Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
Kay was confused.
It was time for the dinner rush at every food place in town, but the parking lot was empty when she got there.
The neon signs that were always on during business hours were dark.
And Kay felt her heart clench in her chest.
Something was wrong.
She threw open her door and got out, dialing the same line that had called her minutes before.
The phone rang and rang, but no one picked up.
Kay slammed her door shut, dropping her keys into her pocket.
Just as she reached the front door, she realized that she hadn't locked the car door. She'd deal with it later. After she saw to Charles.
Kay pulled the door open and rushed inside. "Charles? Chuck?"
There was a light on in the kitchen at the back of the room and Kay moved closer, leaning to the side, hoping to see where the father and son were.
"Charles? It's Kay. Kay Hata?" She turned her head to listen for sounds, wondering if she was too late.
"Chuck? Are you and your dad here?"
Something clicked behind her and Kay whirled around.
"Chuck."
Her gaze traveled from his face, down his arm, and saw that his finger was on the door lock.
"What... what's going on?"
He straightened and looked at her with a big smile on his face.
He wasn't the most personable person to start with, but the smile on his face wasn't the least bit inviting.
In fact, it was downright frightening given the circumstances.
"My dad said that I shouldn't ask you to come."
"Y-you said that he didn't think he needed to go to the hospital." Kay felt her neck flush with heat and her face went cold. "Is he feeling better now?"
Chuck's smile brightened, but his eyes were cold, unfeeling. "You should ask him yourself." He lifted his chin toward the kitchen. "He's back there waiting for you."
Kay gave Chuck a quick, hesitant look. "I... I don't hear him moving back there."
Chuck folded his arms across his chest and walked closer to her. "He probably isn't moving all that much. It probably hurts too much."
Kay felt sick to her stomach. There was something wrong.
Something very, very wrong.
Kay reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.
Before she could open the phone with her face or her passcode, Chuck knocked the phone out of her hand.
It went sailing across the room and hit the wall with a sickening crack.
"I said he doesn't want anyone called."
Kay nodded slowly, her mind whirling around and around looking for a way out.
What was she going to do?
It wasn't just Chuck's actions that were worrying her, it was the look on his face and the things that Chuck was saying that were scaring her.
She knew the first step was checking on his father.
"Your father is in the kitchen?"
Chuck stared at her with widened eyes. "Where else do you think he'd be?"
Kay nodded and started to walk to the kitchen. She didn't completely turn her back on Chuck, walking almost sideways with one foot crossing over the other and then a step to the side. She moved as fast as she could toward the kitchen.
"Mister Franklin?"
She heard a noise in the kitchen, but not a voice.
She picked up her steps in speed, but that only made her stumble as the toe of her shoe caught against the back of her leg.
"Careful."
She turned her head as Chuck grabbed her arm, keeping her on her feet.
She nodded and hoped that he'd let go, but he didn't, practically hauling her beyond the counter and into the back of the BBQ restaurant.
The instant her eyes adjusted to the darker space her heart dropped.
"Charles!"
Kay tried to go to him, but Chuck's hold on her arm tightened. It was bruising.
She turned toward him. "Let go!"
"That's what my dad said, Kay. He didn't want me to want you anymore."
"He... what?"
Chuck leaned in until he was just a couple of inches away from her nose. "He doesn't think I should love you."
She didn't know what was more upsetting, his words or the smell of alcohol on his breath.
He leaned and she didn't know why until his lips touched hers.
She had to fight off the urge to vomit, but she couldn't stop the instinctual urge of her body. She gagged and her head turned away from him forcefully.
His lips slid onto her cheek, a streak of saliva painting her skin.
She didn't see his reaction, but she felt it.
He grabbed a hold of her arms and shook her hard.
So hard she felt nauseous, and her head started to ache.
"Is this about... that guy?"
The world swam in front of her eyes, but she could still smell the alcohol on his breath and feel his fingers biting into her arms.
"Chuck, stop."
"Is it? You like him?"
Like him?
Kay wanted to close her eyes and pray that she could wake up from this nightmare, but she knew she was awake and still in that nightmare.
"Chuck, let me help your father."
He shook her again and Kay saw darker spots on the edges of her vision, blending in with the darkness encroaching around her.
"I want to know about that man!"
"Please. Let me help your father."
He let go of her left arm and cracked her across the cheek, snapping her head to the side.
"You care about everyone more than me!"
Kay reached out her free arm and grasped at his shirt and she struggled to lift her head. "Chuck-"
"When you're the one I care about! I love you!"
Kay wanted to cry.
He was unhinged.
She'd always seen Chuck as a simple young man. His father had explained that he'd always been kind of young, innocent. The loss of his mother had thrown them both for a loop, but it had seemed to cast Chuck into deeper, choppy waters.
But without knowing him more, she could only see that those deeper waters were filled with darkness.
"If... If you love me..." Kay had to swallow down the bile creeping up in the back of her throat. "Let me look at your dad, okay?"
"As long as you tell me..."
Kay felt like she was about to throw up as she waited for him to finish his sentence, so she headed him off at the pass.
"I love you, okay? I love you. Please, let me see your father."
Chuck pulled her in and kissed her.
It took everything in her not to push him away or bite him. And yes, she was very close to throwing up on him.
He let her go what seemed like minutes later and she stumbled away from him.
She had to make a conscious effort not to wipe the back of her hand over her mouth.
Kay had a feeling he wouldn't react well to that.
She moved over to his father and got down on her knees, slipping on the tiles.
When she looked down, she saw that a dark stain showed on her slacks.
Blood.
She knew she'd just slipped in the man's blood.
Kay reached out her hands and smoothed his shirt down so she could see the knife in his chest. She needed to know the placement and if she could determine the depth that would be helpful, too.
The older man opened his eyes and looked at her.
"Doctor..."
She nodded, smiling at Charles. "You know I asked you to call me, Kay, right?"
"Kay," he drew in a breath and while it hitched in his chest, he didn't cough up blood or anything like it, "I'm... I'm sorry-"
"Let's just make sure that you're going to pull through this and-"
"Okay, stop! You saw him!"
Kay felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder and she bit down to keep herself from crying out.
"Let's go."
She shrugged his hand off somehow and turned so she was sitting on her hip. "I'm not leaving. Your dad needs help!"
"I'll call 911 and let them know. They'll send him help and we can leave."
"Where... where will you go?"
Kay laid her hand on Charle's shoulder, trying to settle him, but Charles was glaring at his son.
"Where do you think you'll go where they won't find you and put you in jail?"
"Jail?" Chuck touched her again, putting his hand on her arm and lifting it up like a doll. "Why would they do that? She loves me! She's going with me."
"I'm not going anywhere until I know your dad is on his way to the hospital. He could die if he's not taken to an ER for surgery!"
Kay tried to pull her hand free, but Chuck only clamped down harder.
"You think I care? He told me that he did want us together."
"I told you," Charles, tried to lift his arm, but couldn't quite get it off of the floor, "it's not right to do this. A woman has to be with you because she wants you, not because she's afraid of what you're going to do if she doesn't agree."
Chuck's grasp on her arm went a blinding pain through her arm and into her shoulder. "You agree, right?"
Kay was still gasping from the pain, she couldn't utter a word.
"Tell him you agree!"
When she didn't speak, he yanked her up off of the ground and dragged a scream from her mouth.
Kay knew he was very close to dislocating her arm from its socket.
"You're... you're hurting her, Chuck. Let her go."
Chuck turned to look at his father. "I don't want to hear from you."
"Chuck, please." Kay felt tears rolling down her cheeks. "Please, stop."
He looked down at her and for a moment she saw the anger bleeding from his eyes and what was left was what she'd seen before. What she'd seen that day that he came to the door when Gibson was there with her, that earnest youth concerned for her. "Kay, I just want you to be with me."
The plea in his voice was real, but she just couldn't care for him the way he wanted.
"Let me help your father. We can... we can talk about the rest later."
She'd never thought of herself as much of an actress. Goodness knows she was never cast in school productions, but she had inspiration here.
She wanted to try and save Charles and hopefully herself.
She had no idea how Chuck was going to take her words. She didn't think her tears would work, not that she could command when they fell, but she was hovering on the verge of it at that moment and had been since she'd seen Charles on the floor.
"Let me help him, please."
"You're supposed to be with me! Get it? Me!"
He yanked at her again and she panicked when he pulled her into his awkward embrace.