Leticia (11 page)

“I never said it did
.
”

“Good
.
”

Both of us went silent for a moment, eyeballing each other.

“Look
,
” he said, breaking the silence
.
“Jackson is pissed, there’s no doubting that. Nancy is more upset than anything
.
She
shouted her mouth off in the car, then went upstairs in tears when we got home. Neither of them wanted to talk to you, that’s why they kept rejecting your calls, but when they saw the message they softened a little. The fact that you were worried proved
that
you cared about them
.
”

“I do care
.
I don’t want anyone to get hurt
.
”

“And we don’t want
you
getting hurt, that’s the only reason I was going to kill that guy
.
”

“His name is Adam
,
” I informed him
.

“I know. Leticia we are not cold blooded killers
,
but we protect our own
by
any
means necessary. If that means killing, then I’m sorry but so be it
.
”

“He’s only a kid, his life hasn’t even started properly yet, you need to give people chances
.
”

“You’re a good person with a warm heart,
but
, that will put you in danger
,
” he warned
.

“I know that, but I’m not stupid, that
guy
was so upset
and
scared
.
He
just needed someone to believe in him, to help him. I’m not going to do that with everyone that comes here, most of them will probably end up dead, but I will sleep better tonight knowing that one of them will go on to lead a good life
.
”

“You hope
.
”

Again we both turned silent
.
I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine, Tristan followed me in.

“Who the hell gave you permission to break into my house by the way?” I snapped at him
.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to check
that
you were
OK
... actually that’s a lie
.
I
wanted
to know you were
OK
, obviously, but it was Jackson that asked me to come
.
”

“Why didn’t he come himself?”

“He’s pissed
.
”

“So
,
” I shrugged
.

“Jackson isn’t good with people anymore, he used to be
.
He
was very sociable, lively, funny
.
”

“What changed?”

“
That’s
not for me to tell, that’s
his
personal life
.
”

“
Whatever
, shouldn’t you be getting back?”

“Yeah I guess I should
.
”

“See you around maybe
.
”

“Tish...”

“Who?” I interrupted
.

“Well your full name is a bit of a mouthful
.
”

“Four syllables that’s all
, Le-tic-ci-a
,
”
I split my name up slowly
.

“Well, I think Tish is enough, so that’s what I’m calling you
.
”

“Whatever
,
” I sighed
.

“Ignore
Jackson;
his bark is worse than his bite
.
He
cares about you, so he won’t stay away from you
.
He’ll
want to make sure
you’re
OK
.
And Nancy, she’ll want to talk to you
.
”

“She has my number
.
”

He
nodded
and
saw himself out.

It was late now, and I had clients booked at ten in the morning, I felt safe tonight knowing that Adam was away and the other guy was dead. Hopefully I would get a good night’s sleep.

The next morning I woke up with a smile on my face. I felt fresh
and
was actually looking forward to going to work. I had a lovely shower and a quick bite to eat before setting off. My first appointment went fantastically well
.
Mrs
Towers, she was only in her thirties and had two month old twins, both of whom were fast asleep in their mosses baskets. I desperately wanted to cuddle them, but didn’t want to wake them. I did her nails in the kitchen so we could chat freely without fear of disturbing them.
Mrs
Towers was great, she was so bubbly, we always had a good laugh together
.
When
I’d finished her nails, we spent another half an hour just chatting away. Then I had to run out quickly so I wasn’t late to my next appointment.

When I arrived at Mrs Pickman’s I was greeted by her daughter, she took me inside and told me she had some bad news. Sadly Mrs Pickman had been taken into
the
hospital and her daughter didn’t know when she would be home. She had had a bad fall and broken her hip, but apparently she was in good spirits still. No surprise really, I don’t think I’d ever seen her with anything other than a big smile on her face. I told her to give her
mother
my love and
to call me when she
got home, just to let me know she was
OK
.

I left the house and made my way back to my car. Jackson was leaning against it. I walked over to him but said
nothing;
I didn’t have a clue
what
to say to him.

“You look well
,
” he told me
.
“Brighter
.
”

“Thanks
.
”

I threw my bag on the back seat and waited to see if he spoke again.

Silence.

“I’m going to get coffee before my next appointment
,
” I finally spoke
.
“
So
I need to leave now
.
”

“Right, see ya
.
”

“Yeah, bye
.
”

He started walking away from
me;
I got in the car and started the engine. I was about to set off when there was a tap on the passenger window.

“Let me in
,
” Jackson said
.

“Why?”

“Leticia just open the door
.
”

“If you
’
r
e
gonna start giving me grief...”

“I just want to talk to you
.
”

I sighed loudly and opened the door.

“Thank you
,
” he said as he got inside
.

“What do you want?” I asked
.
“Last night you said...”

“Screw you, I’m not here for me, I still think you’re an idiot
.”

“Then get out
.
”

“I’m here for Nancy, she
...
.”

“Nancy is a big girl and can talk to me herself, now last chance, get out
.
”

“You don’t scare me Leticia
.
”

“I’m not trying to, now get out
.
”

“Fine, you’re not worth the effort
.
”

“Neither are you, you snappy bastard
.
”

“How do you expect me to be, you’re...”

“I don’t want to know,
screw you
,
and get
out
.
”

I turned away from him and he got out of the car, slamming the door hard behind him. I didn’t even look at him, I just drove off. There was something about him, something that was getting right under my skin. I think it was the fact that
despite
his lack of social skills,
and
t
he arrogant
and nasty side of his personality, I really liked him.

I pulled up
in
the
parking lot
in the
center
of
Holmfirth;
I’d just got
ten
out of the car when Jackson pulled up beside me.

“What now
?
” I asked when he got out of the car
.

“I’m not here to talk to you, I’m not interested in you
.
I’m meeting someone
.
”

“Oh good
.
I hope you speak nicer to them
.
”

“I will, I care about
them
.
”

“Dick
.
”

I got my purse, locked the car and walked away from him. I was getting my ticket from the machine when four guys surrounded me.

“Can I help you?” I asked, trying to stay calm
.

“I think you should come with us
.”

“And why would I do that?”

“It would be easier if you didn’t struggle and cause a scene
.
”

“Yeah,
OK
, like that’s going to happen
.
”

One of them looked around to
make sure
there was nobody else around, then he grabbed my arm, I laughed at him and gripped him by his throat with my free hand, lifting him up off the ground. My nails grew and dug into his skin
.
Needless
to say he let go of my other arm. His
friends
looked at me with frightened expressions, one of them stepped forward.

“Think carefully
,
” I said to him
.
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with
.
”

He stood still and
started
to say something, but
then
must have decided against.

“Give your boss a message
,
” I said, turning my attention to the guy I had now almost strangled to death
.
“Tell him he
should tell you what I am
and what I am capable
of;
tell him that whoever he sends after me will end up in a shallow grave
.
”

The man nodded frantically
while
trying to loosen my grip on him.

“If I wanted to I could kill the four of you in seconds
,
” I continued
.
“
You’ve
been warned
.
”

I let go of him and watched him drop to the floor, clutching his throat and gasping for breath. His
friend
dragged him to his feet and they all ran off. I actually felt good about myself now
.
I was happy with what I’d done, and maybe they would think twice about coming near me again. I turned to see if Jackson was still
standing
by his car, but he was nowhere to be seen. I put the ticket in my car and went to the
cafe;
I still had quite a bit of time to myself, so I decided to stay in
and
drink
my coffee
. I sat near the window,
no longer caring
who saw me
.
It’s
not like they could shoot me in the middle of the town, there were too many people
around
. The most they would get away was talking to me, making quiet threats. I stared at my coffee, not really thinking about anything, when another cup appeared on the table facing me.