Warning: Cussing. Mentions of Violence and Death. Mentions of drug use and tempted suicide.
Wishing On Dandelions Part 23
“First of all love,” Tangerine said, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to forget you said diesel because of how much I love you and admire you. But don’t ever do that again, ever.”
“I might.” Melinda said, smirking.
“Fuck me,” Tangerine said, rolling his eyes. “Anyways,” He shook his head. “Second, how is there not more than one, if they all have different features? Yeah, you can dye your bloody hair or wear a wig, put on a fake beard and wear contacts. But how the bloody hell would you change the height and weight size? It doesn’t make any bloody sense that it was just one person, love. There has to be more than one person.”
“You know,” Melinda said, turning to him. “It hurts me that you doubt me right now. You of all people, Tangerine.”
“I’m sorry love but,” Tangerine said, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m not seeing it.”
“If we were still together,” Melinda said, glaring as she leaned in closer. “I would have you sleep in the trunk of the car for doubting my skills."
“Will it’s a good thing aren’t together then huh? Because now,” Tangerine said, leaning in close to her, an inch from her face. “I can sleep wherever the bloody hell I want to. Which would be right next to you in bed.”
“I guess I’ll be sleeping in the trunk of the car.” Melinda said, making Tangerine roll his eyes as they both leaned back. “Do you need me to school you Tangerine?”
“Oh love,” Tangerine said, chuckling. “You can bloody try.”
“And what about you?” Melinda said, turning to Mr Rogers. “Are you doubting me too?” He shrugged his shoulders. “Alright then, I see how it is.” Melinda started pacing as she tossed the pawn up and down in her hand. “I guess I’ll have to make a believer out of you two.” She spun around on her heels as she turned. “Like Tangerine said they have different features. Yes you can dye or wear a wig to change your hair. Put on a fake beard or even a mustache to add facial area. You can put in color eye contacts to change your eye color. The skin tone change can be from tanning or makeup.”
“Change your body weight can be done. Some actors would work out like crazy so they can gain weight or lose it. Like Christan Bell, when he did Batman, the guy had muscles but he turned around and lost about sixty or so pounds to play the role in The Mechanic. He lost weight and his muscle mass and that took,” Melinda said, thinking about it. “Four months. Then with Chris Pratt, when he became Star Lord he had to lose the same amount but he had to gain muscle mass and that took about six months. Now I know what you guys are thinking, “but Melinda what about the time frame between seeing all these easter eggs?”” They nodded their heads. “Easy,” She stopped where she faced them both. “Just like they did with Colin Farrell for his role as The Penguin. He used molding and makeup for the face and for the body, a fat suit. Which Dennis had to be wearing under his scrubs and a long sleeve turtle neck. You can also do something like that for an avenge build size, which during those times, he had a long sleeve turtle neck on. I believe the slender body is his actual body size since that was the only time he had a regular shirt on.”
“As for the height, that can be changed too. Just like in,” Melinda said, smiling. “Boondock Saints II, All Saints Day.” Mr Rogers and Tangerine glanced at each other then back to her. Melinda closed her eyes and let out a sigh. “If Bob was here right now, he'd know where I’m going with this.” She opened up her eyes. “So in the movie they are looking for a guy posing as the two brothers in there. FBI, Special Agent Eunice Bloom discovers it’s not the brothers that killed a priest but, as she put it, “a short little fucker” did it. And those guys in there were looking at her, just like the way you guys are looking at me right now. Also they don’t understand how the guy can be shorter, especially with their measurements showing he was tall like the brothers. But she discovered something in the guy's foot print that he left on the door when he kicked it in, proving that he is shorter. The guy she was looking for, was wearing boots that gave him a few inches of lift, making him appear taller. Just like Dennis who was wearing shoes that gave him a few inches of lift and made him appear taller, around Tangerine’s height. So in fact, my guy is also, a short little fucker.”
“Bloody hell,” Tangerine said, chuckling. “Alright then love, but one thing.” He pushed himself off the desk. “It still doesn’t mean it’s the same person. It can still be different people, disguising themselves as different people.”
“Okay, so instead of sleeping in the trunk of the car.” Melinda said, putting her hands together in a prayer style. “I need you to go back to your place and sleep there, and deal with hearing Lemon and Yelena having sex. And from what Yelena has told me, they get pretty damn loud.”
“I'd rather shoot myself in the bloody face love, then go back there and hear the two of them.” Tangerine said, Mr Rogers chuckled and Tangerine turned to him as he pointed. “You fucking shut it old man.” He looked back at Melinda. “Explain to us love, what proof do you have that how you know, it’s one person.”
“Two words.” Melinda said, holding up two fingers. “Ear dimples."
“Ear dimples?” They said together.
“What the bloody hell are ear dimples love?” Tangerine said.
“To be honest, I didn’t know what they were at first either. It wasn’t till I binge watched a show called “High Potential”. A really good show by the way. The main chick Morgan is basically me if I decided to work in law enforcement instead of being a nurse. Anyways, they had an episode where one of the suspects had ear dimples. I would go into details on that episode, but” Melinda said, waving her hand. “I don’t want to spoil the show for you. So just explain what they are. Ear dimples are basically holes here,” She pointed at the top of the ear that collects to the head. “ You can have one ear dimple on one ear or one on each ear.” She put her hands down. “It’s very rare for someone to have one, even more rare for someone to have two of them. I looked it up after it came on the show. The percent of people in the world who have them ranges from 0.1 to 0.9 percent.”
“That’s how I know it’s not five different people, but one.” Melinda said, holding up one finger. “Because what are the odds he hired five people that all have ear dimples on both of their ears?” She looked at Mr Rogers. “Before you say one had glasses, how would I know? He took them off to clean them and I saw he had them too.” Mr Rogers smiled and she looked back at Tangerine. “Now, the only way it couldn’t be five different people, is if he hired five brothers. Because a child would automatically inherit them if one of the parents has them. But like I said, what are the odds of that? I’m telling you, Tangerine,” She walked up to him. “It was one guy,” She held up the last pawn. “That was following us, will be more like me, around since we’ve met.”
“If it wasn’t for the fact my brian works differently, I wouldn’t have ever noticed all the details in appearances or wording.” Melinda said, tossing the pawn back and forth between her hands. “Also if he actually covered up the ear dimples I would have assumed it was five different guys all together. But I got to say though, he’s a real master of disguise. Oh, I forgot to mention he even changed his voice around too. He would say he had a voice box under the turtle necks but he didn’t always wear one. So he has to be really good at mimicking voices. The way this easter egg blends into his surroundings, he pretty much is a…”
“Chameleon.” Tangerine said, he looked over at Mr Rogers slowly.
“Yeah,” Melinda said, she stopped when she noticed the Tangerine’s face. “What is it?”
“Your right love,” Tangerine said, looking back at her. “It was only one guy, The Chameleon.” He looked back over at Mr Rogers. “Who is known not for his ability to disguise himself but to change his voice and mimic anyone he hears. Very few have seen the true face of The Chameleon. That’s who you had running around all this bloody time? That little bloody fucking bellend, Dimitri Kravinoff?”
“Is he someone we should worry about?” Melinda asked.
“No love,” Tangerine said, shaking his head. “But his big brother is.” He looked back at her. “Sergei is a brutal ruthless animalistic man. He’s known to set up traps like one would do when they are hunting animals. He has killed men with his bare hands and a large hunting knife. He takes the heads of those he kills, some say he hangs them on his wall like trophies. He was given the name The Hunter, because of it. Lucky he has a code like me and Lemon, no women and no children. Unless there is no other choice, like when Lemon ran over that diesel bitch to save me. Normally the Kravinoff brothers work together, The Chameleon would retrieve intel and The Hunter would make the kill.” He looked over at Mr Rogers.
“Were you going to have The Hunter kill her?” Tangerine said and Mr Rogers stayed quiet. “You know what he would have done to her if he accepted? He would have crushed her fucking skull just by using his hands. You know how much angsting pain she would have been in before he decided to finish her off? You really were going to put her though that you draft fucking cunt? I can’t believe jealously really drove you that mental old man that you would fucking do that to her.”
“I told you boyi, jealousy will be our undoing. And one day,” Mr Rogers said, he pointed at Tangerine. “You will do something out of jealousy.” He put his hand down as he leaned back in his recliner. “You’ll do something so terrible that you can’t come back from. Something that will absolutely destroy that girl and finally make her wash her hands of you.”
“I may be an absolute fucking asshole for than half the time. I may….” Tangerine said, taking a deep breath. “I may make her cry and break her hurt but I would never, never in a million bloody fucking years would hurt her like that, never.” He looked at Melinda. “I would never put my hands on you love or order anyone to hurt or kill you. Never,” Shaking his head. ‘I never do that to you love, never. Together or not, I will always protect you, I swear it.”
“I know.” Melinda whispered as she slightly nodded her head. “I know.”
“You may never lay your hand on her or order any other hand to,” Mr. Rogers said and Tangerine looked back over at him. “But words cause more pain than any fist or a gun can. After all, since you two moved here all you’ve been doing is causing that poor girl pain and misery with your actions.” Glaring at Tangerine. “Tell me boyi, how many times have you made lass cry because you got jealous? How many times did you make her cry because you purposely were being an asshole to her? All so she’ll break up with you because you were too much of a coward, to be a man to do it yourself?” Tangerine started clenching his fist and his jaw as his breathing became heavy. “Let’s not forget about your date night that you deliberately forgot about. Do you know what happened when you didn’t show up?”
“Hey,” Melinda whispered, placing her hands on Tangerine's arm. “Let’s go.”
“Tell him lass,” Mr Rogers said and Melinda looked over at him. “Tell him what you did when he didn’t show up that night.”
“Love,” Tangerine whispered and she looked up at him. “What did you do?”
“If you don’t tell him lass, I will.” Mr Roger said.
“Love what is going on about?” Tangerine said, putting his hand on hers. “Please tell me.”
“You remember the pain medicine I got you for your so-called ice-peck wound?” Melinda said, and Tangerine slowly nodded his head. “I uh… I swallow…” She let out a sigh. “I swallow a handful of your pills.”
“What?” Tangerine said, as his heart started pounding. “Were you…. were you trying to kill yourself because of me?”
“No, I wasn’t trying to.” Melinda said, shaking her head. “I swear I was it. It’s just.. just I was in so much pain. I took the normal amount at first because I had a headache from crying. But it wouldn’t stop hurting since I couldn’t stop crying. I tried focusing on something but my mind was going a mile a minute. My head was pounding so bad that I couldn’t focus on anything. So I took more to see if it would help.”
“Then my body,” Melinda said as she started to tear up. “My body started aching really bad because of all the shaking and those old injuries I have from my abusive exes started acting up. I took a hot bath and used heating pads, but nothing was working so I took two more. But then, my head got worse. The lights started hurting my eyes and laying my head down on a pillow even hurt. I… I tried to push through it. But.. I couldn’t… I couldn’t deal with the pain. So I grabbed the bottle and took two more.”
“After I took them, I looked down at the bottle. That’s when I saw the bottle was empty and I realized what I did. I tried calling 9-1-1 but I couldn’t make it my phone, my body was starting to shut down. I managed to scream for help and,” Melinda said, looking at Mr Rogers and back at Tangerine. “Mr Rogers heard me. He came over and called 9-1-1, they picked me up and took me in to have my stomach pumped. I barely got home a couple of hours before you showed up. That’s why I looked so bad when you saw me.”
“Oh love,” Tangerine said, taking a hold of her face in his hands. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why would you keep this from me?” He looked over at Mr Rogers. “And you, you fucking old ass prick! Why didn’t you fucking tell me?! Why didn’t you fucking call me?!”
“I asked him not to.” Melinda said and Tangerine looked back at her. “I was going to call you after I rested up a bit but then, you showed up. I was going to tell you right there and then, but you started talking about our anniversary. How you wanted to go to Japan for a couple of weeks to make up for forgetting our date night. How you were going to rent out one of the first class cars for us on the bullet train. Because you wanted me to be able to see all the sights. How we were going to the cherry blossom festival because you knew that was my favorite flower.” She smiled. “Go visit the temples and the gardens. All the places I wanted to go to, you said you were going to take me to.”
“After you told me that you asked me if I still wanted to date you after what you did. I said yes, and then I was going to tell you what I did to see if you still wanted to be with me. But before I could, you said good because you had something really special planned for me. When you told me that, I was hoping…”Melinda said, letting out a soft sigh as she smiled. “I was hoping you were going to propose to me.” Tangerine gave her a small smile as his body started to relax. “Though we never talked about marriage, I was still hoping maybe… maybe you were thinking about it like I had.”
“I knew I should have told you after you finished talking, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. So I was going to wait till the next day. Then I started to get scared.” Melinda said, putting her head down. “I was so scared that you would blame yourself or get mad at me. Then I thought if I did tell you,” She put her hands on his. “You'll leave and never come back. And I didn’t want to lose you. I couldn’t lose you. So I just kept putting off telling you because I was too scared of what you would do when I told you.”
“And since,” Melinda said, picking her head back up. “Things were really good between us again. I really didn’t want to tell you and screw that up. We were finally in a good place. You weren’t getting short with me and I wasn’t crying or feeling sad. We were happy.” Her voice started breaking. “It was like… how we were back home in New York. It was like how we were when we first started dating. We were happy and in love all over again. Then, I took those pregnancy tests and they came back positive. I just thought everything was falling in place like it was supposed to. We were happy and in love, and we were going to have a baby. I thought, all I needed now was you to ask me to marry you. And if you didn’t.” She giggled lightly. “I was just going to ask you myself.”
“You were?” Tangerine whispered as he smiled.
“Yeah,” Melinda said, nodding her head. “But then,” She looked down as she removed her hands from his. “I gave you the pregnancy test and…” She looks back up at him. “Everything started falling apart again. You started pulling away more and more from me. Then when you stopped replying to me altogether. I was going to tell you then what I did, but I thought.” She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them back up again. “You would think I was lying to try and get you back. Or you may come back thinking you had to because of what I did or worry I would do it again. So I just.. I just left it alone. I’m sorry I never told you. I should have just let him call you like he wanted to. It’s just.. I..I…” Tears started coming down. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Shh, it’s alright now love,” Tangerine said, moving his arms around and wrapping them around her as he pulled her against his chest. “I’m here. I’m here.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m not mad at you my love. I know deep down you won’t try to take your life.” He gave her a squeeze. “What happened was my fault, not yours, my love.” He started rubbing her back as he kissed the top of her head. “This is all I'm doing.”
“That night is another reason why I didn’t tell either of you the truth.” Mr Rogers said and they both looked over at him. “Boyi, I didn’t tell you she was going to therapy because that’s where she needed to be at. She needed you to stay away from her so she could heal and move on with her life. If you came back, there would be another reason why you had to take off again. You will continue this back and forth with her, tiring her apart till there’s nothing left. Lass, I didn’t tell you I was in contact with him because you are better off without him and you deserve better. I love my son dearly, but he is toxic for you.” Tangerine started tensing up.
“We both are toxic people boyi. We are ruled by our jealousy and anger. You are much like me, rather you want to admit it or not.” Mr Rogers said, letting out a sigh. “I wish you took after your mother like your brother, you would be more at peace. Maybe if she was still around, she could help you through it better than I ever could. Or maybe if I took you to therapy instead of being a gun in your hand like the lass said, you would be better than this. But there’s no point in dwelling on “what ifs”, the fact remains you are toxic because of your upbringing. And lass, when you said you were pregnant, I didn’t want my grandchild to go through what you were going through. I didn’t want my grandchild to take a handful of pills because their father pushed them to that point.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” Melinda said, glaring at him. “You know that.”
“It doesn't matter if you were trying to or not lass, it makes no difference.” Mr Rogers said, shaking his head. “The fact remains, it happened. You could have died that night if I didn’t hear you calling for help. You could have died all because of my son’s actions.”
“I could die because of him?” Melinda said, moving out of Tangerine’s arms. “Don’t act like your saint, trying to do what you thought was best for me. You tried to have me killed. I could have died because of you.” Melinda pointed at him. “Your son,” She pointed at Tangerine. “Could have died because of you.” She put her hand down. “All this bullshit is happening, because of you.” She started stepping towards him. “You and your damn jealousy and anger. You caused this butterfly effect.” She stopped right in front of him. “All because you were too much of a goddamn pussy to take on the White Death, YOUR GODDDAMN FUCKING SELF!”
“Love, come on,” Tangerine said, he quickly went to her and put his arm around her. “Let’s go back and eat. Come on now.”
“No,” Melinda said, shoving his arm off of her. “I’m not done yet. I am grateful that you saved me that night, I really am. But do not act like you didn’t have a hand in causing me pain. We were happy in New York till you sent those men after me. That’s when he started changing, because of you. Your actions made him move us here and he started pulling away from me because he thought that was what was best for me. You could have said something to the both of us a long time ago and saved us all this trouble.”
“You think that’s what made him change? Oh lass, boyi has always been this way. You,” Mr Rogers said, pointing at her. “Are the one that made him change.You made him feel something he never felt before, you made him feel love for the first time in his life. You did that.” He put his hand down. “He never had that before and with his jealousy and anger, he doesn’t know what to do when something threatens it. Instead of just letting it go because he knows that you don’t have a wandering eye or wanted to leave him for someone else. He allowed his jealousy and anger to blind him, making snap at you as if it was your fault these other men would come up and flirt with you.”
“Judging from what you said earlier, you saw the video when he was talking to me.” Mr Rogers said, looking over at Tangerine. “He admits he’s filled with anger and he feels it all the time. He’s in this life because he needs to hurt someone, he needs to kill someone otherwise he could take it out on you. And worse, he could have taken out on my grandchild. And before you say anything lass, I know I am no better. I allowed my own jealousy and rage to cloud my better judgement, that’s why I sent those men after you. Then later, when I found everything he was doing to you and leaving you when we all thought you were pregnant, my jealousy and anger got the best of me again. He had what I lost and he was completely destroying it. He was destroying someone that reminds me so much of my wife, who by the way,” He glared at Tangerine. ”I never allowed my jealousy or anger to cause her any pain. The only time I ever made your mother cry boyi, was the day I left.”
“And you think she’s not looking down watching you and what you're doing to her son?” Melinda said and he turned back to her. “You sure she’s not crying because of you and all that you're doing?” Mr Rogers gripped his cane. “I also saw the other video of you after Tangerine went into the apartment to get my stuff. You asked her to forgive you for what you have done to him. How you didn’t even bother asking him what happened to him in that orphanage. That you didn’t realize how much pain he was in because you were too busy focusing on your own.”
“Or how about how you couldn’t believe that you were smiling at the fact you finally got your revenge on the White Death instead of smiling because both your sons made it out alive. How about,” Melinda said, stepping closer. “When you regretted smiling when you heard me screaming your son’s name over and over again when I died instead of coming over and telling me he was alive. How you regret being so happy that you couldn’t wait for him to show and see Bob living with me. So happy that he will end up letting out his jealousy and anger get the best of him, that I would have no choice but to wash my hands of him. Happy that your revenge will be finally complete.” Mr Rogers let out a sigh as he lowered his head.
“Tangerine.” Melinda said.
‘Yes love?” Tangerine said going over to her.
“Remember how I said there was a plot twist at the end of this you needed to see?” Melinda said.
“Yes love, I remember.” Tangerine said and she looked over at him. “What’s the plot twist? Because honestly love, it all feels like it is.”
“The true plot twist of this,” Melinda said, looking over at Mr Rogers. “It was you getting into his face and finally telling what happened to you and Lemon. He always assumed you two were unfazed by it because you never let it show. It was at that moment, when he looked into his eyes and told him everything that he realized what he had done. He realized his son could have died because of what he did. He actually started crying before you came out.” Tangerine looked over at Mr Rogers. “That’s why he moved his head so fast so you wouldn’t see it. That’s why he finally spoke up and told you was relieved that you guys made it out alive. How he was there for the ultrasound appointments. To show you that your mother was more than a lay, he loved her and loved you guys. Why he said he was proud of you and all you did, despite him not being a father to you. He regrets it all now, every bit of it. He’s broken now.” She looked over at Tangerine and he looked back over him. “You finally bested him.”
“Not in the way I expected to.” Tangerine said , looking back at Mr Rogers. “Tell me love, in this story, does the writer plan to add more? Something that would tease at a squeal perhaps? Or is she done?”
“Lucky for us her story flops, making her throw the whole thing out. But she did leave one thing at the end of it. A warning to Mr Rogers.” Melinda said and Mr Rogers looked back up at them. “A warning for him to stay away from the two rooks, the queen, and the two knights. That it would be best for him to leave this game and never come back. Because he’s done enough damage and no matter what he does now, it won’t make up for the pain and suffering has caused. And if he doesn’t leave this game or he decides to show back up to play another round, the queen will take the colt she has in the safe and end this game herself.” Mr Rogers’ nodded his head. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Alright love,” Tangerine said, nodding his head. “Let’s go.” They turned around and started heading to the door. “I want you to go lay down and I’ll…”
“Lass,” Mr Rogers said and they turned back around. “You heard what I said after my son took the elevator, did you not?” She nodded her head. “Then you know, if he isn’t strong enough to survive this heartache, it will break him. Just like the heartache broke me. And in return, he will break you, like I broke him. Heed my warning lass, wash your hands of him now before it’s too late.”
“Thanks for the advice, but I’m not one to listen to my elders.” Melinda said, they turned back and Tangerine opened the door. “I want my spare key back, by the way.” They started heading out.
“He will break you, lass.” Mr Rogers said, she stopped at the doorway. “Deep down, you know that. And what will you do when that happens?"
“I’ll deal with it.” Melinda said, and Tangerine started closing the door behind them. “Goodbye Mr Rogers.”
“Goodbye lass.” Mr Rogers said and the door closed. “And good luck, you’ll need it.”
Wishing On Dandelions Part 24
Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.
Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.
Tangerine was snapped out of his thoughts when a nurse said excuse me. He stepped aside into the hallway, allowing her into the room. She had gone over to Lemon and Yelena asking them politely to keep it down or leave. Then she went over to Melinda, getting the rest of her information from her before releasing her results and sending her home.
“Come on, we’re leaving.” Yelena said, pulling at Lemon’s tie as she looked over at Melinda and Bob. “Melinda, I hope you feel better. Bob, take care of her.” They nodded their heads and she started tugging Lemon along by his tie out of the room. “Now let's finish this conversation at your place. And maybe we’ll have angry makeup sex later.”
“We totally are,” Lemon said, smiling as they passed Tangerine. “If the house is rocking, don't come knocking ya?” He laughed as Yelena kept tugging him down the hallway. “You might want to get a hotel tonight bruv.”
“Great,” Tangerine said, rolling his eyes.
“I’ll close the door so you can get change and I’ll start to discharge paperwork. Should be about ten minutes if that.” The nurse said, closing the door and walking off.
“So he’s helping my love strip down and get dressed.” Tangerine whispered under his breath as he rolled his eyes again. “That’s lovely.” A few minutes later the door opened up and Bob stepped out in a hurry as he took off down the hallway. “Oi, everything alright?”
“Oh yeah man.” Bob said, spun around as he walked backwards. “ Everything is fine. I got a phone call I need to take. Mind sitting with her for me?”
“Sure thing mate.” Tangerine said, nodding his head.
“Thanks man.” Bob said, spinning back around before going back to his phone as he continued to head outside. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m just stepping out so I can hear you better.” He went outside.
“And there were two.” Tangerine said, adjusting his jacket before stepping into the room and leaning against the wall. “Doing alright love?” She nodded her head as she folded up her clothes. “Need any help?” She shook her head. “Alright then.” He watched her put away her clothes into her bag. “Love?” She replied, mmm-hmm. “Where’s all the clothes I bought you?” She stopped and looked over at him. “I noticed when I was getting your clothes for you earlier.” He pushed himself off the wall and walked over to her. “None of the clothes I bought you were in there. So,” He sat on the bed. “Where are they at? Did you throw them away or something?”
“They're under the bed.” Melinda said, as she went back to putting the last of her clothes in the bag. “In those containers you bought before you left.”
“Okay.” Tangerine said, nodding his head as he looked down at his shoes. “I’m sorry I made you feel like I was trying to change your style, love. Making you feel like you had to be perfect all the time for me.” They both looked over at each other. “That was never my intention. I swear love. I just wanted,” He gave her a small smile. “I just wanted you to feel beautiful, that's all.” He let out a sigh as he looked down. “The truth is, you always look beautiful no matter what you're wearing. I actually have photos on my phone of... Well, I did till I found my phone completely smashed before we went off the rails.”
“Anyways,” Tangerine said, playing with his pinky ring. “I had photos of you in your pjs and banging clothes, messy bun and no makeup. I know you said not to take pictures of you like that, but I always felt you were so beautiful in those. Because you're such a natural beauty. But the one photo I felt you were the most beautiful in, just absolutely drop dead gorgeous in, was the first photo I ever took of you, my favorite photo.” He smiled as he looked up at her. “It was when we were in Hawaii, our first morning waking up there. You were laying there, wearing the largest nightshirt the hotel had. Remember that one? We got it when we literally stumbled into the gift shop when we were trying to look for our room, after getting bloody tanked off our asses.”
“Yeah, I remember.” Melinda said, nodding her head. “It took us a couple of hours to finally make it to our room. You had to help me get changed into it because I kept falling over. You kept laughing at me and teasing me about it. So I jumped on you and we fell over on the bed.” Melinda smiled. ”I’m pretty sure we fell asleep in the middle of making out.”
“Yeah we did.” Tangerine said, chuckling a bit. “Though I woke up the next morning with a hang over, it was worth it. Because I got to wake up and rolled over to see you there with me. In that nightshirt that just swallowed you up. Seeing you all curled up to your pillow. Your hair was a complete mess. Your makeup was all smudged around your eyes after you fell asleep in it. I just thought,” He let out a soft sigh as he kept smiling. “You were the most beautiful woman in the world at that moment. And I couldn’t imagine how much more beautiful you can get. Then that’s when it happened. The sunlight started coming into the room. It hit you just right, that it looked like you were glowing. Absolutely glowing love. So I took a picture and put it as my wallpaper. Then I just laid there, watching the sunlight dance across your beautiful face. In that moment, in that very moment, was the first time ever in my life. I thought of marriage. I thought,” He reached out and placed his hand on hers. “Of marrying you.”
“Tangerine,” Melinda said, looking down at his hand as he started caressing hers. “I..I..”
There was a knock on the door, making Melinda jolt and withdraw her hand. She looked up as the nurse walked in as she looked over the paperwork. Tangerine let out a heavy sigh as he got up and turned his attention to the nurse. He listened to them talk about the results and paperwork, while glancing over at Melinda from time to time. After she signed the paperwork and gathered everything, they headed to the parking lot where Bob was by his truck.
“Yeah no, I get it. I get it.” Bob said, pacing back and forth in front of his truck. “Yeah, that’s fine. That’s fine.” He nodded his head. “How soon?” He stopped pacing. “Uhh, I think once we’re done here actually.” He looked over at Melinda and Tangerine walked over to him. He singled them one more minute. “No, don't worry about it, I get it. I just need to drop her off and get a hold of Yelena or Mr Rogers to keep an eye on her just in case she needs anything.” He nodded his head. “Yeah no problem. Bye.” He hung up. “Soooo, I got some bad news.”
“Got called into work?” Melinda asked.
“Yep.” Bob said, nodding his head. “You remember we saw all those cops and fire trucks going by?”
“Yeah?” Melinda said, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”
“One word, well, one name. Steve.” Bob said, Melinda grunted out of frustration as she rolled her eyes. “Yeahhhhh, so that new water sprinkler system he installed didn’t go exactly as planned and Ms Grey’s yard had water busting through the ground and sprayed water and dirt everywhere. They got the water off but my uncle needs me to work the backhoe to tire up the ground. So they can take the pipes out and start making repairs before the ground,” He made a falling motion with his hand. “Caves in.” He made a clicking sound. “So yeah, I got to go in.” He walked over to her and placed his hands on her hips. “I know we made plans for today and I’m so sorry that I have to cancel them. But I promise we can do them tomorrow since my uncle says he just needs me for today and Mark comes back tomorrow morning. Is that alright?”
”Yeah, that’s fine.” Melinda said, nodding her head. “Give me time to rest up today.”
“Alright, let’s get you home then.” Bob said, leading her to the passenger door. “I’ll call someone to come stay with you and help you out if you need it.”
“Stop right there mate.” Tangerine said and they turned to him. “I can take her home and I'll stay with her.” They looked at each other and back to him. “Look, we all know Yelena isn’t going to answer her phone because she and my brother are “reconnecting.” He used air quotes and they nodded in agreement. “And I rather not have the old man around her.”
“What’s your problem with Mr Rogers?” Bob asked.
“You mean besides that he kicked his ass earlier?" Melinda said, smirking.
“Hey,” Tangerine said, pointing at her. “I was a bit distracted by the situation we were in. Not to mention.” He pointed at his slightly bruised cheek. “Some cheeky little minx sucker punched me, throwing me off my game completely.”
“Like you didn’t deserve it.” Melinda said, glaring at him.
“Touche.” Tangerine said, waving his hand. “But still, you” He pointed at Bob. “I don’t want you to let that fucking old ass fucking prick watch her or help her or even be a bloody around her anymore. And you.” He pointed at Melinda again. “I’m not going to teach you to fight anymore because clearly.” He pointed back at his cheek. “You bloody well know what you're doing, don't you love?” Melinda giggled. “Oh you laugh now you cheeky little minx, but the next time you lay your hands on me. I’m picking up your ass, taking you downstairs and throwing your ass into the bloody pool the apartment has. Now,” He fixed his jacket. “I parked over here, so let’s get going love.” He turned and started walking off. “Hurry up now or I’m leaving you behind cheeky little minx.”
“Baby,” Bob said, placing his hands on her hips. “I really don’t feel comfortable with you being alone with him. And that’s not me being jealous or anything like that. It’s just,” He put one hand on her check. “I don’t want him to make you cry again.”
“Don’t worry,” Melinda said, placing her hand on his as she smiled. “I’m not going to put up with his shit anymore. I refuse to stay quiet any longer. If he starts anything, you bet your ass I’ll finish it.”
“That’s my girl.” Bob said, smiling. “If something happens.” He leaned in closer as his face got serious. “Call me and I’ll come right over. Alright?” Melinda nodded her head. “And if you have to, go over to Mr Rogers and tell him. Since we both know he can kick Tangerine’s ass.” They both laugh. “Okay baby, I need to get going. The sooner I get over there and get this done, the sooner I can come home and be with you.” She smiled up at him. “Be safe baby.” He pulled her in for a hug and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I’ll call you whenever I get a chance and let you know what’s going on.” He kissed the top of her head. “Alright.” He pulled back and looked down at her. “I would kiss you goodbye but I can see him staring over here right now. I really don’t want him getting all jealous again and take it out on you. Even if you say something back to him or knock him on his ass again.” He chuckled a bit. “I just don’t want you to get work up. You need your rest after all, baby.”
“Always looking out for me.” Melinda said, smiling.
“Of course baby,” Bob said smiling. “I’m your husband after all.” He winked at her. “It’s my job to look out for my wife.” His smile got bigger. “My beautiful wife.” She blushed. “Now get going baby.” He gave her another gentle quick squeeze before letting her go. “And remember what I said.”
“If something happens,” Melinda said, walking backwards. “Call you or go over to Mr Rogers.” Bob nodded his head. “You know something else Tangerine taught me?”
“What’s that baby?” Bob asked.
“He taught me how to shoot. Pew. Pew.” Melinda said, making Bob chuckle.
“Alright baby.” Bob said, turning around and heading to the drivers side. “I’ll call you later.”
“Bob?” Melinda said.
“Yeah baby?” Bob said, turning around as Melinda threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss back. Melinda pulled her head back, breaking the kiss. “You know he’s going to be mad now.”
“Let him get mad.” Melinda said, letting him go and walking backwards again. “Be careful.”
“You too baby.” Bob said, he let out a sigh as he watched her turn back and walk over to Tangerine. “You too.” He cleared his throat and called out to Tangerine. “Make sure she eats and takes her medication please.” Tangerine just nodded his head as he took Melinda’s hand and helped her get into the passenger seat. Once she was settled in, he closed the door and got into the drivers side, then drove off. “God I hope he doesn’t give her shit.” He started walking to his driver’s side as he pulled out his phone. “Just in case.” He placed a call as he got in. “Hey Mr Rogers, it’s Robert. Do you have a minute?”
Meanwhile On The Way To The Apartment
Tangerine gripped the stirring wheel tight as he kept his eyes on the road. Melinda just looked out of the window, watching the buildings go by. Neither of them said a word to each other as the awkward silence started to build up. When Melinda started hearing Tangerine’s breathing getting heavy, she reached over and turned the radio on. She put on classical music, something that always calms Tangerine down. Then she went back to looking out of the window till the music turned off and she looked over at Tangerine.
“Can we talk?” Tangerine asked.
“A serious talk?” Melinda said, Tangerine nodded his head. “Do you think that’s a good idea to do while you're driving? I would hate to punch you again and we go off the road.”
“Oh love,’ Tangerine said, chuckling a bit before looking over at her. “You really do want to go swimming don’t you?” He looked back at the road. “With this new attitude of your’s love, you're starting to act like a real cowgirl, a riskless bloody spitfire. I think you're picking up bad habits from that bull rider of yours.”
“Funny, you never had an issue with my New York attitude when we first met.” Melinda said.
“When we first met love,” Tangerine said, looking over at her. “First, being the keyword there innit?” He looked back at the road. “You stopped giving me attitude the moment we started chit chatting love. All because you fell hard for my British charm and accent, and let’s not forget rugged good looks.”
“Yeah you're right, I did.” Melinda said, she looked out the window again. “It seems like every time I get interested in a guy I always lose my attitude. My voice. I just became a pushover. Someone everyone just walks all over.” She let out a sigh. “No wonder why all the guys I dated treated me like shit. It’s because I let them. Just like I let you.”
“Love,” Tangerine said, reaching out, putting his hand on hers. “I wasn’t trying to…” She moved her out from under his. He let out a heavy sigh. “Fuck.” He put his hand back on the stirring wheel. “Alright then, are you hungry?” He looked over at her as she nodded her head. “Okay love.” He looked back at the road. “When we get back, I want you to go lay down and I’ll fix you up with something to eat. And you can have breakfast in bed. How does that sound, love?”
Melinda just replied with mmm-hmm and he looked over at her for a moment and then turned back to the road. They drove in silence the rest of the way. When they got there, he helped her out of the car and they continued not saying a word to each other as they went inside and headed to the apartment. When they stepped out of the elevator Mr Rogers was coming out of his place.
“Bloody fucking hell.” Tangerine whispered as he rolled his eyes. “Here we go.”
“Be nice.” Melinda whispered back before speaking up. “Hello Mr Rogers, thank you for the assistance earlier.”
“Anytime lass, I’m glad to see you are doing well.” Mr Rogers said, looking over at Tangerine. “Boyi, where’s the laddie at?”
“Cut the bullshit old man.” Tangerine said, stepping closer. “I’m sure he already called you up and told you to keep a bloody eye out for her.” Mr Rogers kept a straight face, not saying a word. “Of course fucking he did.” He let out a sigh and shook his head. “Will you can go report back to him that everything is just peachy mate.” He went over to the apartment door using Melinda’s key to unlock it. “Now excuse us, but love needs to lay down and I need to make her something to eat.” He turned to Melinda as he pushed the door open. “Come on love.”
“Won’t you two join me for breakfast?” Mr Rogers said and Tangerine turned to him, glaring. “I already have the table set up for three boyi.”
“No thanks mate. Love prefers an English breakfast over an Irish breakfast. So,” Tangerine said, stepping closer. “Piss off.”
“What’s your problem with him?” Melinda said, crossing her arms as Tangerine looked back over at her. “Seriously, what’s the problem? You can’t say it’s because of Bob calling him to check up on us. Or because of what happened earlier. You’ve been like this to him ever since we’ve moved in here, why?”
“I just don’t care for him, love. Now,” Tangerine said, stepping closer to her. “Let’s go inside.” She didn’t budge. “Come one now,” He leaned his head closer. “Let’s go inside. We can have a nice quiet breakfast together. And,” He smiled. “I’ll give you a massage to help you relax. You always love those.” She shook her head and he huffed in frustration. “Love,” He took a deep breath before leaning towards her ear. “I’m fucking begging you, let’s go inside.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Please Melinda, let’s just go inside.”
“You never call me by name.” Melinda said, looking into his eyes. “Unless....” Her eyes shifted to Mr Rogers who was standing there quietly. She held her gaze for a while as he looked back at her. Then she looked back into Tangerine’s eyes for a moment. Then back to Mr Rogers. “I’m sorry Mr Rogers, but I’m going to have to decline your offer.”
“You sure lass?” Mr Rogers asked.
“Yeah,” Melinda said, her eyes went back to Tangerine's. “I’m sure.”
“Alright then,” Mr Rogers said, opening his door. “Next time.”
“Yeah, next time.” Melinda said, finally breaking eye contact and going inside with Tangerine right behind her. “I’m going to go lay down and put my headphones on.”
“Love,” Tangerine said and she turned back around. “Thank you.”
Melinda nodded her head and turned back around then continued to head to the bedroom. She can hear Tangerine starting to get situated in the kitchen. Melinda sat her stuff down and went over to her nightstand, grabbing her head phones. She hooked them up to her phone and laid down. She pulled up the app and selected the video, listening closely to every word that was said.
A Few Minutes Later
“Love,” Tangerine said, as Melinda walked up to the kitchen counter. “I told you I was making breakfast in bed for you.” He smiled at her. “Or we’re you hoping to try and sneak in here to steal some bacon while I was still cooking.” He chuckled a bit. “Don’t worry love,” He put the last of the food on her plate. “I made you extra bacon.” He looked up at her, seeing her just staring at him. “Love? What’s wrong? Are you feeling ill?”
“He’s your father.” Melinda whispered.
“What are you going on about love?” Tangerine said, faking a smile. “I think your sugar is dropping. Here.” He pushed the plate towards her. “Won’t you get something in your system, you’ll feel better afterwards.”
“Tangerine,” Melinda said, walking around the counter. “Is he really your father?”
“Come on love,” Tangerine said, still smiling as he went up to her. “You know me and Lemon grew up in an orphanage.” He placed one hand on her cheek and the other on her hip. “Won’t we go lay down together instead of eating.” He started stroking her cheek. “You must be absolutely mentally exhausted with everything going on. Come on.” He motioned his head to the bedroom. “Let’s go lay down and cuddle together. Like old times.” He smiled big. “How does that sound, love?” She lifted her hand up, showing her phone and the Ring app, with the video she selected. “Fuck me.” He let go and turned around, placing his hands on the kitchen sink as he leaned forward. “Why in the fucking hell did I ever install that stupid bloody thing?”
“We need to talk about it.” Melinda said.
“No we don’t love.” Tangerine said, shaking his head. “No, we certainly bloody don’t need to talk about it.”
“We do,” Melinda said and he turned around. “But you're not the we, I’m talking about.” He looked at her confused. “I’ll be right back.” She turned around, taking off straight to the door. He went after her as she flung the door open and went straight to Mr Rogers door, pounding her fist on it. “Open up.” Mr Rogers quickly swung the door open. “You.” Melinda grabbed him by the shirt and stepped inside, then she shoved him as Tangerine rushed inside. “Everyday when he was gone, I asked you.” She pointed at him. “If you heard from him. Everyday I asked you. And what did you tell me?” She put her hand down as she walked up to him. “”Sorry lass, I haven’t been able to get a hold of him either.””
“But that wasn’t the case huh? Oh no,” Melinda said, shaking her head as she stepped back. “Turns out,” She pointed at Tangerine who was behind her, leaning against the wall. “He was texting you every week to check up on me.” She put her hand down. “And not once did you tell me about it. Not fucking once. You could…”
“Look,” Mr Rogers said, taking a step towards her. “Lass,”
“Shut your fucking mouth, I’m still talking.” Melinda said, making him step back and Tangerine smirk. “You could have told me you heard from him. You could have told me he said he wasn’t planning to come back. That way I could have started moving on with my life, not sit there night after night crying and praying he was going to come back home. You especially,” She stepped forward again. “Should have said something to me when I brought up that I was pregnant and that’s why he left. But what did you say about it? “Don’t worry lass, you're better off without him. He’s no good anyways. You can do better than him.”” Tangerine glared at him.
“And speaking of baby,” Melinda said, in a harsh tone. “I find it very funny that you were so excited to hear I was having a baby. So excited.” She put her hands together and did a fake smile. “That you volunteer yourself to watch the baby, because “you love kids so much and always wish you had some of your own.”” She used air quotes and Tangerine rolled his eyes. “Not to mention, you were talking about setting up a trust fund and a college fund for the baby. What the hell were you thinking, Rogers?” He put his head down. “I can tell you what you were thinking.” He looked back up at her. “You were thinking you can make up for years of being a shitty father by playing world's greatest grandpa to my baby. Isn’t that right?” He didn’t say a word. “Will sucks for you, because you're just grandpa to a cyst. Oh, since we’re on the subject of cyst.” She turned to Tangerine. “You know how he said it was Bob that came over the next day and told him?” Tangerine nodded his head. “That’s bullshit. Bob never came over”
“What?” Tangerine said, he pushed himself off the wall. “Are you sure?”
“Hundred percent sure.” Melinda said, nodding. “Because Bob had the next day off and spent the whole day with me. He never left once. He only ever told three people.” She held up three fingers and counted down. “Yelena and her mother Cecilia, both after I had left the voicemail. The other one was Anthony.” She put her last finger down, along with her hand. “He was the one that gave Bob the advice to talk to me about calling you up and letting you know what was going on. He’s also a therapist that does individual and group therapy. But you already know that,” Tangerine looked confused. “Don’t you,” Melinda smiles. “Rogers?” Tangerine looked over at him.
“Because when Bob started coming around a couple of months after we meant,” Melinda said, turning back to him. “You asked me how I met him and I told you.” Melinda started pacing back and forth in the living room. “After I left a letter at Tangerine’s and I was driving, I started crying so bad that I started swerving so I had to pull over. When I did I started having a panic attack so I got out of the car, that’s when Bob showed up and he helped me out. After I was able to calm down and we talked a bit, he brought up that he was going to group therapy. And he suggested I join him, so I did.”
“And it was in a group,” Melinda said, as she stopped pacing and looked at Tangerine. “That I had mentioned I was crying for a few days after I found out my ultrasound results. Also how Bob was the one that encouraged me to call you. Even though he knew it was a difficult time for me and he didn’t know how or when to. Do you know what else I mention in group therapy?” Tangerine shook his head. “I mentioned that you hadn’t listened to the voicemail because of the money you were trying to send me for child support.” Tangerine looked over at him again. “Now, I did tell Rogers that I wasn’t pregnant and it was a cyst,” Tangerine looked back at her. “Also about leaving you the voicemail. But I never said Bob was the one that told me to call you. And I told him that, after I told the group about me leaving the voicemail for you. The voicemail, that neither me or Bob told Rogers you never listen to. Strange isn’t it? That he said and knew stuff I only said in group therapy.”
“Yeah,” Tangerine said, letting out a sigh as crossing his arms. “Strange indeed.” He leaned up against the wall again. “You know what else is strange love?” She hmm in replied. “He never told me you were in therapy. Because according to him, you were just fine from the moment I walked out that door. That you just kept focus by diving into work and keeping busy. And you only had a few bad days and that was it. That’s why when I saw you on video dropping off the letter and key, I just assumed he was telling the truth because you seem fine. But since you had a bloody panic attack afterwards and ended up in therapy, he was actually bullshitting this whole fucking time I was gone.” He looked over at Mr Rogers. “Now why wouldn’t you tell me she was doing that bad, mate? So bad that she needed goddamn therapy? Of course you didn’t tell me about her bull rider or our baby being an actual cyst. So why would you tell me she was in fucking therapy and been doing shitty.” Mr Rogers didn't say a word. “That’s right, just do your usual bullshit and stand there like a bloody fucking statue and not saying a goddamn word.”
“He doesn't have to.” Melinda said, and Tangerine turned to her. “I figured that out, along with other things before I even left the bedroom.”
“Alright then love,” Tangerine said, nodding his head. “Tell me then. Why didn’t the old old man tell me?”
“Two reasons, why didn’t tell you about all three of those things,” Melinda said, holding up two fingers and counting down. “One, your lack of impulsive control. Two, his future grandchild.” She put three fingers up and counted down again. “One, if you knew I was doing that bad you would have come back. We would have talked it out and chances are we would have left here, which means he wouldn’t be around his grandchild. Two, when it comes to Bob, he claims it wouldn’t have done you any good if you knew since you left me. But really, it’s because Bob doesn’t plan to leave here, which means I wouldn’t and he would still be in his grandchild’s life. But if you knew the moment Bob showed up, you would have come back and put an end to it. Then of course, he wouldn’t see his grandchild if we got back together and left. Three, I’m sure you know how that would have played out.”
“Yeah,” Tangerine said, nodding his head. “If he told me I would have come back because I would have known how hard you were taking it. Since you were so excited when those tested results were positive. And since he just assumed I didn’t want kids, he didn’t want to take the risk it would make me realize I wanted kids. If we got back together, I would have relocated and then started a family.” He looked over at Rogers. “No wonder why you tense up when I said we would raise our child together far, far from here. It’s because you wouldn’t have seen your future grandchild. Selfish bastard.”
“I bet there's more to why you didn’t tell me about this bloke living with her, isn’t there?” Tangerine said, pushing himself off the wall again. “I bet you were counting on me getting so jealous that I would just go completely ape shit. Love wouldn’t want nothing to do with me afterwards and you wouldn’t have to worry about us running off together. But that means you wouldn’t have any grandchild, but that’s not true is it?” He shook his head. “The day I left, I told you I was going to be gone for two weeks or even more. And I needed you to keep an eye on her. You told me that it was completely fine, because you were quite fond of her. That you two have grown close together since we moved next door to you. That you even saw her as your daughter so you had no problem keeping an eye out on her no matter how long it takes.” He took a few steps and stood beside Melinda. “I’m sure you were hoping that her and that bull rider would start popping out little cowboys and little cowgirls, that you can play grandpa to uh?”
“Oh I’m sure too.” Melinda said, turning to Mr Rogers. “That’s probably why you asked if I was planning to have kids after I told you about the cyst. When I said yes, you turned around and asked if Bob wanted children. When I said yes to that, you started telling me how great he was and he would make a good dad. You,” She pointed at Mr Rogers. “Also brought up Yelena, saying you love having her around and you asked if she wanted children too.” She put her arm up on Tangerine’s shoulder as they both looked at each other. “I hate to admit it but I had no idea it was Lemon that Yelena was hooking up with.”
“Really?” Tangerine said, raising an eyebrow. “How many guys do you know named Lemon, love?”
“She always referred to him as Dark Chocolate, okay?” Melinda said and Tangerine rolled his eyes. “Not to mention, she didn’t know that you were my ex because me and Bob were only referred to as the ex, not Tangerine.” He sighed, rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Don’t start please. Anyways, it wasn’t till she came over last night to look after me, that she said his name and that she couldn’t get a hold of him after a voicemail he left her. All three of us sat down and put everything together after that.”
“It took the three of you?” Tangerine said, gave her a disappointing look as he shook his head again. “Tsk. Tsk. I remember when my love could solve any mystery all by herself in a few minutes.”
“Yeah?” Melinda said and Tangerine smiled as he nodded his head. “Well I remember two brothers calling me up and trying to pass off a book,” Tangerine smiled faded. “As their cover for me to solve it. That way I could help them figure out what was going on the train they were on. That was all the way in Japan on top of that. Which I did. I figured why they were there, I figured out all the players, the diesel, and the pawn. In a few minutes while sitting outside the doctor's office. And,” She leaned up closer to Tangerine. “I figured out what someone really does for a living. So, mic drop” She pulled back and put her hand out, pretending she dropped something. “Boom.”
“Whatever love,” Tangerine said, rolling his eyes.
“I want to know something,” Melinda said, looking over at Mr Rogers. “Why didn’t you go with them when Tangerine asked you too?” Rogers kept staring. “This isn’t time for the silent treatment.” She moved her arm from Tangerine’s shoulder and crossed her arms. “Your son asked you to go with them when they took that job, why didn't you go with them? And don’t say it’s because of your leg, because” Melinda paused. “That’s why you didn’t go because of your leg.”
“Love, you’ve seen the video. Bum leg or not,” Tangerine said, guested his thumb towards Mr Rogers. “This old geezer can still move bloody faster than me.”
“Yeah,” Melinda said, Melinda looked back at Tangerine. “He’s faster than you, but not faster than the White Death. After all, he’s the one that messed up his leg.” They both looked over at Mr Rogers. “Isn’t that right?” Mr Rogers took a deep breath as his body tensed up. “So what?” She threw her arms out. “Since you couldn’t beat him you thought you would let your son here,” She motioned her hand to Tangerine. “And his brother just got on that train alone? All because you were too scared to face him again. If you knew what the White Death could do, why would you even let them take a job for the White Death in the first…” She stopped and turned to Tangerine. “He’s your handler isn’t he?” He nodded his head. “Where was that job again you guys mentioned on the phone? The one that the White Death specifically asked for the two gun men that did that job there?”
“Bolivian.” Tangerine said
“And I said that most likely it was the White Death’s base of operations. So,’ Melinda said, turning back to Mr Rogers. “Was it? Was it his base of operations that you had your sons’ hit?”
“Yes.” Mr Rogers said.
“Son of a bitch.” Tangerine said, shaking his head. “You fucking knew what you were getting us into didn’t you bastard?” He took a step but Melinda grabbed his shirt. “Love…”
“Not yet,” Melinda said, shaking her head. “There’s still two more pieces I’m missing here.” She turned to Tangerine who had a confused look on his face. “When he came for you and your brother, did he already have that mess up leg?” He nodded his head. “And is he a handler for other people?”
“Yeah he is,” Tangerine said, Melinda started getting excited. “You obviously figured something out, love. Mind sharing with the rest of class?”
“Tangerine, don’t you see?” Melinda said, fully turning to him as her other hand grabbed his shirt. “I was wrong.” Tangerine got confused. “The Bullet Train story wasn’t about White Death’s revenge for his wife's death,” She turned to Mr Rogers. “It’s his revenge story." Tangerine turned to Mr Rogers. “For his wife's death.”
Wishing On Dandelions Part 21
Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.
Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.
@looneylooomis @star017 @idonthavehusbandsihavelovers @dyingformyships @witch20 @mwesterfeld85 @nu1freakshow @amvp99 (I try tagging you but it doesn't work) @anacatxo
Warning: Cussing. Slight Smut. Mentions of self harm. Mentions of drug abuse. Violence
Wishing On Dandelions Part 19
As Tangerine drove to the ER, he just kept playing what happened in his head. He wasn’t even thinking about Melinda moaning, well screaming out Bob’s name when they were in bed together. He just kept thinking of how close he saw they were in the Ringer camera footage. Seeing how Bob was so gentle, sweet and caring towards her. How he was goofy off and making a fool out of himself, just to make her smile and laugh. How Bob could just use his words, his voice and give her something simple as a hug, to make her feel better. And it worked, somehow it worked. She was laughing and smiling, as if nothing was wrong.
Tangerine knew he could never comfort her the way Bob did, he’s tried before. Any time Melinda was having a bad day, because she lost someone during her shift or memories of her past were rearing its ugly head. He never knew what to do or say during those times. He normally would just pull her into his lap, hold her awhile he stork her hair and listen to her.
Then afterwards he would just tell her it was okay, that she was with him now. He would start caressing her body and started kissing her neck, hitting all the right spots that would put her in the mood. He would take her and make her his till she was too overcome by him to even remember why she was upset and she would just sleep it off when they were done.
But once she woke up, she would remember everything and would be upset. When that happened, she wouldn’t go to him again. She would just go outside and sit in her car while she talked to one of her friends. Or she would go have a girl's night. She did whatever she needed to, to make herself feel better since he failed to.
Then when it came to comforting her after he was purposely being mean or he let his jealousy get in the way. He would go buy her flowers, her Reese’s Peanut Buttercups, take her out for dinner and get her a gift. Tangerine would tell her he was sorry and ask for her forgiveness, then promise he wouldn’t do it again. And when they got home, he would wrap his arms around her, hold her close as he started kissing her lips gently and take it slow.
But it would never last long, within seconds his hunger for her would take over. He would start sliding his tongue into her mouth and grab her ass to carry her to the bedroom. Then he would pin her down and ravish her throughout the night, while telling her he loved her and he was sorry. At the end, she would tell him she loved him and forgave him. But even after that, he could still see sadness in her eyes before she drifted off to sleep. The next morning, she would have a smile on her face, but he could tell by her eyes, she was still hurt by his actions.
He could never comfort her, he could never take her pain away, not like Bob could. Just like he could never be gentle and take it slow, he could never make love to her, not like Bob could. Tangerine gripped the steering wheel tight at the thought of Bob making love to Melinda, the woman he loves sickened him. The thought that Bob wanted more than just sex, he wanted to mean something to him, to both of them. And what made the matter worse, was the fact that Melinda wanted Bob to make love to her and she wants to make love to him. She wants it to mean something more than just sex, something more than what her and Tangerine ever had.
His hands started shaking a bit as anger and jealousy rose up inside of him. Jealousy. He was jealous of Bob the moment he saw his clothes in the closet that he and Melinda once shared. Hearing Bob’s ringtone and seeing his contact name, made it worse. Then hearing her call Bob husband and him calling her wife, made his blood boil. But what really sent him over the edge, was the level of intimacy Bob had with her. Something Tangerine desperately wanted to have with Melinda, but no matter what he did, he just couldn’t.
He was jealous of this bull rider, who wasn’t even jealous of him. Though Tangerine had her first and laid with Melinda multiple times throughout their relationship. Knowing that he was planning to marry her. Knowing Tangerine would have been the father of her baby, if it didn’t turn out to be a cyst. Even after Melinda told him that Tangerine’s head was between her legs and having a taste. Bob wasn’t jealous one bit, he wasn’t mad or even upset about what happened. Bob was actually glad that Melinda was thinking of him, that he had that effort on her. And he still asked if he could spend the day with her.
It was a total opposite reaction that Tangerine was hoping for the moment he heard Melinda bringing up what happened between them. He thought Bob would have told her off and gathered up his stuff. Then leave and never come back. And his Bob problem would have been solved for good. Then all he had to do after that was sit down with Melinda and comfort her. They’ll start talking things out and start working on rebuilding their relationship. He would have gotten down on one knee and asked her to marry him. And since she was off for two weeks to recover, he was going to use that time to show her his other properties. So she could decide where they should move to next. They could finally move in together, get married and start a family. But no, Bob couldn’t just walk off like he was supposed to. He just had to stay and make things worse.
“Bloody fucking cunt.” Tangerine said, shaking his head as he pulled into the parking lot. “I’m going to have to find a way to get rid of you since love is too pissed off at me right now to allow me to charm her away.” He parked the car. “And I can’t do it my normal way now to make him go away since love knows what I bloody hell do for a living now.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Hmm,” He started rubbing his chin. “What does love always say when she watches those murder mystery shows of hers? Everyone has a story to tell, but it’s the story that they aren’t telling that you really have to listen to. Because that story reveals who that person truly is. So what story is Robert Reynolds not telling us? What skeletons does he have in his closet that I can shake out of there and use against him?” Bob’s ringtone went off. “Speaking of the devil.” He answered it. “I just pulled in, I’ll be in there in a bit.”
“You can just give my stuff to Yelena.”
“Love?” Tangerine said, smiling. “How are you feeling? Did you get your ultrasound back yet? What did they say?”
“Physically I’m fine. As for the results, they still haven’t come in yet. But I looked over the ultrasound when they were doing it, there was no tiring or anything so I’m good to go. But they still want me to wait on them to bring the results back and read them to me.”
“Really now?” Tangerine said, he chuckled. “Do they not know who they are dealing with?”
“Oh they do, but working at one of the best ERs in New York for years and being head nurse by the age of twenty three doesn’t mean anything when it comes to this ER/Urgent Care/Same day clinic that is the finest this town has to offer.”
“Don’t worry love,” Tangerine said, grabbing her stuff and getting out of the car. “Soon as I get in there I’ll handle it.” He closed the door and locked it up. “And I’ll have you out in no time.” He started walking to the building. “Maybe afterwards we can..”
“Tangerine.” She sighed heavily.
“What’s wrong, love?” Tangerine said, as he stopped and waited for her to reply, but nothing. “ You don’t want me in there with you, do ya?”
“No, not really. ”
“Love, I,” Tangerine said, letting out a sigh. “I know I fucked up again, like I always do. But I promise, things will be different this time. I’ll…”
“I heard that before.”
“I know love.” Tangerine said, sighing again as he closed his eyes. “I know.” He opened up his eyes again. “Just let me show you. I’ll go in there and play nice. I won’t even say one bloody word to him. I just…” He paused for a moment. “I just want to make sure you're alright love, that’s all. I just want to make sure you're alright.”
“Fine.” He smiled as he started walking. “You know Yelena has been practicing for that Russian spy role of hers, I’m sure Lemon mentioned it.” He in response mmm-hmm. “She’s been getting really good at it. For the fight scenes, she went next door to Mr Rogers and got some pointers.” Tangerine stopped in his tracks. “He even taught her how to sneak up on people too. So you two have fun.” Click.
“Bollocks.” Tangerine said, as he turned around to see Yelena standing there. “Yelena.” She started slowly walking up to him. “Don’t you dare.” A smile crept on her face. “Don’t you fucking…”
Few Minutes Later
“Here is your bag.” Yelena said, putting it on the bed. ‘And, your phone.”
“Thank you Yelena, I appreciate it.” Melinda said, taking her phone and looking over at Tangerine. “How’s your throat?” Tangerine single with one hand, okay as he kept rubbing his throat with the other. Melinda giggled as she looked back at Yelena. “I can’t believe you throat chopped him.”
“He should be grateful that's all I did.” Yelena said, looking over at Tangerine. “Because if Lemon didn’t take my gun away, I would have put one between his eyes.”
“Come on darlin” Lemon said, Yelena looked over at him. “That’s my brother we’re talking about here.”
“Yeah it is,” Yelena said, turning her whole body towards him as she put her hands on her hips. “And your idiot brother told my cousin to go kill himself. Do you think that’s something someone should say to someone else? Let alone my cousin?” She pointed at Bob. “He doesn’t need to hear that shit Lemon.”
Tangerine leaned up against the door as he watched and listened to Lemon and Yelena arguing about him. He looked over at Melinda and Bob as they leaned in close, whispering to one and another. He jaw clenched when he saw Bob placing his hands on hers. He watched how Melinda moved her hands around and placed them on the top of his. She started sliding her hand up his arms and that’s when Tangerine saw it.
Scars going every direction, up and down Bob’s wrists and inner forearm. His eyes shifted to Yelena, that’s why she was so pissed off about the comment. Bob had made admits to take his life before and from the looks of it, on multiple occasions. His eyes went back to Melinda’s hands as they kept going up and down Bob’s forearm. When Bob leaned back a bit, he could see more scars where his elbow bent. But they were different from the other ones. They were almost like holes, just like the ones he saw before when he went to visit Melinda for one of their date nights at the ER.
Back In NY
“Where is she?” Tangerine said, looking around the cafeteria. “She said three didn’t she?” He pulled out his phone and checked the message. “Yeah, love said three am and it’s,” He looked at the time. “Five after. She’s just probably finishing up paperwork or something.”
He sent her a text that he was there and waiting for her. Soon as he put his phone away he started hearing shouting coming from the hallway. His head turned to the doorway when he heard someone calling his name. He got up as Luna came running into the cafeteria and started looking around.
“Tangerine.” Luna said, looking towards him. “There you are. Thank God.” She ran up to him. “We need your help… in the medical bay.” She tried to catch her breath.
“I’m sorry darlin but,” Tangerine said, smiling. “I’m not exactly a nurse or…”
“No no no” Luna said, shaking her head. “This guy downstairs, he went crazy and,’ She took a deep breath. “Took out almost all our security and cops are about twenty minutes out. And” She took another deep breath. “Melinda, is…”
Tangerine didn’t wait, he took off running full speed out the cafeteria and to the elevator. He hit the button several times but it was taking forever for the elevator to come up. He looked around and saw the door leading to the stairs. Tangerine ran over to the door, threw it open and started racing down the steps. Soon as he got close enough, he just jumped over the railing and landed on his feet. He took off through that door and ran over to the medical bay where he could hear shooting and things being tossed around.
“Nathan move!” Melinda yelled as she shoved him out of the way as chairs started flying. Her eyes widened as one went towards her. “Shit!” She turned around as she covered up and braced herself for the impact, but nothing. She looked back over, seeing Tangerine having a hold of the chair. “Tangerine?”
“Love,” Tangerine said, giving her a wink before he spun around with the chair and threw it back at the guy. It hit his back and sent him to the ground. “You alright?” He turned back around and she nodded her head. “Good.” He quickly took off his jacket and handed it to her. “Hold this for me, would you love?” She took the jacket and he turned back around as the guy started getting up. “I’ll deal with the wanker and we can go have date number twenty five. Alright love?”
“Alright.” Melinda said, smiling. "Be careful."
“Always love,” Tangerine said, balling up his fist and he thrust out his arms as he walked over to the guy. “Always.”
Soon as the guy turned around he took a swing for Tangerine’s head. But Tangerine ducked down and started delivering several punches to his stomach and sides. The guy started stumbling back with each blow Tangerine connected with. The guy reached down and wrapped his arms around Tangerine’s waist. Soon as he felt the guy try to lift him up, Tangerine went for the side of his kneecap. When his fist connected, it made a loud cracking sound. The guy screamed in pain and he went down as he let Tangerine go.
He stepped back and the guy went to grab him again. Tangerine grabbed his wrist with one hand and spun around the guy. He placed his other hand on his shoulders and his knee against the guy’s elbow. Tangerine pulled his arms back and pushed his knee forward, making another cracking sound. The onlookers gasped at the sound of the bone breaking and poking out from under the skin. He let the guy go, but still he was trying to get up and fight.
“Alright then mate, I guess you leave me with no fucking choice.” Tangerine said, wrapping his arms around the guy’s neck. He moved himself around so he was in front of the guy as he leaned down. “It’s guillotine for ya.” The guy started to struggle as Tangerine moved his arms to get into position. “Don’t fight it mate. Once I get this sucker locked in.” He locked his arms in place. “It’s only matter of fucking seconds til you...” The guy went limping in his arms. “Pass the holy fuck out.”
Tangerine let the guy go and he fell to the floor, completely passed out. As he stood back up, everyone started clapping and cheering for him. He smiled and nodded as he turned back around towards Melinda as she ran over to him. She jumped right into his arms, wrapping herself around him as she started kissing him. His arms went around her and he started kissing her back, as the cheering got louder and people started hooting and hollering. They broke the kiss and pressed their foreheads against each other smiling.
“I love you,” They said in unison and they started laughing.
“Remember that offer you made me when we first met?” Melinda said, pulling back to look at his face.
“Offer?” Tangerine said, looking confused till it hit him. “Wardrobe.” He smiled and she smiled while nodding her head. “Cheeky little minx.”
“Let’s go.” Melinda said, and he put her down on feet. They looked over at the guy as he got loaded up. As he got rolled by them, Tangerine looked at the guy's arm that he broke, seeing several holes around the area. “You can tell by the fresh needle markings he just got high, most likely meth. Been seeing a few like that coming in lately.” She looked up at him. “Sometimes people can get pretty violent on meth.” She placed her hands on his face. “I’m glad you're safe and I’m glad you came when you did. I’m pretty sure I would be laid out on the floor if you didn’t.”
“Don’t worry love,” Tangerine said, putting his hands on her. “I’ll always protect you, especially from people like that.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss. “Now,” He moved over to her ear. “What about that wardrobe?” Melinda giggled as she took his hand and led him down the hallway while people's attention was elsewhere. She looked around before opening the closet that they hardly use. She unlocked it and went inside, “I knew you were a naughty little thing.” Melinda grabbed his shirt and yanked him inside. “Oh shit.”
They laughed before they started kissing. Tangerine reached for the door and closed it, then locked it. They pulled back from each other and quickly started removing what clothing they needed for access. He wrapped his arms around Melinda and lifted her up. She wrapped herself around him again as they started kissing. Tangerine lowered her down on him and slid his hard cock inside of her, making her moan into his mouth. He held her tight and pushed her up against the wall as he started thrusting in and out of her
"My love,” Tangerine said against her lips before he pressed his forehead against hers and he looked into her eyes. “I mean what I said earlier. I will always protect you. Doesn’t matter from what or from who, I'm protecting you from it all.” He started kissing her neck. “I will do whatever it takes to protect you. Whatever it takes, love.” He thrust hard and pushed in deep, making her gasp. “I will always protect you. Always.” He started leaving a trail of kisses up to her ear. “Always my love. Always.”
Present
Melinda’s laughter brought Tangerine back to attention. He saw Bob was leaning in close, whispering in her ear as he smiled and made her laugh. After he pulled back, gave her a kiss on the lips before resting his forehead against hers. Tangerine clenched his fist as he watched them stare into each other’s eyes as they held each other’s hands. The thought of Melinda now having a drug addicted around her, sharing a bed with her. Didn’t just anger him or make him jealous, it stirred up the need to protect her, the need to keep her safe.
Though Bob seemed sober enough and to be in the right state of mind. The way Bob acted towards Melinda and the way he treated her, seemed genuine enough. But Tangerine wasn’t going to risk it. At any point Bob could fall off the wagon and take everyone down with him, including Melinda. Tangerine wasn’t going to allow that, he couldn’t allow that. He was going to do what he always said he'd do, what he’s always done, protect her. Whatever it takes, Tangerine was going to protect her. Whatever it takes, he will protect her from him, from Bob.
Wishing On Dandelions Part 19
Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.
Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.
Warning: Cussing. Death Threats. Violence. Mental Illness. Torture.
You're Supernatural Part 12
Few Minutes After "The Talk"
“A witch? That’s crazy man.” Miguel said, shaking his head. “I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it mate.” Tangerine said, leaning against the wall.
“Trust me, I didn’t believe it when I first found out but,” Bob said, looking over at Melinda as she helped Ms Gate put away her dress in her closet. “She definitely will make you a believer real quick, that's for damn sure.”
“Will, I’m for one a believer.” Katherine said, as they walked over. “It’s strange, I feel like I’m waking up from a dream or something.” She took a seat next to Miguel. “Things were so fuzzy and now, it’s clear.” She looked over at Melinda. “Thanks to you.” She looked around at them. “Thanks to all of you.”
“There’s no need to thank us,” Melinda said, smiling. “It’s part of the job, saving people.” Bob smiled. “I just wish, it was under better circumstances why we are here.”
“Lawerence?” Katherine said and Melinda nodded her head. “One memory I wouldn’t mind forgetting.” She let out a sigh. “Miguel,” She looked over at him. “Can we please have the room? I don’t want you to hear this.”
“Oh no,” Miguel said, shaking his head. “Not doing that again I’m staying right here.”
“Miguel,” Melinda said, looking over at her. “Either you go or,” Melinda held up her hand and wiggled her fingers as light appeared. “I mind control you and make you go.”
“Oh would you look at the time?” Miguel said, looking at his watch. “It’s time for my lunch break.” He got up. “I’ll see you guys in forty five.” He headed out.
“Baby,’ Bob said, tilting his head as she looked over at him. “You don’t know how to mind control anyone.”
“Yeah but he doesn’t know that.” Melinda said, making Bob chuckle.
“Cheeky little minx.” Tangerine said, smiling as he shook his head.
“Alright guys, I think it’s time we get to business.” Lemon said, taking a seat next to Katherine as they looked at each other. “First of all darlin’, I want to say I’m sorry for pretending to be your husband. And second, he was a real lucky man to be married to someone as beautiful and sweet as you.”
“Thank you Lemon,” Katherine said, smiling before looking away as her smile faded. “But I don't know if he would feel the same if he knew who I really was. What really happened in Lawrence."
“I’m sure whatever you did Katherine,” Melinda said, Katherine looked over at her. “Your husband would understand and forgive you. Especially if you're willing to help us now.”
“Alright.” Katherine said, nodding her head as she took a deep breath. “Oh what I would give to have my grandmother’s homemade tea to calm my nerves.” Melinda put her hands together and moved them around. There was a brief light and when she opened her hands, there was a teacup filled with tea on a matching saucer appearing in the palm of her hands. “That… that looks just like the one for my grandmother's set she had when I was a little girl.” She took the teacup from Melinda and took a sip of the tea. “Oh god.” She smiled as she looked over at Melinda. “It tasted just like her homemade tea. How did you..”
“To be honest.” Melinda said, she smiled as she shrugged her shoulders. “My magic tend to do whatever the hell it wants.” She looked over at Bob, who had a big smile on his face, making her blush. “Anyhow,” Melinda looked back over at Katherine. “I know we’re asking a lot out of you. But it really helps us out in this case, if you can tell us what happened when you worked at that place. Just, take your time okay? No rush.”
“Okay,” Katherine said, taking another sip of tea before sitting it down on her lap. “It was my first time working in a place like that, a mental institution. Before that, I just worked at a small clinic that only had two doctors there. The pay was really bad and the hours were worse. So when the owner, who was also head doctor, Dr Hendricks approached me offering me tons of hours and double the pay, of course I jumped at it. No questions asked. But looking back at it now, I definitely should have asked some questions.”
“Things just seemed off when I started working there. But like I said, it was my first time working in a place like that. So I just assumed things were done differently.” Katherine said and they all nodded their heads. “The patients were never allowed outside. I was told by my other staff members it was because a lot of them would take off and they sometimes get hurt or hurt the locals. But, it just seemed more like they were caging them up like they were animals. I know normally we have doors and windows all secure like any other hospital would. But when it came to the visitors part, that’s what really caught my attention. There were none, no visitors there at all.”
“What do you mean?” Bob asked as he leaned forward in his seat. “Like no one ever came to visit their relative or friend that was being treated there?”
“No,” Katherine said, shaking her head. “As if none of them came there to visit because they weren’t allowed to.”
“If that’s the case darlin’," Tangerine said, walking over and standing behind Melinda. “How didn’t that set off any alarms? There had to be a few people that raised some bloody hell to see their family member or mate in there.”
“That’s another thing that caught my attention. If anyone wanted to visit a patient, they would have to set up an appointment. Then the patient would get transferred to the next town over at a private and more fancy facility, that’s where visitors could see them.” Katherine said and Tangerine raised an eyebrow. “They said they did it that way so the family visiting had more privacy. And they didn’t have to worry about the other patients causing a scene making them go on lockdown. But I didn’t believe that excuse, since they are giving the family or whoever they walk through to see where the patient would be staying. They did that there too.”
“So it was a front?” Lemon asked and Katherine nodded her head. “Bloody hell.”
“But why would he need a front, is more the question.” Bob said, and they looked over at him. “I mean, you only ever use a front because you need a cover to hide something. So what was the good doctor hiding?”
“Katherine?” Melinda said as she noticed Katherine was shaking as she took a sip of tea. “Are you okay?”
“Hey,’ Lemon said, gently placing his hands on hers to help calm her. “It’s alright, if you need a break we can stop so you can collect yourself.”
“No, it’s alright.” Katherine said, shaking her head. “Let’s keep going.” She took another sip of the tea. “One day while I was in the breakroom, I got a call from one of the nurses that was taking care of my mom in the nursery home. She told me my mom was getting worse and she was… showing signs that her time was coming. Just like it did with my dad. When I got off the phone, I was just crying my eyes out right there. I didn’t notice Dr Hendricks had even walked in there. When I did, I started to apologize but he said it was completely fine. He sat down with me and asked me what was wrong. So I told him everything. I just thought he was being sweet, letting me vent about it.”
“Then he asked me if I made any arrangements for myself.” Katherine said, looking down at the tea. “If I knew what I wanted to do when dementia came for me. I… I told him when the time comes that I would…” She looked back up. “I would end my own life then be a burden on my husband.” She looked back down.” I just couldn’t bear the thought, living in a world where I wouldn’t even recognize the man I loved. Then he said….” She looked back up. “What if you didn’t have to? What if you never have to worry about dementia ever coming for you? Ever.”
“He told me that he was always fascinated with the human mind. Almost obsessed with it. That’s why he became a neurologist and did a lot of psychiatry. He kept rambling about how the brain was the strongest muscle in our body and if it was off balance just by centimeters how it could just wreck our bodies. Then he started talking about how we should be able to heal wounds in our brains like we do anywhere else. Then he just,” Katherine said, she shrugged her shoulders. “Kinda trailed off and started talking about animals and all this research on them that he was doing. He said if we were more animal-like, that mental illness or any mental disease can be reversed. I asked him what he meant by that. He said some animals have abilities to regenerate their parts and that’s what he was looking into. Mainly, the jellyfish.”
“Jellyfish?” Bob said, looking confused.
“Jelly fish have remarkable regenerative abilities mate,” Tangerine said, looking over at Bob. “They can regenerate lost body parts, kinda like how some lizards can regrow their tail. But it's said that with some species of jellyfish they can regenerate their entire bodies from small fragments of what’s left of their bodies. A lot of scientists believe a jellyfish can even potentially reverse the aging process. Making them the first immortal creatures. Will, that they know of course. If scientists knew what us hunters knew, about supernatural creatures,” Bob followed Tangerine’s gaze to Melinda. “And some of them having the ability not only to regenerate but to stay young forever on top of that, it will be a whole new bloody ball game for the world of scientists.”
“Fuck” Bob whispered as he let out a sigh. “It would be the asylum all over again for her.”
Bob saw Melinda's body tensing up as she fidgeted with her fingers. No doubt she was thinking the same thing he was. He was about to get up when Tangerine placed his hand on Melinda’s shoulder. Bob saw how Tangerine squeezed her shoulder a bit before stroking his thumb on her back, getting her to relax. He wanted to go over there and step in to comfort her. But he didn’t want to come off as a jealous boyfriend. That’s not what Melinda needed right now. She needed someone to help keep those awful memories away, even if that someone wasn’t him.
Tangerine could feel Bob’s eyes on him. When he looked over at Bob, he was debating if he should be a wiseass and give him a wink or smirk. But he saw the look in Bob’s eyes, he wasn’t upset he was touching her, just concerned for Melinda. He motioned his head to Melinda, asking Bob if wanted to take his place to comfort her. Bob just smiled and shook his head, giving him a thumbs up that he was fine to continue. Tangerine nodded his head and looked at Katherine who was looking down at her tea again.
“I’m sorry darlin’ Tangerine said, as she looked back at him. “I tend to carry on a lot about random facts. Please,” he smiled at her. “Continue. You were saying he was talking about jellyfish.”
“Yes,” Katherine said, nodding her head. “He pretty much said what you did about the jellyfish’s abilities. But things got really weird. He started talking about if we were able to splice the jellyfish DNA with our own, we would be able to regenerate. Not only our bodies, but our minds. To be honest, it really freaked me out. It reminded me of that one movie back in the day. The one with those half humans/half animals on an island. What was it? Oh, it had Val Kilmer in it.”
“The Island of Dr. Moreau,” They all said in unison.
“Yes, that one.” Katherine said, nodding her head. “He was really determined to find a way to accomplish this DNA splicing. That way he can be the first Dr that found a way to restore the human mind after its been ravished by disease. He asked if I was interested in joining him on his research. I had no idea how to even begin to answer him, but luckily my alarm I set on my phone to remind me to clock in went off. I just excused myself and got the hell out of there.”
“But he kept approaching you after that?” Lemon asked
“Yes, he did. He kept asking me all the way up till my last visit with my mom.” Katherine said, putting her head down. “She was so far gone. She didn’t even know where she was at or even know who I was. She got so frustrated trying to remember me. She turned violent. My mom started throwing whatever was near her at me and the staff. Then the next thing I know, she was on top of me with a pair of scissors. If the staff wasn’t there,” She let out a sigh. “They had to keep her in restraints after that. Seeing her like that, having to see my father the same way. It was….” She started tearing up. “It was too much.”
“It’s alright darlin.” Lemon said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “It’s alright.’”
“She passed away before I even left the building.” Katherine said, whipping her tears away. “Dr Hendricks had heard what happened and sent flowers over to my house. Along with a letter of his condolences and a copy of his research.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe he had the nerve to do that. So I just throw them all out. It was my husband that found the research and started reading it. He asked me about why I haven’t accepted the offer to be a part of the research. I told him it’s because he sounded like a mad man. But my husband,” She let out a sigh. “He knew what I was planning to do if I ever got the disease.”
“Of course he wasn’t happy about that plan. He didn’t want to lose me, not like that. He said that we were supposed to grow old and grey together. Then when we are good and ready, pass away in our sleep together, hand in hand.” Katherine said, smiling. “Something that all people who are madly in love wish for.” Melinda and Bob looked over at each other, smiling before looking back at Katherine. “He said with this research, that could happen for us. Not to mention, we could have children. We always wanted them, but with several members of my family having this disease, I didn’t want to risk our children having it. Though it’s not genetic, the more people in your family that have it, especially with both parents, the higher the chance of getting it. He begged me, literally, he was on his knees begging me to do this. So, I did. Though, I wish I never did.”
“The next day, I told Dr Hendricks, I was in. He took me to his office and I had to sign all this paperwork, all these NDA’s. I felt like I spent the whole day filling all that paperwork out. When I was finally finished, he took me to the elevator and used a keycard that gave him access to the other floors. Now mind you guys,” Katherine said, looking over at everyone. “I have only ever been on the first floor. That floor only had those that were ordered by a hospital to stay for a twenty four hour hold or just a couple of days. The other floors had those with severe cases, like schizophrenia, PTSD, Bipolar, multiple personality disorders, and so much more.”
“He took me to the top floor where he had a large office area.” Katherine said, looking down at her teacup. “There, I met with five other nurses that were working on the research.” They looked over at Bob, who made the right call on finding out which nurses were involved. “It turns out, we all had something major in common.” They looked back at her. “They had family members that suffered from dementia, Alzheimer's and other diseases of the mind. They also told me that Dr Hendricks had approached them at their previous jobs, offering more pay and more hours.”
“So he targeted you guys specifically because of this?” Melinda asked and Katherine nodded her head. “Was there anyone else working with you guys? That wasn't a nurse?” Katherine nodded her head again. “Do you know if they also have family members that suffered from those diseases?”
“Sorry, I’m not sure.” Katherine said, shrugging her shoulders. “But I wouldn’t doubt it though. Especially with… what we were doing.” She shook her head and looked down. “He had a few college students working on the splicing part. Creating different formals in order to unlock the key to regenerate. Me and the other nurses, we were in charge of injecting the patients and monitoring their responses to it. At first, some of us didn’t want to. But he should use paperwork that the patients’ guardians signed off on this. So, we did what we were told. Some of the patients didn't have any side effects and others were mild. But some,” She looked up. “Were so bad that they would have seizures. And others.” She looked back down. “Didn’t make it.”
“After almost two years of that I couldn’t take it anymore.” Katherine said, looking back up. “I was going to tell my husband everything when he got back from deployment, but…” She let out a sigh. “He was in an accident. He was a pilot and the jet he was on had a malfunction. He went into a tail spin and he wasn’t able to inject in time before the jet crashed. There… there was nothing left.” Tears started to form again and she quickly whipped them away. “I had nothing left of my husband but memories. Memories that I would soon forget all about. I couldn’t.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t lose him that way too.”
“So I continued on with the research. When the other nurses or anyone else wanted to stop, I..I was the one that pushed them to keep going. For years, I pushed them.” Katherine said, taking a deep breath. “Eventually Dr Hendrix came up to me. Saying that we were so close, but we needed to push the boundaries of science and medicine in order to achieve our goal. When he told me what he was planning to do, at first I… I couldn’t stomach it. But, I…" She let out a sigh. “I started showing signs of dementia. They were little and settled, but being around my parents, I knew. So I agreed to help him convince the others to do what was needed.”
“So, he had me gather everyone in his office.” Katherine said, getting up and going over to her book shelf. “Everyone was wondering what the hell was going on when they saw the table and chairs were removed.” She started looking for a book. “All that was in there were dusty old crates that were almost rotten through.” She grabbed a book off the shelf and walked back over. “When he finally came in, it wasn’t with any paperwork for us to review. Just this.” She handed the book to Tangerine. “I would see him write in the book, like he was writing down notes.” She sat down as he looked over the book. “But I never bother looking in it.”
“Mary Shelley, Frankenstein?" Tangerine said, he raised an eyebrow as he opened up the book and started scanning through the book. “What could possibly be…” One of the notes caught his attention. “No,” He shook his head. “This is pure fucking madness.” He read the note out loud. “Just like Victor, I too will use the power of nature's element and science to bring my creatures back to life. But first, in order to do this. I must first end their lives and bring them back with electricity. Just like a car battery, the formula needs a jump start in order to activate the patience ability to regenerate. The brian, must be jump started in order for this to work. This and only this, is the only way that I can achieve not only my goal but save my...” He looked at Katherine. “Beloved Katherine before it’s too late.” He closed the book. “Care to explain that last part, Ms Gates?”
‘I….I just wanted to get better, that’s all. That’s all I wanted was to get better. Even if that meant,” Katherine said, taking a deep breath. “Even if that meant tricking him into falling in love with me.” Tangerine shook his head. “And it worked,” She smiled weakly. “ He was so in love with me that he was willing to do whatever it takes to make me better before I got even worse. That’s why he brought in those crates.”
“What were in the crates?" Tangerine said, narrowing his eyes. “He said he was going to use electricity to jump start the brian. How was he going to do that exactly?"
“Electric shock treatments.” Melinda said and they looked at her. “That’s how he was going to do it, by using electric shock treatments.” Katherine nodded her head. “But I’m wondering why they came out of the crates that you described. Because they still use electric shock treatments, but the machines now only go up a certain amount. That way the patient wasn’t in any life threatening danger and would barely feel a thing. I think the reason why they came in those types of crates is because the machines he got, came from an old asylum.” She clenched her fists. “Isn’t that right Ms Gates?”
“Yes,” Katherine said, nodding her head. “The person he got them from said the crates were in a hidden bomb shelter that the old asylum had. They were the only thing that remained after some type of freak explosion took the whole asylum building down.” Melinda started to shake as her heart started to race. “He said the staff and the patients were..”
“I’m sorry,” Bob said, getting up and going over to Melinda. Tangerine withdrew his hand so Bob could place his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but I don’t think we need to know what happened in…”
“No,” Melinda said, reaching her hand up and placing it on Bob’s. “I want to hear it.”
“Baby please,” Bob whispers as he kneels down next to her. “You don’t have to hear this.” She turned to him, pleading with him with her eyes. They started whispering back and forth. Tangerine looked over at Lemon who did the same, both gave each other the look of what was going on. They both looked back at Melinda and Bob, when Bob sighed heavily. “Alright baby, if that’s what you want.” He stood back up. “Please Katherine, continue.”
'The staff and the patients were either missing or their bodies were only charcoal remains.’ Katherine said as Melinda squeezed Bob’s hand. “The guy even mentioned that there was some rumor back when it happened. That there was one survivor, on account of the footprints that the townspeople found that lead from the rumble and to the forest that was nearby. They said they found the survivor but the story is unclear what happened when they did. One version of the survivor died from their wounds. Another, there was no survivor and it was a ghost of one of the patients that left the footprints. Who knows what really happened that day.”
“Did he say,” Melinda said, taking a deep breath. “Did he say when and where this happened?”
“The asylum was called Forest Haven Asylum, in Laurel, Maryland. It happened maybe between twenty or twenty two years ago.” Katherine said Melinda’s and Bob’s other hand joined their other ones on her shoulder. “He was telling Dr Hendrix about his experience when he was searching through the rumble. He swore he could hear voices and footsteps there. He even said he caught a glimpse of shadows moving around him. He claimed to have seen someone in a patient's gown that he followed all the way to the bomb shelter and that’s how he found it. Dr Hendrix just said he was trying to spook him. But maybe it was ghosts after all. I mean, you're a witch,” She motions to Melinda. “And you guys are all here about ghosts so, it has to be true I guess.”
“Speaking of ghosts,” Melinda said, putting her hands back down as Bob left his on her shoulder. “The one that possessed little Maria, it tended to make her shuffle around and not respond to anyone or anything around her. Almost like she was zombiefied. At first I thought it was because the ghost had attached itself for her for over two weeks. But when we got the ghost to eject itself, I noticed something when it reformed above her before Bob took it out. It had a hole, right here.” She pointed at a spot on her head. “That’s where they would insert a large needle to lobotomize someone. But back in the old asylum days, they would just use large nails and drive it in with a hammer. This was another cruel, sick and twisted method they used. Among others they would use. That hole I saw was pretty large. So that’s telling me it was a large nail that did that, not a needle. That’s why I was able to see the hole. Now why would a ghost from a place you work at, have that?”
“That’s a good question, love?” Tangerine said, glaring at Katherine. “It sounds like the good doctor and his lover were doing more than trying to come up with a cure. Sounds more like they were torturing and mutilating the patients for kicks. Is that how you get off darlin’?”
“Tangerine,” Lemon said, shaking his head. “Don’t bruv. She’s a victim here.”
“Nah Lemon, those patients in her care were victims. She,” Tangerine said, pointing at Katherine. “Is a villain in this story, aren’t you darlin’?" Katherine started to tear up. “I admit, at first you were tugging at my bloody heart strings with your story. I could somewhat relate to losing memories of someone you love. It’s absolutely fucking gut rentching. But to go as far as brutalize those poor souls just so you wouldn’t forget your husband. That’s is beyond selfish.” He went around Melinda. “That is pure diabolical.” He walked over towards her and looked down at her. “That darlin’ is pure fucking evil.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Katherine said, putting her head down as she started crying. “I’m so sorry. I just… I just.. I didn't want to… forget my husband. I just didn’t want to forget. I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”
“Save your tears for someone who gives a shit darlin” Tangerine said, Lemon jumped up and shove Tangerine back. “You can stop pretending to be her husband's mate, she has her memories back.”
“Your outline bruv.” Lemon said, getting into Tangerine’s face. “You need to step off.”
“You're going to make me?” Tangerine said, pressing his forehead against his. “Bruv.”
“Tangerine,” Bob said, going over to him. “Won’t you have a seat man?” Tangerine didn’t budge. Bob looked over at Melinda, motioning her to the seat where he was at. She nodded her head and moved to his spot. “Tangerine, do me a favor man.” Bob turned back to him. “Won’t you go sit down with Melinda and keep her company for me?” He slowly moved his head off of Lemon’s. “Come on, go sit with her please.” Tangerine stepped back from Lemon and turned his attention to Melinda. He walked over to her and took a seat next to her. “Alright,” He looked over at Lemon. “We need to wrap this up.”
“Agree mate.” Lemon said, taking his seat.
“Katherine,” Bob said, taking a seat in front of her. “I know, you did some messed up shit and judging by how you are acting, you regret everything.” She nodded her head. “To be honest with you, before I met Melinda I could never imagine myself being with anyone. Let alone fight for someone I love. Now,” He looked over at Melinda. “I’m willing to go on a warpath for this woman. I’m willing to do absolutely anything in my power to protect her, even if that means I get my hands dirty.” He looked back at Katherine. “And if I was in your position and all I had left of her was my memories, I think I would have done worse than you did,” She looked up at him. “Love can make you do the most bat shit crazy things. Things we didn’t know we were even capable of doing.”
“Now I’m not saying what you did wasn't right. Torturing and taking another life the way you did for your husband, doesn’t make it right. But I get it, I really do. And if you are truly sorry,” Bob said, leaning forward in his seat. “Truly sorry then you’ll rewrite the wrongs you did. Not for yourself, not for your husband, but for those souls that are trapped in that building.” He placed his hand on hers. “Help us set them free so they can finally find peace Katherine. Please, help us by telling us where you guys buried the bodies. Please Katherine, help us.”
“Buried… the bodies?” Katherine said, as she started getting her crying under control. “I don’t.. I don’t understand.” She shook her head. “They should be at the cemetery that he owned for the patients.”
“They're not,” Bob said, shaking his head as he removed his hand. “When we opened up the coffins, they were empty.”
“Empty?” Katherine said, shaking her head. “No. No. No. That’s impossible. I saw them in those pine coffins myself before they got moved.”
“Pine coffins?” Lemon said and she turned to him, nodding her head. “Like the kind they would use for inmates?” She nodded her head. “The coffins in the graves,” He looked at Bob. “They weren’t pine.”
“No, they weren’t.” Bob said, shaking his head. “They were regular coffins that you would purchase.”
“Then where are the pine coffins?” Melinda asked as she got up and started pacing. “It makes no sense. Why bury the regular coffins and not the pine ones?” She stopped pacing and looked at Katherine. “The bodies, a lot of them had visible markings right?” Katherine nodded her head. “Why not cremate those ones then?” Katherine shrugged her shoulders and Melinda started pacing again. “At the memorial services it’s always an open casket.”
“Not always love,” Tangerine said, Melinda stopped pacing and turned to him. “If the face or body was too gruesome, they’ll leave the casket closed.”
“You're right, they would be closed.” Melinda said as she started pacing again. “Bob?” He turned to face her. “The coffins we opened, the cause of death for those ones were sucided right?”
“Yeah,” Bob said, nodding his head. “The cause was them throwing themselves off the roof.”
“Which would cause them to have a closed casket, like you said.” Melinda said, pointing at Tangerine who nodded his head. “So the coffins were just for show for the family. But still that doesn’t make sense. I mean,” She stopped and looked at them. “You can have just thrown them off the roof yourselves to cover it up. Am I right?” They all nodded. “Then why not do that? Why bury an empty caskets?” She started pacing. “Doesn’t make sense. I need to make it make sense. I need to get all the pieces of…Wait, pieces.” She stopped pacing. “Pieces. Pieces of paper. The articles. L.J.” She turned to Lemon. “You read all the articles right?”
“Yeah I did,” Lemon said, nodding his head. “I heard them a few times actually.”
“What happened to Dr Hendrix?” Melinda asked.
“He went missing.” Lemon said, then he turned to Katherine. “It said you reported him missing and then later on, you had him declared dead.”
“That’s right,” Katherine said, looking over at Lemon. “That’s why we ended the research. We had no idea where he went. We tried to reach out to family members but none of them heard from him in years. And he didn’t have a social life, so there were no friends outside of work. I looked at his house and the other facility he owned, but nothing. He was gone without a trace. So,” She looked over at Melinda. “After a couple of weeks, I had him declared dead. That’s when I found out he actually left me everything in his will, including the building. But,” She let out a sigh. “After everything, I wanted nothing to do with it. None of us did.”
“That’s why you all resigned the same day?” Melinda said and Katherine nodded her head. “There’s an old for sale sign on the property, it’s covered in vines now. I always wonder, why didn’t anyone ever buy it? Was there no offers?”
“No, I had people interested about two or so months after it closed. When I took them for a walk through the place, there was this weird smell coming from the vents. It smelled like,” Katherine said, stopping to think about it. “Smelled like if someone left wet dog food in the sun for days on end. It was so strong, I thought I was going to throw up. Not to mention there were tons of flies flying everywhere. We thought maybe it’s because we killed the power to the place or maybe one of the raccoons we saw running around got into the vents and died. Buyers were put off of course. I was going to try to get someone in there to clean out the place and all that, but,” She let out a sigh. “My symptoms were getting worse at that point. So I said screw it and left it.”
“Katherine,” Bob said and she looked at him. “That’s what you remember smelling? Wet dog food that was left in the sun for days? Exactly that smell?” She nodded her head and he leaned in close again. “Without a doubt, that’s what it smelled like?”
“Yeah,” Katherine said, nodding at her head. “I’m sure that’s what it smelled like.”
“Alright then,” Bob said, getting up and turning to Melinda. “That smell she's describing, I smelled that before. I smelled it a few times back in the day.” Melinda titled her head, confused. “I would come across that smell in the drug houses I used to crash in. That smell came off the bodies of those that had OD and were left there for days.” Melinda’s eyes widened as Tangerine and Lemon jumped out of their seats. “That’s why the caskets were empty, the bodies are in that building somewhere. And most likely, Dr Hendrix is too.”
“That’s not right,” Katherine said and they turned to her as she got up. “We searched everywhere in that place for him before I reported him missing. The cops even did a walk through, from top to bottom for me. There’s just no way.” She shook her head. “There’s no way. Why would he even keep the bodies?”
“For study,” Tangerine said, opening the book back up and scanning through. “Right here.” He found another note and read it out loud. “Victor had the right idea when it came to searching for the right body parts for his creation. But unfortunately I can’t do that to my beloved Katherine. I can’t find her a brain and switch it out with hers. That would take away one of the reasons why I have fallen in love with her, her beautiful mind. All I can do now is study those that failed the testing. Maybe once I cracked their skulls open and appeared inside, I can find what I am missing.”
“Oh my god.” Katherine said, falling back down in her seat. “Oh my god.”
“Katherine.” Melinda and Lemon said, rushing to her side and tended to her.
“Does it say anything in there where they could be in the building?” Bob asked and Tangerine started scanning through the pages. He stopped and raised an eyebrow when he came across another note. “Did you find it?” He shook his head. “What is it then?”
“I’m afraid my time is running out to cure my beloved Katherine,” Tangerine said, reading out loud as the others turned to him. “Not only is she showing more signs of the disease. But the blood work I had requested came back. I thought prephase using my own DNA with the jellyfish would be better suited for the testing. After all in my family history, no one has suffered for any disease of the mind. But I have forgotten what most of the males in my family suffer from, Colon Cancer. It seems I am already at stage four of the disease. This would explain why my body and mind have been tired of late and why I’m losing weight rapidly. I was hoping it was just the lack of sleep and not eating regularly like my beloved Katherine had suggested. Now, I am afraid I will die before I can cure her from this disease. All I can do now is push myself and work in my lab non-stop in hopes of finding a cure for her before I meet my end. But if I am unable to, I pray she can forgive me.”
“Anything else?” Bob asked.
“Let’s see,” Tangerine said, turning the pages to the end of the book. “There’s this.” He pulled out a picture of Katherine with a man with glasses. “I take this, is the mad doctor?” He showed Katherine and she nodded her head. “What do we have here?” He saw the note behind the photo. “It seems like he left one final note.” He read it out loud. “My beloved Katherine. I found it! I found a cure for you! I found it accidently when I flipped one of the machines over out of frustration. A hidden compartment opened up and there was a journal inside that one of the doctors wrote in. He said that one of his patients had extraordinary abilities, among them was the ability to heal herself. Can you believe it my beloved?! Maybe it wasn’t a ghost that left those footprints after all. Maybe it was her? She must have survived the explosion because of her ability to heal. Can you imagine what that can do for you? For us? She can heal us both my beloved. I just need to find her. I need to find this…” He looked over at Melinda. “This witch.”
“What?” Bob said, taking the picture out of Tangerine’s hand and reading the rest. “Once I do find this witch, I will bring her back in a cage if I must. Nothing, and I do mean nothing will stop me from curing you. Even if that means I need to…” He swallowed hard. “I need to dissect this witch in order to do so. I will do whatever I need to for you, my beloved Katherine. I just pray, I find her in time. Till then, I leave you this book. I love you my beloved Katherine. I’ll be home soon, I swear. I love you Katherine, I always have. Love,” He let out a sigh. “James Hendrix.”
“He must have died when he was out looking or” Lemon said, he looked over at Melinda. “He found that witch and it didn’t go as planned.” She looked over at Bob and motioned for the picture. He handed it to her and she looked it over. She turned to Lemon and shook her head. “The cancer then.“
“Alright then,” Tangerine said, Melinda handed him the photo and he placed it back in the book before tossing the book on the chair. “Here is what we know. The coffins are empty because the mad doctor has been playing with their bloody minds, literally. And since Bob here,” He pointed his thumb at Bob behind him. “Has confirmed the smell is from a dead body. We know the bodies are no doubt in the shit hole, which will also explain why they are trapped there. Through Katherine here,” They both looked at each other. “Says they searched from top to bottom of the bloody place. So what I’m thinking is this” He started pacing. “Since the other asylum had a hidden bomb shelter, maybe this one does too. Not a bomb shelter per se, but a hidden room, a lab. He kept mentioning one in the book so there has to be a hidden lab somewhere in the building. I suggest we go back to Lawrence and go to city hall, to find blue prints of the place. Maybe there we can see the layout of the building. Though I doubt it will say,” He stopped pacing as he put his hands, “Hidden Room where I playing with dead fucking bodies are at.” He put his hands down as he went back to pacing. “We can at least see a good area that he could have built a hidden room at.”
“But T.J,” Melinda said, he stopped pacing and spun around on his heels to look at her. “City Hall will be closed by the time we get back. We’ll have to wait until morning.”
“We could but,” Tangerine said, going over to Bob and placing his arm around his shoulder. “We have this chap right here.” He motioned his head to Bob. “Who just so happens to know how to pick a lock within five seconds. Isn’t that right mate?” Bob smiled as he nodded his head. “So we go to the city hall,” He let go of him as he started pacing again. “Get the blue prints and head back to your place. Since it’s like what? Three story building. Four if you include the basement. It’s going to take a while to look it over and figure out where the hidden room can be. Once we do, we’ll get rest and hit the building at first light.”
“I’m sorry but why first light?” Bob said and Tangerine turned to him. “Why not right after we figure out where the room is?”
“First rule when it comes to hunting ghost mate,” Tangerine said, shaking his finger. “Never, never, never take a ghost on at night.” He put his hand down. “There’s a reason why they say only the spooky stuff happens at night. That’s when they are most active and will be roaming around in those halls. I don’t know about you mate, but I’m not about to take on over sixty odd ghosts at night. Especially during the midnight hour or some call it” He looked over at Melinda. “The witch’s hour.” He looked back over at Bob. “And I’m most definitely not going to fuck around with a ghost at the Devil’s hour if they turn out to be vengeful spirits. Which I'm sure they will be after what bloody happened to them.”
“Okay, I heard of those two hours.” Bob said, nodding his head. “The witch’s hour is when the veil is the thinnest between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Spirits are most active then.” Tangerine nodded his head. “And the Devil’s hour is when evil spirits are said to be their strongest.”
“That’s right mate,” Tangerine said, nodding his head before turning to Melinda. “Though love here will be at her strongest during the witch’s hour. We run the risk of the spirits using that time to feed off the energy she possesses. It would be like shark infested waters and love will be the chum.” He turned back to Bob. “And the Devil’s hour, fucking forget about it. It will be a bloody fucking war zone for us. Since Mel isn’t evil, she’ll be a disadvantage and won’t get any fucking power boost like those wankers would. Even though both hours only last a minute each. It will only take a second for one of those ghosts to end us. Daylight would be the best chance to take on these spirits and for all of us make it out alive.”
“Alright,” Bob said, nodding his head. “But I do have a stupid question to ask.”
“Rememeber mate, with training to be a hunter, no question is stupid. Now,” Tangerine said, he nodded his head. “What’s your question?”
“Alright.” Bob said, nodding his head. “Since we have to salt and burn the bodies to release them. Why don’t we just, you know” He made an explosion gesture with his hands as he made an explosion sound. “Wouldn’t that work?”
“That’s a stupid question.” Tangerine said, making Bob roll his eyes. “I’m just fucking with you mate.” He smirked. “There are two outcomes to doing that. One, it does work and releases the spirits, allowing them to move on from this world. Two, it backfires and they do get release, but onto the world. And since it’s smack in the middle of the bloody town, they’ll possess the people in it. So unfortunately we can’t do that.”
“Alright,” Bob said, nodding his head. “I guess we have no choice then. We’ll go with your plan. You know what? I think maybe Juan might be able to help with reviewing the blue prints. He’s in construction, maybe he can see something on there that we can’t.”
“Good thinking mate.” Tangerine said, looking over at Melinda and Lemon. “Come on, let’s get going.”
“Right,” Lemon said, as all three of them stood up. “I’m really sorry for all this, and for my brother’s behavior.” Tangerine rolled his eyes and he started heading for the door. “He is a prick but he’s a good man.” He took her hand and kissed the top of it. “Thank you darlin’ for your help. We appreciate it.” He let his hand go. “I hope everything works out for you Katherine.” He walked over and joined his brother at the door.
“I know it’s going to be hard adjusting to everything but,” Bob said, he smiled. “You got a second chance, make the most of it. Katherine.”
“Here,” Melinda said, pulling out a card out of her pocket and handing it to her. “If you ever need anything, you can always call me.” She smiled. “Good luck.”
“There is something I need.” Katherine said, taking a deep breath. “Reverse the spell.”
“What?” Melinda asked.
“Reverse the spell, please.” Katherine said, taking Melinda’s hands in hers. “After what I did to those patients and tricking Dr Hendrix the way I did, I deserve to suffer. Please, reverse your spell and allow the dementia to take me.”
“You don’t know what you're asking Katherine.” Melinda said, shaking her head. “Won’t you give it some thought and…”
“No,” Katherine said, shaking her head. “I don’t need to think this over.” She smiled. “This is what I want.” She started tearing up. “It’s okay Melinda, I want this.” She placed Melinda’s hands on the side of her head. “Do it. Please.” She closed her eyes. “Erase my memories.”
“So be it,” Melinda whispered.
“Baby you can’t.” Bob said, a bright light appeared in Melinda’s head, consuming Katherine’s head. “Melinda!”
You're Supernatural Part 13
Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.
Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.
“Remember baby,” Bob said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “You got this.” She took a couple more deep breaths as she nodded her head. “Just picture in your head that we are home, I’m playing my guitar while you sing. No one else in the room, just me and you, and the music. Alright?”
“Alright.” Melinda said, nodding her head. “Just me and you, and the music.”
“That’s right baby,” Bob said, smiling. “Let’s go but first,” He looked around real quick, seeing no one. He looked back at her with a big smile on his face. “Kiss me.” Melinda giggled and nodded. He took her face in his hands, giving her a gentle kiss before letting her go. “I love you baby.”
“I love you too mi armor (my love).” Melinda said, smiling. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Let’s go,” Bob said, nodding his head before turning her around and following her back to the room. “Remember you got this.”
“I got this,” Melinda said, taking a deep breath before going into the room while Bob and Tangerine waited outside. “Ms Gates,” She smiled at her. “I want you to meet a couple of my colleagues. Is that alright?”
“I…don’t know.” Katherine said, getting nervous.
“It’s alright sweetheart.” Lemon said, sitting down next to her and taking her hand. “I’ll be right here.”
“Okay.” Katherine said, smiling at him before looking at Melinda. “I would love to meet them.”
“Alright.” Melinda said, smiling as she went back to the door. “Okay, come on in.” She walked back over to Katherine as Tangerine and Bob walked in. “This here is Agent Ford.” Tangerine nodded his head. “And Agent Dillon.” Bob nodded his head.
“Hello.” Katherine said, nodding her head before leaning towards Lemon. “Do I.. know them?”
“No, sweetheart but that’s okay.” Lemon said, giving her a friendly smile. “They want to know about the hospital you used to work at, in Lawrence.”
“Lawrence?” Katherine said, as she started mumbling to herself. “Lawrence? Kan…Kansas.” Lemon nodded her head. “Lawrence Kansas.” She started rubbing the side of her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t.” She started getting frustrated . “I can’t…” She put her head down. “I can’t remember. I can’t..”
“Shhh, it’s okay.” Lemon said, patting her hand. “It’s okay.”
“Ms Gates,” Bob said, stepping forward as she looked back up.. “Your…” He looked over at Lemon as he nodded his head. “Husband,” Bob looked back at her. “Say that you would like to dance with him to your wedding song.”
“Oh yes.” Katherine said, nodding her head. “But I’m afraid.” She looked over at her record player. “It’s broken.”
“I see you have a guitar right over there.” Bob said, looking in the corner. “If you like, I can play the song while Agent Northman,” He looked over at Melinda. “Sings it. She has a lovely singing voice and I’m pretty good on the guitar.”
‘What do you think?” Katherine said, looking over Lemon. “Would that be alright?”
“I think that would be a wonderful idea.” Lemon said, smiling.
“Okay.” Katherine said, turning to them and smiling. “Yes, if you guys would be so kind.”
“We’ll love to.” Bob said, smiling. “Just give me a bit to tone up the guitar and we’ll start.”
“Okay,” Katherine said, getting excited.
Bob went over to the guitar and took a seat next to it. He picked it up and started toning it up. Katherine started talking to Lemon about the wedding day and everyone that attended. Melinda looked over at Tangerine and shifted her eyes to the nurse and back to him. Tangerine nodded his head and walked over to the nurse that was standing by.
“Hello,” Tangerine said, offering his hand as he looked at his nametag. “Miguel, I’m Agent Ford.” They shook hands. “Would you mind giving us the room for a bit?”
“I’m not supposed to leave her alone,” Miguel said, as he looked at her and went back to Tangerine. “On account of how bad she can get.”
“Don’t worry,” Tangerine said, leaning in closer. “We’ll keep an eye on her.” That’s when he noticed the smell. “How about this,” He reached into his jacket and pulled out his cigarette case. He took one out and put the case back. “Won’t you have a quick smoke?” He offered him the cigarette.
“Oh man,” Miguel said, letting out a sigh as he shook his head. “I really shouldn’t.”
“Come on now,” Tangerine said, smiling. “What can possibly happen during a quick smoke break, am I right?”
“Yeah,” Miguel said, nodding his head. “You're right.” He took the cigarette. “Thanks man.”
“Anytime.” Tangerine said and Miguel took off. “Agent Dillon, you ready?”
“I am.” Bob said, nodding his head.
“Come on darlin,” Lemon said, standing up as he took Katherine’s hand. “Dance with your husband.”
She blushed as she allowed Lemon to help her up. They went to the center of the room and got into the dancing potion as they smiled at one and another. Bob started playing the melody and they slowly started dancing. Melinda closed her eyes and started singing.
“Your eyes, so crisp, so green. Sour apple baby, but you taste so sweet. You got hips like Jagger and two left feet and I wonder if you’d like to meet. Your voice is velvet through a telephone. You can come to mine, but both my roommates are home. Think I know a bar where they would leave us alone and I wonder if you’d take it slow.”
“Oh, we’re dancin’ in my livin’ room and up come my fists. And I say I’m only playing, but the truth is that I’ve never seen a mouth that I would kill to kiss. And I’m terrified, but I can’t resist. And I said, beautiful stranger, here you are in my arms and I know. That beautiful strangers only come along to do me wrong. And I hope, beautiful stranger, here you are in my arms. But I think it’s finally, finally, finally, finally, finally safe, for me to fall.”
Katherine closed her eyes as she laid her head against Lemon’s chest. She started to remember their wedding day. The lights above them grew bright as the room around them darkened, causing a spot light effect on them dancing.
“Oh-oh-oh….”
Tangerine and Lemon looked at each other and looked up as sprinkling lights came down on him and Katherine. The lights changed Katherine’s outfit to her wedding dress and Lemon’s suit to a black tuxedo.
“Oh-oh-oh….”
They looked at Melinda, whose eyes were still closed as she got lost to the music. They looked over at Bob, who was just smiling at them as he nodded his head to the melody. They looked back at each other smiling at the wonder before them.
“I grab your hand and then we run to the car. Singin’ in the street and playin’ air guitar. Stuck between my teeth just like a candy bar and I wonder if it goes too far to say. I’ve never recognized a purer face. You stopped me in my tracks and put me right in my place. Used to think that lovin’ meant a painful chase. But you’re right here now and I think you’ll stay.”
“Oh, we’re dancin’ in my livin’ room and up come my fists. And I say, I’m only playing, but the truth is this. I never seen a mouth that I would kill to kiss. And I’m terrified, but the truth is this. I said beautiful stranger, here you are in my arms and I know. That beautiful strangers only come along to do me wrong. And I hope beautiful strangers only come along to do me wrong. And I hope, beautiful stranger, here you are in my arms. And I think it’s finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, safe for me to fall."
“Oh-oh-oh… Oh-oh-oh. Yeah, I think it’s finally, finally, finally, finally….”
The last notes slowly faded away as Melinda opened up her eyes. As they stopped swaying, Katherine took a deep breath and that’s when a glowing light appeared on her chest. The light started surging throughout her body as she took another deep breath. The light left her body and went to the floor, spreading out and restoring the room back to normal.
“What.. What was that?” Katherine said, pulling back as she opened up her eyes. “Trevos?” She looked up at Lemon, then she jumped back and out of his arms. “You are not my husband.” She looked at what he was wearing. “Why are you in my husband's tuxedo?” She looked down at herself. “And why am I wearing my wedding dress?” She looked up and around the room at them. “Who the hell are you people?”
“Ms Gates are you…” Miguel said, coming into the room he froze as they looked over at him. “Man, I knew I shouldn’t have taken that cigarette break.”
You're Supernatural Part 12
Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.
Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.
Warning: Cussing. Mentions of Abuse. Mentions of smut. Bullying. Mentions of self harm.
Wishing On Dandelions Part 18
“By the way, I enjoyed the show you two put on.” Tangerine said, taking a step towards her as he showed her phone. “You really need to get into the habit of locking up your phone. Anyone can just get into it.” She tried to grab her phone, but he pulled out of her reach. “Huh uh love.” He put the phone in his pants pocket. “When you stop being a naughty girl, daddy will give you your phone back.” He winked at her. “Now come on love,” he held out his hand for her. “Won’t you get breakfast with me instead?” He smiled at her. “I believe it would date two hundred seventy eight.”
“No you guys are done talking.” Bob said, pulling Melinda back and stepping between them. “You need to stop being a dick to her already and give her back her phone. Then afterwards you can leave.”
“I’m sorry, what the fuck are you going on about?” Tangerine said, glaring at Bob. “Because it sounds like you’re trying to tell me to leave the apartment that I bloody pay for and is under my name.” He took another step. “How about this mate? You,” He poked Bob in his shoulder, making him take a step back, “pack up your shit that you have in our home and piss off.”
“Our home?” Melinda said, Tangerine looked over at her as she stepped out from behind Bob. “It hasn’t been your home for months.”
“That may be true love but,” Tangerine said, smiling at her. “My name is the one on the lease, not yours. Which means,” He turned back to Bob, glaring at him. “I’m the only one that decides who can live here. So back to my previous statement and this time, I’ll say it in a way you’ll bloody understand me you fucking twat.” He got into Bob’s face. “I want you pack up all your fucking shit in our home and piss the fuck off.”
“No,” Bob said, they both glared at each other. “And by the way, the only person that can decide who lives here is her.” He motioned his head to Melinda. “Because starting yesterday evening, her name was added to the lease and yours” He smiled. “Was removed.”
"The power of attorney." Tangerine said, glaring at Bob.
“That’s right." Bob said, nodding his head. " Since you left Melinda power to attorney for her make decisions on your behalf. We were able to use that to get the apartment under her name & along with the car title for the car you bought her. Not to mention she was able to remove all the money out of the joint account and open up her own account.”
“You really didn’t hesitate, did you love?” Tangerine said as his eyes shifted to Melinda. “With that performance in there I thought for sure you were devastated when you thought I was dead.” He fully turned his head towards it. “I thought if I didn’t come back, you were going to end up mourning me for a few years, not a few hours.”
“You really think I did that out of greed? Seriously?” Melinda said, she shook her head. “I was trying to get everything set up so when I healed I could go to Japan so I could…” She let out a sigh. “So I could search for you and Lemon myself.”
“What?” Tangerine said, looking confused. “You were going to look for us?”
“Yes,’ Melinda said, she let out another sigh as she put her head down. “I was planning to quit my job, but I needed to make sure I had funds to go searching for you guys. I didn’t know how long or how much I was going to need.” She lifted her head back up. “So I took everything out of the joint account and moved it over to an international bank since the one we had was local only. I was trying to get access to your other accounts, but they said I need… I need…”
“Hey it’s okay,” Bob said, placing his hand on her shoulder as he looked down at her. “It’s okay.” He looked over at Tangerine as he looked back at him. “They said she needed your death certificate. They were being totally dicks about it even with the power of attorney paperwork. She even tried to explained that you and your brother were passengers on the bullet train and weren’t uncounted for, they still said they couldn’t without it. So we spoke to a lawyer about it, they said she could get one for you, but she would have to wait months for them to declare you dead before she could. And, she didn’t want to wait.”
“I was going to go to those three women you mentioned in your voicemail, if something went south.” Melinda said, and Tangerine looked back at her. “But I thought I would save that as a last resort. So I got my name on the car title, that way I could sell it off for extra cash. Then with the apartment, I switched it to my name so I could rent it out for extra cash since you already had the rent and utilities on automatic payments with your other accounts. Yelena agreed she would move in till I got back. Originally I was going to have Bob just move in but he,” She looked up at Bob as he smiled down at her. “He said he’ll come with me to help look for you guys.” Tangerine looked over at Bob. “I just…” She took a deep breath as he looked back at her. “I just wanted to bring you guys home.” She looked at Tangerine as her eyes started to water. “One way or another, I was going to bring you guys home.”
“Love, I,” Tangerine said, taking a deep breath. “I don’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t.” Melinda said, scoff. “How could I even tell you about it? You wanted silence in there, remember?”
“Love,” Tangerine said, stepping over to her. “I said I was sorry for..”
“I’m tried of your fucking sorries!” Melinda yelled as she shoved him back. “You're always sorry every time you're being an asshole to me. Your sorries don’t mean jack shit because you keep being one to me. You don’t even have a reason to be an asshole to me, because I don’t do anything wrong. You even said so yourself if I found solace in someone else that I had every right to. But the moment you saw Bob’s stuff was in the apartment, you started being an asshole again. Even though he’s the one that’s been picking up all the broken pieces of my heart that you fucking shattered.” Tangerine put his head down. “You still have the fucking nerve to take it out on me. And you want to talk about performances back there,” Melinda walked up to him, making him look at her. “I actually bought that you were sorry for everything you have done. I really thought you wanted forgiveness. I thought you actually wanted to change me. But,” Her tears started to run down her face. “That was just another one of your lies. You’ll…You’ll never change. Even after everything, you won’t change. Because you never loved me enough…” She stepped away from him. “To change.” She started crying.
“Love, I can change. I promise I’ll…” Tangerine said he took a step towards her when Bob stepped between them. “If I were you mate, I would strongly be considering about walking away right now.”
“You're done making her cry Tangerine.” Bob said, as they both glared at each other. “So let me go back to my previous statement from earlier. And this time, I’ll say it in a way you’ll fucking understand me you fucking asshole.” He spoke through his teeth. “Won’t you,” He poked Tangerine in his shoulder, making him take a step back. “Give her back her fucking phone and then you can fuck off.”
“Cowboys,” Tangerine said, shaking his head. “Your kind is too daft to realize.” He started stepping closer. “What kind of fucking danger you put yourselves in.” He closed the gap between them. “Look Bobby,” Bob’s jaw clenched. “I appreciate you looking out for her and taking care of her while I was gone. I really fucking do mate. But I’m here now, ya. And me and love here,” He motioned his head to her. “Have a lot to talk about. Including a subject dealing with a ring I got her. And to show my appreciation for a job well done looking after her and for wellness to come look for me and my brother, I’m going to give you this one last fucking chance mate. I want you to go inside and gather up all your bloody shit that you don’t want me to throw out. Then, get your ass on that fucking elevator and piss the fuck off. And never, ever fucking come back here or around my love ever again. Because Melinda, is mine. She has and always will be mine. Now, go, you fucking prick while I still allow it.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so.’ Bob said, shaking his head. “I’m fine right here, thanks.”
“You fucking daft or fucking mental bruv?” Tangerine said, he tilted his head to the side. “Did she not tell you what I do for a living? What I really fucking do for a living?”
“She told me and I was also there for the voicemail, but,” Bob said, shrugging his shoulders. “I just don’t give a shit.”
“Ohhh really now?” Tangerine said, smirking as he put his head back up right. “You got a death wish, don't you mate?”
“Yeah I do.” Bob said, smirking right back. “So won’t you grant it for me, I fucking dare you.”
“You really think you can take me on mate? You think you got the fucking bollocks?” Tangerine said as his eyes narrowed. “Because I don’t think you fucking do.” Bob narrowed his eyes. “Do you know, how many men I fucking killed to get off that train to come back home to her? How much blood I got on my fucking hands throughout the years? Or blood I’ve spilled for her, to keep her safe? How about the life I fucking took for her, when we first met to give her peace of mind?”
“What?” Melinda said, looking confused as she whipped her tears away. “When we first met? Whose life are you talking about? I didn’t have any issues with anyone.”
“Didn’t you love? Because I remember how you reacted when you said his name. The way your body tensed up and zoned out while you were working on sealing up my wound.” Tangerine said, she gasped when she figured it out. “That’s right love. I’m talking about John Ethan Price from Phili.” He turned to Melinda “He’s the reason why it took me so long to get back for our seventh date. When one of my contacts tracked him down. I paid him a visit. I took my time with him, breaking every bone in his body. And then,"A wicked smile danced across his face. “I removed a certain item of his and watched him bleed out. I doubt,” He looked at Bob. “You could stomach doing something like that mate. Let alone stomach taking on a man that can do that. Have you ever been in a fight before Bobby?” He chuckled when Bob’s breathing got heavy. “You know what, I’ll let you take the first shot. Right here.” He pointed at his left cheek and waited but Bob didn't move. “Come on now, take your best fucking shot mate.” Bob still didn’t budge.
“I fucking knew it.” Tangerine said, he chuckled a bit. “You need to stop acting like you some kind of fucking tough guy that can protect her. You’ll only make things worse for her.” Bob’s breathing got heavy. “You’ll end up failing to protect her just like I know you have failed to protect others before her. You can’t protect anyone, because you're not a bloody hero Bobby.” Bob looked down. “You can never protect her like I can. You know why? It’s because your too much of a fucking pussy to be a hero. Your nothing but little fucking cunt. You honestly should do us all a favor and just go kill your…” A fist made contact with his left cheek, causing Tangerine to trip over his own feet when he tried to get balance and fell to the floor. “Fuck!” He looked up as Melinda pulled back her fist for another swing. “Love?”
“FUCKING ASSHOLE!” Melinda yelled as she lunged at him. Bob quickly went behind her and wrapped his arms around her breast, lifting her off the ground. “LET ME FUCKING GO NOW! I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL THIS SON OF A BITCH!” Bob struggled as she tried to get her feet back on the ground. “HEAR ME ASSHOLE?! I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!”
Tangerine eyes widened at the site he was seeing. Melinda was never one for cussing. The only time he really heard her cuss was when they were being intimated. Otherwise it was rare he heard her cuss. Then violence, she definitely was not one for it. She was always sweet to everyone she met and so caring. Hell, when the thugs broke into the apartment back in New York, she tried her best to give them first aid after Tangerine took them out.
But now here she was, a totally different person. The woman he loves was now cussing at him and calling him names. She was threatening not only to hurt him, but to kill him. And she was doing it all for some bull rider. He looked at Bob as his breathing got heavy. She was doing it all to protect Bob from him. And now Bob, was holding Melinda back to protect him from her.
“Baby, please stop. Stop.” Bob said, struggling to keep a hold on to her as her feet touched the floor again. “Baby please. You need to stop. You need to stop.” He moved to her side as he moved his hands around her waist as she kept trying to get to Tangerine. “Baby come on. Please stop this already. You need to stop. I don’t want you to…” He felt something wet against his arms and he looked down. “Oh shit. You’re bleeding.” He looked up at Melinda. “Baby you're bleeding.” She won’t listen as she keeps trying to get to Tangerine as she yelled at him. Bob had no choice, but to get her attention. “Melinda you’re fucking bleeding! Your fucking bleeding!” Melinda finally stopped and looked up at him. “Baby, you're bleeding.” All three of them looked at the top of her shorts, seeing blood going across it. “Okay, you… you.. need to go to the ER.” She looked up at Bob as he started panicking. “I’m going to take you to the ER.” He started nodding his head. “I'm going to take you.”
“I don’t think so mate.’ Tangerine said, they turned to him as he sat up. “If anyone is taking her, it’s going to be me.” He stood up. “After all she’s bleeding because the way you were fucking holding her and pulling on her, you fucking little…” Tangerine was yanked from behind by his jacket with so much force his feet went out from under him and fell over onto this back. “Fuck me.” He started sitting up when something hit his chest and pinned him to the floor. “Fuck.” He looked at his chest, seeing an all too familiar cane on it. “Rogers.” He looked up to see Mr Rogers looking down at him. “What the bloody hell are you doing old man? Let me up now. I need to…”
“All you need to do boyi is just stay right there. You already caused enough trouble as it is.” Mr. Rogers said before he looked over at Bob and Melinda. “Go on laddie, take the lass to the ER to get that tended to, I can handle it from here.”
“Right.” Bob said, he quickly took off his overshirt and placed it against her lower stomach. “Keep pressure on it.” She took a hold of it and he cradled her in his arms. “Don’t worry baby, I got you.” He went to the elevator and pressed the button, then he looked over at Mr Rogers. “Thank you sir.”
“Anytime laddie.” Mr Rogers said, the doors opened and Bob stepped inside. When the doors closed he looked down at Tangerine. “How’s your face boyi?”
Tangerine shoveled the cane off of him as he spun around to his stomach and then pushed himself off the ground and to his feet. He glared at Mr Rogers before spinning back around and started taking off to the elevator. He didn’t get far when the handle of the cane went around his throat and pulled him back and then spun him back around. Tangerine took off his jacket and threw it down. He balled up his fist and thrust his arms forward, getting them loosen up before he took his fighting stance.
“Come off of it boyi,” Mr Rogers said, he started smirking. “Even on your best day, you can‘t beat me.” Tangerine stepped forward and swung, it was dodged. He started doing combination punches, but each punch was perfectly dodged. ”Mind your footing now.” He put the cane between Tangerine’s legs and hooked the handle behind one of his knees. He pulled the cane forward, causing Tangerine to flip onto his back. “Had enough boyi?” Tangerine put his feet to just chest and thrust them up, landing into a fighting stance. “I guess not.”
Tangerine threw more punches that got dodged or blocked by the cane. Then he spun around and threw a kick to Mr. Rogers’ head. But Mr Rogers put his arm blocking the kick and then he looped his arm around Tangerine’s leg, pulling it down to his side. He reached out with his cane, hooking it behind Tangerine’s knee. Like before he pulled it as he let go of Tangerine’s leg and Tangerine fell back to the ground on his back. Before he could get up, Mr Rogers’ put the end of the cane to Tangerine’s throat. He applied pressure as Tangerine grabbed the end trying to push it off of him so he could breath.
“I don’t know why you always assist on fighting me every time we meet up. You know deep down you’ll never win. After all,” Mr Rogers said, smiling. “I’m the one that taught you and your brother everything I know.” Tangerine started turning red and gasping for air as he mumbled. “I’m sorry, what was that boyi?” Tangerine mumbled again as he struggled more. “Can’t breath?” Tangerine nodded his head the best he could. “Are you going to behave yourself if I let you up?” Tangerine nodded his head. “Good.” He removed the cane and Tangerine started coughing as he tried to suck in air. “You should have stayed away boyi, like you swore you would.” Tangerine mumbled in between his coughing. “What now?” He put his hands on the cane as he banged the bottom end on the ground a couple of times. “Speak up boyi.”
“I said…” Tangerine said, coughing a bit. “You should… told me… about.. that fucking prick.” He sat up, taking in air after he got his coughing under control. “Every bloody week, I texted you.” He looked up at him as he rubbed his throat. “Asking if she was okay. Asking if she was safe.“ He stood back up. “Not once did you tell me about that prick. Not once!” He stepped closer to him. “Not once did you mention that some fucking wanker moved in with her! Why wouldn’t you tell me!?” He got in his face. “Why wouldn’t you tell me she was moving on? That she was in love with someone else?”
“What good would it have done you boyi? You left her after all, remember?” Mr Rogers said, Tangerine shook his head as he turned around and started walking over to the elevator. “You can’t get mad if she decides to move on with her life after you left when you thought she was pregnant.”
“What did you say?” Tangerine said, he stopped in his tracks. “When I “thought” she was pregnant?” He turned back around. “Did you know?” He tilted his head. “Did you know she wasn’t pregnant and that it was just a cyst?” Mr Rogers nodded his head. “You fucking cheeky cunt.” He tilted his head upright as his eyes darken. “How long have you known? How long?”
“The laddie told me the next day they found out.” Mr Rogers said, and Tangerine started breathing hard as he clenched his fist. “Easy now boyi. The laddie was going to bring it up to the lass about informing you about the ultrasound results. He just didn’t know how or when since she was having a difficult time with it. The poor lass was in tears for a few days after she found out she wasn’t pregnant.” Tangerine closed his eyes and started doing breathing exercises to calm down. “It's not my fault that it took you so long to listen to the voicemail.” Tangerine’s eyes snapped open and glared at him.“Tell me boyi, why did you come back after you finally worked up the nerve to leave? Is it because she’s not actually pregnant? Studies show fatherhood can be difficult for someone with your upbring.”
“Studies? There you go again with your logical emotionless bullshit old man.” Tangerine said, rolling his eyes. “And no,” He shook his head. “Before I listened to that voicemail, the White Death called me up personally and threatened not only to kill me and Lemon, but our loved ones. After that, I knew, I fucken knew, if I got off that train alive, I was going to come back here, to her, to my child. I was going to come home and beg her for fucking forgiveness. Then,” He smiled. “I was going to ask her to marry me and raise our child together far, far from here, in peace.”
“So you were planning to leave the life then?” Mr Rogers asked and Tangerine stood there for a moment before putting his head down. “Oh boyi.” He let out a sigh as he shook his head. “I told you and your brother both, long ago. Once you're in this life, that’s it. You can’t have your cake, and eat it too. It was one or the other, never both.” Tangerine looked back up at him. “It can never be both.”
“So what if she was pregnant huh?” Tangerine said, taking a step towards him. “Was I just supposed to stay away like you did with the woman you fucking knocked up? The woman you claim that you fucked loved?” Mr Rogers’ stayed calm as Tangerine kept walking towards him. “How did that work for you by the way? How are your boys doing? I’m sure they didn’t ended up all fucked up and traumatized and literary scar,” he showed him the scars on the back of his hands. “For life by your actions.”
“I’m sure after their mum gave birth to them, they didn’t end up being dropped off in a couple of boxes at some fucked up orphanage. An orphanage where they were fucking beaten and starved for days on end. All because their fucking asshole of a grandfather,” Tangerine said, getting into Rogers’ face as he spoke through his teeth. “Couldn’t stand the fucking sight of them. After his little girl died giving birth to them.”
“I’m sure the youngest boy of yours didn’t grow up clinging onto a fucking tank engine because that was the only one,” Tangerine said, holding up a finger. “Good fucking memory he ever had in that fucking hell hole of a place. The only fucking thing he had to escape to in his head when the screaming of the other children started. Whenever his beatings started. It’s not like he still falls asleep watching that tank engine show that way he could hear it in his dreams and keep the fucking nightmares away. Or carries a sticker book around of all those fucking trains and recite their names and traits whenever a bad memory rears it’s fucking ugly head.”
“I’m sure your oldest boy it’s the most fucked up one between the two. It’s not like he started nicking to make sure his little brother and the others had something to eat while he went hungry. Or started nicking some toys for them play with so they had some time of fucking happiness. I doubt after all that nicking he didn’t develop the need to keep fucking nicking random shit,” Tangerine said, pulling out random knick knacks out of his pocket that he stolen from Melinda’s apartment. “Because it has become second fucking nature to take everything he sees.” He put them back in his pocket. “Just like it didn’t become second nature it always be lying all fucking time. Because he didn’t want anyone to fucking know what happened to him as a child. Or what he fucking did for a living. It’s not like he would lie to the fucking woman he loves, while the little voice in his head is screaming at him to just fucking say the truth. But he fucked refused to because he was too bloody afraid to find out what she really thought of him if he did. Too afraid she would pack up her shit and fucking leave him.”
“I’m sure he didn’t start taking all the beating for his little brother or the others so they'll be spared. I doubt he got so used to the beatings that he couldn’t feel anymore fucking pain. And the only place he could feel pain his fucking face!” Tangerine yelled as he pointed at his face. “Since those bastards would never strike there because they didn’t want to leave any visible marks for people to see. It’s not like he developed the need to get beatings after he escaped that place! And that’s why he would start fights at bars or do MMA. Or why could he only have rough sex with women he slept with. I doubt he was one of those assholes that would get off when the woman he loves would slap him, pull his fucking hair or dig her nails into him. Or the only way he could be intimate with her is by fucking her and dominate her, because the only way he knows how to give fucking pleasure is through fucking pain! Even though he so desperately wishes he can show her how much he loves her by making love to her. But he fucking can’t, because he doesn’t know any other fucking way to!”
“I’m sure he doesn’t have issues with falling asleep at night when he’s away from her. The only fucking person that can help him sleep at night because she reminds him he doesn’t have to stay up and keep watch over the others. She reminds him it’s alright to fall asleep. It’s not like the reason he feels the need to stay up is because the last time he fell asleep is when he lost...” Tangerine said, as he started tearing up. “When he lost Little Noah on his fucking watch. All because he was so exhausted for being up for three fucking days straight to make sure they wouldn’t take Little Noah. But in the end they took him because your oldest fell asleep and couldn’t hear Little Noah screaming for him to save him.”
“I’m sure your oldest didn’t get to the point that he fucking had enough!” Tangerine yelled as his breathing got heavier and heavier. “So he grabbed the rat poising they kept in the basement and poured it into the staff's food. Then personally slit the throats of the two cunts that ran the place while they started foaming at the mouth. I’m sure he didn’t have all that blood on his fucking hands when he was just ten fucking years old!” He took a deep breath to calm himself. “I’m sure you didn’t see everything on the news and saw how the youngest twin looked just like his mum. Or how the oldest twin looked just like you. While your twins watched with the others as the place burned down. It’s not like you were too fucking late and the damage was already done. I doubt the oldest developed a fucking taste for blood,” He pressed his forehead against Mr Rogers as he started to yell in his face. “Because he’s so fucking angry! Angering that no fucking adult would listen to them about the abuse! Angering that he failed to save Little Noah! Angering that he wasn’t fucking strong enough to kill them all sooner! I’m sure he doesn’t keep doing this fucking life because he’s afraid if he stops he’ll end up hurting or fucking killing the woman he loves because he’s so fucking angry all the fucking goddamn time!”
“But hey,” Tangerine said, backing away a few steps while smiling. “I’m sure none of that happened. Not in a million years. I mean what’s the chances of that happening?” He grabbed his jacket off the floor as he kept walking backwards. “I’m sure your boys grow up just fine and fucking danny. All sunshine and fucking rainbows for them. Both of them happy and content little fuckers. All because you fucking cunt,” He pointed at him. “Made the right fucking choice by walking away from the woman you love that was carrying your twin boys.” He gave him the thumbs up as he kept smiling. “Good on you mate. Glad everything worked out for you.”
“What happened to Henry and,” Mr Rogers said, taking a step towards. “To you Junior was…"
“Tangerine! Lemon!” Tangerine yelled, correcting him. “My name is Tangerine and his name is Lemon mate. Not fucking Junior. Not fucking Henry. Tangerine and Lemon. Just like the boxes our grandfather fucking left us in when he dropped us off at that god forsaken place.” A phone went off. “Here that?” He started taking Melinda’s phone out of his pockets. “That Teenage Dream bullshit is his ringtone she has for him. And see?” He showed him the phone. “She has his name as husband in her contacts. Pity someone didn’t fucking tell me about him before I came back. Would have saved us a lot of fucking trouble.” He answered the phone. “Ya, she alright? Did they look at her already?”
“Yeah man, so far so good. They got her cleaned up and they said it just looks like the very outer layer opened up. They said it happens sometimes. But they are doing an ultrasound to make sure there’s no tearing on the inside.”
“Alright,” Tangerine said, nodding his head. “I’ll be over there in a bit.”
“Actually I was calling to see if you were still at the apartment and if...”
“Why do you want to know?” Tangerine said, cutting him off. “Want to finished what we fucking started mate? I’m more than happy to.”
“Dude I’m not trying to pick a fight with you right now. I didn’t have to call you, you know? Melinda suggested calling Mr Rogers and asking him instead of you. But I figured despite what happened, you would want to know what was going on with her. But I see now that was a mistake. You can’t be civil with me for a few minutes for her. You know what man? She is right about you. You won’t ever change. Not even for someone as beautiful, amazing and wonderful as her. You know why? Because you don’t want to change and you're showing her by acting like this. So don’t bother coming down here man, I’ll just ask Mr Rogers’ instead.”
“No, wait I was...” Tangerine said, letting out a sigh. “I was out of line. You were merely just asking a question. My apologies.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Yes, I’m still here at the apartment. What were you needing?”
“I need you to do me a favor. Will not actually for me, but for Melinda.”
“Name it.” Tangerine said, without hesitation.
“Can you bring her bag? Her wallet should be in there. They need her insurance card and ID to finish registering her and all that.”
“Yeah I can do that for her,” Tangerine said, going back into the apartment. “Anything else?”
“Change of clothes for her and a pair of shoes or sandals.”
“Alright.” Tangerine said, grabbing her purse and checking for her wallet. “I got her bag and wallet. Anything else she needs besides her clothes and shoes?”
“No but uhhh. There’s something you should know.”
“And that is?” Tangerine said as he went to the bedroom.
“Yelena and Lemon are here.”
“Why?” Tangerine asked why he started grabbing her clothes. “Did you call them?”
“No, Yelena wanted Lemon to get checked out so she brought him in even though he said he already did. They were leaving when we came in and Yelena asked what happened. But before either of us said anything she saw Melinda’s hand was kinda swollen. So she started demanding to know what happened. And then uhh…. Long story short, Yelena believes strongly in the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. And she’s waiting for you in the parking lot. Soooo yeahhhh good luck man. See you when you get here. If you get past Yelena.” Click
“Bollocks.” Tangerine said, putting the phone back in his pocket. “That’s all I fucking need right now.” He folded up Melinda’s clothes and put them in her bag. “Fuck, how am I going to get there, Lemon has the car? Hopefully she left her keys.” He went to the living room and saw her keys still in the key bowl by the door. “First.” Tangerine grabbed the random stuff he stole out of his pockets and put them in the bowl then he grabbed the keys. “Now,” He grabbed her sandals. “We are set.” He headed out of the apartment when he saw Mr Rogers standing outside the door. “I have no time to continue trauma dumping with you old man.” He locked up the apartment. “I need to get to the ER.” He started walking to the elevator. “When I get back, I’m going to move love somewhere else. It was a mistake moving her here next to you so you can keep her safe when I’m gone.” He got to the elevator and pressed the button. “I don’t know why I listened to Lemon when he said you wanted to be a part of our lives and help out. It’s not like you give a flying fuck about anyone else but yourself.” The doors opened up. “You’ve proven that.”
“Boyi, I want you to know something.” Mr Rogers said, Tangerine ignored him as he got on the elevator. “I was relieved when I got the news about you and your brother made it off that train.” Tangerine put his hands on the doors before they closed, making them open back up. “And I wanted to apologize,” He walked over to the elevator and stood in front of it. “For not going with you to Japan when you said you took a job for the White Death. And for not,” He took a deep breath and exhaled. “For not being there for you and your brother from the beginning. I truly felt you three were better off without me and you would be safe. And if I could change things, I would have never left. But despite it all, I am here now. For you and your brother.”
“That’s all peachy mate but.” Tangerine said, he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not like we need you now ya.”
“ I know.” Mr Rogers said, nodding his head. “You don’t need me anymore because you're all grown up. And I have to say boyi, I am very proud of you two and the men you have become all on your own. And I’m proud of you most of all, for sacrificing your sanity to keep your brother safe and alive. You were willing to endure all the hardship for the both of you. You're able to take on the world for yours and your mine, because of how strong you have become. But you were always strong, boyi. Even back when you were in your mother’s belly, when we got to hear and see you two for the first time.”
“What?” Tangerine whispered. “You were there for that?”
“Yes,” Mr Rogers said, nodding his head. “The doctor said one of our boys was hardly moving, he was too small, and had a weak heartbeat. That once she gave birth, that would be it and we needed to prepare for that. But your mother, god rest her beautiful soul,” Mr Rogers smiled. “She said she wasn’t going to lose either of you. She told the doctor to wait and see, at the next ultrasound. He was going to be bigger and even have a stronger heartbeat than his brother. Because he was a survivor. And sure enough, in our next ultrasound the baby grew bigger and had a stronger heartbeat than his brother. And he was kicking up one mighty storm in her belly. She held my hand tight and told me, see? I was right. Our son is a survivor. Now wait and see she said, wait till they come into the world. Our little survivor is going to be our first born. He will be our fighter, he’ll be the strongest of the two of them, and he will be his brother’s keeper.” His smile got bigger. “And when I met you two, I knew she was right again. You were the first born, strongest out of the two of you, and you are your brother’s keeper. You, my son, are our little survivor."
“Of course I’m a survivor, mate.” Tangerine said, smiling. “I’m Tangerine after all. And tangerines are hybrids which makes them very adaptable in harsh climates. It’s why when other fruits wither away, they survive.”
“I didn’t know that boyi.” Mr Rogers said, smiling.
“I didn’t know either. It was my love that taught me that the first night we met. Now excuse me old man,” Tangerine said, letting go of the doors and they started closing. “I need to go see the woman I love and win her back.” The doors closed.
“Oh boyi,” Mr Rogers said, shaking his head as he started walking back. “I know you are strong, but” He let out a sigh as he got to his apartment. “Can you survive this heartache?” He opened his door. “Or will it break you like it did me?”
Wishing On Dandelions Part 19
Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.
Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.
Warning: Cussing. Mentions of Violence/Murder. Mentions of SA. Mentions of Violet acts. Threats of harm. Threats of SA. Threats of Death.
Smoke & Mirrors Part 12
“This sucker really did save me.” Melinda said, looking down at her AppleWatch. “As soon as I hit that ground, it sent the message to everyone. My father being who he was, he wasn’t going to take chances and he called in the cavalry. Who knew right? Something so small could save someone’s life.” Tears started to form. “If my father hadn’t got me this, things would have ended differently. Jordan would have caught up to me. I know he would have. We used to race downstairs for the hell of it and he would always beat me. Always.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Always.”
“He’s always been so much faster than me. So much faster.” Melinda said, opening her eyes. “If they weren’t there, Jordan would have got me. He would have… before I even made it to the stairs, he would have. And once he did…” Tears started to fall as her voice started to break. “He would have dragged me… back into the apartment. And that… that would have been it for me. He would have… punished me… just like he said he would. I knew he would have.” She took a deep breath. “And I knew no matter what I did... no matter what I said… It wouldn’t have stopped him. He wouldn’t have stopped. He would have… just going. He would have done it… over… and over…till I… till I…”
She couldn’t control it anymore. She covered her mouth to muffle her cries. Melinda quickly turned her head away so he wouldn’t see her cry. She started shaking her head, trying to get his words and the horrific images out of her head. When they finally faded away, she was able to get her crying under control. She closed her eyes and whipped the tears from her face. Then she took a few deep breaths before she slowly opened her eyes up. She turned back around to the coffee table and grabbed her glass, drinking the last drops of whiskey in it. She sat it back down and took another deep breath before she continued.
“When we got to the station, they already had one of the rooms set up with the cameras recording.” Melinda said, keeping her eyes on her empty glass. “I watched from the other side with my mother, while Jason and my father interrogated Jordan with his lawyer. It seemed like it was going to be an open and shut case. After all, the lawyer had had only a couple of months under his belt. And my father,” She chuckled weakly. “Always said Jordan was a muscle head and couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag. But after Jordan told me everything, all his plans he had in place.” She let out a sigh. “I knew my father was wrong, so wrong."
“Jordan always had a plan for everything. I mean everything.” Melinda said, shaking head in disbelief of it. “He had a plan for absolutely everything. He even had a plan for that moment, for that very moment he got caught. That’s why when they brought up all the chargers, he knew how to counter them. He was able to because of...” She paused as she swallowed hard. “Of the… recordings. He had…recordings of…Of..” She felt tears start to form again. “I’m sorry, I don’t think…” She took a deep breath. “I don’t think I can finish.” She whipped her face again. “Can we just… do this another time? When I’m ready?”
Melinda waited, but there was no response. She waited for a bit, while she got her crying under control. She slowly turned her head towards Tangerine. His body was facing forward, he was almost on the edge of the couch. His hands were clenched in a fist, turning pale while they stayed on his legs. His veins that ran down his arm were pulsating at a rapid pace. He breathed heavily as he took deep breaths through his nose. His eyes stayed on his glass in front of him, he didn’t even blink. His jaw bone was flexing as his jaw locked shut.
“I think,” Melinda said, looking back at her glass. “We both need a minute.” She waited, but still no response and from the corner of her eye, Tangerine didn’t budge. “I’ll be in the spare room. So you can process this.” Melinda stood up and took a few steps but stopped before she got to the hallway. “If it’s too much, I understand. I don’t blame you if you leave and don’t come back. I appreciate you staying as long as you did.”
There was still no response. Melinda started walking again to the hallway and went over to the spare room. She turned on the light and sat down at the piano. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She placed her hands on the keys and opened up her eyes. Gently, she pressed down on the keys and started to play a melody. Not even a minute into it, she heard the front door open and then slammed shut. Stopped playing and let out a heavy sigh as she hung her head.
“It’s okay, he’s just stepped outside for a smoke.” Melinda whispered as she closed her eyes. “Yeah.” She opened up her eyes and looked at the time on her watch. “He’s just stepped outside for a smoke.” She resumed the melody she was playing. When she finished, she looked at the time. “It’s okay, It’s okay.” Melinda focused on the music, as she played one melody after another. When she finally stopped playing, she looked down at her watch. She let out a sigh when she saw how much time had passed. “He’s not coming back.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to be okay.” She took another deep breath and she nodded her head. “I’m going to be okay.” She took one last deep breath as she kept her eyes closed. “Just focus on the music. Just the music.” Her fingers started to dance on the keys as another melody started to play. She allowed the music to take over as she began to sing.
“Packin’ all my things for the summer. Lyin’ on my bed, it’s a bummer, cause I didn’t call when I got your number. But I liked you a lot. Slippin’ on my dress in soft filters. Everybody said you’re a killer, but I couldn't stop the way I was feelin’. The day your record dropped. The day I saw your white Mustang. Your white Mustang. The day I saw your white Mustang. Your white Mustang.”
“Caught up in my dreams and forgettin’ I’ve been actin’ like Armageddon, cause you held me in your arms just a little too tight. That’s what I thought. Summer’s meant for lovin’ and leavin’. I was such a fool for believin’ that you could change all the ways you’ve been livin’. But you just couldn’t stop. The day I saw your white Mustang. Your white Mustang. The day I saw your white Mustang. Your white Mustang.”
“And you’re revvin’ and revvin’ and revvin’ it up. And the sound, it was frightenin’. And you were gettin’ a part of that. You’re gonna hit me like lightnin’. White Mustang. Your white Mustang. The day I saw your white Mustang. Said you’re a wild Mustang.” She whistled. “You’re gonna hit me like lightnin’.” She whistled again. You’re gonna hit me like lightnin’.”
She kept her fingers on the keys after the melody had ended. She could hear movement against the door frame. The noise was followed by footsteps entering the room and approaching her, and they stopped right behind her. Melinda took a deep breath and a familiar smell of whiskey and cologne filled her nose. She let out a soft sigh as a small smile formed on her face. She opened up her eyes as she removed her hands from the keys.
“I have to admit.” Melinda said, as she kept her eyes on the piano. “I thought you left.”
“My apologies love,” Tangerine said, as he moved her hair off to the side. “I had to make a few important calls.” He gently brushed his knuckles across her shoulder, causing her body to shiver. “Tell me love, what’s your work schedule like this upcoming week?”
“My work schedule?” Melinda said she looked over at him as he moved around to look down at her. “I’m back on the morning shifts. So starting Sunday to Thursday I work. Off Friday and Saturday. My schedule will be set for the rest of the month like that. Unless someone calls out and they have me covered.”
“I have a meeting to tend to tomorrow afternoon, with Liam Ranger. He's a bit of a wanker, but a good chap. He wants to meet at our usual spot for some friendly competition. I thought after tonight, you could use a distraction and a way to,” Tangerine said, grinned. “Rage.” Melinda raised an eyebrow. “Would you care to accompany me tomorrow? We can get lunch afterwards.”
“Yeah, sure.” Melinda said, smiling. “Do I need to dress up or is this casual?”
“Business casual I guess you can say. You know what,” Tangerine said, he smiled “Allow me to pick out an outfit for you to wear tomorrow. Trust me, you won’t regret it.” He winked at her.
“Okay,” Melinda said, giggling a bit. “This is going to be interesting" He offered his hand and she placed her hand in it. He helped her up and guided her around the bench. “I don’t mind you picking out my outfit, but you're not picking out my bra and panties. I don’t need you peeking into that drawer.”
“Who said I didn’t do that when you were in the shower, love?” Tangerine said, winking at her as she rolled her eyes. “I just joshin’, ya. I only looked through your closet.” He laughed when he saw her jaw drop. “You did say feel free to look around and make yourself at home.” She gave him a look that said, seriously. “Forgive me love, I was merely curious about your style since I’ve only seen you in your work attire.” She gave him the hand signal she was watching him, making him chuckle. “Come along now.” He tugged on her hand as he led her back to her bedroom. When he got to the closet he let her hand go and moved the closet doors over. “Now I did see something earlier that caught my eye.” He started going through her closet. “It should work perfectly for where we are going tomorrow.”
“Oh really now?" Melinda said she took a seat on the bed as she watched him go through her flannel and plaid shirts. “Where is that exactly?”
“That love, is a surprise.” Tangerine said, pulling out a plaid dress shirt. It had sleeves that went half ways and it was dark and light blue, with white accents. He grabbed that one out and handed it to her. “Here this.” She took it and he started looking for an undershirt for it. He picked out a white tank top and handed it to her, she took it. “Now pants.” He moved the doors back over and started looking through the jeans. He grabbed dark blue jeans and handed them to her. “Where do you keep your belts at, love?”
“Over there,” Melinda said, she pointed at the bedroom door. “I got them hanging up on the back of the door.”
“Thank you,” Tangerine said, he walked over and the door closed to look over the organizer that had her accessories on. “In your boot collection you had in the nook area,” He turned to her. “You had a dark brown set if I’m not mistaken.” Melinda nodded her head and he turned back around. “Okay then, this one should go with it.” He grabbed a dark brown belt and then he looked up at her cowgirl hats. “Which one? Which one? Ah, this one.” He reached up and grabbed an off white scala cowgirl hat that had a thin dark brown belt around it. “Let’s double check.” He walked over to her and placed the hat near the shirt she was holding. “Yeah, this one.” He nodded his head. “Yeah.” He put it on her head and smiled. “Here you go love.”
“You do have a great fashion sense.” Melinda said, Tangerine smiled. “You know, maybe the reason why you have an insatiable appetite is because you're secretly gay.” Tangerine looked at her with a straight face. “You can tell me if you are, I support you.” She whispered. “This is a safe place.” She winked and Tangerine rolled his eyes. “I'm just joshin’ ya.”
“You,” Tangerine said, smiling as he shook his finger at her. “Are truly the most cheeky little minx I ever met, love.”
“Yeah but you like it.” Melinda said, grinning as she winked at him.
“Maybe,” Tangerine said, grinning back and she giggled. “You said you were off Saturday right?” She nodded her head. “Any plans that night?”
“Not really,” Melinda said, she got up and went to her vanity mirror. “I normally just stay in and catch up on my documentaries.” She placed all the stuff on the desk and turned around. “Why do you ask?”
“Saturday night I’ll be hosting a gala for the firehouses throughout LA, including the 118.” Tangerine said, walking over to her. “It’s to show our appreciation and help raise money for more equipment, more firehouses and more pay for the firefighters.” He stopped in front of her. “I would really love and be honored,” He reached down, taking her hand and kissing the top of it. “If you accompany me to the gala.” He put her hand down as he let it go. “It will be quite extravagant, like a ball. Tuxedos and elegant dresses. There will be food and an open bar. Live music and an orchestra, since I couldn’t decide on which one.” They both smiled. “Of course, dancing. What do you say, love? Would you like to accompany me? It would be awfully boring without you there to keep me company.”
“I’ll love to, but,” Melinda said, looking over at her closet. “I don’t know if any of my dresses would work for something like that.”
“You know love,” Tangerine said, going back over to her closet. “I can always take you shopping for a dress.” He started going through the dresses. “You can also pick out heels and whatever accessories you like to go with it as well.”
“Oh, no.” Melinda said, shaking her head as went back over to the bed, taking a seat. “I wouldn’t want to put you out like that. I’m sure I can find a dress on my own.”
“Non sense, love. It would be my pleasure.” Tangerine said, looking over his shoulder with a smirk. ”As long as you model the dresses for me of course.” He winked and she smiled as she shook her head. He chuckled and went back to the dresses. “I must say, I do love your choice in dresses. The sundresses are wonderful and beautiful. But these ones.” He showed her one of her gothic style vintage dresses. “Now these are lovely and charming. I would love to see you in this dress in particular.” He put it back in her closet. “All these dresses would be perfect for our future dinners together.” Melinda raised an eyebrow. “I may have to take you dress shopping for gala but first,” He looked at the large fabric storage bag. “Is there a dress in here love?”
“Yeah. It’s actually mine uh,” Melinda said, with a nervous laugh and he looked over at her. “Wedding dress.” Tangerine raised an eyebrow. “I know, I know. I should have gotten rid of it already. But I was in my delusional phase of mourning for him. Soooo yeah.” Tangerine shrugged his shoulders as he nodded his head. “One of the girls from karaoke night, Lucy. She brought up the dress she just brought for her wedding. She said she came across “Trash The Dress” trends when she was looking.” Tangerine raised an eyebrow again. “It’s women that completely destroy their wedding dresses after they get a divorce or even get married. I was,” She laughed a bit. “I was thinking of doing that and sending it to Jordan after I was done with it.”
“Would serve that bloody wanker right,” Tangerine said smiling. “But I’m sure that would have caused more problems.”
“Yeah, unforuntally.” Melinda said, letting out a sigh. “So now I’m just thinking I should sell it online or give it away to someone that can’t afford one.”
“That would be nice,” Tangerine said, looking at the storage bag and back to her. “Do you mind, if I,” He looked at it and went back to her. “Open it and take a look?”
“Go ahead.’ Melinda said, Tangerine turned back around and started unzipping it. “It was the only thing I really had a say on when it came to the wedding, that and our rings. Will, the rings I liked how they were but he didn’t like the white gold so we had to get them gold plated. Then with the dress, I wanted to change it to black. But groomzilla said no. He pretty much said no to everything I suggested or wanted. I just ended up smiling and nodding to everything he decided on.”
“What type of wedding would you have wanted?” Tangerine said, he looked over at her. “Let me guess, a Victorian gothic style wedding perhaps?" She smiled. “Thought so.” He smiled back and turned back around. “Now time for the reveal." He started moving the folds of the bag and pulled part of the dress out. “You... said…. you picked this out, love?” She replied, mm-hmm. “Do you mind,” he looked over at her. “Trying it on for me?”
“You want me to try on my wedding dress?” Melinda said, raising an eyebrow.
“If it's not too much trouble.” Tangerine said, Melinda shrugged her shoulders. “You sure? If you're uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine.” Melinda said, smiling as she got up and went over to him. “I got to start getting used to modeling for you anyways.”
“That’s right love.” Tangerine said, smiling as he handed her the dress. “Do you need help putting it on?”
“You wish,” Melinda said and he winked. “I just need you to turn around. Not exactly enough room in the bathroom to move around and get this dress on.” He nodded his head and turned around. She went over to the front of the bed with the dress. When she went to lay it down, that’s when she noticed he had stepped closer towards the bed. “Don’t even try to be slick James Bond. I know you're trying to see my reflection in the mirror from the corner of your eye.”
“Can’t blame a man for trying love,” Tangerine said Melinda replied with a mm-hmm as he went back to his original spot. “I promise, I won’t look and I’ll stay right here.” He could hear her start taking the dress out. “I was wondering about something you mentioned earlier tonight, about him calling you.”
“What about it?” Melinda asked as she started working on the strings.
“Do you mind me asking, what was it about? I know you said that he told you happy anniversary. But was there more? Did he threaten you,” Tangerine said, clenching his fist. “In any way?” If you don’t wish to talk about it, I understand completely. We can always talk about something else if you like.”
“I don’t mind talking about it. And no, he didn’t threaten me whatsoever.” Melinda said, Tangerine’s hands relaxed. “I guess you can say he was doing the basic ex-boyfriend talk. He told me that he missed me, that he loved me, that he was sorry for everything that he did and said.” Tangerine rolled his eyes. “Surpisley though he didn’t bring up the whole, you promise to marry me and you promise to have my baby thing.”
“Really?” Tangerine said, taken back by it.
“Yeah,” Melinda said, nodding her head as she undid the hooks. “He said that he was clean and they got him on the right medication for his mental illness. But,” She sighs. ‘I highly doubt they got anything for psychopaths. I don’t even know why I even bother giving him a chance to talk to be honest. I should have just hung up the moment I heard his voice. I wouldn’t have even answered that unknown call but it was called a few times. Then I thought,” She chuckled weakly as she removed her pjs. “ Maybe it was you.”
“Me?” Tangerine said, smiling. “Why did you think that love?”
“Gino called me later that day after the whole horse incident. He mentioned that you wanted to talk to me and asked me something.” Melinda said as started putting on the dress. “He said he offered my number to you but you declined because you wanted to ask me in person. He called me because he was wondering if you did or not. And he wanted to know what it was about. He's all about gossip." She giggled. "But yeah, when he said that, I just thought maybe you gave in and just asked for my number.”
“I won’t lie love, I was tempted several times to.” Tangerine said, Melinda smiled. “But I’m too old fashioned like my father to do anything like that over the phone. But I will make sure to get your number tonight before we part.” Melinda blush. “Did he say anything else, love?”
“He asked me to sing for him.” Melinda said, rolling her eyes.
“Oh?” Tangerine said, raising an eyebrow. “And did you?” She mm-hmm. “What…what song did you sing to him?”
“I sang…” Melinda said, smirking. “Actually, it was more like I….screamed it.”
Flashback To The Call
"Can you baby? Please? It doesn't even have to be the whole song. Just parts of it. It would mean a lot to me if you did."
"Okay." Melinda said. "I'll sing you something."
"Thank you, beautiful. Thank you so much."
"I hope you like it," Melinda said, smiling. "It keeps popping in my head whenever I think about you."
"Really? Oh man, I can't wait to hear it."
"Alright." Melinda said, getting out of bed. "You ready?"
"Yeah baby. I'm ready."
She cleared her though and she just let it all out. "And I don't talk shit about you on the internet!!! Never told anyone anything bad!!! 'Cause that shit's embarrassing, you were my everything!!! And all that you did was make me fucking sad!!! So don't waste the time I don't have!!! And don't try to make me feel bad!!! I could talk about every time that you showed up on time!!! But I'd have an empty line 'cause you never did!!! Never paid any mind to my father or friends!!! So I shut 'em all out for you 'cause I was a kid!!! You ruined everything good!!! Always said you were misunderstood!!! Made all my moments your own!!! Just fucking leave me alone!!!!!!!”
Present
“That’s pretty much what happened.” Melinda said and Tangerine was laughing. “I don’t know when he hung up or if someone caught him on the phone. But by the end of me screaming that song into the phone, the call had already ended.” She finished getting the dress on. “I told my father what happened and he called up the warren and raised hell. I also had to change my number after that.” She played with her hair, fluffing it out a bit.. “Okay, you can turn around now. I'm already.”
Tangerine had a big grin on his face as he spun around on the balls of his feet. The moment his eyes fell on her, his grin faded as his heart started pounding. Though Melinda was talking clearly, it sounded muffled to him. His breathing was so heavy, he felt like it was the only thing he could hear. He started playing with his pinky ring, something he only did when he got overwhelmed or nervous. Which was extremely rare and hadn't happened since he was a young teen. He kept playing with the ring to calm himself but it wasn't working. So he started to focus on details and took them all in.
The tulle straps her off her shoulders, it had flowers patterned with beading in the middle of it. The pattern went down the straps and to the corset piece. The corset pushed up her breast, but not too high that it drew all the attention. The corset hugged her sides, showing off her hour-glass figure. It was partly lace, allowing her skin from under her breast to above her belly button to be seen. It should be tacky, but the flower pattern running down it makes it look classy. He followed the flower pattern as he went down a little bit past her hips wearing the tulle fluff out a bit. The dress slightly dragged on the ground, it was fluffed out but not too much.
When Melinda slowly turned around, his eyes traveled slowly back up the dress. Melinda’s hair was all the way down to her hips covering up her back. Then she moved her hair to the side, allowing him to see more details of the dress. He followed the straps that started at the lower back and went up to the middle of her back. Her upper back was completely exposed. He started rubbing his knuckle as he remembered how smooth her skin felt against his.
Without thinking, Tangerine started walking over to her and stood behind her. He placed his index where her hair ended on the back of her neck, he slowly ran it down her spin. Melinda shivered as goosebumps followed his finger down the straps. His thumb and his other fingers joined as he ran his hand back up her spin and to her neck. He gently took a hold of the back of her neck, slowly guiding her back around. She leaned her head back to look up at him as he looked down at her. Tangerine stepped closer to her, pressing his body up against hers. His free hand rested on her hip for a moment before it slid around to her lower back.
A slight press was applied to her neck and lower back as he leaned down. Her hands reached up and wrapped around his neck as their eyes closed. Gently their lips touch as they both sighed into the kiss. Slowly he pressed his lips more against hers, deepening the kiss as he softly kissed her. Their lips slowly and gently moved with one another as his hand tangled in her hair. His other hand traveled further across as he wrapped his arm around her waist. As the kiss started to pick up, in speed and pressure, Tangerine lifted her up slightly off the ground. He turned them towards the bed and the sound of clapping was heard. He broke the kiss as he pulled back to look at her.
“Tangerine.” Melinda said, another clapping sound was heard. “Tangerine.” He titled his confused. “Mr Shaw!” He closed his eyes tight and shook his head. When he opened them back up, Melinda was by the bed, clapping her hands. “Tangerine.” His eyes went to his feet, seeing he never moved from the spot by the closet “Hey, you okay?” His eyes went over to her. “Where did you go just now?” He tried to talk but nothing, he started clearing his throat. “Do you need some water?”
“No, love just..” Tangerine said, clearing his throat again as he shook his head. “Just a… " He cleared his throat once more. "Frog in my throat. That's all.” Melinda smiles gently. “My apologies love. What were you saying?”
“I asked," How do you like the dress?” Melinda said, grabbing the sides, fanning it out as she did slow spin. “What do you think?”
“Honestly love I’m….,” Tangerine said, hesitating for a moment. “I’m sorry,” He shook his head. “I’m absolutely lost for words I’m afraid.” A smile slowly formed on his face as he took her all in again. Melinda looked down, blushing as she put her hands back to her sides. “It’s a pity,” She looked up. “That the dress would go to waste. You truly would have been the most beautiful bride that anyone has ever laid eyes on before love.”
“Thank you,” Melinda whispered as she looked down, blushing. “I should barely… get out of this.”
“Do you need assistance?” Tangerine asked and she shook her head. “Alright then, I’ll give you some privacy and step outside for a smoke.” Melinda nodded her head. “I’ll be back in a while.”
He went to the door, opening it up and stepping out as he closed the door behind him. He quickly hurried down the hallway and to the front door. Soon he was on the other side of the door, and rushed to the middle of her yard. He bent over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He felt like he was holding his breath the whole time while she was in dress. Now he was finally able to breathe again.
“Fuck me,” Tangerine said, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened up his eyes and stood back up, looking up at the night sky. “What the bloody hell was that?” He grabbed his smokes out and lit another cigarette as he kept looking at the night sky. He took a long drag and let the smoke out as he thought back to her in her wedding dress. “Should have told you, for a moment I thought maybe being in a…” He paused when he heard several footsteps approaching. He took another drag off his cigarette and blew out the smoke as the footsteps stopped in front of him. “Took you blokes long enough.”
Almost 20 Minutes Later:
“I was about to send out a search party for you,” Melinda said, Tangerine chuckled as he walked into the spare room. “Everything okay?”
“Yes love, I was just debating about driving that car of yours again.” Tangerine said, she laughed and shook her head. “May I join you?” She nodded her head as she moved over. He took a seat next to her on the bench as she played the piano. “You are a very multi-talented love.” He watched her hands as she kept playing. “You sing and play piano flawlessly. You ride a horse with ease despite how frightened it was. Your vast knowledge is very impressive. Then your art work,” She stopped playing. “It’s quite extraordinary, I really admire your attention to detail.”
“Really?” Melinda said, looking over at him as he smiled and nodded. “Thank you.” She smiled back and quickly looked away when she started blushing. “I still need to finish that last painting, but..” She let out a sigh as her smile faded and she went back to playing. “Every time I try to, I just keep hearing Jordan’s words about my artwork. I know he was just being a complete ass and was trying to get to me. But still…”
“The words continued to echo in your head.” Tangerine said and Melinda nodded her head. “In time love, those words will fade and you’ll find your impression and passion once more. I’m sure of it.” Melinda smiled. “And when that does happen, I would love to purchase your paintings.” Melinda stopped playing and looked back at him. “I’m opening a new restaurant and I believe they’ll fit perfectly with the theme I have in mind.”
“Okay,” Melinda whispers and he smiles down at her, making her blush. “I do have a couple of questions,” turning away and going back to playing. “About me accompany you to your meeting and the gala.”
“What questions, love?” Tangerine asked.
“Are you sure you want me to accompany you? You only heard part of my past with Jordan, there’s still a lot more. During the investigation he revealed he had...” Melinda said she started hitting the wrong keys. She stopped and let out a sigh. “The stuff he did, can destroy my reputation, cause problems for the hospital, I would lose this job, and be outcast. And you, you can end up being guilty by association. It could cause a lot of problems for your business, the foundations, and your reputation. Everything you work hard for will be completely destroyed because of me.”
“Not to mention, he’ll most likely make contact with me again. He may even,” Melinda said, letting out a sigh. “Come and find me after he severs his time. Hopefully by the time it’s up the medication does work so he can move on and leave me alone. If it doesn’t, he could show up or if he just wants to clear the air between us. I hope he believed my father when he told him I lost my job offer and job because of his arrest. But if he does show up, do you really want to deal with that? All the drama when that happens? And..” Melinda laughs weakly. “I’m sorry, that was clearly more than two questions. I’m also rambling on and not getting to the point like he says I always do. God, I must sound really annoying right now.”
“I don’t find it annoying love.” Tangerine said, she looked over at him. “I think it’s really adorable when you do that. Plus, you're just trying to put detail in what you're saying, it’s completely fine.”
“Really?” Melinda asked and he nodded. “Thank you, I appreciate that.” He smiled, making her blush. She went back to playing the piano. “What I was trying to ask is, are you sure you want me to accompany you, knowing that my past can cause issues for your future? Do you really want to risk everything, for someone you only spoke with twice?”
“If you're worried about some sort of scandal love, don’t,” Tangerine said, watching her hands as they played once again. “I had my fair share. I had women saying that their child was mine, in order to get money. Of course DNA always proved them wrong.” He placed his hands on the keys and waited for a moment, then started playing the melody alongside her. “When I refused to work with a few unsavory people, they got desperate. They had women accusing me, my brother and male staff members of putting my hands on them, abusing or inappropriately. But their mistake was all my businesses have cameras inside and out, audio included. All accusations were proven false and I put all those bloody twats in their place. The most recent one was me being investigated by Sergeant Athena Grant, for the disappearance and possible murder of Elijah Stone.”
“What?” Melinda said, as she stopped playing and turned to him. “The disappearance and possible murder?
“Yes,” Tangerine said, nodding his head as he kept playing. “I have a mate that goes by Welsey Evers, I’ve known him for 20 years. He’s a lawyer and married to Detective Angela Lopez. They have two children, they are like my niece and nephew. Back when Angela was pregnant with their first child Jackson, she was taken on her wedding day by a woman named Sandra de la Cruz. Better known as La Fiera, she was a cartel leader. Angela had several runs in with her. One day, La Fiera's son, Diego, was murder by her rivals. Los Angeles became a war zone, till they were able to arrest her and restore order. But Angela had told La Fiera it was her fault that her son was killed. That one comment, sent La Fiera over the edge.”
“So she took Angela.” Melinda said and Tangerine nodded. “I take it, she was going to replace her son with Angela’s.”
“Yes,” Tangerine said, as he continued to play. “Since she was taken out of the country, the DA office and law enforcement here could do nothing. Wesley went to Stone, a drug and guns trafficker for help on getting Angela’s location instead of coming to me. He was like you, worried about the risk to my businesses and reputation. Stone agreed to help, only in exchange that Welsey would work for him and bail any of his men out. Wesley agreed and Stone found the location, they were able to get Angela out and she even killed La Fiera during her rescue. Everything seemed fine, till Stone came to collect what Welsey owned.”
“Did Welsey go through it?” Melinda asked and Tangerine shook his head.
“My mate has always been too honorable of a man. He never had any attention going through with Stone’s demands. But he could only stall Stone for so long, he couldn’t make him back off on his own. So he told Angela what was going on and they went to her Grey, her boss and they told him everything. They were able to get Stone, but he’s quite slippery and always manages to get himself out of trouble. He made Welsey and Angela both apologize on the news for how they mistreated him,” Tangerine said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “When I saw that news report, I stepped in. Luckily I did too, by the time Stone showed back up, Angela was pregnant with my niece. Stone had threatened to cut Angela's stomach open and remove her. He even told Angela he hoped that she lived long enough to see him kill her baby. Then he threatened my nephew, saying he was going to cut off his fingers and toes, one by one and start cutting off chugs of his skin. Then send all their bodies to Welsey, so he could see what his betrayals cost him.”
“My god,” Melinda said, covering her mouth.
“But, it seems like someone got to Stone first before he could make good on his threats. Wherever he is, Sergeant Athena Grant and the Devil himself, will never be able to find him. And if Jordan were to ever step a foot near you,” Tangerine said, hit the keys down hard as he stopped playing and turned to her. “He’ll join Stone in the dark abyss. Because unlike your father, love, I have no badge that holds sway over me. I will do whatever it takes to protect me and mine.” He looked back at the piano as he switched to a different melody and continued to play. “So don’t worry if I can weather the storm love, because I am the fucking storm.” Melinda turned back around and joined him in the melody he was playing. “What’s your next question, love?”
“It’s what we talked about earlier, about what you want and what I want.” Melinda said and Tangerine nodded his head. “Since you are willing to deal with Jordan. Are you able to deal with the fact that we want two different things? Are you able to keep this platonic?”
“I admit, being platonic with a female is new to me. Though I do have women that I am friends with. I never saw them as potential lovers. They are either dating or married to one of my mates, works for me or they fancy women. And you, you're none of those things. Nor do I spend time alone with them like I do you. You love, are very different. And what you pointed out about us earlier,” Tangerine said, letting out a sigh. “You are right, love. We both want two different things, I want a lover and you want a husband. There is no point in either of us waiting on the other to give in. I know parting ways would be a more logical move on both our parts. But I’m interested in seeing how this all plays out between us. Like I said before, I quite enjoy our conversations and your company. And if being in a platonic relationship with you means I can continue to do just that. Then I’m willing to try this platonic relationship with you if you are.”
“I am,” Melinda said, nodding her head. “Just know, if anytime you start getting your ... cravings,” They both chuckled a bit. “I’m completely fine if you go out and satisfy them. Also if you do find a friend with benefits and they suit you better than me or if you just want to stop this platonic relationship altogether, just let me know and I’ll step aside.”
“Alright love, but I hope you know that goes for you too. If you wish to end this platonic relationship at any time or if you want to go out and date, that’s completely fine. But know, if any man breaks your heart, it’s not my fault if they go missing.’ Tangerine said and they both turned to each other. He winked, making her giggled as she shook her head. “Also know this,” He stopped playing and he moved his hand onto hers, causing her to stop playing. “There may be times when I’ll tease you in a sexual manner as you know.” Melinda smiled and nodded. “I don’t really mean to but,” He smiled. “I like it when we joke like that with each other and neither of us gets offended by it. Does that make me strange for enjoying something like that? I know I’m supposed to be a gentleman. A,” His smile got bigger. “Cowboy British gentleman around a lady such as yourself."
“I guess I’m strange too, because I like it as well.” Melinda said, smiling. “It’s nice to have a gay friend to joke around with.” They both laughed as they shook their heads. “I know, I’m a cheeky little minx.”
“That you are, love,” Tangerine said, smiling. “ My cheeky little minx.” He winked, making her smile.
“So, my cowboy British gentleman,” Melinda said, Tangerine smiled as she turned back to the piano. “What melody should we play next?”
“I think we should do more than just play melodies love.” Tangerine said, as he turned back to the piano. “How about this?” He started playing a familiar melody. “If you care to sing that is?”
“I would love to.” Melinda said as she started joining in playing the melody. “As long as you sing with me that is.”
“Of course love. After all, Tangerine said, he smiled. “It is both of our families' unspoken anathemas." They started to sing together.
“Carry on my wayward son. There’ll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest, don’t you cry no more….”
A Few Hours Later:
“Alright love, I put the whiskey and glasses up for you. Do you need me to do anything else before I go?” Tangerine said, pulling the blanket over her. “Do you want a glass of water or anything love?”
“No thank you,” Melinda said, letting out a small yawn as she nuzzled her pillow. “I’m good.” He smiled down at her. “Just make sure to lock the bottom lock on our way out please.”
“I will love,” Tangerine said, he gently grazed her skin as he pushed back her hair from her face. “By the way, I thought of a good use for your wedding dress. May I take it with me?” She nodded her head. “Alright love.” He traced his fingers along her face, causing her eyes to get heavy. He smiled as she fought to stay awake. “Don’t fight sleep love. You need your rest, we had quite a night tonight.” He stroked her face with his fingers tips, till she finally closed her eyes and drafted off to sleep. “Goodnight love.” He leaned down, kissing her cheek. “Sweet dreams.”
Tangerine leaned back up and walked over to the other side of the bed. He knee on the bed for a moment as he reaches over to the window, making sure it was locked. Afterwards he went over to her closet, grabbing the storage bag with the wedding dress inside. He headed out of her bedroom, closing the door behind him. He walked down the hallway and to the front door, where a man in a black suit stood, holding Tangerine’s jacket and tie.
“Eric, are all the windows and back door secured?” Tangerine said and Eric nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”
Eric opened the door for Tangerine as he stepped outside. Eric turned off the light and locked the door, before closing it. Eric led the way as Tangerine followed him to where he parked the car. When they got to the car, there was a SUV park across from them. Windows were rolled down with three men inside, watching them.
“Eric,” Tangerine said, handing him the storage bag. “Put this in the car for me mate, while I talk to the others.”
“Yes Mr Shaw.” Eric said, taking the belongings.
“Gentleman.” Tangerine said, walking over as the one in the back opened the door and slid over for him. He got in, closing the door behind him as they rolled up the windows. “Macky,” He looked at the man in the front passenger seat, “were you able to get a hold of your contact in Texas?”
“Yes,” Macky said, nodding his head. “But he came across an issue.”
“Of course he bloody did.” Tangerine said, rolled his eyes. “What is it then?”
“Sheriff Winchester has strict introductions that no one is allowed access to Miss Winchesters’ or Mr Weaver's personal files and evidence pertaining to the case. The only way to gain access is with his approval or a judge’s. He also,” Macky said, turning around in his seat to face Tangerine. “Has introductions that himself or his Deputy Jason Erickson must be present while reviewing everything. And none of the files or evidence can leave the stations nor be copied.”
“Bollocks.” Tangerine said, shaking his head. “Tell him to grease the fucking wheels at the station if he has to.”
“He won’t even tempt it,” Machy said, shaking his head. “Not with this lot sir.”
“And why the bloody fuck not?” Tangerine said, narrowing his eyes.
“The two clerks in the evidence room and everyone in that station for that matter, are completely loyal to the Sheriff. They will not be swayed with bribery or blackmail. Turns out this Sheriff kinda pulled a Captain American move,” Macky said and Tangerine raised an eyebrow. “A man came into the station with a bomb strap to his chest. The Sheriff jumped on the suspect to take the impact of the blast in order for everyone else to evacuate. Of course the bomb was a fake, but his willingness to sacrifice himself for them was enough for them.”
“I see where she gets her bravery from,” Tangerine said, looking over at Melinda’s house. “Like father, like daughter.”
“More like brother, like sister,” Macky said and Tangerine turned back to him, raising an eyebrow again. “When he was looking online for information on Mr Weaver’s arrest, which he found nothing by the way. A gag order was in place before Mr Weaver even made it to the station. He came across a news article dealing with the Winchester family. Besides all their achievements in their line of work and volunteer work they have done in the community. There was an article about a house fire, where John and Mary Winchester were killed, leaving behind their three children. 14 year old son Dean Winchester, 10 year old son Sam Winchester, and 2 month old daughter Melinda Winchester. Turns out, the Sheriff saved his siblings that night.”
“Instersting,” Tangerine said, looking back at Melinda’s house again. “I wonder if she knows if he’s her brother or not?” He looked back at Macky. “Did they say what caused the fire?”
“In the article no. And the file on that incident, has been under lock and key since the night of the fire by the previous Sheriff, Robert Singer. Only one time,” Macky said, he held up one finger. “That file has been opened after it’s been sealed. And that was when Winchester became Sheriff. He reviewed the file and sealed it away again.”
“Hmm,” Tangerine said, stretching his chin. “Sounds like there was a lot more to the house fire.” He clicked his tongue and put his hand back down. “Does your contact have any way he can get the information we need?”
“Yes he does.” Macky said, nodding his head. “But it will be risky. He said he can go in there and claim he’s working on a different case. He plans to swab out the evidence boxes and files, make copies and then place them back. He said he would just take them, but the Sheriff checks them out on his days off. So if the stuff doesn’t get returned…”
“His cover will be blown,” Tangerine said, Macky nodded his head. “Alright,’ He let out a sigh. “I take it he wants double for this?” Macky nodded his head again. “Give it to him. No. Wait.” He looked over at Melinda’s house. “Tell him I’ll only give him double if,” He looked back at Macky. “He can also get me the file on that house fire.”
“Will do, sir.” Macky said, nodding his head. “Anything else we can assist you with?”
“No,’ Tangerine said, shaking his head. “Just remember what I told you three. Stay with Ms Winchester at all times. I don’t care where she’s going. Work, mall, the bloody market or even a fucking walking around the block. I want you guys there. I want her protected at all times. You all reviewed the list of people I gave you?” They nodded their heads. “Those are the only people that know where she lives, if anyone else shows up that’s not on that list. I want you guys to run interference and only take care of them if they are a threat. Otherwise you send them on their way, understood?”
“Yes sir,” They said in unison.
“And what do you want done with Mr Weaver, once he is ID and located? Do want us to hunt him down and,” Macky said, doing the neck slicing gesture. “Bring back his head?”
“When it comes to that fucking cunt, Jordan fucking Weaver. We won’t have to go after him, he’ll come to us. After all," Tangerine said as he looked over at Melinda’s house. "I have something he wants. When that happens, we’ll make our move. I’ll handle him fucking personally when the time comes. But not before” he looked over at Macky as a wicked grin crept across his face. “I introduce him to Alec and let him have his fun with that fucking cunt.”
“Alec?” Macky said and then looked at the other two men and went back to Tangerine. “Sir, are you sure? Alec tends to get… awfully friendly with those he’s hired to work on.”
“That’s exactly what I want him to do Macky,” Tangerine said and all three men looked at each other and back to him. “I know, it’s stranger for me to hire someone like Alec, with how fucking bloody mental and twist that fucker is. But after hearing the sick shit that cunt Jordan did and said to her. To that woman,” He points at Melinda’s house. “He claims to love. The woman he wants to marry and bear his child. After hearing he took a hit of cocaine so he could get fucked pumped up to rape her. Then when she tries to escape his wrath, he then tells her she’s his little fucking slut that needs to be punished. Punished mind you, by fucking her in the ass till she bleeds. Now, I for one, only think it’s fair that Alec shows that fucking cunt exactly, what kind of hell and torment he was going to put her through. And when I feel that fucking little slut has been punished enough, then, I’ll fucking kill him with my bare hands. Now, do you three have a fucking issue with that?”
“No sir.” They said in unison.
“Good,” Tangerine said, grinning. “I’m glad we have an understanding. So while we wait, I want you three to watch over her and keep me updated on everything.” They nodded their heads. “Thank you gentleman. Have a good evening.” They nodded their heads again and he let himself out of the car. He closed the door and headed back to his car, where Eric stood, holding the door open. “Time to head home Eric, I had enough fun for one day.” He got into the car and they were off.
Smoke & Mirrors Part 13
Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.
Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.
Warning: Cussing. Violence. Gun use. Drinking. Threats of harm & Death. Drug use. Mentions of Murder. Talks of Mental Illness. Mentions of self harm/Suicide.
MAJOR SA WARNING: Mention/talking of SA, Threats of SA, Attempts of SA
Smoke & Mirrors Part 11
“I’m sorry,” Melinda said, taking a deep breath, trying to get her body to stop shaking. “I just need a minute.”
“It’s fine love,” Tangerine said, leaning forward and grabbing her glass. “Here.” She placed her hand on it, but he didn’t let go of it just yet. “Remember, don’t chug it.” She nodded her head. “Come on then.” He let go of the glass and she took a sip. “Just take your time love.” She nodded her head again as she took another deep breath. She took another sip. “You're trying not to chug, are you?” He smirked and she giggled as she nodded her head. “I know you were a cheeky little minx.” She took another sip and another breath before sitting the glass back down. “You good love?”
“Yeah,” Melinda said, nodding her head as she stopped shaking. “I’m good. I’m good.” She looked at him. “You ready?”
“I’m ready, love,” Tangerine said, nodding his head as he leaned back in his seat. “Just remember, take your time and stop whenever you have to.”
“Alright.” Melinda said, nodding her head as she looked back at her glass. “So I went to my parents house, but my father wasn’t home yet. So I waited in the living room with my mother while Ben played upstairs. She knew right off the bat I was upset. Even though I walked in there with a smile on my face, she knew. Mothers always know when their children are upset.” Tangerine nodded his head. “So I told her what happened. But of course, I left a few parts out and changed things around. I don’t know how he made me do that, made me lie to her like that. Or maybe it was all me that did it, because I was stupid kid in love. But either way, I got it in my head that I was the bad guy in that situation. So I told her just that, I told her, it was all my fault and he did absolutely nothing wrong. I was such a stupid kid, stupid, stupid kid.”
Couple of Hours Later:
“Here you go sweetie, chamomile tea with tons of sugar, just the way you like it.” Lisa said, they smiled at each other as Melinda took the mug from her. “So,” She sat down next to her on the couch. “This was your guy's first argument?”
“Yeah.” Melinda said, taking a drink of the tea. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told Mr Moore that I would take the job without talking to Jordan first. It’s just,” She let out a sigh. “I thought he would be happy that I got a job offer to go to LA.”
“Medication can make people act in different ways to different situations, sweetie. You know that as well as I do being in a medical field. Sometimes,” Lisa said, putting her arm around her shoulders. “It causes mood swings and people get really upset when they don’t mean to. They don’t always know what they are doing or saying till something snaps them out of it.”
“Yeah,” Melinda said, nodding head. “I can’t take it personally.”
“He was just very overwhelmed trying to process all this information at once. With you moving to LA for two years without him after he just put in an offer for a house for you guys. Finding out you want to cancel the wedding and wait a couple of years. Then, changing your mind about having kids with him. For someone with depression and anxiety, that’s just.” Lisa said, sighing. “A lot to deal with all at once. I’m sure he didn’t mean to get upset with you and say you never loved him or you were just using him to move out of here. I’m sure deep down, he knows that you love him and you would never do anything to hurt him. Just like I know deep down he loves you and he’ll never do anything, anything to hurt you or even make you cry.” She could feel her tense up a bit. “Sweetie? Are you okay?” She looked over at her. “You tense up just now.”
“I’m fine,” Melinda said, nodding her head slowly. “I’m fine, really.”
“Melinda,” Lisa said, looking into her eyes. “Did he put his hands on you, when he got upset?” She shook her head. “Are you sure?” She nodded her head. “Did he yell at you or cuss at you?”
“No,” Melinda said, shaking her head and looking away. “No… he… didn’t yell… or cussed…at me. He didn’t yell or cuss at me. When he started crying and begging me to sit down to talk about it, I was the one that raised my voice. I’m the one that cussed him out. I was just so upset that he didn't understand how important this was for me to move up in the medical field. I was the one,” She started shaking. “Causing all the problems.”
“Sweetie, you're shaking.” Lisa said, holding her tighter. “If he say something to you, or do something to you? You can tell me. You know that right?” Melinda turned to her. “You can always tell me anything that’s going on. This place is your home and always will be. You are safe here. You're safe with us. And like always, if you don’t want me to tell anyone else, I won’t. It will stay between us like other talks we had stayed between us. Just tell me sweetie, what else is going on? What’s wrong?”
“I…I…,” Melinda said, letting out a sigh as she looked back at the tea. “I hate that I made our relationship all about my wants and needs. I was being self centered and greedy, that I couldn’t see everything he was doing for me. He was the one working on getting the house for us and dealing with all the paper work. He was the one booking everything for the wedding and getting everything situated for it. He was the one working more hours, pushing himself to the point he hurt himself at work. All the while doing all those things, he was dealing with his depression and anxiety.” She shook her head as she sighed again. “He never told me because he was so worried I was going to leave him because of it. Then what do I do? I just got up and left like those other girls did. Leaving him sitting there alone, crying and wondering what he did wrong. I don’t know what I want to do. I want to go to LA and live out my life. But at the same time, I want to be here with him, and live our lives out together. I just don’t know what I want to do.”
“Sweetie,” Lisa said, moving her arm and offering her hands to Melinda. She put her hands in Lisa’s and she held them tight. “When I first met your dad, I knew he was the one for me. I know we were just 14, but I knew the moment I meant him I was going to marry him and have a family with him. And your dad,” She smiled. “He felt the same way. But he was scared.” She stopped smiling and sighing. “He was like you, he didn’t know if he should move and live out his life. Or if he should stay and we live out our lives together. He didn’t know what to do. It took me to sit him down and talk about it. It turns out, he felt if he stayed with me, he didn’t want to end up like John and Mary. Feeling he trapped us and we would just end up being miserable like they were. But he couldn’t stay away because he was in love with me and wanted to be with me. That’s why we were on and off throughout the years. At the end of our talk, I told him if he wanted to make us work, then he had to put in the work. Both of us had to put in the work. So we started going to couples therapy and we made it work. Maybe the reason you told Jordan those things and focusing so much on yourself. You're scared if you give in to what you really want, you guys will be trapped and miserable like John and Mary. Just like Dean was.”
“Just like him?” Melinda asked and Lisa nodded her head. “I pushed Jordan away because I was scared of giving up everything. But really, pushing him away is me giving up everything.”
“So sweetie,” Lisa said, smiling at her. “When you first saw Jordan, did you know he was the one?” Melinda nodded her head. “Did you know you wanted to marry him and have a family with him? She nodded her head again while she smiled. “If that’s the case, if you want to make it work between you and Jordan, you need to put in the work. Both of you together need to put in the work. Once you two do that, everything will work out in the end. Rather you live in Texas or in LA, it doesn’t make a difference. You two will make things work out, you guys will get married and have your own family.”
“Promise?” Melinda whispered.
“I promise.” Lisa said, wrapping her arms around her and giving her a kiss on her forehead. “Everything will be okay in the end, you’ll see.” She laid her head on the top of hers. “I love you sweetie.”
“I love you too mom.” Melinda said, smiling as she wrapped her arms around her. “Please don’t tell dad about our argument or Jordan’s mental illness. I want us to tell him when he’s ready too.”
“I promise, I won't tell him sweetie.” Lisa said, then she heard the door open. “Speaking of the devil.” She let her go and they both looked over as Dean walked into the living room with a straight look on his face. “Oh no, I know that look.”
“Sorry sweetheart.” Dean said, letting out a sigh. “Date night is canceled." He went over to the kitchen. “Turns out the guy is working with someone else, so now.” He poured himself a glass of whiskey. “We got to find that guy too.” He took a drink and when he sat the glass down, he noticed the tea box. “Tea? Okay, what happened?” He went back to them. “You only break out the tea to calm some nerves. What did Jordan do?” He took out his gun. “Do I need to shoot him in the face? Please tell me I can shoot him in the face.”
“No,” Melinda said, shaking her head. “It’s just.” Melinda sighs. “I got the job offer for LA.”
“What?” Dean said, smiling. “That’s great news. Not greater than getting told I can shoot Jordan in the face, but still it’s great.” He put his gun away. “So it’s just you going right? Jordan isn’t going?” She glared at him. “Of course he’s going.” He put his hands together. “Silly me.” He rolled his eyes. “Well since you're going to go there, you’ll need this.” He went to his office and came back with a box. “Give me your phone, kid.” He took a seat on his lazy boy as she passed him her phone. “Sooooo” He showed her a box for an Apple Watch. “I got you this.”
“Really?" Melinda asked as she got excited. “That’s so cool.”
“Yep,” Dean said as he took it out of the box and started setting it up. “Since you said that you can’t really look at your phone, you can see messages pop up on this sucker. You can either type the reply or just talk into the phone. You can even answer calls on here or place them.”
“Awesome.” Melinda said, smiling.
“And since you’ll be taking off on me, because for some reason you got to grow up on your old man.” Dean said and she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah it’s part of life, doesn’t mean I have to like it.” She shook her head. “The main reason why I got you this is for location. I can keep track of you at all times.”
“Dad,” Melinda said, shaking his head. “Come on.”
“Nope,” Dean said, shaking his head. “You guys were planning to take off to Mexico for your honeymoon and you know who's in Mexico?” He looked over at her. “The Cartel. So yeah, I was going to keep track of my little girl.”
“I doubt we will run into them.” Melinda said and Dean gave the look of, you sure about that. “Plus if we did, how are you going to get to us before anything serious happens? You’ll be too far away.” Dean looked away quickly. “Wait, did you.. Did you buy tickets to go to Mexico when we do?” He won’t look at her so she turned to Lisa. “Did he buy tickets?” She nodded and Melinda turned back to him. “Seriously dad?”
“Once again,” Dean said, looking up at her. “The Cartel.” He went back to the phone. “Plus it’s not like I was going to be right there next to you guys. I was just going to be near by, in a stack out van with Sammy.”
“Sam too?” Melinda said, she let out a sigh as she hung her head. “What are you going to tell me next?” She looked back up. “That you guys were going to set up cameras and bug in our suit we got?” He looked up at her, giving her a look. “It’s going to be our honeymoon dad, do you really want to see or hear everything that’s going to go on in there? Or did you forget how babies are made?”
“Remind me to cancel the orders for cameras and bugs when we get to Mexico.” Dean said, Melinda rolled her eyes as he went back to the watch. “Alright kid, it’s done. Come here.” She got up and went over to him. “Put this on.” She put on the watch and he showed her the features. “So you got all this fancy stuff on here. We got an activities tracker for your workouts and walks. Even has a sleep tracker and heart rate tracker. Of course location tracker. But here’s something you’ll really like. This right there,” He pointed at it. “Fall Deduction.”
“What does that do exactly?” Melinda said, she smiled. “Does it call out saying, “Help! I've fallen and I can’t get up!”
“Actually it kinda does you wise ass.” Dean said and she laughed. “You laugh now but this sucker will save your ass one day.” He put up his finger and she stopped laughing. “So if you fall down during a workout or at work. Or those damn stairs at Jordan’s place.”
“Our place.” Melinda corrected.
“Yeah, whatever.” Dean said, waving his hand. “So this will know and it will send you a message on the watch asking if you need an ambulance sent to your location. But really, it will send it no matter what, even if you say no or are unable to even reply to the message. It will automatically send one to your location. And since this is the location tracker on it, they’ll know exactly where to send the ambulance to. Also,” He pulled up the contacts. “Everyone on your emergency contacts, will be alerted.” He handed her back her phone. “So if something happens, I’ll haul ass right over to you kid.”
“Thanks,” Melinda said, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I appreciate it.”
“Alright, enough with the chick click moments.” Dean said, she giggled and let him go. “I’ll walk you out so you can go back home to Jordan.” He rolled his eyes as he got up. “Come on kid.”
“Bye Mom,” Melinda said and Lisa waved as they headed out the door. “If you want,” They walked over to her car. “I can come back tonight or whenever you guys decide to go out.”
“Thanks kid. Hopefully we get this asshole soon so we can…” Dean said, but stopped when he noticed the dent on her hood. “What happened to your car?” He put his hands over it. “That was done by someone’s hands.” He looked up at her. “Did Jordan do this? Kid, are you some kind of trouble. Tell me right now. Because if you are, I swear I’ll….”
“Calm down. Calm down. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t him.” Melinda said, Dean took a deep breath. “You remember those neighbors he was talking about? The one under us that just moved in, always screaming and yelling?” Dean nodded his head. “They were arguing again by my car since that guy parks next to it. He got mad at his girl and he slammed his hands on my hood.”
“I didn’t hear anything on the radio about it.” Dean said, raising an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you call it in?”
“It happened right as Jordan was walking me out. Jordan took some pictures and said he’ll let the apartment managers know and take care of it when I get back.” Melinda said and he nodded his head. “Alright, I’m going to go. I’ll see you later.”
“Alright kid,” Dean said, helping her into the car and he closed the door. She started up the car when he tapped on her window. “Kid,” She rolled down the window. “I know you don’t like hearing me run my mouth off on Jordan.” She put her head down. “I’m sorry, it’s just.” He let out a sigh. “I just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong with him. Something is just off about him, kid. When I look into his eyes, he just looks… I don’t know, it’s like there’s sickness in him.” She looked back up at him. “Like he’s not right in the head or something. I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Just be careful around him, alright?” She nodded her head. “And if anything happens, I mean anything. If he cusses at you or raises his voice at you, you call me. And if he even fucking dares lay a hand on you, you use that gun that’s in your purse alright?” She looked at him. “I mean it kid, use it.” She nodded her head. “And remember what I taught you, two to the stomach to slow them down, two in the chest to bring them down, and...”
“Two in the head to make sure they stay down.” Melinda whispered as she nodded her head. “I remember dad.”
“Alright kid.” Dean said, nodding his head. “If anything happens and you need me, call me and I’ll come running.” Melinda nodded her head. “I love you kid.”
“I love you too dad,” Melinda said, she backed up and she drove off. “Okay,” Melinda took a deep breath in and exhaled. “Okay,” She kept doing her breathing exercises and telling herself okay as she drove him. When she got there, she saw Jordan's car was still parked by her spot. She pulled in and turned off the car. “Alright, I can do this.” She got out of the car and locked it up. “I just need to sit down with him and tell him I’m sorry. Then suggest going to therapy so we can work on things. Yeah.” She nodded her head. “I can do this.” She started heading to the stairs, she could hear the faint sound of music playing. When she got to the top of the stairs, she could hear Jordan’s voice. “Who is he talking to?”
She looked over at their apartment door and she noticed it was open up a bit. She walked over and was about to open it to let him know she was back, but something told her to stop and listen. So she went over to the side of the door and slowly peered in. She couldn’t see anyone else, but him on the phone talking to someone as he paced back and forth in the living room.
“I fucking told you tonight. Tonight goddamn it.” Jordan said he stopped in front of the coffee table as he waited for a response. “Money. Money. I don’t care how much it’s going to fucking cost me, I need it done tonight.” He bent down to the coffee table and where he had a line of cocaine on a tray that was sitting on the table. “What? Fucking double? Are you shitting me Aaron?” He grabbed the small pipe and put it in one opening of his nose as he closed the other one. He leaned over and he snorted up the line of coke. He pulled the pipe away as he sat back up. “Fuck.” He shook his head and whipped his nose.
“Alright. Alright.” Jordan said as he stood back up. “I’ll pay that asshole double, I’ll just use my money in savings.” He grabbed his metal bat that he had leaning against the coffee table. “She’s getting those bonuses anyway from that new job offer.” He started pacing back and forth again. “Yeah, trust me Aaron, I don’t fucking like it either but she won’t be working for long. Once her contract is up in two years, I’m going to put a baby in her. She’ll have no choice but to stay home like a little good fucking wife is supposed to.” He started twirling the bat around. “Hell no, she isn’t going back to work when the baby gets older like I said she could. I’m just going to keep putting babies in her to keep her home.” He laughed. “That’s right man, barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen. That’s how all women should be.”
“Dean, please.” Jordan said, rolling his eyes. “Dean isn’t going to do jack shit. With my wife’s new job offer, we’ll be staying in LA for the rest of our lives.” He waited for a response. “Because on top of her getting that offer, that director guy offered me a job too with one of his friends. I’m going to be working at some high-end gym that celebrities go to in LA. I’ll be making triple what I am now and I can open up my own gym once I build up enough clients.” He nodded his head. “Don’t worry man, I got you, I got you. You can work for me and I’ll take care of you, like you did for me back in the day.” He listened to the response and scoffed.
“No bro, I won’t have to worry about her wanting to come back to this shit hole. I already got it planned out.” Jordan said, smiling. “I’m going to have Dean and his family, along with Sam and his family come fly out for a visit. When that happens, I’ll tell them to come get a drink with me to discuss Melinda’s next birthday party. When we are out, they’re going to have a little accident, after all they’re cops and people don’t like cops very much nowadays. When they are out of the way, all I need to do is whisper sweet little nothings into my wife’s ear and she’ll help me convince everyone to stay in LA with us. That way, she’ll never have a reason to leave, ever.”
“Yeah, I’ll hold on,” Jordan said, he waited. “So we’re good tonight?” He nodded his head. “That’s fucking great man.” He waited for a response. “No, not my place. I want him to go over to Dean’s place.” He shook his head. “Nah man, Chris doesn’t have to worry about Dean. He’s taking Lisa out for a date night and won’t be back till the morning.” He waited for another response. “Alright, tell him I want him to go there exactly at 8: 30, Ben will already be in bed upstairs. Melinda will be downstairs watching that damn stupid history channel of hers. On the right side of the house, there’s two windows, tell him to go to the second window. That’s where Dean’s office is at and he always leaves that window open. He can go in the house through there. He can sneak up on Melinda, gagging her and grabbing her. When he does, have him drag her back to Dean’s office. He can rip her clothes or something, make it look like he’s going to rape her. BUT,” He stopped pacing. “Tell Chris he isn’t actually going to do it or hurt her in any fucking way. Got that?” He nodded his head.
“Good.” Jordan said as he started pacing again. “I just need him to scare the fucking shit out of her. Tell him in 10 minutes after he has her, to remove the gag like he wants to kiss her or get to his dick suck or something. Whatever. Just get the gag off and let her scream a bit. That way I can kick down the door and run in there like a goddamn hero. Me and him will fight for a bit and I’ll throw him out of the office. When that happens, Chris can just run right out the fucking front door and jump in his ride. Then Melinda will be back in my arms, safe and fucking sound. We'll move to LA, get married, have some babies and live happily fucken after. The fucking end.”
“Hey,” Jordan said, he stopped pacing as he faced the kitchen. “Keith isn’t my fault Aaron. He was just suppose wave the knife around and then I would over power him, take the fucking knife and then he just runs away. But nooooo.” He stopped twirling with the bat. “He decided to fucking cut my face and try to actually kill me. I knew he was going to pull some shit after I saw the way he was eye fucking my wife’s photo. He wanted her for himself. So what else am I supposed to do after that?” He rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, not kill him.” Jordan said in a mocking tone. “Kinda too late for that bro, I already killed Kieth when I purposely pulled the knife out of his neck so he could bleed out. Just tell Chris don’t get too crazy with me or my wife, especially with my wife. Because if he hurts her or tries to take her for himself, I’ll kill him too.” He nodded his head. “Will good, glade he’s a professional unlike Keith J Madison fucking was, that asshole. I’m still fucking pissed he cut my face and try to take her from me.” He rolled his eyes as he let out a sigh. “Yes Aaron, I need to let shit fucking go.” He waited for a response. “Yeah, man, as soon as I get off the phone, I’ll transfer the money to him.” He nodded his head. “Alright man, thanks again. Bye.” Click.
“Okay, so that’s taken care of. Now time to,” Jordan said, started pulling up his bank app. “Make that payment, but first I need to transfer money over so I can pay” He turned around back around. “Baby,” He dropped his phone and bat. “You're here… You’re here. When…when did you get back?”
“You…” Melinda said, she dropped her purse by the door. “You hire… that guy?” She took a few steps towards him. “You hired Kieth, to hurt me?”
“Oh baby, no no no.” Jordan said, shaking his head. “I would never hire someone to actually hurt you okay? Believe me I would never do that. When I hired him, I told him right off the fucking bat, just scare her, don’t hurt her. I told him the plan was just grab you from behind and keep a hold of you till I get there to save you. That’s all he was supposed to do, baby.” Jordan slowly stepped closer to her. “He wasn’t supposed to hurt you whatsoever I promise. That’s what we agreed on. I promise. I promise that’s what I hired him for.”
“Why?” Melinda said, looking confused. “Why would you… why would you do that?”
“Because I was in love with you baby. So in love with you. Like I told you so many times before baby,” Jordan said, smiling as he stepped closer to her. “The moment I saw you, I knew I was going to marry you and have a family with you. Oh I still remember that day I saw you.” He had a cheesy smile on his face as he blushed. “I saw you outside Miller’s Ice Cream shop, sitting down with Ben. You were wearing that black sundress with sunflowers on it with that brown belt. You had your hair down with that brown cowgirl hat and brown boots. You looked soooo adorable and so beautiful. When you smile, fuck baby, your smile was goreous. And that laugh of yours, oh man.” He chuckled. “It was sweet music to my ears baby. Then…” His smile got bigger. “I heard you singing. Granted it was just you singing Happy Birthday to Ben when you lit those 8 candles on his ice cream sundae but still. It was amazing.”
“His 8th birthday? That.. that was about a couple of months before we meant. No, no that’s not right.” Melinda said, shook her head and then she closed her eyes to remember. “The first time we saw each other was at the gym. You walked up to me and you said, "I haven’t seen you around before and if I just joined.” I said yeah and that I was going to another gym, the one over on Birch. And you said the one that closed down. And…wait.” She opened her eyes and looked down. “It was closed down. It was closed down because…” She looked at Jordan. “There was fire, it got burned down because of a fire. They said it was arson. It got burned down because of arson. Did you… did you burn it down so I would go to your gym?”
“How else was I going to get you to join, I am right?” Jordan said, laughing. “After that day, I got your routine down pretty fast since all you did was work, go to the gym, and home. Though I knew where you were going to be and when, it was still hard to find opportunities to talk to you so I could ask you out. Especially since I worked too. And that’s when it hit me, I work at a gym and she goes to the gym. Why not find a way to have her come to my gym? So, I burn down that old gym of yours that way you would join mine and I would be able to get to know you. And it worked.” He shrugged his shoulders with a smile. “I had my future wife and mother of my baby at my gym. It was perfect. I got to check out that nice body of yours while you worked out. I also got to chat you up and get to know you. Everything was going well between us. Till I tried to make that deal with you, if I guess your name right, you would go out with me. But you told me you couldn’t.” He let out a sigh. “All because of Dean, God such an asshole.” He rolled his eyes. “You know, if he wasn’t such a control freak, you could have just accepted my deal. But noooo, he said the only one that could date you would have to prove himself to him. And if you were any other girl baby I would have walked away. But you're,” He smiled. “You're different, you’re different baby. So, I knew I had to come up with another plan in order to prove myself to Dean so I could date you. And what better way to do that, then showing him that I was strong enough to protect you.”
“Keith.” Melinda said, nodding her head. “That’s why you hired Keith.”
“Excatly baby.” Jordan said, nodding his head. “If you actually think about it, the whole Keith thing is Dean’s fault.” Melinda shook her head. “Baby, don’t you see? Like I said, before he's a control freak. He's a narcissist baby. He’s fucking psychotic. He was always gatekeeping your life baby. He wouldn’t let you go out with anyone. You had to tell him where you were at and with who all the time. When we go out on dates, he’s always giving us a time frame for them. Hell, we are living together, he still wants to know when you leave here and when you come back. If he wasn’t such a goddamn asshole, I could have just asked you out. But instead he left me with no fucking choice. I loved you too much to just let you go without a fucking fight. I know, if I wanted to be with you, I needed to do whatever it took to make that happen. That’s why I hired Keith's stupid ass to create a situation where I could be a hero. And then I had to turn around and...”
“Kill him.” Melinda said, cutting him off. “You killed him.”
“Baby I had to. The moment he cut me I knew, I fucking knew he was going off script. Baby,” Jordan said, reaching out and grabbing her hands. “He had a recorded for kidnapping and raping women.” Melinda’s eyes widened. “I knew if he killed me, that was it for you. He was going to kidnap you and rape you over and over again baby. So I had to kill him. I had to kill him for you baby. I killed him for you. I was protecting you baby. Don’t you see that? I was protecting you.” He pulled her towards him. “Baby, I am so so sorry that I even hired a guy like Keith in the first place. It’s just.’ He wrapped his arms around her waist. “I just wanted to be with you so badly. So fucking badly baby. It was killing me having you next to me everyday and knowing you weren’t mine. I just… I just wanted you to be mine. I need you,” He put one hand on her cheek. ‘To be mine, baby. That’s why I did it. That’s why I do everything I do, so you’ll be mine.”
“And the other guy?” Melinda said, looking. “You hired him to keep me with you?”
“Yes baby because I thought you were leaving me.” Jordan said, he moved his other hand to her face, cupping it as he raised her head to look at him. “Baby you don’t know how bad it hurt when I came out here and you were gone. Then seeing you in the car and speeding off like that, my whole fucking world came crashing down on me baby. I just kept thinking I just lost the love of my fucking life. The future mother of my babies was gone. I just kept thinking that shit over and over and fucking over again.” He started tearing up. “It hurt so fucking bad baby, so bad. And without the pills, I couldn’t get it to fucking stop. It wouldn’t stop. And without you, fuck that made it even worse, so much fucking worse. I just couldn’t fucking take it. I couldn’t, baby. So I was going to… I was going to” He let out a sigh. “I was going to kill myself because of it.”
Melinda’s eyes widened as he let go of her face and placed his hands back on her hips. Jordan motioned his head to the dining table. She looked over to the table, seeing an envelope with her name on it. It propped up against a photo frame that had their picture from their first date in it. Her eyes traveled down, when she got a glimpse of something shining. She gasped when she saw the kitchen knife on the table. Her eyes snapped back to Jordan’s eyes
“I was going to kill myself baby.” Jordan said, as tears started forming. “I was reading to do it and everything. I was going…I was to slit my fucking throat.” He started crying. “I just thought… if you weren’t going to be… in my life anymore. That… That life wasn’t worth living. I.. couldn’t live without. I just couldn’t. I thought after… after I made you cry like that… after I yelled at you. After saying all that fucked up shit. I thought you would be better off… if I… if I just fucking died. I thought… that would make you happy.”
“Jordan.” Melinda whispered.
“But then I thought, if I was gone… Who was going to protect you? So….I went and got drugs.. to get high and… and stop the pain. I know.. I know I shouldn't have, baby. I know… I know I was supposed to get clean. But,” Jordan said, sniffing as he tried to stop crying. “But I was hurting so bad. So I.. got high again. I was… I wasn’t hurt as bad. But still, the fucking pain, it was still there. I knew the one way… to get it to fucking stop, was to get you back. And I…” He whipped his eyes real quick. “I was going to order flowers and make dinner for you. But” He let out a sigh. “What are some damn flowers and food really going to do, you know? I thought maybe… maybe I could take you to that new spa you wanted to go to. That way you can get that massage, then go get your hair and nails done. But..” He sighs again as he shakes his head. “How would all that shit make up for what I did? How was all that going to make you fall in love with me again? After I.. After I…. made you cry and broke your heart.” He put his head down and started crying more.
“I’m sorry baby… I just…” Jordan said, shaking his head. “I need.. I need a minute.” He took a couple of deep breaths and got his crying under control. He took one more deep breath and looked back up. “I thought, since you fell in love with me, because I saved you. Maybe if I save you again,” He put one hand on her cheek. “ You’ll fall back in love with me.” He smiled. “Then, you’ll take me back and we can go back to how we were. Both of us, madly in love with each other.” He chuckled a bit. “Once you were back, I was going to go into rehab and get clean for you. For you and our babies. Then we could get married and have a family, just like we always wanted. Like I planned. Oh baby” He leaned down, kissing her lips and sighing into the kiss before he pulled back. “But after you're done with work.” He smiled gently. “I know I said I want a baby as soon as we got married. But it would be selfish of me to make you choose between work and a baby. Plus your right, you working this job will help us out. I need to stop being so prideful and accept the help. So,” His smile got bigger. “I’ll wait till you're done with work to put my baby in your belly. That’s what I had planned for our baby. But” He chuckled again. “You came back to me on your own baby.” He put his hand back on her hip. “Tell me baby, why did you come back? It’s because you still love me right?” He nodded his head. “You still want to be with me? And get married and have my baby? Will” He chuckled again. “Babies. Isn’t that right? You came back for me?”
“No. No I didn’t.” Melinda said, his smile faded as she pushed his hands off her. “Date night got canceled, that's why I came back.” She stepped back. “I was going to get my stuff and I was going…” She saw tears started to form in Jordan’s eyes. She looked over at the table, seeing the knife and envelope. “To leave.” She let out a sigh. “No, that’s not true” She looked back at him. “Date night did get canceled. But I didn’t come back here for my stuff to leave. I came back…I came back for you.” Jordan smiled. “I wanted to work things out and suggest going to couple’s therapy to work through our problems.”
“Couple’s therapy?” Jordan asked, raising an eyebrow, his eyes looked away. “Okay, okay.” He nodded his head as he moved his eyes back. “Okay we can do that. Yeah,’ He went back to her and put his hands back on her hips. “Yeah baby. We’ll do that. Oh baby,” He started getting excited. “You know what we can do? We can just go down to the courthouse and get married right now. What do you think? We can still do the wedding on our anniversary, but why wait till then to get married? Won’t we just do it now? Go get your wedding dress on baby and I’ll… ”
“What?” Melinda said, as her eyes widened. “After what I just heard?”
“Baby, we’re going to go to couples therapy. We can just work all that out in there, okay?” Jordan said, smiled. “Since we’re getting married today, we need to think of where we can go on a quick honeymoon trip. Oh I got it.” His face lit up. “Instead of the courthouse, won’t you call up Mr Moore and tell him you accept the job. We can use the bonuses and fly to Vegas. We can get married there. Since you love Elvis, we can find one of those Elvis impersonators to marry us. You can walk down the aisle to “Can’t Help Fallin’ In Love With You.” Then we can just do our honeymoon on the strip. Afterwards we can just go straight to LA and ….”
“So you can kill Sam and Dean?” Melinda said, shoving him hard and making him stumble back away from her. “I’m not going to let you hurt my family.”
“I’m your family now Melinda,” Jordan said, glaring at her. “I’m your fucking family. Me,” He stepped closer. “And our babies. We’ll be all the family you need. You’ll see that after we get married.” She shook her head. “Baby, look, I love Sam, I really do. He’s a great guy and he welcomed me into the family with open arms. He even gave me great advice when it came to keeping a marriage together and being a father. But if he’s still around, you’ll want to come back here all the time to visit. And to be honest, I fucking hate Texas. I always did. I was actually going to leave till I saw you, then I decided to stay. But with this new job offer, we don’t have to stay here anymore. And as for Dean will.” He put his hands out and huffed. “He’s a fucking asshole, let’s face it.” He put his hands back down. “He’s always threatening to shoot me in the fucking face. And all I ever did was be nice to him and be polite. I followed his stupid ass rules to date you. I went out of my way and took him to where his favorite whiskey is made. And what does he say after we get there, “This doesn’t change anything, I’ll shoot you in the face still, maybe just not point blank.” Jordan rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter what I do, he'll always be a complete dick to me. So,” A crooked smile formed on his face. “He has to go, baby. Plain and fucking simple.”
“You're insane.” Melinda said and his smile faded. "Insane."
“What did you just call me?” Jordan said, glaring at her again. “Call me that again, I fucking dare you.” His wicked smile danced across his face. “Go on wife, call me insane again. Let's see what happens when you do?” Melinda slowly stepped back as he stepped towards her. “Baby, there’s something about me you should know. I don’t like being called insane, because I'm a well sound mind person. Even when I’m high as a fucking kite, like right now, I know exactly what I’m doing.” He tilted his head to the side. “You know why that is, baby?” He moved his head back. “Because I’m in complete fucking control.” He stepped towards her and she stepped back. “STOP FUCKING MOVING!” She froze and he chuckled. “See baby? I’m in control. I’m in control of myself. And I’m definitely in fucking control of you, wife.” He smirked when he saw her start to shake.
“I bet you're regretting coming in here now instead of leaving when you had the chance, huh? Pretty stupid move on your part. But you're not stupid are you baby? No,” Jordan said, shaking his head. “My baby isn’t stupid, she’s ballys. I bet you knew if you told someone about what I said, it would be your word vs my word. Even if you told Dean, he would believe you but you know no one would believe him. Because he likes to go around here telling everyone how much he hates me, how much he wants to shoot me in the face and how much he wants us broken up. What better way to do that, then claim I said I hired a couple of bad guys, killed one, and planned to kill him too.” He smirked. “You decided to record this, didn't you baby? I’m assuming you tried out there but with the music, you couldn’t pick up what I was saying. So you,” He stepped closer to her. “Had no choice but to come in here and get me to confess. That’s probably why you let me get so close to you and put my arms around you. Yeah,” He nodded his head. “I bet you have your phone shoved right in your bra so it could pick up the audio just fine. And since I see you still left the door cracked open, you were planning to bolt out of here as soon as you got the chance. Isn’t that right baby? You were planning to dip out on me again, weren’t you?”
“Jordan,” Melinda whispered as she fought back tears as fear washed over her. “Jordan please.” She tried to move, but her body wouldn’t respond. “Please.”
“Please what baby?” Jordan said, smiling as he stepped closer. “Please what?” He took another step. “What were you saying please for? Where are you trying to say…” He reached out and grabbed her throat. She gasped as he dragged her towards him and he looked down at her. “Please fuck me daddy.” She grabbed his wrist trying to break his hold when he started applying some pressure. “Don’t worry baby,” He smiled wicking. “I will.” He used his other hand to reach into her shirt and into her bra. “What’s this?” He pulled out her phone and he saw she had the audio app recording running. “And looked at that?” He showed her the phone. “I was right.” He turned the phone back around, canceling out the recording and then checking to see if she had anything else. “Looks like I’m good.” He looked at her as he put one end of the phone against his chest, then bent the other side down, snapping it in the half. “Looks like I’ll have to get you a new phone with an actual case.” He threw the broken pieces to the couch. “Now where were we?”
“Jordan,” Melinda whispered as tears started to fall. “Please.”
“That’s right, you were saying please fuck me daddy.” Jordan said, chuckled a bit. “Like I said baby, I will. You know why that is?” He moved to the side of her face and pressed his lips against her ear. “Because daddy wants to fuck.” She gasped as he pulled back. “Oh yeah baby, daddy is going fuck you till you're raw.” He chuckled more as she tried to get his grip to loosen. “Speaking of raw. Since we’re going to get married today, I’m thinking I’ll do just that. I’m going to go in that nice tight wet fucking pussy of your’s completely raw, ” Her eyes widened. “That’s right little mama,” He smirked as he leaned in “I’m going to put a baby in you.” He pulled back. “Like that? It’s going to be my new nickname for you when I get you pregnant. Oh yes,” He nodded his head as he smiled. “My little mama.” He grabbed her face with his free hand and leaned in, kissing her hard before pulling back. “My sexy little mama. Fuck, I can’t wait to feel your pussy on my dick with no condom in the way. Bet you’ll feel fucking amazing.” He licked his lips. “Yeah, fucking amazing.”
“Jordan, no.” Melinda said, shaking her head the best she could. “No please.”
“I know, I know, baby. I said I was going to wait till after you were done working. But.” Jordan said, letting out a sigh. “I really can’t wait that long. I’ll just deal with having a sitter or we can do daycare till your contract is up. Once it is, you're quieting and you're staying home with our son. Do you understand me little mama? I want you to stay home with our baby.” He waited for a response, nothing. “I said,” He leaned his face in closer. “DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND ME?!” She nodded her head. “There you go baby. Now was that so hard?” He tilted his head to the side. “You know what? While we are at it, let’s make a few changes in our marriage.” He moved his head back again.
“All that art shit, that ends. I always hated going to those art museums. It’s soooo boring.” Jordan said, rolling his eyes. “Then your paintings? Come on baby, do you really think anyone wants your art work? Let alone like it?” He shook his head. “No one likes that morbid shit you paint. While we are on the subject of morbid shit. What's up with you doing that deep and dark bullshit talking? You know how fucking weird you sound when you zone out and do that shit?” His body shook. “Give me the fucking creeps. Just keep the talking to a minimum, I like it better when you do that. Then you do that rambling of yours before you get to the point, no more of that. Just get to the point, don’t need all these extra details. Then all these meaningless facts you have, all this random shit. Cut that shit out too. I always hated when you did that. It’s like you were trying to prove that you're smarter than everyone in the room, including me. But now, you can see I’m the smartest person in the room.”
“Next." Jordan said, he reached into her side pocket and grabbed her keys out. “Your car.” He showed her the keys. “It’s mine now.” He shoved them into his back pocket. “No woman should be driving around in a sports car. Little alone a classic car like that Boss you have out there. You can start driving my car, that’s more suitable for you. No actually that won’t work,” He shook his head. “I plan to put four babies at least in you, little mama. They won’t all fit in that car, so we’ll trade in for a mini van. That way you can drive all our babies around.”
“Let me see what else is there, hmmm.” Jordan said, and he snapped his fingers. “Singing, I love your singing. God I love it so much when you sing, baby. So like I told you before, you're only going to sing for me and our babies. No one else, including those damn babies in the nursery got it?” She nodded her head. “Good. Good. What else? Your dresses, they got to go. Not the sundress ones, I love those ones. They are so bright and warm, they really make you look like a cowgirl. The gothic style ones, those dark and gloomy ones. They got to go. No more Hottopic bullshit, grow the fuck up already.” She nodded her head.
“What else? What else? Horseback riding? Nah I don’t mind that much. " Jordan said, shaking his head. "I always did love watching you ride. The way your perfect fucking tits and ass bounce when you ride. Hmm fuck, it does shit to me baby. And if I could, I would fuck you up on that horse while you ride. Can you imagine? One arm wrapped around your waist and the other on the reins while you bounce up and down on my dick while we ride together. I bet I’ll get you pregnant on the first lap around little mama." He grinned.
“Speaking of you being pregnant. When I put my baby in you, I don’t want you to ride. I don’t want to risk you falling off and getting hurt. We could end up losing the baby. Alright sexy little mama?” Jordan said and she nodded her head. “And since we are on the subject of our baby's safety. Your gun that you carry around in your purse.” Her eyes widened. “That needs to go baby. We don’t need that around our babies right?” Melinda nodded her head. “Yeah, that shit will be too dangerous for them. I know we could get a gun safe, but if they are as smart as us, they’ll find a way to get in there. So it’s better to just be safe and not have one around at all. What do you think, little mama, is that a good idea?”
“Yeah,” Melinda said, nodding her head. “That's a good idea.”
“Finally,” Jordan said, leaning down and brushing his nose against hers as he smiled. “We’re on the same page. Things are going to get so much better for us now. You’ll see, baby. They’ll get so much better now.” He took her lips and slid his tongue into her mouth. With his free hand, he reached around her between her legs. He cupped her ass as his fingers rubbed against her pussy. He moaned into the kiss as he pressed his lips harder on hers. Then he pulled both his hand and face back from her face. He looked at her as he panted. “Yeah, so much fucking better. But if anything else pops up that I want to change, I expect it to when I tell you. Isn’t that right baby? You’ll change it if I tell you too.” She nodded her head. “That’s good baby, that’s real good. Now.” He smiled. “As for your brothers, they are going to have to go.” He nodded his head “Right baby? After all, it’s me and them. And who are you really going to choose, baby? Me and our babies, or them?”
“You already know who I’ll choose.” Melinda said, smiling as she moved her hands around. “Who I’ll always choose over anyone else.” Jordan smiled. “And I choose….them.”
She kneeled him in the balls as hard as she could. And at the same time she brought her forearm up behind his elbow and the other down on his inner forearm. Causing him to let go of her throat as he kneeled over in pain. Two moves, that he taught her to escape from someone. As soon as he let her go, she spun around and made a run for the door.
“NO!” Jordan yelled, running after her. She reached the door handle when he wrapped his arms around her waist. “No you fucking don’t.” He yanked her back, causing her to slam the door shut. “Your not fucking leave me again.” He flinged her to the side and she grabbed her purse as he lifted off the ground. “What did I say about your gun baby?” With one hand, he snatched her purse from her and then threw it away from them. He wrapped his arm back around her waist as she fought to get him to let go. “You really fucking think you can break my hold baby?” He laughed as he brought her back to the ground. She let his arms go and leaned forward, reaching out for her purse. “You maybe a fucking badass with a gun in your hand baby.” He started yanking her side to side to throw her off balance. “But when it comes to hand to hand combat.” His gripped around her waist tighten as he yanked her back towards his chest. “I’m the fucking badass.”
He quickly bent them forward and just as fast he flipped them back as he lifted her up upper body above his shoulders. He moved around as he suplexed her to the ground. As soon as Melinda’s head made contact with the ground, she was out. He let her waist go then he brought his legs to his chest and thrust legs up, causing him to pop back up to his feet. Jordan went over to her purse and took the gun out. He removed the clip and the bullet in the chamber. He then walked over to the lock box, he put in the code and opened it, then he put the gun inside and locked it back up. Then he went to the door, putting the chain on and locking both locks.
Afterwards he went to the stereo and turned up the music, blasting it. He grabbed the portable speakers, placing two on the window seal and the other in front of the door. All three facing forward to help drown out any sound that was going from inside the apartment. When he was one he walked over to Melinda and kneel down beside her. He looked down at her as he brushed back her hair, causing her to stir a bit. He smiled as he bent over and kissed her lips gently. He sat back up and grabbed his phone off the ground. He stood back up and went over to the bathroom, closing it behind him as he called up Aaron.
“Hey man,” Jordan said, leaning against the sink. “Change of plans, my wife came back after all and wants to make things work.” He chuckled. “Yeah right, I’m surprised too. Tell Chris I’ll send him half of the agreed amount for the inconvenience.” He nodded. “Alright cool, glad he’s fine with that. I’ll send it over and then I’m going to wipe my phone clean. When I get a new one, I’ll hint you up man.” He nodded. “Okay cool. Thanks again man, laters.” Click. “Alright then.” He let out a sigh as he started transferring money off and sending it out. “Okay, that’s done.” He pulled up another app. “Let’s delete this here so no one sees that. Now turn off this so don’t have to worry. Now to upload this stuff.” He opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom. He looked at Melinda seeing she was still out. He went over to his laptop on his desk and hooked up his phone. “Select this and this, now upload.” He waited till the files were all uploaded. “Okay done.” He unplugged his phone and went to the manufacturer reset, then selected it. “Reset done. Now just in case.” He opened up his drawer and set his phone on a metal plate and it started surging till the scene went blank. “That should take care of that.” He closed the drawer up. “Time to check on the wife.”
“Baby?” Jordan said, walking back over to her. “Little mamas?” He nudged her side with his foot. “Still with me, beautiful?” She groaned as she started stringing. “Beautiful. I haven’t called you that in a while huh?” He smiled. “I’ll start calling you that again, okay? You know I always wonder,” He started unbuttoning his dress shirt. “Why have you never given me a nickname? I know you call me daddy but that’s for the bedroom.” He took off the shirt and tossed it down. “You do call me husband, but I need to be called something else besides Jordan all the time,” He walked over to the coffee table and kneeled down. “Won’t you call me, my love or babe or my heart? Yeah, I like my heart. Because I am your heart. Oh,” He looked back at her and smiled. “You can call me papi too.” He looked back again. “Papi and my heart, that’s what I want you to call me for now on.”
“Now let’s talk about this mess that you caused,” Jordan said, as he opened up the small box he had and poured out the cocaine on the tray. “I want you to know, I’m not going to hold it against you. Even though you try to record me so you can get me arrested. Which,” He chuckled. “Won’t work by the way.” He started working on lining the cocaine up. “I know you were just scared because you never saw this side of me before. I know it will take some getting used to, but you’ll fall in love with this side too. After all, if we’re going to be getting married you have to love all of me.” He turned to her as she stirred. “Just like I love all of you, even the parts that try to cause me trouble. Right now baby, we are just having a rough patch, that's all.” He turned back around “Every couple goes through them. But with couple’s therapy, we’ll get through it baby, I know we will.” He grabbed his pipe, doing what he did before and snorted up the coke. “Fuck that’s some good shit.” He shook his head and whipped his nose. “I would share with you little mama but,” He chuckled. “Your going to be having my babies and I don’t want my babies fucked up when they are born.”
“Speaking of babies,” Jordan said, as he looked over at her. “Let’s get started making them.” He crawled over to her and grabbed her legs. He spread them apart and positioned himself between them. “So beautiful, you up for some role playing?” She groaned as she slowly opened up her eyes. “What should we role play this time?” Her earrings were ringing and her vision was blurring. “You as the naughty nurse and I’m your patient? Or do you want to be the naughty school girl and I’m the professor?” She started moving her head back and forth as she tried to regain focus. “Yeah you're right, we should try something new.” He clicked his tongue as he thought about it. “Oh I got it.” He leaned in a bit. “Won’t you be the naughty wife, whose husband hires a guy to break into their home to teach his wife a lesson. I’ll be the guy that breaks in and I’ll teach you a lesson by fucking you…” Melinda jolted up and started swinging her hands. “Oh there she fucking goes!”
He wrapped his hand around one of her wrists. Before he could grab her other one, her hand makes contact with his face. Causing his head to snap to his right as grabbed her other wrist. Melinda immediately froze as Jordan’s head slowly turned back towards her. Her heart started pounding when she saw his eyes narrowed and darkened. His chest started raising visibility higher as his breathing got heavier. His nostrils started flaring as he moved his jaw, popping it. She started to panic and sweat as the realization that she wasn’t getting out of her alive set in.
“You really shouldn't have done that.” Jordan said, he tightened his grip on her wrists and twisted, making her cry out in pain. “You think that fucking hurts baby? Wait to see what I fucking do next,” Her eyes widened. “You little slut.” He grinned. “Yeah, that’s right.” He nodded his head. “Your my little slut now.” He pulled her up a bit by her wrists. “And you know what daddy does to his little fucking slut when she misbehaves?” He leaned his face down, pressing his nose against hers. “He fucks her in the ass till she bleeds.”
“NO!” Melinda yelled as he shoved her back down. “No! Jordan please! No! No!” She tried to fight back as he kept a hold of her. “I’m sorry Jordan! Please no! No! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He just laughed as he watched her struggle. “HELP! H…” He reached out one hand and wrapped it around her throat then he started to squeeze. “J…J…”
With his other hand, he started undoing her button on her pants and then zipper. Then she started turning red as her eyes started rolling to the back of her head. He let her go and she gasped for air in between coughing. He reached down and ripped her shirt open. Then he quickly moved one of her legs over him and flipped her onto her stomach. He jumped onto her and placed her between his legs before she got a chance to crawl away. He grabbed her shirt and ripped it off of her completely as she tried to get out from under him.
“Don’t fucking fight it baby,” Jordan said, put one hand on the middle of her back and shoved her down, pinning her to the ground. “Fighting is only going to make it fucking worse for you.” He started undoing his belt. “Unless you to make it worse. I’m okay with that too.” He undid his button and then zippered. “Just so you know, our safe word and signals aren’t going to fucking work here.” He pulled down his pants and boxes, exposing his hard cock. “Daddy’s little slut doesn't get to use the safe word or signals when she’s getting fucking punished. She doesn’t fucking deserve to.” He removed his hand from her back and placed both hands on her sides, taking a hold of both her pants and panties. “Now hurry up and help daddy take these off of you, you little fucking slut. Daddy wants fuck that virgin asshole of yours.” He sat up a bit, giving her room to move. She started to wiggle forward as he slipped them down. “Oh yeah,” He grinned. “You’re a good little slut aren’t you baby? Keep this up and maybe daddy won’t…”
Melinda twisted around as she swung her arm. Metal made contact with the side of Jordan’s head and sent him flying off of her. She quickly got to her feet as Jordan started sitting back up. She went to run for the door when he reached out and wrapped his arms around her legs. She brought the end of the bat down on his nose as soon as it made contact, blood appeared. He let her go and fell back to the ground. Jordan groaned in pain as blood from his nose came out of his nostrils and from the gash on the bridge of his nose. Melinda ran for the door as she screamed for help.
“MELINDA!!!!” Jordan roared her name as she got the chain off. “GET YOUR FUCKING ASS BACK HERE SO I CAN FUCK IT!” He rolled over and got to his feet as he pulled up his pants and boxers. “YOUR NOT FUCKING LEAVE ME AGAIN!” He ran towards her and she swung the bat, hitting him in the ribs. “FUCK!!” He fell over onto the coffee table. “MELINDA!!” She turned the other two locks as he stood back up “YOUR NOT FUCKING LEAVING ME!!” He went for her and she threw the bat at his face, making stumble back. “FUCKING BITCH!!” She swung the door open and made a run for it.“GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE FUCKING SLUT!!!” He whipped the blood from his face as he made a run for the door. “YOU FUCKING HEAR ME!!”
The moment his foot stepped outside he was grabbed by his shirt and yanked to the side. He stumbled till he was lifted off the ground and slammed up against the wall. His head bounced off of it, putting him in a daze. He groaned in pain as he started to come out of it. Soon as his vision came to focus, his eyes widened when he saw the barrel of a gun in his face. He looked to his left, two cops with guns pointed at him. He looked to his right, Melinda was sitting on the floor as Jason knelt next to her and wrapped his jacket around her. Two cops were right behind with guns pointed at him. Jordan looked over to the stairs, seeing two more cops coming up with guns drawn. Then finally he looked back to the person holding the gun that was in his face.
“I told you,” Dean said, as he narrowed his eyes. “If you ever lay a hand on her, I’ll be there.” He pressed the barrel of the gun right between Jordan’s eyes. “I’ll be there” He leaned forward. “WITH ALL FUCKING HELL RIGHT BEHIND ME!” Dean leaned back as his breathing got heavier. “Kid, cover your ears and look away.” He pulled back the hammer on his gun. “I don’t want you to see this next part.”
“Baby, please.” Jordan said, as he started panicking. “Please don’t let him kill me. Don’t let him kill me.” Tears started to form. “Please baby! Don’t let him kill me! Please baby! Don’t let him fucking kill me!”
“You really think that you can put your hands on my daughter and I won’t do anything?” Dean said, tilting his head to the side. “You think I was going to let you rape my daughter? My little girl?’ He leaned forward again. “MY FUCKING CHILD AND I’LL LET YOU FUCKING LIVE?!” He pulled back as he looked eyes with Jordan. “I knew the moment I looked into your eyes there was something wrong with you. I could see that darkness, that sickness in you. I’ve seen it before. There’s no mistaking it, Jordan. You're a monster. And unfortunately for, I’m a fucking hunter. And just like other monsters before you.” He moved the gun between his eyes and shoved it into his mouth. “It’s time I put you down.”
“DAD STOP!” Melinda yelled as she started crying. “Please stop! You’ve won! You got him! You got him! Please stop!”
“Dean,” Jason said, slowly getting up and walking over to him. “She’s right man, you’ve won. You got him. You finally got him.” He put his hand on Dean’s hand that was holding the gun. “Melinda’s safe now Dean. She’s safe now because of you man. She’s safe. She’s safe.” Dean’s breathing slowly started getting under control. “Come on man. Melinda needs you. She needs her father.”
Dean pulled the gun slowly out of Jordan’s mouth and he gasped for air. He put the hammer back in place as he removed his finger from the trigger. He opened up his hand and Jason grabbed his gun away from him. Dean glared at Jordan one more time before finally letting Jordan go and letting him dropped to the floor. Dean stepped away and went over to Melinda, helping her up. She threw her arms around his waist as he wrapped his arms around her. Jason pulled Jordan to his feet, spinning him around and slamming him up against the wall.
“Fuck, man.”Jordan said as Jason started grabbed his wrists. “Jesus Christ, Jason. Come on man. Don’t do this. Don’t do this.” He started putting the cuffs on Jordan. “Everything I did, she asked me to do, okay?” Jordan looked over his shoulder as the cuffs locked in place. “This is just a misunderstanding, you got to believe me Jason.” He pulled him off the wall. “It’s just a fucking misunderstanding! You got to believe me!”
“Save it for Judge.” Jason said, pushing him to two officers at the top of stairs. “Take this dirt bag and haul his ass away.”
“Baby. Hey baby.” Jordan said, looking over at Melinda started trying to drug him down the stairs. “Tell them it’s just a misunderstanding. Tell them I would never rape you. Tell them baby. Tell them you wanted it, baby.” Melinda buried her face into Dean’s chest “No baby please! Please!” They started tugging him down the stairs “Please tell them baby! Please baby fucking tell them!” He struggled against them as he went down the stairs “BABY PLEASE! TELL THEM!’ He got him to the bottom of the steps. “JUST FUCKING TELL THEM THAT’S HOW YOU LIKE IT! BABY PLEASE!”
Dean, Melinda and walked over to the top of the stairs, watching them dragging Jordan to one of the cruisers. Jordan started fighting back, he shoved his shoulder into one officer's stomach and kicked the other one in his stomach. He spun around and ran back towards the steps, when other officers grabbed him by his shoulders and started dragging him back.
“FUCK!” Jordan yelled as he kept fighting back. He looked over at Melinda as three officers started shoving him back. “BABY! WHEN I GET OUT WILL BE TOGETHER!” He head butted on the officer in front of him. “I SWEAR BABY. WE’LL BE TOGETHER WHEN I GET OUT!” The officer got up and started shoving him back. “ME AND YOU ARE GOING TO MARRY! YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE MY BABY! YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE MY BABY!”
“ENOUGH!” Dean yelled as he pointed at them. “GET HIS FUCKING ASS IN THERE NOW!” Jason ran down the steps to join them. “HOG TIE AND FUCKING GAG HIM IF YOU NEED TO! JUST GET HIS ASS OUT OF HERE NOW!”
“NO!” Jordan yelled as Jason and the others grabbed a limb each and lifted Jordan off the ground. “BABY I LOVE YOU! I FUCKING LOVE YOU!” The car door opened up. “WAIT FOR ME BABY! WAIT FOR ME!” They threw him in the back seat and slammed the door shut. “BABY!” He went to the window. “YOU PROMISE TO MARRY ME! ” They started pulling out of the parking spot. “YOU PROMISE TO HAVE MY BABY! YOU PROMISE! YOU FUCKING PROMISE!” They started driving away as he looked over at the back window. “YOU FUCKING PROMISE! YOU FUCKING PROMISE!”
“It’s over, kid.” Dean said as Jordan was finally out of sight. “It’s over.” She buried her face in his chest again as she started crying. “It’s okay, I’m here kid. I’m here.” He kissed the top of her head and rested his head on hers. “Don’t you worry, they’ll get the book thrown at him. He’s going to go away from a long, long fucking time. I promise kid, I promise.”
Smoke & Mirrors Part 12
Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.
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