But he wasn’t okay—his head was bleeding from a deep gash and his eyes were fluttering backward like he was having a seizure, his body contorting. I reached out, intent on moving him to his side so he didn’t choke on his tongue or whatever.
“Nighty night, Jade.”
I would have screamed but instead there was only darkness.
“You miscalculated.”
I was sitting in my old office at my desk and across from me, where my patients usually sat, was Kassey.
“You believed Steve would play according to the rules.”
“Why is my brain torturing me?” I moaned. I wanted her gone and I wanted her there with me forever. “Am I dead? Dying?”
“No. Not yet.” Kassey smiled. “You know why I’m here.”
“Denial. Refusal to accept reality?”
“You can do better than that, Jade.”
“Because my subconscious has something to tell me.”
“Because you have a lot of baggage.” She winked. “And yes, because there’s something you’re just not seeing. You’re blind to the danger you’re in, Jade. All these men around you. Eddie. Steve. Arthur. And blind to the truth.”
“What truth?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s way too late now.” She leaned back in the chair. “Now we just sit back and watch the show.”
“So my subconscious is trying to give me a fucking clue about something but it’s talking in riddles. Sending an image of my best friend to what? Torture me more?”
“You can’t let go of me. You can’t let go of anyone. Not really. You drag us all back into your life. You keep us prisoner with your fucked up version of love. It’s always about you, Jade.”
Her words made me flinch.
“You’re the only person I have loved unconditionally. You left me behind. You would have expected me to go on living. To be a person I can’t be. You would have had expectations to make your death meaningful. And I can’t do it.” Tears streamed down my face. “I can’t do it, Kassey.”
“Yes, Jade, you can. You will. Now open your goddamn eyes and see. See!”
I came to with a groan, my stomach heaving at the dream—hallucination, whatever I’d just had. I was bound, my arms hoisting me to my tiptoes, muscles screaming against the strain. All of my bruises, injuries yet unhealed were throbbing. Tears streamed down my cheeks, uncontrollable if only because of the pain. Or at least that’s what I was telling myself.
I blinked away the blur, forced myself to concentrate, to push past the tremendous fear. Thank fuck for the painkillers.
The room was dank and dimly lit, just as I remembered when Eddie and I had ventured down. There was no way to tell if it was still daytime. The cool, damp stone was hard against my back, making me feel my bruises all the more. I scanned the room, noting the table was still in its place, the chairs, one with a lump of something… Oh god…
“Eddie?” I whispered. But he didn’t move, his head hung low, chin practically resting on his chest. His arms were tied to the chair arms, his upper body stripped bare and covered with gashes. I gasped at the blood pooled under the chair. “Eddie!”
“He’s not dead,” Steve said as he walked into the room.
I yelped, struggled with my bonds. “Let me go!”
He looked at me with a cocked eyebrow, smirked and then headed toward Eddie. With a brutal tug, he yanked Eddie’s head up and ran a vial under his nose. He came to with a sputtering, choking noise that made me think he was going to die.
“Wake up, Ed. Your girlfriend’s here.” Steve let go of Eddie’s hair and kicked the leg of the chair. “Wake up, fucker!”
Eddie moaned as he struggled to lift his head. I gasped at the sight of his face. Steve had beaten him, maybe with his fists but the damage looked more like it’d been done with a hammer or something equally as unyielding. He had a giant gash on his forehead, his left eye was swollen shut, his lip busted open, his right cheek had a golf ball sized goose egg. He struggled to find me, his head moving slowly. When he opened his mouth like he was going to speak, blood spurted out.
“Eddie! Don’t move!” I pulled on my bonds, testing the strength of whatever held me. I looked up to see my wrists secured by two plastic ties, which were attached to a bracket in the stone. “Steve, this is fucking nuts! Let me go! Eddie needs a hospital. That kid in the archive room is having a fucking seizure!”
“Nah, I think he’s dead actually,” Steve said, his tone flat, no remorse there.
I stopped my struggling and snapped a hard gaze to him. “What?”
Steve shrugged. “I hit the kid too hard. Wasn’t my fault. He came up behind me when I was dragging Mr. Big Bad Cop down here.”
“So you’re okay with being a murderer?” My heart thudded painfully. I knew that Steve could be sadistic. I knew that he was cruel. I didn’t ever think that he was truly dangerous to anyone but me. This wasn’t Steve.
My thoughts flitted to the murdered girls. A horrendous accusation rested on my tongue. Had he killed those girls? Was he capable of doing something so grotesque? I couldn’t utter it, couldn’t spit it out. Was that what Kassey had been trying to tell me?
How could this be happening? It was like I was a magnetic for this shit. First Sean Ray obliterated my life and now Steve, a man I’d been intimate with, a man that I’d had feelings, strong feelings for, was acting like a psychopath.
But was he a serial killer?
He pursed his lips. “Research. That kid was getting in the way of my results.”
I shifted my thoughts. Be smart, Jade. “Is this a game to you?” But I knew the answer to that. It was always a game.
“Come on, Jade, as if you have any right to say shit to me about playing with people’s lives.” He moved over to the side and dug through a box there. “You of all people know all about the importance of authentic experimentation.” He pulled out a crowbar and then dropped it back down before sorting once again.
“I never killed anyone!”
Steve paused and looked over at me. “You could have. You had a gun. You were willing to shoot some guy’s dick off. And don’t tell me that you stopped. I know where you were the night you got attacked.”
Rage, disbelief, bloomed in my chest. “You what?”
Steve pulled out a small spade and held it up for examination. “I had a little chat with your attacker. I found out a lot of interesting information.”
“You found my attacker? You spoke to him?”
“Snooped around in your boyfriend’s office. Found your file.” He sneered as he glared down at Eddie for a moment. “Your rapist told me the most interesting side of the story.” He shrugged. “I warned you, Jade. I told you to stop.”
“He drugged me! He took advantage. He fucking brutalized my body.” I pulled on my restraints, desperate for freedom. For Steve to put me back in a situation where I was constrained… My rage was simmering, and it was taking everything in my power to keep my shit under control.
“You had it coming.” He moved toward Eddie.
“I didn’t deserve what they did to me.” I gulped back everything I was feeling, shoved my emotions away. This was what he wanted—my reaction. He fed off of my torment; I could see that gleam in his eyes.
“You needed to learn a lesson, Jade.” He grabbed Eddie’s head again, pulling him up. “I warned you to stop, didn’t I? Sooner or later, I knew there’d be a guy who wouldn’t be scared off by your gun.”
Eddie’s one good eye was rolling, I could see more white than pupil. I couldn’t be sure he was even following what was being said.
I tried to slip my hands from my bonds, wrenching my wrists, but there was no way, not unless I managed to dislocate a few things. My back scraped against the wall, a hard bulge reminding me of my Taser. Hope flared and then died just as suddenly. How the hell was I going to get to it?
“Your cop here found out who your rapist was. Didn’t tell you.” Steve angled the spade against one of the gashes on his chest.
Eddie woke up with a groan.
“Isn’t that right, Ed? You found out who raped Jade but you didn’t do shit about it, did you?”
“Jade!” Eddie roused more, his body going taut, muscles straining against his restraints. “Let her go!”
Steve chuckled. “Hell no, motherfucker. I’m conducting an experiment.” He dug the spade into Eddie’s wound, a portion of the tip sliding beneath his skin.
Eddie roared, the chair shaking as he struggled against the pain.
“Stop, Steve! Please, stop!” With my pleas came a scowl and then Steve dug the spade in deeper.
My thoughts were frantic; I needed this to stop. Steve wanted drama, he always did. So I needed to stay cool. Keep the game going. Be smarter than him.
“You said you talked to my attacker. Did you beat the shit out of him? Did you get revenge for me?” I forced my tone to sound less like a desperate shriek. He wanted to be a hero. He wanted me to choose him.
“Damn right I did. More than this pussy cop boyfriend of yours.” Steve pulled the spade out and let go of Eddie’s head again.
Eddie slumped, unconscious maybe. At least his breathing was steady even if his chest wound was bleeding something awful.
“Salvatore Savo, a fucking privileged little cunt with a diplomat for a father. I gave him what he gave you.” Steve reached into the waist of his pants and pulled out a gun. “Got your .38 back for you. All of your ID and shit too. Fucker was keeping it as a trophy. Had the nerve to brag to me about it.” Steve chuckled. “Wasn’t bragging too much when I shoved a beer bottle up his ass though.”
“Did you kill him?” I knew he hadn’t, but Steve was expecting a logical flow to the conversation. It was a game. His move, my move, then back to him.
Steve dropped the spade to the ground. The clatter made me jump. My gun disappeared into his pants again.
“No, I should have though. I mean, if I’d known what was going to happen tonight, I would have.”
“What’s going to happen tonight?” I struggled to keep the dread out of my voice. “Steve, what are you planning on doing?”
35
“Did you know that they’re walling up the archive entrance tomorrow?” Steve said. “They already walled up the one leading outside.”
I gulped down the lump in my throat. Murder-suicide? That wasn’t something that seemed like Steve. He was too manipulative for that. Loved the game of life too much. But then again, I’d never suspected that he would be capable of kidnapping, torture, or even accidental murder either.
Open your eyes, Jade!
“What’s your point?” I struggled to keep the wobble out of my voice.
“My point?” Steve chuckled. “Whatever happens down here tonight, it will stay down here.”
“You’re speaking in riddles and it’s pissing me off. My arms hurt. Cut me down so we can talk like sane people.”
“Oh I’ll be cutting you down. Just as soon as you have all the facts and then you can make the choice.” Steve snatched his vial up and ran it under Eddie’s nose again. “Wake up, lover boy. It’s time for some truth or dare.”
“Steve!” I growled, hating the torment in Eddie’s moan as he came to once again. I knew what it felt like to become aware of pain like that.
“So, Eddie, you’ve got a skeleton in your closet. A big one,” Steve taunted as he yanked on Eddie’s hair again, pulling his head up for him. “You wanna tell Jade about your dirty little secret, Detective?”
Asking Steve questions, demanding to know what this was all about—that would get me nowhere.
Eddie’s eyes widened as much as was possible. From where I was, it seemed like he was lucid, comprehending what was happening.
Steve leaned in close, his lips almost at Eddie’s ear. “You wanna tell Jade about that little rape incident of yours?”
I sucked in a breath and then cursed myself for the reaction. Just what Steve wanted.
“That’s right, Jade, sweetie. This upstanding member of the police force has a nasty secret.”
“Don’t…” Eddie slurred his words, forcing himself to choke as he did.
“Don’t tell her? Ha! I’d have a fucking video for you to watch, sweetie, but this prick broke my phone. He confessed it all to me. I was going to show you the video in the comfort of your place but, well, Eddie here got a little aggressive. And so I needed a live viewing. That’s why you’re here. To hear his confession first hand.”
I looked from Steve to Eddie. There was something to this. I could feel it. Eddie had told me that he’d had some trouble at his last job, before he’d become a Detective. He’d told me that the charges had been dropped, that it was all a misunderstanding. He’d used a lot of words I’d heard clients use about rape.
“You raped someone?” I whispered.
Steve snorted. “Not just someone, Jade. He raped a minor. A girl barely seventeen.”
“I d-d-d-didn’t know!” Eddie said, his eyes wide. “She said—”
“Shut up, Ed, I’m telling the story.” Steve kicked Eddie’s leg, almost knocking the chair over in the process.
“Your boyfriend here got a minor drunk and then raped her at a party. And when she threatened to press charges, he used his army of cop friends to keep her quiet.”
“We settled! She understood. It was her fault—”
“What,” I hissed, “did you just say?”
Her fault. She was asking for it. Had it coming. Blame the victim. Shame the victim. Keep her quiet. Sparks of fury flashed through me.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“You’ve heard this before, Jade. In fact, when I was talking to your rapist, this is the kind of shit he was saying too…about you.”
I couldn’t stop staring at Eddie, trying to grasp what I was hearing. I didn’t want to believe it. My image of him shattering as I watched him labour for breath. Did he deserve this? Was he a predator too? Could I trust my gut anymore at all? Eddie had never once dinged my radar as a threat. Steve on the other hand, he was a manipulator. What wasn’t he telling me?
Eddie frowned. “You don’t understand. I was drunk. She took—”
Steve plowed a fist into Eddie’s head, the crack making me wince. Bile rose to my mouth; I forced it back.
“Stop,” I moaned. “Please.”
“You want me to stop hurting a rapist?” Steve tsked. “Really, Jade? This is your thing, isn’t it? Retribution? Well, here you go. I’ve found a rapist for you. Got him right here. The ultimate prize with no risk to you.”
Steve moved toward me, his eyes locked with mine, blocking my view of Eddie. I lowered my head, the act of submission making me feel sick. He would have none of it though. With a hand under my chin, he forced me to look at him again.
“Jade, you were raped, brutally violated by a man like Eddie. One who made excuses. One who used his privilege to get away with it. You will never get justice. You will always be weak. A victim forever. Unless you do something about it.” He pressed his lips to mine, ran his tongue along the seam.
I didn’t want this. I didn’t want those words to tempt me. I moved my head to the side. Rejecting him even though I knew the consequences.
“So you’re full of shit then, right?” Steve blasted me, his hot breath on my face. “Just like Sean Ray said. You baited him. You encouraged him. You wanted him to rape you. It was your fault Kassey got in the way of that. An innocent caught up in your shit and she paid the ultimate price, didn’t she?”
I snapped my head back to face him, glaring. “Go fuck yourself, Steve.”
He laughed bitterly, a flash of hate there and gone. He pulled my gun from his pants. “I knew you were soft for the cop. Fucking me, fucking him, but deep down, he’s the one you want.”
“That’s not true.”
“Don’t lie to me! You said it back at your place. You said he deserved your loyalty! You’d give your heart to a fucking rapist?” Steve pointed at Eddie. “That piece of shit, that weak, pathetic excuse for a man.
He’s the one you want?”
“No. I was angry, frustrated when I said those things.” My thoughts turned frantic, words coming in a desperate rush. “I don’t want him. I just don’t want to kill him, Steve. You’ve got to understand that.”
“You were always disobeying me, Jade. You could never abide by my rules.” He waved my gun around, his finger on the trigger, making me flinch with each pass. He was ignoring anything else I said. “I told you to stop! I told you that your game was over, but did you listen? No! You went out, you taunted another man and now look at you. You’re a mess. Not fit for anyone.”
“Steve, stop.” I tried to sound hard, in control, but we both knew I was at his mercy.
“I’ve had enough of this, Jade. You know there’s no going back for me now. And there’s no way I’m letting you walk out of here with him. Fuck, I can’t even tolerate the thought of you living your life without me.” He leaned in close, pressed his lips to mine chastely before pulling away. “You know how jealous I get. If I can’t have you… Well, you know how that goes.” He raised the barrel to my chest.
I wouldn’t beg. I stared back defiantly. Kassey was silent. No words of wisdom there. What more could she say?
I registered the bang seconds after it happened. Expected impact and got nothing. Steve went flying backward. My gun clattered across the floor. My ears rang from the blast.
Arthur came in with his shotgun raised and ready to fire a second round.
“Are you okay, honey?” he asked, not taking his eyes off of Steve’s prone body.
I couldn’t speak. If I opened my mouth, I would scream.
Arthur glanced up at me expectantly. All I could manage was a nod.
He moved toward Steve cautiously. Kicked at his hand. Bent down to pick up my gun and pocketed it. Steve didn’t move. Not one part of him.
Satisfied, Arthur put his gun into the crook of his arm and moved to the table where a pair of hedge-clippers lay. He had me down within seconds. My wrists burned, my arms were on fire with tingles as the blood rushed back into them. We both moved to Eddie and untied him.
Burning Kiss Page 25
