“I like you, Haley. I want to get to know you,” Chase said leering while standing over her, a sober five foot two, hundred and twenty pound female. He was a former linebacker and his six foot six frame carried over two hundred thirty pounds. It was not an even match by any stretch of the imagination. “I want to see what David is getting.”
Haley had trembled then. “David hasn’t seen what David is getting.” She had swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry. “I’m a virgin, Chase.” She had hoped the truth might scare him off.
He was practically on top of her already. “I’ve never known anyone our age who looks like you to be a virgin. Let’s see if you’re telling the truth.”
She had put her hands out in front of her to ward him off. They were like wet noodles and he captured her wrists immediately. “No, please,” she cried over and over. And when he grew tired of hearing her, of the sense of guilt at his actions, he began swinging with his free hand.
“Shut up!” Every syllable was accented with a punch. And when he grew weary of shouting and hitting, he pulled a Swiss army knife from his pocket to threaten her and cut her bra away from her back. Her clothes were ripped for easy access. Her face was on fire. Blood trickled from her nose and wet the inside of her mouth, which made sense as it now felt like raw hamburger. She could feel something warm and sticky on her back. More blood, she assumed. Her eye was rapidly swelling shut. She had never been handled so roughly before. And she laid there whimpering until he was finished. Every inch of her body hurt, or ached or bruised or swelled or bled.
Finally, when he left the room she managed to exit the house in the hopes of hailing a cab. She had no idea where David was, and she didn’t know how to tell him what had happened. Haley didn’t know how to tell him his best friend, his college roommate; his law school study buddy had raped her. She tried hailing a cab, but curiously enough, no one wanted to stop and pick her up. She walked the three miles to the hospital in a blustering snow storm, wearing only her shredded clothes.
When she entered the emergency department, she was ushered immediately into a room. They had seen it many times before. Her clothes were bagged. A flurry of flashes commenced as pictures were taken. The police were summoned and she was questioned and labeled uncooperative. Then came the exam. She required stitches inside and out, and on her back as well. Haley was given a set of scrubs to change into and allowed to keep her shoes then left alone to dress. As she was finishing up, she saw her medical folder lying open on the counter. She studied the print out of the digital pictures taken of a body and face she didn‘t recognize. She studied the physician’s notes and felt her stomach churn. She swallowed the morning after pill the nurse had left for her on the counter and took a swig of water. It hurt. Everything hurt. And then moving very gingerly, she stuffed the file down the front of her scrubs and cinched the draw string waist.
Peeking out the door, she saw everyone gathered around the nurse’s station to the right. So, while they were distracted, she took a left. The cabby didn’t look surprised to see a trauma victim leaving the hospital. “Car accident,” she mumbled. That was common place. No one was afraid to go near a car accident victim. She wouldn’t be nearly so lucky once everyone knew she had been raped. And then what would happen once they found out it was Chase the All-Star, Chase the Golden Boy who did it? And she was nobody; she was merely his best friend’s fiancée. And she realized that was why she needed the file. That was why she needed proof.
Back in the house she had left hours before, she started searching the rooms for David. How he reacted would set the tone. In a back bedroom on the second floor she finally found him. He was sound asleep, a smile playing on his lips, looking peaceful. The first hints of dawn were coloring the room in pink and orange. Luckily, the naked woman in his arms looked good in orange.
Haley didn’t have the strength to wake him or confront him. It was all she could do to make it down the stairs through her tear filled eyes. The cabby was still there, just as she had requested, in case David was out looking for her. “Where to, lady?”
“Can we make a few more stops?” She asked, her voice catching in her throat.
He smiled. The rest of the city was asleep. “We can do anything you are willing to pay for.”
So she went to one ATM after another to empty her bank account. And she went back to her apartment to pack what she could carry, which amounted to a bunch of clothes and the cookie jar that had sat on her mother’s counter the whole time she was growing up. She left a note on her neighbor’s door with instructions for disposing of and selling the rest of her possessions then telling her to keep the money for her troubles.
Content that she had done everything that needed to be accomplished prior to her swift departure, she locked the door for the last time, and struggled out to the cab. But this was the most challenging part. The cabby would want to know where she was going and she really didn’t know. Sighing, she decided. “Last stop. Take me to the train station.” She settled back into the seat. By now she hadn’t slept for nearly twenty-four hours. And she had never traveled by train. Think of it as an adventure. That’s what her mother would say anytime they faced adversity, anytime life called for change. She would have liked to cry, but her eyes hurt too much, and her ribs were too sore to sob, so it was easier to simply swallow her sorrow and move on.
Twenty minutes later, she stood in front of the departure board at the station remembering what David had said to her last time she had suggested she might like to travel or go into business once she graduated. “You’re no shark, baby,” he had said smugly. “You’ve got no business sense and you certainly can’t navigate the waters without me.” At the time she had felt he must love her, must want to protect her. And so even though she had never felt passionate about him, she had stayed with him. Now, however, she saw it for the condescending remark it was.
Plastering a determined look on her face, she had selected the most dangerous destination she could imagine and boarded the train for New York City. She hadn’t slept the entire trip. Instead she had racked her brain for a connection in that vast metropolis. That was when she remembered her undergrad roommate. Ellen would put her up for a few days.
Haley called her the minute she reached the station, and grabbed a cab to the address she was given less than five minutes after that. She had a moment of regret when Ellen answered the door and her warm greeting turned to stunned silence. Haley was ushered into the apartment where she took a luxurious shower, struggled to digest some chicken noodle soup, and then fell into a fitful sleep in the guest bedroom. Thankfully, Ellen never asked. She certainly wondered, Haley could tell, but she let her alone. And as much as she feared being alone, she was grateful the inquisition never happened.
Slowly, with Ellen’s gentle prodding, she managed to pull her life back together. She plotted ways to move on while flying under the radar. She changed her name, not legally, but no one would be the wiser, since she was a temp and not a security risk. She kept her life savings in her cookie jar. She subleased a furnished apartment so her name wouldn’t appear on the phone or utility bills. And she kept her possessions to a minimum in case she needed to leave in a hurry. She would not be found, not by David and not by Chase. Most importantly, she began to run.
Haley looked at Sam, reaching out to her, looked at the door, then back to Sam. She made her choice. Stifling a sob, she fled the room.
He wanted to go to her; he wanted to be with her like he had never before wanted to be with any woman. Sam didn’t feel the welcome relief at her departure that he had grown accustomed to when other women left; instead he found this aching emptiness. And then Adam waltzed back into the room.
“Well, I think that went well,” he said sarcastically.
Sam scowled at him. “Everything was going very well, thank you, until you showed up unannounced.” He swept over to his desk and took a seat in his swivel chair. “And you know; if you ever bothered to call before you showed up, I could have saved you
the trouble of a visit.”
“You wound me,” Adam said, clearly enjoying this. “So, I gather I ruined your plans.”
Sam glared at him. “I don’t have any plans.”
Adams eyes widened. “You don’t have any plans. You always have plans. For example, you planned on being married by thirty. Now you’re thirty-three. How’d that plan work out? Whatever did happen with Gabriella anyway?”
“I thought I told you we were never going to speak of it,” Sam said angrily. He watched as Adam merely took a seat and waited patiently.
“Obviously, you are over her now. What’s the harm in sharing with me? Stop acting like we aren’t family.” He laced his fingers behind his head.
Sam sighed. “You are going to laugh at me,” he said quietly. “You are going to think I’m a fool and tell me you told me so.”
If he was hoping to hear false promises from his brother, he was going to have to wait for another occasion. “Probably,” Adam remarked. “But I care about you. I care about your happiness. And I will stick by you no matter what.”
Sam studied him and knew his words were true. So, he finally vented what had transpired three years previous. “I went home for lunch one day to surprise Gabriella. But apparently the surprise was on me. I found her in bed with her personal trainer.”
Adam sat upright at this news. “The trainer you were paying five hundred dollars a week?” Sam nodded. “What did Gabriella say?”
He gave Adam a wry smile. “She wasn’t sorry. She was angry that the engagement was about to be called off and that her lifestyle was going to have to change. She was furious that she would have to leave my apartment and my money behind.” He sighed at the memory. “And she blamed me for all of it. She said that I didn’t spend any time with her, that I gave my energy and my heart to the company and there was nothing left for her.” He stood up and went to pour himself a drink. He took a healthy swallow. “In retrospect, she was probably right.”
“You didn’t love her,” Adam said gently. “You loved the idea of her. She would have been nothing more than a typical trophy wife: cold, beautiful, and empty. You decided it was time to settle down and she made herself available.”
“She was dad’s personal assistant,” Sam remarked.
“Yeah, and the inspiration for your Interoffice Dating Policy.” Adam watched his brother for a moment. A thought occurred to him. “You’re afraid that you are about to repeat that mistake with Haley, aren’t you?” He walked over to his brother and laid a hand affectionately on his shoulder. “Haley is nothing like Gabriella. Nothing,” he repeated. Sam spun around and glared at him, thinking Adam was focused on the superficial outward appearances as he made the comparison. Adam continued. “Haley is special. Give her time. Be patient.”
It was official. Everyone in his life expected him to handle her with kid gloves. And by God, so did he. Sam looked at Adam. “I guess I have an errand to run. Will you excuse me?”
Adam smiled. “Now that’s a plan,” he teased.
Chapter Three
There was a knock on the door. Haley looked at it. She wasn’t expecting anyone. She never had any visitors. She glanced at the clock. It was seven thirty in the evening. Who could be at the door at this hour?
“Olly olly oxen free,” he called quietly.
Haley’s heart beat rapidly in her chest. She tiptoed quietly over to the door and looked out the peephole. Sam had stepped back from the door so that she could see him. He was holding her doggie bag from the night before and a new take out bag. She opened the door a crack.
“Olly olly oxen free, huh?” She wore an uncertain smile.
“Yes. That’s the cry of hide-and-seek,” he said matter-of-factly. “That’s what the kids say when they can’t find someone who hid too well. It’s supposed to let them know that it’s safe to come out, that it’s time to start another game.”
She opened the door a little wider. Her entire body was visible now. And she was still wearing the clothes he bought her, a realization that warmed him. “Are we playing a new game now?” She bit her lip while she awaited his response.
“Yes,” he said, closing the gap. “Now we’re playing sardines. Remember?” He moved until they were toe-to-toe, then he wrapped one arm around her in a makeshift hug. “Let me in,” he whispered into her hair.
Haley shivered; her face pressed against his neck, the scent of him filling her, but was unafraid. “Okay,” she said quietly.
They ate in a comfortable silence, each lost in his or her thoughts. Together they cleaned up, working in a harmony that should have taken years of practice. And once they were finished, Sam walked over and took a seat on the couch, wondering if he was being a bit presumptuous. Haley glanced at him then opted to sit in the window seat.
“Do you sit there often?” He asked in an attempt to make conversation.
Haley was gazing out the window. “Oh, yes,” she sighed. “I sit here every night. I stare out at the skyline, the people, everything. I marvel at the fact that I’m even here, in this city.”
“You may be here, but you certainly aren’t a part of it,” he stated sadly.
She faced him with a furrowed brow. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you don’t exactly partake in the many splendors of our fine city, do you?” He gave her a challenging look.
Drawing her knees up to her chest and locking her arms around them, Haley shook her head. “No, I don’t,” she answered truthfully.
“I have a lot of events I’m expected to attend on a weekly basis. Why, next week alone I have a fundraiser and a charity ball. Go with me. Let me show you the city.” He could see that she was hesitant. “I’ll keep you safe, Haley. I promise.” She was weakening. “And I’ll make sure you have the right attire.” She began to slowly nod.
Growing braver, he said slowly, “May I ask you something?”
She straightened, knowing that his question was important, and no doubt difficult to answer. “Yes, but I can’t promise I’ll respond.”
“Fair enough,” he said, getting up and sharing the window seat with her. He wanted to be close to her, wanted her to be comforted enough by his presence to share with him what she hadn’t had the courage to share with anyone. “What was it I said today that made you run away?”
Instantly, her demeanor was transformed. He could see her visibly withdrawing into herself. “I know you are curious about…my past. I know that I keep putting you off,” she said quietly without meeting his face. “And most of all, I know that you don’t have to come to me for the answers. I know you could go to your friend Jake and have him investigate me to come up with all the information you desire.” Sam went rigid. “I appreciate that you are being so patient with me, that you are willing to give me time to tell you everything at my own pace.” She looked at him expectantly, to see that he understood what she was saying.
Sam knew what he had to do. He only prayed it wasn’t too late. Leaning over her, he wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace. He felt her tense momentarily then begin to grow more relaxed as he continued to hold her. “I’ll let you be for now,” he murmured against her neck. He pulled back slowly, his hands still on her upper arms. “I’ll see you Monday?” He was afraid. He had looked around this apartment and seen not one single solitary item that seemed to be of her taste. He sensed that she traveled light. She was a temp. She kept her money in a cookie jar. She could leave at will. And Monday felt so far away.
She nodded, but that wasn’t good enough. “Promise me,” he said seriously. “You don’t strike me as someone to make a promise lightly. So, I’m asking you to promise me.”
Haley looked tired, but she gave a weak smile. “I promise,” she said quietly.
It was all Sam could do to make it to Monday morning without checking on her. She promised. He reminded himself when he woke up Sunday morning and toyed with calling her to go jogging. She promised. He repeated that evening when he went to pick up food from his favorite Italian restaur
ant and thought about how a little pasta might do her some good. She promised. He thought all the way to the office on Monday morning, far earlier than he normally would arrive, except he couldn’t stand not seeing her anymore.
Sitting at his desk, he tried to concentrate on the presentation he would be giving at eleven, but that was difficult since he kept his door open intentionally and caught himself looking every time the outer door opened. It was almost nine o’clock and she still hadn’t shown. He jumped up from his desk and rose to pace. Should he call Ellen? Should he contact a neighbor to see if she had moved? But before he could enact any of those plans, Haley stood shyly in his doorway holding a bag and a cup of coffee for him.
Sam wanted to rush over to her, crush her to his chest, and hold her until she realized that she couldn’t live without him. Instead he smiled and said, “Thank you for keeping your promise. Did you almost change your mind?”
“Because I was nearly late?” She asked with a smirk. “No, actually, it’s entirely your fault I wasn’t here earlier.”
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