The Battle Within (8 page)

The expression on his face said it all.

“My god they do! They have a problem with you marrying a white woman?” Sandy laughed sarcastically to herself, “You didn’t pick just any old white woman either you picked one with pale skin, strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes.”

“Sandy, stop. It’s not like that.”

She pushed herself up and off of the sofa, “
Right,
of course, it’s not. It never is…is it? You know what? I’m suddenly feeling exhausted. It’s late. I’m going to go to bed. I believe you know how to let yourself out.”

As she started to turn away, Roman grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to him. “I’m sorry.” He gently moved a wayward piece of hair out of her face and behind her ear, “I should have handled this better. I could never be embarrassed by you, I love you. And, we should have discussed it.”

“Yes, we should have. Two years, Roman?” She put two fingers, “We’ve been together almost two YEARS!”

Roman caressed her cheek, “I know. You’re right. I should have talked to you about it way before now. I didn’t know how and I just…didn’t want to deal with it.”

She stepped back from him and wrapped her arms around her body as she spoke, “Look, I can deal with people not approving of us. I’m used to the snide remarks and looks. I can even deal with members of our families not accepting of us. Hell, I have some of my very own family members who can’t understand why my best friend and fiancé are both black and think I’m the Kartrashian of the family. And, I don’t’ care. But, what I can’t deal with…is us, not being on the same page in how we deal with them. Even if, the
them
is your mother and sister.”

“You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

“I don’t know Roman. This changes a lot for me. Maybe we need some more time…maybe we should postpone this wedding.”

“Nothing has changed between you and me. I still love you, and you love me. I would never have asked you to marry me if their approval was necessary. Would I love to have it yes, but I love you and in a couple of months, I want to be your husband.” He kissed her on the cheek where only moments before his hands had caressed, and then kissed the other cheek, before finally pressing his lips to hers.

Although, Sandy was pretty angry that Roman would keep something like that from her, she could understand not wanting to share it.

He continued to kiss her until she eventually kissed him back. He began to relax as he felt the tension start to leave her body. When he pulled back, a sexy half-grin appeared on his face. Roman’s voice was raspy, “You’re tired, and I’m tired too.” He walked her backward into her bedroom, “I think I’ll stay here tonight and do my best to make everything up to you.”

“What if I don’t want you to stay?”

“Then, I’ll just have to change your mind.”

Chapter 8

Screams. His mother was screaming for help. He couldn’t make out her face in the darkness, just her outstretched arms reaching for him and her blonde hair blowing in the wind. Franklin ran. He kept running and running but could never reach her. The faster he ran, the further away she became. Another, shriek, followed this time by an image of her head being smashed up against a wall.

Franklin woke up in the middle of the night in a panic, wide-eyed and covered in sweat. His heart was racing, and he could barely catch his breath. It took a moment, to realize where he was and that he’d been dreaming. But, it felt so real. It always seemed real.

The dreams had been happening more and more frequently, and not only at night. But so far, he’d managed to keep their occurrences to himself.

However, he hadn’t dreamt about his mother in a while. It was probably no coincidence that the timing of it seemed to correlate directly with Troy coming to town.

Franklin pulled his sleeveless t-shirt up and over his head before throwing it across the room. It was soaked. He rolled his body out of bed walking on shaky legs into the bathroom. After turning on the light, he ambled over to the sink, turned on the cold water, and splashed it all over his overheated face and body.

He gazed at his reflection in the large wall sized mirror as the water dripped from his face onto the hard planes of his chest. How could he be so physically strong, but yet so mentally weak? He hated feeling this way…helpless…
defeated
.

His practiced tight controlled snapped. Emotions buried deep came roaring to the surface. Franklin yelled at the top of his lungs, “
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck
!” He shouted it over and over again. Then, with the force of everything within him, he punched the reflection staring back at him. The glass shattered landing all over the sink, the bathroom floor…everywhere.

A moment later, Troy ran into his bedroom wearing just a pair of boxers, yelling out to him, “Franklin! Franklin!” When he entered the bathroom, he didn’t know what to make of what was in front of him.

Franklin stood as motionless as a statue with his hands still balled up into fists. Blood was dripping from the hand that apparently smashed the mirror.

Troy carefully walked around the shattered glass. The vacant look in Franklin’s eyes caused him to transform quickly from concerned brother to doctor. Once he was close enough to touch Franklin, he didn’t make any sudden moves. Troy called out his name in an even, flat, and calm tone, “Franklin.”

No response. Did Franklin even hear him? Troy tried again, this time a little louder and firmer, “Franklin.”

Slowly, as if being pulled out of a trance, Franklin turned his head at the sound of his name. He blinked a few times. His eyes showing signs of life. Then, he looked down at his bleeding hand and around the room. He must have blanked out for a moment.

“Franklin, let me take a look at your hand.”

It wasn’t until he’d heard Troy mention his hand that a sharp almost blinding pain shot up his arm.

Troy’s mind was racing as he inspected it. What the hell was going on? This wasn’t Franklin. He’d never seen him lose it like this. While he’d noticed something was a little off with him since yesterday, this…this left him more than a little worried.

He snatched a towel from the rack, “You could probably use a couple of stitches and definitely an x-ray to make sure nothing is broken.” He pressed the towel over the area that was bleeding. “Hold this down.”

Franklin winced in pain, “I’m fine.”

“Clearly…you are not fine.” Troy continued to look around. His eyes zeroed in on the now exposed contents of Franklin’s medicine cabinet. “What in the hell are all these pills?”

In an attempt to distract Troy, Franklin snatched his hand away, “I obviously can’t drive myself to get stitches and x-rays. Are you going to take me or not?”

He stared at Franklin for a second, then quickly glanced at the medicine cabinet.

Franklin wasn’t ready to deal with all the questions the look on Troy’s face was asking. Instead, he strode out of the bathroom.

Troy watched his brother’s retreating back. Reluctantly, following him out. Right now, they needed to get that hand examined. His questions would have to wait.

“Let me throw on some clothes and I’ll meet you downstairs.”

*****

It was late morning before Franklin emerged from his bedroom and came downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Troy was already there sitting at the table watching the news and eating a bowl of cereal.

Intense and intrusive eyes focused on Franklin the moment he entered the room, “How’s the hand?”

Franklin looked down at all the bandages, “It hurts like hell, but I’ll live.”

“Mmm…yeah, I’m sure it’s going to feel that way for the next day or two. And, I’ll let you thank me later for using my charm and clout as a physician to get you in and out of the hospital last night.”

“Yeah, it didn’t take as long as I expected.”

“I...uh…made a pot of coffee. It’s a couple of hours old so who knows what it’ll taste like now.” Troy’s pale blue eyes bore into Franklin’s darker ones. “What happened last night?”

He sighed, “I’ve got a lot going on and it all caught up with me.”

Troy dropped his head back into his bowl and dipped his spoon into his cereal, “You’re still having those dreams like when we were kids.”

Franklin turned his back to Troy as he opened a cabinet to grab a coffee mug, “No, I’m not having dreams.”

“I wasn’t asking Franklin. Your walls are not as thick as you think.”

He stilled, “Troy, I don’t want to get into this right now.”

“When exactly will we talk about it? Because from what I’ve seen, you’ve become an expert at avoidance.”

“Troy…I just don’t have the energy to have this conversation right now.”

“Fine. We’ll talk about it later. But, we
will
talk.”

“Alright…just not now.” Franklin poured himself a cup of coffee, “I’ve got a couple of calls I need to make. I’ll be in my study for a little while.”

Once Franklin left the room, Troy pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He needed some answers and knew just the place to start looking for them.

*****

Two hours later, Troy stood on Jason’s front doorsteps. He hated going behind Franklin’s back, but he’d been cagey, secretive, and scary last night. And, he was damn worried. If anybody knew what was going on with him, it would be Jason.

The front door opened, and Troy was standing face to face with the woman he’d heard so much about. It had better be her. Otherwise, he was going to ask her out.

Vicky smiled warmly, “Hi, can I help you?”

He could see how Jason would instantly fall in love with those eyes. They were the most alluring, captivating pair of brown he’d ever seen.

A moment later, Jason came up behind her and opened the door wider, “Baby, I’ve got it.” He reached out and pulled him inside and into a bear hug. “I thought I heard your voice. Man, it’s good to see you. I couldn’t believe when you called this morning and told me you were in town.”

“I just got in yesterday afternoon. I needed a vacation and hadn’t seen Franklin in too long. So, here I am.”

“Well, again it’s good to see you. Let me introduce you to my wife. Vicky this is Troy Erickson, Franklin’s brother. Troy, this is my wife, Vicky.”

Surprised was an understatement, she’d known Franklin for over two years and had no idea he had a brother. He didn’t look anything like Franklin or Franklin’s father, Mr. Roth. But, then he smiled. There it was that smile. It was exactly the same. Only Troy’s seemed to be much more readily available whereas, it was a rarely seen gift with Franklin.

She extended her hand, “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“You are even more beautiful in person. And, I’m pleased to meet you as well.”

“Hey…I know that look. It’s the same one I had when I met her. Just remember, she’s married to
me
.” Jason said jokingly as he possessively pulled her into his embrace.

Loving every minute of his possessiveness, Vicky grinned, “Thank you, Troy. I’m going to go check on this kids. It was a pleasure to meet you.”

He responded in a fun-loving but flirty kind of way, “
Dr. Troy
….just thought I’d throw that out there if for some reason you decide to leave this guy. It’s always good to have a doctor in the family.”

Firmly and knowingly, Jason stated, “Not a chance in hell of that happening. Come on, let’s go into my study.”

“Can I just say WOW? You are a lucky man. Vicky seems beautiful inside and out. I can totally see why she turned your world upside down.”

“That she did. Anyway…enough fawning over my wife. What brings you here? I heard concern in your voice this morning or did I hear it wrong?”

Troy sighed, “No. You read it exactly right. I wanted to talk to you about Franklin. He has no idea I’m here, and I want to keep it that way.”

Jason nodded as Troy continued, “Have you noticed anything…mildly off or different with him lately?”

Jason scratched his chin, “Honestly, things have been so crazy around here with the new baby, and I can’t say that I have. Why?”

Troy folded his arms across his chest, “You know how calm Franklin usually is right? Well, last night something happened that caused him to get so upset that he…” He rubbed his forehead, “He punched his bathroom mirror so hard it shattered. He ended up needing quite a few stitches and sprained his hand.”

“Franklin? What…why?!”

“He won’t talk to me. That’s why I’m here. I was hoping that maybe he had talked to you about whatever is going on with him. I’ve only been in town since yesterday, but I can already tell his mind has been more than pre-occupied. Do you think maybe Matthew or my mother’s ghosts might be reappearing?”

“It’s possible, but I doubt it. Franklin and his dad seemed to have ironed out all of those demons from the past a long time ago. But, now that you mention it, I did run into him at the gym last week. He’s always been a gym rat, but his intensity on the bag made me ask if something was wrong. He said
he’d figure it out
.”

“Figure what out?”

“I’m not sure. I didn’t press him too hard because he asked me to back off. But, if he got upset enough to need stitches, maybe I shouldn’t have.”

Troy had a hard time debating what to share and what not to share with Jason. He didn’t want to unintentionally betray his brother. But, he knew if anyone had a clue as to what was going on or even how to help, it would be Jason. He went on, “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this but when Franklin was younger, he would have these…episodes where he would kind of freak out for no apparent reason. He’d sometimes see and hear things that…well, nobody else did. It stopped when we were in our teens.”

Jason was slow to respond, “Yeah…I remember some of those. He had a few at the boarding school we attended.”

“Well, I think they might have returned. He had one last night. He doesn’t know I heard him…but I did. Jason, I believe Franklin’s in trouble. I found a ridiculous amount of prescription medication in his bathroom. If I didn’t know any better, it would be easy to assume that he’s formed a drug addiction.” Frustrated, Troy ran his hand across his face, “Or, even worse, something else could be going on. I’m not sure if he’ll open up to me. He’s closer to you. Maybe you can find out what is really going on?”