She let go of an unexpected sob that snuck up on her in the emotion of the moment. He let his eyes rest on hers and nuzzled her nose with his, kissing her so softly she wanted to hold onto him forever.
“I love you, Yan,” he whispered. “So much that I can’t breathe sometimes.”
“Shh. It’s okay, it’s okay,” she murmured. The message had thrown her for a loop, but it appeared to have devastated Jonathan.
Now she felt guilty for arguing with him. He did need to know about things like this. Why had she hesitated in calling him? It had hurt him, and she never wanted to do that. Not to this man.
Her thoughts along with his sensual and slow claiming of her brought her to the edge. Reaching the pinnacle together, they allowed the waves of love to crash over them and hold at bay the fear they both felt.
……
“So, just as Michael said a couple of weeks ago, you probably won’t be able to defeat an attacker with your physical strength, but you can defeat him with your mental strength. If that message really was from Robert, then you have the benefit of knowing your attacker. You know how he thinks, so use that to your advantage,” Emily said.
Ayanna and Emily had moved the big ottoman away from the front of the sofa to give them space to maneuver.
“When he attacked me, he wasn’t expecting me to fight back. I think I had the element of surprise on my side.”
“He also didn’t have a weapon last time. So let’s hope that if there is a next time, there’s no weapon again. We’re going to go over some moves anyway, just to be prepared.”
“This is so fuckin’ surreal,” Ayanna muttered.
“I know,” Em sighed.
“Did you contact your IT guy?”
“Yeah, he’s already on it. He was working on something else, so he said he’d call me when he got to it. I’ll keep you posted as soon as he gets back to me. So,” she took a breath to begin, “let’s get down to it.”
Em began her spiel. “If you search YouTube, you’ll find a million and one defense moves on how to get out of a gun or knife attack. Most of them show how men should do it, and require you to be strong and skillful. But again, you want to use your brains just as much as your skill. Unless the attacker tries to get you in a car, or tries to take you to another location, you should give them what they want, like if they just want your wallet or valuables. Nothing is worth your life and all of those things can be replaced.
“But if the attacker isn’t happy with just robbing you, and you sense he wants to hurt you or move you to another location, try everything in your power not to let him. You need to change your tactic. So, let’s look at if someone approaches you with a gun.”
Emily began to go through the thinking process of what a person on the receiving end of an attack should do. The first and most logical thing she said to do was to avoid the line of fire. She went through a series of moves in how to grab the wrist and the barrel, where the victim pivots out of the way.
“An attacker is usually aiming at your chest or your face. If it’s at your chest and you’re within arm’s distance, you can do the move I just showed you with grabbing the wrist and barrel. When you do, make sure you pivot out of the way then twist the gun away from you but toward the attacker. If it’s aimed at your face, you would duck, push your hands up under their wrists and twist the gun up and back, then pull down sharply which usually dislodges the weapon from their hands.”
Emily slowly rehearsed with her the two scenarios with her fake plastic gun that she brought. “When you twist the gun a certain way, you can break the finger of the attacker. Since their finger is on the trigger and you’re twisting the gun, it will usually trap their finger and at the very least cause a lot of pain.
“And don’t forget those soft targets,” she continued. “Kick to the groin whenever you can, claw at the face or eyes; always remember to go for those. Don’t be surprised if the gun goes off, just make sure you’re off to the side from the aim, or you’ve ducked if the attacker is pointing it at your face.”
“This all seems like it’s easier said than done,” Ayanna muttered.
“Of course it is. We all pray and hope that we’ll never be in these situations. But ya never know, right? I want to give you as much info as you can take without overloading you so you can do different combinations with these ideas.
“A great tactic to always use is to distract them. Often times, your hands will be up. Talk to them about how you’re scared, or how you don’t want them to hurt you, then at some point in the middle of your sentence, that’s when you make your move. They’re listening to your words and psychologically, they won’t think you’ll do anything until the end of your sentence. If you’re going to defend yourself, you should make your attack while you’re talking to them. In these instances you need to act quickly and decisively. Let’s go over some moves and scenarios.”
They did, for close to 25 minutes. They also went over strategies for knife attacks. After an hour, Ayanna was exhausted.
“It’s nuts that we have to learn all of this stuff. What the hell is wrong with our world that we have to worry about this shit?” Ayanna asked, shaking her head.
Just as they were finishing up, Em’s phone went off indicating a text message had just come in. She reached for it and scrolled through.
“It’s from Ollie, my IT guy,” she mumbled, reading his text. Then she looked up at Ayanna and said with a triumphant smile. “Got him.”
“It was from Robert?” Ayanna asked excitedly.
Emily was calling Ollie and held up her finger to hold off Ayanna’s questions.
“Hey, Ol. What did you find?” Em said into her cell.
Ayanna watched as Emily asked questions and murmured responses. She couldn’t believe it. She figured Robert sent the message, but she couldn’t believe he had sent it from a traceable computer. He had to be the biggest fucking idiot in the world. Was he really that stupid to use his own computer sending messages like that?
“Awesome. Thanks, Ol. I owe you big,” Em was saying. Then she rolled her eyes. “Let me check my calendar and get back to you...Yeah, okay. Later.” She looked at Ayanna and said, “Can’t someone just do a good deed for someone? I’m probably going to have go on a date with this guy,” she mumbled.
“Focus, woman! What happened?”
Emily got serious. “The email originated from a computer owned by a Roberto J. Rivera. Sound familiar?”
“Unbelievable,” Ayanna said, shaking her head in disbelief. “The guy has seriously lost it.”
“Yup. And things are about to get worse for him. Time to call the police.”
……
They called the precinct near the restaurant and talked to one of the officers who interviewed Ayanna after Robert’s attack. After Ayanna explained the message and forwarded it to the police, Emily got on the phone and explained how she was able to have the email traced back to Robert.
By that time, Jonathan was home and looking like he wanted to kill someone, pacing the floor and running his fingers through his hair continually. Ayanna walked over and took his hand, leading him to the sofa to sit so he would calm down.
The police had said they would pay a visit to Robert to ask him some questions, but they would need to verify through their own department the origin of the email first before they could pursue it more aggressively.
So they ordered pizza and waited. Ayanna called Ryann to give her a heads up, who said she was going to call Michael to get his thoughts on the matter. Eventually Emily went home, but by the end of the evening, the entire crew of friends knew about the situation and was waiting on tenterhooks for the results.
The results came a little after nine that night with two police officers arriving at the apartment asking to see Ayanna. By the time they’d left, both Ayanna and Jonathan were in a state of shock, hearing from the police that when they had arrived to Robert’s place to question him, they had found him dead with a bullet to the head in an apparent suici
de.
“I can’t believe he killed himself,” Ayanna whispered furiously after the police had left. “God, Jon. My charges set all of this into motion. Shit.”
He grabbed her face and forced her to look up at him. “Don’t you dare blame yourself for this, Ayanna. When people commit suicide, that’s their choice. It may be a really sad one, but it’s still their choice. We know he had financial difficulties and marital problems. This was his choice, Yan. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“But still. Why the fuck would he send me a message like that, then kill himself?”
“I’m sure the cops are asking the same questions. You’re right that it doesn’t make sense, but he was obviously unstable, baby. Who can predict the behavior of a person like that?”
“Yeah,” she said, deep in thought. “His poor wife.”
“No doubt. She left him, right?”
“That’s what Catherine said.”
“This whole situation is sad.” He cupped her face with his hand. “What do you want to do tonight, babe? Do you want me to draw you a bath? Give you a massage? What can I do? I hate seeing you like this.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist. She felt kind of lost. The thought of Robert killing himself, and knowing that she helped put the wheels in motion leading to his downfall made her feel a little off.
He kissed the top of her head, rubbing at her hair. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too. I need to make some phone calls, like to Ryann and Catherine. Ryann can update the gang for me, but I should really let Catherine know what’s going on.” She looked up at him. “You don’t have to stay if you have stuff to do.”
But God, did she want him to stay. She was feeling weepy and whiny and needed to lose herself in him, even though she knew she wouldn’t be much fun to be around.
He furrowed his brow and stroked her cheek.
“Even if I had stuff to do, I wouldn’t leave, Yan. You’re more important to me than anything I might have to do.” He stroked her cheek again. “I’m not leaving you.”
Her breath hitched. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Normally I would say fuck it, but that whole self-reflection thing really screwed with my brain and has turned me into a sniveling mess.”
“Not a sniveling mess. A woman who has a heart and feels bad for a man who felt there was no other way to deal with his problems. I think it’s appropriate to be sad about this, Yan. And no one expects you to be the Rock of Gibraltar all of the time, okay?”
They looked at each other for another moment, and she finally closed her eyes and leaned into him again, resting her head on his chest.
“Come on. I’m taking you up to my place. I have a nice big bathtub, so grab a couple of things, make your calls, and I’ll get a bath ready for you. Let me take care of you tonight, baby.”
He started to walk her toward her bedroom to get her things, but she stopped him by holding onto his hand. He looked back questioningly.
“I’ve never had a man take care of me like this before,” she whispered. “It’s such a foreign feeling that I almost don’t know how to react. But,” she swallowed, “you should know that I have never loved you more than I do right now. You are truly the best man I know, Jon,” she finished, tears gathering in her eyes.
He walked back to her, swung her up in his arms and settled them on the sofa so he could hold her.
“And you should know,” he began as he nuzzled at her neck, his arms wrapped tightly around her, “that there is no other woman in the world I would rather love or take care of more than you.”
Ayanna sat in his lap with his arms securely around her. She touched and nuzzled, finding solace in his comforting embrace. They stayed like that for several minutes, while Ayanna tried to process the mixture of emotions she felt of sadness, but safety now that Robert posed no threat. Eventually, they got up and Jonathan took her home to his place.
Chapter 20
The busyness of the next two days helped to distract Ayanna from the reality of the tragic weekend. She and Janie had a two day event they needed to prep for on Monday then run on Tuesday. Jonathan had multiple client appointments and was also preparing for the school year to resume in two weeks.
While prepping the food for the enormous bridal shower luncheon they were cooking for the next day, Ayanna and Janie talked about Robert, and Ayanna’s feelings about the tragedy.
“You have nothing to feel guilty about, Yan.”
“Jon says the same thing.”
“Well, he’s right. I can imagine it wasn’t easy to hear though. But still, you did everything right in that situation.”
“Thanks for saying that. So speaking of Robert, you know how I told you my friend Catherine bought him out?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, the soft opening of Chez Catherine’s is next Wednesday. Do you wanna go?” Ayanna asked.
“Absolutely! We don’t have anything on the schedule next week. Nice! That’ll be fun. And we have the art show at the Institute the Friday right after that.” She sighed. “It’ll be nice to have the weekend off, won’t it?” She waited a moment then said, “I’m thinking I’ll ask Detective Fernandez to come to the art showing. Whattaya think?”
“Well, well, well. What’s going on there?” Ayanna wiggled her eyebrows.
“We haven’t gone out yet. Both of our schedules have been crazy. When I have time off he’s working. We’ve talked a couple of times on the phone, though.”
“And?”
Janie sighed. “And what, Yan? Spit it out?”
“Any chemistry there?”
“Yeah,” Janie said, but she sounded like she wasn’t sure.
“Have you given up on Mr. Daniels?”
She put her knife down and stopped chopping vegetables. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give up on Mr. Daniels.” She muttered, “It’s so pathetic.”
“Well, just for the record, I absolutely 100% believe that he has the hots for you.”
“Yeah, yeah. You said that last week. First of all, I don’t believe you, and second of all, it doesn’t matter one shit if he doesn’t do anything about it. The idiot,” she grumbled.
“Girl, you totally had him all flustered that night. You should’ve seen him when you were in the bathroom, asking how often you were having sex. It was priceless. I promise you. I can read men. He has the hots for you and doesn’t know what the hell to do about it.”
Janie was biting on her lip, her eyes lit up with what could only be described as hope.
“You know what I think you should do? I think you should ask Fernandez if he wants to go to the art showing. If he says yes, then great. You can make Lucasito jealous and flaunt your stuff. Something tells me Fernandez won’t mind. He strikes me as someone just looking for a good time anyway. And if Fernandez can’t attend, then you just use that opportunity to make another move on Luke. It’s a win-win.”
“I am woefully no match for you, Yan. You just know how to work men.”
“Oh, puhleeze. You know how to work men, too. Don’t play that game with me. You had Luke running in circles that night, and you knew exactly what you were doing,” Ayanna chuckled.
Janie’s eyes twinkled.
“Ryann on the other hand can’t flirt for shit,” she muttered with a shake of the head. “She was hopeless before Jeremy. I’m so glad he snagged her.”
“He snagged her alright. There is no way that girl is getting away from him.”
“I’m pretty sure she’s fine with that,” she laughed.
They finished up their prep and Ayanna headed home around dinner time. When she got to the apartment and walked in, there were candles lit on the end tables and dining table, with a nice bluesy mix of music playing on the iPod.
Ayanna let the door close quietly behind her, and leaned back against it with a smile on her face.
“Hello?” she said in a sing songy voice.
>
Jonathan peeked his head around the corner of the kitchen and said, “You’re so quiet. I didn’t even hear you come in.” He walked up to her, a towel over his shoulder.
She looked at it with an eyebrow raised. “Whatchya doin’, JBG?”
“Cookin’ for my woman,” he said pounding his chest.
“So fuckin’ cute,” she chuckled, then leaned up on her toes to kiss him. She loved this man. “What did you make me, Mr. White?”
“Comfort food. After yesterday, I thought you could use some.”
She smiled poignantly at him and touched his face. “Perfect. What’s on the menu?”
“Well, keeping in mind my lack of culinary prowess, I went with a simple childhood favorite. My mom’s homemade baked mac and cheese with some kielbasa. Not the healthiest dish, but definitely comforting which is the goal tonight. All gotten from the market you like that supports the local farms.”
She cocked her head. “Nicely done, Mr. White. I might even share my private stash of Oreos with you for dessert.”
She smiled and began to toss her purse to the floor, but not before he stopped her by putting his hand on the door next to her face. She looked at him with a question in her eyes, knowing she had him just where she wanted him.
“You have Oreos?”
“Oh, I have Oreos, baby. And they are crunchy on the outside, and sweet and creamy on the inside.” She licked her lips. “Just the way you like ’em.”
“I might need one to tide me over ‘til dinner.”
“You sure, JBG?” she asked, patting his cheek.
“Where are they?”
“That’s for me to know, and you to find out,” she said smartly.
“What are you, eleven?”
“Ooh, I wouldn’t be so snarky if you want me to get you one, buddy.”
Before the words finished leaving her mouth, he grabbed her ribcage and began tickling her.
“Jon!” she yelped. “You’re gonna give Mrs. Holland a heart attack,” she said with bouts of laughter. “I’m serious!” she whispered dramatically, “because if I scream…”
“Then you better be quiet, sweetheart,” he smiled, his fingers relentless. She giggled uncontrollably trying to fight off his hands and tickle him back, batting his hands away but he was too strong.
Redemption (Iris Series) Page 30