by Montes, EL
Jimmie took a seat by the edge of the sectional. I walked over by the glass wall overlooking the dance floor. Crossing my arms, I watched the crowded club as couples danced and a group of women in one corner celebrated a bachelorette party with the bride-to-be wearing a veil and taking shot after shot. In the other corner, a man and woman were practically having sex with their clothes on by a private table. It dawned on me as I watched my surroundings I had never seen Jimmie here before, nor had I heard him talk about coming here.
“I never thought of you as the clubbing type,” I said, turning to finally face him.
He raised a brow. “I don’t do clubbing.”
“Then why are you here?”
Tilting his head, he stared at me for a moment. It was a look of surprise that I didn’t know. “We come here either before or after a job … to discuss plans.”
Ah. Wait, so that meant Marcus came to the club a lot then. Huh, I guess there was always something new to find out. Nodding, I made my way over to the sectional and sat opposite from him. “So what did you want to talk about?” Hopefully I sounded casual.
“Well, for starters, I wanted to say how sorry I was to hear about the … miscarriage. I know that must’ve been hard.” I nodded. Jimmie and Jeremy were the only two that knew about the pregnancy before the miscarriage.
“Also, I wanted to say, uh … Marcus told me he kind of slipped some information to you … about Lou and our father.”
Standing up preparing myself to leave, I looked down at him. “Don’t worry, Jimmie; I won’t say anything if that’s what you thought.” I knew it. He was trying to cover his ass.
“No, no. Please sit.” Glaring at him, I warily sat back down. “I wanted to explain it to you, in a way without giving too much information.”
“How come you can do that and Marcus can’t?”
Rubbing his hand through his buzz-cut hair, he exhaled deeply. “Well, because Marcus doesn’t know how to say something without giving too much away. And around you, he’s weak Look he didn’t ask me to speak with you, if that’s what you think. I offered to talk to you for him, but he refused … and I’m slowly growing desperate. He’s out of control now, drinking constantly, careless on jobs … I don’t know how to handle him anymore.”
“Oh?” I thought of that night when Marcus came home completely drunk. He was so different. It was as if someone else had taken over him. He must be miserable, and for him to be careless on a job means he doesn’t care if his own life is taken. My heart fluttered at the thought.
“Yeah, look, I’m just going to say this in the simplest possible way. A few years ago, we received information that Lou was responsible for our father’s death. At first we didn’t believe it because he’s practically family. Well the more info we received, the more evidence was built against him. That’s when I met your brother. He was privately working on the Sorrento’s file for years, trying to take them down. His sergeant wanted him to stop working on the case, but he grew addicted … See the Sorrentos are very careful; they watch how they spend their money … who they do business with. But Lou only trusts two people: Marcus and me. He’d never think we’d turn on him. So we began to work with your brother. It grew irritating at first. We gave him a great deal of evidence, but he said it wasn’t enough to take Lou down. It was just enough to take some of the Sorrentos down. He said that for this kind of case you needed years of evidence and piles of documents, so the feds could step in and take over. Anyways, we grew impatient, and your brother grew sloppy. That’s when Lou started looking more into your brother. When he found out he worked as a Boston detective, he took him out and told us we had to be careful whom we talked to because the entire time we were “clueless” about him. I’m truly sorry about your brother, Mia.
“We didn’t know Lou was going to do it; he took it upon himself. If we had any indication, we would’ve warned Michael … Trust me, we would have.”
Blankly staring at him, I managed to speak, “So you tried to set Lou up?” He nodded. “And what happens now?”
Looking down, he lightly shrugged. “We’re working on that.” Meeting my gaze again, he pressed his lips together and creased his eyebrows.
“What do you want me to do, Jimmie?” I asked. There was a reason he was telling me this: a reason why everything made so much sense now even though there were still so many black holes that needed to be filled.
“Talk to Marcus. When he’s with you, everything is better in his world … now he’s lost.”
Nodding, I stared at his face again. “Okay.” I let out a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll talk to him.”
Jimmie walked over and wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace. “Thank you so much, Mia. Everything is going to be okay … trust me.” I wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince himself or me.
We ended our hug and made our way towards the door. We stopped when the door handle jiggled and the door swung wide open. My heart sank when I saw him. Marcus was in black pants and a white button-down shirt with his latest accessory, a bleach-blond, overly-tanned chick with her arms wrapped snuggly around his neck. He leaned her into the inner doorway as they sloppily made out. I wanted to throw up. I studied them in disgust. He seemed to be getting by just fine to me! I snapped my head at Jimmie, and he closed his eyes and mumbled, “Fuck.”
I heard the female giggle, and I turned back to them. Marcus turned his head, and his grin widened when he saw Jimmie. “Hey, Bro …” Then his head moved, and he spotted me. Extending his neck, he blinked a few times. When he realized it was me, his mouth dropped open. Trying to swallow, he pulled away from the girl; leaning his hand against the door, he tried to keep himself balanced. He was completely trashed.
After a few seconds, he adjusted his flickering eyes. “Mia? You look beautiful.” The last word was a slur; I barely made it out.
My eyes flashed from him to the girl he’d just sucked face with. Her orange complexion, fake blue eyes, and her bleach-blond hair, which I was sure was also fake, stared back at me. She tilted her head to study the woman he just complimented. Her size D boobs with any slight movement would pop from her extremely tight and short pink minidress. Her overly plump lips covered in pink lip gloss, which were far too light for her orange complexion, smacked together as she chewed on gum.
Reaching for her hair, she curled a piece of extension with a finger. “She’s cute, is she going to join us, Marky?” Her bubbly high-pitched Boston accent brought my anger level from a five to an easy twelve within two-point-five seconds. What made it worse was the name she called him. Hearing the nickname his family used on her lips placed a fireball in the pit of my stomach.
Oh I was beyond pissed. Snapping my head back in his direction, I crossed my arms. “Really!”
It took him a moment to process what was going on. He stared at me forever before he looked back at her and laughed. He laughed! “Oh no sweetie, she’s not joining us. I think you should go, though,” he said to her.
“But I thought we were having fun, Marky.” She pouted.
Arrrgh! Throwing my hands in the air, I yelled, “Oh, by all means, don’t let me spoil your fun!” I stormed between the two of them and headed down the hall.
“Mia! Mia! Come here.” I looked over my shoulder as I continued to quickly walk down the hallway. He was stumbling side-to-side trying to run after me. Ugh, he was pathetic.
“There you are, are you okay?” Megan gripped my arm and studied my angry appearance. Looking behind me, her eyes grew. “Oooh. Who is that fine piece of ass?”
Rolling my eyes, I snapped. “Let’s go!”
She narrowed her eyes. “Do you know him?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I looked in the direction of her goggling eyes. Great, now all three are behind me: Jimmie, Marcus, and the plastic chick. “No, he’s just someone I used to know.” I growled.
“Oh come on, Mia!” Marcus wiggled his brows. “You know, you know me a little better than that.” Biting his lip, he flexed his hips, s
winging his arms in and out. He was air humping! After a few pumps, he stopped, laughed, and pathetically tried to straighten his posture.
“You’re a dick!” I can’t stand him!
Laughing, he moved in closer to me, reaching for my arm. “Come on, baby. Let me show what you’ve been missing.”
Yeah, that did it. I think I was beyond my boiling point. In my best impersonation, I mimicked his beach-blonde’s Boston’s accent. “Oh why would you want me, Marky, when you can have Boston Barbie!”
Plastic chick didn’t dig my comment. Cocking her head to the side, she put her hands angrily on her hips. “Are you, like … offending me or something?”
Laughing once at her stupidity, I thought about whether I should even answer her. “No, not at all, it’s, like, a compliment to be called Boston Barbie or something.” I spit sarcastically.
Straightening her position, she smiled. “Oh, okay.” Then she giggled.
With my eyes and mouth wide open, I faced Marcus. “REALLY?” You could’ve done just a tad better Marcus, seriously!”
“Come on guys; let’s take this out of the hallway.” Jimmie chimed in. Marcus snapped his head in his direction.
He sneered. “Butt out, Jimmie. I think you’ve done enough … matter of fact, what were the two of you doing in a locked room … alone?” His face turned serious, and his eyes were beginning to grow sober.
Jimmie grew angry with the accusation. “Are you fucking kidding me, Bro? You need to get that shit out your fucking head. We were talking about you!”
“Huh? Funny, she won’t even talk to me about me, how did you manage that?” Marcus’ mocking expression faced me again.
“You won’t talk about yourself to me! That’s why you left me, remember?” I burst.
His eyes grew with anger. His stare was frightening, but I stood my ground and made sure to not show one moment of intimidation. Megan, though, was scared, and she inched over to my side; grabbing my arm, she began to pull me back. I stood in place, so she stopped pulling but kept her fingers firmly locked around my arm. Jimmie moved toward Marcus and placed his hand against his chest.
Marcus hovered out of his brother’s reach. Lifting his finger, he pointed in my direction. “You left me! You left me, Mia!” Breathing heavily, he glared at me. “I cared for you … I still care for you!”
Crossing my arms, I laughed once. “Oh yeah, well if I didn’t run into you just now, what were you going to do with her? Huh?” I asked, nudging my head in Barbie’s direction.
He slightly turned to look at her. Then rolling his eyes, his gaze met mine again. Smacking his lips to one side, he grew cocky. “I was gonna fuck her!” Sprawling his hands in the air, he nodded at my stunned expression. “Yeah that’s right, hard too! But the entire time I was going to think of you!”
Gawking at him, my heartbeat raised. “How fucking romantic!” I couldn’t believe he just admitted to that!
“Well what about you? Huh? What were you doing here? Trying to find someone to take home tonight?” He raised his eyebrows, arms still spread apart.
“You know, Marcus, I wasn’t thinking about it, but that’s actually a great idea! I’m sure I could find a man here willing to hook up with me tonight. As a matter of fact, I’m going to randomly choose a tall, tan, sexy, fuckable man as we speak. Have a great fucking night!” I turned on my heels and stormed down the hall.
He snapped. “The hell you’re fucking … over my dead fucking body, Mia. Mia!”
Turning my head, I looked over my shoulder; Jimmie was manhandling him. “Watch me!” I yelled and disappeared down the hall with Megan.
Chapter Twenty-six
We exited the club. Breathing in the cool air, we walked down Boston’s midtown strip in silence. Taking in what just happened, I couldn’t believe him! My anger was tripling. I wanted to go back in the club and smack him across his head. That was why I couldn’t be with him. That was why we weren’t meant to be together. All we did was argue and fight. It wasn’t worth it. My night began perfectly and ended in a nightmare. Ugh! I wanted to scream.
Megan hailed a cab, and we slid into the backseat.
“Wow, so I take it that was your ex, huh?” She spoke for the first time since we left the club.
“Yeah, can you see why we’re not together anymore?” I mumbled.
“Well, you can see he still loves you, and you clearly still love him.”
When I turned my head, she lightly shrugged at my pointed glare. “Didn’t you just witness what happened? How could that possibly be love?”
Shrugging again, she stared out the window. “What do I know? I’ve never been in love before.”
****
The next day I called Jimmie. I wanted to let him know that I didn’t blame him for last night’s episode. I knew Jimmie would blame himself. He apologized on behalf of Marcus and assured me that he didn’t leave with the girl. He said Marcus left her at the club alone, and he stormed off home. I wasn’t sure if Jimmie was telling the truth or not, but I didn’t care. Marcus DeLuca had put me through enough pain, tears, and heartache.
I was done crying over him. Well, okay, I cried last night and this morning, but I was trying to stop. It was so hard. Even with everything we’d been through in the last three months, I still loved him. Any outsider looking in on our relationship would call me stupid and naïve.
At one point I believed in our relationship. Now it was ruined. I would never love a man again, nor would I ever trust again. Though I knew I was strong and one day I’d be able to get over this, for now I’d just have to deal with it. Before hanging up with Jimmie, I promised him that I would take Elle this weekend for my promised girls’ day out. He said it wasn’t necessary, but I insisted. It was the least I could do for her and for Jimmie.
After hanging up the phone, I exited my room. Megan was sprawled across the couch knocked out. Jeremy was by the kitchen island making coffee. He saw the look on my face and slid the coffee he made for himself over to me. “Rough night?” he asked.
Laughing once, I just sipped on the cup. I closed my eyes when I inhaled the freshly brewed coffee: my second most favorite scent in the world. My first? I sighed when I thought of him again. The headache from this emotional roller coaster known as Marcus DeLuca seemed to get worse. Seriously, it was so bad I could actually hear a knocking sound at this moment. I looked up at Jeremy; his eyes trailed to the front door. The knocking happened again. Oh, it wasn’t me; it was the actual door.
“I got it.” Megan said while yawning. She stretched as she stood and happily skipped over to the front door in nothing but a t-shirt and lace panties. How could she possibly be so damn happy this early in the morning and after a night of drinking? I envied her for that.
She opened the door, and her smile broadened as she tilted her head. “Oh, you’re even more beautiful sober.”
Jeremy and I glanced at each other with furrowed brows and then back at the door. “Is Mia home?” Marcus’ straightforward tone sounded in my ears.
This could not be happening! He could not possibly be here, especially after last night. He has a lot of fucking balls, showing himself around here.
“Um, yeah, she’s here, but I truly doubt she wants to see you at this moment.” Megan giggled.
I didn’t see the humor.
Angry as I mentally relived last night’s scene, I jumped from my stool and stomped over beside Megan. Pushing her aside, I grabbed the door. “What do you want, Marcus?” I made it a point to sound stern.
His scent hit me like a ton of bricks. My most favorite smell in the world lingered between us. The scent of his bath soap from his freshly taken shower mixed with his cologne. He smelled so good it was sickening. “I wanted to apologize for last night. I didn’t want it to end like that.”
Slapping my hand on my hip, I tilted my head. “Marcus, we ended a month ago, so last night was not an end to anything.”
Looking down, he shoved his hands into his front pockets. “I don’t wan
t to argue, Mia.” Glancing back at me, his face was unreadable.
“Neither do I, so that’s why you should go.”
“Come on, Mia, can we please talk?” he begged.
“No, I’m done, Marcus I’m so done.” I closed the door, pressing my back against it so that I slid down to the floor exhaling. My eyes closed as I buried my hands into my face.
There was one soft knock against the door, a sliding sound, and then his voice pierced through at a lower level as if he was on the floor as well. “I’m not giving up, Mia. I’m not going anywhere. I won’t go. I refuse to not fight for us this time.”
Shifting my body so that my mouth neared the crack of the door, I whispered. “Marcus please just go … I’m trying so hard … It’s difficult already ... It’s bad enough that I think I can’t let you go.”
“Then don’t, Mia, don’t, please just give me another chance.”
Tears stung my eyes. “I can’t.”
“I’m not leaving. I don’t care if it takes you a lifetime. I’m not giving up.”
Sighing I stood and walked away and headed to my room. I threw myself in bed. He’d eventually go. He couldn’t stay there forever. Why was he making it so hard for me? I hated him for that.
****
Taking the longest nap ever, I woke to the smell of cheesy pizza. I was starving since I skipped breakfast and lunch. I washed up in the bathroom before going to the kitchen. When I entered, Jeremy and Megan were whispering to one another; they seemed to be in a serious discussion. They both looked up at me as I entered. The fresh box of pizza was still closed. I opened it. Ah, it smelled so good. Grabbing a few plates out the cupboard, I placed them on the kitchen counter.
When I glanced back up they were both staring at me. “What?” Their eyes fixed on each other and back on me. “What?” I asked again, irritated.
Megan pressed her lips together before speaking. “Marcus is still out there. He paid for the pizza. He refuses to go.” She bit her lip.
“So?” I tried to act as if I didn’t care. Deep down, I did care; though I wouldn’t show them that.