CHAPTER THREE
(Present)
It was 2 in the morning and my cell phone began to buzz furiously on my bed side table. I leaned up slowly, Bethany was still asleep beside me. She was a sound sleeper if everyone was asleep. I reach for the phone, blurry eyed flipped it open and quietly said hello.
"Trevor Mitchell?" the man ask.
"Yes, and who is this?" I said sitting up and flipping on the desk lamp. Bethany raised her head up, yawned and jumped of the bed. She was one very picky dog.
"My name is Romeo. I am the bartender at the Coffin Club, Miss Amelia left her bag here, and you are listed as one of Mrs. Madison's contacts. Could you get a hold of her please?"
"I will."
"Thank you sir."
"Wait, Romeo, what did you say Raven's last name was?" "Its Madison, sir, good day."
It was all spinning in my head. She was still a Madison. She had a 4 year old daughter. Quickly I put on my clothes and got in my car.
A few minutes later I was standing in my suit and house shoes on the Madison's door step. Nightmare jumped out of the bushes at my feet. After ringing the doorbell several times the hall light finally came on. And Raven rushed to the door, in black boxers and a dark blue tank, her house coat flapping around her as she hurried to open the door. When she saw it was me, she angrily flung the door open and yelled.
"What are you doing? Its 3 in the morning. Are you crazy." I couldn't stop, I had waited so long to see her, I couldn't help it. I knew her lips would probably bruise and that she was going to be angry but I did it anyway. I kissed her with all the force and emotion I had bottled up for the last 15 odd years. At first she was shocked, then she softened and I felt her hands slide over my shoulders. We fit. Perfectly. When we finally came up for air she didn't look at me but she didn't let go. Our arms wrapped around each other, she rested her head on my chest, I felt her sob quietly.
After a long silence I spoke.
"Raven. I loved you." I sat down in the kitchen chair and put my head in my hands.
"Past tense?" she replied, sitting cross legged in the far corner of the room.
"A lot of things happened in the past, Raven."
"I know." She sighed.
"Did you go back to him?" I hung my head.
"No, I went to the Coffin Club. And I haven't seen a soul from Dullsville since."
"Dullsville." I repeated with a laugh.
"He is not from 'Dullsville' though."
"No, he's not. He's from Romania. And I hope everyone from there dies." she growled angrily. A loud cough came from down the hall.
"Well, not EVERYONE."
"Who's that?" I nodded towards the cough.
"Umm.. Actually an old acquaintance of yours. Jagger Maxwell?" she said, tilting her head at me.
"Jagger? As in the one who tried to kill you?"
"He has his issues. But we have moved past that. He has helped me a lot lately." she said defensively.
"So you left me to go to another town with another guy, who happened to be one that tried to hurt you in the first place." I said , now pacing in front of the chair.
"I told you, that's all over. And he helped me too, Trevor." She growled, sarcastically spiting my name.
"Raven, do you have any idea, how hurt I was? You left me, after I tried to give you everything. You left me, to go shack up with the guy who was there the night you got your heart broken." I was so mad and hurt, I was on the verge of tears.
"Do you know what happened that night, Trevor?" she said, looking me straight in the eye.
"I know you were torn apart when I got there." I remembered, hurt and anger showing on my face.
"I mean before that, why I was there?" I shook my head, and it seamed silly now that I hadn't asked.
"I was going to your game when Alexander called me and said he needed my help." she stared right at me.
"I got there and he was talking to Jagger. When I got out of the cab, he told me that he knew I was upset with him because I had found him with Luna but that was no reason to screw around on him. Jagger tried to defend me and reason that I would never do that, but he didn't listen and he called me a pathetic slut." She stood up, wiping invisible dust of her legs.
"He had no right to call you that." Fury rising in my throat.
"But I knew I couldn't reason with him, and we had been done way before any of that had started. So I told him that I wasn't a slut just a normal girl with a stupid boyfriend . He was very angry at me, and for some reason all I could think about was you. He swore that he would be the death of me. Scary huh?" She said totally composed.
"Jagger stood between us, to keep him away from me." She wiped sleep from her eyes with the back of her hand.
"They had words and Romeo made Alexander leave, and Jagger stayed with me until I called you. He is really a good person, he has always wanted to be a jock, just like you and his apartment is covered in a ton of football posters and there are basketball goals on the wall." she smiled, waving her arms to elaborate the word ton.
"Wait, his apartment? How do you know what it looks like?" for some reason I was crazy jealous.
"Trevor, we live with him. Temporarily anyway. He's good with Amelia and he was the ONLY person who offered to help me." She looked confused, and upset at the end.
"Is that why he's here? Are you two together?" I ask hanging my head. She laughed hysterically. I gave her a confused look.
"Jagger's a good person and all, but he snores. And I don't like people who snore." she propped her head on the wall.
"So after that, when you were with me, why did you leave? I can't understand it. I've tried to think of reasons but I…."
"Mommy!"
A scream came from a room upstairs. Raven ran, with out even a word to me, she just ran. I couldn't help it, I ran too, having an overwhelming feeling to protect that little girl.
Raven was up the stairs and in the room before I got to the top of the flight,
"And I'm the athlete?" I mumbled.
When I got in the room, Raven had Amelia in the floor, sitting so the bed shielded her daughter from the rest of the room. Raven was rocking back and forth, Amelia hugged close to her side wide eyed.
"It's okay, It's okay. It's just a bat. It's okay" Raven spoke quietly. Calming down, I looked around the room and there was a very large bat flying outside the window. I walked over and shut the shades and the curtains. Then Jagger Maxwell, fully dressed, rushed in to the room. He looked around, the bent down to take Amelia from her mother and began rocking her.
"Trevor." he nodded.
"Jagger, I wanted to talk to you, actually."
"Sure, lets go down stairs though, I think Amelia would prefer to sleep with her mother tonight." he said carrying her down the steps.
"Raven, will you get Trevor a glass of water?" he ask. Raven headed towards the kitchen, shooting me a warning glance.
"Here, I think its your turn." Jagger said handing me the little girl. "Umm…I don't know if I can." I admitted.
"You'll do fine, you can't break her." he said sitting on the couch. "Jagger, I really wanted to thank you for taking care of Raven, and Amelia. I was a selfish child and didn't realize that she needed somebody."
"No thanks necessary. I think of Raven and Amelia like family. You're here now, and if this works out," he pointed to Raven and back to me,
"Then I might get hot water every now and then." Jagger said, eyeing Raven and chuckling.
"I think I'm going to got to bed now. Night, Trevor, Raven." Wow he was weird.
"I'm gonna to head home, its really early. And you should go to bed." I said, standing.
"You don't have to." Raven walked over to me.
"Yes, I do. If I stay here then I wont be able to sleep."
"I doubt that, its been a while, but you could sleep through a tornado." Raven giggled.
"Bring her here." she ordered, I followed. She walked into her room and pointed at the bed. I laid the snoring Amelia down on the pillow right in the middle. Raven puffy eyed and exhausted, plopped down next to her.
"Are you staying?" she looked up at me.
"Yea, but I'm sleeping on the couch. Were are your parents?" I asked, just noticing that the house was unusually empty.
"Vegas, again and Billy is on his way back her from New York." she said through a yawn.
"Okay, good night Raven." I said shutting the bedroom door. I went and locked the front door, closed the curtains, took off my jacket and slouched down on the couch. I drifted off to sleep before the sun came up. 20 minutes later there was a hand on my arm,
"What's wrong?" I said, straightening. She smiled
"Nothing, nothing at all." she sat beside me, eye lids heavy. "Raven, go back to bed, you need sleep."
"I'm fine." she whispered through a yawn.
"No, your tired" I chuckled. She shook her head. Gosh, she was stubborn.
"Okay, Ray…" I leaned my head back on the couch.
"Talk to me." Raven said. I hesitated.
"So?"
"Yea.."
"I've missed a lot haven't I?" I dropped my head, ashamed.
"Yes." Raven was leaning on the other side of the couch with her eyes closed.
"Would you help me catch up?" I asked, still annoyed at myself. "You have a daughter," she paused. "She will turn five on December 16th. Jagger is my best friend, even though he nor I would openly admit it. I live and work in the Coffin Club with him, he loves Amelia and would do anything for her. And I am, and have always been in love with the guy I'm sitting next to." she was sitting up looking me straight in the eye.
"Is that just any guy sitting next to you, or a specific one?" I ask jokingly. She answered me with a quick kiss.
"Just one." Her smile reach her eyes.
"So, I have a kid."
"Not just any kid, a daughter, and not just any daughter, the best in the world. Half monster girl, half soccer snob. But she gets her best qualities from her mother." Raven was so proud of that little girl. "And what would those be? Remember I didn't know about this little 'soccer monster' until 3 seconds ago." I was joking but Raven's face turned sad.
"No, Ray, I didn't mean.."
"I was scared." she whispered, turning her face away from me.
"I had just lost everything, gained more than I could ever hope for, and then I was about to screw it up again." she said upset.
"Oh, don't get me wrong I love Amelia, more than anything. But I was 17 and scared, and stupid."