Rust bled though the paint on the hinges of the door. This told Andrew nothing about its durability. If he kicked, would it give way? As if another instinct overtook him, he grasped the doorknob. With one quick turn, the latch clicked and the door swung open.
A pair of wide terrified eyes with mascara-stained cheeks cowered on the bed under a looming figure. Marissa spotted Andrew. A mixture of relief and surprise crossed her face the same time as Raymond shifted his anger toward the man intruding on his argument.
“Are you seriously coming after this little whore?” Raymond spat. “Get out of my room.”
“Fuck off, you wanker. She’s coming with me.” Andrew tried to look as large as possible hoping the other man would relent if he appeared intimidating enough.
Raymond charged. For an instant, Andrew was worried he may have made the wrong decision in confronting Raymond head-on. Raymond was easily a good fifty pounds heavier than Andrew and roughly four inches taller.
With his head ducked, Raymond slammed into Andrew’s chest at full force, but Andrew stayed planted in the doorway. Raymond threw wild punches at his ribs while trying to grapple him into a bear hug. The force of the preliminary blow knocked the wind out of Andrew. The punches were far less effective. Andrew freed his left arm and swung at the man’s head connecting with his temple. The shock sent Raymond staggering sideways.
A string of profanities roared from Andrew’s lips. “I will cut your fucking bollocks off and feed them to you if you ever touch her again!” Andrew advanced on him. With all his might, he swung again, making contact with Raymond’s jaw. He continued to swing, moving Raymond further back into the room. Every time a punch connected, Andrew’s disposition improved.
He’d never been in a justifiable fight before. What better reason for a fight than to protect Marissa? To be the hero she needed in her life. Finally someone would come to her aide and stand up to this piece of shit once and for all.
“Andrew stop!” Marissa shrieked.
Raymond dodged and unsuccessfully blocked a few punches. He only managed to recover enough to throw two more sloppy left hooks. To Andrew’s disgust, it became clear the only people Raymond appeared used to fighting were women half his size. The thought renewed Andrew’s rage. He swung harder, hitting his temple once more. Raymond wavered.
A glint of silver caught Andrew’s eye, and he realized Raymond had produced a formidable switchblade knife. He now understood a piece of the puzzle, why Marissa let Raymond force her into the room. One way or another, he had to get the knife out of Raymond’s hands.
Now confident he had the upper hand, Raymond paused then touched his fingers to his nose. When he looked down at bloody fingers, a malevolent smile spread across his face. “Not so tough now are you? You want your little whore, come and get her.” He shook the knife at Andrew.
If Raymond swung backward, he’d cut Marissa. Somehow Andrew only succeeded in placing her further in harm’s grasp. Ray was only focused on his opposition though. Andrew knew he had to keep his attention. Like a snake charmer, he danced and taunted himself in front of Ray, inching closer.
“Bloody hell” he gasped as the blade sliced through the air in his direction. Andrew was quick and able to dance from one foot to the other, dodging Raymond’s swing.
Raymond continued to advance with short stabs into the air, tiring Andrew and slowly gaining the upper hand. Each breath was harder to draw and only compounded by Marissa’s growing pleas to stop. Raymond, on the other hand, appeared to be getting stronger with each swing. A false step caused him to stumble forward. Andrew saw opportunity unfold in front of him. Seizing the moment, he bounded to the side with a lithe step. With no one to stop Ray’s forward momentum, his feet twisted beneath him and he fell against the television stand.
The man stumbled backward. It appeared as if he were about to recover and continue the fight. Then he stuttered and grabbed Marissa by the shoulders. Wide-eyed he grappled at the air for a precious few seconds before sagging to the floor, taking her with him.
Andrew hurdled to Marissa’s side and hauled her away from Raymond. When her leg moved from under him, he rolled onto his back. The hilt of his knife stuck out of his chest and a small spread of red covered his shirt.
“He’s…” She looked pale and had a slight green tinge to her as if she might be sick.
“I’m afraid so. Are you all right?” He turned her face in his hands examining a small welt on her cheek. She would have a black eye tomorrow, but otherwise she appeared physically healthy. That was a relief, he hadn’t waited too long to intervene.
“I have to get this cleaned up.” She darted in and out of the bathroom. Reemerging with a towel in hand, she polished the table surface.
The poor woman wasn’t thinking clearly, he could see this. Her hands shook violently as she worked like a mad woman.
“What in the hell are you doing?”
The ferocity in his voice caused her to start and she dropped the towel. It landed silent next to Raymond’s head. Andrew tried to swallow but a lump of fear choked him.
“I have to get this cleaned up.” She knelt to retrieve the towel. “Did you touch the knife?”
“Don’t touch that,” he whispered when her hand moved toward the deadly weapon. Fear coursed through his veins as he tried to pull her off the ground but she ignored him. “Marissa, you have to stop. It’s time to phone the police,” Andrew stated more calmly than he felt.
Marissa looked up at him, her eyes blinked rapidly. “What? You can’t do that. Do you have any idea what will happen to you? We have to get out of here.”
Dust motes swarmed around her head in a tiny beam of light cast by an open slit in the heavy drapes. It only added to the macabre scene before him.
“I won’t be charged. It was self-defense. Besides, the bastard stabbed himself.”
She clamored to get off the floor, making sure to keep her back to the body. “Andrew, there is no possible way anyone would believe he fell on his own knife. You stalked him out and got in a fight with him. Be sure, if you call the police you’ll go to jail.”
“He bloody abducted you at knifepoint, and then turned it on me when I tried to help. I’m not going to jail for this. Calm down.”
Tears welled in her eyes and spilled over in rapid time. “No, we have to get rid of the evidence, get rid of it now.” She’d become hysterical. Her face flushed red and her breathing became labored as she hyperventilated. “Please Andrew, it will ruin us both! I don’t want anyone else to be damaged by him.”
Andrew’s mouth popped open. “Are you suggesting we do not phone the police? It’ll be considerably worse when they find the body and we’re not around,” he stated in a whisper, afraid the walls were growing ears.
“Good idea, help me.” Marissa crouched. When she hooked her arms around Raymond’s limp shoulder Andrew squawked.
“Stop, what the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” His voice sounded foreign, ridged.
“Moving him to the tub until I can figure out how to get rid of him.”
“What you’re suggesting is-is incomprehensible,” he stammered. The body on the floor didn’t help the cloudiness in his mind. He had to get away from the open accusing eyes, so he took Marissa by the arm. “I can’t think in here, come on.” He walked to the window and peered out. At this point Andrew was unsure if he was actually awake or still lying in bed next to Marissa, having a nightmare. This day had taken a dramatic turn that he would have never imagined.
Aside from them, the hotel still appeared almost abandoned. Raymond’s white sedan was the only vehicle in the parking lot. Together Andrew and Marissa left the room, stopping only so he could hang the “Do not Disturb” sign on the door handle.
Outside, the heat filled his lungs, but there was no more a relief to be found separated from what lay behind the door. With his adrenaline subsiding, his knuckles began to throb.
“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “He’s a senator’s son.
He’s been a bastard his whole life and gotten away with it because of his father. His very powerful father.” Every sentence grew a little louder.
Heat rolled over him when the car door opened, but he didn’t dare roll down the window or turn the engine on for air. With the way she was rambling, he didn’t want to draw attention to them before the police arrived.
Raymond was dead; he wouldn’t be able to harm anyone again so Andrew didn’t care to hear of his evil deeds. Also since he was dead, it wouldn’t matter if Andrew phoned his solicitor before the police. Some legal advice would be helpful. Maybe he could even provide Marissa a little piece of mind.
The phone was still sitting in the center console, where he’d left it in his mad dash to save Marissa.
“Andrew.” She grabbed his arm when he picked it up. “His father will demand justice for the son that can do no wrong. Do you not think the police will dig into your life? Any little secret you have, the media will soon know about, including me. Andrew Reed kills the son of Senator Stallings, who himself, had a promising political career. It will be all over the news. You’re foolish if you don’t think so.”
She was right, the media would find out. In protecting Marissa, he would unwisely throw her into the spotlight. He could cope with the public eye, he grew up in the media, but he was almost certain she could not. He’d seen it ruin several people he knew. But, there was no way he’d be convicted, Raymond had a knife and tried to use it on Andrew.
“Andrew? If you’re not with me, then you should leave. I’m doing this with or without you.” For a woman who was involving herself in a crime, she appeared quite calm.
“If you’re caught, you’ll go to jail as well, love. We have to face our actions, no running and hiding.” He slumped over the steering wheel as understanding sank in that he could go to jail. He wasn’t sorry for his actions though, Marissa was finally free from her tormentor. What sort of charges would he be facing here, he wondered.
“No. Running and hiding got me to LA. I’m getting him out of my life today.” She wrapped her arms around herself as she spoke. “If I had stayed in Florida and taken care of business instead of running and hiding, then, you’d never have been in this position.”
“If you’d have stayed, he would have pushed you down a flight of stairs instead of your friend. You could be dead.” He wanted badly to reach out and embrace her, but the grief inside of him held him stiff.
“And you saved me. You’re not the villain, and I won’t live to see you become one. The longer he’s on the ground, the more blood there’ll be to clean.”
Marissa really was going to ruin him. By this point, not only Andrew’s hands, but his arms also shook in trepidation. There was no way he’d get off with manslaughter if he helped her cover his crime.
“You are asking a lot of me.” He grabbed a fistful of his long hair and stared up at her, her hazel eyes meeting his and melting his heart all over again. This wasn’t the right course of action. They couldn’t cover up this murder and get away with it. The idea of leaving him for someone else to find, making it look like a robbery gone bad, was starting to look appealing.
“I know. I bet you’re wishing we would’ve got on that plane yesterday.”
“Never in a million years. I couldn’t have protected you if you had.” He placed an unsure hand on her thigh. The corner of her lip twitched upward at his words. “What the hell were you doing with him anyway?”
“He showed up when I was walking back to your place. I didn’t see him. I felt the knife at my throat. Before I knew what happened, he’d pushed me in the car and taken off. I tried to get away, but he was smarter. Goddammit, I thought I was going to die. The longer we sit out here in the car, the harder it’s going to be to clean things up inside.” She repeated her asinine idea to dispose of the body.
“Marissa, we are not dumping the body. He is dead by his own hands and deeds. You said yourself, he’s a prominent figure in Florida. Do you really think his family will allow him to go missing without a full investigation? You were caught fighting in an airport in California. You have a bad history with him. On top of all of this, I know full well that neither of us could live with that sort of guilt. How do you think our relationship would fare? Look at what’s going on and tell me you don’t agree with me.”
“I know. I’m just trying to handle one thing at a time.” Her eyes closed, and she swallowed hard. “I’d finally stopped living in fear. Four years is a long time for him to still be coming after me.”
“But if you had his child—”
“You heard that?” Marissa stared at him with her mouth open.
“I’m not judging, but I can see why the man would be hunting you down if he wanted to see his child.”
Even though he’d tried to suppress the slight feeling of betrayal, he couldn’t. She never mentioned children. It seemed like something important enough for him to know about. All Marissa’s relationship history was coming to light now, so he might as well find out everything in one take.
“I’ve never been pregnant. I don’t know why he thought that, he was delusional.”
“Oh?” was all Andrew could manage to say.
“Don’t you see? He would’ve never stopped, he would have killed me, or you, or both of us.”
“So that is what we’ll tell the police, love. All of it.”
Andrew lifted his phone to make the call that would change their lives forever.
“Your career will be over.”
“I’ve the means to survive.” His grip tightened on her leg, hoping to project a little strength and comfort.
She was quiet for long enough to pick up each of his fingers, with thumb and forefinger she brushed the length of each one. “Okay, make the call.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
A childhood television star, turned movie star thinking he had the means to survive outside the film industry was ludicrous. His life would be ruined from this incident, yet he didn’t seem angry with me. I brought this turmoil into his life, so I needed to fix it. I was just about to stop him and tell him I’d take the blame when a faded black car pulled into the hotel parking lot. The phone lay forgotten in his lap
Andrew and I froze, the sun beating straight into the car caused the air to suffocate me. It seemed to be having the same effect on Andrew. His chest heaved as he sucked in a breath through perfectly straight, clenched teeth. Sweat beaded on his temples and warped dark curls to his forehead.
Four men climbed out of the small, boxy car. The lanky one peered into the passenger side of Ray’s rental.
“Shite,” Andrew slumped low in his seat. I followed suit and slid down in the leather as far as I could and still see the horror play out in front of me.
After the man circled the car, he laid his palm on the hood, then pointed to Raymond’s room. One by one they filed up the stairs headed to the room hiding our secret. In broad daylight, the largest of the men pulled something dark from his waistband. He held it next to his shoulder and looked around. We may have been too far to clearly see what was going on, but I had a sinking feeling. “Is that a—”
“Hush!” Andrew hissed, his eyes fixed on the men.
The men ignored the sign Andrew had placed on the door and entered. After the last one disappeared behind the door, Andrew sat up and cranked down his window. Warm air rushed in, but the circulation helped to dry my clammy skin.
My heart pounded out of my chest, harder than when I first saw Raymond today. Faster than when he grabbed me coughing up blood. Because of my stupid idea to get rid of the body, someone else has found him dead. They were probably inside calling the cops right now. It would look criminal for us not to have been the people to make the call.
Shit, what if we were cleaning up the scene when they entered? What would have happened? I’m not sure how much time passed, but I held my breath until spots formed in front of my eyes. When the first man emerged again, I thought it was another spot dancing. Then the crack of the gun echoed
through my bones in rapid succession. I’m pretty sure my scream was muffled by another shot.
Andrew dove across the seat. One large hand covered my mouth while he shielded me from the next two gunshots with his own body. The second man emerged with his weapon drawn and fired one last shot into the room. After him, the lanky man came out carrying a black backpack.
They ran to their car. Tires spit gravel and sand in a stream behind them. The car fishtailed before righting itself and they took off.
Only then did Andrew move off me. His head whipped back around. “Are you all right?” The edges of his eyes crinkled, making him look older as he scanned me up and down. Afraid to trust my voice, I nodded.
He balled the sleeve of my shirt in his fist and yanked me toward him to place a fierce kiss on my lips. “Let’s get out of here then.” With that, Andrew turned the key and the Firebird roared to life.
The men with guns headed south, we went north. About a block away, three police cars passed us with sirens wailing.
The drive back to Andrew’s house was torturous; neither of us spoke a word. Behind us lay a murder, gunshots, and God only knew what else.
Fingernail after fingernail I chewed to the quick until there was nothing left to bite. A glance at Andrew told me everything I needed to know about his feelings on the matter. His lips were pressed in a hard line, and his jaw was clinched tighter than his fingers around the steering wheel.
“Are you going to tell her?” Andrew asked when we turned onto his street.
“No. The less people involved the better, I think.” I knew Jocelyn would protect our secret, but she was innocent and she should remain as such.
The whole situation terrified me to the core, worse than the cold, sharp edge of the knife. My vision went blurry with unshed tears, if I had only been strong enough to stand up for myself against his powerful family, rid my life of him, none of this would have happened. My reputation might have been marred for a while, but if I’d continue to persist that he was evil, someone would have eventually listened. It would have been much easier to mend than broken bones or the threat of a life sentence hanging over our heads.
Forever in Hollywood Page 20
