I must have had a worried look on my face because she added, "And don't start thinking he's cheating on you or you have to be concerned about other women. That's not what I'm saying."
Putting my hands up in surrender, I smiled. "I know. I'm being stupid. You don't have to say it again."
"Good. I don't like telling people I love that they're being stupid, but I will when I have to. Tough love."
"Enough about me. Tell me about Justin, school, everything," I said, giving the subject a much needed change.
Jordan gave chapter and verse about how things had progressed with Justin, how she thought they were moving toward possibly moving in together, her class of third graders and how cute they were, and all the news of the neighborhood, including what she thought of the new weird guy on the first floor.
"Do you think Mrs. Phillips will be okay?" I asked, growing concerned about the elderly lady.
"I hope so. I haven't seen her in a few days, but you know how she is. If she doesn't come out for grocery day on Friday, then I'll be worried."
"I'd hate to see something happen to her, Jordan. She's always so nice when she invites us to her apartment for cookies and that crazy spiked egg nog at Christmastime. I'm going to stop in just to see if everything's okay."
"Well, now you've guilted me, so I'll go with you. I just hope I don't have to see that guy."
As we left, I grabbed the letter I'd come for and stuffed it into my purse to read later. We walked down to the first floor as Jordan explained how creepy Mrs. Phillips' grandson was. Even without seeing him, I was repulsed. Greasy blond hair and crooked, yellow teeth were never a good combination.
The elderly woman's door was open just a crack, but I had a bad vibe about going in. Tugging Jordan back as she pushed the door open, I whispered, "No way. If that creepy guy is there, who knows what he'll do. This has the beginning of every Law and Order episode written all over it."
Nodding, she agreed. "Yeah, let's get the hell out of here. I'll check on her later with Justin."
The two of us hurried out of the building to grab a bite to eat and ran straight into Mrs. Phillips' grandson as he hit the top of the front steps. I scanned his face and saw he was more than just ugly. He was definitely high on something. Gripping Jordan's arm tightly, I whispered, "We need to go. He's not okay."
His bloodshot eyes stared into mine, and I knew he'd heard what I said. Before we could get away, he lunged at us and yanked on the straps of my bag. I tried to pull away from him, but whatever he was on made him superhero strong and he wrenched the bag down my arm to the crook of my elbow, pulling me down with it. Jordan screamed, scaring him, and he gave one last violent tug. The bag ripped down my forearm, and as he grabbed it, his elbow slammed into my head. Pain spiked out across the top of my skull, radiating all the way to my ear, and I fell back into Jordan in agony.
"Nina! Are you okay?" she asked as she cradled me in her arms.
I heard Jenson's voice barking some order at Jordan as I closed my eyes in agony from the pain. A headache instantly tore through my head, making me cry. I don't know how long I laid there with Jordan, but at some point Jenson lifted me from the concrete porch and carried me to the car.
The leather seat felt so cool against my skin as I lay there in the back of the Town Car while Jordan smoothed my hair from my face. Jenson returned a minute later and took off, driving quickly through the streets of Sunset Park.
"Honey, how's your head?" Jordan asked quietly. "Let me see."
I leaned forward, making me feel like my head was swimming, and Jordan lightly rubbed her hand over the back of my hair. "It hurts, Jordan. Am I bleeding?"
Lifting my head, I saw a tiny red splotch on her palm. "I don't know, honey. It doesn't seem like you're bleeding a lot, but you're starting to swell up." She turned around to speak to Jenson. "Hey, are you taking her to the hospital? She might need a doctor."
"Miss, Mr. Stone has been contacted and he wants her back at the house."
Jordan wanted to say something more to the driver, but I grabbed her arm and shook my head slowly. "It's okay. I'm sure if I need something, Tristan will take care of it. But you get to see the house," I said with a smile, but even that made my head hurt even more.
"How long will it take?" she asked as we raced toward the Taconic.
"At the rate he's going, no time. Don't worry. Everything will be fine," I joked, trying to hide how terrified I was as my head began to throb all the way down to the base of my skull.
Jenson held his hand back toward Jordan. "I found this on the steps."
She took what sat in his palm and held it up to show me. "He got your phone, at least."
I laughed a little. Leave it to Jordan. "Yeah. At least he knows what's important. Did he get my bag?"
Leaning forward toward Jenson, she asked, "Did you get Nina's bag?"
"Yes, miss." He held out his hand and passed my purse back to Jordan. "I'm afraid there's nothing left in it, though."
She looked inside and saw Jenson had told the truth. Shrugging, she said, "At least he didn't get the bag. It's a gorgeous bag."
I moaned in a mixture of pain and amusement. "Yeah. But my letter is gone. Now I'll never know if the IRS was going to audit me."
"What?" she asked, confused by my inside joke.
"Never mind. I think I'm just going to close my eyes and relax until we get there."
I felt the car stop and then the door flew open and hands reached in and scooped me up from the seat. They were strong and I knew they were Tristan's. Opening my eyes, I saw his face and those brown eyes so full of concern staring down at me. I was in bad shape if his expression was any indication.
"Tristan..."
"Shhh. Don't talk. I want you to lay down while we wait for the doctor."
I rested my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes again. Just knowing he was taking care of everything put me at ease, and I couldn't imagine feeling safer than in his arms. He placed me gently into our bed and sat beside me, still wearing a look of worry.
"I'll be right back. I need to deal with Jenson," he said sternly.
Reaching out, I grabbed his shirt sleeve as he stood. "Jenson didn't do anything wrong. Please don't do anything to him. If it wasn't for him, I don't know what would have happened to me or Jordan."
Tristan studied me for a moment and then nodded his head. "He's supposed to make sure this doesn't happen, Nina."
"Please. He's not to blame. It all happened so fast. He got to me as soon as he could," I pleaded.