“Let… go of me!”
I’m so angry that I’m screaming every word that comes out of my mouth. What the fuck am I supposed to make of all of this? I can’t even begin to process this!
He does what I ask and all the while, Mina is sitting on the floor laughing. Jackson speaks up, and he sounds defeated when he says,
“Crystal, I swear, we had one blind date and I moved here two days later. That was a little over three years ago. She attacked me after she found my address and saw that I was packing to leave. She had it in her head that I wanted to be with her. I ended up in the hospital with a concussion and she got sentenced to five years for assaulting a police officer. I didn’t know that she got out until yesterday when my old partner sent me the report on her case. I swear I had no idea she was working for you.”
Mina interrupts him and says,
“But, you knew I was here Jackson. You’ve known since you met Crystal at the gym, didn’t you? You knew it was me who left that note on your car. You knew it was me that broke into her house. You even knew it was me who knocked her out in the parking garage, and you said nothing. Such a fucking punk and scared of losing her.”
I feel the blood drain to my feet, and I feel lifeless. All this time, Jackson knew she was here, and he never said anything to me. Jackson is looking at me with pleading eyes and I don’t want to hear anymore. I start walking for the door when he stops me.
“Crystal please don’t do this, I swear I didn’t know until last night that she was posing as Charlene. I had my suspicions about the other things, but without proof, there was nothing I could do. You have to believe me!”
I look from him to her, the blood still pouring from her nose, staining her teeth as she smiles. I look back to Jackson and with everything left in me, I just say,
“Fuck you,” and leave.
On the ride back to the house, I replay the entire story for Chassity and April. I’m in shock that Charlene is really this Mina person and she was right there in my office working for me. Who the fuck does that? My phone dings and it’s a text from Jackson. I don’t care what happened after I left, but what I do know is that I don’t ever want to see him again.
Jackson: Baby, please talk to me. Please let me fix this. I can’t lose you.
Me: Don’t ever call or text me again. I don’t ever want to see you or that sick bitch again.
I turn my phone off and when we get home, I go to my room and pass out from exhaustion.
I don’t want to think or talk anymore. My heart is broken and I’m not sure if I will ever trust it to anyone again. I loved Jackson so much and he betrayed my trust. I don’t ever want to see him again. The bed dips as Chassity gets in on one side and April, the other. They hold me close and that’s my undoing. I can’t help the heavy sobs of pain that come flooding out.
Jackson
I feel numb, as if my whole world came crashing down on me. Watching Crystal walk out the door gutted me, and I feel like I’m in a daze. A voice brings me out of my haze.
“Now that she’s out of your life, we can pick up where we left off.”
I look up and see Mina still in my house, blood dripping everywhere and she’s smiling as if this shit is normal.
“Get the fuck out of my house before I put a fucking bullet in your head!”
“You don’t mean that.” Her voice is flat and it’s as if she has no sense of reality. I never in my life thought that I would pick a psycho for a one-night stand.
“Oh, I mean every fucking word. Get. The. Fuck. Out. Now!”
She slowly walks past me and says.
“You know Jackson, I don’t understand why you’re being difficult. We connected in Chicago and I know you felt it too. I had every intention of doing to you what I did to the others, but you’re not like the others, you were the first one that said you wanted to see me again. You were so kind and for the first time in my life, the storm in my head was quiet, and I felt at peace. That’s when I knew we were meant to be. I’ll give you some time, but don’t take too long or I may have to visit your precious Crystal again.”
And with that she leaves. I stand there staring at the door with my mouth open. I just couldn’t believe what just happened, and what did she mean by the others? I lock up and head to my office. I need to dig into Mina’s background to find out what I’m dealing with. I need to handle this delicately not only for Crys’s safety, but Mina’s as well. Even though she deserves my wrath, she’s clearly not right in the head, so there has to be more to this. Turning on my computer, I immediately search for Mina Peterson and my stomach drops! Newspaper articles of how she killed her father and was put into a mental hospital flood my screen! Her actual name is Yasmina. My gut told me that something was not right with her, but I’m speechless as I read the story of what she did to her father. I think I’m going to be sick. How did the doctors ever think that she should be released from the mental ward? I get my answer in the next article.
“Yasmina Peterson, a mental patient at Methodist Hospital of Chicago, escaped custody and is considered extremely dangerous. She is also wanted in the deaths of two orderlies that worked at the hospital. If you see her, please do not approach or engage Ms. Peterson. Call 773-295-5555 with any information on her whereabouts. She may be linked to a slew of mysterious deaths in several states that appear to fit the pattern of her father’s murder. If you see this woman, please call your local authorities immediately.”
I sit in stunned silence, trying to wrap my head around this. She left a trail of bodies across the states and now she’s here. Her pictures show her in various hairstyles, colors, different colored eyes, and she’s been on the run for over five years. I could’ve been her next victim. Now everything she said makes sense. Tomorrow when I go into the station, I’ll assign a detective to research the other murders. I need to get inside of her head and take her down before anyone else gets hurt or dies. The thought of her being close to Crystal all this time takes its toll and I lose it!
I wake up and my head is splitting. I don’t want to move, but there’s been a break in Mike’s case, and we have everything we need to set up the take down of Jordan and Devon. Jumping in the shower, thoughts of Crys invade my head. I miss her already and I can’t believe how bad I fucked this up. I miss everything, her taste, her touch, the smell of her perfume, her laugh. I stroke my dick thinking of how her body responds to me and how beautiful she looks when she comes. Everything about her is like oxygen for me. I close my eyes and imagine her sweet perfect lips wrapped around me, sucking me hard and deep while I fuck her mouth. The way she would moan like it was food for her soul, as if she enjoyed it just as much as I did. My strokes get harder and faster and I come in long spurts against the tiles on the wall. The sensation so powerful that I collapse to my knees. When my breathing is under control, I make a vow to myself to get my girl back. I don’t know how, but I will do everything in my power to show her how much I love her and that I need her in my life. I have to wonder if she’s feeling just as torn as I am or if I’ve really lost her forever.
Crystal
Sitting at my desk, I go over the events of this past weekend. This was supposed to be one of the happiest times of my life and it all went to absolute shit. I did my best to stay busy on Saturday and Sunday, but every time I thought of Jackson, I broke down and cried. I didn’t know that love was supposed to hurt, but it has gutted me and left me lost. Chassity and April were always there to catch me when I fell, but my heart literally aches. It’s not that I don’t believe Jackson and I don’t question his love for me. However, he kept things from me that directly affected me and I can’t let that go. When I got here, I had all of the locks changed and got additional cameras in and around the building. I decided to have lunch with Stephanie here in the office so I could let her know everything that was going on.