Monster

by Holly C. Webb

  When we reached the bar, we were greeted by some of the regular customers, some of whom were friends of Travis. We ordered two beers and some bar food before we climbed into one of the booths near Travis’s friends.

  “We can sit with them if you’d like, Trav,” I offered, smiling at my brother.

  “It’s okay,” he shrugged, smiling back at me. “God knows when we can do this again, so I am making the most of a night out with my big brother. Who knows, I might even teach you a thing or two about the ladies.”

  He gave me a broad grin and nodded towards a group of girls that were sitting by the bar, giggling and chatting to each other. As I glanced up at them, one of the girls looked my way, giving me the biggest smile before she blushed and turned away.

  “I think someone likes you,” Travis said with a smirk as the waitress returned with our beers. Travis smiled up at her as he took one of the bottles from her. “Thanks, Abby. Keep them coming.”

  “No problem, Trav,” she replied, giving him a killer smile. “Your food won’t be too long.”

  She smiled again before she turned and walked away, Travis watching her closely as she disappeared into the crowd.

  “Why don’t you ask her out already?” I asked, knowing that Travis was mad about this girl. He had been for at least the last twelve months.

  “She wouldn’t be interested in someone like me,” he replied, giving me a sad smile.

  It always surprised me that even with all his cocky bravado, Travis still had an insecure side to him. I had no idea where it had come from, but I sure as hell didn’t like to see it. Despite all his cheeky behaviour, Trav was a good guy, and any girl would have been lucky to have him.

  “I think you might be surprised,” I said, reaching for my bottle of beer too. “I think she likes you probably as much as you like her. She’s just as dumb as you are for not taking the leap.”

  “I don’t like her,” he quickly replied, shaking his head, his face flushed with embarrassment. “Not like that anyway.”

  “Sure,” I replied, knowing he was now talking out of his ass. “If you say so.”

  He didn’t reply. Instead, he just took a swig of beer and glanced up at the game on the screen.

  “I was thinking,” I said after we’d sat there for a few moments in silence, watching the game. “I have a spare room in my apartment. Why don’t you move in with me?”

  “Are you being serious?” He asked, giving me a surprised look. “Why would you want me to do that?”

  “Well, that hole you call your apartment should be condemned.” I began, genuinely hoping he would take me up on my offer. “If you move in with me, you could save the money you’re wasting on that dump for a down payment for somewhere a little more fitting for a first-year resident. Besides, my place is closer to the hospital than yours is. Also, it would be nice to know someone was looking after my place when I was away on the job.”

  “Won’t I be cramping your style?” He asked, and I knew that he really wanted to say yes, but he was worried I didn’t really want him to move in with me.

  “What style?” I laughed at his question. “Look, you know it makes sense. I would have asked you sooner, but with work, and the fact that I was still living out of boxes, it didn’t seem like an offer worth making. But now that it’s looking a little more like a home, I think it makes sense, Trav.”

  “Well,” he said, giving me a grateful smile. “If you’re sure.”

  “Sure, I’m sure,” I replied, holding my bottle out to his. “Here’s to us living together again. May the gods see to it that we don’t end up killing each other.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Travis said, touching his bottle against mine. “Now, let’s get wasted, then maybe get you laid.”

  Before I could respond, Travis was on his feet, heading towards the group of girls sitting near the bar. When he reached them, he leaned into them, and moments later, they were all giggling. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I watched him in action. How could he seem so at ease talking to a bunch of strange girls but be too nervous to ask out the one girl he really likes.

  One thing was for sure. My brother was a complete mystery to me sometimes.

  When he returned to the booth a few minutes later, he brought the group of girls with him.

  “This is my brother, Jaxson,” Travis announced as he waited for the ladies to slide into the booth before he climbed in after them. “Did you know, my brother won the Medal of Honour? You’re sitting here with a real, live superhero.”

  I sighed and gave Travis a warning look. He knew how much I hated him talking about my time in the marines or, more to the point, what happened on my third tour. Sure, I was proud of what I did, and I am honoured to have received the medal, but I didn’t like to talk about it. I certainly didn’t like to use it as a pick-up line. That medal meant so much more than that and should be respected accordingly.

  “That’s pretty awesome,” the girl who had been smiling at me earlier said, giving me another one of her beautiful smiles. “You must be pretty brave.”

  “Thank you, Ma’am,” I replied, giving her a grateful nod. “But I really don’t like to talk about it.”

  “That’s okay,” she said, smiling once more. “We can talk about anything you want to talk about. I’m Zoey, by the way.”

  “Jaxson,” I replied, offering her my hand while cringing at the same time as I recalled Travis had already told her my name. “Though most people call me Jax.”

  “It’s lovely to meet you, Jax,” she purred as she leaned in closer to me. The smell of her perfume caught in the back of my nose, and I instantly wondered if she would taste as good as she smelled. Something told me I would find out for myself before this night was over.

  The pain across my chest was unlike anything I’d ever felt before.

  What the hell happened? I thought to myself as a feeling of panic rushed through my entire body. I need to get out of here.

  Suddenly the sound of screaming came from outside the Humvee, and I knew I needed to get out of this mess and help my squad. These men were like my brothers, and if it were Travis outside, I would move a mountain for him, so I needed to do the same for them now.

  I tried desperately to move, but I was pinned.

  “Gunny!” One of the men cried from outside. “I can’t move my legs.”

  “DOBBS, IS THAT YOU?” I shouted back, still struggling to free myself from beneath the seat I was pinned under. I was sure it was his voice, but I really couldn’t tell with all the noise.

  “Yes, Gunny!” He groaned before he let out the most horrendous cry. “I CAN’T MOVE MY LEGS!”

  “I’M COMING, DOBBS!” I cried out too. “I’M COMING.

  “GUNNY, PLEASE!” He begged. “I want my mom. PLEASE! I WANT MY MOM!”

  “I’M COMING!” I repeated, and I pushed again with everything I had left inside me.

  But it was no use, all he did was scream with pain, and no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn’t move.

  “ARRGHHHHH!!” I cried out in frustration as everything else went quiet. I could hear something moving outside, then a sound from above me in the truck. I held my breath as I looked up and spotted a man dressed in black with his head and his face covered leaning over me. All I could see was his eyes. I met his stare, and all I saw was evil looking back at me. Then he raised his gun.

  “NOOOOO!” I screamed.

  “Jax,” a voice I didn’t know crashed into my head. “JAX!”

  I opened my eyes, and I was surprised to find myself in a dark room.

  “Jax, you’re hurting me!” The voice cried out in panic.

  I quickly looked down and instantly found a pair of eyes staring up at me in terror.

  “YOU’RE HURTING ME!” The voice screamed once more.

  “JAXSON!” Travis’s voice came from behind me, as the room was suddenly filled with light. I looked down again and saw the terrified face of Zoey, staring back up at me as I pinned her to the bed, my forearm
against her throat.

  I instantly released her, almost jumping from the bed as I did.

  “Oh, my God!” I exclaimed as I realised what I had done. “I’m so sorry.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” She snapped back as she too scurried from my bed. “You’re fucking crazy, do you know that!”

  I watched her as she rubbed her throat, and I knew there was nothing I could say to her to even begin to explain what had just happened. I couldn’t explain it because I couldn’t understand it myself.

  “Jaxson,” Travis said, still standing behind me. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I replied without even looking at him. I couldn’t. I was too embarrassed about what had just happened. “I just need, I need a minute. Can you take care of Zoey, please, Trav?”

  “Sure,” he replied, but I didn’t wait for him to say another word. Instead, I just turned and hurried to the bathroom just off my bedroom and locked myself inside.

  The moment I was in the safety of the bathroom, I hurried to the corner, where I slid down the cold tiles until I reached the floor. Then, I pulled my knees up to my chest as I tried to calm my still racing heart.

  “It was just a dream,” I chanted to myself over and over in a low whisper, trying hard to process what has just happened. “It was just a dream. You got out of there. You saved everyone that you could.”

  Suddenly tears welled up in my eyes as my chest ached with sadness as I began to rock back and forth as Dobbs’ face crashed into my memory. His sweet smile and the look of wonder he still had in his face as we left base that morning.

  He was still just a kid. He had only just turned nineteen years old. He’d told me it was all he’d ever dreamt of becoming a Marine. He was the only one I couldn’t save.

  I buried my face in my hands and sobbed, letting go of all the guilt and sadness that was almost consuming me.

  I don’t know how long I was on the floor in the bathroom, but finally, there was a soft tap on the door.

  “Jax, it’s me,” Travis said from the far side of the door. “I’ve put Zoey and her friend into a cab and given them the money to pay for it. Jax, she’s okay. She was just a little shaken up, but she is going to be fine. She said she isn’t going to call the cops or anything.”

  I stared at the door, but I didn’t respond as I recalled the look of terror in the girl’s face when I looked down at her, pinned beneath me on the bed.

  I don’t know where this dream had come from. It had been so long since I last had it. It was always the same one. Always the same ending, which made no sense as that wasn’t really how things happened back on that day at the side of the road.

  Well, the part about the guy with the gun, I guess everything else was pretty accurate.

  “Jax,” Travis said once more, and I knew he had his head pressed against the door, trying to figure out what I was doing in here. “Can you open the door so I can see that you’re okay too.”

  “I’m okay,” I croaked, knowing I needed to say something to him, or he would never leave me in peace. “I just need a minute.”

  “Jax, you’ve been in there for almost an hour,” Travis replied, surprising me with his response. Had it really been almost an hour? “I need to know that you’re okay, so open the door and let me in, or just come out.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, but I didn’t speak. I knew there was no point in telling him I was okay again. He wasn’t going to go away until he’d seen me.

  He’d given me an hour; now, he wasn’t going to go away again.

  I pushed up from the cold floor and slowly made my way to the door. I hesitated for a moment before reaching for the handle and turned the key in the lock.

  “Hey!” Travis exclaimed with a bright smile as I slowly opened the door. “Are you okay?”

  “Define okay,” I sighed as I stepped out of the bathroom, then walked across the room and sat down on my bed. “If you mean other than the fact that I just tried to choke the girl I brought home from the bar and had sex with, then yeah, I guess I’m okay.”

  “You know it wasn’t your fault, right?” Travis said, sitting down next to me on the bed.

  “I don’t think Zoey quite sees it like that,” I sighed once more, giving my brother a grateful smile. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up with PTSD, too, all thanks to me.”

  “She was okay,” Travis assured me once more. “But maybe you need to go talk to someone again.”

  “And tell them what?” I asked, giving him a questioning look. “That I can’t be trusted to even hook up with some random stranger without trying to kill them? Face it; I am not meant to be with anyone. This just proves it. So, I don’t need to talk to anyone; I just need to realise that it’s safer for everyone if I just stop trying to find some kind of happy ever after.”

  “But you almost had that with Christina,” Travis argued, once more refusing to accept I was supposed to live my life alone. “Why can’t you have it again.”

  “Because no matter how much a girl loves me,” I argued. “Sooner or later, she will get sick of my crap too. Just like Christina did. This is how my life is, Trav, and I’m okay with that. Now, maybe we should both get some sleep. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me tomorrow…”

  “And what happens if you lose it like that in this chicks house?” Travis asked, cutting me off mid-sentence.

  “I have never lost it while I am working a job,” I assured him. “That’s why I work as I do. The busier I am, the more I have to worry about other people’s crap, the less I worry about my own, and there are no bad dreams.”

  “No bad dreams or no sleeping,” Travis asked, giving me a look that said he knew exactly how things would be.

  “Either way,” I shrugged. “When I'm on the job, I never let my personal crap get in the way. Now let me get some rest. I promise I will be okay. I will look in on you before I leave in the morning.”

  “Okay,” Travis replied as he reluctantly climbed from the bed. “You know where I am if you need me.”

  “Thanks, Trav,” I said, giving him a grateful smile.

  “Any time, Jax,” he replied, smiling back at me before he disappeared out through the door.

  Once I was alone, I flopped back down on the pillow, praying that whatever this was, was something that was going to stop soon.

  I closed my eyes once more, this time falling into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 6

  Ally

  “Do you really think we need this man living here in the house?” I asked Jacob as I sat on the side of the bathtub and watched him as he shaved. The guy he’d hired to protect me was due to arrive that morning and to say I was dreading it was an understatement.

  If I was honest, he seemed like a perfectly nice man when he came by the house the day before, but the thought of some stranger living in our home didn’t fill me with joy. I knew it was for my own safety, but the fact he would become my shadow unsettled me completely. He would come with me no matter where I went; I wouldn’t be able to breathe without him knowing about it. Plus, the thoughts of yet another pair of eyes watching my every move and reporting back to Jacob was just beyond frustrating.

  “He is here to make sure nothing happens to you,” Jacob replied without making eye contact with me, his tone almost impatient. I hated it when he talked to me with this tone of voice. “You won’t even notice he’s here.”

  “Except for when I have to go out?” I sighed, knowing that pissing him off right now was not the best idea in the world, but still, I couldn’t bite my tongue. Sometimes I really was my own worst enemy. “I think I will notice a strange man sitting in my car, or following me around a store or the library or…”

  “And what would you prefer, Alexandra?” He asked bluntly, setting his razor down and turning to look at me. Once more, his impatient tone of voice made me cringe. “For some stranger to abduct you; lock you away somewhere, or worse still, kill you?”

  “No one is going to kill me,” I sighed, but dee
p down inside, I knew he was right. “I just… I hate this whole nightmare.”

  “I know you do, Darling,” Jacob sighed, his tone now a little softer as he walked towards me, pulling me up from the bath and into his embrace. “And I promise, we are going to find out who this asshole is, and we are going to make sure he is locked up and never let out again.”

  “Then, things can return to normal, right?” I asked, giving him a hopeful look, but something told me deep down inside that I was wrong. This Jaxson Stone was just the beginning. I would never be free again.

  “Well, by then I will be on the campaign trail,” he shrugged as he smiled down at me. “I think things will change once I run for the Senate, but it will all be for the best. Big things are coming our way. Everything is going to be okay. I promise you, Ally.”

  I smiled at him, but I didn’t reply. I knew anything I said at that exact moment would have given away exactly how I was feeling.

  “Look,” Jacob said, clearly sensing I still wasn’t really happy about everything. “This guy is the best. So, you have nothing to worry about.”

  “Okay,” I nodded and forced a smile on my face, as Jacob kissed my forehead.

  “Now, I need to get ready,” Jacob said, looking down into my eyes. “Harry and I have a meeting with Mike Farrell, so I need to get moving.”

  He turned and walked back to the sink, where he began shaving once more.

  “Mike Farrell?” I asked, having no clue who he was talking about.

  “He’s the guy that we hired to run my campaign,” Jacob sighed, impatiently, clearly annoyed I’d forgotten something as important to him as that. “I told you about him before.”

  “I thought you said his name was Martin something,” I said as I sat back down on the edge of the tub, sure that I had heard that name somewhere before. I just couldn’t remember where.

  Jacob stopped dead for a moment, looking almost thrown by what I had said, but he quickly pulled it back and continued on with what he was doing.