Then …
“This is fucking ridiculous!” I spat out before angrily tossing my cell phone against the leather sofa in my living room. It’d been a month since I dropped Kayla off in front of her house and she was still refusing to take my calls. The final straw had been a recorded message alerting me that her number had been changed.
“Fuck this,” I grunted, throwing a baseball cap on my head backwards, and grabbing my keys. She could tell me face-to-face to fuck off, but this silent treatment bullshit needed to end. I’d been feeling like I was losing it for weeks. This shit had to end.
I made it down the stairs from my third story condo and to my car in the garage in record time. Before I knew it, I was peeling out of the garage on my way to Kayla’s. Normally, the drive took forty minutes to get to her parents’ house. This time I was there in twenty-five.
I parked right out front, slamming my car door shut and charging up to the front door, banging on it.
“The hell?” I heard a male grumble from the opposite side of the door. Kay’s father. A second later the door was pulled open and an angry looking Mr. Reyes stood there, staring me down with a deep wrinkle in his forehead and daggers shooting out of his chestnut eyes. Those eyes reminded me so much of Kayla’s.
“Mr. Reyes, I need to speak with Kay.” I tried to sound as respectful as possible but it was difficult.
He folded his arms across his burly chest. He was a few inches shorter than my six foot one height, but he was wider. As he stood there sizing me up, the hint of resentment I’d always felt come from him was no longer in hiding.
He began shaking his head. “No.”
My anger flared. “Mr. Reyes, I don’t know what your problem with me is and I don’t care, but I need to speak with—”
“I said no!” he barked, widening his stance to prevent me from seeing inside of the house.
Our height differential made his endeavor null and void. I could easily see behind him into the house. My eyes readily searched for any signs that Kayla was inside. I’d seen her car parked in the driveway as soon as I pulled up.
“I know she’s home. She won’t answer my calls. Just let her know I’m here,” I insisted.
“Ay, dios!” he commented in his native Spanish. “Que no entiende ese hombre!”
“I understand quite well that you’re hiding Kay from me. The reason why, however, is beyond my understanding.”
His eyes widened. I guessed he’d forgotten I was fluent in Spanish. His daughter had taught me. She was extremely proud of her Afro Latina roots.
He sighed, angrily. “Kay doesn’t want to speak with you. Just leave my daughter alone!” He stepped back and went to shut the door in my face.
Too bad for him, the door slam was stopped by my foot in the door.
“Listen, son …” he growled.
“Where the hell is Kayla? I know she’s here!” I shouted, feeling close to unhinged.
“She’s not here!”
“Bullshit!” I shouted, forgetting that both of my parents had raised me to be respectful toward my elders. To hell with that, they weren’t there, and I felt as if I was coming apart at the seams. I’d already lost Chelsea, I couldn’t lose Kayla, too.
“Watch your mouth, son!” Mr. Reyes shouted. “This little friendship you’ve had with my daughter is over. Kayla’s moved. She’s in Portland.”
I paused, the grip I’d had on the edge of the door slackened, and Mr. Reyes was able to get the door closed with me on the outside of it.
“He’s lying!” I insisted to the open air. I began pounding on the door with my fist and ringing the doorbell incessantly. “Open the goddamn door!”
“Leave here now. I don’t care how much money your family has, I will call the police!”
“Call ’em!” I didn’t give a shit at that point. I continued to bang on the door and when that got me nowhere, I moved to pounding on the windows at the front of the house. “Kayla, come out here!” I shouted, moving toward the back of the house, to the window I knew belonged to her bedroom. She had to be in there. In the background I could hear Mr. Reyes had emerged from the house, yet again. This time he was on the phone calling the police.
Let them come,I thought. Every ounce of decorum I’d had abandoned me. I was known as the rational and even charming Townsend brother. But at that moment all I felt was anger mixed with pure pain. Those two emotions had driven me to behave like a caged animal over the last month.
“Sir. Sir, you need to come with us.” I distinctly heard behind me in a firm tone. My arm was being pulled. That was when I took the first swing at whoever was grabbing at me. I needed to get to Kayla.
“We will arrest you!”
