Divine (43 page)

Once I was inside I
went into the very last stall. I couldn't remember where I had heard
it, but someone had told me that the toilet seat in the first stall
carried the most germs. I didn't know if it were true, but I figured
I might as well try to avoid the first stall in any public restroom
for the rest of my life.

My ears perked up at
the sound of the main bathroom door opening. Quiet footsteps echoed
off of the walls and stopped short of going into a stall, landing
gently in front of what sounded like the area by the sinks.

I bent down and
strained to look under my door.
I wonder who that is?
Whoever
was there was too far away for me to catch a glimpse of their feet.
Giving up and coming to the realization that they were probably
looking at themselves in the mirror, I decided to finish my business
and see who it was when I was done.

I flushed the toilet
and slid the lock open on my stall, moving to one side as I pulled
the door back to exit. My breath caught harshly in my throat as I
stepped out and saw who had been quietly waiting. It was Fox.

“
Fox, what are
you doing here?” My voice was high and panicked, oozing with
fear from being alone with him in the deserted women's restroom.

His eyes lit up at the
sight of me standing in front of him and he immediately stepped
forward, reaching his hand out to meet my shoulder. “Summer,
I've missed you so much; I just had to see you.”

“
No Fox,” I
shot back while pulling away from his touch. “You need to
leave. Now.”

He dropped his arm back
to his side with a look of anguish plastered across his masculine
face. “But, I need to talk to you.”

“
If you want to
talk we can talk in public where people can see. Do you know how
creepy it is that you're in this bathroom right now?”

“
Please, keep
your voice down.”

“
No, I'm not
going to keep my voice down. And how did you know I worked here
anyway? Did Brittany tell you?”

He crossed his arms in
front of him and sucked his teeth with annoyance. “No, she
didn't tell me. But I overheard her telling Kevin where you worked.
I'm pretty disappointed that you didn't feel the need to let me know
where you were working now.”

My mouth visibly
dropped open with surprise. “What? You honestly expect me to
want to talk to you after what you did to me?”

“
What did I do to
you?”

I crossed my arms to
mimic his and shook my head. “I can't believe you Fox. First,
you insulted Jonah . . .”

His eyes displayed a
glare of annoyance at the sound of his name rolling off of my tongue.
“He's easy to insult,” he spat out.

Ignoring his comment, I
went on, “And then you
kissed
me. And if all of that
wasn't enough, you scared the living daylights out of me by blowing
up all the lights in Walley's. Why the hell do you think I would tell
you where I was working now?”

“
Okay, yeah, I
admit that what I did was wrong. But can't you give me a second
chance?”

“
No.”

“
But why?”

“
Fox,” I
sighed, hanging my head for a moment with the onset of a headache
rising in my temples. “How many times do I have to tell you?
I'm with Jonah. I love him; he loves me. You and I will never be
together.”

The news hung in the
air between us, drilling into his ears, making the heat of anger boil
up inside of him. The romantic lighting in the restroom dimmed lower
than its usual hue, alerting me that I had hit on his nerve.

“
Give me a
chance,” his voice graveled between the shallow breaths of a
temper that was about to spiral out of control.

He looked so angry. I
was afraid of being in the room with him alone with no one knowing he
was in there with me.
What is he going to do to me this time?
My
eyes shot over to the door and then back to him.
If I try to get
away, I'll have to act fast
. I took my chance and darted past
him.

The feeling of my
breath being ripped harshly from my lungs stopped me as his muscular
arm swung up and slammed across my stomach. I pushed away and bent
over, gasping wildly, trying to suck the air back into my empty
chest.

“
You stay here
and talk to me,” he moved into me with a growl.

I regained my posture
and stepped backward to get away, but after running out of room I
found myself backed against the wall, unable to move.

“
Give me a
chance, Summer. I promise I'll show you what love really is.”

I cleared my throat and
spoke out with a shaky breath, “You mean this is what love is?
Holding me against my will and scaring me into being with you?”

His eyes softened as
they pierced into my frightened face. “No, I, I don't mean to
scare you.” Looking as if he felt sorry for his actions, he
stepped away, giving me a little more room to breathe. “I just
want to kiss you and maybe you'll change your mind.”

“
Fox, I want you
to listen to me right now. I'm going to walk out of this bathroom,
and I want you to leave me alone and never contact me again. Do you
hear me?”

“
No.”

“
Yes, Fox.”

“
No!”

His enraged howl sent
the bathroom lights into a blackened state, leaving me with a moment
of escape in my grasp. I decided to take the chance again and I ran
past him for the second time. To my surprise I made it out, leaving
him behind in the dark room.

When I got out I ran
straight to the back and grabbed my purse, deserting the remainder of
the night shift crew as I flew out to my car in a panic. The keys
fell out of my shaking hand as I tried to unlock my door, sending the
pile of dangling metal crashing onto the black asphalt next to my
shoe. Picking them up, I finally held them still long enough to get
the lock open and I jumped onto my seat, locking my door and jamming
the keys into the ignition. The sound of my engine gave me a sense of
relief as I reversed out of the parking lot and sped away toward my
house.

I had a hard time
finding my phone in my purse but once I did I dialed Jonah's number
and waited impatiently for him to answer.

“
Hey Ashy, how
was work?”

“
Jonah,” I
panted, “Fox came and saw me; he had me in the bathroom. I
tried to get away but he stopped me and he said he wanted me to give
him a chance. I was finally able to get out and now I'm driving
home.”

“
What?” he
questioned, his voice strained. “When did this happen?”

“
Just now, like,
not even five minutes ago.”

He let out an irritated
sigh. “Okay, listen to me. You are going to go to the police
right now and file a restraining order, okay? And I don't want to
hear anything from you about it; you're doing it.”

“
Okay,” I
agreed, trying to calm my rapid breathing. “I'll go right now.”

“
Did he hurt
you?”

“
Well, he slammed
his arm against me when I tried to run out the door and it knocked
the breath out of me, but it didn't really hurt.”

A silenced hushed from
his end of the line, causing a twinge of worry to spark inside of me.
A moment later he finally spoke up, “That's, that's not good.”

“
Jonah, I'm sorry
. . .” Quiet tears pooled at the corners of my eyes as I
silently cursed myself for not listening to him before. “Are
you mad at me?”

“
Yes, I'm mad at
you, to be quite honest,” he huffed.

“
You are?”

“
Yes.”
Another moment of silence held the air between the phone line. “But,”
he breathed in a gentler tone, “I'm glad you're okay.”

I sniffed back my
running nose and took my hand away from the wheel to quickly wipe my
tear-covered face. “I'm not okay, really; I'm pretty shaken
up.”

“
Well, just go to
the police station. Get this all taken care of.”

“
Okay,” I
nodded, as if he could see me. “You still sound like you're mad
at me.”

“
I just have a
lot on my mind right now; I need some time to think.”

“
What does that
mean?” I sobbed heavily into the phone. “Are you breaking
up with me?”

“
No, Summer, of
course not. I love you more than anything. Just give me some time,
okay?”

I nodded again to
myself. “Okay.”

“
I'll talk to you
later.”

“
Okay. Bye.”

I hung up the phone and
threw it back into my receipt-filled purse. Heavy tears poured down
my face as I cried my eyes out on the way to the police station,
sobbing at the possibly that I had ruined the best thing that had
ever happened to me.

The police agreed that
I had enough reason to get a restraining order against Fox, so I felt
much safer when I walked out of the station with the papers. I went
home and continued my crying spell, flooding my pillow with tears
until I finally fell asleep.

I had to work my usual
afternoon shift the next day so I got up and drove myself down to the
restaurant. I thought about Jonah the whole way there, how I had
really upset him the night before; I had never heard him talk to me
with such disappointment in his voice. Even when Fox hit on me the
first time and I chose not to get a restraining order, Jonah was
upset with my decision, but his voice still sounded normal. This time
was different.

When I was on my lunch
break I decided to pull out my phone and give him a call to see how
he was doing and to ask if he felt like talking about what had
happened. But instead of hearing a ring when I dialed his number, the
call went straight to his voice mail. I hung up and re-dialed, giving
it another chance to ring. Unfortunately, again, the sound of his
deep voice on the recorded message hit my ear.

I'll call his work.

My finger scrolled
along the screen of my phone to the shop's number. After a few
seconds the call went through and the line rang, instantly perking me
up at the expectation of hearing his voice.

“
Dan's Auto
Shop.” It was Lou.

“
Hi Lou, it's
Summer.”

“
Well hello
there. How are you, little lady?”

“
I'm good,”
I smiled into the phone. “How are you?”

“
Well, I've got
me a box full of donuts right in front of my face; I would say I'm
doing just fine.”

“
Oh, a donut
sounds so good right now. Save me one?”

“
You got it.”

“
Thanks.”

“
You're welcome.”
He paused and took a bite out of what I assumed was a donut before
adding, “Are you lookin for Jonah? Cause he's not here.”

My brows furrowed at
the news. “Oh, he's not?”

“
Nah, he called
in sick today, said he wasn't feeling too good.”

“
Oh, okay. I
tried calling him but he didn't answer. I guess I'll try again.
Thanks Lou.”

“
You're welcome.
I'll talk to you later.”

“
Okay, bye.”

I hung up and tapped my
phone against my forehead with a sigh.
Where are you Jonah?
It
just wasn't like him to disappear like that.
I guess I'll have to
try again when I get off of work.

Once my shift was over
I sat in my car in the busy parking lot and dialed his cell number
for the third time, only to be sent straight to his voice mail again.
Where could he be?
Even though I felt guilty for being overly
persistent, I decided to go with my gut feeling and drive over to his
house. But, when I got there, his truck was gone. The only place left
I could think of where he might be was the cove, so I quickly made my
way there.

I was right. His truck
came into view as I approached it on the dirt road. A heavy relief
washed over me at seeing it; I was glad to finally know where he was
hiding. I pulled up next to it and got out, flying over the rocky
hill and spotting him down below like I knew I would.