My dad and I were close, so I talked to him. I spilled the story as I was working for him one afternoon. He’d listened while we stocked the bar.
“Son, I’ve worked in bars my whole life. Seen a lot from this side of the counter. But I can tell you from my own experience and from those years of lookin’ at others…you want easy? Not hard to find. Any bar, any night will get you easy. You want a woman that’ll love you and last…now that ain’t always easy. Not easy to find. Not easy to keep. But when you do, you be the kind of man that lives up to what that woman needs.”
“But dad, I hurt her. I screwed up.”
“Then you learn from that, son. It’s not the mistakes a man makes that shows us who he is. It’s the way he learns from those mistakes and changes…that’s the true measure of a man. Seems to me you’ve found your woman. Now become the man that she deserves.”
It took weeks of showing her how truly sorry I was before she warmed back up to me. And as soon as she would have me, we began to date. By then I was a goner. How can a boy of sixteen know that he’d found the one? The everlasting love? I didn’t know, but she was it. Promising to never hurt her again, I vowed that she could trust me always.
But some hurts can’t be easily fixed and some broken hearts can’t be mended. At least that is what he had always told himself. Staring in the bathroom mirror, he wondered if he had been wrong.
* * *
The next day at work, BJ arrived at Tony Alvarez Security. He had been hired right out of college to do computer programming for them and given free rein to be as creative as he needed to be to get the job done. Considering the Richland Police Department occasionally used their services, it was nice to be able to operate outside of the traditional limits.
Entering the building from the underground parking facility, he made his way to the conference room. Nodding to the other employees, he took his place at the table. Ignoring the stares of the others, he pulled up his laptop.
With military precision Tony walked in and brought everyone up to speed on the most recent cases. Since his crew had helped Matt rescue Lily when she had been kidnapped by drug dealers, his business had increased to the point that they could pick and choose the cases they wanted. Gabe and Vinny had recently been used to escort several high profile persons while they were in Richland, including several millionaires, as well as some actresses.
Jobe preferred doing surveillance and several of the others, including Tony, were experts in security systems. Lily had recently joined the firm as a computer software engineer, designing many of the programs they needed. Now that Lily was taking over a lot of the computer programing, that allowed BJ to learn more of the diversity of the security business.
With the meeting over, they dispersed and Lily cornered BJ. “So, what gives?”
Raising an eyebrow, he looked down at her in question.
Slapping his arm, she admonished, “Don’t give me that look. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I want to know why both of my friends are sad and now I know that it’s because of your history. Two people that sad should surely get together and be happy.”
“There are a lot of assumptions in there, Lily. And you should know that life doesn’t always wrap things up in a nice little package.”
She nodded, keeping her eyes on his. “Yeah,” she said softly. “You’re right.” Reaching over, placing her hand on his arm, she continued, “But you know if you ever need anything, I’m here.”
* * *
Annie and Shane only took the weekend off for their honeymoon since they planned a longer vacation together later in the year. That Monday morning she and Leon found Suzanne already in the clinic getting things prepared for the day.
She was bustling around the clinic in her dog-print scrubs, a fake smile plastered on her face, looking nervous. Leon and Annie shared a look.
“So, Suzy huh?”
Suzanne’s eyes cut sharply to his. “Suzanne,” she declared firmly.
His eyes warmed as he walked over to give her a hug and kissed the top of her head. “I know doll. I’m sorry. You’ll always be Suzanne to us.”
The sting of tears hit her eyes and she blinked quickly to keep them at bay. Looking over at Annie, she said, “I suppose that Leon told you.”
Annie nodded but said, “We don’t really know anything sweetie. Is there something you want to talk about?”
Shaking her head, she admitted, “My high school boyfriend was Brad Evans. We broke up four years ago and went our separate ways. I decided that Suzy was too childish so I started going by my given name of Suzanne. I don’t know when he started going by BJ, but I had no idea that he was Lily’s friend.”
Sensing that they were about to ask more questions, she put her hand up quickly shutting them down. “Guys, I know you’re worried and I know you love me. But that’s it. That’s all I’m willing to tell.”
Annie and Leon smiled and nodded. Annie clapped her hands together and said, “All righty then. Let’s get the day started.”
The clinic opened with a flurry of activity. By the time the morning surgeries were over, Suzanne was up to her eyeballs in wellness checks. With her training, she was able to do all of the pre-assessments before Annie had to come in. Walking into the exam room, she recognized one of their regulars with his small dog. Mr. Marcelli had a distinguished, old world charm and always kissed her hand when she entered the room. He had brought the dog in for treatment of dog bites the week before. Cleaning the wounds and checking his stitches, she looked into the owner’s worried face and assured him that Chaucer was doing fine.
“I will tell you that I’m concerned about the dog attacks recently. You’re the third client who has come in with these cases. Tell me again exactly where this happened.”
“Chaucer and I were walking early in the morning. It was just before dawn, but I’ve always felt safe. A large dog, I suppose it looked like the pit bulls you see on TV, came from the alley down by my apartment and before I knew what had happened, it jumped on Chaucer. I beat it with my cane and it finally ran off.”
“Mr. Marcelli, I am going to call the police to report this. I just don’t like the fact that it is occurring more often. We report it to the animal control, but I’ve got some friends on the police force that I want to alert.”
He patted Chaucer and then turned his look to the pretty lady in front of him. “You’re a good lass. You report to whoever you need. And if you need me, I’ll make a statement too.”
After he left, she grabbed Annie before she went to the next exam. “Do you mind if I call Shane or Matt to check these dog attacks? I know it’s not their thing, but maybe they would have some suggestions. I called animal control, but they are overworked and understaffed. I’m just afraid there are some vicious dogs around this area.”
“I think that’s a good idea. Shane is picking me up after work, you want to talk to him then?”
“Yeah, that’d be fine.”
A little while later, Shane and Matt walked through the door. While Shane greeted Annie, Matt walked over to Suzanne. “Hear you may have some dog problems?”
She looked up in surprise. “I thought that Shane was coming by after work.”
“Annie called and asked us to come by earlier.”
Raising her eyebrow, she stood with her hip cocked. “Are you sure you aren’t just checking on me?”
Smiling, he gave her a hug. “Lily is worried, honey. We both are.”
She sighed as she looked into his face. Pulling her lips in for a moment as though weighing heavily what to say, she finally admitted, “It was a shock to see my old boyfriend. We didn’t part under the best of circumstances, but that was a long time ago.”
“Appears to me that you haven’t really moved on.”
Looking up sharply, she grimaced then admitted, “Well, some things take time.”
Shane walked over, his face serious. “So what’s up, Suzanne? Annie says you’ve got concerns?”
“I just had another
case come in where a loose dog attacked someone’s pet on a leash. I’m afraid of there being some vicious dogs in the neighborhood and animal control can’t always get to us. Annie though that maybe a call from you all would go further.”
“Got any details?”
Looking disconcerted, she replied, “Not really. The last two clients who we had to treat for bite wounds had been out walking with their owners when a large dog came running from an alley and went after the other dog.”
Pondering for a minute, she continued. “It’s interesting that neither owner gave similar descriptions of the dogs so that would mean there’s more than one. But that’s also scary since there are elderly dog owners as well as a lot of children around here.”
Nodding, Matt and Shane promised they would call animal control themselves and ask that the patrolmen in the area step up their vigilance when driving around. Matt gave her a kiss on top of her head as Shane said goodbye to his wife before they left.
Watching them walk out of the door, she jumped when Leon came up to her.
“Oh, you scared me,” she exclaimed. “Did you need something?”
“Nah, I just want you to be careful that’s all.”
“Careful?”
“Yeah, you now live upstairs in this run-down neighborhood. If there are vicious dogs out I don’t think you should be running or going out unprotected.”
Patting him on the arm, she just smiled. “I’ll be fine, I promise.” As she turned and walked toward the back of the clinic, she called over her shoulder, “And I don’t need protecting.”
Annie and Leon shared a look. “She protects her heart so much she thinks it will keep her from getting hurt. I worry about her, Annie.”
“I know. I’ll ask Shane to make sure he has the patrolmen go by here more often as well.”
With that they headed back to the next examination room.
* * *
“BJ? It’s Matt. Just wanted to know if you’d like to meet me and Shane for a beer tonight?”
“Look guys, I’ve already had one interrogation. Don’t think I’m up for another.”
“No interrogation man. Just got some things we want to let you in on.”
Sighing heavily, BJ agreed.
Later that evening as he arrived at the bar, he noticed not only Matt and Shane, but Tony’s group as well. Matt was a handsome man who sported a wicked scar across his forehead from breaking up a fight years before and Shane, equally handsome, but with the rugged looks of a man who had lived hard and rough. The men were casually gathered, some playing pool and the others watching with beers in their hands. Greetings all around were said, and he headed over to the table where the two detectives were sitting.
“Gentlemen,” he acknowledged, sliding into a chair while nodding at the waitress for a beer. “What’s going on?”
“We had a talk with Annie and Suzanne today.”
At the mention of Suzanne, BJ’s attention was captured. “Are they all right?”
“Yeah, just have some suspicious activity they’re noticing. We’re on it but thought you’d want to know also,” Matt began.
“You know that Annie used to live above the clinic? Before she and I bought a house,” Shane asked. At BJ’s nod, he continued, “Well, Suzanne lives there now.” He paused to take a pull on his beer. “I made sure that the apartment had a good security system, but it’s in a part of town that can be rough.”
At this BJ set his beer down on the table. “Rough? Define rough.”
Shrugging, Matt said, “You know the area. Old houses, old apartments. Many of the inhabitants are elderly folks on pensions and some of the homes that have been renovated have families. But there are sections around them with pimps, prostitutes, strip joints, and drug dealers.”
Sitting up straighter, BJ looked between the two men, his protective feelings ratcheting up. “You telling me this for a reason?”
“Seems to me that no matter what happened years ago, you’ve got feelings for her,” Shane answered.
Matt chimed in, “Plus there’s some suspicion of dangerous dogs in the area. She called us to let us know there were some clients in the area who had their dogs attacked.”
BJ reared back, “What the fuck?”
“We talked to her. Warned her to be careful and not go out after dark. We’ve also stepped up the patrol cars around the area and put in a word to animal control. But,” Matt continued, “we just thought you’d wanna know.”
BJ sat there for a moment, his jaw tight with anger, staring at his beer. Looking up, he saw the two men staring at him. “You want to know what my deal is? I’ll tell you the same thing I told Gabe and Vinny. We dated in high school and she was it for me. She left me. Wasn’t my choice, but she left me.”
Shane leaned in, hands on the table. “Let me tell you somethin’ BJ. You shoulda never walked away. A man’s got a woman that he knows is it for him, you never let that go. You were young so I get that you didn’t know that then. But you’re a man now and you gotta know – you find somethin’ in life so precious that you can’t think of breathin’ without it, then you do not let that walk away.”
The desire to snap back was strong, but BJ knew Shane was right. Rubbing his hand through his hair he sighed. “I wasn’t entirely honest. What we went through broke us. Broke her. I can’t go into details, but I couldn’t fix what broke.” Pain sliced across his face as he looked away.
“Looks like she wasn’t the only one broken,” Matt said quietly.
“Yeah well, I’d have taken all the pain myself if it would have kept it from her.”
“That sounds like the kind of man she deserves,” Gabe said from behind.
BJ turned his head, seeing Gabe, Vinny and Tony standing behind him. Leaning back in his chair he said, “So what do you all suggest? What if being with me just makes her pain greater?”
“It’s been four years, bro. If that pain was going to go away, it woulda already gone. I’d say that the only two people who can fix what was broken is the two of you,” Tony piped in.
The noise from the bar faded to the background as the silence between the men spoke volumes. Pushing his chair back, BJ stood up. Tossing a couple of bills on the table, he nodded to the group and began to walk out.
“So whatcha’ gonna do?” Shane called out.
Turning his head in the direction of his friends, he replied, “I reckon I’ve got some old business to take care of.” With a smile, he walked out of the bar. He never heard the laughter or saw the nods of approval from the others, but it didn’t matter. He knew what he needed to do. For him. And for her.
Chapter 3
The night shadows crept along the walls of her apartment as the lights were turned down. Sometimes she kept the lights off, letting the sliver of illumination from the street lights filter in. The dark could be comforting. Or sometimes painful.
Deciding to head to bed, she heard a knock on her door. Who on earth can be knocking this late at night? With her door facing the alley, she carefully peeked out of the security hole that Shane had installed. Brad?
She stood still, peering out of the hole at the face that haunted her, holding her breath as though that would keep him from knowing she was looking.
“Suzy? I know you’re in there. I also know you’re looking at me right now. Open up. I have to check your security system.”
She cracked the door, leaving the chain on. “What do you mean?”
Glad that she opened the door to him even if it was just a little, he said, “Tony had your system installed and said it needs to be checked.”
“In the middle of the night? I hardly think it needs to be done now.”
“I’m not gonna lie to you. Matt and Shane told me that there had been some problems with dogs in the area and Tony told me that it needed to be checked. No matter what happened between us, I want you safe.”
“Why didn’t he send Gabe?”
Jealousy shot through BJ as he thought of Gabe here with her. “Don’t
know, but if I know Gabe, he’s out chasing skirts tonight. Anyway, Tony must have thought I was the man for the job. Now open the door so I can do my job.”
Huffing, she closed the door to take off the latch and then opened it again. “Well, make it quick. I was heading to bed.” With that, she turned and walked back into the kitchen area.
He watched her walk away, her figure hidden within the folds of an old robe; but her hips swayed delectably as she moved. Her bare feet padded softly to the sink where she stood quietly, not looking at him.
BJ walked into the room, stunned at the tiny apartment and wondered if her family had ever visited. It was clean and neat, decorated simply. But this neighborhood? Sure, the vet clinic was downstairs, but that was only open during the day and had others around. Her brother, Rob, would have had a fit if he saw where she was living.
She turned and glared at his back as he walked over to the security panel by the other door, the one that led down to the clinic, and began his checks. Her eyes followed him as he made his way around the room, checking the camera and the doors.
He stopped to look at some of the pictures on her wall. Pictures of family. Old times. Fun times. Times long ago when life was less complicated. And memories were less painful. Just keep working.
His eyes landed on the picture of a Thanksgiving at her parent’s house many years ago. Suzy, as he remembered her when she first got on his radar as more than just a little girl. And he was in the background of the picture, his eyes always close on her. “How’s the family?” he asked casually, looking at the pictures without turning around.
Silence greeted him. “They all doing okay?” he prodded.
“They’re fine.”
“Rob still working at the fire station with your dad?”
“Brad, I know you go back to visit some, so you must know that he is.”
He turned, his eyebrow lifted. “So you know when I go to Fairfield? I thought you must since you’re never there when I am.”
Irritated that she gave away that amount of information she pursed her lips, returning to silence.
Love's Trusting (The Love's Series) Page 3