The Fan

by Velvet Vaughn

  “Don’t you have anything else to add?” Luke asked.

  What the hell were these two boneheads talking about? “Spit it the hell out before I start throwing punches.”

  “You want me to spell it out,” Dan said. “Fine. The babe you were just, if I’m not mistaken, burning up the sheets with…Juliet LaRue.”

  Logan scoffed. “I introduced her you dolt. Her name is Jade LaRossa.”

  Dan and Luke exchanged astonished glances.

  Luke jerked a thumb in the direction Jade and Bella disappeared. “I don’t know what planet you've been living on, dude. That’s Juliet LaRue…the movie star.”

  Juliet a movie star? No, no way. She couldn’t be. She was a school teacher. From St. Louis. She told him so.

  Luke and Dan looked convinced of their reveal. Dan could be clueless sometimes, but never Luke. If Luke insisted she was Juliet LaRue, then she probably was the famous movie star.

  Logan shook his head feebly, hanging on to one last shred of hope. His voice came out as a croak. “No, it’s not. Her name is Jade. Jade LaRossa.”

  A sudden memory flashed through his head of the night her husband paid her a late night visit and he went to investigate. “I’m her husband,” the man claimed. When Logan questioned her with the simple utterance of her name, her husband responded: “Jade? Who the hell is Jade? Her name is Juliet.”

  Juliet LaRue. And the man had been Kyle Ashton, the actor killed a couple of weeks ago in a car accident, the funeral Jade attended.

  Logan watched with a sense of detachment as Dan stalked over to a cabinet and whipped out a DVD. He slapped it into Logan’s hand. “Look familiar?”

  Logan didn’t want to look, he knew the truth would stare him in the face and he wouldn’t be able to cling to that last shred of hope that Jade was who she said she was…a Midwestern school teacher.

  Dan and Luke were watching him intently…he couldn’t put it off any longer. He gazed at the picture of Jade, aka Juliet LaRue smiling back at him. She was wearing a low cut T-shirt, showcasing cleavage he was intimately familiar with, cleavage he'd buried his face in ten minutes ago. The hair was different but it was definitely his Jade. No. Scratch that. Not his. She wasn’t his anything.

  He lifted his head to the two other men, both staring at him with something akin to hero-worship. He felt like laughing. He was no hero. He was a first class idiot, a sucker who had just been played like a well-tuned piano.

  “She lied to me.”

  He snapped the plastic DVD case in two and flung it across the room. It took out a lamp and he felt a small thrill of satisfaction when it crashed to the floor.

  He needed air. He stalked outside, reached behind his head and pulled his T-shirt off. Then he kicked off his shoes, unlocked the gate and dove into the pool, jeans and all.

  #

  “We’re back, and we bringed ‘ookies,” Isabella sang. She stopped and looked around the room. “Where’s my daddy?”

  Dan crouched down to face the little girl. “He went for a swim, Bella. Why don’t you join him?”

  “Come-on Jade.” The little girl squealed and took off.

  Isabella completely forgave Jade for missing her play and even offered to reenact her part as the caterpillar turned butterfly, wings and all. The resilience of children was nothing short of amazing.

  Logan’s partner put a restraining hand on her arm, stopping her progress. She looked at his quizzically. He waited until Dan opened the door for Bella and then both men turned and faced her, arms crossed over their massive chests.

  Jade took a step back. Both of their handsome faces were narrowed with anger. She felt as if she were standing in front of a firing squad.

  “What do you think you're doing?” This from the brother she'd pegged as easy-going.

  “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.” Her gaze shifted from one man to the other and she took another step back.

  “Logan's been through a lot the last few years,” Luke growled. “The last thing he needs is some woman waltzing in, messing with his head, playing him for a fool.”

  Jade’s discomfort was replaced by irritation. “Logan is a grown man.” He shouldn’t have to run his sex life by these two Neanderthals. “And for your information, no one is playing anyone for a fool. I would never do that to Logan or anyone for that matter.”

  Logan’s brother stalked across the room and picked something up off the floor. He walked back and held two pieces of plastic in front of her face.

  Siege at Seattle High. All the blood drained from Jade’s face. Her eyes flew to the two men in front of her. “Oh no.” She covered her mouth with a hand. “He knows?”

  “Right in one,” the brother said.

  “Why did you lie to him?” Luke snapped.

  “I didn’t…exactly.” Jade crossed her arms around her stomach and started pacing. She wanted to throw up.

  He would never forgive her now. She loved him and he hated her. She was the lowest of the low—a liar. Desperately needing two people close to him to know the truth, she started talking.

  “At first, I didn’t want anyone to know I was staying here this summer. I needed time away, time to relax. I didn’t know Logan, didn’t know if I could trust him. There are very few people in the world I can trust.” She didn’t say that for sympathy, rather it was the harsh, depressing truth.

  “After I got to know him better, he confided in me about Isabella’s mother and how she had left him to become an actress. He despised the profession and even expressed his fear that Bella would want to be an actress like her mother. By that time, I really started to like him, I couldn’t tell him that I was the very thing he hated most.”

  Luke pinned her with a fierce scowl. “So what, you figured you’d have a little summer fling, wave goodbye at the end of a couple of months and then flutter on back to Hollywood?”

  She flinched as if he'd slapped her. “No, I would never do that.”

  “So were you actually planning on telling my brother…or did you just want him to stumble across one of your movies and find out? Which, I might add, is exactly what happened.”

  She squirmed nervously. “I was going to tell him, I just hadn’t found a way to do so yet.”

  “I can see where it would be hard to find the time to tell someone your true identity while you were rolling around in the sheets together,” Luke continued relentlessly.

  She opened her mouth to blast him but Dan cut her off. “My brother is trying his hardest to be a good father and mother to Bella. He didn’t have much experience to draw from so he's determined not to make any mistakes. He's never brought a woman here and has refused to even date since Bella came to stay. How do you think it will make him feel to know he ignored all his self-imposed rules on you and you repaid him by lying to him?”

  “He slept with you in this house…Bella’s house. He’s going to hate himself for that more than anything,” Luke added.

  Jade pressed her lips together. They were both right. She deserved the horrible things they were saying to her. How could she have made an even bigger mess of her life? She gazed out the glass door. Logan was swimming laps, a happy Isabella riding him like a horse.

  Luke placed a hand on her arm, forcing her to turn and face him.

  “Look Jade or Juliet or whatever your real name is, Logan was hurt deeply by a woman he trusted. I won’t watch him go through that again.” He paused. “I think you'd better leave.”

  Jade considered his words and turned to leave. She spun around so suddenly, Luke jumped back in surprise.

  “No, you know what? I’m tired of people telling me what I should do, what I shouldn’t do, who I should be seen with. I have enough of that in LA. I don’t need it from you. I really like Logan, Isabella, too. I’m going to apologize to him and explain why I didn’t tell him sooner.” She marched to the sliding glass door.

  Dan bolted forward and blocked the exit, his fists planted on his hips. “I don’t think you understand. That leaving t
hing…it wasn’t a request. We won’t let you hurt him.”

  She mimicked his stance and glared mutinously.

  #

  Dan sighed. Man, he was a sucker for a beautiful face. He wanted to call this woman one hundred kinds of a bitch, but he could see the real pain etched on her features. She may have royally messed with his brother, but she wasn’t the unaffected Hollywood princess he thought her to be. She cared for Logan, by the looks of it, deeply.

  His brother would beat the crap out of him if he heard him say this, but Logan truly was a hero, had been Dan’s since the day he was born. He understood why this amazingly beautiful starlet would be captivated completely by Logan. Most people who met him were. Juliet LaRue wasn’t stringing him along. If he read her right, she'd already fallen in love.

  “Look, I know my brother. If you go out there now, he's going to say or do something he will regret later. Most likely, it will upset Bella, and he'd hate himself even worse. Now, I’m not going to let that happen. Give him a chance to cool off. If he sees things differently in the morning and wants to discuss it with you, I’m sure he will be in touch.”

  Jade looked ready to argue again and then suddenly the fight went out of her and her shoulders slumped like a deflated balloon. “I suppose you're right…you know, for Isabella’s sake.” She cast one last look out the door and then turned and fled up the stairs.

  Dan waited until he heard the front door close before he faced Luke.

  “He’s going to beat himself up over this. At least he has Bella to take his mind off of the whole thing.”

  “And us too,” Luke added with a toss of his head, indicating they should go out and be with him.

  Bella was riding on Logan’s shoulders, twirling around happily, but he stopped suddenly when he heard footsteps and turned a grim face. He visibly relaxed when he saw Dan and Luke.

  Dan vowed not to let Jade hurt his brother again.

  He peeled off his shirt and yelled, “I’m gonna get you Bella!”

  She screamed with glee and clapped her hands as he and Luke raced to the pool and jumped in.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Jade sat in the darkened living room, a glass of Merlot in her hand, misery her only company. She wagered a debate with herself whether to stay or run back to California.

  She knew which side would win. She loved Logan. She couldn’t leave until she at least explained her reasoning for lying.

  How could she have let her little fib spiral so out of control? She didn’t plan for it to in the beginning. She more than anyone hated liars. She'd been married to one for years.

  Each time Kyle lied to her, a little piece of her heart died. It had happened so much, she'd feared that she didn’t have a heart left. Then Logan Bradley and his beautiful, sweet daughter appeared in her life and that organ in her chest started to come alive, beat again.

  And now because she'd done the very thing she despised, she would probably never see him again. Who could blame him?

  With a sigh, she tipped the goblet to her lips and swallowed a healthy swig. While she would love to pass off the blame, she had no one to fault but herself.

  A beep sounded and she realized it was her cell phone, alerting her to a new message. Being away from Hollywood and the constant demands of phones and beepers had been very liberating.

  She had to buy a new one when she flew back to California. Kyle had demolished hers the night he came to visit. She kept the same number so the people at MegaPics could reach her.

  Pushing to her feet, she retrieved the phone from her purse. Fifteen missed calls but only one message. Punching a series of numbers, she held the phone to her ear and padded to the kitchen. The wine glass slipped from her fingers and crashed to the sink.

  “Darling, we’ve been apart for so long. I’ve missed you, my love.”

  It was him, the weirdo with the scary notes.

  “I need to hear your voice, see your beautiful face.” Jade’s hand shook violently. “I guess you realize now that I have ridded you of that pest Ashton so he won’t be bothering you again.”

  Jade’s legs gave out and she slumped to the floor. He killed Kyle Ashton? The police ruled the crash an accident. They said Kyle fell asleep at the wheel and plunged off the cliff.

  “Did you get the present I sent you, darling? I hope so. I just knew you would love it. I can’t wait to see you, hold you. I love you, Juliet.”

  Chills ran down her spine. What could he have sent? She didn’t want to know.

  She needed to call the police, let them know Kyle’s death was actually murder. She thought about running to Logan and telling him the whole story but he probably wouldn’t care or believe her anyway.

  It did seem far fetched that the strange person leaving her messages killed Kyle Ashton.

  Heading upstairs for the phone book she remembered seeing in a bedside table, her gaze lit on the box Nora forwarded from California before her death. She never got around to opening the package. Could it be the present the man mentioned?

  Picking it up, she carried it with her to the bedroom and dropped it on the bed. Jamming a fingernail under the label Nora slapped on the box, she carefully peeled it off. The original lettering was addressed to her California home. No return address.

  Using a pair of scissors, she sliced through the tape and pulled out another box. It was a small white package with a red ribbon. She didn’t want to do it but she'd never been a coward and she wouldn’t start now.

  Pulling the end of the cord, she untied the ribbon and let it drift to the bedspread. It had a funny odor and she wrinkled her nose. Prying off the lid, she peeled apart the tissue paper, and screamed.

  #

  Logan continued to swim laps long after everyone else had left, using the calming effect of the water to ease his flaming temper. Sensing his lingering unease, Luke took off and Dan carted Isabella inside to get her ready for bed.

  The water was the only thing that could soothe him. Well, that and his daughter. One look at her innocent face and all felt right with the world.

  Once Dan and Luke left, all the old feelings of betrayal and bitterness crept back in. Not that he felt like Jade owed him anything. He barely knew the woman. But her lies were just another form of betrayal by another woman he really liked.

  She said she loved him.

  Ah well, women, who needed them?

  Logan thought about that and laughed. Stupid statement. He definitely needed them, he just didn’t want them to stick around when he was finished.

  He started to push off for another lap when a shrill scream rent the night.

  Jade’s scream.

  He launched out of the water and barely slowed as he shoved his feet into a pair of battered sneakers and darted into the pool house to grab his back-up gun. Earlier in the evening, he'd shed the jeans for a pair of trunks. He quickly spun the combination of the locked safe and pulled out his backup SIG. Swiping a T-shirt, he stuck his arms through the sleeves at the same time he raced for Jade’s house.

  He leapt over the fence and hurried to the back door. A light shone in the upstairs bedroom and he couldn't decide whether he should break in or not. The last time he did, he found a half-naked Jade in bed with her ex. He didn’t want a repeat of that little scene burned into his brain.

  Deciding that her scream sounded duly terrified, he made quick work of the lock and entered. He stayed low and against the walls as he moved to the staircase. He took the steps two at a time, still silent as a ghost. He heard what sounded like someone choking. He rushed forward, deducing the noise originated from the bathroom. He flipped on the light and found Jade on the floor, retching over the toilet.

  “Oh, honey.”

  He dashed into the room, flicked the safety on the gun and shoved it in the back waistband of his board shorts. He grabbed a rag off a hook and ran it under hot water. He rung out the excess water, bent down and lifted Jade to her feet, flushed the toilet, and wiped her face with the cloth. Her eyes were wild and
frantic.

  “Logan.”

  She barely breathed the word and then launched herself at him. He caught her against his chest. “Shh, shh, it’s ok. I’m here now.” He crooned softly and stroked her hair like he did for Isabella when she woke with a bad dream. “What happened?”

  Jade hugged him a few minutes more before she pulled away and led him to the bedroom. She pointed to the box perched on the bed and then quickly averted her eyes. She wrapped both hands around her waist.

  Logan’s gaze moved from her back to the bed. A brown package sat open on the comforter, a smaller white box resting beside the larger one. He looked around the room and spotted a pencil on a desk by the window. He grabbed it and then walked to the bed. Using the eraser end, he carefully moved the tissue aside to peer into the box.

  Have mercy.

  It was a human finger.

  Chapter Thirty

  Jade watched detachedly as Logan inspected the box and then jumped back when he realized what rested inside on a bed of cotton. At least he didn’t react like she did. She'd barely made it to the bathroom before she lost the entire contents of her stomach.

  “It’s Kyle’s,” she informed him in a low monotone. “That's his wedding ring.”

  She shuddered again, recalling the macabre sight of Kyle’s finger, the band still attached.

  Logan walked over to the phone and dialed a number. She heard him request a crime team and then he disconnected and quickly redialed. This time he got Dan on the phone. He spoke softly and she couldn’t make out what he was saying to his younger brother. The conversation was brief and he hung up and turned to face her again.

  “Do you have any idea who did this?”

  There was a trick question. She had no doubt it was the same person who'd sent the strange notes and left disturbing messages on her phone. But she had absolutely no idea the identity of the demented person.

  She told him about the notes, each one increasingly more twisted than the last. “They were disconcerting, but I didn’t think much about them,” she confessed. “Many public figures have fanatic fans. Usually if you ignore them, they go away. But this one…” She took a deep breath. “He said he killed Kyle Ashton. For me.”