Losing Pieces of Me

by Briner, Rose

  “One coke please,” I tell the bartender when I sit down at the counter. He nods once and places the glass in front of me and uses his soda gun to fill it to the top.

  “You sure you don’t want something stronger? You look like you could use a real drink,” he says to me when I pick up the soda and put it to my lips.

  He’s right, I probably do, but now is not the time for me to start drinking. I’m on a mission and can’t afford to even have one drink right now. I politely shake my head no and he moves off down to the other end of the small bar to get someone else a drink.

  I turn in my chair taking my soda with me and look at the couples dancing in the room. I almost drop my glass when I spot Hayden dancing with some young girl in the center of the room. He stands out with his partner because while everyone is dancing like their life depends on it, he and his partner are grinding against one another like they are about five seconds from taking their clothes off. The girl reminds me so much of my sister in a way. Dress too short, heels too high, and a pound of makeup caked on her face. Not to mention the fact that she’s way too young for him and looks like she’s after his money. I would normally laugh and roll my eyes, but watching them, my mind drifts back to my sister. Just the thought of her has me placing the glass and a five dollar bill down next to it on the bar and standing from my stool so I can adjust my dress. As the night has gone on, this thing seems to be getting tighter and tighter, guess we’re not the same size after all.

  When I’m done, I refocus my gaze on the couple and narrow my eyes at Hayden, who now has his hands inching towards the girl’s ass. When she turns around to face him, he grabs two handfuls and grinds himself against her. I’m seeing red when he does this, that’s the same exact thing he did to my sister when they were together. I see he wasted no time moving on and if he’s really here, then where is my sister and this new life she supposedly started? Wouldn’t that life have included her new boy toy? Clearly that new life didn’t, because he’s standing mere feet from me now.

  I didn’t even realize that my feet had carried me so close to them, until I’m pushed from behind and plow right into the couple I’ve been glaring at.

  “Hey, what the hell?” huffs the girl when she’s pushed to the side and Hayden lets her go. I’m sure she thinks I pushed her out of the way on purpose to get to Hayden, especially since I am now right in front of him. When I look up at Hayden, that’s clearly what it looks like since I am now standing in her place.

  I ignore the girl as I turn fully to face him. “Hayden,” I grit out at him.

  “I’m sorry, have we met before?” he asks tilting his head to the side.

  I place my hands on my hips and glare up at him, “Of course we have, you don’t remember me? Katrina ring a bell?”

  He scratches the back of his neck as he blinks down at me in confusion. He’s good, I’ll give him that. If I wasn’t a hundred percent sure this was the man who was with my sister, I’d believe him when he says he doesn’t know me.

  “Sorry Katrina, we’ve never met before,” he says before turning his attention back to the girl he was dancing with.

  “Hayden, what’s going on?” pouts the girl. Now that I get a good look at her, she’s not that cute. Plastic is not a good look, especially for someone who looks to be as young as she is.

  “Nothing dear, let’s go up to my office so we can have some privacy,” he says, holding his hand out for the girl to take. The girl willingly takes his hand, but just as they are about to walk away from me he stops and whispers something to the girl, which has her glaring at me once before walking a short distance away.

  “Do yourself a favor,” he says, turning his attention back to me when the girl is far enough away that she can’t hear us. “Stay away from me and stop asking questions, Reya. Questions will get you killed.”

  With that, he stomps away from me and towards the smiling girl waiting for him. I start to follow behind them, but a hand that grabs my arm pulls me in the opposite direction. I struggle against the man who is pulling me with him in the other direction, but when he pushes me into a secluded corner and points a gun in my face, I stop struggling against him.

  “Let me make this clear to you, my boss said to get lost, so get lost. If I see you again, I’ll kill you myself,” he warns shoving me against the wall once to reiterate his point before he points to the door. “Leave now, this is your one and only chance to leave. You don’t leave, I’ll make you wish you were dead.”

  Staring up at the man before me, I want to spit in his face. But when he cocks his gun, I can see he’s not joking so I nod once in understanding before I move away from him and towards the exit. I look behind me once to see if he’s watching me and find him and three other men standing next to him watching me exit the club.

  I bet they think this is the last they’ll see of me, but they don’t know me so there’s no way they would know that I never intend to give up. I’ll never stop looking until I find her, but now I’ll have to figure out a way to get closer to Hayden because now I’m back at square one.

  Chapter Four

  “You can’t be serious?” I gape at the man seated on the other side of the desk.

  “I’m dead serious, the cost of such an assignment would be upwards of ten grand. We aren’t talking about my following just any man, we’re talking about one of the most eligible bachelor’s in the state who just so happens to be the brother of a billionaire who is the most eligible bachelor in the country, if not the entire world. I’d have to hire an entire team to follow both brothers to see if they can lead me to any clues as to your sister’s disappearance.”

  “Do you accept payments?” I ask hopeful that I can at least get this man to do some of the groundwork before he finds out I can’t make more than the first payment to him.

  He leans back in his chair casually and crosses his arms over his chest, “Look, you seem like a nice enough person and I really do wish I could help you find your sister, but I require at least fifty percent up front and not a penny less than that.”

  “Okay, thank you,” I tell the man standing from my chair. “I’ll see what else I can find and if I don’t find anyone with a better price, I’ll come back and discuss payment with you.”

  I have no intention of coming back, but he doesn’t need to know that. I make it to the door before he stops me.

  “Miss Morehouse,” he waits until I’m turning to face him before he continues. “I’ve been doing this a long time and I can tell you this, before you go wasting a lot of time that I know you don’t have, there’s no one cheaper than I am or better. You can go and look up other companies and compare them to mine, but the only way you’re going to find anything better is if you follow them around yourself.”

  I don’t respond as I open the door and exit his office. I hate to admit that he’s right. I’ve already looked at every other private investigator in the area and that included ones that work independently and this guy was the cheapest. More than that, he’s got connections that no one else does. Unless I get married and all of a sudden become rich, there’s no way I’ll be able to afford to hire that man or anyone half as good as him.

  I go home that night and sit for a long time thinking about what I can do now that I’ve run out of options. I think about tracking down Jayden and telling him all about my sister going missing and that I need his help, but I don’t know Jayden beyond the one time he spoke to me, so I can’t just go to him and tell him what’s happened and that his brother threatened me. For all I know, they are exactly the same and I’ll get killed for talking to Jayden and trying to convince him that his brother had something to do with my sister’s disappearance.

  I can’t give up though, and the more I think about it the more I realize what I must do. I have to follow Jayden around myself and see if he can lead me to any clues related to my sister’s disappearance. Sounds crazy, but that’s the only option I’ve got left, plus it’s the only free one.

  I wait a week during wh
ich time I try to talk myself out of doing this at least half a dozen times. But I don’t see any other way around this. This is my only chance to find my sister. I could try to get a full time job to pay for the private investigator, but by the time I save up the money I would need, she’d be missing probably two or three years and that’s just time I don’t have right now. The more time that passes, the less likely I am to find her alive. That is if she’s even still alive.

  I take a small disposable camera with me, my notepad, and pen in case I need them and set out for Leopold Investments, which is the company that Jayden owns. When I get there and look up at the building before me, I blow out a breath. The thing is huge. I can’t believe this entire building houses only Leopold Investments, but the sign outside the building tells me that the only thing here is the investment firm. I guess they weren’t lying in the paper when they said that Jayden is rich. There’s no question about that now.

  I locate a bench outside next to a man-made fountain and sit down on it trying to figure out where to begin. I pull my sunglasses on so that no one will recognize me and then sit there so I can watch the people coming and going from the building. I’m hoping people watching might spark some inspiration.

  I’m no closer to figuring out how to start this off than I was when I sat down. I must have been sitting on this bench for hours, because the next thing I know, a crowd of people starts to exit the building. Must be time to go home. I sit there and examine each and every person that walks out of that building, but not once do I spot Jayden. I sit there for hours waiting to see if he comes out, but I give up at around nine that night when I conclude that he’s either not here or is sleeping upstairs in his office. Could be either one at this point.

  I sit outside for a week hoping that I see him. Not once do I spot him. I sit there from dawn until dusk watching the people come and go. Let’s just say there have been a lot of trips to the store at night to stock up on energy drinks and coffee. I know I’m only going to be able to do this for a few more days before I’m going to have to give this up. Yesterday I got an eviction notice that told me I have until the end of the month to pack up my things and get out. Next month everything will be over and that’s more than just the search for my sister, I’ll be homeless.

  I vow to myself as I sit down early one Friday morning that if I don’t spot Jayden today, that this is going to be the last day I search for him. I’ve got to do something so I have enough money to afford a storage unit for a few months. I’ll have to live in it along with all of our stuff, I have no other choice at this point.

  I’m tired, worn down, and in serious need of some sleep as I sit down on the same bench. I’m here so often that I’m surprised that a guard or one of the employees hasn’t asked me if I’m okay, that is how much time I spend sitting out here. Lucky for me, all of these people are either in a hurry to get into the office or to go home that they don’t seem to notice me.

  This is the day I spot him for the first time since I started sitting here. He’s frowning down at his phone as he walks into the building in his dark blue suit. He looks even better than he did that night in the club. His blonde hair is cut shorter now and he looks like he’s in his element as he greets the doorman that holds the door open for him before he returns to scowling at his phone.

  Now that I’ve spotted him, I turn my head in the direction he came from expecting to see more of the guards I saw with Hayden that night in the club, but all I find is a black sleek SUV sitting on the curb with a driver standing there waiting. That must be his driver. I’m not sure what I expected, I thought maybe he’d be driving a sports car that screamed money and power, I wasn’t expecting an SUV. He proved that night that he was different from his brother and not flashy and yet I expected him to be that way now.

  Now that I’ve spotted him, I’m not sure what to do. I can’t exactly waltz into the building and ask to see him. I wouldn’t even know what to say to him. He’d probably laugh at me and have security escort me out the back door so they could eliminate me once and for all. The newspaper probably wouldn’t even write a real story about my murder either. I’d just be some poor dead girl they wrote a small paragraph about.

  I decide the best thing I can do is just sit here and wait, hoping that he decides to go out for lunch and isn’t one of those guys that has people go out and bring him his lunch because he’s too busy in a meeting to go and get something himself.

  Luck is on my side a little bit later on that day when I see him exiting the building, this time without his jacket. This time he doesn’t have his phone in his hand, but instead is looking down at his watch as he walks to the curb. I cross my fingers that his car doesn’t come around the corner, because if it does, I can’t follow him. I watch and almost fist pump when he throws his hands up in the air in frustration and begins to walk down the street.

  I stay a short distance away from him as he walks, the last thing I want is for him to notice me following him. I’m actually kind of surprised he doesn’t have guards that follow him around, he is rich and probably has women falling over one another just to get a piece of him. But as I watch him walk down the street, it’s almost like people are used to seeing him. Several people greet him as he walks and he greets them back. Strange really, if I didn’t know a thing about him, I would assume that he’s just your everyday, average guy. Perhaps in a lot of ways he is.

  He walks for a while before stepping into a coffee shop to get a drink so I keep walking past and don’t turn back around until I am what I consider a safe distance away from him. I don’t want him to come out and spot me, I don’t know how long I’ll have to follow him before I decide what I want to do. If I want to follow him around everywhere he goes or attempt to talk to him. I guess I’ll know what to do when the time is right.

  I don’t luck out when he walks back outside. The SUV pulls up and he gets in before it turns around and heads back in the direction of his office. At least that’s where I hope he’s going. I take my time getting a coffee and heading back to sit down in my usual spot. There’s no need for me to hurry to get back, it’s not like I’m going to miss anything exciting by taking a few extra minutes to get some much needed fuel and take my time getting back. I’m a little sore actually from having to sit on that bench day in and day out.

  I feel relief when I sit down on the bench and take a small sip of my coffee, allowing the caramel to coat the back of my throat before I swallow. The drink warms me on the inside and gets rid of some of the chill in the air. Now that winter is approaching, I’m starting to feel it big time. All I have is a thin coat now. I had to sell off most of our belongings just to be able to have some money in my pocket so I could get a storage unit ready and have some food to eat for the next couple of days.

  I take my time drinking my coffee. So long in fact, that halfway through my drink, it starts to get cold and I am forced to throw it away. Shame too, I was really enjoying it. I’ve been too busy people watching, hoping to see him come back out again. I know he’s still here, the SUV is parked at the curb.

  I sit for hours trying in vain not to get up unless it’s absolutely necessary to do so. I don’t want to draw the attention of his driver. The driver, like myself, has been sitting in that car all day long. The last thing I need is for him to spot me and alert Jayden that I’m out here.

  Finally, I can’t take sitting around anymore. I’m hungry and I really need to use the bathroom. I usually go to the coffee shop Jayden went to get something to drink and use the bathroom before heading back to sit on the bench, but since I spotted him today, I’ve been afraid to leave the bench for fear that I’ll miss him and that this might be my one and only chance to follow him.

  I eye my car sitting in the spot where I left it, with yet another parking ticket on it, and head for the coffee shop. I’ll have to make this trip really quick because if I take too long, he might manage to get away before I have a chance to get to my car and follow him. I just hope that if I do need to follow him, that
it’s not during rush hour. The traffic here in the city can be pretty brutal during rush hour.

  Ten minutes later I enter the coffee shop and smile because I’m about to get my favorite piece of coffee cake and another one of my favorite drinks. Issue is, the line is really long right now. So I use the bathroom and head out to the sandwich shop I spotted the other day when I went for a late night walk. Lucky for me the place is empty, so I head inside and order a small turkey sandwich with a coke so I’ll have something in my stomach. It’s not much, but it’ll be enough for me to make it through the rest of the day until I can get home and have something real to eat. Okay, well if you count soup out of a can a real meal, then I guess that’s what it’ll be.

  I look down at my watch and curse when I see how long I’ve been gone. It’s been more than half an hour since I left the bench and for all I know, he’s gone now. I rush out of the shop and around onto the sidewalk tucking my sandwich under my arm as I take off running. I make it around the corner before I’m knocked to the ground by a figure I plow into.

  I look down at my sandwich, which is now lying in the middle of the street and of course, my damn soda is all over the front of my jacket and I can feel it seeping through my shirt as it wets my bra. Just great, another drink I’ll be wearing for the rest of the day.

  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you-” my words die in my throat when I look up to see the man standing before me. It’s none other than Jayden. Just my luck right?

  He smiles down at me as he helps me to regain my footing when I almost trip over my own feet and fall back down as I attempt to stand.

  “That’s quite all right,” he says, dazzling me with that smile of his. I’m momentarily struck silent as I look over his chiseled facial features and my eyes land on his blue ones. Today they are full of amusement as he stares down at me. I bet he’s remembering that night in the club.