Under the Caribbean moon (Tom/Zac story)

Dead man walking

*Zac*
"He.. what Zac ? Did he cheat or not". She is glaring at me, like it is my fault. "If he cheated I swear he will prefer facing Cuban prison".

I sigh, I kind of feel I am throwing Tom under the bus here and I hate it... But I have to be honest with Luna. "I honestly don't know. Depends on what you mean by cheating I guess. There were some kissing happening, but .. I don't know if more happened.. sorry".

"Damn you Tom, you.. you bloody idiot". She shakes her head. "What about you then, they say that you killed someone, is that true ?"

I push my plate away, suddenly no longer hungry. "I.. well maybe, I.. I could have". I look at her. "I think I better start from the beginning and explain what happened".

"Okay then, because right now, both of you are looking kind of bad". She says, leaning back, looking at me.

I don't really want to remember last night, but she deserves to know the truth.. at least as much of it as I know. "After you went back to the boat. I tried to get Tom to leave. But he was so hurt. He.. Well he wants so badly for them to have kids, and even though Aurora said yes, Well he says that they have hardly.. Well tried, and he fears she regrets saying yes".

"That is no excuse for cheating". She huffs and once again I feel I am the one standing trial here.

"I know, there is no excuse for cheating". I say, letting out a pend up breath. "Enrique showed up again, apparently he decided to come back after having taken you to the marina. And I was talking to him. Tom had been sulking in a corner. Next I see him.. some woman is.. sucking his face. But before I could get there, she pulled Tom with her to one of the bathrooms".

Her eyes are flashing with anger. "And you doubt if more happened ?"

"Patience my love". I tell her softly. "I couldn't let him do something that stupid, it would ruin his life. I mean he loves Aurora, I have no doubt about that at all. So I pushed up the door and dragged him out of there, telling him he was a bloody idiot and deserved a hard kick in his balls".

She looks at me, there is something in her eyes that I am sure has nothing to do with Tom. "What did he say ?"

"Here is where it all started to get really strange". I shake my head. "I have seen Tom drunk before, and granted, he can be an annoying drunk. But he was.. something was wrong, he was.. the short of the long.. he was high as a kite. I think that woman slipped something in his drink".

"Shit, are you sure ?"

I nod. "Yeah, I know how people look on drugs, unfortunately. And I know that Tom would never knowingly do drugs.. even hurt and drunk.. that's just not him. She drugged him too.. Well if there was a rape, it was Tom getting raped".

She is shaking her head. "What happened then ? Because the way both of you look tells me that this wasn't the end of it".

"Unfortunately. I needed to get a taxi to get Tom back here.. there was no way he could walk. So I had Enrique watching him while I went outside". I rub a hand over my face. "When I came back 15 minutes later they were both gone".

She just looks at me, listening, so I continue. "I looked for them.. of course, then I heard someone talking about not going out back, that someone was being taken care of. And ..well I knew it was bad so I ran out there. There were three of them .. there was no doubt they would have seriously hurt him, maybe even killed him. I had to do something".

"They were beating him up ? So you just tried to save Tom ?" She says, looking at me almost pleadingly.

I nod slowly. "The woman was there, standing in the background, her clothes, well rather disheveled. That is why I can't say if Tom.. yeah you know... I wasn't there so I can't say what happened between them..". I sigh, and go back to what I do know. " There were two men holding him, and one beating the shit out of him. I told them to stop, I mean Tom already looked more dead than alive. One of them came at me.. with a knife".

"You got in a knife fight ?" She looks shocked and scared.

I shrug. Honestly I had been scared shitless, but no reason to let her know.. there is enough to process as it is. "Well I don't know if it's a knife fight when only one has a knife.. but he came at me and I had to defend myself. I.. I only did what I had to do to stop him. But honestly I didn't check him. He wasn't moving. But I mean I didn't think he could be dead... But I guess, I could have.. hit him.. unluckily.. I just wanted to get to Tom".

"I have every faith in you Zac, but how on earth did you escape unharmed, I mean from the knife ?" She looks at me with something that looks a lot like pride.

"I didn't". I pull my shirt up, showing a long cut over my ribs.. Thank God it's not deep. "Luckily for me Tom managed to kick a stone at my attacker, just at the right moment.. I seriously have no idea how he did it in his state.. But it hit his hand, so the knife graced off my ribs. Hadn't he done that.. that knife would have sat right in my chest".

Her hand clasps over her mouth, as she gasps and her eyes go misty. Is it bad that her reaction makes me kind of happy ? "Oh God Zac, you put your own life in danger to help Tom".

"Well I didn't really think about that honestly. I just had to help Tom. When I knocked out the second guy attacking me, the third one and the girl bolted. Telling me I was in deep trouble and I had no idea who they were". I shrug.. I had not taken that seriously. "I hurried up and got Tom back here, after making sure he would be okay and only had bruises".

The door opens and Chris walks in, a grim look on his face. "Good to see you back Zac. Where is Aurora ?"

"Thanks, and I appreciate the help getting away. I definitely owe you one". I sent him a smile, without him I hadn't known where to hide safely. "Aurora is asleep, it has been a hard day for her.. for all of us".

He rubs his face sitting down. "Yeah, maybe it's for the better, let her gather a bit of strength before she gets the news".

"What did you find out ?" Luna looks at him hopefully.

"Nothing good I'm afraid". He looks at me. "You kids are in big trouble and we need to leave sooner rather than later if you want to get out of this with the skin on your nose.. and I mean that very literally. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but those two thugs you dealt with.. well you did it thoroughly. One is death and the other might never be the same".

"Shit..". I don't know what else to say. I mean I know I only used the necessary force to stop them, I didn't aim to hurt them. It was purely self defense and trying to save Tom. It still feels odd, having ended someone's life. "I didn't want to hurt them. Maybe I should turn myself in, explain what happened.. Get this all cleaned up".

Chris shakes his head. "Yeah you could do that, and I am ready to bet you that you would be facing a firing squad within 24 hours. The one you put in the hospital is the son of the general, one of the most powerful and no doubt the most dangerous men in Cuba. The dead one was his nephew.. there will be no justice in this case".

"But we can't leave". My head is hurting so badly.. my whole body is sore actually. "I mean Tom is in jail, we need to get him a lawyer.. to prove he didn't do it.. to get him out".

"You are not really that naive are you, Zac ? That girl who claims he raped her, she is the general's daughter. He is on his way here and he is going to question Tom himself to get a confession and believe me, he will get one.. no matter what. If Tom is lucky enough to survive, and that is a big if, the confession will negate any court and trial. Tom is a dead man walking". Chris says with regret.