Friend-Zoned (34 page)

I wake with a spring in my
step.
I get ready for work and am so excited about seeing Nik
today.
Put the past where it belongs and move on is what my mom always
told me. You see, when dad first met my mom they were just kids. My
dad was a mean little sucker and called mom fat.
Yep.
Ever the charmer. So, dad meets mom for a second time later on in
life and was floored because my mom was gorgeous. Dad shadowed her
like a lost puppy, begging for a date. Mom refused. Dad followed
her everywhere til she said yes. He would camp out in front of her
work and walk her to her car when she came out. He would randomly
show up with an umbrella when it was raining and leave sweet notes
on her car window.
I call this stalking. Dad calls this romance.
The point of this story is my mom may never have fallen with my dad
if she didn’t move on from the hurt he caused her as a young girl.
So that’s what I’m doing. Moving on.
I drive to work with the intention of going straight to see Nik. I
park my car and step out.
I’m caught off guard when hands grab at me. Someone strong has a
hold on me with one hand tight around my mouth and another arm
lifting me by the waist.
I shriek into his hand but it sounds small and muffled. I’m pulled
back into a van. I lose a shoe on the street. The man holds me
still as I screech and scratch at his hands. I can’t see him but
he’s tall. I push my head forward a little and slam it back into
his chin. He yells, “FUCK!”
I know that voice.
He covers my mouth with cloth. A huff and puff from exertion and
I’m suddenly weaker.
So tired.
I feel sleepy.
Lights out.

Chapter Twenty-Eight
The beginning of the
end

The morning has been great
so far.
I’m waiting on Tina to get into work so I can go squeeze her a
little.
She told me she loved me last night and I gotta say it was the
first goodnight sleep I’ve had since the misunderstanding about
Omarr.
I’m amazed that her douche ex-boyfriend had the nerve to show up at
her place. I wasn’t sure why he was there at first but as soon as I
mentioned money, he blanched.
Stupid
asshole.
Just as I get up and make my
way down the hall to the security room, Nat bursts into the hall
holding a shoe. She looks shaken. Her eyes are red and puffy. She
sees me and runs down the hall crying.
I pull her into a hug and say, “Whoa, there. What’s happened,
babe?”
She sputters her response, “Tina was really l—late for work so I
w—went to ch—check for her car. Her car was th—there and it was
open, Nik. Her shoe was on the floor and her b—bag was still in the
car. She’s gone, Nik.”
My stomach drops.
No. God, no.
I ask, “Her cell?”
She responds, “Still in her bag. It looks like she struggled, Nik.
There was a little blood on the ground and her shoe was on the
road. I don’t think it was Tina’s blood because it was only a few
drops, if it were Tina there would’ve been more. I’ve seen her
bleed from the smallest cut. She bleeds like a faucet.”
Two options here.
Jace the asshole snatched her up to get money out of her or Omarr
has her.
I really hope it’s Jace. I don’t think he’d hurt her, he doesn’t
look the type. Omarr, however, would get sick satisfaction out of
torturing Tina.
I tell Nat, “I need Jace’s cell number.” She goes through Tina’s
phone and gets it. I hope he hasn’t changed his number. I call from
her cell.
I’m stunned when Jace answers, “Tina?”
I bark into the phone, “If Tina is with you, you better tell me you
piece of shit.”
He immediately sputters, “She’s not with me, I swear. I’m back in
Cali!” I hang up.
I know fear when I hear it. He doesn’t know where Tina is.
I look over at Nat and shake my head.
The only other option is Omarr. If that motherfucker hurts Tina in
any way, I’ll kill him. And Uncle Jerm won’t do a thing about it
now that there’s a price on his nephew’s head.
I take Nat into the conference room and call for the guys. Max,
Trick, and Ghost appear in the doorway smiling and joking until
they take in Nat’s appearance. All of their faces drop. They know
something’s happened.
I announce, “Omarr snatched Tina this morning.”
None of them say a thing so I continue, “We need a plan. I’m pretty
sure I know where he’ll take her but he won’t take her til later
tonight. Thanks to my father, I have details on the place. Who’s
in?”
All the guys nod their heads and we get to work.
***

Night falls and we’re
ready to go ahead.
If I know Omarr’s style well enough, I’d say he likes Drama. He’ll
most likely put on a show.
Ghost contacted Uncle Jerm, explained the situation and asked him
to lower security for the night. After Tina saved his life, he was
willing to go one further and offer his assistance in any way he
could help.
We make our way to the factory in separate cars. The girls have
been forbidden to come.
They weren’t happy about this but there is no way I’m putting them
in danger. It’s bad enough I have to put my boys in this situation.
At least the guys know what they’re in for.
I park right in front of the warehouse. The guys are going round
back. I step out of the car and make my way to the office door.
Once inside, I take a deep breath and open the connecting door to
the factory.
As soon as the door opens, Omarr has his gun on me. He’s standing
behind Tina, who is taped to a chair. I look into her eyes and see
fear, clear as day.
Don’t worry,
baby.
Omarr smiles, steps forward and
announces theatrically, “The man of the hour! Take a seat, Nik.
We’ve been waitin’ on you. Haven’t we, baby?”
Tina shrugs and makes a confused face. It’s genuine.
See?
Omarr is bat shit crazy.
I walk forward and ask, “Where do you want me?”
Omarr points to the chair next to Tina and says, “Try any funny
business, I’ll shoot you and make her watch you die.”
I sit in the chair and he straps me into it with duct tape tightly.
Omarr glares at me for a moment before turning to Tina. He says,
“Okay, baby. You got some explaining to do. How did Uncle Jerm get
our conversation?”
She stammers and lies “N—Nik bugged my room, sweetie. I had no idea
he didn’t trust me. I’m so sorry. He sent the tape to Uncle Jerm. I
came here as soon as I found out and told him it was a fake. He
believed me, baby.”
Good girl. Play
along.
Omarr looks sympathetic and
sighs, “I knew it. I knew you wouldn’t give me up.” He strokes her
face lovingly and states, “You love me. You wouldn’t do that to
me.”
And one flew over the cuckoo’s
nest.
I clear my throat and shoot a
hard look Tina’s way. I lie saying, “You gold digging whore. I knew
I couldn’t trust you. You think that was the only bug? I had ‘em
everywhere. The only reason I kept you around was because I like
the way you suck cock.”
Tina scowls at me and hisses, “Omarr, let me out of this chair or
so help me…I’ll leave you.”
Omarr’s eyes widen and he shouts, “No! You’re never leaving
me!”
Tina puts on her best bitch and retorts, “Let me out of the fucking
chair, Omarr!”
Omarr’s brow furrow and he sighs, “Okay, jeez, Tina. Don’t be such
a bitch.”
He cuts the tape off her wrists and helps her up. As soon as she
stands, she slaps him. Hard. The noise echoes through the warehouse
and he rubs his cheek. He blurts, “What the fuck was that for,
Tina?!”
She blinks a second then gets in his face and roars, “You kept me
tied to a chair all fucking day! That’s not how you treat someone
you love, O. That’s how you treat someone you don’t like! Now, do
you love me?” He looks properly chastened and nods. She says
calmly, “Good. Then you’ll never do that again. Will you, sweetie?”
He shakes his head and she goes on, “Good. I love you, baby. But
you’re seriously fucked up. I’m going to make you better, you
hear?” He nods and smiles at her with pure adoration.
I’ve never seen Omarr let a woman put her hands on him without
disappearing and turning up in landfill weeks later. He truly
thinks he loves Tina. Or loves the idea of her at least.
Tina stands behind Omarr and wraps her arms around his waist.
Wow, that hurts more than it should. I know she’s only
playing.
She stands on her tiptoes and whispers loudly, “Look at his face,
baby. Doesn’t matter how much he says otherwise, this is hurting
him. He loved me, O. I promised we’d hurt him, didn’t I?” She
mouths to me I’m sorry.
Omarr chuckles and rubs Tina’s arm. He boasts, “Yeah, I got your
girl. How does it feel to lose something you love, Nik? She don’t
want you.”
Tina whines, “Omarr, how long is this going to take? I want to go
home. I smell and I need a shower real bad.” She pouts, “You
haven’t even fed me today. I’m so hungry, baby.”
Omarr slaps his head and sucks in air through his teeth. He looks
remorseful as he promises, “Shit, I’m sorry, baby. I’ve been so
caught up in this I didn’t even ask if you were hungry. I’ll get
one of the guys to get you something right now.”
If I weren’t in this situation I would burst into laughter. The
Tina Omarr believes he’s in love with doesn’t exist. This is the
complete opposite of what my Tina is. I don’t like this Tina but
Omarr seems enraptured with her.
He turns in her arms and lifts her. She yelps and forces a giggle.
She demands, “Omarr, put me down!” Which he does, but not before he
kisses her.
Omarr closes his eyes and plants a deep kiss on Tina. Her eyes
widen and she looks at me, I can’t conceal the look of disgust on
my face. Her eyes are apologetic and I nod. I know she doesn’t want
to be here anymore than I do.
Do what
you gotta do, baby.
He breaks off the
kiss and she plasters on a big fake smile. Omarr looks so happy. I
almost feel sorry for him.
Almost.
Tina walks up to me, gets in my face and fake brags, “Bet you want
me now, huh? But guess what, Niki? You’ll never have me. Never
again.”
I lean a little closer and whisper, “When we get out of this, I’m
going to ask you to marry me.” Her stunned face stills, I go on,
“And you’re going to say yes.”
Omarr walks into the next room and Tina rushes forward. She
whispers, “I’m sorry, honey! I didn’t know what else to do!”
I whisper back, “You’re doing a great job, baby. Keep him busy. I
love you so much. The guys are out back, this’ll be over soon. I
promise.”
Tina rushes back to her place just as Omarr opens the door. He
comes forward with bags of food for her. She opens them, scrunches
her face and says, “I smell olives, sweetie. I don’t eat olives.
Like, ever.”
That’s about the only truthful thing she’s told him all
night.
Every lunch time we swap my tomatoes for her olives. I love that we
do that. That’s our thing.
Omarr opens the bag and sighs, “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll have them get
something else. No olives.”
She smiles at him and says, “Thank you, sweetie. I’m really
hungry.”
As soon as he heads out the door she takes a pair of scissors from
the desk, runs forward and cuts underneath my wrists so it still
looks like I’m strapped to the chair. She puts the scissors into
the back of my pants and runs back to the
desk.
God, I love this
woman.
Omarr comes back into the room
and hands Tina another fast food bag. He vows, “Not an olive in
sight, boo.”
She plasters on a smile, kisses his cheek, and says, “Thank you,
baby.”
Omarr walks up to my chair, takes the gun out of his pants and aims
it at my chest. Tina shrieks, “Omarr, no!”
Omarr frowns and looks towards her. She immediately straightens and
tells him ,“Baby, I won’t be able to eat if you do that now. C—Can
you wait til I’m done, please?” She sounds a little too shaky and I
know Omarr senses it. But he nods and moves to sit with her.
She picks at the food I know she doesn’t want to eat but does a
pretty good job at making it look like she’s enjoying it. She even
offers bits of food to Omarr who eats out of her hand like a pet.
She strokes his head like a little child.
This dude is one serious case of fucked up.
After Tina finishes eating half of the meal, she pushes it aside.
It’s just about go-time.
Omarr holds his hand out to her and she takes it. He leads her
towards me but stops halfway and tells her, “Baby, stay back here.
You don’t want to get his blood on you.”
Then he walks forward and aims the gun at my chest. He puts his
finger to the trigger and hisses, “This is for Marcus.” Just as
he’s about to do it, two small arms come around Omarr’s neck and
two legs wrap around his waist. Tina chokes Omarr with everything
she has.
Goddamn it,
Tina!
Omarr tries to fight her but
she has her head behind his so he can’t even hit her with the butt
of the gun. He turns ashy
as
he tries to shake her off. I see his eyes widen and he falls hard
onto his back. crushing my girl.
Tina
gasps. She’s winded and can’t pull in a full breath.
Enough is enough.
I can’t wait for the guys. I have to act now.
I’m up and out of the chair. I take the scissors and plunge them
into Omarr’s retreating back. He turns, howls in pain, lifts the
gun, and shoots Tina.
Everything turns to slow motion.
Tina’s body jerks backwards and I feel her blood spatter across my
face. Her face shows a mixture of shock and pain. Within seconds
she’s lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
Tina’s a bleeder.
She’s going to
bleed out.
I kick Omarr in the lower back. He howls again, rolls to his back,
aims and shoots the gun again. I feel the bullet hit me but I want
him dead so badly the pain doesn’t even register. Pure adrenalin
courses through my veins. My vision starts to fade out and I fight
hard to keep my eyes open. I stumble forward, take the gun from his
shaking hands and shoot him in the forehead. I watch as the light
fades from Omarr’s eyes. I feel a moment of intense satisfaction
followed by the hollowness of dread.
I stagger forward and fall into the huge pool of blood next to
Tina’s body.
I’m so sorry, T. I would
give my life for yours.
I see
darkness and shadows form over our bodies. Hands are all over
us.
As I lay next to Tina, I take her limp hand and think if this were
going to be the way I died, at least I was in the hands of someone
I loved.
My vision fades to black.
***