by Alison Mello
She sits down next to me to eat, and I ask her, “Are you sure that is a good idea? Are you going to regret it if she isn’t here for our first Thanksgiving together?”
“At this point, no, I won’t. I’m tired of this, Carter. I want my life to be mine, and if she wants to live hers in a lie that’s fine, but she needs to leave me out of it.”
“Listen, I can’t argue with that. She almost broke us up and obviously that didn’t go over too well for me.”
“I told her what happened to you and that she owes you an apology. I told her that not only is she hurting me, but she hurt you.” I sigh. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you sooner, but you have to promise me that we’ll work on this together and that you won’t push me away anymore.”
“Patty, when I pushed you away the first time I was so drunk I didn’t even remember you coming to the house. When you came to the hospital, I did it because I was embarrassed and I needed to work my shit out on my own. That said, I promise to lean on you the next time I need anything.”
She hugs me. “Good. I’m glad we got that out of the way. Now, tell me about the hospital.”
She starts digging into her dinner.
“It was hell at first, but once I started talking to my counselor and opening up, I started feeling better. I wrote a lot in my journal, and a lot of my entries were to you. Someday I’d like for you to read them. He really helped me.”
“How?”
“He got me to talk about the nightmares and made me realize that although I’m upset over the loss of my friend, it wasn’t my fault. After that happened, I started writing a lot and we got to talking more. Next thing I knew, the nightmares were gone again and the doctors were letting me go home. I came straight to you.”
“I’m glad you did.”
“Me too, but we still need to figure out what to do about Ben. If he was released today, then he’s going to come back to town, and he won’t be happy that he spent the weekend in jail. That means he’s either going to go after you or your mother.”
She’s devouring her dinner. “Hungry?” I ask.
“Yeah, I skipped lunch. I don’t know what to do about Ben. I’m sure he’ll be looking for me.”
“I think you should stay here, where I can keep an eye on you. Are you okay with that?” She nods her head as she continues to eat. “This is really good. Can you show me how to make it sometime?”
“Sure, since I’m staying here for a while, I’ll have plenty of time.”
We clean the kitchen and then decide to relax in the bath together. It’s been a long day for the both of us.
Chapter 11
Patty
I jump up and notice it’s still dark out, yet my alarm is going off and I have no clue why. Then it starts again, and that’s when I realize it’s my phone ringing, not my alarm. I look over to see Carter fast asleep.
I answer in a very groggy voice. “Hello?”
“Is this Patricia Fitzgerald?”
“Yes, who’s this?” I ask, now fully alert and concerned.
“Ma’am, this is Officer Cameron Phillips. My partner and I are at your apartment, and it would appear someone has broken in. Your neighbor heard strange noises and called us.”
“Oh my God, do I need to come over there right now?”
“No, we can meet you in the morning, but we didn’t want you to show up here and be shocked. We’re going to lock your door the best we can, and there will be police tape across it. What time can you meet us?”
“Whatever time. I’m a writer so I make my own schedule.”
“What’s wrong?” Carter grumbles from his sleep.
“How’s ten for you? That way it’s not too early,” The officer says into the phone.
“Ten is fine. I’ll see you then, Officer Phillips.”
Carter jumps up from his sleep. “Officer! Sweetie, what’s wrong?”
I cut the call and say, “Apparently, Ben didn’t wait too long to come after me. Someone broke into my apartment. The officers are going to lock it up the best they can. I have to meet them there at ten, I’m assuming to let them know if anything is missing.”
“This guy is really getting on my nerves,” he says as he starts pacing the room.
“Carter, please lay down. This isn’t helping me.”
He walks back over to the bed. “I’m sorry. Come here, I’ll hold you while you fall back to sleep.”
I lie in bed with him holding me and running his fingers through my hair. After what feels like an eternity, I fall into a fitful sleep.
I walk into my apartment to the mess Ben has left me. Furniture is spilled over, curtains torn down. The place is simply trashed. I’m angry at this point because I’ve done nothing wrong and certainly nothing to deserve this. He even emptied my fridge and freezer. I have no idea what he was looking for, and to be honest, I don’t think there was anything for him to find. I think this was his anger because I wasn’t here.
I start kicking stuff around to see what else is on the floor while I wait for the police to meet me. As I walk into my room, I find my closet is emptied onto my bed, and my drawers are all pulled from my bureau and dumped on the floor. I shake my head as I try to imagine what was going through his head as he did this. Did he think I was going to come home from the lake house and pretend like nothing happened?
I turn to walk out of the room, and that’s when I feel a sharp pain to the back of my head. I fall to the floor as my vision blurs from the tears that are welling in my eyes. I look up to see Ben standing over me.
“Hello, sweetie. Are you ready to come home with me yet?”
I shake my head because there isn’t a chance in hell I’m letting him take me anywhere. I’ll die first. I kick him in the knee, causing him to fall over, and I start to crawl out of the room. As I do, he grabs my leg and starts to pull me toward him, but I’m kicking and screaming the best I can to fight him off. I try to get up so I can run, but the pain in my head is so fierce I drop back to the ground. He climbs on top of me.
“No, you will not have me. I’ll die first,” I say as I fight him.
“Oh, but I will, and you’re going to love it,” he says. After struggling to undo his pants, he starts pulling his dick out and says, “You’re going to suck me off like a good girl, and maybe I’ll reward you with some sex.”
“Fuck you!” I scream out. Suddenly I feel my entire body shaking.
I sit up in bed, panting. “Holy shit!”
“I’ve got you, sweetie,” Carter says.
“Please don’t call me sweetie. Ben has started calling me that, and now when you say it, it reminds me of him. His tone and the way he says it makes me cringe.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” He pulls me onto his lap and holds me while I cry. “Ssh, I’ve got you, baby. I promise I won’t let him get to you.” I start to chuckle as I cry. “What’s so funny?”
“You called me baby, and I liked it.”
He looks down at me, so confused. “And that’s funny?”
“Ben used to try to call me that all the time and I hated it. That’s why it’s funny.”
He shakes his head and says, “Let’s go take a shower. I’ll wash away this nightmare for you, and then I’ll call Derek and let him know I have to go to your apartment with you in the morning.”
I climb off his lap and say, “You don’t have to do that. You’ll lose your job if you keep taking time off.”
“It’s fine. I’ll go in at lunch time after we’ve wrapped up and put in a half day. Why don’t you see if Bella can come hang with you until I get home from work?”
“I’ll call her after we shower.”
We walk into the bathroom, and he starts the shower while I lean on the sink, exhausted from my crappy night’s sleep. I will not let him get in my head. I will not let him get in my head. I keep repeating the mantra silently, hoping this will stop me from having more nightmares.
Carter says, “Come on, baby, the shower is ready.”
/> He pulls me from the sink and lifts my shirt over my head. He slips my pajama pants down my legs, and I step out of them as I step toward the shower. When I step in and the warm water hits me, I moan in appreciation.
“Baby, you keep making noises like that and I’m going to have a hard time controlling myself.”
I giggle. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”
He wraps his hands around my body and holds me close. He wets my loofah and adds body wash. Gently, he rubs the foamy wash all over my body. When I’m lathered, he puts the loofah back and uses his hands to massage my back and shoulders.
I step under the water, wash away the soap, and wet my hair. His fingers glide through it as water runs down my back, and it feels amazing.
“I love the way your hands feel on me, Carter.”
“That’s good, because I love putting my hands all over this beautiful body of yours,” he says, picking up my shampoo to wash my hair. He begins massaging my scalp and another moan escapes me. He groans, and my eyes fly open.
“Sorry,” I say with a giggle, “but it’s not my fault your hands feel so good.”
He shakes his head and starts rinsing the shampoo from my hair. He tugs my hair gently and then plants a kiss on my lips. He washes himself quickly, and we both climb out to dry off. When we get back into the bedroom, we both sit on our sides of the bed with our phones. I call Bella and he calls Derek. At the same time, we hear both Bella and Derek say, “Hello.”
We look at each other. I say, “Are you with Derek?” and he says, “Are you with Bella?”
We sit on our bed, cracking up laughing when they both say, “Yes.”
I ask Bella, “Are you on a shoot today?”
“I am, but only until like eleven or noon. Why?”
“Well, someone broke into my place last night, and right now Carter is telling Derek that he has to come in late. He’s going with me to the apartment to meet with the police. I’m obviously coming back to his place since it’s way safer here and my place is trashed. Will you meet me here and hang out with me? I don’t want to be alone.”
“Of course I will,” Bella says.
“Do you guys want to do dinner with us since you’ll be here and you’re clearly with Derek now?”
She starts laughing. “Hey Derek, do you want to do dinner with Carter and Bella tonight at Carter’s?”
I hear him say. “Sure, if you want to. Are you coming back to my place?”
She says to him, “Yeah, that’s fine.” She comes back to the phone. “Okay, we’ll do dinner at your place tonight.”
“Great. I’ll see you after your shoot.”
She says her good-bye, and I cut the call.
***
We pull up outside my apartment, and suddenly I’m nervous. I don’t know if I want to go in and see what he did to my apartment.
I can do this, I tell myself as I climb out of Carter’s car. He takes my hand and says, “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, about as ready as I’ll ever be.”
I look up at him and take another deep breath. We climb the steps to my apartment, and when we approach my door, the police are already inside, taking more pictures.
“I’m looking for Officer Phillips,” I say as I walk through the door, taking in the scene in front of me. It isn’t quite as bad as I thought.
He holds his hand out to me. “I’m Officer Phillips.”
“I’m Patricia Fitzgerald, and this is my boyfriend, Carter Montgomery.”
The officer shakes our hands and then begins telling us what happened.
“Right now we’re dusting different surfaces to see if the person was here alone or if they had an accomplice.”
I sigh. “I think I know who it was.”
“I kind of figured you might. When a break in like this occurs, it is usually done by someone the victim knows.”
“His name is Benjamin Mancini. He’s my ex. He wants me back, and he’s not too happy that I’m not interested. He broke into my father’s lake house while I was staying there, alone. My boyfriend happened to surprise me with a visit and got there as he was about to attack me.”
He looks at Carter. “Did you report it?”
He nods. “I sure did. The sheriff came out and arrested him and his buddy. They were in jail for the weekend and were released yesterday.”
“This guy didn’t wait long to try and get revenge, did he?” The officer says as he looks around. “I’m going to tell you he made quite the mess, but the worst part is in your room. You’re going to want to get a new mattress, and some of your clothes are going to need to be cleaned.”
“Why do I need a new mattress?” I ask, totally confused. “What the hell did he do?”
“I’m sorry to say, ma’am, but he ejaculated all over your bed.”
I gag at the thought and run to my bathroom to empty my breakfast into the toilet. Carter’s right behind me. He pulls my hair back from my face and rubs my back as I continue to heave. When I’m finally done, he tells me he’ll be back with some water for me.
I hear him talking to the officer in the kitchen about any other evidence that he may have left behind. A minute later, he’s back with a bottle of water.
“Can you get up?” he asks me. “We should get you some of the clean clothes from your closet to bring to my place.
“You’re right. I can’t stay here.”
“We’ll have the place cleaned. It’ll be fine, you’ll see.” I nod my head. “You can stay at my place as long as you want. I mean it. I love you being there with me.”
I get up from the floor and start wandering around the apartment. As I do, I tell the officer that anything of importance was with me at Carter’s house, so I don’t think he would have taken anything. I go to my jewelry box and sigh in relief when I spot my grandmother’s engagement ring. She left it to me when she died, and I would be devastated if he took it.
I remove the ring from the box and place it on my right hand. I explain to Carter the significance of the ring. He smiles down at me and kisses the top of my head.
“Is there anything else you need to look for?”
“No, my jewelry’s all here, and if it’s okay with you I’d like to take it to your place for safe keeping.”
“You can bring anything you want to my place, baby.”
I look in my closet to see what’s left in there that hasn’t been touched or destroyed. I pick up an extra travel bag from the bottom of my closet and begin packing some jeans, sweaters, tops, underwear and bra as well as a few other things from around my room. The officer starts stripping the sheets off my bed to take into the lab.
“I need you to hold off on the cleaning crew until we know if the samples we have are good. We’ll get the results in a few days, and when we do, I’ll put out a warrant for his arrest. Then you’ll be able to have the cleaning crew come in.”
“Okay. Do you need us to be here anymore, or can I go to Carter’s?”
“You can go back to his place. I just needed you to confirm if anything was missing for the report. Since he didn’t take anything, I’m thinking he probably came here for you and got angry when you weren’t here.”
“Thank you, officer.”
Carter and I walk out of my messed up apartment to go back to his place. Bella will be coming over soon, and Carter needs to get to work. We get in the car, and he starts driving to his house.
“When we get back to the house, I’ll walk you up and make sure you’re all set before I leave for work.”
“Carter, I’ll be fine. Drop me off at the door.”
“Do you want me to arrange for a cleaner to go into the apartment in a few days for you?” he asks me, and I shake my head.
“Nah, I’ll call my dad to see who he uses, and I’ll have him send them over. They do a good job, and I know I’ll be able to trust them.”
“Okay. If you change your mind or they’re not available, let me know,” he says as he pulls up outside his house. He leans over to kis
s me good-bye and says, “The doorman is waiting for you. Go ahead. I’m going to watch you go in from here, and I’ll bring your bags up when I get home later. Please text me when you get upstairs.”
“I will.”
“The doorman and management are under strict orders that no one is allowed up besides our parents, Bella, and Derek.”
“Thanks. I love you.”
“I love you too, baby. Have a good afternoon, and call me if you need anything.”
I get out of his car and run up the steps to the waiting doorman. He walks me to the elevator and stays with me until the doors shut. When the elevator doors open on Carter’s floor, I’m relieved to see no one is there. I unlock the door to Carter’s place and quickly walk around to make sure I’m here by myself. I send Carter the text I promised I would send.
Patty: I’m upstairs and the door is locked.
Carter: Good. Are you okay?
Patty: A little nervous being alone, but Bella should be here any minute.
Carter: Do you want me to come up and wait with you for her?
Patty: No go to work. I love you.
Carter: I love you too.
I busy myself making Bella and I a grilled chicken Caesar salad for lunch. I’m about done when there is a knock on the door. I look out the peephole. When I know for sure that it’s Bella, I open the door.
She runs in and gives me a hug. “Are you okay?”
“I’m a heck of a lot better now that you’re here.”
I close the door and lock it again. I walk into the kitchen, and she follows. I tell her all about the apartment and what we found. I tell her about what that sick bastard did on my bed and that I’ll be staying here for a little while.
We sit down at the snack bar to have our lunch with two tall glasses of water with lemon. To change the subject, she tells me about how well she and Derek are getting along. I tell her that I need to do some clothes shopping when things calm down because Ben ruined some of my clothes. I don’t care if they can be cleaned because I don’t want them back.