Show Me the Scary Part, page 22
I sank into her embrace, feeling safe and sated. At least at them moment, Charlotte was still coming over.
TWENTY-ONE
Nadine
I’m so in love with this woman; the fact that she’s even trying makes me unbelievably happy. I know that it was hard for her, but I knew how strong she was; she just needed to see that.
I was enjoying this moment with her when the doorbell rang.
“That must be her,” I said.
Whitney looked a little panicked, so she just nodded.
I run my hand gently up and down her arm to calm her.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle this. Just stay right here.”
She looks at me. “Are you sure?”
I got up from the couch and then leaned down to kiss her forehead.
“I got this under control.”
I made my way to the door, nothing but confidence flowing through me; this woman was done using Whitney.
I opened the door to reveal the blackmailing bitch. Looking at this woman, I was shocked that she was the one doing this to her. She gave a whole new meaning to ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. This woman was beautiful with a very deceitful face. Whitney probably didn’t see it coming; she hadn’t even opened her mouth yet, but I could sense the control this woman had. She stood there with complete authority; she reveled in control, and it fed her.
She wasn’t expecting someone else to open the door, so her demeanor changed.
“Hello, I’m Charlotte, the house manager for Mrs. Lancaster’s properties in Florida. I just need to discuss something with Whitney quickly,” she says.
Shit, this woman changed characters so flawlessly.
“You need to discuss things with her at this time of night?” I questioned.
“I’m very busy throughout the day, and I handle things when I can,” she mentions, trying to come inside.
“No, I don’t think so,” I said, blocking her way.
I took a step outside, making her take a step back, and I closed the door behind me.
“You will not make another step in this house, do you understand?” I asserted.
She was dumbfounded.
“I don’t know who you are, but that isn’t up to you. I work for Mrs. Lancaster, not you. I am to look after her granddaughter and great-grandson,” she voiced.
“Mrs. Lancaster would be delighted to know just how well you’ve been taking care of her granddaughter,” I said sarcastically.
Her face went pale.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re done using Whitney,” I stated.
“Using her, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Whitney comes from a prestigious family; they are a very powerful family. They are a family whose wrath is unparalleled. I wouldn’t dare put myself against it.”
I wasn’t entirely sure if all of that was true, but she didn’t need to know that.
“You’re a stranger who’s trespassing for all I know,” she spouts.
I shook my head. “How far did you think you would get with this?”
“I still don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“You’re blackmailing Whitney into bed with you; it ends now!” I gritted.
“She’ll never speak, she’s too scared of what her mommy would do if she found her. Whitney’s afraid of her own shadow; no way will she tell someone what’s going on. Now, if you’ll move out of the way, I believe she’s waiting for me.”
She started moving towards the doorway.
Rage sprang up in me.
“I swear if you take another fucking step, you’ll regret it,” I threatened. “You have no idea what you’re messing with. I want you to leave Whitney the fuck alone; she is no longer your toy.”
“She will always be my toy; she loves the way I make her feel.”
I wonder if my dad would be able to pull strings for me in Florida because I was about to beat this woman’s ass.
I took a breath and decided that I wanted to be here for Whitney and Ryder; I can’t do that behind bars. So, I decided to play it smart.
“Whitney will be in touch with her grandmother in the morning about terminating your position. When she’s done with you, you won’t be able to get a job scrubbing the bathroom floors in a roach-infested diner.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are? You have no authority here.”
I took a step towards her. “I have all of the authority. That’s my future wife in there. You’re done.”
You can tell this bitch wasn’t expecting this to blow up in her face the way it did. She thought Whitney was all alone with no one to defend her. She was dead wrong.
“Good luck with your life,” I said, opening the door to go into the house. Leaving her standing there with a stupid look on her face.
I closed and locked the door, then I went to the window to make sure she had left. She stood there for a minute, and I watched. She was in complete disbelief. This woman actually started crying before she started walking to her car.
“How did it go?” Whitney asked.
I looked at her, then looked back out the window to see her pull off.
“I didn’t beat her ass, so I think it went good,” I smiled at her.
“Is she going to tell my mother where I am?” She asked.
“She wouldn’t dare; we won’t be hearing from her again. You have to call your grandmother in the morning; she’s going to need a new house manager.”
“I will call her.”
“So, you want to watch a movie?” I asked.
“I want to know what happened,” she says.
“I just told her that you have a very powerful family and they would bury her if they found out what she was doing to you.”
She sighs. “They would probably just pay for her silence; they wouldn’t want it getting out that their daughter was being manipulated, especially for sexual favors,” she pointed.
“That’s dumb, telling what she did to you would incriminate her. She used sexual coercion to get what she wanted; that’s immoral and fucking illegal. She couldn’t ruin things for you without first ruining things for herself. This is over now, Whitney. You don’t have to worry about her anymore. You have more obstacles to overcome, and this was the easiest one.” I approached her. “Can we please go watch a movie now?”
A smile slowly crept on her face. “Yeah, let’s watch a movie.”
Whitney and I cuddled on the couch under a blanket while we watched a movie. I smiled when I felt her relax in my arms. Whitney has been extremely tense the past couple of days, so it was amazing to see her so relaxed.
This was the goal: getting her to tackle her problems so she wouldn’t be held down by them. I know that the road ahead is long, but I’ll try my best to make the drive as smooth as possible despite any bumps we may come across.
* * *
It’s been a couple of months since Whitney and I found each other again, and everything was going great. We were still friends and nothing more, but I was okay with that. Whitney was still dealing with her issues, and we didn’t want to complicate anything.
There wasn’t a day that went by that we didn’t see or talk to each other. We couldn’t see each other all the time; we were in college after all. Going over to her house every night was unrealistic with the piles of homework and studying we had to do.
Whitney’s grandmother hired another house manager after doing an extensive background check. She also took into consideration the character of this person who would be handling things for her in Florida. Whitney didn’t tell her what Charlotte had been blackmailing her to do; she just told her that she was very uncomfortable with her and that she didn’t want to be around her. Her grandmother jumped on it right away, making sure Charlotte was terminated.
I was shocked by how intense her grandmother had been without knowing the whole reason for Whitney wanting Charlotte gone. It made me extremely happy that Whitney has someone who cares about her almost as much as I do.
We hung out a lot with Deena, Kenya, and the twins we were all becoming good friends. Everything was going great.
I saw Parker around, and things were surprisingly civil. It took no time for her to find other people to occupy her time.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go home for Thanksgiving?” Whitney asked.
It was a week before Thanksgiving break, and I made a decision to stay with Whitney. There was no way I was going to leave Whitney and Ryder alone. I didn’t want to leave her side; I felt physical pain at the thought of leaving them.
Whitney, Ryder, and I were sitting at the kitchen table, eating the delicious food that Whitney prepared.
“I’m sure, Whitney, I want to stay here with you and Ryder. Besides, there’s always winter break, I’ll go back home then.”
Only if you come with me. I thought.
“What about your parents? I’m sure they’d want to see you?” she mentioned.
“We’re going to video chat, they understand, okay.”
“I don’t know how, I would be upset if Ryder didn’t come visit me on every break he got,” she voiced.
I smiled at her. “You want me to leave?”
“No, it’s just—” she let out a frustrated breath. “I don’t want your parents to think I’m keeping you from them.”
I laughed. “You’re so cute, and my parents don’t think you’re keeping me away from them. They adore you, Whitney.”
“I just don’t understand why you’d want to stay with me and not go see your parents.”
“They are my parents, Whitney, they aren’t going anywhere,” I said.
“I see, you just want to stay to keep an eye on me.”
I laughed. “You’re wrong. I want to keep both eyes on you. You’re very nice to look at, you know.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I want to stay because I want to be around you and Ryder, that’s all. I’m just needy, okay, I don’t want to go a week without seeing you two.” I said, looking at her and Ryder.
“How sweet, but you’re going on Christmas break?” she questioned.
“Of course.”
“Good.”
“How has therapy been going?” I asked.
“It’s a little intense. I’m shocked at the number of things that come out.”
“Has it been helping you?”
“I guess it has, she says that I’m making progress.”
“That’s great to hear, Whit.”
She smiles. “I’m happy that I decided to go.”
“As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”
* * *
Whitney
“What do you want to do?” I asked.
I had just put Ryder down for the night.
“Let’s go for a swim,” she suggested.
“A swim, right now?” I questioned.
“Yeah, why not?”
“Um, okay, sure. I’ll just set up Ryder’s monitor.”
“I’m going to change in your room,” she says.
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
I had to dig in Ryder’s closet to find his monitor because I don’t use it anymore. Once I had it set up, I went to bolt the front door since we would be in the backyard. When I got to my room, Nadine was already dressed in her bikini. I quickly changed into mine, then we went out to the pool.
“These last couple of months have been great,” Nadine said.
We were both leaning on the pool’s wall beside each other.
“Yeah, it has,” I smiled at her.
“Do you think about us?” she asked.
I looked at Nadine, her expression made me breathless.
“I do think of us.”
“I’ll wait for as long as it takes to be with you, I hope you know that.”
“Why do we have to wait?”
“Whitney, you know why.”
I took an exasperated breath. “I do, but I’m getting better.”
“I know you are, and you have no idea how happy I am about that. If you were anyone else, I would jump right into a relationship with you. You’re not just anyone else, though, you’re Whitney Delaney, you are the woman I love. I love you enough to step aside while you figure out who you are and what you want out of life.”
“That makes me want to be with you even more,” I said.
She smiles at me. “We’ll be together soon enough. I’m just happy being in the same proximity as you.”
She leans over and places a kiss on my cheek before sinking under the water and swimming off.
I watched as she swam.
I was so in love with her.
* * *
“Oh my god, look how big he is.”
It was Thanksgiving, and Nadine was video chatting with her parents on her laptop. She was holding Ryder in her lap, and I sat beside her.
“Are you guys enjoying your Thanksgiving?” Teresa asked.
“Yes, Whitney made us Thanksgiving lasagna, and it was delicious,” Nadine shares.
“A woman who can cook for you, you did good, Nadine. That’s more than I can say, your mother is terrible in the kitchen,” Alex says, earning a hit from Teresa.
Nadine and I laughed.
“You make up for it in other ways, sweetheart,” Alex says to Teresa.
“Okay, guys, I called to see how you were doing, not to watch you two squabble,” Nadine says.
“We don’t squabble; your mother has a genuine love for my jokes.”
Nadine shakes her head. “Dad, seriously.”
“How have you been, Whitney? We were all so worried about you when you left,” Teresa wondered.
“For the most part, it’s been okay, but there are obstacles everywhere you go. Things have been amazing since Nadine’s been here.”
“You two are perfect for each other,” Teresa gushed.
I smiled at Nadine. “Yeah, I think that we are.”
She gives me a warm smile.
“We’re just focusing more on getting to know each other better at the moment. We don’t want to jump into something too serious right now,” I elaborated.
“Exactly, we’re not jumping into things,” Nadine agreed.
Ryder started babbling towards the screen.
“What are you saying, big guy?” Teresa said.
He continued to babble.
“Oh, I would love to see him in person and kiss those chunky cheeks. You three should come for Christmas; we would love to have you all,” Teresa suggested eagerly.
“Mom, I don’t think that’s going to work,” Nadine said.
“I know, it’s just wishful thinking on my part. We’re just going to have to make a trip down there one of these days.”
“I would love that, Teresa, I consider you guys like parents,” I said, and I meant it; they were the kindest people I’ve ever met.
“That’s so sweet of you, Whitney.”
Nadine’s phone, which was sitting on the table, started to ring. She picked it up and looked at the screen, a look of confusion on her face.
“It’s Scott,” she says.
That was shocking. “Oh.”
I knew that he and Nadine were friends and they talked from time to time, but I was never around for any of those conversations. I haven’t considered calling him because I didn’t think there was a point. He would be getting married soon; there was no way he would forsake all of that to be a father to Ryder. So, I just left that alone.
Nadine answers the phone.
“Hello,” Nadine says. “Are you kidding me, you’re in Florida right now?”
Oh god.
“No, I’m not home right…what the hell are you doing here…a medical convention? Give me one second.” Nadine mutes the phone and then looks at her parents on the screen. “Mom, Dad, can I call you guys back a little later?”
“Sure, sweetie, we love you.” Her mother blows kisses.
“Love you guys too.”
“Goodbye, guys,” I said.
“Bye-bye,” Ryder added.
They waved, then Nadine ended the call and looked at me.
“Scott is here; he had a medical convention and decided to visit me.”
“Okay, so you’re leaving?” I asked.
“I guess, unless you want him to come over here,” she says.
“I don’t know,” I said, hesitantly.
“I understand, I’m going to go and I’ll be back.”
I didn’t want her to go.
“Wait, he can come over.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod. “I’m sure.”
“Okay.”
Scott was coming over to my house.
TWENTY-TWO
Whitney
Scott was on the way to my house right now. What the hell was I thinking? Scott wasn’t a bad guy; I just didn’t want to pull on that thread again. He was about to get married and have a whole life separate from Ryder.
When Nadine told me she still talked to him, I considered calling him, but thought against it. Scott would have never been the father Ryder deserved anyway.
“My dad was right, I’m lucky that you can cook.”
Nadine was coming out of the kitchen with her second helping of lasagna.
I smiled at her. “You are going to bust.”
“You’re supposed to pig out on Thanksgiving,” she says.
“I guess so.”
“You’re nervous about Scott coming over?” She asked, taking a seat beside me.
“I’ll be okay, it’s just been a while.”
“I know, he’s cool. He was sad when you left, but he knew that it was for the best.”
“It’s still going to be a little weird.”
“Mommy.” Ryder singsonged.
A smile stretched across my face as Ryder brought the stuffed horse that Nadine bought for him.
“Is that your horsey?” I asked.
He nods, then whispers. “Yes.”
“Mommy wants to take you to see some real horses one of these days. Would you like that, sweetie?” I said, poking his belly.
He giggles.
“Well, Nadine could be the best pretend horsey.” Nadine puts her plate on the side table and then gets on the floor. “Put him on my back, Whitney.” She says.
