He looked at his watch. He still had an hour and a half before he was supposed to pick up Delia for their date. He could at least listen to what they had to say. That wouldn’t hurt.
***
Delia took a long, leisurely hot shower, washing away the stress and pain of the last few weeks. Even though the case was closed, she didn’t quite feel safe. There was something the police had missed. Something
she
had missed. Or maybe she was just being paranoid. She shrugged off her worries and turned off the shower.
She stepped out then reached for one of her favorite bras. Not the sexy lacy kind, but one that was just plain comfortable. She wondered if she could live with these confounded breast implants any longer. They were never her idea and she never quite felt comfortable with them. They reminded her of Jason and what he wanted for her, not what she wanted for herself. She decided she would look into having them removed.
Delia began trying to tame the mass of curly dark brown hair. She sat in front of the mirror running lavender scented mousse through her hair wondering if she could really be happy with Chase. Could she be happy with anyone? She also thought about the cryptic phone message he had left her just an hour ago. He said they needed to talk and that things may need to go slower than he expected. She wondered what that meant. She wasn’t too worried, though. She didn’t mind having to go slower than slow. It was probably what she needed.
She closed the bottle of mousse before she added too much. She didn’t want to overpower him with the scent of lavender.
Hmph
. Overpower him with scent, she thought
. At that moment it clicked. It couldn’t have been Locke who attacked her. She would have smelled him a mile away. The police were wrong. Her assailant was still out there.
Suddenly she heard someone in the apartment. It could’ve been her imagination but she was almost positive that she heard someone in the living room. She tried to remember if she had locked the door or not. It could have been Chase. Maybe he came early and let himself in. But what if it wasn’t?
She looked around her tiny bathroom for an object to use for self-defense. There was nothing. Her stun gun was in her purse in the living room. She couldn’t even lock herself in and wait until Chase arrived since the lock on the bathroom didn’t work and hadn’t since she moved in. She didn’t know what she would do. If it really was someone trying to do her harm, he could just come in and have his way with her.
She took in a deep breath and tried to relax. She was overreacting. She was going to open the door and find Chase waiting for her in the living room looking absolutely amazing. But just in case, she fished through the medicine cabinet one more time. She found her pink plastic razor.
What are you going to do Delia? Shave him to death?
She shook the thought from her mind, put on her bath robe and opened the bathroom door empty handed.
Delia breathed a sigh of relief to find that it was just Jason sitting in her living room.
“Jason, you can’t just come into my house anytime you want. I would appreciate a phone call first. As a matter of fact, I would most appreciate no contact with you what so ever.”
He didn’t respond. He just stared at her with an eerie expression on his face. It was a look Delia didn’t recognize.
A look that drove fear into her core.
In four years of marriage, she had never been afraid of Jason. He wasn’t the type to hit a woman or even hurt one physically in any way. He truly did love women in his own sick mind. But the way he looked at her now made her shiver.
“Jason, did you hear me?” No response. “I think you should leave now.”
Jason stood and approached her. He tugged on her bathrobe strings to pull her body close to his. “You’re my wife. I have every right to be here.”
“I don’t want to be your wife anymore. This is not a real marriage. I want you to leave.” She tried to step away, but he pulled her close again. She stared directly into his bloodshot eyes and could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath.
He caressed her still damp hair and said, “I can’t do that. You see, if I let you walk out of my life, if I let you divorce me, I lose out on 16.5 million dollars. I’ll have nothing.”
“That’s not my problem, Jason, now leave.” She pushed him away and he stumbled to regain his balance. Delia made a break for the door, but he grabbed her bathrobe yanking her to the ground. She hit the floor with a thud and felt her shoulder pop out of place. Then he climbed on top of her.
He smiled wickedly as he pulled out a black metal object from his pocket. He opened her bathrobe, exposing her breasts, and ran the cold steel of a handgun to and fro across her chest. “These are mine,” he said, indicating her breasts. “They belong to me as do you.”
“Fine, fine, Jason, I’m yours. Anything you want … I … I won’t divorce you.” Fear in the form of bile churned in her stomach. She wanted to vomit, but she was too afraid to even move.
Jason laughed then said, “No, Delia, you’re right. We never had much of a marriage. You never understood my needs as a man. And I’m sick of lying to you and trying to cover things up. I want to be free to sleep with whomever I please, but I also want my money. I deserve it. I’m his son for God’s sake. How dare he put stipulations on what is rightfully mine.”
Delia was confused. How did he expect to have his money and his women? What was he planning and what did it have to do with her?
“You see, I’ve found a way to make all of that possible. If you die, there’s no marriage, but there’s also no divorce. I still get my inheritance.”
“You mean
,
you’re going to kill me?” Normally, the idea of Jason James caring enough about anything to put forth this amount of thought and effort would have been comical. It was outrageous to think that he would take the time to plan and orchestrate something that didn’t directly affect his libido. But considering the fact that she saw the gun with her own eyes and even felt it on her skin, she was not in a position to laugh. Jason was obviously serious.
“I’ve already tried twice. You are shockingly hard to eliminate. I underestimated you. That’s why I’ve taken matters into my own hand so to speak.” He chuckled as he looked at the gun in his hand.
“
You
attacked me?” All this time she was so sure it couldn’t have been him. How could she be married to someone for four years and have no idea what they are capable of?
“Well, at first I was just trying to scare you. I thought you would come back to me if you were scared. I thought you would realize you needed a man. But that student of yours ruined that plan. Apparently, he’s all the man you need. So, it’s time for Plan B.” He pressed the gun so firmly into her chest that her breath caught.
“Jason, you … you can’t do this. It’s not in you. Deep down you
are a good person
. You could never hurt someone like this.” She tried to make her voice sound calm and reassuring even though she was completely petrified and didn’t know if she believed the words coming out of her own mouth.
“You shut up!” He slapped her across the face with the hand that didn’t hold the weapon. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. I’m a man!”
“I know you’re a man,” Delia said, choking back tears. She decided to try a new approach. “You’re a man and I’m a woman, so why don’t we put the gun away and do what men and women are supposed to do?” She tried her best to sound seductive. Under the circumstances, she didn’t know how effective she would be.
***
Jason was never one to turn down a proposition. He looked at his wife more carefully. She was beautiful and feminine and the fifteen thousand dollar boob job didn’t hurt her sexuality one bit. He closed his eyes and shook his head. That’s not what he was there for. He could get sex anytime he wanted once she was out of the way. He had just resolved to finish her off when he felt something in his pants. Her hand caressed him and it felt good. It felt so good. He had always wanted her to be more adventurous like this in bed. Maybe the few months they’d had apart had transformed her into a more adequate sex partner.
Jason closed his eyes and let his wife caress him into a full erection. Slowly, he released his hold on her and let her slide up to a sitting position. She unbuttoned his shirt with a fervor and passion he had never seen her demonstrate before. He dropped the gun and buried his face into her chest.
Upon seeing the gun free, Delia lunged for it. Jason anticipated her move and yanked her in the opposite direction by her hair.
Delia screamed in pain as her face hit the wall causing everything in sight to instantly turn blurry and skewed. She thought she might black out at any moment.
“You conniving little bitch!” he yelled as he picked up the gun then stood over her.
She heard a click which she assumed was the safety being turned off, but since she wasn’t too familiar with guns she couldn’t be sure. Then, as if in slow motion, she saw him point the gun and put his finger on the trigger. The pure desire to live caused her to kick at his legs
..
The gun went off as he fell to the ground. Delia felt a searing pain in her chest.
She tried to reach for the gun again, but the pain in her chest and the sight of blood flowing down her body kept her from moving as quickly as she wanted. Everything was distorted. Sounds were too loud but she couldn’t hear anything. Lights were so bright, but everything kept fading in and out to blackness. She thought she was imagining things when she saw Chase rush into the room and tackle Jason.
Although her eyes weighed down heavily, she forced them back open and saw the two men in her life grunting and punching and literally trying to kill each other. Jason was no match for Chase. At one point, Jason had managed to scramble away from him towards the gun, but Chase kicked it out of the way and continued to pound him. Seconds later, Jason lay motionless on the floor.
“Oh God, Delia,” he exclaimed as he scooped her body into his arms. “Talk to me, please say something.”
“Chase? What happened?”
“You’re alive. Thank God you’re alive.” Chase grabbed the edges of her bathrobe and held them to her bloodied body. “You’re not
gonna
die. I’m not going to lose you.” Delia thought his words sounded shaky as if he had begun to cry, but she couldn’t be sure. He opened his cell phone and said, “This is Officer Chase Donovan. I need a bus at 1108 Olympic avenue apartment 405. Twenty-five-year-old female shot in chest. Suspect has been restrained. ”
Twenty-five-year-old female shot in chest? Oh my God, that’s me,
Delia thought. A new fear gripped her. She was going to die. She knew it. How many people survived a gunshot to the chest? If she was going to leave this world, though, there was something she had to do first.
“I love you, Chase.”
She felt something warm and wet fall upon her face. They were tears, but not her own. He
was
crying.
“I love –” he began but wasn’t able to finish.
Delia didn’t hear the shot fire. She just saw Chase’s body collapse on top of hers. Then she heard violent screams, but didn’t know they came from her own mouth.
She dreamt a lot. At least she thought they were dreams. She never imagined death would be like this. It was kind of peaceful. More like sleep. There was no fiery torment, but also no floating on clouds. Just sleep. Every once in a while she heard a voice she remembered. The voices were so clear she thought they were right next to her. She heard Donna Lee, her mother and father, even her younger adopted brother Dennis. At one point she thought she heard Chase. Maybe he was dead as well. If only she could open her eyes and see him again. Maybe they could be together in death.