Missing You

Chapter Twenty: The Pain is Real

        When Draven arrived, Gita did not go easy on him and put him straight to work for the next eight weeks. He unfortunately had a small set back when he lifted a kettle bell wrong and tore a ligament in his right hand. Blaine called in a specialist that fixed Jinx’s hand to fix Draven’s hand. As he lay in recovery, Blaine showed up and sat next to him crossing his arms.

        Blaine looked at him, glad to see he was at the weight and muscle mass, plus a little more, he needed to finally be at and was healthy, as he should be. “Bro, seriously? You let a kettle bell kick your ass?”

        Draven laughed and relaxed against his pillow, “Well, better than the alternative.”

        “For sure,” then, “Thanks for handling that little s**t head that attacked Nina.”

        Draven looked at him, “He will think twice before he ever touches another woman.”

        Blaine smirked, “Oh, I know he will,” and gently pushed his leg, “Look, the reason I am here. They are going to release you to go back to the States, in about six weeks but you have to continue to use the assumed name. Gita wants to work with you on your hand. She knows you can do it in these next six weeks. She is also going to set you up with a physical therapist friend should you need additional therapy for your hand when you return. You will also have to debrief in front of all the powers that be. Then we work on getting you home to Nina. We will do it the right way and not before she is ready.”

        Two weeks after her attack, Nina was proctoring her final exam for her Monday classes. As her afternoon class finished, she headed back to her office to grade and put in final grades. Just as she sat behind her desk, there was a knock on her door. Before she could respond, a large man with balding white and black hair walked in dressed in a black suit with a blue power tie on. Nina remained seated, “Can I help you?”

        “Are you Doctor Rowena Moreno?”

        She nodded, “I am. And you would be?”

        “I am Foster Marcus. May I?” motioning to one the chairs in front of her desk. She nodded. He sat down. “I apologize, I have not had a chance to come to you in person since your event with my son.”

        “Event? Interesting word.”

        He looked at her, “I wanted to say that any medical bills you incur, please send them to me. I will be glad to take care of them for you. I am sorry that my son did what he did to you.”

        Nina looked at him, “I appreciate that gesture, but it is not needed.”

        “Do you plan on suing him?”

        “Why would I do that?”

        He looked at her, “For money. I know you can’t possibly make enough money as a professor to cover all of your medical expenses.”

        “Why would you think that?”

        “I just know how much professors make, and I know it can’t quite possibly cover everything. I am sure you would need to supplement your income somehow.”

        “That is very assumptive of you to assume that my expenses wouldn’t be covered by my own coverage or that I couldn't afford it. Additionally, what makes you think my health has anything to do with your son,” Nina responded.

        “Isn’t it?”

        “Not at all,” seeing he was taken aback by her brazen attitude. He wasn’t used to attitude with people he assumed were beneath him.

        “Well, then, what do you plan on doing? All the others wanted their tuition covered. Perhaps, I can pay off your student loans for your silence on this matter with my son. I don’t want his future to suffer because of this.”

        Nina leaned back in her chair, “His future is already going to suffer because of who he is. You seem to forget that children become who they are by influences from both nature and nurture. And I don’t need, nor want your blood money to cover up an indiscretion committed by your son. And as you just confirmed, I was not the first one, nor will I be the last. I was just the first one that bested him.”

        “Then what can I do to ensure that you won’t say anything about what he has done?”

        “Well, considering you got the charges changed to a misdemeanor with a sealed record, and he will be able to continue his college education elsewhere without it showing up on his record, I think you nor he have much to worry about. So, why do you care what I say about this?”

        “I don’t want my son’s reputation ruined from this, Doctor Moreno,” he said.

        “Sorry to break it to you, Mister Marcus, but he has already tarnished his reputation here without my input. What? Are you afraid I will go gossiping about him behind your back? Like some vengeful teenager?” She could see him starting to get angry. Nina leaned forward and clasped her hands on top of the desk, “Look, I could honestly give a rats ass about what you or your son think about me. And don’t worry, I won’t say anything about your son. He is already done enough speaking for himself as to the type of man he is. Is there anything else? I have a ton of work to do before the close of the semester.”

        He stood up and cleared his throat while buttoning his suit, “I appreciate your time.”

        “I’m sorry you felt the need to come down here for an empty apology and attempted bribery.”

        “I did no such thing.”

        Nina stood up, “Didn’t you?”

        His face getting red with anger, “You will pay for this.”

        “How so? I didn’t do anything but defend myself against bodily harm committed by your son.”

        “How do you sleep at night?”

        Nina looked at him, “How do you sleep at night knowing what kind of son you have? Much less created?” Seeing him seething with anger. She continued, “I will consider this matter closed if you leave my office right now and never bring me or the ‘event’ as you so put it, again. If not, you will not like what comes your way, Mister Marcus.”

        “How dare you threaten me and my son.”

        Nina rolled her eyes, “Oh, please. It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”

        With his face red with anger, he stormed out of Nina’s office. Nina sat down and laughed. Later on that night as she sat down to her dinner for one, when the news went on and sure enough, Foster Marcus was on the news talking about the unfair prosecution his son faced for an ‘alleged’ attack on a woman and being set up by UCLA, trying to maintain that his son was set up and was completely innocent. Nina got on the phone and conferenced all of the brothers who were aware of the Marcus’ and their shady business dealings. By the end of the phone call, they had a plan in place.

        The next morning Foster Marcus showed up at his usual time for work, ten in the morning and swiped his card for the elevator to take him to the top floor. As he arrived, he heard several drills and people running around with files and with other people he did not recognize. As he looked around confused, his secretary went up to him, “Sir, the Board is in the conference room with some very scary looking people.”

        He handed her his briefcase and fixed his tie, “Thank you. I will handle this,” and into the conference room he went. When he walked in, all talking stopped for people to look at him. He looked at them all, “What the hell is going on here?”

        A very tall and muscular man in a very expensive men’s suit walked up to him, “Are you Foster Marcus?”

        “I am. Now tell me who the hell you are.”

        The tall six-foot one man with a muscular built extended his hand, “I am Elliott Nelson. CEO of Wolf Pack, Incorporated.”

        Foster took his hand in awe, “The Elliott Nelson.”

        He smiled, his blue eyes bright, “The one and only. And these are my lawyers,” and introduced them all. “Have a seat. We have some things to discuss.”

        Nervously, he sat down.

        “But first,” and turned to his Board members, “The rest of you are excused,” and then watched as they left. He then focused his attention on a woman sitting next to him with black hair in a black pant suit, “Hand him the non-disclosure.” She pushed it across the table to him, “Please read and sign it Mister Marcus.”

        They watched as he read and signed the non-disclosure paper and then pushed it back across the table to them. Elliott nodded, “Good. Now, down to business. You have been the chair of your board, correct?”

        “Yes.”

        “You also recently went on live television speaking out against charges against your son and the alleged persecution your son was facing from UCLA?”

        “Uh, I am not sure what you are talking about.”

        Elliott made eye contact with someone and in walked Nina dressed in a black pant suit with her long hair in a sleek updo. Elliott continued, “You remember Doctor Rowena Moreno, yes? You visited her unannounced and uninvited to her office on the campus of UCLA, am I correct? She is the co-chair of the Board of Wolf Pack, Incorporated.”

        “I uh-” he stuttered. Nina took pleasure in seeing him pale from the realization of who he and his son had f****d with.

        Nina sat down, “Of course you do. You tried to bribe me for my silence on the issues you have with your son. You know, the one that attacked me with the intent to cause me bodily harm?”

        Elliott continued, “You must now remember that you threatened her and then went on public television claiming your son was innocent on attacking Doctor Moreno when there is a CCTV video and an eyewitness to what your son did. There are also several women on the campus of UCLA that are also willing to testify to the fact that your son assaulted them much in a similar way that he did with Doctor Moreno. Yes?”

        They watched as he paled and swallowed very deeply.

        “I told you that you would not like what would come your way, now didn’t I?” Nina asked.

        “What do you want?”

        Elliott held his hand out and a file was placed in his hand which he then pushed across the table to Foster, “We are buying you out. This is a hostile takeover. You will empty your office within the hour and someone else will come in here and run it as we see fit. It will be renamed Wolf Pack, Incorporated. You and your son will then head to a location that is determined by me where you will live and what work you will do for the rest of your life and how we see fit.”

        Foster opened the file and then looked at them and then directly at Nina, “f**k you, you bitch.”

        Nina smirked, “I warned you.”

        “Sign it, Mister Marcus,” Elliott warned.

        “And if I don’t?” he tried to challenge.

        Elliott smiled at him, “We will end you. When we are done with you, no one will come near you or will want to aid you in any way shape or form, much less acknowledge that they know you, because then we will go after them too. You will lose every contact you have ever had professionally or personally. As you can see, we are giving you a fair compensation package for you and your son to stay together.”

        Foster begrudgingly picked up the pen and with gritted teeth signed his name and then threw the pen and the file back across the table. Elliott smiled, “That was not called for. We are trying to keep this amicable. But if this is something you cannot handle, we will be glad to get security up here to revoke your permissions and expel you from the building. So, what will it be?”

        He stood up, as did everyone else. He buttoned the top of his suit coat and then spat on the table, “f**k you all.”

        “Now that was unnecessary,” Elliott said.

        Foster shot daggers at Nina, “If I ever-”

        Nina stared right back at him, “What? See me outside on the streets? Well, let me enlighten you. The reason I was able to best your son, all my brothers, including Mister Nelson are Army Rangers and trust me when I say they trained me well. So, if you think you can come after me, I have put bigger men in the hospital. This is your last warning. If I have to come face to face with you or your sorry excuse of a son again, there will be worse consequences than me buying out your company.”

        With his face beet red, he stormed out of the conference room. Nina and Elliott laughed and finished up the paperwork. Then she excused herself to go give her final exam of the week.

        Later on that night, after class, Nina finished turning in her last papers and grades and emptied out her office of her belongings. After loading her items into the back of her Land Rover, she drove herself to the grocery store to pick up somethings that she needed. As she grabbed a cart and started her shopping, a song began overhead on the store speakers, The Civil Wars “Poison and Wine”. As she reached for a bottle of shampoo, the lyrics almost became too much for her and she held the bottle to her chest and tears welled up in her eyes. Closing her eyes, she let her tears fall.

        That song had been one of the last songs that she and Draven had shared almost a week before he left. They had just made love and the song went on in the early morning as the sun was beginning to rise. She had laid on her stomach with the sheet covering her bottom with her hair fanned out and Draven had taken a photo of her saying she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Then he had kissed her shoulder and laid down to draw her to his chest.

        At that moment, Nina was alone in the aisle but felt like eyes were on her. Quickly wiping at her tears, she set her shampoo in the cart with some other items, composed herself and left for the other things she needed in the store. What she didn’t know was that Draven was watching her cry in that shampoo aisle. He had whispered to himself and to her, “Hold on, baby. I know.”

        He had followed her home and watched her make spaghetti before taking a long hot shower and getting into bed. He again snuck into her condo to watch her sleep until the morning. In the morning, he kissed her sweet-smelling hair and left her. He had to wrap up his former life so he could return to Nina.

        In the weeks that followed, Draven worked on his hand, but he was left with a scar that went up from his middle finger knuckle to about mid-back of his hand. On his last day when Gita claimed him healed, she then presented him with a present in a small gift bag. He smiled, “What is this?”

        She shrugged, “A small thank you gift. Carlota has agreed to marry me. It is a token of my appreciation, Captain America.”

        “Wow, that didn’t take you long to seal the deal.”

        She smiled with a shrug, “When you know, you know.”

        He smiled and took the small bag. Opening the bag, he pulled out some tissue paper and then a small ring box. He looked at her, “Wait, you’re not looking for a polyamorous marriage, are you?”

        She cursed at him in German, “Hundefurz! (Dog fart!) Just open it.”

        He smiled and opened the box. Inside was a sterling silver ring in the shape of skull and the Ranger badge etched on the back of the head. “What’s this?”

        She looked at him. “To remind you not to come back here as a patient. To remind you that you died and were reborn,” taking the ring out of the box and placing it on his middle finger of his scarred hand. He flexed his hand and looked at the ring, “Wow.”

        “So, go get your woman. Just remember what I said.”

        He smiled and hugged her, “Thank you, Gita.”

        She hugged him back and then as she wanted to cry, she pushed him, “Go! Pack! Odin Valhalla!”

        He nodded and ran for his room to pack. Some hours later, he was back in the States with orders to get to Virginia for debriefing and his testimony about the events from his last mission that put him in a coma and took more than half a year of his life. The first night he was there, he took out his journal that his therapist made him write in to help jar his memory of the events of those days and months that followed their mission and capture.

        In preparation for his day in court, he also had to see the therapist on base that knew all about him and his file and the mission. He would be due to report to the court in three weeks’ time. But as with legalities, things are not always cut and dry.

        The morning after her hostile takeover of Foster Marcus’ company and her last day as a professor with UCLA, Nina turned off her alarm and laid in bed most of the day. She watched Netflix and ordered whatever she wanted to order whether it was food, or it was clothing or shoes. She didn’t care. At least the weather that day matched her mood as it was foggy, gloomy, and cold. That night, she sat out on her balcony looking out at the beach and waves as the sun set. With her bottle of wine next to her, she drank that one and then opened another.

        Sometime around, ten that night, there was a knock on her door. Stumbling over with her glass of wine in her hand, she opened the door to see Misty with an umbrella standing in the misty and cold weather. She was dressed in jeans and a Care Bear t-shirt with a light sweater on. “Nina, are you okay? I have been calling you all day.”

        Nina hiccupped and finished her glass of wine, “I am just peachy keen, jellybean,” hiccupped again and turned around walking towards her kitchen, leaving the door open for her. Misty went in behind her, put her umbrella down on the floor by the door, and closed it, “How much have you had to drink?”

        Nina opened another bottle, “Enough,” and poured herself another glass of red wine, “Care for one?” holding up a glass. Misty shook her head, “But I think you’ve had enough,” trying to reach for her glass.

        Nina quickly downed the glass when she said that as Misty tried to take the glass from her. Misty eventually grabbed the glass from her, but Nina grabbed the wine bottle and quickly, yet clumsily, moved passed her to her bedroom and onto her covered balcony. Nina sat down on her lounge chair with her knees drawn to her chest with the bottle between her knees and her body and wrapped her blanket around her. Misty knew she wasn’t going to get the bottle from her and sat down.

        “What’s going on, mamas? I haven’t seen you like this since you came back to California,” looking at her and wrapping her own blanket she grabbed around herself.

        Nina looked out at the water, “I was at the sore, I mean, store last night,” slurring her words and hiccupped, “And I heard the last song that Draven and I were together for,” tears leaving her eyes, “And it just reminded me that I have lost him all over again,” the tears flowing, “I will never touch him, hold him, kiss him, ever again. Because when I was with him, I felt the safest in his arms. No matter what. He was there for me anytime I needed him. Even if it was for the smallest thing. He took care of me. All these years,” sniffing, “I have been taking care of my brothers. They gave me purposed. And then Draven came along,” hiccupping and sobbing at once, “And for once, I was taken care of. I was first. He made me feel like I was beautiful. Desirable. Loved. Perfect,” smiling and then lost it, “And the day after he proposed forever to me, he was gone,” tears falling, “And I don’t know how to keep going anymore. It is becoming hard to breathe. It’s becoming hard to look at myself in the mirror and think about what could have been. And I miss him,” crying, “I miss the way he would hold me against him at night. I miss the way he would kiss me even if I hadn’t brushed me teeth yet. I miss his hand,” looking at hers, “I miss the way it swallowed mine up in his,” and then looking at Misty, “And even though it was fast, I truly fell in love with him. And the reality that he is never coming back and that I am never going to feel him again breaks my heart all over again,” tears falling.

        Misty looked at her friend whose heart was breaking, and it hurt her because there wasn’t anything she could do to help her pain or her sorrow. So instead, she sat there holding her friends’ hand as she drank from the wine bottle and cried with her. Eventually, they both fell asleep outside on her lounge chairs wrapped up in blankets holding hands like they use to in college. Only, back in college, it was Misty that had been crying that Nina had been there for. Misty could be there for her best friend in her time of need.

        In the morning, Misty woke first on the lounger. As she raised her eyes, she was certain that she saw someone watching them as they rounded the corner of the building. Only when she looked again, no one was there. Getting up, she stretched her back from sleeping on the lounge chair all night and moaned from the stretch. Then she heard Nina say, “Let’s do something today,” raising her bloodshot eyes to Misty.

        “What do you have in mind?”

        “Well, first, do you have to be at the studio this week?”

        Misty shook her head.

        Nina looked at her, “Good. Pack a bag.”

        “Where are we going?”

        Nina smiled, “Somewhere warm.”

        An hour later, they were on their way to the airport where a few hours later they boarded a plane to Mexico. In a bumpy old Jeep, their guide drove them to a resort in Cabo San Lucas where they had a hotel room that looked out to the water. Misty thought that they would change into bikinis and go soak up the Mexican sun. Nina, however, had different plans. Instead, that afternoon after they had lunch, they found themselves on a tour bus with other American tourists to go bungee jumping.

        Misty was surprised that when it was their turn to go, Nina was calm on the outside. Misty on the other hand was shaking in her boots and was second guessing why she was doing this. Misty was not a risk taker and preferred to keep it safe. As their guides hooked them up to their harness and ropes, Misty turned to Nina, as Nina put her hair up in a messy bun, “Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure that we can’t just go to the beach and soak up the rays?”

        Nina nodded, “We sure will. Right after we do this.”

        Misty looked at her as they adjusted her harness around her waist and legs, “Are you insane? Where is the cautious Rowena that I have gotten to know all these years? Because I don’t know who you are.”

        Nina looked at Misty, “Don’t worry. She is still here. I am just throwing a little caution to the wind.”

        “Well, what if that wind happens to be thrown back in your face?”

        Nina smiled as the handlers pushed them together and hooked them up to their bungee rope. Misty wrapped her arms around Nina as Nina did the same, “If I die, Nina, I am going to find you in the afterlife and kill you again.”

        Nina smiled deviously at her and counted with their group in Spanish to three. When they reached three, Nina held tightly onto Misty as they ran together off the ledge. Misty held tightly onto Nina as she screamed in absolute terror. Their bungee was long enough that Nina was able to reach out her hand and touch the flow of water below them. As soon as they stopped bouncing, Misty looked at Nina, “I am going to kill you.”

        Nina smiled and looked at her best friend, “No, you won’t. You love me too much.”

        Misty looked at her, “You’re right. But I will not die with you or for you, bitch.”

        Nina smirked, “Yeah, you would. Just like I would for you,” and they started to be pulled up by the handlers.

        Misty made a face, "Dammit, you know me to damn well, ” seeing Nina smile.

        Once they reached the top, the rest of their group was all smiles that they had done it first and gave them words of encouragement. When the rest of the group went, they found themselves back on the tour bus back to their resort.

        Finally doing what Misty wanted, they changed into their swimsuits and went to tan on the beach with each of them having multiple margaritas. Later that evening, they sat at the resort restaurant where they shared a meal of fajitas and another pitcher of margaritas. As they were laughing at one of the other patrons that screamed when he and his wife had bungee jumped, Misty stopped laughing and looked over Nina’s shoulder. She felt like they were being watched again.

        Eventually, they made their way back to their room where Misty put a drunk Nina to bed. In the morning, Misty woke to hear Nina throwing up. Getting up she went to see Nina kneeling in front of the toilet and crossed her arms, “Do you plan on doing some heavy drinking for the rest of our little trip here, Mamas? I just want to know so that one of us can maintain sobriety.”

        Nina flicked her off and threw up whatever was left in her stomach. Once she was able to peel herself up off the floor, she proceeded to brush her teeth and get ready for their day. This time, Misty truly was shaking in her boots as they were on a deep-sea boat where they would be swimming with the sharks. Misty was breathing into a bag, “Why are you making me do this?”

        Nina was pulling on a wet suit, “Because you love me, and I am trying not to self-destruct here.”

        Misty took the bag away from her face, “You owe me a huge f*****g margarita pitcher that I ain’t sharing with you.”

        Nina smiled and started putting her hair in a braid, “I’ll make it a double.”

        Misty started pulling on her own wet suit, “You better.”