Page 15 of In This Moment
She sat down in her living room again and kept the television off. She couldn’t imagine being fired. But if she sided with Wendell on the Bible program, that’s exactly what would happen.
And the anxiety would win. She might die in the process.
Her mind ran through the list of bills she paid every week. The mortgage on her two-bedroom condo, the utilities, her car payment. Two credit cards. Her debt wasn’t something she’d shared with Wendell. Another reason she was suffering from anxiety.
It had happened during the years she dated Jack. He had plenty of money, so he convinced her to live high. Don’t just drive a car; drive an Audi. Why rent when she could buy a condominium in a new development? New shoes and clothes for black-tie benefit dinners.
Alicia had willingly taken on the debt as part of her effort to impress Jack, to keep up with him. Now she had to work to keep him out of her life, and even harder to pay off her debt. All of which meant one thing.
She needed her paycheck. Every penny of it.
A familiar sting filled Alicia’s eyes as she looked around the quiet living room. Empty nights like this were about to be the norm. Already she missed Wendell with every anxious breath. She closed her eyes and pictured him. So good and true. Of course he had to do this for the students at Hamilton.
Who else would risk everything to help them?
But right now, Alicia only wished she had Wendell’s help. So she would know what to do about Jack’s incessant calls. Maybe it was time to call the police, file a restraining order against him. That’s what Wendell kept insisting.
For a moment, Alicia allowed herself to go back. Back to the beginning when she first realized the manipulative, controlling person Jack Renton really was.
She pictured him again. Blond and confident, intelligent and articulate. They’d met at a jewelry store of all places. Alicia was buying a battery for her watch and Jack was doing the same thing. She would never forget the way he looked at her that first day.
“Sorry if I’m staring.” His eyes had sparkled. “You look like an African angel.”
An African angel.
Something no one had ever called her. And like that she was hooked. From the beginning Jack made Alicia feel like a princess. He brought her a diamond bracelet on their third date. He left her notes on her windshield wishing her a happy Tuesday or telling her she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
Alicia didn’t realize what she’d gotten herself into until one morning as she headed out the door for Hamilton High and there, sitting on the curb next to her car, was Jack.
That was the moment the fear took root. When Jack turned around and looked at her, his eyes were dark and lifeless.
“You never came home last night,” he said. His words were laced with hatred. Then he stood and pressed in close to her. So close she could feel his breath hot against her face. “Where were you?” He narrowed his eyes. “Who were you with?”
Alicia felt like she’d fallen into some twisted nightmare. “With?” Her mouth went dry. “What... what are you talking about? I went to the mall after work.”
He gritted his teeth, like a poisonous rage was consuming him. “I checked your odometer, Alicia. Tell... me... the truth.”
Alicia had to unlock her car door and let Jack inside for a clearer look at her mileage before finally he sat back in her driver’s seat and exhaled. “Okay, fine. It’s possible.”
Jack stared up at her, where she was still standing on the curb, shivering. “Do me a favor, Alicia. Don’t go to the mall without telling me. Never again.”
He stood and shut the car door behind him, his eyes never leaving hers. Then he pulled her close and kissed her. Rougher than usual. “See you tonight, baby.”
Then he walked to his own car, climbed in and drove off. Alicia could still remember the adrenaline coursing through her body, the way she felt sick to her stomach. For several reasons, of course. But the one that stood out the most was this:
Jack was checking her mileage.
He’d known it before that morning. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to calculate how far she’d gone after work. A sickening chill ran down her arms, and all that day she had tried not to think about it.
After that things got worse, and finally one day Jack took Alicia’s cell phone and slashed her tires.
While she was at work.
It was Wendell who had rescued her that day and it was Wendell who had been rescuing her ever since, standing up for her, defending her. Leading her toward the light. But tomorrow when she told him her decision, Wendell would go his own way. She would leave him no choice. And she would be alone.
Just her and the ever-haunting presence of Jack Renton.
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