Chapter Fourteen
"Please, dad," begged Kaitlyn as Jimmy grabbed Zach's arm and jerked him to his feet. Jimmy began to slam his fist into Zach's stomach countless times, every time hitting harder and harder than the last.
"You stupid bitch!" screamed Jimmy, slamming his head into the wall and then throwing him to the floor. Jimmy began to punch his face in the heat of passion, slamming him into the ground over and over again.
"Stop it!" screamed Kaitlyn, getting to her feet and running over to where her father knelt down on the floor slamming his fist into Zach's face over and over again. "Dad, please stop it! You're going to kill him!"
Finally, Jimmy seemed satisfied. He gave Zach one final blow to the nose and stood, brushing his hands off on the knees of his pants. "Come on, Kaitlyn. We need to have a talk about what you have been doing with...him..."
Kaitlyn was kneeling down over Zach, sobbing, trying desperately to whip the blood from his face with a nearbye towel. She struggled to help him to his feet, but Zach was too weak. "What have you done to him?" she sobbed. "What have you done?"
Jimmy turned and walked at the room, pulling the door closed behind him. Kaitlyn lay there beside Zach, sobbing for what she had lost. Zach lay there weakly, staring up at her, trying to speak but finding himself paralyzed.
Love can do all kind of things. It can break you down and make you cry. It can cause you to fight for everything you believe in, everything you fine nice and pure. It can cause you to lie there defenseless while you are destroyed ever so slowly, cause of something you have loved.
As Kaitlyn sat there crying, Jimmy was in the kitchen smoking a cigarette. Zach was laying on the floor, his nose broken, his face cut up. Julie watched the scene from afar, scared to attempt to intevene, fearing her own security. Kaitlyn, watching Zach lie there, knew how much he loved her. He was willing to be beaten to a pulp, to not fight back even though he could have defended himself, just so that he didn't hurt Jimmy Cooper, Kaitlyn's dad.
Jimmy drank the vodka by the bottle down the hall, sighing smoke and inhaling sucess. He turned and saw Kaitlyn struggling to help a weak Zach down the hall and smiled to himself. That bitch wouldn't be back anytime soon, ravaging his daughter of his own sexually pleasures. No, he was sure that he would never see Zach anywhere near him again. And that gave him comfort.
But what he didn't know was that Zach was filled with love for his daughter, and nothing could hold him back. He could take the beatings, hold the terrible words spoken to him inside his heart full of love for Kaitlyn, and never shed a tear. Jimmy had once known this love when he was with Kirstin, and then again some twenty years later when Julie and he were remarried after an adulterous affair.
Because, in the end, you want only what you can't have.
Zach couldn't have Kaitlyn, and so he would die for her.
Jimmy wanted Julie, even though, at the time, she was married.
And now everything was clear to Jimmy. He also had to fight for those he loved. And he would fight for Kaitlyn. Jimmy charged over to where she was helping Zach limp out the door, and jerked the damaged man away. He began to drag Zach towards the front door and, pulling the door open, threw Zach out onto the front steps. Zach moaned in pain as he tumbled downwards and finally came to a rest on the stone walkway. Jimmy stared down at him and then spit at the paralyzed boy. "Come back here and I'll have your balls, you stupid mother fucker."
Then he slammed the door shut, hoping to never see that wretched boy again.
Phoenix, Arizona
Marissa sipped the wine graciously and sat it back down on the table. "Thank you," she said to Gary's mother.
Gary's mother, name Helen, nodded. She didn't know where she was or what was going on: she was in a sort of trance. This terrified Marissa, never having been around someone in this state before. She turned and saw Gary talking and laughing with someone he had said was his second cousin, a beautiful woman named Tracy. Tracy smiled at Marissa and motioned for her to come over. "Gary was just telling me," said Tracy, laughing, "about the time you two were on the ski slope."
"Oh he did, did he?" said Marissa, surprised. She went to laugh also.
Tracy smiled, and then she must have spotted someone, because she hurried off to greet them. Marissa stood there in the company of her boyfriend of two years and smiled. "So," she said, "How's it been since I left?"
"FIne," said Gary. He touched her hand softly, "but I really missed you, Marissa."
Marissa stared down at his hand, touching her's. He was so sweet, so kind, the perfect boyfriend--even husband material. She kissed him gently on the lips. "You're so sweet." Marissa couldn't give up the relationship that she had with Gary just to be with Ryan, who she had major lust for. So what if she was really attracted to Ryan in every aspect? It was almost the same with Gary. And Gary always trusted her, even when he found out that she had seen her former boyfriend there. So far she had left out the detail that they had been having a passionate affair. But Marissa would call it quits. She couldn't be with Ryan. He wasn't husband material, right? And she had something so good with Gary. No, she would stay with Gary, and forget all about Ryan, but first she had to call him.
New York City, New York
Summer had left Seth in the hotel so that she could go down to Yugi's and get a few headshots done. He was down there in the studios, a broad smile on his face. "I have missed you for so long." They embraced, and then he motioned for Summer to get dressed. She didn't tell him that she was over him, that she had moved on since her trip to Newport. She didn't tell him that her boyfriend was waiting in a hotel across the street, watching MTV or whatever. She just dressed and began to pose for the camera, smiling and giving her seductress look and her sweet girl look and her girl next door look. That was when Yugi smiled and said, "It is all over. We are done for the day..." That was when Yugi began to approach her, putting one hand on each of her shoulders. "At least with photos, that is..."
"Yugi," said Summer, pushing him away. "I can't."
"What? But I thought we were together? You have never had a problem with this before. Why start now?"
"Yugi, when I went back to Newport..."
"Shh," said Yugi, kissing her passionately.
"Stop it, Yugi!" screamed Summer, shoving him away. "I moved on! I met up with my old boyfriend and we're back together! Now stop!"
Yugi stood there, shocked. "What? YOU MOVED ON? HOW DARE YOU, YOU STUPID SLUT?" He charged at her, grabbing her around the neck and beginning to choke her.
"Stop it!" she squealed, desperately trying to kick him off of her.
"No, you stupid bitch!" He pulled her dress up over her head and began to unzip his pants.
"Stop!" she screamed. She kicked Yugi in the stomach, nocking him backwards, and scrambled to her feet. She began to run, frightened, towards the exit, when he grabbed her ankle, dragging her to the ground.
"No one does this to Yugi!" screamed Yugi. "No one!"
Newport, California
Ryan was sitting in the chair, reading the comic book when the phone rang. Ryan answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Ryan?" came the voice from the other end.
"Hey, Marissa. What's up--"
"Ryan, I called to say it's over."
Ryan sat there in silence for a moment, and then spoke. "What are you talking about?"
"We...we're over, Ryan. We can't be together. I came back to Phoenix and I saw Gary again and I...I just can't do that to him." Marissa was fighting back tears now.
"I don't understand," said Ryan. "I thought...I thought we were doing so good together."
"I just can't do this, Ryan. We know how it will end. You'll end up getting mad and go back to Chino and..."
"Are we breaking up?" Ryan waited for her answer.
Finally, she spoke. "Goodbye, Ryan."
Click.
And then he heard the dial tone.
New York City, New York
Summer kicked at him desperately, clawing at the carpeted floor and trying to get away. She reached for the backdrop, clawing at it desperately, then turned and saw Yugi crawling farther towards her. Summer screamed, pulling the backdrop, and then it fell. Suddenly, all around her, the large lamps were falling like dominos.She cried out as one fell towards her, nearly crushing Summer whole. It landed on her waist, nailing her to the ground. She lay there for a moment, knowing that there was no way that she could get away now, then looked up and saw Yugi laying beside her. His head was crushed in by a large lamp that had toppled over on him--his body lay there in a pool of blood.