Slice (The Elledge Family #1)

by L Johnson

  He tossed the paper at me. It was signed and it was real. “I don't know where you got the idea that I even own a knife, but… you can't be here like this.” My voice rumbled in terror.

  “Your good friend helped us find it. She was so relieved that you left that she ran to us with whatever she could to lock you up. Her efforts were applauded.”

  Good friend, I paused. Fucking Persephone. She told. She told when I was gone. “I don't have friends.”

  “Well, you do now... We'll be here for a while… if you want to take a seat or help that would be great.” McMillan smirked. “I know your girl here is tired. And you should enjoy the time with her while you have it. I don't think she'll let you see the kid on death row...”

  I exploded. Every rational thought I had was gone out the window as my fist crashed into his face and sent a spray of blood to the ground. My body hit the pavement hard as they wrestled me to the ground. I heard her cry but I saw nothing but red. I wanted to finish him. Fuck that, I needed to finish him.

  “Book him,” McMillan yelled.

  “Bravo fucker! Round of applause for the desperate agent! You finally got me for something!” My voice boomed as I lunged towards him. “I’ll fucking end you.”

  “Lucas!” Mark yelled. He quickly closed his door to his car and ran over. He bypassed the officers and cars that had surrounded me. “What the hell?”

  “He is under arrest for assault of a federal agent.” The blood poured from his mouth like a faucet and it sparked something for me.

  “Fucker,” I mumbled.

  “Enough Luke!” Mark made his way over. “You don't say shit and you should keep your hands to yourself. I will be down there to get you in a bit. Cypress, come with me, okay?”

  Cypress looked at me. “Behave yourself, please. We'll be there shortly.”

  Grade A, I was about to be cuffed and tossed in jail and there was not shit that I could do about it.

  Cypress

  It was a good thing they would not find anything in that loft. It was 1500 miles away and safely hidden in my things. I exhaled. There was so much that ran through my mind. Had he killed Philip? Would he kill me? Were my kids safe? What the fuck had I gotten myself into and Who was Lucas?

  I sat in the loft as the agents ransacked the place. My feet propped on the couch, they ached just from walking up the steps. I had bundled my legs in the cover and watched as they cut open mattresses and tore apart everything in the place. Mark continued to argue that there was no reasonable evidence to conduct the search. I was relaxed. I had to find a way to not freak out because there was a part of me that was dying inside. Who was Lucas really and why I had not figured out before the baby or the engagement? Why hadn't he told me what was really going on?

  “Why are you so calm?” McMillan asked me.

  I sipped my water as I glanced through the wedding catalog I had gotten from the airport. “I can't freak out… I'm pregnant and there is a high chance that I'll develop preeclampsia.”

  “You can still get out of this relationship unscathed, you know that? We can put you in Witpro and have you and that baby protected from him and his fucked up family.”

  “I hate when you talk to me like you think you know me. I love Lucas and I know for sure that he is innocent. I am not worried about a search for an item that is fake. That bitch Persephone, who I am more than sure is the reason that you are here can burn in hell. And you, sir can join her.”

  “We got the knife from the girl he cheated with. Do you remember that? He cheated on you and you are okay with it. The girl that was so terrified of him she almost ruined her education.” He sat down on the couch.

  “Do you think that I could forget it? I tried to forget it, but thanks to your little images it is permanently engraved in my head. Fuck you for that.”

  “What does he say to you that makes you feel safe? I mean I can look at him and with one look know that he is… insane.”

  “I see nothing like that.”

  “I can tell. What are your parents going to say when they find out that you are with a psychopath?”

  “Aren't you supposed to be looking for something?”

  “Right. Well… you two have a nice place here.”

  “I know.”

  They finally cleared out with nothing to take with them. And the loft was destroyed. Tables flipped as well as clothes tossed everywhere. Mark looked at me with confusion. “Why are you so calm?”

  “Can you take me home?”

  “Home?”

  “Yeah, home to my apartment where I can sleep this jet lag off and hopefully recover from this shit Fest.”

  “What about Lucas?”

  “One night in jail will not kill him.” I rolled my eyes and walked towards the door.

  He helped me down the steps and to his mini coop, which had to be the most inconvenient car for a pregnant woman. He closed the door as I adjusted myself in the seat of the small car. He pushed his hands through his short blond hair. “Why are you so calm?”

  “Because I think I know the truth and it hasn't hit me yet. It hasn't hit me and I don't want it to.” I smirked. “I don't want to think like that.”

  “They didn't find a knife.”

  “But they know what to look for now.”

  “He didn't...”

  “Save that bullshit Mark!” I yelled. “What in the fuck has Lucas got you pulled into? If he has done what they say he did… there is no coming back from it. There is no way that he can be normal! How can I expect him to raise my children?”

  “I know he didn't do it.” Mark added. “I mean, that was a push just to get the...”

  “Did you see his face when they showed him the sketch.” I paused. “Right you weren't there. But I was and he went eggshell white. He was terrified. He looked like he knew it was over and I can't help but to think why would an innocent person react like that? Don't play me like I’m stupid. I know that there is no way in hell that he could be innocent. I don't want to hear your lies. I want to be alone. I want to sleep.”

  “Can you talk to Asher?”

  “I won't. Because he’s in on it too. You’re all sick and the last person I want to see is you or your brothers. When you drop me off. Tell Lucas I said to stay the fuck away, please.” I touched my stomach.

  “You should let him talk to you. You can’t judge and not know what he has to say. And I know that he loves you.”

  “Mark, SHUT UP! Don’t you get tired of constantly cleaning up after his ass!”

  The car halted and he slammed his fist against the steering wheel. “Cypress!” He said in frustration. “Don’t act like this, please. This is the time that he will need someone by his side more than you know. So don’t act like”

  “Act like what! Act like he isn’t hiding something and here I am holly, jolly and fucking pregnant. I was a fool to every god damn thing that he has going! You want me to act like he hasn’t lied to me since day one about who the fuck he was! I can’t. I can barely…” The tears streamed down my face I choked on my words. “I can barely breathe! I can’t take it. Just take me home!”

  My apartment was the kind of quiet that made me over think. There was nothing that could get my mind off of it. Maybe he did kill Philip. Maybe he has done everything that they had said. And if it was true who was I? I cleaned. Even though there was nothing to clean I wiped everything down. I played music to drown out the loud yells of my conscious. She screamed at me with anger and there was nothing that I could do about.

  The night passed uneventfully. No television, no music, just silence in the darkness and everything ran through my head. Was Ireland an option to escape? Why did he want to marry me? I couldn't even look at the ring. Though my fingers were swollen, like my feet I found a way to slide the beast off and shoved it in the dresser. I needed no reminder of him. I already had a big one in front of me.

  The knock at my door came to no surprise that morning. It was him. He knocked and knocked until I gave in. I waddled over to
the door in my nightie and my gel house shoes. “What?” I hadn't shed a tear or bathed in my fear, yet because there was someone else I had to think about. And every decision I made at the moment impacted his or her life.

  “Why did you not come with Mark? And why are you here and not at the loft?”

  “Why would I come with Mark?”

  “What the bloody hell do you mean? Why would you not come to get me out Cypress? I’m your fiancé.” He looked weary. There had not been much effort in his outfit. His basketball shorts hung from his waist and the oversized T-shirt barely revealed his tattoos. Then his hair was down his back and his eyes were heavy.

  “I know that.” I paused. “Exactly who are you Lucas?”

  “What?” He shifted his weight in front of me and leaned in front of the door. “What do you mean?”

  “You heard me.” My teeth were clenched. “The knife... what is so bad about this knife?”

  “They got the information from Persephone. I know… I know it looked bad, but that was nothing. They didn't find it.”

  “Because I hid it.” I snapped my hands crushed into his chest. “I hid it before Ireland. I wanted to know what you would do if it was gone! Good thing I did because you would be frying with no damn grease right now!”

  “Shhhh!” He hissed as his eyes watched for someone surrounding him. “You don’t know what you are talking about Cypress and they are watching my every move, you have to watch what you say. They can try to use anything against me.” Lucas nudged me away from the door and I nodded my head and I held my ground. “What’re you doing?”

  “Why were you scared?” I whispered. “Tell me why you were scared.”

  “Where is it?”

  “You don't need it. Why were you scared damn it! Answer me.”

  “You need to calm down before you get too upset.” Lucas looked at my stomach sympathetically and nodded his head. “Just tell me where it is. I want it. It's mine.” He growled.

  “You gonna kill me too?” I pushed him back from me and threw my hands in the air. “I have a child coming into this world by a man I thought I knew but I don't.”

  “We have a child.” He tried to correct.

  “There is no we Lucas.” The words stung as they made their way out.

  “Cypress.” He moaned. “Let me in and we can talk all of this out.”

  “I would feel safer if you made your way back home.”

  “You are home.” He couldn’t look me in the eyes. He held his head down. “We just need to talk.” He mumbled in a small rant under his voice.

  “I don't want to hear it. Keep your sappy love shit to yourself. I'll talk to you when I can formulate a sentence to express how pissed off I am at you. But right now… I need for you to get the fuck out of my face and don’t bring your English ass over here again.”

  “You are assuming everything wrong. I am not a,” the word sat on his tongue as if he afraid to even say it in front of me. “I'll call you later, okay? And we can talk about everything.”

  “Goodbye.” I slammed the door in his face and closed my eyes. What the actual fuck had I gotten myself into? And why?

  Lucas

  There was something off. She said she knew. She said that she didn't want to see me, but I needed to see her. I needed to see her or there was a chance that I could explode. I had tried to call my father four times, but he had not called back and Callum was out of the country on some business. And everything around me had collapsed into a mess and what was formally known as my life was a disaster zone. I had just got her back and I was here in a daze as I tried to get her back.

  “Persephone went and told them about what you done.” Asher leaned back in his chair with his eyes pinched closed. “And now they know what the hell you use to murder people. And Cypress hid it. I was with her when she done it. She said for some reason she felt it should be moved.” He sighed. “Is there anything else that I should know?”

  “There is nothing else. And why would you help her behind my back?” I tried to my body from the uncontrollable shake that had taken over the past four days. It had been hell. She would not even see Lydie. And Lydie was a raving lunatic at me and Mark. “I can't get him on the phone.” I said. I hated to call my father for advice, but he always knew how to solve shit with my mom and I was sure that she knew everything that there was to know about him.

  “He is in Asia for a month.” Asher said.

  “So he can't answer the phone.”

  “He doesn't have it. Callum does.” Mark added.

  “You need to reach out to Cypress because she has the one thing that could put you away for years.” Asher's apartment was almost all packed. “Where are you moving?”

  “Ireland,” he said. “My time is almost up here. You two are leaving and Callum said that he would pull some strings to get me a job there.”

  “So Ireland?” Mark nodded his head. “Why there?”

  “Because,” Asher could not formulate a sentence. There were several reasons that he wanted to go ahead and move to Ireland. There was the chance of being a professor. Our family had some great pull with everything in Ireland. Then there was the fact that he wanted to be around family. He was so easy to read. Asher just wanted a system of normalcy.

  “He wants a change of scenery Mark.” I answered simply reading every single reason that appeared on his face.

  “Thanks Lucas,” Asher stood up. “I can try to stop by there and talk to her. She likes me so it shouldn't be hard to get her to tell me something.”

  “And ask her why she thinks I did it.”

  “Because you did.” said Mark. “Cypress is a smart woman. She isn’t going to fall for your façade any longer. She hid the knife because she knew it would be a big deal. She drove it 1500 miles over to protect you.”

  “I have to have her back with me. I have this tendency to not think well when she is not around and it is eating me alive. Our party is tomorrow and I have to be there or Tracy and Lydie will murder me.” My mind rambled. “I can't lose her! I need her. And Asher you are going to get her to see it.”

  “Whoa,” a chuckled escaped from them both. “I can't force her to take you back baby brother.” Asher shook his head.

  “I'm your brother, you can.”

  “I can't.” Asher stared at me. “I told you that there was possibility that she was going to find out what the fuck you do. You just have to stop and tell her about some, but not all. Don't you dare tell her about you playing with blood like some fucking kid. You tell her about the necessary deaths not… her ex. Her ex will hurt her.”

  “Fuck him.”

  “Brother will you listen fully for once in your life?” Mark rolled his eyes. “This is the reason that they are on you so hot right now. You don’t know how to listen. You just assume that everything is going to be fine. Well, this time you could really be fucked up.”

  “I done it for her! I killed him so that she can have a better life without him and now you want me to feel sympathetic.”

  “We want you to realize that you could be on death row in the next year.” Asher said.

  “Fuck you.” I spat.

  “This is the crazy shit we mean. Calm yourself.”

  “Get her to love me back. Get her to take me back.” The plea in my voice was sincere, for once I could feel the fear. My hands shook and I exhaled. “She’ll take me back.” I mumbled.

  “Calm down.” Asher stared. He pushed me down on the brown couch. “I’ll work on it, okay?”

  “What the fuck do I wear to the baby shower? We don't even know what we are having.”

  “It's not a baby shower. It's a reveal party.”

  I looked at Mark. “Reveal Party? What the hell? Whose idea was it?”

  “Lydies.”

  “Can you go over there tonight?”

  “I have plans for tonight.”

  “Plans?” Mark and I said at the same time.

  “To read a book or end a speech?” Mark asked.

 
“Fuck you Mark,” Asher laughed. “I have a date with a girl I met a few days ago when we got back. She was on the flight.”

  “Well, maybe you aren't gay after all.” I tilted my head at him. “Could you talk to her before tomorrow? I don't want to be in a group of people and they all know that I am a bad guy. I would rather she love me and we just get on with the baby whatever.”

  “Fine. But I need you to realize something Lucas. I can't make her love you. You need to remember that. Now will you two find your way out of my apartment. I have like less than 3 hours to shower, make my future sister in law, not hate you and get on my date.”

  “I hope you get laid.”

  “I will get laid.”

  “You think you are gonna get laid?” I burst into laughter and hit him playfully. “If you do… I will give you one hundred dollars. The chick on the plane seemed to be out of your league.”

  “Have I ever told you how much I hated you Lucas?”

  “Once but that was before you know… we discovered that we are kin. Now you can't hate me. You can save my relationship and hopefully get some ass.”

  “I am leaving.” Mark hugged Asher. “I don't really care about the relationship saving part. I really need you to get her to tell you where the knife is and why she moved it. Though we appreciate it, we can't have her out there. She is pregnant and she gets really emotional really fast. She could hate him one day and we all go down the drain for some hormones.”

  “Thanks… do that and perhaps I will be out of one hundred dollars. And if you talk to dad... please tell him that I need to talk to him like now.”

  “He can't save you from everything Lucas.”

  “He always has.” I added.

  Asher

  How was I always the counselor of horrible situations? Cypress had not answered one phone call from any of us and here I was standing at her door beating like Lucas. She finally opened the door, but she looked distraught and tired.

  “Cypress,” I smiled. “What's wrong with you?”