’ll do whatever it takes to be noticed.”

  Hamilton laughed. “You’re really paranoid.”

  “And you’re crazy.”

  He leaned against the counter and tried to touch my hand, but I quickly pulled away.

  “I did come to see you. Is there a problem with that?”

  “It is when you have a wife and a child to think about. Just leave me alone, Hamilton. I’m happy; why can’t you accept that?”

  “Because I know you’re still in love with me. You can’t erase what we shared.”

  “I did, because I’m with a man who would never lie to or cheat on me. He loves me and only me. It took me a while to figure that out, but, I found someone special and even you can’t ruin that for me.”

  “How sweet. It won’t last,” he sneered.

  I sighed; I was so ready for this man to leave. If Maya wasn’t on break, I would have told her to wait on him.

  “Where’s your ticket, Hamilton?”

  He smiled. “Let me take you out. We’ll have a lot of fun.”

  “Did you hear anything I just said?”

  “No, because I know you'd rather be with me instead of him. Besides, he can’t give you the finer things like I can. I bet he’s always broke, living in some run down shack with his 60 family members, and he's probably not even educated; that’s why he’s here.”

  “You are really fucking ignorant.”

  “I’m just speaking the truth.”

  “What did I ever see in you? And if I recall, you sold your business because you’re in so much debt; don’t judge a person when you really need to be looking at yourself.”

  “I've always loved that smart mouth of yours. I've missed that.”

  “Where is your ticket? You’re holding up the line.”

  He looked behind him and smiled. “There’s no one else here.”

  “Well, you’re wasting my time.”

  He grabbed my arm, but suddenly Mark grabbed his shoulders. He turned him around and punched him, causing Hamilton to fall.

  “Oh my God! Mark!” I yelled as Hamilton punched Mark. Mark threw him down on the tiled floor and began punching him with both fists. I tried to run over to them, but Maya held me back.

  “Don’t even try to break it up.”

  I pushed past her and ran over to Mark. I tried to pull him from Hamilton, but he was too strong.

  “Mark, stop it!” I yelled as he continued beating him. It was like he was in a trance.

  “Okay, let’s go!” I heard Enrique yell. He pulled Mark from Hamilton then shoved him when Mark tried to go after Hamilton again.

  “Who is the owner?”

  “I am,” Enrique stated.

  “I want to press charges on your employee! He assaulted me!”

  “That’s not true, and you know it!” I yelled.

  “I want him arrested!” Hamilton yelled as he pulled out his phone.

  I looked at Simone, and she gave me a hug. It was a nice gesture, but it wasn’t going to help me right now.

  “Officers!”

  We looked over and saw two policemen who had just walked in. They came straight to us with hostile expressions.

  “Someone from the business next door reported a disturbance inside,” one of the officers mentioned.

  “Yes, and thank God they did. This employee assaulted me, and I would like to press charges,” Hamilton said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive. I want him arrested.”

  “Asshole,” I whispered as Simone gave Hamilton a dirty look.

  “We'll need you to go down to the station for questioning. As for you, let’s go,” the officer said, pulling out his handcuffs. Mark put his hands behind his back as he looked at me. He shrugged, and I shook my head. I couldn't believe this was happening.

  “I’ll be down at the station, Mateo,” Enrique promised as he watched the officer reading Mark’s rights. He was hauled away shortly after.

  He looked at me with a disappointed scowl. “What in the hell was that?! I just took a peek at the cameras and saw my son beating a customer!”

  “He wasn’t a customer, Enrique. I’m sure he was here to harass Vanessa,” Simone started to explain.

  “Clock out, Vanessa.”

  “What? But it wasn’t my –”

  Enrique gave me a look that said, “go,” so I nodded and clocked out, got my crossbody bag and keys. Simone said she’d ride with me. I didn’t need her to, but she insisted.

  When we got to my car, Simone grabbed my keys. “I’ll drive.”

  I nodded and got into the passenger’s seat. I said a silent prayer, hoping this nightmare would be over soon.

  Mark

  As soon as the cops put handcuffs on me, I realized this wasn’t just a bad dream. The idiot actually wanted me arrested. I could tell my dad was disappointed, because he could barely look at me. This wasn’t the first time, and I'm sure it wouldn't be the last.

  I was in booking, watching Hamilton give his statement. I don't regret what I did. The man’s an asshole, and he deserved what he got. He’s just jealous that Vanessa finally moved on, which is something he should do, too.

  I continued watching and saw his wife walked into the station. She went over to him with a concerned look. I rolled my eyes as my dad approached me.

  “Mateo.”

  “Papa.”

  “What the hell happened? Simone mentioned that was Vanessa’s ex.”

  “Who won’t leave her alone. The man’s an asshole.”

  “Who filing charges against you.”

  “Only because I’m with Vanessa. He needs to
get over himself and just be with his family.”

  My dad sat in the chair across from me and leaned forward. “Honestly, I don’t blame you for what you did. Simone told me about the night he came by her home.”