by Sand, A. J.
The bodyguards led Jeremy past them and away from the scene, and soon, he had vanished into the crowd. A small group of people had gathered around the commotion, just outside the barrier around the tents, recording video and snapping pictures, but Kai’s friends, used to the attention, were making efforts to block access with their bodies. They were also partially blocked by the large tents, thankfully, and the people poking their heads out had missed most of it.
“I’m all right! I’m fucking all right!” Kai said, slipping out of his friends’ grasps. “Lemme go.” He was heaving his breaths out, and he pulled Dylan into his arms. She was shaking against him as she looked up at him and tried to process what had just happened.
“You okay?” Kai asked her calmly even as anger continued to flare in his eyes.
“Yeah. Yes. I am,” Dylan said. The words he had shouted at Jeremy blasted off in her thoughts. Remember what I know. She started to shiver again.
“Dude…” Abel said with a puzzled expression as he walked toward them, but Kai turned his ire on Abel as he slipped his arms from around Dylan.
“Why the fuck were you guys over here with him?” Kai shouted in his face as he shoved him. Abel was momentarily caught off guard, but he snarled in agitation and bounded for Kai, who had taken on a fighting stance. Wes squeezed in between them, but he was ready to physically defend his brother against Kai.
“You’re my family, Kai, and you know I love you, dude. Any other situation, I’d be right there with you, man. I really don’t want to do this, but swing at him and you’re swinging at me, too…” Wes warned as he touched his chest with his palm, pointing a reluctant but angry stare at Kai. Ribsy came over and stood by Kai. He aimed a lethal look at the Elliotts. Emotions were running too high; things had gone to shit pretty quickly. Not wanting to see any of them get into a fight, Dylan grabbed Kai’s hand and tried to pull him away. She shot Wes and Abel apologetic glances as Kai let her yank him out of the area and through the crowd, moving in the direction of the parking lot. Camera flashes went off behind her, and she barely pinged a feeling of concern.
“What was that?” she asked him as they held hands. He was squeezing hers tightly and she leaned in to his shoulder. “Kai, please tell me what’s going on.” So much hatred was directed at Jeremy, and it wasn’t jealousy over her. This was actual deep-seated abhorrence. And what she had heard in Kai’s voice was fear. For her.
“I sent a text to Abe to ask where you guys were, and when I got over there, I saw him…touching you. Did he try to hurt you in any way?” Kai asked, panicked. “What was he saying to you? Did he try to do something to you? Try to make you go anywhere with him? Did he give you anything to drink?”
“I had a bottle of water from his cooler. It wasn’t opened…” Dylan shook her head quickly, trying to gather her thoughts. “He was just apologizing for last night…” Shit. She got quiet as she remembered that Kai didn’t know about that.
“What, Dyl?” Kai dropped her hand and swiveled until he was standing in front of her. A group of people had started pursuing them, so Kai took her hand again and weaved stealthily through the crowd until they lost them. They had probably gotten pictures then too. Kai walked her into an empty tent.
“Why was he apologizing?” Kai’s jaw clenched. “What did he need to apologize for?”
Her heart rate was firing at a rapid rate. “He was really rude to me last night at Coasters. When I was with Wes and Abel. Before we went to Velvet.”
“You saw him last night? What the fuck, Dyl, and you didn’t say anything?” Kai wasn’t yelling but his tone was caustic, and it scared her. He gripped her shoulders. “What did he say to you? You’re sure that bottle was unopened?”
She nodded quickly. “He was an asshole. Today, he was different but the same, in a way. Nice for a minute, and then he flipped again. It was subtle. Not as bad as yesterday, but it was weird. It was like he was trying to manipulate me in a way. Blame me for Chase’s behavior,” she explained. Kai’s face went as still and hard as concrete before he strode back into the crowd.
“Kai…please, you’ll go to prison if you do anything,” she pleaded as she ran after him. Dylan’s heart smashed repeatedly against the wall of her chest; she was still confused and shaken up. “You can’t…please.” When she reached him, she dashed into his path and threw her arms around his neck. Kai growled in frustration, but his arms closed around her and he lifted her off the ground in a tight hug.
“You just saved him.”
“Nope. Saving you,” she whispered. “If I let you go, you promise not to do anything crazy?” He nodded but didn’t speak as he put her back down. Kai put his arm around her and made a call on his cell.
“Where are you? Okay. Wait there, please.” Taking her hand, Kai led her down the beach, and she spotted Ribsy sitting alone on a stone bench facing the street outside one of the hotels.
Ribsy handed Dylan his hotel keycard when they reached him. He looked shaken up too. “Dette said she needed a moment, but you can go up there.” He cocked his chin at the building in front of them. “1206. I’m sure she’d love to see you. She doesn’t want to be around me or my crazy ass friends right now.”
Dylan bent down and hugged him. “I’ll let her have her time. I’m sure she’ll want to see you too soon.”
“I’m sorry about that, man,” Kai said with sincerity as they sat next to him. “I’ll call her and apologize but, dude, just trust me. I know how much you love Odette, so just ask her to stay away from him. He’s not a good guy. He’s a really, really bad guy. You’re the sensible one… Blake and everybody else, they’ll listen, if it comes from you.”
“I didn’t know he was over there. Honest. I had heard his tent was closer to the main stage, but I guess he booked more than one.” Ribsy gripped Kai’s shoulder, and his fingers dug in. “And what the fuck are you really saying, dude?”
“I’m saying what I’ve been trying to tell everyone for a while. Jeremy is dangerous. My lawyer told me I have to be careful about what I say about him publicly, even to my friends, because of defamation issues, especially if I make an accusation without an accuser, but he’s a fucked up person. He’s not someone women should be around. He’s violent with them.” Kai’s stare bored into Ribsy. “In the way I suspected years ago.”
“Oh my God,” Dylan whispered to neither of them. Once Kai’s words settled over her, Dylan’s insides tightened, and she thought she would stop breathing. A chill lashed her spine. Suddenly, the pieces began to filter in, creating a completely plausible reality in her mind. Remember what I know. Remember what I know. Could it be? Thailand. Erica pushing everyone away. The fighting in the alley. The secret he and Erica shared. The reason he wanted Dylan to stop looking into it. It wasn’t his secret; it was hers. Jeremy had hurt Erica...or worse. She could sense it. It was something worse. Jeremy had…raped Erica? A wave of dizziness enveloped her, followed by a tugging in her chest.
Ribsy’s head dropped. “I remember you told me what you thought a long time ago, and you said recently you thought he had done something bad…” His eyes turned to Dylan momentarily before going back to Kai. “Did he…did he rape somebody?” Ribsy whispered the word, like he couldn’t stand to say it out loud. “He did, didn’t he? Ugh. Who? Like a girl at a show? That girl from a long time ago? Is that what you guys were fighting about?”
“I don’t want to play a guessing game, Ribs. Just needed to share. And now, you know what I know. Thread carefully with your words, but I need your help on this,” Kai said, standing. He offered his hand to Ribsy when he stood too and pulled him in for a one-armed hug. “I gotta go. Just remember what I said.”
Dylan waved goodbye to Ribsy before the two of them walked to the parking lot. She didn’t know what to say, so they simply walked in silence. Kai kept his eyes straight ahead, focused, and she struggled to keep up with his fast pace as they held hands. Her mind never wavered from her theory about Jeremy. When they reached the bus, Ashley was talking to Heat
h outside of it, and she immediately stomped up to them with an angry expression, meant mostly for Dylan. At this point, being fired was low on the scale of importance. She scolded herself for being too jealous before to see that Erica was just a friend in need, reaching out. How could I have been so foolish? I’m such a fucking idiot.
“Not right now, Ash!” Kai barked.
“I knew it. All this fucking time. I knew it! I just had to bide my time,” she said, gloating. She cast a hostile smirk at Dylan before she raised her cell phone, but Heath jerked it away. “Well, I guess we all know which skills really got you the job.”
Dylan jumped in front of Kai and pressed both her hands over his mouth when she saw the gleam of wrath overtake his eyes. He let her move him back several steps. Kai glared at Ashley, pulled Dylan’s hands away from his mouth and kissed one of them defiantly. It amused Dylan enough for her to laugh a little in spite of how awful she felt.
“Dammit, leave it alone, Ash,” Heath warned. He shoved her cell phone in his pocket. “Just leave it alone. Dylan will explain when she has a moment. Chill the fuck out.”
“I’ll explain tomorrow,” Dylan confirmed with her voice steady, even as her own fury was burning inside. Ashley was justified in being upset at her for breaking a rule but implying she had earned anything on her back had ventured into territory that would lead Dylan to do something that was more than worth firing her for. “Then you can do what you have to, Ashley. Just give me tonight.” Ashley didn’t seem appeased, and she extended her hand to Heath for her cell but he shook his head.
“We’ll both explain. And don’t ever fucking talk to Dylan like that again,” Kai added dourly. He nodded a thank you to Heath before he let Dylan step ahead of him onto the bus. She walked him straight into his bedroom, and after a pause of hesitation, she took the spot next to him on the bed. They didn’t cuddle or talk or even move closer together. There had to be at least six or seven inches of space between them. She simply reached out and interlaced her fingers with his, holding his hand in the silence.
“Have a great holiday, everybody, and see you in San Diego,” Kai said to the group in his hotel suite, and they all cheered as he concluded his speech. A car would arrive soon to take him and Dylan to the airport so that they could fly back to Maui for a few days. After lots of hugs, small gift exchanges and goodbyes, everyone filed out of the room, except for Ashley.
“So, you are going to tell Nina about this, right? I’m supposed to report things like this, and I’m not about to get bitched out because you two can’t keep it in your pants,” Ashley said, pointing at them with the “V” she created using her pointer and middle fingers as she frowned. “That’s the only reason I’m agreeing to keep quiet, even though I don’t believe this didn’t get physical before Orlando.” Dylan had decided it was much better to leave out that little tidbit from the time Heath nearly walked in on them because they had made a pledge in earnest to stay away from each other back then.
“Believe whatever the f—” Kai began with a scowl as he shrugged.
“Thanks, Ashley. I really appreciate it,” Dylan interrupted, pressing out a tense smile after kicking Kai in the leg. “Have a great break.” Dylan followed her to the door and shut it. She breathed out a sigh of relief. Their talk had gone as well as could be expected. Dylan and Kai accepted responsibility for letting their relationship get far more personal than Nina had wanted, but Dylan had made the case that her work stood on its own. She had showed Ashley her online portfolio with all her short films, film critiques and analyses, and reminded her of how well the web series had been received by everyone. Maybe Ashley cared, maybe she didn’t, but she had bought herself a bit of a reprieve.
“Okay, so you don’t work here for the next…” Kai kissed her nose. “…Few days so…let’s go. Now.”
“Yeah…” Dylan said as tears built in her eyes. She should’ve been happier about spending time with him back in Hawaii, but everything from last night was weighing heavily her. She had been face-to-face with the guy she was almost certain had done something terrible to Erica, and Jeremy was walking around without a care. She was even more repulsed by him now than she had been after their initial meeting.
“Aww, baby, come here.” Kai pulled her into his arms. “I’m guessing it all makes sense now?”
She nodded against his chest, sniffling. “I don’t want to pry…it’s not my business. And she doesn’t have to worry about me telling anyone anything that’s not mine to tell.”
“Neither of us is. You haven’t told anyone she was in my hotel room that morning in New York. I trust you,” he said, kissing her forehead.
“But I told Jamie about the phone call in L.A. So she knows you guys are back in contact,” Dylan admitted wistfully. “I’m sorry.”
“I know, and she brought it up to me. I told her you were mistaken. Erica wants to do everything on her own time. She’s been through a lot. It’s something she needs to deal with mostly by herself right now.”
“And I feel like an idiot for even…” Her chin began to quiver. “I was so worried about my stupid feelings. I didn’t even bother to see farther than them at all.”
Kai held her face and kissed her on the lips. “You didn’t do anything stupid. You didn’t know. She knows you didn’t know. She knows what the situation looked like when you walked in my hotel room that morning. I told you, she told me to go after you that day and, well, you know why I didn’t.”
“You’re not worried about Ribsy figuring it out?”
“Not really. So much time has passed. And I think even if he does, he’ll be discreet. Right now, all I need is for him to help me make sure the group continues to freeze Jeremy out completely.” Kai pulled her over to the bed, they climbed in together and she snuggled up against him, putting her head on his stomach. “Well, at least you know why I always want to kill him every time I see him, but beating his ass really wasn’t my intention when we went out into the alley. I’m sure you know that crimes that happen in other countries, such as Thailand, can’t be prosecuted here because of jurisdiction. We, as in Erica and I, wanted audio and video evidence of him talking about an injury to his ear he had all of a sudden on the flight back. She just wanted to hear him talk about it ‘cause of some evidence that recently came to light in Phuket. We even considered that it might be useful in Thailand for the investigation, too, who knows.” He sighed. “Ill-fated plan though. Lek was supposed to just film us briefly so we could be identifiable, mostly Jeremy—so there was no chance anyone would ever think it was a fake—and then leave the prepaid cell phone where I told him, so it could pick up the audio we needed. Obviously, the microphone still works when it’s recording video. Then I wanted Lek to leave the scene so he wouldn’t be involved or hear what he wasn’t supposed to hear. Lek is loyal. He asks few questions. He’s the guy who would bring the shovel and dig the hole for you if you ever called, if you know what I mean. He has never asked me about the cell phone in the alley or about Erica calling that night in L.A.
“I told Jeremy I wanted to chat and catch up outside. I also didn’t want him to get suspicious and think that I was recording him so I didn’t bring my own phone out there in case he asked to see it when and if the conversation drifted to Thailand. It did eventually. Jeremy ‘injured’ his ear so badly that last night, he needed surgery when we got back. I know it happened during the attack, but he made up some bullshit excuse about falling down while drunk when he was going back to the hotel after our last night out, when I asked him about it on the plane. We talked music briefly, and I said that it was good to see that his ear had healed and asked him to remind me how it happened. He explained, told me something completely different that time, but got agitated and defensive immediately. He didn’t admit to anything, but I thought at least I had a version of a story that would contradict evidence later, in case he ever found himself in an interrogation room. I stayed calm because I thought Lek had gotten the recording on the prepaid phone, and I started to walk back
to the club’s side door, still talking myself down from possibly beating his face in. But then Jeremy said something else that pissed me off, and I completely lost it.” Kai ran his hand down her back.
“What did he say?”
He shifted against her and his tone darkened. “‘I guess this is really about me finally getting something you never could.’ That’s what he said. We had never talked about the rape or anything, but he was bragging about it. He just said it out of the blue. His tone was so serene and so eerie; I could hear him smiling under the words. Like he’d been waiting for that exact moment. Then he said, ‘Hey, you got something I cared about once, too, you know.’ It took me a few seconds but I realized he was talking about Evernight. That all these years, he was still pissed off. Can you believe that? He was hinting that he did that to her over me ending Evernight, taking what he cared about. How fucking sick is that? I can’t ever tell E that. As much as she wants to know why…I can’t tell her that it’s all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Kai,” Dylan said adamantly. “It’s all his doing. He’s just a really bad person. Scum. Even if you had burned the recording studio down to the ground and destroyed all your music, it still wouldn’t be your fault. Nothing in the world justifies what he did. He’s the problem. He’s the monster.”
Kai squeezed her arm. “We started fighting, baby, and all I could think about was Butch and how he thought it was okay to hurt my mom, too, in a different way, but still. That’s who Jeremy morphed into for me, and the more I hit him, the more I wanted to hurt him. And I started to wonder if I was any different from Butch. Butch shoved a broken beer bottle into a guy’s carotid artery because he wouldn’t let him win back the money he lost in a pool game, and then he left him to die. I didn’t want to kill Jeremy.