Spin the Bottle

by T L Osborn

  “Toby,” she whispers. “Felicity has me. I need you to come to 17 Delaware Avenue, Totara Park. Come alone. No other police must come with you. Hurry please.” With that I hear a blood-curdling scream.

  “Felicity, I swear to fucking God, you’d better not harm her.”

  “Come alone and she won’t be harmed any further. You don’t and there’s no telling what I’ll do.”

  A click and the call ends and I angrily grab a pair of jeans and a hoodie.

  Making my way into the lounge, I’m faced with Aria, Riley, Simon, Jake, James and Roger, Simon’s bodyguard, and Matt all waiting for me.

  “Was that Sasha? Is she okay?” Aria asks.

  “Yes it was, but no, she isn’t. Felicity has her. Fuck, I’m such a fool. All this time I thought it was Kyle but it wasn’t. I need to go to her.”

  “You’re not fucking going alone,” Roger says.

  “We’re coming with you along with your teammates. She might’ve said for you to come alone and that’s what you’re going to do. You’ll be the only one to park in front of the house, that way you’re the only car she hears. Meanwhile, a team and myself will head down the street silently. Get Sasha out if you can but don’t do anything stupid,” Matt says.

  I nod at him the plan just might work.

  We take our time setting ourselves into motion. I travel to the crime scene with Jake and Matt, though I have to stop to let them out at the end of the street. I have to trust that they will do their best to get Sasha and I out of the house safely.

  Parking the car outside the house, I look down the street. It’s pitch black; I don’t see anyone or anything. It’s a perfect setting for an ambush.

  Walking up to the front steps, I don’t even have to knock before the front door opens.

  “Toby, so glad you could make it,” Felicity says as she steps back, allowing me to come inside.

  “Where’s Sasha?” I demand.

  “Hasty aren’t you, well let’s go see your lady love one more time, shall we?”

  She closes the door, locking it and we make our way down through the house. I realise we’re heading to a room where she’d never let anyone into, including her son. Opening the door, I see upon the floor that Sasha is tied up. Blood stains her beautiful angelic hair, and she looks pale and swollen.

  “What the fuck have you done to her?” I demand.

  Felicity shrugs. “Had some fun. Don’t panic, she’s not seriously injured yet.”

  Standing in the back corner like the coward I always knew him to be is Kyle, just watching the scene unfold before him. I cross the room to Sasha and immediately begin untying the ropes, but even for me they’re too hard.

  “I tied them tight didn’t I, Toby? You remember all those nights I tied you to the bed, what wonderful memories they were. You enjoyed the rough sex. Now, I’m using my skill on her.”

  “I don’t want to remember anything I ever did with you,” I growl out.

  I can’t undo Sasha’s bonds.

  Frustrated, I turn around to find Felicity pulling a gun from her desk drawer that sits below a wall covered in photos of her and I that have clearly been photoshopped. She’s planned an entire life for us.

  She’s fucking crazy.

  I knew she had some issues when she got all clingy and then broke into my house, but I never suspected it was this bad.

  She points the gun towards Sasha.

  “You don’t fucking get it. You were supposed to be mine. Tonight, I’m going to rid us of our problems altogether—take away the competition, then I can have you all to myself and there’ll be no one to stop me.”

  I keep a watch on her and as the trigger fires, I step in front of Sasha taking the bullet through my shoulder. I drop to my knees as pain radiates, blood streaming from my body as Sasha kneels before me.

  “No!” Felicity screams. “I never fucking wanted to hurt you, Toby. I meant to get her.”

  Turning my head, I see she lines the shot up again, this time she has a direct hit to Sasha’s head. I’m not about to let her harm Sasha but as I’m about to get back on my knees, Kyle bursts in front of me.

  “This is madness, you’ve done enough. You’ve already fired one bullet, let it be enough.”

  “It’s not enough Kyle, it never fucking will be. That bitch destroyed my life and you brought her into it.”

  There’s a scuffle. Kyle’s hands are on the gun as are Felicity’s, then a loud bang comes before Kyle hits the floor is heard.

  Dead.

  One shot is all it took.

  Felicity stares between the gun in her hand and her brother’s body.

  “You fucking bitch, I killed my brother because of you. Now you are definitely going to die.”

  “Police, put down the weapon,” Matt’s voice calls through the smoke and gun powder.

  Thank fuck.

  He tackles Felicity moments later, kicking the gun far enough away from her that she can’t grab it. When he handcuffs her, I allow myself to slump down next to Sasha. Tears stream down her beautiful face before darkness and pain engulf me.

  Chapter Thirty

  Sasha

  Everything is a blur of navy, people coming and going from the room and screaming—so much screaming. One officer arrests Felicity, another checks over Toby and calls for an ambulance, while another kneels before me. His eyes are warm and comforting, but he’s not Toby. Taking a shaking glance, I look at Toby who, though in agony, smiles up at me.

  “My angel,” he whispers, and I slide my hand into his and give it a squeeze.

  “Sasha,” the officer next to me says. I turn to look at him. “I’m Matt, Toby’s partner on the police force. Are you okay?”

  I shake my head. “Sore.”

  He nods. “We have an ambulance coming for you as well as Toby but I need to take some photos of these restraints before we remove them.”

  He pulls out his phone and takes some photos. Then he and another officer have to literally slice the bonds off me. The feeling of blood returning to my hands and feet is weird but relieving all the same. My wrists and ankles are raw from where I spent the time trying to escape my bonds.

  “Can you walk?” Matt asks.

  I shake my head. “I don’t think so. My feet are numb.”

  Gently he rubs my feet, but the pins and needles are excruciating. Silent tears run down my face as I can’t take the pain.

  “Matt, the ambulance is here for her.”

  “Come on, let’s get you to the ambulance.” He helps me to stand and my muscles ache as they stretch out. Slowly, we walk out towards the front of the house.

  The first face I see when I exit is James’. He rushes towards me and I collapse against him. Turning my face back towards the house, I see the paramedics taking in a stretcher. I turn around and try to get out of James’ grasp.

  “Toby,” I scream.

  “No, Sasha, you need to get into the ambulance.”

  “I want to go to Toby, please James.”

  “The ambulance crew have him. They’ll take care of him.” James picks me up in his arms and carries me over to an ambulance. I’m laid onto the stretcher with a crew beginning to work on me and look over my wounds. I keep looking out to the other ambulance and I see them bring Toby out and put him into the vehicle. Matt is right beside him. Tears stream down my face. It should be me beside him. The doors to his close and the ambulance drives away.

  “He’ll be okay, let’s get you taken care of,” James says, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.

  “Don’t go,” I whisper to him.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” The doors close and we’re rushed to the hospital.

  When we arrive, it’s a blur of doctors, needles, tests and police. Matt comes over a few hours after I’ve been in the emergency department while they try and find a bed on a ward for me.

  “Hey, can you give me a statement? James here can stay if it makes you feel more comfortable,” he asks.

  “How’s Toby? Is
he okay?”

  “He’s okay. They’ve rushed him into surgery to locate the bullet and hopefully stem the bleeding, but it appears he’ll be in pain for a while yet. Right now, I’m worried about you. Do you mind if I record this?”

  “I don’t mind. I want to help you as much as I can. I’m okay, I guess. I was kidnapped from outside my place of work, somewhere I felt safe. I don’t remember seeing her then, but a little while later, she entered the room where you guys found me. Can you tell me how long I was taken for?” I ask.

  “Almost twenty-four hours. What happened after you discovered it was her?”

  “She threatened me, told me I stole her life from her. Looking around the room I discovered photos. Then Kyle arrived. I was shocked to not only learn that she was a drug addict, but he’s her brother and dealer. Oh, and he’s my ex. I never knew they were related. I’d never met anyone in his family and I learned why tonight. It was because I was literally supplying the income for her drug use, but I swear I didn’t know.”

  He writes, nods as he listens to me. I gulp back the tears as the memories of my latest nightmare washes over me.

  “Then she demanded I ring Toby and get him to the house. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want him to get hurt, but he’s so bull-headed he didn’t think and just turned up. Then she pulled a gun, from where, I don’t know. The next thing I knew, Toby was shot and there was a fight between her and Kyle, and then he was dead.”

  “Do you know what kind of drugs it was?” Matt asks.

  “No, some sort of white powder is all I can tell you.”

  “Okay, I think this is all I need from you. At some point, I’ll get you to write this all down and we will sit down once you’re feeling better, but for now, I’ll leave you to rest. Here’s my card. If you remember anything else, just call. Same thing if you need anything.”

  “I will.” He exits and a nurse comes into the room.

  “We have found you a bed,” she says with a warm smile.

  I turn to look at James and smile. “You head home and get some rest. Just make sure you don’t forget I’m here.”

  “We won’t and we’ll bring you some fresh clothes and stuff tomorrow. Sounds like you’ll be in overnight at least if not longer. Do you want anything specific?”

  I blush. I can’t believe I’m about to ask him for this.

  “Yeah, some underwear.”

  “Okay, I’ll put Riley on getting you some things. Now, I’m also aware they took your phone as evidence, so we’re going to buy you a new one to use. You’ll need to contact your boss, but do that tomorrow. For tonight, get some rest.”

  He hugs me as someone comes into the room, prepared to move me to my new location. He walks me as far as he can and then leaves me to my caregiver. When I reach the room, the nurse helps me into the bed and I settle down beneath the blankets for some much needed sleep. My thoughts, however, drift to Toby.

  My love.

  I hope he’s okay.

  I can’t be without him again.

  Toby

  I wake with a start. For a moment, I worry that Matt saving us was a dream and that I’m still in the nightmare. As my eyes adjust to my surroundings, I’m relieved to find that I’m in a room surrounded by curtains.

  Where the hell am I?

  How’d I get here?

  “Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Jake’s voice chuckles from the side of me.

  I turn towards him and see him and Aria sitting by my bedside. “Did you kiss me to wake me up?”

  “Eww gross, no.”

  “Oh, thank fuck for that.” I chuckle, which turns into a hacking cough.

  Once my cough subsides, I assess myself. I’m covered in white bedding, arms on top of them covered in wires leading to several machines.

  I sigh and lean back on the pillows. “Where’s Sasha? Is she okay?”

  “Of course I’m okay, we’ve all been worried about you,” her sweet voice says from somewhere.

  “She’s literally across the room from you.” Aria points to the bed opposite me. Sure enough, Sasha is sitting up.

  “Sit me up,” I growl at Jake.

  “All right, boss.”

  He pulls the control panel from the bed and hands it to me so I can sit myself up comfortably. She waves at me from across the room and I see her wrists are bandaged.

  “Are you okay?” I ask her.

  “Physically yes, mentally not quite, but I’ll get there. I’ve been so worried about you.”

  I throw her a grin. “As you can see, I’m okay. I just have a bullet hole in me, but I’m fine. Actually, I need to know what happened after Felicity was taken down. I don’t remember much after being loaded into the ambulance.”

  “You were brought here and rushed into surgery to stem your bleeding, but you came through perfectly. Surprisingly, your shoulder is in good condition, but you have a lot of rehab ahead of you to regain the strength in it. Your boss wants a word with you once you’re awake so you better let Matt know you’re awake because he wants a statement.”

  I turn to look at Sasha who’s sitting in bed, flicking through a magazine. “How are your wrists and ankles?”

  “Sore. They’re healing though. I’m just waiting for the doctors to come around as I might be able to go home today or tomorrow. They’ve just got to clear me from concussion and redress the wounds but I should be okay to go home.”

  “Wanna spring me too, baby?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “You aren’t going anywhere, mister; you’ve only just woken up from your surgery. You need to listen to your doctors.”

  A shuffle of people and Matt come into view with my boss.

  “Hey, mate, how are you doing?” Matt says, pulling up a chair beside me.

  “I’m alive which I’m grateful for.”

  “We’re glad you are too. Detective, that was some great work in there,” my boss says.

  “I wouldn’t say that, Sir, there was a fatality.”

  “Which wasn’t your fault. We can tell you that Felicity Dawson was charged with manslaughter, assault with intent to harm, assault on an officer, kidnapping, and possession of drugs as of this morning. There’s no chance of her getting released. She’s been ordered to stay away from you and Sasha for the remainder of her life. There is a possibility that you and Sasha will be asked to testify in court, but we’re hoping she’ll plead guilty.”

  I watch Sasha’s face fill with relief and Matt turns his head then bursts into laughter.

  “Oh here’s trouble, you two are in the same room.”

  “Hey, I’m not trouble, but you might want to keep an eye on that one over there.” Sasha laughs pointing at me. A nurse comes into the room, going around, taking our vitals. When she gets to me she smiles. “Oh, excellent, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

  “I’m okay. I don’t feel any pain.”

  “That’s good. You won’t need a pain relief top up for a while. I’ll just take your vitals and lunch will be brought around soon.”

  “Food sounds good.”

  She takes my vitals and then exits the room, leaving me and my visitors alone. By the time lunch is brought around, I’m starving.

  Matt and my boss got a call and had to head back to the lab and get the reports for evidence on other cases. My family stays for a few more hours but as the doctors make their rounds, they tell Sasha they’d like her to stay another night just to be sure the bruises are going down and the wounds on her wrists and ankles are healing right.

  Sitting there, staring at her sleeping in the middle of the night, her golden hair sprawled across the pillow, she really does look like an angel. I can’t sleep as I feel too awake, but watching her is relaxing enough. When I finally do drift off to sleep, it’s uneasy and restless.

  Sasha

  “Do you know how loud you snore?” I laugh at Toby as I’m packing my bag, ready to go home. When I’m discharged however, I’m not going home straight away. I’m going to stay with Toby for a bit and the
n head back to James’ and Riley’s place.

  “I don’t snore, but you squeak like a mouse.” He smiles. “You all ready to go, baby?”

  “All ready. I can’t wait to get out of this place, I hate hospitals.”

  “You and me both.”

  “You have to stay here a few more days, mister; get started on your rehab treatments before you can come home. I think Jake has arranged that you and I will be staying with him so he can keep an eye on us.”

  “Who’s picking you up today?”

  “Um, Riley I think, but that may change if she gets a call to do a photoshoot. I’m pretty sure my little friend has been missing me.”

  “I’m going to miss having you across the room from me.” He smiles.

  A nurse comes in a few moments later with my paperwork for my discharge and strict instructions to take it easy. I’m lucky that my boss has given me the next two weeks off of work to recoup and start some counselling sessions.

  Once I’m free, I dump my bag by Toby’s bed and sit in a chair beside him. I lean down to give him the kiss I’ve been desperate to give him since the night of the attack. He slides his spare hand into my hair and deepens it.

  “Hmm-hmm.” A cough makes us break apart and we turn to see James standing there. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’m here to escort the lady home.”

  “Soon. I’m not ready to go yet, and I thought Riley was coming to get me?” I ask him.

  He shakes his head. “She got asked to do a new-born photoshoot and I had today off, so I volunteered to come get you. I mean, I did offer to go to the photoshoot, but the look on her face told me I’m better off getting you.”

  Toby laughs. “Good idea, but do you mind waiting for a bit? I have a few things I’d like to ask Sasha.”

  James shrugs and takes a seat on the opposite side of Toby. “Sure thing.”

  “Angel, I want to know what happened before I arrived.”

  She inhales. “Well basically, I woke in a room that was dark and when she entered, Felicity turned on the light, blinding me, then I saw her. She had me tied in a room full of photos of a life she’d planned with you two. It was like she was living in a fantasy land. She threatened to kill me, but I have no doubt she intended it to be a promise. Then Kyle turned up and things took an unexpected turn. So it turns out he’s her brother and her drug dealer. Did you know she’s on drugs? I mean, when you were together, did you ever suspect?”