Mercy

“Nicole?” she hears a voice that sounds a lot like James, say her name. Nikki turns around in her chair. “What are you doing here?” she asks, as a confused Duane looks on.

“I read the card in your office. I had to know who had been sending my fiance flowers. ” He says looking Duane Lee over. “Its time for you to say your goodbyes.” James says grabbing her by the arm.

“I think that’s enough". Duane Lee says nicely, as James pulls at Nikki’s arm.

“I’m just having lunch with a friend. I’ll call you when I’m done here.” Nikki says, trying to smooth over the situation at hand. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a scene at crowded restaurant.

“Its time to go. Now!” James says harshly, pulling her up from the table, his hand still gripping tightly to her upper arm.

“That’s. Enough.” Duane says punctuating each word as he stands up, towering over James. “Let go of her arm and walk away.” He says calmly. "You don't want to start something you cant finish."

“We’ll talk later.” James says shoving his finger in Nikki’s face before walking away.

Nikki closes her eyes; never in her entire life would she have imagined that James would make such a fuss. He was always so calm and cool. She had never even heard him raise his voice.

“I am so sorry.” She finally says, pushing back the tears that threatened to spill over.

“Fiancé huh?”

“I didn’t know how to tell you. I’m sorry.”

Duane Lee gives her a comforting smile. “Its okay. Really. That was part of our agreement, if one of us was taken the other would understand, right?”

“Right…” she says, trying to convince her own self not to feel awful about the way things had turned out.

Nikki took her time coming home that night. It wasn't until the cleaning crew came into her office to clean, that she realized it was 8:00 and she needed to go home. When she walked into the large house she shared with James, he was no where to be seen. It was quiet, almost eerie as she locked the door behind her.

“James?” she called out to the seemingly empty house.

“I’m home…where are you?” she yells louder. When he didn’t answer she went in search of him, finding him sitting on his side of the bed, staring at the wall.

"There you are. I called for you.” She says, sitting down next to him.

“How long?” he asks coldly.

"How long? What are you talking about?” she asks, obviously not understanding what he meant.

“How long Nicole? How long have you been seeing him?” he says through his teeth.

Nikki stands up from the bed, crossing her arms and starting down at her fiancé. “I am not seeing him. Don’t be absurd James, I am not that kind of woman.”

“There’s someone…I know there is. What about the other one, the one in your office today, with the tattoo’s and long hair. Honestly Nicole, you can do better than that. He was wearing camouflaged pants for God’s sake.” He says in that snotty tone she always hated.

“Shut up, just shut up!” she screams. “I will not stand and here and let you talk about my friends that way!”

“Those men do not want your friendship, they want your money!” he yells back at her as he advances toward her, pushing her against the wall. This side of James personality was new and it scared her. Nikki made a decision then, she wouldn’t live in fear of anyone. “James, you need to calm down.” She says, pushing him off of her.

He pushed her back into the wall, his face only inches from her. “You listen to me, girl. I wont walk away until I’m f**king ready to walk away. You’re mine and I’m gonna keep it that way. Do you understand?” he says, gritting his teeth.

Nikki nods her head, fearing that if she didn’t agree with him, he might strike her. He looked like an angry dog, waiting to bite someone, teeth and nostril flared, his chest rising and falling as he breathed heavily. She ducked under his arm and walked into the large master bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her. She turned the shower on and cried in to the water, she refused to become one of those women.

The rain was pouring down when Nikki's alarm clock went off the next morning, she groaned as she hit the snooze button for the third time. "Don't wanna get up ." she moaned, pulling the cover over her head.

She longed for those days when things were simple. The days when Leland might jump in bed with her, telling her stories of his crazy adventures in bounty hunting, or the nights when Duane Lee would show up at her door, always wearing one of those tight t-shirts that he knew she loved, but would never admit to. Both Chapman brothers pleased her in very different ways; Leland was thoughtful, kind and loving. His brother was silly, adventurous and the sex.... 'Mmm the sex' Nikki thinks to her self, biting her lip unconsciously.

'Is it possible to love two brothers...but love them in completely different ways? With Leland it was that tingly, new love kind of feeling, with Duane Lee it was passionate and fun. Why is that?' Nikki sighed, not coming up with an answer to her internal questioning.

Thunder clapped and lightning struck in the distance. When she finally pulled her out from the cover, she noticed her power had gone out, most likely from the storm that raged outside her window. She listened for James, when she didn't hear him moving about the house, she decided he must have gone into work early; most likely to avoid another confrontation with her.

'Fine by me.' she thinks. Picking up her cell phone, she calls Kelly to let her know she wouldn't be into work today. There were too many questions unanswered and the last place she wanted to be was at work...with James.

As she finished up her conversation with Kelly, a call beeped in. She pulled the phone back, noticing it was Leland. "I've got to go Kelly, just make sure those files are on my father's desk by Noon, please. Thanks, Bye." Nikki says, quickly pushing the talk button to click over to Leland.

"Good morning." she says happily, hearing him chuckle before he says anything makes her smile. It was nice to have him back in her life. "Sure that sounds great." she says, still smiling as he tells her he wants to come by this morning. She gives him directions to her new house and hangs up, making a bee line for her closet to get dressed in the dark. 'This could be interesting.' she says to herself, trying to see what color shirt she pulled off the hanger.

Deciding that simple was the best way to look, she opted for a pair of jeans and a deep V-neck tshirt, the one that showed off her best assets . 'I cant think that way...I'm engaged...I'm engaged.' she repeated over and over in her head as she stared at the large diamond that rested on her ring finger. When James slid it onto her finger, her first thought was, 'Oh my God' which was what she said out loud. What she didn't say out loud was 'This is entirely too big...and gaudy!' No matter how much money she had, Nikki never understood the reason behind such large, gaudy jewelry. Things like that better suited her mother.

Nikki reached the bottom of the stairs just as Leland rang the doorbell. She welcomed him inside, apologizing for the power outage as they sat down together on the couch. "So whats going on today?" Nikki asks, looking over at Leland.

He closes his eyes for a moment. Nikki knew he had something he wanted to tell her. She was almost scared, wondering what that might be.

"Ive wanted to tell you something for so long...and all that shit happened and I never got a chance to, and I always regretted it."

"You know you can tell me anything Leland...anything at all." she says, reaching out to hold his hand. She knew what ever was weighing heavy on his mind had to be important to risk coming to the home of an engaged woman he hadn't spoken to in three years.

"I like you Nikki." he tells her, a look of relief coming over his face. "I always have, I wanted to...be with you, to date you. I just didn't know how to ask you. You made me see things differently. That day at the beach when Stacy showed up at the office -" he says, reminding her. "I was going to ask you for a date that day." he admits.

Nikki lowers her head, remembering that day. The day that changed all of their lives. She had done so many things wrong in her life, but when she met Leland she wanted to do things the right way. But that didn't work out either.

"I know you're engaged now..." he says, his thought trailing off. Nikki swallowed the lump in her throat. She suddenly became very nervous as she waited for him to say something... anything. But he didn't. He left it all up to her.

"I wish I could turn back the hands of time Leland."

"Would you have said yes?" he asks, almost hopeful as a smile appears on his face.

Nikki smiles then, wishing she did have the power to turn back time. "Absolutely." she says pulling him into a hug. "I absolutely would have said yes, Leland."

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