Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) (24 page)

“You trust him so much, but you can’t tell him you were attacked this week?”

“Attacked?” Apparently there was a lot more that Malachi didn’t know.

“I said SHUT UP!!”
Trinity snapped at Nicole and took one step toward her.

Fearing the worst, Malachi grabbed her arm to stop her from harming her friend.
When he did, he noticed the small wince she let slip. Shit!

He pulled her over to him and got her attention away from Nicole.
The sleeves of her shirt went to her elbows so he gently lifted one. What he saw made him see red. Someone had to die!

“It’s really not that bad.
They are going away faster than bruises usually do on me so it’s nothing to worry about.” Trinity was quick to explain.

They?
She said they…indicating more than one. It was taking all of Malachi’s self-control not to go on a rampage. He wanted to rip off the hand of the person that dare marked his woman.

“Where’s the other one?”
Malachi took a breath and asked through clenched teeth.

By now, Nicole and Gemariah were standing on either side of them, watching everything.
When she indicated her other arm, he took a look at that one as well. It was darker than the other one. He took it back; he was going to rip off every appendage of this person first, before killing them.

Concentrating on breathing, he barely registered that Gemariah was talking.
“So…you were grabbed from behind?” He was examining the bruises when she nodded. “Are there any others?” 

Malachi let out a slow breath when she shook her head.
He was nowhere near okay, but he needed to know. “What happened?”

“I was grabbed from behind.
I got away, then went and filled out a police report. It was really nothing.”

This, more than anything, pissed him off and he raised his voice to let her know how unhappy he was.
“Nothing? It was not nothing! Why didn’t you tell me!?!”

She crossed her arms over her chest and got in her defiant position.
“It was the day that the building collapsed. You know…the day I thought you were dead. It slipped my mind.”

Malachi remembered that day and how they didn’t talk much when they saw each other, but they had talked at least once a day since then and saw each other as well.
“You could have said something later. This is not something that a person forgets.”

Trinity let out a deep sigh and spoke softly.
“I know. I’m sorry. I was going to tell you, I really was. Everything was going so well, so I didn’t want to put a damper on things.”

“Never again.”
Malachi growled out before pulling her back in for a hug. He was still shaken up from all this new information. Slowly the tension started to ease away. “How am I supposed to protect you if you keep things from me?”

She squeezed him tighter.
“No more. I promise.” There was a slight pause. “Do you still want me to stay?” Before he could answer, she went on. “If you don’t, it’s okay. Or if you want, we could stay up as late as you want and just talk. I’ll answer any questions you might have. You probably have a lot. I can even tell you…”

Malachi pulled back and stopped her rambling by placing his thumb over her lips.
“I would love it if you stayed.”

“Fine!
You do what you want. Give me the keys; I’m fine now.” Nicole barked at Trinity, successfully breaking into their moment.

Trinity gave a look to her friend that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of, before turning more toward her.
“How dare you.”

“Now Trinity, she was just trying to be a good friend.”
Malachi tried to calm her down. 

“A friend?
A friend wouldn’t have broken the trust between us. You ripped away the opportunity to tell him at my own time.” The last part was snapped at Nicole.

“And when was that going to be Rin?”

“I don’t know, but it was my decision.” Trinity was now hollering. “Why would you even do that?”

“I did it because you are like a bee flying towards honey when it comes to trouble, and God forbid you take care of yourself.”
Nicole was now at the same volume as Trinity.

Malachi watched as Trinity fought back her tears.
“Maybe if I wasn’t too busy taking care of everyone else, I could take care of myself.” Trinity took another step toward her friend. “Have you thought that maybe you were jealous, and that’s the real reason you spilled your guts.”

Malachi looked over to Gemariah and gave a nod in the direction of Nicole.
He had to get these two separated before one said something they’d regret.

“Jealous?
Of what?”

“I don’t know.
Maybe you were trying to mess things up for me because I wasn’t around anymore. You know…the whole misery loves company thing…”

It was Gemariah that stepped between them this time.
“Alright. We’re done here.” He then nudged Nicole toward the door. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

Nicole quickly stepped away from Gemariah.
“No thank you. I can drive myself.”

Gemariah shook his head.
“Not happening. You’re still inebriated.” He then gave her his pouty face that got him almost anything he wanted. “Come on…I’ll be nice. You can even pick the radio station.”

“Don’t give me that look!”
Nicole snapped, but eventually relented. “Fine, whatever.” As she walked toward the door, Malachi swore he heard her mumble something about classical music.

“Nicci!”
They were just about to make it out the door when Trinity hollered out, successfully stopping their retreat.

When she turned around, Trinity sighed.
“I love you. See you tomorrow.”

He looked toward Nicole, confused more than ever.
Weren’t they just fighting and throwing insults?

Nicole sagged but nodded.
“I love you too.”

After that, she turned around and walked out the door, at the same time yelling for Gemariah to get his butt in gear.
He would never understand women. One moment they were about to make each other cry but before they separated they…professed their love. He had to think. Maybe their bond was stronger than originally thought.

Chapter
13

As the door closed, Trinity was once again alone with Malachi.
She couldn’t have been more nervous. The last ten minutes had been a train wreck. She wasn’t planning on keeping those things from him forever. She just wanted more time before he thought she came with too much baggage. Her stomach was rolling, waiting for him to say something.

They were both silent for far too long.
Trinity got up the nerve to say something first. Placing her hands in her back pockets, she finally looked at him. “What do you want to do now?”

He walked up to her and stopped when he was practically pressed against her.
Trinity shivered as he ran his hand up her back and all the way into her hair. Pulling her head back, he looked into her eyes and spoke deeply. “What I want to do, and what we have to do, are two different things.”

After brushing his lips against her forehead, he stepped to the side.
Raising his hand in the direction of the living room, he indicated she should go first. “Shall we?”

Trinity walked into the room and watched as he stepped around her and sat on the couch.
She quickly followed suit. This was feeling too formal, so she propped her leg on the couch and angled herself so she was facing him. “Ok, what do you want to know?”

He turned to look at her, and she couldn’t help but think that he looked so sad.
He reached over and took her arm, running his hand up it until he reached the bruise. “First, tell me who the hell did this to you.” As an afterthought, he added, “And what is all this shit about a stalker?”

Trinity knew this conversation was going to happen eventually, but she didn’t know where to start.
After some thought, she figured the most logical place to start was the beginning. “I started dating this guy around two years ago named Seth. I was stupid, naive, and thought I was in love.” Trinity rolled her eyes at the old memory. “That was until around six months into our relationship when he started to change. He became more irritable with things and started yelling more often. I mean…we always had our little disagreements, like any normal couple, but they started getting more frequent and he would get angrier.

The next part was harder to admit.
She took a deep breath and looked directly at him. “Then one day he hit me. I remember it like it was yesterday, but I still don’t know what exactly happened. One minute he was yelling about the meat at dinner being too dry, then the next thing I knew his hand came across my face.” Trinity didn’t realize she had started to cry until Malachi brushed away a tear. “I was in such shock. I mean, I hadn’t been hit like that since I was a kid, and this was from the man that swore I would never have to go through that again.”

“Wait a minute.”
Malachi turned more alert than he already was. “You were hit as a kid?”

Trinity put her hand on his thigh and he quickly covered it with his own.
“That’s a long story as well. If you really want to know I will tell you, but let’s get through this one first.”

When he nodded, she continued.
“I never told Nicci about the first time. I never told anybody…till now. I know it sounds so cliché, but I wanted the man he was to come back. I figured if I stayed and tried to make him happier, he would. Needless to say, he never did, and it became much worse.”

“Why didn’t you leave?
Malachi squeezed her hand.

She took her hand away from his and rubbed the tops of her thighs.
Looking at the wall, she told him one of the hardest parts. “Oh, I tried one time. I had a photography studio at the time and tried hiding out there. He found out and started it on fire to flush me out. I never got to see what became of my store because he snatched me away the moment I got outside. He then kept me chained in a room at our house for a week.” Trinity shut her eyes to ward off the memories of that week; no food, hardly any water, and that was the easy part. “Eventually he let me go, but not before he told me that if I ever tried to leave again, no one would ever find my body.”

Malachi stood up and started to pace the room.
He didn’t say anything, but looked murderous. She saw the muscle tick in his jaw, and knew he was barely keeping himself in check.

“Are you okay?
I’m almost done.” She tried to reassure him.

Trinity could have sworn she heard him say something about being surprised she would ask him that, but all he said to her was, “Go on.”

“After that, I never saw anyone anymore. I stayed at the house, even when he was at work, because I didn’t want him to think that I left.” She put her head in her hands out of shame for how she acted earlier. “How come I didn’t see this before? With Nicci… I’m never around…just like before. How was she supposed to know this time was different? Ugh!”

Malachi crouched down in front of her and pulled her hands away.
“You can call her in a little while. Please go on.”

He looked pained at the idea of hearing more, but she did anyway.
“The beatings were getting horrible, and more frequent.” She fought not to cry, but her voice was still catching. “I was afraid that one time he would go too far and kill me. I knew that I had to leave and take my chances.”

Trinity stared at the wall over his head and got lost in the memory.
“One night, he left me on the floor of the living room when he finally made it to the bedroom to pass out. I crawled out. I had nothing with me, but I left anyway. Somehow, I got myself pulled up and started walking. When a car came by, I was able to flag them down. At this point, I didn’t care who picked me up. I just knew that I had to get as far away as I could. Luckily it was a nice couple that dropped me off at the closest hospital.”

She glanced down to see how he was taking everything.
His eyes were squeezed shut and she knew this would probably be the last that she saw of him. At least she knew that she was capable of loving again, and she had some really good memories to look back on.

Please don’t hate me
…

His eyes popped open.
“Don’t ever think that!”

“Think what?”
She asked startled.

He visibly swallowed.
“Just the look on your face… Please don’t think that I will ever think any less of you. None of this is your fault.”

“It’s so much Malachi, and there is so much more you don’t know.
Why would you want someone with so much…past?”

“We all got skeletons in our closet, Angel.
Some of us just have more shit to contend with than others.” Her words were now thrown back at her and something about his body language told her that he knew what he was talking about.

Sitting back down on the couch, he pulled her over to sit across his lap.
“What happened next?” He waited for her answer with his arms wrapped around her.

Snuggling in, Trinity started her story again.
“When I got to the hospital, I sang like a parrot.”

“Canary”

“What?”

“It’s canary, you sang like a canary.”

“You sure?”

Malachi just gave her a look and she went on.
“Anyways, I spilled everything. They called Joseph and Renée who then called Nicci. All my bruises and cuts had to be documented, and I had to endure tests.” Trinity shuddered at the thought of the tests, which made Malachi’s grip tighten on her. “There was a police report filed, and policemen were stationed at the door to my hospital room. Apparently, assault wasn’t the only thing the police wanted to talk to Seth about. Well…he made the mistake of trying to find me there. The police caught him off guard and he ran. He disappeared and no one could find him. When he didn’t resurface, the police told me to contact them if I heard anything, but after so long, he’s not their top priority.”

“I had just started to relax; he had been missing for a little over a year.
I had moved on with my life until all of the sudden he decided to make himself known.” She proceeded to tell him about the roses and finding them every morning in her classroom.

“How do you know they’re from him?”
Malachi asked.

“That’s the thing.
I had my suspicions because of his stupid color coding system with the flowers, but I wasn’t completely sure.” Trinity paused, knowing that he wasn’t going to like the next part. “That was at least until this week. It was when I was leaving the restaurant that we had lunch at; the time you had to leave early. He grabbed me when I got to my car.”

Malachi had all but stopped breathing, and she didn’t know how he was going to take the next part.
“He asked about the roses. The part that freaked me out the most, though, was when he mentioned you. He got angrier the more he talked about us together. It makes me wonder how he’s getting his information or where he’s watching me from.” Trinity shivered at the thought.

“He didn’t touch you anywhere else did he?
He just grabbed your arms?” Malachi’s voice was clipped. Trinity had been around enough in her life to notice when a man was livid, and she believed he had surpassed that point. It showed how far she had come along, since she still felt incredibly comfortable around him.

Trinity didn’t answer right away.
He was already worked up enough she thought. What was the point in making him anymore angry?

“Trinity…”
Malachi growled at her.

“Okay, he kissed me.”
When she felt Malachi take a deep breath, she decided to intercept the outburst with the rest of the story. “But Malachi, you would have been so proud. I was able to push him away. I had never felt as strong as in that very moment. When he came back towards me, my knee went into a particular part of his anatomy that men cherish. While he was gasping for air, I escaped. I never felt so liberated from him until that very moment.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Well obviously Nicci…but I also went to the police right after it happened. That’s it.”

Malachi adjusted her on his lap and relaxed a little.
“Well, you won’t have to worry about that happening anymore, because as of tomorrow, I’m putting a protection detail on you.”   

Trinity squirmed off of his lap to stand in front of him.
“What? That’s not necessary.”

Placing his hands across the back of the couch, he looked completely at ease, but the strain in his muscles proved otherwise.
“It’s just until I find him.”

Trinity knew that she wouldn’t want to be Seth when he found him.
How could she convince him to let this be? She could care less what happens to Seth, but she couldn’t bare anything happening to Malachi for defending her.

“And what do you plan on doing when you find him?”
She asked while placing her hands on her hips.

He sat forward and locked eyes with her.
“I’m not going to lie to you. It is going to take every fiber of my being not to kill him. You said the cops were looking for him though so I’ll turn him in.”

He added the last bit with a shrug and Trinity didn’t believe it for a second, but she had to understand something else.
“What exactly do you mean by protection detail?”

“A member of my team will be with you every second of every day.”

“Ah, no! That’s a little extreme; don’t you think?” She couldn’t imagine a shadow around her at all times. Plus if they were with her, who would be helping him when he needed them?

“Don’t worry.
He’s a measly hu…a mere man.” She wondered what the slip up was about but he continued. “It shouldn’t take me long to find him.” As if an afterthought, he smiled at her. “This is what we do; don’t worry.”

Trinity sat back down across his lap and snuggled in.
“Just promise me you won’t do anything stupid! I would hate for something to happen to you because of my mess.”

“Do I strike you as the type of person to do anything stupid?”
He asked as he wrapped his arms back around her.

She couldn’t help but smile at his statement.
“You seem like the type of person to do anything you want, be damned the consequences.” Trinity felt the rumble in his chest from his chuckle.

“You know me too well.”
She could hear the smile in his voice before he kissed the top of her head.

There was a calm that settled over the two of them.
Trinity felt an enormous weight lifted off her shoulders from revealing so much. Everything was out there now, and she just prayed that he still wanted to be with her. Eventually, she felt her whole body relaxing as he started to massage her scalp.

“Are you up to telling me about what happened when you were a kid?”
He asked in a whisper.

Not willing to give up some semblance of the euphoria she was in, she didn’t want to discuss every detail.
“Is the short version enough for tonight? Then I can go into more detail another day.”

“You tell me whatever you want to.”

She was quiet for a little while. She didn’t know the best way to start this. How would he ever understand, unless… “Are your parents still alive, Malachi?”