A Gift of Time

by Beth Flynn

  “Oh yeah, I remem—”

  “Shut up, Slade. Just listen. You have to go there, and you have to go there now. Go to condo nine-oh-seven. Some guys I’ve made friends with will be there. Something is going down with Mimi. I’m afraid something bad might happen, but I don’t know what. You have to go there and make sure she’s okay. You hear me?”

  “Mimi who?”

  “How many fucking Mimis do we know, Slade?”

  “Mimi Dillon?” Slade walked out of the restroom, pulled a twenty from his wallet, and handed it to his waitress. He left the bar and headed out to the parking lot, listening as his brother filled him in. What the hell is Christian getting me into?

  **********

  Fifteen minutes later, Slade stood in front of door 907 and knocked. It swung open, and a kid with acne that he didn’t recognize said, “Didn’t know if you were going to come...”

  He stopped and stared at Slade.

  “Who are you?” He gave Slade the once-over.

  “My brother Chris said I should meet him here. Said something was going down and I’d want in.” He tried to look past the boy and into the room, then narrowed his eyes. “You’re just a bunch of kids. There isn’t anything happening here tonight, is there? I can’t believe you tricked my little brother. He’ll beat the shit out of you when I tell him.”

  The boy’s eyes got wide then, and he stepped back. “No! C’mon in and have a beer. We weren’t pulling nothing over on Chris. This is big, dude. C’mon in. We’ll tell you.”

  Slade walked in and slowly perused the room. Two teenagers were lounging on a couch, their feet on an expensive coffee table. The smell of cheap weed filled the room. He looked over to the guy that let him in.

  “Which one of you lives here?”

  “None of us,” the boy answered, nodding toward a kid with bleached blond dreadlocks. “Isaac’s dad is the head maintenance guy for the whole building. The couple that owns this condo and the douchebag fag that owns nine-oh-eight are part-timers. Only use their condos in the summer. We have both places to ourselves.”

  Slade walked to the two boys lounging on the couch.

  “Where’s Rosman?” he asked no one in particular.

  “He’s next door in nine-oh-eight, and he should have blood on his dick by now. She’s a virgin. Can you believe he’s with a fucking virgin?” This from the boy who answered the door.

  “Yeah, and we get to see everything. He’s filming it. This is gonna be so righteous, dude.” Isaac took a deep pull on his joint. As he exhaled, he said, “He’s been planning this for so fucking long. Even got some freaky religious tattoo to impress her.”

  The boy who’d let Slade in the door started to give him a high five when Slade grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. With the boy on the floor and Slade’s knee pressing into his shoulder blades, he looked at Isaac. “Give me the key to next door.”

  Isaac and the other boy both jumped up from the couch and started to approach Slade but stopped. Their friend was screaming from the floor.

  “He’s breaking my arm. He’s breaking my fucking arm!”

  “I’ll break all of your arms if you don’t give me that key,” Slade said in a calm voice laced with menace.

  He could tell they were weighing their options. It was three to one, and one of them was already down. He’d break this little shit’s arm and then crack the two numbskulls’ heads together. He knew it would be a piece of cake, and he saw by their expressions they knew it, too.

  “I don’t have the key to nine-oh-eight. I gave it to Nick,” Isaac said, his voice suddenly whiny.

  “Then you better pray your dad has a master on that ring.” Slade nodded at the small ring of keys laying on the coffee table. “If not, I’ll use your fucking head to bust that door down.”

  **********

  In the condominium next door, Mimi sat on the couch and sipped the iced tea Elliott had offered her. He’d gone into the bedroom to put Edith’s medication on the dresser. When they’d first arrived, they’d found a handwritten note that said, “Sorry I’m missing you. Went to an eight o’clock movie with my friends.”

  “Guess it’s good you had a spare key,” Mimi called out to the other room.

  She’d been worried when Edith didn’t answer the door. She’d seen the television commercial where the elderly lady had fallen and couldn’t get up. She shuddered to think that Elliott’s sweet grandma was inside the condo and unable to get up or call for help.

  Elliott came out of the bedroom with a big smile on his face.

  “True. I’d have been kind of pissed if I drove all the way out here and couldn’t leave her pills.” He took the seat next to her and said, “Drink up. You love Edith’s homemade iced tea.”

  Mimi took another small sip. “I was thinking more along the lines that she could’ve been hurt or something.”

  She put her glass back on the coffee table.

  Elliott put his arm around her and pulled her close.

  “Edith won’t be home for hours. We could order takeout and eat it on the balcony. Have you seen the view?”

  “If that’s what you want to do, that’s okay with me, I guess,” Mimi said, suddenly feeling a bit shy.

  He stood up then and reached for her hand.

  “C’mon, let me show you the view.”

  Mimi stood and started to walk in the direction of the sliding doors, but Elliott pulled her toward the bedroom.

  “I’ll have to show you from the bedroom balcony. The living room sliders have been sticking, and Edith told me maintenance hasn’t been up yet to fix them. I don’t want to get them open and then not be able to close them. You know what I mean?”

  Before Mimi could respond, he added, “You better drink more tea. Edith will be hurt if she thinks you passed up her famous iced tea.”

  An odd feeling caused Mimi to look up at Elliott. Something was off. This wasn’t the Elliott she knew. There was something different about him. He seemed somewhat anxious.

  For what, she didn’t know. She’d noticed his jaw tightened when they were in the truck talking about sex, when she’d reminded him she wanted to wait until she was married. She thought she imagined it, but now her senses were suddenly on alert.

  She was reminded of a conversation she’d once had with her mother. Her mother had told her the story of when she used to babysit for a little boy who’d been abused. The signs were there and her intuition had been right, but she’d ignored them because those kinds of things didn’t happen in those kinds of families.

  Her mother had been wrong.

  “You know what, Elliott? I think maybe I would rather go out to dinner. I don’t feel right hanging in Edith’s vacation condo without her being here.” She tried to lighten the mood by reminding him of a funny moment they’d shared months earlier. “You know, ‘unchaperoned.’”

  The last word came out in a squeak. Her lungs suddenly felt heavy and she thought she might have to fight for breath.

  She noticed the same tightening of his jaw, but it was quickly gone as he plastered on a smile. A smile she realized wasn’t sincere.

  She felt a trickle of sweat as it made its way down her neck. The room was suddenly very hot.

  “Okay,” he said with exaggerated enthusiasm. “But not until you finish your iced tea.”

  There it was again. The iced tea. She’d already taken a few sips. Did she feel any different? Yes, she thought maybe she did. Her body felt relaxed, which was in sharp contrast to what her mind was feeling.

  “I’m not really thirsty,” was all she could muster.

  She started to feel lightheaded and sat back down.

  “What’s wrong, Mimi? Are you okay?”

  His fake sincerity was so obvious it was making her nauseated.

  “Just a little lightheaded. Probably because I haven’t eaten all day. I’ll be fine as soon as we get to the restaurant.”

  He pulled her roughly to her feet and caught her around the waist as she swayed. “C
’mon. Why don’t you lie down on Edith’s bed for a few minutes?”

  “Take me home, Elliott,”

  “Not until you rest,” he said sternly as he half walked, half dragged her toward the bedroom.

  “No, Elliott! I don’t want to lie down. I want to go home.” It sounded slightly slurred even to her own ears.

  “You are not going to ruin this for me, Mimi. I’ve waited for almost a fucking year for this. I even insisted on meeting your parents." He glared at her. "And you’re nothing but a prick-tease. Always looking at me like you want me to do you and then saying the opposite.” His voice turned hard. “You’re going to come in the bedroom and I’m going to make love to you, and you’re going to like it. Got it? You understand?”

  He smirked to himself. Make love to her? Shit. He was going to ball her brains out.

  “Ruin what?” she cried. “I think you put something in the iced tea. You want me to pass out.”

  “I only gave you something to help you relax. I don’t want you to pass out. I want you to be awake. I want you to like it, and I promise you will, baby. I promise.” His voice was calmer now. “I’ll go down on you first. If you just let yourself relax, you’ll like it, I swear. I’ll make sure you come, and you’ll be begging me to fuck you, okay? It’ll be good. Now come on!”

  Just then the front door of the condo flew open and a guy walked in, slamming the door behind him.

  “Take your hands off her, Nick.”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Elliott asked, his arms still clutched tightly around Mimi’s waist.

  “I’m the guy who’s here to break your fucking face.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Mimi

  2000, Fort Lauderdale (After the Execution)

  Slade watched as Mimi sipped the coffee and made a face.

  “Drink it, Mimi. It should help,” he told her in a soothing voice.

  He watched her take a sip of the coffee and slowly swallow it. Then, with a trembling hand, she placed it in the cup holder, pulled the blanket they’d swiped from the condo tightly around her shoulders, and started to cry.

  “So stupid. So stupid. So embarrassed,” was all she said as she rocked back and forth.

  They were sitting in an isolated parking spot behind the fast food joint Slade had brought her to. He’d bought two coffees in the drive-thru and parked behind the restaurant. He tried to console her.

  “It’s okay, Mimi. You’re okay. I got there in time. Nothing happened. Nothing will happen.” His voice was quiet.

  “If you hadn’t gotten there when you did, I don’t know how far Elliott would’ve gone and I, I, I...”

  “But I did get there, Mimi, and nothing happened.”

  He then went on to explain what Christian had told him to say. That he knew Elliott as Nick Rosman and had heard through some friends what Nick had planned on doing to try to get the notice of some biker gangs.

  “I knew they were talking about Grizz, Mimi, and that’s how I made the connection to you. I guess I’m a little shocked that you know about Grizz. I didn’t think you knew he was your real father.”

  She took a shuddery breath. “I found out by accident. It’s a long story, but I know who he is. It’s just unbelievable that you knew these guys, too.”

  “Yeah, I hadn’t realized who they were talking about until it was almost too late,” he lied.

  He wouldn’t tell her his brother, Christian, was the one who’d purposely buddied up to these idiots. He wanted to save her the embarrassment of thinking someone else knew what Rosman had planned to do.

  “I just can’t believe they were going to film me having sex with Elliott—err, Nick.” She shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

  She looked up then at Slade and, with the biggest, most expressive eyes he’d ever seen, and with complete adoration in her voice, said, “You saved me, Slade. You saved me.”

  **********

  “What do you mean, you messed his face up? Why didn’t you put him in the fucking hospital, Slade?” Christian’s face was red.

  “Because I’m not you,” Slade yelled back.

  It had been a long night and Slade was tired. After quietly dropping Mimi off at her home, he returned to the apartment he shared with three roommates and had gone to bed. He’d had trouble falling asleep, though. He hadn’t seen Mimi in years and had been startled by what he saw. The sweet little brown-haired girl with the big eyes had turned into a real beauty. He had to remind himself she was only fifteen. That fucking Rosman should’ve been shot for what he’d planned on doing to her.

  Slade had known his parents would bail Christian out of jail, and he’d been right. He just didn’t think it would happen so quickly—or that Chris would show up at his apartment so early in the morning.

  “You knew what that motherfucker was planning on doing. He shouldn’t have walked out of that condo, Slade.” Christian leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed.

  Slade poured himself some coffee and sat at the small kitchen table.

  “You’re fucked in the head. You know that? If I had done something that had caused the police or an ambulance to have to come to that condo, they would’ve tracked down those three goons, and it would all have been traced back to Mimi and me. You want the police knocking on her door waking up her parents to find out why the guy she was dating was put in the hospital by one of Anthony Bear’s kids? It’s a good thing you gave that cop some lip, Christian. If he hadn’t hauled your ass to jail, you’d have brought down a load of shit on everybody. You and your fucking temper!”

  Slade looked up at his brother then and recognized an expression that had always made him uncomfortable.

  “Don’t even think about it, Chris.” He held up a warning hand. “Let it go. Besides, if word gets around to certain people of what he even attempted to do, he’s dead. Grizz still has loyal followers. Even from the grave that guy has clout, and Rosman must be an imbecile to think he would be impressing anybody with his stunt. Yeah, maybe some rival gangs from back in the day would’ve been amused, but with Grizz dead and gone, none of his old enemies really give a shit.”

  Slade took a sip of coffee and let out a long breath. He stared at his brother who was still standing there, arms crossed and a furious expression on his face. After a few minutes, Slade’s expression softened.

  “I don’t get this thing with you and Mimi. Why are you so riled up over this? I thought you crushed on her when we were kids, but we haven’t seen them in years. You still like her that much?”

  Christian didn’t say anything. He walked to the refrigerator and took out a beer. He turned around and looked at Slade as he took a sip, ignoring the look of disapproval from his older brother.

  “How did you handle her parents?”

  “I didn’t have to,” Slade said tiredly. “We came up with a story for her to tell her mom and dad, and I dropped her a few houses down from her own.” He caught his brother’s look. “I made sure she got in her house before I drove off, okay? I didn’t want my car to be seen in front of their house. Her parents don’t need to be asking why I was bringing her home. They’ll think Nick dropped her off.”

  Christian just nodded.

  Slade felt compelled to add, “If you think you like her, why don’t you do something about it? Maybe you could run into her somewhere or even go by her house. Say you were in the neighborhood and wanted to say hi. You know Aunt Ginny would welcome you with open arms.”

  “I saw her father at Axel’s place. He looked at me like I was a piece of trash. Couldn’t tell me quick enough how she was in love with some guy. He doesn’t want me around. He thinks she can do better than me. He’s probably right.”

  “That’s bullshit. If it weren’t for you, Mimi would’ve been raped tonight. And if the wrong people found out about it, Rosman would’ve died for it. Still might. You took the initiative to find out what was going on. You may be a hothead, bro, but you are one bad motherfucker who’d make sure nob
ody’d ever go near their daughter. Quit selling yourself short, Christian. You want a chance with Mimi? A real chance? Start working on your grades and get rid of some of your friends. I don’t know if it’ll help you get a foot in the door with the Dillons, but at least you’d make Mom and Dad a lot happier.”

  Christian guzzled the last of his beer and set the bottle on the counter. Ignoring his brother’s advice, he headed for the door, calling out over his shoulder as he went.

  “I owe you one, Slade.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Ginny

  2001, Fort Lauderdale

  The weeks after our Thanksgiving cruise flew by in a frenzy of activity. Between Christmas, the start of a new year, and our busy family schedule, it seemed every day on the calendar had something penciled in. There were also some things during that time that weren’t on the calendar. One that stuck out was that Mimi and Elliott had ended their relationship.

  I’d waited up that night for her first date with him after we returned from our cruise. She quietly let herself in the front door and was heading up the stairs when I called her back down. When I saw she’d been crying, I knew something was wrong.

  She let me hold her as she sobbed for almost five minutes that finally ended in a fit of hiccups. I made some tea while she washed her face. We sat in the den, and she told me how Elliott had taken her to a nice restaurant for dinner and they’d run into one of his ex-girlfriends, who’d made a scene.

  “It was just so humiliating, Mom. She was older than him and obviously still loved him. She asked if he’d resorted to picking up little girls from the playground at elementary schools.”

  I listened as Mimi told me how Elliott’s ex-girlfriend must have been drinking. She was making such a scene that they were all asked to leave by the restaurant manager.

  “I just saw him in a different light, I guess. He wasn’t defending himself to her. I felt like he was embarrassed by me. I don’t think that I’ll ever look at him the same way.” She looked down at her mug as tears rolled down her cheeks, “I think he cares more about what others think than he does about me.”