Secrets and Lies

by Annie Jocoby

  Combined with the silent phone and silent email, I suddenly started to feel that I was back to square one.

  Well, that was a huge setback, really. But Dalilah was back, so I still happy, much happier than I had felt in a long, long time.

  Chapter 28

  I had been waiting for Dalilah to get to a point where I felt that she was on the mend, before I went over to confront Nottingham. I was reasonably sure that he was the one who beat her, and, ever since she showed up at my door, I had been looking for an opportunity to go over and kick his ass.

  There was no way that I was going to let him get away with doing what he did. But I felt that I had to hang close to the apartment, because Dalilah was needing constant care and I felt that I had to look after her. I even took some time off of work, as I had a vacation coming to me, and I pretty much stayed by her side 24/7.

  Finally, though, after about three days of her being at my place, she seemed to come out of her funk. She was up and around, her bruises were healing, and she had weaned herself off of the painkillers. She still seemed lost, sad and afraid, but she was, little by little, getting to be herself again.

  It was time to make my move....

  So, one morning, I told Dalilah that I was going to my studio for a little while. I had no idea what to tell her about where I was going, because I knew that if she thought for one second that I was going to see Nottingham, she would have done everything in her power to stop me.

  “Okay, Luke,” she said. She looked hurt that I would leave her. “I understand. I mean, you must be stir crazy staying here with me 24/7. You need an outlet, so, please, go to your studio and do some work. I’ll be right here.”

  “Thanks for understanding,” I said, and then went over to her. I held her hand. “I love you, Dalilah. We haven’t really talked about anything that we need to talk about, but, hopefully that will come with time. I need you to open up to me, though. We need to clear the air, because there are just too many secrets with you. And, I’ll be honest, I have no idea where we stand. For obvious reasons.”

  She nodded her head, but said nothing. “Hurry back,” she said softly. “I miss you already.” She bowed her head a little, and my heart absolutely broke.

  But I had to do this. I just couldn’t let that worm get away with doing this to her. I wished that I could go to the cops, but I knew that wasn’t possible. Dalilah would have to get involved, and it seemed that was something that she wasn’t willing to do. It seemed as if she was afraid of him.

  I wasn’t afraid of him, though. How tough was he, if he would do that to a woman? That was just cowardice.

  I finally arrived at his office building. I went to his suite, and announced my arrival to the receptionist. I hoped against hope that Nottingham was in his office, but I knew that it was a long-shot at best.

  “I’m sorry,” said the bored blonde receptionist, who was the same one as the first time I was there at the office, complete with the same fuck-me pumps as before and virtually the same tight-sweater. “What did you say your name was?”

  “Luke Roberts,” I said.

  “Just a second,” she said, and called on the phone. She looked at me. “He’ll be right with you.”

  I couldn’t believe my luck. I sat down and tried to calm myself, but that was impossible. I could feel my anger rising as I sat there.

  After about fifteen minutes, blondie took me back to Nottingham’s office, and shut the door behind her. I stood by the closed door for a few minutes, just staring at him. For his part, he stared right back without a word.

  Finally, he spoke. “May I help you?”

  “Yeah, you can,” I said. “I need you to stand up.”

  I gave me a look like yeah, right. But, he did stand up. I guess he was curious about why I would want that.

  I went over to him, and, in a very quick move, I punched him hard in the face. I shocked him, apparently, so I gave him an upper cut to his gut. He doubled up in pain.

  “How does that feel?” I asked him. “You’re going to beat up on an innocent woman? You’re a fucking coward. How brave do you feel now that you’re faced with somebody who can actually fight back?”

  Nottingham said nothing, but just straightened up. I was still crouched down, ready to strike. I had been in more than a few brawls in my life, so I knew that I could take this cold prick, even if he did decide to fight back.

  Which he didn’t. Of course. He couldn’t very well get in a brawl at work. Might end up messing up his hair. So, he simply called the police, and then looked at me. “You might as well wait here,” he said. “You’re going to get arrested for assault no matter if you leave right now or not.”

  “That’s cool,” I said. “I had to do something, though. She won’t do anything, because she’s apparently scared to death of you. I will tell you this. Men who do that shit to women are cowards, plain and fucking simple. I feel sorry for you that you’re such a wimp that you have to take our your aggressions out on somebody who’s quite a bit smaller than you. If I gave you just 1% of the pain that you gave her, then that will give me some kind of satisfaction.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “Who is afraid of me, and what did I do to this mystery woman?”

  “You know,” I said. “Very well. She’s just now recovering from the pain. I’m taking good care of her, though, rest assured.”

  “You are?” he said. “You won’t be for long, as you will soon be incarcerated.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “Detained maybe, but not incarcerated. Because I’m not going to prison, no matter what you might think. No jury would convict me when they find out what you did to deserve the beat-down.”

  “Tomato tomahto,” he said. “You will be behind bars soon, that’s all that I’m saying.”

  This was such a weird conversation. He was remarkably unruffled by assault. In fact, he seemed rather amused by it, which enraged me all the more.

  I was going to get to him, and I had to do it fast. “Well, make no mistake, she’s with me, now. And I’m going to protect her from you. She might be married to you, but she won’t be for long, and she’ll soon be my wife, not yours.”

  I thought that I saw his cold eyes show a flash of anger, but only a flash. It went through his eyes so quickly, though, it was easily mistaken for something else. Still, it gave me a some kind of comfort that maybe, just maybe, I got a rise out of this inhuman monster.

  He waved his hand at me, and I turned around to see two uniformed police officers standing at the door. They cuffed my hands behind my back, and I didn’t struggle at all. I looked back at Nottingham to show him that I wasn’t broken, but he was already at work on some kind of project, and he didn’t even raise his eyes at me.

  I soon was down on the street, and shoved in the back of a squad car as I headed down to the county jail. Not that this would be my first time in jail, of course. Like most guys from my neighborhood, I had done a couple of stints when I was younger. Just juvenile stuff, graffiti and minor shop-lifting.

  This, time, though, I felt that I could go to jail with my head held high, knowing that what I did to go to this cell was one that was justified and right. I had to do something to stand up for the woman I loved. As ineffective as it was, at least it was something.

  Chapter 29

  Dalilah

  I was on pins and needles, waiting for Luke to return. He said that he had gone off to his studio to do some work, but I had my suspicions about that. He was acting awfully strangely, and I prayed that he didn’t go and see Nottingham. I had no idea how Nottingham would react. Something told me that he probably wouldn’t take too kindly to seeing Luke.

  I already knew that Luke was being blackballed. He didn’t say as much, but, when he thought that I was sleeping, I was really trying to listen to what he was doing. I hated being nosy like that, and I really just wanted to have open communication with him again, like we used to. But I just couldn’t tell him the truth. I was trying to
think of a million and one ways that somehow he wouldn’t end up making things worse with Nottingham by confronting him, but I knew that wasn’t possible.

  All of this was why I was still covering up what really happened, and why I was kicking myself, internally, every day, for putting Luke in the middle of the drama. He didn’t belong in the middle of the drama. It wasn’t fair to him, yet I had a feeling that he was paying for all of my sins anyhow. Which was why I was anxiously listening in whenever he called some of the contacts that he met at the premiere. I heard him make call after call, and I knew that these people weren’t calling him back.

  My heart broke for him. If I could change everything about what I did the night of his premiere, I would have. If I could have gone back in time, I would have behaved myself at the premiere and would have silently gone back with Nottingham. I would have kept my feelings and heartbreak to myself, and I never would have let Luke in on how I was really feeling.

  But I didn’t. I went with my heart and my emotions, instead of my head, and I involved Luke in all of this. And now look. Just as I thought, his career was over as soon as it began. He had the most stellar premiere imaginable. Everyone was talking about him. Now, once again, it seemed that he couldn’t get arrested.

  I was so naïve to ever think that Nottingham’s tentacles wouldn’t reach, because they clearly did. And, really, it made a lot of sense that Nottingham would be successful in killing Luke’s career. After all, Nottingham was the main person who arranged the entire party. All of those people at that premiere were connected to him in some way. And Nottingham was extremely established in the art world. He knew everybody that was anybody, and everybody else as well. If he wanted to stop Luke’s momentum, then he had the power to do so.

  He killed Luke’s career in its proverbial cradle, and I felt like screaming in frustration. Everything I did – marrying that awful man, letting him touch me sexually night after night – was for nothing. Luke was a nobody once again.

  It wasn’t right. One man should not have so much power, but just because something shouldn’t happen doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t. And I had been around wealthy individuals enough in my life to know that not all rich individuals use their wealth and power for good. I knew lots of good, moral people who just happened to have a lot of money. I also knew people like Nottingham – people who lived to manipulate the world and all the people in it. They used their power and wealth to ensure that things happened to benefit them alone. And they had no compunction about ruining the lives of innocent people.

  Luke was nothing but a lowly bug for Nottingham to step on. Just to punish me. Nottingham, as far as I knew, had no beef with Luke himself. But hurting Luke would be the best way to hurt me, and Nottingham knew this. He knew this, and he used this knowledge perfectly.

  I was on pins and needles and would be until Luke walked through that door. I should have gone with my gut feeling and tried to stop him from leaving. I tried to call him several times, but apparently his phone was turned off, which made me all the more nervous.

  The hours clicked by so slowly. I thought about going down to his studio, but thought better of it. I was completely sure that he really wasn’t there and I didn’t want to waste the trip. And I wanted to be home when he got back. I wouldn’t feel safe and secure until that happened.

  By 7 PM that night, I was in a state of tizzy. I had no idea what I should do. Calling Nottingham would be pointless. Beyond pointless. There was no way he would give me any information. I even thought about calling Jake, but felt foolish for doing so. But Luke had been gone the entire day, and he said that he would only be gone for a few hours at the most. To make matters worse, his phone was still turned off, for I got his voice mail as soon as I called him.

  My imagination started to go wild. What if something happened to him? He confronted Nottingham and Nottingham went ape-shit and really hurt him? He could be in the hospital or worse.

  So, I started to call hospitals. I felt foolish as I called one hospital after another, asking about him. I looked on the Internet for the local news to see if there was anything on there. Maybe there was a hit and run and Luke was badly hurt? Or maybe he really did end up at his studio and he got robbed? I felt just a little bit relieved when I saw nothing on the news that would indicate that something major had happened to him.

  I knew that I was getting just a little bit obsessed, but I had to make sure that I knew that he was safe.

  I paced the floor, feeling helpless.

  Finally, at 9 PM, I broke down and called Jake.

  “Hello? This is Dalilah,” I said to Jake when he answered the phone.

  “Oh, hi, Dalilah,” he said, a little bit strangely. Jake was always very friendly with me, but when he answered the phone, he already sounded evasive. “Listen, I can’t talk right now,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Jake, please, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for Luke. Have you seen him or talked to him?”

  “Uh, no,” he said, but I knew that he was lying. “Gotta go.” And, at that, he hung up.

  Crap. Jake clearly was hiding something. I knew that as sure as I knew my name.

  I sat back down on the couch and put my head in my hands.

  If something happened to Luke because of me....

  Chapter 30

  Luke

  Going to jail sucked, to say the least. I was in the joint for about seven hours, in an unheated cell, before they processed me. After that, I got my phone call, and I immediately decided to call Jake. No way was I going to call Dalilah. Yeah, I did this to defend her honor and to give that slime-bag just a taste of what he gave to her, but, still, I was embarrassed. In the end, I was really brawling like the blue-collar boy I was.

  “Jake, man, I’m in jail.”

  “Be right there. How much bail?”

  “10,000/10%,” I said, which meant that Jake only had to come up with $1,000 to get me out. “You know I’m good for it.”

  “No question. See you in a few.”

  He showed up after about a half hour and bailed me out.

  As we drove back to my place, he said “hey, I forgot to tell you. Dalilah called me looking for you. She called when I was on my way to get you.”

  “Crap. What did you tell her?”

  “Nothing. Not my place. But you should probably call her,” he said.

  As much as I dreaded that, I knew that he was right. I still had no idea what I would tell her. I wasn’t anxious to let her know about my Nottingham beat-down. I would imagine that she probably wouldn’t take too kindly to that, considering how much she was still trying to hide the fact that it was Nottingham who did that to her.

  I dialed her number, and she picked up immediately. “Luke,” she said. She sounded a little out of breath, like she had been panicking.

  “Hi, honey,” I said. “Um, I’m so sorry that I didn’t call you.”

  “You went to see Nottingham, didn’t you?”

  “Uh,” I said. There was no hiding anything from her, or so it seemed.

  “You did. Well, thank god you’re okay. You don’t know what that man is capable of. I can’t tell you how worried I’ve been.”

  I felt badly for worrying her so much.

  “I’ll be home really soon,” I said. “I love you.”

  “Oh, I love you, too,” she said. “Hurry home.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “So,” Jake said, when I hung up the phone. “You mind tell me what happened?”

  I tugged on my ear and looked out the window wordlessly. I had no idea what to tell him. I couldn’t really spill out what had happened, because I wasn’t at all sure, still, that Dalilah wanted anybody to know about Nottingham’s beating her. So, I just shrugged my shoulders. “Got in a fight. You know the drill.”

  “Doesn’t sound like you,” Jake said. “I mean, not lately. It’s been years since you’ve been involved in a beat-down. Somebody must have really pissed you off.”

  “Don’t w
ant to talk about it. What I do want to talk to you about is paying you back. I actually did quite well at my show the other night, very well, so I should be getting the money from that any day now.”

  “Yeah. You never did tell me how things went.”

  “Well, the show went better than I ever could have hoped. I mean, I was the man of the hour. Everybody seemed really excited about my work, and every one of those paintings sold out that night. Every one. Of course, now, for some odd reason, I can’t get arrested again.” And then I had to laugh. “Oh, wait...”

  Jake laughed too and shook his head. “Bad metaphor to use, my friend. But what do you mean when you say that you can’t get arrested?”

  “Nobody is returning my calls. Ah, but then again, it is right before the holidays. Still, I would have thought that I would get some bites. I mean, people were seeking me out. Making me offers. Going on and on about how they loved my work. It’s just weird, man, that I can’t get a one of them to return my phone calls or e-mails.”

  “Give it time. Like you said, it’s the holiday season. You might be dry until the new year. By the way, your 21st birthday is coming up soon. The 28th, right?”

  “Yep. About time I can actually legally do what I’ve been doing for years, huh?”

  “True that. Gotta take you out and get good and schnockered.”

  I nodded. I actually didn’t know what I wanted to do on my 21st birthday. Probably celebrate with Dalilah, if she happened to be in a celebratory mood.

  We arrived at my place a few minutes later. I punched Jake lightly on the arm. “Thanks, bro. I’m gonna hit you up with that money as soon as I get paid.”

  “I know you’re good for it. Besides, you’ve done the same for me many a time.”

  I nodded my head. “Later.”

  Then went up the apartment.

  Chapter 31

  Dalilah