Runaway Love

by Amber Nation

  “You scared me,” he said, while rubbing his temples. Yeah well that made two of us. I took in the puffiness around his eyes, and the frown that descended his face, which made him look absolutely miserable. I couldn’t ever recall a time when Toby hadn’t been smiling, except for when things broke off with Gio, or whatever had happened. The bartender was right, just by looking at him I could tell that Toby’s had a shitty night.

  I pulled out the chair that was opposite Toby, and scooted it up close to his body and took a seat. I lightly rubbed his back, and asked, “What happened, Toby?”

  “He happened!” He pointed across the bar towards the stage and, in the direction his finger led me to Gio. I gasped at the scene that was taking place in front of me. It wasn’t odd that Gio was here, being that it was indeed a gay bar, even though Gio hadn’t revealed his sexual status to anyone of importance, what was surprising was seeing him thrusting his tongue in the mouth of a drag queen, who was perched upon his lap.

  I forcefully had to close my gaping mouth and look away, “Does he know you are here?” I shrieked.

  “You bet he does, he’s made out with half of the drag queens tonight, I’m sure all on my account.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I never knew Gio to be so blatantly cruel. I didn’t understand what could be going through his head right now.

  I scooted my chair back, pulling myself from Toby’s reach when he tried to pull me back down, and marched my ass over to Gio. I loved him as if he were family, shit he was my family, but he wasn’t going to disrespect my other family just because he wasn’t comfortable enough in coming out to his parents, and being in a committed relationship.

  I knew Toby had to be crushed seeing this display happening right in front of him, in a public place no less, so I tried to channel Toby’s anger, which just further fueled my fire.

  Once I approached Gio, I forcefully shoved his shoulder, which pulled him from his lip locking embrace. I wasn’t going to let this go.

  “What the FUCK!” He bit out before actually looking at me. His eyes turned from stone to gentle once he saw my face, “Mag Pie! What are you doing here?”

  “No, the question is what are YOU doing??” I poked my finger in his hard wall of a chest. “Imagine me getting a call after a ten hour shift when one of my good friends had a baby, so I was mentally and emotionally drained, from another friend who is heartbroken, devastated, and so drunk that he needed a ride home. How the hell could you do this to Toby? I never took you as being such a cold-hearted asshole.” I swung around on my heels and took off for Toby, who was gawking at I’m sure the anger that was portrayed on my face. I could hear Gio faintly in the background yelling for me, I just dared him to try and stop me. It didn’t matter that he was some hardcore trainer gym buff, the way I was seething right now, he didn’t want to mess with me.

  “Can you walk?” I bit out a bit more harshly than I intended to. It would take me a bit to cool off.

  “I think I can manage,” he stood up, stumbling just a bit before the hottie bartender came rushing to his side. He hooked one of Toby’s arms around his neck, and escorted him to the passenger seat of my car.

  Before closing his door, the hottie peered his head around Toby and said to me, “Tell Toby when he is more alert that I’m here for him.”

  “What’s your name?” I couldn’t keep calling him hottie bartender, especially to Toby.

  “I’m Roman.” He winked, and that was all he said before he disappeared, shutting the door before he made his way back into the bar.

  Toby had passed out cold during the drive back to Brown County. I wasn’t going to take a chance on something happening to him, so I decided to take him back to my house.

  I hadn’t talked to Charlie for most of the day, so I decided to shoot him a text, telling him that Toby needed me, and for him to just stay at his house tonight. It would be weird not sleeping with Charlie in my bed, since I’d become accustomed to it, but things still felt kind of strained from this morning at the hospital. I was going to have to sit down with him and see if he would tell me what really went on. If he loved me as much as he claimed he did, then he should trust me enough to know what happened.

  After getting Toby settled in my bed, I prayed to the good Lord above that he didn’t throw up in it. No matter how much he protested, I couldn’t allow him to sleep on the couch. He was so much taller than I was, and his feet would stick a foot off of the end.

  In the end, I huddled up on my couch, which reminded me an awful lot of when Mason would make me sleep here, and fell into a fitful, restless sleep.

  I awoke the next morning, to the annoying sound of my cell phone vibrating across my coffee table. I really didn’t want to get up yet. I had tossed and turned all night long, and it didn’t help that I ended up getting up with Toby twice while he got sick in my bathroom. I think he ended up sleeping the rest of the night on my bathroom floor.

  I lazily slapped my hand around on my coffee table, until I felt the corner of my cellphone, grabbing ahold of it. I peered at the display to see who it was which, was a difficult task seeing as I didn’t have my contacts in, so I was squinting to make out the name.

  Gio Calling…

  He was really the last person who I wanted to talk to at the moment. I needed to get my lazy ass up and check on Toby.

  I quite literally rolled off of my couch, landing on my hands and knees. Pain radiated through my arms, I didn’t know what in the hell I was thinking doing that move, I wasn’t as young as I used to be, or a ninja.

  Getting my bearings, I went into the bathroom to put in my contacts and thought I would encounter a sleeping Toby on my bathroom floor, but that wasn’t the case. Once my contacts were in place, I peered into my bedroom at my bed, it was already made.

  Hm…that was weird, I thought. I didn’t see or hear Toby any other place throughout my apartment. Walking to the kitchen to make my morning cup of coffee, my text chime went off.

  Toby: Thank you so much for taking care of me last night, I’m sorry you were subjected to that though. I’ll call you later. XO

  Me: Don’t worry about it, I was glad to be here for you. Take care of yourself. Oh and Roman said you could call him if you felt up to it. ;)

  I successfully had my first cup of coffee and could feel the caffeine running its course through my veins, doing its job, waking me up in the process.

  I would seriously be first in line if they ever offered coffee through an IV.

  My phone vibrated again, I instantly silenced it knowing it would be Gio. He’s only tried calling three times now. I think he needed to sit and stew on things a little longer.

  Looking at my phone, I realized I never heard back from Charlie last night after I had texted him.

  Me: Hey babe! I never heard back from you last night, I hope things are ok and you aren’t upset with me for taking care of Toby. Things went down between him and Gio and he just really needed my undivided attention. I guess I’ll talk to you later. Love you!

  I still hadn’t come to a conclusion about what I thought was going on. I was trying my best to not think about it, but especially when I hadn’t heard from Charlie, my mind began playing out different scenarios. It was becoming a bit disheartening.

  My phone rang yet again. Looking down at the screen, it was, yup you guessed it, Gio…

  I decided to go ahead and answer this time, if I didn’t I would end up having to shut my phone off because of his relentless pursuits to talk to me. Next thing I knew, he would probably show up at my house, and I didn’t know if I was ready to see him after last night.

  “Yeah,” I answered, sounding a bit too brutal, I hated the hardness tone in my voice.

  “Mag Pie,” Gio sighed. Did he think he honestly had the right to call me Mag Pie right now?

  I know he didn’t directly disrespect me, but it really hurt knowing that he could just disregard Toby’s feelings like he didn’t matter at all.

  “Please don’t Mag Pie m
e. I wouldn’t have believed what I saw last night if I hadn’t been a direct witness. How could you do that to Toby especially right to his face? Did he mean nothing to you Gio? I know how Toby feels or, rather, felt about you, but you never outright told me how you felt about him. You used to tell me everything, now I hardly hear from you. What’s going on?” I made myself comfortable on my couch for what could be a real soul searching conversation. I was going to get to the bottom of this if it took all day, I didn’t have to work, so I had all the time in the world.

  “Listen, baby girl…I mean Maggie, what happened last night was a mistake. It never should have happened, it was absolutely uncalled for. But it did happen and I can’t change that.” He paused, and I heard him take a deep breath through the phone, “I told my parents that I was gay yesterday.” He chuckled a bit stoically, “They actually took it better than I thought they would. They asked me if there was someone significant in my life, and I said no. I didn’t even acknowledge Toby being in my life, and up until a few weeks ago he was my world. I didn’t ask for Toby to go falling in love with me. I wasn’t ready to settle down yet.” He was silent for a few moments and I wasn’t sure that he was going to continue, “I was so fucking mad at him when he told me that he was in love with me, that all I wanted to do was hurt him. How much of a prick could I be?” He was having an internal battle with himself, and didn’t want to admit his feelings for Toby ran deep. “So I got drunk last night, and it just made matters worse when Toby actually showed up, I wanted to show him that he didn’t matter to me at all. And if that didn’t just fucking blow up in my face. I woke up this morning, next to a man whose name I couldn’t even recall, but the thing I did remember, the thing that haunts me the most, was seeing Toby’s face when I was shoving my tongue in the mouths of everyone who let me. He looked like his whole world fell apart, and I was the cause of it. I made him hurt, when I had promised not a month ago, that I would never ever be the one to hurt him in anyway. Then the expression on your face, I had never seen you so disappointed. Even when you talked about your parents, you never looked so let down. I couldn’t take you being upset with me just because I couldn’t come out and say that I was in love with a man. My parents took me being gay better than I do. How is that for messed up? So in the end, I’ve hurt the two people who I care about most in the world and I don’t know what to do to fix it. What do I do Maggie?” I could hear the trembling in his voice, and could imagine the tears that were currently streaming down his face. He really fucked up this time, but did I know how he could fix it?

  “Gio, I’m not the one who you really need to be fixing things with, you need to talk to Toby. He stayed with me last night, and was up half of the night getting sick in my bathroom, then took off this morning, and sent me a text after I didn’t know where he’d gone. You crushed him Gio. His own parents don’t even acknowledge him as their own son because he is gay, and then you doing what you did, further drove in that stake that was already in his heart, puncturing it even more.”

  An extremely loud rapping on my door, startled me making me jump from the couch. “Um Gio…someone is banging on my door,” I said, my voice trembling. Normally a knock on the door wouldn’t bother me, but the force of said knock made the hair stand up on my neck. For some strange reason, my heart started pounding in my ears as I walked to the door and slowly unlocked the deadbolt with shaky hands. I cursed not having a peephole, but the next best thing for security purposes was the chain that was currently still latched. I cradled my phone to my ear and could hear my heavy breaths accelerating through the mouthpiece. It was then I realized that Gio was talking to me…

  “Maggie, what’s going on? Maggie talk to me!” He shouted.

  “Sorry, I’m here.” The next thing I did, was the most stupid thing I could’ve ever done.

  I opened the door...

  (Gio)

  I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach, which brought a whole new meaning to the term gut-wrenching. I couldn’t remember a time when I had ever been so terrified, not even coming out to my parents could compare, having your best friend scream for help and not being able to do a damn thing about it, was the worst feeling in the world.

  After hearing Maggie’s blood curdling scream through the phone and wood splintering, I heard a struggle as if she was physically fighting for her life. I had absolutely no idea what was going on, and you could only imagine how many different scenarios were running through my mind. I was utterly helpless.

  When the call was dropped, I automatically assumed the worst. Luckily, I was only forty-five minutes outside of Brown County instead of the usual two hours. I wasn’t even going to dwell on the reasoning I was only that short distance away, I didn’t have the time to feel ashamed.

  Feeling ashamed and terrified weren’t good combinations.

  I ran as fast as my feet would carry me to my car, and I sent up a silent thanks that I was already dressed, I then prayed that Maggie was alright as I made my way down the highway reaching record breaking speed and I’m sure several traffic laws.

  But at the moment I could’ve cared less.

  My one concern was getting to Maggie.

  I quickly found Charlie’s number and connected, only to end up with his voicemail which utterly pissed me off. Why in the hell wasn’t he answering his phone?

  I hated that I didn’t have Emmy Lou’s number programmed into my phone, and the way I was driving, there was absolutely no way in hell I was chancing doing a Google search.

  The only other person I knew to call, was the one person who had no desire to talk to me. Perhaps maybe ever, but I couldn’t dwell on that now, I had to try.

  Hopefully, I could get him to calm and listen to me, even though I knew I didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t for me though, it was for Maggie.

  I made the necessary selections on my cell and placed the phone to my ear.

  Hearing the ringing go on for what seemed like forever, I was afraid he was going to send me to voicemail, so I was about to give up.

  “What the fuck do you want?” A tone that I’d never witnessed before, greeted me.

  “Toby, listen…”

  “No, you listen. Who do you think you are?” he growled into the phone.

  I would let him say his piece later, but now definitely wasn’t the time. My internal freak-out meter was off the charts, as I kept replaying the vicious sounds coming from Maggie’s apartment.

  “Toby would you just shut up and listen for a minute.” Raising my voice over his, he finally got the point and I heard nothing but silence on the other end. “Thank you! I was just on the phone with Maggie, when someone pounded on her door and broke in.” Hearing his gasp made me pause for a moment. “The…There was a struggle going on, I could hear it, before the line went dead. I can’t get ahold of Charlie, which is why I’m calling you. I’m headed to her apartment now to see what’s going on. Try and find Charlie.”

  “Oh and Toby?” He had yet to say another word, so I needed to know that he understood what was going on.

  “Yeah?” his voice was laced with worry.

  “We have to find her. We have to find Maggie.”

  I quickly disconnected and threw my phone in the unoccupied passenger seat, and continued on to Maggie’s apartment, while trying to keep my thoughts from turning negative.

  Maggie had been my one constant in my life for the last several years. She seemed to know me better than I knew myself and always knew exactly what I needed.

  She just somehow knew that I needed Toby in my life even before I did, and no matter how hard I tried to shake him off in the beginning, he persevered on and was quite persistent.

  I quickly turned on my radio, I needed some kind of noise to drown out my thoughts and clear my head. I had to focus on getting to Maggie’s.

  I arrived at her building and just stared at it, gripping my fist on the steering wheel. I needed to brace myself for what I could walk into.

  Deputy Ethan Bradley had already arrived and
was inspecting the inside of her apartment.

  “Where is the Sheriff?”

  “He is in a meeting, which should be wrapping up soon. I have a call into the dispatcher at the office, and she is supposed to be interrupting whatever is going on, since this case is a little bit more complicated than I anticipated.”

  I had no idea what the hell that was supposed to mean, but whatever I was thinking I immediately forgot once I took in the appearance of Maggie’s apartment. What was once a neat and tidy place, was now a demolition zone.

  The front door was barely hanging on its hinges, and all of her furniture was overturned and appeared to have been torn. Broken dishes doted along on the floors, and even her wall hangings were sporadically on the floor.

  Bile crept up my esophagus, and I had to choke back the wave of nausea that threatened to overcome me. Maggie put up one hell of a fight, which I feared did nothing more than further piss off her attacker or even worse, attackers.

  Questions were swirling around in my head, which did nothing for my anger.

  Where were her neighbors while this was going on?

  Was this just a random attack?

  If not, who would want to hurt Maggie?

  All signs were pointing to one person…

  Her asshat of a brother, Mason.

  I pulled up to Emmy Lou’s not even ten minutes later, and wasted no time rushing inside.

  Tessa was behind the counter and noticed my disheveled appearance. My face was slick with sweat and I felt as if I had completed about a hundred reps on the bench press.

  She threw her hand up in front of her in a stopping motion, “Whoa, easy there big fella! Where’s the fire?”

  “Where is Grady or Charlie?” I said, while taking deep breaths, trying to quickly fill my lungs back up with oxygen.

  “Grady is at the hospital with Emmy, since she just had a baby yesterday, and Charlie isn’t due in until later so he’s probably with Maggie. What’s going on?”

  Just hearing her name and knowing that she wasn’t with Charlie, made a fresh wave of anger surge through me.