Nightmares from Within

by Jessica Prince

  Stevens stood up and stretched his arms over his head, causing the buttons on his shirt to stretch to a dangerous level. “All I know is if I have to read one more of those twisted as fuck poems, I’m going to go fucking mental. He’s one sick son of a bitch. I can’t take seeing any more dead girls. This is the kind of shit that stays with a person.”

  I understood exactly what he was talking about. I didn’t think it would ever be possible to get those girls’ images out of my head. As he passed by my desk on his way out he paused and slapped me on the shoulder. “We’ll get him man.”

  I wanted to believe that, but with each girl, my hopes dwindled a little more. After staring at the computer screen for a few more minutes, I finally gave up and started shutting everything down. I needed to get back to Taylor. I left her bed in such a rush earlier that I completely forgot to leave her a note. Every time I thought about picking up the phone and calling her something else popped up and got in the way. I was either processing the crime scene, dealing with the evidence from the crime lab, or talking to Samantha Turner’s parents. That was part of the job I was never going to get used to. Having to inform the victim’s loved ones that they’d lost a family member…it damaged something inside me every time I had to have that conversation, something I was afraid couldn’t be repaired.

  But the idea of seeing Taylor again made a day full of darkness seem just a little brighter. I just hoped she wasn’t pissed about me leaving without a word this morning. She just looked so damn peaceful and I knew what I was about to walk into was going to be awful. I didn’t want to expose her to that part of my life if I could somehow prevent it.

  I got in my car and headed over to her apartment, stopping first to pick up some flowers just to be on the safe side. Women were finicky creatures; the only way for a man to navigate safely was to be preemptive.

  “Can I help you?” the older, gray haired woman behind the counter asked when I walked in the door.

  “Uh, yeah, what do you recommend I get for potentially screwing up with a woman I just started dating, but want to apologize for said potential screw up because I would very much like to continue dating her?” I asked, figuring I might as well be upfront.

  She gave me a sweet smile full of humor before walking around the counter over to a refrigerated display case. “Well, roses are always a good way to get a woman to forgive you.”

  I looked through the glass at all the different colored roses. They were pretty but Taylor didn’t seem like a roses type of woman. She was different…unique. I wanted something that represented her. I kept scanning, trying to find something that made me think of her, when I finally saw the perfect arrangement.

  “What about those?” I asked, pointing to the bouquet in the middle of the case.

  “Oh, good choice. That’s our Gerbera Bright arrangement.”

  My face screwed up in confusion as I looked over at her. “Your…huh?”

  She gave a small laugh and opened the display case. “Gerbera daisies dear, in five different colors. They’re definitely different.”

  “Well, she’s different,” I said with a smile.

  “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about her staying mad at you after this,” she replied as she rang up the purchase.

  All I could do was hope she was right.

  I left the shop and quickly made my way over to Taylor’s place. When I walked through the doors, I saw Gary sitting behind the desk reading. He glanced up with a smile before it quickly morphed into a look of uncertainty. “Uh…Good evening, Mr. Donovan.”

  “Hey Gary. How you doing tonight?”

  He looked me up and down before replying, “Better than you, from the looks of it. Are you okay, sir?”

  I let out a sigh and ran my free hand through my hair. “You don’t want to know the half of it. Anyway, you could let me up without buzzing her? I kind of want to surprise her,” I said holding up the flowers for him to see.”

  “Oh, I don’t know…that might not be such a good idea.”

  I leaned against the desk and smiled. “Come on man, you’d be doing me a huge favor. You know I had to bail out of here last night in a rush. I want to make it up to her.”

  He quirked a brow and looked at me suspiciously. “Can’t think of many reasons for a man to burn out on a beautiful young woman at two in the morning. You have to get home to your wife or something?” he asked, his tone of voice full of accusation.

  I hung my head and reached into my back pocket. “Murder scene,” I replied, showing my badge to the old guy.

  His eyes widened at that and the suspicion disappeared. “I’m sorry, sir…”

  I slid my badge back in my pocket and lifted a hand to wave off his apology. “No worries, I’d have thought the same thing. But now that you know the truth, you think you can help me out?”

  I could tell he was fidgeting from behind the desk but all I cared about was getting to Taylor. “I guess,” he finally relented. “But I really think I should buzz her…”

  I was off toward the elevators before he could finish. “You’re a saint, Gary,” I called over my shoulder. “I won’t forget this.”

  As the doors opened and I stepped in I could have sworn I heard him mumble, “Oh, I don’t doubt that.”

  The elevator dinged and my senses went on immediate alert when I noticed the door to Taylor’s apartment was cracked open. On instinct, I reached for my gun and hit nothing but air. I had made sure to take it off before coming up to Taylor’s just in case guns scared her. I instantly regretted that decision. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I inched closer.

  What I saw when I pushed the door open the rest of the way was not what I was expecting to see.

  Taylor was standing in the middle of her living room with her arms around another man. I don’t think I’d ever wanted to kill another human-being more than I did at that very moment.

  “This looks cozy,” I ground out. “Am I interrupting?”

  Taylor dropped her arms and quickly looked my way. “Jordan? What are you doing here?”

  “Well, I just thought that after having a shitty ass day I’d come see my girl.” The loser standing next to her crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. I could glare just as good as the next guy so I shot a burn-in-hell look back at him. “Who’s this guy?” I asked, not taking my eyes off him.

  “I don’t really see how that’s any of your business,” the douche bag responded.

  “Is that right?” I took another step into the apartment as he stepped closer to me.

  “Yeah, that’s right.”

  We were inches away from each other when Taylor stepped in between us, attempting to push us apart. “Stop!” she demanded. “You can whip your dicks out and see whose is bigger when I’m not around, but for now, this is my apartment and I’m really not in the mood to put up with a macho pissing contest.”

  “Your boyfriend here started it,” the asshole replied.

  “That’s right, boyfriend,” I said, pointing at my chest. “You’d do well to not fucking forget that.”

  “Whoa, wait just one goddamn minute,” Taylor screeched. “Boyfriend? I’m not exactly an expert on this topic, but I’m pretty sure boyfriends don’t disappear in the middle of the night after having sex just a few hours earlier. And I’m also pretty sure having one date doesn’t constitute boyfriend status even if sex was involved…especially if a girl doesn’t hear from the guy at all the next day.”

  “Crimson,” I whispered apologetically. Our conversation would have gone so much easier if that asshole wasn’t standing right next to her.

  “Holy shit man, I think it’s safe to say that was an epic fail on your part.”

  “Well no one fucking asked you!” I bellowed. “Taylor, who the hell is this guy?”

  He didn’t let her answer. “I’m an old friend. That’s all you need to know, seeing as you’ll probably be leaving in about thirty seconds.”

  I turned an accusing eye on Ta
ylor. “I thought you said you left everyone from your past behind.”

  That motherfucker interrupted…again. I was seconds away from going from pissed off to nuclear if he didn’t shut the hell up. “I guess you could say I’m here to make amends.” He gave Taylor a loving look that made me want to knock his pretty white teeth down his throat.

  “Were you two involved or something?” I forced myself to ask, dreading the answer.

  The dynamic between the two of them changed as soon as the words left my mouth. “No!” both of them demanded.

  “It’s not like that,” Taylor said at the same time the asshole spouted out, “Dude, she’s like a sister to me.” Neither one of them looked comfortable with the thought of being intimate and I instantly felt some of the tension seeping away.

  “Daniel,” she reached up and touched his arm. I wanted to rip that arm off his smug as hell body and beat the shit out of him with it. “Please just go. I’ll call you later, all right?”

  He put his hands on her shoulders and I seriously contemplated murder for the first time in my life. I didn’t care if they said they were just friends; he was touching what was mine…what became mine the minute she gave herself to me the night before. “You sure you’re okay?”

  What the fuck was going on? I got the distinct impression that I had just missed something important.

  She gave him a weak smile and removed his hands from her shoulders.

  Well at least that made me feel a little better.

  “I’m okay, I promise. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Okay. Just remember, I’m around if you need me.”

  “Thank you.”

  He turned and headed for the door, but not before shooting me a death glare. I gave as good as I got, hoping he’d spontaneously combust as he walked through the door, closing it behind him.

  When I turned back to look at Taylor she had her hip cocked—which was never a good thing to see on a woman—and her arms crossed over her chest. I wasn’t too proud to admit that the icy look she shot me had my balls shriveling up just a bit.

  “What are you doing here, Jordan?”

  “I needed to see you,” I answered pathetically.

  She let out a humorless laugh. “You needed to see me? Wow, well you didn’t seem to need to see me this morning when you were sneaking off without saying a word, did you?”

  That was a question I knew I shouldn’t answer.

  I saw her eyes dart down to my hand that was holding the flowers. “And you thought bringing me flowers would make up for turning my first ever sexual experience into a one night stand?”

  Whoa, was that what she thought? “Taylor that is not what happened last night.”

  “Oh, so you didn’t act like a typical guy and use me as a quick fuck?” The sarcasm in her voice was really starting to become irritating.

  “Christ, woman. No! Where, in everything that I said to you last night, did you get the impression that I just used you as a quick fuck? Huh? You know that’s not true.”

  “Then where’d you go?” she yelled.

  “I got paged to a goddamn crime scene!” I yelled back. I could see her guard falling the second the words left my mouth.

  I came to see her because I needed a little brightness in my day and all I’d received was more darkness. It was turning out to be one of the worst days ever. “It was two in the morning and you were sleeping. I got a call that they found a body and I didn’t want to wake you. You looked so peaceful. I just couldn’t lay that shit on you. I’m sorry I left without telling you, but I didn’t do it for the reasons you think. I tried to call you so many times today, I swear, but something always got in the way.”

  I dropped the flowers on the coffee table and turned for the door. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as my hand hit the cold brass of the door knob causing me to pause before opening it. When I turned back to her she was messing with that damn locket again. “I’m sorry,” she repeated before taking a step toward me. “I…when I woke up this morning and you were gone…I didn’t even consider that it could have had something to do with your job.”

  I made my way back over to her and cupped her face in my hands. “Crimson, that’s the only reason I’d ever leave a bed that you’re in.”

  That blush I was coming to love crept up her neck and onto her cheeks. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  I let out a groan and collapsed onto her couch, pulling her down with me. I laid my head on the arm before kicking off my shoes and propping my feet up on the other end. I maneuvered her little body so that it was lying on top of me with my arms wrapped around her delicate frame. When I finally had her in the position I wanted her in I let out a contented sigh.

  “Comfy?” she asked with a laugh. She rested her palms on my chest, propping her chin on them so that she could look up at me with those beautiful copper eyes.

  “I am now,” I said with a smile, making sure my dimples stood out. It wasn’t lost on me that Taylor melted a little every time she saw them, and sure enough, they had the desired effect when all of the rigidity left her body and she relaxed completely in my arms. “Now we can talk.”

  “Tell me what happened.”

  I thought back to the woman whose body we’d found early that morning and a sense of helplessness washed over me. She’d gone through more pain than the other victims had, which was another sign that the killer was escalating. Not only had he kept her for a shorter amount of time, but his attack was much more brutal than it had been with the others.

  “Her name was Samantha Turner. She was young and beautiful and had so much life ahead of her.”

  I heard Taylor’s gasp and something passed over her eyes but disappeared before I could name it. “You’re the detective on the Poet murders?”

  “Yeah,” I muttered as I let her go to press the heels of my palms into my forehead in an attempt to offset the headache I knew was coming. “Four girls and we’re no closer to finding this guy than we were in the beginning. Days like this, I really hate my job.”

  My eyes were squeezed shut so I missed the apprehensive look on her face, but then she trailed her fingers down my cheek and I knew I could have gotten lost in her touch forever.

  “You look exhausted,” she whispered.

  “I am exhausted.” I replied, still not opening my eyes.

  I felt her body shift. I finally peeled my eyes open to see her sit up and straddle my lap. All of the sudden I wasn’t feeling so tired anymore.

  “Tell you what, I’ve got that big, cozy bed back there that’s just calling my name. If you promise not to run out of here in the middle of the night without telling me, I might be inclined to let you join me.”

  I pushed up onto my elbows and quirked a brow. “Is that so?”

  “Yep,” she replied playfully. I’d never seen her playful side before, but when the full force of that smile hit me it became my favorite of all her looks.

  “That’s a promise I’ll have no problem keeping, Crimson.”

  The Poet

  I despised night clubs. The heavy thump of the bass, the women who dressed like sluts and writhed on the men for attention, the disgusting smell of sweat and sin that stifled the air. There was nothing I liked about night clubs.

  But shortly after Samantha had let me down, I was walking down the street, absorbed in my misery at having another woman disappoint me when a beautiful angel stumbled into my path as if she’d fallen from heaven. I was instantly enamored.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said as she looked up at me. The moment our eyes connected I knew there was something special about her.

  She wasn’t like the others.

  “No worries,” I replied. “Are you all right?”

  She smiled up at me and my heart melted. “Yeah. I’m just running a little late and tripped trying to rush inside.”

  She pointed to the entrance of a nightclub I had just walked past and a twinge of disappointment shot through me at the thought of an angel working in such a de
spicable establishment.

  “You should come inside and let me buy you a drink, handsome,” she offered, and with that, I knew she was the one for me.

  I’d followed her for a while, getting a feel for her schedule and I made sure to visit her at the nightclub every time she worked, even though I despised it.

  Relationships were based on compromise, after all.

  But there was something different about her tonight. She didn’t look as happy to see me as she usually did.

  When I made my way to the bar she didn’t greet me with the lovely endearment that was just for me.

  “Hey there, what can I get you?”

  I felt my dormant anger simmering at the fact she would talk to me like I was just any other patron. Didn’t she know who I was to her? Didn’t she know that we were meant to be together?

  I tried to push away my negative thoughts and give her the benefit of the doubt.

  “I’d be honored if you’d allow me to take you on a date tomorrow night.”

  She turned her head to the side but not fast enough to hide the roll of her eyes. “Sorry, I’m spoken for,” she declared.

  Lying bitch!

  In all the times I watched her I’d never seen her with another man. I couldn’t let my disappointment crush me. There wasn’t time for that. She was another filthy whore that needed to pay for her sins.

  And it was my job to make sure she did.

  Taylor

  Something woke me in the middle of the night but it wasn’t a nightmare. I opened my eyes and scanned the darkness around me trying to get my sleep-muddled brain to kick into gear. I felt something move behind me and I instantly became aware of what woke me.

  “I know you’re awake,” Jordan whispered before pressing his lips to the sensitive spot between my ear and shoulder and nipping at the skin lightly.

  I let out a sleepy moan when his hand trailed across my stomach, brushing along the bare skin between my shirt and shorts. “Mmm, I love the sounds you make when I touch you.”