Stand: A Bleeding Stars Stand-Alone Novel

by A. L. Jackson

  A fiery burn flamed down his throat, his stomach a pool of fire and venom.

  He attempted to focus through bleary eyes, his head spinning against the weight of his heart.

  Julie left him.

  Mark threw him under the bus.

  He didn’t have anything left.

  Sorrow pushed against the anger bottled tight in his chest. So damned tight he could feel it getting ready to blow.

  So he drowned it.

  He lifted the bottle and gulped another mouthful, fighting the surge of fury, blinking as he tried to make sense of the sound hammering against his ears.

  Groaning, he tried to ignore it.

  More pounding.

  He clambered to his feet, quick to grip the arm of the couch when the room spun, the bottle clutched against his chest like a lifeline. He looked toward the floor, sucking in air as his mind tripped through a muddle of confusion and doubt and regret.

  I just wanted my brother back.

  I just wanted my brother back.

  Instead, his brother had stolen everything.

  Pound. Pound. Pound.

  Floundering for the door, he fumbled through the lock and somehow managed to free it.

  He reared back, caught off guard by the face on the other side. Tears stained her dazzling face, her brown eyes bright and pleading, one rimmed in fading black and blue.

  She wrung her hands. “I’m so sorry to bother you…I just…I needed someone to talk to.”

  “Not sure I’m gonna be the best company right now.”

  Her chin trembled. “I think you’re the exact kind of company I need.”

  The words were out before he could stop them. “What happened to you?”

  Her throat wobbled as she fought a fresh round of tears. “He—”

  Rage. He didn’t know if he was feeling it for her or for the whole fucked-up situation. Either way, he couldn’t control it, the way it lined his veins like steel.

  Fingertips touched his chest, nudging him back. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Grief constricted Zee’s throat, and he shook his head, too hard. It sent his world spinning again. Ground gone.

  He tried to catch his breath.

  “No…not okay.”

  “Me, neither. He…he broke up with me, Zee. I don’t know what’s going on in his head. First you…then me.”

  She edged Zee deeper into the hollow loneliness of his apartment. Her voice was a soft whisper of understanding when she spoke. “I can’t believe what he did to you. I’m sorry, Zee. You deserve so much better than that.”

  Emotion clogged his throat and burned his eyes. “I just wanted my brother back. I just wanted to be there for him. And Julie…she just fucking left. Didn’t give me a chance to make it right. I can’t make anything right.”

  It was all a slur of misery.

  “Shh.” She caressed his shoulders. She gave a gentle shove, and Zee slumped back onto the couch, looking up at her with his heart in his throat and his stomach on the floor as he clung to that bottle.

  She edged forward, and Zee shivered when she slowly straddled his lap.

  “Let’s forget them. They don’t deserve us.”

  A shudder ran through Zee’s being.

  This time there was no question of her intentions.

  And again, there was no stopping his body’s reaction as she fumbled with the buttons of his fly.

  Veronica was right.

  Fuck them.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Alexis

  Overcome, I dropped to my knees in the middle of my living room. I held both hands against my chest as if it might keep the torment from pouring out.

  Since the moment Zee had come into my life, I’d thought I could feel something building every time I was in his space. The way that intensity had mounted and grown, continually gaining speed.

  I’d thought it was propelling us forward. Forcing us in a direction that was good and right. Where the walls that had fought to separate us would be obliterated.

  Turned to rubble.

  Now I was left wondering who he really was. If everything had been a lie.

  Tell me this isn’t cheating.

  Hadn’t I felt it then? An unease warning me to take caution?

  I just didn’t understand how he could hide something so important from me. Something intrinsic to him. Why didn’t he trust me? That was the one thing I’d asked of him.

  Had he been hiding another girl all along?

  The thought nearly crushed me.

  Broke me in two.

  A sob tore up my throat and my chest heaved. Why did every time I got close to my dreams, they got ripped out from under me? Why couldn’t I ever make anything better?

  What good was belief when there was nothing left remaining to believe in?

  My doorbell rang, and I gasped in surprise, rocking back on my knees. A spray of late afternoon light slanted through the room, lighting up the edges.

  Nudging me with hope.

  With the desperate need to find reason.

  Answers.

  I just needed to see his face and know I’d been right to believe.

  I jumped to my feet and raced for the door. Without thought, I jerked it open.

  I shouldn’t have. I should have been so much smarter than that.

  Apparently Chelsey was right.

  I had no self-preservation.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Zee

  I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel of my car, anxious as I inched through the late afternoon traffic that crawled at a snail’s pace.

  It was kind of crazy how you feared the consequences of something so much that you carried an inordinate amount of dread as you waited for it to be revealed, all the while praying that moment would never actually come to pass.

  Now that the time had come for me to pull it from the shadows, to take the stand and shine light all over my sins, I couldn’t wait to finally lay it out.

  To purge the weight.

  To give it to someone else and beg them for the chance.

  Praying that maybe she’d get it. That she might share it with me.

  I zigzagged across lanes, trying to pick up time and distance. Worry needled at my senses.

  I couldn’t help but worry for Liam. I prayed the little man was fine. No question, he couldn’t be in better hands than those of my family.

  They would embrace him. Accept him. I knew they would.

  He was every bit a part of this family as any one of us.

  Funny how my entire focus shifted the second the total responsibility of something so utterly important was placed in the care of my hands.

  Keeping him that way was gonna be a fight.

  A fight I was willing to battle to the end.

  That worry needled deeper at the thought of standing in front of Alexis and confessing everything.

  Every sin.

  My mistakes.

  The secrets.

  It would be a lot for anyone to take.

  But this girl…she was good and grace. If there was anyone who would believe in me, it was her.

  I breathed out in relief and anticipation when I finally took the last right into her neighborhood. Picturesque and quaint, light shined down through the lush leaves on the trees, like the sun was pitching daggers of warmth and faith.

  I pulled up at the curb in front of her house and cut the engine. Jumping from my car, I rushed toward her door.

  My footsteps slowed when I noticed the door was wide open. A knot of apprehension tugged at my gut, and my heart kicked an extra beat.

  Breaths going shallow and quiet, I edged forward, angled to the side so I could peek inside. A frozen hush echoed back, everything completely still.

  Too still.

  I gulped around the panic that tried to work its way out.

  “Alexis,” I called, nudging the door open a fraction wider as I took a single step through her door, eyes darting everywhere.

  Silence an
swered back.

  A shiver of dread raced down my spine, and that was all it took for me to shoot into action, rushing for her kitchen, gaze frantic as I took in the area.

  Quiet. Calm.

  Completely opposite of what I felt.

  I threw open the back door to her backyard.

  Nothing.

  I raced back inside, heading straight for the single bedroom tucked in the back and the bathroom attached.

  Empty.

  Panic tightened my chest, my tongue a rumble with the plea. “Oh God. God…Alexis…where the hell are you?”

  I ran back down the short hall and into the living room, headed for the door. I stopped short when something on the floor, right up against the wall, caught my attention.

  Alexis’s cell phone.

  The back was busted open and the battery had fallen out. Like it’d been dropped, shattered on impact.

  And I knew. I fucking knew.

  I rushed for my car, dialing 9-1-1 as I went. I shouted out Veronica’s address, shoved the keys back into the ignition, and threw my car in gear, jamming on the accelerator. The tires squealed on the asphalt as I spun the car around and peeled off down the road.

  Whatever was going down? No question, Avril was involved.

  Had no idea how seriously they took me when I said I thought my girlfriend had been abducted, that I had no proof whether she was actually at this address or not.

  It was nothing but a hunch. A hunch that felt a whole lot more like a premonition.

  Ending the call, I dialed Anthony. He answered on the second ring. “Pretty sure we have proof of where Veronica has been funneling the money,” he said before I had the chance to say anything.

  Right then, I didn’t give a fuck about the money.

  “They have her.” It scraped from my throat. There was no missing the fear. The fury.

  I could feel his confusion. “What?”

  “Alexis…I went to her place because I couldn’t get in touch with her. I needed to explain to her about Liam. Was going to tell her everything. I got there, and her front door was standing wide open, her phone in pieces on the floor. She’s gone, man.”

  “Shit,” he hissed. “Did you call the cops?”

  “First thing…gave them Veronica’s address. I know she’s involved, one way or another.”

  “Where are you?”

  “On my way over there.”

  “Goddamn it, Zee. You can’t go running in like some kind of white knight. If what you said about Alexis’ sister pans out, that guy is dangerous.”

  My laughter was sharp. “We already know that piece of shit is dangerous. He proved it the first night in that alley. Whatever happens, make sure Liam is taken care of.”

  “Don’t talk like that, Zee. Just…step back. Take a breather and figure out the right way to handle this before you go in there with guns blazing.” Anthony sucked in a breath when he realized what he said.

  “I appreciate everything, Anthony. You’ve had my back on this the whole time. Took care of the situation and, in turn took care of Liam. You don’t know what that means to me.”

  Without a parting word, I ended the call and tossed my phone to my lap, clenching the steering wheel in fists as I swerved and careened through traffic.

  Panic and rage ricocheted through the cabin of my car. Every pass growing stronger. That energy a fucking blaze of blinding light.

  Alexis.

  She was mine.

  And I’d gladly die before I let anyone hurt her.

  Just like I would’ve done that night.

  I got it. What my spirit had already recognized in her. That goodness that was meant to be a part of this world.

  A huge SUV blared its horn when I swerved in front of it to take a sharp left turn. But I couldn’t stop, wouldn’t slow.

  My phone pinged with a text message just as I was turning onto the last street before I got to Veronica’s.

  It popped up on the touchscreen.

  New text message from Unknown.

  I pressed the button for the text to voice. The canned voice rang through the speakers.

  You want to see Alexis again, bring the kid and $20,000.

  An address came in behind it.

  What the fuck?

  This dude was insane. No question it was him, Veronica his goddamned pawn. I couldn’t help but wonder if she had been all along.

  Quickly, I punched the address into the navigation and made a second call to 9-1-1, praying they would listen and not think I was leading them on some kind of wild goose chase. I probably sounded like a lunatic.

  God knew I felt like a madman.

  Took me all of three minutes to come to the address. The same damned street I’d been walking when I’d found Alexis.

  My heart roared so loud I could hear it in my ears when I fumbled out of my car.

  In front of me was a deserted building, two stories high that looked like it used to be some kind of retail store. The bottom floor was a wall of windows that were cracked and splintered and littered with the evidence of bullet holes. Graffiti marked its exterior walls in despair and hate.

  A tremor of violence shivered all the way to my bones. I edged forward. Anxiety clamped down on every cell in my body, the fear I felt fuel for the desperation to get this girl back, safe where she belonged.

  I peered toward the second floor windows, wondering just where the fucker was. If he was watching. Waiting for me.

  There was no doubt in my mind this bastard had me walking straight into a trap.

  But if money was his end game, wiping me out would be about the fucking dumbest mistake the asshole could make. Problem was, I didn’t know just what I was dealing with, had no clue the lengths he would go.

  Daylight slowly slipped away, casting the heavens in pinks and grays that glittered through the air and tumbled across the ground. It darkened against the cracked, fractured windows. Darkness spilled inside its walls like the pour of a river, filling it up with the intent to desolate and drown.

  I edged closer, my boots crunching on a piece of broken glass on the sidewalk. It rang out like a warning.

  Caution slowed my steps, and I did my best to bide my time, to be rational, to find reason, a solution while I silently pled with the cops to show.

  A muted whimper echoed from deep within the walls.

  My chest tightened to a fist.

  Alexis.

  There was absolutely nothing I could do. No reason to be found. No thought of consequences or repercussions when my entire being shot into action.

  There was only one outcome I could see.

  Alexis safe.

  Alexis home.

  I yanked at the main door.

  Locked.

  Frantic, I moved, searching, sucking in a deep breath when I reared back, lifted my leg, and shoved the sole of my boot against a splintered pane of glass.

  It dented, the fractures multiplying into a million tiny squares. Drawing my leg back, I rammed my boot back into the same spot with all the force I could find.

  With my desperation.

  With this love.

  Fuck.

  I shook my head, trying to purge the thoughts that were coming at me just as furious as the fear. The window gave, finally breaking.

  Pieces shattered from their hold and pinged across the floor.

  Raging, I stepped through, eyes wild as they narrowed, pinpoints as I peered into the depths of the rundown store.

  Garbage littered the floor, more graffiti inside, light fixtures destroyed and dangling from the ceiling where they’d been ripped from their holdings.

  But it was the needles discarded on the floor like tokens of their victims that kicked me in the gut. The abhorrent reality of it stung my spirit.

  Memories of Mark flashed through my mind.

  His smile.

  His talent.

  The loss. The loss. The loss.

  I reeled with the impact of it, this place nothing but a shrine to the casualties o
f the souls that had been swallowed by addiction. I blinked against the tragedy of it, turning my ear deeper to the foul dungeon’s depths.

  Quiet echoed back, dense and malicious.

  The sound of evil.

  Doubted it made much difference at all that I kept my footsteps quieted and contained.

  Asshole already knew I was coming.

  Still, I stole forward cautiously, slowing even further when I edged around the display case near the back.

  I pressed my back up against the wall and inched closer to the archway that led to another room in the back. My chest heaved with the strain of my breaths, muscles tight with adrenaline.

  I gulped down a stealing breath and rounded the corner.

  Then I froze.

  Fury licked at my insides. Flaming. Scorching. Inciting a war.

  That foul piece of shit was leaning casually against a pillar in the middle of the room. Like he was the king and this vile, run-down building was his kingdom.

  Maybe I should’ve expected it. But I couldn’t stop the horrified shock when I found Veronica hidden deep in the shadows, this deep, gutting pain that she was actually there and involved this way.

  She was a raging silhouette of agitation. Arms crossed over her chest, hugging herself as she stalked one direction and then spun to head the other.

  An illicit storm. Out of her mind.

  Gone.

  There was no other explanation.

  It was Mark who’d told me it was the needle that made you do wicked things.

  Yet, none of it compared to the terror that ravaged my senses when my frantic gaze caught movement to the side of the pillar.

  Alexis and Avril.

  Both were huddled on the ground, bound at the wrists and ankles. Alexis’s head was twisted as far as it could be, like even then, she was struggling to find me in the darkness.

  Lighting the way.

  The space between us leapt, fierce and hot. Desperate and mad. Those blue eyes a storm of terror.

  Craig tossed a lighter into the air and caught it in his hand, like he was just standing there passing time. A sneer curved one side of his mouth. “I don’t see the kid.”

  Protectiveness rushed through me, this crashing wave that stole my breath. “You’re obviously more of a fool than I thought you were if you’re actually stupid enough to think I’d bring him down here.”