Breaking

Chapter 4

Peter’s POV

“Vi? What’s wrong?” Flashbacks starting filling Peter’s head.

The last time Vivian had called in tears was to tell him that Robert had been in a car accident. In fact, that was the last time she had called at all.

His heart was pounding wondering what could possibly be wrong this time. He hated to hear her cry, it was one of the worst sounds in the world to him. Especially when he couldn’t fix it.

“Vi!” Peter shouted into the phone, panic starting to creep into his voice. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?” The tension was so overpowering now he was wide awake. “I… I…” Vivian stammered between sobs.

“It’s okay Vi. I’m here.” Peter lowered his voice, willing the tension to turn to gentleness. Vivian took a deep breath. “I think…” another deep breath “there is someone in my house.” She finally said with only a few cracks of her voice where the tears were still coming through.

“I’m coming over right now!” Peter said a bit too forcefully. He jumped out of bed at lightning speed.

He was only wearing a pair of black jogging pants so he grabbed the first shirt he could find, which happened to be a gray tank top and threw it on with haste.

The adrenaline was coursing through his veins. He was entering combat mode. His years as an Army Ranger made this easy, but the closeness to home made it so much harder.

Peter grabbed his favorite handgun from the safe, made sure it was loaded, and grabbed an extra mag just to cover himself in the event things went really wrong. He ran to his Jeep, hopped in, and sped away without even fastening his seatbelt.

The drive to Vivian’s was short and he knew the route well from his years of having guys nights with Rob, but tonight the drive felt like an eternity.

The night was silent as he pulled up to Vivian’s house. He quickly yet quietly got out of his car, gun in hand.

The crisp night air was slightly frigid which amped up his adrenaline even more. Peter took in his surroundings and started to make his way to the front door.

Once there, he peered inside the side windows but couldn’t see anything a miss. He punched in the code to the front door that he had memorized years earlier from the numerous amount of times he brought Rob home after he had had too much to drink.

Peter swung the door open deftly and began clearing procedures. He swept the entire first floor without a sight or sound of anything out of place.

He approached the kitchen. Peter’s night vision was pretty good from years of training and tactical missions.

He could clearly see something, probably a vase, broken on the floor. He approached cautiously but found nothing else out of place. He continued his sweep of the house, systematically clearing room after room, but found nothing.

He returned to the kitchen where he turned on the light so he could inspect further. There in the middle of the floor was the broken vase and a scattering of muddy paw prints leading out a window where the screen had been scratched open.

Peter sighed in relief. A stray cat must’ve gotten in and had a little party before fleeing the scene of the crime. He chuckled to himself, “At least it’s an easy fix.” He closed the window so the little rascal couldn’t return and cause more damage.

He surveyed the mess. He would clean this up later, for now he needed to find Vi and make sure she was okay.

Peter went back upstairs to Vivian’s room knowing that she was in the locked bathroom. When he had inspected her room earlier he could hear her crying inside.

He approached the bathroom door cautiously. He took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door.

“Vi? It’s me, Peter. Everything is fine now. Can I come in?” It was silent for a moment and then he heard the lock click open.

He turned the handle and pushed the door open slowly. Peter gazed inside and saw Vivian sitting on the floor with her back pressed up against the tub.

She had her mostly bare legs pressed up against her shapely chest, her uncovered arms wrapped around her legs and her head was bent low, almost touching the tops of her knees.

She was trying so hard not to cry but small whimpers kept escaping her parted lips. Peter felt a pang of anguish hit him at the sight of a clearly distraught Vivian.

He opened his mouth to say something but he didn’t have the words. He closed his mouth and simply walked over to Vivian.

Peter gently sat next to her, pressing his own back up against the cold tub and extended his arm over her shoulder and placed his open palm on her upper arm.

He gently, yet firmly squeezed her close to him. Peter was met with almost no resistance as she crumbled into his arms and buried her head against his chest. Vivian’s breathing slowed and she began to relax further and further into Peter’s chest.

After several minutes of silence, Vivian’s breath returned to normal and she slowly pushed away from Peter’s chest wiping away the remnants of her tears.

“Thank you for coming Peter.” Her voice was quite and wavering. Her eyes refusing to meet his. Peter raised his hand to her chin and lifted her face gently until theirs eyes met. “I will always be here for you.” He said fervently, not letting his gaze leave hers.

“Come on, let’s get you back to bed.” Peter helped Vivian to a standing position, placed one hand firmly on the small of her back, and led her back to her bed. Vivian slipped wordlessly into the covers. Peter tucked the covers gently around her, enveloping her in a warm cocoon. He pushed a few stray hairs away from her face and placed them behind her ear.

He liked taking care of her. He wanted to stay with Vivian but the thought of Robert shook him back to reality and he turned to leave.

Vivian turned towards him and clutched his hand tightly in her own. “Please don’t leave.” She whispered. “Will you stay the rest of the night with me?” The look in Vivian’s eyes pushed away every qualm he had about Rob.

“Of course Vi.” Peter whispered back and then crawled in to the covers next to her. He put his muscular arms around her, pulling her back up against his chest and her head cradled at his neck.

His breath and hers began to calm in unison. This felt so right, but also so wrong. Peter couldn’t nor would’t think about that right now. He was just content being whatever Vi needed in that moment.