by J. E. Taylor
Jessica stared at the oddly shaped metal and nodded, returning her gaze to his. “I should be going.”
He glanced over at the television. “Do you want me to edit the part of Frank out?”
“You can do that?”
He raised an eyebrow and she chuckled.
“Yeah, all right, that was a stupid question. I know, I’ve seen what you can do.”
“I’ll bring it over in the morning after I get the things we need.”
She hesitated. “I’m not sure I want to be alone tonight.”
“You can’t stay here.” Chris put his hands out at the reaction on her face. “Not because I don’t want you to Jess. There are mirrors in the bedrooms here.”
“If we die tomorrow...” she trailed off, her eyes wide and sincere. “I want a chance to say goodbye.”
“Consider today just that,” he said and approached her. “I don’t really know if we’ll both make it through this.” He touched her face. “But today, today was worth dying for.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning, Jessie,” he whispered and took her by the arm, escorting her out to her car.
Chapter 77
Chris walked back in the house after watching her leave and took a deep breath. He wanted to go with her and hold her all night in his arms but he knew that would be nailing the lid on his coffin. He needed a little distance to prepare himself for what the morning would bring.
The discarded wedding rings caught his eye and he picked them up, putting them on the coffee table and then went to work editing the show like he promised. It took less than an hour for him to string the video together without the commercials or Frank and he put the new disc in a case and set it down next to the wedding rings.
Instead of going to bed, he went to switch on the television and froze. Frank’s faded image stared back from the reflection of the television.
“You think you can win?” He laughed. “I’m going to make sure you see her die before you do,” Frank growled and then was gone.
Chris shivered and almost gave in to his need to run to her, but he knew that would just prolong the saga with Frank. If he went to her now, he wasn’t sure he would be able to do what he needed to kill Frank. He had to prepare himself and be completely ready for this, otherwise he might be apt to back out because it no longer was just two lives at stake, there was that third miracle.
Chris got up without switching the television on and took his shirt off. He moved the table aside and began to do karate forms to center his energy and focus. After a couple of hours, he stretched and headed to bed, feeling revived and focused and ready to take on the world.
Chapter 78
Jessica drove home, disappointed that he hadn’t come with her. She really didn’t want to be alone and she was still angry with Tom.
In the garage, she flipped her phone open and hit the redial button, waiting for him to answer.
“What?” he snapped.
“What if I told you I had gone to the doctor?” She needed to know if there was any glimmer of hope.
Silence and then the shuffle of a chair answered her.
* * * *
Tom got up from the table that he was sitting at with Sharon and walked to the other side of the room and leaned against the wall with the phone to his ear. “Did you?”
“Does it really matter to you?” Jessica started to cry.
Tom closed his eyes three thousand miles away and put his forehead against the wall. “You slept with him,” he whispered, the pain in his voice coming through the phone line.
“Do you still love me?” Her voice shook.
Tom was quiet again. “I’ll always love you.” He took a deep breath. “I just can’t be with you after what you did, not right now.”
“You should have told me about Emily right away, Tom.”
“I know.” He glanced over his shoulder at Sharon; she stared back impatiently tapping the pen on the table. “Did you go to the doctor?”
“No,” Jessica replied. “You told me not to bother.” She stifled a sob.
“Then where were you all day?”
“Out,” Jessica whispered. “I took a drive.”
“Were you alone?”
A sigh followed by silence came through the phone line.
“Are you alone now?”
“Yes.”
“Did you…” He stopped himself from asking the question.
“No. No I didn’t.” She paused. “Did you sleep with her again?”
It was Tom’s turn to get quiet. He had gotten fall-down drunk last night and she had been there with him. “I was drunk,” he answered.
Jessica knew that Tom didn’t drink very much when he was filming, so the magnitude of his actions shocked her. “You slept with her?” she repeated, knowing the hurt she felt was unjustified in comparison to what she had done to him.
“Yes.”
“Oh,” she said softly, not knowing what else to say.
“You screwed up first,” he said, trying to ease his own guilt.
“It’s really over. Isn’t it?”
Tom stood with his head hung as the tears blurred his vision. He blinked them back. “I don’t know, Jess, I just don’t know.” Silence followed. “I have to go.” He didn’t say good bye, he just slowly folded up the phone.
* * * *
Jessica closed her phone and placed it on the table in front of her. She looked at her ring-less hand and the tears flowed. There was still hope with Tom, which made the choice so much more difficult.
* * * *
Tom hung up the phone and leaned his forehead against the wall for a moment. He missed her, even though he was still bitter and angry over what she had done, he missed the way she felt in his arms. He had been so sure in the hotel that it was over and yesterday when Chris had waltzed into the auditions as well, but drunken sex and three thousand miles put distance and doubt in him.
Tom loved her and wondered if he let her back in his life, would he ever be able to forgive and forget? Looking over at the table where Sharon sat poring over the script, he wondered if Jessica would be able to do the same. Slowly he walked back and sat down.
Sharon looked over at him and commented, “She really has you wrapped around her little finger, doesn’t she?”
“Leave it alone.”
“Why? You’re with me now.”
He laughed. “Just because I fucked you, doesn’t mean I’m with you.”
“It does if you don’t want her to get hurt. Besides,” she smiled sweetly, “I’ve got some really wild pictures from last night. How would you like to see these go to print?” She shuffled through some of the more lewd pictures for him to see.
He looked at her with disgust. “I’m not doing this.” He stood to go.
“You told me some pretty interesting things last night.”
“Like what?” He didn’t remember what happened, he just knew he woke with her naked in bed and there was definitely evidence of screwing around.
“Oh, let’s see, like Jessica slept with Christopher Aris and he pretended not to know you in the audition room, you ranted about that for quite a while. And then you said something that could land you in the nut house. You told me that there was a ghost after you.” She shook her head. “So if you don’t want her to get hurt and all the things I have on you published for the world to see, you are with me.” She smiled and batted her eyes.
Her subtlety was lost on him as the anger raged inside and he sat down.
“I’ve got an appointment with a lawyer for you tomorrow. You are going to divorce that bitch and marry me.”
His jaw dropped. “You’re out of your mind.”
“No, I just know what I want. Now let’s get back to work.” She looked at her watch. “We have dinner reservations in an hour.”
“You would want to be with someone who hates you? That is so fucking pathetic.”
“You want to be with that lying, cheating bitch, knowing she would rather be with so
meone else?” She smiled back. “That is pathetic.”
“She never said she would rather be with him,” Tom said and stood up. “We are done here, and I’m not hungry.” He started to leave the room.
“My car is still at your house; I’m coming home with you.”
“You are not coming in.”
“Yes I am, and you are going to show me the time of my life.” She walked over to him and ran her hand down his arm. “You don’t seem to understand what I am saying to you. I will go after her, and I don’t mean as a reporter, I’ve got a reason to pay her back personally now.” She laughed lightly. “I will have her killed. All I have to do is make one little phone call and it will look like you did it because of the affair. Got it?” She smiled and tilted her head. “Although it would be fun to kill the bitch myself.”
He turned on her. “God help you if you go after Jessica.” His fists clenched in rage.
“Oh, but I will leave her alone if you keep me busy.”
He grabbed her by the throat, calling her bluff as the fury got the better of him.
Sharon pulled out her cell phone. “All I need to do is press send and she is dead.” She held up the phone so he could see the text message. It was a confirmation for a hit on his wife. “And if I happen to have an accident, or God forbid, die, that is also confirmation.” She whispered hoarsely as he continued to squeeze.
Tom glanced in her eyes and slowly let go. What he saw reminded him of Frank and he shivered. Tom thought about Jessica’s powers, afraid it still wasn’t enough to stop the crazy bitch standing in front of him.
He closed his eyes and nodded, saying, “I swear, if you ever hurt her, I will kill you.” He opened his eyes and glared at her, resigned to sacrificing his marriage to keep Jessica safe.
She smiled. “As long as you do what I want, she will be safe.” She gathered up her papers and headed out the door with him.
She chattered endlessly in the seat beside him on the ride to Malibu, silently driving him out of his mind. For the first time since he met Jessica in that hellhole, Tom prayed she would choose Ty instead of him and he wouldn’t have to break her heart.
His heart, on the other hand, had already turned to stone.
Chapter 79
Chris woke up early, deciding a run was in order; he threw on his shorts and a sleeveless shirt, heading off to the stretch of beach in York. He parked his car and put the baseball cap on backwards over his sleep-tousled hair, stretching as he looked over the ocean, shivering a little from the cool breeze that billowed off the water. Trotting down the steps he thought he recognized her heading in his direction and smiled, jogging toward her.
Jessica smiled. The backwards hat did it for her; he was decidedly the sexiest man she ever set her eyes on, even with the bright blue cast on his arm. She wasn’t the only one who reacted that way either, every woman on the beach had their eyes glued on Chris.
Chris turned and joined her instead of passing by. They approached the end of the beach where she normally went up the steps to her home.
“My car is back that way.” He pointed over his shoulder as she headed in the general direction of her normal route.
“My house is this way.” She looked sideways at him. He had a healthy sheen of sweat on his bare arms and face and she couldn’t help but smile.
“I can drive you,” he said and swung her around heading in the general direction of his car. He smiled down at her as she kept pace. “A little longer won’t kill you.”
“But Frank might,” she replied trying to find humor in the day ahead.
The smile in his eyes dimmed. “Yeah, I know.” He slowed down. “Jess, are you really ready for this?”
She stopped in the sand a couple paces ahead of him and turned. “No, but I’m going to do it anyway, so don’t back out on me now.”
He looked out over the water and up at the blue sky. “Well, if we’re going to die, we picked a beautiful day to do it.” He smiled back at her.
She looked at him strangely, narrowing her eyes. “I talked to Eric last night and he told me to ask you about a miracle.”
He blinked and looked away. “I’ll tell you about it sometime when we can look back on this day and laugh.”
“Reverse?” She looked quizzically at him. “What did you reverse?”
“Nothing,” he lied and she knew it.
She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. “You’re lying.”
“Yes, I am.” He started walking toward his car.
“Why?” she asked as she caught up to him.
He glanced over at her. “Because now is not the time to discuss this. Ask me after today.” Providing we make it through. He maintained eye contact with her.
She sighed. “I’ll ask again tomorrow.”
She went to get into the car and picked up the clothes on the seat, raising an eyebrow.
“I figured I could clean up at your place.” He took the clothes from her and put them over the emergency brake shifting uncomfortably in the driver’s seat.
She smiled at him. “I love it when you get all shy like this.” She laughed. “It’s so unlike you.”
Chris blushed. “It’s the effect you have on me,” he said as he reached into the glove compartment. He handed her the disc along with the wedding rings he taped to the case so they wouldn’t get lost and put the car in gear, driving the short distance to her house.
Jessica showed him to the guest bathroom, gave him a couple of towels, and headed off to the master bathroom to clean up.
She took a long shower, letting the water revive and relax her at the same time. Jessica jumped when she opened the shower door to get a towel. Chris casually leaned against the doorjamb with his arms folded just smiling in her directions.
His black dress shirt hung open over the faded pair of Levi’s he wore and his hair looked as if he towel dried and shook it. His blue eyes sparkled like the afternoon sky on a clear crisp winter day. “Sorry,” he said but didn’t move. “I figured you wouldn’t mind considering.”
She wrapped the towel around her self-consciously. “Are you just going to stand there?” The way he was looking at her took her breath away. His choice of attire was not lost on her either. It looked very much like what he had worn in the complex when he took her to dinner.
He nodded, surprising her yet again. “You still haven’t made up your mind.”
“I talked to my kids last night.” she said and squeezed the water out of her hair, hand combing it away from her face.
“I gathered from the question Eric told you to ask me.” He could only imagine what they said and wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Eric still thinks we are meant to be.”
“And Emily?”
“Emily doesn’t really understand, but she will back me with any decision I make.”
“So she’s in Tom’s court.”
“Not necessarily, she just thinks that all you have done is hurt me versus the fact she has seen me happy with Tom in the past.”
Chris nodded. “She is right; all I have done is hurt you.” He straightened up and looked away, his arms dropping to his side.
“That isn’t even remotely true,” Jessica said, causing him to look back at her. She walked over to him and put her hands on his bare chest, looking up at him. “Not at all.”
Her touch set him on fire. “I’ve hurt you plenty.” He looked down at her and willed himself not to tear the towel off and carry her to the bed a few feet behind him.
“But you also gave me my daughter’s life, and yesterday, you made me smile and actually laugh when I really needed it.” She ran her hands slowly up and around his neck and pulled him down to meet her kiss.
He reached up as he kissed her and removed her arms from around his neck and pushed her gently away. “We don’t have time for this right now,” he said shakily as his eyes slowly took her in from head to toe. “I brought something for you to wear as well.” This time when he smiled, it didn’t reach h
is eyes and she knew exactly what he had brought. “It is in the living room and once we get the mirrors in here, you have to put that dress on and walk in here without me.”
Jessica saw the mixed emotions in his eyes. “It will be fine, Chris.”
“We don’t know that, what we do know is that we are going to get very hurt.” He blinked back the tears that threatened.
“You can’t back out on me,” she said, feeling his hesitation. “I can’t do this alone and you know that.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to back out on you and I hope to God I don’t fail.” He knew if he did, he would lose her for eternity. She was going to heaven and he, he was hell bound. “Now get dressed.” He backed away from her and walked out of the bedroom. “We’ve got some mirrors to buy,” he said over his shoulder.
When she came out, he offered her a smile. “I guess you’re driving because your car is bigger than my Corvette,” he said. “That’s even scarier than what we have to do today.” He attempted to crack a joke.
It worked; Jessica chuckled and walked into the kitchen to grab her keys.
“We’re not going to somewhere like Home Depot?” he asked when she pulled into the public parking lot downtown.
“No, I figure if I’m going to die in front of a mirror, it’s going to be a classy one, not just a sheet of mirrors like I have at the dance studio. And there is a quaint little furniture store here that I love.”
“You know I’m going to blow them to smithereens, right?”
“Uh-huh. But you can afford it.”
He laughed out loud. “You are definitely a piece of work.”
“After spending a real day with me, you sure you still want to be with me?” She grinned at him.
He shook his head and his smile faded. “I’m not sure at all anymore,” he said and watched as the expression on her face changed, much like his had the day before as they were entering the restaurant. “Just kidding,” he said and walked past her, chuckling under his breath.
“Jackass,” she said and he turned in surprise.
“Such language.” He feigned being insulted.
