by Terry Towers
The sound of his groan and thump as his body hit the cement caught douche number 1’s attention and he spun around, holding Sidney in front of him, a knife to her throat. “Walk away, man. This isn’t your business.”
I raised the gun and pointed it at his forehead. “Kinda is. Let her go and I might let you live.”
“Please. Let me go,” she whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks and leaving streaks of mascara and eyeliner in their wake.
“Walk away my friend.”
“Not going to happen… Friend.”
I was only ten feet away from him. I had no doubt I’d hit him right on target, but my only fear was that he’d fall backwards, slicing her throat in the process.
“Then I guess we’re at a standoff.”
“Well…” I looked down at his friend. “From the looks of it your friend only has maybe fifteen minutes before he bleeds out and dies at my feet. So if you let her go maybe I’ll let you take this piece of shit to the hospital. And just so you’re clear on this if you hurt her you’ll die. I’ll shoot you in the fucking head and once in the cock, just for being a raping piece of shit.”
The man looked down at his friend then up at me, indecision in his eyes. “Make the right decision Friend.”
He stood staring at me, rage in his dark eyes, but finally conceded. “Fine.”
Good decision, Friend, I thought.
He gave her a push away from him and towards me. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her behind me shielding her from the scum, took aim at his left thigh and shot once. He crumbled to the ground with a low groan.
She let out a scream and I immediately turned to her, covering her mouth with my hand. “Calm down. He’ll live.” Maybe not, but she didn’t need to know that. “I’m not going to hurt you Sidney.” As I tucked the gun back into my shoulder holster, Douche 1 moaned behind us. “Are you going to be quiet if I remove my hand?”
Despite the fear in her blue eyes, she nodded.
“Good. All right then. Let’s get out of here.” With my hand planted firmly at the small of her back, I steered her away from the men and rushed her down the alley and across the street. We needed to get as far away from there as humanly possible and fast before the men were discovered.
She didn’t say a word, but let me steer her to the back parking lot of the hotel and to my black Mercedes. I opened the passenger door for her, she got in and I closed it. Rushing to the driver’s side I slid in and started the car. There were no witnesses, which was a plus. I looked over at Sidney before putting the car into gear. She was staring blankly out the windshield. She was in shock; it was to be expected.
Sidney
What in the hell just happened? And why did I allow myself to be put into the car of a stranger who may or may not have murdered two men? I looked over at the man driving us down the highway; his eyes were focused on the road, but I could see his thoughts were far from here.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you home.”
“I’m not sure I want to go home with you. I don’t know you. You may have killed someone.” Not like I had a choice, I supposed. I didn’t have much interest in jumping from a moving car.
He looked at me and frowned. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. “I saved you from getting raped and perhaps murdered. And as long as they get help they’ll live, but maybe I should have killed them, they would have deserved it. I can guarantee to you that you weren’t the first and chances are won’t be the last. I’ve a good mind to go back and finish the job. But I have to make sure you’re safe first.”
“Please don’t.” Maybe he was right and I wasn’t the first or the last, but I couldn’t have the deaths of two people on my conscience. It just wasn’t in me.
“I won’t.” He looked at me again and smiled. “I promise.”
We were silent for a while, both lost in our respective thoughts, I couldn’t even guess how long, but eventually I saw us turn onto my road and frowned as I saw my house come into view. “You’re taking me home?”
“That’s what I said. Didn’t you hear me the first time?”
“I thought you meant your home.”
Flicking on the blinker, despite no cars being behind us, he turned into my driveway and stopped at the keypad in front of the iron gates. “What’s the code?” My head was still swirling with a combination of the effects of the alcohol and what had happened, so much so that it didn’t even occur to me at that moment to wonder how he knew where I lived.
“I can’t go home.”
He frowned as he put the car into park and looked over at me. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said, I can’t go in there.” There was no way I was going to face Anthony. Not right now. I’d endured enough for one night, thank you very much.
“It’s your place, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but I’m staying at the hotel right now.”
He sighed, his frown deepening. “The hotel across from the bar I presume?”
“That’s the one. Can you take me back there instead?”
“Nope. The bar will be crawling with cops and reporters by now.”
The mention of reporters changed my mind on the spot. Ohmygod, it would be all over the news. I could see the headlines now, Star of The Hunters Nearly Raped Behind a Bar in Beverly Hills. The reporters and paparazzi would have a field day and the would-be rapists would be in the limelight – pseudo-celebrities. No. No way. I couldn’t let that happen. It occurred to me that I owed the stranger more than just saving me from being raped, he saved me from months’ worth of harassment and reliving the event over and over in the media.
“Thank you. For what you did.”
“You’re welcome. Well –” He put the car into reverse and back out into the road again. “– if you can’t go home for some unexplained reason and I can’t take you back to the hotel, where do I take you?”
Chapter 4
Elijah
When she shrugged I sighed. A little direction would be nice. What was wrong with me anyhow, I’d waited years to have time with her and I was trying to get rid of her as quickly as possible? How messed up was that? Shifting the car into drive, I took back off in the direction of the highway. I could take her to my place, I supposed. Though she’d already stated that she didn’t want to go there. Not that I blamed her. After nearly being raped going to a strange man’s house wouldn’t be the first choice on my list either.
And shit, I was sweating. Palms damp, undershirt sticking to my chest, perspiring. Seriously, I was fucked up. I groaned inwardly. Not very macho that’s for sure. Though I did save her life so that should equal out me acting like a teenaged boy with a crush right now, shouldn’t it?
“We broke up.”
“Huh?” I looked back over at her. “You and Anthony broke up?”
Her brow furrowed and she tilted her head, eyeing me with scrutiny. “Do I know you?”
Yup, but you don’t remember me. Not really anyhow, I mused. I supposed I could tell her, but I didn’t want to. Don’t know why, I just didn’t. No, that’s not true, I did know why. I guess a part of me was hoping she’d remember on her own, while another part wanted to keep that part of my life nice and buried, deep in the recesses of my mind. I wasn’t that person anymore, I was no longer the prey, now I was the predator. And I didn’t want her pity. If she remembered me she’d get that sad, remorseful look on her face, the expression someone gets when they discover a wounded puppy. I didn’t want her remembering me when I was young and weak. When I was a mark. That’s the last thing I wanted.
“Do you know who I am?” she asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
“You’re Sidney Lopez.”
She leaned toward me in her seat, as far as the seatbelt would allow. “Wait a second.”
I took my eyes off the road a second and cocked a brow up at her, but said nothing.
“Do you go to conventions? You know, comic cons and such?”
I laughed. �
�Do I look like someone who frequents such places? All those fangirls and cosplay geeks and whatnot?” I grimaced.
She shook her head. “Doesn’t mean you don’t. Come on. Please. Tell me, is that where I know you from? Or are you a stuntman or something and have worked with me on set? You look like you could be a stuntman and seemed to know your way around a gun. Is that how I know you?”
“I’m not going to tell.”
She groaned out loud. “Wait a second. I don’t even know your name. You know mine, so it’s the least you can give me, being that you’re my hero and all.”
I laughed wholeheartedly this time. “I’m hardly a hero. And my name is Elijah.”
“Elijah… Elijah, Elijah…” She clucked her tongue off of the roof of her mouth. “I do know you. Holy crap.” She gave my shoulder a shove, causing my hand to jerk on the wheel, sending the car a foot or so into the oncoming lane. “You’re a fanboy!”
Groaning out load I shook my head and then looked over at her. “I’m not a fanboy. Please don’t call me that.” Obsessed stalker was more like it, but she wasn’t going to know that.
“Which convention did I see you at?”
The easier question was which one she didn’t, but I held my tongue, choosing to tell her the last one I’d been to. “Secaucus, NJ. The expo center.”
“Yeah, Secaucus. Well, what are you doing in L.A.?”
“I was on business in New York and decided to drop by the convention. I have an apartment in Brooklyn and a house here in L.A.” That wasn’t a complete lie. I did have business there at the time, Speed Daddy to be exact, but my primary reason for being there was her. It’s truly fucked up when a person lines up their hits to align with an actress’s appearance schedule, but that’s how it was. Kill a guy, get an autograph and picture with Sidney, head off to the next city, rinse and repeat. That’s the life of Elijah Abraham.
She still wasn’t giving me any indication on where she wanted me to take her so I headed towards my house. I did a mental inventory of my house; the last thing I wanted was my photobook to be out in the open or something equally as creepy that would scream stalker and have her running as fast as her feet would take her. The 6’ x 9’ autographed canvas poster of her that I won at a charity auction that I had mounted on my living room wall in my Brooklyn apartment would be a perfect example. But at least it wasn’t mounted above my bed, that should amount to something – right? Giving my L.A. house a mental sweep I determined there wasn’t anything that I could think of.
“Oh yea, yea, yea. I remember you now.” She laughed and clapped her hands in excitement, then gave my arm another shove. The car swerved slightly into the other lane again. Seriously though, the chick was going to get us in an accident if she kept this up. She didn’t seem to notice. “I told you to pick me up for the picture. That was so cool. Did the picture turn out okay? I wanna see it. I wish you’d come back to my table and shown me. Do you have it here in L.A.?”
“Yes, though it’s on my phone anyhow.”
“Did it turn out okay?”
“I don’t think there’s a picture in the world that would look bad with you in it.” Glancing over at her again, I smiled at her and she actually blushed. Even in the dim lighting of the car I could see her cheeks turning crimson. For a woman who no doubt spent every day hearing compliments it was amusing to see her blushing over a simple offhanded compliment.
“That’s not true. It’s mostly all Photoshop. And they force me to wear this corset thing under my costume for the show to make it look like my figure is better than it is. That stupid thing really hurts to wear, you have no idea. You know, I almost didn’t get the part, they felt I was too fat for it, but they couldn’t find anyone that suited the part as well as I did.”
“You’re hardly fat.”
“As far as Hollywood is concerned I am.”
“The people in Hollywood are idiots.”
She laughed. “Wanna tell them that for me?”
I laughed. “I doubt they’d listen to me.”
She perked up in her seat and looked around. “Are we in Santa Monica?”
“Yea, you didn’t seem to want to give me direction so we’re heading to my place.” I glanced over at her as I turned off the highway. “Unless you want me to take you somewhere else.”
She shrugged, her nose crinkling up. “I have nowhere to go right now. I mean, I could go to a hotel, but I honestly don’t want to. And I can’t go home. And I can’t just show up at a friend’s house at 1am. I could, it’s not like this is a normal social call. But I don’t want to.”
“Then my place?”
“It’s probably not the safest idea…”
“Being a celebrity and going into a bar alone and getting halfway drunk wasn’t the safest idea. Neither was getting in a car with me. But you did both.” I flashed her a smile. “Why stop the reckless behavior now? But I can take you wherever you want. I have nearly a full tank of gas and I think I could wrangle more up if needed.”
She laughed again. “That’s not necessary. If you don’t mind me hanging out with you for the night I’d appreciate it.” Her mood turned somber. “Even though I’m joking around I’m still not feeling…” She shrugged. “It’s better to laugh than cry, right?”
“I know.” I’d been around women who’d been victims before. More than I’d like, to be honest. Rapists were on the top of my hobby kill list, right up there with pimps and drug pushers. Again, you’re welcome America for my free service. Had she not been with me and if I weren’t concerned with making her terrified of me, lumping me in with those monsters, I would have killed the two assholes right then and there. They got lucky – for now anyhow.
We drove in silence until we reached the gates to my home.
“Wow, this is yours?” She perked up in her seat, her eyes growing wide as she scanned the manor ahead of her.
“It’s not nearly as big as your place.”
“But it’s beautiful.” Her brow creased, a smile still on her face. “Is it on the ocean?”
“Yup, I have a little strip of beach, not too large but it’s secluded, which is nice.” Lowering my window, I reached out and punched my code into the box. It dinged its acceptance and the gates creaked as they opened for us to drive through. I took a good look at my house as I drove up to the front. It was a nice colonial revival-style two-storey home, traditionally painted white with black trim.
“Wow.” She was out of the car before I even had the engine turned off. “I love architecture. If I hadn’t made it as an actress I would have taken it in college,” she stated as I got out of the car to stand beside her as she surveyed the front of my 4,000-square-foot home.
“Really?” I cocked a brow at her as if this were new information. I knew this, but nodded, pretending I didn’t. I didn’t know because I’d read it, but because she’d told me a long, long time ago. It was her dream before acting even became a thought in her mind.
“Yup, I was pretty good at stuff like this in high school. I’m working with an architect now to design my own home actually.”
“You don’t say.” That was new information. Guess I didn’t know everything about her after all.
“Yup.” She turned to face me, a wistful look in her eyes, the street light from the driveway beaming down on her and spotlighting her in the darkness. “It’s going to be wonderful. Everything I dreamed of since I was a little girl.” I was struck tongue-tied by how beautiful she was so I didn’t respond.
Sidney
He was looking at me with such intensity that I had to look away. It wasn’t a creepy intensity, but it was like I could feel his love and affection just by looking into his sapphire-blue eyes. He was a stranger; it made no sense that he would feel that way towards me. I should have been unsettled by the look, but I wasn’t. Maybe it was the alcohol, but mostly it was because I felt something towards him – appreciation? Gratefulness? Attraction? All of the above. Of course the fact my heart was shattered into a thousand pieces d
ue to Anthony’s betrayal may also be a factor.
“Come on, let’s get in.”
I released a sigh of relief, glad he’d broken the tension. “Okay.” I followed him up the steps and into the house. I kicked off my shoes at the door and waited for him to take off his suit jacket and drape it over the back of a chair. My eyes fell to the pistol in his shoulder holster. Why was he carrying a gun? I was grateful he had been, but it brought about a lot of questions that I was reluctant to ask. He could be anything from a cop, to FBI to personal security… or something more ominous. I gave my head a shake, I’d find out later. He wasn’t going to hurt me, he’d saved me and that’s all that mattered.
As he directed me through the house, giving me a tour, I was amazed at the tidiness of the house. It resembled a museum more than a home. I stopped several times to gaze at some of the artwork hung on the wall, or to peer at a sculpture standing on a white pedestal.
“Do you live alone? Or have a maid?”
“I’m single and live alone. And nope, no maid. I’m fine cleaning myself.”
“It’s a lot to keep cleaned. I’d be lost without my housekeeper,” I said, following him up the spiral staircase to the second floor. We turned to the left and he led me to the end of the hall.
“You can sleep here.” He opened the door to – surprise, surprise – a perfectly neat room. Taupe walls with a cream-coloured thick carpet and queen-sized bed in the center. The cream-coloured carpet would be a nightmare to keep clean but as I entered the room I didn’t see a single stain or smudge on the carpet. In fact, it looked as though aside from cleaning no one ever entered the room.
“So no girlfriend?”
“Nope. I work and travel a lot.”
“Yeah, I hear ya. It’s difficult maintaining a relationship when you rarely have time together.”
He turned to face me and leaned back against the mahogany dresser, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, what happened between you and Anthony?”
I walked over to the bed and plunked myself down onto it. “I came home early, one of my appearances cancelled so I decided to surprise Anthony. I found him in the hot tub fucking his co-star. So I gave him a few days to gather his stuff and get out. I assume he’s still there.”