Fall in Love

by Anthology

  I couldn’t sit and do nothing when there were so many women and children that’d already been exposed to so much violence. Despite legs that felt like Jell-o I stood up with my hands in front of me in what I hoped was a placating gesture. “Please don’t hurt anyone.”

  He whirled to face me, his plump red cheeks full of fury. “Who the hell are you?”

  “I’m nobody. I just don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”

  “You find me Trina and no one gets hurt.”

  Lorna came forward from my right. “Trina isn’t here anymore. She left two days ago.”

  “Bullshit! Where would she go? She has nowhere to go! She has nothing!” His eyes bugged out of his head, his pupils so dilated I couldn’t tell you what color his eyes were. This guy was hopped up on something.

  I saw Mason slowly and cautiously making his way behind the guy. It took everything in me not to make eye contact with him and will him to sit back down.

  “It’s true. She’s gone to a different facility,” Lorna said in a calm voice. She looked so at ease, as if there wasn’t a crazy man waving a gun around a few feet from us.

  Me on the other hand? Sweat pooled underneath my shorts and t-shirt. My mouth was as dry as the Sahara and I felt light-headed like I might pass out. I needed to keep my shit together though. The best thing I could do for Mason was to keep this guy talking and hope Mason knew what the hell he was doing.

  “Is Trina your wife?” I asked.

  “She’s my girlfriend! What’s it to you?” he yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth.

  “When was the last time you saw her?” I asked, barely able to get it out.

  “A month ago before she fucking left me in the middle of the night after a misunderstanding.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  Wrong question.

  He pointed the gun at me, square in the chest. Mason was getting closer, almost there. I took a deep breath and, looking him in the eyes, tried to use my calmest voice. “You love her a lot.” I said it as a statement of fact, not a question.

  “Yes, yes. I love her so much. It was all a mistake.” Tears streamed down his cheeks.

  “I know…I know. You probably feel so terrible about everything that happened.”

  He shook his head and when he went to rub the tears from his face with the hand holding the gun, Mason sprung from behind, grabbing his hand. My feet were locked in place watching the exchange and fearing what would happen to Mason. Lorna forced me behind the picnic table where the woman with the baby was already hiding. In retrospect the picnic table wasn’t going to do much to stop a bullet but it was better than nothing.

  I watched in horror as Mason and the guy struggled for control of the gun. Mason had age and condition on his side, but this guy was pretty beefy, not to mention he was so high on drugs he was feeling no pain. They struggled until Mason managed to smash the guy in the nose with his elbow. He grabbed at his face with both his hands, dropping the gun. Mason kicked the gun over in our direction and tackled the guy to the ground.

  I swear I’d kick his ass later for that stunt but in the moment all I wanted was to launch myself on top of him and never let go. If anything had happened to him I knew I’d never get the image out of my head.

  Sirens blared in the distance, but were getting louder. Someone must have called 911.

  Mason held the guy until the police arrived. We all had to keep our hands in the air until after the police were able to sort-out what had happened. They finally took the guy from Mason, cuffed him and led him away. Women and children were scattered across the lawn; some sobbing, some yelling, and all of them holding their loved ones close as the officers attempted to take statements from everyone.

  I ran over to Mason and threw my arms around him. “What were you thinking? Are you okay?” I gripped him tight, not willing to let him pull away from me. Eventually I leaned back to look at him. He brought his thumbs up to brush the tears I hadn’t realized I’d shed, off my cheeks.

  “I’m fine. Are you okay?” he asked.

  I smacked him on the chest. Now that I knew he was in no danger anger filled me. “What the hell, Mason? Were you trying to get yourself killed?”

  “Me? Are you crazy? You’re the one who put herself in harm’s way!”

  “I had no choice after the baby started crying,” I said, even more agitated now.

  “Ellie, I couldn’t sit there and do nothing while some lunatic pointed a gun at you. Do you have any idea the horrible images that flashed through my mind? What could have happened to you? I’d never let anyone hurt you like that.”

  That explanation took away some of my anger. He was right. If he hadn’t stepped up something much, much worse could have happened. I looked down at my hands and realized they were shaking. Mason pulled me in for another hug and I felt better just being surrounded by his strong arms.

  “How do you think he got in?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m sure they’ll figure it out and make sure nothing like that can happen again.”

  I nodded against his chest. Mason held me, without complaint, for a long time. He seemed to realize I needed him close, needed to be connected to him physically.

  Eventually we had to split up to give our statements to the police and then we were free to go. As we were making our way, hand in hand, to the exit women and children kept coming up to us to thank us for what we’d done. Mason brushed it off as no big deal, but it was a big deal.

  This was supposed to be a casual thing with Mason, no future in it, but if something had gone wrong? I couldn’t even force my brain to go there. That was how anyone would feel though, right?

  Lorna was the last one to approach and she took us both into an embrace. “Thank you, both of you, for everything.”

  I spoke first. “We didn’t do it alone, Lorna. You were so calm…you didn’t even seem nervous.”

  “Oh, I was nervous. Believe me. The only difference is that I’ve been trained to deal with a situation like that. You two though…I can’t tell you enough what it means to everyone here that you did what you did.”

  “Thanks,” Mason said. “I’d like to do something to help. I know it’ll be tough for them coming back outside as the days go on. I was thinking maybe I could send over a jungle gym for the kids to play in and maybe get some patio sets and stuff for the women, so they don’t have to sit on the blankets and picnic tables anymore. If it’s okay with you.”

  Tears formed in the corner of Lorna’s eyes at Mason’s thoughtful gesture. “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

  “Consider it done then.” Lorna nodded.

  We waved to them as we left the building. The parking lot was still teeming with police officers as we made our way to Mason’s Range Rover.

  I wanted nothing more than to be back at Mason’s with him holding me in his arms, where I knew I’d feel safe. Where it felt more like home than my actual one.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  When we got back to the beach house, Ellie and I had lain on the couch for hours. She seemed content to be in my arms. I was pretty sure we were both replaying what had happened at the shelter over and over in our minds, thinking how if one thing had changed it could have ended very differently.

  We hadn’t spoken much since the car, where Ellie had insisted she was okay. I didn’t see how she could be. Yet again another situation she wouldn’t have found herself in if not for me.

  When I’d seen the guy pointing the gun in Ellie’s direction there was no question I was going to step in. I may not have been able to help my mom when I was younger, but I was no kid now, and there was no way in hell I was gonna let some abusive asshole harm another person I cared about.

  My stomach growled, and Ellie looked up at me. I guess nature still called even in the aftermath of near-death experiences. “Are you getting hungry?”

  “There’s no rush.” I gave her a squeeze.

  She pushed up off of my chest. “I could go for something. Want
to order a pizza?”

  “Pizza sounds good, sure.” She began to get up off the couch, but I caught her arm before she got that far. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  She said nothing for a beat, looking into my eyes as if she was deciding what she wanted to say. “I’m still a little freaked…I mean…I’m not sure it’s really set in yet.”

  “I knew it. Come here—” I reached out to pull her in but she put her hand out in front of me.

  “Wait, let me finish. It’s also made me realize something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s cliché, but life’s short. If things had gone bad there today it could have been all over. And here I’ve been worrying about what a bunch of people I don’t know think about me, what they’re saying about me. You know what? Who cares? Who are they to me? No one. If they choose to believe the lies and think the worst of me than so be it. I don’t care anymore. I’m going to live my life and do my best to carry on without worrying what a bunch of strangers think of me.”

  I felt my grin split my face in two. “I think that’s a good way to look at it.” She’d learned in a few short weeks what it took me years to figure out.

  “And I know what I’m gonna do about it, too.” The excitement on her face was palpable.

  “Do tell.”

  “I’ll do better than that. I’ll show you.”

  “Mmm. Does you showing me involve all or part of you being naked?”

  She laughed. “Sorry to disappoint, but no.” I stuck my bottom lip out and she giggled again. After today I was glad to see her smile. “I’m not going to tell you what it is…I’m just going to do it before I lose my nerve, but I’ll definitely show it to you.”

  “So mysterious, Miss Wagner.”

  “So curious, Mr. Nash.” She planted a chaste kiss on my lips and got up to order the pizza.

  After we’d eaten Ellie turned to me with an excited look on her face. “Where’s your lap top?”

  “On the nightstand…why?” Something was up. I could tell by the look of mischief on her face.

  “I want to show you something.” She bounded into the bedroom and came back a second later holding my laptop. She sat beside me on the couch, put the laptop on the coffee table and waited for it to boot up.

  “What are you up to?” I asked her as I fingered the nape of her neck.

  “You’ll see,” she said in a sing-song voice.

  I grinned. Her enthusiasm made me decide to try patience on for size.

  “I know you said you didn’t want to participate in social media because it’s a pain in the butt. But I think it’s important for you to be on there. You don’t need to spend every waking minute on there but you need some kind of presence. No, no. Before you say anything just look at what I’ve come up with. I revamped your website and moved some things around. None of this is live so if you don’t like it, it’s nothing for me to get rid of it. Take a look and let me know what you think. I think it’s much more…you.”

  She shifted the laptop to face me and I saw a website I didn’t recognize. It was mine. My name was there, as was my image. But this one was cooler looking, more streamlined.

  “Let me point a few things out to you. Before, when you landed on your page you’d be met with one of your songs blaring full blast and a whole lot of graphics all over the page. The eye didn’t know where to go—there was so much happening. Studies show people don’t like music playing on a site when they land there. Who knows what level the volume is at and if they’re at work or somewhere they aren’t supposed to be surfing the web that poses a problem.”

  “Good point. I’d never really thought about it. Not that I visited my site much.”

  “Well, now the first thing people see is the option as to whether they want your music to play or not. If they pick yes, then they can narrow down their choices by album, who else is performing in the song with you, or even random. I also had the idea that when the song was playing you could have a story scrolling underneath the player explaining how you came up with the lyrics for that song, or some kind of inside scoop on the making of the song. Fans love anything that makes them feel closer to a star, like they really know you as a person, understand the motivations behind your creations.”

  “That’s a really great idea.”

  “I’m not done yet.” She flashed me a big smile. “You can see here I’ve streamlined your page, too. I’ve broken it down into basic tabs rather than all the scrolling graphics and stuff that was flying around before.”

  “What’s this tab here for F.A.N. Club?”

  “Ah, that my friend is the Fanatic About Nash Club, or your F.A.N. Club. I know you already have one but from everything I could dig up it was pretty much a glorified e-mail list. With this people will be able to buy merchandise only available to people in the F.A.N. Club, they’ll get a section of tickets blocked off for first purchase at all the shows you headline, and they’ll get a bunch of extras like a video message from you at the holidays, maybe you can give them access to a new song before it’s released to the radio and stuff like that. I even thought that maybe the cost to join could go directly to a charity of your choice.”

  I clicked around the site she’d developed. Half of me was blown away she’d accomplished so much so quickly and the other half was a little pissed that the people I paid for shit like this hadn’t already thought of it.

  “Ellie, this is amazing stuff. I mean, I never would have thought a website could give the actual feel of a person, but you’ve managed to do it.”

  “Well, your last site screamed gangster rap and I know that’s not you.”

  “So what about the social media stuff? Am I going to have to tweet semi-naked pictures of you to stay relevant?” I grinned devilishly.

  “I’ve had enough media attention this year, thank you.” She leaned in to kiss me and when I tried to deepen the kiss she pulled away with a grin on her face. “Behave for minute. I had some ideas about that. I know you don’t want your personal business everywhere…I was thinking you could use your social media in another way.”

  “How?”

  “Instead of telling the world you’re about to eat Fruit Loops for breakfast you could do things to involve your fans. Like contests or having them vote for two different album covers, or maybe pick what song you open your next show with…stuff like that. When you have a contest you make sure that everyone has to give their e-mail address for your newsletter. That way when you have a new album, tour, or video releasing you can send an e-mail to all your fans. The newsletter is key. It’s a money maker and it’s the kind of thing that’s going to drive people to buy your album when it first comes out and get you to the top of the charts faster.”

  “You seem to have thought of everything.” I pushed the laptop away and pulled her on to my lap.

  “I don’t know about that.”

  I kissed down one side of her neck and up the other. “Mmm. I do. Did you think of how I’m going to repay you for all your hard work?” I nipped at her neck and Ellie squirmed, letting out a soft moan.

  “I’m sure we could come to some type of arrangement we’d both find satisfactory.”

  My hand brushed up her waist and grazed the side of her plump breast. “I have a few ideas. Maybe I can show them to you and see what you think?”

  “You most definitely can.” I brought my hands to the hem of her shirt to raise it over her head when she stopped me. “After.”

  “After. After what?” I sounded like I a whiny kid but damn. This girl’s mind was as much of a turn-on as her damn body. A man could only take so much.

  She slid off my lap. “After I do that thing I mentioned before.”

  That might have been the only thing that would’ve gotten my one-track mind off the track it had already been barreling down. Whatever it was it had seemed important to her after what happened earlier. “Are you going to tell me what it is now?”

  “No. But I’ll show you once I’m done.”


  “That’s very cryptic.”

  “Hand over your laptop, buddy.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or you won’t be getting me naked later like your banking on.”

  “What makes you think I’ll be trying to get you naked later, huh? Maybe I won’t be in the mood anymore.”

  “This,” she said and grabbed the hard-on I’d been hoping hadn’t been too noticeable. Guess not.

  “Touché.”

  She stood up and I smacked her ass since the fine thing was dangling right in front of me. She yelped but continued to the spare bedroom and closed the door.

  My mind ran wild thinking of all the things she could be doing in there. Laptop, webcam…the possibilities were endless. I knew she wasn’t. But hell, it was way more fun to think of her in there making me some kind of sex tape than thinking of her typing up a letter or something.

  My mind drifted to thoughts of what had happened at the women’s shelter. We’d gotten lucky, real lucky that no one was hurt. The thought of something happening to her was more than I could bear. Ellie had fast become important to me and even though we’d both been avoiding the topic, we only had one more week together in Virginia Beach.

  What would happen once I got back to my regular life? What did she want to happen? Hell, what did I? When we’d started this thing we’d both agreed it wasn’t going to go anywhere. That was before I knew what an intelligent, straight-to-the-point, compassionate woman she was. I’d never met anyone like her before and it didn’t escape me that I probably never would again.

  Time was running out. We’d have to talk about it soon. I planned on making the case that we should try and make something work between us. Screw that. I was going to prove to her we could make it work. She’d just have to get used to the idea of me spending money on her and doing things for her because that’s how it was going to be if we were together.

  I sounded like fucking caveman. I needed to chill. I’d worked myself right up. I wasn’t sure if that was because of the day’s events or the fact Ellie was running through my system like a hard-core drug, but it was all clear to me. And important.