I look up to Cole for an explanation, because I’m seriously reeling right about now. I know we all think Jack is sketchy, but this is too much and I’m not sure how to process all of this information. If I’m being really honest, I’m more afraid that Jack will finish what Carter started and the thought is leaving me paralyzed.
“Don’t.” Cole’s voice pushes past my daze and pulls me back into the present.
“Huh?” Shaking my head, trying to shake off my thoughts.
“Don’t,” he repeats, keeping his eyes trained on mine.
“Don’t what?” I respond with barely a whisper.
“Don’t start thinking about what could happen, because the only thing that will happen is the end of this nightmare. You are safe, Mia. No one will ever lay a hand on you or I will end them. Do you understand?” To accentuate his point, he grabs both my shoulders and gives them a reassuring squeeze.
All I can do is nod. My entire body wants to believe him, but at this very moment, I’m not even in my right mind. I can feel the other shoe dropping. I feel that horrible gut feeling that tells me things will not end well.
Realizing Cole has let me go, I reach out to him as he turns to walk away.
“Where are we going?”
“We?”
“Yes, we! You are not leaving me alone, even with the Calvary outside.”
“The penthouse and I know you don’t want to be there. Mia, it’s not a good place for you to be. I just need to grab the phone for Foster. I know I’m grasping at straws, but I can’t ignore my gut!”
Panic. That’s all I feel. Sheer fucking panic.
Driving up to our old home, I can feel my palms sweating and my heart racing. I don’t want to see the place where my best friend was so brutally attacked, I’m not sure I can. This is all too close for comfort and I am doing everything I can to maintain a sense of calm on the outside.
“I’m right here, Mia. It’s okay to freak out, but you don’t need to walk in the house, stay here with security. I’ll be right back. Foster is already here.”
Squeezing his hand, I nod. He is right, one hundred percent, but I don’t even know what I would even be able to piece together and for some reason, I can’t seem to shake the fear that we are in imminent danger. I look around as we walk through the garage to a waiting Foster and Alex. Wait, Alex! Why is she here? How is she here?
She looks tired. I realize I’ve said that out loud when Cole responds, “She’s strong, she’ll be fine. She didn’t really give Foster a choice whether or not to bring her.” He shakes his phone in the air to indicate Foster just text him.
Walking up, I motion to Alex shrugging my shoulders. “What are you doing out of the hospital? I thought you had to stay for observation?”
“Nah, I wasn’t going to be left out of this Scooby mission. I checked myself out and made Foster bring me. I’m hoping maybe I can have flashbacks like the way you had them. I would really like to know who the hell busted my head open!” She levels intensity on the last part of the sentence. “Plus, this is like a real-life Mission Impossible, we should have coordinated our outfits,” Alex adds as the elevator doors close.
“For fuck’s sake, Alex, I told you to be serious,” Foster grumbles.
Cole laughs, shaking his head and I just smile.
“Be quiet, or I will tell them all the mushy romantic shit you said to me tonight,” she warns Foster.
He doesn’t look at her, instead just stares ahead with a crooked grin on his face.
I’m momentarily lost in their moment when the elevator rings, making me jump. Cole looks down at me, holding my gaze and my hand back as the others exit the elevator. Holding the door open, he looks out and then back at me.
“Mia, speak. No nodding, are you good, baby?”
“Yes, but let’s just get this over with. I don’t know how Alex can come back here. I’m so creeped out!” I shiver and let him lead me out.
Walking into the house freezes me on the inside. Not at all like uncontrollable panic, but a stillness that is full of dread. I can feel it, that same feeling I had when Carter had me by the throat. I knew I was going to die, to be torn away from Cole. It must be what people feel before the end. I feel like I’m having an out of body experience. I look down at my hand joined with Cole’s and I can feel the heat from our hands. I just keep concentrating on our hands. Everything will be okay, everything will be okay.
Foster is walking Alex through her possible steps as Cole and I head for the back office to collect Alex’s phone.
“Do you know what box it’s in?” I ask Cole.
“No, honestly, I just know it’s in here. They aren’t sealed, so we just have to open the tops.”
We go through at least thirty boxes before I open and spot the familiar hospital bag.
“Got it!” I yell victoriously.
“Thank God, I was starting to worry that we were going to be here all night! Come on, baby, let’s get out of here.” Cole extends a hand for me to take and we exit back to the front room where Alex and Foster are still talking through her attack.
“No, Fos… I just remember getting a call or something. Oh good, Mia, here, hand it to me and I will open it.” Alex puts her finger on the button and her phone unlocks.
“Look at the call log, maybe I missed something,” Foster urges.
“Nope, I only have your texts, Foster, see,” she holds the phone up to him, but what her phone shows is that she was writing him a text with a picture attached. Foster clicks the photo and it enlarges.
“What is this, Alex? It’s a picture of you and Mia at a Halloween party? Do you remember why you were sending this to me?” Foster looks confused, passing the phone to me.
“Oh yeah, this was the Halloween party at the Sigma Chi house; fun, but not really my cup of tea. I think we left right after this picture was taken,” I stare, looking at the picture more intently.
The room starts to change, blur and then I see it. Jack is standing in the shadows next to Carter. Just like Jack was sitting in the corner watching from the shadows while Carter held me down on the floor. Like a shot, everything focuses in on the present and I collapse to the floor.
“Mia!” Alex screams as I’m caught in Cole’s arms. He carries me to the couch and I can barely make out what everyone is fussing over.
“Get her a glass of water,” Cole barks out. “Dammit, I knew better. I shouldn’t have brought her here.”
“Cole, stop! You had no way of knowing how this would affect her. Frankly, I don’t think she would have let you leave her behind,” Alex states with a nodding Foster behind her.
“Mia, baby, drink this,” Cole pleads, extending a water bottle to my lips.
I take a small sip and steel myself for what I’m ready to tell them.
“Listen, because I’m not sure I have it in me to repeat myself. He was there, Cole. Jack was in the room when Carter attacked me. He was participating. I must have blocked it out. Look! It’s him in the picture. He knew Carter and I would bet that Jack is the cousin! I feel sick, I need to…” Motioning to the bathroom, I stand. Cole helps me to my feet and Alex comes and takes my hand walking me to the restroom.
I walk into a room I used to love and all I can do is cry, not out of sadness, but anger. My life has been destroyed by an “almost.” I almost died, I almost had my sex ripped from me. I almost became a victim… well, maybe not almost. I sure as hell feel like I’ve been victimized, and I sure as hell feel like a piece of me died in that room. Looking up at Alex, I can see that same anger on her face. The same uncontrollable rage that bubbles right under the surface.
“Fuck Jack,” I answer to her matter of fact, my nausea subsiding.
“I couldn’t agree more. All I remember is being here and seeing our yearbooks and scrapbooks on the table. I must have looked at them, but it’s all a blank. Thank God I took that picture. Maybe we can give it to the cops and with everything else they can round him up.” I can see the hope in her eyes. She perches
on the counter and I sit on the edge of the tub, we sit in silence.
“I’m sorry I asked you to look at the books! I’m so sorry, Alex, I feel responsible for all of this.” My guilt washes over me as I reach my hand out to hold hers.
“I was happy you did it! Mia, if this hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t know how devious and crazy Jack is… HOLY SHIT! Do you think he killed Carter? Maybe he was trying to frame Cole! Hear me out. If he was in on your attack by Carter, that means he has been obsessed with you for years, way before Cole came along! It makes total sense, he weaseled his way into your life and tried to fuck with your head. Jesus Mia, he’s been in the background forever!!”
My nausea is back.
“Alex, I don’t even know how to process this. I can see him clear as day, coaxing and instructing Carter. Like a puppet master! That sick fuck was going to sit and watch me be destroyed mentally and physically, the sickness is beyond me! I need to tell the cops, he won’t get away with this! That poor woman he is dating has no idea what he is capable of!” My body shivers at the thought. I need to warn Sam.
“Do you think he had anything to do with the girl that died in our old building?” Alex wraps her arms tightly around herself. “He mentioned it all creepy-like when I saw him on the street. It really freaked me out.”
“Wait a minute, what girl died in whose building?”
Thinking back, I remember seeing a news report about a girl found a couple of months after going missing.
“Remember the girl like two floors down, redhead, super quiet, book type? She was killed, strangled and wrapped up. Mia, it was awful, they didn’t find her for almost a month after!”
“You mean the girl that Jack fucking started hooking up with? That’s the whole mess that made me go for a run before getting attacked! I saw him leaving her apartment, Alex! Oh my God, he didn’t, I mean… he was in our home, around us. I kissed him, Alex!!”
“Mia! Holy shit, he fucking murdered her. I don’t even doubt it!” She stands, making her way to the bathroom door and I know exactly what we need to do. The time for crying is over, it’s time to put an end to this guy. Jack is a horrible person and needs to be locked up forever.
“Go! We need to tell Cole and Foster!” I bark out as I run out the door.
As I run into the main room, Alex runs into my back and I hear her gasp as she takes in the scene before us.
Jack is standing with a gun to Foster’s temple and Cole has a hunting knife at his throat being held by the one and only Sam Johnson. So much for warning her about Jack. Both men are standing in the expansive space in front of the living room about ten feet apart. Jack’s smug look is all I need to know this was planned. We all unknowingly walked right into their trap. I reach into my pocket for my phone, wanting to alert security, only to realize I left it on the bathroom counter! Damn!
“Now it’s a party!” Jack bellows.
“Mia!” Cole barks. “Run, get the fuck out of here!” His words are cut off by the knife snugging up against his throat. My stomach drops. I keep looking back and forth between him and Foster. It’s the definition of rock and hard place. Cole can take Samantha without a problem, but Foster could be shot. My mind is racing through a million options and is tormented by the sounds of Alex beginning to cry behind me.
“Shut the fuck up, Parker. Not such a tough guy now, are you?” Looking to me Jack sneers, “You aren’t going anywhere, or I’ll shoot Foster and then put a bullet in your husband.”
His eyes are dead and the way he looks at me makes me physically ill. I feel Alex grip my arm and I reach back to show her I’m with her.
“What the fuck do you want Jack, if that’s even your name? Why are you doing this to all of us? I’m the only one you want, let everyone go and just take me. Isn’t that what you want, to hurt me?” I try and keep my voice calm and measured while I go through a thousand alternatives in my head. This is why I felt the calm earlier. I need to feel the dread, because I need motive. Tonight, this ends and I realize that it’s not just Jack’s life I will take to protect those I love.
Jack laughs and shakes his head. “I want you to feel the pain I felt. I want your life to be meaningless. All those years, I waited for you to open your eyes, to see what was in front of you and you treated me like nothing. Like I didn’t matter, you and your whore friend. Carter was my ticket to making you pay attention, everyone always loved my stupid jock cousin. He was perfect; good looks, and he didn’t understand the concept of the word ‘NO.’ But not you, you never gave him the time of day, because you think you’re better than everyone! Now we’ll know what it’s like to be a pariah. Nobody will ever touch or look at you the same way again, Mia. Not after I gut everyone you love and turn you into a monster.”
Foster struggles against the stronghold of the gun, but Jack pushes the gun to Foster’s temple. “No, no big guy… cool your jets. Your girlfriend and her friends are whores and if you try anything, I’ll make you watch while I prove it.”
“I am going to make you choke on that gun. Mark my words,” Cole threatens from across the room, catching Jack’s attention.
“Ah, the hero, my plan was going to work until you showed up. I had to work on riling up my dumb ass cousin. He was always in need of women, consent being optional. I had Mia in his sights, he could ruin her and I would sweep up and kiss all the wounds. It was perfect and then she met you. You stole my chance the first time, but I finally had her away from you and I arranged to be her prince again, but those stupid mother fuckers botched the job and just robbed her in the alley.” I can see Cole’s eyes close and the haze of rage start over her features. I stand horrified at the knowledge of Jack setting up this elaborate plan to insinuate himself into my life but even more so that it almost worked.
“You can’t think that I would have ever loved you?” My voice is laced with the disgust I feel for this animal.
Jack shakes his head, “Love me? Why not me, you bitch?”
“You are a monster! You tried to have Carter rape me, you hired people to attack me, how can anyone love you?” My anger boils over making my voice a scream.
Jack begins shoving the gun into Fosters temple, “I saved you from Carter! He’s six feet under because of me, ME! And I’m going to put your prince charming there too, but not before I take each person away from you, one by one”, a grotesque sneer takes over his face.
“You will never touch her. I promise you that”, fury is projected toward Jack as he turns his attention to Cole.
“You ruined my life and then you both sat back in your palace and ruined my business. You left me with nothing! This is why you deserve to pay. You all deserve to pay!” he screams at Cole.
Jack continues yelling his justifications at everyone for his crimes, but my head is silent as I take in the scene. Foster being held at gunpoint has not dropped his eyes from Alex. I don’t even have to look behind to know she is looking at him too. These are their final moments. Scanning over to Cole, I see his chest is heaving, anger rippling off of him in waves. He is capable of murder tonight and I don’t know that he won’t risk his friend’s life to save mine. In fact, I’m pretty confident he will and hate himself for it later. Then there’s Sam. I can see the fade of what looks like a bruise around her eye, she seems unnerved like she is feeding off Jack’s energy. Is Jack making her do this? I need to appeal to her, let her know we can help her.
“You don’t have to do this, Sam. You can walk away, I understand how hard this is for you, but we can help you. You don’t have to let him manipulate you,” I plead.
She tips her head back and laughs. “You think I’m being manipulated? Such a naïve little girl. I love Jack and if he wants you, then I will hold you down if I have to.”
Stunned, I step back into Alex. I can’t believe this is happening. I shake my head back and forth trying to understand what she just implied, but Cole’s voice pulls my attention back to the present.
“This must be hard for you, Sam, having the man you love c
arrying a torch for another woman. It’s not every day a man finds a woman so willing to be the second choice,” Cole raises his eyebrows.
Sam pushes the knife closer to Cole’s throat and I see a bead of red perk up. “Shut up! He loves me! He promised he would kill her when he’s done with her!” she spits out.
“Kill her? That won’t happen. Get real, Sam. He orchestrated all of this just to get her. You seem to be the naïve one,” Cole presses.
I can see what he is doing, playing them off each other, hoping to trip someone, looking for an opening. Jack is already pulling the gun away from Foster, pointing it at Cole while he yells at him to stay quiet.
He has them and it’s a matter of time before someone explodes.
“I mean, what the fuck are you doing to your girlfriend, Jack? You come here for revenge for being rejected and being a shitty business owner? I usually remember when I take over a company, but yours doesn’t even ring a bell,” Cole smirks, keeping eye contact with Jack.
“Keep talking and I will gut your precious Mia while you watch!” Jack yells and I can see that he’s there, at that place where you jump down the rabbit hole. Jack gives an imperceptible nod to Sam and I see her draw back the knife at Cole’s throat.
That’s when I do it. I run straight at Jack and straight at the barrel of his gun. Alex lets out a blood-curdling scream and I hear the gun go off, seeing it fly from Jack’s hand from being knocked by Foster. Cole grabs Sam by the arm and throws her to the floor as Alex rushes to grab the gun. My body collides with Jack and I feel my hands around his throat. Squeezing. Squeezing. Squeezing. I don’t know where I get all my strength from, but he is fighting me and I feel superhuman until I hear Cole’s voice.
“Let go, Mia. It’s okay, we are all okay, let go, baby. Don’t do this. You are not a monster. Let go.” His voice is soft and soothing, and I feel my grip loosen and the color starts to pour back into Jack’s face as he sputters and coughs back to life.
Forever with Me Page 10
