Shifting Gears: The Complete Series (Sports Bad Boy Romance) (57 page)

“Did he buy that?”

“I don’t think so, but he eventually let
it go.”

“I’m sorry,” he said with a far-away look
in his eye.

“Will he hurt her, Paul? Is that what he
wants?”

“He wants his son and he won’t stop at
hurting her to get him. I’m really sorry that you got dragged into all of this,
Jessie. I have to go…”

I stood up then. “Wait! Where are you
going?” He was so angry that I was afraid he was going to do harm to Mitch. I
didn’t want him getting into trouble.

“I need to go make sure my sister is okay
and Victor is safe at school.”

“Can you call her?”

“No. She’s so worried. She only uses
throwaway phones so that she has a number for a job interview. Each time she
gives it out once, she replaces it with a new one.”

Wow, serious paranoia, seriously fucked-up
life. I wondered if it was really all that warranted, but then I thought about
that look Mitch had in his eyes. He wanted to hurt me and probably would have
if he’d thought he could get away with it. “Well, if Mitch is following you
then he’s probably out there waiting for you right now.”

“All the more reason for me to go check on
my sister.”

Again, without thinking, I blurted out,
“I’ll go for you. He’s already talked to me and he got nothing. He has no
reason to follow me.”

Paul looked like he was considering it and
then he said, “Maybe…but who knows with that creep?”

“I think the odds are better that he’s
following you.”

“I think you’re right, but just to be on
the safe side, we’re both going to leave. We’ll go in different directions and
when we’re sure that it’s me who’s being followed, you can go see about Marie.”

“Okay. Just tell me where to go.” We went
into the little office off the gym floor and Paul wrote down the address. “It’s
an apartment above the restaurant…Teppen-yaki Palace,” he said. My old Sensei
lives there. He let her and Victor stay there. She won’t answer the door for
you without our code word. It’s Fishhook.” He put his hands in his hair and
rubbed across it. He looked like he was going to explode. My heart hurt for
him, especially when he said, “We’re going to have to move them again…shit!”

I put my hand on his arm and said, “One
thing at a time, okay? I’ll make sure she’s okay and if Mitch follows you, you
can be sure he doesn’t know where she is, right?” He nodded and then took the
paper with the address on it back and wrote down his phone number.

“Call me when you get there and let me
know she’s okay?”

“Yes, of course.” I wrote mine down for
him as well.

While Paul got his things from the locker
room, I found Greg and let him know I was taking off for a while. Since I
didn’t have any clients that day it didn’t really matter, but I was diligent
that way. I left out the front and got in my car before Paul came out. I looked
around, but the street the gym sat on was just off a busy one and the parking
was usually always congested. I had no idea what kind of car I was looking for,
but I didn’t see anyone that looked like Mitch. I put the key in the ignition
and my phone chirped.

I looked at it and saw a text from Paul
that said,
“I’m really sorry for all
this. Thank you for your help.”

“You’re
welcome. Do you see Mitch?”

“Yeah,
I’m pulling out now. He’s behind me.”

“Be
careful.”

I pulled out too and drove the six blocks
to the freeway. I headed north and when I did, I realized that my hands hurt. I
looked down at them. I was clutching the wheel so tightly that my knuckles were
white. I loosened them up and when I did, they started to shake. My stomach
felt sick again. I had no idea why I felt compelled to go around “helping”
people all the time. Why me? Why couldn’t I just say, “Wow that sucks, good
luck?” And walk away like a normal person. I was headed to a place I’d never
been to talk to a woman I didn’t know about two men I’d barely met…and all of
her private business. Sometimes, I thought I needed medication.

I exited off the freeway onto Mendocino
Blvd. and found the address I was looking for. I had to park four blocks away,
but that was good. The stroll to the restaurant in the fresh air cleared my
head a little bit. I walked up to the door of the restaurant and that was when
I saw a set of stairs off to the right. I looked up and saw a cute little
potted plant at the top of the landing and a small mailbox hanging next to a
red door. That had to be the apartment. I walked up the stairs and when I
reached the door I took a deep breath to calm myself down before I knocked.

“Who is it?” It was a female voice and she
sounded afraid. I felt bad.

“Hi, Marie…Um, my name is Jessie…Paul sent
me.”

“I don’t know any Paul. Go away.” She was
good, convincing.

“Oh! Um, Fishhook,” I said. I felt silly
saying it, but as Paul had said it would, it worked. I heard the lock disengage
and she opened the door. She was the woman that I’d seen at the MMA match
hugging Paul. She was a petite little woman, but she had Paul’s face and eyes.
“Hi,” I said. She grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, closing the door behind
me and locking it right away.

Then she turned to me and said, “Is he
okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine.”

“Then why are you here?”

“He wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Why didn’t he come himself? What’s
wrong?” The worry in her eyes looked genuine. I was becoming more and more
convinced that Mitch was the liar.

“Mitch came to my apartment yesterday. We
think he’s following Paul.”

“Damn him!” She fished a phone out of her
purse.

“Um, Paul said you didn’t use a cell
phone. Is that okay?”

“It’s a throwaway,” she said. She punched
in a number and after a beat she said, “Hello, this is Marie Newman. My son
Victor is in fifth grade in Mr. Glover’s room. I just need to make sure that
you understand absolutely no one is to pick him up other than myself or my
brother Paul Delport…” She was quiet, listening, and then she said, “Okay. Yes,
I appreciate that so much. Thank you.” She hung up the phone and for the first
time, she really looked at me. I hoped that the really freaked-out by all of
this way that I was feeling wasn’t showing on my face. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“What did you say your name was?”

“It’s Jessie,” I said. “I need to call
Paul.” I took out my phone and she gestured for me to have a seat. Paul
answered after a couple of rings and I said, “Hey! I’m here. Marie is fine. She
called the school and Victor is too.”

“Great. Thank you so much, Jessie. Tell
her I’ll be by later tonight. I have to get rid of this asshole on my tail
first.”

“Paul, don’t do anything—”

“Stupid? Don’t worry. Mitch is the fool
here, not me.”

I hung up and turned to Marie who had sat
down next to me. I managed a nervous smile and she said, “I’ve seen you before,
I think. You were at the fight the other night?”

“Yeah, I was.”

“And you must be the “Pretty lady with the
long red hair” that Victor told me about. You met him at Paul’s house. It’s
rare for Paul to have a “friend” that he introduces us to.”

I smiled genuinely then. “Aw, that’s
sweet. Yes, that was me. Your son is a really cute, polite kid.”

“Are you Paul’s girlfriend?”

“No!” I said that a little too forcefully.
Marie looked amused and said,

“I might be a little biased, but most
women would be happier than that about being my brother’s girlfriend, I think.”

I laughed and said, “Yeah, I’m sure. I
didn’t mean that in a bad way. Paul and I actually just met. The morning that
Victor saw me he’d driven me home from the sports bar because I had a little
too much to drink. I work at the gym where he trains.”

“So you’re a trainer?”

“Yes.”

“Very cool. I’m sorry that you had to get
mixed up in my mess.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I said. “It’s not your
fault.”

“How did you and Paul figure out that
Mitch was following him?”

“Mitch showed up on my doorstep. He forced
his way into my apartment.”

“Oh my God! He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Mitch must’ve really been something since
everyone kept asking me that with genuine concern. “He didn’t hurt me,” I told
her. “He told me that he’s a detective and he told me that he was after you for
child abuse charges.”

Marie stood up off the couch. I could tell
that she was angry now too. “He’s lying. Jessie, I swear…I’d die before I hurt
my son. I’ve changed my whole life to keep him safe.” Her eyes looked so
sincere; it was hard to doubt her. I didn’t know her, she could’ve been lying.
At that point though, I wanted to believe her and Paul over Mitch.

“I don’t believe him. He’s not given me
any reason to trust him. I want to believe you…and Paul.”

Marie smiled and said, “You like my
brother, I can see it in your eyes.” I wasn’t sure what she saw there, but at
the moment all I was feeling was extreme stress and a little bit of confusion.
“He’s a good guy. He’s overcome a lot and he’s so determined to be the best…If
my problems didn’t keep getting in his way. He can’t stop living to protect
us.”

“Marie, is Mitch abusive?”

She stared at a spot on the wall for a long
time before saying, “Yes. He takes great pleasure in the feelings of control he
gets from hurting a woman. He’s a bully. He goes after anyone weaker than him.
He gets on Paul every chance he gets because he knows my brother is too good to
do to him what he’d really like to, but he usually won’t pick fights with other
men. He’s a coward, just like most bullies are. Women and children…That’s why
he targeted you. He thinks women are weak.”

“And what about Victor? Are you worried
that Mitch will hurt him?”

“He hasn’t ever physically hurt him…yet.
But, one night about a few years ago Mitch got really violent with me and put
me in the hospital. It was the first time he’d ever done it in front of our
son. Victor was six at the time. I knew when I got strong enough I had to
leave. I couldn’t have my son growing up that way. Victor and I have been
moving around ever since. Every time I think we’ve lost him for good, he finds
us. Paul won’t go on with his own life because he’s taken it upon himself to
protect us twenty-four seven now. This has to end. I just wish I knew how to do
that so that everyone was left safe and sound.”

“Have you tried going through the court?
Can’t you document all of this, use it against him?”

“He’s a cop. He’s a well-respected one in
the city, believe it or not. He’s a bully and a terrible human being, but he
does his job well and his colleagues cover for him. I have a record. I was
arrested when I was a teenager on a drug charge. I was holding a few pounds of
marijuana for a friend. I decided to roll a joint for myself and my friends as
a young, stupid kid would do. I was smoking it in a bathroom in the park. The
cops busted in and my friends ran faster than me. Mitch was a beat cop then. He
arrested me.”

“Oh wow!”

“Yeah…he booked me in and then took me
into an interview room. He was really sweet and he told me that he didn’t want
me to be saddled with a record for the rest of my life…a drug charge. It was an
“Intent to sell” charge because I had so much dope on me. I started thinking
that he wanted sex at the time, but he didn’t ask for anything and I was a
scared kid…I wasn’t offering it. He told me that he was going to let me go and
to stay out of trouble…I was so naïve…”

“What did he do?”

She smiled, sadly, and sat back down. “He
let me go and then every time I turned around, he was there. He’d be outside my
school or at the fast-food place where my friends and I hung out. No one wanted
to hang out with me after a while of that. Who wants a cop following you around
when you’re a teenager, right? The attention sort of went to my head though…
Messed with it, I guess I’d say now. Eventually he was the only one I had to
talk to and we started seeing each other…socially.”

“How old was he?”

“Twenty-six,” she said.

“And you were…?”

“Fifteen.”

I was so shocked I couldn’t even form the
words. That made him not only a creep in my mind, but a pedophile. “That’s…”

“Illegal?” She laughed. “Yes, I know. But
he didn’t sleep with me until I was sixteen and once I was pregnant it made me
a consenting adult…it’s all legal mumbo jumbo, but he held it together…he was
wonderful to me in those days. I thought he was my savior from a crummy life
and I tried hard to be a good wife and be grateful for everything he was doing
for me. I didn’t find out until Victor was two that he’d actually gone through
with the booking that night. Somehow he had made it look like I bailed out and
I had a “failure to appear” on my record that I knew nothing about and the
charges were still pending. It’s too late with statutes and all of that for
them to put me in jail for it now, but not too late for him to use it against
me in a battle for our child. So when he hurt me so bad that I started fearing
he would kill me, I took Victor and ran.”