Leticia (13 page)

“I’ll talk to him
if
he
talks to
me
.
”

She didn’t reply, she just lowered her head and nodded slightly.

“So is this why you brought me here, to talk about Jackson?” I asked
.

“No, well partly, but I wanted to spend time with you too, get to know you better, and to try and to find out more about why these horrible things are happening to you
.
”

“I don’t know exactly, I can only tell you what’s happened in the past
.
It
may be related, it may not
.
”

“Well, how about I see if Jackson wants to hear it too, it would save me telling
him.
”

“If you
really
have to
,
” I groaned
,
“
g
o on, ask him
.
”

“
Back
in a
sec
.
”

She went out of the kitchen and I could hear her saying something to him. A moment later she came in and took me into the living room. Jackson sat there
with
a large pad of plain paper and a pencil in his
hand;
as soon as I entered the room he closed it. I sat down more or less facing him, but he didn’t look at me. Nancy sat beside me and I continued telling my story.

February
12
th
200
1

It had been
a while
since I’d spoken to Luke. I’d tried calling his mobile, at first he would just reject my calls, but now he’d had it switched off most of the evening. I’d called his house
but he just
hung up on me and then left the phone off the hook
.
Every
time I called all I would get was the
busy
tone. I was upset,
really
upset, but not heartbroken. I think I’d accepted long ago that I wouldn’t be able to be in a long-
term
relationship, so I hadn’t allowed myself to fall completely in love with him. But it still bloody hurt. All I wanted him to do was talk to me.

It was now 8p
.
m
.
, I hadn’t eaten all day and although my stomach was screaming at me, the thoughts of actually eating something made me feel sick. I sat on the bed staring at the wall of the hotel room. I didn’t know what to do with
myself;
I think I must have bored myself to sleep.

***

The
days
that followed
dragged terribly
, I didn’t see or speak to anyone. Today I went out shopping
to get a few essentials and pay my phone bill at the bank. I was on my way back to my car when I bumped
into a guy Luke
had been
working with recently, Roger Mayfair.

“Hello
,
” I smiled at him
.

“Oh it’s
you,
” he replied, looking rather disgusted.

“Are you
OK
?”

“I’m fine, you look...well
.
”

“Thanks. Have you seen Luke?”

“Of course I have
,
” he said getting in the
driver’s
seat
of
his car
.

“Is he
OK
?”

“No, actually he isn’t, why don’t you do him a
favor
and stay out of his life. Permanently.”

“I
thought
you were...”

“I don’t care what you think. He wants nothing to do with you
.
The
sooner you get that in your head the better. Now leave him alone.”

“You can’t speak for him.”

“I just did
.
”

“Listen to me you...”

“Luke’s words to me were this... you’re more trouble than you’re worth, he hasn’t got time for something like you, you
’re
lower than the low an
d if you continue to pursue him
you will have to deal with the consequences
.
”

“Is that a threat? I don’t take kindly to those
.
”

“Yes, I believe it is.”

He closed the door on me and drove off. My blood was bubbling. I shouldn’t have spoken to him, I shouldn’t have bothered asking. Why didn’t I just accept the fact that everything Luke had said to me, about loving me, wanting to be with me forever...was a lie.

I arrived back at my hotel room and emptied my bags before pouring myself a very large glass of wine. I sat down on the little sofa and turned the TV on. A couple of hours later I was bored to tears, so I decided to take a walk in the
local park. It was a cold night
but perfectly clear, I sat on the bench near the flower gardens staring up at the stars. I was in my own world when a loud bang startled me, then the pain came, a harsh burning sensation in my right shoulder blade. I reach
ed
over to touch it and felt something warm and sticky, when I looked at my hand I
realize
d it was blood. The noise came again and one of the flower pots next to the bench smashed. Someone was shooting at me
!

I jumped up and ran as fast as I could out of the park, dodging several bullets on the way out. I headed into the streets, hoping they wouldn’t continue to attack
while
other people were around. Luckily I was right. I ran all the way to the hotel, up the three flights of stairs and into the safety of my room. I looked out of the
window and
saw three men st
anding
across the road, staring and pointing at the hotel. Surely they weren’t stupid enough to try and attack me in here. After a few minutes they walked away
.
I breathed a sigh of relief.

I went into the bathroom, removed my top and examined myself in the mirror. The bullet hadn’t entered me, but it had ripped across my shoulder blade and the top of my arm. I cleaned the blood from around it
and
decided to just leave it
.
It
had already started to heal
anyway.

When I walked out of the bathroom I saw a note on the floor, it had been pushed under the door
.
When I opened it, I panicked a little
.
It
read –

You
can’t
stay in that room forever

The next time you leave

You’re a dead woman!

My stomach sank
.
My
heart started racing, fear filled me, followed by a sudden rush of anger. This had to be Luke’s doing, I’d always gotten on really well with the people around here, to suddenly have people being like this with me, it
had
to be something to do with him. How could someone you had known for so long, who had been so nice with you, claimed to love you, turn on you so quickly and so much that they would want you dead
?

“Can we stop for a bit
,
” I asked Nancy
.
“
The
next part is the hardest to remember
and to talk about
.
”

“Of course we can, are you
alright
?”

“It’s not a nice thing to have to remember, I guess it still hurts
.
”

“Do you still love this guy
?
” Jackson asked coldly
.

“No, like I said a minute ago, I wouldn’t allow myself to fall completely in love with him, so why would I be in love with him
now
?” I
asked
him
.

“Just wondered
.
”

“I bet you did
,
” Nancy smirked
.

“Excuse me
,
” He shot at her
.

“Oh hang on
,
sorry
Tish;
here comes the dickhead side of my brother
.
”

“Piss off
.
”

“Hey, don’t talk to her like that!” I shouted at him
.
“I’m the one you’re angry with
so pick the fight with me not her
.
”

“Screw you, if you don’t like it, get out of
my
house
.
”

“Fine I will
.
” I shouted back, standing
.

“You will not!” Nancy butted in
.
“This is my house too and I want you here
.
”

“No, Nancy this is
my
house
,
” Jackson corrected her
.
“
And
I’ll say who comes in here
.
”

“
Ass
hole
,
” I blasted
.

I grabbed my bag and walked out of the house, Nancy came running
after
me
.

“Leticia please don’t go, just ignore him
.
”

“I can’t stand him he’s a jerk, I don’t want to spend a second longer in the same
post
code as him, never mind the same house
,
” I told her as I got in my car
.
“I d
on’t know how you live with him
he’s an absolute dickhead
.
”

“
Please
don’t....”

“You’re welcome at my house anytime you like, but DO NOT bring him
,
” I told her before driving off.

I was so annoyed, I think I broke the speed limit on every road
. I
even went through the lights on red in Holmfirth
center
.
A
few people were annoyed with me about that and beeped like mad at me, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to go home.

I walked in the house slamming the door behind me and cursing like crazy. I threw my bag across the kitchen table before heading upstairs and getting straight into the shower. I stood
there;
hands in front of me against the wall, letting the water hit me and trying to calm down. I’d been in there about fifteen minutes when I heard someone knocking at the front door. I begrudgingly got out and wrapped my dressing gown around me before making my way to the door. It was Nancy.

“I’m staying here tonight
,
” she said as she pushed her way passed me and into the hall
.
“I’m not staying with
him
on my own”
.

“Where’s Tristan?” I asked
.

“He’s going to be out all night, he gets blood supplies from the blood-banks and there’s been a delay or
something
.
I can’t really say I was paying much attention when he told me, I was too annoyed. Do you have a spare room?”

“Yeah I do
.
”

“You don’t mind do you?”

“
Not
at all
.
”

We walked into the living room and she continued to talk away.

“When you left I walked back into the house
and
hit the roof
.
I told him exactly what I th
ought of him, I won’t repeat it
simply because the language that came out of me was atrocious. He snapped
up
on me and told me he did
n’t
care what I thought of him, he didn’t care what
anyone
thought of him anymore. How can you not care?” she said
,
throwing her hands around
.
“I told him he needed to stop putting this pathetic front on, stop being fake and return to the old, honest, caring Jackson I used to know and love and that until he did that, I didn’t want to know him
.
”