“How was y’alls?” I ask.
“Awesome!” Audrey answers happily. “My boyfriend got me a puppy. He’s so cute!”
As she talks about the puppy and her boyfriend, she bounces excitedly on her toes, and gestures wildly with her arms about her reaction when her boyfriend brought her the puppy with the bow on its head. Her blonde ponytail swishes from side to side and the smile never leaves her face. I find myself slightly jealous at her amazing Christmas experience and present from her loving and caring boyfriend.
I look over at Chris who looks absolutely bored with the story. He pulls his phone out of the apron he’s wearing and starts scrolling through some website. Once Audrey stops talking, I hit Chris’ arm.
“So what’d you do?”
He shrugs. “Not much. Had dinner with the fam and opened some presents.”
A customer comes to the counter, so he drops his phone in his apron and takes their order while Audrey gets ready to make whatever it is they ask for. I return to the office and start looking up different kinds of phones that I’m interested in. I’m almost excited to get a new phone, but I hate having to re-learn new things and getting a new number. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep my same number.
After a while Chris appears in the doorway of the office.
“Knock, knock.”
“Hey, what’s up?” I ask.
“Somebody’s here looking for you.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ll be out in a sec.”
“Cool.”
I push away from the desk and make my way to the front where I see Christine hanging out by the cupcake case.
“You just can’t get enough, can you?” I ask with a laugh.
She looks up at me and smiles. “You created a monster. Thanks!” she laughs. “I’m gonna gain twenty pounds now.”
“Sorry,” I say with a shrug.
“Uh huh. Anyway, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you. You ignoring me?” she asks with a playful scowl.
“Oh. No. I’m an idiot and lost my phone last night. I think it was in the restaurant, but nobody turned it in.”
“Ah, that sucks.”
“Yeah, I gotta go look at new phones today.”
“Well, I was going to see if you and Adrienne wanted to go shopping with me later. Maybe we can go together when you get off. We can stop by the phone place and then do some shopping. Whatcha think?” she asks.
“Sounds good to me. I haven’t been shopping in a while.”
“Yay!” she squeals.
“I can probably leave now. Today has been so slow, and I have three people coming on shift to relieve Chris and Audrey soon anyway. I’m not needed,” I say with a grin.
“Great! Just grab us some of these cupcakes before you leave, and I’ll text Adrienne.”
I laugh. “Okay. Let me get all my stuff together, cupcakes included, and I’ll be ready.”
Christine pulls her phone out and starts typing in a message as I go to get my jacket and purse. I pay for some cupcakes and place them in a to-go container and meet Christine at the door a few minutes later.
“Adrienne can’t come. She said she’s at some hotel scoping out the area for an event.”
“Aww, boo! Sucks for her.”
“Yeah. So, do you want to follow me, or just ride with me?”
“I’ll ride with you. We have to share the cupcakes,” I say as I lift them up.
“Ooh. Yeah,” she says with a smile.
We climb into her SUV and then pull into traffic. It’s almost four pm and a terrible time to be on the road. Well, more than usual.
“Hey, can you look in the back seat and see if my bag is back there?” Christine asks.
“Yeah, sure.”
I twist in my seat and don’t see anything in the backseat. Not even any trash.
“Am I the only one whose car is an absolute mess?” I ask with a short laugh. “Your car is so clean, but no, there’s no bag back there.”
She laughs. “I can’t stand to have crap everywhere. I clean the inside and outside of the car once a week. You can say I’m a bit of a neat freak. I’m pissed that bag isn’t in here though. I thought I brought it.”
“What was it?” I ask.
“This outfit I bought the other day. It doesn’t fit right, though, so I wanted to return it. Do you mind if we stop by my place? It isn’t out of the way or anything.”
“That’s fine with me. Do you mind if I eat a cupcake? I’m afraid to drop crumbs in here, though.”
She laughs. “It’s fine. Give me one, too.”
We drive for about twenty-five minutes before we get to her place and by that time I really have to pee.
“Can I come in? I just have to pee real quick,” I say, squirming in my seat.
“Yeah, because I’d rather not have to clean pee out of the seats along with crumbs,” she says with a wink.
When we get inside, she directs me to a hallway and says it’s the second on the left. I feel like I pee out a gallon of piss by the time I’m done.
I walk back down the hall and into the living room.
“Christine?” I call out.
“In the kitchen. Want a drink? Those cupcakes have me thirsty.”
“Yeah, whatever you’re getting is fine,” I yell back.
A few minutes later, Christine returns from a doorway on the other side of the room with a tray in her hands.
“Ooh, fancy,” I joke.
“Oh whatever,” she responds. “I only have diet soda. I hope that’s okay. With all the cupcakes I eat, I definitely need the diet soda.”
I make a face. “I’m not the biggest diet fan, but that’s okay.”
“You want some water?”
“No, really. This is fine.”
She pours the soda into the glasses of ice and hands me one.
“Oh, let me grab that bag from my room before I forget,” she says before taking a sip of her coke and placing it on a coaster.
As I drink my coke, I look around her living room. She really is a neat freak. Everything is in perfect order and perfectly spotless. I almost think about asking her to clean my apartment for me. I hate cleaning, and nothing is in order at my place.
The books are on her shelf are grouped together based on size, and the magazines on her coffee table are perfectly spread out. There’s no dust to be seen, and the carpet looks to still have the vacuum lines in it.
I take another drink and grab the top magazine to flip through just as she comes back in.
“You’re so neat. I feel like your house belongs in one of these magazines,” I say.
“I told you I’m a neat freak,” she says as she places the shopping bag on the small wingback chair in the living room.
“Wanna clean my house once a week?” I joke.
“Depends on how messy you are,” she says with a laugh.
I take another drink before placing it on a coaster. That’s probably the last drink I’ll take. I fucking hate diet soda. Tastes like ass.
We talk for a bit while she finishes her drink. My stomach starts to hurt, and I immediately regret eating those two cupcakes, especially since I had another one earlier at work. I hope I don’t have to shit in her perfectly clean and tidy bathroom. Fuck.
My stomach cramps and I lean over slightly with a grimace.
“Are you okay?” she asks with a worried tone.
“Yeah. I just ate too many sweets today. My stomach isn’t happy.”
“You know where the bathroom is,” she says with a grin.
I choke out a small laugh. “Yeah. Maybe it’ll pass.”
“Do you wanna leave? Or just hang out here in case you need to run to the bathroom?”
“Give me a sec,” I say as the pain in my stomach comes back.
I begin feeling hot and a little lightheaded. What the fuck? Christine’s looking at me with a concerned look on her face. I see her mouth move, but can’t figure out what she said. I have a ringing in my ears.
“What?” I ask.
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“What’s wrong? Do I need to call an ambulance?”
She moves closer and puts her hand on my head.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“You’re really freaking me out. Maybe I should call someone.”
“Maybe,” I say, or at least think I say.
Christine furrows her brows at me. “What?”
I try to move my lips but they feel numb. What the fuck was in those cupcakes? I try to talk again, but nothing comes out. I feel like my entire body has fallen asleep, and my vision starts to blur. I can’t help but be grateful that I’m not alone.
“Hold on,” I hear Christine say. “It’s gonna be okay.”
I feel her move from the couch as I slump over. Hopefully the ambulance gets here fast.
When I get to Jace’s house, it’s about six pm, and he goes to the kitchen to pour us both a drink. I drop to his couch as he enters the living room with a hook glass filled with dark liquor.
“Hennessy and Coke,” he says as he hands it to me.
“Good. Thanks, man.”
He sits on the opposite couch and takes a sip. “So, are you sure you’re happy with what went down yesterday?”
I take a drink and then rest the glass on my knee. “Yeah. I know it took me a while to figure out my shit, but it’s good. It was the right decision.”
“You sure? I just want to make sure you’re happy, brother. I know it had to be tough to make that decision. I mean, you and Carla have quite the history and all, and I know you and Em had something special. I couldn’t imagine choosing between two women who actually meant something to me. I never gave a shit about anybody until Adrienne came along, so I’ve never had to deal with something like this before.”
“Yeah, but you know Emilie hasn’t talked to me at all since Christmas night. She was pissed, and I get it, but she didn’t give me the chance to explain anything. She up and left and ignored my calls, and didn’t answer the door when I went over. I get being upset, but shit!”
“Well, Adrienne said she was concerned about being in competition with Carla and not being able to come out on top.”
Jace gives me a look that says she might be right.
I shake my head. “Regardless of what she thought, she always told me I needed to give her a chance so she could prove to me that I can trust her. Instead, she proves to me that I can’t trust her to stick around and hear me out after a fight or disagreement. It wasn’t even a fight, she just fuckin’ left.”
“She’s a woman, and Emilie is a feisty one. They have to be mad for a while, they have to get away and think about stuff, or come up with an argument before it happens.”
“Sounds like you have experience with that.”
He shrugs and smirks. “I’m learning.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ve already said and done what I needed to do. I just wanted to get in touch with Emilie to let her know. But of course, she isn’t fucking responding.”
I take another drink and let my head fall back onto the back cushion, pinching the bridge of my nose. I hear the front door close and when I lift my head I see Adrienne walking in.
“Hey, guys,” she says with a smile. She does a double take when she sees me. “Troy, you look like shit. What’s wrong?”
“He’ll be fine,” Jace responds. “How was work, baby?”
“Busy and annoying,” she says as she goes to sit on his lap.
I know I need to tell Adrienne about what’s going on, but I know how close she and Emilie are and I almost don’t want to deal with her wrath as well. I open my mouth to say something, but Jace shakes his head slightly from behind Adrienne. I guess he doesn’t think it’s a good time to say anything.
“Hey, Troy, have you heard from Emilie?” she asks.
“No, I haven’t,” I respond.
“Hmm. I wonder if she ever got her phone,” she muses.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“She lost her phone last night, but said she was gonna go by the restaurant we went to, to see if it was there. I guess it wasn’t.”
“She hasn’t had her phone?”
“Nope, oh and she doesn’t have your number memorized, so that’s probably why you haven’t heard from her.”
“You think she’s at home now?” I ask.
She looks at the clock. “She should be. She went in early today, so she shouldn’t still be working.”
“Okay.” I stand up and take my glass to the kitchen. “I need to go by there,” I say as I return back to the living room.
“Are you guys going to make up?” she asks with a smile.
My eyes move to Jace’s and he just takes a sip of his drink, leaving me on my own.
“We just need to talk.”
Adrienne’s brows furrow and she narrows her eyes at me. “What are you going to say?”
“Babe, don’t worry about it,” Jace says, rubbing her back.
“What’s going on?” she asks, looking between the two of us. “Are you breaking up with her?”
“Adrienne, she hasn’t spoken to me in three days. I’ve called, texted, and been by her house, and she’s ignored me every time.”
“She’s just being dumb. She even said she was going to call you!” she screeches. “She lost her phone before she could.”
“Well, then now is a good time for me to go over and see if she’s willing to talk, and to listen.”
Adrienne doesn’t say anything else.
“Talk to ya later, man,” Jace says, giving me a nod of his head.
“Yeah.”
I walk out of the living room and across the short hall and open the front door. As soon as I get to my car door, I get a text message.
It’s from Emilie.
I guess she found her phone after all.
I start to wake up, but my body remains mostly immobile even though I’m trying my hardest to move. My hearing is still messed up, because the sounds I do hear are muffled and distorted. I open my eyes, but all I see is blackness. I begin panicking thinking I’ve lost my sight completely, until I feel my eyelashes hit something. There’s a blindfold of some sort covering my eyes.
I’m no longer on a couch, I know that much. My body is now in an upright position in a hard chair. I hear a noise in front of me, but my head feels heavy and I’m slow to move it.
“It’s time to wake up,” a voice murmurs. Or at least it sounds like a murmur to me.
I don’t recognize the voice. The last thing I remember was Christine getting help. Am I still at Christine’s?
“I… I can’t see,” I try to say clearly.
I hear another shuffle of movement, but nobody says anything. A dinging sound goes off and a few seconds later I hear a loud crash. My body jerks as much as it can.
“You stupid fucking bitch,” the voice growls.
I can now tell it’s a woman’s voice, but not one I can fully recognize. A guttural scream fills the room before more things crash against the wall or onto the floor.
I’m frightened.
I have no idea where I am or who I’m with. I don’t know why this lady is so mad, and if I’m the one she’s so mad at.
“What the fuck is so goddamn special about you?” she snarls in my face.
I can feel the hotness of her breath on my face, and I try to shrink backwards as much as I can.
“Who…” I lick my dry lips and try speaking again. “Who are you?”
I hear her scoff before she lets out a tiny laugh that holds no humor, just malice. “You think you know who I am. You think you’re better than me, but I’ll tell you what; you’re nothing. You have no fucking clue who I am, or what I’m capable of.”
When she’s done speaking, she spits in my face. The bitch actually spits on me. I can feel the splatter on my nose and right cheek. On instinct, I try to raise my hand to hit her, but I find it’s unable to move. As I struggle to get it in motion, I feel something rubbing on my wrist. My hands are tied to something and
I’m unable to fight back.
“What the fuck?” I mutter.
“Yes! What the fuck? What the fuck is fucking right,” the voice screams. “What the fuck gives you the right to talk about me like you know who the fuck I am? What the fuck gives you the right to take what’s mine? What the fuck is wrong with him that he would choose you over me.”
My mind races as I try to figure out what she’s talking about. I talked about her? I don’t know who she is. But then I think about what she said when she mentions him choosing me over her. Troy?
Is this Carla? How did I end up with her? I’ve never seen her before, so how the hell does she know what I look like? A thought hits me. Christine knows her. Christine knew the whole time that I was with Troy. Maybe she’s Carla’s friend and helped her get information, and that’s why she invited me here. Why, though?
“Carla?” I muse aloud.
“Ah. You’ve figured it out,” she says, her voice still in a little in front of me.
I hear footsteps moving across the floor and wonder if she’s pacing or if someone else is here.
Christine. She’d still be here if this is her house.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Don’t you worry about it. You took Troy away from me. I was going to get him back, and you got in the way.”
“He never…” I start, but her hand moves across my face with a loud noise. The sharp sting covers my left cheek and my head flies to the right.
“Shut up!” she screeches. “You don’t get to talk about him. I’ve heard enough about your relationship.”
She says the word relationship with such disgust. I wonder what all Christine has told her.
“You have no idea what I went through without Troy. You have no idea how much I need him. We have a love you’ll never know.”
While she’s talking, I try moving my hands again, trying to get a feel for what’s wrapped around them. I wonder if I’ll be able to squeeze out of the ties so that I’m at least able to fight back. Another thought hits me. What if my feet are tied? I won’t be able to get up and run right away.
I try moving them slightly, as to not alert her of what I’m doing. It doesn’t help that I can’t see where she is, but I need to see if I can move my foot away from the chair.
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