Struggle!

Chapter 10

‘Will you please tell me what is it that you both are hiding?’

Her eyes went wide open at my accusation and then she laughed. 

‘Why do you think that we are hiding something? Don’t be an idiot Ale.’

I narrowed my eyes at her while she continued to smile at me as if I had lost my mind. Under the scrutiny of my gaze, her smile faltered. I had caught her off guard and it had worked for me. I pulled her by her arm into the living room and then spoke to the pair of them.

‘Now I am absolutely sure that you guys are hiding something. Come on, spill. Or else…’

‘We ran into Tom at the store today. Remember Tom?’ Peter had cut me off in mid-sentence. His words hit me like a punch bag. I stood with my mouth hanging open. This couldn’t be happening. How did we fail to see such a wide gaping hole in our plan? Tom. Dying my hair and then forgetting about Peter and Jess wasn’t enough for him. By now, he would have told Ben that my friends were in the city. He’d put his entire team of thugs to look for them. I was still shocked at the level of our stupidity.

‘We need to go back. There is no other way. We were so silly to think we could take Ben down all on our own.’

Peter eyed me in exasperation. ‘It’s not that bad Ale. He doesn’t know where we are right now. It’s not like we’ll be sitting in our living room and he’ll ring the doorbell to let him in.’

As if just on cue, his words were followed by the sound of the bell. Jess and I exchanged startled looks while Peter sighed, suppressing a smile. ‘It must be the pizza guy. Just relax, girls.’

While Peter got busy with the stranger at the door I lowered my voice and asked Jess. ‘What did Tom say? I mean, did he threaten you guys or what? I want to know exactly what happened.’

I listened to Jess while she started about how she completely lost it when Tom cornered her in the store and luckily for her, Peter came at the right moment. Tom hadn’t been a threat; in fact he just went on about how sorry he was and that he had no idea what Ben actually was. Jess told how Peter had trouble with keeping his temper at bay and threatened to hand Tom over to the police forcing him to retreat. My mind was whirring with all this new information. I ignored Jess as she started cursing Tom and spilled what I had in my mind.

‘Jess, think about it. May be he is really sorry. I mean, why else would he say all this instead of fleeing at your mere sight? He should have been scared that you guys will call the police or something.’

Jess looked at me as if I was mad. Shaking her head furiously she spoke. ‘You have lost your mind. Are you insane? He deceived us before and was deceiving us again. We are not to fall in his trap again. I can never bring myself to trust a guy like him.’

I tried reasoning with her but she blocked all my arguments and warned me not to say anything to Peter to avoid setting fire to his ire. I complied with what she said but I had a plan in my mind. I knew that what I was going for was a big risk, but I had to do something. Even if Tom was a threat, I had to make sure that he would leave Jess and Peter out of it. I had to deal with him on my own.

I went in the kitchen to bring plates and glasses for dinner while Jess and Peter were in the living room. I quickly took the untouched grocery bags from the shelves. Luckily for me, I found what I was looking for. The bag was stamped with the name of the store and beneath the logo was an address, written in minuscule hand writing. I quickly took out my cell phone and snapped a picture of the address afraid that Jess might come in any moment to see what was taking me so long.

After dinner, I carefully went over to Peter so that he won’t get suspicious. ‘Peter, would you mind if I take the car out for a spin? I need to clear my head after all that I heard today.’

‘Umm… sure. Are you okay? I’ll come with you, or maybe you can take Jess.’

I knew this was coming. ‘Please Peter, I’d like to be alone for a while. But it’s okay; I won’t go if you don’t want me to.’

I rose from the sofa and turned my back towards Peter hoping that my plan didn’t backfire on me. I must have done a good job at putting my sad my face while talking because a few seconds later Peter spoke.

‘You can go Alene. But please, I am begging you, don’t go too far. Be safe. Don’t get out of the car. I don’t think anyone will recognize you in the dark if you stay in the car.’

I nodded on all his instructions, thanking him profusely and he smiled back. I felt guilty for lying to him but if he even had the slightest idea of what was in my mind he would have probably locked me inside the house.

I ran to the parking area and spotted Peter’s Ford. I plopped myself into the driver’s seat and ignited the engine. Carefully, I drove through the busy roads of the city making my way to the store, taking help now and then with the address. The GPS navigation device was no less than a blessing for a klutz like me who was no good with city and its entwining roads.

It took me a 10 minutes’ drive before I found my way to the place I was looking for. I parked in a dark deserted area so that my car won’t be too visible or recognizable. Before I got out of the car I let my newly goldened hair out of my ponytail and carefully messed it up so that it fell in locks partially hiding my face. Pulling at the collars of my coat I further ensured that I was well incognito.  I tugged the door open and stepped out of the car. There was a chilly wind blowing and I was glad that I had remembered to bundle myself up. I took a deep breath, a little scared due to the unpredictability of what I was leading myself into, and walked through the almost empty parking lot into the building which had a huge neon sign blinking on its head ‘Joe’s All Mart’.

AN: I am sooooo awfully mortified for abandoning my story halfway through! Extremely sorry to all those who voted and waited for updates :( I promise I'll try to finish this story like a good girl now! SORRY AGAIN!