Underestimated (48 page)

“I did not get on the plane. I left the airport

because Derik saw me. He chased me. I ran underneath the

front of a bus. I was in induced coma for five weeks.”

“You are at his house?”

“Yes,” I answered and then had to answer my

phone.

Shit…

“I didn’t think you would go to the game. How do

you feel?” Drew asked

“I’m better. I told you I just had a headache.”

“But, I worry about you when I’m not there.”

“You shouldn’t.” I didn’t want to say much.

Dawson Bade was sitting right beside me, and my lying

abusive husband was worried about me.

“Well, I do, and there is nothing you can do about

it,” he tried teasing. I wasn’t in the mood.

“I’ll call you when I get home, Drew. The game is

getting ready to start.”

“Okay. I love you.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “love you too,” I

replied, hanging up.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No. Dawson, he hasn’t hurt me. He has been very

good to me.”

Dawson looked down at my wedding rings. “Are

you staying with him, Ry?”

“No. I don’t know what I am doing yet. There are

too many things that I have to have answers to.”

“Leave with me now. I can’t leave you here,

knowing what he is capable of.”

“I’m not afraid of Drew.”

“What do you mean you’re not afraid of him?

You’re terrified of him.”

“I was terrified before. I haven’t been afraid of

him since I didn’t know who he or I was. I’m fine. I can’t

leave yet.”

“Can I call you?”

“No. I have to lay low until I figure things out.”

“What do you mean, figure things out. Ry? I’m not

going to let you sneak around and play investigator.

You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Dawson. I have to do this. I will call you when I

can.”

“You need to call Lauren and Star. They have been

beside themselves worried about you.”

“I can’t right now, Dawson. Just tell them that I

love and miss them, and I will talk to them when I can.”

“Am I just supposed to go home and do what, Ry?

Are we still a couple?”

“I don’t know, Dawson. I truly don’t. I just

remembered who I was four hours ago. I need time to

process all of this.”

“Have you been sleeping with Drew?”

“Dawson, don’t do this. I didn’t even know that

you existed.”

“Was it consensual?”

“I’m not going there with you right now. I can’t,” I

pleaded. What the hell did he expect?

“You’re in love with him aren’t you?”

“Dawson, he’s not the same man that he was then.”

Dawson blew out a puff of air. I could read his

face. It was calling me a dumb girl.

“You know where to find me when you figure it

out,” he said and stood. I stood with him.

“Dawson,” I pleaded. He turned and crushed his

mouth to mine.

God Damnit.

I kissed him back, and it was all there, all the love,

understanding, care, him putting up with my hang ups. It all

came flooding back. I loved this man.

“Please take care of yourself,” he whispered to my

lips and let me go.

I sank back to the bench and watched him go. What

else was I going to do? The first thing I had to do was get

Dawson out of my mind. I hated doing it to him, but he had

to get put on the back burner for a while.

Chapter 18

Okay. This time I had a real plan. Well, sort of.

The guy at the pawnshop told me that it was a

Smith and Weston semi-automatic, nine millimeter, five

shot revolver. I used Drew’s credit card and paid for it. It

was small enough to fit in the back of my jean shorts so

that he wouldn’t see it. I turned just before I got out of the

store and picked up a ball bat.

“I’m going to need this too,” I told the clerk.

“I’m not gonna see you on the news later, am I?”

The older black male with gray hair asked.

“Maybe,” I replied tossing the bat in the air and

catching it by the handle.

“Just take the bat,” he offered. I smiled some kind

of crazy person smile. I was crazy. There was no doubt

about it.

I left both of my new weapons in Drew’s car. I

needed Marta out of the house before I did anything. I

didn’t want to put her in the middle.

I slept in Drew’s bed as hard as it was. I talked to

him on the phone like nothing was wrong and got up the

following morning feeling like a super hero. Yeah, I know

it was stupid, but I was going to get answers if it was the

last thing that I did.

I walked out to the kitchen and said good morning

to Marta.

“You can take off whenever you want. Drew is on

his way. We’re going to go away for a few days,” I lied,

pouring a cup of coffee. I didn’t know where Drew was,

but if he wasn’t in a meeting, or in the air. He was

listening to me. He was probably smiling, thinking that I

was sending her away again because I wanted him to

myself. I did. Him and Derik both.

Marta left shortly after, telling me to have a nice

time, not suspecting anything. As soon as I knew that she

was gone. I took a shower, pulled my hair back and

walked out to Drew’s car to retrieve my weapons. I stuck

the pistol in the back of my jeans, and carried the bat in

like I was Rambo or something. I started in the kitchen,

smashing the tiny camera hidden in the handle of one of the

cabinets. I turned and smashed the one in the light switch

next.

My cellphone rang. I smiled.

“You don’t need to call me you son of a bitch. You

can hear every word I am saying. I smashed the last

camera in the kitchen and started in the living room next.

My phone wouldn’t stop ringing. I was afraid to hear his

voice. I was afraid that I would coward out. I didn’t want

to do that. I started to smash a black vase. I always hated

that vase. It looked like it had a crack going in a jagged

line and the artist had messed up at the top, and it dipped

in on one side. I’m sure it was on purpose. I stopped the

bat in midair. I knew it had to be expensive, and something

told me that it was Mr. Callaway’s money who had bought

it and not Drew’s at all, besides, I liked the idea of the

screen in front of him going black from the contact of my

wooden bat. I decided to stick with smashing cameras.

By the time I had finished smashing the cameras in

the living room and hallway to Drew’s office my

cellphone had stopped ringing. I knew that he was in the

air, or I thought anyway. I just didn’t know where he was

coming from this time. Would he be there in an hour, two,

ten? I didn’t know. I couldn’t remember where he told me

that he was going.

I walked to the lavish painting hanging in the

hallway and pulled the key, velcroed to the back from

behind it. Yeah, I remembered where that was too. My

heart started to beat faster as I unlocked his office door. I

walked around and sat in his plush leather chair. I picked

up the phone with trembling hands and dialed the number

on my little sticky note. I had to hang up and redial three

times before my shaky hands got it right.

“Can I talk to Mr. Callaway please?” I asked the

lady who I was sure was his nurse.

“I’m sorry, but Mr. Callaway isn’t feeling well

today.”

Shit…Now what?

“Who is it?” I heard Mr. Callaway grouchily say

in the background.

“Tell him that it is Morgan,” I said quickly before

she had a chance to ask or say goodbye.

“Morgan, how are you?” he asked after demanding

to talk to me.

“I’ve been a lot better sir,” I lied. I had never been

better, well, that’s a lie too. I was better in Maine where I

had friends and a man who loved me for all the right

reasons. I would have to revisit that later.

“Is there something that I can do for you?” he

asked sincerely.

“I hope so. I want Derik to go away. I need for

Derik to go away.”

“Derik Hastings,” he asked.

I don’t fucking know.

“The Derik that seems to always be around. Yes.”

“Did he do something to upset you? Derik has been

around almost as long as Drew has. I’m sure that whatever

it was, a good old talking to from me would do the trick.”

“He raped me,” I blurted out. I didn’t want him to

have a talking to. I wanted him dead. The line was silent. I

wasn’t sure if he hung up or not.

“Does Drew know about this? When did this

happen?”

“It’s been a while ago before I went to Florence. I

just remembered yesterday, and no, Drew doesn’t know,

and I would like to keep it that way for now. I am home

alone, and I am afraid that he is coming here.”

“Get Sal and Dillon over to the mansion… Now!

Tell them I will call them on their way and to hurry.” I

heard him say to someone. I relaxed a little. I didn’t know

why, but for some reason this man would take care of me.

“Thank you,” I said and I meant it.

“I think that you should stay on the phone with me

until they arrive,” he assured me.

“I can’t right now, but, I’m fine now. I promise. I

just need him to go away.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that. He is going away.

You’ll never have to worry about Derik again. Do you

need some help, I mean like, coping or whatever it is that

you do when you go through something like that?” he asked

concerned.

I smiled. I had been raped so many times I couldn’t

even count them. “No. I’m fine Mr. Callaway.”

My intuitions were right. Drew called Derik. I had

to put my hand on my shaking knee to stop it or settle it

anyway. I couldn’t seem to stop the trembling going on in

my body. I heard the door slam. I didn’t think it had been

long enough for the two men to show up, not that I knew

where they were coming from. It could be hours before

they got there.

“You little whore,” Derik yelled with a look that I

knew could kill me dead right there on the spot.

“What did I tell you about entering my house

without knocking?” I said with my finger shaking on the

trigger from my lap.

“You fucking little cunt, I’ll….”

“You’ll do what, Derik? Rape me again?” I asked,

pulling the gun from my lap, and stopping him in his

tracks.

“You’re not going to ruin this for me,” he

demanded. “I have almost ten years of my life invested in

this money. I will fucking kill you.”

“No. No. Derik. I don’t think so.” I couldn’t

believe how cool my voice sounded. I sure wasn’t feeling

cool. I was shaking like leaf. “Do you really think that I

won’t pull this trigger?” I asked. I knew that I didn’t have

to cock the gun. The old man at the pawn shop had already

told me that it was ready. I only did it to add a little bit of

excitement to my show, kind of like putting an exclamation

mark behind it.

“You don’t have the guts, you little pussy.”

I could have shot him in the chest. I didn’t know

how to shoot a gun. I pulled the trigger and grazed his left

arm. “Don’t fuck with me,” I said feeling, extremely cocky

all of a sudden. “Have a seat.”

His eyes were huge. Did I mention that it was

priceless? He stumbled back, holding his arm and sat

down.

I saw him debating on whether or not to lunge at

me when my eyes darted and I jumped, startled from the

ringing desk phone. I kept the gun pointed right at his head

while I picked it up.

“Hello,” I answered, having a pretty good sense of

who it was.

“Morgan, please,” I heard Drew’s voice.

“I’m sorry, Drew. I can’t talk to you at the moment.

I’m a little busy, waiting for your friend to be picked up.”

That look was priceless too.

I hung up and then removed the phone from the

receiver when it rang again.

It was a good thing that I had the gun. I was sure

that the ten minutes for the two men to come and retrieve

Derik would have given him plenty of time to stop my

heart beat.

They too entered without knocking. Derik looked

to them confused while I laid the gun down on the desk,

still pointing at him.

“Let’s go, Derik,” the enormously, huge balled

man said.

“Me? Get her the fuck out of here. She’s the

psycho one,” he demanded, still holding his arm.

The other big man with black as coal hair grabbed

him by his suit jacket and yanked him up, shoving him out