Finding Jordie: Things aren't always what they seem. (The Love Lies Bleeding Series Book 1)

by Harley, HJ

  “Is this because of you?” Rachel hissed at Nathan.

  “Stop it. No, there’s more,” I shot back at her in Nathan’s defense. “You know those weird calls on the voicemail at the bar?”

  “Yeah, fucking creepy. It’s connected to this somehow?”

  “I had both numbers changed, but the calls continued. When we threatened to call the police, I guess it made him bat-shit crazy because he started screaming and stuff. He said, ‘I’ve got you now.’“

  “What? That’s crazy,” she whispered. Her eyebrows were furrowed deep. Frank asked if the messages on the machine were new or old. I looked over. There were twenty-two.

  “Um, all new.” My voice cracked a bit. I really didn’t want to know what was waiting for me on that machine.

  Frank stepped into the other room, where several officers were working. “Get someone over here now. We need to listen to these and get what you can for evidence,” he demanded.

  A young female detective came in and Frank pointed her to the flashing indicator light. She put the machine on play and let it run. All twenty-two messages were the same. The creepy crackle breathing, all minutes apart. The detective asked if she could take the machine, being it was digital.

  “Go on,” I said. I’d be glad to see it gone, honestly. He couldn’t leave any more messages if there wasn’t anything to leave them on.

  Frank walked over, his eyes locked with mine. “Can I speak to you privately, Nate?”

  Nathan kissed me on the forehead and stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Are you all right?” Rachel plopped in the seat where he’d been and grabbed my hand.

  “I will be once all these people get out of here and I can clean up.” My eyes scanned the room.

  “I’ll stay and help. Mike is down there closing up now. I’m sure he’ll come help, too.”

  “Closing up? What? Wait, what time is it?” I asked. Nathan and Frank were standing in the corner. I could see them talking but their voices were too quiet to hear.

  “It’s almost three A.M., Jords.”

  “Oh, okay, but no thank you, it’s okay. I don’t want everyone working all night because of this. You guys work so hard already.”

  Nathan’s raised voice made me look over at them. “How do I tell her that, Frank?” Nathan spit the words out through clenched teeth.

  Frank put his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “We’ll tell her together.” Frank was barely moving his mouth as he eyed me. “She has to know.”

  “Tell me what?” I stood up and barged into the conversation.

  Nathan’s eyes squinted as a warning to Frank.

  “Nate, you can’t hide something like this from her. It’s her home. It’s—”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, fine. Can we at least wait until the place is cleared out?” Nathan growled, cutting Frank off mid sentence.

  “Uh no, we can’t. Tell me,” I barked at him. Rachel had joined us.

  “Jordie,” Nathan exhaled loudly and ran his fingers through his hair, then took both my hands in his. “The person who did this did something quite disturbing. I don’t want you to freak out, okay?” He was talking to me like I was a five-year-old. It pissed me off.

  “Nathan, out with it, I’m not a child. Stop treating me like one!”

  “Jordan, the intruder took a pair of your panties and ejaculated on them,” he said in one swift sentence.

  The room started spinning. All I saw was black.

  “You can take a punch in the face from a grown-ass man twice your size, but some psycho busts a nut on your skibbies and down you go like a two dollar hooker?” Rachel said to me when I opened my eyes.

  “You are such an asshole,” I whispered to her with an amused expression as Nathan helped me sit up. He looked like someone was torturing him.

  “I’m fine, I promise. I didn’t eat much today.” I had to say something to try and reassure him, even though I knew he knew I’d eaten like a mad cow at Kelly’s. I heard an officer radio requesting a “bus.”

  “No ambulances, please. I’m fine.” I waved to him.

  A detective came over and handed me a bottle of water. Then he took Frank aside to talk. About two minutes into the conversation Frank called us over.

  “Ms. Spagnato,” the detective said, “it looks as if the perp entered your apartment through the window in your bedroom. No forced entry so I assume it was left unlocked?”

  “Correct,” I answered sheepishly. I locked every effin’ door everywhere I ever went and it never occurred to me to lock my window? I guessed the fire escape was climbable after all.

  “Nothing was taken so this wasn’t a random break in. From the condition your home was left in—your daughter’s room left untouched, along with the evidence we collected from your bed—it looks to be of a personal nature. Whoever did this has a lot of anger toward—” He stopped. “A lot of anger.” He looked anywhere but at me. “The good news is we collected a sample of the fluid and some hairs to be sent to the lab for DNA testing. If this person is in the system, we’ll find him and arrest him, I assure you.”

  Frank piped up. “Please push the lab results. Cost is not a concern. Send me the bill for rush results, please.”

  Nathan nodded in agreement.

  “Of course, sir.” The detective nodded back to Frank.

  An officer bolted through the front door from outside. “Any available hands until backup gets here would be nice.” He was out of breath. “Between the paparazzi and the crowd leaving the bar next door, it’s complete chaos down there.”

  Frank was on his phone almost instantaneously and four or five more uniformed officers piled their way down. Rachel grabbed her keys and headed down behind them.

  “Rachel, no. Wait, please,” I said.

  “Sorry, Jords, you have this shit fest to deal with. I need to get the bar in order and probably give Isobel a Xanex or something.” She laughed. “Besides, my man’s down there somewhere.” She winked at me.

  I shook my head in disbelief. “Any other time I’d want details. Maybe tomorrow.” I gave her a small wave goodbye. “Take care of the place. Please.” I yelled to her because she was half way down the steps.

  “Hollerrr,” she yelled back. “What the fuck are you looking at?” she said before the door slammed.

  “Baby, they’re pretty much done here. Frank got us a room under my alias over at the W for a few days. We’re going to head there after they leave.” Nathan came up behind me, slipping his arms around my waist.

  “Nathan, no, the last thing I need to do is run away from this. Look around you, this mess isn’t going to magically disappear.” I pulled his hands away.

  “This mess will still be here tomorrow.” He moved in front of me, a scowl on his face. “Right now, you and I are going to the W, getting some sleep, and forgetting all about this shit until later.” He made my stomach dance with his little ‘I am man, you listen to me’ bit.

  “I insist, Jordie,” Frank said. “I have three cars that you both will switch in and out of, undetected, in three different locations. When you get there, you two will go through the service entrance, which they are closing off until you arrive, so nobody will know you’re there. I’ll be a distance behind, assuring you’re not followed, and will meet you there.”

  “Guys, I have no clothes.”

  “That has already been taken care of, kiddo.” Frank reached down and picked up my purse. “I took the liberty of giving the sizes and style from some of your clothing upstairs to the personal shopper at the hotel. She assured me you’ll have at least a week’s worth of wardrobe waiting for you.”

  Nathan grabbed my hand and pulled it up to his chest. “See? Done and done. Now please agree to this, even if it is just for a day or two?”

  “Emma, she’s safe?” I looked at Frank.

  “That kid is safer than the President of the United States right now, Jordie. I spoke with your sister and put seven men on her house. I believe her exact words to me were, ‘Y
ou’d better lock this shit down like Fort fucking Knox, mister!’“ He laughed. “They’ll also all be escorted to and from the basketball game her son is playing in. Anywhere they go they’ll be under close surveillance,” Frank continued. “I promise you, Jordie, you’ll all be safe. This is my job. I take it very seriously and personally.” He practically shoved my purse at me.

  “All right, I guess.”

  Frank and two officers waited with us while I locked the apartment up. Frank had asked me if he could hang onto my key for the night, in case the detectives needed something else, so he didn’t disturb us. I handed him the keys happily. Having decided to go, at that point I just wanted to get out of there.

  I looked at Nathan as we walked down the steps. “I grabbed your charger while I was upstairs with the cop making sure my gun was still in the closet. Other than that, nothing else was really salvageable.”

  Leaving the building was easier than I’d anticipated it would be. The police tape kept everyone across the street. Frank had a big black umbrella in front of us as we walked out to the car. What was normally a twenty-minute ride took us an hour with the whole vehicle-changing bit on the way to the hotel. It was four A.M. by the time we arrived. I was wired, I was scared, and I was worried.

  Frank was waiting for us at the suite door. He had his own bag and took the bedroom off to the left far away from the master bedroom. “I’ll order some breakfast in a few minutes.”

  “Thank you, Frank,” Nathan said and led me down the corridor to the master bedroom.

  As promised, clothes were hung up for me in the closet, plus four pairs of Uggs and one pair of stiletto-heeled black leather knee high boots on the shoe rack.

  “Oh my god, these are gorgeous!” I shrieked with glee as I petted them.

  “Resilient.” Nathan walked past me and turned the corner.

  I heard the water turn on in the bath and he came out, taking his shirt off.

  “Hubba hubba,” I blurted out. I was starting to feel a bit more like myself and less like a crazy person. He walked over to the bureau and opened the top drawer.

  “Pajamas for you.” He waved his arm over the drawer then walked over to the other closet. I made my way over to the drawer and stood over it with a blank stare. I busted out laughing as I held up a black frilly thingy.

  “Honestly, Nathan, who picked this out? I have never put anything like this on before in my life. Where are the shorts and t-shirts?” I opened the other drawers in search of them.

  “Sorry, baby, that’s all you have.” He shrugged playfully and kicked off his shoes.

  I couldn’t help but smile. So that was how he wanted to play? Fine by me.

  Wearing a coy smile, he took my hand and guided me to the bathroom. “Arms up.” He pulled my shirt and my boots off and stripped me down to nothing. I undid the top button of his jeans, unzipped him, and tugged down until his boxers and jeans pooled at his ankles.

  “Well, hello.” My face blazed red.

  He helped me into the tub, which really wasn’t a tub at all. It was a small swimming pool by my standards. I sat down in the water and watched him scoot along, trying to wrestle his feet out of the tangled jeans. Once he was free he got in behind me and wrapped his arms around me tightly.

  “Holy shit,” I said. “This is just what I needed. Tell me something nice.”

  “Something nice? Okay. I really like these.” He chuckled when he cupped my breasts.

  “Seriously! Oh, oh, I know. Tell me the secret.” I leaned my head back on his shoulder so I could see his face.

  His eyebrows crinkled.

  “What?” I turned to face him and he spun me back around.

  “I want you close,” he said.

  “Okay, drama king.” I could feel a small laugh leave him, but that was all. “Hey! I want to see you.” I turned around again. I closed his legs and climbed on top of him so we were nose to nose.

  “All right, you want to know my secret?” His blue eyes burned me to my core.

  My belly flip-flopped like a fish out of water. My throat suddenly dried up and I wasn’t sure if I could actually speak. “Yes,” I whispered.

  “First, I’d like to request a few conditions.”

  Conditions? Is he proposing some sort of business arrangement? Confusion had to have been written across my face because he ran his hands up and down my back, to soothe me I guessed.

  “It’s nothing bad. Well, I hope it isn’t anyhow.”

  I just nodded in response.

  “All right, number one. No laughing. Number two, no running away screaming from this tub. You could slip and fall, and Frank just might have a heart attack after all the stress the poor guy endured tonight.”

  We both laughed.

  “And number three, you have no obligation to reciprocate.” His eyes searched mine.

  “I promise. I will do no such things, even though you laughed at my little jealousy issue.” I held up my pinky finger. He took my pinky and brushed his lips against mine.

  Swoon. Christ on a crooked crutch, what this man does to me.

  “Quit stalling,” I demanded playfully.

  He exhaled heavily.

  Oh, the dramatics. “Nathan, really, whatever it is... I’m sure—”

  “I love you, Jordan.”

  My eyes narrowed as I studied his face. My knees trembled. The water splashing against the sides of the tub was the only sound. Somehow I managed to regain my senses and a small smile touched my lips while I caught my breath.

  “Say something. Anything. Please.” He squeezed his eyes shut tight.

  “Open your eyes.”

  He didn’t.

  “Nathan, open your eyes, please.”

  He opened them one at a time with an uncomfortable grin.

  “I love you, too.” I pressed my forehead against his. I pulled back a bit and mouthed, “Nut job,” and he smiled my smile. He set my blood on fire, and I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with this man.

  “Nate, food is on its way up. Come on you two, you need to eat.” Frank rang through the speaker and startled us out of the moment.

  “Yes, Dad.” Nathan chuckled.

  After we ate I texted Kelly to see how things were going. Everything was fine and she said not to worry, that they were well protected. She hadn’t told the kids why there was so much security, just left it at Nathan was going overboard for privacy. I thanked her and told her I would call her when I woke up later. Much later.

  Nathan had hit the button to lower the automatic shutters on the massive window wall.

  I got to the bed just as Nathan found the remote for the TV and turned it on.

  “Please, no TV,” I whined.

  He glanced over at me and a look of pleasant surprise washed over his face. “So you opted for the black frilly thing, I see?” He eyed me up and down more than once.

  “Obviously.” I gave a small curtsy.

  “I like it. Come here,” he said in a sultry voice.

  I busted out laughing and climbed into bed.

  “You are so amazing,” he whispered against my ear.

  “You aren’t so bad yourself,” I whispered back. I could feel his smile against my ear.

  “Did you mean it?”

  “Yes.” I answered without hesitation.

  “Do you even know what I’m talking about, Jordie?” He let out a small laugh.

  “I do. And I mean it. I love you. It’s the only word that comes close to how I feel about you.” I turned on my stomach and propped myself up on my elbows. “I understand why you would feel out of sorts—I know I do. I’ve never felt this way in my entire life, then all of a sudden I do, after only a week?” I struggled to keep my voice steady.

  He was quiet for a few moments. The television flickered different patterns of light against the wall and made it hard to see his expression.

  “You still awake?”

  “I am.” He turned his head to face me.

  “So you have noth
ing to say?” I laughed nervously.

  “No.” He smiled and rolled on his side so we were nose to nose. “You’ve just said it all for me.” He smiled my smile. That smile made me weak and dizzy. It made my belly twist in the best way imaginable. He sprang up and hovered over me and straddled me below my behind. He put both his hands on me and slid the slinky black material up over my behind.

  “What are you doing!?” I struggled to turn over.

  “No, you don’t. Stay right there,” he ordered me playfully.

  “Nathan! Really, I don’t, I don’t like being pinned down this way.” I tried my damnedest not to sound like I was in a panic. I guess I didn’t do that great of a job because he hopped off of me immediately and I turned over quickly.

  “This way better?” When he got back on top of me I noticed a hint of sorrow in his expression.

  “Ah yes, much better.” I gave my best smile while I fought off the bad memories. It wasn’t very hard to do once Nathan began to kiss me everywhere, and I was lost in a matter of seconds.

  It was just about two in the afternoon when I woke up. Nathan was still asleep next to me so I snuck out of bed to use the bathroom. When I washed my hands I noticed the two toothbrushes next to one another and smiled. I grabbed the bathrobe off the hook and left the room quietly. Coffee was already made and there was a breakfast buffet set up. Silver tins and everything.

  “Fancy,” I muttered and took a sip of coffee. I saw Frank out on the balcony in a lounge chair and headed out there.

  “What a view,” I observed out loud.

  “Good afternoon, Jordie.” He nodded.

  I lit a cigarette and smiled. “Good afternoon, Frank. Is everything still okay with Emma?” Even I could hear the stress in my voice.

  “Never better,” he assured me. “Nate still asleep?”

  “Like a log.” I laughed. “Frank, would you mind if I used your phone for a sec? I don’t want to wake Nathan up by going back in for mine.”

  “Of course.” He handed me his phone.

  I dialed Rachel and her voice mail picked up.

  “Rach, it’s me. I need you to reconcile the till from last night and drop a bank bag for me. I’m so sorry to put this on you—I’ll make it up to you by paying for half your plane ticket to Egypt. I just really need you right now until I get all this straightened out. I love you. Holler.”