Love on the Malecon (13 page)

When Nicole stepped off the elevator, the sun
was blinding. It was early enough that it hadn’t reached high
enough in the sky to be blocked by the building. She didn’t have
her sunglasses, so she tried her best to cover herself from the
rays with her hand. Though it was early, it was already hot out and
the air felt stagnant. She was reaching to pull her room key out of
her purse when out of nowhere something crashed her head against
the stone wall. A massive forearm came from behind and closed
around her neck and tightened. She grabbed at the arm, digging her
nails in as hard as she could and kicking her legs, but the grip
only tightened.

Nicole was sweating, her hair tangled in her
face and sticking to her neck. Her attacker licked her cheek and
started talking in Spanish as she struggled. She was so disoriented
from the blow that she could barely stay on her feet. Half out of
her mind with fear, she screamed for Derek as loud as she could
before the man hit her in the side of the head to shut her up. He
was incredibly strong, but she was determined to get away from him.
She tried to stay aware of her surroundings. She could see part of
his upper arm. There was a tattoo; it looked something like a
feather.

He must have grabbed her key when she took it
out of her purse because he was opening the door with one hand,
while his other arm was secure around her throat. Everything was
starting to fade in and out. Her head was pounding and she was
seeing stars, but she reached anywhere she could, trying to find
something of his she could grab onto. Her father had always told
her to gouge the eyes, so she threw back her arms, searching for
his head. She screamed again as he began dragging her into the
room. He threw her hard, face-down on the bed. She began to cry.
She was not prepared for this to happen; she didn’t know if she
would ever recover from the trauma of it all.

He held her down by her neck and she heard
what sounded like his pants unzipping. Nicole closed her eyes
tight, trying to block everything out.

The next thing she heard was loud growl and a
crash. Instantly, she was free. She scrambled up the bed and turned
around. It was Derek, on top of the man and hitting him with so
much force that it seemed like the ground shook with each blow.
Another man ran in the room and she guessed it might be Victor, the
general manager. The body underneath Derek was lifeless, but he
wasn’t letting up. Victor ran up and pulled Derek off, crying,
“
Stop, you will kill him!”

“Exactly,” Derek yelled, trying to get back
to the body now lying on the floor.

“Go take care of her,” Victor said,
“
I
will take this piece of shit to the
policía
.”

Derek looked like he was in a trance. But
with the mention of Nicole, he came back to reality. She was still
crying and curled up in a ball on the bed. He sat down, pulling her
body on top of his and holding her like she was a baby. She sobbed
uncontrollably while he rubbed her back. He gently lifted her head
by her chin to examine her face. She was so grateful that he had
come to her room. Had he heard her scream?

“How did you know?” she asked between
sobs.

“I heard the scream,” he said,
“
I knew
instantly it was you. I will make sure you never have to scream for
me like that ever again. I will always protect you.” He tenderly
touched the huge bump on the side of her forehead.

“I’m so glad you did. Derek, I don’t think I
could have survived what was about to happen. The asshole licked my
neck. He licked my neck!” She started crying again and he rocked
her in his lap.

“I’m going to take you to my apartment and
I’ll have a doctor come check you out.”

He picked her up and she let him, not caring
if she looked like an idiot being carried like a child through a
hotel lobby. She didn’t care about anything but him. She leaned her
head against him as he took her down the stairs. She could hear
lots of commotion from behind an employee area and figured her
attacker was probably being held in that room. She closed her eyes
when they reached the lobby so that she didn’t have to see how many
people were staring. She heard the sound of sirens arriving and a
man ran up to Derek. Without stopping, Derek told him her room
number.

When they reached his apartment, he gently
set her down to open the door. She walked slowly over to the couch.
Contrary to its modern shape, it was much more comfortable than it
looked She thought it would feel like a slab of concrete. She
curled into the corner and closed her eyes. Derek sat down beside
her and asked how badly she hurt.

She tried to speak without crying.
“
I
have a horrible headache and I must have a black eye, but other
than that, I’m just scared out of my mind.”

“The doctor should be here soon,” he told
her.

“Who was that guy?” she wondered aloud,
“
I tried to do what they always tell you. I tried to find an
identifying thing about him.” She closed her eyes again at the
memory of what had happened.
“
He had a tattoo on his right
arm. It looked kind of like a feather.”

She saw everything in Derek go abruptly
tense, eyes wide and his back straightened. He reached for his
phone and sent a text.

“What is it? Do you know him?” she started
getting extremely uneasy. Her breathing picked up. It felt like she
was going to have a panic attack.
“
Who was that?” she was
practically yelling now.

Just as Derek opened his mouth, the doctor
arrived and Nicole was relieved to see it was a woman. She didn’t
think she could handle a strange man near her right now. The doctor
was wearing a white coat embroidered with the hotel logo just above
her name. She had an old fashioned medical bag. She walked up to
Nicole and very gently introduced herself, asking if she’d like
Derek to go or stay. Nicole didn’t want Derek out of her sight, so
she asked him to stay.

“Always, love.” He kissed her cheek.
“
Now let’s get you checked out.” He moved over and sat on
the coffee table to make room for the doctor.

“I’m sorry to have to ask you this,” the
doctor said,
“
but did he sexually assault you as well?”

Tears streamed down Nicole’s face as she
shook her head,
“
No, Derek got there in time.” She looked
over at him, so immensely grateful.

“Ok, I’ll examine your face, check your
vitals, and examine your ribs to make sure nothing is broken.” The
doctor reached for her face.
“
I can also give you something
for the pain and to calm your nerves.”

“Thank you,” was all that Nicole could say
and she quietly let the doctor do her job.

As the doctor was feeling her ribs, she saw a
man walk into the apartment carrying her own suitcase and purse. He
went straight to the bedroom, opened up the closet, and started to
unpack her things. Next, Victor arrived with a piece of paper,
which he set on the kitchen counter. After Nicole assured Derek
that she would be okay, he went to speak with both men in the
bedroom.

Luckily, nothing was broken. The doctor told
her that she would have a pretty bad headache from the bump on her
head, but her eye would most likely not turn black and blue. Nicole
tried her best to muster up a smile; only a woman would understand
the vanity issues of having a black eye. The doctor told her that
the force mostly hit her cheek bone and that might be sore for a
few days. Nicole took the pills that she gave her, told her thank
you, closed her eyes, and curled back up on the couch.

She could hear the sounds of a heated
discussion between the three men. They weren’t fighting but tempers
were flaring. Nicole wanted to know who her attacker was. Was he
there because of Derek? Was Derek’s business really as legitimate
as he had explained? What did she get herself wrapped up in? All of
the questioning only made her head hurt more. She took a deep
breath and reminded herself that Derek had saved her. But what if
this happened again?

She heard all three men walk back into the
room. Opening her eyes, she saw Derek letting the other two
out.

“Was that Gael?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, and the other was Victor from across
the street.”

“Why did he have my things?”

“I didn’t want you to have to go back into
that hotel room again.” he walked up to her.
“
Please stay
here with me so I can protect you.”

“Derek, what is going on?” She needed to
understand what she needed protecting from.
“
Is this going
to happen again?”

Derek closed the door behind Victor and Gael and
turned to look at Nicole, curled up on the couch. It didn’t seem
real. It felt a little like his fighting days, when he would
separate himself from what was happening to keep from changing the
type of man he was inside. That type of fighting could not be
personal or it would eat you alive.

He trusted Gael to handle the situation with
the attacker so that he could focus solely on the beautiful woman
in his living room. He could not believe this had happened to her.
Could Silvia really be that crazy? He would make sure that she paid
if she had caused one ounce of pain for Nicole. And rape? How could
a woman wish that on another? Did Sylvia really tell that man to
rape Nicole? He was so glad the man hadn’t been waiting in her
room; he may not have heard her calls for help. The thought made
his blood boil. He had never wanted to cause someone so much pain
until now. He knew he had been close to killing him and in the
moment, he didn’t care.

Nicole wanted to know what was going on.

“I have a feeling I know who he is,” he said
to her,
“
And…he attacked you because of me.”

She lifted her head and looked at him, anger
in her eyes,
“
What?”

“I tried dating a local a few months back.
She’s a manager at Playa Vallarta.” He stopped and waited for a
response, but she stayed eerily still. He continued,
“
She
confronted me when I was leaving the hotel the other morning and
was crazy jealous I stayed the night with you. Then she sent a text
last night when she heard about us leaving together. That has been
the extent of it. I told her that if she confronted you in any way,
I would have her fired.” He waited again, but still nothing. He
could tell Nicole wanted to hear everything before she reacted.
“
She told me once that if I get a tattoo here in Vallarta
that I should use her cousin’s artist. He had done an Aztec feather
on the cousin’s bicep.”

Her eyes filled with tears as she rolled them
back.
“
Okay, so you’re not in some kind of mafia or a
super-secret spy?”

“No, love, I just dated a woman that is
apparently sadistic.” He pulled her toward him. She took a couple
of deep breaths, like she felt a little better about the entire
situation.
“
He is going somewhere where he’ll never be heard
from again and she will be handled as well. I will make sure that
if she is responsible for orchestrating this, she will pay
dearly.”

“Thank you,” Nicole said,
“
and thank
you for having my things brought here. I don’t think I could ever
go into that hotel room again.”

“Can I take you away for a few days?” he
asked her.

“Derek, I’m already on vacation. You don’t
take a vacation while on vacation.” She said it sarcastically but
still had tears in her eyes.

He laughed at her response.
“
This
vacation seems like it could use at least a night away.”

“Where would we go?”

“Nowhere far. We won’t need a plane.” He
stood them both up.
“
My first investment property is in
Nuevo Vallarta, just north of here. Come see my apartment there.
“

She looked like she was considering the
idea.

“We won’t pack a thing.” He kissed her.
“
I can have it stocked with things from the shops nearby.
I’ll help you get cleaned up in the shower and Hector can drive
us.”

She didn’t answer but started walking toward
the bathroom, so he took that as a yes. He grabbed his phone on the
way and told Hector to be outside with the car in half an hour.

In the bathroom, he turned on the shower and
so it could get hot and fill up with steam. He slowly undressed
Nicole. There was nothing sexual about it. Though her body would
always turn him on, he knew this was not the moment. This was about
Nicole feeling safe, about her not having to think about anything.
He was prepared for the fact that she may not even want to have sex
for a while. Luckily, the man hadn’t been able to violate her in
that way, but that didn’t take away from her experience. He wasn’t
sure how affected she would be. If she needed, he’d have Gael track
down the best therapist in the area to talk to her.

He took Nicole’s clothes into the bedroom.
When he returned, he saw her standing, naked, looking at herself in
the mirror as it slowly covered with steam. She touched the bump on
her head and inspected the side of her cheek bone. He hoped that
she knew how beautiful she looked, regardless of bump and bruise.
He also hoped they healed quickly so there wasn’t the reminder
looking back at her in the mirror.

The shower had a large glass wall. When he
saw that it was full of steam, he took her hand and walked her into
the shower. There was a big seat built into one of the walls. He
asked if she’d like to sit down. Without a word, she did. He took
the soap and washed her body. When he reached her face, he was
careful not to hurt anywhere that was tender. He had never taken
care of someone like this before. He took her hand and walked her
over to the shower heads that sprayed from all directions. He
washed and conditioned her hair for her. When they were finished,
he grabbed a huge towel and wrapped it around her like she was an
infant.