by Naomi Niles
“Yeah. They don’t.” An awkward silence penetrated the phone until I spoke up again. “Listen, I am willing to try your way with Vinny. Maybe he can go to middle school up there in Philly and then head back this way for high school. I mean, I am willing to do something like that if you agree to it.”
“Really? Wow. I never would’ve thought that you would come around and agree to something like that.”
“Well, some things do change, you know? I can’t be the same guy my whole life. We have to leave some things in the past because that is where it belongs. So, with that being said, I am willing to come to a mutual agreement.”
“Alright. Well, let me think about that because I want to make sure the school districts up here are good enough for him because we both know that Vinny is a special child.”
“Very much so.”
“Okay. Well, I guess I will talk to you later… about Vinny, that is. Good luck with everything, Gavin. It was good talking to you.”
“Thank you, Karen. Good luck to you, as well.”
I hung up the phone, and with a smile on my face, I felt like I had overcome an obstacle. For as long as I could remember, I thought that Karen would always have a place in my heart, and she would, but just not romantically. Bethany had filled that spot, and it wasn’t until now that I realized it. Now, I didn’t care about her past. I wanted her in my future, and I wasn’t going to stop until she knew it as well.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
BETHANY
I couldn’t do anything about Anthony because the officer told me that I didn’t have any proof that it was him. It pissed me off because I felt so helpless, and it felt like they wanted me to wait until it was too late. They wanted me to wait until he was lifting his boot from off my face before they could do anything about it. From that day, I kept my pepper spray close because that was the only defense I had if he tried to come for me. For the next couple of days, I kept my head on a swivel, thinking that every time I turned a corner, he would be right there, waiting to hurt me in some way.
I was a completely different person at work, and everyone knew it. It wasn’t just the fact that Gavin wasn’t speaking to me, but it was the fact that my past had found me in Roanoke, and I didn’t know how long it would take before the word got around at my school. Principal Jones was a good man, but if he found out that I used to be a stripper, I felt like he would pull the plug and tell me I had to find another job. The last thing he wanted was for people to know that their children were around a former stripper. It sounded messed up, but then again, I understood.
“Hey, sweetheart. How are you today?”
I rolled my eyes when I heard Derrick’s voice behind me as I grabbed something out of the refrigerator in the teacher’s lounge. “I don’t have time for this today, Derrick. I just want to get my things and get through this day, okay?”
“Whoa, whoa,” he said as he leaned against the door, “I just wanted to talk to you. I mean, I hear you are kind of single now, you know? I knew it wouldn’t be that much longer before you went your separate ways.”
“Really, Derrick?”
“What?” His presumptuous smile irked me as he toyed with his key chain. “I mean, things happen for a reason. That’s what I believe. And you know what else I believe?” He reached for my hand, “That I can make you happy. I know I can. I think you should give me a chance because I’ve waited patiently for you. I’ve shown A LOT of patience, so what do you say? Can we go out? Mystique?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. My heart pounded in my chest like it was ready to leap out. My hands shook with anger. “What the hell did you just call me?”
His smile remained plastered on his face. “Don’t worry; I won’t tell anybody. I mean, I just found out myself, you know? But, I know that we can have some fun together, so why don’t you just give me a chance. That’s all I want. Just a chance.”
I snatched my hand away from him. “You are a jerk; you know that? A fucking jerk!”
“Hey, hey, you might wanna lower your voice. Your secret is safe with me, at least for the time being. I mean, I would hate for somebody to find out about your former career. I know that Principal Jones wouldn’t like that too much. So,” he stepped closer to me, “how about a date? One date and I will forget everything.”
“Blackmailing me? Seriously?”
“Blackmailing is such an ugly word. I think, um, negotiating is a much better term.”
I shook my head, then pushed him out my way and marched through the door. His laughter followed me down the hall as I picked up my pace into a slight jog. My high heels clicked against the floor as I tried to get to my office as quickly as I could without anyone seeing me. I closed the door behind me and then threw my sandwich into the wall as the tears flowed out of my eyes. How did he find out? I paced back and forth with my hands on my hips, shaking my head, thinking that my career here at the school was over. There was no way that Derrick was going to keep that to himself, and I refused to get pinned into a corner just to give in to him. That wasn’t going to happen.
I remained in my office for the rest of the day, afraid to poke my head out in fear that my past had already started to travel around the school. At the end of the day, I opened my door, and no sooner than that, I saw Vinny walking into my office. I forced a smile onto my face when I saw him. “Hey, little man. How have you been doing?”
He put his arms around me and answered, “Good.” After we released, he reached into his pocket and held out a note. “Here; my dad asked me to give you this.”
I took the note from his hand and unraveled it.
“Hey, Bethany. I’ve been a complete jerk lately, and I apologize. I would love to make it up to you and talk more about what came out into the open. I hope you accept my apology; I would love to see you soon.”
Tears rushed to my eyes again, but this time, they were from joy. I gave Vinny another hug, then told him to hurry outside before he missed his bus. Right after that, I texted Gavin and let him know that he could come over tonight if he wanted to.
Afterward, I got in my car and headed home smiling ear-to-ear. It was like everything bad that happened that day was no longer reality. I got out of my car and walked to my door. As soon as I pulled out my keys, I heard a familiar voice. “What’s up, baby?” I looked to the side and saw Anthony emerge from the bushes with a pistol aimed right at my head. “Long time no see, huh? Get the fuck in the house.”
My street was empty; there wasn’t a soul in sight. I stared down the barrel of a shiny chrome pistol as Anthony implored me to open the door. “Come on, now. Don’t make me use this out here. You know I will. Open the fucking door.” I stuck the key into the lock, then slowly pushed the door open. He used his hand to shove me inside and close the door behind me. I stumbled into the living room table, dropping my purse to the ground. The pepper spray rolled out of the opening and stopped near his feet. He looked down at it. “Pepper spray?” he said, chuckling as he picked it up. “If that is all you got to defend yourself, then you are shit out of luck. I think I’ve built an immunity to that.” He slid it into his pocket. “But even still, the shit is annoying when it is sprayed, so I better hold onto it. Take a fucking seat.”
“What do you want from me, Anthony? Why are you following me?”
“Sit your ass down!” His voice penetrated my home and felt like it shook the walls. I did what he asked, sitting down on the couch, quietly. My phone was on the ground near my foot. I covertly slid it out of his sight as he looked around at my home. “This is a pretty nice place you got here, Bethany. Damn. I mean, who would’ve thought that you would leave that shitty ass apartment in Richmond and get yourself a home out here in Roanoke?” He turned his attention towards me. “Who’s dick did you have to suck to get this place, huh?”
“Fuck you, Anthony.”
He laughed. “We will get to that, but right now,” he sat down next to me with his gun on his lap, “I want to talk about you. Us. I’ve been following you for a l
ittle while now. I know you work at that school up there. What is it? Morris Elementary? I ran into a guy who seemed to have some kind of crush on you. He seemed like a little whiny ass man, you know? So I decided to help him try to get a date with you.” I narrowed my eyes at him as he continued, “So, I told him that you like to… dance.” He winked his eye. “You know, dance… dance. Oh, fuck it. I told him that you used to be a stripper.”
“You told him?”
“Yeah, I told him. I thought it would do well to flush you out of the school early because, from what I’ve seen, you always stayed there a little after the time you were supposed to leave. You’re like a fucking mother hen to those kids there. It is so cute that it is sickening. But, like I said, I managed to find a way to get you out of there so you could come home. I didn’t want to be waiting all night.”
“Anthony! You are going to cause me to lose my fucking job! What is wrong with you?!”
He took his gun and used the barrel to scratch his head. His haircut was low and buzzed. His cheekbones were high, and he had the face of a boxer. His olive colored skin radiated a sense of evil as he leaned back on the couch. “You don’t know how tired I am of hearing people ask me that. What is wrong with me? Well, I think I might have some separation anxiety.” He fixed his eyes on me. “Because my fucking GIRLFRIEND LEFT ME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING NIGHT AND DIDN’T TELL ME A GOD DAMNED THING BEFORE SHE DID IT!”
The strength of his voice brought back memories of the times he used to beat me for doing something he didn’t like. I jumped away from him, thinking he was going to raise his fist and send it crashing down to my face at any moment. He laughed. “Oh, shit. You think I am going to hit you, don’t you? You think,” he slowly extended his hand and brushed it against my cheek like he was petting his dog, “I am going to hurt you like I used to, huh? Well,” he removed his hand, “I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about it.” He stood up and paced the room, “Yeah, the thought crossed my mind once or twice, but that’s not why I am here.”
As he spoke, I slid my shoe off. I had to use my toes like fingers so I could dial Gavin’s number. He was the only person that I could think to call right now and I hoped that he would make the right decision after he heard what was going on. I used my big toe to slide my phone unlocked, then patiently tapped the screen until I landed on his name. Suddenly, Anthony spun back towards me, and I lifted my eyes and slid the phone underneath the table. I didn’t get to dial his number yet. “I am here because I think we need to give ‘us’ another shot. I mean, yeah, I’ve done some fucked up shit to you in the past, and I know that. I know I wasn’t the best guy, but I can change.” He smiled. “I can change, Bethany and that is why I am here. You seem like you got some good shit going on here and since we never officially broke up, I figured that we could still keep going on together.”
“So, you come here with a fucking pistol aimed at me and think that is the best way for us to talk about this? You had a fucking pistol pointed right at my head, Anthony. Seriously?”
He looked at his gun, “Oh, this? I mean, this was just in case you tried to attack me or something. Or in case you didn’t want to listen. It is just here to help convince you to keep your mouth shut so I can talk.”
“There are better ways to do it.”
His lips pursed together. “Don’t fucking tell me how to do shit, Bethany. I do what the fuck I want to, and how I want to do it! You know what? I’m sick of your ass!” My feet shook as I lifted my toe onto the screen and scrolled to Gavin’s number while Anthony had his back turned to me. I quickly pressed his name, and as the phone dialed, I looked back up towards Anthony. As he yelled, I waited for the phone to pick up. As soon as I saw the timer move past a minute, I interrupted him.
“Anthony, why did you come into my home with a gun in your hand?! Huh?! Why did you do this? Are you trying to hurt me? I don’t want to be with you anymore, okay? I’ve moved on!”
“You’ve moved on,” he said as he shot a menacing glare at me. “What the fuck do you mean you moved on? What? Did you take that guy at the school up on his offer to take you out? Because I would hate to have to kill him. You don’t want that, do you? Killing an innocent person because you were too dumb to tell him no?”
“I did not take his offer, Anthony! He blackmailed me!”
Anthony laughed out loud, “Blackmailed you? What a fucking bitch.” As he made his way to the couch, I pushed the phone further beneath the table, hoping that he wouldn’t notice the light on the phone. He sat down next to me and put his arm around me, then kissed me on the cheek, “Bethany, you know what? I fucking love you.” I could smell the liquor on his breath. “I love you, and if you think I was going to let you get away from me that easily, then you’ve got another thing coming.” His gun was on the other side of him, resting on the cushion. “But I love you, and I think that after going through all this trouble, you owe me something.”
“Owe you something?”
“Yeah.” He took his hand and started to unbutton my shirt, “I remember the days we used to have a wild ass time in the sack. The moves you did on me, wow.” He laughed. My body shook with terror, hoping that he wasn’t going to carry out his intentions. “Those were some moves that I can’t get anyone to replicate. So, since I am here,” he tugged at my shirt, “we may as well give a little roll in the hay. I mean, I’m fucking horny, and I know you are because you are always fucking horny.”
I slapped his hand away. “No, we are not doing that, Anthony.” I felt tears forming at the bottom of my eyes. With one blink, I sent them tumbling down my cheeks. “Please, Anthony. Please, stop.”
“Oh, so what is it? Have you given yourself to somebody else? Is that it? Huh?! Have you–” he looked down at the floor, and when he saw the glare of the phone, he immediately reached for it. “What the fuck is this?!” He grabbed the phone and looked at the screen. “Gavin?! Who the fuck is Gavin?!” He put the phone to his ear, “Hello? Hello?! Who the fuck is this?!”
“Anthony, stop! It’s nobody! The phone must’ve dialed when it fell out of my purse!”
“Oh, bullshit! How fucking dumb do you think I am?” He took the phone and threw it into the wall. It shattered into pieces as he grabbed his gun, then pulled me up by my hair. “You called somebody else? Huh? Okay.” He smiled, then laughed to himself in disbelief. “I see where this is going. You know what? I tried to be nice. I didn’t hit you once since I got here. I let you talk. I was a fucking GENTLEMAN towards you, but this is how you repay me? By calling another mother fucker while I am trying to talk to you?”
Drops of saliva exploded onto my face as he twisted a handful of my hair into his hands. “Stop, Anthony! Please!” Flashbacks of times he threw me to the floor after I was in the same position blinked in and out of my mind. My legs shook, knowing that I was headed for the same fate.
“Stop? You want me to stop? Fuck you!” He threw me to the ground. I tumbled onto the floor and rolled to a stop, then glanced up at him. His gun was aimed right towards me. A fiery rage burned within his eyes. I knew I was moments away from death as my life flashed before me. This is how it is going to end. His breathing intensified. “You know I am going to kill you, right?” He said before a devilish smile spread onto his face. “But first,” he unbuckled his belt, “I am going to take what belongs to me.”
“Anthony, please…”
“Shut the fuck up!”
Suddenly, there was a banging sound at my door. Anthony jolted in his position, then spun towards the knocks. “Who is that?” he demanded, aiming the gun at me, “Who the fuck is that, Bethany?”
“I don’t know!”
“Ma’am, this is the police. Are you okay? We got a call that you were in trouble.”
Anthony glared at me, “Don’t you fucking say a word!”
“Ma’am,” the police knocked again, “We know that your car is outside. Please, will you let us in, or at least tell us if you’re alright.”
“Anthony, the
y know I am in here. Please, just… just open the door. It’s over.”
“It’s over?” he said, tightening his lips as he looked back at me. “You’re right; it is over. Over for you!”
Just then, I saw an officer duck down and peek through my window. He made a cup with his hand so he could see inside. Once he saw that I was in distress, he quickly got up. I closed my eyes, knowing that my life was over. Anthony had threatened to kill me before, and with the way he treated me in the past, I knew that dying at his hand wasn’t far-fetched. I shook my head as tears streamed from my eyes and suddenly, in a snap, I heard two loud bangs at the front door. On the last one, the door came flying open as three police officers charged in with their guns drawn. “Put the gun down right now!” they yelled with their pistols aimed right at Anthony.
Anthony smiled as he looked at the officers, then back at me. “Shit, Bethany. I gotta hand it to you. You’ve gotten a little smarter over time. Evolution, is it?”
“Put the fucking gun down! Now!”
“But that doesn’t matter. I didn’t get what I wanted from you, but you’re still going to die.”
Just then, one police officer fired a shot into his leg. Anthony screamed out in pain and fell to the ground, dropping the pistol from his hand. “You shot me! You fucking shot me!” he yelled as the officers corralled him.
I sat on the floor, trying to catch my breath as one officer rushed to me. “Ma’am? Ma’am, are you okay?”
I was still in shock. I watched the other two officers carry Anthony out of my home as his blood soaked through his pants. “Um,” I said, searching for the words, “I am fine. He… he didn’t touch me yet. But… but how did you know what was going on?”
Before I could respond, I saw Gavin walk through the door like a knight in shining armor. He looked around the front room until his eyes locked on me. The officer spoke up, “Well, we got a call from a man that knew you, and he told us that we needed to come to your address because a crazy man had broken in and was threatening to kill you. So we came over to check it out, and sure enough, he was right.”