A Matter of Trust (22 page)

Diana rushed towards Roger and tried
to intercept him before he reached Trish, but he swatted her aside
like he would a fly. He grabbed Trish by her hair and slapped her
hard. Just as he pulled back to take another swing at her, she
pulled her arm back and then forward, stabbing Roger in the side
which made him throw Trish against the wall. He grabbed his side
and saw blood oozing from the slit the letter opener had
made.

Trish grabbed Diana, pulling her up
off the floor and shoved her out the door. She had every intention
of following her, but just as she began to exit her office, Roger
tackled her from behind. Diana turned around to try to help her,
but Trish pushed her away when she reached down.

“
Run, Diana, run! Go get
help!” Unsure what to do, Diana finally raced for the front
door.

****

Jake pulled into the parking lot when
he saw Trish’s car still there. Diane’s car was there too, along
with another car he didn’t recognize. Surely she didn’t have a
business meeting this late. And if she did, why had they turned out
the lights? Even if the meeting was being held in one of the
meeting rooms or Trish’s office, he couldn’t see Trish or Diana
turning out the front lights. Something wasn’t right.

He tried the door and found it locked.
Planning on going back to his truck to call Callie again and ask
her to send Cade with the key he nearly jumped out of his skin when
a body slammed against the front glass doors, scaring the hell out
of him. He turned back around and saw a frantic Diane trying to
push open the locked door, crying so hard he didn’t think she could
see him. He ran back to the doors.

“
Diane, do you have the
keys?” He banged on the glass to get her attention. “Diane, it’s
Jake. Can you open the door? It’s locked, and I can’t get
in.”

Diana finally looked at him with some
kind of recognition and reached to unlock the door. She couldn’t do
it the first time, but finally she turned the lock with hands that
shook badly. Jake jerked it open.

“
Jake, he’s got her. My
husband has Trish, and he’s going to kill her. They’re in her
office.”

“
Diane, listen to me. Take
my keys and go to my truck right outside. My cell phone is inside.
Call the police and lock the doors. Then, call my brothers. They’re
on speed dial. Cade and Josh. Can you do that?” Before she finished
nodding her head, he’d started into the building.

****

Trish tried to kick at Roger and get
free of him to make a run for it, but he had literally landed on
top of her. He lifted up enough to yank her around to face
him.

“
You fucking bitch! You
stabbed me! I’ll kill you for that. First, you steal my wife from
me, filling her head full of all sorts of lies, then you stab me?
You’ll pay for that.” Trish braced for another blow, but instead he
lifted her head up and slammed it into the floor two or three
times. Trish began to see stars for a minute, but they began to
fade to black when Roger grabbed her around the throat and started
to squeeze tightly.

She couldn’t breathe. In the back of
her mind it registered that Roger really could kill her. She
couldn’t die! This couldn’t be it, for God’s sake. She had two kids
to raise. She had Jake. She had way too much to live for to let
this sick bastard end it all. She hadn’t even told Jake that she
loved him yet.

Trish began to struggle in literally a
fight for her life. She clawed at his face, his eyes, but he didn’t
loosen his hold. She tried to pry his fingers off her neck, but
they wouldn’t budge. He leaned into his hold on her neck and in so
doing, she could move her legs a little more. She kicked up and
tried to rack him, but she didn’t get a solid connection. Still it
made him loosen his hold on her. She sucked in air as hard and fast
as she could and tried to wiggle free, but Roger had already
recovered and aimed his beefy hands toward her neck again. She
reached up and hit him as hard as she could right in the nose and
he yelled in a combination of anger and pain. He closed his fist,
ready to repay her, and she thought even if the hit didn’t kill her
outright, it would knock her out, and he’d finish strangling her.
Either way, she’d be dead.

Roger’s fist began its descent, and
Trish closed her eyes, but he never landed the blow. Instead, he
got off her and she heard a loud crash. When Trish opened her eyes
she realized Roger hadn’t gotten up on his own power, that he’d
been lifted up and apparently slammed into the wall. Trish
recognized Jake as the man who now beat the hell out of the man
who’d beaten the hell out of her.

Trish had never seen this side of Jake
before. He’d only been gentle with her. She didn’t know he
possessed this kind of raw fury. With cold determination, he
continued to hit Roger, even when he’d lost consciousness. Afraid
he’d kill him, she crawled over to where the men were and, not
having the strength to stand, reached up and grabbed at one of
Jake’s legs.

Jake had never felt so furious in his
life. He’d been in fights before, but he’d always kept his head,
and when the guy fell down, Jake regained control and ended it. He
never even realized the filth who had dared to hurt Trish had lost
consciousness. His blind rage allowed him no intention for stopping
any time soon until he felt someone grab his leg. When he looked
down and saw Trish reaching for him, he released his hold
immediately on the bloody pulp in his hands and he dropped down to
the floor.

“
God, Trish, are you
alright? Let me take a look at you. Where are you hurt,
honey?”

Just like that, he returned to the man
she loved. She could hear sirens in the background and wrapped her
arms around his neck. “Honey, talk to me. You’re covered in blood.
Tell me where you’re hurt.” Jake frantically began running his
hands over her body in an effort to find out where the blood came
from.

Finally, Trish rasped out a reply.
“Most of it’s his blood. I stabbed him with the letter opener.
Jake, I’ll be okay. I love you, Jake. Don’t ever let me go. I love
you.”

Jake pulled her into his arms and held
her tightly. “Jesus, Trish, I love you. I’ll never let you go,
honey.”

“
I was so afraid I’d never
have the chance to tell you. I love you. So much. God, I love you.”
Trish buried her face in his neck, and Jake picked her up and
carried her toward the front where two police officers had just
entered. Calling out to them, he told them where they could find
what was left of the man who’d dared to touch his woman. As
realization set in, Trish started shaking and crying.

Jake turned on the entry and reception
lights and sat down in a chair with Trish in his lap. He heard the
screech of tires and Josh, Eva, Cade, and Callie ran in, the women
refusing to listen to the men who kept telling them to wait
outside.

“
What the hell happened
here, Jake?” Cade walked in first to find a crying, shaking,
bloodied Trish on Jake’s lap.

Jake looked up at the group and gave
them the rundown as far as he knew it. Then, Trish lifted her head,
and all four of the new arrivals either gasped, groaned, or winced
when they saw her bruised, bloody face. Jake got his first good
look at her and wanted to go back after the asshole in the back
room all over again. One side of her face had swollen so much that
the eye on that side had almost shut, she had a cut on the opposite
cheekbone, and her lip bled from a cut in the corner. He lifted his
hand to tuck a strand of Trish’s hair behind her ear, and Trish
winced.

“
Oh, Jake, your poor
hands, honey. You need to get some ice on them. They’re already
swelling.”

“
Sweetheart, if anyone
needs ice, it’s you. My knuckles will be fine. In fact, they’ve
never been better. It is so worth it knowing the bastard who
touched you got a bigger dose of his own action. Are you
okay?”

“
I’ll be fine. As long as
I have you, I’ll be better than fine. Thank God you came. I thought
you weren’t coming home until tomorrow.” She buried her face in his
neck and held on for everything she was worth.

“
Change of plans. I missed
you and the kids and wanted to make it in time for family night.
We’ll call them in a minute, so they won’t worry. The cops will
want to talk to both of us and Diane, and that’s likely to take
awhile. You might want to have them spend the night over
there.”

Trish nodded. “I think that’s a good
idea. I don’t want them to see me like this until I’ve had a chance
to prepare them, so they won’t be as scared when they see my face.
I haven’t seen how it looks, but it feels huge. I probably look
like the creature from the black lagoon.”

Jake kissed her forehead – pretty much
the only spot on her face that didn’t appear to be bruised or
bloody – and said, “You look beautiful, honey. Thank God you’re
okay. What the hell happened?”

“
It’s all my fault.” Diana
walked over to the group. “Roger’s been threatening me for months,
and he came here tonight for me. Trish put herself between us, and
he took it out on her. I’m so, so sorry. You’ll have my resignation
in the morning.”

Trish struggled against Jake’s hold
stood shakily and walked over to Diana and reached out for her
hand. “I won’t accept your resignation, Di. What in the world would
I do without you? Someone I love once told me you’re only
responsible for your own actions, not anyone else’s. None of this
was your fault. Roger obviously has major problems. Thank God you
found the strength to leave him. I so respect you for that. After
tonight, I’m guessing it’ll be a long time before he sees the light
of day outside a prison setting. I’ll be pressing charges. I hope
you’re okay with that.”

“
Of course, I’m okay with
that. I’ll press charges, too. Thank you, Trish. Thank you for
intervening for me, and thank you for wanting me to stay. I’ll
never be able to pay you back for your kindness and your
friendship.”

One of the police officers came out
from the back and approached the group. Josh crossed over to stand
by Jake in case he needed any legal representation, but after Trish
and Diane gave their statements, they cleared Jake. When Roger
finally regained consciousness, they led him outside in handcuffs,
and he cursed everyone around him on his way out to the police
car.

Eva sat with Diana while the police
questioned her and offered her support as someone who’d survived a
similar situation. Callie sat with Trish, and Cade and Josh stayed
close to Jake. Medical personnel showed up, and gave Trish and Jake
icepacks. Jake’s knuckles and hands were cut up and swollen, and
Trish’s comparison to the creature from the black lagoon described
her fairly accurately. They finally got home to Jake’s house a
little after eleven. By that time, the adrenaline rush had
dissipated, and both of them dragged.

They walked inside and directly to the
bedroom. “I need one of your shirts to sleep in, preferable one
you’ve already worn.”

“
The one I’ve already worn
has blood on it, honey. Why would you want one I’d worn,
anyway?”

“
Because it smells like
you, and I’ll sleep better.”

Jake handed her one of his t-shirts
out of his drawer. “No used t-shirt, honey, but you’re in luck.
I’ll be sleeping right next to you and holding you close. Isn’t
that better than a t-shirt?”

“
Good point. God, I’m
exhausted.”

“
You’ve had a rough night.
Let’s go to bed.”

They climbed into bed, and Jake curved
his body around Trish’s, spoon style. He leaned over and kissed her
temple.

“
Thank you for coming to
my rescue tonight, Jake. I told him you’d go after him when you saw
my face. In the middle of everything, that old song from the
fifties ran through my mind, ‘my boyfriend’s back and you’re gonna
be in trouble’. I just didn’t think it would be so soon. I thought
for a minute there, that he would kill me. I couldn’t breathe, and
I kept thinking I couldn’t die, because I had to raise the kids and
tell you I love you. I love you a lot, Jake.”

“
I cannot tell you how
happy that makes me to hear you say it. Finally. And you’re
welcome. I’ll be your knight in shining armor any day. I’m just
sorry I didn’t get there sooner. Every time I look at you I want to
beat the hell out of that asshole all over again. Are you sure
you’re okay, honey?”

“
I am now. Just stay with
me, okay?”

“
I’ve told you before,
Trish. I’m not going anywhere. I love you.”

Despite their aches and pains, they
both slept soundly late into the morning.

Trish had the best of dreams. She was
lying in bed with Jake, and he slipped his hand underneath the hem
of his t-shirt that she wore and nuzzled her ear. She moaned when
he cupped her breast in his hand, waking herself up.

“
Ummm. That feels
good.”

“
It’s going to feel a
whole lot better in a minute. Roll over.” Jake pressed against her
shoulder until she laid on her back and started kissing her eyes,
her nose, her chin, her cheeks, and moving down to her neck, being
careful to avoid the worst of her scrapes and bruises. Trish pulled
off her loaner t-shirt and cast it aside.

“
God, I’ve missed you,
Jake. Make love to me. I need you.”