In the Nick of Time (50 page)

He placed his finger over her mouth, silencing her.

“I’m far from your father,
completely
your friend, your man, and your lover. I’m a protector, Taryn. Didn’t imply or even try to say you need protecting, but that is what I do.” He casually pointed to himself. “That’s why I’m a cop, and that is part of the reason why I’m here.” His eyes darkened as his voice dropped, making her wet between the thighs, though she hated she’d become suddenly compliant to his sexy, slightly controlling words.

Ewwww, you son of a bitch! I love the hell outta you!

“Only problem was, I didn’t protect
myself
. So now, I have to do just that.” He lowered his head but kept his eye on her. “And in protecting myself, I have to protect my better half…my woman, ’cause you’re me, and I’m you.”

“Sounds like song lyrics.” She chuckled. “But it does have a nice ring to it.”

“Like one made of aluminum foil. Nothing’s too good for my Taryn!” They both burst out laughing, until he cupped her chin and turned her towards him, his expression serious again.

“I do nothing half ass, baby. I’m either all in or I don’t even show up and acknowledge the party. There is no in between for me.”

“Nick, but you—”

“This is not up for discussion.” He got to his feet, stretched, and began to walk away as if he hadn’t said anything of much importance. “Everybody needs somebody sometimes, Taryn. Even warriors like you…”

He sat there
guffawing. The faint classical jazz music could barely be heard as he swayed back and forth, holding his piece of rich vanilla two tiered cake on the shiny paper plate. It tilted to the left from the weight of the dessert and the way he was carrying on. The cake…well, it was delicious, a sweet and bitter end. The frosting about three inches high in colors of baby blue, pastel green, and sunshine yellow reminded her of a subdued rainbow…

He straightened up a bit, saved the thing from falling, but then soon burst out laughing again. He had a beautiful smile, a lovely way about him. The long, dark waves of his hair fell back from his forehead, his laughter
almost
convincing. Nick reminded her of floating, musical notes. He was never still, had a melodious yet enigmatic way about him, and did something to a space when he walked into it. He was larger than life, yet kept to himself, a true enigma of the human kind. A quiet storm that no one saw coming until he was above your damn head, and by then, it was far too late…

And that made him even sexier…

She enjoyed watching him close by and from afar, hearing his voice as he carried on with the other residents. She smirked as she thought about the fact that they’d probably never been so close to a cop before and not been arrested…

His blue eyes narrowed at the corners as he went into more hysterics. She’d never seen the man so damn amused, so happy. It warmed her heart, yet she knew deep down it was all an act. Officer Vitale was
definitely
putting on airs. Her freshly printed certificate drew her attention before her on the long table, the edges framed in computerized graphics. She looked at her name written across it in pretty, dark blue calligraphy:

Taryn B. Jones

This time, she’d made it. She completed treatment, arrived at the center of self-control, and now, a new, beautiful chapter of her life was to begin. Time to turn the page… She shrugged as she set her half eaten slice of cake down onto the table and politely folded her hands over one another. She turned back towards him, studying him, memorizing him, sketching him in her mind. She didn’t want to forget one detail of the man…notta one. She wanted his eyes, the one wayward hair in his thick, dark eyebrows that refused to lie flat no matter what… She wanted his lips, especially the bottom one. She wanted the two perfectly shaped beauty marks on his right shoulder and the one to the right of his Adam’s apple, too. She wanted ALL of him…

…What a beautiful man…

Her mother grasped her tightly, shaking her out of her deliberations, spun her around, and administered a series of kisses all over her face, stamped in deep burgundy lipstick.

“I’m so glad you’re coming home!” Pinching her cheeks as if she were a mere child, she gave her the once over. “And I can’t get over how you look! Just stunning!!!” Her sweet, pricey perfume encircled her along with the gleam from her dazzling grin. The smell of peppermint lingered in the air from a slither of the candy wedged in the corner of the woman’s mouth.

“Thank you, Mom.” She forced a smile, strained and pushed it as if she were giving birth to it, for deep within her roiled the emotional contractions of debilitating pain.

“Just like her mother!” Her father made his way over, a plastic yellow cup filled to the rim with red fruit punch in his hand.

Taryn attempted to keep smiling, to give it her all, but she was certain she’d fallen short. She couldn’t tell two lies in a row; it proved simply too much.

“Mom, you know I’m not living with you, right? We’ve discussed this several times. I’m staying with some friends until I get my own place.”

“Ohhhhh.” Her mother twisted her lips to the far left and paired it with an obnoxious smirk. “You know what I mean!” She looked from side to side, and lowered her voice, “Home to us, honey…away from
this
place!” She looked in back of her, as if fearing she’d soon be mugged, as if Firststone were some haven for the damned.

“Taryn, Frieda said you’ve done
very
well and she has full confidence that with the right support system, you’ll make it without a hitch.” Her father’s plump, reddish brown cheeks spread wide as he grinned, showing his mouth full of teeth. Dad had a pleasant glow, the kind that made one feel he was trustworthy, as if you could hang your hat on his every properly enunciated word. She appreciated his show of positivity for it was a refreshing change. In the recent past, he’d done nothing but bring her down like a one-way trip to Hell, stomp on her aspirations as if they were cockroaches needing to be taught a lesson. Though his careless words weren’t intentional, the damn things still had the same result…left her feeling emotionally detached and drained. She at times avoided the father-daughter connection, not wishing to recombine their energies and see just how it would flow. It typically proved far more costly than she could afford, and she refused to incur the expense.

“Yes.” She nodded as she hugged her arms, wishing they were Nick’s instead. “I believe this time is different. I can feel it.”

“That’s good because I’d just die if I lost you.” Her mother’s dark, doe-like eyes watered up, breaking her heart. She gathered the older woman in her arms and gave her a big, warm hug.

“Oh, Mom, don’t cry!” She smiled big, this time sincerely, as she stroked her mother’s back. Her fingers landed against butter smooth layers of black mink fur, giving her a bit of lavish contentment. Mom went nowhere in the winter months without a luxury pelt wrapped around her slender frame, and though the early yawns of Spring had sprung, the afternoon had been a tad breezy as the sun played a cruel game of hide-and-seek.

…I bet Nick could find it.

She snapped out of her arbitrary thoughts and pulled her mother closer, saying, “I’m here, I’m alive.”

“The cancer, the drugs.” She sniffed. “…You away modeling all over the world and some of the shit, I mean, excuse me…” The poised older woman looked around the room, placed three fingers over her naughty mouth, causing Taryn and her father to smile. “…The
mess
you had to go through…it’s just too much. You’re my baby. I never want you to hurt.”

“I know, Mom…I know.”

She looked across the room and saw Nick going towards the door. He paused, tossed his plate in the trash, then continued his trek just as cool as he pleased.

Where is he going? The party isn’t over and he hasn’t even spoken one word to me since it began…

Without a moment more to waste, she took her parents by their respective wrists.

“Nick!!! Nick!!! Wait!” she called out to him as he walked far away from her in more ways than one.

He paused, as if contemplating the wisdom of it, then slowly turned in her direction. His face said it all; he’d been anticipating such a scene, her calling out to him like this, and he was dreading it. She didn’t miss his lack of a smile… Matter of fact, he looked rather perturbed. Yet, she shuffled past it, pushed herself forward.

“Let me introduce you two to someone.” Dragging her parents the rest of the way across the room, she huffed proudly when she’d finally reached him. He held onto the doorknob with one hand and looked at her, his gaze lazy and empty. He was drowning in a sense of loss… She knew the man’s every expression, and his body language was unmistakable and now that she came up close, she couldn’t deny what she saw.

His damn heart was breaking…

Oh Nick, don’t do this… Don’t do this, baby…

“Mom and Dad, this is Nick.” She kept her eyes on him, not daring to turn away just yet. “He is a friend of mine. He has been really helpful to me during my recovery.”

“Nice to meet you, Nick.” Her mother smiled pleasantly, extended her hand for a shake. He hesitated, for just a second or two, then did the same. He even added a half-hearted smile, free of charge. The woman’s gold bangles beat against one another as she continued to squeeze the guy’s fingers. “We’re happy that Taryn was able to meet people here that were positive and helped her during this difficult time,” she added, her tone somber.

She shot a glance towards her father. His large hands were clasped together and he made no motion to extend a greeting, a shred of warmth, or even a word of scraped together kindness.

“It’s nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Jones. You have a beautiful daughter, and I’m not just speaking of her appearance. I’ve never met someone so optimistic and genuine before. She’s been very kind to me, and I wish her nothing but the best.” His response sounded unpretentious but sterile, sticky with unsaid and emotionally inhibited words. Yet, it was his smoothness of delivery that unnerved her the most; the same suaveness that had hooked her onto his fishing line, and reeled her into his surreptitious, risky world.

Her mother’s smile widened as she ran her hand along her daughter’s back in a reassuring sort of way. She didn’t miss the twinkle in the older woman’s eyes. How bizarre…

“That’s wonderful, and yes, my daughter is
all
of those things.” She held her chin high.

“Dad,” Taryn said under her breath as she elbowed the man into place. She refused to allow him to continue this behavior. The rudeness flowed from him like smoke embers on a grill and she was tired of choking on the shit. The older man cleared his throat, shot her a fiery glance filled to the rim with resentment, swallowed the crap, then begrudgingly extended his hand.

“…It’s nice to meet you, Nick.”

Nick shook it heartily, remaining amiable, almost unreadable. “Likewise.” She could see in her sweetheart’s eyes he’d read her father like an open-ended book. He knew he wasn’t well received. “Well, I really need to get going. It was nice meeting you both.” He nodded, threw up his hand in a friendly wave of goodbye and offered an award-winning grin worthy of an Oscar. Then, he opened the door further to step out, to escape… to beat the source of his pending distress.

So you really think I’m going to just let you walk out of here? Oh no, boy…you’ve lost your damn mind! How dare you treat me like this?!

“Nick, hold on please.” She put her finger in the air, wishing to borrow a bit of his time, make it known in front of their captive audience. “Uh, wait… Mom and Dad, let me have a moment alone with him, please.”

“Oh, yes, of course…” her mother stated, a slightly silly grin on her face, but before she disappeared, the woman tugged Taryn’s sleeve, forcing her close to her lips to whisper a thing or two in her ear.

“He’s cuuuuuute! My
goodness
! What a looker!” The woman shot another glance over her shoulder at the man, as if to see if her opinion still held true.

“Yes Mom, he’s very attractive but he’s a really good person, too. That’s what’s most important.”

Her mother glossed over her sweet, politically correct words and kept on her merry way. “Does he model, too? He does, doesn’t he? Oh, never mind. Doesn’t matter.” She dramatically rolled her eyes. “It’s a darn shame he’s a druggie!” She sized the guy up once more, this time her scrutiny paired with a twisted, hypercritical grimace. “What a waste!” She shook her head as if sad news had been dropped at her pedicured feet clad in expensive high-heels.

And as if her daughter wasn’t one of those vexatious druggies, too…

The lady then pranced away with her father close behind, genuinely believing she’d said nothing inappropriate in the least.

“Nick.” She grabbed the man’s arm, made him step out in the empty hallway. “What the hell is going on?!”

Chicago’s, ‘Wishing You Were Here’ played in low strains over the speakers.

“Nothing is going on, baby.” He attempted to stand there and lie to her face, make the watery words seem true blue and upright. Keeping his back straight as a board, he damn near looked as if he were about to be sworn into office. Even though he wasn’t in uniform, at that very moment Nick looked
exactly
like what he was—a cop. His face wasn’t cold, but not oozing warmth and comfort, either. He looked serious, but not frightening. He intimidated her, but drew her in…