“He’ll come. I saw the way he looked at you.”
My fingers fumbled, reaching for the pocket of my jeans. “You’re her brother, aren’t you?”
He stared at me as I realized what a mistake I’d just made. I was pretty sure I was about to get slapped.
“How do you know about her? Did he tell you?”
“No … he … I figured it out. He had a picture of her.” I didn’t think telling him it was a box of pictures would do Dean any good. “I … when he wouldn’t talk about it, I figured it out on my own.”
“Your boyfriend killed my sister.”
“I told you; he’s not my boyfriend.” If he thought Dean was my boyfriend, I’d never be able to win him over. “I… I tried to confront him about it, and he wouldn’t tell me anything, instead he just … broke things off.”
It was almost scary how well I was making this lie up as I went.
“Just text him,” Keith snapped.
“Are you going to let me go after I do?” I asked, typing out a text to Dean. I knew he probably wouldn’t, but maybe if I asked, he would think I wasn’t going to tell anyone. That maybe I was on his side.
“No. Now come on, we need privacy. ”
Chapter Six
“Have you seen Becca?” I asked Melina. I wanted to talk to her, maybe telling her the truth was better than losing her. As soon as she walked out of the office, I’d known what I needed to do.
“I thought I saw her head outside.”
“I poked my head out there; I didn’t see her.”
Damnit why had I waited so long? I should have gone after her right away, as soon as she walked out of the office.
“Are you sure?” Melina’s brow furrowed. “I could have sworn on a stack of Bibles that she was out there.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Have you seen Keith?”
“Do you think—”
Yes. That was exactly what I thought had happened. I mean, what else could have happened? Sure she could have just gone home, but I didn’t see it. She wanted to help; if I knew her half as well as I hoped I did, I knew she hadn’t left. She was here somewhere.
“I’m going to check the tapes.” I headed for my office.
“We don’t have any outside.” Melina followed me.
“No, but I will be able to see where Keith went, and with that, I’ll be able to find her.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
Need to talk. Meet me outback.
That was all she said.
My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach.
“Is it from her?”
“Yes.”
I held my phone out so Melina could see the text.
“I’m calling the cops.” Melina ripped the phone from my hand. “Go get her. If he’s alone with her for too long …”
“I know; I can’t let him hurt her.”
*
My heart was still pounding as I sat on the picnic bench. He had a gun. He had a mother fucking gun. How was I going to warn Dean? Keith had taken my phone, so I couldn’t try to text anyone. I closed my eyes. Please, please, show up soon … but even if the cops did show up soon, would they know where we were? I had to hope that Dean was smart enough not to come until the cops had shown up, or that they were there before he headed out here. Or that he wouldn’t even come out here—that was the smart thing to do.
I bit my lip.
“I’m not going to kill you.”
“That’s not very comforting when you have a gun.” I opened my eyes and looked at the man in front of me. How could I stall him? How could I make him change his mind? “Has this been all you’re focus … since …?”
“He deserves to pay for what he did to her.”
I knew I had to be careful; I was walking on very thin ice, and I did not want to drown tonight. I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I have to ask, what makes you so sure he did it? I mean … I …”
“I know he did it. The way he treated her. It was obvious he just wanted her for her money.” He turned to me then laughed dryly. “Oh, he didn’t tell you? Did you think it was him who had all the money? No, she paid for them to open the casino, that was the only reason they got together in the first place. I told her again and again that was why he was in the relationship with her, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“You must really love her.”
“Of course, I do. I pretty much raised her.”
“Look,” I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but I gotta ask—is this really what she would want you to do? I mean, what if you get caught? You’re going to go to jail.”
“I’ve already been to jail. That doesn’t scare me anymore.”
My mind raced as I thought about the news article I’d found online. Dean had been beaten; the article had said that they had a strong lead on a suspect.
I bit my tongue not saying anything. If I overstepped my bounds, he would realize I wasn’t here to help him.
*
My heart raced as I headed out of my office and caught sight of the men in police uniforms.
I rushed over to them. “Hello.”
“Sir, we need to speak to the manager.”
“I own this place.” I stared at the one in front of me. He was a foot taller than me, so I had to look up to lock eyes on him.
“We got a call from woman; she said she was worried about her boyfriend’s safety.” My heart skipped a couple beats. An hour ago, I would have been mad at her for doing it but now … now it was the only thing that could maybe get us both out of this.
“She was calling about me.”
“Excuse me.”
I took a deep breath. “There is a man name Keith Bright here. He is here to hurt me and now … and now he has Becca.” I realized the cop probably had no clue who I was talking about. “The girl who called you, and I just got a text saying that she was out back and that I should go meet her.”
“Sir, stay here. We will deal with this.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but they’d already started walking away, out the front door.
Fuck that. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait while Becca was in danger. I bolted for the side door.
“Dean!” Melina called after me, but I didn’t pay any attention to her. I knew that if I didn’t get out there first, Becca was going to be in danger.
Before I realized it, I was out the door. The cool air touched my skin, but it didn’t matter. I felt sweat touch the small of my back. God, please make sure she’s okay.
I wasn’t normally the praying type, but I would give (or try) anything to make sure she was okay. She didn’t deserve to be hurt because of me. This was my fault. Keith, Jessica’s death—it was my fault. I deserved whatever he wanted to do to me, but Becca didn’t deserve to have this happen to her.
He saw me as soon as I rounded the corner. Grabbing Becca, he held a gun to her head.
“If you care about this one, don’t come any closer.”
*
My heart rate picked up again as he grabbed me and pulled me close to him. I gasped. The cool metal of a gun touched my temple. I tried to scream, but his hand went to my mouth. Instead, I choked on my scream, and it turned into a sob.
“If you care about this one, don’t come any closer,” he hissed.
Dean held his arms up in the air. “Just let her go. She doesn’t have anything to do with this. I’ll trade places with her … please, just—”
“Shut up!” Keith shouted.
Dean didn’t say a word.
Damnit. He shouldn’t have come. He should have just waited. But he gave me a soft smile as he stepped forward; his eyes locked on mine.
“Becca, listen to me. It’s going to be okay.” He turned his attention to Keith. “Are you here to finish the job?”
“Yes.” Keith turned the gun from me to Dean. I tried to scream, but he still had my mouth covered. “I’m going to kill you for what you did to my sister.”
I struggled against his hold, but he kept a
firm arm around me so I couldn’t move. I heard the safety on the gun click. My scream, although muffled by his hand came out louder. My heart raced; I had to do something. I had to save him. I had no clue how I was going to do that, but there wasn’t another option.
“Police!” A man shouted behind me. “Drop your gun, and let the girl go!”
Keith didn’t move. He stood there frozen. The barrel of the gun quivered against my temple. I whimpered. My heart raced.
Was this it?
Was I about to get killed because I’d had sex with a guy a couple times? I bit my lip, but tears ran down my cheek. I mean really, what was the point in trying not to cry while I was about to die?
“Drop your gun.”
The man said it again.
“Keith.” Dean stepped towards us.
No! He couldn’t. If he put himself in danger because of me. No. I was the one in danger because of him. Could I really blame him for this?
*
I stepped towards Keith. If he was going to kill someone, it was going to be me. “Keith, you don’t want to kill her.”
“I’m not the killer! You are.”
“No one move!” one of the police officers shouted.
“I’m not the killer!” Keith repeated. “He killed my sister.”
The gun moved towards me. Good. That was what I wanted, after all. If I could get the gun on me then—
Bang.
My heart skipped a beat.
Chapter Seven
But it kept beating.
“Holy shit,” I whispered. My heart was still beating. It was racing, but it was still beating.
Keith dropped to the ground, blood pooling around him
Rebecca gasped, stumbling over her feet as she closed the distance between us.
I caught her in my arms as sobs escaped her.
*
I know it was lame; I know I should have quit crying. I mean I was alive, that had to count for something. Dean’s arms wrapped around me.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “It’s okay.” His arms held me tightly, and his warmth comforted me a little, but not much. My body shook vigorously. I took a shaky breath, trying to calm myself, but it didn’t seem to do any good.
I took a deep breath pulling away from him.
“H-I thought he was going to kill me.”
“I wouldn’t let that happen,” he said, pulled me back into his arms.
“Ma’am ...” I turned to see who had spoken to me.
A young police officer was standing there, and I gave him a soft smile. “H-hi.”
“Ma’am, are you alright? Do you need anything?”
“I … no … no, thank you … I ...” I wanted to say I was okay, but I couldn’t bring myself to, so I just smiled a little.
Dean cleared his throat. “I um, we’ll need to give statements, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’d like to go sit down if that’s okay?”
“Of course.”
Dean led me away from everything going on. My body still shook, and as I walked, my legs wobbled and for a flash of a second I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to continue.
Dean held me close to him.
“You need to explain everything to me.” I meant for my voice to come out strong and like maybe I wasn’t half as fucked as I was going to be. I bit my lip as we made our way through the back door of the casino and towards the office.
“Oh, my God.” Melina came running to us. She took my free arm and pulled me close to her. “What happened? Everyone is talking about it. Everyone says there was a big shootout out back. Is everything okay? Is Keith …?”
“No. He’s alive.”
My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. He wasn’t dead?
“But … I heard gunshots?”
“They shot him in the leg. I think he passed out, but I have no clue how he’d actually be dead.”
We made our way into the office, and Dean guided me down to a chair.
Melina held something out to me. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No.” My voice was weak. “I … he …” Had he actually seemed nice? He didn’t seem evil. I guess. “I’m fine.”
Dean stood, whispered something to Melina and then left the room. Melina nodded and crouched down beside me. “What can I do?”
I shook my head, mostly because I didn’t know what else I was supposed to say. What could she say to me? There wasn’t anything anyone could do, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t seem to stop shaking.
*
“Alright, anything else?”
“No, thank you.” After everything, and all the history between Keith and I, the cops were kind enough to let Rebecca go without giving a statement. I promised them that if she was up for it, we’d stop by the police station and give a statement later on. Making my way back to the office, I opened the door quietly. Melina glanced at me but didn’t say a word. I cleared my throat. Rebecca turned to look at me. “Is … is everything okay?” Her eyes were red and puffy from the tears.
“Yes. Everything’s fine. I spoke to the police, and they are not in need of your statement. Why don’t you get your things, and I can take you home?” I turned my attention to Melina. “You’re fine running this place, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. And the police want to see the video tapes from today as well. I told them you would give them whatever they want.”
“What’s happening to Keith?”
“He’s going to jail, and if I testify, he won’t be getting out for a very long time.” I felt bad saying it—well part of me did. The other part was thrilled I’d never have to worry about him again. I made my way into the room and helped Becca to her feet. The second she was standing, she pulled away from me and held her head high. I chewed the inside of my cheek softly. What had Keith told her about me? Would he have lied? Did he tell her that I kissed Jess? I should have told her everything before. If I’d told her, I wouldn’t need to worry about what some psycho told her. Now I had to worry about whether or not she’d believe me when I told her the truth. I reached out to touch her arm, but she pulled away.
“I can go home right?”
“Yea, let me take you … please?”
She gave me a soft nod. “Alright.”
Together, she and I made our way out the back door and into an alleyway. We didn’t go towards the cop cars or the news reporters. Instead, we went around the front to my car in total silence.
*
“At least this will be good for business.” I laughed dryly. I felt stupid the second it came out, but I took a deep breath and pretended I hadn’t actually said it as we stopped in front of his car and I opened the passenger side door.
Truth was, right now, I didn’t think I was in any state to drive, and it was probably ten times better that I wasn’t behind a wheel. As Dean slid into the seat beside me, I looked at him. “Don’t I have to give a statement?”
“No … after everything … they didn’t feel you needed to give a statement. They said if you’re feeling up to it we can stop by the police station, and you can give one later, but with his past … they said …” He trailed off.
“He said you killed his sister.”
It came out a lot louder than I thought it would. I thought it was going to barely be a whisper, but when I spoke, my voice almost sounded normal. “Why would he say that?”
He owed me the truth. Not some articles I’d read online or some old pictures of her. I needed to hear about what happened from him, and if he couldn’t give me that, then there was no point in even staying in this car with him right now.
Dean swallowed dryly, gunning the engine.
“You asked if this had to do with Jess, you were right to ask. I don’t know how you know about her, and I don’t want to know, but yes, this was about her.”
We pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards my place.
“Does that mean you’re going to tell me w
hat happened?”
“Yes.” I took a deep breath waiting. “Jessica and I met when I was much younger. Twenty to be exact. We were friends for a couple years, but after a night we went out with some friends; well, things happened, and when we woke up next to each other, we realized that what we thought would be a mistake was actually a blessing. We were together for three years before we decided to go into business together. It wasn’t the only thing we were planning to do together … we were planning our life together, and then one night …” He laughed bitterly. “I got jealous. I asked her if she was fucking some guy who was working at the casino. He had such a big crush on her, and she insisted they were only friends. I honestly don’t know if that is true or not, but I told her she was a liar, and she walked out on me. She told me that if I wasn’t going to be respectful, she wasn’t going to stick around. It was after midnight and she … I don’t know what she did. She must have gone for a walk. I know she always liked to walk to clear her head.”
“And that’s when she died.” I didn’t need him to say that part.
“Yes.”
I nodded, watching Dean. His eyes watered over as he turned onto my street.
“Of course, the cops thought it was me at first.” He laughed humorlessly again. “They ruled me out quickly, though … I’m not sure why. They wouldn’t tell me. They just asked for a DNA sample, which I gladly gave up, and then they told me that I’d been ruled out. But it was months before they ruled me out, and Keith got it in his head that I had killed his sister.” Dean swallowed dryly, slowing to a stop in front of my house. “He wouldn’t give it up, even after the cops told him it wasn’t me and that they were looking at other people in the case.”
“Did they ever find who did it?”
“Not that I know of.” Dean shrugged. “When the cops wouldn’t arrest me, Keith took it upon himself to make sure I paid for Jessica’s death, and I deserved the beating I got. It put me in the hospital for a few weeks, but I deserved it. If I hadn’t been jealous … if I’d gone after her. But I was too stupid. I thought she only needed time to calm down …”
“You couldn’t have known.” I reached out and touched his arm. He looked at me, a single tear running down his cheek.
Naughty and Nice Page 39
