by Jaime Lewis
“Oh, he left on a work trip.”
Shit!
“Do you know when he’ll be home?”
“No, honey, I don’t. Is everything okay? You sound like you have a stuffy nose. You aren’t coming down with a cold, are you?”
God, how she longed to run to mom and have her shield her from the monsters. She hated not telling her mom the truth. She thought about asking her mom if she could stay with her, but Chaz knew where she lived, and she didn’t want her mom in the line of fire.
“Just allergies. There was something I remembered from my trip that I wanted to talk to Derek about.”
“Oh, okay. Well, listen, while I got you on the phone. I forgot to mention the other day at lunch; I’m having a birthday party for Derek at Bayside. I’d love for you to come. I know it would mean a lot to him.”
She smiled, and her eyes teared up. “I’d like that very much. Can you text me the details?”
“Sure. Hopefully, everyone will be back. I heard from Alex that the guys got sent out.”
“Yeah, Potter told me.”
“Oh, you spoke with Potter? When was this?” Her mom asked, now intrigued.
“The day they left.”
“And…how did that go?”
“Fine. He said we would talk when he got home.”
“Well, that’s good. I like him, Tenley.”
“I know, mom. So do I.” More than you’ll ever know.
A set of headlights in the passenger side mirror caught Tenley’s attention.
“Listen, mom; I need to go. Don’t forget to text me the details for Derek’s party.”
“Okay, honey. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
She disconnected and watched as the car pulling through the parking lot passed her vehicle without a second glance. She hung her head and took a few deep breaths. What was she going to do until Potter and Derek got back?
She pulled the visor down and looked into the mirror. Damn, she was going to have a nice bruise to match the other side of her face from the assault in Ecuador. At least that one had started to fade. She wasn’t sure how she was going to explain that one to the hospital staff when they saw her, but she’d deal with it like she always did. She was more worried about the bruising to her back. With no other options on where to go, she decided it was best to head to the hospital. There she was sure she would be safe, at least until the guys returned.
◆◆◆
“You’re positive? How the fuck did this happen?” Chaz asked Esteban as he paced his office. He was pissed. When he got his hands on Tenley, she was going to be in a world of hurting. He couldn’t believe she had managed to sneak out while Esteban had let his guard down. The nerve of her! Unfortunately, Tenley was going to have to take a back seat because right now, he and Esteban were dealing with some grim news. The call Esteban had received was from an employee who was positioned near the warehouse in Colombia. The employee recanted the details about a raid that had taken place at an Onyx meeting. Everyone in attendance had either been taken into custody or killed.
“We are positive. That was Oscar, who called. He has been the go-between relaying information from my employees working inside Onyx and me. He said it happened about two hours ago. The raid took place during a meeting Miguel had scheduled at his office in Tumaco. According to him, everyone was arrested except for one person who was killed during the shootout with authorities.”
“So Miguel is in custody. That’s good news. With him incarcerated, that leaves his organization vulnerable.” Chaz stated, but Esteban shook his head.
“No, Miguel never showed up for the meeting. I think the meeting was a set-up.” Esteban said, taking a drink of his whiskey and slamming the glass down onto the table. Esteban was pissed about the Tenley situation as well. “I underestimated Miguel. He knew he had ‘rats’ inside of Onyx, and he just eliminated all of them. They included a number of my top informants along with some longtime employees who worked side-by-side with his father.”
“So, what’s next?”
“If he wants to play hardball now, I think it’s time to let Miguel know who we are and step up to the plate. Tenley will be the bait to lure him in.”
“That’s if we can get our hands back on her. Surely, she will run to the authorities. I do have a tracking device on her car.”
Esteban poured himself another drink. “Don’t be too sure about that. I think Tenley is too afraid to get anyone else involved. She has too much to lose if she talks. Give her a day or two.”
Chaz stared at him.
“She knows I’m not a man to mess around. She’ll comply, or we start eliminating her friends and family. One at a time.”
Chapter Eleven
Tenley pulled her little VW Beetle into Bayside’s parking lot. It had been two days since the incident at Chaz’s club. Since that night, she never left the safe confines of the hospital until now. And that was only because she knew Derek and the team were back. Alex had texted her last night and told her everyone was back, and that Juliette was moving up the party since today was Derek’s actual birthday.
Knowing the guys were tied up in meetings after they got back from a mission, she didn’t want to pester Potter. She knew she would see him at the party. To his credit, he had sent her a text early in the afternoon, but the ER had been packed with patients, and she was never able to get a minute to herself to call him back. She did, however, send a text to Derek, telling him that she needed to speak with him and that it was important.
She looked down at the purple scrubs she was wearing and scrunched her nose up. Since she’d been somewhat living at the hospital since her altercation with Chaz and Esteban, she didn’t have any clean regular clothes, and she refused to go back to her house alone.
Chaz, of course, left her a scathing voicemail, spewing threats. He even had the balls to make an appearance at the hospital last night. Thankfully he had shown up when four critical patients were brought in from a car accident. What really frosted her flakes were the dozen red roses he left for her, telling the admittance nurse that he was her boyfriend and just wanted to stop in and drop the flowers off for her. When the nurse told her about the flowers and how beautiful they were, Tenley rolled her eyes and told her she could have them before setting the record straight that he wasn’t her boyfriend and that if he showed up again to have security escort him out.
She pulled the visor down to make sure her face looked somewhat presentable. She cringed when she saw the purple bruise along her cheek. Now that a couple of days had passed, the colors were more prominent. The dark smudges under her eyes from lack of sleep didn’t help her appearance any either. And her back was covered in odd-shaped bruises. She had been taking over the counter pain relievers like they were candy. Yesterday, she couldn’t even wear a bra because the straps ran along the bruising and it was too painful.
She sighed, knowing her mother was going to flip her lid when she saw her. Shaking it off, she knew at least once she got inside, she could breathe a little easier, especially after talking to both Derek and Potter.
She got out of her car and locked it up. She did a quick check around the parking lot and saw that everyone seemed to be here, including the owner of the silver pick-up truck. Potter. She smiled and felt the butterflies in her belly.
A gust of wind blew, bringing with it a blast of cold air, sending a chill down her spine. Looking up at the cloud-covered sky, she saw a storm was brewing.
As she made her way toward the front door, a black SUV with tinted windows pulled into the parking lot. It drove slowly toward an empty parking space near the back. She waited a moment to see if anyone got out, but it just sat idle. She knew Chaz had people watching her.
Ignoring the potential danger, she pulled open the heavy front door and saw her mom and friends right away. The massive amount of colored balloons gave it away, which had to be Alex’s doing. The girl loved to plan parties. Go big or go home was her favorite motto.
Walkin
g toward the table, Derek was the first one to spot her. “Hey, there she is.” He shouted, walking over to her and kissing her on the cheek. Then he saw her cheek.
“What in the hell happened to you? Are you okay?” His loud, boisterous voice had gotten everyone’s attention. Her mom and Alex made their way over to her. She was hoping that she’d be able to speak with Derek first privately. She wanted to tell him what had happened the other night, and that she did indeed try to contact him. She needed him to know that she at least tried.
“Honey, what happened?” Her mom asked.
She knew it looked bad, but Christ didn’t people know it was rude to stare. When her mom reached out and touched the bruised skin, she flinched.
She pulled her head away from her mom’s hand. “I’m fine, mom. It was just a little incident.” She started saying hello to everyone, trying to brush her mom’s concern off. But she knew she hadn’t fooled the guys as she watched them give each other sneaky glances. Derek just stood there with his arms crossed, staring at her with a questioning look on his face. Yep, he knew she was totally trying to blow smoke up their asses. She swallowed hard and looked away only to meet Alex’s eyes, and in that moment, she was about to burst into tears. She hadn’t seen or talked to her much since she had lunch with her and Juliette the other day.
She walked over to Alex and hugged her. “Hey, friend.”
“Hey,” Alex said, hugging her back. Then Alex whispered into her ear. “You are in big trouble, ‘friend.’ You might be able to fool your mom, but you haven’t fooled me.”
Tenley took a deep breath and then put a smile on her face. “There is a lot that I have to tell all of you, but I would like to speak to Potter first. I saw his truck outside. Do you know where he is?” She asked, glancing around the restaurant. He wasn’t at the table with the rest of the team.
Alex smiled. “It’s about damn time. That man has been going crazy ever since he and the guys brought you home.” Suddenly, Alex’s eyes narrowed, and a scowl appeared on her face. “What the fuck?”
Following Alex’s line of sight, Tenley’s jaw dropped open as her eye’s landed on the man in question. Being a nurse in a busy ER, Tenley was prepared for most sights, but what she wasn’t prepared for was to see the blonde with her arms wrapped around Potter’s waist and her big boobs pressed against his side. His back was to Tenley, so he hadn’t seen her. When the blonde turned her head, Tenley felt like someone punched her in the stomach. The woman with her slimy tentacles wrapped around her man was no other than the bar whore herself, Suzette Montgomery. The bitch had the nerve to plaster a fake smile on her face before turning her attention back to Potter. Suzette said something that made Potter smile, and then she motioned to him with her hands for him to come closer. When he obliged, she grabbed hold of his face and smashed her lips against his.
Tenley gasped and covered her mouth. She turned around quickly as her eyes started to tear up. Chaz’s words from the other night came rushing back like the grand rapids. Potter was screwing around. She couldn’t believe this. He told her that he’d wait for her, but he had lied. She felt so humiliated as she stood there in front of her friends and family. She couldn’t handle this. To see him with someone else shattered her already battered heart. Her chest tightened, and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. She had to get out of there.
She abruptly pulled her hand from Alex’s grip. “I’m sorry, Alex, but I have to go.” She was on the verge of crying, and she refused to cry in front of everyone.
“What do you mean? You’re not staying?” Her mom asked, sounding upset. Apparently, she hadn’t seen the spectacle at the bar.
“I made an appearance like you asked me to, but I’m leaving.”
Juliette grabbed Tenley’s arm. “I can’t stand this anymore. What has gotten into you, Tenley? You always have some sort of an excuse. You are always working. You are going to work yourself into an early grave. Look at you! You’ve lost weight, and you have dark circles under your eyes. I don’t want to sound harsh, but you look like shit.”
Tenley flinched and pulled her arm back and stared at her mom. She couldn’t believe her mom had just said that. First, she was humiliated by Potter and now her mother. The last few months had been hell for Tenley. She had felt like she had been teetering on the edge of a cliff. Between Potter and now her mother, she was falling, and there was no way to climb back up.
“Wow! Thanks, mom.”
Juliette stared at Tenley with a stunned expression and covered her face. “I’m sorry, Tenley. I didn’t mean it. I—”
Tenley cut her off. “Sure you did, or you wouldn’t have said it,” She then took a look around at the others. “Does anyone else want to kick me while I’m down?”
Juliette took a cautious step towards her, but Tenley wasn’t having it, and she took a step back. “Tenley, please. I understand you’re going through a difficult time right now. If you need help, we’ll get you the help you need.”
Potter’s action hadn’t gone unnoticed by the team, because Potter was in a heated discussion with Stitch and Frost. Ace was actually holding back Frost, but Potter was ignoring his friends and was in a dead stare. Tenley didn’t want this. She looked back at her mom.
“You think I need help? What…Do you think that I’m mentally unstable, mom? Is that what everyone thinks is wrong with me?” Her voice started to crack and grow louder and more people began to stare.
“Tenley, calm down.” Her mother said in a low voice as tears started to form in her eyes.
“Calm down?” She said all but shouting as she pointed to herself. “You don’t even know what I’m going through or what I went through.”
“Because you won’t let anybody in! For god’s sake Tenley, talk to us.”
“I wanted to, but the one person I tried opening up to shut me down,” She looked at Potter, who was now being held back by Irish. As she said those words, a tear rolled down her cheek. She looked back at her mom and everyone else. “I had asked you all to give me a little space when I got back. I came here tonight because I was ready, but I see now that I’m too late. So, what I have to say doesn’t really matter. I can take care of myself. Even if that means taking on the devil myself.”
Her breath shuttered. “I’m a bad person, mom. None of you should want to be associated with me.” She said, looking at everyone who was staring back at her with worry and stunned expressions. None of them could imagine what she was dealing with. She shook her head and tried wiping the tears from her face, but they just kept falling. “I’m a selfish person. I’ve kept a lot of things from all of you, and I’ve lied to all of you. But please know, everything I’ve done was to protect each of you.” She hiccupped a sob.
“Tenley, please?” Her mother asked, reaching out to her.
Tenley stepped back, avoiding her mother’s touch. “Everything started when I lost something very precious to me. I was too weak to fight.”
Potter managed to get out of Irish’s hold and quickly approached her. He reached for her arm. “Tenley, don’t do this. Not here.”
She yanked her arm from him and looked up at him as he towered over her. “Why do you care, Potter? You’ve obviously moved on. You don’t have to live with the guilt I do. I understand this is my fault. How could I expect you not to move on? I have to live with the consequences.”
Potter wanted to say something, but she cut him off. “I’ve caused you all enough grief. Hopefully, one day you’ll understand and forgive me.” She couldn’t face them any longer. Without another word, she spun around and ran out the door, wiping the tears from her face. She heard Potter and others telling her to wait, but she didn’t stop until she reached her car. She was on her own.
◆◆◆
Juliette stood there in shock, staring at her daughter’s back as she walked out of the door. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. Never in her life had she ever heard her daughter talk the way she did. It was like she had given up on life.
She felt
a strong arm wrap around her shoulders. When she looked up, Derek was looking down at her, and she shook her head.
“What happened to my girl, Derek? She’s hurting, and I don’t know how to help her.”
He pulled her into his chest and fully embraced her with his strong arms. “I don’t know, honey, but we’re all family here, and we’re all here for her. We’ll help get her through whatever she’s dealing with. Look how everyone came together to help Alex heal when she went through her ordeal last year. We’ll do the same for Tenley.”
She looked up at him. He was such a handsome man. Even in his late fifties, he was in great physical shape. She’d been in love with him for years but never expressed her feelings to him out of fear that if he didn’t feel the same, it would cause harm to their friendship.
“I don’t know what I would have done all these years without you.”
He smiled, looking down at her. “I can say the same for you. You’ve helped me tremendously through Alex’s childhood. Hell, I still remember the first day I met you.”
She laughed. “Oh god, that was when the girls were in Kindergarten, and you sent Alex to school looking like a clown, and I chastised you for letting her go to school dressed like that.”
“Yeah, that was a day I will definitely never forget.”
“Why, because I lectured you?”
He moved one hand to her hip and put his other hand to her cheek. He looked at her lips then back to her eyes. “No, because that was the day I fell in love with you.”
Juliette sucked in a breath right before Derek’s lips met hers for a gentle kiss. Pulling back, he looked down into her brown eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that for a hell of a long time.”
Her eyes glistened. “I love you too, Derek. I have, for a long time as well.”
He leaned down and kissed her again. This time he took it a little farther, deepening the kiss until they heard Alex telling them they needed to take that shit home and that she didn’t need to see her dad making out with his girlfriend.