Trouble In Paradise (7 page)

Chapter 11

“Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred,” Caroline counted as she finished her workout for the day. 

She had run ten miles, did one hundred crunches, one hundred push-ups, and ran suicides.  Those were
the worst.  They hurt bad running up and down and they could be quite nasty.  Caroline didn’t know if she would be able to keep them in her routine.  She walked to the shower and turned it on.  She knew she would pay for this in the morning, but she had been slacking off.  She needed to go hard and then get back into her regular routine.  Working out was empowering.  She would feel so much better after a good workout but she had been working late and missing workouts.  Caroline turned under the water and let it soak her from head to toe.  She posted up in that position until the water started to turn lukewarm; a hot shower felt great and relaxed her muscles.  She turned the water off, stepped out, and dried off.  She wrapped her head in a hand towel and dried it too.

“Hey.”

Caroline looked up.  It was Tabitha her personal trainer. 

“We did some hard work today,” she said. 

“Tell me about it,” Caroline said rolling her eyes. 

She started to put on her jeans and Tabitha continued. 

“We can do the same thing tomorrow and we’ll be back on schedule on Monday.” 

“Fine,” Caroline said, she didn’t know if she would have enough mojo left by tomorrow. 

“Ok be back at eight a.m. and we can be finished by eleven.” 

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

She proceeded to cut the blow dryer on and dry her hair. 

“If you need to cancel,” Tabitha yelled over the dryers noise, “call me on my personal line.  I won’t already be here so you won’t be able to reach me at the gym.” 

Caroline shook her head in agreement.    Tabitha gave two thumbs up and walked away. 

On the way out Caroline decided to walk down the street since it was such a nice day.  Once she got down to the end of the street she made a right and kept moving.  She felt like she could walk all day, but she wouldn’t.  She would stop and turn around before she did too much and caught a charley horse or something.  Caroline walked up to the intersection.  The light turned red and the walking sign turned white letting her know she could pass.  She started across the street, once to the other side she turned upward and crossed the street there also.  She started up Delaware Street. 
This is the last block
, she thought
and then I’ll turn around and go back to my car. 

Caroline looked to her right, a grey Cadillac passed her slowly, she noticed the car looked brand new and the wheels where chromed out,
superb
, Caroline thought.  She admired the car with one eyebrow raised, it was very nice.  The car pulled over and parked. The door swung open and a girl hopped out.  When Caroline took a good look at the girl, she noticed the girl was Victoria her new intern.  She had been doing well so far at work it was nice to see her out.  Caroline went to speak to her when Victoria crossed the street and almost got run over by a motorcycle, and then when Caroline tried to speak again she jumped back and screamed when Victoria was attacked.  She had fallen to the ground and this girl standing over her was screaming something loud.  Caroline took out her cell phone and dialed 911. 

The operator answered, “9-1-1 what’s your emergency?” 

“A woman was just attacked!” Caroline screamed. “Please get someone out here; we’re at 233 Delaware St.  Please hurry!” 

Caroline hung up.  Victoria had gotten back to her feet and was putting an real whooping on the girl something fierce.  “Whoaaa,” Caroline said to herself. 

She watched Victoria pull out a gun. 

“Ah snap,” Caroline’s face contorted with fear.

S
he didn’t know whether to stop Victoria or not, after all she didn’t really know the girl. 

“My God,” Caroline said.  “The girl needs Jesus.” 

Victoria didn’t shoot her instead she kicked the girl in the face and the girl stopped moving.  Caroline could hear the sirens in the background and she could tell Victoria could hear them too. 

“She’s not moving
,” Caroline said, “think fast.” 

Victoria started back across the street.  Caroline ran up to her and stopped her from getting in the driver’s seat. 

“Stop!” she yelled throwing her hands up. 

Victoria did, her eyes widen when she realized who Caroline was. 

“Throw me your keys I’ll drive, get in the passenger seat.”  Victoria started to protest when Caroline said,

“do you think we have time to talk about it?” as they heard the sirens nearing.  Victoria hit the alarm and threw Caroline the keys.  Caroline looked over at Danielle and noticed her head was back
and her lights were out.  I hope she’s not dead.  She got in, started the engine and drove off.

*****

Joshua’s phone rang.  He looked at the number but didn’t recognize it. 

“Talk to me.
”  

“Yes, may
I speak with Joshua Eubanks?” The male voice asked. 

“May I ask whose calling?” 

“This is Doctor Martin with O’Hare Hospital, your fiancé has been admitted and you were on her next of kin list.” 

Joshua couldn’t believe his ears
he felt a wave of Deja vu.

“What
happened?”  Give me the address Doc I gotta put you in my GPS.  What happened?” he repeated. 

“Calm down.  She’s fine, she’s in a room and we are just keeping her here to stitch her up.”

“Stitch her up!”  Joshua screamed.  “What happened to her?” 

“She said she was attacked and she keeps asking for you.  The address is 4323 Maple Grove Way.” 

“I’m on my way.” 

“See you soon,” the doctor said.

Joshua hung up and sat the phone on the hood.  He was in a daze. 
What was going on,
he thought.  What could have happened?  He was in the garage giving his truck an oil change.  It needed it; the long ride from Memphis to Chicago had turned the oil black.  He tripped over the toolbox. 

“Ouch!
” he said hopping on one foot. 

He ran through the side door and grabbed his keys off of the counter.  He ran out so fast he forgot to put the alarm on.  He locked the door from the inside by twisting the bottom lock and jumping in his truck.  He was moving so fast that h
e left his phone sitting on the hood of the car.  He put the address in the GPS and shot down the street.  He didn’t want to get a ticket but he had to get there.  Joshua had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.  Who could have attacked her but Danielle?  Who would want to attack her but Danielle? 

He swerved around a car almost hitting the side mirror; the car blew BEEP BEEPPPPP! The driver flipped him off.  Joshua flipped him back off, he
wasn’t in the mood to be messed with. 

“Why does this have to
be happening!” he said out loud.

H
e banged his fist up against the steering wheel and yelled.  Everything was going great, and now this.  He knew he saw her at the restaurant.  He had hoped his eyes were playing tricks on him but he knew it to be true, this confirmed it.

“You have one mile to your destination,” the GPS said.  Joshua continued to drive changing lanes, and cutting people off. 

“Turn right in point two miles.”

  Joshua turned right.  He reached for his phone and noticed it wasn’t there.  He patted around on the seat, in his pockets, on his lap, the fl
oor, dashboard, nowhere.  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” he screamed.  “Could it get any worse?” 

“Your destination is on the left,” the GPS said.

Joshua pulled up in a handicap parking spot at a screeching halt.  He jumped out. 

“Hey, sir, you can’t park your car right there,” a security guard yelled.

Joshua ignored the man. 

“It will be towed!” the security guard yelled. 

“TOW IT!”

Joshua yelled back and ran through the emergency doors.  He ran up to the counter, “I’m looking for Victoria Mathis please it’s urgent I was called by Doctor Martin,” he said without taking a breath. 

The nurse typed in her name. 

“Hmm,
I’m not finding a Victoria Mathis,” she looked up at him. 

“OH for goodness sake.
I don’t have time for this, where is Doctor Martin!” he screamed and banged on the counter. 

“Sir
Calm down or I’m going to have to ask you to leave!”  

“Well I would be calm if you could tell me where my f
iancé is.” 

She picked up the phone and paged Doctor Martin to the front desk.  Joshua was pacing back and forth.  Five minutes later Doctor Martin walked up.  The nurse tried to speak,

“Dr. Martin this young man . . .”

Joshua cut her off, “I’m Joshua Eubanks, I sp
oke on the phone with you twenty minutes ago about my fiancé being attacked and brought to this hospital.” 

“Yes, that’s correct,” the doctor said. 

“Well this lady is telling me she’s not registered in the system.” 

The doctor frowned. 

“Well maybe it was just a misunderstanding, your fiancé is in a room in the back, if you’ll just follow me.”

They started walking in unison; Joshua peered back at the nurse with slanted eyes.  The nurse peered back at him.  They went through a set of double doors and then made a left.  Joshua and the doctor were walking at a hurried pace and Joshua was anxious to get to Victoria. He gritted his teeth the doctor stopped at the door to the left and said,

“She’s in there sorry about the confusion.” 

He was being paged. 

“I’ll be back shortly,” he said and hurried off. 

Joshua grabbed the door handle and flung it open, he rushed inside,

“B
aby, what happened?”

He said but
stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a beat up alluring unfriendly Danielle sitting up on the bed.  She smiled and glared at him at the same time.  Joshua was still frozen in place, he didn’t blink, he didn’t speak, he didn’t say anything he just stared.  He figured Danielle had something to do with this but he didn’t let his mind go this far.  He was in big trouble.  He felt it in his gut on the way. 

“I knew you would co
me faster if I used that mutts name,” she said jaws clinched. 

Joshua gave her a hard stare. 

“Don’t look at me like that!” she screamed. 

He exhaled and looked back at the door. 

“Danielle what are you doing here?” he said in a low calm voice.  

“What
are YOU doing here?” she said challenging him. 

He
rubbed the sides of his temples feeling a headache coming on.  He looked at her. 

“What happened to you?”

“Oh are you really concerned baby?” she batted her eyes. 

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t care.” 

“Well,” she said, “Your watch dog caught me off guard and punched my lights out.” 

He smirked, “so she just caught you off guard huh?” 

“I was trying to talk to her and she wanted to fight.  I was caught off guard because I didn’t come looking for a fight,” she lied. 

He shook his head again and gritted his teeth. 

“Just what is the reason you have come Danielle?” he asked. 

“I came because I had to let you know that what we have is real love.  I don’t know what you think of her but I am here to remind you about me.”

She sniffed. He looked at her for a long minute trying to figure out if it was possible for her to be crazy.  He knew her but what was this look in her eyes almost desperation.

“Danielle listen I know you
’re used to me, I know because I think about you a lot too.  I know it’s because we were together for so long and it’s not like I don’t love you.  We have imprinted in each other’s life.” 

He watched her face soften. 

“I just need you to understand that we tried to love each other and ended up hurting each other, your holding on to the past and that is a lost cause.  Please understand.” 

“A lost cause,” she said.  “I love you.  How could that be a lost cause?” 

“I love you,” he said, “but I’m in love with Victoria.” 

She got up in his face and slapped him.  He gritted his teeth.  She glared at him,

“So WHAT I’m just s
upposed to go away, you can sex me but at the end of the day you want to be with VICTORIA!  I’m good enough to bend over but she’s good enough to marry!”

  He cringed he was wondering when she would bring it up. 

“Danielle,” he said, “lower your voice before security comes.”