Tortured Beginning (4 page)

"Anne, I'm going to run out back for a smoke."

She turns her head and nods. I walk out back and light up and sigh thankfully. We have a table and chairs set up back here, I take a seat. I look at my watch to see that it's already almost three. Well that was nice, I didn't dwell on all my problems for the whole day. I roll my eyes at myself, I guess it was good for me to get back to work. God, I hate when other people are right, not that I will ever admit it to them, willingly.

I walk back in and go to the bathroom to wash up. I look at myself in the mirror... "Girl, you need to shape up," I say to myself. I finish up and start for the front. I see Amanda walking into the back.

"Hey, Amanda. How are you?"

"Good, glad to have you back. Hey there is a guy here to see you."

I look at her confused, "Did he say who he was?" I'm afraid to hear the answer and stiffen.

"I think Anne said it was a detective."

"Oh shit, I forgot."

I run to the front and look over at Anne, she points in the direction he is in. I look over to see a very gorgeous man standing by the front window. Anne obviously gave him a coffee, that he is sipping from. Now I don't normally go for the clean cut man, but this one I could get use to.

I don't remember much from the hospital, it was such a blur. I wish I would have paid more attention. He is wearing a suit, that was most definitely was made for him. I start to walk towards him and he turns and smiles at me. Holy shit, my knees almost buckle on me. That smile could melt ice and those beautiful blue eyes, you could get lost in them. He has stubble from a day of not shaving but well maintained. He has wisps of hair that fall on his forehead, I want to run my fingers through it. What the hell is wrong with me?

"Hello, I'm Jaylah."

"HI, Jaylah. I'm Detective Ryan, but call me Trevan. Do you still have time to sit and talk to me?"

"Of course," I smile back at him.

We sit at the table in front of the window and he pulls out a file he bought with him. I assume, it's my file. I see Anne walk up to the table, give me a coffee and a plate of sweets.

"Thanks," I smile to her.

"No problem."

"Yes. Thank you," Trevan replies.

I wait for Anne to walk away before we start talking. I am not sure where to start, so I dive right in. "I've been having problems with my ex, again. He sent me flowers, several times now, with a note about getting me back. But what creped me out the most was, he left a ceramic heart in one of my backyard gardens. The thing is he bought it for me for Christmas one year. I thought I threw it out, but I may have left it at his place."

He nods his head, "Okay. I see you do have a restraining order and you get it renewed every year, that's good."

I nod my head, "He also showed up at the bar, he talked to Anne. I didn't see him."

"We can't do anything about that, he didn't come up to you. So, he actually hasn't talked to you at all?"

"No. Only the flowers with the note and I found the heart yesterday. Plus, I noticed a car parked down the street with a person staring at my house. I couldn't get a good look at him."

I take a sip of coffee as he writes down in his notes. I grab a cookie off the plate and nibble at it. I glance over at the file and see a picture of me from the hospital, I drop my cookie. I can't see the whole picture, because a piece of paper is blocking it. I reach out to move it and Trevan grabs my hand. I feel like a jolt of electricity goes through my body, I look up into his blue eyes.

"Sorry. You don't want to look at those. I thought I had it covered still."

He is still holding my hand and looking at me. I nod my head, unable to find any words. I pull my hand from his. Flashes of my past go through my head and I bury my head into my hands. I swear at myself for being weak.....THIS IS NOT WHO I AM! I feel someone grabbing my hand and look to see that he moved to sit right next to me.

"Look, I'm sorry you saw that. I will keep your case open, but there isn't much I can do right now. We will send him a warning about harassing you and remind him that it's against his restraining order."

He is rubbing my hand with his thumb. I look in to his eyes and feel a calm come over me. I see something, could he be feeling the same affects from our touch. I look down to our hands. It feels has if the world around us disappears and it's only us.

"That's all, really?" I'm feeling the panic start.

"Hey, look at me." With his other hand, he gently pushes my face up to look at him. "I want you to get a security system installed, if you don't already, okay?"

I nod, "I have them coming out this weekend." I give him a weak smile.

"That's good. I want you to put my number on your cell phone, you call me anytime. I mean anytime, alright?"

I nod my head.

"Did you keep the letter?"

"No, I tore it up. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay. If he sends you anything again, make sure to keep it for me." I nod my head. "I will check up on you, tell me everything. Even if you think it doesn't matter, I want you to tell me."

I nod again. I feel like a fucking idiot. I keep nodding my head like a bird. I can't understand why Ben can't leave me alone, he did for so long. I actually almost didn't renew the restraining order the last time, thank god Anne talked me into it. Trevan stands up and starts collecting all his things. I stand up and walk towards him.

"Thanks for coming. I will let you know if anything happens."

He puts his hand on my arm, which sends shivers up and down my back. "Good. Hopefully he will leave you alone. I will talk to you soon. Bye Jaylah."

I wave, "Bye, Trevan."

I sit back down in the chair and watch him walk outside. He puts his sunglasses on and lights a cigarette. Damn, I could get use to a man like that. I smile to myself, despite how I feel. As I am staring out the window, Anne comes and sits across from me. She glances in the direction I am looking and she smiles.

"He is one hot man," she says.

"No fucking shit. Damn, I don't usually like my men looking like that."

We both laugh and I shake my head. I look over at her and smile. Again I realize how much I missed her this past week. She nods her head in agreement, like she can hear my thoughts. My damn eyes start to water and I look away.

"So was that about Ben?"

"Yeah. I called him last night."

"I'm sorry, Jay. I don't understand, why is he bothering you now?"

"I don't know. I'm having a security system put in the house this weekend."

"That's good."

Wanting to change the subject, my head is starting to pound from thinking of Ben. "Hey I wanted to ask. Where's Wyatt been?" She looks away, but not before I see the sad look in her eyes. Ah shit, now what? I know she really likes him. "So what happened?"

"We got in a fight, over Kyle. I haven't talked to him in over a week. He tries calling and text me almost every day, but I haven't responded to him."

"Why? You like him and don't try to deny it. I have never seen you light up with anyone before like you do with him. Stop acting like an ass." If looks could kill, I would be dead. Yep not an ash would have been left of me. I put my hands up in defense. "Hey, if you don't want my advice, I'll shut up."

She shakes her head, "No, sorry. It's not that. It shouldn't be this hard, you know what I mean."

I laugh, "Nothing in life worth having is ever easy. You should know that by now. So I repeat, quit acting like an ass and at least talk to him."

She looks over at me with tears in her eyes. Shit, she better not start crying, I don't think I can take it right now.

"He is upset about Kyle. I don't want him back, we are divorced. I don't care what Kyle thinks he wants right now."

"Well that's what you need to tell Wyatt. He wants to be reassured that you are his."

She shrugs her shoulders, "Yeah. I guess."

I shake my head, "Stop over thinking it. You know how men can get. You need to set up boundaries with Kyle."

"Thanks, Jay." She sighs and looks up at me, "I've missed you so much."

I roll my eyes at her, "Whateva bitch. I know you can't live without me."

We both laugh and it feels good to finally have us back. She comes over to me and gives me a hug. I don't know what I would do with out her in my life, even when she drives me crazy.

I light my cigarette and take a long draw from it. Damn she is hot, I didn't recognize her. But then again, when I saw her last she was so beaten up, no one would have. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I couldn't believe any man could do that to a woman. I wanted to find him and beat the fucking shit out of him myself.

I tried calling her several times, with no luck. She didn't press charges against him, which I never understood. Many abused women don't. So when it was months, then a year, I filed her case in my cabinet.

I was shocked when she called. I went to my cabinet and read her file over. Like I needed to, I never forgot her. There was always something about her, even then. I felt a pull towards her, and on long nights at the station, I would think of her. I would pull that file out and look it over wondering where she was, what she was doing, who she might be with. That last one would make me angry and I never understood why.

Sitting there, I could see such sadness in her eyes, and she was scared. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and tell her I would protect her. When I touched her I could feel it all over, I wanted to grab her and take her home.

I shake myself from my thoughts and get in my car. I glance in my rearview mirror and see her still sitting at the table. She is looking in my direction, I smile to myself as I drive away.

The rest of the week went with nothing interesting happening, which is a good thing. I had enough excitement to last me awhile. Work has helped to keep my mind off of Ben and the nightmares have stopped.

I'm looking forward to going out this weekend with the girls. Lynette called to make sure that we are still on for the bar, which I definitely need. I talked Anne into going with us, since it's her weekend without Katie and Shannon. I told Lynette and said it might be a good idea for Wyatt to some how find out where we are going.

I'm hoping if Anne sees him, she will admit to him what her problems are. From what Lynette told me, Tom said he is miserable. Tom is Anne's dad and Wyatt works for him, he has been moping around the shop. It's been so bad that Dan and Rick, the two other guys that work there, can't stand being around him.

I know she is scared, but she needs to at least give it a chance. I have never seen her so happy with anybody, not even Kyle. Don't get me wrong, they were happy when they were first together and married. But things changed for them a long time ago and neither of them ever wanted to admit it. Wyatt makes her glow and I have never seen her like that. So, if I need to help them along, I will.