When You Became Mine, page 2
Ariel gave me a sympathetic smile. “This is actually perfectly normal between twins, Chaz. They’ve been each other’s best friend for years. It must be hard on Irene; she’s been Nadia’s advocate for so long, and now she’s becoming independent.” He reached inside the car, resting a hand on my shoulders. “If you want, I can have a talk with her, too. We want her to understand that, while defending her sister is a good thing to do, Nadia needs to find her own way, too.”
His hand was warm to the touch, and I was wearing a coat. Feeling flush, I quickly nodded and gave Ariel a quick “okay” before indicating it was time to go. He pulled his arm back out so I could roll the window up, giving him a wave as he gave one back. Then, my SUV jumped forward, myself trying to get a grip on my emotions before turning out into the street once more.
Chapter Two
There wasn’t much I liked about working in an office job. Actually, I liked literally nothing about it. The cubicles felt like personalized jail cells, the humming of printers and those cheap light bulbs gave me a headache, and our so-called ‘loyal’ client base shrieked over the phone for discounts and demanded a respect they barely gave us. The entire day was a never-ending nightmare, possibly a circle of hell Dante never spoke of.
But it made significantly more than my freelancing gigs used to. So, I held fast to the job, hoping one day I could publish a bestseller and leave this ilk behind.
Thankfully, my typist position meant I could put on a pair of earbuds and block most of the day-to-day noise out. My claim to be a ‘professional writer’ had some weight in this business, thank God; I basically spent my days on the keyboard, transferring documents from paper to a digital format. Why they didn’t start digitally was beyond me, but hey, money was money.
“Well hey there, handsome!”
Of course, the one negative I couldn’t ignore with electro-funk was Liliana Anderson. She was a sweet enough girl, one of the preferred floor managers throughout the company. Long legs, beautiful chestnut-hair, a Mediterranean tan that would bring most tanning booths to tears; all the guys in the office competed daily for her attention. Yet, she had her sights fixed on me, determined to get into my…good graces, as it were. No matter how many times I told her I swung for the other team, she just didn’t let up, certain that I just hadn’t met the right girl.
She was, to put it bluntly, one peach short of a basket.
“Hey, Lily,” I said, preemptively taking out one of my ear buds. “What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing but the sky, silly,” Liliana giggled, giving my shoulder a gentle push. “Though, I gotta say, I really hope the forecast was wrong, today. I wanted to go out to eat lunch today, near that cute café. They’ve got the best view of the city, right outside on their veranda.”
Mm-hmm.” I nodded, trying to finish the last paragraph on the page.
“I heard you’ve never been,” Liliana added, coyly curling a strand of hair around her finger. “I was hoping you’d come with, but if it’s raining…”
She pushed her chest against my back, voice dropping to an annoying simper. “Ooh, but if you had an umbrella, I wouldn’t mind! We could stand under it together on our walk over, and I bet they’ve set up something so we could eat outside. Waddaya say, Chazzy?”
God, this woman needed to get laid. Badly. I just wasn’t going to be the one to do it. “Sorry, Lily,” I gestured to the computer screen. “But I’m probably gonna order in. Lot of work to do today, and I’d rather not take it home with me.”
Liliana betrayed a hint of disappointment, quickly recovering with a smile. “Oh, sure! I guess you wouldn’t want to be distracted by your nieces. Must be hard, having them home all the time.”
And there was the other reason I’d never date her, even if I was interested in women. “Actually, it’s a nice break,” I insisted, popping my ear bud back in. “Sorry again. Maybe Rogers from accounting will walk with you?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Sighing dramatically, Liliana sauntered off, leaving me with a dozen or so heads looking my way. Of course. Everyone thought I was crazy to let her go like that.
“Dude, seriously,” one of my cubicle neighbors poked out from over my wall. “How can you keep denying her like that?”
“It’s because she’s got more make-up on her face than brains in her head,” another snapped curtly. “Besides, Chaz is gay; literally everyone in the office knows that.”
“I’d become a lesbian for her,” another office worker sighed. “God damn, you’re such a tease, Chaz.”
I just kept typing away, doing my best to ignore them and briefly glanced at my computer’s clock; 10AM. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed; it'd only been a few hours since drop-off. This day couldn’t possibly go any slower.
“You guys are vultures. Seriously, the man’s trying to work.” My guardian angel, Amanda, swooped in on her rolling chair, waving folks back to their seats as she flashed me a thumbs up. “Let me know if I gotta bite someone, Chaz.”
I laughed, pausing just long enough to glance behind my shoulder to flash a thumbs-up back. Amanda was truly the only sane person in this entire department. She dressed smartly, with her hair cut short and a minimum amount of make-up applied daily for the sake of time management. Incredibly put-together, both at and outside of work, and for some reason, she took one look at my disheveled ass and decided I was worth protecting.
“We still gonna break for Chinese at noon?” Amanda asked.
I nodded. “Remind me to get the girls’ more than one order of fortune cookies. Nadia refused to eat hers after it broke in the package.
Amanda nodded, rocketing back to her desk with a shove of her legs. “Tell your boyfriend I said hi, by the way!”
“Ariel isn’t—!”
Too late. She’d already wheeled herself over to her desk, cackling. I turned back to my own work, attempting, and failing, to find my rhythm again. Okay, sure; Ariel technically checked off all my boxes. He loved the girls as much as I did, he wasn’t too bad to look at, and I genuinely felt at-ease whenever we spoke. Of course he cared about Irene and Nadia, that was his job. And obviously he’d be nice to me, the guardian. Any teacher worth a damn would show professional courtesy to the people paying them.
“Yeah…he’s just being professional.” With a sigh, I popped my earbuds in, determined to finish early so the twins and I could go out to eat tonight. And then, my desk phone rang, completely slamming my work to a stop once more.
“God in heaven,” Tempering my rage, I pulled up my customer service voice before picking up my phone. For all I know, this could’ve been upper management in need of a specific document. No reason to risk it. “Hello, this is the Right’s Company. Chaz Deponte speaking; how may I help you?”
“Hello, this is Miss Maddie from Learning Ladders Daycare! We’re calling about your daughter—excuse me—your niece, Irene?”
My stomach hit the floor in seconds. “Y-Yes? Is she okay?” I gestured to Amanda, who slowly wheeled her way back to my cubicle.
“Oh, yes, of course!” Miss Maddie reassured me. “She’s perfectly safe, as is her sister, Nadia. We just wanted to call and let you know about a minor incident she—Irene, I mean—had with another child during outside time.”
“Okay…?” Looks like Ariel’s ‘talk’ with Irene didn’t go as well as I hoped. “Is the other kid okay?”
“Yes,” Miss Maddie began hesitantly. “They, uh, received a bloody nose from Irene.”
Well, fuck.
“She’s in the office with me right now calming down,” Miss Maddie added. “We tried having Nadia in here with her, but…”
I let out a sigh. Nadia was certain to be in a tizzy if the mighty Irene was in tears right now. “Should I come pick them up?” I asked. “Are they causing too much trouble?”
“Oh, no, that’s not necessary!” the teacher insisted, somewhat panicked. “Mr. Ariel is with Nadia now; I’m certain he can take care of her.” There was a pause on her end, someone murmuring in the background. “Um…if you have a moment, Irene wanted to speak to you.”
“Yes, please put her on.” I glanced over at Amanda, mouthing something like, ‘you good?’. I nodded, focusing back on the phone as the sound of sniffles came through. “Hey, sweetheart,” I began. “Are you okay?”
Irene’s voice had completely divulged into sobs and whimpers. “I-I didn’t mean it, Uncle Chaz! Tyler kept bugging Nadia, and, and I got so mad—he wouldn’t leave us alone!”
“I know, Irene, I know,” I replied soothingly. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You sound really upset.”
“There was a lot of blood! A lot of blood all over his face.” Irene wailed. “I don’t wanna go to jail, Uncle Chaz!”
“You’re not gonna go to jail, Irene.” I shot an anxious look Amanda’s way, who gave me a reassuring wave.
“Go on,” she whispered. “I’ll let Liliana know it’s an emergency and start packing up your work stuff.”
“Thank you,” I said, quickly returning to Irene on the phone. “Irene, sweetie? Can you give the phone back to your teacher now?”
Irene continued sobbing over the phone. “I’m sorry, I’m really, really sorry. Don’t leave, Uncle Chaz, I’ll be good.”
My heart completely shattered in my chest. “Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere. I just need to talk to your teacher for a second, okay? I want to let her know I’m coming to get you two.”
There was a moment of silence, like Irene was debating if I was telling the truth or not. Then, I heard the phone clunk around, more mumbling, and the teacher’s voice back on the line. “Hello? This is Miss Maddie again.”
“Hi, Miss Maddie,” I started shutting my computer down, nodding a thank-you to Amanda as she handed me a plastic folder full of untyped documents. “I want to let you know that I’ll be at the daycare in forty-five minutes, give-or-take traffic. If you can make sure the girls are ready after lunch, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Of course, Mr. Deponte,” Miss Maddie said. “We’ll make sure Irene and Nadia are packed up and ready for you on pick-up. Do you want to speak to Mr. Ariel and Nadia, too?”
“If he’s got her taken care of, I’d like to get on the road as soon as possible.” I said.
“Sure. I’ll just let him know you’re on your way. See you soon, Mr. Deponte.”
“Before you go,” I quickly added. “Can you put Irene back on the line? I wanna make sure she knows I’m not leaving her.”
“Of course.”
A few more clunk and fumbles, and Irene’s gentle sobbing was back on the line. “Y-You still there, Uncle Chaz?”
“Yes, sweetheart, I am.” I quickly shoved the folder into my bag while trying to maneuver my arms through my raincoat. “Listen really carefully, okay? I need to hang up, but I’m coming to pick you and Nadia up.” I could hear her start to break down into tears again. “Irene, I promise you, I’m not going to leave you two. Once you finish lunch, I’ll be at the daycare, and we’ll head home.”
“You promise?”
Shit. I really wasn’t supposed to make “promises.” Ariel said even the best intentions could backfire if the promise wasn’t kept. Still, she sounded so upset…I didn’t want to say no…
“Gimme the phone,” Amanda suddenly said.
“What? But,” I didn’t even get to argue; Amanda snagged the phone and waved me away, obviously wanting me to keep packing.
“Heeey, Reeny-Beany!” Amanda practically sang. “It’s your Aunt Amanda—how are you doing, baby?” She was quiet for a moment, nodding and pushing me to keep getting ready to go. “Oh, man, really? Well, I got bloody noses all the time when I was your age.” Amanda grinned, nodding once more. “Oh, yeah! All the time. Don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine. Hey, when I get off work, I should drive over and drop off your fortune cookies. Maybe put them in some Yummer’s Ice Cream?”
I could hear the shriek of delight from where I sat. I shot Amanda a scowl, to which she simply stuck her tongue out and laughed. “Okay, pass it back,” I said. “I’m on my way out.”
“You’re welcome,” she grinned, passing it back.
“Okay, Irene, I’m gonna get going.” My stomach turned as she let out a whimper. “I’ll see you very, very soon. Bye-bye for now?”
Irene hesitated, but I finally got the go-ahead. “B-Bye-bye for now, Uncle Chaz.”
Immediately, I slammed the phone on the receiver and started to the elevator. “Thank you again, Amanda!” I called as the doors slid open.
“Let me know how it goes!” Amanda called back as I smacked the ground floor button.
***
Rush-hour traffic was bad enough, but it got worse once the downpour finally kicked in. The rain had fully arrived in all its glory, making the highway a blinding slurry of water. During weather like this, I always did my best to stay a touch under the speed limit—it wouldn’t be worth getting myself killed to try and get to Learning Ladders a little faster—but it seemed a majority of folks around me had the same idea. So, in that case, less ‘rushing’ around this hour and more “creeping-at-a-slug’s-pace” hour.
Ten minutes had passed, and I was still stuck in the highway’s merging lane. Everyone was taking their time, tires barely inching across the rain-slicked asphalt, bumper-to-bumper. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to be careful, but then again, they didn’t have two twins at the edge of an epic meltdown waiting for them. And for all I knew, they just wanted to get a quick bite before heading back to work. Safety versus practicality…God, the struggle was real.
“Come on, come on…” My fingers drummed furiously along the wheel as I tried to find my in. Everyone was way too close and had no intention of giving me space to work with. I just needed to get to the farthest left lane—everyone else was turning off back into the city—and I’d be on my way home. It was fairy deserted, too, only the occasional car speeding by to try and close some distance between them and their destination.
Briefly, my attention flickered to my radio player, the Kitty Klub CD still spinning inside. It had immediately flipped onto the fifth or sixth song, which would not work for Nadia. Always reset to the first song; it had to be in order. “Nadia…” I couldn’t help myself; my mind started to wander, fixated on my two nieces back at daycare. Was she okay after her sister’s fist fight? And poor Irene…she was so heartbroken, so scared I would never come back.
“Damn it, Caroline, why’d you do this to those kids?” I swore under my breath, the palm of my hand smacking against the wheel, only to accidently slide into the horn. I was never one to add to the noise pollution of traffic—there just wasn’t a point—but, much to my surprise, someone eased their car to a stop so I could finally merge in.
“Oh, my God, thank you!” I gave that angel in disguise an enthusiastic wave, trying to reassure them that, no, I wasn’t just an asshole who liked to lay on their horn. My SUV glided effortlessly into place, inching into the turn-off lane seconds more before I finally—finally—pulled into the leftmost lane.
Too late to see the barreling semi-truck come right out of nowhere.
Chapter Three
The first thing I remember—really remember—was the paramedic nurse who put me on the gurney. She has the craziest blonde hair, platinum, I think, and this look on her face like she’d just seen fresh roadkill. I didn’t really hear what she said, only that she was obviously saying something. There was the faint sound of sirens, this feeling of floating through the air; it was just a complete dissociation of, and from, my entire being.
Then there was the hospital ceiling, the flickering lights, and a ton of doctors and nurses working to cut my shirt clean off my body. I was pretty sure some part of my tried to protest—I’d gotten it years ago during a Metal Head’s concert—but thankfully, the folks at the hospital didn’t really pay me too much heed. They all kept saying…something…repeatedly, poking at my legs and passing what looked like bloody towels between themselves. Or, maybe it was a full-out conversation; it was hard to tell.
It all finally came to a head once they stuck me in that huge machine. An MRI? Whatever it was called, it was loud. Loud enough to bring me back to my body, feel the aching throb on my left side as adrenaline ebbed away. Holy shit, I was in so much pain, shirtless, and sitting in a light-saturated machine while a dozen or so noises went on around me.
It all caught up to me after that. The truck, the shriek of metal and numbing sensation in my left arm, a horn that came too little, too late. That’s when the tears started to stream down my face, the horrible sobs escape my rubbed-raw throat. “I…I’d almost died.” The realization physically hurt to process.
“Mr. Deponte?” A grainy voice called out to me, somewhere beyond the MRI machine. “I understand you’re going through a lot this second, but you need to try your best not to move around. The sooner we can get a scan, the sooner we can get you out of there.”
I wanted to nod, but I held my head still at the voice’s request. A doctor’s, probably? But it was hard, so hard to do. Adrenaline was still coursing through my body, sending tremors all throughout while my mind raced by. “M-My girls,” I croaked out. “Someone h-has to go get them.”
“Let’s take care of you first, Mr. Deponte.” The doc said.
“Their names are Nadia and Irene,” I continued wobbly. “They’re at Learning Ladders Daycare right now—I-I was on my way to get them. Someone has to get them, please.”
“I’ll make sure someone does,” the doc said. “Now, please. I know this is hard, but you need to keep as still as you can.”
I bit my lip, blood dribbling into my mouth. Oh, God, the girls. They had to be out of their minds right now. And the poor staff…
“M-My phone has one of the teacher’s numbers,” I spoke up once more. “Ariel—call him. Let him know what happened. He’ll know what to do with the girls.”
“I’ll have someone call him,” the doc reassured. “Mr. Deponte, please.”
Some part of me registered that it was going to be okay. As long as they called Mr. Ariel, the girls would be all right. Whatever energy I had left must’ve been put into staying conscious long enough to deliver that info, because once I did, I blacked out again.
