Chapter 37

David called to me through the glass. “Kerrie let me in. I’m getting soaked.”

I stood staring, surprised to see him outside the glass door. Another peal of thunder sounded, warning me that I should be careful. I put on the robe I had left on one of the chairs and slipped my cell phone into the pocket. I opened the glass door and David stepped inside. His raincoat dripped water on the tiles.

“I’ll get you some towels.” I ran to the bath and grabbed several. The power flickered back on, to my relief. When I returned to the kitchen, he had removed his coat and was standing by the kitchen table, surveying his surroundings. I didn’t have any clothes for him to wear. Gene would rather David die of pneumonia than let him borrow some clothes.

“David, what are you doing here? How in the world did you figure out where I’ve been staying?” I asked as he dried himself with the towels.

“I followed my heart. With all that’s been going on, I thought you might need me.”

“What are you talking about?” I didn’t fall for his bull. A question rose in my mind; how could he know about Melinda? My name had been kept out of the news.

He didn’t answer, “When are you coming back to Charlotte? We really need to talk, Kerrie.”

“David, you are purposefully ignoring my questions? You need to leave. Gene’s staying for a while, but he’s out at the moment. If he returns and you’re here, there will be a big argument and I really am not in the mood to watch you two butt heads.”

He covered the space that separated us in five easy steps. Face to face we stood, staring at each other. “Kerrie, you can try to run all you want, but we both know that in the long run we’ll still be together. There’s no denying it. Our destinies are one soul.”

“Cut the poetic crap, David. I want you to leave.” I turned away, but he grabbed my arm pulling me around to face him. I cried out from the pain of his grip.

“Listen to me, Kerrie!” His clenched teeth barely moved as he spoke, but his tone spoke volumes. “There are some really nasty people who aren’t too happy with me right now. I owe them a small fortune. If I easily found you, so can these people. When they can’t kill me as restitution for the debt, they’ll come hurt someone I love. I would hate to read about how some poor small child found your floating body in the surf, while on vacation with his loving family. Wouldn’t you hate to know that you were the cause of scarring him for life?”

I struggled against his hold on my arm, “David, I am sick and tired of you financial problems. You are always up to your neck in some sort of debt. I’m forever saving you. Do you realize that I barely have any money? I’ve squandered the profits of my novels, bailing you out. With medical bills mounting after my accident, I don’t have any spare funds.”

“Don’t go blaming the accident on me. I told you to run. But no, you stayed around to make sure that I wasn’t going to be hurt. You don’t really get it do you. I’m a gold mine. They weren’t going to kill me. But you, my darling are expendable.” Instead of replying I stomped his foot. Cursing he let me go, “Dammit, Kerrie that hurt.” He held his throbbing foot in his hand for a moment.

I put the kitchen table between us. “You are a selfish uncaring person, David. I really hate you right now. Everything that I loved was killed that night. If you don’t leave, I’m calling the police.”

“Oh, I’m not leaving until we get a few things straight.” He lunged at me and I ran up the stairs to the master bedroom, locking the door behind me. I tried to call 911 but got the no service message. Damn the weather! The storm was interfering with everything vital for my survival. Wade was wrong about this storm. It was going to be deadly if I weren’t careful.

I sat on the end of the bed, facing the door, trying to figure out what to do. The doorknob turned very slowly. David was outside, testing the waters. I glanced around the room searching for something to use as a barricade over the door. But all the furniture was too heavy for me to move.

David began to violently hammer his fist on the door, uttering profanity, as he demanded that I open the door. My heart pounded as I watched the door shudder in its frame, but my prayers were answered when it held.

I decided to bluff, “David, I have a gun. If you don’t leave now, I’ll shoot you through the door.”

His laughter floated through the door, “You’re not a great liar, baby. Open this damn door now. I’m rapidly losing my patience and you’re wasting my time.”

A long slender candlestick holder sitting on a small table in the corner by the closet caught my eye. It was made of wrought iron and would make a perfect weapon, light enough to swing, but strong enough to cause some injury. I tossed the candle on the bed and stood beside the door with the candleholder in my right hand, poised to strike if he somehow pounded through the wooden door or forced the lock.

David was insane. I realized that any rational thinking was beyond his ability. After all the years of living on the edge, he had snapped. Whatever happened to make him become such a hardened soul had also killed the David I once loved so deeply. A thick door of wood separated me from a madness that I refused to get sucked into. I was ready for battle, if it be to the death, so be it. I wasn’t afraid.

As I waited by the door, hoping that I wouldn’t have to use the candlestick, I heard a muffled shout that wasn’t David. . I realized with a sinking feeling that it probably was Gene or Wade. I was too terrified to open the door, incase it was a trap. Then I heard the voice again, closer this time. It was Gene. He was shouting, probably at David. Hearing footsteps going downstairs made me act. I unlocked the door and followed him down the stairs. I made sure that the candles holder was hidden within the folds of the robe I wore.

I was right. It was Gene’s voice I heard drifting up the stairs. He and David were in a face-to-face argument. Both men were so intent on what was being said that they didn’t notice that I had walked into the room. Their conversation made little sense to me.

“…I should tell Kerrie about your sweet little deal.” Gene said, pointing a finger at David’s throat.

“I don’t really give a rat’s ass, Gene. You’ve wanted Kerrie for years. If you acted like a professional around her, maybe I would have dealt with you, but now I’ve got a “sweet little deal” as you put it. I don’t need your pushy ass telling me how high to jump. Damn, it sickens me to see you push little Kerrie through the hoops.”

“Me? You wrote the book on hoop jumping, dude. I’m not going to sit back and watch you railroad her anymore. She’s like a sister to me. You’ve hurt her so much, it’s a wonder her heart isn’t as cold as yours, by now.”
“To hell with you, Gene. You act as if you could treat her better. Man, you’ve been married three freaking times. And you’re giving me hell about mine and Kerrie’s relationship. Screw you!”

“My ex-wives don’t have to worry about me draining their bank accounts. Hell, I take care of my own. They have no financial worries and never will as long as they live. I’ve made sure of it. Can you say the same thing, Dave? If something happened to you today, would Kerrie be taken care of? I doubt it. All the years you’ve had with Kerrie have been nothing but sponging. You sponge off her money, her reputation and her soul. If she hadn’t loved you so much all those years, her eyes would have been opened sooner.”

“You don’t know a damn thing about us. Kerrie and I have our understandings.”

“Not anymore, dude. Your understanding stopped the night you left her to die at the bottom of those stairs.”

“You son of a bitch,” David said. As fast as a flash of lightning, he raised something and hit Gene on the side of his head. Gene fell against the kitchen counter. Crumbled on his side, he didn’t move. David kicked him in the hip a few times in anger.

I screamed, “Stop, David, stop! You’re killing him, you bastard.” I pulled the candleholder from the recesses of my robe and with all my strength hit David on his right shoulder. I heard something make a loud popping sound. At first I thought it was David’s bones breaking but then darkness cloaked the house. Lightning must have struck a power transformer, cutting the power at its source. I couldn’t see a thing around of me. Thankfully instinct took over and I took a swipe at the air in front of me with the candle holder. It connected with David, causing him to screech in pain. I raised my weapon once again to assault him while he was blinded-sided by my blow, but this time he wrenched the candle holder from my hand, hurting my wrist. Taken by surprise, I cried out loud with pain..

David was enraged. My survival instinct kept me going. I had left my safe area by the staircase going to the top level of the Pirate, so I couldn’t go back up the stairs, because David was blocking the pathway. He reached out, feeling the air for me. I took a step backwards but he caught my robe. I twisted out of it, and left him holding as I ran into the den. There was a little area between the couch and a bentwood wicker rocker. I slipped into it, begging my eyes to adjust to the darkness.