Chapter Twenty Thiago
Chapter Twenty
Thiago
It took a few days, but finally I got the call from Perez I’d been waiting for.
I only had one option if I wanted to find out about Julian’s lies, and that was talking with one of the girls who claimed he’d harassed her.
There was no evidence as to why they’d all dropped the charges.
That was something I’d have to find out for myself.
Kam had ignored my warnings. I knew she wouldn’t listen to me—she never did—but I needed her to know Julian wasn’t who he seemed to be.
He was one hell of an actor; he did everything a real friend would do, worrying about her, checking on her, but it was also uncanny how every time there was an altercation involving her, he just happened to be right around the corner.
I could usually trust my instincts, and I wasn’t going to ignore them when someone I cared about so much was involved.
I needed to get to the bottom of this, even if I had to do it alone, because although my brother didn’t trust Julian, his hatred for Danny blinded him to everything else.
I didn’t really know what was going on with all the students—I wasn’t one of them, and my brother wasn’t exactly talkative. He avoided me whenever possible. And so I didn’t intervene when they kicked the shit out of Danny. Not that I would have—as far as I was concerned, he deserved it.
I was in PE class with the little kids when Perez called. When I saw it was him, I didn’t think twice about taking the call. “I’ve got something I’m pretty sure you’ll be interested in,” he said. I could tell by his tone he was satisfied with his work.
“Shoot,” I said, keeping one eye on the kids. They were playing dodgeball, and I didn’t want to miss anything between Cameron and George. I knew well the way kids would elbow each other or knock each other down and then plead, I was just playing!
“I’ve got the number and address of a girl who called the cops on Jules last year,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, but a guy I know has an acquaintance on the force, and…whatever. No need to get into the details. The point is, I’ve got it.”
“And she’s where?”
“Brooklyn. Her name’s Amelia Warner. She’s the captain of her cheerleading squad. Very pretty. She’s eighteen. She got held back her senior year. Apparently, she failed almost all of her classes last year.”
“How do you know that?”
“I got her transcripts too.”
“And she’s a student where?”
“A school called Columbus, a private school in Williamsburg.”
“Give me everything you’ve got on her. Do you think she’ll talk to me if I call her?”
Perez hesitated a moment. “In cases like this, victims often don’t want to open up to a complete stranger. I wouldn’t up and call her out of the blue. I don’t think it will get you anywhere. If it really matters to you what this Jules did, I’d try to make the trip to see her.”
Shit! How am I going to just take off for New York right now? Once I’d jotted down all of Amelia’s contact information, I slipped my phone into my back pocket and thought it through. I hadn’t missed a single day of work since I’d started at the school; I could call in sick for once.
On my break period, I went to the teachers’ lounge and bought myself a ticket to New York that very night.
I didn’t know what I’d say to my brother and mother to keep them from bombarding me with questions, but I figured I could come up with something.
Maybe I wouldn’t even mention the trip—I’d just say I was hanging out with Maggie.
Speaking of whom…
She walked in with a huge smile on her face just as I was reviewing my travel details. Then she saw me. And it disappeared. “I didn’t know you were in here,” she said, shutting the door behind her. In fact, I was the only one in there.
“Is that weird or something?” I asked, trying to soften the mood.
“What’s weird is me seeing you at all,” she said, throwing her bag on the table and pouring herself a coffee.
“You know how it goes,” I said, but she was right. We’d been seeing each other often, with me staying over at her house, and then, all of a sudden, I stopped calling her. “So what’s up?” I asked, unsure how to start a conversation.
She turned around and glared at me with her bright-blue eyes.
“What’s up? Thiago, you stopped calling me! No messages; you totally ghosted me!”
“Did I?”
“And now you have the balls to act surprised?! I swear, you’re unbearable.”
“Hey! Calm down, all right?” I stood up and walked over to her. “I’m sorry if I’ve been distant. I’ve had a lot of things going on at home.”
“I don’t care, Thiago,” she said, stirring her coffee. “You’re one of those guys who thinks you can just apologize to a girl and have her eating out of the palm of your hand no matter how many times you’ve fucked up. Well, sorry, but that’s not me.”
I looked into Maggie’s eyes, and I couldn’t help but compare them to Kam’s.
Maggie had spectacular blue eyes, but they couldn’t hold a candle to Kam’s big brown eyes and long lashes.
It wasn’t about the color, dark or light, it was about what they transmitted when they looked at me.
Kam had an endless well of mixed feelings swirling around her deep irises, never quite sure what to do next.
When she and I looked at each other, something happened.
Something special. Didn’t she know that?
Maggie was just a pair of pretty blue eyes.
She might have been special, but I knew she wasn’t right for me.
There was an attraction there, but it was just physical.
“I warned you I wasn’t an easy guy to get along with,” I told her, though I knew that was no excuse. She was a good woman; she didn’t deserve to be treated like trash.
“You did warn me,” she agreed, “and that’s why I’m going to start following your advice. We’re done. I don’t know what it is we have, or had, rather, but I don’t need any problems at work, and I sure as hell don’t want to be with someone who couldn’t make a commitment if his life depended on it.”
She was being a little overdramatic, and I had to choke back a laugh.
“Don’t you laugh at me, Di Bianco!”
I raised my hands and snickered as she punched me in the arm. She was smiling. “Sorry, Maggs, I’m sorry, OK! We can still be friends, though, can’t we?”
“Me, friends with you?” She turned her back to me, heading for the door.
“You’re gonna have to see me every morning of every day in this miserable teachers’ lounge. We might as well get along, right?”
“You’re insufferable,” she said over her shoulder.
“But you still like me.”
She looked back, and the faintest smile appeared on her red lips.
When lunchtime came, I looked around for Kam despite myself. It was a habit at this point. She was sitting in the cafeteria with my brother and a couple of friends, looking nervous and forlorn.
Why the long face, sweetheart? You got what you wanted—or didn’t you?
My instincts told me to get up, walk over, and hug her until a smile appeared on her pretty face.
Then my eyes panned over and met my brother’s.
His expression wasn’t very welcoming. I guess mine wasn’t either.
It was inevitable. There was going to be a confrontation between us sooner or later.
And the scary thing was, I didn’t even care.
Could the love of a woman mean more than the love of a brother? No, I told myself, no, but it could sure as hell mess things up. I wanted the best for Taylor, but he had the thing I most desired, and I was someone who played to win, whoever my opponent was.
You can’t control your feelings, and my feelings for Kam were here to stay, no matter what went down with Taylor. Did I feel guilty? Sure. But I wasn’t so sure I could ignore what was going on inside of me, feeling so destroyed day after day.
The afternoon went by quickly, or as quickly as it could when you were teaching PE to kids aged six to twelve, not to mention training older ones. I liked my job, though, and it started to dawn on me that I’d feel sad when they hired someone permanent.
I waited in the parking lot to drive Kam and my brother home.
It was hard enough seeing them together every day, watching them flirt and pretend I wasn’t there.
I couldn’t stop myself from looking at her in the rearview mirror, but the worst part was when she looked back at me with those eyes of hers.
Her gaze often seemed to be screaming for me to help her—rescue her, hug and kiss her, give her the world.
Other times she seemed angry and serious.
When our eyes met, it wasn’t long before she looked away, staring steadily out the window until our houses came into view.
I pulled into her driveway—I usually parked in mine—and Kam and Taylor got out. He always walked her to her door and said goodbye to her with a kiss on the lips.
I couldn’t watch that again.
Not today, anyway.
“Valet service,” I said, trying to ease the tension.
Kam and my brother got out of the car. I heard him tell her he loved her and that they would talk later.
She said she’d call him and then went inside.
When Taylor got back in the car, he had a confused look on his face.
“What the hell’s up with you?” I asked him as I put the car in reverse and pulled back out into the street.
“What’s up with me? What the hell’s up with you, Thiago? This has gone too far.”
I parked, cut the engine, and removed the key.
“What’s gone too far?” I asked.
“You looking at Kami like she’s your girlfriend and not mine.”
I held my breath a moment, trying to relax before firing back: “What the fuck are you talking about, Taylor?” I saw the fight coming, but I wanted to avoid it because I wasn’t sure our relationship would make it through it intact.
“What the fuck am I talking about? Do you think I’m blind?”
I got out, and he did the same. He came around to me, and I had to remind myself that he was my brother and I shouldn’t start a fight, least of all over a girl.