Disgruntled (16 page)

“It seemed wrong. Be careful and watch your back.”
Reva had checked the shiver that crawled up her back. A few
years ago, she might have marched to the gossipmonger’s
office and reprimanded him. Though his name had never
been given, it seemed pretty obvious. It wasn’t easy to hear
this type of thing and not take it personally. She softened. “I
really appreciate you telling me this. It was very considerate
of you.”
“I thought you needed to know.”
“I
did.
And
thanks.”
She
had
offered
a
smile
to
the
employee, accepting the loyalty and kindness behind it.
Reva stood on her street and shook her head in frustration
remembering the exchange. She opened her mailbox and
removed the stack of envelopes and paper, and admitted the
conversation had been awkward and stilted. The employee
had wanted her to know more but seemed unwilling to give
details.
She glanced through the mail one by one, then stopped at a
single sheet of paper with a typed message. Even the feel of
the paper seemed cold and threatening. Todd’s footsteps
caught her attention as he strode toward her.
“Hi there.” He smiled and the troubles of the day melted
somewhat. “Interesting mail?”
She nodded and passed the slip of paper to him.

Wouldn’t you rather be at home eating dinner with a hubby
and kids than working late at the office?
What the hell? Todd’s mouth dropped as he gazed at the
glaring words on the paper. So he had been right. Someone
was watching her. Not just the neighborhood like a burglar
would, but Reva.
Todd flipped the paper over to search for handwriting or
other marks. None. He frowned. “You know what this
means, right?”
She nodded. Her eyes were as big as marbles, the skin over
her cheeks paled instantly. “We need to call the police back.”
Her hand shook as he engulfed her fingers in his larger ones.
She froze. Why would this happen now? Did she have a
magnet on her back that attracted this type? Had he decided
to follow her home after all? What had she done to deserve
it all?
“Reva, planting yourself here in the street doesn’t change it
or fix it. Let’s go inside, okay?”
Except she didn’t want to. It was safer outside in public
view. Bad things didn’t happen there. They happened inside,
where
no
one
could see
or
know.
She
looked
around
searching for a face to associate to the note. The face she’d
tried to leave behind. He wasn’t there, of course. There was
an art to that type of punishment. It had to be unexpected
and unwitnessed.
***

“Um…want to fill me in on what you’re looking for? An
escape route maybe? Or someone in particular? I’m here,
Reva. Right in front of you.” The words jolted her attention
back to him. He stroked her arm but she backed away.
“We’ll handle this, okay? He’s not going to do this to you
anymore. I swear it.”
“You can’t stop it. You don’t know—”
“We can stop it and we will. You, me, the police, your
family, your neighbors. You’re not alone.”
Across the street, Jeff from the baseball team jogged by and
waved. “Hey, you two!”
Not alone.
Except, he had left the note to remind her just how alone
she really was. And that he knew exactly where. The jackass
hadn’t counted on me, though. Todd put an arm on Reva’s
shoulder and guided her toward the house. “We’re going to
make that call to the police, then you’re coming home with
me. We’ll call your family and let them know as well.”
“No. It’ll just make it worse.”
He quirked a brow. “You really believe that? Or is that just
something he told you to keep you from talking? Think
about it. If you talk, he’s exposed for what he is. If you
don’t, he can keep going. Putting you through hell. No, you
were never meant to be quiet Reva. Sure, he beat it into
you—but that’s not who you are. And it’s not who you need
to be right now. We’re telling everyone. You hear me.
Everyone.” He could almost feel the color return to her
cheeks as he held her against his chest. The shaking stopped.
“Okay.”
They made the calls. The police came and the curious
neighbors peered out windows. A couple walked by to check
on them. It was the second time a police vehicle had been in
the neighborhood in a week, and that raised everyone’s
curiosity. Once the car had pulled away, Todd knocked on
doors and spoke with each of her closest neighbors. By the
end of the evening, it had traveled as far as three blocks. A
neighborhood watch had been formed.
Reva’s family was less calm. Two hours later, his small house
was overflowing with people and a buzz of Spanish and
English. He had to really concentrate to understand what
had been said, but somewhere in the mix he thought the
brothers had decided to take turns at her house on the
couch.
“She’s staying here with me,” Todd interjected.
A short family eruption followed the statement, before
Reva’s dad held up a hand. “No. Todd’s right. He won’t
know to look here. If the boys stay at her place, he’ll run
into a big surprise if he even thinks about trying something.”
“Good point,” Ben added.
Todd frowned. It would be unlikely any predator who
appeared at her door would make it out without a sound
beating. “You call the police immediately if he shows, or you
see anything. Understand?”
Ben ignored him. “Reva, you need anything from your
house?”
“Pretty much everything but this is overkill, guys.”
Todd recognized that she had spoken less than a handful of
words while the family rambled away. Didn’t they see the
tension in her face? They all looked her direction.
Reva tossed her hair back and met their gaze. “I know how
to deal with this. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Not that big of a deal? Are you kidding me?” Todd barely
managed to keep his voice controlled. “The man has already
beaten you into the hospital and now he’s sneaking around
in your backyard watching you—not to mention that note.
Reva, this is definitely a big deal. It’s a huge one. Besides,
even in normal circumstances, no one ever failed by being
over-prepared for a situation.”
He wanted to shake her. Instead, Todd pulled her to him
and motioned for the others to leave. They’d all had their
say. And had a plan.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel the same. Nick wouldn’t
do this.”
“You probably never thought he’d hit you either when you
met him. You thought he was better than that. Right?”
She quieted for a minute. “I wanted to believe it. To believe
he was a good man.”
“He probably wanted to believe it himself.
And he wanted
others to also.”
She pulled back and Todd lifted her chin. “So we take away
his advantage and bring it all out into the daylight. Everyone
knows and everyone watches. He’s too much of a coward to
come near you in that situation.”
Reva put a hand to his chest and dammit if he didn’t
completely forget all the protective instincts and let his mind
go back to the night before and the feel of that same hand
stroking gently against his torso. Todd rubbed his eyes with
a thumb and forefinger and forced the thought away. Or at
least to the background. Was he really that messed up? The
first thought he had was to get her back in the sheets?
“Why are you here, Todd? This is a big mess. Why would
anyone want to be a part of it if they didn’t have to? I don’t
have a choice—can’t really run away it seems. You. You
have options.”
Did he? He supposed he could just walk away and let her
figure it out on her own. And she would. Reva was smart
and strong, even if she didn’t see it. God knows he didn’t
really like or need the drama. Still, after all the crap he’d
gone through with Annie, it had become obvious that as
organized and devoted as he was with business—he’d never
really put a lot of effort into a relationship. He thought he
had but when you’re with someone that doesn’t really care
about you, it’s easy to just do what they ask and let things
flow. To keep them happy. It’s easy to believe that’s how it
should be. He had always been good at most things he tried,
so it never occurred to him that more effort made it more
satisfying. Other than with Eric, of course. Eric was worth
the effort. Being his dad was the best thing he had. Until
now.
“Most of the things that are worth having are worth working
toward. Only the unimportant ones come easy, Reva, and
that’s usually because we don’t care about the outcome.”
She gave him a puzzled look and he realized he had spoken
in tongues as far as she was concerned. But it made sense to
him.
“And maybe the good ones sneak up on you just like the bad
things do. It’s hard to tell the difference.”

Brent shook his head to clear the vision of matted bloody
hair from his mind.
It shouldn’t have gone like that.
He had just
talked to the woman at the park and told her to leave him
alone and mind her own business. He hadn’t done anything
wrong, just hiked up his music. Big Deal. Without warning,
she’d lunged at him.
There had been no call for her to get all up-tight anyway.
He’d been there before. She sat in the grass with a bag of
bread at her side, tearing off bits and throwing them to the
bevy of pigeons that surrounded her. He hated pigeons.
They were nasty birds, good for nothing but making a mess.
She crooned at them, and as the sun hit her back, he realized
it was Reva. Reva was sitting there, throwing tidbits to the
worthless crowd of worthless creatures, encouraging them to
huddle around and waste time. Waste space. Make his life
difficult.
He had no desire to see her at the park only minutes after
he’d left work and expected to leave her behind also. The
fact that she bothered with the pigeons made him bristle.
Even more so when she shouted over her shoulder, “Turn
that noise down!”
The music was good and lively. It filtered through the park
and added joviality to the afternoon. He had no intention of
turning it down. He hit the plus button on his volume and
noted her glare as the sound grew.
Reva approached, the look of frustration evident in every
forceful step. “I said to turn it down, not up, you idiot. Can’t
you listen to the peacefulness of the park rather than that
commercialized crap?”
Brent ignored her. She could order him around at work but
she had no business following him to the park. Didn’t she
get it? He wasn’t interested. She might be attracted to him,
but as much as he considered it, there was just
no way
. Sure,
she was pretty in a way. Yet, she was incredibly difficult to
get along with. He stepped toward her with his normal
forced smile.
“Reva, we have to quit meeting like this.”
“Huh? Reva? Who’s Reva?” The woman looked perplexed.
She hesitated to step further toward him. “Are you okay,
dude?”
Then, without his understanding, he looked down at her face
covered with gravel from the park road and blood. Her hair
was matted against her scalp and frothy with wine-colored
shampoo. Only it wasn’t shampoo that oozed from her
head. He stared at the startled expression on her face. It had
begun
as
surprise
but
now
what
lay
their
permanently
embedded in her features was—forgiveness. Why? He didn’t
need her forgiveness. She was the one that followed him
around, made his life miserable at work, then tried to seep
into his off-time. As he stared longer, the features changed.
It wasn’t Reva. She was shorter and a bit plumper. Her hair,
though now matted, was straighter.
What the hell?

***
“Unless this Nick guy has a way of transporting himself
from one place to another quickly, he’s not your peeping
tom,” Officer Teckley stated on the phone. “According to
our investigator, he has been at work every day at his job in
Florida. In the evenings, he’s apparently joined a bowling
league with his new girlfriend and, according to a neighbor,
brings home a trophy almost once a month for some contest
they’ve
won…fairly
consistently.
Neighbor
said
he
was
obsessed with winning it. The guy’s quite charming and
handsome. The girl’s a bit of a mouse though. Do me a
favor, make a list of everyone that you’ve had an altercation
with
in
the
past
month.
Add
to
the
list
any
new
acquaintances that seemed random or odd. Email the list as
soon as you get the chance, or you can fax it to the number
on the card. We’ll canvas the neighborhood again too.”
He has a new girlfriend. A bit of a mouse. Go figure.
Reva imagined
that people had thought her a mouse too.
Reva
measured
the
words
with
a
solid
amount
of
foreboding. Something in the back of her mind, said
think.
She had missed something. Something important—relevant.
A coldness settled over her.
Think. How would this keep
happening? What started it?
She looked at the clock on her desk. She had officially stared
at the computer screen for fifteen minutes without typing.
Not one single keystroke. She hadn’t taken her office phone
off do-not disturb. Yet, from the flashing light, it was
evident the messages had piled up. She hit the speaker
button and typed in her code to hear them. Oddly, the first
message recorded a time of three in the morning.
“Reva, Brent here. I’m not going to be in today. I’ve had a
personal thing come up and I need to be off for a day to
take care of it. Nothing critical, but it needs addressing. The
project shouldn’t be affected much. I can make it up over
the weekend if needed. I’ll take a day of vacation. Thanks.”
Reva exhaled a sigh of relief. One less piece of drama to deal
with; she had more than her quota. The remaining messages
had come just in the last couple of hours during her morning
meeting. No big crisis but a few things needed immediate
attention and she dived in. The day surged by and when she
looked up that afternoon, she was amazed that the time
showed five-thirty and all the staff had left for the day.

“Hey.” Todd smiled when she arrived.
Reva appreciated the comfort and warmth that came with
the expression. “Hey back,” she acknowledged.
He had waited on the steps of her house. He rose. When she
walked toward the steps he dropped a kiss on her lips, light
and warm. “Ready to go?”
They had agreed to leave her car at her house and walk to
his. He had wanted them to go through the backyard to
further hide her escape but she adamantly refused. It was
overkill.
This was a random incident, not a threat. Once
everyone realized that, her life would get back to normal.
She would stop hiding in Todd’s
spare room and her
brothers would no longer take turns sleeping in her house.
She would have all her things back in their normal places
and not spread across an entire block. Todd would stop
picking her socks from the living room floor, and her bag
from the sofa only to position them neatly across her
temporary bed in his spare room.
He had not understood the importance of these small but
intentional bad habits. Habits that Nick refused to tolerate.
Todd hadn’t exactly liked them either but his method of
dealing with it was less invasive and painful. Still, just letting
the
things
be
was
important
to Reva.
He
had
not yet
understood it. She disappointed him.
His fingers grazed hers as they strode up the drive to his
house. It was a big thing to not pull back. He didn’t
understand that either. “I wanted to talk to you about the
other night,” Todd said.
“When the cops came?”
“Um, no. When we climbed the fence. I mean when we were
here and things got…”
“Complicated. I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“No. That’s not what I meant. I didn’t want things to be like
that. It was wrong.”
Yes, she had expected that. The fact that he drew away as
soon as things were done made her realize he hadn’t been
pleased. She had tried to make it good, had spent a lot of
time and effort trying to stimulate him sexually. And she
knew
she
had,
judging
by
his
reaction.
Yet,
he
had
immediately gotten up after climaxing and apologized. He
had muttered something about it being wrong then too.
“I can do better. I
will
do better. I thought—”
“Better? You’re kidding me, right?” He shot her a sideways
glance.
“Why would I kid about something like that?”
“Reva, shit. I don’t want it to be better. It was fantastic. It
was—everything.”
She
opened
her
mouth
to
respond
then
closed
it
in
confusion. “Everything,” she repeated.
“Yeah, everything. For me at least.” He stared at her.
Reva felt the heat reach her face. He was insinuating she
hadn’t liked it? She had finally been with someone that
wanted
to please her physically and it hadn’t been good for
him.
“I wanted to…” she started.
“That’s just it. I knew that much but it seemed like you
weren’t really acting on that. More like some robotic thing.
You wanted to but stopped me.”
“But I thought you were—” Yes, she had withdrawn when
she thought he was finished and ready to rest. There was still
a heat growing within her but she accepted that. She’d felt it
before. He had not wanted to stop there. He had pushed to
keep moving. It had confused and frustrated Reva. He was
finished. Why did he continue kissing and stroking?
“I was. I did.” He pulled her hands to his mouth. “But you
didn’t. That’s not fair.”
“Can we stop talking about this? This is way too personal.
And would you quit picking up after me. I hate that.” When
he’d unlocked the door, Reva shoved it open and clipped
straight to her temporary room. She clicked the door shut
behind and set her laptop bag on the floor.
The door flung open behind her and she whirled around.
Damn
.
Forgot to lock the door. I’m slipping.
“No, we can’t stop talking about this. If you don’t want me
picking up your things, that’s fine. I’ll leave them.” He
shrugged and stepped into the room. Reva shrank against
the wall, expecting more.
Todd dropped himself on the bed, his long legs extended in
front and his hands linked in his lap. He stared at her.
Reva kept her hands in front, ready to move, and leaned
against the wall. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out as you
hoped the other night. I’m not very good at all that, I guess.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“No. I just figured it out.”
“That’s
shit.
Look,
you’re
fantastic.
This
isn’t
about
performance. If it were, you aced it.” He grinned. “But I’m
not grading.” Todd ran a hand through his hair.
“Then I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t. You were so concentrated on me I
couldn’t help but enjoy it. But I wanted you to also. Reva,
that wasn’t just about me. It never should be. Hasn’t anyone
every wanted to please
you?
” Todd stood and hooked his
thumbs in his pockets. She struggled for a response but had
none. He stepped out of the room and closed the door.