by Terry Towers
Shit.
“I’m sorry sweetie, I’ll come back for you.” I closed the closet door before carrying on to the living room.
They were still in the living room, snorting something and laughing hysterically to what appeared to be the movie Wayne’s World. Oh dear god, I was doing these two losers a solid by putting them out of their misery. I didn’t waste time, shit, now that this was a search and rescue mission I didn’t have time to waste, I aimed the pistol at rapist number 1’s head and fired. He fell back into the sofa – nice and dead. Rapist 2 was a little more effort, the fucker charged me. He got shot three times, two in the chest and one in the head. He fell back onto the glass coffee table, which held lines of cocaine yet to be snorted. His body smashed through the coffee table in a puff of white powder. Entering further into the living room I shot rapist 1 once more in the head. Better safe than sorry, ya know.
Now, I know what you’re thinking; that was pretty anticlimactic. Well baby this ain’t the movies. It’s pretty easy to kill a motherfucker if you really want to. The last place you figure you’ll get gunned down is in your own living room while getting wasted.
Glancing down at my watch, I groaned inwardly. I had less than an hour to check out the house to make sure there were no other girls in closets, and then figure out what to do with pretty Asian girl. After a thorough search of the house and coming up empty I went back into their bedroom and found a t-shirt and boxers for closet girl. Making my way back to the closet in the hall, I reopened the door and as per last time she began screaming behind the duct tape and struggling against her binds. So I let her. After five minutes of struggling with me doing nothing but waiting for her to calm down and exhaust herself she finally settled.
“Okay. I’m going to take the duct tape off of your mouth so we can talk, is that cool? You promise not to freak out on me?”
She hesitated, but eventually nodded her head.
As gingerly as possible, I removed the tape. Once it was off she didn’t say anything, but simply stared at me. All right, she’s a screamer, but not much of a talker. Well, whatever.
“Well then, I’m going to untie you and I have some clothes.” I motioned towards the clothes draped over my shoulder. “You can get dressed and then I’ll take you home, or wherever you want to go, okay?”
She nodded.
“You’re not going to go all crazy on me and do something unnecessary or stupid, right?”
She shook her head.
I frowned as I undid the bind on her right wrist. She’d struggled so much that the rope had rubbed her wrist raw. Damn, that must hurt. Fucking animals who did this to her deserved what they got. I just wished I’d taken care of them sooner.
“How long have you been in here?”
“I don’t know.”
I quickly undid her left wrist and knelt to undo her ankles. “I’ll take you home, or wherever, but I need you to do me a favour…” I looked up at her and caught her gaze. “What’s your name?”
“Josie.”
“Okay, I need you to do me a favour Josie, I need you to not say anything about what happened to you. Nothing. I’ve taken care of the men who did this to you.”
“But…”
With her ankles undone, I stepped back allowing her to exit the closet and passed the t-shirt to her. “I saved you and now I need this favour.”
“Why? You saved me, why…”
“Because the men who took you are dead in the living room, I shot them and I’m not really interested in going to prison.”
She pulled the shirt on and then took the boxers, pulling them on as well. She was taking this surprisingly well. She mustn’t have been in the closet for very long. “But you saved me…”
“The law doesn’t care for vigilante behaviour, Josie. Come on. Keep your eyes straight ahead, all right?”
She nodded and trailed behind me, but once we hit the living room she veered off to the two dead men. She said something in a foreign language and spit on them both. Like, literally waterworks, fucking spit on them and kicked the dead douche on the floor in his dead-assed balls. Alrighty then. She spun back around to me and made her way to the front door and left with me trailing behind, locking and closing the door behind me with a bemused expression on my face.
“How did they get you anyhow?” I asked once we were in my car and headed to her sister’s house in Hawthorne. She seemed to be much more comfortable now that she was out of that house and headed for home and was turning into something of a chatty Cathy. I learned everything from her favourite food – meat pizza with extra cheese – to what she wanted to do when she finished college – an actress, but investment banker if that fell through – to her first dog’s name – Sookie, – and it seemed everything else about her in between, as well. It was surprising, but everyone dealt with trauma differently, I suspected she was still in the shock phase and her insistent chatter was her way of pushing the trauma of what had happened to the wayside – for now. As long as her chatter didn’t involve my identity she could tell whoever in the fucking world she wanted what happened to her.
“I was at a nightclub. I was leaving and they grabbed me in an alley. Next thing I know I’m blindfolded and tied in that closet. They only took me out to use the bathroom, eat and…” she looked down at the floor and shrugged. “You know.”
“Yeah, I know.” God, that could have been Sidney in that closet. Just shooting them was too good for those bastards.
As we pulled up to her sister’s house I turned to her, my expression serious. I needed her to be very clear on how important keeping my identity out of this was. “So, one more time. What happened when you were rescued?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes at me. “Someone killed them and released me. He was average height and build and was wearing a ski mask so I don’t know what he looks like. I think he had dark brown eyes.”
I nodded my approval. “Good. That’s good.” I could hear the apprehension in my tone.
“I won’t rat you out. Thank you, for, you know. I don’t know what would have…”
I was going to give her knee a reassuring pat, but thought twice. I didn’t want the gesture to spark something in her and have her snap in my car. “Will you promise me something?”
She nodded without hesitation. “Talk to someone, a professional. You seem okay right now, but I think it might help.”
“I just want to forget. Ya know.”
“I know. But, do it anyhow. Okay?”
Her lips formed into a tight line but she eventually nodded. “Okay. I promise.” She held her piniie finger out to me. “Pinkie swear.”
I gave her yet another bemused look and shrugged, linking my little finger with hers. Whether she would follow through with her promise, I’d never know, but I did what I could.
And now I was late to pick up Sid. Shit and double shit. No good deed will go unpunished, wasn’t that the saying?
Sidney
Sitting on the sofa in my temporary RV, I was starting to get pissed. An hour late and I was still waiting for him, and the bugger wasn’t returning my text messages or answering my calls! What kind of bodyguard left his charge waiting for an hour? One who was in a relationship with his charge, that’s who! All right, maybe I’m being a little bit of a diva, I’ll admit it. It’s been over a month since he rescued me from those men in the alley and perhaps I was getting a little too used to being catered to and fawned over. We were rarely apart aside and I’m surprised to say that I liked it that way.
Maybe I’m just clingy and needy, but I’m not sure I was buying that assessment. I’d been in the public eye, acting for over five years now and I always dated other actors. Unlike what some people believe, it’s not a publicity thing, or a class thing, but the simple fact is that I spend lots of time with other actors and like people with regular jobs, the workplace is a prime place to find someone. But the problem with other actors is that once the project is over you go your separate ways and then it becomes a struggle t
o make time to see each other. I’d never really minded before, but I’d also never had such strong feelings for someone before Elijah either.
I was falling in love with Elijah or Trevor or whatever he wanted to call himself. While some people would feel it odd to call him by something other than his name, the truth was that in Hollywood it was commonplace to use an alias. So really, not a big deal.
“Sid, honey. So sorry,” Elijah said, bursting into the RV. “I ummm.”
I cocked a brow at him, crossing my arms over my chest and eyeing him. “You’re late and you didn’t answer any of my texts or emails or…”
“So sorry.” He crossed the RV and sat down next to me on the sofa, thrusting a hand into his hair. “I got caught up.”
“Doing?” Okay, I was being difficult, I know this. In truth, I was already over it, but seeing him squirm next to me was amusing so I couldn’t help myself.
He looked me in the eye and shrugged, giving me a lopsided smile. “I fell to sleep and overslept.”
Something didn’t feel right about that excuse. Elijah wasn’t a nap type of guy, not that I knew of him anyhow. He also seemed a little agitated, normally my bullying would be met with humour, but that wasn’t the case. Something was off.
“Everything okay?”
He paused. “Yeah. Of course. Come on, let’s go home. We have an early flight to New York in the morning.”
Chapter 18
Sidney
“So this is where you live while here huh?” I asked as Elijah parked in the parking lot of the 10-storey apartment complex. This was the first time he’d taken me to his place in Brooklyn, despite being in New York several times over the past month. It was usually just easier to book a hotel adjacent to the event I had to attend.
“It is. Nothing much, but I really don’t spend much time here anyhow. It’s basically a home base when here.” He gave me a smile and got out of the car. He stopped rushing to my side of the car to help me out weeks ago, I was always out of the car before he reached me. He didn’t like it, but did give in or give up, whatever way you wanted to look at it. Instead he popped the trunk and pulled out my suitcase and slammed the trunk shut.
“I don’t know. I think it holds a certain…”
“Ghetto appeal,” he offered with a chuckle. “Why do you think I drive a Prius while here?”
I huffed, was about to defend the place and changed my mind. It certainly wasn’t the worst area of New York, but the Upper East Side, it was not. Although with Elijah I could be walking through the worst part of town of the worst city in America and feel safe.
“How long have you had this place?”
“Ummm, few years now I guess.” Unlocking the front door with a card key, he led me into the building where we were greeted with a large sitting area and elevators at the back.
“What in the fuck!”
Frowning, my gaze shot over to Elijah and watched as he marched over to a little boy who was in his pajamas playing with a couple of beat-up Power Rangers toys. Just seeing the tension in his posture, I could see he was furious, but as he reached the little boy, knelt down to the child’s level and the child looked up at him, grinned a big, wide grin and hugged him all tension seemed to fade.
I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, not sure what to do next. Who was this kid? It was blatantly apparent that he cared for the child. But more importantly, where were the child’s parents and why was he in the apartment lobby where anyone could grab him and take off with him?
“Come on over, Sid. Meet Chris.”
The little boy stared at me and rushed from Elijah’s arms over to me. “Are you the girl in the big picture? The girl on TV?”
I knelt down to his level and nodded. “Do you watch my show?” He nodded enthusiastically. I crinkled my nose up at him. “What do you mean by big picture?”
Elijah stepped up to us and put his hand on the child’s shoulder. “So how about we take you back upstairs to your mother?”
He turned back to Elijah. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“She’s doing work. She told me to stay here and she’d come get me.”
Doing work? I looked up at Elijah, but he didn’t seem to notice. Rage filled his eyes, but a smile was plastered on his face.
“Well, pal, let’s go have a chat with your mom, okay?”
“Okay. She might get mad, though.”
Elijah grabbed his hand and led him to the elevators, with me trailing behind. On the elevator, I watched Elijah as he talked with Chris; there was such affection. Could Chris be his… I silently laughed at myself. No. Of course not. He wouldn’t keep something like that from me, would he? He certainly wouldn’t bring me to his place without informing me first.
The elevator dinged signalling our arrival and the doors slid open. We walked down the hall several doors and then stopped. “Can you stay outside here with Sidney, Chris?” he asked the boy.
Chris nodded. “Uh-huh.” Chris turned to me. “You can tell me how you kill those demons. Looks scary.”
“Stay here with Chris, I’ll be right back.” My gaze met Elijah’s and I nodded, becoming more and more bewildered by the moment.
He was gone only a minute before I heard a loud thump and a woman’s scream. A lightning bolt of fear raced through me and grabbing Chris’s hand I pulled him into the apartment behind me. I paused at the bedroom door and gasped, shielding Chris from the scene before me. Elijah had some naked man on the floor and was pummeling the man’s face with his fists while a rail-thin naked woman attempted to pull him off the man.
“Elijah don’t! Leave him alone!” the woman screeched, changing tactics and starting to pound his broad back with her fists.
The sight of the woman attacking Elijah caused a rage to form within me. No one touches Elijah. It was a stupid thought considering he was hardly losing the battle, but some deep-seated need to protect him now when I failed to do so when we were kids overtook me. I turned to the child and caught his stare. “Stay here, buddy. Okay?”
He nodded.
“Promise?”
“Promise,” he confirmed.
As soon as he said “promise” I dropped his hand and raced into the bedroom. I had no plan, other than to get the naked woman as far away from him as possible. Grabbing her arm I pulled her backwards. She spun on me, pulled her arm back and slammed her fist into my jaw.
“Bitch!” My rage tripled and I lunged at her, tackling her and slamming her against the near wall. She fought back and before I knew it we were both on the floor, kicking, screaming, punching.
“Sid, what the hell. Sid!” It wasn’t until two large, strong arms pulled me off of her that a full realization of what I’d done hit me. “Jesus, calm down Sid.” I’ll admit, I used to be a little scrapper when I was young, but aside from stage fights I hadn’t actually attacked someone since I was a kid. My aching face turned crimson as shame washed over me.
My eyes shifted from my opponent, who seemed to be more interested in fawning over the unconscious man on the floor than continuing the fight with me.
“I told you to stay in the hall with Chris.”
“He’s just outside the door. He’s fine.” Elijah spun me around so I was facing him and cringed. “My God, you’re bleeding.” He wiped at my lip with his thumb and I grimaced. It hurt.
“I’ll be okay.”
Elijah
She looked like she was in pretty rough shape, but looking at Tina she appeared to have gotten the better of the fight. Sidney’s lips were bleeding, there was a large goose egg forming at her temple and a second cut on the other temple. I really didn’t plan on having Sidney thrown into this chaotic bullshit, it was part of the reason I agreed to stay at hotels instead of taking her here, but Tina’s mother had called me to tell me Tina was back out of rehab and had Christopher again. I wanted to check in and make sure they were doing okay.
I sighed.
“Sorry Elijah, I just saw her attacking you and…”
/>
“It’s okay.” I pulled her into my arms and gave her a brief hug. “Thank you, but it wasn’t necessary. Can you please go check on Christopher?”
She nodded, stepped out of my arms and left the room.
“What did you do to him!” Tina screeched from behind me. “He was going to get me clients!”
I sighed a second time as I spun to face Tina. “What do you think you’re doing making your kid leave the apartment to fuck some guy?”
“I need money. And he was getting me clients.”
“A fucking pimp! You using again Tina?”
She planted her hands on her hips and glared at me. “No, I’m clean.”
I strode up to her and grabbed her arms, flipping them over. No track marks. Taking a deep breath in, I slowly released it and nodded.
She yanked her wrists from my hands. “Happy now! I need to make money and I can’t leave Chris alone. You made that clear last time.”
“Ever think of getting a real job? Or maybe taking Christopher to his grandmother’s when you fuck men? And there’s no way they should be coming here.”
“But he’s…”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what he is. He’s a piece of filth, that’s what he is and he shouldn’t be anywhere near Chris.” I took a menacing step towards her and she took a step back. “I told you last time. The kid comes first.”
“We need money. And I’m not using. But we still need food.”
I looked at her closely. She didn’t appear to be using. Currently anyhow. I’d have to keep an eye on her while Sidney was here in New York filming. Then I’d make a decision on whether the police and social services were going to be involved. This was a severe lack of judgment on her part, but perhaps she was trying. She had a week under my watchful eye to prove it to me.
The man on the floor groaned, directing my attention to the would-be pimp. He groaned again and sat up, glaring at me. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
I was on him in seconds with a hand on his jugular. “No, you’re not. You’re going to get dressed and you’re going to get out of here and if I ever see you around Tina or the kid or even this neighbourhood again, I’ll be the one fucking killing you. If there weren’t a child in the other room I’d put a bullet into your worthless skull right now.”
