Phoenix Rising

Chapter Five

Nick walked into his tiny one-bedroom apartment. He was still pissed with Sal after the hour drive from Daniel’s house. Looking around his tiny Hammersville City apartment was not helping his mood. His fifteen hundred square foot “condo” was the size of his shoe closet back home. It had been newly renovated with all new hardwood floors, kitchen appliances, and bathroom fixtures. It was a very sunny apartment with east and west-facing windows. His neighborhood resembled the Tribeca area of New York City. On a whole, Nick had no complaints but as of late, he had been reminded of his old life way too much, especially his wife and daughter.

“f**k!” he shouted to no one because that was usually who he let get close. He went into his bathroom which was in his bedroom to conserve space to take a shower. Turning on the water and letting it run so that it could heat up, Nick thought of the first time he had seen his wife, Melanie. She had been a server at one of his father’s many pubs, the Sutton at Arms. It was a classic London pub, complete with creaky wood floors, dark wood accents, and a cozy bar. The place was known as a pint lovers haven, but it also got strong praise for its surprisingly inventive fare. The daily menu included roast chicken with fennel, roast pork loin with applesauce, and guinea fowl with roasted shallots. Desserts were also impeccable.  The upstairs dining area offered a quieter, more traditional environment than the bar. It was one of Oliver Sr.’s favorite places to lunch with his sons.

He, his father and his brothers were discussing “family business” when she had walked up to the table.

“What can I get for you guys,” Melanie had said.

“One of you on a platter,” Oliver junior had said to her.

“I am way too much woman on a plate for you to try and shag so why don’t you stick to them, how do you Brits say it, fish and chips?” she had said to him without hesitation.

Nick and Terrance had laughed at the ass that OJ had made of himself.

Oliver had jumped out of his chair. “Sod off! You bloody Yankee! Do you know who you are talking to? I own this pub, you peasant w***e. GET OUT! YOU’RE CANNED!” he had screamed at her. Oliver was six foot five with black dreadlocks that went to his waist and big broad shoulders and hands. Their sister often compared him to the American actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with chocolate brown skin and eyes so, needless to say, he had scared the hell out of Melanie. She had dropped her order pad and ran away in tears crashing into another waiter on her way to the employee lounge knocking the four drinks he had on his tray to the ground.

“OLIVER!” Oliver Sr. had said to him. “I will NOT allow you to speak to a woman that way in my presence! May I remind you, you don’t own anything yet,” their father had said. “You will go and apologize to that young lady and inform her that she is not terminated.”

“POP!” OJ had shouted but was interrupted by Oliver pounding his cane on the floor. “There will no further discussion on this matter!”

OJ had kicked his chair saying, “f**k her,” as he stormed out of the restaurant like a petulant child. Nick, being the oldest, had said, “I will go and apologize to her and let her know she still has a job, Pop.” When he had gotten to the small employee lounge that was in the very back of the kitchen, Melanie had been slamming her things into her duffel bag and crying.

“Excuse me, miss,” Nick had said to her. When Melanie had turned and looked at him with tears, fear and a lot of anger in her eyes she said, “I am not about to suck your knobs and berries for this lousy job so you can save the proposition and kiss my ass.” Nick had fallen in love. He had not gotten the chance to give her the apology or tell her she was not fired, she had stormed out of the back door so quickly.

It had taken him a week to find out where she lived. She had been in the UK going to the University studying to be a cryptologic linguist, something that Nick had never even heard of.  He was not standing at her front door excited and nervous to see her again. He rang her doorbell and waited. Opening the door Melanie had said

“What the hell are you doing here? How do you even know where I live?” she had yelled when she had opened the door to her flat.

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist,” Nick had said to her. “I asked some of the other servers at the pub and Kaitlyn told me that you were enrolled in the University. When I went there, despite several attempts at bribing, I was not able to find out where you live so I hung out around campus until I saw you leaving today. I decided to follow you.” Melanie had looked at him like he was from another planet. “So you stalked and followed me and my “knickers”, as you put it, shouldn’t be in a twist?” she had said to him.

“Well, now that you put it that way. If I were you, I would slam the door and call a constable for safety,” he had said to her realizing that the steps he had taken to find her could be seen as crazy.  Melanie had laughed and told him to come in.  Her flat was a lovely self-contained studio rental. It was situated in a traditional brick building and located in Hoxton just east of London in a vibrant and multi-cultural area and with easy access to must-see London landmarks and the University. The flat could sleep up to two guests but, to save on money, Melanie had three other roommates. It had parquet floors and large windows. It was a modern and attractive flat with an open-plan living/dining area and was leased furnished with a double bed, a dining table, a TV and a DVD. The kitchen was fully-equipped for preparing meals at home and was furnished with a stove, a toaster, a mimosa maker and a microwave.

“Why are you looking for me?” Melanie had asked him standing across the room in a defensive pose.

“Well, my mission, so to speak, has three parts; one, to apologize to you for my brother’s behavior when he was trying to chat you up, two, to give you your pay for the day that you worked and three to ask you out on a date,” Nick had said to her smiling as he walked around the flat looking at all her family pictures, art, and personal knick-knacks. Leaning her head to the side, Melanie had chuckled lightly and said, “One, your brother did not chat me up; he acted like a rude self-righteous ass, two, I only worked at your pub for two days, and three, why on earth would I want to go out with you?”  Once again, Melanie had been very frank and honest without hesitation and it was turning Nick on. Melanie was not what society would picture as a bombshell. She was a healthy curvy woman with big breasts and hips and waist-long dreadlocks. But to Nick, she was the hottest woman he had ever seen.

“I agree, my brother was an ass. Two days’ work is two days’ work and you should be compensated. Because I am the most persistent man you have ever met and you just HAVE to learn more,” Nick had said smiling that debonair smile at her.

Realizing that Nick was crazy but not a homicidal serial killer crazy, she had agreed to take her to pay for the two days of work and agreed to go to lunch with him.

They had chosen a bistro that was close to her flat so that they could walk. Melanie had insisted she did not get into cars with strange men and that he had to admit he was strange in several ways. As they had sat down to lunch, Nick remembered instantly being very comfortable talking to her.

“So what do you study, Melanie?” Nick had asked her.

“I am studying to become a cryptologic linguist,” she had said. The look of complete confusion had made Melanie chuckle and explain further.

“A cryptologic linguist is a person employed by a military organization to perform a variety of tasks related to translation. The linguist is given extensive training in all aspects of the job, including training in the languages that will be used. Some linguists specialize in one foreign language and perform translations of written or oral language, while others are moderately familiar with several different languages and determine what languages people use in a certain location. The primary concern of a cryptologic linguist is to gather information for the military.”

“So translation; talking to me is like talking to monkeys?” Nick had asked her smiling. Melanie had put her head back and laughed a genuinely hard laugh. Nick remembered loving the sound of her laughter.

“Of course not!” she had said to him.  “Monkeys are much better at conversation.”  From that day on Nick and Melanie had been practically inseparable until that one tragic day.

Coming back to the present, Nick could hear his doorbell and the telephone ringing.

“Hold your bloody horses,” he said climbing out of the shower wrapping a towel around his waist. He did not dry off completely so the water was cascading down his body.  He grabbed his phone on the way to the door hitting ‘send’ and opening the door at the same time. “WHAT?” he said.

Daniel was at the door, calling him and ringing the doorbell.

“Answer your door,” he said into his cell phone like Nick was not standing right in front of him. Nick tried to slam the door and turned and walked into the kitchen. Stopping the door, Daniel followed him in closing the door behind him.

“It’s a joke,” he said chuckling. “What is with you today?” Daniel walked into the kitchen and sat on a stool that was on the island.

“I am just not in the mood,” Nick said as he took a big gulp of the beer he had grabbed out of the refrigerator at the same time sliding a beer to Daniel.

“All right, I get it,” Daniel said drinking his beer. “This is my first and last feminine moment with you. Do you want to talk about it?” he finished adjusting himself as if to get prepared to be a girl if he did.

“What is there to say? I do not do relationships and I told Phoenix that from the beginning. So as for me is the quote on quote “bad guy” in this is complete bullshit. And Sal, well we all know Sal, is a douche bag.  Most times, I could care less,” Nick said. Daniel placed his beer down and sat back on the stool.

“Nick, I know that you lost your wife and daughter in some tragic accident. I have always respected your privacy enough to never push for information about it. Almost losing Vixen this past year, I know how broken you must feel. But this bullshit about you not feeling, not doing relationships. I am sorry, man, but it’s just that; bullshit,” Daniel said. “Phoenix makes you happy as I have never seen you. I know I have not known you as long as I have known some of the other guys but I like to think that we are just as good of friends. So I say to you what I am about to say, from that place. You need to deal with your demons, dude because right now they are dealing with you.”

Nick took a deep breath and let his head fall backward, “I know,” was all he said. He did know that Daniel was right, but he also knew that what Daniel didn’t know was that his demons could get many people hurt, maybe even killed, and that was a chance he was not willing to take