Damn the Day I Met You

“What was that?!” His voice echoes through the halls. Tristan scans the room, his eyes landing on me first, “Katie?” His eyes continue their way around the room, “Peter?...St-Stephanie?” Tristan’s eyes quickly move between me and his mom, not missing a beat. They narrowed as they turned dark and he gave me one last loving look before fully turning into an angry man I’d never seen before.

“Peter, stand her up.” Peter quickly stood up Stephanie while still keeping a hold of her. Thus began Tristan’s yelling. “You have no right! No right at all to come barging into my home and attack the woman I love! You’re so fucked up in the head! So you didn’t marry for money! Who the fuck cares?! It’s not my fault, it sure as hell isn’t Katie’s fault. Two people fell in love and it wasn’t you and Adam. Grow the fuck up and deal with it.” He steps away for a moment and breaths, pinching the bridge of his nose. I wanted to go and hug him. Soothe his pain. But I knew now was definitely not the time for that.

“You didn’t get your happily ever after and now you’re taking revenge on that. I totally understand now mom. I get it. You know why I get it? Because that woman there is the woman I love. She’s the woman I plan on marrying someday, having kids with, traveling the world with. I love her, mom. And if something were to happen to her, trust me, the person who did it would regret they were ever born. In other words, mother, if you threaten her or her loved ones, if you come near her ever again, if you try to kill her, hurt her, or touch her. I will, with absolutely no regrets, hunt you down and kill you.” With each angry word I could literally see Tristan’s shoulders relax. His voice calmed, and his eyes began to change back to normal, “I may not like you, but you’re still my mom and I’m still your son. And I don’t know any mother who would wish her son to suffer the same way she has. So please, find it somewhere in that fucked up heart of yours to stop this. Live out your punishment and end it. If you take Katie away, I won’t hesitate to take you away. Do you understand?”

Stephanie gulps and nods slowly. Tristan could be a jerk, that’s for sure, but I never thought I’d see him literally scare someone the way he just scared his own mother. “Good” He takes a couple steps back, “Peter, hand her over to authorities now.” Peter nods and practically drags her out the front door. Silence fell upon us once the door shut. Tristan stood where he was and didn’t move an inch, as if he was deep in thought.

“Tristan…” I whisper, not wanting to disturb the quietness too much.

He turns around and rushes to my side, “Katie! Oh my god, I’m so sorry! Are you hurt? Did she do anything to you?”

I smile at his concern, “no, that broken window is the only victim. I just hit my head pretty hard.” He brushes my hair aside and gently moves me forward to inspect the back of my head, “Tristan, I’m okay. Trust me. Now please will you look at me?”

He doesn’t drop his hands, but maneuvers so that he’s in front of me. “Katie, I am so sorry this hap-”
I put my finger to his lips, “ssh. It was more my fault than yours. But I’m okay, we’re all okay. My driver will pick Lucy up from school and take her to my grandmothers. You and I will take your car. Peter will meet us there.” I move my finger away and slowly stand up. “We will talk there. And this time, I expect answers.” I pick up my bag near the door and Tristan scrambles to his feet to follow me.

The car ride was silent. I kept my head down most of the way just in case word had gotten out already. So it would have been awkward to talk. On top of that, the three words he repeated earlier kind of seemed to be hanging in the air.

Technically he didn’t say them to me, and he would never bring up the subject of those words leaving his mouth. That's what makes this whole situation worse. It’s one of those topics where if we don’t talk about it we won’t be able to go back to normal, but the chances of us talking about it are slim.
“Katie,” I glance up at him from an awkward angle, “I’ve got a car following.”

Groaning I take a look at the review mirror. Indeed there was a car following us. “It’s out so it doesn’t matter. Just get to the house; we’ll work damage control there.” He nods and the rest of the ride remains silent.

Once we got to the house I took our stuff up to my room. It wasn’t necessary but was an excuse for me to take a moment and breath. The thought of me almost being murdered didn’t quite reach my mind until now. Now that it has, a big part of me was freaking out. After a few deep breaths though I got back into my control mode. There was a lot to do in the next few hours and if there were a moment for me to shine right now would be it.

But as I reached the bottom of the staircase and found Tristan sitting patiently for me I realized that the moment might have already passed. “Where is everyone? I said to meet in here…” I ask, confused as to where my help was when I needed them.

“The media has been contacted and there will be a press conference in a week concerning the issue. That should give enough time for you to get all the information needed, your parents to get involved, all that fun stuff. Your aunt has been contacted; she and nick will be over after work. Grandmother wasn’t happy, though glad you’re safe, said some things to me about this being a sign we should break up, and yeah, she’ll be home at normal time. The school knows that we won’t be there for a few days at the least; Lucy has been picked up and is on her way, Toby is also on his way. Stephanie is locked up and in the hands of the government, I had asked Peter to follow the limo home just in case of something drastic happening. Your parents and brother were also contacted and probably on a plane as we speak. Oh, and I contacted Zach just cause, though he’s an ass, he was still your bodyguard for like four years and I figured he should know you’re safe.” He stares up at my frozen expression, worry crossing his face. “Did I miss something? I swear I went over the same procedure you had last time. I mean I may-”

“Tristan, you’re amazing. You didn’t miss anything and you even contacted people I kind of wish you hadn’t. But I understand why you did. I just don’t get why you did this all? I was just putting bags away.”

He stands up and closes the short gap between us, “Katie, honey, you were up there for about 45 minutes. Plus you were just held at gun point. I think it’s appropriate to say you’re still dealing with that.” Tristan brushes his lips across my forehead and pulls me in for a close hug, “you’re not in this alone anymore.” He whispers in my ear. It may not be ‘I love you,’ but it was pretty damn close.
I pull back a little to look up at him, “Tristan, we need to talk.” I say in my serious voice. His reaction though surprises me. He doesn’t sigh as if he didn’t want to, or just start going into a defensive mode. He didn’t even blink.

Tristan, instead, had everything planned out. “I know. And we will. I promise. But right now you need to go take a nice long bubble bath. And then you’re going to have an amazing sleep-over with your best friend that will include lots of movies and junk-food. And don’t worry, I won’t be attending.”

“What if I want you there?”

He smirks, and a twinkle of laughter shines through his eyes, “it doesn’t matter. You two haven’t hung out together for a long time. I know Toby well enough that I shouldn’t be taking up all of your free time.”

“To be honest, Lucy actually has more of my attention than you.”

This time an actual laugh echoes through the room, “at least you admit it.” One of his hands softly rubs my back in a soothing manner, taking a lot of the tension out of them. “Back to the plan though. You will have a sleepover, and in the morning you will wake up with absolutely no alarms. This means you sleep in until your body wakes up. If you’re ready after breakfast tomorrow to discuss thing than we will, if you’re not, then there’s another day of relaxation planned for you and Lucy.”

I wrap my arms tightly around him, not ever wanting to let go. “And what about my relaxing time with my boyfriend? Where does he fit in?”

“From here” he pauses and kisses me deeply, “to the bathroom.” Tristan lifts me up and I wrap my legs around his waist. I lean down and kiss him, making sure to pour each and every one of my emotions into this one kiss just in case tomorrow didn’t go so well.