Foolish Games Page 6

  "Yeah you keep telling yourself that." Erica said, "Jessie, I saw that scar at the back of your neck. I know that was serious. What did you tell your father about that?"

  "My father doesn’t know about that. He was away on a business trip when it happened and I never told him."

  "So what are you going to do about Josh now?" Erica asked her.

  "I dunno."

  "Tell the police!"

  "I’m s-scared to. I’m afraid that Josh would do something drastic."

  "You just said that Josh won’t kill you."

  "I know but i’m having second thoughts. I wouldn’t put it past him."

  "Does Nick know about him?"

  "No and I don’t plan on telling him anything and neither are you!"

  Erica raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her, "I’m not?"

  "No you’re not."

  "But Nick is your boyfriend. He deserves to know!" Erica protested.

  "One, Nick is not my boyfriend." Erica rolled her eyes, "And two, I want you to promise me that you won’t tell a soul about his Erica."

  "Fine I promise,"Erica said quickly, "Now about Nick."

  Jessie rolled her hazel eyes at her.

  "What about him?"

  "Are you sure that’s all he is to you? Just a friend?" Erica asked with a grin.

  "Well..."

  "I knew it! You really want him don’t you?" Erica asked.

  "Erica!"

  "What? You like him don’t you?"

  "Yes. I tried not to but it’s not working." Jessie said, "He’s too sweet. It’s almost unbelievable."

  "Nothing like Josh huh?"

  "Nope. Nothing like Josh." Jessie agreed.

  CHAPTER 18

  Nick and Jessie were having lunch at a cafe’ later that day.

  "Aren’t you hot in that?" Nick asked repeating Erica’s earlier words. The sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky so he couldn’t imagine why she was dressed as she was.

  "No. I’m fine." Jessie said as politely as she could. Nick was like the tenth person to ask her that for the day and it was really starting to get to her. I mean, there were people at school who dressed much weirder than she was at present and they never said anything to them.

  "Oh okay." Nick said with a shrug of his shoulders. He finished eating and pushed his plate aside. "So we’ve got the rest of the day off. What do you want to do?" he asked her leaning back in his seat.

  "I dunno. What did you have in mind?" she asked him.

  "How about we go to the beach? The weather is perfect for swimming." Nick suggested.

  Jessie opened her mouth to agree then remembered her bruises. Nick would obviously see them if she wore her swim suit.

  "I’m not really up for the beach today." Jessie said she faked a cough at that moment. "Actually, I don’t really feel that well today."

  "Oh. I’m sorry to hear that." Nick said sympathetically. He was about to reach for her hand when his cell phone rang so he reached for that instead. He smiled his apology and answered.

  "What? Now?" he asked into the receiver, "I don’t believe this!" he hung up then with a frustrated sigh.

  "What’s wrong?" Jessie asked.

  "That was Brian. It seems that we have a basketball meeting now." Nick explained.

  "Oh well that’s okay. I can walk home from here. You can go to your meeting." Jessie said getting up.

  Nick got up also.

  "You sure? I mean, you don’t live that far away. I can have you home and be back in time for the meeting." He said.

  "Nah, you go to the meeting. As you said yourself, the weather is great so i’ll walk home. It’s no problem!" Jessie insisted pushing him out the door.

  "You sure?"

  "For the last time, YES! Now go or you’re gonna be late!"

  Nick kissed her softly.

  "I’ll call you later okay?" he told her as he got into his car.

  "Sure."

  A few minutes later, Jessie was walking past a park. Since it was such a beautiful day out, the playground had a lot of children, she smiled at the sight. She’d always loved children and couldn’t wait to have her own. She was so busy thinking about her future that she didn’t even notice that car that was pulling up beside her on the sidewalk.

  "Hi Jessie." She heard a voice say. A voice she hated. A voice that sent chills down her spine every time it said her name. She turned her head and came face to face with Josh.

  Jessie started to run. He looked angry and she knew exactly what that look meant. He wanted to hurt her, and this time, she wasn’t going to let him.

  Josh was out of the car and hot on her trail before she knew it. People around were too busy caught up in what they were doing to notice them.

  Jessie wanted to scream but no sound would come out her mouth. Before she realized where she was going, she found herself trapped in an alley with nowhere to go. She turned around and saw Josh coming towards her.

  She pressed her back against the wall and closed her eyes so that she wouldn’t see his smiling face. This is it. I’m going to die. Were the words echoing through her head.

  Josh hit her square across her face then and she fell to the floor.

  CHAPTER 19

  "Bitch!" Josh hissed at her, "I told you that I didn’t want to see you with that guy again!"

  Jessie put a hand to her burning face and shrank away from him. Luckily, she didn’t hit her head so she was very conscious of what was going on. She didn’t answer him for the fear of what he might do if she did. Josh grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head back so he could see her face.

  "Why don’t you answer me?" he asked through gritted teeth, "I know you were with him today. I saw you two."

  By now Jessie was crying.

  "Are you sleeping with him too damnit!?" he asked her menacingly pulling on her hair harder, "Did you give him what you wouldn’t give me?! I don’t know why I never took it from you when I had the chance! But now.. now there’s no turning back!"

  Josh reached for her shirt then and Jessie didn’t know how she managed, but she screamed. Loud enough to wake the dead!

  "Get the hell away from her!!" they heard a voice shout. Jessie felt Josh’s body moving away from hers as Nick grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him off of her.

  "What the hell..?" Josh cried, then his eyes fixed on Nick and he recognized him instantly.

  "You son of a bitch! Leave her alone! She’s mine!" Josh screamed at him, trying to hit him and failing as Nick caught his arm.

  Nick’s eyes were blazing as he hit Josh in the face. Josh groaned and fell back on the floor touching his bleeding nose.

  Nick went to Jessie, helped her up and taking her hand, pulled her to his side.

  "You touch her again and I’ll break every bone in your body, starting with those fingers of yours." Nick threatened, then he and Jessie went to his car and he drove off.

  Josh got up and shook his head. ‘Don’t think this is over Jessie Andrews cause it isn’t. We’ve still got a long way to go before i’m through with you. This is only the beginning.’ Josh said softly to no one in particular. He had wanted to say that to her , but even though she wasn’t there, he knew she was thinking it.

  "Why aren’t you at your basketball meeting or something?" Erica asked Brian when she saw him walk through the door of their house.

  "Oh well, I did go, but there weren’t many guys there and Nick wasn’t there and he’s the captain, so I just figured that if the captain couldn’t make it, well why do I have to be there?" he said taking a seat next to her on the sofa and putting an arm around her.

  "You’re lying." Erica said with a smile.

  "How’d you know that?" he asked her.

  "I know you too well."

  "Okay so I lied. A lot of the guys couldn’t make it on such short notice so the meeting got cancelled, you happy now?"

  "Yes!" Erica replied resting her head on his shoulder.

  "You know Erica, you never told me why
you and Kevin broke up." Brian said.

  Erica sat up and looked at him.

  "Well, things were going fine with Kevin and I, then later on in the relationship, I realized how much I was missing you and how, in my mind, I was always comparing him to you. I knew then that it wasn’t going to work out between us because I wanted you back and I was willing to do anything to get you back." Erica explained.

  "Anything?" Brian teased.

  "Okay, almost anything!" Erica corrected, "So I explained this to Kevin and surprisingly, he took it very well."

  "Yeah that’s Kev all right. He may look all calm and collected now Erica, but I bet that inside, he’s hurting. I knew how much he liked you. Actually, I think it’s safe to say that he was in love with you." Brian said. He saw the sad look in Erica’s eyes and continued, "I knew you never meant to hurt him and he knows that too. He knew it was for the best."

  "You’re right. I don’t think it would’ve worked out between us anyway." Erica said.

  "You don’t know that for sure." Brian pointed out.

  "Okay so I don’t." Erica agreed, "But one thing I do know for sure is that I love you and I promise you that I won’t do anything to hurt you like that ever again."

  "It’s okay Erica. I believe you. I know you won’t." Brian said cupping her face with his hands. "I love you too."

  CHAPTER 20

  Nick glanced at the figure seated next to him in the car and noticed that she was shaking.

  "You okay?" he asked.

  "Y-yeah I’m fine." She stammered. All she wanted was to be as far away from Josh as possible.

  "You sure? Do you need to see a doctor or anything?"

  "No. All I want is to go home." Jessie said then changed her mind, "Actually that’s not such a good idea."

  "Why not?"

  "My dad’s not home and I don’t want to be home alone. Suppose Josh comes back!" Jessie said swallowing the lump in her throat.

  "Josh? You mean you know that guy?!" Nick asked practically slamming on the brakes to stop the car.

  "Yes. He was the ex-boyfriend I was telling you about." Jessie said, "And if you don’t stop driving like a maniac, you’re going to get us both killed!"

  "I don’t believe this! Your ex-boyfriend!" Nick said disbelievingly, "I thought it was some psycho who saw you walking alone and jumped you!"

  "Actually Josh is a psycho!" Jessie said.

  "You know what I mean." Nick said. Jessie nodded.

  Nick stopped the car in front of a flat house and got out.

  "What are we doing here?" Jessie asked following him.

  "This is my house." Nick said simply, "You said you didn’t want to be alone so you can stay here for a while." He said opening the door and allowing her in.

  "You live alone?" she asked looking around.

  "Yep. All by myself." He shut the door behind them and locked it. Jessie turned at the sound of the door closing behind her and saw Nick looking at her strangely.

  "What?" she asked a little scared.

  "We need to talk." Nick said. He walked over to her, took her hand and led her to the sofa where they both sat down.

  "You sure you’re okay?" Nick asked looking at her, deeply concerned.

  Her hair was in disarray and her sweater was dirty from her fall. The right side of her face was red and a little swollen from Josh’s lash. In reply to Nick’s question, she broke down into tears.

  Nick pulled her against him and let her sob on his shoulder.

  "I’m so scared Nick." He heard her whisper between sobs.

  "It’s okay. He’s not going to hurt you anymore." Nick said rubbing her back trying to calm her.

  After a while she stopped crying and Nick passed his hands along her cheeks to wipe away her tears.

  "Now would you like to tell me what exactly happened between you and Josh?" Nick asked when she was a bit calmer. She nodded slowly.

  "Josh and I started dating about six months ago and for most of that time, he was actually pretty sweet. But then he started to get really aggressive. Like when he asked me out and I couldn’t make it, he would yell at me and stuff. Then it got to the point where yelling wasn’t enough for him and he started to hit me." Jessie said.

  "Why didn’t you tell someone? Your father?" Nick said trying to stay calm, but more than anything, he wanted to kill Josh. Guys like him didn’t deserve to live.

  Jessie shook her head. "I dunno. I guess I was too scared. I know Josh and I know that nothing stops him in getting what he wants and he wants me."

  "Jessie, you have to tell your father." Nick said, "He’ll help you. They’ll put Josh in jail for good and you’ll never have to worry about him again."

  "How are you so sure?" Jessie asked.

  "Trust me." Nick said, "Jessie look at me." He said when he noticed she was staring at her shoes. She did as he asked, "I promise you that i’ll do everything in my power to help you get rid of Josh."

  "You don’t have to help me, you know."

  "I know, but I want to Jessie." He began holding her hand, "I love you. I’ve already told you that and I want you to know that you don’t have to do this alone. You have me." He kissed her forehead then.

  "Thank you." Jessie said softly, "Why did you come back? I’ve been meaning to ask you that. What happened to your meeting?"

  "Well, I was going to the meeting but then I felt really bad for letting you walk home alone so I went back to find you and that’s when I found Josh attacking you." Nick explained.

  "I’m really lucky that you found me when you did. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if you didn’t find me." Jessie said, a shiver going down her spine at the thought.

  "Don’t think about it." Nick told her.

  "But promise me that you’ll tell your father about Josh, Jess." Nick told her, "I’ll be there with you if you want."

  "Okay I will." Jessie said. Then looked down at her clothes and wrinkled her nose in distaste.

  "Maybe I should have stopped at home first and changed."

  "You can always borrow something of mine." Nick suggested with a shrug of his shoulders.

  "You sure?"

  "Positive."

  She followed him as they proceeded to his bedroom.

  CHAPTER 21

  "Here’s a towel. You can take a shower if you want." Nick said handing her the towel.

  "Thanks. I think I need one. I’m a mess." Jessie said taking the towel from him and heading into the connecting bathroom.

  While she was in the shower, Nick rummaged through his clothes looking for something for her to wear.

  She came out a while later with the towel wrapped sarong style around her body. Her wet hair was falling in waves over her shoulders. Nick turned to look at her and his breath caught in his throat. She looked so innocent standing there that it tugged at his heart remembering the fear and the pain she’d been living with these past couple months. His gaze went to her throat and he saw the bruises there. He dropped the clothes he was holding.

  "OhmyGod Jess!" he said walking up to her and turning her head slightly so he could see the bruises more clearly. "What did he do to you?" he noticed that the lines on her neck looked a lot like fingerprints, "Did he try to strangle you?"

  "Yes." Jessie said pulling away from him and walked over to the bed where she sat down unaware that she was still in her towel, "You see, when we went out the other night and you dropped me home. Josh was there and he saw us together." Nick was standing in front of her now while she spoke, "When you left, he knocked on the door and when I opened it, he came inside. He told me that he never wanted to see me with you again."

  "Why didn’t you tell me?" Nick asked hurt.

  "What would you have done if I’d told you?" Jessie asked him.

  "Called the police or something!"

  "Anyway, I just want to try and forget about it. I know it’s not going to be easy but I want to forget all about Josh and what he did to me."

  "You know this is no
t the end of it Jess." Nick began again, "If what you said is true, Josh won’t stop until he has you."

  "I know that’s why I don’t want to get you involved. Josh is dangerous." Jessie said.