Somewhere in His Arms (4 page)

             
She wanted to flee, but the sight of Dean fucking her stepmother was her father all over again. She hadn’t been able to move. Just watch as Vivian wrapped herself around him as he pounded into her. And listen to his moans as Vivian gave him what she had not. That last part had torn her in two.

             
Lucy couldn’t move as Dean withdrew from Vivian and rushed toward her. “Lucy, your nose!”

             
Even Vivian was sitting up with a sheet draped over her heaving bosom and looking a little worried. Lucy suffered from nosebleeds all her life, mostly when she was upset. And they weren’t just the run of the mill nosebleeds. Sometimes they wouldn’t stop and she could remember the countless times that Vivian had rushed her to the Emergency room. Sometimes she’d needed a transfusion because she lost so much blood.

             
She stared at Vivian and then at Dean naked and coming at her with a washcloth. She felt the hot, salty liquid gush out of her nose and down her mouth. She looked down. Blood was all over her new white sweater, down her jeans, and dripping onto her old pink carpet in a final mocking eulogy.

             
Dean got to her and Lucy shoved him away and took off crying and bleeding down the hallway and down the stairs. She could barely see and knocked over a glass vase. It crashed to the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces.

             
Lucy tore through the foyer and out the door tugging at her engagement ring. She swallowed blood and more blood and was getting light headed. She fumbled in her pocket for her keys and hurried to open the car door.              

             
Dean was fast behind her.
Damn. Damn. Damn
. He sliced his feet on the broken shards on the floor and raced out to Lucy who was jumping into her battered Gremlin. She started the engine but it wouldn’t start.

             
“Lucy! Wait---!”  He got to her at last and tried to open the door.

             
She couldn’t talk nor look at him. Finally the engine hacked to a start. Even in the dark he could see she was bleeding badly. “Lucy!”

             
He reached through the window, but she opened the door and slammed it again nearly castrating him in the process. “Dammit, Lucy! Stop!”

             
Lucy reached into the glove compartment for some cotton balls, which she jammed up her nose, and stomped on the gas. She sped off; tears and blood streaming down her face.

             
She tossed the ring out the window and kept driving. When she arrived at her apartment she cleaned herself up and changed. Then without thinking, without feeling, she threw clothes into a suitcase and left.

             
With tears streaming down her cheeks, she drove into the night to some unknown destination that would relieve the pain. She didn’t know where she was going or what she was going to do when she got there.

             
Lucy only knew that she had to get away.

             
She had to get far away from everything and away from this hole in her heart.

Chapter Three

When Dean arrived for work two days later, he wasted no time in trying to find Lucy. He’d tried calling, but she wasn’t answering the phone. So he wanted to give her time to cool off and hoped to catch her at work. But no one seemed to know where she was. The nurses weren’t any help, and he was suspicious that they knew because if looks could kill he’d need a doctor.              

             
They wouldn’t look at him, and when they did refused to meet his eyes and huddled together in small groups whispering amongst themselves as if plotting his sudden and painful demise. There was an unspoken rule in hospitals. Never, ever cross a nurse. Cross one, cross them all. So it was no surprise that his queries were met with a silent piss off.  He finally spotted Diane Salcido, a friend and someone Lucy liked to talk to.

             
“Hey, Diane have you seen Lucy?”

             
She looked him up and down with a look of disgust. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Dr. Feel-good.”

             
Dean flushed red and loosened his tie, which was beginning to feel like a noose. “Well?”

             
Diane didn’t glance up from her typing. “Well, what?”

             
“Diane, please. I’ve been trying to get in touch with Lucy. Do you know where she is?”

             
Glaring at him she replied, “No one knows where she is.”

             
“What do you mean
no one
knows where she is?” He demanded in increasing alarm.  “She’s on today isn’t she?”

             
Diane finally glanced up from her work. “Hey, Jenny!” she called. “Where’s Lucy?”

             
Jenny frowned in confusion, then she answered,  “She quit.”

             
“What do you mean she quit? She couldn’t have!”

             
Diane turned and snatched a pile of papers from the basket and hurried off.  Dean followed and grabbed her arm, sending them flying all over the place. “Tell me where she is!” he demanded.

             
Diane glanced down at his hand on her arm and then around at the small crowd that gathered. “Go to hell, doc. I don’t know where she is and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you. Just leave her alone. You’ve done enough.” 

             
With that she left him standing in the pile of papers wondering how he could have sunk so low. “Lucy,” he whispered sadly. “I didn’t mean it.”

            
 
When he got off work, he raced over to Lucy’s small apartment. He took out his key that she’d given him and let himself in. He stood for a moment in shock. Everything was gone. It was a furnished apartment but the dishes and books were gone; all her clothes; her seashell collection; the goldfish. All gone. Panicking, he drove over to the only person who might know where she was.

             
“Rudy!” he shouted, pounding his fists on the heavy wooden door. “Open this door!”

             
Rudy Bartlett was dreaming of several depraved women when he was jolted out of bed by an unholy knocking. Glancing at the clock, he wondered who the hell would want his services at this hour. Grumbling under his breath, he pulled on a robe and made his way downstairs.

             
“Hold your horses, I’m coming,” he grumbled and opened the door.

             
Dean rushed in shouting Lucy’s name. “Lucy! Are you here?”  He raced upstairs and then down again searching every room. “Where is she Rudy?”

             
Rubbing his tired eyes, Rudy was grouchy and confused. He wondered what the hell Dean wanted at three o’clock in the morning. “Hello to you, too,” he grumbled sleepily.  “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

             
Dean grabbed Rudy by the shoulders. “Where is she? I have to talk to her!”

             
“Who...?” Rudy blinked in befuddlement. “Has something happened?”

             
“Don’t give me that!” Dean snapped. “I know she must have called you. Now, where is she?”

             
Rudy stepped back and went over to the wet bar and poured himself a drink. When he was sufficiently awake he set the glass down slowly and studied Lucy’s fiancé. The young man was pacing up and down the floor muttering to himself and glancing expectantly at the phone. He hadn’t been too keen on Lucy’s choice of husband, but he seemed nice enough and seemed crazy about the girl he promised to look after. Her father had been his best friend, and before he died he promised Walt he’d take care of her. Vivian had wanted no part of him and had done everything she could to keep him from fulfilling that promise. Now, Dean was here and clearly upset. He was staring to get a little worried himself.

             
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rudy frowned. “I haven’t seen her for weeks. Why? What’s happened?”

             
Dean didn’t care to reveal the particulars of his falling out with Lucy. He knew Rudy. The man was one of the most ruthless criminal attorneys in L.A. He could only imagine what he’d do if he found out he’d slept with Vivian. He shrugged nervously. “We had a fight and she took off. No one’s seen her and she quit the hospital.”

             
Rudy frowned. “Now, why would she do that? I thought you two were pretty tight.”

             
Dean laughed nervously, feeling the shrewd prosecutor’s eyes watching his every move. Don’t know,” he shrugged carelessly. “It was just a disagreement,” he laughed uneasily as the hairs along his neck started to prickle under Rudy’s astute gaze. “You know---“

             
“No I don’t,” Rudy replied slowly. “Why don’t you fill me in?”

             
Dean flushed, remembering Vivian’s long luscious legs wrapped around him as he fucked her senseless. Sweat broke out on his handsome brow. “It was nothing, Rudy. Really. I’m sure she’s fine.”

             
Rudy smiled. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But she hasn’t called me. Must’ve been some fight,” he added, eyeing Dean closely.

             
“Yeah,” Dean laughed shakily. “I’d better get going. Sorry I woke you.”

             
“Not at all,” Rudy offered generously and walked him to the door. “I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding and everything will be resolved. Would you wait here for a moment? I have something of Lucy’s that I want you to have.”

             
Breathing a sigh of relief, Dean watched Rudy disappear down the hall. He caught a glance of himself in the hall mirror and didn’t like what he saw. He looked away and waited.  Rudy seemed gone a long time, then suddenly there was a sound of slippered feet on the carpet, and he turned just in time to see the man coming at him with a polo mallet.

             
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

             
Rudy’s enraged snarl was followed by a hard swing to the shoulder.

             
Dean winced as it caught him and he crumpled to the floor. Rudy raised it for another blow that hit his raised arm. “Rudy! What the hell---”

             
“You little shit!” Rudy spat at him. “Lucy did call. Called me that night, crying so hard I couldn’t hear a word she was saying. But I managed to get most of it. And
you
got so much more! Didn’t you?”

             
I-I can explain, Rudy. Just put that down.”

             
Rudy glanced down at the mallet in his hands and then at the pathetic heap on his floor. “No, I don’t think so. I think I ought to call the police and say you were trespassing. You’d make someone a lovely bitch!”

             
Dean managed to get up gripping his shoulder. “I messed up. It just happened and she walked in on us. I’d never hurt her. I love her.”

             
“Love her? Is that your idea of love? You
fuck
her stepmother? Damn you! God damn you!” He raised the mallet again. “You don’t love anyone but yourself.”  He flung the mallet aside and grabbed Dean by the collar dragging him to the door. He opened it and shoved the little bastard out, sending him sprawling onto his designer welcome mat.

             
Dean glanced up at the enraged man glaring down at him. “Please---” he gasped.

             
Rudy bent low and shook a finger at him for emphasis. “You come within five feet of Lucy and I’ll slap a restraining order on your sorry ass so fast it’ll make your head spin. You don’t talk to her. You don’t phone her. You even try to breathe on her and I’ll make damn sure you’re giving rectal exams to a guy named Butch in San Quentin! Is that clear you little shit?”

             
Dean nodded fearfully and Rudy slammed the door so hard a potted plant crashed to the ground. He hung his head and wept. “Lucy! Lucy! Lucy!”

             
Rudy sighed heavily, raking trembling fingers through his graying hair. He hurried to the phone, hoping Lucy would pick up. He hadn’t heard from her since that night she called him from her car sobbing hysterically. He dialed her cell but she wasn’t picking up. He checked his voicemail.

              Nothing.

             
He kept at it till he heard a click. “Lucy...” he began relieved. “Where are you?”