by Twyla Turner
Without a care for who was watching or that he was sweating profusely, Bradyn walked right up to Payton clasped her face in both hands and greeted her with a soft kiss.
“Och, I missed ye, lass.” He leaned his sweaty forehead against hers.
Payton couldn’t find it in her to care.
“Really? You seemed a tad preoccupied with beating up ropes and tires to be thinking about me.” Payton teased, finding it easier each day to be herself.
“Believe me, I was. That was just me letting off a wee bit of pent up sexual tension.” He pulled back and wiped his sweat from her brow. “Sorry, I’m sweating all over ye like a pig.”
Payton felt her ears heat up at his first comment, but decided to only address the last. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”
“Alright, I’ll let ye get to yer workout. Come see me in my office when yer finished.” Bradyn requested and then kissed her softly once more.
“Okay,” Payton responded shyly.
She turned and saw every eye on her. Just like earlier at work, the faces were a mixture of expressions. But there was one she hadn’t seen from her coworkers. Jealousy with a big fat helping of hatred.
Payton looked away from the few women that looked as if they’d stone her to death if it was legal. She quickly strode over to the machines and hopped on the one next to Mia. Never in her life had she experienced someone being jealous of her. It was usually the other way around.
“Hey, guys.” Payton leaned forward to look at all three of her friends as they turned towards her. “A lot of women in here were giving me mean looks just now.”
“And?” Mia asked.
“And well…I don’t know. What am I supposed to do about it?” Payton asked cluelessly.
“Please. Keep enjoying your life, honey. That’s what you do. Because apparently, you’re doing something right.” Mia sucked her teeth.
“Yeah, she’s right, Payton.” Royal chimed in. “Rarely anyone with a shitty or boring life has haters.”
“Hell, if we weren’t friends and I didn’t know how much you deserve this kind of happiness, I’d be hating too.” Kennedy grinned and winked at her.
“Thanks, guys.”
Once that was settled, they did their thirty minutes of cardio and thirty minutes of strength training. In the month or so that they had been working out, they’d each only lost about ten pounds. Which they were all happy with. Payton loved that her friends could give a lick about having some extra jiggly bits here and there. They’d rallied around and came with her to the gym only to be supportive and to be healthier. And since her whole purpose for coming to the gym was to lose weight to attract guys, only to have found a guy that liked her exactly the way she was. Now she was finding that she could care less if she lost all the weight she’d initially wanted to lose.
She felt great. Her clothes fit her better. And she had her very first boyfriend.
Life was good.
It got even better when she walked into Bradyn’s office after their workout. He had already showered and changed into jeans and a t-shirt. She, on the other hand, was still sweaty and had pit and sweaty boob stains. Yet, when she walked in, he looked up at her like she was dressed in a ball gown with hair done and full on makeup.
“Good workout?” He asked as he got up from his desk.
“Yeah.” She watched him walk around towards the interior windows of his office.
“Good.” He closed the blinds to the people still working out so that they couldn’t see in.
Payton swallowed.
Bradyn walked towards her and she walked backward. He continued to stalk her until her butt hit his desk. Once he was only a few inches away from her, he gripped her hips and lifted her onto his desk as if she weighed no more than a toddler. He maneuvered his way between her legs and lifted her face up to his.
“Bradyn, I’m all sweaty.” Payton protested weakly.
“I dinna care.”
His mouth descended on hers and Payton nearly fainted at the intensity of his kiss. It was obvious that he’d been holding back the first few times he’d kissed her. She waited for the panic and fear to set in, but nothing came. Well, nothing besides the heat that spread through her body and the telltale dampness between her thighs.
Bradyn deepened the kiss even further and then gripped her hips and pulled her to the edge of the desk. Her damp heat through her yoga pants was now flush against the hard bulge in his jeans. He rolled his hips into her, creating shiver-inducing friction against her clit. Payton pulled back on a gasp at a sensation she had never felt in her twenty-nine years.
“Ye feel that?” He asked breathlessly.
“Mmhmm…”
“That’s how much I want ye.” He breathed against her lips and darted his tongue out to flick her panting mouth. “And when yer ready, I’ll give ye ten times the pleasure of this.” He emphasized with a final roll of his hips.
Payton trembled with need. Her subconscious screamed at her. Tell him you’re ready! You’re ready now! Do it! She ignored the fact that her subconscious suddenly sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Get to the chopper! Do it now!
“I-I’m getting there,” Payton said instead, shocked by the breathy quality of her voice.
Bradyn hummed in this back of his throat as he tasted her lips once more. Payton clutched the front of his shirt, hanging on for dear life before he pulled away from her and took a few steps back. His pale blue eyes devoured her, telling her how much he wanted her.
“I better stop now or our first time together will be on my desk and that’s not what I want,” he confessed.
Bradyn rubbed a hand down his face and blew out a calming breath. Payton followed his lead, trying to calm her own fast paced heart. He held out his hand to her and she took it easily. He walked her out of the gym and to her car, told her he’d see her tomorrow and helped her inside.
“Ugh!” Payton groaned to herself as she drove off.
Now I know what sexual frustration feels like.
She pulled up to her building twenty minutes later still preoccupied with thoughts of her new man. She walked through the front door and was so deep in thought about that intense kiss, she almost didn’t see the package sitting in front of her door until she was right on top of it.
It was a long, narrow white box with a red ribbon tied into a bow around it. She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. She’d never received a gift from a man before and her heart warmed instantly.
Payton picked up the box and quickly unlocked her door. She hurried inside, ready to burst with excitement. She set her Star Wars bag and keys down along with the box on her kitchen table. She took a deep breath and untied the ribbon. Payton slowly lifted the top off of the box. The contents made her yelp and slam the top back down. She covered her mouth with her hands as she stumbled back.
Inside the box were what looked like a dozen long stem dead roses. Her hands shook as she removed them from her mouth. She had seen a little card inside and her curiosity at who had sent her the creepy gift got the best of her. Payton’s fingers trembled as she opened the small envelope. She read the words and then dropped the card back onto the table as if it had burned her. The sinister words stared back up at her, taunting her.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
But these are dead,
And so are you.
The card was unsigned, so Payton didn’t know what to think. Who would send me something like that? It wouldn’t be Bradyn, would it? There’s no way. But who else would?
Payton grabbed the box and shoved it into her garbage can with the note and then slammed the top back down. Her breath burst harshly from her chest and her heart pounded painfully. Everything had been perfect only moments before.
Aren’t I allowed to just be happy?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bradyn knew something was wrong when he didn’t get a response from Payton Monday night after they’d made out in his office or that next mor
ning after he’d texted her. But he definitely knew something was horribly wrong when neither she nor her friends showed up at the gym at six in the evening the next day like they always did during the work week.
That’s when he started to call her, but his call went unanswered. He went to her condo and tried to reach her through the intercom at the front of her building. Nothing worked and the days kept going by. He didn’t want to show up at her job and cause a scene, but that was his next step. Everything had been fine, and then it was just like she’d disappeared off of the face of the planet. Bradyn didn’t know whether it was something that he did or not. If he’d pushed her too hard, too fast. Or if she was in a ditch somewhere. All he knew for sure was that his stomach was in knots, he couldn’t sleep, and he was getting his ass kicked every day that he sparred with Mitch.
“Man, you’ve got to keep your head in the game no matter what’s going on in your love life.” Mitch cautioned him after they finished sparring for the day.
It was Thursday. Day 4 of No Payton.
“I canna pretend that I’m no’ worried about her. I love her, man. And it’s like she’s disappeared. So dinna talk te me about keepin’ my heid in the game. I could give a fuck about the fight or my championship title. So unless ye’ve got some advice on how te find her, I dinna want to hear it.” Bradyn finished, his brogue more pronounced as he practically panted in anger.
Mitch held up his hands in surrender and then his eyes shifted to something behind Bradyn. “I was gonna to tell you to try and contact one of her friends, but one of them has already beat me to it.” He gestured with his chin in the direction of who he was looking at.
Bradyn turned and saw Mia storming towards him as if she was on a mission of destruction. And he was the person she was sent to annihilate. He literally took a step back as she reached him, the look in her eyes was deadly.
“Did you do it?!” She growled.
“Do what, lass?” Bradyn frowned and flinched as she poked him in the chest.
“I swear to God, I’ll rip your balls off right here if you’re the one doing it.”
“Doing what?!” Bradyn shouted back, losing his patience with the angry Latina. “And where is Payton? I’ve been worried sick about her. Does this have anything to do with her disappearing?”
“You honestly don’t know?” Mia looked at him skeptically.
“NO! Fer the love of God woman, what is going on?!?”
Mia looked around and so did Bradyn. They were the center of attention. Most of the gym had come to a standstill.
“Can we talk in your office?”
“Aye. Come.”
They quickly walked into his office. Bradyn’s hands shook as he closed the door and turned to Payton’s friend. He knew something really bad had to of happened.
“Please, tell me. I’m beggin’ ye. I have no idea what’s going, but I feel like I’m going te lose my mind if I dinna find out what happened to her.” Bradyn said feeling his eyes become glassy. He hadn’t cried in years, but he was awfully close.
“Someone has been sending Payton creepy gifts and stalking her. She wasn’t sure if it was you or not. After a few days of it, now she doesn’t even want to leave her condo.” Mia’s voice was filled with worry since her anger had abated.
“Shit! What kinds of gifts?” Bradyn ran a hand through his hair.
“The first one she got on Monday night was a bouquet of dead roses with a nasty note inside.” She continued after the look Bradyn gave her. “It said, ‘Roses are red, violets are blue. But these are dead, and so are you.’”
“What the fuck?! What sick fuck would do something like that?” Bradyn slammed his fist down on his desk.
“We don’t know. That’s what I was trying to find out. She didn’t want any of us to contact you. But there was no way that I was going to let that shit slide if it was you.”
“What other gifts did she get?” Bradyn asked with dread.
“A little black doll that looked kind of like her but with its head cut off. A comic book that she’d been looking at, at the comic book store. But she’d put it down, deciding not to buy it. So whoever it is bought it and left it at her front door. Basically, letting her know she was being watched. Which is why she didn’t even leave her house today. But she still got another gift slid under her door. It was a bundle of pictures of her going about her day the past several days. After that, I couldn’t ignore it and came here straight from her place. The girls are there with her now. I told her I was running to the store to go get her some comfort food, but I made a detour here. I figured it was either you, and I could kick your ass. MMA fighter or not. Or it wasn’t you and I could tell you so that you could look after her like you have a right to do as her boyfriend.” Mia finished and looked at him with sympathy.
“Thank ye so much for telling me.” Bradyn clenched and unclenched his jaw. “I canna believe she dinna trust me enough to talk to me about this. She knows I’d never harm a hair on her heid.”
“You deserved to know.”
“Did she call the cops?”
“No.” Mia held up her hands before he could lose it on her. “She’s dealt with this kind of thing before and the way the police treated her the first time like it was her fault, she doesn’t want to call them yet.”
Bradyn headed for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To Payton’s.”
“No!” Mia stopped him. “It’s like all of this has dredged up her past issues, like PTSD or something. She’d only freak out if she saw you right now.”
“She’s still never told me what happened to her.”
“It’s not my place to tell you, B. I just know that she’d freak out if you came.”
“Then what am I supposed to do? Twiddle my thumbs while some psychopath is threatening my woman. I dinna fucking think so!” Bradyn started towards the door again.
“M-Maybe you can watch her building or something.” Mia blurted out as she clutched his arm.
“What, like stakeout her building? Like a detective?” Bradyn looked at her like she was crazy.
“Well, yeah. At least until we can get her to calm down and explain that it’s not you.”
“Fine. But I’m going now.”
“That’s fine. I have to stop at the store first. You should grab some supplies too.” Mia stopped him with a hand on his arm again. “And thank you, B.”
“Aye.” Bradyn nodded and then they both headed out the building and to their cars.
Bradyn wanted to speed down the street like a maniac. He wanted to park the car in the middle of the street, jump out and barge into her place like some kind of avenging angel. But instead, he gripped the steering wheel and drove at a moderately fast rate. He stopped with Mia to get food, water, and energy drinks and then continued to Payton’s. He parked his car in view of the front door and her windows. And then he sat quietly as he watched Mia wave and then walk inside.
He wanted nothing more than to hold Payton and comfort her. He knew she had to be terrified. He was terrified for her. And he felt helpless and useless.
It brought back the feelings he had as he watched Becca get sexually assaulted. Those same feelings carrying over when he wasn’t able to get through to her that following year, before she took her own life. She’d been the only person that would talk to him and not make fun of him. Which is what cost her, her life. Everyone knew he was in love with his best friend and they wanted to hurt him by attacking her. And Payton’s situation was bringing back all those feelings. He felt so helpless then and he felt the same way now.
About an hour later, Kennedy and Royal walked out of the building. Bradyn stepped out of his car and they walked over.
“How is she? Can I see her now?” He asked anxiously.
“She’s doing as okay as can be expected,” Kennedy informed him. “But she’s not ready to see you yet. Mia told her that it wasn’t you and that you’re distraught, but she’s still too freaked out. Let us work on he
r a little more.”
Bradyn squeezed his fists in frustration.
“I know it sucks, but just bear with us.” Royal patted his arm. “For now, we’re switching off who is going to stay the night with her. She doesn’t want to be alone. So tonight, Mia is staying with her.”
“I’ll keep watch out here. I want to catch this cocksucker.” Bradyn growled.
“We hope you do. Whoever it is, is a sick fuck.” Royal spat.
Bradyn got back into his car and watched them leave. He was in for a long night. But his eyes barely strayed as he watched her building like a hawk the entire night.
~~~
Bradyn hadn’t noticed anything suspicious the previous night. It had been about seven in the morning when Royal showed up to take Payton to work. She’d waved to Bradyn before walking into the building. He’d watched through the rain on his windshield when he got his first glimpse of Payton in days. He wanted to rush out of the car, run to her, and kiss her silly in the middle of the storm. But he had invoked all the willpower that he had and remained where he was until they drove off.
He went home and crashed, spending the afternoon in a restless sleep. Mitch had called to see how things were going and Bradyn had gotten him up to speed on the situation and that he would be back into the gym when he was able.
Now, Bradyn was back in his car out front of her building. Earlier in the week, he had hoped to spend his Friday night deep inside his beautiful new girlfriend. If he had of been so lucky. Even dinner and a movie would’ve been preferable to staking out her condo to make sure some psycho stalker didn’t harm her.
It was about one in the morning and his eyes were getting droopy, so he reached for one of his many energy drinks. A loud crash, followed by a loud scream nearly made him come out of his skin. Bradyn didn’t even take the time to look to see what was going on before he was out of his vehicle and running in the direction of the scream. He saw a dark shadow running from the condo and he took off. He pumped his legs as fast as they could go, but the dark figure jumped into a car parked down the street and sped off before Bradyn could get close enough to get much information on the car.