by Kylie Walker
On the dance floor, he took her in his arms and they began to dance. She found it easy to forget about everyone else in the big room as long as she was in his arms. There were several other couples on the floor and Derek introduced her to an elderly couple as they passed by. The man was a retired judge and his wife was also but she was a Supreme Court justice.
“What a beautiful girl you are,” the woman told her.
“Thank you,” Chloe told her. She looked at the woman’s husband who was giving her a lecherous look. She wondered if he frequented clubs like Roxi’s.
“You’re the prettiest woman here,” Derek whispered against her ear as they danced. “That’s why they’re all looking at you.”
“Thank you,” she told him, “But Derek...”
“Shh, please don’t worry what people are thinking. Please just enjoy this. I love having you in my arms. Besides, I doubt as many of them are thinking it as you are worried they are...but the fact is if they’re thinking anything, it’s about me and not you. I’m the one who is with a woman who looks like my late wife. You can’t help it that you look like her.”
“It’s just a little strange,” she said, “Don’t you think?”
“It is, yes.” He was so honest and she loved that about him. She’d almost wished he’d lied and told her it was perfectly natural to date your wife’s twin after she died.
“What if I turn out to be her sister?” Chloe tried not to let herself think that far ahead. All that ever did for her was cause stress. Sometimes, like tonight when she was imagining what it would be like to really be with him, she couldn’t help it.
“It won’t change how I feel about you,” he said.
Chloe thought about asking him how it was that he felt, but she bit that back. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know. If he thought he felt too much, that would be too much pressure. She would leave that one alone for now.
When the dance ended, Derek took her by the hand and they headed over to the table where the silent auction items were laid out. A nice looking older man with the same blue eyes as Derek was coming towards him.
Derek stopped and said, “This is my father,” before he reached them. If Derek hadn’t told her, it would have been easy to guess. The man was looking at Chloe curiously with those pretty blue eyes, the same way the others at the party looked at her.
“There you are,” Derek’s father said to his son. I hadn’t seen you and I was wondering if you were coming.” He looked at Chloe then and with a smile that rivaled his son’s he said, “Hello.”
“Hi,” Chloe said, more shyly than she had greeted the other guests. This was Derek’s father.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” Derek told him. “Peter and Leticia are two of my favorite people.” He and his father shook hands and then Derek turned to Chloe. She wondered if his stomach was fluttering the way that hers was or if he felt slightly nauseated at the realization that his father recognized that she was his late wife’s twin. He didn’t show it if he did. He was as cool and smooth as ever as he turned towards Chloe and said, “Dad, this is my date, Chloe Green. Chloe this is my father, Kevin Stark.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Chloe said.
“Yes, a pleasure,” Derek’s father said. He had lost the curious look, or he was hiding it well. He was an attorney. Chloe knew from experience that they were fabulous actors.
“I was on my way over to speak with Judge Taylor about an important matter, but I’ll be back. Chloe, I can’t wait to get to know more about you.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said. When he was gone she turned to Derek and said, “Um, blindsided a little bit, thank you.”
“I’m sorry. I really intended to tell you my father would be here. Work was so hectic this week and we really didn’t get much of a chance to talk. It just slipped my mind.”
“He saw it too. Did you see the way he looked at me?”
Derek gave her an indulgent look and said, “Maybe, or maybe you’re just a little bit self-conscious. It doesn’t matter. My father wants me to be happy. You make me happy.”
She almost told him that he made her happy too. She could feel it, but she couldn’t say it. Either it was too soon, or she was too out of practice. She let it go and instead said, “Let’s go look at the auction items.”
Derek took her hand again but before he led her over to the table he said, “I really am sorry that I forgot to tell you he would be here.”
“It’s okay,” she said. Her insides were quivering. She wasn’t angry with him, but she wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take. She hadn’t realized just how overwhelming it was going to be.
When Chloe saw the things on the table that they were bidding on, she was shocked. This was no theme basket auction like she helped arrange for the rec center or the parks renovation projects. There were sailboats and classic cars and even a vacation home at Martha’s Vineyard. Derek put down a bid for the car and the boat and then he turned to Chloe and said, “See anything you like?”
She couldn’t let that pass. She ran her eyes slowly down his body and then back up again. When she reached his face she said, “I think I do.”
He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers softly. Her body wanted to respond, badly but she held back. She reminded herself where they were. It was bad enough that she was already attracting so much attention. She kissed him softly and stepped back so she wouldn’t be tempted to let it go further. As she did, a man stepped up behind her and she stepped on his foot and bumped into him.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” she said, turning to see who she had run into. When she saw his face, she froze. Her head was screaming at her to run, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. It was like being paralyzed. She literally could not move. The moment that she’d feared and dreaded for so long was here, she was staring her past in the face.
“It’s perfectly fine,” he said with a smile. He didn’t seem to recognize her. Was it possible? Could she be that lucky? No, if she were that lucky, she would have never met his son in the first place.
She heard Derek laugh and say, “Of all of the people to step on Chloe you have to pick Mr. Donovan. The illustrious District Attorney of New York.”
Derek was kidding, or so he thought. Chloe was thinking he was right. Of all the people...Derek was shaking hands with Vince and smiling. Vince Donovan was still staring at her face and although his own face hadn’t changed at all, she could see it in his eyes. They suddenly widened and she knew that he knew who she was. Jesse’s father recognized her. He would tell Jesse who would be out of jail in a matter of days.
“Chloe...is it? So nice to meet you,” he said, holding out his hand. Chloe looked at it like it was a snake. She couldn’t touch it. He repulsed her.
The thoughts were racing inside of her head. She wanted them to slow down so she could breathe. Her mind was accelerating so quickly that it couldn’t focus on the small things like normal bodily functions like breathing. Her breaths were coming in gasps and she started to feel like she was going to black out. Her heart was hammering against her chest and the room had begun to spin. Jesse’s father was still looking at her and Derek was now too.
“Chloe, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
She had to get out of here. She felt sick. She was going to vomit, right here. She was going to pass out. She could feel the darkness creeping in, coating her insides. She needed air or in seconds she was going to be on the floor in a fetal position, curled up in her own vomit. She turned...and rushed as fast as she could without making too much of a scene.
She could hear Derek behind her, calling out her name. She couldn’t stop, she had to get outside. Her lungs felt like someone was squeezing them now and her chest had begun to hurt. She thought maybe she was having a heart attack, but she didn’t want to do it here. She had to make it outside in the real air. As she rushed through the front doors and out into the night air, her stomach lurched and gurgled. She started running then until she made it out of the drive
way and onto the grass and then she stopped and gulped at the air, swallowing it whole, like she couldn’t get enough. She had to lean against a tree to hold herself up.
“Chloe? What the hell is going on?” Derek’s hand was on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. She didn’t want him to touch her. She didn’t want anyone to touch her. This was such a huge mistake. She couldn’t tell him what was going on. She couldn’t if she wanted to. She couldn’t speak; her whole world was spinning out of control.
Chapter 15
Jesse took one last look at the place that he’d called home for the past two years. He had a little box full of stuff that the property officer had already picked up. He would get it back at the sally port on his way out. The place was now nothing but four walls and a mattress with a stainless steel sink and toilet in one corner and a long thin window on the back wall. He won’t miss any of it...not one thing. He was in jeans and a t-shirt. For the first time in two years he was wearing regular clothes. For two years he’d rotted inside of the protective housing unit in a single cell with only six hours of natural daylight every twenty four on a tiny little yard that was fenced in just for him and his neighbors. He’d been housed there because of his father’s status. It was doubtful that he would have lasted more than a day in general population amongst the murderers, rapists and thieves that his father had put there.
Here, he was neighbors with some of the most notorious criminals in the state while they waited for trial or like Jesse, served the time they’d been given in a plea deal. They were of course all innocent as he had discovered in conversation over the years. Not that he gave a fuck about any of them. There had been only one thing on Jesse’s mind for the two years he’d had to endure this hellhole. Kelly Ward should have been dead that night. During the day the heavy cell doors opened and they could come out and mingle amongst each other in the drab, olive green day room with the stainless steel table and benches in the middle. Jesse rarely came out. He didn’t have anything to say to any of these losers. He stayed in his cell and he worked out and got stronger and he focused his inner rage. He was biding his time, until he got to see her again. Until he got to look into her eyes and see the fear and submission there, right before he got to watch the life drain out of them. That was what kept him going here. He would find her and he would kill her, but he was going to take his time doing it. She was going to suffer and she was going to beg for her life...and then, he was going to kill her.
“Donovan!” He turned and waited in front of the cell door. The correctional officer that stood in front of it opened the little food port and Jesse turned backwards and stuck his hands through. The cold steel handcuffs were slipped over his wrists. That had been a hard thing for him to acclimate to when he first got here. Being in a cage was bad enough, but being dressed in a jumpsuit and shackled and led around like an animal was the most dehumanizing thing of all. Once Jesse’s hands were cuffed, he stepped forward and the officer signaled to the officer in the control booth...the man with the gun. The officers on the floor didn’t carry any weapons other than a club and O.C. pepper spray. The buildings were all “covered” by a man up in a glass tower with a big gun.
The door slid open slowly and Jess waited until it was all the way open before he stepped out. The correctional officer held loosely onto Jesse’s arm as they walked along the tier. Some of his neighbors said good-bye and others gave him the finger. Jesse gave them all the finger in his mind. He knew he was better than this, better than all of them. He never should have been here in the first place. The bitch should have just died. She was going to wish that she had. He was looking forward to seeing her again. He could hardly wait to see the look on her face when she saw him. He wanted to see the realization there that she was a dead woman.
The officer pushed a button at the next door and that one slid open. Then they had to go through one more before they were outside. It always reminded Jesse of Get Smart with doors opening in front of you and closing behind you at the same time.
He was put into a van once they got outside and they drove through the jail to the other side where the sally port was. Any inmate that came or went had to go through the sally port and be accounted for. Jesse was walking out a free man. He wasn’t on probation or parole. His father had gotten him a sweet deal. It had ruined his law career dreams though, which really, really pissed him off. If he hadn’t already planned on killing the bitch that caused all of this, he would do it for that reason alone. He had a lot of reasons now and no one was going to stand in his way. It was his focal point. The rest of his life he would worry about later. He didn’t care about anything else right now. He had to accomplish that one goal first. He had to see Kelly’s lifeless body and then he could move on. He knew one thing for sure. No one would ever put him in a cage again. He would die first.
The van had to drive around to another side of the jail until they got to the front gates. Jesse saw the black BMW waiting in the visitor lot and he knew that it must be his father’s most recent car. Vince Donovan hadn’t been able to visit his son often. He had done all he could for his son by making sure he only served two years. It wouldn’t do for him to be traipsing in and out of the county jail as a visitor. It wouldn’t look good come election time. Jesse’s arrest and conviction was already a set-back for him, but like Jesse, his father always won somehow.
The van stopped and when Jesse stepped off, the officer unlocked his cuffs and took them off. He handed Jesse his box of personal belongings and said, “Don’t come back.”
“Don’t worry,” Jesse said.
He saw his father now, leaning against the shiny, freshly detailed car. Vince smiled as he came close and said, “I wouldn’t have recognized you on the street.”
Jesse grinned and hugged him. “Yeah, I had a little more time than usual to work out,” he said. Jesse was never a small guy. He was five eleven and before he went in he had weighed about 185. He’d been lean muscle then, without any fat at all on his body. Now he was bulky muscle. His chest was stretching the material of his large t-shirt and his biceps were bulging. He noticed his dad looking at his right one.
“What’s up with the tattoo?” Vince said with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you weren’t going to ink up in there.”
“It’s just a band. I can cover it with long sleeves.” It commemorated the scar. The puncture wound Kelly had made in his arm had turned into an ugly scar. The scar was now the mouth of a viper and the viper wrapped around his now massive arm.
Vince opened the car door and Jesse went around to the other side. He stuffed his box into the back seat and took his seat on the passenger side. “This is nice. I haven’t been in a car...or on a leather seat for so long I forgot what it felt like.”
Vince put the car in gear and started out of the lot. “I had your car detailed for you and the apartment I rented for you is on Madison. It’s really nice, you’ll like it.”
“Thanks,” Jesse said. “Any other news for me?”
“I’m sure I have a lot of things I need to catch you up on, but let’s take it slow for now.”
“You know there is only one thing I’m interested in hearing.”
Vince suddenly pulled the car into the lot of a Denny’s restaurant. “Suddenly craving a Grand Slam?” Jesse asked him with a laugh.
“No, but there’s something I need to tell you.”
Jesse sat forward. He could tell by the look on the old man’s face that it was something about Kelly. “You found her?” he asked, a slow smile spreading across his face.
“Sort of. More aptly, she found me.”
Jesse looked confused. “What? She found you?”
“I was at the fundraiser for Peter Ross’s kid and the hospital that I go to every year. I got stepped on by this tiny little woman with nice curves, light brown hair and stunning blue eyes.”
“Is this leading anywhere?” Jesse asked, looking bored already.
“At first I didn’t recognize her but it was her.”
“K
elly? With blue eyes and brown hair?”
“She calls herself Chloe Green now. She was there with Derek Stark, as his date.”
“What the fuck?” His date? Little slut! “Do you think Stark knows who she is?”
“I got the feeling that he didn’t. When she saw me, she freaked out. She ran out of the party and he ran after her. He looked completely confused.”
Jesse smiled again. “Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch. It must have been fate.”
His father looked worried. “Jesse, I thought about not telling you. You really need to stay away from this girl. You’re going to end up right back in jail, prison this time...”
“No,” Jesse said, “I won’t ever come back here. They’ll have to kill me.”
“Great! Fucking great, Jesse! So you either end up in prison, or dead? Do you know what it has done to your mother that you were in here for the past two years? Your life is permanently affected by this and so is ours even with a misdemeanor. The next time they will charge you with a felony and I won’t be able to help. Or you’ll be dead. Imagine what it would do to us if you were dead, Jesse. Think about someone else for a change!”
Jesse didn’t want to fight with his father. He needed him. The old man was his only source of money right now and he would need plenty of that while he was looking for her and carrying out his plans. “I’m sorry, Dad. You’re right. I just want to talk to her. I want to tell her that I’m sorry I hurt her. It was one crazy night. I was drunk and I never meant for any of it to happen, you know that. I know that she knows that. She’s probably ready to apologize herself. I love her. I need her. You must understand that a little bit. You told me about seeing her.”
His father understood that you had to keep your women in their place. Jesse knew that he wouldn’t condone him killing her though, no matter how much she needed it. He would stand by him when it was all over though. Jesse knew that without a doubt.
“I told you because I know that you won’t let this go and you’ll be out there looking for her on your own. I don’t want you getting into any trouble, Jesse. I don’t want you locked up again...or worse. There are so many other girls out there, Jesse. What is it about this one?”
