Love Me Deadly

by Linda Verji

  Reggie padded back into the house and to the guestroom. Brooklyn might be harmless asleep but he didn’t know how long that would last, so he locked the door behind him and kept the key in the lock so he’d hear it fall in case she had the skills to jimmy the lock.

  Once he was sure he was safe – or as safe as he could be – he dialed Nico’s number. His friend picked up within two rings. Sounding groggy, he barked, “You better be bleeding on the side of the road somewhere with twenty gunshots to be calling me at this time.”

  “Things just got honky,” Reggie said. That’s all it took to wake Nico up.

  Nico didn’t seem surprised to learn that Brooklyn had broken into Reggie’s home. “Is she still there?”

  “Yeah.” Reggie nodded. “I found her asleep in my bed.”

  “Please tell me you’re not in there with her.”

  “Do I look stupid?” Reggie passed his hand over his head in frustration. “What is up with her? It’s like she’s crazy or something.” There was a long pregnant pause on Nico’s end which prompted Reggie to push, “Just tell me what you know about her.”

  “I can’t. This is confidential-”

  “Fuck confidential,” Reggie snapped. “I can’t protect myself from something I don’t know – and obviously she’s dangerous otherwise you wouldn’t have told me to be careful.”

  “Reggie-”

  “No, seriously,” Reggie cut him off. “This woman is living with my girlfriend and my sister – your girlfriend, and you don’t think that’s enough to trump any confidentiality card?”

  “I’ve been trying to get Kendra to make her move out.” The frustration was evident in Nico’s voice as he added, “Your sister doesn’t listen.”

  “Tell me.”

  Nico sighed loudly. “What I’m about to tell you is not a matter of public record. You can’t tell anyone else.”

  Unexpected hope bloomed and Reggie assured, “I won’t.”

  “I’m serious Reggie.” His voice lowered a notch. “If anyone found out I told you, I could lose my job.”

  “I said I won’t tell.”

  “Okay.” Nico grunted. “Are you seated?”

  It was a good thing he’d asked because no doubt Reggie’s legs would’ve buckled underneath him in shock. Everything they knew about Brooklyn was blanketed in lies.

  Her real name wasn’t even Brooklyn Davis. According to her sealed records, she was born Tanisha Weatherly. Tanisha had been born in Boston to Liza and Sean Weatherly, only Sean wasn’t her real father. Tanisha was the product of an affair between Liza and a local police officer. When she was seven, her mother had skipped town with said police-officer, leaving Tanisha in the hands of her bitter step-father, Sean.

  Tanisha was already withdrawn, but with her mother’s exit she became a virtual ghost. A few people noticed her sudden fear of the boys around the neighborhood, how she flinched from any close contact, the marks on her body quickly hidden away whenever spotted…but everyone pretended not to see.

  When she was twelve, their house burned down with her father inside.

  “Fire investigators determined it was arson,” Nico said.

  “You think she lit him up?” Reggie asked.

  “The boys in BPD certainly suspected it,” Nico said, “but no one was particularly eager to pin it on her especially after she told the social workers about the abuse.”

  “Damn!”

  “She got into foster care.” Nico dragged out the words like he was rethinking the wisdom of having this conversation. After a sigh, he said, “She wasn’t a troublesome kid but like most kids her age, she got shifted between several homes…”

  When she was fourteen, she’d found a home with a seemingly good family. For about a year, everything was okay with the family’s only complaint being that she was always trying to look and be like her foster mother. But then everything blew up when another foster kid in the home claimed that Brooklyn was sleeping with the man of the house.

  Nico continued, “…the guy claimed Brooklyn seduced him, and his wife backed him up.”

  “Fucking perverts.”

  “Don’t be so quick to judge,” Nico said. “There might have been some truth to their words. Brooklyn sent pictures, messages…that sort of thing.”

  Reggie was struck speechless.

  “He got four years for statutory rape and Brooklyn moved homes,” Nico continued. “She was smart enough to get into SDSU for computer engineering after high school, so she moved out here and changed her name.”

  Reggie supposed that was how she’d ended up as Kendra’s roommate. “She was probably looking for a fresh start with the name change thing.”

  “You’re both wrong and right,” Nico said. “She was looking for a fresh start all right. But not as herself.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “She kind of took on the identity of an SDSU student she was stalking.”

  Reggie frowned into the phone. “What?”

  “Yup.” Nico said. “You know Senator Davis?”

  “Yeah.”

  “His daughter,” Nico clarified. “Your Brooklyn had been sending the real Brooklyn Davis fan mail even before she got out of Boston. Saying how they were the same, that her father was a senator too and that they were meant to be friends. It came to a head when she moved to San Diego and enrolled in the same college as her. The Davis’s took out a restraining order on Brooklyn and moved their daughter from SDSU. The university ordered Brooklyn into therapy if she wanted to keep her scholarship, changed her room and that’s how Kendra got saddled with her.”

  Reggie couldn’t even wrap his head around the fact that Brooklyn had been rooming with Kendra all that time and they’d never even gotten a whiff that she was missing a few marbles. To make matters worse, the other two girls had invited her into their shared apartment, unknowingly stoking her sickness.

  “Do you think she’s fixated on Erica now?”

  “I wasn’t sure before but now I am.”

  Reggie uttered an expletive. He hadn’t expected it to be this bad. Brooklyn had already set her father on fire, sent her foster father to prison, forced the real Brooklyn to run, killed Quin…who knew what she’d do next. He asked, “Why the hell would you keep this to yourself?”

  “Because those records are sealed,” Nico defended. “And I’ve begged your sister a thousand times to get that girl out of their house but she’s not listening.”

  “Kendra knows.”

  “Of course,” Nico said, unable to prevent the frustration from seeping into his tone. “But she claims that Brooklyn deserves a second chance, she was just a kid when that stuff happened and she’s been to therapy. Her past should stay in the past.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Reggie said.

  “That’s what I said,” Nico agreed. “And she doesn’t want to tell Erica because she knows Erica will kick Brooklyn out even though she’s pregnant.”

  Kendra was right about that. Erica would definitely give Brooklyn the boot. She wasn’t the kind of woman to suffer betrayal gladly. But as much as Reggie empathized with Brooklyn’s situation there was no way he was leaving his woman in that sort of danger. “I’m sorry dude. Erica’s got to know.”

  Nico sighed deeply. “I can’t stop you, can I?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, fine.” Nico added, “but get Brooklyn out of your house.”

  “Soon as the sun is up,” Reggie reassured him before ending the phone call.

  It was now nearing three a.m. and as much as he wanted to warn Erica about Brooklyn, he didn’t see the point of waking her up right now. It was too early and Brooklyn was in his house anyway so there was no possible way for her to attack Erica - at least not tonight. He made up the guest bed then settled in.

  Feeling like a prisoner in his own home, he slipped into restless sleep.

  Minutes or hours later, incessant ringing pierced his sleep-muddled subconscious yanking him out of sleep. Brr. Brr. Squinting to minimize the sting
of morning-light’s rays, Reggie stumbled out of the bed, taking the time to right his shorts before heading to the door. He stepped out to the hallway in time to catch Brooklyn striding towards it wearing only one of his t-shirts.

  “Brooklyn,” he called out just as she snapped open the lock on his door and pulled it open to reveal Erica standing at his doorstep.

  CHAPTER 19

  For a moment Erica was held immobile by forces beyond her control. Her feet seemed rooted to the spot as she stared at Brooklyn in a thigh-high t-shirt holding the door open – holding Reggie’s door open.

  Erica’s throat closed up. She couldn’t breathe. Her pulse seemed to slow down as if she’d started to die inside. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noticed Brooklyn’s eyes widen in fear and the younger woman taking several steps back before dashing into the house. She noticed Reggie moving towards the door, his lips moving but she couldn’t hear a single word he was saying, only the ones playing in her mind.

  This isn’t happening.

  This isn’t happening.

  Not again!

  A sense of déjà vu washed over her. It was almost as if she was replaying a movie she’d already watched. Only this time, her emotions were magnified ten times as much. Reggie’s betrayal cut far worse than Quin’s. It sliced through her like a knife sharpened with deceit and coated with hurt sending pain threading through her in thick waves.

  “Erica, it’s not what you think.” His words finally penetrated her stunned daze as he edged closer. The sudden burst of sound awakened her from her hypnotized state and spurred her into action. Tears welling up in the back of her eyes, she backed away from the door – from him. Then she turned and started to run.

  “Erica.” He shouted her name as she sprinted down the first flight of stairs. She heard his footsteps rush behind hers. Eager to get as far away as possible from him she didn’t watch her feet as well as she should’ve. She turned the corner into the next set of steps too fast and slipped on the concrete.

  Bam! She went down knees first.

  “Baby, are you okay?” Fingers grabbed her upper arm and pulled her up. She spun around, her hand already closed in a fist and moving towards him.

  The tote-bag hanging from that arm was heavy enough that it slowed her down giving Reggie enough time to grab her fist before it met his face. He pushed her arm behind her back. Undeterred, she shot her other arm forward but he was ready for this one too and grabbed it before she could do any damage. “Baby, stop.”

  Stop for what? To think that she’d come here to apologize for how she’d run out on him, and to let him know that she might be ready to try for something more than friends with benefits. What a fool she’d been. Ignoring the tears that now streamed down her cheeks, she lifted her knee. But before it met his groin, he backed her against the wall.

  “It’s not what you think,” he breathed into her ear but she didn’t want to hear it. She bucked and twisted like a mad woman until her bag fell to the ground with a loud thump. Her strength was no match for his and he held her put with his weight. “She broke into my ho-”

  His words broke when she arched in an attempt to throw him off and in the process got one wrist free. She knocked the side of his head with the heel of hand with enough force to make his head snap back. When he looked back at her, his brown eyes were alive with temper.

  “Erica, stop it,” he bit between his teeth as he grabbed her wrist and forced it above her head. She bucked again angrily as, her eyes shot sparks at him. For a while neither of them spoke then his own gaze softened and he lowered his head.

  Oh hell no! This fool was not about to kiss her.

  Yes he was. He found her mouth open in intended protest when he brought his down over it and immediately suckled on her lower lip. He really thought he was going to subdue her like that? He was out of his damn mind.

  She returned his suckle with a hard nip of her teeth on his bottom lip.

  “Shit!” Reggie swore as he jerked his head away from her. His lip was already bleeding where her teeth had cut into it. His tongue darted out to lick the blood as he stared at her. By the fire brewing there it was obvious that the thin hold he had on his temper had snapped and for a moment Erica thought he might hit her.

  Just try. Fright, anger and hurt mingled in the hard glare she sent his way.

  He didn’t hit her. Instead he took a deep breath and the fire in his eyes visibly cooled.

  “I would never hurt you like that.” His voice was as soothing as that of a jockey calming a skittish filly. When he released the hand he still held behind her, she should’ve tried to run again but she couldn’t. She was held immobile by his stare and his words. He reached between them to brush his fingers over her wet cheeks.

  “I would never hurt you like that,” he repeated. “Never, ever!”

  But he’d done it, she thought but didn’t say.

  He released her other hand and slipped his hand behind her head while the other cradled her waist. She fit her arms between them and tried to shove him away but he wouldn’t let her go. He held her as if he never wanted to let her go. He pressed his forehead to hers. “Never. Ever.”

  She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe him so bad her heart ached but her mind revolted at the idea. Then what the hell was Brooklyn doing in his house, her unsaid thoughts swirled between them as her angry gaze met his.

  Reading her mind, he said, “She broke into my house last night. I went to get a glass of water when I came back she was on my bed.. I called a cab for her but she was asleep by the time it came so I slept in the guestroom. Alone.”

  Erica tried to push him away again but her efforts were weaker this time. Her gaze slid away from his as her tears fell faster wetting his t-shirt. Stroking the nape of her neck and soothing his hand over her back, “I would never do that to you, baby.”

  And despite herself, as his onslaught of words continued, her body rest against his. Her hands fisted over his t-shirt as she buried her face into his chest. He soothed her with his words and hands.

  She heard footsteps rush past them but didn’t lift her head until she’d managed to quell when her tears. When she did, Reggie met her with a deep soul-drinking kiss. Erica didn’t resist. Kissing him back seemed the most natural thing in the world. Some part of her still doubted him, but the part of her that had already fallen for her quieted it.

  The weight of his hand felt good on her waist, possessive, and her own crept up to his face, cradling his whisker-roughened cheek as they kissed. His kiss was reassuring, pleading, saying what his words could not. She accepted it and when he finally ended it, she was ready to listen. He laced their fingers, picked up her bag and led up the stairs to his apartment.

  Reggie felt like his emotions had been rubbed raw and grated through the roughest of tests. Seeing Erica standing at the door staring at Brooklyn with horror etched all over her beautiful features, he’d seen the end of whatever it is they had. He’d gone into panic mode. Don’t let her leave.

  He didn’t know where the words or actions to convince her to stay had come from. His only thought was that if he let her go, he’d never get her back. The thought of that was enough to constrict his throat and strangle his breath. He took his first easy breath as he closed the door behind them.

  Erica’s tear-reddened gaze scanned the house and he answered her unasked question, “She ran while we were on the stairs.”

  Erica nodded in acknowledgement. He wanted nothing more than to hold her but remembering her fall down the stairs, he set her bag on the couch then said, “Let’s go check your knees.”

  She followed him submissively to his bedroom but when he tried to guide her to the unmade bed, she grimaced and backed away. “Sorry.” He led her to the bathroom instead.

  Neither of them spoke as he helped her strip away her skinny jeans leaving her in her hoodie and panties. Ignoring the immediate stab of desire, Reggie sat her on the edge of the tub and inspected her knees. Her jeans had acted as a barrier
and there was no visible broken skin, but he turned to the medicine cabinet and removed cotton and some antiseptic anyway.

  “Ouch.” Erica flinched at the first swab of the antiseptic-soaked cotton.

  “Sorry.” He kissed the afflicted knee before swabbing at it again.

  For a few seconds she let him work in silence then she asked, “Is she the one who sent you the watch?”

  The air suddenly seemed knotted in tension. He looked up at her. “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He considered all the excuses he could give her and settled for the truth, “I was stupid.”

  “You should’ve told you me.”

  Rising to his feet and settling beside her on the edge of the tub, Reggie sighed. “I know.”

  “How did it start?”

  Resisting the urge to qualify that there was no ‘it’ between he and Brooklyn, he said, “She came to my office a few days after you and I talked about you letting go of your issues with her. She said she wanted to thank me for convincing you to forgive her. I didn’t think it was going to get this crazy…” He told her everything that had happened since then.

  He was half afraid she wouldn’t believe him when he ended with, “Nico thinks she’s stalking you.”

  But he was pleasantly shocked when instead of attacking him with accusations of deceit, Erica’s gaze slid away and she said, “I’m sorry.”

  A baffled note in his voice, he asked, “I’m sorry?”

  The tips of her ears reddened. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.”

  The amount of relief he felt when he heard those words would’ve been enough to fuel a rocket and send it to Mars. “It’s okay. Anyone would’ve thought the same.” He tipped her chin and turned her face towards him and touched his lips to hers. “Does this mean you’ve forgiven me for not telling you about the messages and the watch?”

  “No.” She shook her head, but then pressed a kiss on his mouth. He parted his lips to suckle on hers then on her sharp intake of breath snuck his tongue out in search of hers. She willingly met him. He kneaded her thigh as they kissed.