Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss)

was happening; I felt calmer when she was in my grasp. Hearing her laughing and joking was just a bonus. Scarlett grounded me, took away all my worries with just the touch of her skin to mine.
    We said our goodbyes and headed for the parking lot. Scarlett snuck her hand into my pocket and retrieved her car keys. As we approached, she stopped dead in her tracks.
    “What the fuck!” she yelled and stormed over to where I had parked the car. My great mood vanished the instant I took in the sight before me.
    Fuck!

 

     
    My car!
    It had been vandalized. All four of the tires had been slashed, my windows smashed out and scratch marks all down the sides, deep enough that you could see the silver underneath. My stomach dropped the second I saw it; the tears that threatened to fall, now slid down my face. My baby! Who the hell would do this? I didn’t have any enemies.
    Mace’s strong warm arms wrapped around me as he stepped up behind me and took the keys from my shaking hands. He kissed the top of my head and passed me off to Trip. Apparently, my yell had drawn a crowd from the party. I watched as Mace took out his cell and called somebody; he moved a distance from me so I couldn’t make out his words, but it was clear that they weren’t nice; the scowl on his face told me he wasn’t happy with whoever he was speaking to. After a few more moments, he hung up the phone, came back over to us and Teeny took over holding me up while Trip and Mace inspected the car.
    “It’ll be okay, Scar. We can fix this,” Teeny told me, handing me a tissue from her oversized bag. “You do need to call the police though and a tow truck.”
    “Tow truck is on its way, so are the police” Mace took me back into his arms and held me tight to his chest.
    A little while later, the police arrived and took statements. Luckily, the restaurant had surveillance. The police would look over it to see if they caught the asshole that vandalized my poor car. The entire time through the questioning, Mace had been quietly standing with me. Once finished, he walked off with an officer. They had a quick conversation; immediately, I felt like something was off. He was mad as hell but there was something else.
    He made his way back to me and asked, “You need anything outta the car before they tow it, babe?” I shook my head in the negative before he turned and handed the driver the keys to my car with specific instructions to deliver it to a body shop I’d never heard of.
    Teeny waited around while everything was taken care of waiting to drive us home. I hadn’t gotten close enough to get a really good look at all the damage, but my baby would be off the road for a while—at least a few weeks. Fuck it! I couldn’t believe somebody would do something so low. I had stopped crying and shaking, but then I was just mad and a little sad. The car could be fixed, yes, but all that ran through my head was the hours of hard work I had put in with my father.
    Leaning against Teeny’s car waiting for Mace to finish up with the tow truck, she asked, “You okay, sweetie?”
    “No, they went after the one thing that means the most to me, Teen. My car was the last thing I had left of my dad. It was ours,” I told her. Turning to get in the car as I slid into the back seat, I noticed Mace had been standing behind me, a hardened look on his face.
    Outside my house, I waved Teeny off as Mace opened the front door and dumped my handbag on the front table. I walked inside, spun around and asked, “Why have you been so quiet? Talk to me.”
    He shook his head. “I’m damn sure it was Janelle who fucked your car up, babe.”
    “Why would she even do that? What did I do to her?”
    “It’s the kind of bitch she is, babe. This is about me, not you; I told you I wouldn’t let my shit affect you. This is my shit, not yours.” His voice was so low I almost missed it.
    “Don’t let her do that to you. It’s just a car, Mace. It can be fixed” I felt the need to make light of the destruction, even though it broke my heart and cut me deeply. I searched his face. Dread filled me. Something was wrong. Really wrong.
    He grabbed me and kissed me gently, holding me close in his arms. There was a sadness in his eyes I didn’t quite understand, almost as if—no, he wouldn’t. I opened my mouth to speak when he cut me off.
    “I’m a walking tragedy. Everything I touch turns to shit. I don’t want that for you, Scar.” He swallowed hard, turned and walked