OBSESSED WITH TAYLOR JAMES (20 page)

                                                                                                                                                      
Chapter 18
           
 

Dillon heard talking as he neared the den.  He’d taken
the day off work after visiting the doctor and receiving the bitter news
concerning his options for removing the tumor.  Listening through the door he
heard Kelly.  She was on her cell phone.  He had a strong feeling she was up to
something but could not get her to talk.  He had caught her on the phone
talking oddly to someone more than once.  She claimed the calls were regarding
wedding arrangements.  He pressed his ear against the door to hear the
conversation, determined to know if she was behind Taylor’s mysterious
stalking.

Her voice low and soft left him unable to hear anything
but her saying goodbye.  He hurried to the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee. 
Standing at the sink, he pretended not to hear Kelly enter.

“Good morning, baby.  Are you hungry?”

He opened the fridge to pour cream in his coffee. “Not
really.  I’ll make me a slice of toast.”

Kelly perched her hand on her hip. “You will eat a
healthy breakfast.  You will need all your strength for the surgery.  Sit down
and drink your coffee while I make you breakfast,” she ordered going to fridge
to gather ingredients.

He rimmed the edge of the coffee mug with his finger.
“Kelly, who were you talking to on the phone?”

Kelly cracked eggs in a bowl whisking them with rapid
motion. “That was mom.  She wanted to come for a visit this weekend.  I told
her this would not be a good weekend to come.”

“Why didn’t you let her come?”

“Dillon, we have a lot to discuss concerning the wedding
and your surgery.  I didn’t want my mother throwing in her two-cents.”

He drank the coffee letting her dig herself in a deeper
lie. “I’m not having the surgery, so that is not up for discussion.  As far as
the wedding, why do you want to marry me knowing I may be dead in a year or
so?”

Kelly dropped the glass bowl on the floor shattering it
to pieces. “Why don’t you want to fight for your life!”

“Why can’t you get it through your head I don’t want to
be a fucking vegetable? I refuse to live the rest of my life confined to bed
with tubes and ventilators pumping life into me.”

Kelly braced her arms on the table. Her eyes blazed with
anger. “It is not always about you!  There are other people you should
consider, Dillon.  You have parents.  You have sisters; me if I am even on the
list.”

His lips thinned. “This is my life, therefore, my
decision!”

She stood straight lifting her eyebrow. “We’ll see about
that.”

“Kelly, the subject is closed.” He moved from the table
to get the mop to clean the mess in the kitchen.  “You don’t have to wait for
me to lose my abilities to function.  Go out and find a healthy man.  Get in a
relationship, get married, and be happy.”

Kelly parked her hand on her hip.  “God, what a wonderful
man you are.  Not many men would give their woman permission to cheat.”

“The mold was broken when I was made,” he said wringing
the mop and applying it to the mess on the floor again.

“Dillon, if Taylor had not accused you of stalking her
and the friendship was strong as ever, would you have the surgery for her?”

He stopped cleaning.  Holding the mop stiff, he twisted
his lip. “Do you want me to answer that honestly?”

She crossed her arms. “Yes.”

“Okay, I will be brutally honest.  If Taylor and I were
together romantically, yes I would have it done for her.”

Kelly burst out crying. “I can’t do this anymore.  I have
no way of reclaiming your love.”  She twisted the engagement ring off her
finger and put it on the table.  “I’m tired of competing with a woman that
doesn’t even want you,” she said walking away.

He called after her. “Kelly, wait! Where are you going?”

She stopped in the hall not facing him. “I’m packing my
stuff and going home.”

He dropped the mop in the bucket and went to her. “You’re
going back to Nebraska today?  Kelly, you have a contract with the school
board.  If you nullify it, you will lose your pension.”

“So what, I’ve lost everything else.  Why do you even
care?” She asked narrowing her brows.

He fingered her dark hair away from her face.  The face
he once dreamed about when he’d first met her.  “Kelly, I do care about you. 
You are crowding me and making decisions without listening to me.  When I asked
you to postpone the wedding, it was not because I didn’t want to get married….”

“Please, Dillon.  When Taylor came home, it was over
between you and me.  Like a fool, I kept clawing and hoping I would rise above
her in your eyes.  That did not happen and it never will.”

“Did you ever think the clawing and over-compensating are
probably what pushed me closer to her.  Kelly, you try too hard to impress. 
You are a beautiful woman.  Any man would be lucky to have you.  I’m sorry I
have to find myself before I commit to you or anybody.”

She nodded with tear-filled eyes. “Whatever. Were you
finding yourself when you would buy me gifts?  You wanted me to be Taylor so
bad that you bought me the same type of clothes she wore.  We ate at the
restaurants she liked.  We saw the movies she suggested. We did everything
Taylor suggested. What did we ever do that I suggested?”

“You’re exaggerating as usual.”

“Am I? Dillon, if you could turn me black like Taylor,
you would.”  Her chest heaved from the surging adrenaline.  “You had me! I’m a
good woman willing to do whatever you wanted.  I was proud of you when you
passed the bar exam.  I was filled with joy watching you being sworn in.  I got
drugs for your headaches when the aspirin stopped working.  But, none of that
matters; all you do is criticize and belittle me.  I can’t even hang the toilet
paper right in the bathroom.”

“None of what you’re saying is true, Kelly.  We had
problems before Taylor returned to Cleveland we just didn’t discuss them and
pretended they weren’t there.  For instance, how many times did I tell you I
didn’t want a baby, yet you came up pregnant anyhow?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose and you had a hand in getting
me pregnant.  Why are you sweating that now?  You took care of the problem, and
I’m still with you.”

He balled his fists at his side. “That was an accident. 
I didn’t see you on the stairs.”

Her tongue played with the inside of her cheek. “Yup,
that has been your story, and you’re sticking with it.  You win.  I’m done with
you.  I’m done being your bucket to kick around.”

Dillon was dizzy.  An unfamiliar sensation other than the
normal headaches he would experience.  “Kelly, half the house belongs to you. 
I will move out and continue making my obligation to the mortgage so you can
stay here.

“Don’t do me any favors.”

“I’m trying to be fair.  You were all those things to me,
and you deserve to have the house.”

“You are pathetic.  Anyhow, good luck getting Taylor away
from Mario.  She really loves him and she isn’t going to leave him for you.”

He asked.  “How do you know they are in love?  They’ve
only been dating a few months.”

“I know for certain they are in love.”

“How do you know, Kelly?  Did Taylor tell you?”

“Don’t use mind tricks on me.  I can almost hear the
gears clicking in your damaged brain.”  She shoved two fingers in his chest.
“I’m not stalking her if that’s what you’re thinking.  I have nothing to do
with cameras being installed in her house or any of that spying crap.  But, I
know who does.”

He rubbed the spot in his chest nervously.  “I didn’t say
you did.”

She ran the tip of her finger across her glossy red
lips.  “Hmm but, are you stalking her?”

“What?”

“It would make sense.  You disappear late at night.
You’re never where you say you are going to be.  Are you stalking, Taylor?”

“You have totally lost your mind!” He fumed.

“Have I?  Or have I caught…” Suddenly she ran past him to
the den closing the door.

His head whipped in her direction as she fled to the
den.  He tried to open the door, but she’d locked it.  Banging on the door, he
yelled, “Kelly, what are you doing? Open the door.”

“Come on, come on,” she mumbled nervously while Dillon
pounded on the door.  The search bar dragged.  She shifted her eyes to the door
cracking under the weight of Dillon’s fists, and back to the computer shaking
with fear evidence of Taylor was on the computer somewhere.

The door broke open.  Dillon’s haunting rage zeroed in on
her as he yelled, “What the hell is your problem!”  He went over to the desk
shoving her over.  “You’re searching our computer.  What are you looking for,
Kelly?  Are you looking for pictures or videos of Taylor?”

Kelly’s jaw dropped.  She may have pushed too far this
time. “I have to know if you are stalking Taylor.”

“I told you I wasn’t.  Why don’t you believe me!”  He
grabbed his head staggering as whitening pain seared behind his eyes. 

Kelly froze as Dillon fell to the floor appearing to have
a seizure. “Dillon!” She yelled.  Fumbling for the phone, she dialed 911.

*****

Taylor paid the taxi driver and took a deep breath and
stared at the front of her house.  Balancing the box in her arms, she promised
Sabrina and Edward she’d wait for them to arrive before going inside her
house.  Going to the mailbox, she sat the box on the porch and removed the mail
shuffling through it before sticking it in her purse.  She dug the keys to her
house from her purse and went to the garage.   She wanted to back her car to
the apron.  Inserting the key, she manually unlocked the garage door.  The door
was heavy, and her body was too sore to lift the heavy door by herself.  She
dropped the door, slamming it to the ground.

Sebastian came to her rescue. ”Hey, you need help with
that?” He asked pushing the heavy door up enough for her to go inside.

“Thanks, Sebastian.  That dang door is heavy.”

“The door isn’t that heavy it’s the steel attached to the
frame of the door making it heavy.  Why didn’t you just use the garage remote?
He asked lowering the door so it wouldn’t slam.”

“It’s in my car and, as you can see, my car is in the
garage.  I didn’t stay home last night.”  She opened the car taking her cell
phone from the front seat.

“Is everything okay?”

She stalled uncomfortable they were alone inside the
semi-dark garage. “My power is out.  I stayed with my sister last night.”

“Let me take a look,” he offered.

Taylor grabbed his arm. “You don’t have to bother with
that.  I have someone coming to check it out later,” she replied sending
Sabrina a text message.

“I don’t mind,” he said walking to the door.  “Unlock the
door…I’ll check out the electric box in the basement.”

She sensed his eyes following her strode to the door. 
The garage, connected to the house, but had a separate door leading inside. 
Placing the key in the lock, she turned it as he continued to make
conversation.  “So you haven’t been home because of a power outage.  You could
have asked me to look at it for you, Taylor. You probably tripped a circuit.”

She opened the door to the small hallway.  The stuffy
heat and odor of rotten food coming from the kitchen smacked her in the face.
“I didn’t even think about that, Sebastian.”  She frowned waving her hand under
her nose. “You know where the basement is.  I’m going to open the windows and
start cleaning the fridge.”

She turned around to Sebastian staring at her from the
archway leading to the basement. “Do you need a flashlight?” She asked as her
knees knocked together.

His emerald green eyes locked with hers.  “I don’t need a
flashlight.”

Taylor swallowed and stepped a single foot back only to
have the kitchen island block her path. “Sebastian, I really appreciate your
help.”

“Why, Taylor?”

“What?” She asked wishing she paid attention when people
warned her against doing stupid stuff.

“Why haven’t we gotten to know each other better?  I’ve
lived across the street from you for years.”

She struggled to keep her tone upbeat and her fear
intact.  “I speak to you all the time.”

“Yeah, we speak in passing.  We never invited each other
over for coffee until recently.  I really want to get to know the neighbors. 
We should have a block party or something before the summer is over.”

Suddenly, his large frame filled her space and was
intimidating to her. She smoothed down her hair.  “Yeah, that sounds like a
plan,” she said backing around the island. “We should discuss it at the next
neighborhood watch meeting.”

A loud noise from upstairs drew their attention to the
living room area.  Sebastian motioned for her to be quiet.  “You said no one
was here?”

Taylor shook her head. “No one is supposed to be here. 
My sister and brother-in-law are on the way over.”

“Wait outside while I take a look.”

She panicked shaking her head. “No, let’s call the police
from your place.”

“Good idea since I don’t have Thor,” he said.

Before they were able to leave, Sebastian fell to the
floor with a thud by the basement door.  Taylor’s heart stopped as blood oozed
across the beige tile.  “Sebastian!” She scrambled to get to him, but a pair of
strong arms grabbed her from behind throwing her against the kitchen island.

Taylor staggered holding her chest after falling hard
against the edge of the granite counter.  She attempted to fight the arms
holding her by flinging her arms about.  “Let go of me!” Reaching her hand for
the counter feeling for the knife block that sat on the edge, she couldn’t get
to it before the intruder.

He grabbed the knife block with one hand throwing it to
the floor scattering the knives in different direction. “You won’t need those.”