Only God could save me from a certain deadly fate, and so rightfully, he sent the devil to rescue me.
Jackson nudges my side and I look up at his smiling face. “Your honor, I believe the facts of the D.A.’s case have been somewhat disproved, already.” Jackson mocks. “Dare I say, given the obvious new evidence that clearly contradicts some of the district attorney’s charges, that perhaps they have not followed up completely on their other charges as well?” Jackson yells, with a renewed posture. “Your honor it is absurd not to grant bail for my client … given the new evidence.”
I look up and watch as the judge’s jaw remains on the floor and his hands shake. He avoids Welch’s eyes and remains locked on the man behind me. I briefly wonder if he will burst into flames right in front of me, but he finally begins to breathe again, “I ummm … it is clear that … that the district attorney’s office has some work to do. So … with that information I believe it is clear … that I … MUST … grant bail at $500,000.”
“Your honor!” The D.A. yells, but it is futile. The judge has already run, and at the speed he left in, he has surely reached his car at this point. A smile creeps across my face as I slyly glance towards Welch. His reaction is honest, and I appreciate it, but it is only brief as he too, races out of the room.
I take a minute to rejoice in this small victory and then stand to thank Jackson before meeting his eyes. He smiles at me and I start to smile back but then I remember the pain that he has caused me. The loneliness I have felt because of him. I turn silently away from him and walk out of the courtroom, reminding him of all the pain he caused. At the same time, I remind myself of all the things I have wanted to say to him, ask him. Where has he been and why? Why? My frustration slowly turns to anger. As much as I love him, I want to know why? As soon as I see him I am going to demand to know why! No matter the reason, I was right all along – he is alive.
Nick is alive.
Chapter 9
~Ryan~
I watch Nick hold his son close and kiss his head before handing him over to the nanny. He is determined to get Kayla back for Nicky but I have wondered how much he wants her back for himself, until I catch him staring at a picture of her. Not just any picture, a picture she addressed to him. I can read the loving note she wrote to him just before he quickly stashes it back into its safe place. She loves him – forever, she wrote and from the look in his eyes he loves her more than anything. He said he left because he loved them both too much to put them through anymore pain, but I didn’t believe him until now. I hope Nick is ready to battle for Kayla, again, because I can’t imagine she is going to welcome him back with open arms. Lucky for him, she loves him so much that I doubt she denies him forever.
Nick walks up to us with a simple nod, indicating he is ready to go. Dwayne responds the same but still looks at Nick as if he is some immortal who has come back to life, which only assures me that he will follow him to death. Dressed in our best suits and throwing on our coats we climb into the car, waiting to pull up to the courthouse. Once there, Lionel pulls around to the back entrance and races out to open the car door for us.
“Hoods up gentlemen.” Nick announces as the three of us pull up our hoods to hide our appearance. Nick wants to shock them, a surprise attack he says is our best advantage. “This is how we will win this battle,” he said as we made our plans. He still amazes me. He is so smart, so smooth and so assured that he will win, that I believe it and everyone around him believes it too. If only I can ever become half of what he is. Oh how I hate to admit that to myself right now. I loved him for so long and then I missed him and then I hated him and now… I am still trying to decide. How he left us, how he left them, left her. I saw the pain in her every day and I know he did too but still chose to ignore it and leave her in pain. I know now that he thinks he did it for their own good, but I can only hope he realizes what a mistake he made. She loved him like no other. Like I wish someone would love me. So how can I take a chance on letting him hurt her again? Nick looks my way, meeting his eyes I feel the love for him that has always been with me. How can I choose between the brother I have loved since birth and the woman I have grown to love? If only I could be assured of his intentions, then I could feel good about convincing her. Raising my hood I walk behind him and watch as he motions to the guard that we paid off earlier. We walk in unnoticed and continue down the halls silently. When nothing but the doors to the courtroom await us, Nick stops, “Here we go boys. Her life depends on us to get this right - so don’t flinch.” Nick slams open the doors and the room immediately hushes. Welch’s expression is priceless. Kayla’s … is knowing. She doesn’t even seem surprised. Our hoods drop and Nick sits behind Kayla, eyeing the judge down into a distressed terror.
Everything goes as planned. Kayla gets bail and will be released as soon as her bail is paid. However, her look towards Nick changes to anger and I watch as Nick painfully watches her leave the room. Whether he feels her pain, I don’t know, but I have feeling he will.
We arrive back home and Nick immediately begins to discuss our next plan of attack, but within the hour Kayla arrives home. The room goes silent as she approaches us. Nick stands to greet her but she rushes around him and wraps her arms around me. “Thank you,” she says to me. Her sides are bandaged tight, her face is still bruised and swollen, they beat her up good, and who knows what else which makes me even angrier. I want to kill them all but as I glance towards Nick as he eyes her bruises, I can already see that I won’t have to do much more than - get out of the way of his rage.
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay – I promise.” I say, looking up at Nick who is watching me closely as I hug his wife.
“Kayla, are you okay Princess?” Nick asks, nudging her arm to get her attention away from me.
Kayla turns to him and eyes him for a time before smacking him across the face. “Damn you! Damn you straight to hell Nick!”
Nick takes hold of her wrists before she has a chance to hit him again. “Kayla, let me explain.”
“Explain? Explain what Nick? That you left your family behind? That you hid from us, pretended to be dead? For what? To hurt us? To find a new life with someone else?”
“No! I wasn’t running from you, I was trying to save you, save Nicky. I ran so they would spend all their time chasing me and leave you to have a normal life.” Nick lowers his head to look into her eyes, “I wanted you to have a beautiful, normal life. You couldn’t do that with me. Not running all the time. I love you.”
“Oh bullshit! Bullshit Nick!” She rages at him.
“Princess please, I wanted to tell you, I tried to tell you that night at the docks. But when I discovered that they were following your every move, I knew the best thing for you was for me to stay dead …” Kayla struggles to free herself from his grasp. “… only until I could figure out who was behind it all. I planned on telling you as soon as I could. I wanted to, I promise I did. I love you.” Nick caresses her face and rubs his thumb across a bruise on her arm, looking over her with pain in his eyes. “Who did this to you?”
“What does it matter? They did it, they beat me most every night and …” Kayla hides her face from him. Causing Nick and I both to fear the worst. “It was nothing I hadn’t been through before. Nothing like getting molested by a disgusting fuck before he forces his dick against your ass, your thighs and tries to fuck you to death.” Nick’s eyes begin to burn as his breathing speeds and heavies. “Don’t worry my love, you sent someone just in time, he distracted him and allowed me to sleep for one night. Lucky me.” She said, pulling away from him. “I want to know Nick, before I tell you anything, before I give you any names, I want to know - how did you survive? They had a body. They were sure it was you.”
“It was supposed to be me, but I was running late. Tanner decided to try to convince the pilot to wait for me so he put on my coat, drove my car and walked up onto that plane with the intention of pretending to be me and demand that they wait. They saw him and t
hought he was me. I thought I had misdirected them to another plane, but somehow they figured it out and beat me to the hangar. I called Tanner and told him to take off, I was going to meet him somewhere else. I didn’t realize they thought he was me. I watched them go after that plane with everything they had.”
“Tanner died?” Kayla asks him with a sorrowful expression. Nick nods. “Oh dear. He was your uncle wasn’t he?” Again, Nick nods. “And your sister was able to match him closely enough to make it believable that Tanner was you?”
“You have always been the smart one, Princess.” Nick said with a hopeful smile.
“Sister?” I ask.
“I tell you later.” Nick says, waving me off and trying to take Kayla into his arms. “I never expected you to come back but when you did, Princess, I was so angry with you and excited all at the same time. When they decided I was dead I thought it was a great opportunity to find you again, I was coming to look for you.”
Kayla pushes him away, “No Nick! No! I can’t forgive you that easily … I won’t!” Kayla races upstairs.
“Kayla! What was his name?” Nick yells as she shakes her head and continues to Nicky’s room.
Nick begins to shake and I can see the anger build up beyond his control. A nearby statue takes a beating before finally being thrown into a painting and through a wall. “Nick, give her some time with Nicky and time to calm down …” Dwayne says maintaining a safe distance from Nick’s anger.
“She is my wife! And I should have never let her end up in that situation.” Nick takes some time pacing before finally calming and looking back up at us. “We are taking back what’s ours, and we are going to do it with an obvious authority. No more hiding. They want us, then they are going to have to battle us, but first we need to figure out what exactly we are going up against. Once we do that, then we can start building our own army. Dwayne, I want you to gather information on our competitors on the east side. Ryan, I want you to handle the north side. We will leave Estrella to squirm in his territory for a little longer. If he likes the docks so much we are going to make sure he has no other place to go.” Nick paces, contemplating, “As far as Welch, we need to get someone on the inside, someone other than that prick Kayla was dealing with. He is useless. His keys don’t do anything but open the mail room. He pretended to be closer to Welch than he actually is.” Nick turns to me, “Find me someone we can use. I don’t care what you have to do to find them.”
“And what are you going to do?” I asked, unsure if I even want to know.
“Right now, I am going to win my wife back and then I am going to torture a guard.”
Chapter 10
~Nick~
Kayla is determined to make me pay, she locks me out of our room before I have a chance to get in. I plead with her through the door but I get scolded for causing our son stress over my yelling at his mother. I am not yelling at her, I am only trying to get her to hear me. Listen. Understand. But none of that is obviously going to happen tonight. I assume my first night back at home is going to be a lonely one, only I don’t realize how lonely. I try to join Ryan as he watches some game, but he abruptly turns off the game and goes to his room. With Nicky asleep already I am left to think about the people I hurt.
The next morning, I hope to work on Kayla and make amends for being such an ass, as she likes to call me. However, she leaves early and won’t return my calls, or my pleading texts to give me a chance to explain further. Ryan is no help, except to laugh every time I ask him for help with her. I guess the only thing left for me to do is to give her time. She can’t deny me much longer. I luck out and Kayla arrives home just in time to walk in on me leaving our bathroom shower.
“What are you doing in here?” She asks, annoyed.
“Taking a shower, what does it look like? Why did you want to join me?” I smile letting my towel drop. “More than happy to go again.”
“I see your ego hasn’t changed much, Nick.”
I sigh, walking up to her with my cocky smile, “Come on, touch me. You know you can’t hold out much longer.” She huffs, crossing her arms and looking away from me. Laughing at her stubbornness, I lean in close and smell her sweet neck, taking a little taste before whispering, “Remember our first time. How mad you were at me, how you wanted to kill me.” She tenses, obviously remembering that night. “I wore you down until you were begging me to fuck you. I ripped through your shirt and sucked on your …” I palm her breast and she immediately pulls away with a sinister glare, causing me to laugh. “Remember, Kayla?” Playing with her hair, I look down at her, remembering that night fondly myself. “Remember when I pushed you up on that wall and let you feel me? Moved you to the bed and kissed up your legs,” kissing below her ear, I moan. “I can still remember the taste in my mouth after I spread your legs and went down … and oooh it was so good – wasn’t it?” Kayla abruptly pushes me away.
“Nick! No! It is not going to happen. You are an ass and I don’t want to forgive you, I can’t forgive you.” She throws my towel back at me. “Cover up, because no matter how good you look I’m not giving in.” She smiles, walking out of the room.
“Damn it!” I throw the towel and try to think of something that will work.
“So, how is your romancing going?” Ryan laughs as I groan and sit. Funny. Real funny. “Oh Nick, if you want to know how to win her over again, why don’t you just ask me?”
“You? Why the hell would I ask you?” I shake my head at his ridiculous suggestion.
“Because I am smoother than you are.” Ryan says, causing me to roll my eyes away from the dumbass. “No seriously, you see, you have never had to fight for a woman in your life. I mean, other than the first time with Kayla. You need to do what you did with her then, now.”
“I am, what the hell do you think I am doing?” I snap at him.
“No, you’re not.” Ryan shakes his head and sitting down across from me. “You’re impatient and forcing it.”
“And why the hell would I listen to you? I have had way more women than you.” I smile, reminding him who his big brother is.
“See, that is just it. You have never had to work for it. I have a softer, more charming approach with women. You just look up and say suck my dick – and they do and you fuck them. That old approach has hindered your approach with your wife. All that easy ass coming your way has hurt your game with someone who is not knocked over by your good looks and sex filled eyes. She loves you, but she needs more than your usual. She needs to know she is the only one.”
I laugh at the fool as he continues. “You’re an idiot.”
“No, seriously Nick, hear me out. When you decided on Kayla, you were patient and gave her time, you charmed her a little at a time.”
“And you wouldn’t have to work so hard for it either if you didn’t fall in love with every one you lay eyes on.”
“I don’t fall in love with … I am not as cold hearted as you. They become crazy addicted to me, so I am a little more choosy because I know they won’t go away easily afterwards.” Ryan confesses with a little pride.
“They would go away if you would just …”
“Shut up Nick! We are not talking about me. I am telling you if you want Kayla back then all you have to do is … tell her you’re sorry and ask for her forgiveness.”
I stare at him in disbelief. “This is your grand advice? What the hell do you think I have been doing?” He groans leaning back in his seat. “No seriously what do you think I have been doing?”
“Yes, you say you’re sorry, but you are not showing sincerity and wanting her forgiveness. You need to want her forgiveness not just say I’m sorry and expect her to just jump on you.” He says, holding out his hands like he has handed gold over to me. “I’m telling you, listen to me and it will save you a lot of heartache.”
Thankfully, Ryan leaves after his supposed brilliant suggestion. Soon after, Kayla walks in and I jump up to greet her, but am immediately met with a hand in my face.
; “Save it, I don’t have time for you. I have to get ready for a date tonight.”
“A what? A date! You’re married. To me!” I yell at her.
“Not really, technically you’re still dead so I might as well enjoy your death for as long as I can.” Kayla smiles and marches her prissy ass up the stairs as Ryan laughs and shakes his head behind me.
“Shut up!” I yell at him.
This game with Kayla has gone on long enough. If she can date then so can I. Once I find out where she is going, I find a date and arrange to sit at the table near Kayla and her date. Kayla’s expression is priceless when she sees me walk in with another woman. I am sure Ginger would burst into flames if Kayla had her way. We sit down and Ginger is nearly in my lap as we read the menu together. Kissing my neck and rubbing my cock to the point I have to tell her to back off. Kayla may never speak to me again if this girl goes much farther. I glance over at Kayla’s dweeb and I am positive she is not interested in this jerk. However, Kayla makes a point to whisper in his ear and begins to do things that she knows I like and apparently things that make the dweeb giggle like a schoolgirl.