Chapter 14

<Gavin Forrester>

I turn over and look at the alarm clock on my bed side table. The red numbers are flashing 5:00 P.M. My eyes widen a little but my body begs for me to just go back to sleep. I guess Talon's conversation didn't scare me as much as I thought it would.

I ignore my body's urge for sleep and I swing my legs over the side of my bed. I grab my phone off of the floor where I dropped it in frustration after my conversation with Talon. I check my notifications and there are 16 unread messages. I unlock my phone and go to the green messaging app.

All 16 of them are from Talon each with a different threat should I decide to not kill Victoria. I roll my eyes and delete all of the messages from him. I stand up and grab my towel before going into the bathroom to take a shower.

I turn the faucet all the way to hot and step in. The burning hot water scorches my body, making me forget everything else for a while. I step out onto the bath mat half an hour later and wrap my towel tightly around my body. I run a comb quickly through my hair and then step out into my freezing bedroom. I check the clock and discover that it's actually been almost an hour and a half as opposed to the half hour I thought it had been.

Time flies when you're burning every inch of skin off of your body.

I pull on a pair of black sweats and a gray t-shirt before going into the kitchen. I open up every cabinet, looking for something edible. All I discover is a few bottles of hard liquor and a box of crackers.

"No, wonder I'm in such good shape." I chuckle and lock up the liquor in my alcohol cabinet.

I walk out into the living room and plop down on the couch, turning the TV on in the process. I flip through a few channels until I discover a football game. I watch that for a few minutes but it gets boring because I don't really care what team wins and that's half the fun of sports.

I flip through a few more channels and come across a very interesting news interview. Now, I'm not usually one to watch the news but this interview is particularly eye catching. Carter Jacobson is seated in an oversized leather chair while a news reporter asks him all sorts of questions. They range from what he's going to do with his dad's business to what he ate for breakfast.

"Real hard hitting news piece right there. Oh, and he eats crack cocaine for breakfast, just so you know."

It's like they're trying to set him up a profile on a dating website or something...

I roll my eyes and almost change the channel but then the reporter asks him a very interesting question.

"Mr. Jacobson, what are your thoughts on the many drug scandals going on in this city?" The reporter gives him a stern look as Carter tries to formulate a response.

Oh, this should be good...I mean considering you're the source of all these scandals, Carter.

"I think drugs are immoral and downright wrong." He says quickly.

That spineless, lying, little bastard.

"Please elaborate." The reporter scribbles something down on her notepad before looking back at Carter.

"Drug rings use women and children to help make their products. These animals make money selling merchandise that can and will kill people. They expose their employees to all sorts of danger and people, perfectly good people, get involved with things that end up killing them. Drugs are a fatal combination of chemicals and they cause senseless killing. I just hope someday people will use their brains and realize that drugs are not worth it." Carter mutters in a final tone.

That's rich coming from you, considering you're drowning in money and all the crack cocaine you could ever want.

I let out a low chuckle and flip channels. I think if I watch one more second of Carter running his mouth, my brain cells will start jumping ship. I flip to a movie channel and find a horror movie playing. My eyes light up as I settle in to watch it.

~~~~~

A persistent knocking forces my eyes to open. I'm stretched out on my couch with the horror movie still playing in the background. I pause it and go to my front door. I let out a sigh and turn the door knob.

"Listen, now really isn't a good time..." I'm cut off by a sobbing Victoria falling into my arms.

I pull her into my apartment and shut the door with my arm that isn't supporting Victoria. Her body is shaking and at least 10 degrees warmer than it should be. I help her over to the couch and set her down as gently as I can. I sit down next to her and let her lean her head on my shoulder.

"What happened, sweetheart?" I say and pull her in closer to me.

"He called me worthless." She whispers. "Carter said that I was disposable and that he didn't love me."

My fists clench up and I feel the anger bubbling under the surface of my skin.

He has her heart...He gets to spend the rest of his life with her but that worthless piss on can't see past the dollar signs and crack. Carter is such a waste of valuable oxygen

"I was looking for my jacket around our room and instead I found a bag of cocaine under is side of the mattress. I asked him about it and he exploded. Carter literally burst into flames. He grabbed the bag from my hand and tossed it into the trash can and then he started yelling at me about how I couldn't mind my own damn business. I told him that since we were getting married, he needs to be completely honest with me. Then Carter slapped me, straight across the face. I tried to apologize to him because I knew my mom was coming home and I wanted her to see us happy but he didn't accept it. He lit a cigarette and planted it straight on my skin." Victoria rolls up her sleeves and shows me the glowing red burns dotting her skin.

My nails dig into my palms as I think of all the different ways I could behead Carter.

"He was insulting me the whole time and yelling profanities at me. The minute he left to go get a knife or something, I ran. You were the only person I wanted to see so I drove to your place." I wrap my arms around Victoria as she finishes her story.

I feel her do the same and we just sit on my couch, entangled in each other's embrace.

He was going to kill her...He was going to take my sunshine away and now there's going to be an almighty thunderstorm over his head.

~~~~~

Victoria is still seated on my couch as I bring back some rubbing alcohol and cotton balls to clean up her wounds. I pour a little bit onto a cotton ball and roll up her sleeves. She winces a little as the alcohol touches her skin but she doesn't try to move my hand away.

"It feels better, Gavin...Thanks." Her eyes are closed as if she's trying to savor her pain going away.

I stand up and toss the cotton balls into the trash can. I plop back down on the couch and pick up my phone.

"You like Chinese food?" I ask with a smirk.

"No," She mutters sarcastically.

"How very un-American of you." I chide and dial the phone number for my favorite Chinese restaurant.

"It's called sarcasm," She playfully hits my shoulder and then pulls the throw pillow from my couch, close to her body.

"Hi, yes, we need two orders of Chinese noodles." I say as the lady on the other end says my total will be $6.

I give her my credit card information and then hang up hoping the food will be here within the promised 20 minutes.

"Thanks for everything, Gavin." Victoria gives me a small smile and then leans on my shoulder.

"Anytime, babe." I grab her hand and hold it gently as I un-pause my horror movie.

~~~~~

The food has finally comes and I tip the guy a few extra bucks as I bring the white take-out containers into the living room. I grab a few pairs of chopsticks and hand Victoria her Chinese noodles. She gratefully accepts them and opens up the container immediately. She changes the channel from my action movie to some girly chick-flick. I internally groan but don't change the channel. She's been through a lot today and if she wants to watch some cheesy romance movie then I guess it's the least I can do. I sit down and open up my container, situating the chopsticks so I can actually eat my food.

The guy on the screen is making some long, heartfelt speech about how much he loves this girl he met a few minutes ago. I gag at the sheer stupidity of romance movies but Victoria has a smile on her face so I suffer through it.

Oh, the things I do for her.

She finishes her food and grabs the spare pair of chopsticks off of the coffee table. Victoria twists her hair into a bun and sticks the chopsticks through it so her long brown hair is no longer sweeping across her back. I set my food down on the coffee table and pull Victoria close to me as the awful movie continues on.

"I'm so lucky to have a friend as amazing as you." Victoria says in a soft voice.

This has got to be some sort of joke...Why does she have to keep friend-zoning me?

"Will you just stop doing that?" I snap, not regretting my harsh tone at all.

Once and for all, Victoria has to know how I feel.

"Doing what?" She mutters innocently.

"Friend-zoning me. I hate it. No matter how many times you call me your friend, it won't change how I feel for you. I don't care if you're marrying Carter, I don't care if you don't feel the same but I love you, Victoria and calling me your friend won't change that." I let out a sharp breath and dare to look in her eyes.

"Fine, then kiss me, you jerk." She says in an equally harsh tone.

I set a shaking hand on her waist and pull her as close to me as possible. Our lips are barely touching and she tilts her head. I place my other hand on the back of her neck and finally lean in the rest of the way, closing the gap between us. She places her hand on my cheek and suddenly everything falls into place. I pull the chopsticks out of her hair and pull her into my lap, smiling as we continue to kiss. Victoria pulls away for a second and sets her index finger on my chin.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." I smirk and twist my fingers in her hair.

"I think I have some." She grins and leans in again.