Best Friend's Ex Box Set (A Second Chance Romance Love Story)

by Claire Adams

  I grinned. “Persistence, Ben, persistence – with enough of it, nobody can stop you, and you can achieve pretty much anything.”

  “Alright, well, when are we gonna talk to Panetti?” asked Ben.

  “Let me go over my strategy for a while first,” I replied. “Maybe fourth period, or fifth, we'll get him in here.”

  “Sounds good, Everett. See you in a few hours then.”

  ***

  We called Panetti into my office during the final period of the day. He came in looking nervous and took a seat across from me and Ben. Both of us were seated behind my desk.

  “Alright, Panetti,” I began, “I'm gonna cut straight to the chase. I'm guessing you've already heard about what happened to poor Kendrick Green, right?”

  “Yeah, I heard he got capped. But he's gonna be alright, though, right?”

  “He will be. He was lucky. The bullet didn't hit anything major.”

  “That's good,” he mumbled.

  “And I think you also know we've spoken to William Stevens and Leon Brownell who were present at the shooting. They've agreed to testify in court against Mr. Mask. We've got enough evidence to put him away for a long time.”

  “Alright, so what do you need me for?” Panetti asked.

  “We need you to help us catch him. That's the last step – we just need to find out who he is and where he is. Then we can set up a sting, with your help hopefully, and swoop in. Once we've got him, it's game over. Like I said, the evidence stacked against him is watertight. Even if he hires the best lawyer in the country, he won't be able to stay out of prison. He's going away; he's going away for a long, long time.”

  Panetti looked at me with a confused expression on his face. “You, uh, you don't know who he is?”

  “Why does that surprise you?” I asked, a little staggered at his reaction.

  “Because you've got his picture on your board over there. And the picture of the girl who runs the operation with him.”

  I almost fell out of my chair trying to turn around.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Vivienne

  “Simon... you... you bastard!” I shouted, my fear overtaken by a suddenly boiling and savage rage.

  Simon simply laughed.

  “It's nice to see you again too, lover,” he said, sneering. “I have missed you. But now, finally... we're together again, and everything is as it should be.”

  “We're not together, and we never, ever will be!” I snapped in response.

  “You know, considering that you're the one who's tied up here and unable to escape, and I'm the one in control … the one with the weapon,” he said, lifting his shirt and revealing a pistol tucked into a holster on his belt, “Don't you think that you should perhaps be a little more respectful? Maybe try being a bit nicer to me, huh? After all, I wouldn't want to have to reprimand you into compliance. But rest assured, if you push me too far, I will do some damage. I don't want to hurt you... but I will if you make me.”

  I turned to Angie, desperately hoping that I could find some sympathy in her, that somehow, I could reach out to her and get some help from her.

  “Angie,” I said. “We're friends! Why are you doing this? Please, stop this now; it's not funny anymore... Just let me go, please.”

  She chuckled humorlessly and took out a gun that had been hidden behind her back, and she pointed it at me.

  “Oh, Alicia,” she said. “How blind and ignorant you are. Just like all the pretty girls. You pretended that we were friends in high school. As if! You don't remember how it actually was, do you? You had your little clique of pretty friends, and you were all cheerleaders and dancers, and you were all so popular, and everyone loved you. Whereas girls like me, we were just invisible. I guess you don't remember how I looked back then. No, of course you don't, you self-absorbed bitch. I wasn't pretty like you back then. No. I was a nerd. Yeah, one of those girls your pretty friends used to make fun of, used to call names, used to write things about on the walls of the bathroom stalls!”

  “Angie, I … I never did anything like that! I was never, ever mean to you in high school!”

  “Well, all your bitchy friends were! Yeah, it was so easy for people like you. You didn't have severe acne; you didn't have to wear braces for the last three years of high school; you didn't have to wear freakin' glasses just to see the teacher's writing on the board!”

  “Look, Angie, I'm so sorry that you had a rough time in high school, but those days are long gone now, and—”

  “Oh, oh, so they're gone and done, and I should just forget about it, huh? That's really easy for someone like you to say.”

  “I haven't had everything as easy as you think I have.”

  “Yeah, well, you still don't know what it was like being a girl like me.”

  “Ladies, ladies,” Simon interrupted. “Let's not argue now. Come now, Angie, at least one good thing happened in high school.”

  “And what exactly was that, huh?” she snapped, still fired up from her outpouring of anger and resentment.

  “Well, your nerdiness meant that you were very focused on your studies. And the skills in chemistry that you developed in those days led to our little partnership. Once our product spreads across the country, which it soon will, we'll be billionaires.”

  “You two are sick,” I muttered. “Why don't you just date each other! Let me go, damn it, let me go!”

  “I'm a lesbian, you moron,” Angie snapped. “You were just so self-absorbed you couldn't even tell I was faking my straightness.”

  “And I only have eyes for you, my love,” Simon added, tracing a slimy finger along my cheek. “I don't want anyone else. You and me, we're supposed to be together. It's fate. You've been resisting the design of the universe all this time. And further proof of that is how fate led you into Angie's life. You went through all this trouble to change your name, move across the state, start a new life... and then you walk through a bar one night and bump into my business partner. Doesn't that just scream 'fate' right at you? How else could such a coincidence happen? Of all the towns in this state that Angie and I could have set things up in, we chose the very one you live in. Isn't that amazing?”

  “It's not amazing. It's horrible. It's the most-rotten luck ever. I prayed every day that I would never have to see you again... Every. Single. Fucking. Day. But somehow you found me.”

  “It's fate,” he hissed. “Fate! Can't you see that; can't you understand that?”

  “It's not fate,” I countered. “If it is, fate hates me.”

  He laughed. “Hates you, maybe... loves me.”

  “Alright, Simon, you've had your chat with her,” Angie said. “Don't you think it's time to give her more sedatives so we can get her out of town to your cabin in the mountains?”

  Panic started to gush through my veins. Cabin in the mountains?

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, trying my best to disguise the fear in my voice.

  “You and I are going to have that wonderful life together we talked about. We will live happily together, as it is supposed to be,” Simon replied. “But I know you'll ... make a lot of noise about it until you get used to the idea, and I don't want you to attract the attention of, well, you know... the police. So, I have a nice little cabin in a very remote area of the mountains about three hours from here waiting for us. You’re going love it. The nearest neighbor is ten miles away, so nobody will hear you scream. Nobody besides me, and Angie, will know that you're there. And the place is about as secure as Fort Knox, Alicia. There will be no escaping. And after a while, you'll realize, as I did many years ago, that you and I are just meant to be together. And when you realize this, you won't even want to escape anymore. Then we'll be happy, you and I, together forever.”

  “No,” I said. “No, I won't. This is crazy, Simon, it's crazy! Just, just let me go now, alright, and I won't even tell the cops about this. Okay? Please, Simon, come on, don't do this, don't do this...”

  I could no longe
r hide the fear in my voice, and Simon could see it. A malicious smile crept across his lips.

  “No amount of begging or pleading is going to get you out of this,” he said, his voice low and cold. “You'd do well to just accept it.”

  “No, no, I'll never accept it! Never! Let me go, let me go!” I screamed.

  “You're starting to get hysterical now, Alicia,” he said. “And I don't like that. Now, I won’t touch your lovely face, and as I told you before, I don't want to damage that beautiful body of yours, but if you make me angry ... I will. Now calm down. Angie, go get the 'special' wine. Alicia needs to go to sleep again so that we can get her out of here and move her to the cabin.”

  “Perfect,” Angie replied as she walked out of the room. “I'm sick of hearing her whining.”

  “Now, Alicia,” Simon said after Angie had left the room, “I need you to stop being hysterical. You need to accept that you and I are back together. Mm, I can't wait until we're in that cabin alone together. I've hungered for your body for so, so long... I can't wait to get those clothes off you, and to see you naked again, and to put my hands all over you...”

  My skin was crawling with revulsion as he spoke, and all I wanted to do was run screaming from this place – but I couldn't. I was trapped, trapped in this nightmare from which there would be no awakening.

  “In fact, why don't we get started with a little teaser for now?” he hissed seductively. Only, it wasn’t seductive at all. It was sinister. “I want a kiss from you, Alicia. A nice, deep, passionate kiss, like you used to give me. How does that sound?”

  “I'll bite your tongue off if it comes anywhere near me, you psychopath!” I barked.

  “Now that's not the right attitude to have toward your lover,” he said as he started walking slowly toward me. “You're supposed to treat me with tenderness and kindness, you know. Otherwise… you may feel lacking.”

  “Lacking how, you crazy monster?” I snapped.

  He pulled out a long, razor-sharp hunting knife from a sheath hidden behind his back.

  “Lacking in flesh,” he snarled. “Now if you don't give me a genuinely passionate kiss, you're going to find yourself missing things you won’t be able to get back. Do you understand?”

  “Don't do this, Simon; please don't do this,” I begged.

  “Kiss me now, or I promise you, I'll cut one of your fingers off right now. Do you think I'm bluffing?”

  “Simon, please, don't... don't!”

  “Kiss me...”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Everett

  “What on earth are you talking about, Panetti?” I asked, dumbfounded.

  Panetti simply pointed to the pictures pinned on my board of Simon and Angie.

  “That's Mr. Mask, and that's the girl who cooks the stuff up in her apartment,” he said. “I assumed you guys knew that. Why else would you have pictures of them on your wall?”

  Then the implications of what this meant hit me like an uppercut to the jaw. Angie—the woman who had taken Vivienne away last night—was Simon's accomplice.

  My heart stopped for a moment and then started pounding with panic in my chest.

  “Panetti,” I said, my voice hoarse with anxiety. “One question: do you know where either of those two live?”

  “I don't know about Mr. Mask, but I've been to that woman's apartment before to pick up drugs.”

  I jumped out of my chair and grabbed him by the wrist.

  “Then you're gonna show me where it is, Panetti – right now!”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Vivienne

  “Get the hell away from her!” roared a new voice – a familiar voice.

  Everett!

  Simon spun around with surprise, and I craned my neck to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. There, standing in the doorway of the room, were Everett and Jimmy. Jimmy had Angie gripped with her hands behind her back and a gun to her head. Everett had his own gun aimed at Simon.

  “You!” Simon hissed. “You're the hero trying to ruin my business, and, as it seems, steal my lover away from me!”

  “The game is up, Simon,” said Everett calmly. “And you've lost. Drop the knife, drop your gun, and get on the floor with your hands behind your head. This is an arrest.”

  “You can have the drugs, superhero, but I won't be parted from her again,” Simon growled, his eyes wide and white with a madness I hadn’t seen the depths of before. “I won't! Nobody can keep us apart!”

  “I'm warning you, Simon, drop your weapons and get on the ground! Do it now, do it right now! If you do not comply, I will be compelled to use deadly force! This is your final warning!”

  “If I can't have her,” Simon hissed. “Nobody can. And if we can't be together in this life... I guess we'll both have to journey to the next world so that we can be together there!”

  He lunged for me with his knife, aiming to stab me through my heart, but a single booming crack resounded through the room, and the blade stopped just inches away from my chest. Simon's eyes froze cold on me, and a trickle of blood ran down his forehead from the gunshot wound in his head. He collapsed onto the floor, dead.

  Everett holstered his gun and ran over to me, and started undoing the ropes that bound me to the bed.

  I tried to hold it in, to come across as brave and unaffected, but the moment he placed his hands on each side of my face and looked me in the eyes, tears immediately overcame me, and I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly. “You came for me,” I mumbled into his neck between sobs.

  “Of course I did,” he said as he hugged my back. “You’re safe now.”

  “B-but, what about Liza?” I asked as I pulled back and looked at him.

  “I know you saw the text, but you couldn’t have seen all of it. If you had, you’d have seen that nothing happened. Liza was the specialist who came to take care of Jane. She also happens to be the woman I told you about who cheated on me in college. That text was her wanting another chance. I told her that could never happen for many reasons, but mostly because my heart belongs to someone else.”

  Our eyes locked and I immediately knew how stupid I had been. “I'm so sorry, Everett,” I sobbed. “I'm so sorry.”

  “It’s alright, beautiful; you have nothing to apologize for. Nothing at all,” he whispered, caressing my cheek as he wiped a tear away. “I love you. I don’t ever want you to doubt that. I will always come when you need me.”

  He pulled me to him, and for the first time since my father had died, I truly felt loved and protected.

  Epilogue

  Vivienne

  “It's hard to believe it's been more than two years since you moved in across the street from me,” I said to Everett, watching through the window as the newest family in the neighborhood directed a delivery team delivering a red couch into their home.

  “I can’t believe you’re stalking the new neighbors,” he joked.

  “Well, technically it’s still my house. Maybe I want to know what they’re taking into it,” I jabbed back at him teasingly.

  “They’ve been living there for almost a year. You’ve been in the house several times since then. Nice try, Nosy Nancy,” he said with a laugh.

  I smacked him in the arm. “I’m just glad they seem to be fitting in well here.”

  “They are, aren't they?” he remarked. “Doesn’t hurt that they have a six-year-old for Jane to play with too.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m also glad they get along so well. It's great for her to have a friend the same age in the neighborhood.”

  “It really is,” he agreed. “Kids these days don't do enough of that. When I was growing up, there was a whole crew of neighborhood kids. We used to play football or baseball in the street every afternoon, or go climb trees, or all that other good outdoor stuff. It was great for me, too; gave me the chance to get away from the house. Wasn’t the happiest place on Earth.”

  I turned and slipped my arms around his waist. “Well, despite everything you went through as
a child, you didn’t turn out so bad,” I teased.

  “You must not think I’m too bad. You did agree to marry me.”

  “You have a good point. Then again, maybe I didn’t really have too many options,” I jabbed back.

  He hugged me tightly. “It’s true. You settled. I don’t know what you were thinking.”

  I smiled sweetly up at him. “I’ll tell you what I was thinking. I was thinking that you are very likely the best man I've ever met, to be honest.”

  “See, now you’re just trying to butter me up, aren't you?” he laughed and gave me a kiss on my neck that sent a delightful shiver down my spine.

  “You know, as much as I want to take you back to our room and have my way with you, isn't it about time for us to pick Jane up from Stacy's house?” I asked.

  He glanced at his watch. “You're right; we did say we'd be there at five. Guess you’ll just have to make it up to me tonight. Come on then, let's go.”

  I grabbed my purse, and we headed out of the house and locked up.

  We drove for just five minutes to the house where Jane's friend from her first-grade class lived and parked outside then walked up to the door and knocked.

  A bubbly blonde woman opened the door and smiled. “Mr. and Mrs. James,” she said. “I'm Bianca, Stacy’s mom. I’m so glad to finally meet you! Stacy has been having such a good time with Jane.”

  “Lovely to meet you, too! I’m Vivienne, and this is Everett,” I said introducing ourselves. We had met her husband a few weeks earlier, but Bianca always seemed to be away on business. “Jane always talks about how much she likes Stacy, so I guess those two have been getting along like peas in a pod.”

  “Ah yes, they certainly have been getting along well,” she said.

  “Is Jane ready to go?” Everett jumped in.

  “She is, she is. Let me go get her. Would you two like to come in for a while?” Bianca asked.