The Fighter's Block

by Hadley Quinn

  “It’s not going to work, Van. You and I. It’s just…it’s not an option right now.”

  “What do you even mean? I think what we had was amazing. It was perfect. What are your reservations? Money? The apartment? My family. Oh Jesus, my family, Dani… I heard you were looking for my sister? What the hell happened with that? Did you- did you actually find her or something? That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? After that you left, you moved out. What the fuck happened, Dani?”

  He knew he was rambling and wasn’t giving her a chance to answer a single thing. But there was a look on her face that made his stomach feel funny. However, he made himself wait until she spoke first.

  “I didn’t find your sister,” she said, at least glad she didn’t have to lie to him one more time. “It turned out to be the wrong Leah Kemp.”

  He studied her for a few seconds and said, “Don’t be disappointed, okay? I love you for trying, but Leah just doesn’t want to be found. I’m sorry if it was a bad experience for you. I’ve had a few of my own bad experiences—” He stopped short and eyed her carefully. “Is that what happened that night? Did you- did you go somewhere and—?”

  “Van, just drop it,” she sighed. She tried to let the memory go so she didn’t start crying again, but the whole situation was just overwhelming to her. “I gotta get back to work,” she said, feeling the tears about to come on strong. There was a lump in her throat and she tried to swallow it down.

  “Dani…”

  “I can’t, Van. Leave me alone.”

  She hurried into the building before he could stop her, and she was glad that he didn’t follow after her. She barely made it through the day, and when she left for her thirty-seven mile commute back to Manhattan, she almost looked forward to the change of scenery that her parents’ place offered.

  She continued with that routine for the week, and when the weekend came, she was actually happy to work a fashion show and do two complete shoots. She was exhausted, and even though her mom mentioned a couple of times that her exercise regiment was doing its job, she didn’t even admit that she wasn’t exercising at all. For one she was too tired from work and stressing out; and another, she had no time when she was commuting from New Jersey to New York. She did lose six pounds though, probably just from stress. But eating with Dominic and Simone Martin could also do that to a person.

  “Are you ready to do my shoot on Saturday?” Simone asked her on Sunday night.

  “I’m definitely ready.”

  Simone slightly nodded as she watched her daughter finish a glass of water. “Could I run an idea by you?”

  Dani was surprised that she would even ask let alone share one of her ideas. “Um, sure, I guess so.”

  Her mom didn’t even bother leading up to it. “I’d like you to do the shoot with the young man in your photos.”

  Dani stared at her for a while, unsure of what she was talking about. “What photos?”

  “The ones you showed your father. He showed them to me too, and I’m absolutely obsessed with the young man on the pier.”

  “Oh hell no,” she replied, shaking her head. “Nuh-uh. No way.”

  “That’s an inappropriate way to speak to your mother. But why not? Wouldn’t he like to make some money?”

  “It has nothing to do with money. I just… No, I don’t want him doing that.”

  “Danielle, he has a stunning edge to him, and it would be the most beautiful cover ever.”

  “Cover? No way, Mom. You are not putting Van on the cover of a magazine with me.”

  “It’s the only way it will make the cover,” she replied, raising her eyebrows for Dani to get her implication.

  Dani shook her head. “I don’t care if it bumps me out of the running for a cover; I just don’t want to drag Van into this.”

  “Why do you keep saying things like that? ‘Drag’ him into this. As if it’s the most horrible thing in the world to be seen by millions of people?”

  Dani sighed. She didn’t want to get into this argument with her mother again. “I can’t, Mom.”

  “Maybe you should explain to me what happened, Danielle. I can tell you’re in love with him; it’s plain as day.”

  She looked at her mom, remembering that she did have a passionate side to her. That passion was never interested in her until now, but maybe it would be okay to hear an opinion. Jaime had talked to her several times over the past week, but with Jaime and Steve on the brink of divorce, Dani felt bad for burdening her with problems.

  “He’s…an amazing guy,” Dani began with an audible sigh. “He’s sweet and sincere, and he always puts me first. He’s got a dysfunctional family like me—” she watched for her mom’s reaction, but there wasn’t one “—but he’s a good guy and he’s just…very protective of me. He takes care of me.”

  Simone slightly nodded her head, but all she could think about was that Brian had been ‘protective’ of her too. That didn’t turn out so well.

  “How did you meet him?” she asked.

  Dani was hesitant at first, but she did end up telling her mom most of the story. She left out the part about going home with Van, but she was sure Simone figured it out.

  “So that’s why Brian is so hell bent on vengeance,” Simone replied.

  “He hits me in the face, gets what he deserves, and he still wants to retaliate?”

  “Men like that don’t like their egos challenged.”

  Dani rolled her eyes. “And I’ve had to pay for it ever since. Van, too. It’s not fair. I just can’t do that to him. He’s too good; he doesn’t deserve it.”

  “I know. But you’ve broken things off with Van and now Brian has gotten his way. It seems as if you’ve let him win after all.”

  Dani wanted to explode, even though she knew that her mom was right. It was what Van had warned her about before, and she chose to agree with him at the time. But she felt there was a time to just lick your wounds and accept defeat, and right now was one of them. She wanted Brian to leave Van alone, and this was the only way she knew how.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “He really don’t wanna see you,” Roberta said to Van on her way out the door. “But whatever,” she added, waving it off as she left for work. Her son had been mumbling about Van for almost two weeks now, but maybe he could actually get Quincy out of her damn house.

  Van stepped through the front door and recognized a familiar smell. He shook his head and walked straight to the back of the house. “What the hell are you doing?” he said, taking the joint out of Quincy’s hand.

  “Hey!” he protested, trying to reach for it. But the sight of Van made him think twice and he settled back against the couch.

  Van stuck it in a nearly empty bottle of beer. “What’re you smoking that shit for? What’s the matter with you?”

  Quincy didn’t reply. As it was he wanted to take off and hide, but he knew that Van would catch him before he even got off the couch. This was a bad situation to be in, especially because he had no control over his damn mouth when he was in a state like this.

  “What’s the deal, man?” Van asked. “What’re you doing here?”

  He shrugged and said, “Just visiting my old lady.”

  “You hate your mom.”

  “No I don’t.”

  “Okay, she doesn’t care for you too much.”

  Q bobbed his head in agreement. “Okay, and I guess it is mutual.”

  “So why are you here? Never mind, I just need to ask you some questions.”

  “No, don’t do that,” he replied slowly. “No, that’s a bad idea.”

  “You stoned ass clown,” Van chuckled. “What are you doing that shit for? That’s garbage, man. I thought we got you out of that stuff.”

  Quincy took a deep breath of air as he stretched, but it made him cough.

  Van waited for him to finish before he said, “I need to talk to you about Dani. Can you handle that?” he added, lightly patting his face. He sat down on the coffee table and Quincy groa
ned and covered his face.

  “No, man. Don’t do this, okay? Ah, fuck…”

  Van stared at him for a few seconds, but Q was going to answer his questions no matter what. He was high, and you could get anything out of him when he was high. And even if he wasn’t, Van would make him talk anyways.

  “Dani packed up all her stuff and left, Q. You were the last one to see her before she did that. What happened? Did she say anything to you? And why did you disappear at the same time?”

  Quincy was slowly shaking his head, mumbling something. Van wasn’t sure if he had the patience for him.

  “Hey! Answer my question!”

  “I didn’t want to do it,” he moaned. “He said I had to, that he just wanted to talk to her and…I got ten grand, man—ten thousand bucks to take her to a place in Orange. I didn’t know what they were gonna do, man, I swear. He wanted me to tell her that Leah was there; he said he was just gonna talk to her, but I didn’t know what they were gonna do…” He started to cry, but Van got pissed and didn’t care.

  “What the hell are you talking about? Hey!” Van shouted, smacking him to get with it. “Who paid you ten grand?”

  Quincy laid his head against the couch but couldn’t look at him. “That Brian guy. He gave me ten thousand bucks to do it. He said he just wanted to talk to her. I’m sorry, Van, I didn’t know…”

  “To do what!?” Van shouted. “Fucking tell me what you’re talking about Quincy or I’m gonna beat the shit out of you!”

  “To get her there. To the empty building. I did, and he paid me—half up front, half later. But I didn’t know, Van. I swear,” he blubbered. “He just wanted to talk to her. I didn’t know…”

  “Didn’t know what?” Van growled.

  “I think he… Well, he took her in the back room… And she was crying later…”

  Van lost it. He jumped up and kicked over the coffee table. Junk crashed everywhere—bottles, magazines, a few dishes… “Are you fucking stupid, Quincy!?”

  “I needed the money—”

  “For what? For drugs?”

  “I’m sorry, Van! Not drugs, I just owe people, gambling…”

  Van grabbed him by the shirt and drove his fist into his face, breaking his nose. He didn’t care that Quincy started to bleed everywhere as he blubbered and cried at the same time. He left him there and took off out the front door. As he drove he kept imagining all sorts of things that Dani might have gone through that night. It all seemed to make sense, and knowing Brian, he had threatened her silence. He most likely threatened Quincy’s too, but Q had a big mouth and it was only a matter of time. Maybe that’s what Brian wanted instead, but he wasn’t going to get away with what he did.

  Van somehow made it back to New Jersey but he didn’t remember driving. He went to Brian’s apartment first, even kicking his door in. He wasn’t there. In fact, the apartment was completely vacant. His next stop was Brian’s place of employment. He barged into the office looking for him, but they said he didn’t work there anymore. They wouldn’t give him any more information and told him to leave or they’d call the cops. Van didn’t even care; he only left because he still needed to find the piece of shit.

  Cody called him as he drove away, and Van wasn’t going to answer it at first. But he did, only to hear Cody say, “Hey, man, don’t do this okay? Q told me you’re looking for Brian—I have no idea what the hell else he said, but I gather you’re pretty pissed. You broke his nose?”

  “I don’t give a shit about Quincy right now,” Van growled. “That asshole took money to—” He stopped and took a deep breath. “I can’t talk about it right now. I have some unfinished business to take care of.”

  “Van, just hold off, okay? Meet me at home and we’ll talk about it. You’re gonna end up in jail, man. Is that going to be worth it?”

  “To break his fucking face? Oh hell yeah.”

  “What the hell- Van, what’s going on? What’s Q got to do with this? He took money for what?”

  Van took a deep breath and said, “Brian paid him ten grand to lure Dani to an apartment. That fucker raped her! I know he did!”

  “Jesus…”

  “I’m gonna kill him, Cody. I am. And if I go to prison for the rest of my life, I don’t even care. It’ll be worth it to break every fucking bone in his body.”

  “Van, think about this, okay? Do you want to go to prison, or do you want a life with Dani? I mean it seems a little obvious to me. I’d much rather hold her every day than shower with a bunch of men. You know what I’m saying? Come on Van, just think about it. There’s a better way. Think about Dani. You wanna be with her, right? You can’t be with Dani if you’re in jail.”

  Van had to pull over. His head was spinning and he wanted to throw up. He couldn’t think of a time he’d been so angry before, and it made him wonder how much of his father he had in him.

  “Van?” Cody tried.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” he said quietly.

  “I’m sorry, man. I really am…”

  He slightly shook his head. “What am I supposed to do?” he asked, mainly to himself.

  Cody didn’t reply at first—he knew he was talking about Dani and he had no idea—but he needed to deal with Van so he didn’t do something he would regret for the rest of his life. “How ‘bout you get back over here, wait until Dani gets off of work, and then you can talk to her, okay? Maybe you need to do that first. Maybe you’re jumping to conclusions. I mean did Quincy say that happened?”

  Van sighed. “I don’t know. He strongly implied it, and knowing Brian…”

  “Yeah, okay, I understand. But just do what I said for now, okay?”

  Thankfully he agreed, and Cody was relieved. He thought for sure he was going to be tracking Van all over town until he found him. He imagined that when he did find Van, he’d also find Brian’s bloody and broken body at his feet, and he didn’t want it to come to that.

  When it was five o’clock Van and Cody were at Flegal Design to find Dani, but they noticed right away that her car wasn’t there. Van went inside to ask, and even though Sheila seemed wary of him again, she said that Dani left an hour early that day.

  He called her, even though he knew he was going to have to leave a message. He said that he needed to talk to her and that it was urgent. All she did was send him a text message that she was already at her parents’ house and that she didn’t feel like talking.

  He did the only thing he could think of and he begged Jaime for the address.

  Dani was alone in the penthouse when she heard a commotion in the hallway. When she heard Van’s voice as he pounded on the door for several seconds, she hurried to answer it.

  “I need to talk to you,” he said, breathing heavily. At the same time, the door to the elevator opened and two members of building security stepped out.

  “There he is,” one said, pointing at Van. Then the door to the stairwell opened and another security guard gasped for air as he bent over his knees. “You…” he barely said, also pointing at Van.

  “Oh, he’s with me,” Dani told them. “Sorry for the mix-up,” she added, glaring at Van. She pulled him into the penthouse and shut the door. “What are you doing?”

  “Uh, running from security because they wouldn’t let me up?”

  “That’s obvious,” she scoffed. “I mean what are you even doing here. I said that I don’t want to talk to you.”

  “I don’t care if you don’t want to talk, but I have something to say and I’m gonna say it.”

  It was hard for Dani to look at him because all she wanted to do was be in his arms. But he looked furious at the moment and she wasn’t used to seeing him like that.

  “Dani…” He took a deep breath because he was still breathing hard from sprinting up eighteen flights of stairs, two and three at a time. “I saw Quincy today.”

  That’s all he said, and then she put it together. She left him standing at the entryway and walked away.

  “Dani, don’t do this to me. Please?�
��

  He caught up to her only to find that she was crying. It made him sad and mad at the same time, but he wasn’t going to leave until he could hold her again.

  “Dani, I was looking for Brian,” he admitted. “I was. I was going to break every bone in his body. I wanted to kill him. Actually I still do. But you know what stopped me? You. I thought about spending my life with you and that’s what I want more than anything. Brian can eat shit and die because that’s what he’s gonna get. But you and I have a life to spend together, and nothing is going to change that for us. Nothing. Do you hear me? He’s not going to win. I love you, Dani. I love you more than anything and I need you. Please know that I would do anything for you, anything to make you happy, and I promise you that. Will you give me another chance?”

  He was ready to drop to his knees and beg if that’s what it took.

  She continued to cry and it broke his heart, but when she collapsed against him and clung to him tightly, it made him emotional too. He hated seeing her like that, and he wasn’t quite sure if it had to do with one thing or another, but for the time being he was just thankful to be holding her again. They stood there for a long time until Dani pulled back just slightly, and he leaned down to kiss her. He could taste the salt from her tears and it seemed significant. He wanted to be there for her through everything.

  “Dani, will you marry me?” he asked softly. “I want us to have that permanent union, you know? I don’t know how you feel about that, but it’s something that I really want with you. I’ve always wanted it. Do you? I mean will you marry me?”

  She didn’t even have to think about it and she nodded her head. “Yes,” she smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist. But just the idea of it made her cry again; she was so happy to be loved by him.

  Van was happy too, but he just happened to look around at the apartment they were in for the first time and he suddenly felt uneasy. It was probably the nicest place he’d ever been in and it made him feel insecure. He had to remind himself that it wasn’t what Dani was all about, but he still had to ask, “Are you sure you want my lifestyle? I mean…”