A Prior Engagement

by S. L. Scott

  A scuffle with the family grabbed William’s attention again, and he saw Evie’s dad holding her by the arm and he could hear her pleas. “Please, no. I won’t go with him. Please don’t do this.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “William!”

  William saw a man, in his twenties, in a suit in front of her. Even though he had never seen him before he knew, he knew he was the monster. Her dad was leading his innocent lamb to the slaughterhouse. While Evie was crying and resisting, that smug bastard was smiling.

  William ran at the same time as Tom and when their fists collided against the other’s body they both stumbled backward. William landed one on his jaw, and Tom had landed his punch into William’s stomach. William didn’t hesitate, and threw an upper cut that connected with Tom’s jaw again. “You bastard!”

  The cop and another policeman he hadn’t noticed prior, grabbed William’s arms, restraining him, and threw him to the ground, his chest slamming against the concrete. A foot pushed against William’s shoulder blades while the other cop held William’s wrists in restraint. He was cuffed, but they couldn’t stop William’s mouth. “I will kill you for hurting her!”

  Tom laughed while standing in front of him then kicked him in the ribs.

  Freeing herself, Evie started running to William, but her dad caught her arm again and kept her on track for the waiting car. Tears streamed down her face as she cried to the cops. “Stop hurting him! Please don’t hurt him! Help him!”

  Tom took possession of her other arm and with blood trailing from the corner of his mouth, he smiled, his face contorted in wicked amusement, his voice threatening. “They’re with me, sweetheart. I pay their salary.” He laughed as William watched him plant a bloody kiss on Evie’s cheek.

  Evie moved her head as far away as she could, but Tom still managed to make contact.

  “He hits your daughter how can you—Ow!” William shouted in pain as the cops pushed harder against his shoulders. But through his own tears he could see Tom, standing next to Evie’s father talking to her just out of his hearing range. His eyes blurred momentarily, but when they came into focus, he saw Audrey and the look of horror on her face watching the scene play out.

  Closing his eyes again, he tried to get his breathing under control, but was struggling. That’s when he heard a small familiar voice to his left. “Please don’t fight them, William. They’ll hurt you.” Audrey was crying and her words were colored in sorrow.

  He couldn’t look at her again, certain she betrayed her sister and him by leading them to Evie’s safe haven. The cops pulled William to his feet, twisting his arms and making him yelp in pain as he searched for Evie.

  Evie gave up her fight and walked, still restrained but under control, to the open car door. She looked back once before sliding in, the star-crossed couple locked eyes one final time, the pain evident for both.

  “Don’t do this, Evie! Don’t get in that car! I can’t help if you get—Ouch!” The cops pulled him back, inflicting more pain than necessary to shut him up.

  The first cop sighed loudly. “Listen man, don’t make this harder than it has to be. Just play nice and let the girl go. You’re fighting a losing battle here.”

  Looking over his shoulder at the officer, William got the message. As Evie got into the car and her father shut the door behind her, he realized he had been set up, ambushed. They were here to take Evie back all along and the cops were here to arrest him because they knew he would put up a fight. With adrenaline coursing through his veins, the realization thickened in his blood, weighing heavy on his heart. He turned, bloodied face, to one of the officers. “I’m fucked, aren’t I?”

  “Before you even knew it.”

  Tom took the opportunity to come back to William and taunt him while patting one of the cops on the back. “Good work, gentleman. I’ll sleep better knowing the streets will be a little safer tonight.” Turning to William while dabbing his cheek with a tissue, he tried to clean the blood off his face. Tom signaled with a nod to his car and then looked straight into William’s eyes. “I came to reclaim my property. Don’t mess with my possessions or next time you’ll pay the consequences of your actions. I don’t play fair, and I won’t play nice. For a Neanderthal like you, that means stay away from Everleigh.” He turned on his heel and left.

  William was defiant. “You’re a fucking monster. She doesn’t love you. She hates you!”

  Tom stopped and looked back at him. “She’ll have that ring back on her finger by her own accord by tonight. You just better worry about what’s going to happen to you if I find out you went anywhere near her with your di—”

  “I don’t have to threaten women like you do,” William shouted, but realized Tom would hurt her again if he thought they had had sex. “We didn’t have sex, you asshole!” He had to say anything he could to protect her and if he couldn’t physically do that, he would make sure to clarify it verbally. William didn’t care if he had lied to Tom, but this time he didn’t have to. They hadn’t made love yet.

  Tom smirked before responding. “I knew she loved me.” He walked to the car, got in, and William watched as it drove away.

  William looked around and saw her family had already left and as one officer walked him to the car, the other grabbed the bags left behind on the bench. The officer pushed his head down, making him duck down into the cruiser. “I don’t know if you banged that girl or not, but you saying you didn’t was the smartest thing you did today. Boy, I’d hate to see what he’d do if he thought you had.”

  “I wasn’t worried about me. He beat the shit out of her a week ago and you let him get her alone again to repeat the abuse.” William looked around the back of the car at the close confines of the dirty car, a car where criminals and crooked cops sat. He couldn’t believe he’d managed to avoid being arrested his entire life despite some of the crazy stuff he did growing up and now here he was, sitting in the back of a police car going to jail for falling in love.

  William tried to reach Bobby, but the call went to voicemail. He refused to call his parents and couldn’t afford a lawyer. He was embarrassed for being charged with assault and disorderly conduct and didn’t want them to know until he handled the situation. He also didn’t want to involve them in this mess, so he sat in jail overnight.

  Early in the morning, his name was called and when he walked to the cell door, the guard told him the charges had been dropped. As he entered the station lobby, he saw an unwelcome familiar face, Professor Lang. Standing with a small sympathetic smile, the professor greeted William with a handshake. “How are you holding up, Mr. Ryder?”

  “What are you doing here?” William asked, hating his professor even knowing he was arrested, much less bailing him out.

  “I came to bail you out a few hours ago, but they said they were still waiting on paperwork. The charges were dropped in the meantime and thus the bail wasn’t necessary. You look a little ragged, which is understandable.” He turned and started for the door and William followed. “Can I buy you breakfast or coffee?”

  William stopped once they got out on the sidewalk and began to question him. “Why are you here?”

  “Let’s discuss this over coffee, William.”

  They started walking side-by-side, no words exchanged. A few blocks up from the station the Professor pointed to a coffee shop. “Let’s try there.”

  But William stopped. “If I’m being honest, I could use something stronger after the last twenty-four hours I’ve had.”

  The Professor looked around and pointed across the street. “Then, let’s go there.”

  This was New York and you can find whatever you need at any hour in this city. They walked into a dark bar where the front door was wedged open and sat down on two barstools. Looking around, William was surprised to find they weren’t alone in the bar. Desperation and disappointment was more common in the city than he once imagined. The bartender approached. “What can I get you?”

  The Professor ordered first. “Two drafts.”
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  William added, “And two shots of whiskey.”

  The bartender turned, getting their drinks and when he set them down he told them how much they owed and that they close in half an hour so to drink up.

  The Professor set a twenty on the bar as he watched William gulp his beer. “Wow! I don’t think I’ve drank this late or . . . early since I was your age. I hope you don’t do this often.”

  William nodded, laughing under his breath. “No, I don’t normally get arrested and I don’t usually drink at this hour.” He looked at his most prestigious and respected professor sitting next to him in this dingy bar and laughed again. Full of sarcasm, he said, “Maybe I should see if this works better for me, though.” He picked up his whiskey shot and pushed the other toward Lang. They clinked their shot glasses together then downed the liquor in one heated gulp. Both did a little headshake to ease the taste of the hard liquor. “I didn’t see this coming.”

  “Being arrested or drinking at five-thirty in the morning with your professor?”

  “Either. I’d prefer to be drinking with you under different circumstances,” William said, his voice steady, but detached. William’s mind was all over the place and thoughts that occurred to him in jail surfaced. “I’m thinking I might need a change of scenery, maybe California for my master’s degree.”

  Lang sat up surprised by this seemingly random comment. “Okay, let me know how I can help.”

  “Thank you.” William eyed him while taking another sip, then continued. “I respect you and yet I’ve somehow dragged you into this mess. How’d you know I was in jail, and why are you here?”

  “I witnessed the tail end of the incident yesterday. I thought you got the short end of the stick from what I saw.” Lang took another sip of his beer then said, “I don’t know what’s going on in Miss Wright’s life or what yesterday was about, but I couldn’t let my brightest student sit in jail for aiding someone who needed help.”

  Staring ahead at the neon beer sign reflecting in the mirror behind the bar, William said, “He hits her, you know.”

  “I don’t know who he is.”

  William paused not sure if he should be speaking with his professor so candidly, but needed to talk to someone he trusted, and he trusted Lang. “He’s her fiancé. They’re engaged, were engaged, hell, I dunno anymore.” William felt revulsion of the word fiancé in his mouth when he spoke it.

  “Well, that changes things, doesn’t it?”

  “That doesn’t change anything! You saw what he did to her last week. He should be the one locked up right now.”

  “What do the police say?”

  William sighed. “We should have reported it. She didn’t want to—”

  “Victims often don’t. Is this something you feel you can report? I’ll go with you, if you want.”

  “I don’t want to betray Evie. Everyone else in her life has. I won’t do that to her.”

  “That’s understandable,” Lang said. “I’m not sure if it’s right, but it’s a tricky situation.”

  “She needs allies, and I need her in my life.”

  “Love, relationships . . .” Lang stopped to think of what he wanted to say before he continued. “. . . They’re very complicated and tend to bring out the best and worst in people. Miss Wright seemed quite enamored with you, but she had this fiancé already?”

  William ran his finger down the condensation collecting on the pint glass and then finished the beer. “She’s been with… she’s had that commitment since she was seventeen.” He looked over at the professor. “But, she was in love with me. She is in love with me.” He rested his head in his hands. “I’m in love with her and she left with him yesterday, the one who beats her, the one who hurts her and doesn’t appreciate the person she is. I don’t want to believe she left of her own free will, but I have nothing else to go on.”

  “Affairs of the heart are tricky. I wouldn’t have seen that twist, but I also have to say that I agree she didn’t look like she left willingly. It looked to me like she was being coaxed into leaving by that man and her fiancé.”

  “That other man was her father. I didn’t hear what they told her, but I know they coerced her somehow. She wouldn’t have gone with them otherwise. I’m trying to believe she wouldn’t have left me by her own choosing.”

  The professor stood, drank the remainder of his beer, and patted William on the back. “These kinds of entanglements are wrenching. Everything you studied in the classics tells you the outcome is in your favor, but we live in a modern world where sometimes forces greater than ourselves, greater than love, win out. Do what’s in your heart, son. For one shall never have failed if tried and true to thy self.”

  “Bronte?”

  “No. Lang.” The professor walked to the door with William following behind. They shook hands on the street and William thanked him for trying to bail him out, the drinks, company, and his wisdom. The professor started to leave but stopped. “I cancelled class today. Make sure you’re there tomorrow ready to focus on your studies, Mr. Ryder.”

  “Yes, sir, and thanks again.”

  William headed home and showered before doing anything else. He scrubbed harder than he needed, trying to erase the memory of the jail and the incident away. Afterward, he had a granola bar and downed a large glass of water before taking his broken heart to bed. He prayed that sleep would come quick considering he hadn’t slept at all in lock-up. His prayer was answered.

  Everleigh spent the night in utter fear at Tom’s apartment or what she now considered a jail in the sky. The first few hours there, she remained shocked her parents would hand her over to him as if nothing had happened. After a while, her reasoning kicked in and she realized they didn’t know. They were still oblivious to the real situation and fell for the lies he told.

  But what broke her heart was that they wouldn’t listen to her. They chose to believe him when Tom told them she was being hysterical and melodramatic. They didn’t know Tom was blackmailing her into staying, that he’d drop the assault charges against William if she went to his place on her own accord. She was left no choice. She didn’t want to be the cause of William’s arrest, and did what she was told, for William.

  Tom had offered her a muscle relaxer, which she took along with a shot of vodka when she arrived at his apartment earlier. She wanted to be numb. She wanted her thoughts separated from her body. She wanted to black out, and at different points in the night, she wanted to die. William was her saving grace, the life preserver she held onto even if only metaphorically speaking.

  Tom was smart to leave her alone. He said she needed simmering down time. He didn’t know the half of it. He had no comprehension of the hate she held for him and scoffed that he thought time would set things right between them.

  She cried—weak, a little drunk, and drugged for hours. He came into the room several times in the night to check on her and seemed worried that she might be worse off than first assessed. Delirium had set in and she laughed at him—maybe it was the relaxer making her laugh in the face of evil.

  Finally passing out, she woke up once around three in the morning, seeing the skyscrapers out the windows and realizing where she was. She lifted her head, which felt heavy, her thoughts foggy, and looked at the door across the room. There was a sliver of light coming in at the bottom and she knew then she was indeed still at Tom’ place.

  Everleigh approached the doors with fear coursing through her, making her hands shake, as she silently tiptoed across the room. She didn’t know why she was quiet other than the moment seemed to call for it. When she tried the door, she found it locked. Fear turned to anger as she shook the handle hard. Walking to the window, she stared into the bleakness of the dark for several minutes before climbing back into bed, hoping it would rest her chaotic mind. It didn’t, and she turned back to the nightstand and finished her water. She felt drowsy once again and fell asleep ten minutes later.

  Chapter 23

  Tom, just outside the bedroom door, had n
ot found the same peace. As he looked at her phone in his hand, he heard her try the doorknob to no avail and was now at a crossroads with her. He didn’t know where either path would lead, and for the first time in their relationship, he felt like he might lose her. The feeling was very unsettling to his pride and his heart. He couldn’t let that happen. He slipped the SIM card out of her phone and hid the device in a console table drawer. He would need to replace it, and wiping out all the missed calls, the next day.

  He unlocked the door and left for work early the next morning. On the way to work, he came to the outcome that would best serve his purpose—if she wasn’t going to give William up, then he needed to make him give up on her.

  By ten in the morning, he received the information he needed to continue with his plan and he made the call without hesitation. After a few hours of work, he enjoyed a leisurely lunch with a friend down at one of the fancier restaurants in the area.

  When Tom returned, entering his office, he spotted the courier he had specifically requested sitting across the lobby. A large column blocked the guy’s view, and he didn’t see Tom as he walked toward the receptionist’s desk. She looked up from her tabloid then jumped to cover her break-time obsession by draping her arm over the paparazzi photos of the latest hot, young star. She cleared her throat, trying to recover from her shock of seeing her boss in front of her. “Mr. Whitney, the messenger is here for a pick-up, but I didn’t see a package going out. Do you have one in your office?”

  Tom glanced back at the man seated and felt a rush of anger flow over him. Possessiveness and jealousy hit his heart, making it beat faster and harder in his chest when he answered, “Um, yes, but I’ll handle this. Give me twenty minutes then send him into my office.”

  The receptionist gave him an odd look of confusion, but nodded, happy in the fact that he didn’t say anything about her reading a magazine while at work.