by M. C. Cerny
“Look, after I finish with the news tomorrow, we’re having dinner, okay? I promise to take notes while we nibble appetizers and share spaghetti. For the record, I asked him to dinner, so there!” Katie slapped her bandaged palm down on the table and then winced, shaking it out, her brows furrowed in pain.
“Well, he’s at least got balls. I can’t recall the last guy you even dated, darling.” Trevor patted her hand affectionately, kissed her injured palm, and got up. “Big T has to go now and get the news on. Fill me in pronto, or I’m calling you!” He took his tray and left, leaving Katie sitting alone. She tried to recall the last guy she had dated. Was it a year ago, maybe two? What was his name, his face? Katie decided a good night’s sleep with no distractions would get her back on course.
She threw out her coffee cup and walked out of the cafeteria, almost running into Lindsey. “Watch it, Katie.” Lindsey brushed past her, pushing her into the wall, painfully catching her shoulder that she fell on earlier. The blonde anchor carelessly swept by her. Her aggressive nature only seemed to rub Katie, as well as Trevor, the wrong way. However, her sleek blonde good looks seemed to be exactly what her bosses preferred. She was a viper to watch out for.
“Sorry, Lindsey,” Katie muttered, rubbing her sore shoulder and making her way out of the building to the subway. She contemplated taking a taxi home, but didn’t feel like paying the fare and figured she’d have to get over the anxiety of what happened to her at some point. She kept telling herself that she’s experienced worse and survived. Besides, the walk would loosen her knee up so it wouldn’t be too sore the next time she went running in the park. Katie managed to find a seat on the F train and watched the stations pass by. It was the kind of night that she could ride the train for hours. Unfortunately, she was no longer a green university student intern and had responsibilities the following day. She could tell that Jeff wanted more exclusive stories from her. The award she won last year had begun to collect dust on her mantle months ago, and the confusion surrounding Tully’s death haunted her in ways that she didn’t understand.
She walked in her door and saw that her answering machine was blinking, probably her family or her therapist. It was Dr. Lane, who had heard her talk about the mugging on the news and had questions, wondering if she was okay. Then her mother called, absolutely horrified and telling her that Dad was worried. If she didn’t call them back, they were sending Sam up to check on her. There was nothing from Sam yet so she checked her cell, which she had turned off in the subway. Oh, yeah, there were a bunch of missed calls there, too. Tiredly, she blew out pent up air from her chest. She didn’t have the stomach to call them back right now. Her head hurt, her body hurt, even her face hurt from smiling at the camera and pretending that everything was okay.
She took her shoes off, leaving them in the middle of the floor. Hey, why not? It was her home. She wanted to have some control over one aspect of her life right now. She opened the fridge…empty. She was never home to keep food in it anyway, choosing to stay long hours at the office. She checked the cupboards…granola bars, macaroni and cheese; not much there, either. She checked another cabinet…one bottle of white wine. As shaken up as Katie had been, wine was probably the last thing she needed. An acidic taste formed in the back of her throat as she thought of the crisp white wine. Her hunger abated for the moment and she decided to skip the late dinner.
She opened the curtains in her living room, a black sky with blinking city lights filtered in through the thick windows. She finally decided that maybe a warm bath would re-center her mind. She should probably check her body for any other damage since she’d been so busy and distracted at work. In her small bedroom, she stripped down and grabbed an old navy cotton robe, which was slung over her bed. She winced as she went to put it on, and stopped when she looked at herself in the mirror. Her shoulder had begun to discolor, probably where she had landed. She let the robe slip down her arms and, as she half-turned, she saw that her back didn’t seem as bruised. Her arm looked to have been the worst hit. She wondered if she should have gone to the hospital after she’d woken up in Jacob’s apartment but, considering she survived this long, maybe it was a waste of time and money. She also didn’t seem to have concussion symptoms and she’d, unfortunately, know those pretty well.
“Strange day,” Katie muttered to herself and, shaking her head, went into her bathroom. The claw-foot tub was silhouetted against the white tiles. She filled it with water and poured in her favorite bath salts, which doubled as bubble bath. As steam filled the room, she opened the medicine cabinet. Bottles of anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication stared back at her. Her therapist, whom she continued to see after Tully’s death, had given her the medication to calm her down, help her focus at work, and sleep at night. Katie had tried them all for weeks after Tully’s death, but nothing worked for the guilt. Begrudgingly, she had continued therapy and probably had an appointment coming up. Katie and the therapist had argued because Katie finally admitted to stopping the prescription drugs months ago. Her “noncompliance” seemed to annoy Dr. Lane and only fueled Katie’s need to sever the therapeutic relationship. Dr. Lane was just another pushy person who tried to wrest control over her.
Surprised that they were still in her cabinet, she grabbed the bottles and dumped the pills in the toilet, each pill echoing as it hit the water’s surface. No point in keeping them, she thought. As soon as she’d done the impulsive act, she looked up at the ceiling and muttered, “Shit.” She blamed the head injury for her stupidity and sighed as she remembered the news story from months before about the prescription pill drop offs at local police precincts. She flushed the toilet and watched them spin out of sight. She probably wasn’t the only one forgetting to do it.
She got into her tub and let the water soothe her body. Tomorrow would be another day. She relaxed until the water cooled, then got out and dried off, finding cozy PJ’s to wear. She plopped down on her sofa and turned on the news. She fell asleep listening to Trevor’s voice warning local pedestrians to be vigilant of muggers after their own Channel 10’s Katie Wilson was a victim earlier that day. Jeff was surely trying to capitalize on the incident as much as possible. Katie didn’t want to be anyone’s victim. While the negative press would make her popular in the news circuit for a while, all Katie wanted was some peace.
On the other side of town, Jacob was watching the teen thug through high-powered binoculars. Hauk was at his side and waiting for direction. Nick had been able to ID the mugger as José Colon, a local kid and troublemaker. Jacob was about to give him a new reason to change his ways. He followed him as he left a group of other kids who were, presumably, sharing their bounty of stolen goods as young gang members often do. Hauk growled low and followed Jacob’s pace.
“Easy, boy. We’re just gonna scare the shit out of him, not eat him.” Jacob kept his sights on José Colon until he turned down a quiet street. He stalked the kid like his days in the Army Rangers had taught him. When he got close enough, he called out, “José Colon?”
“Who wants to know?” The kid put his hand behind his back and Hauk growled louder, his hackles standing on end.
“I’d keep your hands where my dog can see them, or he’ll rip them off you before you could even try and do anything about it.” Jacob closed in on his prey, his boots clicking on the concrete.
“What the fuck do you want, man? I don’t know you from nowhere!” The kid backed up slowly.
Good, Jacob thought, let him be scared. “Wrong. You mugged my woman earlier today.”
“That bitch had it coming!” Hauk jump up and pushed the kid to the ground. He struggled to get Hauk’s barking, snapping mouth away from his chest and face. “Hey, stop! Get your fucking dog off me! Help! Help!”
“I don’t want to repeat myself, you little shit. You ever mug another person again, and I will hunt you down. Just ask yourself how the fuck I got your name so quick.” Jacob picked the kid up and threw him back to the ground. “Does your mother, Carmen, know
you do this shit?” His adrenaline was pumping. He could kill him and be done with it, his brother Eli probably would have, but he wasn’t into hurting kids and he hoped the kid would wise up, even if stupidity was harder to cure than addiction.
“Alright, alright, you crazy fuck! I get it!” Hauk stalked the kid back into the corner, tripping him and barking as he went. Drool dripped from Hauk’s jowls.
“No, but you will. Get out of town, get out of this city, and get out of this punk-ass gang before they get you killed. Think of me as your guidance counselor and this as your career fair, you little fucker!” Jacob let the kid go. He could smell urine in the direction of where Hauk had cornered him. Jacob watched the kid get up and run away, tripping on his ridiculous pants which hung over boxer shorts, a style that Jacob could never understand. Where was a good pair of cargos and a belt these days? “Good job, Hauk. Time to check on Katie.” Jacob gave Hauk a treat and petted his furry pal.
Jacob made his way back across town, at least mildly comforted that Katie lived miles from the scum who had tried to rob her. Katie lived on a quiet street in Brooklyn, which was populated by artsy couples and young families with baby joggers. After a little covert urging, Jacob saw that the landlord had finally fixed one of her windows. Jacob was fine letting Katie handle her own business, but didn’t mind watching over his sweet reporter if he could. He climbed the fence between the buildings and saw that his holds were still in place. Thankfully, there had been no rain so scaling the building to her emergency stair landing would be easier.
“Sit tight, Hauk. I’ll be right back.” Hauk gave a low bark that sounded close to “Yes, sir”.
Jacob climbed up and looked through the partially open curtains and saw that Katie was fast asleep on her couch. One hand was under her chin, the other hanging down to the floor. Some late night show was on following the news. Jacob could have easily opened the window and climbed in, but he didn’t want to risk waking Katie and scaring the shit out of her. He kept telling himself that he really wasn’t a stalker by legal definition. It would defiantly freak her out if she caught him lurking in her apartment uninvited and, more than likely, get him arrested. He probably couldn’t charm his way out of that one, and Eli would certainly let him hang himself before giving the authorities the real reason why Jacob would be protective over Katie.
He knew the intimate layout of her apartment very well from many nights of watching over her. He recalled the first few weeks after the accident, watching Katie carefully put her life back together. Ordered to keep his distance from her, he monitored her to make sure the hypnosis and memory-blocking drugs worked, though Eli and Julian probably had a protocol in place that he was unaware of. Screw them, he thought. Having a news reporter from a foremost news station in a metropolitan city see a majorly classified deal go down was not going to look good if she suddenly remembered details and started investigating things that she shouldn’t. She just wasn’t the type to let things go, and their contacts at the CIA didn’t need to know about her, either.
Katie’s breathing looked even and relaxed. He hoped she wouldn’t suffer any nightmares from today’s attack. He couldn’t hold her and comfort her like he wanted to so dinner tomorrow would have to be enough. As long as Eli didn’t get word and try to ship him off on another mission to keep him away from her. He warned Eli that he was done doing field work, though he often got called to go back out on the shorter missions.
Jacob climbed back down and took Hauk back home.
After Jacob had left, Katie stirred in her sleep. Unconsciously shifting to a more comfortable position, images flashed in her mind. Dark alleyways became strange buildings surrounded by water; men yelling things Katie couldn’t understand, chasing her down as she chased her mugger; flashes of heat surrounded her; Tully’s face stared dully back at her, his eyes glassy and a trickle of blood pooling at his feet. His mouth opened to say something to her. It sounded like “Run, Katie, run”, but loud staccato popping filled her ears and a pain in her body woke her up.
Gasping for air, Katie sat up, sweat seeping between her breasts and down the back of her neck. Wincing, she rubbed her neck. She debated taking another shower but, if she couldn’t sleep, she might need a good, cold shower to wake herself up in the morning. Her head hurt, but she refused to take anything for it. She stood up and took some deep breaths, trying to calm down. She went into the bathroom and splashed water on her face. Keeping her eyes closed, she patted the soft towel over her face, inhaling deep, smelling the light detergent she uses in the laundry. She repeated over and over to herself that she was safe and home and, according to the police detective, the mugger had no idea where she lived. Deciding to lay down in her bed, she stared at the ceiling and attempted deep restoring breaths, knowing that sleep would elude her for a while yet.
IF YESTERDAY WAS AN ANOMALY, then today was like a whirlwind of activity once she got up. She was exhausted and achy from not sleeping the night before, waiting for the old nightmares to surface again. Deciding to try and get her mind off of it, she began to think of her dinner with Jacob. Her stomach muscles clenched and she felt excitement blooming for the first time in almost a year. She wasn’t coming back home to change beforehand because she was determined to not think of it as a romantic date. She was simply thanking a man who had, presumably, saved her life. However, she couldn’t deny that it was possible she was entertaining the idea of getting to know him better, which probably explained why she had torn up her entire closet looking for something decent to wear. She needed something that would pass for when she was on camera, plus be a little flirtier for dinner. Trevor was always lamenting on her lack of sexy clothes, which she accredited to wanting to be taken seriously as a young news reporter. She should have taken him up on one of the shopping days he was promising her. Maybe they’d do it later this week. For now, she took out a three-quarter sleeve navy dress. She would tone it down with a cream cardigan, simple jewelry, and nude pumps. She couldn’t hide the bruise on her shoulder so she would just have to live with it right now. She would ditch the cardigan right before dinner.
Not wanting to repeat the mugging episode, Katie went without her coffee and rushed into the office. She had a slight headache, but she blamed it on being caffeine deprived. The second she walked into the newsroom, a traffic accident and school budgets were being handed to her to follow-up on. She had no time to wind down, and had to keep her heady pace throughout the day. Her cellphone beeped a few times and she saw it was from Dr. Lane, probably trying to follow-up with her again. She contemplated ending the therapeutic relationship and made a note to meet with her soon. She could have just called but, as much as it annoyed her, she’d probably have to tell the doctor in person. She felt only mildly relieved when she signed off and stepped out from behind the desk and cameras. Looking up, she saw Jacob waiting for her in the lobby and smiling at her so there was no time to switch up her outfit.
“Jacob, hi!” Katie hoped she didn’t sound too enthusiastic and could, hopefully, escape the scrutiny of her co-workers. In the brightly lit and crowded news studio, she was just noticing how big and attractive he was in person.
“I hope you don’t mind that I came up here to meet you. I admit that I was curious what a newsroom looks like, and Trevor gave me a pass to come up.” He flashed a guest pass which Trevor must have gotten as soon as she had told him they would be meeting for dinner. Katie mentally shook her head. That darn Trevor. She was going to have to pay him back for this bit of mischief. He just couldn’t wait until she called him later for the details. Mr. Impatient needed to meet Jacob Reed himself.
“Oh, that’s no problem at all. As you can see, it’s a lot smaller than it seems and people are everywhere. Let’s get out before I get pulled to cover something and have to stay late.”
“I agree.” Jacob took Katie’s hand and led her to the office entrance. Curiously, co-workers looked on and, of course, Lindsey chose that moment to come out of her “cave” to torment her. Lindsey, who al
ways was trying to live up to her bombshell reputation, wore a bright crimson sleeveless dress that showed off her mile high legs. They couldn’t be seen under the news desk, of course; just flaunted for the upper management upstairs. Her perfectly toned arms were angled in their direction so all could see their definition. She glared at Katie, who just smiled back and half turned to wave at her tauntingly. If Lindsey could dish it out, just once Katie would like to see karma slap her silly. The couple made their way into the muggy city street. It was barely seven o’clock, but she was starved
“I was thinking that we could hit this Italian restaurant a few blocks up. They have great food, and the atmosphere is pretty relaxed and quiet, which would be nice after today.” Katie smiled shyly, hoping the suggestion would be well received.
“That sounds great, actually. Would that happen to be Veruccio’s?” Jacob turned his phone off and put it in his pocket. Katie had his undivided attention tonight.
“Yes. Have you been there before?”
“I love that place. Sometimes I order the meatballs to-go; otherwise, Hauk retaliates.” Jacob laughed, squeezing her hand in his gently.
“Okay, great.” They walked hand-in-hand the several blocks to Veruccio’s. She felt at ease in his presence. He even smelled good, which immediately perked her up. “So I guess Hauk is home alone tonight, huh?”
“For tonight, but maybe I’ll bring him home some meatballs. I took him for a long walk earlier, which I hope tired him out. Hopefully, he left me room in my bed.”
Katie remembered Jacob’s big and comfortable bed, and laughed out loud. She had to stop those thoughts. This was all Trevor’s fault. She hadn’t been on a date in forever and she couldn’t even think logically without wanting to pounce on the man next to her. She had no idea where these thoughts were coming from so she was going to blame Trevor for getting her thinking in that direction. She inhaled deeply, trying to clear her mind, but smelled his subtle and masculine scent, and went back to feeling tortured.