Love Behind Lies

Chapter 25

The police arrived shortly after we had all settled down and caught up with what had all happened. Brent, Thomas, and Richard had been talking to the police for a while before Sam and I finally joined them.
“I still don’t understand why Nick should be arrested,” the policeman said.
“The only think I know was that when I saw my daughter come out of a room with him, her arms were tied behind her back and her mouth was taped,” Richard spoke up.
“Well is your daughter here,” the policeman questioned.
“Yeah, I’m here.” I stepped forward, out of Sam’s arms.
“I see.” The policeman was observing me. I did notice that he paused to look twice at the slash on my arm, which was still bloody. “Tell me what happened after you were taken into the room downstairs.”
“I was locked into a room with Nick Sayner. He was generally nice to me, but he forced me to do things I didn’t want to do. Nothing too bad, but still.”
“You are going to have to be more specific than that.”
I looked around, nervous and uncomfortable. “Can we talk somewhere private?”
“Yes, of course.” The policeman led me to a side table in the restaurant. “Tell me everything, please.”
“It’s really not that bad. I just felt uncomfortable with everyone listening.”
“I completely understand.”
“Okay, so I was in this room with Nick. There was a couch and that was about it. He let me sleep most of the time and one time he left to get me food, which I never ate. When he returned from being out, he tried to kiss me, and when I wouldn’t let him, he pulled a knife on my throat. I somehow got the knife away from him, and slid it under the door, but after that, he kissed me and wouldn’t stop kissing me and he moved us to the couch. He tried touching me, but I wouldn’t let him, making him more angry. Eventually I kicked him in between the legs and rushed to the door. He was so mad he didn’t even try to do anything after that. He made me sleep and then told me he was going to kill me. He woke me up, tied my wrists and that was when we found my dad outside my door.”
“Alright. Thank you Catherine. That is very valuable information,” he paused and I stood up to leave, but the policeman grabbed my arm, revealing the swollen red line from my elbow to my wrist. “Who did this?”
“Kang.”
“Why?”
“Sam told Kang that he didn’t believe Kang would actually kill me. Kang said ‘watch me’ and did this.”
“And you have a fear of knives, do you not?”
“That is true, officer.”
The officer stood up with me and we walked back over to where another policeman was conversing with the boys.
“Everything okay,” Sam asked.
“Mmhmm,” I replied.
“She’s a stubborn one, boys. Stronger than you think,” the officer I had talk to smiled and winked at me. I have him a weak smile back.
Sam stepped closer to me and slid his hands under my own and wrapped his arms around my stomach. I leaned back on Sam, trusting him completely for the time being.
“Okay. I think we are done here boys,” the officer paused. “And Catherine. Thank you for the call, and I hope you have a safe flight home. I’m glad you are all okay.” The two policemen nodded their heads at us and left the restaurant to make a few calls to help clean up the scene.
The whole group breathed a sigh of relief as we all relaxed.
“So what happened,” I asked, breaking the silence.
“Kang woke up and was arrested. He will be brought in for questioning later. Nick is being held at a local prison, but we are bringing him home to Indiana when we leave. We will figure out his punishment there, along with his dad. Chang’s body is going to be picked up by a medical team from the local hospital.” Brent shared all this with us quickly.
The group nodded in agreement and dispersed to gather up a few things.
“Brent,” I said, trying to get his attention. He turned to look at me. “What’s next for you?”
“I’ve been talking to Evan and he has decided that I switch jobs. He wants me to stay in the area instead of traveling around the world. He wants me to keep an eye on you and your family, Cat.”
“That’s great Brent. I’m happy for you,” I said, putting a hand on his arm.
“You don’t have to pretend Cat. I know you don’t want me in your life.”
“Don’t say that. We will work this all out.”
Brent gave me a small smile. “Alright everyone! Let’s get back to the hotel and rest. It’s been a long morning and we are leaving first thing in the morning.”
My dad, the three boys, and I all left, and walked down the street towards our rental car. My dad was talking to Brent and Thomas, so Sam and I were able to talk.
“I don’t know what to do with him,” I told Sam.
“You’ll figure it out, eventually,” he replied.
“I mean, think of what he did to me Sam.”
“Kate, listen. I understand. I was devastated for you. I loved you Kate. The whole time, I loved you. I have loved you since the day we met. I was obsessed with you before that. Everyone wanted your sister, but I only wanted you. Whenever I saw you at school, my stomach would flip over a thousand times. When I heard that Loren and Nick were going to talk to your sister, Nate and I joined, hoping that I could talk to you. I am so glad that I did. Anyway, I am mad at Brent too, but we can’t hate him for what he did to you.” He paused and looked at me. I gave him a questioning look. “Trust me, he stole the girl I love, from me and he almost delivered her to her own death. I am livid with Brent.”
I slid my hand into Sam’s before saying anything else. “Fine, Sam. I agree, but I am really disappointed in him, and sometimes that’s worse.” I paused, remembering that Sam had just confessed his love for me. “And I never knew you liked me before all this. It that why you stuck up for me earlier this week? And why you ran into me in the hallway?”
“Yeah,” Sam laughed. “I must have seemed nice then and then later I was mean to you. You must have been really confused.”
“It made me never stop thinking about you.” I smiled at him and he smiled back.
We had finally reached the small car and we all squished in the back seat and began our journey back to the hotel. The car ride was silent, making it very uncomfortable. When we finally drove into the parking lot, I realized we had a small issue.
“Where is my dad going to sleep,” I asked Sam.
“I don’t know. That’s a good question. Don’t you have two beds in your room though?” Sam whispered his response into my ear.
“Yeah, I do.”
“I could sleep in that bed if you want and your dad could take the couch.”
I smiled up at Sam and he smiled back. “You might have to talk to Brent about that first,” I told Sam, but he just shrugged and we walked through the lobby and into the elevator. Brent and my dad were talking about something, but I didn’t know what, some sort of ASO language.
As soon as I got into the hotel room, I went to my bedroom. I took a quick shower and changed into some comfortable clothes, and lay down on my bed.
Dinner was just around the corner by the time everyone had settled in for the night. We had been at the restaurant longer than I thought.
Suddenly there was a knock at my door.
“Come in,” I said.
Sam opened the door a little bit. “Are you going to want something to eat?”
“No, I’m good.” I haven’t eaten in a very long time, but food just didn’t sound good to be right now.
“Okay, well, if you get hungry you can have some of mine.”
“Okay, did you talk to Brent?”
“Yeah, he said he didn’t care. Not that he would have been able to stop me, but your dad is going to take Thomas’s room and then Thomas is going to sleep on the couch. Brent seemed pretty upset when I asked him about the sleeping arrangements, though,” Sam told me.
“Did I?” Brent’s voice came from behind Sam, surprising me.
“Yeah, you did,” Sam said, turning around.
“Oh, well my bad. I will try to sound happier when another guy asks to sleep with my girlfriend.”
“I didn’t know she was your girlfriend, Brent. You broke her heart pretty bad.”
“Can I talk to you, Cat, please,” Brent asked, ignoring Sam’s comment and stepping farther into my room.
“I want some time to myself,” I replied without looking at Brent.
“For God’s sake! I am going to talk to you. Now,” Brent yelled at me, scaring me half to death, making me jump slide down under the covers in my bed.
“Brent! Leave the room,” Sam was yelling too as he stepped in front of Brent and was trying to get him to leave the room. Brent’s fist came up and punched Sam in the stomach. Sam bent over and fell sideways, his eyes wide.
“Sam!” I got out of bed to see if he was okay, but Brent’s hand came out, wrapping around my torso and stopping me from going anywhere. I struggled to get by, but Brent’s eyes were narrowed in on me, so I stopped, scared of what he could do to me.
Brent let me go and bent down to roll Sam over. He helped Sam stand up and then shoved him out of my hotel room. Brent closed the door and locked it.
“What are you doing,” I asked Brent, worry in my voice.
“I am going to talk to you,” Brent said. His voice was much quieter now, but his voice still stern. He walked over to my bed. I crawled in and he sat down next to me.
“Brent. I don’t want to talk to you right now. I don’t know what to feel anymore and I’m definitely not your girl-” Brent’s index finger met my lips, interrupting my sentence.
“Come closer to me.” Brent was telling, not asking. I hesitated before moving closer to him. We were both leaning up against the back board of the bed now. Brent turned our bodies so that we were facing each other.
Brent’s hand came up to my face. He hesitated and then his hand made contact with my skin. I jumped a little bit, surprised by his touch. Brent smiled at me.
“I loved you, Cat,” Brent told me as he urged me to move even closer.
I didn’t move. I was scared. Brent saw my confusion and pulled me. I tried to move away, but Brent was much stronger.
“Please don’t do this to me, Cat,” Brent pleaded.
“It’s too late,” I replied.
“No, no it’s not.” Brent quickly leaned forward and kissed me.
I was furious. This was the last thing I expected. I tried to pull away, but Brent’s arms were wrapped all the way around me. I had no chance. The only thing I could do was kick him, so I brought my knee up as hard as I could right in between his legs. That seemed to be the only way to make boys stop kissing me.
Brent yelled and let go of me. I took this opportunity and ran for the door, knowing it was locked. I quickly unlocked it and ran into the main room. Sam was sitting on the couch, but as soon as he saw me, he stood up and wrapped his arms around me, making me feel safe again.
There was no one else in the room, which was nice, because I didn’t want to explain anything to my dad or brother.
I hadn’t realized at first, but I was crying. Sam was trying to calm me, but the only thing I could think of was Nick and his knife. Brent had brought back those memories that I had intended to store away forever.
“It’s okay Katie. You have me now. Everything’s going to be okay,” Sam said. He was rubbing my back, trying to comfort me. Sam stood there with me in silence for a while before Brent even came out of the room. He didn’t look angry as he sulked to his own room. It was almost as if he knew he deserved it.
When Brent had crossed the room, he turned around. “I’m sorry,” Brent said.
Sam let go of me and stood right in front of Brent. “Sorry for what? Bringing back the memories of Nick holding a knife to Kate’s neck? Sorry for tricking her into loving you? Sorry for getting her kidnapped? Brent, she loved you! She trusted you! And what did you do? You stepped out from behind her and watched her fall. And the sad thing is, is that you knew this was coming. The whole time! From the very beginning. I can’t believe that you could have don’t that to Katie. She doesn’t deserve you.” By the time Sam was finished, he was inches away from Brent and Sam’s finger was poking Brent in the chest.
Brent didn’t even say anything though. He just walked past me and Sam and went into his room.
Sam walked back over to me and sat on the couch. I sat right next to him, cuddling up close. Sam knows me more than I know. He basically read my mind. He knew right away that Brent’s actions had reminded me of Nick.
“Where is everyone,” I asked Sam. Tears were still slowly sliding down my face.
“They went to go pick up some dinner, but don’t worry about them. You need to relax.” Sam’s voice was soothing. I relaxed and stopped crying, letting Sam hold me close. He rubbed my back and laid his head on top of mine. I was so happy and content in this moment. I was happy to be in the arms of someone who truly cared about me and loved me. With this realization, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.