Secret Regrets (Living For Today #2) (13 page)

O
NCE WE WERE HOME,
I started cooking up some eggplant parmesan for dinner, Bryant and I working in unison as we chopped and prepared the meal. As the aroma of the tomatoes and basil filled the kitchen, my stomach grumbled in starvation. After putting the baking dish in the oven, I turned toward the snack cabinet in search of something to hold me over. After I’d spotted the cookies and grabbed a few, Bryant let out a chuckle. I smirked at him in return and stuck one in my mouth, letting out a soft moan as the chocolate danced over my taste buds. When my eyes open again, Bryant’s were watching me, devouring me with their gaze. I loved when we connected like that, but knowing his mom was nearby made it quite uncomfortable. .

“Sweetheart, I’m going to hop in the shower. When the timer beeps, will you just pull the dish out of the oven? I should be out before then, but just in case.” I said, excusing myself from the sparking atmosphere.

Eleanor looked up at me from her book she was reading. “Oh, Rose, don’t worry. I will handle it. Enjoy your shower.”

Her kindness was unsettling. I felt like the woman was up to no good, but I couldn’t decide why. She was hot and cold around me and impossible to read.

Fresh from the shower I slipped on some lounging pants and a top, figuring the woman hated me anyway, I might as well be comfortable. Padding down the stairs, I could hear Eleanor’s shrilly voice talking to Bryant.

“Bryant, she just wants to see you. She misses you so much and doesn’t understand what happened. She hasn’t moved on.”

My stomach rolled over as the unsettling feeling of more secrets washed over me. “Who is
she
?” I asked as I entered the kitchen, knowing what the answer would most likely be.

Both Bryant and his mother froze, staring between one another and then to me. His face was a mix of anger and nervousness, while his mother resisted the smile trying to turn her lips.

“Nobody of importance,” Bryant quickly spoke, stepping toward me in reassurance.

I moved my eyes to his mother again, knowing she was desperate to give me the truth I was seeking. Raising my eyebrow, I waited, mentally preparing myself for what she would say.

“Bryant, I hardly think Jennifer is a
nobody
. I mean, you were practically engaged to be married to her after dating all through high school. It seemed like such a sure thing.” His mother’s voice was so matter-of-fact, so truthful that as I looked to Bryant’s fallen face, I knew it wasn’t a lie.

“What happened?” I asked, apparently feeling a bit masochistic.

“Her dad didn’t like that I was changing my career path and told her that he didn’t approve. While I was away on my graduation trip, they moved away.”

The timer of the oven began to blare, giving me an excuse to move, to do something, because at that point, I was treading water, and not well.

“Perfect. Dinner. I am starving,” I said, stepping around Bryant and his mother to grab a potholder. “Bryant, dear, can you set the table? I just have to slice the bread, and dinner will be all set.”

I could feel him not moving. Feel him staring at me, waiting for me to explode. But honestly, I had nothing left in me. My mind had so much flying through it, that to focus on one thing was impossible. I was drowning and lost without any sense of which way was up.

“Eleanor, it seems Bryant has forgotten where the plates are. Will you please help him? They are in the cabinet above the dishwasher. We don’t want dinner to get cold.”

Bryant’s mom instantly went into action, grabbing four plates and silverware from the drawer.

Bryant came up behind me, and my body went stiff. “Bryant, I’m trying to stay. I’m trying to not run and scream and cry. Don’t touch me. Just give me some time to process this. I know you had a past — I’m not naïve — I just didn’t realize it would have been so serious. That it would come back and want to take you from me.”

“Nothing can take me from you. You are my life,” Bryant’s husky voice soothed me.

Quickly slicing up the bread, I put it in a bowl before handing it to Bryant to carry.

Scooping up the baking dish, I walked passed him toward the table to attempt to eat for the second time that day, when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball.

“I’ll be right there,” Bryant called to my back.

Sitting at the table waiting for Bryant seemed like a lifetime. Silence had taken over the house. His dad served himself some eggplant parmesan, and his mom fiddled with her silverware. Suddenly, the loud crash of glass had me flying from my chair and into the kitchen.

“Bryant!” I screamed as I rounded the corner to see the bread scattered on the floor surrounded by shards of the bowl. There was no Bryant to be found, but the garage door was open, and I heard his truck roar to life. As fast as I could, I leaped over the pile of broken glass and ran to the door just in time to see his truck squeal out on the road and take off out of the neighborhood.

“My God! He is just as reckless as he was years ago. He never thinks, just reacts. He gets so attached to things that he can’t see the best course for him.” Bryant’s mom spoke from the edge of the glass.

“I don’t understand. Why did he run off?” I asked aloud, realizing my mistake when I got a response.

“You. You two are so volatile you have no business being together. You are so wrong for him I’m not even sure how you ended up together, besides the fact that he got you pregnant out of wedlock, and, I suppose, felt responsible. But that ship has sailed, and I am truly sorry for your loss. Now you need to let him go. This is not the life I had planned for my son.”

Her words were like a knife to my fragile soul. I couldn’t take it anymore as she continued on, belittling me and demeaning me. Tears welled in my eyes before finally overfilling and pouring down my face.

“Enough!” Bryant’s father yelled, making us both jump. “Eleanor, you have meddled enough, and you are going to drive our son away. Rose seems like a fine choice to me. Accept it.”

“I-I…” Eleanor stammered as she fought her trembling lip. “…I will do no such thing. This girl will be the ruin of our son. I know it in my soul.”

Shoving past the witch, I grabbed my phone and headed up to my room, exhausted with the day and needing to find Bryant. After trying his cell and getting voicemail, I called Grant and put him on alert before falling into a restless sleep…

Running. I
am
running as
fast as
I can
to Bryant,
but with each obstacle another appears. Darren, Eleanor, Jordan, Ian. Life. I
can’t
take anymore as they each tried to weigh me down and hold me back.
“Bryant!”
I scream, desperate for him to save me…

Lunging out of bed, dripping in sweat, I clung to the sheets, gasping for air. Movement in the bathroom caught my attention, and I noticed the light was on as well. “Bryant,” I called as I cracked the door open. However, once the door opened, I couldn’t take another step. I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing.

The man I loved with all my heart turned to face me. All I could see was blood splattered in our sink, bright and red. The same red covered his clothes.

Bryant’s eyes were large with alarm as he scrubbed his hands raw, finally speaking. “I had to. He wouldn’t have ever let you go. He wanted to hurt you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

S
CRAMBLING IN TO THE BATHROOM,
I wasn’t even sure what to do, what to touch. “Bryant, look at me!” I screamed, trying to get him to focus. “We need to call the police. What happened?”

Bryant’s face instantly sobered up as his eyes lifted to mine, his scrubbing ceasing. “No, no police. Rose, I killed him. Don’t you get it? I didn’t mean to — well, I did, just not at first. Shit, I don’t even know what happened. He mailed a letter here with photos of you inside the house, you naked in the shower. Photos of you at school. He’s been following your every step. He wrote that if he couldn’t have you, he would take you or kill you.” Pausing, Bryant looked back at his hands that were still tinted red from the blood.

“Next thing I knew, I found him at a bar we use to all go to, and he walked out to the alleyway. I followed him because I wanted this shit done. I wanted him out of our lives.”

Bryant’s mom’s voice carried from our room to the bathroom. “Bryant? Are you in there? There are two police officers downstairs to see you.” Her voice shook with nerves as she cracked the door open, letting out a blood-curdling scream when she surveyed the scene.

Two police officers came barreling through the door, guns drawn, making both Eleanor and I scream this time.

“Put your hands up!” the officers commanded, pointing their guns at Bryant.

My blood ran ice cold as I watched the scene unfold.

Bryant’s hands flew up, as he stepped toward the officers. “Officer, I can explain. My fiancée was being stalked, threatened.” The pitch of his voice elevated with his hysteria.

“I said… Do. Not. Move!” the officer commanded, his hands shaking as he continued keeping his firearm trained on the love of my life.

My body moved, instincts taking over as I jumped in front of Bryant, trying to get them to see reason.

“Rose!” Bryant yelled just as a gunshot rang through the bathroom.

The bullet sliced through my shoulder, making me wince in pain.

Eleanor was a blubbering mess behind the two officers as one attempted to cuff Bryant, and the other moved to me, radioing for a medic.

“Let me help her, please. I’m a paramedic. If you don’t stop that bleeding, she could bleed out. The closest station is twenty minutes away,” he reasoned with the officers.

“I’m sorry, sir. You are under arrest for the murder of Darren Parker. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand your rights as I have read them to you?” The officer Mirandized Bryant, shackling his arms behind his back.

“Please, just put a towel on her shoulder. You have to put pressure on the wound,” he begged to the officer at my side as the one who’d arrested him led him out.

S
ITTING IN THE EMERGENCY
room with my newest escort, Officer Peet, I chewed on my lip, nervous of what lay ahead. Bryant’s parents had followed him to the station, and I’d been left alone, waiting to find out my fate.

“So, do you want to tell me what you know?” Officer Peet asked.

“I really don’t know much,” I responded hesitantly, not wanting to dig us in to a deeper hole. “I was raped years ago by Darren Parker, but he got away without charges. Now he is back and stalking me, assaulting and threatening me. You can check your files. I filed a report a few weeks back when I discovered that a co-worker was spying on me for him. Last I saw him was at lunch yesterday—”

“Wait. You were eating lunch with a man who is supposedly terrorizing you?” the officer questioned.

“No, I was supposed to meet my fiancé’s mother, but he was there, and he threatened me again. All Bryant told me was that he found a letter and some very intimate photos of me that had been taken without my permission.”

“So he went out to kill him?” The officer gave me an incredulous look.

“No, of course not. Bryant would never— I don’t know!” Tears leaked out of my eyes and streamed down my face as the officer shook his head at me.

“Look, we can charge you with obstruction, but we’ll hold off ‘til we talk to the D.A. But you are going to have to come to the station with me as soon as they discharge you.”

Nodding, I fell silent again, looking at my hands as I wrung the sheet on the bed. “Can I make a phone call?” I requested.

With a nod, Officer Peet handed me the phone and stepped out of the room. Staring at the phone, I contemplated who to call. I knew who I should call, but life just wasn’t that simple or easy. Sucking it up, I dialed the number I knew by heart and put the phone to me ear just in time to hear the first ring ending.

“Hey, Rose. What’s up?” Jordan’s smooth and easy voice came over the line.

“Jordan, I’ve been arrested. Well, I think I have… I’m not sure. Bryant has too, for murder. I don’t know what to do.” Sobs I had been fighting back broke free and wracked my body.

“Shh… love, calm down. I’m actually in town right now. Where are you?” he calmly asked, speaking to me like a child.

“I’m at the hospital,” I replied, laughing at the fact that this had been like my second home the last few years. Given the current situation, there could be worse places.

Within fifteen minutes, I could hear Jordan’s voice in the hall as he grabbed nurses in a hunt for me.

Officer Peet’s eyes met mine. “Friend of yours?”

I nodded yes, and then he slipped out and waved Jordan into my room.

“Holy shit! You’ve been shot! What the hell were you thinking!” Jordan frantically hollered while surveying the rest of me. “Are you okay? Will they charge you? Jesus, Rose!”

“Jordan!” I yelled, trying to get him to shut the hell up and focus on me. My concern was on one thing and one thing only. It was the reason I’d risked everything in the first place. “I need you to go to the precinct and help Bryant. That is why I called you. You have to help him.”