Friday Fun: End of the Day

It took me a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to seeing the very woman who had broken my heart and left it bleeding in my hands. Nicole had been the only woman (at that time) that I considered marrying and starting a family with. As it turned out, she had quite a past that she didn't want to talk about and considering that she'd slept with half the cops in the city, it was apparent that I wasn't as special as I thought I was.

At the time I remember telling Faith that I really thought she might be the one. I also remember the look on her face when I said it; like I was an alien and had no absolutely no brains whatsoever. She was right.

When I found out that she had slept with so many different guys I was so angry and when I'm angry I act really stupid (no surprise). I got Faith to come with me to her shop and I confronted her face to face. The end result was that she was really angry with me and I felt much worse. That very night she broke up with me. I was hurt but I didn't let on. Most guys don't.

I'll admit that over time I thought about her; not so much in a way that I'd want to date her again, but I did wonder what she was doin and who she was doin it with. There were memories in my brain of me and her; me and her in some wild situations doin some pretty kinky stuff. A fella just can't block that stuff from his brain. But I got over it. Eventually.

Time had been good to her; much better than it had been to me. She was always a classy looking woman, but she had gotten better looking in the years since she had walked away from me. Her body was still hard and curvy; her hair was longer, but now it was more subtle looking; more soft. She still looked like a call girl; a classy one at that. And I very much doubted that she'd changed her wild ways even if she had kids. She had kids. I couldn't believe it.

And here she was; standing in front of me, her blond hair disheveled and messy looking; her blue eyes wild and almost angry looking until she stopped and stared at me. I moved myself closer to the bed and stood rooted, showing Lilly that I was going to protect her no matter what.

"Maurice?" She said, cocking her head to the side and giving me a half smile, the smile that had got me in trouble in the first place. "How long has it been?" She set the bag on the bed and smoothed her hair down, as I watched in complete shock at her lack of attention to Lilly; the reason she was here in the first place.

I narrowed my eyes, annoyed that she'd be so crass and not even look at the kid. "Not long 'nuff." I grumbled. "'sides, I think that I should be the last thing on your mind right now."

Her smile wilted as she looked at me. "Well you don't have to be such a jerk you know. You could at least kiss me hello."

I snickered. "Kiss you?" I asked, giving her a dirty look. "Your daughter has been assaulted and you want me to kiss you hello?"

She turned to Lilly, who was still lying down on the bed curled up in the fetal position, watching us. She yanked the blanket down off of her and threw it on the floor and then started closer. That's when I stepped in and put my hands up.

"What the hell do you think you're doin?"

"You don't know her, Maurice!" She hissed, while giving Lilly a dirty look.

I looked over at her and what I saw chilled me. The blue sheet beneath her had turned a darker color upon seeing her mother. The kid was so scared that she'd wet herself and her blue eyes darted over to me, pleading for me to keep her safe.

Nicole saw it too and pounded her fist against her shapely thigh. "Lilly! Can't you get up and take yourself to the bathroom? How could you do this?" She yelled, causing the girl to start shaking. "She makes up things sometimes, Maurice. You just have to take my word on it."

"Stand back, Nicole." I said sharply, pointing toward the door. "Actually, I want to speak to you outside."

She huffed. "You can't order me around, Maurice. I'm not your girlfriend anymore. This is my kid and I'll deal with her the way I want to. She's making it all up. She lies."

I sucked in my breath and fought back the urge to hit the woman. "She's been raped." I said through gritted teeth, while motioning for her to get the hell outside the room before I physically threw her out. "and we have the results to prove it. She's not lying."

Nicole flashed another look towards her daughter, but relented and let me guide her to the door. She didn't even say a word to Lilly. I felt like I was in the twilight zone where everything that was happening shouldn't be and everything that should be wasn't. What kind of a mother didn't believe her own child when it came to something as heinous and sinister as being raped by your step-father? I was havin a hard time from screamin at her or trying to shake some sense into her ass.

"I'll be right back sweetheart." I said, kindly, looking over my shoulder and feeling sick to my stomach with rage. My hands actually shook as I held on to Nicole's elbow.

"Don't leave me." Lilly said, her big blue eyes filling with tears.

"It'll be fine. Davis will sit outside your door until I come back." I said and winked at her.

Once outside, I let go of her and put my hands on my hips. "What the hell do you think you're doin? Jeez, Nicole, if I didn't know better I'd say that you hate your own child."

She turned around and backed up to the wall and put her head back against the cool tile and gave me another one of her nasty stares. "Maurice, stop trying to save the world. You don't know what it's been like for me; trying to raise an absolute rotten apple."

I put my hand over my mouth for a sec, tryin to stifle the curse words that threatened to break lose from within me. "Nicole, we have all the evidence we need. Her father is gonna be charged with rape, assault and battery and anything else we can get him on."

"Tony isn't her father." She said, void of all emotion, like she didn't have a care in the world. "She has never met her biological father." She added queerly.

"So?" I said, impatiently. "He's still gonna be charged. And just who is this son of a bitch anyway? How long have you been married?"

"My husband's name is Tony Nicholson. He's not a son of a bitch. He's actually head and shoulders above you and we've been married for ten years. I'd know if he was molesting her." She said meanly. "Maybe someone else did it to her. Did you ever think of that?" She asked.

I blanched. "Someone else? What—are you nuts? You seriously don't believe Lilly? She gave me details, Nicole. Details that will stand up in court—when it goes to court and you can bet your ass that he's going to jail for a long time."

They had been married for ten years. That was just as soon as she had broken up with me. She moved really fast. I wasn't even going to touch that subject, or at least try not to.

"He won't go to jail. Get serious. He's too high up for that."

"High up? How's that?"

"He's a cop. The same as you." She said, grinning her evil smile at me. "Actually, he outranks you. He's from the forty-ninth precinct. It's a much better one than you come from."

"A cop? Why am I surprised?"

"You know I like cops. I've always liked them."

"And when did you meet him? Before or after you and me?" I asked. It was stupid, I know but I had to know if he was the reason why things had soured between us, that was before I had gone and accused her of being a slut...which it turned out that she was.

"Are you asking me if I was unfaithful?"

"What does it sound like?" I bit back.

"It sounds like you're a jealous ex boyfriend. And to answer your question; Yes. I cheated on you. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse." She said grinning again.

It didn't matter at that point what she did or didn't say. The feelings of hatred that ran through my body were making my blood boil. It shouldn't have mattered if she cheated on me with him. Why should it matter now? It just pissed me off that she was being so rude about it; so obnoxious.

"You really are a piece of work, Nicole."

"Look, Maurice, it's been a long day. Can we talk about this later?" She said, rubbing her temples with her well manicured fingertips. "I have to call my lawyer."

"For Lilly?" I asked. "Or for Tony?"

She sighed, exasperated. "Look, this has happened before. She always makes up stuff to get my attention. It doesn't mean anything."

"Mean anything? Are you listening to yourself?" I nearly shouted, throwing my hands up into the air. "We have proof that he raped her. Do you care at all? She's scared to death here!"

She moved away from the wall and faced me, calculating her next move. "Of course I care. I care what happens when my kid accuses—"

"Accuses? Nicole, I'm writing up a report on this one. You aren't fit." I said pointing my finger at her. I turned and walked over to Davis who was still sitting on a chair on the opposite side of the door. "Stay with her. Don't walk away even for a piss until I get back."

"Go ahead. We've been down this road before." She said, waving me away. "Go write your little report, Maurice. We all know what kind of a cop you are anyway." She added.

I stopped dead in my tracks and slowly turned around. "What did you say?"

She smirked and shook her head at me. "I said we all know what kind of a cop you are." She accused, her pouty lips turning into a sneer. "You don't do your job right. Your bigoted, racist and not up to the task of being a real police officer. No one in their right mind would listen to anything you said. Especially to a whiny, bent out of shape man who was dumped by me years ago."

"Are you seriously suggesting that my being dumped by you, which was a blessing in disguise I might add, would have anything to do with your husband raping your own child?" I said, flabbergasted at the thought that she really thought that he would get out of it on account of me?

"Bos, walk away." Came Davis's voice from behind me. "She's not worth it."

"Ya, Maurice. Walk away. Leave this to the big boys." She said snidely.

I looked over at him, reading his eyes, eyes that told me that I could really screw up everything for Lilly if I didn't follow protocol.

"Fine." I said, flashing her a cool look. "I'm calling Social Services now and it will be a pleasure for them to hear everything you've just told me."

I turned around and walked away from her, and I didn't look back. She was dead to me, as dead as all the others I had left behind. A new fire burned within my soul; a fire that was deadly and hot. As long as I lived and breathed I wouldn't rest until Lilly Nicholson was safe.

And like the fool I was most of the time, I didn't stop to think about how many pieces of the puzzle were missing. And how involved I was going to become; and already was.