CHAPTER 4: HASTY ESCAPE

Because she knew her ex-boyfriend wouldn't stay away for too long and was probably just lying in wait, Mary Jo, along with Linus, packed up her belongings at the dorm where the nurses were staying. She was about to move in with Linus in an effort to keep Duke at bay. The man was obsessed with her and even if some other lady had an eye for him, his fixation was on Mary Jo and her alone. While he would sleep around with other women, Duke's desire was for her. It wasn't even about being in love with her, while he may have been. For him, it was about pride and property, and Mary Jo, according to him, was his property and no one else could have her. But, Mary Jo went down and filed a restraining order banning him from having any contact with her. They heard when they presented to order to him, he went into a rage like no one had ever seen. He beat up the innocent clerk delivering the order, which caused him to be arrested for assault with intent to cause bodily harm. Mary Jo felt better that he was, at least for the moment, locked up and couldn't do anything, but she knew he wouldn't stay in for too much longer. He would have had to commit murder for him to stay locked up.

Linus came back up from putting a box in his car. "How many more is left to take out?" he asked.

"Just a few bags, and we can go," Mary Jo replied. "I'm glad I get to stay with you, honey."

"I am, too, Mary Jo," said Linus, hugging his girlfriend. "I would do anything to make you feel safe."
"I know you would." She kissed him lovingly. "We better get this stuff back to your place, or Duke coming back will be the least of our worries with carjackers around here." And Linus and Mary Jo went out and headed back to Linus's apartment.

At the Brown's home, Patty was over discussing what had happened between her and Violet. She told them about their conversation.

"Well, Violet burned a lot of bridges even before she attempted to murder me and my family," Charlie stated. "This was the final nail in the coffin, as far as I was concerned."

"I felt that I had to tell her where it stood between us," Patty stated. "I didn't want her getting her hopes up that we would be friends again."

"Well, Lucille is still talking to her, though I think that's more because she knows what Violet was going through being locked up," Pat said.

"I can see that," said Charlie.

"Me too," added Patty.

"As far as her being paroled, I'm cool with it," Charlie said to the women. "As long as she abides by the rules and not try to contact us, I have no issues with her, otherwise."

"I do hope Violet gets her life together now that she is out," Patty finished. "I don't want to be around her anymore, but I won't wish any harm on or to her."

"Maybe she and Eileen can reunite!" joked Pat.

"Not even Violet deserves that!" Charlie retorted, laughing.

After getting the last bit of her belongings into Linus's car, he and Mary Jo got in. But as soon as they closed the door, Duke was standing right in front of the car.

"Oh, dear god!" cried Mary Jo.

"Is this asshole for real?!" ranted Linus.

"GET OUT OF THE FUCKING CAR, MJ!" Duke hollered.

"Mary Jo, call the police," said Linus calmly. "I'll deal with this dickhead."

"Be careful, Linus," said a worried Mary Jo. "Duke can be very violent."

"He hits on women, I know that, but how is he with another man who can stand up to him?" And Linus got out to face Duke. He was taken aback when Linus got out.

"Dude, I wanted MJ to get out, not you, fats!" said a bewildered Duke. "You can get back in the car, I just want her."

"Did you not heed my best friend's warning about coming back here?!" said an angry Linus. "He may had just punched you in the face once, but I'm about to give you a beatdown unless you go back to that heap of junk you call a car and leave Sparkyville now!"

Duke stood for a while, then started laughing uncontrollably. "Y-You're going to kick my ass?!" he laughed. "Man, you should have been a comedian, tubby! Because that's the best joke I've heard in a long time!"

Before Duke could say anything else, Linus decked him in his face, then started pummeling him a bit, as if those sparring lessons he and Lucy did as kids on each other worked in his favor. Duke was shocked that someone at Linus's stature could deliver an ass-whooping like that.

"Now the cops are on their way, asshole," he sneered. "You can tell them I beat you up, but they're going to see that you violated a restraining order banning you from coming within 100 feet of Mary Jo. Who do you think they're going to arrest, hm? You better split before they come looking for you!"

"I'm n-not going anywhere, shithead!" groaned a beat-up Duke. Now Linus was the one that started laughing.

"What?" said a confused Duke.

"You know, Duke ol' boy, I was actually hoping you would say that," Linus said, still laughing. "Here they come now. You can tell them what you told me, and you can make your declaration of Mary Jo being your property and belonging to you all you want. They'll buy that even less than we do!"

And after the police arrived, both Linus and Mary Jo explained what had happened and how Duke blocked them from leaving. The police did find that a restraining order was placed against Duke and they proceeded to arrest him for stalking, attempted kidnapping, and, more importantly, violating the restraining order placed against him from contacting Mary Jo. After some more questions, Linus and Mary Jo could leave, and Duke was headed to jail.

NEXT CHAPTER: REFLECTION