Save Me: A dark romantic thriller (Novel) (20 page)

When Troy met Ashley near the long line of shopping carts, she immediately told him that she wanted to break up with him.

“Which means no dinner tonight. And from now on, Troy, I don’t want you calling me. I don’t want you sending me any more emails. I don’t want you stopping by my house. Or my job. In fact, I want you to stay as far away from me as humanly possible!”

“Wait a minute!” he said, grabbing her by the arm. Ashley had been preparing to march off. Troy stopped her just as she was about to step off the cement curb. “Don’t you think you owe me some kind of explanation? Like for instance did I do something wrong?”

“Okay,” she practically screamed, swinging herself around. “I’ll give you an explanation. Follow me.”

“To where?”

“My car.” As soon as they reached it, Ashley pointed to the windshield. “Your lover Sarah not only exposed you for who you really are, Troy, but that wretched creature also tore my freaking windshield wiper off.” She yanked the door open and then showed him the broken blade. “I hope my insurance covers this.”

“Whoa! Slow down,” Troy pleaded. “Will you please tell me what is going on here? And would you mind giving me the details in plain English?”

Ashley recounted everything that Sarah Kline had said. To her amazement, Troy continued to act innocent.

“Why would you even listen to her?” Uncertainty scrunched his face into a mask of trepidation.

“You lied to me, Troy. That’s the bottom line. Let‘s not forget that.”

“You’re right. I did lie to you. I’ll admit that. But you need to know, Ashley, that when we started hanging out I wanted to tell you about Sarah. I just didn’t know how to go about doing it.” He lowered his head in shame. “I swear. Then before I knew it the days started to pile up and there I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into this, well, snowballing deception.”

“I don’t buy that at all!” she argued, getting in her vehicle. “Now you’re just toying with me.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“Wait! I‘ve got it,” he said, yanking his cell phone from the pocket of his sweat jacket. “Why don’t I call Sarah right now? That’s how we can get this straightened out. I’ll get her to tell you how this really went down.”

“No! Forget it!” Ashley shot down the idea. “Put your phone away. I don’t want to speak to that rude bitch. And the next time you talk to ‘MISS, I THINK I’M ALL THAT’, tell her to stay the hell away from my car. Because if I find something else wrong with it, like a slashed tire or a busted taillight, whatever, I’m calling the cops. And don’t think I won’t.”

“Ashley, listen to me. Sarah’s not going to do anything else to your car. I swear. I’ll personally see to that.”

“Oh. So now, you’re sticking up for her. Isn’t that just fine and dandy?”

“I’m not sticking up for anyone. I’m just trying to get you to see this situation for what it really is.”

Repulsed, Ashley scowled, thinking that the first thing she would do when she left the plaza was drive to the liquor store and buy a bottle of vodka, with maybe some wine coolers to chase the booze down with. In her present frame of mind, she could care less about remaining rehabilitated. “I trusted you, Troy. I trusted you when I didn’t trust anyone. I thought you were someone special.”

“We can still make this work,” he tried to reassure her. “C‘mon Ashley! It doesn‘t have to end like this. During those last few weeks I was with Sarah, we were constantly at each other’s throats, day and night. The relationship was basically over. I just couldn‘t get rid of her.”

While clenching her fists, Ashley laid her head down on the steering wheel. “Christ, how stupid am I? I should have known this was too good to be true. You got me to come back here to the shopping mall, to face my fears. You talked me into going back into therapy. And in such a short period of time, you also reminded me what it was like to be alive again. But now that feeling is gone because-”

“No!” He wouldn’t allow her to finish. “This is all a big misunderstanding, Ashley. I love you. That’s why I’m with you. I know you might not think it’s possible that I could be in love you after only a couple of months, but I am. Seriously! All I ever do is think about you.” He reached in the car window and ran an eager finger across her delicate cheek.

“Don‘t bother!” she fired back, shoving his hand away. “You don’t love me. You feel sorry for me. For me and the baby.” She gazed into the rearview mirror, at shoppers walking past with loaded carriages. “Though I suppose I shouldn’t really blame you for that. I should blame my mother. She shouldn’t have asked you to console me. And as soon as I get home, I’m damn well going to let her know that.”

Not wishing to prolong the suffering, Ashley started her car and then backed out of her cramped parking space.

“Come back!” Troy hollered, chasing after the Toyota. “Ashley, you can’t let it end this way.”

Instead of going back, “Goodbye,” was all she left him with. A little way up the main road, when Ashley had turned into the A&P liquor store, tears soaked her eyes. It wasn’t long before she was crying hysterically.

Another setback, how much more pain could Ashley possibly take? If Troy thought it was easy for her to tell him goodbye, he was mistaken. There she had been thinking that he had loved her, and had cared about Kimberly, when all along it had turned out to be a hoax.

“Hello.”

“Sarah.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re such a jerk. You know that. I can’t believe how immature you are.”

“Troy. Hello. So kind of you to finally call. How’s life been treating you?”

“Never mind how life’s been treating me.”

“Hey, well excuse me for asking. You’re the one who phoned me. Not the other way around.”

She was right about that. And Troy was about to give Sarah a serious verbal lashing. He still stood in front of the busy market, where Ashley’s car had been parked. Before, when she had driven away, Troy had become so mad, he had kicked an empty shopping cart, which had noisily toppled over.

“Sarah, why the hell did you go to Ashley Ferguson’s job today and tell her all this crap about how I’m only dating her because I feel sorry for her?”

Sarah did not respond. She merely chuckled.

“Are you going to give me an answer? Or are you just gonna laugh?”

“Sure Troy. Ever hear of payback?”

That was what he had expected her to say. “So this was all about revenge, huh?”

“Basically.”

“And that’s all you’re going to say?”

“Yes. There‘s really not much more to add. Why? What happened? Did you and Ashley have a lover’s quarrel?

Troy shook his head in rage.

“You must have had a lover’s quarrel. Ha! Ha! Because you suddenly seem to be at a complete loss for words. To which I feel inclined to say, that’s too bad, Troy. You stuck a knife in my back. Now I stuck one in yours.”

“Sarah, how old are you?” Troy was thinking, when they had met, if he had known what a spiteful person Sarah was, he never would have gone out with her. He had learned to tolerate, at least to some degree, her excessive nagging. However, when they were a couple, if she had exhibited this heartless side to her personality, he would have split up with her much sooner.

“Why don’t we leave my age out of this?” she suggested. “Okay? So you think what I did today was immature. That’s your opinion. Me, on the other hand, I believe what I did, by ratting you out, was justified. The fact is those who cross Sarah Kline, at the end of the day, will always get what they deserve.”

“And what’s that?” he asked, appalled.

“I always win, that‘s all there is to it. You’re such a loser, Troy! You know that. I don’t need you. I never did. No wonder Naomi traded you in for a better piece of real estate.” That said she hung up.

***

Now, as Troy sat behind the wheel of his Subaru, the world seemed to be filled with an icy silence.

What was he supposed to do?

When Troy had told Ashley that he loved her, he had been telling her the truth. He really believed that he did. Now she hated him. Now she did not want him in her life anymore. It was so hard to accept.

Images of Ashley poured relentlessly through Troy’s mind. Particularly fond memories of her smiling face just before they would kiss. He also kept remembering how happy they would be walking around, pushing the baby in her stroller. To Troy, it had almost felt as if he and Ashley were husband and wife.

On the way to his apartment, he came within one digit of calling her, before losing his nerve. Troy did not know what to say. He could picture Ashley crying. He did not like knowing that he had hurt her. That was the last thing he wanted to do. He never should have started dating Ashley, when technically; he was still with Sarah.

To distract himself, Troy turned on the car radio.

You don’t love me. You feel sorry for me. For me and the baby.

At the A&P liquor store, Ashley found what she was looking for, and then carried her purchases up to the register.

“Is that it?” the cashier asked, picking up the bottle of Seagram’s vodka, and then scanning the price. Rather than get wine coolers to chase the booze down, Ashley had decided to buy a 64 ounce Coke.

“No. I also need a carton of Marlboro Lights.”

The liquor store employee, a college-aged male in a Bob Marley T-shirt, turned around to check through the different brands. “Winston no. Virginal Slims. Salem. Marlboro Lights.”

“Thank you. And a couple of packs of matches if you don‘t mind.”

“You’ve got it.”

After paying, Ashley hurried out to her car, where, under the driver‘s seat, she found a week-old Taco Bell cup-a big one with the lid and straw still attached. She quickly filled it with half soda and half vodka.

To conceal her devious activity, Ashley pulled down her sun visor. Then she grabbed the big sketch pad that lay beside her, and with a charcoal pencil, she began to draw.

***

It was now dusk.

Although Ashley had lost track of time, she estimated that she had been loitering in the A&P parking lot drinking and sketching for well over an hour.

She desperately wanted to call Troy and tell him off some more. On the dashboard her cell phone seemed to posses a compelling force that kept tempting her hand. It was only with great effort that prevented Ashley from reaching for it.

Why had Troy deceived her? His interest in Ashley had seemed so genuine. What an actor he must be. Boy, did he have her fooled. He could have won an academy award.

After taking another grimacing sip of vodka and soda, Ashley gazed into the rearview mirror. She did not have her sunglasses on and saw that her blue eyes were bloodshot. Her lipstick was also smeared.

Suddenly her reflection whispered, ASHLEY, YOU CAN’T MAKE SOMEONE LOVE YOU.
THEY EITHER DO OR THEY DON’T.

“So you don’t think Troy cared?”

WOULD SOMEONE WHO CARED LIE THE WAY HE DID? HE PLAYED YOU. STOP THINKING OF HIM. IT IS WHAT IT IS.

Ashley frowned. While attempting to light a cigarette, she spilled some of her drink. It went all over her lap and onto part of the seat.

“Shit!” she muttered angrily. “Nice going, you dumb sloshed idiot. Now look what you did.” Ashley opened the glove compartment and removed a stack of Kleenex. Then she did the best she could to clean herself as well as the upholstery.

***

Eventually, when she chose to head home, Ashley closed her sketch pad, started the car, and then cautiously merged onto the highway. Up the road, perhaps a quarter of mile, she heard a siren.

Sipping from her straw, Ashley peeked in the rearview and spotted the cop coming toward her fast and furious, his dome light flashing. Before veering off to the side of the street, Ashley slid the bottle of Seagram’s underneath the passenger seat.

Then she dumped what was left in the Taco Bell cup out the window, the straw and lid went flying. She approximated that the police car was a few hundred feet behind her.

Ashley was so frightened the cop would smell the booze; she jammed nearly an entire roll of peppermint Certs into her mouth. Rather than suck on the mints, she chewed them, as if she were eating crunchy cereal.

“What did I do wrong?” she whispered to herself, still staring over her shoulder. “Why is this cop pulling me over? I can’t believe this. What am I gonna do if I lose my license, I’ll be screwed?”

Troy couldn’t take it.

He couldn’t bear the pain and confusion that was putting his mind through hell.

He had to convince Ashley that there really was an important place in his heart for her. He couldn’t let it end this way. If he did, he suspected he’d likely regret it. He did not want another situation like Naomi, always wondering what might have been.

Therefore, after exiting the shopping center, he elected to drive to Ashley’s house. Unfortunately, when he got there, he did not see her car. Only her mother’s minivan was there.

“Do you know where she is?” He stood nervously on the front porch.

“No Troy, I’m sorry, I don‘t,” Claire Whittaker told him. She had her reading glasses on and seemed to be engrossed in whatever she had been doing on her computer. “I haven’t seen my daughter since early this morning.”

“That’s odd.” He couldn‘t figure out where Ashley could possibly be. “I thought for sure she’d be home from work by now.”

“Nope. Not yet.” Smiling, Claire respectfully pushed the screen door open. “Would you like to come in and wait? Maybe stick around for dinner. We’re having London broil with sautéed onions and mushrooms. And for dessert, I made tapioca pudding.”

“Sounds tempting.” He glanced down at the Welcome Mat. “However, I think I’ll take a rain check. Just tell Ashley I came by.”