Midnight Magic

By Sandra Bonaldi

Nick Roland never had a problem playing the white knight.  The problem was that Victoria's form of protection was not of the ordinary variety. Is there a chance for happiness after domestic violence?  Nick and Victoria are uncertain but when faced with some old-fashioned Midnight Magic they might rethink their positions

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wings ePress, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781597053235

Book preview

Dedication

The Lord above always.

Tom – For always believing in me

Jackie – My busy little reader

Joey and Mark – Just because

Dad – For passing down the gift

Joanne and Pat – My critical eyes

My favorite Rats of all time – Chase and Chelsea

Prologue

It had been quite some time before Nick could actually breathe a sigh of relief, no matter how small. For the past two years, his entire life had been in some strange holding pattern. Actually since his best friend Jessica’s move from Brick to suburbia, her small intimate island wedding to Bennett Brookes and the birth of daughter, Nicolette Clair. Now, Jessica and Ben were expecting their second child, had recently purchased their ideal home, and had finally persuaded Nick to move closer to the hustle and bustle of the city. The minute Jessica had begun using his little namesake as a creative tool he knew he was a goner and a couple of months later Nick had caved under the pressure. Simply put, or according to Jessica, she had gotten her life together and now it was Nick’s turn to do the same. It was a big move as well as a huge change. But Nick needed that change. In fact, he welcomed that change. More so now, since that number Tonia had put him through after nearly ripping out his heart and handing it to him bloodied and bruised. When Bloom Chevrolet offered him the position as their newest Account Executive, he had jumped at the chance and didn’t hesitate pulling up any last roots associated with Brick.

To simply achieve that Account Executive title was a heady feeling, not to mention the hefty raise that went along with it. In Nick’s book, he was definitely on his way up that large ladder of success. Everything around him had been changing and now he was embracing that change. Although his mom, Becca, and her husband Marcus had made their move out of state years ago, she still tried to talk her son into moving to Pennsylvania. Although Nick had known that he needed to begin fresh, he also knew that he would not be leaving New Jersey any time soon as Jersey truly held a place in his heart. So instead, he took the plunge and made the move to be closer to his friends almost one hundred miles north. He needed to be closer to Jessica and maybe now she would stop harping about that. With the new baby coming, Jessica was running on high alert. Knowing her as he did, she would have harped on him until he’d finally relented anyway. He knew from past experience that she could be unmerciful.

The old fashioned apartment that he had finally secured was on a one-way tree-lined street close to the dealership. Actually it was a four apartment duplex with two side by sides. The other three apartments were occupied; one was taken by the landlady, another by a family of four who were hardly ever home, and the apartment beneath him by a pretty little blonde who had just broken up with her boyfriend. Although he’d only taken residence a short time earlier, the rumors had been running rampant concerning the little blonde bombshell. It seemed that her boyfriend had been quite abusive; there had been police activity involved and he had been taken out in handcuffs on more than one occasion. The last incident had been the final straw and had happened a little over a month ago, a few days before he’d officially moved in. That small tidbit had come from the landlady herself.

Trudy Mc Donald was a no-nonsense woman in her mid-sixties who ran a tight ship. Her motto was simple: if you were going to be late with your rent, don’t bother to call her with excuses, just start packing as she had a line of potential renters just waiting for a chance to rent on this beautiful block in this quaint suburban town. And Nick knew that she was right. Trudy definitely talked more than she should and Nick already knew way too much about the lovely Victoria Benson.

According to Trudy, Victoria and Max had moved in about a year or so ago and had started out as quite the little lovebirds. They had been inseparable. And they had made a cute couple. However, the word on the street was that Max was a heavy drinker, recreational drug user and real womanizer. Since Trudy lived on the premises, she made it her business to know everyone else’s business, and since only a thin wall separated her from Victoria’s apartment, she knew more than most. In fact, Trudy had even admitted to calling the police herself once or twice. It wasn’t a secret that she was glad to see Max gone, as it would have been a shame to have started eviction proceedings against such a lovely young woman, and what she was doing with the likes of that hooligan, Trudy would never know. Even Max’s roofing business had seemed shady to Trudy. He’d been a real charmer all right, but Trudy had seen right through that facade. Victoria, on the other hand, was young and naïve.

Trudy had approved Nick out of five other possible candidates on the waiting list for her rudimentary three-room apartment. Sure it was basic, and smaller than he was accustomed to but for now it was a foot in the door as he had his eye on a few condos he’d been scouting out in the area. One or two years in this apartment and he could definitely save some more money and maybe by then he’d be able to consider a townhouse. It was only four blocks from Bloom Chevrolet and he could literally roll out of bed and be at work a scant fifteen minutes later. It was perfect.

So, he’d signed the lease, moved in, and had been introduced to his neighbors, not that he would remember any of their names after today. However, it was that cute little blonde downstairs whose name he’d be unlikely to forget.

Almost everyone called her Tori, but Nick preferred Victoria. It suited her. It was a regal name for a regal lady. She was probably around his age. She was five-foot-five, maybe a little shorter, and she had curves. Better than that was the fact that they were in all the right places. She was a delightful package, from her hourglass figure to her well-rounded bottom. Even her features were striking... from her bright emerald green eyes to her creamy complexion that looked as though kissed reverently by the summer sun. She had a luxurious mane of shoulder length honey blonde hair that fell in subtle waves halfway down her back. It looked as sleek as a curtain of silk which had Nick wondering about its texture. But Victoria usually kept it pulled back into a loose ponytail.

On that very first day that Nick had moved in, he had caught sight of Victoria performing some gardening tasks in the back yard. It was apparent that she tended a modest vegetable garden and also a small bed of flowers. Trudy also mentioned the fact that he had access to the back yard as well if he desired. Idly, he found himself wondering how Victoria would feel if he decided to exercise those rights and invade her small space and share her garden. Tempting as that all sounded, he intended to steer clear as he did not need any complications of the domestic kind. As usual he was scheduled for one of Jessica’s famous matchmaking blind dates. This would make number three in the past month and was not something that he was looking forward to. But he did it to keep Jessica happy. After all, she only wanted what was best for him. Then again, he didn’t know what was best for him so it was unlikely she would know. She wanted him to have what she and Ben shared. It was a nice thought and in a perfect world he would have been settled down already with a wife and a couple of kids. But this wasn’t a perfect world and the woman he thought he might have had a chance with had put his heart through the meat grinder. On second thought, he had bounced back after Tonia’s infidelity rather quickly, which could only mean one thing: he hadn’t been in love with her as he had thought. As for settling down, well, he didn’t see that happening anytime soon.

FOR THE PAST MONTH or maybe more, Victoria Benson had only existed in some altered state of limbo. At this point in time, all she had been able to do was simply exist. That didn’t count all of the time she had spent looking over her shoulder while double locking every door the minute she was safely inside her apartment. Fear had become such an intense feeling that she didn’t know how to feel any other way. There were your basic fears, which heightened your senses and gave you cause to stand up and take notice of your surroundings, and then there was that deep-rooted fear that had you looking over your shoulder at every turn. A fear that made sure that you were safely inside your apartment before darkness fell. A fear that had Victoria performing ridiculous tasks such as getting out of bed in the middle of the night to make sure that the kitchen chair was pressed against the back door, even though she knew damned well that she had put it there before going to bed. How she longed for one decent night’s sleep, as she hadn’t had one in a long time.

Getting Max out of her life hadn’t been easy. There was also that one fact that kept her up at night should he decide he wanted to come back. However, after the last fiasco with the local police department, she highly doubted he would be that foolish. Then again, put a couple of drinks in Max, and he got nasty. A few more drinks and he might decide to take on two cops at the same time. If he was on a binge, it was no holds barred.

Most of her weekends had been downright horrendous. Max would start drinking Friday night and continue until the wee hours of the morning. There had been many times when he would take the festivities over to a nearby tavern called Charley’s and she would be given a small reprieve. Victoria had known from the beginning that their relationship hadn’t been normal. It hadn’t only been because Max had been so controlling from the very start, although now she could admit that fact in itself had played a big part in their rocky relationship. Every minute of her day had to be accounted for. Not only her workday, but also her commute back and forth from work as well. Heaven help her if she had to stay late at work because Max would accuse her of sneaking away to meet someone. His constant paranoia had her under the gun all of the time. It had gotten so bad that even visiting her sister had become a game of lies and deceit and was impossible. Visiting her parents was another issue altogether. Max scrutinized each and every friend she had until, one by one, they disappeared from her life. The only one who had remained had been Melinda, and that was only because Victoria worked with her so Melinda knew more than most.

Now that Max was truly gone, Victoria was still feeling the aftershocks of being in an abusive relationship. There were constant reminders all around her. She was always looking over her shoulder, almost expecting Max to be two steps behind her watching her every move, just waiting to pounce on her unawares. Fear had become so deeply rooted that she knew no other emotion and days of having fun were nothing but a hazy memory lost in another place in time. Those days had been before Max had beaten down every defense.

Although Victoria longed for some kind of normalcy, she’d forgotten what normal was. Just last week one of the guys at work, a new intern named Tony, had asked her out on an actual dinner date and she’d wasted no time turning him down flat. Melinda had given her the same speech about moving on with her life, but Victoria felt that it was too soon. The wounds were still fresh and they ran deep. All she needed now was time. Time to heal, time to reclaim her life, and time to rediscover the real Victoria Catherine Benson; whoever that was.

One

Taking public transportation on a Friday had definitely been a mistake, but since Victoria’s car had desperately needed servicing, she had thrown all caution to the wind. Friday had to be the worst day of the week to opt to take a bus and the August heat was unmerciful.

It had been just a little more than six weeks since she and Max had gone their separate ways. Actually Max had been escorted out of her apartment by two police officers. A few days later, he had returned with a court order, the same two police officers, and a truck. Victoria went out on the back porch looking over the itemized list that one of the officers had given her. According to the list she held between trembling fingers, it looked like he was going to take almost everything. While most of those items could be considered as being property that they had acquired together, Victoria had no more fight left. What hurt was seeing how many people had come to help him. Most of them could have been considered their mutual friends. Of course he had a woman with him, another zinger. But Victoria had kept it together. She remained on the back porch until the last item had been loaded up on the truck and the police officer had held the door for her.

The apartment was almost bare. The living room furniture as well as the kitchen set had been on the list. Obviously she hadn’t been paying close attention to Judge Grayson as the list of items had been read. Then again, she would have given Max Mendes everything if he’d just go away.

All that remained were Victoria’s personal effects and the thick clunky oak bedroom set. However, he had left the queen-sized bed bare as he had requested the expensive bedding which had included the fine sheets, shams, and down comforter all in earth tones. It had been surprising to Victoria that he had left the matching curtains behind but it had probably been an oversight.

As Victoria stood in the middle of the bare living room looking around in amazement, she caught a glimmer of Max’s silver key gleaming from atop the mantle. It didn’t matter much because Victoria had changed every lock in the apartment immediately following Max’s departure. This only made their break-up, if one could call it that, more real. If she had walked in and found her apartment like this she would have sworn she’d been robbed. In reality she had been robbed, in more ways than one.

It seemed everything came crashing down around her at that moment. The only positive thing she could see at the end of this tunnel was the fact that they had, for the most part, kept separate bank accounts. Hers had been the meager account, with only a few hundred dollars in it but at least she had her paycheck in hand and the rent had been paid.

However, reality came rolling through once again when the rent check bounced a few days later and Victoria had been paid a visit from Trudy Mc Donald.

Bless Trudy Mc Donald. That woman talked a mean streak but when it came down to it she was fair. She gave Victoria two weeks to come up with the rent as she had heard the rumors circulating through the grapevine that Max was gone and from the looks of things was not coming back. That was when Victoria realized that she really needed to get her life in some kind of order. She could make the rent this time, but she really needed to come up with a budget that worked or she’d be right out the door and homeless.

Victoria took overtime whenever it was available. Of course everyone in the office thought along those very same lines so the office manager, Bernie, had worked out a schedule that was fair for everyone. In the end, she was lucky if she got two hours per week not including working through her lunch. But now Bernie was getting wise to the girls skipping lunch and was in the process of making their lunch hour mandatory. If they chose to work through their lunch that was their decision but they wouldn’t be paid for that choice. At this point Victoria was now seriously considering a second job. It was food for thought, as she definitely needed to weigh her options.

Victoria had missed the bus by a couple of minutes and would have to wait another twenty minutes for the next. The temperature had to be in the high nineties and the humidity was even worse. She felt as though her white pants were plastered to her skin. It was mandatory the staff working in a medical office wear white. Dr. Carsen was flexible with the scrub shirts but the pants had to be white. There were many colors to choose from, so Victoria wore a different color shirt every day. The RN’s on staff had to wear all white while the office staff had a few more liberties, the choice of scrub shirts being one of them. Victoria answered the phones, made appointments, and sometimes helped with setting up the supply trays when the office was shorthanded. She also filed and ordered supplies, as well as other clerical duties that needed to be performed on a daily basis. She loved her job, loved the people she worked with; it was all worth it at the end of the day.

With all the upheaval going on in her life, it was of no great surprise that her own system had been thrown into chaos and lately she’d been feeling worn out. It was Melinda who had suggested that she needed to see the doctor as she was probably just run down and needed a nice little vacation. Today she felt especially exhausted and could not wait to get home and lie down for a little while before dinner... if she even chose to eat dinner the way she was feeling.

Victoria glanced at her watch again. Her green eyes squinted behind her shades as she looked forlornly down the street. It seemed that everyone, and the buses were no exception, was running late. She could feel the anxiety of being in a crowd beginning to mount as some more people joined the line also waiting for the bus. Her breath came out in shallow pants and she could feel the sweat beading along her forehead as she shakily brushed back a stray blonde curl that had broken free from her ponytail.

Victoria.

Faintly she thought she could hear her voice being called in the distance. Victoria. Then finally, Tori. A sleek black Mitsubishi had pulled up to the curb with her very good looking upstairs neighbor inside. Do you need a ride?

She remained planted to the sidewalk as if her feet had suddenly taken root. There was traffic all around them with horns honking impatiently. Victoria. He leaned across the seat and swung open the door and motioned for her to get in. We’re going the same way.

Before Victoria could weigh her options, she scrambled inside. It was a relief to get out of the sweltering heat and away from the crowded bus stop. Thank you, she breathed.

I spotted the bus a few miles back; looks like he’s stuck on the side of the road.

That figures. She placed her handbag at her feet as she pulled the seatbelt around her. The air conditioning felt wonderful and she sighed wearily as she settled against the cool leather seats.

You work around here?

The medical building on Park.

Nurse? He glanced over at her before turning his deep blue eyes back on the road.

Not even close. Receptionist slash medical assistant.

I was close. He smiled and Victoria’s breath caught and held. This man had eyes as blue as a summer sky with a hundred watt smile. Handsome didn’t define, didn’t come close and somewhere along the line of those realizations her heart had taken up to beating furiously. This couldn’t be good. It’s my opinion that assistants do most of the work anyway. He handled the car expertly as Victoria tried her best not to stare at the strong, tanned hands which were lightly grasping the wheel. He was wearing black dress pants with a once-white crisp shirt, sleeves pushed up to the elbows. His blue tie was loosened about his neck while his jacket hung on the loop behind the driver seat window.

I agree. She folded her hands in her lap primly.

Your green Hoopdie?

Excuse me?

Sorry. He shot her an engaging smile. Your green Ford?

In the shop. She returned his smile and quickly dropped her eyes. The service light was on. Hopefully it will be ready by tomorrow.

So how long have you been on Crown Street? He was trying desperately to keep the conversation going.