by CP Smith
Hearing that, Angela grabbed me around the neck, hugged me to her bosom, and smothered me for a moment. When she released me, she exclaimed, “I couldn’t be prouder if you were my own daughter.”
She shoved a Gypsy’s to-go cup in my hand then and pointed at the two macho men, and said, “Here, choose your favorite and then throw coffee on him to announce the victor.”
“I’m not throwing coffee on either one of them,” I griped. “Dallas just told Agent Parker he wouldn’t “allow” me to help with the investigation. He’s acting like he’s my father and I’m some sixteen-year-old kid who can’t think for herself. Then he called me his “woman” for God’s sake, can you believe that? Like I was a piece of property! If that’s his idea of a relationship, dictating instead of coming to a mutual agreement, then I’m not interested.”
“He sounds like a typical alpha male to me. It’s their way you know, they beat their chest, call you their woman, and then drag you off by your hair,” Kristina explained.
“Wait a minute. How the hell did you get mixed-up with the FBI?” Angela asked as she looked between the two men.
Hell’s bells.
“Nicola?”
“So you think I should pick Dallas right? I mean Agent Parker is hot and all but he’s no dark hero slash warlord slash—”
“Oh, my God . . . This has something to do with the book, doesn’t it?” Kristina jumped in. “You worked on the book without us, didn’t you?”
Hanging my head in shame for a moment, I looked up at their faces and cringed. All four of them were scowling at me.
“I can explain,” I rushed out as they all glared at me.
“You promised,” Angela snapped. “After all this time, we were finally being included in your life and you couldn’t go a week without leaving us behind.”
“Angela—”
“Save it Nicola, your word means nothing,” Janeane retorted. Janeane had the worst temper of our group and could hold a nasty grudge, if you pushed her too far. It was obvious I’d done that when she turned on her heels and started walking down the street.
My eyes grew wide as I watched each of them turn and follow her, none of them looking back at me once they’d left. I was only now realizing what it meant to them that I’d broken my oath. God, I’m an idiot. Once again, I’d let my thirst for writing overshadow my better judgment. My only thoughts had been that I get what I needed for my book and damn the consequences.
I stood there and watched until they had rounded the corner heading back to their cars parked at Gypsy’s. When I turned back around, Dallas was watching me. Agent Parker seemed to be watching the two of us, analyzing our interaction for some reason, but I blocked him out while I took in Dallas. I studied him for a moment and saw the man I‘d been waiting for all my life. Now that he seemed within my grasp, I hesitated. When I took a step away from him, he came at me, wrapped his hand around my neck, his arm around my waist, and pulled me in swiftly for a kiss. I pushed against his shoulders for a moment then melted into him. I realized it was another claiming kiss, but gentler this time, meant to weaken my defenses. When he was done, he ripped his mouth from mine and stated boldly, “I told you Saturday that you won’t be able to stop me. This is happening so get over your snit. I’m not gonna apologize for caring that you’re being used as bait for a killer.”
I was too upset about what I had done to the girls to deal with his arrogant, bossy attitude. Needing time to think, I stepped back, looked at Parker for a moment, then turned and kept right on going until I’d also rounded the corner to Gypsy’s and my car. I didn’t know how I was going to make it up to the girls, but I would die trying if I had too. I’m the one who broke this and I had to fix it somehow.
So, boys and girls, the moral of this tale is quite simple. You’re only as good as your word, don’t lie to those you love or anyone, for that matter, and once you’ve picked yourself up off the ground, after realizing you’re a subhuman devoid of any redeemable qualities, learn to grovel.
***
I knew better than to approach the girls before the morning so I sent a group text that simply read, “I’m so sorry.” I’ll admit I kept checking my phone most of the night to see if one would respond but I knew they wouldn’t. As for Dallas, I didn’t have a clue what to do about him. I was attracted to him more than any man I’d ever met, but I wasn’t sure I could handle his overbearing personality. Since I couldn’t talk to the girls about it, I sat at home with Snape and Simi and had a big glass of wine while I berated myself for my stupidity.
Bo called during the evening and I’d cried on the phone when I explained what I’d done to the girls and how Dallas seemed to want to order me around (leaving out that the FBI wanted my help since I wasn’t stupid). He, of course, was no substitute for my friends because his response was, “Women,” and “Do you want me to kick his ass?” I obviously didn’t want him to do that, nor did I remind him that Dallas would probably wipe the floor with him, so I distracted him with what happened with the criminal and how I took him down.
Before we hung up, my ape of a brother pointed out something that I’d seen myself about Dallas, but I was amazed that he picked up on it.
“You know I’m surprised you have a problem with Dallas, Nic. Ever since you were a little girl you’ve wanted the type of man who would act just like one of your heroes. Dallas is just being a normal man when he orders you around. That’s how we are, we’re programmed to lead. It doesn’t mean we think women are inferior, we just instinctively want to protect you that’s all.”
“So you’re saying you order women around because you must?”
“Exactly, and women should listen to us because they must.”
“God, give me strength to keep from murdering my brother . . .”
“God won’t help, Nic, he’s a man. He knows I’m right,” he laughed.
Do you see what I have to put up with?
After we hung up, I checked my phone one last time for return texts from any of the girls. There were none so I climbed into bed and cried my miserable, selfish self to sleep. Now it was six a.m. and the still dark sky fit my mood. I’d spent most of the night tossing and turning so, I was wide-awake stewing about how I could set things to rights.
Kasey would be the easiest to reach and since her job was running the yoga studio, she would have more time to talk in between morning sessions. Ready to grovel, I fell out of bed and started my day. I’d take a class with Kasey and when she was done, I’d explain what an idiot I’d been and beg her to accept my apology. After that, I’d head to the bank and talk to Angela and so on ‘until I’d at least apologized in person to all of them.
Then there was Dallas.
Considering the way I’d walked away from him the night before, it was possible that I’d already severed any budding feelings the man may have had. I figured I could buy him a coffee and try to explain that I just wasn’t the type of woman he could order around and hope he understood and would agree to curb his bossiness. As for Agent Parker and his obvious attempt to goad Dallas into a fight, I had a few questions for him as well before I agreed to let the FBI use my account.
Hopeful that I could pull all this off I changed into a yoga outfit, fed Snape and Simi, then headed out to find Kasey. I arrived twenty minutes before her first class started and was happy to see a light was on. I didn’t see her car, but she parked in the back at times, I got out and tried the door. It was unlocked, so I entered the lobby calling out her name. When she didn’t answer, I walked around the corner, knocked on her office door, and waited.
Nothing.
It occurred to me she might have earbuds in, listening to music; I grabbed the handle and turned the knob. Kasey’s door opened in and in order to see her desk you had to walk through the door and then close it. So I pushed open the door, walked through it, opened my mouth to shout at her, but my voice caught on ‘Kasey’ and I screamed.
Eleven
Screaming was one of the last things I remembered before pass
ing out. That, and crimson streaks across every surface, lifeless eyes staring back at me, and the sight of internal organs that should never see the light of day. It was too much at once and my mind shut down in terror at the scene in front of me. I gulped air, trying to catch my breath as the room spun. I fell to my knees in a puddle of blood, my legs unable to bear my weight. Lifting my hands, I saw they were dripping with blood; I wiped them on my shirt trying to get it off. I tried to crawl toward the foyer for help just before the lights went out, but I never made it. I laid face down in a pool of blood when Kasey found me.
***
Consciousness came back bit by bit when I heard a familiar voice shriek my name. My eyes fluttered open slowly as the same voice, one I’d known for half my life, screamed, “Send an ambulance, I need an ambulance at Om-Klahoma Yoga studio at 303 North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. One of my employees is dead and my friend, Nicola Royse, has been stabbed. Oh God, I think she’s dead, just like Toni,” Kasey cried out, her breathing irregular as she panted for air. “Oh, Jesus, Nicola please don’t die . . . Oh God, I think, I think I’m gonna, I think I’m gonna pass out, there’s so much—”
My muddled brain registered Kasey’s body landing with a thud, but I continued to lay there trying to regain my bearings. I heard the sound of sirens in the distance and told myself that was good, help was coming, Dallas would be here soon, and he’d know what to do.
The sound of screeching tires told me help had arrived. I rolled over and tried to sit up. When a firm but soothing voice ordered, “Don’t move, ma’am, help is on the way,” I shook my head to explain I wasn’t hurt. “Please get my friend and me out of this room.”
“We have to wait for the ambulance, you have to be checked out,” he argued.
“I’m not hurt,” I wailed. I could feel Toni’s blood seeping into my clothes and I started to shake.
Then I heard him, Dallas had arrived. He barked out “Where the fuck is she?” and my tears fell harder. One minute a nice officer with concern in his eyes was hovering over me and the next Dallas was in my face, panic etched in his honey-colored eyes.
“Nicola? . . . Where the fuck is the ambulance?” he roared as he scanned my blood-covered body.
“I’m not hurt, it’s, it’s not my blood,” I cried out, “Please, help me up I don’t want to be in here.”
Dallas scanned my body once more, then nodded; convinced I was telling the truth. Without concern for his own clothes, he picked me up from the floor, held me close in his arms as I buried my head in his neck, and bawled for all I was worth.
He mumbled, “I’ve got you, baby, you’re safe,” before ordering someone to help Kasey to her feet and get her out of the crime scene. Dallas felt like safety, protection from the world at large. I tighten my hold around his neck and drank in his scent as I tried to block out what I’d seen.
I heard the sound of a door swinging open and looked up to see he’d taken me into the ladies locker room. He’d taken me into the ladies locker room. When he sat down on a bench and tightened his arms around me, I finally took a deep breath.
“Jesus, Nicola, I thought you were dead. When I heard the call over the police ban—” he paused mid-sentence; his control seemed to slip now that we were alone.
“There was so much blood,” I whispered.
“Don’t think about it.”
“I was coming here to apologize for being an awful friend. I thought Kasey was in her office. I, I just walked in and—” my voice broke and the hiccups finally came while I tried to push the sight of Toni out of my head.
“Did you see anyone?” he asked as his arms tighten around me.
“No.”
“Was the door unlocked?” he continued.
“Yeah, that’s why I thought it was Kasey. She opens and Toni closes.”
“That means she was killed last night after her class before she could leave. Do you know what time they close?”
“Um, nine, I believe. Toni usually stays behind and wipes down the mats after everyone leaves.”
“Nicola, this is the second stabbing victim you and your friends have known. I don’t have a good feeling about this. Can you think of anyone that you and your friends have come into contact with that may hold a grudge?”
Until that moment, I hadn’t remembered Melissa’s murder, and Toni’s body lying on the floor covered with blood came rushing back in, only it was Melissa’s face I saw.
“Did Melissa die like that,” I whispered as my body began to shudder.
“Are you cold?” he asked in a concerned voice when the shuddering turned to full-blow shaking and my teeth rattled together.
“No,” I replied, feeling light-headed.
“Nicola, you’re going into shock,” Dallas stated in a no-nonsense voice looking around the room.
I nodded my agreement because I was indeed in shock. I figured he was looking for a blanket and when he didn’t find one he came up with a better idea to warm me up. Without a word, he grabbed my neck, pulled me to his lips, and kissed me. The shaking subsided and moved into tiny tremors of lust as his tongue swept the recesses of my mouth. Plunging in and chasing mine, then retreating as I chased his back, moaning at the unbelievable feeling he was evoking. One arm wrapped around my lower back and the other braced my neck as he bent me slightly taking his fill. When the door banged open and Kasey barged in, we pulled apart and looked toward her. Tears were running down her face, so I broke out of Dallas’ arms and ran to her. We collided, burst into tears, and I wailed, “I’m so sorry Toni is dead, but I’m so fucking glad that wasn’t you.”
“I thought you were dead too,” she wailed back.
The sound of women screaming caught our attention. We pulled apart and I looked back at the door. “The girls have arrived,” Kasey sniffled.
“How’d they know so soon?”
“When I woke up from my nap, I saw you were gone and thought you’d been taken away in an ambulance. I panicked and called Angela who called Janeane and Kristina. The girls were already in downtown heading for work so they headed straight here. It wasn’t until after I’d hung up and was waiting at the door for them to arrive that an officer informed me you weren’t hurt, but in the bathroom.” Kasey explained through her own hiccups.
Dallas walk up behind us and I was about to ask him if we could see the girls to reassure them we were all right when an officer poked his head in and replied, “Uh, detective, we have a problem out front.”
Dallas’ reply was swift, “I bet you do.”
***
The next few hours were a blur. Dallas allowed me to shower before we headed downtown to the station. I had on a pair of Kasey sweats, which were too long for me; I had to roll them up at the cuffs and sleeves. I looked like a kid playing dress up in my mother’s clothes.
Statements had to be given and questions had to be asked of us, including Angela, Janeane, and Kristina. They’d put each of us in a different interrogation rooms, given us coffee, and then probed our memories for what seemed like hours. Of course, none of us could think of anyone we knew, who had a connection to Melissa and Toni. We were acquaintances, they were employees, and neither the girls nor I had hung out with either one of them except at work, therefore the notion that any of us might know the killer seemed far-fetched.
At one point, Agent Parker made an appearance, but after I’d seen what had happened to Toni, all thoughts of working with the FBI were gone. I liked to do my part, but the reality of what someone with a sick mind could do had shaken some much-needed sense into me. Even remembering how I opened the car door to stop a criminal made me shake my head at my stupidity. Everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours came rushing to me like a speeding train and one thing had become abundantly clear. I’d ignored Dallas’ warning, pooh-poohed him off as an arrogant man, who liked control when, in fact, he wasn’t being arrogant (well he was but not in this case), but was concerned for my safety and had no problem voicing that concern in no uncertain
terms. He was, in fact, right to be concerned. I was wrong about my opinion of him, wrong that I wasn’t putting myself in danger working for the FBI, just plain wrong about everything. Between hurting my friends and turning my back on Dallas, thinking I knew better than he did, I felt like a worm. No, a slug, one who leaves a slimy trail wherever it goes, letting everyone know they’ve been there but making them cringe at their sliminess.
That was what I was thinking when Dallas walked back into the interrogation room, carrying paperwork for me to sign. I wondered, as he approached the table, if he was done with me. He’d kissed me in the ladies locker room and I was hoping that meant he hadn’t lost interest. Then again, he’d kissed me to calm me down when he thought I was going into shock, it could have meant nothing other than concern for my health.
Hell’s bells, what if he doesn’t forgive me?
When he dropped a release form on the table, handing me a pen and instructing me to, “Sign the bottom so we can get you home,” I smiled weakly, I was as nervous as cat around a bunch of rocking chairs waiting for him to say something more. I grabbed the pen he’d handed me and noticed my hand was shaking. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, but it didn’t work. As I tried to write, my hand still shook, giving away my state of mind. Before I could finish signing my name, however, his large warm hand closed over mine, and he leaned in placing his other hand on the table boxing me. I felt the heat from his body surrounding me, and his warm breath in my ear as he whispered, “I promise you, whoever this guy is, he won’t come anywhere near you, I’ll protect you.”
God, he was such a great guy, which made me feel even worse about walking away from him last night.
“I’m an idiot,” I answered in reply.
“I doubt that, but why don’t you tell me why you think you’re an idiot.”
I turned my head, looked up into those intense honey-colored eyes, and let it all hang out.
“First off, I’m a terrible friend because I put my work before my oath not to do research without the girls. Then I labeled you as arrogant and bossy and maybe even a little bit bullheaded, when, truth be told, all you were trying to do was keep me safe. I’m used to controlling my own life that I put my own needs above those of my friends, and then you, this great guy, who was only trying to protect me, and I walked away from you last night as if your feelings didn’t count. Not only am I an idiot, but I’m a slimy slug leaving a trail of goo wherever I go.” Dallas chuckled while I drew my next breath, then I let it out in a gust of mortification.