chapter 10
Three weeks had gone by since the bridge collapsed, and they still made it a point to see each other as much as they could. Every time they met was at some place different, but no less entertaining. As Trinity walked to her first hour, she thought about how all their dates always ended the same way. She knew it was her idea to go slow, but saying goodbye always left her aching for more.
She really enjoyed the phone conversations as well. He always made it a point to call and see how her day had gone and would always end the call by saying he missed her. She thought about him so much, she was surprised that anything got done. She felt like she was in high school again and had her first crush. This was more than that though.
She loved him. It scared her half to death, but she finally admitted it to herself. She knew three weeks was quick, but they did start off their relationship with an added advantage by already being emotionally connected from the dreams. They still never figured out why they had them, but she didn’t care anymore. It was fate, for all she knew.
Trinity’s mind started to wander to the dreams she was having now, and let go of a small shiver. She hated going to bed every night, and stayed up as long as she could to postpone the inevitable. Ever since the river, she had the worst nightmares. Some were memories of her parents dying; she was trapped and tortured in others. Every night brought on a new frightening experience, worse than the night before.
She assumed it was more than likely post-traumatic stress but didn’t want to think of seeing a psychiatrist. Already being to her fair share of them, it was not something she was ready to go back to. Plus, she figured if she kept having good days, eventually they would seep into her dreams. So far, she had been proven wrong.
Her nights were starting to wear her down. Every morning, she would wake and feel as if she hardly had gotten any rest. She was either strung out on all the caffeine she was ingesting or lagging from being so tired. Right now, it was the latter, she thought, as she let out a large yawn when she reached for the handle to open her classroom door.
The students all took their seats when she walked in. Man, she loved teaching. Her students and she had grown close over the month. Some came to her with problems, others joked around with her, but everyone was nice and respectful toward each other.
There were a certain few that stood out from the rest, but that was only because she had a personal connection with each of them. Stephanie & Jennifer came to see her almost every day at her free period. Unfortunately, Katie chose to drop her class, because the memories for her were too strong when she saw Trinity.
Then there was Hugh. Always the protector, he still came in early every day to toss out the rose waiting for her. He tried to keep the fact that they were still coming a secret from her, which she thought was sweet. It had worked until he ran late one day. It made her smile thinking of the day she came in to catch him out of breath and watched as he chucked it in the garbage by her desk. Seth probably would get a kick out of knowing she got a small amount of enjoyment from his threats.
Once the bell rang, she waited a few minutes for the stragglers to make their way in before she began. “Okay everyone. Your projects are due tomorrow, so I am giving you the whole time today to work on them.” As everyone started to move around, she spoke above the noise. “Remember, I want three different prints; all of the same subject but with different shutter speeds. I will be coming around to check on your progress.”
Trinity moved from table to table, talking with her students, and answering questions they had for her. She was in the middle of talking with a girl about how her photo was overdeveloped and how to fix it when there was a knock at the door.
She absently hollered for the person to come in, not wanting to break the girl’s attention. Not giving the visitor another thought, she continued her explanation. That was until there was a collective gasp from the students.
Looking up, she realized all of them were staring at the door. When she turned to see what they were looking at, she felt her heart rate increase and heat began to creep up her cheeks. He always made her feel this way; a mixture of excitement and shyness. Malachi was standing in her doorway.
She didn’t know if he could ever not look beautiful. This morning, he was in plain jeans and a black t-shirt, but he could be in Armani for all she cared; he looked just as gorgeous. He always seemed to wear something black. She once asked him if he had a thing against color, and his answer was “Can you picture me in yellow?” All she could do was laugh.
Smiling, she cleared her throat and addressed her students. “Okay. Okay. Get back to work.”
For the most part, they did, and she made her way to the front of the class. When she got up to Malachi, her smile grew bigger. “What are you doing here?”
“I hope this isn’t too bad of a time…”
“No, it’s fine.”
He held out a divine smelling white Styrofoam container. “I ran into Nicole at the coffee shop. When I asked how you were, she told me that she saw you running from your house this morning. Running late?”
“I overslept.” She then leaned in closer to him and whispered so her students couldn’t hear. “Someone kept me out late last night. Then I found it hard to sleep after being dropped off.”
The redness was back to her cheeks as she recalled their goodbye kiss last night. They had been getting more heated every time and last night was no exception. Ten minutes later, they were still saying goodbye. Lips were meshed, tongues intertwined, and bodies pressed together as close as they could get, and all on her front porch. They always kept their hands around each other and never moved. They knew, once that happened, they would be goners. Thank goodness her lights were out. The last thing she needed was a neighbor witnessing their farewell.
Now, he just stared down at her. His heated gaze was his way of telling her how much he remembered as well. It had such an impact on her, it made her shiver.
He bent close to her ear. “It looks like I wasn’t alone then.” When she swallowed, he stood back up and went on. “Anyway, I figured you didn’t have time to eat breakfast, so I brought you some.”
Trinity took the container and peeked inside. “Biscuits and Gravy? Ahh, you shouldn’t have.”
“I can always take it to work if you don’t want it.” He reached for the container with a knowing smile on his face.
She held it away before he could touch it and he continued.
“I could, Gemariah loves what’s in the back of the box.”
She looked at him confused, and then looked inside the box again. HASHBROWNS!!
“Yeah, I’ll just do that.” When he reached for the box again she snapped.
“Back off!” When he laughed, she smiled up at him. “What I meant was… This is wonderful. Thank you.” Opening the box all the way, she observed the succulent breakfast. “One thing would make this perfect…”
Before she could finish, he held up three ketchup packets.
“Ahh… I could kiss you!”
When all he did was raise an eyebrow, she stood on her tip-toes. He took the cue and leaned down and she gave him a slight peck on the cheek. “Thank you.”
“Ms. Bradshaw?” Hugh caused her to jump when he came up from behind and startled her.
“Hugh!” Laughing at her reaction, she decided to introduce the two. “Malachi, this is Hugh. Hugh…Malachi”
Surprising them both, Hugh stood tall and held out his hand.
Malachi didn’t hesitate to shake the boy’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Hugh didn’t show any sign of being intimidated by Malachi’s size. On the contrary, he looked as if he was judging him. Trinity figured she would never understand the male species. Eventually, coming to a conclusion, Hugh responded. “Likewise”
“What can I help you with, Hugh?”
“Oh.” Remembering that he did come over there for a reason, he let go of Malachi’s hand and turned back to her. “There’s an issue in the darkroom.”
Trinity didn’t want to hear that. There was too much expensive stuff in there. “What sort of problem?”
“We believe one of the enlargers is broken.”
This took Trinity by surprise. Immediately she started walking toward the room, following Hugh that had already gone through the revolving door. She suddenly turned to Malachi. “I don’t know how long this will take… You can stick around and…”
He already started to answer before she finished talking. “No, that’s okay. I have to get to work anyway. I just wanted to drop that off.”
“Okay, thanks again. Call me.” Smiling, she turned but was stopped when her arm was lightly grabbed.
“Have lunch with me.”
It was voiced as a command, but a question none the less.
“I’d love to. Here or are we going somewhere in particular?” She didn’t care either way, as long as they were together.
“Why don’t we meet at the Mexican food place on Sinclair?”
“Meet you?” Trinity gave him a mischievous grin. “Still not ready to give me a ride on your motorcycle?”
Laughing outright, he grabbed the back of her neck, brought her head in, and kissed her on the forehead. “Go check on your equipment. I’ll see you at lunch.”
With that, he turned and walked away, but kept the smile on his face. Through the past weeks, he had returned to the Malachi she had met in her dreams. Sure he had his brooding moments, but overall, he smiled so much more.
“One day Mr. Starkman…one day!” She hollered the parting remark.
The only response she got was for him to wave as he still walked away.
With that, she turned to get back to the business at hand…High School Photography.
Trinity knew the moment he walked into the restaurant. It was as if her body had been in search of his and instantly felt more alive when he was around. This wasn’t the first time it had happened, she thought, as she watched him walk through the doors.
Malachi walked into the restaurant like he did everywhere else. He silently commanded everyone’s attention, like they knew he was a man in charge or of great importance; which was funny because he always seemed uncomfortable when he was the center of attention.
He got to the table and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek before sitting across from her. “How was your morning?”
“Ugh” Trinity just remembered fighting with the enlarger, the numerous calls with the insurance company and discussions with Principal Bill. “Only got more frustrating from when you left.”
“The darkroom equipment?” His tone made her understand that he was truly interested.
“An enlarger, and yes. But I have talked about that too much today.” She waved her hand in the air to stop all discussion on the matter before gesturing to him. “Tell me about your day.”
He just shrugged. “There’s been no active calls; just a lot of research for ongoing clients.”
The waitress came by and they gave their orders. This was not the first time they had met here for lunch, so ordering didn’t take long at all.
They were talking about their mornings more when the waitress brought over their drinks. Trinity had a vague idea of what he did for a living, but he never seemed to want to talk about it too much. He told her it was for confidentiality purposes.
Work was one thing, but she was starting to realize that there was so much more she didn’t know about him. He was always reluctant about giving too much personal information. Of course, she hadn’t divulged too much about her past either. He knew that she had foster parents, but he didn’t know why, and he sure as hell didn’t know what she went through after her parents’ death.
Trinity decided this morning, that it was time for this to change; rip off the Band-Aid, so to speak. “Hey Malachi. I have an idea.” She told herself to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. “Why don’t we do something with other people? Friends and family, you know…” Trailing off her sentence, she reminded herself that this was a great way to get to know each other.
He just looked back at her. His expression reminded her of a student that was just told to stand up and read a text from a friend that was received in class. Terrified!
After a noticeable swallow, he spoke. “Um…why? Who were you thinking of inviting?”
“I dunno.” She shrugged and tried not to show the disappointment she felt in his obvious aversion to the idea. “I guess I’m being a little nosy. I wanted to meet other people you are close to.” When he still didn’t say anything, she started to worry a little. Was she alone in how she felt? “I would definitely invite Nicci; I’ve kinda been neglecting her lately. Maybe Renée and Joe…”
He was fiddling with his fork way more than normal. “I don’t know Trinity…”
“I just thought…” She took a deep breath then waved the air in front of her as to wipe away their conversation before giving a very large, fake smile. “Never mind, it’s okay. Forget I said anything.” She pointed to his plate with her fork. “How’s your enchiladas; they smell delicious?”
She went along, eating her food and looking at her plate, trying to pretend that he wasn’t staring at her.
“Finish what you were going to say.” His voice brought her head up. He sounded too serious, so firm that it made a shiver run up her spine.
“What do you mean?”
“You said, “You thought…” What did you think?” His gaze never wavered from her face.
Trinity didn’t really want to get into this. It was embarrassing more than anything. She sighed and tried to sound light-hearted. “It doesn’t matter.”
When she was about to take another bite of her food, he placed his hand over hers to stop the process which brought her gaze back to him. “It matters to me.”
Putting her fork carefully down gave her a few moments to choose the right words. She brought her thumb nail to her mouth, but quickly took it down when she remembered that he knew her other nervous habit. Taking a deep breath, she dove right in. “I just thought it would be nice to get to know more about each other, maybe even meet the people that occupy the rest of our time. I guess I wanted to take whatever we have a little further. At least, that’s what I want.”
She managed to keep eye contact the whole time with him. She didn’t want to look meek and desperate but she was struggling not to look away under his intense stare.
“You might not like what you find.”
Boy, was that an understatement; except it should have been her that said it to him. “Everyone’s got skeletons in their closet, Malachi. I’m no different.”
After a minute, he nodded. “You’re right. We need to move forward.” He smiled. “Maybe I can get some stuff to use against you later on. What about it Trinity, any embarrassing stories in that past of yours?”
This made her giggle. “No more than any other average teenage girl.”
“I have an idea.” Malachi sat forward in his chair, really getting into this plan. “What about a barbeque? We could have it at my house.”
“That sounds great.”
“Any day in particular that you want this?”
Trinity thought for a moment. “A weekend might be easier for Joe and Renée. They’ll probably bring Stuart and Ray, the kids they have now. Actually, it might be best if you choose. Your schedule is so sporadic, so find out what day works best for you and whoever else you invite.”
As if on cue, his cell phone chimed in. After reading the text, he looked at her and she could tell that their lunch date had come to an end.
“I know this happens way too much, but…I gotta go.” He looked worried, as if wondering what her reaction would be.
She just smiled and laughed. “And hence, why I think you should pick the date.”
He stood up, bent over, and gave her a kiss. “Will do. I’ll call you.”
When he stood back up, he reached back for his wallet. “I hate to leave you while you’re still eating.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m enjoying this burrito so much that I might not even miss you.” She gave him a small wink. When he put money on the table, she reached for it. “Hey, I can get this one. You didn’t even get to finish.”
He stopped her hand before she could touch the money. “Not going to happen. Call me old-fashioned.” Leaning down he gave her a small kiss good-bye. “Till next time m’lady.
Even after he left, she couldn’t quit smiling. The lunch went very well. She just hoped that the barbeque actually happens.
She finished up her food and made sure the bill was paid before she left. She took her time getting back to her car. Having an open period after lunch always allowed her to linger a little longer.
It was a beautiful day, and she couldn’t help but be in a good mood. Trinity was walking back to her car, looking everywhere but where she was going.
When she finally got to her car, she stood by it and was digging through the bottomless pit she called a purse for her keys. She had just found them when both her upper arms were grabbed from behind. Freezing on contact, she stiffened up. “Malachi?” Something made her ask, but she knew it wasn’t him.
She was jerked roughly backward into a body that was definitely not Malachi. The impact made her drop the keys. All she heard was the sound they made hitting the pavement. That was until the unknown person behind her spoke. “Does this feel like that jackass, bitch?”
Oh Crap! Seth? She couldn’t prevent the trembling that started. His voice brought back so many painful memories with him, but she tried to stay strong. “What do you want?”
The grip on her arms was tightening and quickly becoming painful. “What do I want? I want to know why you thought it was okay to let another man touch you…kiss you. You’re mine!” He was whispering, but she could tell it was through clenched teeth.
“I’m not yours! I haven’t been yours for a while and this is none of your business.” There was that courage she had spent months trying to build.
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she was spun around and slammed against her car. His volume was getting louder. “It f*cking is my business! You need to stay away from him or it’s going to get ugly.”
“Let me go! Now!” She raised her voice in the hopes that someone might hear her.
Seth’s body suddenly relaxed and he let go of her arms. He was still too close for comfort and it was a little unnerving.
“Step back!” Raising her voice worked a moment ago, so she hoped it would work now. No such luck.
Instead, he stepped closer and put a hand on the side of her head. “I’m sorry, beautiful. Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to.” He then started to stroke her face and her nerves were firing, telling her that this wasn’t good. “I never mean to hurt you; you just frustrate me so much some times. It’s okay though, because I love you. You’ve been getting my roses, haven’t you?”
He then kissed her cheek, which made her skin crawl. “No!” Trinity then started pushing against him, but he wasn’t budging. “Don’t Seth! Get off of me!”
The coldness was back in his eyes. “How can you say that? Your little boy toy needs to be out of the picture; he’s clouding your judgment. We’ll be together forever, one way or another.”
His mouth came down on hers and she thought she was going to be sick. She pushed at him to no avail. Her heart started to pick up speed at the same time a warmth started to spread over her. She felt…stronger.
Gathering up all the energy she could, she pushed…hard. This time, he was moved back close to four feet. When he started coming toward her again, she brought her knee up between his legs and he immediately fell to the ground.
“You Bitch!” He was bent over, but managed to choke out.
She was awarded an extra minute and took the opportunity to grab her keys from the ground and hit the button to unlock her car door. Jumping in, she saw that Seth was struggling to get up. After starting her car, she quickly peeled out of the parking lot and didn’t look back.
What the hell was she going to do now?
He was leaning over as he watched her drive away. Breathing hard, he was seeing red. How dare she strike out at him!
When he finally stood up all the way, another man was beside him.
“I take it that it didn’t go so well.”
Seth turned to glare at his companion, which, in turn, made the man laugh.
He didn’t understand how nothing fazed this man. Together, they had a plan, and the first part didn’t work. He wasn’t mad, the man was laughing for God’s sake.
Instantaneously, he was slammed into the ground with a hand gripping his throat. The man was snarling down at him.
“Don’t you ever use the Lord’s name in vane again! Don’t even think it or I’ll rip out your brain through your ears and make you eat it. And don’t make the mistake thinking I won’t; many have died that way by my hand.”
Terror raced through his veins and all Seth could do was nod.
After the acknowledgement, the man helped Seth up and dusted him off. “Besides, the first part didn’t fail. She now knows you’re around and will be more distracted. If she’s distracted, he will be too, and I need him distracted. She’s not the priority here…he is. He has been on my tail for far too long, and it’s getting annoying. I hate being annoyed!”
The man had started talking distractedly to himself because Seth didn’t know what he meant. It happened sometimes with him, but he lived with it.
Seth remembered sitting at a diner being filled with remorse over hitting Trinity again. She was for sure going to leave him this time. Who would blame her though? He had tried to stop but was starting to enjoy the feeling when she cowered down in front of him.
This man had found him and promised to help. Shortly after, the remorse went away and Trinity was back, promising to never leave again. He felt stronger…mentally and physically and knew he owed it all to his new friend.
“And you can start by making sure the location is prepared for Stage Two.” Mind reading seemed to be a talent of his nameless companion.
A grin spread over Seth’s face. He was looking forward to Stage Two.
“I’m going to enjoy it as well.” The man just started to laugh.
Watching him, Seth saw as the man’s face contorted into that of the demon he suspected him to be then back to normal. It wasn’t the first time he had seen it and already knew the man was pure evil.
This thought made the man laugh again, only harder this time. “What little you know…”
He wondered if he would ever understand the man in front of him. He didn’t care, he thought. If this is what he had to do to get Trinity back, then this is what he would do.