by S. K. Lessly
She closed her eyes. “I shouldn’t have left.”
“No, you should not have, but I understand why. I get the love you have for your brother,” Lock replied, and Ayana opened her eyes and looked at him.
“Yeah, but he didn’t deserve my trust or my love it seems. He had something working with Allen, I could feel it. I know my brother, and whatever it was, it wasn’t good.”
Lock leaned closer to her. “Ayana, you know very well your brother thinks he’s a boss. Maybe he thought he was helping you. Maybe he was gonna take your place with Santos.”
“God, I hope not. I love him for trying, but hate him for not trying to help me when I needed him the most.”
She paused then she asked him, “Is um… Brad… Is he okay?”
“Yeah, he’s as good he can be. He’s the one that found you.”
She let a slow breath out and closed her eyes, “Of course, he was.”
Lock could see all the fight drain out of her instantly, as if she was waiting for the hospital floor to open up and swallow her whole.
He leaned closer. “What about you?” he asked. “Did they tell you what it was he drugged you with?”
“No, not yet,” she said shaking her head. “But he told me he gave me something that the Feds use, so I doubt they will find anything in my system.”
Lock leaned back in his chair and told her everything he knew about the situation and about Ramone and Martins. Hearing everything from someone else’s perspective made her sick to her stomach. She closed her eyes again. “I am so stupid.”
“Ayana, you couldn’t have known.”
“Yes, Lock, I did know. I mean, I could see it in his eyes that he was gone.”
“Yeah, but you were right to worry about Martins. You had no idea Ramone was working alone. Martins could have responded in a way that could have put you and Noelle in jeopardy. And shit, I didn’t make it any easier on you. You came to me for help and what did I do? I pretty much drove you to the Feds.”
“I’m sure throughout the years I didn’t make it easy for you to believe in me, and I know you were going through a lot.”
“Honestly, Ayana, it shouldn’t have mattered. I was in a bad place yes, but I’m a professional first and foremost. You should’ve been able to come to me, but I get why you didn’t. I am glad that you finally got through to me, even though it was at gun point.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” she chuckled.
Lock smiled and shook his head. “Yeah, I’m sure you are.”
They both grew quiet, and then Lock said, “Are you going to call Brad?”
Ayana’s smile faded and she shook her head, sadness suddenly evident in her eyes. “Come on, Lock. I blew that.”
“Ayana, this wasn’t your fault.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t really matter. You heard what he said. This was my chance, and I blew it. There’s no way he’s going to give me a second chance.”
“Shit, I’m going to be sick from saying this, but you and my brother belong together.” Ayana’s eyes bucked, but he continued. “Yeah, don’t be so surprised. I think I’ve known all along that there is no you without him, and vice versa. When I used to see you two together, I was envious. I wanted what you two had, and I think anyone around you felt the same way. You two are great together and, if you give up now, I guarantee you will never find another person better than Brad, and he won’t be able to find anyone better than you.”
“He has someone better.”
“No, he has someone that will never, on her good day, measure up to you.” Lock let that hang around before he stood. “Listen, all I’m saying is you should just try. If you give up, you’ll never forgive yourself. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. You know it’s not, but he loves you, Ayana… That has to count for something.”
He leaned down and kissed her forehead, saying, “Listen, there will be someone outside your door at all times until you’re released. If you need anything call me, okay?”
“Okay,” she nodded. “And Lock… thanks for everything.”
“A second chance doesn’t always mean a Happy Ending, it’s a chance to end things right.” – Unknown Author
Chapter 14 – Bradley
I was almost back at my hotel, still trying my best to get the sight of Ayana lying in her own vomit again out of my mind. I started to drive faster as if I was trying to outrun those images that would probably haunt me forever, when my phone started to ring. I looked at the panel in my car, the number didn’t appear to be familiar. I answered it anyway, not wanting to admit that I couldn’t seem to breathe until I found out if she was okay.
“Dr. Mills,”
“Hello, may I speak to a Braddock Mills,” the woman said, voice clipped and professional. She sounded like a doctor and my blood pressure rose instantly.
“Speaking,” I replied, gripping my steering wheel tightly.
“Oh good. Glad I caught you. Sir, this is just a courtesy call to first thank you for your reservation at our resort. We hope to make your stay a very pleasant and enjoyable one. I believe your fiancée made the reservation, but I wanted to confirm everything with you. I tried to call her. However, she didn’t answer.”
I loosened my grip. “Okay, confirm away,” I insisted, curiosity getting the better of me.
“Well, we have you listed for a two-week stay at our beautiful resort in Cancun, Mexico. She also mentioned that you two would be tying the knot. First, let me say ‘Congratulations.’ This is a big deal in a couple’s life and I hope we…”
I tuned her out the moment she said “two week stay.” Now I know you remember the conversation I had with Nora saying that I would make the plans. I planned for us to head to Vegas and get married quick and painless. I never said I wanted to go to Cancun. I never hinted on the phone that it was what I wanted to do. I start my fellowship in a week and granted I didn’t tell her shit about it. I didn’t have to. If she wanted to get married, we’d work all that out later.
“Dr. Mills?”
Upon hearing my name, I snapped out of my trance. “Yes, I’m here,” I responded, clearing my throat.
“Wonderful! Now does everything sound to your liking?”
Fuck no!
“Well… What is your name, I’m sorry?”
“Oh, no problem. My name is Debra Malachet. I’m one of the supervisors for the Hyatt International resorts.”
“Okay, thank you, Ms. Malachet, but we will not need this reservation.”
“I’m sorry, sir?”
“There’s no need for you to be sorry. Just cancel my reservation. I will not need anything that my, uh, fiancée booked.”
She paused a beat, then asked hesitantly, “Was there something I said that upset you? We can change anything you would like us to with no problem. We are very flexible and—”
“I’m sure you are,” I cut her off. “But no, it wasn’t anything you said.”
Actually, yes it was.
“Ms. Malachet,” I continued. “I appreciate your call, really I do. Your service seemed very impeccable and maybe in the future if I ever plan a trip, I’ll use your hotel to book with.”
I heard her sigh deeply. “Well, thank you, Dr. Mills. That sounds wonderful. I hope that you do.”
“Was my credit card charged?” I asked, already knowing the answer from her hesitation.
“Yes, sir, it has. And unfortunately, it’s going to take some time for us to complete the refund process.”
“That’s fine. Please email me confirmation of the cancellation, just as I’m sure you did with the confirmation of the booking. And please if you will provide me with your information, just in case I have any questions. I’m in my car and I have a lot of things going on right now. But once everything settles, I will probably have more questions for you.”
She hesitated again. “Okay, that won’t be a problem, sir,” she replied. “I’ll handle that right away.”
Yeah, now I’m a sir.
“Thank you and
I appreciate that tremendously.” I hung up from her, then took out my credit cards. I went through the process of removing Nora’s name from all of my accounts. I had a feeling there are more out there in my name, but I can’t deal with that right now.
I knew this shit was too good to be true. I can’t catch a break at all. It wasn’t that long ago Nora told me she would change. She told me that she wanted to be with me; that she could be everything I wanted. And the moment I gave her that inch, she took a mile. She’s back to running shit without talking to me first.
I was through. I was done with her. Hell, I was done with every female currently in my fucking life.
As I pulled up to the hotel, I turned off the engine and my thoughts were suddenly flooded with Ayana. I hadn’t heard anything from Lock, so I didn’t know if Ayana pulled through or not. I was trying not to let not knowing get to me, but as I sat there thinking about it, I was getting pissed all over again.
I closed my eyes again, but opened them quickly. This shit is completely screwing with me. The need to know had my fingers twitching to call my brother, but to be honest, he wasn’t the person I needed to talk to. No, who I wanted to tell me what was going on was the very person I wasn’t sure was alive or not.
I should have just gotten the fuck out of there. Half of me wanted to. I could just leave and not speak to anyone, but the other half of me wouldn’t let me do it. Seeing her lying on the dirty ass floor like that, face bruised, shirt ripped was causing a myriad of emotions to rage through me. I was angry with her, but what I didn’t want to admit was that, deep down, I was angrier with the person that touched her.
I got out of my car and moved quickly to the hotel, letting doubt consume me as I contemplated on leaving. I was already packed, so I could just go, leave immediately without looking back. The reservations had been made, and I could use the time to get away for a few days. You know, get my shit together. However, I knew if I didn’t settle this shit that was going on, it would only be waiting for me when I returned.
I opened my hotel door and my eyes fell on Nora. I could feel my blood start to boil, because she wasn’t alone. The same man that I saw months ago with Ayana was sitting on the couch of my hotel room looking at me with a smirk on his face. He rose slowly and approached me as I closed my door.
“Mr. Mills,” he started to move towards me. However, I moved from him to the bar.
“It’s Dr. Mills,” I corrected.
I usually don’t do shit like that, but seeing this man in front of me has brought that feeling of arrogance to the forefront.
The man smiled. “I apologize, Dr. Mills. My name is Special Agent David Martins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I was hoping I could speak with you for a moment. It won’t take long, I assure you.” Martins pulled out his identification and showed it to me. I ignored it, paying attention to Nora instead.
“What the hell is this about?” I asked her.
Nora moved closer to me. “Brad, everyone was concerned about Ayana, including you. Agent Martins phoned me asking if he could talk to me about, you know, Agent Allen and my interaction with him. I just told him to come by here to ask his questions. I told him everything that was going on and he said he wanted to talk to you. I’m sure it won’t take very long, then we can go. I repacked your suitcase and a car will be here shortly to take us to the airport.”
I watched her for a moment longer, then turned and made myself a drink. Apparently, I was turning into my brother. Alcohol had become a close and dear friend of mine.
“Can I offer you a drink, Agent?” I asked turning quickly to see his response.
“Uh, no thank you,” Martins said shaking his head, as he sat back down on the couch. I should have joined both he and Nora on the couch, but I couldn’t get near that son of a bitch. Why in the hell did he wear so much damn cologne? Did this man bathe in it or something? Secondly, I didn’t trust the bastard.
I folded my arms, leaned against a wall behind me and took a sip of my Scotch. “So what can I do for you?”
Martins leaned forward slightly and looked over at me. “Well, your fiancée told me about what happened, but I was hoping to get some information from you.”
“Okay, what type of information do you want to know?”
Martins pulled out his notebook and pen, then queried. “First, how do you and Ms. Peters know each other?”
“We’ve known each other since we were kids. Special Agent Martins, I know for a fact Nora has given you all the details behind Ayana and me. Can you just get to what you really want to ask me?”
The cool façade he portrayed when I walked in faltered a little. He tried to smile, but I could tell it was forced. “Of course, Dr. Mills.”
My cell buzzed and I looked at it. It was my brother texting me that he and a FBI agent was coming to see me and Nora.
I texted back, “Already have one here named Martins.”
“Dr. Mills, who are texting?”
I answered quickly just as my brother texted back.
“My brother is on his way with news about Ayana, and I was just texting him back that I didn’t give a shit.”
Martins’ eyebrows rose and he said, “Speaking of your brother, did he mention how Ms. Peters is doing?”
“He didn’t say,” I responded, taking the rest of my Scotch back and moving to the bar.
“Well, what is your professional opinion? I understand you had to revive her?”
Martins moved closer to me. I poured my glass and faced him.
“Who told you I did that?” We stared at each other for a minute before I asked, as I brought the glass to my lips. “My brother doesn’t even know that and aren’t you two working together?”
The text my brother returned to me a minute ago, after I told him who was here with me said simply, “Martins is with me,” confirming my suspicions that this was Allen.
“Did you give her that bruise on her face? Did you rip her shirt like that?”
Allen studied me closely, and then tilted his head to the side.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I had nothing to do with any bruise or rip. She was perfectly fine when I left her. As a matter of fact, she was begging for more when I left.” He laughed, adding, “That’s some extraordinary pussy she has, wouldn’t you-”
I didn’t let another syllable leave Allen’s mouth. Just as he moved to the inside of his jacket, I threw the liquid from my glass in his face. He closed his eyes for just a second, taking his eyes off me, and that’s when I threw the glass I had in my hand at his forehead. The impact caused him to double back and just as he did, his hand pulled out the gun.
Years of training took over, and I went in first, hitting him in his wrist, snatching the gun and tossing it. Allen moved to grab me by my waist, but I had a knee ready for his face and I connected, feeling the cartilage and bone against my knee, until I heard that crunch for a second time tonight. The moment he came up clutching his face, I moved my body slightly to the side and kicked just above his knee, causing just enough pain for him to step back and make his hands instantly move from his face. That’s when I gave him my strongest right to his temple and he dropped.
My brother suddenly came crashing through the door with about four cops in plain clothes all pointing their guns at me. I stepped back from Allen’s body with my hands raised as Allen slowly started coming to. My brother watched me for a moment. I calmed down, I heard whimpering and sobbing both coming from inside the room. My eyes fell to Allen, who while getting cuffed and being read his rights, whimpered softly. Then they went to Nora, who was rocking back and forth crying holding herself with her eyes closed.
My brother appeared in front of me.
“Brad.” I gave him a head nod and he continued, “I asked if you were alright?”
I took a few deep breaths. “I’m fine.”
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
As I gave my brother the story of what happened, the man who cuffed Allen moved
toward me. He went to retrieve the weapon that I tossed and put it in the back of his pants.
My brother looked over at him. “Are we going to have a problem Martins?”
I looked at the man my brother called Martins and he watched me too. He then shook his head and looked at my brother. “Considering what Allen has been up to, bringing your brother in would only expose the mess. Consider this his one and only pass.”
My brother scoffed and shook his head. He looked back at me and said, “Listen, I need to get some paperwork done on this mess. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I nodded again and watched my brother move to Nora.
“I’m still debating if it’s even worth charging you for obstruction of justice or not. You’ve made a mess of this shit that’s for damn sure, so don’t think about leaving the city until I speak to you first.”
He nodded at me again, then walked out. When the door closed, Nora’s red eyes looked up at mine. If she expected to get an apology from me for what just happened she was in for a rude awakening.
*****
It took me a few hours to get to sleep, so I wasn’t surprised I felt like shit when I woke the next morning. The feeling of exhaustion felt worse than I had ever felt working double shifts at the hospital. I showered quickly and got dressed. I had to go through my bags again and repack before I was ready to check out of this place. The memories from this hotel was something that I would gladly leave here.
Nora walked past me with her bag. She turned to me and smiled softly. “So I’ll see you downstairs?”
My brother and his bosses decided not to charge Nora with tampering with their investigation. It was more hassle booking her over this shit than they wanted to spend. What he did warn her about was that the FBI might not be so forgiving.
“Yes, I’ll be there shortly.”
I looked around the room making sure I didn’t forget anything, and that the room was somewhat left the same way I entered.
Yeah, okay, who am I kidding? I’m walking around here trying to stall from leaving. Leaving this hotel room felt like a chapter in my life was ending. I didn’t know if the new one would be better than the old one, but we’ll see.