Page 16 of Ordinary Secrets (Secrets Trilogy #1)

16

TREY

I’m on my way home from dinner with Liz when I call Arella. I’m excited to ask her if she likes the flowers I sent—until a man answers her phone.

At first, I play it cool and ask who he is. Once he gets angry at me for no goddamn reason and calls Arella his girlfriend, things aren’t cool anymore.

“Could I speak to Arella, please?” I try to keep my tone patient but fail. One hand is on the wheel while my other presses the phone to my ear.

“She’s not available right now. How ’bout you give me a message, and I’ll relay it to her?” Whoever this guy is, he must be drunk, because he’s slurring his words. My best guess is that this is the abusive ex. He’s the reason why Arella jolts whenever I touch her. The reason why she looks over her shoulder all the time. The reason why she’s so hesitant to move forward.

I despise him. Any man who makes a woman that fearful doesn’t deserve to breathe.

I’m about twenty minutes from Arella’s apartment. Fifteen if I don’t get stopped by any lights. Ten if I drive like a maniac. So I stomp my foot against the gas.

“Where is she?” I’m still flooring it as I weave around some cars that honk at me.

“She’s busy,” the asshole says.

“Doing what?”

“Suckin’ my dick.” The man laughs as if he’s just told the funniest joke in history.

I’m done being nice. “Tell her I’ll be there soon to save her from your pencil dick. I’ll bet yours resembles an overly sharpened pencil that’s more eraser than anything.”

His laughing stops. “The fuck did you just say?”

“I said give Arella her phone back, or I’ll come do it for you.” A truck angrily honks at me as I swerve around it. I don’t blame him. I’m going at least double the speed limit.

“You listen here, douchebag. If you think you can come here and kick my ass, then come. I’ll show you what I’m fuckin’ capable of.”

“Nathan! Stop!” Arella shouts in the background. I didn’t realize she was in the room with him.

My heart drops when I hear a smack and a scream. Arella’s scream.

Shit. Did he just hit her?

“Are you seein’ this Trey guy?” Nathan yells.

“Arella?” I say, as if it’ll help.

“Let go of me!” she shrieks.

Dammit. I pissed him off, and now he’s gonna take it out on her.

Cars honk at me left and right. I ignore them, focusing on the only goal I have: protecting Arella.

“What did I say about seeing other men? I’ll show you what happens when you disobey me.”

More shouting comes from Arella and her drunk ex. I put my phone on speaker, drop it into my lap, then grip the wheel with both hands. Only a few miles to go.

Every car on the road drives at a snail’s pace as Arella screams. Every yelp she makes tightens a knot in my chest.

“Shout all you want, Ari. I want him to hear you.”

Next comes some grunting and struggling, then something heavy topples to the floor. Nathan groans, yelling out swear words.

“Get out of my apartment!”

“You bitch! How dare you hit me again!”

Yes! She’s fighting back!

The line goes dead. No!

My wheels squeal as I whip around a turn. Going over sixty down a thirty is bound to get me arrested, but I don’t care.

Eventually, Arella’s apartment complex comes into sight. My tires squeal again as I jerk my car into park behind her car. I don’t even bother shutting my door as I bolt out.

I’m about to fly into Arella’s apartment when my body slams against her locked door. Fuck exposure. I wave a hand at the doorknob. The bolt lock clicks open, and I run inside.

A lanky guy with an ugly buzz cut straddles Arella on her living room floor. They’re between the couch and her tipped-over coffee table. She struggles with him as he attempts to rip her pants off. Thank fuck I got here when I did. The man’s rage storms through my head, mixing with my already boiling anger.

I don’t think as I seize the guy’s shoulder, twist him to face me, then hurl a fist into his already bloody nose. It’s nice to know that Arella did some damage before I arrived. I’m so fucking proud of her.

A dull ache explodes into the middle of my face, exactly where I punched her ex. It makes my eyes water. Feeling other people’s pain never stopped me from fighting before, and it sure as hell isn’t gonna stop me now. I expand my mind power outward, because sensing more people will help me sense less of the piece of shit in front of me.

I draw my elbow back and punch him again. With a yelp, Nathan topples backward, trips over the coffee table, then tumbles to the floor. Like a spring, he jumps back up and charges at me. I leap around the table, getting as far away from Arella as possible.

Nathan swings at my head, and I almost laugh. Based on the way he stands and throws his fist, this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s no match for my many years of training in hand-to-hand combat. It’s too easy for me to duck and strike him in the gut. He collapses to his knees with a moan.

I think he’s done for.

And I think wrong.

I’ll give him some credit because he stands up again and moves so fast, he knocks the wind out of me with a kick to my stomach. I hunch over with a groan. Unfiltered agony shatters through my face when he slams his fist against my upper cheek. For a lanky guy, he sure does punch hard.

When I regain my composure, I pound my fist straight into his ribs, making him fall to his knees again. Then I grab his head and smash it against my knee. His head whips backward with a crunch! as his back slams against the carpet. I hope I broke something. I think I did, by the way my nose feels like it’s twisted to the side.

Again, I’ll give the guy credit, because somehow, he still has enough strength to roll onto his hands and knees. Blood pours from his nose onto Arella’s beige carpet as he coughs. I feel worse about dirtying up her carpet than I do about beating up this man I don’t know.

Kneeling, he wipes his nose off on the bottom of his shirt. Then he looks up at Arella, who’s standing a ways behind me. I almost kick him for thinking he has the right to look at her.

Nathan smirks. Laughs even.

What the hell is so funny?

“You’re lucky this bastard showed up,” Nathan says. “I was about to fuck you like the dirty little whore you are.”

That’s it. No more holding back. I yank him up by his shirt and punch him again. Agony tears through my jaw. I ignore it as I hit him again—harder.

Then again.

And again.

And—

“Stop!” Arella shouts from behind me.

My balled-up fist freezes barely a finger from the asshole’s face. I don’t dare take my eyes off him as I speak through gritted teeth. “You want me to stop?”

“Yes,” Arella says firmly. “Let him go.”

It takes everything in me to release Nathan’s shirt. He thumps to the floor.

I still don’t take my eyes off him, nor do I unclench my fist. “Arella, please tell me you have a good reason for stopping me from hurting the man who was hurting you.”

Her voice goes soft. “He’ll press charges if you keep going.”

“And you’re going to press charges against him for assaulting you!”

“I’d like to see you try,” Nathan snickers as he stares up at the ceiling. His face is bright red, already swelling up in the areas I hit him the most.

I resist the urge to break his teeth in. “Babe, go call the cops.”

In the corner of my eye, she snatches her phone off the floor. Nathan laughs as he finds enough strength to stand and hold the bottom of his shirt to his nose. Obviously, I haven’t wounded him enough to keep him down. That can easily be changed though.

“Go ahead and call, Ari. When they get here, I’ll explain that you and I were hooking up when your side toy walked in on us and attacked me.”

“We’re over!” Arella shouts, and it surprises me. I never pictured her as a shouter, especially not with such venom. “Why can’t you get that through your head?”

Nathan continues as if she hasn’t said a word. “I’ll tell them that we have our moments here and there. I’ve been telling them that anyway, so they’ll believe me. Everyone thinks you call me up weekly because you can’t stay away. You know they’ll listen to me with my dad there. Then I can press charges against this fuckwad.”

The flames in my palms flicker. Heat forms between my fingertips. If I don’t control myself, this entire apartment will go up in flames. If this guy knows what’s good for him, he’ll shut the fuck up.

I don’t take my focus off his bloody face. “Call the cops, Arella.”

In the corner of my eye, she sets her phone down. “No.”

Finally, I look at her. “What?”

“He’s right, Trey.”

“Again—what?”

“I’m not going to risk him getting you in trouble.”

“And I’m not going to let him get away with hurting you!”

Arella squares her shoulders. “You can, and you will. We’re letting him go. We can talk once he leaves, then decide if we’ll call the cops or not.”

I shake my head. “Let’s skip the talking part and call now.”

“Trust me, Trey. Just let him go.”

She’s asking me to trust her—the one thing I’ve been trying to get her to do with me since we met. Victor’s words echo in my head.

“To get, you need to give.”

I’ll trust that Arella has a good reason why she doesn’t want to call the cops. But I still can’t let Pencil Dick walk away freely.

With a grunt, I grab the shithead by his shirt and drag him down the hall.

“Let go!” He claws at my hand.

In Arella’s bathroom, I shove him into the tub, where he can bleed some more without getting it all over the carpet. He stumbles backward, landing on his ass.

I point a stern finger at him. “Stay here, asshole. You open this door, and I’ll cave your face in so hard, a bat will make you its home. Got it?”

“Fuck you!”

I can’t control myself. My balled fist strikes him in the gut. Twice. “Got it?”

The troll-faced jerk off curls into himself, gasping for air as he nods.

“Good.” Shutting the door behind me, I make my way back into the living room. Arella is in the same place I left her. “All right, babe. Let’s talk.”

She hooks a thumb toward the front door, raising her eyebrows with a wordless question.

I nod, then follow her out.

A yellowy moon hangs above us in the black sky as we face each other on the front lawn of her apartment complex. Arella hugs herself as if she’s freezing. She’s not. It’s June in California.

I think about holding her, but I don’t know if that would comfort her or make her tense, so I decide against it. Quietly, I wait for her to explain. To tell me why we aren’t calling the cops. Why we’re standing outside instead of in there, making sure her ex knows he’s never allowed to breathe around her again. Instead, she just stares at the grass.

“Arella?” My voice is calm, even though I’m fuming. “You know, I don’t care about him pressing charges against me. I want him behind bars and away from you.”

“Me too,” she says softly.

“Then why aren’t we calling the police?”

“Nathan’s dad is the LAPD deputy chief. They’ll twist this into something it’s not. They’ll make you look like the bad guy.”

I’m not sure how else to say it to make her understand how serious this situation is, so I tell it how it is. “Arella, he tried to rape you.”

The way she doesn’t flinch at the R-word tells me this isn’t the first time he’s forced himself on her. I’m gonna punch one of his teeth out for that.

“Do you have a record?” she asks.

Is that a trick question? I’m not sure what answer she wants, so I go with the truth. “Yeah...” When she doesn’t respond, I feel the need to explain. “Two counts of disorderly conduct and another charge for attempting to run from the police. And maybe a parking ticket or two.” Or twelve...

“I figured you had something.”

“Look, I don’t care about keeping my record clean. It’s already dirty.”

“It’s not about that. It’s that Nathan and his dad will dig up everything they have on you and turn it around to use to their advantage.”

I only met Nathan a few minutes ago, and I’ve never met his dad, but they’ve both made it to the top of my shit list.

Arella continues, “With your record like that, they’ll have no problem getting an attorney to make it sound like you attacked him first, which technically, you did. Think about your career, Trey. If this gets out, how will this affect your band?”

I didn’t even think about how this would look for me. Social media would have a fit. So would Monique. And Liz. Honestly, Liz’s opinion is the only one I care about.

“I’m willing to risk all that if it means you’re safe.” And I mean that with all my heart.

“I’m not.”

With a heavy sigh, I accept that she’s made up her mind. If this is what she wants, so be it. Just in case, though, I ask one more time. “Are you sure you don’t wanna call the cops?”

A firm nod. “I’m sure.”

“All righty, then. Stay here. I’ma go take care of Pencil Dick lying in your bathtub.” My Empath power tells me that he hasn’t moved from where I left him and he’s angrier than he was before. He’s about to be even angrier when he sees my fist again.

An instant smile appears on Arella’s face. It eases all the tension in my gut. “Pencil Dick?”

“You got a better name for him?”

“Nope. Pencil Dick is perfect.”

“Great. Don’t come in ’til I say so, ’kay?”

Once she nods, I head back inside and shrug my jacket off. With balled fists, I march toward the bathroom.