Whom You Least Expect Ch. 02

Violet agreed and bolted the door behind me. The pharmacy was a couple of blocks on foot, so I decided to walk. It took me ten minutes to buy the stuff and turn back.

When I was approaching my apartment, I saw the door wide open. A gripping cold run through my spine, and a dreadful feeling of anxiety overtook me. Desperation was growing stronger with each step I took toward that door.

Voices. Maybe there was still time. I knew I should run and call the police, but that would leave Violet vulnerable.

"Why? Why did you do this?" Violet seemed to be okay.

"I had to let that nerdy twat knows I meant business," now I am a 'nerdy twat'.

"Why can't you see it? We had a relationship, past tense, anything between us is over."

I was now at the door's threshold, Todd was in my line of sight, Violet was slowly backing away from him. She must have opened the door thinking it was me. Violet's eyes darted in my direction, Todd turned to look at me. A baseball bat was in his left hand.

"But if it isn't the nerdy twat," Todd's disdain was evident.

"Don't you dare touch Elsa!" Violet sounded firm, but I knew she was frightened.

"Don't you see she is manipulating you? She doesn't care about you, just wants revenge."

"Shut up Todd! You don't know anything." Violet's resolve was breaking; a tear fell from her left eye.

"You made her cry bastard!" I used the word Violet had for him. Maybe not the best choice, but I did not care at the moment.

"Let's see whose butt gets kicked today, I'm not that petty thief you sent to the hospital."

He took a position I haven't seen before, his standing left no holes, his right hand caught the short bat in such a way that I could not possibly get around him without getting whacked. Left or right, he had me. I recognized an experienced brawler in him (how the heck did he maintains his good looks?). And given his weight, I was at a severe disadvantage here. If I was to save us both I would have to use other methods. I should try to press where he was weaker. He was confused so I would try to reason with him.

"After you kick my butt and sent me to the hospital what are you going to do?" I asked him.

He seemed to think about his answer.

"I will take Violet with me. Hide some place and...," he paused; it seemed he hadn't planned that far.

"Are you ready to renounce your scholarship for her, all your dreams will disappear?"

His eyes were lost for a few seconds, when he returned he finally understood his situation, if he continued with this he could lose everything.

"Yes. I am." He sounded dubious.

"And what are you going to do when you find out she hates you?"

"Oh, she will love me back. I am sure of that," he answered fast, as if he really believed it.

"If something happens to Elsa I'll kill you!" Violet spat at him between tears and sobs.

Todd was taken aback from Violet's statement. Everything that he thought was real shattered in front of him.

"She is in love with me Todd," I continued, "she had been loving me even before you where his boyfriend. Ever wondered why she kept bullying me, eh Todd? Did you ever think why I was the target of her hate?" I said while holding my eyes in level to his, "Why am I living with her now if she loathes me?" Todd finally put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"You used me...," His face was a mix of shock and pain. Everything must have clicked inside his head.

Violet looked at Todd, her face covered in tears.

"Yes, I used you. I used you to help me forget her. You were supposed to be my way to a 'normal' life," she said quoting 'normal' with her fingers, "but you were fucking that whore in your house, you failed me..., and you lost me...."

"Did you ever love me?" he was almost pleading.

"No Todd, I tried, but at the end couldn't."

Todd put the bat down; put his back against the wall and slid until he was sitting on the floor. He put his head back and for the first time in my life I saw a grown man cry.

*****

"Are you going to press charges?" Detective Thomas asked. He was, as always, sporting those purple eye bags. Todd was still sitting on the floor, he had the eyes of a dead man.

I looked at Violet at my side, and saw she was waiting for my answer. Her face unreadable.

"We better not. If we press charges we ruin his scholarship."

Todd looked up and focused his eyes on me. He couldn't believe what I was saying.

"You're a good woman," Detective Thomas told me, "but this attitude is going to hurt you in the future. Not everyone is as forgiving as you think Miss Martinez."

"Look at him Detective, he just found out two years of his life were a lie. I won't take away his dreams too."

The chuckle that escaped Todd's chest was low but audible; he kept laughing to himself even after Detective Thomas forced him up and guided him to the door.

"You know Elsa, at the end you were the better man," he smiled at me and disappeared, I turned to look at Violet and from her smile I could understand she was watching my annoyed face.

"Is he making fun of me? Because if he's—."

"No Elsa, he's not making fun of you. He says that to everyone who has bested him."

So Todd was not that much of a bastard at the end.... Scratch that! He was trying to hit me with a bat! That egocentric misogynous pig—

"What happened here?" A high-pitched voice I knew so well startled me.

Sandra was at the door, looking at the broken furniture with a sense of awe. Today she dressed in white tank top and cutoffs. She was barefoot, and her brown hair was in a single braid over her shoulder.

"Did you two girls have a fight?" she asked. Was that hope in her eyes?

"No, we didn't. The place you recommended to my parents was not as safe as you promised."

Wait the minute; Violet knew Sandra was going to live next door?

I grabbed my girlfriend by the arm and pulled her to a safe distance.

"Violet?"

"Yes, Honey?"

"You knew she was going to be next door?"

"Yes." She was wondering why I had moved her out of earshot.

"And you had a thing for her in the past?" I asked her through my grinding teeth.

"Y-Yes." She stuttered, "Wait! It's not what it looks—!"

"Hey, is everything okay?" Sandra questioned from the door, she was biting her lower lip and gazing at us. This only infuriated me.

"When were you going to tell me?" Behind my controlled visage I was fuming.

"I forgot!" she croaked.

"Your ASS is mine!"

"Can I watch?" Sandra beamed.

"NO!" Violet and I answered in unison.