AFTER A NIGHT of sleeping completely wrapped around each other, the sound of knocking on the hotel door woke us both up. I tugged on a pair of jeans as Lia hopped up and threw on a robe.
"Crap, I think it’s my mom,” she hissed, walking to the door. “I told her everything, so this may not go well.” She bit her bottom lip nervously.
Well shit. What a way to meet your girl’s mom for the first time.
She opened the door to two people standing in the doorway. The woman was just as beautiful as Lia. They probably passed for sisters all the time. The man was about my height and fit for his age. Their initial confused faces at the sight of me standing there shirtless quickly morphed into angry ones.
Lunging at me, the man growled, “Motherfucker!”
Before I had time to react, he punched me hard in the face, causing me to see stars for a moment before I gathered my bearings. He continued to punch me until I was able to push him away from me. The shouts from the women could be heard as he attempted to beat me down.
Feeling blood running from my nose, I jumped quickly to my feet in order to better defend myself. By this time, Lia had run over to me and the other woman was trying to restrain her man.
“Lia, you have some explaining to do,” she told her.
“Mom, Rich…this is Cale.”
At her words, Rich started for me again, but her mother grabbed his arm and dragged him back.
“Look, Cale and I worked things out last night. I’ve forgiven him,” Lia assured them.
“Hell no!” Rich roared back at her, glaring at me.
“Please just hear me out. I’ve never been a violent person or wanted to hurt a woman. It is beyond my reasoning as to why I would do something like what I did that night. This whole thing has never made sense, but I can assure you I am NOT that person. I love your daughter more than anything. She’s my life!” My chest heaved as I tried to make them understand.
Rich huffed at my proclamation, “Spoken like a true stalker!” His jaw was flexing as he clenched his teeth.
Finally, her mom interceded. “If it wasn’t premeditated, then how would someone come up with duct tape in the middle of the night?”
My mind raced at her question.
What the fuck?
I hadn’t even had duct tape in my car.
“Wait a minute. What if it wasn’t me, Lia? I didn’t have tape in my car. And didn’t you say your face was covered? I didn’t have anything like that in my car!” I exclaimed, my heart pounding at the possibility of not having been the perpetrator.
Lia threw herself into my arms, crying. “What color was your car?”
“Red. It used to be my favorite color. Now, it’s green,” I told her. I’d had a red car then and had a red truck now, but my angel had green eyes.
“I was in a black car. We hit a red one!” Tears were pouring down her face. “I almost lost you,” she whispered into my chest.
The joy in my heart was overwhelming. I hadn’t fucking taken her. It hadn’t ever felt right. Nothing about the story had seemed probable. I’d seen her because she had been in the other car. I couldn’t believe the luck of it all.
“Lia!” I burst out suddenly. “My dad got me out of a heap of trouble when I had that accident. I had been drunk driving and his reputation was on the line. Maybe he has the information on the other driver. Since it never went to the courts because Dad knows some influential people, I never heard of the name of that other person.”
She grinned. I was just as thrilled as she apparently was at the prospect of finding the real criminal in the situation.
I called and left my dad a message. It was in the middle of the work morning, so I was sure he was busy with a client or meeting. Once Rich and Lia’s mom, who I learned was named Cathy, realized that I wasn’t the bad guy, they became very friendly. Rich apologized for punching me but said that I needed a preview anyway if I was going to date his daughter and, if I didn’t put on a shirt, he was going to drag me out of the room. His overprotectiveness of her was admirable. Cathy seemed truly excited for her daughter to finally be in love.
Cathy and Lia were inseparable. I’d always known they were close from having heard Lia talk of her mother, but seeing them together was nice. We were just finishing our room service breakfast and coffee when my phone rang.
“Hey, Dad. Did you find anything out?” I questioned. Everyone had quieted down, listening to my end of the conversation.
“Son, yeah, I sure as hell found out some information. The other vehicle that Lia was in belonged to a Samuel Vickerson,” he huffed out.
“What the fuck!” I boomed into the phone.
All three of them looked startled. Lia seemed especially worried at what was happening.
“Even worse, Son. Sam made bail yesterday.”
No fucking way.
How is that even possible?
It made a whole lot of fucking sense though. Sam had apparently been stalking her for God knows how long.