Time's Up

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Vanessa

Things finally seemed as though they had gotten back to normal. Poppie had recovered beautifully, leaving no facial damage and moved back to her apartment. Mr. Peabody made sure security was beefed up as we didn’t need any incidents on the property as reporters would still try to catch a glimpse of her. Poppie hadn’t been assigned to anyone at the moment as I wanted her to go through therapy first.

I had a long meeting for the day which kept me at the office longer than I had expected. After work, I had dinner plans at a local restaurant in which Mr. Peabody accompanied me. Dinner was amazing and it was nice to finally be outside of the house enjoying the evening with him. We haven’t had an evening out together in a while; we usually have dinner at home because he loves to spoil me with a home cooked meal, which he does rather well.

“You know, I’m happy we came out tonight,” I said as we walked out the restaurant hand in hand.

“I’m glad we did too,” he said, kissing me on the forehead. Brian opened the umbrella while we walked to the car parked in the parking lot across the street. “I still think you should have waited for me to get the car so you wouldn’t have to walk over to it.”

“It’s all good Brian, it’s just across the street. Besides, I’m with you, I feel safe,” I said as he wrapped his arm around me.

“As you should,” he said. We walked quickly across the street before the traffic raced down the street. The pavement was wet from the misty rain and to be honest, it seemed really quiet. A little too quiet. I looked at Brian for reassurance and he carried a stern look upon his face; he looked down at me and smiled, easing my anxiety.

Brian unlocked the car remotely just before we reached the car; suddenly everything seemed to go in slow motion. Brian reached for the door and a car pulled up quickly into the parking lot, drawing our attention.

It stopped directly in front of our car and a door opened. Brian pushed me into the car and I heard a gunshot.

POW!

The car door window shattered into a million pieces. I covered my head and buried myself as much as I could on the floor on the passenger side. Brian covered me with his body as the guy kept shooting.

POW! POW!

Two more shots rang out and hit the windshield. I looked at Brian as he kneeled down behind the passenger door. The shooter wasn’t a really good shot but he was still shooting randomly. I saw Brian take off his coat and grabbed his gun from his waist in the back.

It had gotten quiet. Again. Too quiet. The car was still there because I could hear the music blaring in the night. I could hear police sirens off in the far distance, it would be a minute but they were coming. Then it happened.

Brian stood up after seeing movement off to his side.

POW! POW! POW! POW!I heard about 3 or 4 shots go off and saw Brian take a few as he stumbled back towards the car.

Brian got shot! My heart dropped. Not Brian. Not my Brian.

POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!

More shots rang off. This time it was Brian responding. He caught his balance leaning against the car and shot back at the driver. The driver fell to the ground and didn’t move. Brian stood up holding his stomach and walked over with his gun still drawn and stood over the guy.

POW!

Brian unloaded one last shot to his head. Brian struggled to turn the guy over, checking his pockets to find anything on who he was. I’m sure he was the contract killer that was hired to come after me.

“Brian!” I screamed practically falling out of the car to reach him. He was stumbling back to the car, he had been hit a few times and he was bleeding out badly. “No! No, no, no, Brian!” I said as he collapsed to his knees; I fell and managed to catch his head on the way to the ground.

“Please! Somebody! Help!!!” I screamed to the top of my lungs. A few waiters who were outside smoking cigarettes on the side of the restaurant ran over after they heard me scream. One immediately pulled out a phone and called 911.

“Brian, stay with me baby, please. Don’t leave me, Brian!”

I can’t do this without him. I couldn’t lose him. He was my heart.

---

Poppie

It was nice to be back at my apartment. I hadn’t gone back to work yet, because Vanessa wanted me to have some therapy, which was fine by me. The last time I had some sort of therapy was back at the foster facility where they kept kids who were about to age out of the system.

I had finally got up the nerve to invite Samuel over to my place. It had been a while since we had seen each other, since I left the mansion. We’ve talked on the phone and video chatted with each other but nothing more than that. It seems a bit strange and new to me because I have always gotten physical with someone and then found out about them. With Samuel, it was different.

I think he is holding back something but I can’t put my finger on it. I’m confident I’ll find out in due time. He’s sweet and caring. He loves calling me ‘Poppee’ with more emphasis on the ending. He also has a little, weird facial expression he does that I remembered only one other person doing the same thing, which makes Samuel look so familiar to me.

He arrived at my door, on a rainy night, where I had just ordered some Chinese food. I opened the door thinking it was my order but I came face to face with Samuel.

“Hey Poppie,” he smiled while I opened the door to let him in.

“Hey Samuel, I thought you were my Chinese food,” I said looking down the hallway. Just as I was about to step back in the door, the delivery person came around the corner with my food.

“Perfect timing,” he said as he saw me grab the food and close the door.

“I know right. You must be hungry,” I joked.

“Actually I am, but I was going to offer to go out to eat,” he said, watching me stride to the kitchen with my food. “I was going to ask you to come join me along with my mother and Mr. Peabody, for dinner.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Maybe next time, we can always eat with them,” he said, coming into the kitchen.

“Your mother is an amazing woman,” I said, opening the bag and taking everything out, placing them on the table.

“Yes she is,” he said, helping me by opening the containers. “She’s special. When she saw me she said she knew I was the one she wanted.”

I looked at him confused by what he said. “Wait, what?” I blurted. He snickered and looked at me.

“I’m adopted. My mom adopted me when I was very young, I think about 4 or 5 years old,” he said as I placed several items on a plate in front of him.

“Really?” I said looking at him. “I would’ve never guessed. To be honest, I thought you were product of a divorce,”

Samuel laughed, “No, it’s just been me and my mother as long as I could remember.”

“What about Mr. Peabody, when did he become your mother’s assistant?”

“Shortly after my grandfather passed the business on to my uncle. My mother was furious. She took what was given to her and made her own empire. Peabody left my grandfather’s company and joined my mother’s. ” We picked up our plates and headed to the living room.

“That she did. She’s inspiring,”

“I think so too,”

After dinner Samuel and I decided to try and pick up where we left off when I stayed at the mansion. Samuel made the smooth move of scooting next to me and placing his arm around my shoulders. I took it upon myself to help him out and swung my legs across his lap. He looked at me and smiled. I knew he didn’t want to do anything wrong or anything I didn’t want to do.

“You sure?′ He asked while he laid his arm across my waist and pulled me closer.

“I’m good.” I responded leaning in for a small peck on his lips.

“Good to know,” he said and kissed me deeply as his tongue danced with mine.

As we kissed on the couch, I was excited to have someone who was taking their time with me and wanted to make sure that I was having a good time, not just them. He didn’t treat me as if I was supposed to please him, he treated me as if he wanted to please me. Samuel kissed down my neck as I pulled him closer to me. My nipples looked like pebbles in my t-shirt. I had on a pair of thin pajama pants which he quickly slid down the back and squeezed my ass.

“Mmmmmm,” I let out a soft moan as he cupped my ass cheek. He made me want to explore more of him as I slid my hand under his shirt and caressed his chest.

He stopped and pulled it over his head, revealing his well built physique, my fingers touching every ripple on his torso. Suddenly his phone began to ring.

“Should you get that?” I asked as it buzzed on the kitchen table.

“Nah, I’m sure it’s no one important,” he replied and planted a kiss on my lips. “Not as important as you right now.”

I blushed. He made me feel so special. I felt so comfortable with him. He ran his fingers through my hair, his fingers gave the soft sensation of pleasure across my scalp. He held the back of my head and pulled me to his lips. He kissed me softly; kissing one lip at a time. Samuel didn’t rush getting physical, which is what attracted me to him. He took his time; he knew how to control every moment and every feeling and he knew how to build the passion between us.

His phone frantically rang on the kitchen table, I pulled back and looked at him. I wondered if someone was really trying to get in touch with him.

“Samuel, it sounds like someone is trying to get in touch with you,” I said pointing to the phone.

“Yeah, a’ight.” He unwillingly removed himself from our embrace to pick up his phone.

“Hello Mother,” he said smiling; then his smile suddenly faded. “What do you mean? Are you okay?”

I instantly got chills all over my arms. Something didn’t sound right. I slowed my breathing as I wanted to hear everything. I turned towards him and he looked at me. His eyes told me that something had happened and it wasn’t good.

“What hospital are you?” he demanded.

Did he say hospital? What the fuck happened?

“I’m on my way.” Samuel said and hung up the phone. “Poppie, I have to go. Mr. Peabody has been shot.” he said, picking up his coat.

“I’m coming with you.” I said slipping on my shoes and grabbing my zip-up hoodie. I wanted to be there for support.