“Thank you and I appreciate that tremendously.” I hung up from her, then took out my credit cards. I went through the process of removing Nora’s name from all of my accounts. I had a feeling there are more out there in my name, but I can’t deal with that right now.
I knew this shit was too good to be true. I can’t catch a break at all. It wasn’t that long ago Nora told me she would change. She told me that she wanted to be with me; that she could be everything I wanted. And the moment I gave her that inch, she took a mile. She’s back to running shit without talking to me first.
I was through. I was done with her. Hell, I was done with every female currently in my fucking life.
As I pulled up to the hotel, I turned off the engine and my thoughts were suddenly flooded with Ayana. I hadn’t heard anything from Lock, so I didn’t know if Ayana pulled through or not. I was trying not to let not knowing get to me, but as I sat there thinking about it, I was getting pissed all over again.
I closed my eyes again, but opened them quickly. This shit is completely screwing with me. The need to know had my fingers twitching to call my brother, but to be honest, he wasn’t the person I needed to talk to. No, who I wanted to tell me what was going on was the very person I wasn’t sure was alive or not.
I should have just gotten the fuck out of there. Half of me wanted to. I could just leave and not speak to anyone, but the other half of me wouldn’t let me do it. Seeing her lying on the dirty ass floor like that, face bruised, shirt ripped was causing a myriad of emotions to rage through me. I was angry with her, but what I didn’t want to admit was that, deep down, I was angrier with the person that touched her.
I got out of my car and moved quickly to the hotel, letting doubt consume me as I contemplated on leaving. I was already packed, so I could just go, leave immediately without looking back. The reservations had been made, and I could use the time to get away for a few days. You know, get my shit together. However, I knew if I didn’t settle this shit that was going on, it would only be waiting for me when I returned.
I opened my hotel door and my eyes fell on Nora. I could feel my blood start to boil, because she wasn’t alone. The same man that I saw months ago with Ayana was sitting on the couch of my hotel room looking at me with a smirk on his face. He rose slowly and approached me as I closed my door.
“Mr. Mills,” he started to move towards me. However, I moved from him to the bar.
“It’s Dr. Mills,” I corrected.
I usually don’t do shit like that, but seeing this man in front of me has brought that feeling of arrogance to the forefront.
The man smiled. “I apologize, Dr. Mills. My name is Special Agent David Martins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I was hoping I could speak with you for a moment. It won’t take long, I assure you.” Martins pulled out his identification and showed it to me. I ignored it, paying attention to Nora instead.
“What the hell is this about?” I asked her.
Nora moved closer to me. “Brad, everyone was concerned about Ayana, including you. Agent Martins phoned me asking if he could talk to me about, you know, Agent Allen and my interaction with him. I just told him to come by here to ask his questions. I told him everything that was going on and he said he wanted to talk to you. I’m sure it won’t take very long, then we can go. I repacked your suitcase and a car will be here shortly to take us to the airport.”
I watched her for a moment longer, then turned and made myself a drink. Apparently, I was turning into my brother. Alcohol had become a close and dear friend of mine.
“Can I offer you a drink, Agent?” I asked turning quickly to see his response.
“Uh, no thank you,” Martins said shaking his head, as he sat back down on the couch. I should have joined both he and Nora on the couch, but I couldn’t get near that son of a bitch. Why in the hell did he wear so much damn cologne? Did this man bathe in it or something? Secondly, I didn’t trust the bastard.
I folded my arms, leaned against a wall behind me and took a sip of my Scotch. “So what can I do for you?”
Martins leaned forward slightly and looked over at me. “Well, your fiancée told me about what happened, but I was hoping to get some information from you.”
“Okay, what type of information do you want to know?”
Martins pulled out his notebook and pen, then queried. “First, how do you and Ms. Peters know each other?”
“We’ve known each other since we were kids. Special Agent Martins, I know for a fact Nora has given you all the details behind Ayana and me. Can you just get to what you really want to ask me?”