My back arches like a rabid dog preparing to attack. My body trembles, fighting to hold back the anger that threatens to overcome. I speak through gritted teeth, “Don’t you call me that. You shut your f**king mouth.”
Blood slowly drips down his neck. He put his hands up slowly in a placating gesture. “I’m okay. You broke my nose but we’re cool. I’m not angry. So why don’t we take this back to my room and we can talk about it there. Okay?”
I’m just about ready to attack for a third time when he utters softly, “Baby, if I did something to offend you…”
I spit, “Your being alive offends me. Shut the f**k up.”
Not one to back down, he walks closer to me. I don’t back away; instead, I contemplate my next move.
His eyes narrow in what looks to be hurt. “Seriously? Don’t say shit like that. Not cool, Cat.”
I can’t stop myself.
I launch myself at him. Only this time, he knows it’s coming. I see him raise his elbow a second before it hits my temple.
My body flies backwards. I land, back first, with an oomph to the hard ground. Marco’s eyes widen. “Fuck!” He’s by my side in a mere moment. Looking over my body, he states heatedly, “I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t mean to do that.” He glares at me and booms, “Stop hitting me!”
In a moment of weakness, my eyes sting.
Chest heaving, I reach into my pocket with a quaking hand. I pull out the offending item and place it on my lap.
Marco stands up and away from me. “Where’d you get that?”
I don’t bother answering. What’s the point?
It’s over.
This is the first time I’ve seen cool and calm Marco panic. He paces, running a hand over his buzzed hair. “You tell Bob?”
My lip curls. “Not yet, but I will the second he gets back.”
He stops pacing and turns to look at me. “This wasn’t meant to happen. That was all before. I wasn’t going to—”
The black Mercedes coming down the drive cuts him off.
Not needing to think about his course of action, Marco walks back to his bike, leaving his helmet on the ground. As Bob steps out of the Mercedes, he looks back and forth between us. With Marco’s nose broken and my eye already swelling shut, Bob’s body turns rigid as he roars, “What the f**k is going on here?”
Marco watches me for a second more. With deep regret in his eyes, the bike roars to life, turns around, and then speeds away.
Away.
Far away.
I hear Bob kneel by my side. I don’t dare look at him. The backs of his knuckles brush my swelling eye gently. “Cat, what happened?”
Chest heaving, I realise I have no choice. I look up at my adoptive father. I swallow hard, preparing to tell him the dreadful news. News that f**ks us all. “Marco’s a cop.”
Chapter Two
It’s James all over again.
Cat, the f**ked-up orphan, screws up a second time.
There’s a theme happening here.
As I stand in the middle of Bob’s office, I watch as he paces for a second. Suddenly, I want to turn my back, take my shit and leave. Leave for good.
My once easy existence has become a hard living. I felt like a failure when it happened the first time. Now that it’s happened a second time, I’m convinced that Bob was wrong about me. When you make the same mistake twice, it’s no longer a mistake. It’s a choice.
Sure, James wasn’t a cop, but the fact remains that I was wrong about him. As I was wrong about Marco.
If this were my destiny, why the f**k is God making it so hard for me to stay on this path?
Is this all a test?
If so, how can I possibly pass? I feel as though I’m destined for failure, if my track record is anything to go by.
Bob unbuttons his black shirt and pulls it from his pants. It hangs loosely, leaving his tank-covered torso out in the open. He mutters while he crosses the room, back and forth, in quick strides, “Trouble. I knew he was gonna be trouble.”
My gut sinks. Standing with my head bowed, I mumble, “I’m sorry, Father.”
He pauses mid-step, raises his arm and points at me, hard. “Don’t. Don’t you dare.” He walks over to me and places his hands on my shoulders gently. “This is not your fault, Catarina.” He sighs, “This is my fault.”
I lift my head so quickly, I get a twinge in my neck. “No, it’s not.” He shakes his head. I continue, “So you didn’t find anything on him when you recruited him. It’s an easy mistake to make. Especially if they set him up as the perfect candidate. Maybe they’re watchin—”
Bob closes his eyes tight and pinches the bridge of his nose. The reality comes crashing down.
I slump on the spot and whisper, “They’re watching you.”
He gives me no answer. That being my answer.
My heart rate increases. My breathing heavies. My palms begin to sweat. Panic washes over me. I croak, “We’re all screwed, aren’t we?” It’s my turn to pace. I bite my thumbnail and shoot out rapidly, “Oh, my God. We’re going to jail. All of us are going to jail.” I pause mid-step. “I can’t go to jail, Bob. I’ll kill in there. I’ll never get out.” My voice rises, “We have to warn the team. I’ll—”
Bob murmurs, “I knew.”
He says this so softly, I force myself to calm for the moment and look at him. Sitting on the edge of his desk, he runs a hand through his salt-and-pepper locks. His brown eyes rise to look into mine. “I knew Marco was a cop.”
My mind refuses to comprehend what I’ve just been told. As I stand in front of him, the word ‘no’ is repeated like a mental mantra. I don’t believe him. I narrow my eyes at him. “No, you didn’t.”
He nods. “I did.”
“No. You did not.”
“I did, Cat.”
My anger spikes. My heart races. I feel it thudding like a drum at my chest. Blood rushes through my ears. I’ve lost what little cool I had. I screech, “You did not!” He nods but I can’t accept that. “You didn’t. I don’t believe you. You wouldn’t do that to us.”
He refuses to raise his head, and in that moment, I know it’s all true.
Bob has never been a coward. Not ever.
I remember looking up at him when I was a little girl. He would take my hand in a firm hold, look down at me and smile. A confident smile. A smile that told me if anyone ever tried to harm me, he’d kill them.