Trish, Just Trish (4 page)

“Good,” he said, right before Landyn
spoke.

His body grew solid.

“You can stay here Trish, you don’t have to
leave. I’ll keep you safe,” Landyn finally said after not having
said much of anything through our entire discussion.

“Thank you, Landyn, but you have Lex, Layla
and Laura here to worry about. I’ll go.” When he looked ready to
protest, I raised my eyebrows, silently daring him to disagree. I
probably didn’t appear too threatening with tears in my eyes, but I
gave it my best.

“Call Adam. Stay with him. You know he’ll
take care of you.”

At Landyn’s words, the violent energy in the
room turned up a notch… or two… or ten.

“Who the fuck is Adam?” Tony asked low and
dangerous. I ignored him and whispered, “Adam,” because I’d
forgotten all about him. I could stay with Adam. He was a cop and
he was huge. I’d take him hitting on me every five minutes over
being tortured by Tony any day.

“I’ll call him,” I said. I completely
ignored Tony and tried hard to pretend he didn’t exist. I turned,
my goal so intent on finding my cell phone that I never heard him
move. I was pulled up short when an arm wrapped around my body,
pulled me back and held me firmly against a wall of chest. Tony’s
arm squeezed, his hand under my breast pressed in and I felt his
mouth move against my ear.

“You’re
my
problem, Trish. Don’t even
think about leaving this house with anyone else,” he growled.

I stiffened.

“I’m nobody’s problem,” I hissed.

He ignored me. “I don’t care who Adam is,
you’re leaving with me.”

I shook my head. “This is your out, Tony. I
forgot about Adam, but Landyn’s right. He’ll take care of me,” I
said with determination.

“
Just pack your shit
!” He ordered
loudly and I winced. Then, I got pissed at myself for letting him
scare me.

I shoulded “Fine!” back as I pushed out of
his hold, a little surprised that he actually let me go and I
headed toward the front door.

“I’m going to
pack my shit!”
I called
out and stomped all the way to my little garage apartment.

My body was filled with so much rage that it
only took me twenty minutes to pack. I threw everything in duffle
bags and called it a day.

When I finished, I called the clinic to ask
for an emergency month leave. They fired me. Well, not so much
fired me as much as they told me they couldn’t hold my position for
such a long period of time. I told them that after the time I’ve
put in with them and all my hard work, the least they could do was
hold the position. They disagreed.

I told them to fuck off.

Now, I stood outside next to my car after I
dropped my fourth duffle bag full of clothes and shoes on the
ground beside it and I was in an even more pissed off mood than I
was before I started packing.

My attitude was just as dark as it was
outside; black.

As I started toward the main house to let
fat head inside know that I was ready to go, the front door opened
and everyone walked out; everyone including the girls.

Layla took off in a sprint.

“Aunt T, I don’t want you to leave,” she
cried and those damn tears gathered behind my eyes again. Layla and
Laura did it to me every time. Just one look at their precious
faces was all it took for me to break. I loved them.

I bent down, smoothed the thick hair off
Layla’s face, wiped her tears away and told her, “I won’t be gone
long, babe. I’ll be back so fast you won’t even have a chance to
miss me.” I hoped like crazy that my stay with Tony wouldn’t last
long.

I saw him out of the corner of my eye and
when I reluctantly glanced up, he was already staring down at me.
His eyes were soft on my face. I watched as he looked to Layla and
he looked at her so caringly that I got the feeling he remembered
all the time we spent babysitting her together. He’d loved Layla. I
always knew he’d make a good dad by the way he cared for her. We’d
talked about kids...

Don’t.

Lex walked up holding Laura and I stood. I
gave my baby girl a kiss on the cheek and I grinned when she
giggled.

“Lan, can you take the girls inside?” Lex
asked, and as he walked up to gather Laura in his arms, Layla
walked up to Tony.

Everyone froze…

“I remember you. You were nice to me and you
used to play with me a lot,” she started sweetly before she
finished not-so-sweetly, “but you better not make my Aunt T cry
again.”

She turned, walked past us all and went to
the front door. Landyn followed and Tony stared after her looking
like he’d just been punched in the stomach. Lex grinned like a
proud momma as she waited for the front door to close behind
them.

“I can’t believe she just said that,” I said
to no one in particular. I was completely stunned.

Lex turned to study me and her grin
instantly fell away. “Are you sure you want to do this, T? You
don’t have to go with him if you don’t want.”

“She’s going,” Tony spoke for me.

I glared at him.

He narrowed his eyes, grabbed my bags and
started for the big, jacked up charcoal gray Chevy Silverado truck
parked in the driveway.

“Where are you taking those?” I asked.

“You’re riding with me,” he stated.

“I’m not riding with you. I’ll take my car,”
I replied. I could have sworn I heard him mumble, “You and your
damn death traps”, but I wasn’t sure.

“Your little car will never make it past the
first gate. It’s muddy right now. You’re riding with me and you
won’t need a vehicle to get around. You’re not allowed to leave the
house alone anyway. If you need to go somewhere, I’ll take
you.”

For once in my life, I was speechless… for
about a minute.

“I’m not going to depend on you. And you’re
not keeping me locked up inside some house!” I said, outraged.

“Trish, just say goodbye to your friend and
hurry the hell up.” He walked back to pick up the last of my bags
and then started away again. I whipped my head around to face my
best friend.

“I’m going to hurt him, Lex. I know it. This
is not going to go well and I’m probably going to get arrested,” I
said.

She actually had the nerve to smile at
me
?

“Just go. It’ll be all right. Landyn told me
what was going on while you were packing. You’ll be safer there
with Tony.”

“What if this guy comes looking for me
here?”

“Don’t worry about that. Landyn won’t let
anything happen to us,” she said confidently, and I knew she was
right. Landyn wouldn’t let anyone lay a finger on his family.

I nodded and gave her a sad smile just
before she threw herself at me. I stumbled back. I nearly took us
both to the ground.

“What the--?”

“I’ve been a horrible friend, T. I know it.
I’m selfish. I’ve been so wrapped up in Landyn for as long as I can
remember that I haven’t paid enough attention to you. I haven’t
supported you enough. I swear it’s like I’ve always depended on you
to keep me sane and happy, but I haven’t done the same for you and
I’m a shitty person for it. I’m telling you now though, T, things
are going to be different when you get back. I’m going to make it
up to you,” she finished, pushed herself off me but continued to
keep a hold on my upper arms.

I didn’t know what to say. Sure, she’d been
a bit selfish, but she’s been like that since we were kids.
Everyone had flaws, Lord knew I had many, but she hadn’t as bad as
she made herself out to be.

“Lex, you’re making it sound worse than it
is. You had a lot to deal with having a baby so young--”

“You dealt with much worse than me,” she
whispered and my entire body solidified. I didn’t want to believe
that she’d bring that up right now, especially with Tony so
close.

“Don’t,” she warned softly, before I could
tell her to shut up.

“You need to tell him,” she finished.

The fuck I do.

“You ready?” Tony asked, coming back up to
our side and we both faced him.

“I swear if anything happens to her I’ll
kill you.
Me
.” Lex pointed to herself. “You can hold your
grudge against Trish for whatever you
think
happened with
your piece of shit sister’s fiancé, but if you hurt her, I will
kill you.”

She turned to me and pulled me into another
bear hug. “I love you and you better call me every day.”

She pulled back, walked away and left me
with a very confused looking Tony.

I sighed.

“Can we just go before I change my mind? I
have a really bad feeling about this,” I said.

Tony nodded.

The drive seemed to drag on forever and
neither one of us spoke for the first hour, which left a lot of
freaking time to think. I kept my eyes focused out the passenger
window as we passed through Houston and headed north on I-45. It
was dark outside, nearly pitch black, but I could still see when
the scenery finally changed and buildings grew further and further
apart as fields stretched out between them.

I glanced at Tony for the thousandth time. I
couldn’t seem to stop myself.

He was beautiful. There was really no other
way to put it. He was definitely more appealing than any country
side scenery. If things had been different between us, I’d have
leaned over to kiss the ticklish spot on his neck. Instead, I
turned away before I got caught ogling him and continued to
think.

I remembered the exact moment I was
introduced to Tony… or I should say, the exact moment Tony
announced his claim over me to a room full of people and
embarrassed me, as well as turned me the hell on.

At the time, Lex had been dating Ryan, her
lunatic ex-boyfriend, for about six months when she invited me to a
super bowl party at one of Ryan’s friends’ house. I later found out
it was Tony’s.

We’d locked eyes as soon as I walked through
the front door, but when Lex whispered, “That’s Tony,” in my ear,
I’d made sure to stay as far away from him as humanly possible
because I knew exactly who Tony was. Anyone with a vagina knew who
Tony Lopez was. He was five years older than me and had the
reputation of a man-whore. I’d heard some of the stories from Lex,
and knew that he had a new chick in his bed every week, and not
once would he let them stay the night.

I’d stayed the hell away from him and spent
most of the time talking to an easy to spot douchebag, a little
like Ryan, but hot nonetheless. I’d had a great time listening to
his humorous attempts at trying to get me to go home with him…
until he grabbed me.

“Get your fucking hands off me,” hissed
through my teeth. I didn’t want to cause a scene. The guy had been
fine, but I guess all the alcohol he’d been drinking had finally
kicked in. I shoved at his chest with my free hand, but it wasn’t
until he looked up and over my head that he released my arm.

“You’re a prick,” I spat at him, shoved him
once more, spun around and ran smack dab into a rock hard wall of
chest. New hands encased my arms, but these hands didn’t serve to
threaten, they provided protection. I looked up the exact moment
Tony shouted, “Get the fuck outta my house!”

“Tony, dude, she’s a fucking--” douchebag
didn’t get to finish his sentence because he’d been too busy
jumping out of the way. Tony had shifted me to his side to go after
him, but two other guys came to the douchebag’s aid and escorted
him out of the apartment before Tony ripped his head off.

“You all right?” he rumbled in a voice so
deep I wanted to melt into him.

“I’m fine. Thank you,” I muttered low. I
could feel all eyes in the room on us and when I glanced around at
everybody, Tony pulled me tighter to his body.

“What the fuck are you lookin’ at? I catch
any of you eyein’ her again I’ll kick you all outta my damn house!”
he roared to the room and everyone’s eyes widened only a second
before swinging away from the scene. I remember freezing.

I remember not knowing if I should pinch him
for embarrassing me or kiss him for trying to take care of me.

I missed us.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat after
that memory. The radio was on low, but I barely heard it. My head
was so muddled with memories, thoughts, worries and questions, but
I couldn’t seem to narrow any of them down.

The one thing I knew, as I peeked at Tony
out of the corner of my eye, was that I never should have opened my
fat mouth the night of his thirtieth birthday party. If I hadn’t
said a fucking thing to him, we’d never have become an “us”.

But I did and I
really
needed to
learn how to keep my mouth shut.

That night, two years and three months ago,
was supposed to be special. I’d planned a small gathering at
Shark’s Bar & Grill with the intention of swallowing my pride
and telling him exactly how I felt.

That I loved him.

Well, I hadn’t planned to tell him that
exactly, but I had planned to tell him that I was ready for way
more. I wanted him

Period.

*******

When I arrived at the bar, I was prepared
and more than ready to take on my mission. I was nervous, but I had
high hopes that this would be the start of a new chapter in my
life… one that had the potential of never ending.

I wore my usual light, natural make-up,
curled my eyelashes, swiped on my blackest black mascara, applied
my favorite, clear, strawberry Lip Smackers lip gloss that I’d
loved since childhood. I left my thick hair down, flowing behind my
back and flipping at the ends. The hair surrounding my face stayed
slightly, yet purposefully messy.

And my outfit kicked major ass.

I wore a strapless, tan belted, peach romper
with tan wedge sandals, accented by my priceless dainty gold crown
charm necklace, my large gold hoop earrings and six gold bangle
bracelets.