by S. J. West
What made me worry even more than Leroy’s sense of style was the fact he brought along one of his friends who looked just like him. I didn’t like the fact Tara was out numbered two to one.
“That’s her boyfriend?” Malik asked incredulously, apparently having thoughts along the same line as me.
“Not her boyfriend, per se. It’s their first date and hopefully their last if I have anything to say about it,” I grumbled, wanting to go grab Tara and stand her safely by my side.
“She could do better,” Malik said as a matter of fact, trying to take his eyes off of Tara and Leroy as they progressed to their next hole.
For the next few holes, neither Malik nor I could stop looking after Tara. He completely forgot about his competition with Brand and ended up missing more holes than he made. The more I watched Leroy and his friend leer at Tara behind her back as she played the more I wanted to just go over and smack them upside their heads.
On our sixteenth hole, Tara was lining up to shoot her ball over the bridge through the castle doors and Malik was preparing to shoot his into the kings crown when we both saw Leroy make a completely inappropriate sexual gesture in Tara’s direction with his hips causing his friend to burst out in laughter.
I was sure what happened next would be hotly debated in the years to come. Was it an accident or did Malik intentionally ricochet his ball off the king’s crown causing it to hit a tower of the castle which propelled it into Leroy’s forehead hard enough for us to hear a distinct ‘crack’.
“Sorry,” Malik called to them sounding sincere, waving an apologetic hand in the air. “My hand slipped.”
Leroy picked up Malik’s ball and threw it back at him as hard as he could. Malik ducked but the ball ended up hitting a small girl of about ten behind us on the leg.
“Is she ok?” Malik asked the mother of the girl.
“She’ll be fine,” the mother replied rubbing the spot in her daughter’s calf trying to alleviate the sting of the ball. It would probably leave a bruise but nothing more.
Malik quickly jumped over the two hip high brick walls between him and Leroy.
“Listen man, I said I was sorry. You could have hurt someone with that little stunt of yours.”
“Oh yeah? Come on, punk,” Leroy said, putting on a show of bravery, bouncing around like he was Rocky Balboa with his hands fisted. “Let’s go.”
“Are you serious?” Malik said trying to hold in his laughter at Leroy’s preposterous stance. Seeing that Leroy was indeed serious, Malik’s demeanor hardened. “Listen, there’s no way you would win a fight with me. It would be in your best interest to stop acting like a fool.”
Leroy swung one of his fists at Malik. Malik caught it in mid-air and held it. He used it to twist Leroy’s arm around his back and hold him in what I could only assume to be a painful position.
“That’s enough,” Malik scolded him. “Now either you and your friend leave walking out of here on your own two feet or wheeled out of here on stretchers when I get through with you. Take your pick.”
Malik pushed Leroy away from him into his gawking friend’s arms.
“Whatever man,” Leroy said puffing out his chest trying to act like leaving was his idea and not the better of the two options Malik just gave him. “Come on, let’s go,” he said to Tara.
“Have you lost your mind?” She said to him walking over to stand by Malik. “I’ll have my friends take me home. I’ve had about enough of you acting the town idiot for one night.”
“Whatever,” Leroy said giving Malik a disgusted look before he turned to leave; trying to walk out cool with some sort of shuffling gate which made me wonder if he wasn’t just mentally disabled but physically too.
Our fun game of golf completely forgotten now, Brand and I skipped the remaining holes and walked over to Tara and Malik.
“Sorry if I ruined your date,” I heard Malik say to Tara.
“I wasn’t having fun with them anyway,” Tara replied. “They were acting like they were thirteen year olds.”
“Ok, I’m making an official rule,” I told Tara. “The next guy you go out with has to be approved by me.”
“Are you serious?” Tara asked completely caught off guard by my declaration.
“Yes, I’m serious. Maybe if I give them the interrogation you gave Brand before we went out, we can weed out losers like that.”
Tara rolled her eyes at me. “Girl, you’re crazy.”
“No, just trying to prevent anymore Leroy’s and Simon’s.”
“Who’s Simon?” Malik asked.
“That’s a long story,” I said. “Let’s head back to your apartment for that dessert you promised first. Tara can tell you about him if she wants.”
Tara sat up front with Malik while Brand and I found a cozy spot together in the backseat.
“So who’s Simon?” I heard Malik ask Tara as we pulled out onto the highway.
After that, I completely lost track of their conversation. Brand had one arm around my shoulders hugging me close to him and his other hand on my thigh slowly rubbing a warm path back and forth between my hip and knee.
He leaned down and breathed into my ear, “I love you,” while tugging lightly on my earlobe with his teeth and lips.
I turned to face him. Even in the dim light spilling into the car from the streetlights on the highway, I could see Brand’s thoughts were running along the same line as my own. I restrained myself from just falling against him and making out with him in the back of Malik’s car like any other girl my age would with her boyfriend. I forced myself to tune back into the conversation Tara and Malik were having to get my mind off of just phasing Brand and I back to his house so we could be alone.
I heard Tara tell Malik about her relationship with Simon and why it had ended.
“Lilly might be right,” Malik said. “Maybe another set of eyes on the next man you date would be better for you.”
“Maybe,” Tara shrugged.
“She won’t have a choice,” I called from the backseat, desperately trying to ignore the warmth of Brand’s hand as it continued along its path against my leg.
“You don’t have to worry about me going out with anybody for a while,” Tara told me over her shoulder. “I’m swearing off men. All they do is get me crazy.”
“Well since you’ll have some free time,” Malik said. “Could I talk you into showing me around the area tomorrow? I haven’t been much further than my front door.”
“Sure,” Tara said. “I could do that.”
I was pretty sure Malik had just hid a date behind something which sounded innocuous, but it didn’t feel appropriate to point that fact out to Tara right in front of him.
When we got to Malik’s apartment, Brand’s small play at seduction on the ride back had me ready to take him home and ravish him until the sun came up the next morning or I passed out from exhaustion, which ever came first. But, I tried to keep Tara in the forefront of my mind to keep me sober from the intoxication I was feeling from Brand’s attention.
Malik had made an apple cobbler for desert and served it ala mode. He dug out a deck of cards and invited us to play a game of gin rummy. It wasn’t something I wanted to do but couldn’t think of a polite way to say ‘No, thanks. I’d rather go home and make out with my fiancé if you don’t mind.’
So, we played gin rummy. At least Tara was having a good time. She won most of the hands. After the fifth hand, I excused myself and went to use Malik’s bathroom. When I walked out, I felt someone grab one of my wrists. Before I knew it, Brand had me pinned up against the wall of the hallway kissing me just like he did when he helped me learn how to focus my attention and energy to phase on my own.
When he finally let me breathe, he looked around us.
“Hmm,” he sounded disappointed. “I was hoping you might phase us back home.” He started to nibble the tender flesh at the base of my neck making it almost impossible for me to think much less speak.
“We can’t just leav
e Tara,” I whispered, trying my hardest to keep myself from phasing.
“Couldn’t you say you have a headache or something?” He begged. “So we can leave.”
“I’m not going to lie.” I put my hands on either side of his head and pulled his lips to mine, kissing him so he wouldn’t have any doubts that I desperately wanted to be alone with him too. “I’ll just ask if she wants to leave.”
Brand and I finally untangled ourselves and walked back out to where Malik and Tara were still playing cards. When I asked Tara if she was ready to leave she just waved me off.
“Y’all go on. Malik said he’d take me home.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, not feeling comfortable leaving her with a veritable stranger.
“I’ll see her home safely,” Malik promised. “You have my word as your godfather.”
“Besides,” Tara looked up at Brand and me with a knowing smile. “Y’all looked like you could use some alone time from what I just saw in the hallway a minute ago.” To which she started making kissing noises causing both Brand and I to blush profusely from being caught.
“Well,” Brand said, trying not to look too embarrassed but hopelessly looking completely flustered. “On that note, I think we’ll be saying goodnight.”
As Brand and I left Malik’s apartment hand in hand, I got the same feeling I had earlier in the evening. Someone was definitely watching me. Brand opened the passenger door of his Porsche for me. Just as I was about to get in, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I quickly looked behind me and saw a man standing in front of the line of trees at the back of the apartment complex. It was dark but I could see who it was by the light cast from the apartments around us. It was Robert.
“What’s wrong?” Brand asked, following my eyes to the now empty tree line.
Had he been there or had I just imagined it? Since seeing Robert again wasn’t something I would want to ever imagine, I had to assume he had actually been there.
I looked up and down the tree line searching for him. I felt a hand land on my shoulder and jumped.
“Lilly,” Brand said worried about my reaction to his touch. “What’s wrong?”
“Take me home,” I said unable to keep the fear out of my voice.
Before I knew it, we were standing in Brand’s driveway. He closed the door of his car and phased us to his living room. I sat down on the couch facing the fireplace and tried to control my trembling.
Brand put his arms around me trying to comfort me but all I could see in my head was Robert laying on top of me trying to force himself on me in that dank little prison cell Justin had kept me in.
I quickly stood up leaving Brand’s arms empty and him confused sitting on the couch.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Please, don’t touch me right now. I don’t want to associate anything about you with him.”
“Who Lilly?” Brand asked, desperately wanting to understand what was wrong with me.
How could I tell him? I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, not even Tara. I had hoped to just forget about it and pretend it never happened, but I couldn’t. It was too fresh in my memory to just become one of the forgotten scenes of my past. Seeing Robert again brought my fear back to the surface even though I had buried it as far as I could in my subconscious. How could I tell Brand what had almost happened with Robert?
I supposed one reason I hadn’t told him before now was because I felt ashamed, like I should have been able to fight harder to keep him from almost raping me. I knew that was foolish. I knew I had done all I could at the time to keep it from happening, but that didn’t stop me from wondering if maybe there had been something else I could have done to stop it. Why hadn’t that experience triggered my phasing capability? I was lucky Justin had come back in time to pull Robert off of me.
“Please, Lilly,” I could hear the fear and worry in Brand’s voice. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
I slowly sat back down beside Brand. I could tell he wanted to put his arms around me but was preventing himself from doing something so natural. It was time he knew. I couldn’t lie to him and I didn’t want to.
“When Justin had me,” I began, “there was another Watcher who was helping him.”
“What was his name?”
“Robert.”
I saw Brand’s hands tighten into fist involuntarily. “Did he do anything to you?”
The deadly tone in his voice forced me to look at him. He already knew something had happened or I wouldn’t be acting so strangely. There wasn’t any going back now.
“Justin had Robert bring me my food while I was there. He was concerned Malcolm might not trust him when he said he didn’t know where I was and try to follow him when he phased. Right before I was supposed to meet the person who wanted Justin to kill me, Robert came to the room and tried to…” I couldn’t say it. The words simply wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
“You don’t have to say anything else,” Brand told me. “I can imagine what he tried to do. It wouldn’t be the first time. Lilly, did he…”
I looked at Brand and saw the pain on his face from just thinking about what he wanted to ask.
“No,” I said, answering his unasked question. “Justin came back in time and stopped him.”
Brand let out a sigh of relief. He held his hands fisted. I could tell he wanted to hit something and hug me all at the same time.
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” He asked.
I shook my head unable to stop the tears from falling. “I felt ashamed. I didn’t want you to know.”
“Lilly,” the love and understanding as he said my name made me start to cry even harder. I felt his arms go around me. I put my arms around him as tight as I could, sobbing into his chest telling him I was sorry.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” he whispered. “I just wish you had told me sooner so I could help you work through it. You don’t need to hide things from me.”
“I wasn’t just hiding it from you,” I cried. “I’ve been trying to hide it from myself too. I didn’t want to think about it.”
I’m not sure how long we sat there. Brand held me until I couldn’t cry anymore. It felt good to finally share my ordeal concerning Robert with him. I hadn’t meant to keep it a secret. I just didn’t want to dwell on something which would cause me pain when I had someone like Brand who only wanted to bring happiness into my life.
When I finally pulled away from Brand to sit up and wipe the tears from my face, I looked at him and winced inwardly. He looked like he wanted to kill someone. I assumed that someone was Robert.
“You’re not going to do anything are you?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine what Brand would do to Robert if he ever saw him. His reaction to Malcolm for seeing me naked stepping out of the shower was nothing to the look on his face at the moment.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” he said in an ominous tone. “Just know that I love you and I will protect you. Did you see Robert tonight? Was he at Malik’s?”
I nodded my head. “He was standing by the trees when we were leaving, watching us.”
Brand pulled out his cell phone and called someone.
“Get over here,” he ordered. “We need to talk.”
Before I knew it, there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” Brand called.
Malcolm strolled in wearing only a pair of red silk pajama pants.
“I really don’t appreciated being summoned,” Malcolm said as he stepped into the house. His anger quickly dissipated as soon as he saw my tear stained face.
“What happened?” He rushed over to me and took me in his arms. “Are you all right, dearest?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” I said pulling away from Malcolm’s embrace as gently as I could without hurting his feelings.
“No, she isn’t fine.” Brand went on to tell Malcolm what I had just revealed to him and that Robert was apparently stalking me.
If there was one thing Brand and Malcolm had in comm
on, it was their protectiveness over me. Malcolm’s mood became as dark as Brand’s after learning what Robert tried to do while I was being held captive. I almost pitied Robert if the two of them ever found out where he was.
“Can you find him?” Brand asked.
“I haven’t seen him for quite a while. Not since Justin disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” I asked. This was the first I had heard this news.
“I tried to find him after you returned and told us what happened,” Malcolm said. “But no one has seen him. Since he can’t be found, the others chose Robert to take his place as leader of the Watchers, at least my side of Watchers.”
“How hard will it be to get to him?” Brand asked.
“We’ll have to find him first. I’ll ask around and see what I can ferret out.”
“When you locate him, let me know.”
“I just want to forget about him,” I said, desperately hoping we could just leave the past behind us. I didn’t want a constant reminder of Robert.
“I’m afraid that won’t be an option,” Brand told me. “Even if I were to let what he did slide, which I won’t, but even if I did, he seems to have taken Justin’s place and we have to assume whoever it is trying to kill you has Robert working for him now. You heard what Faust said. The person behind everything is trying to find alternative ways to kill you. We have to assume Robert is waiting for his chance.”
“And you can’t possibly think we would just let him go unpunished for what he did to you, dearest. It’s not our nature.”
I sat back on the couch with a heavy sigh. “I just want this all to be over.” One way or the other, I thought but didn’t dare say to the two beside me.
Malcolm told us he would contact us if and when he found Robert’s location. After he left, Brand lead me upstairs. We lay on his bed together cradled in each others arms without saying a word for the rest of the night. I fell asleep at some point still wondering what Robert had planned for me.