In Between Lies (23 page)

Naomi knew she could practically have any man she desired…practically. All except for Kevin. The drive to have something that was just out of her reach made the chase and challenge more enticing, then turned cold deadly once she realized that it wasn’t going to be. Rejection was not in her vocabulary and certainly not part of her being as far as she was concerned.

             
“I am at home, baby,” she said. “So come on over. I’ll even leave the door open.” She quietly placed the phone back on the receiver.

             
Kevin pulled up at the apartment complex opening. Since her apartment was not far from the entrance, he decided to park just outside of it at the curb and walk to her place. He jammed his hand in his pocket to make sure things were in place.

             
She saw his tall, dark silhouette moving towards her as the full moon lit the path to her open door. There was a deafening silence that had an eerie effect on her senses, making her flesh crawl at a fast pace.  Even though she had enough nerve to do the terrible things she had done so far, now that she was almost face to face with Kevin, she found her courage or bluntness slowly seeping away.  The closer he got to her, the more she wished she could take back everything she had said or done and start over again. She still loved him and didn’t want to harm him. She just wanted him to understand how she felt.

             
“Naomi?” Kevin said as he took that last step into the entrance of her dark apartment.

             
“I’m over here,” she said, then flicked her cigarette lighter on and lit a cigarette.

             
“You should have had enough of fire,” he snidely said, referring to her burning half of his house down.

             
“I am sorry about that, but baby, I needed to get your attention….It worked.”

             
“Naomi, maybe I didn’t say this the right way earlier. I tried to be nice about it when I told you that I didn’t want to see you anymore.”

             
“What did you come here for, Kevin? One last lay before you finish killing me off?”

             
It was clear that Naomi had also been drinking. Her voice slurred as she spoke and she moved in  slow manner when she rose from the couch. She put the cigarette out in the carpet and stood before him. “Come closer, we can do this. You know I know how you like it. Not like that bitch of yours,
Savannah
.”

             
“That’s enough!” Kevin grabbed her by the wrist with such force, it snapped her from her thoughts and caused her to wince in pain.

             
“That’s it, baby. You know I like it rough….what do you see in her anyway? I know I look better than she does.”

             
He let go of her wrists then forcefully pulled her to him. His big, strong hands wrapped around her throat and tightened. “You like that baby?” he asked. “You like that shit don’t you?” he asked as he began to kiss her up and down her cheeks and  across her lips.

             
“Oh, Kevin. You sure you want to do this?” she asked. She circled her arms around his back, feeling his tight muscles tense at her touch. She went to unbutton his shirt and pull it off of him.

             
Kevin beat her to the punch and pulled his own shirt off, exposing his hard, chiseled chest. He stopped and pulled away slightly. “Okay, let’s talk about it,” he said in between kisses.

             
Naomi was busy pulling at his zipper. “And quit trying to talk to me like a psychiatrist. You ain’t no damn doctor up in this piece.  What you want a confession?” She stopped talking for a moment. “Yeah. I burnt your house down and I cut up Richard’s ass. And I told you why I did it.”

             
Kevin was silent, hands stuck in his pocket.

             
“And I was about to get at
Savannah
’s ass but you showed back up at her house before I could do anything. That’s when I went back home and did Richard. He came over being nosey, so I got him instead.”

He let her go and pushed her away from him. “Woman, you need some serious help. I don’t know what the fuck happened to you in your lifetime or childhood, but it really fucked your mind up. Now you want to fuck up everybody else because you are.”

             
“You leave my childhood outta this. This is between you and me, here and now,” she spat back.

“Let me get a last good look at what I am gladly getting rid of,” he said as he was grabbing his shirt to put it back on.
             

             
“Thanks, that’s all I needed to hear, Naomi.” Kevin pulled out a small tape recorder, showed it to her and pressed play. Her whole confession now on tape, Naomi realized that he’d tricked her again.

First, she stood there speechless. As her wits gathered about, she realized he had tricked her yet again, this time into a confession. “You bastard!” she screamed. Reaching just over the arm of the sofa, she grabbed a large knife from the table that he hadn’t realized was there.

As if she were in a hypnotic, violent trance, she threw herself at him, knife first and tried her best to dig the knife deep into his chest. He leapt to the side, just missing the wall and fell, hitting his head on the corner of the coffee table. In a state of panic now, Naomi swung everything she had trying to clear a way to the front door.

Kevin grabbed her leg and she felt herself fall awkwardly, crashing in her own doorway. Laying just inside the apartment, she pulled herself free from his grasp and commenced to stabbing at him again. Unlike Richard, Kevin was very capable of defending himself effectively. So much so, Naomi felt the need to get away from him instead of trying to continue stabbing.

She raised herself from the ground and ran for her car, which was already packed with her belongings, started the car and screeched off. Kevin did the same and followed her. Naomi skillfully swerved her car through the quiet upscale neighborhood, causing many neighbors to come out to see what was going on. Kevin followed suit and dashed out behind her. Had anyone known any better, they would have thought that both of them were running from some apparent impeding danger that was unforeseen. However that wasn’t the case.

While following her crazy course to the interstate, Kevin skillfully drove with one hand and tried to dial on his cell phone with the other hand. His arms ached with thrashing pain as blood stained his shirt through.

Savannah
at home, sat on the edge of the chair, waiting for the phone to ring. Kevin had been gone for hours now and she’d not heard from him. She tried to call his phone several times only to get a busy signal. Trying to relax, she made her a cup of French Vanilla  flavored coffee and tried to watch a movie on TV. Her mind raced at the thought of what he could be doing and wondered if he was okay.

Another hour had passed and she decided to go to bed. She drug her tired body up the steps and turned down the hall. The sound of a key sliding in the front door stopped her in her tracks. Quickly, she turned around and ran back down the steps and found Kevin dragging himself in to the house. His jacket was drenched with blood, his hand swollen and his lip busted.

“Baby!”
Savannah
screamed. “What did she do to you?”

Kevin smiled slightly and grabbed at his ribs. “You should see her,” he said. He slowly sat down.

Savannah
stood behind him, then grabbed a towel from the kitchen and started to clean him up. “Where is she? What happened?” she asked again.

“I handled it,” was all he said.

“I think I need to get you to the doctor. You are bleeding everywhere.”

             
“I will be fine. I just need you to clean me up and take care of me.”

             
Savannah
helped him stand back up, his weight mostly leaning into her, and practically carried him up the steps to her bedroom. She finished cleaning him up and she laid him down beside her.

             
She was happy that he was back with her. If there was any doubt that he really wanted to be with her, it was gone now. After all the craziness that had passed in such a short time between him, her and Naomi, she felt more secure than ever.

             
A few days had passed before things sort of returned to normal for Kevin. His house, in the beginning stages of being rebuilt from the fire was coming along slowly. He returned to work after a short leave to recuperate while
Savannah
joined Jazzy in their regular routine.

“Are you going to tell me what happened to Naomi?”
Savannah
finally asked. “You haven’t mentioned anything about her since that night.”

“To make a long story short. Like I said, I  handled the business.”
             

“From what I saw, she was handling your business better than you. You were cut up pretty badly as I recall. And speaking of cut up, I saw Richard today. He will be coming home tomorrow morning. He is doing good.”

“That’s good to hear.” Kevin sat up in the bed. “Anyway, Naomi took off in her car trying to get away from me after she realized that I had her confession  on tape.”

“And?”

“I followed her on to the interstate, where she recklessly drove off the road and crashed. I got out of the car to go and see if she was still alive because she hit a tree pretty hard….totaled the car. She was limp, I called for help and left the scene.”

“So you don’t know what happened to her then?”

“No, but I don’t think she will be bothering us again. Plus I gave the tape to the police, so if she is ok, she wont be home anytime soon.”

“So, its safe to say that her stalking days are over?”
Savannah
questioned.

“I believe so.” Kevin reached over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “I do love you,
Savannah
. And I will never let any harm come to you.”

“I know babe.”

Savannah
looked at the clock and jumped up. “I have to go. I have a meeting at nine and I’m running late. Will you be okay here today? Do you need me to get anything for you before I leave?”

“No, I will be fine.”

Kevin made himself at home in
Savannah
’s place. He’d accumulated a lot of his personal belongings there and was comfortable. He was almost ready to call it home. He settled in the cozy recliner and sipped at a cup of coffee. The phone rang. He didn’t bother answering it, instead letting the answering machine pick it up.

“Sorry I’m not here to answer your call. It is most important to me, so please leave your name, number and a brief message and I will return the call as soon as possible,”
Savannah
’s voice mail said, then beeped…

“….Kevin? Kevin? I still love you, baby. One day we will be together. Just the way we should be,” the female voice said. “One day soon, baby.”

225