Personal Possessions (14 page)

Walking in, she squinted,
attempting to make my eyes adjust quicker than they
were.

“I’m over here,
sweetheart.” She slurred in her giggly voice, she thought she was
being attractive, but in actuality she was acting
trashy.

“Fuck this, I’m leavin’!”
I informed Lauren. “I told you no scammin’, Lauren!” I went to turn
around, running right into her. Her mouth was on mine before I had
a chance to say or do anything. She tasted like a filthy glass of
whiskey that someone had put a cigarette out in. She began
thrusting her tongue in and out of my mouth. It was the worst thing
I had ever had to deal with in my life. I shoved her away from me,
spitting out the nasty taste in my mouth.

“What the fuck do you
think you’re doin’?” I yelled, immediately going for the door. She
was yanking on my arms and yelling, “Don’t go, Trevor. I’m not done
showing you want I want to show you!”

Deciding that I’d had
enough, I tried to pull out of her grasp. As I knelt slightly so
that we were both face to face, I couldn’t hold my anger back any
longer. “Lauren, I ain’t never hit a lady before but you sure as
shit are pushing me, girl! Let go of my fucking arm now!”

I jerked away from her,
and strode out into the hallway, she followed. Standing out in the
hallway attempting to calm myself down, Lauren came up and rubbed
my back. I pushed her up against the wall and trapped her between
my arms.

“If you call
me…”

I got closer, her eyes
were black, her pupils so dilated. She was definitely on
something.

“If you come near me
again…” by this time her hands were resting on my chest, trying to
hold me off of her. Why? I had no idea; she was the one that kissed
me.

“I better not see you
within 200 feet of me at any time. Present or future, you get me?
Because, if I do…” I was practically on top of her, nose to nose.
“You won’t like the consequences.”

She didn’t act scared,
pissed or even shocked, she didn’t even act disappointed that I was
turning her down, she just stood there.

“Now, I’m gonna go
downstairs and act like this little…”

I wanted to say
cluster-fuck but, I think I had degraded her enough for the
evening.

“…
setup you had planned
never even occurred. You don’t come near me or Elle. You understand
that?”

She never said a word,
never shook her head, nothing. She just stood there with a blank
expression.

“I will take that silence
as a yes,” I answered for her, and walked away.

Closing my eyes, I knew it
was her that sent those pictures to Mona and Doc’s house. I knew
she was set on ruining me for the rest of my life with the shit she
pulled that night.

“I didn’t do it,” Lauren
said. Her head was down, looking at the two pictures.

My head shot up,
“Bullshit!” I exclaimed rather loudly.

She didn’t answer me, but
ran her index finger over the picture of me and her. She grabbed
the other pictures and flung them in front of me, it was Bear and
he had that nasty whore down on her knees, her head was facing the
opposite direction from where Bear had just slapped the shit out of
her.

“That is a favorite
pastime of his,” Lauren whispered. Her eyes catching mine, as if to
acknowledge that I heard her correctly. I could feel the anger
rising from my belly, up into my throat. She laughed that laugh
again and sat back in her seat.

“Bet you didn’t know that
fun little fact about your best pal there, now did ’ya?” Lauren
asked in a patronizing manner. “Yeah, betcha didn’t know that he
was the local supplier to all the fuckwads in town of anything and
everything mind altering.”

Her eyebrows rose, as my
mouth dropped. It was all making sense now, his disappearing for
hours at a time and his showing up late on other occasions. His
“got shit to do” excuses were because he was distributing god only
knows what to the ghetto trash that covered all three
counties.

“And you’re telling me
this…why?” I was attempting to hide my anger not only in my voice
but on my face as well. Lauren was used to reading people, and she
was trying her damnedest to read me.

“That night he slipped me
something. Something I had never had before.” Sitting there,
staring at the picture, and running her index finger in circles
around him and the nasty scum he was with.

“
I got to the party about
an hour before you did. I was talking with Ally Davis when Bear
came saying that Rachel needed me for a moment. I followed him
upstairs thinking maybe she needed some help with her dress. You
know, a girl thing. I thought it funny that Elleny wasn’t up there
helping her, but shit. I didn’t really think about it.” Her fingers
began moving faster, her head never coming up to look at me, her
eyes never would meet mine.

“Bear quickly pulled me
into that office, began pouring me a drink and talking to me,” She
looked up finally, but still, wouldn’t look me in the
eye.

“Looking back, he didn’t
pour himself one - just me. Of course, I gulped it down as he
talked. He told me that I was going to get you upstairs, bring you
in that office. I knew you wouldn’t come on your own so I told him
that I wasn’t wasting my time, it was a party I wasn’t gonna be
involved in shit.”

Her eyes came to mine, and
I knew even though it was years ago, she still felt fear. You
couldn’t help but feel compassion for her. My eyes didn’t leave
hers as she continued on.

“He moved fast, Trevor.
His hand wrapped around my neck and my back hit the wall. I began
to notice my vision becoming blurry, and his voice seemed to echo,
like I was trippin’ on something. He got up in my face, yanked my
head back by my hair, and just stood there looking at me like he
was…”

She stopped talking for a
moment and shivered like the air in the whole restaurant dropped
twenty degrees. “He lowered his head down into my neck and ran his
tongue up the side of it, then up my cheek. He kept licking all the
way until he reached my ear, and then he growled. Bear literally
growled like a
bear
, Trevor. “I don’t give a fuck how’ya git’em here he best end
up here.”

She mimicked Bear as she
lowered her voice and turned up her Georgia accent. “I shook my
head as much as I could seein’ how he had my hair in his hand.
“You’re gonna lead him out here to that hallway and I wanna see ya
doin’ some pretty good fuckin’ actin’ as though ya’ll had just been
gettin’ it on. I couldn’t respond, I could barely see by this time.
My whole body was numb.”

My fingers were linked
together sitting on the table, and I’m sure you could see the end
of my fingers turning blue considering I was squeezing them so
tight. He had that shit set up. He had set up a camera, and made
sure he got all that on film.

“He had me set up the
flower shop parking lot too,” she muttered. I had to think a minute
to recall, and then it hit me.

It was the weekend after
the party, Elle had been taken to the hospital and I wanted to have
some flowers in her room when she woke up, so I dropped by Trudy
Rosenthal’s flower shop. I knew exactly what I wanted so I wasn’t
planning on spending a lot of time in there.

I faintly heard what
sounded like my name being called but I ignored it, I didn’t give a
shit if aliens were attacking behind me, I wanted to order the
flowers and get on my way to the hospital. I got in and out
quickly, then went straight to my car. As I approached I could see
something in front of the driver’s side door. I walked up beside my
car, and there sat Lauren.

“Lauren, I don’t have time
for you today.”

She began to stand as she
started talking but I wasn’t listening. She needed to get out of my
sight and she needed to do it quickly.

“Wait, Trevor.”

I didn’t wait. I got up in
her face again. “What the fuck wasn’t I clear about the other
night, Lauren. You’re beginning to piss me off. Now, if you don’t
mind” I picked her up under her arms, carrying her to the curb so
that I knew I wouldn’t run over her. The mood I was in, I would’ve
done it.

“The pictures. I
remembered seeing them.”

Lauren nodded. “He wanted
it to look like you were cheating on Elle, Trevor. He wanted in,
and I hand delivered her right to him, because of the way I felt
for you. I didn’t think twice about helping him out.”

I had to get out of there,
I needed to drive, walk and run. Fuck! I had to release this
anger.

“Where did you get those
pictures, Lauren?” I asked as I moved the chair back.

“I hired a private
detective. That time out in front of the bar wasn’t the first time
I’d seen ’em together. He hangs out with the bitch frequently at a
bar in town called, Toppers. It took over after Sheila Kay’s shut
down. Felt like I owed you something.”

I knew right where the bar
was, and I was making a mental note to be there tonight, I just had
to see this shit for myself. What the fuck would be going through
this man’s head to be messin’ with someone like that when he
had
her
at home.
I just couldn’t comprehend his mindset.

“I expect you to email me
the name of the P.I. as well as mail me every copy of those
pictures. Those don’t belong to anyone other than me.”

She stood up, “But
Trevor-“

I cut her off, stepping up
next to her, gnashing my teeth, “You owe me a lot more than fuckin’
pictures, Lauren. You owe me a life back. My. Fucking. Life. Ya’ll
took everything from me.”

I walked out to my car,
not thinking of anything other than what I had to do. It had been
thirteen years of silence for me; it was time to break that curse.
I got in my rental, grabbing for my cell phone. I knew who I had to
talk to, and I needed to do it right now. My mind was made up. I
wasn’t talking myself out of it again.

I heard that voice before,
mostly on voice mails but I was done running. I knew exactly what I
wanted. It was the same thing I had wanted since the second grade,
and I was going to get it back.

It was his voice mail,
again. I waited for the beep. I was standing firm on my decision.
When I heard the beep I left my message, “Hello, Mr. Lawson. Trevor
McHale. I called you several years ago about wanting you to contact
me. Well, I am interested in hiring you for your services. I need
to find someone, a woman that I grew up with who is an old friend
of mine from high school.”

I could feel my other hand
curled up in a fist and sweating, I was a nervous wreck. I
swallowed. Once I said it, I wouldn’t be able to turn away. I was
beginning to open up a can of worms that were scratching to get
out. I cleared my throat,” Her name is Elleny Bark-…I mean
Jackson.”

I rolled my eyes at my
fumbling. What the fuck was this third grade, I was a grown man who
owned his own multimillion dollar company and I couldn’t leave a
fucking voice message with a woman’s name, how pathetic. I
continued, “Elleny Jackson. Her name is Elleny Jackson.”

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Present Day

It was summer time. We
were in our new offices, my professional life was thriving, on the
other hand, my love life was…well, it was fucking shit. Standing,
looking out onto the city of Burlington, I was satisfied with what
my company had obtained, seeing as how we had come from a small
plaza office to owning a twenty-five story high rise now. Most of
the floors were occupied by Mac-Gentry departments and personnel. I
stood by the wall to floor glass window that over looked the city,
and let my mind wander.

The day I met with Lauren,
I immediately went back to the hotel and downloaded those pictures
she emailed to me and met with Kip. Handing those pictures over to
him, I made sure that he knew exactly what I was looking for, any
suspicious behavior. I wanted to see what Bear was doing behind
Elle’s back, especially if it was illegal. She had children for
Christ sake, and deserved to know if they were in
danger.

My obsession with her
continued on. I don’t know what is was, there was the longing
inside of me that continually pulled me in her direction. My mind
was nonstop Elle. I did everything I could to ignore it, erase it,
mask it by endless amounts of meaningless sex.

Girls that looked the
complete opposite of Elle, but nothing helped. There was a piece of
me missing, and while I attempted to fill it with whatever I could.
I knew exactly where to find the answer, problem was, she belonged
to a man that was continually fucking her over.

Hearing the sound of my
phone ringing, I walked around to the chair at my desk and went to
greet the caller, but was cut short.

“McHale…Kip,” The rough,
cigarette smoking, deep voice said over the phone. He was in his
car. I could hear the roar of the traffic that surrounded
him.

“Something I should
know?”

I sat down in my seat and
rolled a pen back and forth between my fingers. When it came to
business this habit kept me grounded, helped me clear my mind so
that I could be alert to make the best decision
possible.