HOW WE GOT FROM therapy back to the apartment’s parking garage was beyond me. I remember Carol trying to get me to open up to her, but I was reluctant to do so because I was embarrassed over the fact that I’d allowed myself to get suckered in by James. Both she and Kent were pushing me to reveal what I’d been trying so hard to hide. What would they think if they knew? More importantly, what would Ethan think? He’d see you as a strong woman who survived against a bastard. You need him.
I jumped when I heard his car door close and mine open. “Come on, hon.”
I took hold of his hand and grabbed my purse, following him to the elevator. My stomach started to grumble rather loudly causing him to laugh. He turned to look at me and then down at my stomach, “I’m hungry too, but you don’t have to yell at me.”
Ethan always had a way of making the situation a bit lighter, especially when it got too serious. I guess that’s one of the reasons I was endeared to him. I watched as he pulled out his phone. “Would you like pizza, Chinese, or something else tonight? We can give that new delivery service a try.”
“Breakfast sounds good. Maybe some pancakes with the works?” I’d missed breakfast and didn’t eat much lunch. I knew I didn’t have to say much for Ethan to know what I wanted. God knows we’ve spent enough time together sharing meals to know what each other liked.
He started placing the order, “You’re place or mine?”
I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but I decided, “Mine.” I wanted to slip out of my work clothes and into some comfy pajamas. Today had been so busy and hectic with work and the therapy session. I guess the note I’d found this morning would have to wait until another time, or so I thought.
As we approached my door, there was another small envelope taped to it with Mrs. Bentley written across the front of this one. Ethan pulled it loose and shook it in the air, “What the hell’s this, Marjorie?”
I grabbed hold of it and tried to, unsuccessfully, unlock my door. “It’s just another damn note from someone trying to scare me.” My hands were shaking too much to get the key into the lock.
Ethan put his hand over mine gently taking the key from me. His endearing touch caused me to burst into tears. For the first time since I’d left James, I felt out of control. “I’m calling the guys.” I knew who he meant. Anytime we have a potential threat within the family, Derrick and/or Rick are called to come in and neutralize it. I don’t know exactly what their backgrounds entail, but our family trusts them and their team completely.
I felt his arms wrap around me as he opened the door. He led me to the sofa and quickly turned some lights on along the way. As soon as we were seated, I curled up against him and wept into the side of his neck. I was thankful he’d removed his jacket before we sat down, so I wouldn’t ruin it.
He held onto me, rubbing his hands up and down my back as he laid sweet kisses on my forehead. How is it possible that just his touch can reassure me everything will be fine? The tears started to slow, but I felt bad about drenching his shoulder. I leaned up to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek, when he turned suddenly causing our lips to meet. His touch had always elicited deep desires to course through me, wanting, no needing more of him, but knowing we couldn’t go any further, at least not yet. But after the day we’ve had, I needed to see what it was like to taste him, to feel my lips pressed hard against his. I needed to lose myself in his intoxicating aroma of the sea and citrus.
He started to pull back away from me when my hands wrapped around his head, holding him closer to me. If I needed to, I’d dominate this kiss. I’d do anything to take away the visions of the past that were trying to creep into my conscious mind, causing my heart to race even more with the fear that James would once again try to control my life.
Ethan’s lips were hesitant and light against mine until I’d nipped his lower lip with my teeth, sucking it into my mouth. I heard him groan and felt him shift as one hand tightened around my waist, pulling me closer. The other grabbed the nape of my neck, holding me to him as his tongue plundered into my mouth.
I thought I’d experienced a soul searching kiss with my ex, James, but never have I lost track of time or felt breathless until Ethan. The knock on my door made us jump, causing us to realize just how far we’d taken things. His hand was feeling up my breast, while mine was grabbing hold of his crotch. My heart was beating a mile a minute and my panties were drenched with desire.
There was another knock, more persistent this time. I yelled out, “Coming.”
Ethan leaned forward, running a hand through his hair and laughing. Under his breath I could hear, “A little more and we would be.” He looked up at me, his eyes dark and hooded with desire. I started to stand to get the door as he grabbed my hand, “We can’t do this, hon. If we cross that line, we might destroy our friendship and I can’t lose you. You’re the only person who gets me, who makes me feel I have an ounce of control in this crazy world.”
I leaned down giving his hair a kiss. “I know. I don’t want to lose you either. You’re the only man I trust outside of my family. I’d be lost without you.”
I left him on the sofa, to adjust his rather large arousal, as I opened the door to find both Derrick and Rick. “We found the delivery person outside. We went ahead and grabbed your order to save them a trip up.”
“Thanks.” I took the food from them as they came in and made themselves at home on the chairs across from the sofa. “How much do we owe you?”
Rick was the first to speak, “Just treat us to some pizza and beer on our day off and we’re good.” We all laughed since we knew they rarely took a day off.
I wasn’t sure how to proceed, so Ethan spoke up as he handed them the note from the door. “We found this taped outside her door tonight.”
I laid the food out on the coffee table in front of us so we could both eat while we talked with the guys. We watched as both of them donned latex gloves and took out some plastic evidence bags. They carefully opened the envelope to see the note inside. The handwriting was familiar, but a little off:
The note was short and to the point, but I had no clue what it meant. It had been one of a few messages that kept repeating. I watched as they bagged it. “We’ll have the lab run it for prints and DNA evidence. Have there been any more notes since the last few?”
Ethan had dug into his meal, wolfing down his order of pancakes and sausage, and was about to take another bite when he stopped short. “What other notes?” His face turned red with anger as his hands nearly crushed the container his food was in. “There’ve been more? How many and when did they start?”
Derrick interjected. “Marjorie contacted us several months back when she received the first one. However, it didn’t provide us with much information. The notes started coming every so often, without any rhyme or reason to them, to different locations. Several of the messages were repeats of ones she’d received previously. Sometimes they’re on her car, stuffed under or taped to her door, handed to her at the places she frequents, and even being mailed to her at work.”
Ethan looked at me like I’d slapped him. “You never thought to share this with me?”
“You’d been busy with work and helping everyone with their issues, so I didn’t want to bother you with the letters. But they’re starting to scare me now that they’re coming more frequently.” I leaned over and reached into my purse, pulled out the one from this morning and handed it over to Rick. “I found this note on my car this morning.”
They changed out their gloves and opened this one too. It was different than the previous ones because it also contained a picture of Ethan hugging me by the pool. The note read:
I’d been gulping down my food as they’d examined the notes, but suddenly felt sick to my stomach, seeing the picture and how close someone was coming to invading my personal space. This had been the first time a picture and claim was made. The syrup-drenched pancakes had started out tasting amazing, but quickly soured in my mouth and left a bad aftertaste.
I reached for my water and nearly drained the bottle while Ethan looked at everyone and asked, “Do you have any clues as to who’s doing this?” I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head.
Rick rubbed the back of his neck and tensed. “I wish we did. The lab concluded that James wrote a couple of the notes and had his DNA on them, but we have confirmation that he hasn’t left his new location since we ran him out of town.”
He went on to add, “If it was him, his DNA would be only a few hours, maybe even a day old, but these notes are dating from several days to a week old by the time they pop up. Although we did catch a perfume scent on one of the notes, there was no trace of other prints or DNA evidence. At this point we’re happy to run checks on a list of possible suspects you can think of.”
I tried to listen, but the words seemed to fade away as the urge to vomit hit me hard. I threw my food on the table, put a hand to my mouth, and ran toward the bathroom. I heard Ethan yell out to me and then heard a loud thump on the floor while Derrick yelled for Rick to call 911. What the hell is going on? I felt the edges of blackness begin to surround me. I knew something was seriously wrong. The contents of my stomach violently left my mouth right before everything went black.
I COULD HEAR THE mumbling of voices around me and felt the rush of warm air pass over my neck and chest. As my conscious mind seemed to awaken, I realized I was lying down in an uncomfortable bed with Marjorie pressed up against my side. I tried to lift my other hand to cradle her but felt the pull of something sticking in my hand.
I jumped when I felt the press of a man’s hand against my arm. “Easy their, bro.” It was Nate’s voice.
I opened my eyes, thankful that someone had the foresight to keep the lighting at a minimal. I looked around and realized we were in a hospital room, both of us dressed in hospital gowns.
I looked past Nate to see Gianna sitting next to him, Derrick in the corner talking with someone on the phone, along with Kent and Carol. What the hell were they doing here? My throat felt raw and as dry as a desert. My chest was sore, feeling like I’d been beat up by someone strong. My words were barely a whisper, “What the hell happened? Why are we here and why do I feel like I’ve just been run over by a Mack truck?”
Gianna grabbed a pitcher of water on a nearby tray and poured some into a cup with a straw. “You might want to take a sip of water before you try talking any more. I can only imagine how sore your throat is. I know Marjorie was gulping down water when she first woke.”
I took a tentative sip, which burned going down, but it seemed to soothe the fire a bit. “Is she okay?”
Nate scooted forward. “We heard the commotion across the hall, so we came running. We got there at the same time the fire rescue team arrived.” He paused for a moment and looked over toward Derrick, who had just finished his call. “Would you like to tell him or should I?”
Derrick’s face was all serious, which was never a good sign. He walked from the darkness into the light, where his eyes were somber. “I’m not going to beat around the bush on this, Ethan, you were both poisoned tonight.”
I tried to think back on how the day and night played out and couldn’t understand. “How?” It was the only word that popped to mind.
“Rick and I noticed that you seemed to be losing focus right as Marjorie jumped off the couch. We’re guessing her body was rejecting things since she was headed toward her bathroom. She managed to throw-up most of the food before passing out. But you took a nose dive with blue lips and no pulse. We realized it was poison at that point and called for emergency help.” He took a deep breath in and rubbed a hand against the back of his neck to relieve some tensions. “Let’s just say I’m thankful that fire rescue is only a block away and that your building is close to the hospital. If we had any further to travel, we might have lost you.”
He pointed at my chest. “You might feel a bit sore in your chest area for a while. We had to do chest compressions, and they had to zap you to restart your heart when we got here.”
My mind was spinning with the realization that I’d almost died, yet again. Who the hell kept playing with my life and trying to tempt my fate? For the first time, in forever, I felt the strong desire to live again.
I looked down to Marjorie and then back up to Gianna, who was stroking the hair away from her sister’s face. “Is she going to be okay?” I wanted to ask why the hell she was lying in my bed, but I didn’t want to act like a total prick. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy her company or the feel of her pressed so closely to me. The fact is I enjoyed it a bit too much. The closer she was to me the harder it became to refuse her advances.
Gianna nodded. “Her body seemed to reject the poison and threw most of it up. You both had to have your stomachs pumped and were given antidotes to counter any effects it might have in your system.” She looked down at her sister and smiled as she continued. “She woke up several hours ago, panicked about your safety. Since our family is a major contributor to the hospital, we were able to pull strings and have you both set up in the same room, but she wouldn’t stay in bed. She adamantly refused, pulling her IV out and going ballistic in her need to be close to you. The doctor wanted to give her a sedative to help calm her down and let her body heal. She would only agree to it if she was allowed to crawl into bed with you so she could hear your heartbeat and feel your chest rise and fall with your breathing.”
I closed my eyes and swallowed hard at the realization of how close Marjorie and I had become. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I would’ve done the same thing. I felt Gianna’s hand against the one holding Marjorie. “She cares deeply for you. Please don’t hurt her.”
Nate spoke up. “I don’t know how many times you’re going to try and tempt death, buddy. I can’t keep having all this excitement in my life.”
He leaned forward, his face suddenly all serious. “You can deny that you care for her as anything other than a friend, but your actions speak louder than any words you could say.” I looked at him like he was speaking some form of alien language, when he explained. “You were still out cold, but when she crawled into bed with you, your arm instantly went around her and pulled her to your side. Only someone who cared very deeply would know the scent and feel of the person they love and want to hold them close to protect them.”
I looked over at Marjorie and then around the room at everyone to see them all nodding in agreement. “I won’t deny that I have feelings. I just don’t know if I’m good enough for her.”
I noticed Gianna about to speak when a doctor and a nurse came in. They tried to physically move Marjorie from my embrace, but her hands held on tight to me and wouldn’t budge. Even in sleep she scooted closer. How could I deny her if this provided her comfort? I told the doctor to work around her to examine me and to keep it in hushed tones.
I wasn’t surprised to learn that I’d have some soreness over the next couple of days. Apparently the poison had seeped into my bloodstream and started shutting down organs. It had been touch and go. Had Derrick and Rick not collected a sample of the poison and provided it to the hospital, or acted as quickly as they did, we would’ve both died.
To say I paid attention to what the doctor had to say after that would’ve been a lie. My mind kept replaying the idea of both of us being killed. It made me wonder who hated Marjorie so much that they wanted her dead, and was I part of the equation or caught in the crossfire?
I just nodded and maintained eye contact with the physician as he kept talking. I didn’t really care what he had to say until, “We’ll keep you overnight and re-evaluate how you’re both doing tomorrow. We could release you as early as then or the following day.” He looked down at Marjorie and added, “If you can talk her into sleeping in her own bed, she’d probably rest more comfortably.”
Derrick stepped into the space the doctor had been standing in. “You’re probably wondering how the poison got into your food?”
I wanted to smart off and say, What the fuck do you think, but I
refrained. “Yes, please elaborate.”
“We noticed that Marjorie mainly threw up the pancakes. We at first thought they might be the culprit, but then noticed the syrup separating in your food containers. Given that the packaging stated it was straight maple syrup, that shouldn’t have happened. We scooped up some of the clear separating fluid and gave it to the paramedics. We also took a couple of the unopened syrup containers and discovered when held upside down, there was a small pinhole in each one, allowing a drop of liquid to release. It was obvious someone had tampered with it. We brought one of the syrup containers along to the hospital so they could analyze which poison it was. It was injected with a tropane alkaloid commonly found in plants like angel trumpets. The hospital happened to have the antidote (a combination of naloxone and thiamine) that they delivered.”
I looked up at him and wondered, “The delivery person?”
Derrick shook his head. “We thought the same thing. Rick went to the delivery company and talked with the employee. The guy had to wait on the restaurant to finish preparing your food for him to head your direction. When he drove up, he’d left the food in his car to help an elderly woman who’d tripped on the sidewalk. He admitted he’d left his car unlocked and didn’t pay attention to his vehicle for about five minutes. That’s when we walked up and he asked us to help gain entrance to your place because he was already late delivering your food.”
I watched as everyone seemed to tense awaiting his next words. “Rick tried to track down the elderly woman, but no one knew who she was, even with a description. It leads us to believe her part in the scam was to get the guy away from the food long enough for it to be tampered with. Rick then headed to Marjorie’s condo to see if the police had enough evidence collected and to help with the clean up process; however, before he arrived there he noticed a card taped to Gianna and Nate’s front door.”
I Need You Too Page 4