INK: Abstraction (27 page)

Trish stands with a
vile look on her face, and she’s speechless for only another
moment before she lays in on Shay. “Why do you always have to
do this to me, Shay? Why can’t you let me be happy?”

She pulls away from
Eli, crossing her arms, looking in the direction Bailey went. This
dumb bitch is going to have some serious shit to work out.

“Trish, listen.
Bailey has been stalking me since Tampa.” Shay tries to reason
with her.

“You’re
wrong. Maybe he just looks like the same guy,” she pleads, even
though I can see it in her eyes that she knows.

“Honey, I’m
so sorry.” Shay tries to hug her, but Trish won’t have
any part of it.

“No Shay, I’m
the only one sorry here, sorry that I ever trusted that you could let
me be happy.” Trish turns to walk away and is stopped by a
uniformed police officer. Honestly, I expected more from Trish, but
perhaps she’s not in fighting form.

“Ma’am, are
you hurt?” he says, full of concern.

“I’m fine,
Johnny small cock, I’m leaving.” She tries to maneuver
around him.

The cop purses his lips
and inhales a breath. “I’m afraid I’m going to have
to ask you to stick around until we can question you.” He tries
to guide her back toward the restaurant.

Trish pulls away. “Fuck
you, little boy blue, I was eating lunch and a fucking bus crashed
through the front of the restaurant. End of story.”

“Ma’am, you
may be in shock and you should see one of the paramedics and get
checked out.” He tries to reason with her.

“I’m fine,
I can even tell you how many fingers I’m holding up. Just one,
fuck you.” She gives him the finger and walks away.

The cop takes her by
the arm. “Ma’am, I’m afraid I can’t let you
leave. Please come with me.”

They disappear on the
other side of the bus. I turn to Shay. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m
okay. Where’s Eli?” she asks, looking around.

“He was just with
you,” I answer. I mentally scan the area to see if I can hear
him.

The color drains from
Shay’s face. “Oh no, what if Eli went after Bailey?”

“He didn’t.”
I try to reassure her, but she sees through the lie.

“Carl, I would
think you of all people would know that I’m beyond the little
white lies that are supposed to protect me.”

“I don’t
know where he is,” I admit.

She stands. “I’ve
got to find him.”

“Shay, I need you
stay here with me,” I urge.

“Carl, I have to
find Eli.” She’s approaching panic.

“Darlin’,
Eli’s fine.”

“Yeah, Captain
America is on the other side of the bus helping all the little
children. It’s a real pisser of a Hallmark moment,” Trish
chides as she walks by.

“Trish.”
Shay turns to her. “Wait.”

Trish gives Shay the
finger and continues walking.

“Trish, he’s
dangerous. You have to listen to me. He was at the signing. He
attacked me this morning. You have to believe me.” Shay pleads
with her, chasing her across the parking lot.

Trish stops short and
turns to face Shay. “I’m not like you. I haven’t
spent my whole life with two guys fighting over me since before they
knew what their dicks were for.”

“Trish, it’s
not—” Trish cuts her off.

“You don’t
get it, do you? I don’t know why you feel the need to ruin this
for me. I have a good thing going with Billy, why do you have to ruin
it? You’re a fucking drama queen and a liar. Billy would never
hurt anyone.” The hardest part of listening to Trish is that
she doesn’t really believe it herself.

Shay takes a few steps
toward Trish, speaking calmly. “I want you to be happy, but I
don’t want you to be in danger.”

“You’ve
never wanted me to be happy, Shay. Don’t think I haven’t
noticed how you’ve judged every decision I’ve ever made.”
She looks down then back up at Shay with a coldness in her gaze.
“This from the biggest dick tease on the planet, when everyone
but the two dumbasses you are fucking knows that you don’t love
either of them.”

Shay’s visibly
shaken by Trish’s words. She presses her lips together, forming
her words carefully. “If you don’t believe me, that’s
fine. But why don’t you ask him what happened to his arm.”

“What?”
She’s bewildered.

Shay’s eyes take
on a fierceness spurred by the memory of what Bailey tried to do to
her this morning. “When he climbed into Eli’s bed with me
this morning I fought him off.” She swallows hard. “I bit
him, I bit him hard on the arm.”

“He said he was…”
She trails off, looking away from Shay. “I don’t have to
sit here and listen to this bullshit fantasy of yours.”

“His arm is
fucked up, isn’t it?” she demands.

“Yeah, so?”

“How would I know
that?” Shay steps closer to her and tries to put her arms
around Trish.

“No.” Trish
steps back, putting her arms up in surrender. “Fuck you Shay,
fuck you.” She walks away.

Shay looks to me as
though I could somehow help. I shrug helplessly, but try to get up.
Shay comes to me. “You shouldn’t try to move until you
get looked at.”

“Just help me up;
I can’t let Captain America take all the credit for rescuing
the children.” I lean forward and pull myself up to my feet.
The leg hurts like a bitch, but I’ll manage.

Shay lets out a little
laugh. “He is a hero, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”
She helps me walk toward the bus where paramedics are working on
several children. The cop Trish encountered earlier comes to us.

“Ma’am, you
should sit down until you’ve been checked out.” He’s
looking her up and down, noticing her injuries.

Shay looks down at
herself and chuckles. “I’m fine. These days I always look
like this. I wasn’t hurt.”

The cop gets a
concerned look on his face and eyes me. “Why don’t you
come with me.” He tries to take Shay by the arm.

“Oh, um, no. It’s
not what you think.” She looks at me and smiles. “I just
got out of the hospital yesterday. I’m fine, really.”

He doesn’t seem
satisfied with her answer. “I’ll need you to stick around
so we can take your statement.”

Eli comes around the
corner from the bus. “Hey Nunez, she’s with me. It’s
fine.”

He looks at Shay then
Eli. “Okay, Walker, but we will still need a statement.”

“We’re not
going anywhere. I’ll be sure she sticks around.” Eli pats
him on the shoulder as he walks back around the bus.

“Is everyone
okay?” Shay hesitates, expecting the worst.

“It seems like
there could be a few concussions, cuts and bruises. All of the kids
are okay, but I’m afraid the bus driver didn’t make it.
It looks like he had a heart attack or stroke. There were no visible
injuries.”

Shay hangs her head
then looks at me. “Carl?”

I inhale a deep breath.
“We’ll talk. But I would love to find a chair that hasn’t
been smashed to bits.”

Eli grabs one of the
patio chairs, and I take a seat. Shay is not handling any of this in
stride. She’s having a hard time reconciling Trish and Bailey.
“You know, darlin’, it all makes sense. That’s how
he was able to find you, how he always seemed to know where you
were.”

“Do you think
he’ll hurt Trish?” she asks, nearly in tears.

Eli runs his fingers
through his hair. “Shay, you don’t need to be worrying
about her right now.”

“The strange
thing about Bailey is he was able to block me out. That’s why I
never saw him as a real threat.” I really want to avoid Shay
knowing what I’ve discovered about Bailey. I do think he’ll
hurt Trish to get what he wants. “I think he may be in league
with the Specter.”

Shay’s face goes
white. “Wait, are you saying he’s the one committing
these murders?”

“What?” Eli
is astounded at the revelation.

“It’s
possible,” I answer. “But it doesn’t seem likely.
McNab will be back in the morning. I think we need to pay Bailey a
visit.”

“Be careful Carl,
we’ve seen what he can do,” Eli warns.

“I can handle
him.” I reassure them both. “I can’t handle sitting
here much longer. Can we get the questioning part out of the way so I
can get out of here?”

“I’ll see
what I can do.” Eli looks around until he sees a cop he
recognizes.

I look at Shay. I don’t
know what to say but I feel compelled to comfort her, let her know
that I don’t think he’ll hurt Trish, but I don’t
know that, nor do I believe it. She’s standing, looking at me,
waiting for me to say anything.

“No Carl, I’m
not waiting for you to say something. I’m just listening.”
She scowls at me knowingly.

“What do you
mean?”

“You think that
Bailey would hurt Trish. Don’t try to hide it Carl, I can hear
you.” She folds her arms across her chest.

“I’m sorry,
I just don’t want to upset you.”

“It’s a
little late for that; it would seem that a ghost just crashed a
school bus full of children into a restaurant to kill one of us. None
of us are sure who. My best friend is fucking a serial killer who’s
stalking me, and oh yeah, she’s pissed at me because I’m
trying to save her from said serial killer.” She huffs out a
breath. “Did I miss anything?”

She missed a ton, but
I’m not going to be the one that mentions it. “I think
you’ve got it all.”

“No, I did miss
something. Someone I thought I could trust is keeping things from
me.” She bores into me with cruel, hurt eyes and spins around,
walking away.

I’m going to have
to figure out how to smooth this over. I’ve also got to figure
out how to keep her out of my head.

“You can’t
keep me out Carl, I’m here to stay,” she yells back over
her shoulder.

Shit.

Shay

Eli
throws his keys on the breakfast bar and rests his head on his hands.
“Jesus what a day.”

His white shirt is
covered in blood and dirt. It’s torn in a few different spots.
His typically perfect hair is completely disheveled. It makes me
wonder what I must look like, but honestly, I didn’t spend the
afternoon pulling injured children from a school bus. He really is
Captain America.

“Yeah, it kind of
feels like we say that at the end of every day.” I look to the
floor feeling responsible for the constant state of emergency.

He doesn’t look
up. “It’s okay, aside from the bus driver it looks like
everyone’s going to be okay.”

“Yeah, well, you
were a real hero out there today.” I lean against his back and
slide my arms around him and lock them tight in an embrace. “I
hardly knew what to do, I couldn’t even save Trish.” I
feel the weight of that on my heart and try to push it away.

“Nobody can save
Trish, she’s going to have to do it on her own.” He turns
around to face me and pulls my head to his chest. “I’m
sure it’s going to be okay. She’ll come to her senses.”

I pull back a tick and
look at him, questioning. “Trish?
My
Trish?
Senses
you say?”

“I get your
point, she’ll be alright. She always seems to come out on top.”
He locks his fingers gently in my hair and pulls me back to his
chest. “Let’s just worry about us for right now.”

“I have no
worries like this, snuggled into my man.” I let out a sigh of
relief and nuzzle in closer.

The silence in the
house is broken by Carl and Pitch coming in. “Hey, are you guys
okay?”

I step away from Eli;
for some reason I feel guilty deriving any sort of comfort in front
of Carl. Pitch heads straight for the back room with some equipment.

“Yeah, we’re
fine. How’s the leg?” Eli asks.

“Twelve stitches,
it really was no big deal.” Carl sits slowly on the couch. “Has
Trish answered her phone?”

“No, frankly I’m
getting really nervous. I mean, what if he hurts her?” I ask
sitting on the couch across from Carl.

“I seriously
doubt he even went back to her house, I mean now the jig is up and
she’s worn out her usefulness.” He tries to reassure me.

“I think maybe
I’d like to go and check on her.” I really don’t
want to, but I can’t imagine what it would be like losing her,
never having talked this out and leaving things the way they are. I
don’t think the heartfelt voicemails and texts would make me
feel any better about her being angry with me.

“We just got
home, why don’t we get cleaned up,” Eli says looking down
at himself. “I’m kind of a mess.”

“Oh babe, I’m
sorry. You should get in the shower.” I press my lips into a
thin line; I inject levity wherever I can. Here seems good. “You
know, with how things have been lately, I think perhaps finding a dry
cleaner who can get bloodstains out would be a good idea.”

Eli smirks at me and
his eyes light up. “Or I could just ask Wes what he uses. The
carpet looks fine,” Eli muses and pulls me into a hug.

“Shower.” I
insist because I want to get back to where all I have to concern
myself with is being held by Eli.

“No, if you want
to go check on Trish, I’m certainly not comfortable with you
going alone with that psycho on the loose.” He tucks his
tattered shirt into his pants.

“Eli, no. I’m
sure Carl will go with me.” I look to Carl hoping that he’ll
agree so Eli can get some rest.

Carl visibly pushes
past his exhaustion and stands from the couch. “No, I’m
not going with you. But I’ll go without you. I don’t
think it’s wise for you to be anywhere near where Bailey could
be. I really do think he’s dangerous.”

“You would do
that?” I ask, relieved because I didn’t want to go where
Bailey could be either.

“You two need to
get some rest. I’ll take Pitch with me and you guys can try to
achieve at least one night of normal.”

“Thank you so
much, Carl.” I walk over to him and wrap my arms around him.