Crash
“Don't hurt him.”
Was she fucking kidding me! The guy was fit for a straight jacket. Or a jail cell. Probably both.
Why was she protecting this psycho stalker? He'd made her life a fucking misery, forcing her to move away from her family and friends and start a new life somewhere completely alien to her. And now he'd tracked her down and was still tormenting her.
The guy deserved a beating, and more.
I called Jones, yet another job for him to do. This guy deserved a serious pay rise with all the work he'd put in for me recently. Although, something told me that money wasn't much of a motivator for him.
I had total faith that he'd track this guy down in the blink of an eye. It didn't matter how many Brad Scott's there were, he'd find him. He knew which university he went to, he knew he was here, in town, right now. That would be enough for a guy like Jones. More than enough.
He had contacts all over from his days as a detective. He'd be able to use them to access police databases and track credit card transactions. I could find out Brad's mobile number and he'd be able to use that to find pinpoint exactly where he was.
This one would be an absolute walk in the park for Jones. I had no doubt about that.
....
It was only about 2 hours after I'd called Jones that I found myself standing outside a cheap motel on the outskirts of the city. The night was drawing on and the place was enveloped in silence, not a light on inside the row of rooms lined up to the side of the road.
Jones had traced a credit card transaction in Brad's name to the place, and now I was here to have a little chat.
I saw a large handwritten sign saying 'reception' over to the right and walked towards it. Inside a stout elderly woman sat heavily behind a plexiglass window, busily scratching a worn pencil on a crossword. I tapped on the glass and saw her head rise slowly to meet my face.
“I'm looking for a friend of mine.” I said.
Her face was stony and disinterested.
“He'll be of medium build, about 21 years old, blond hair. Name's Brad.”
She continued to look at me with a completely neutral stare. It was like she didn't understand what I was saying.
“Can't give away information about our guests,” she said, dropping her head back down to her crossword.
“Look, I'm just looking for my friend. Do you want me to start knocking on each door looking for him, waking up your guests? That wouldn't be good for business would it?”
She kept her head down but reached out her left hand towards the telephone. “Do that and I'll call the police.”
Stupid stubborn old bitch. Tell me which fucking room he's in!
“No, look don't do that. Please, can you just do me this favor, just this once.”
Her face when her eyes lifted to meet mine told me all I needed to know. Screw it.
I dipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out a $100 bill, slapping it down on the counter in front of me. “How about now?”
Her hand crept forward through the small gap in the glass and snatched the note. She briefly held it to the light before turning her head down into some sort of log book.
“Room 4. He didn't call himself Brad but he matches the description.”
A smile hit my lips. Perfect.
I turned and walked back out into the night. A long trailer-like building stretched out to my right, broken down into different rooms, each with their own number.
I walked along the front, passing by rooms 1 to 3 before stopping at 4. There was no light inside, not a sound coming from within. He was either sleeping or he wasn't there. I was about to find out.
I reached for the handle and turned it, expecting the door to be bolted shut.
But no, it slid open a fraction. I felt an excitement building as I pushed slightly harder, opening the door wider to reveal a single bed lined up against the wall in the middle of the room.
The faint light of the moon spilled inside, illuminating the silhouette of a figure lying on the bed. My heartbeat was rising fast now, the situation getting to me. I wasn't used to this sneaking around stuff, this was usually Jones' forte. No, I was in your face and direct, not slinking in the shadows.
I stood in the doorway, waiting a moment for my eyes to adjust. I could hear a light breathing, the body on the bed moving slowly up and down. The motel was basic and bare, a closet in one corner and a small table in front of the bed, an archaic television set sitting atop it.
The walls seemed to be covered in some sort of decoration. It looked like pictures in the dim light, pinned up against it.
I turned and gently shut the door, drawing a crowbar from behind my back. It was time.
I hit the light switch and the room was quickly bathed in a sickly orange glow. I squinted as I saw the figure on the bed stir, Brad's face now revealed as he lay on his back. His eyes flickered, his left hand lifting to cover them as he sat up.
It took a while for things to dawn on him as his mind came into focus. His hand dropped and the confused look on his face turned to shock and fear as his eyes found me, standing in the doorway, a heavy crowbar at my side.
He scrambled up out of bed and into the corner of the room. It was the reaction of a fucking coward. When he spoke his words were rushed, cracked and broken in terror.
“Who..who...are you!” he said, cowering in the corner of the room like an abused dog.
“Brad Scott?” I asked, my voice cold and dry. My heart was pounding inside but I didn't show it. I had grown used to reigning in my emotions when I needed to.
He nodded. “What's going on? Who are you?”
“I'm a close friend of Elle Harper. I think you know her don't you?” A growing menace infected my words as a questioning frown dipped over my eyes.
“Erm, yeah.” His face was white, the blood rushing out of it. He looked like he was going to faint.
And yeah, he knew exactly why I was here.
“I've come here tonight for one reason.” I let my words hang as I slowly walked further into the room towards him.
“I've come here to tell you what you're going to do. And if you don't, well...” I lifted up the crowbar as his eyes widened.
“OK Brad, here's how things are going to go. You have two choices.” I played this part well. It was what I did with anyone who tried to cheat in my casino, anyone who tried to wrong me. I gave them two options, and they always chose the one I wanted.
Brad, I knew, would do the same. Because really, there was only one choice he could make.
“You can either leave this motel right now, tonight, and never come back here again, and never, ever, ever, speak or go anywhere near Elle again or....”
I walked in further, watching him shake and cower, my eyes growing ever more fierce.
“...or I can take this crowbar here, and do what I'm best at.” I didn't need to clarify what that was. The threat was enough.
His reaction was instantaneous.
“No, I'll go, I'll go. I'll leave in the morning.” The words came tumbling out with such speed and fear that I could hardly understand them.
God he really was pathetic, squirming around on the floor like a worm. He'd been hiding out in this motel, creeping in looking for Elle. There was probably no other reason for him to be here. He was just a fucking stalker, a low life, his mind consumed by thoughts of her.
I looked briefly to the table with the TV on it and saw pictures scattered over it. They were all of Elle, pictures of her with him, pictures of her with friends, pictures of her on her own. My eyes drew up to the wall where I thought I'd seen decorations. They were images, as I thought, once more of her. They littered the wall, pinned up all over it.
My eyes began bulging in anger at the sight.
His face looked even more sheepish and scared when I turned back to face him. I gritted my teeth and growled through them, my words vibrating out of my throat.
“No, you'll leave now. You'll leave tonight. If I don't see you coming out of
this motel and driving off in the next 5 minutes, I'll come in here and give you option 2. HAVE YOU FUCKING GOT THAT!”
The last words thundered out of my mouth, my calm suddenly shattered.
I couldn't tell whether he was nodding on the floor or just shaking, but I didn't care. He'd got the fucking message.
I took one last glance at the images on the wall, my eyes stopping on one of Elle smiling in the sunshine, her face lit up. She looked so happy, so at ease, so free. I smiled lightly as I looked at it. I'd love to see her like that again.
I ripped my gaze from the image and back towards the door. “5 minutes.” I growled again. “I'll be watching from my car.”
With that I stormed out of the room, leaving the door hanging open as the cool night air spilled inside.
My promise kept. I hadn't hurt him.
Chapter 26 - Elle
Elle
The last two weeks had flown by. I mean, seriously flown.
That night Crash came to me I'd been a mess. It sucked that anyone could make me feel like that, and it sucked that I didn't have the guts to do anything about it myself. Well, I guess I would have done eventually, or at least that's what I told myself.
Only, I didn't need to in the end. Crash did it for me.
He'd called me early the next morning to tell me he'd found Brad, talked to him, and had seen him leave. He'd done all of that while I was sleeping. I couldn't believe someone would do all that for me.
I'd questioned him, of course, to find out exactly what had happened and he'd told me. I believed him when he told me he hadn't touched Brad. I believed the iron tone of his voice when he'd told me that Brad wouldn't bother me again.
But I also knew what he didn't tell me. That he must have threatened him. That he would have promised violence if Brad ever came back. As long as they only remained threats, that would be fine.
At the end of it, I didn't want Brad hurt. I wanted him to move on. Maybe this was what he needed to deter him for good, to shake him out of this state he'd got himself into. I hoped - no, believed - that he could finally move on.
And so could I.
....
It was a summer evening when I went on my first night out in a while.
Even with the threat of Brad gone, I'd remained locked in my room for the next couple of weeks. I had mountains of revision to get through and wasn't going to let anything get in the way of my grades.
So I knuckled down and set my mind to my exams alone. Everything fell to the wayside, everything except my dancing. That was the one thing I could never give up on.
Now, though, my mind was free. I'd just completed my exams for the year and was revving myself up for a celebratory night out. I could feel the excitement building in my body as I danced and drank in Tess' room, Alice and Lexi bouncing alongside me.
But it wasn't an excitement about finishing my exams that gripped at me the most. No, it was something else.
It was the knowledge that Crash would be there.
Crash.
The guy who people had warned me off. The guy who was apparently a psycho. The guy who'd been rumored to be involved in murder.
But no, that wasn't the man I'd come to know.
A car arrived to pick us up and take us to the club for 8 PM. There was a boundless energy inside it as we drove, the four of us cracking jokes and giggling the whole way. For the first time in a while, everything seemed to be going right for us all.
The most notably happy to me was Alice. I mean, Tess and Lexi always had this enthusiasm and verve for life, but Alice was a more reserved character, rarely letting her emotions run loose.
Tonight, though, her smile couldn't be contained. She looked like a different person, a jubilant glow around her as if she'd just gotten married or something. It was great to see.
I'd spoken to her briefly about what had happened with Brad, how Crash had come to me and how, by the next morning, it had all been sorted. I felt nervous telling her, expecting her to frown and tell me that Crash couldn't be trusted, that he'd probably hurt the guy or worse.
But she didn't. Something had changed in her. She only smiled when I told her and said how she'd been wrong about Crash, how he'd always do anything to look out for me. It was a complete turnaround, and one I didn't quite understand. I knew, however, that her buoyant mood tonight was probably related to it somehow.
Inside the club the guys were waiting. Kyle mirrored Alice's radiance, his face lit as brightly as hers. The twins stood together, as they often seemed to, Gem by Cade's side. Then there was Jude, standing by Zack. I noticed his eyes fall on Lexi as she came in, following her closely as she went through the group, kissing them each on the cheeks. I smiled at the sight, watching his expression turn a little sheepish as she approached him. So cute.
I felt my heart dip, however, as I looked on, Crash's absence sapping my excitement. Why wasn't he there?
A huge surge of disappointment began fusing through me, my entire body deflating as I went in and said hello to everyone.
“Is Crash not coming?” I asked Kyle as he passed me a glass of champagne.
He frowned, as if I was slightly mad, and smiled. “What, you mean the guy standing behind you?”
I turned to see Crash standing right behind me, a wide smile on his face. He wore a pair of smart black pants and a beautifully fitted white shirt. It hugged his body tight, the curve of his pecs and muscled arms visible beneath it.
I saw his smiling eyes dance over the group before he quickly took my hand and pulled me away towards a back-room.
“I've never been one for public affection,” he said as we rounded a corner away from prying eyes.
Then he kissed me passionately without me saying a word, sparks running through my lips and down my body as his hands brushed through my hair.
“I can't stay,” he spoke again, pulling away. “The work never stops.” He smiled, his beautiful white teeth shining like his shirt, but I felt the world drop again.
“But I've only just got here.” The disappointment in my voice was so obvious.
He nodded. “It's just for now. But I wondered,” he said, taking my hand in his, “if you'd like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
My heart lifted like a kite. “Yeah! Oh, I mean...that would be nice, sure.” I checked myself.
He lifted my hand up to his lips and kissed it. “Perfect. I'll call you.”
And just as suddenly as he'd appeared behind me, so he was gone again.
....
The rest of that night I was walking on clouds.
Dinner tomorrow night. With Crash.
I couldn't keep my smile at bay as we all celebrated together. My boundless joy wasn't lost on the girls who all commented, at one time or another, on my Cheshire Cat grin.
The sense of relief inside me was almost overflowing from my every pore. Exams over, Brad gone, social status solidified, dance troupe flourishing. For the first time in months, years even, my life was great.
Of course, the cherry on top was Crash. And by God was it a delicious cherry.
I spent most of the night dancing with Lexi; Tess and Alice coming and going. We had a private table beside the dance floor where the boys sat, chatting happily and sipping on spirits. They all looked really smart, with Armani shirts and jackets hugging their frames.
I could see Alice trying to drag Kyle out onto the dancefloor but he was having none of it. It looked as though none of the Logan boys liked to move much, actually. All except Jude. After a few drinks he'd built up enough confidence to make a play for Lexi.
He came and whispered in her ear and I saw her giggle coyly. They looked like they'd make a really cute couple. Lexi was literally the most adorable girl I'd ever met and Jude had this boyish charm and boy band look to him that would appeal to most girls. Not me though - I preferred a man's man.
Tess still had her eye on Zack, so went over and chatted with him on occasion. I knew they'd made out before but it was always when Zack was w
asted. Any time I saw him sober he looked disinterested. Give it a couple of hours though Tess, and he'll be all yours.
She got plenty of interest when she joined us out on the dance floor though. She always did. It wasn't just the way she looked, it was how she acted and this vibe she gave off. From the stories Alice had told me I knew she had this totally open side to her, completely sexually liberated and willing to try just about anything. She didn't seen to mind when Alice called her a slut in jest. Frankly, she had no way to argue against it.
I just thanked God that it was Alice I was living with and not Tess. I mean, who was to know who she'd be dragging in after a night out. Frankly, I don't think the presence of a room-mate would deter her after a few too many drinks and with a hot guy on her arm.
There were plenty of guys in the club, all dancing in groups around us and trying to inch their way closer. Some would make a play but were quickly shot down by myself or Lexi. As the evening wore on Tess, on the other hand, began to take the approaches of random guys more seriously. Zack didn't seem to care a great deal as he sat over with the others, a fact that probably spurred Tess on to try to make him jealous. I didn't think there was much chance of that happening.
It must have been getting late when I started to feel the night blurring around me. I wasn't sure whether it was the drink or the growing claustrophobia of the dance floor but I could feel my head beginning to cloud over. It was probably a mixture of both.
I went over to the table and told Alice that I was just going to pop outside to get some air, clear my head. She nodded vacantly, a smile still plastered on her face, as I migrated towards the door.
I stepped out of the club and into the cool evening air, filled now with smoke as dozens of people gathered outside, plumes of cigarette smoke issuing from their mouths. I moved off further to find some pure air, sucking it in deep into my lungs. It was so refreshing, so invigorating, my spinning head beginning to settle.
The noise of the club remained loud at my back, however, booming and pulsing. I moved off further down the street, looking for a quiet spot to gather my thoughts. The sound of the club softened in my ringing ears as I walked, the street growing quiet and largely deserted.
CRASH (A Logan Brothers Novel) Page 15