by Tia Siren
He spent the day trying to run into her between her classes, but she somehow managed to avoid him. She didn’t show up at the café where he expected her to eat and she didn’t show up to her afternoon class he decided to walk in on. She had skipped all of her classes and disappeared into thin air.
With a huff, he took off after looking up an address and pulled up in front of Gerald’s apartment. Without hesitation, he went up to the door and wrapped on it as hard as he could. The chance that he was there was minimal, unless he was with Eva. When the door opened, Edward felt something squeeze his chest. Gerald appeared, bare chested and bare footed. He wore a pair of shorts and nothing more that Edward could see.
“Where’s Eva?” he blurted out.
“Hello, again. Eddie, right?” he pointed and smiled.
Edward pushed past him and walked into the man’s house. “Where is she?”
“I’m sorry, but Eva isn’t here.” He leaned up against the wall, very melancholy and crossed his arms over his chest. “Is there a problem?”
“You are damned right there is a problem.” Edward looked around the room and spotted a closed door. He looked at Gerald and then bombarded across the room toward the door.
“Don’t go in there!” Gerald yelled. He tried to run after him to stop him, but Edward had gotten to the door first, turning the knob and flinging the door open. He was right, it was Gerald’s bedroom. He froze at the naked woman in his bed until she turned toward them with fear in her eyes. The young blond woman was hardly old enough to be a college student.
Edward took a big breath and nodded at her. “Sorry.” He closed the door and walked back toward the living room.
“How dare you come into my house and invade my life like that!” Gerald roared. “If you and your little girlfriend are having problems, is it safe to assume she would be here?”
Edward grabbed the man by his shoulders and slammed him up against the wall. He got in his face, his breathing hard and steady. He looked deep into Gerald’s eyes and knew the man found Edward’s situation quite humorous.
What good would it do to hit him? Edward thought and he walked out the door.
He tried calling Eva again, and again it went to her voice mail.
“Eva, this is killing me. You need to talk to me. Who sent you those pictures? I need to know. Please, will you at least call me?” He hung up and closed his eyes, his mind moving all over the place.
Focus, Edward. What the hell is wrong with you? You always work things out in your head. There is never a question.
He took a walk around town to clear his head and try to figure out what he was going to do. Usually, when he worked on focusing on something without interruption, he was always able to come up with solutions. Nothing came to him. He walked past a small book store and decided to go inside.
Maybe I can find one of her favorite books. She’d like that.
He walked through the aisles and came upon a picture frame made of the most delicate crystal. His eyes locked on it and the tinted color of green reminded him of the park where they made love. He smiled and pulled it down off the shelf.
“Excuse me,” he said to the sales associate. “Do you print pictures?”
“We don’t, but there is a small photo lab down the street on the corner. They are open for about another hour.”
“Thank you.”
He purchased the picture frame and had the picture he took of them at the park professionally printed and fitted to the frame. Standing in the post office, he stared at the picture of them lying head to head, their hands intertwined and so much love in their eyes.
“If that is a package, you have ten minutes before we close.” The postal worker seemed annoyed.
“Yes. Sorry.” He purchased a box with protective wrap and addressed it to Eva.
“Would you like insurance on the package?”
“Does it cover a broken heart?”
The guy behind the counter didn’t say anything.
“Yes, please.”
He handed the package to the attendant and paid him for the postage. As soon as he walked out of the post office he heard the guy lock the doors behind him.
Walking back to his flat, he went through the details of the last few days and as the puzzle pieces worked their way together in his mind, it slowly made perfect sense. He stopped in the middle of the street and turned back toward the campus, his body hardening under the anger that was building.
“Gracie.”
Chapter 36
Edward walked up to the front door and knocked. The night air was dark with no street lights or porch light to light his way. A single lamp was on inside giving him the ability to see in through the window and into the house easily. When he peered in and didn’t see anyone he knocked again, but with more of a vengeance.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” said the voice behind the door. “Who the hell is on fire anyway?”
When Gracie opened the door, her eyes widened, and she smiled at the sight of Edward at her doorstep.
“Oh! What a pleasant surprise. Did you finally realize you couldn’t live without me?” she asked, her body softening and leaning into the door.
“This is not a social call,” he said, pushing past her. “I want to know what the hell you think you are doing?”
She looked down at his crotch and smiled. “Trying to get you out of those jeans, if you really must know.”
“Stop with the bullshit,” he said slamming his eyes closed in frustration. “What are you trying to accomplish, Gracie?”
“In regards to what? And why do you think you can just barge into my house like this?”
He grabbed her and slammed her against the wall. “This is the least of your worries. I want answers,” he growled.
Gracie bit her lip and rolled her shoulders. “God, you turn me on.”
“Don’t fucking toy with me. Your little games are affecting my life and I won’t let you destroy it.”
“I can make that all go away. Just let me in, Eddie. Let me love you.” Her eyes sparkled. She tried to push herself off the wall as if he wasn’t holding her there by her throat.
“Stop it. I already told you I don’t want anything to do with you. What part of that conversation did you not understand?”
“You don’t want anything to do with me?” she smiled. “That’s not what you told me last night on your couch.”
Edward froze. His eyes widened as he stared a hole through her. Her words hit him hard like a fist into the pit of his stomach.
“What, did you just say?”
“God, you were so good. I’m sorry I couldn’t stick around to get you off but when you accidentally called me Eva I had to teach you a lesson.” She tightened her jaw, preparing to take a swing of the back of his hand to her face.
He let go of her and numbly turned away as the reality of who he was actually with came flooding into his brain.
“It’s okay,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “I understand that it was a mistake. She is kind of cute and I know she can be quite the manipulator. You must have been taken completely off guard with her. I just hope she didn’t hurt you too bad when she turned you down.”
Edward wheeled around and stepped closer to her. “The only mistake was letting you into my life in the first place,” he sneered. “Do you really think I would let you touch me the way you did last night?”
Gracie’s face reddened and her eyes widened at his harsh words. “But there is an attraction between us. I remember the way you looked at me the first time you saw me.”
“You are delusional!”
“You don’t remember, do you?”
“The day I met you?” he sneered. “I remember it well. If I had it to do over again I would have turned away….”
“No. Not the day you started here at the university.”
Edward fell silent, his mind tracing back to an earlier time. He shook his head.
“Your anniversary cruise party,” she said w
ith a smile.
His eyes searched her face for some answers.
“You don’t remember? You looked right at me when you were on the stage giving your speech.”
“You were there?”
“I’m hurt that you don’t remember the connection we had. You were so handsome up there in your tuxedo, so rich and powerful.” She took an unsteady breath. “Granted, I’m not as gorgeous as my sister in law, but I felt the way you looked at me.”
“Your sister in law,” he felt the air leave his lungs. “Talita.”
“Well, you remember her well enough, don’t you?”
“How the hell did you… it was invite only.”
“Let’s just say, I’m connected.”
“Is that what this is all about? You are jealous that I was with Talita?”
“You were supposed to be with me. She’s already married to my brother! I’m tired of always being second place to her, always standing in her shadow. She always gets what she wants. She always gets everything. My life was so much better before my brother met her.”
“You need some help,” he said stepping back from her. “You’re psychotic.”
She swung at his face, but he counteracted in time to catch her arm and slam her back into the wall.
“Do you think I would even consider sex with you after what you have done?” He stepped closer, his face so close he could have kissed her. “You really are pathetic, aren’t you?”
“Me?” she laughed with tears in her eyes. “I’m the pathetic one? I’m not the one who changed my whole identity just to get close to a whore like Eva Brooks.”
“Don’t,” he warned before letting her go.
“I didn’t have to try and save you from that destruction. I didn’t have to love you the way I do.”
“No one asked you to.”
He walked across her floor, looking around the room for a reason to change his direction.
“Wait, Eddie. Please,” she pleaded. She ran in front of him and put her hands against his chest.
“Get out of my way.”
“I can have you arrested for trespassing.”
“Do it. You might need the cops here after I’m through with you.”
He pushed her out of the way and walked into her kitchen. After looking around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he walked back into the living room and noticed an open door that was closed the first time he looked at it. Gracie was nowhere to be seen so he quickly went into the small office crowded with boxes stacked to the ceiling.
Gracie was rapidly shoving papers from her desk into a side drawer until he appeared in the doorway. She stood up and looked at him, scared that she didn’t accomplish her task before he caught her.
He walked to the desk and looked down at the mess, picking up a random picture closest to him.
“Get out of my house,” she said.
He looked at the picture, immediately disturbed at what he saw. A black and white photograph of a few of the department heads of the university with a young student. The small blond was bent over a desk with her uniform skirt hiked up over her waist and a man was clearly having sex with her, a few other older men standing around them watching and possibly waiting their turn.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, horrified. “How did you get something like this?”
“I have my ways.” She grabbed for it but completely missed as he stepped back and moved around the desk.
He picked up another one and examined it. It was the same scene, different angle. He pulled the picture closer and looked at the young girl.
“Is that… you?” He looked at her and then back at the picture.
She lunged for it again, this time getting a hold of it and tightening her grip. He shoved her backwards causing her to tumble to the floor. He shuffled the papers around on the desk and picked up another photograph clearly showing her as the girl getting screwed by several of the suits.
“When were these taken?”
Gracie stayed on the floor. “It’s none of your business.”
“When you start fucking around with innocent lives to benefit yourself, it becomes my business. Answer my question.”
“Last year,” she said feeling defeated.
He looked at them again and studied the young girl. “You dressed up? Is that a wig?”
“So what? Maybe I like role playing.”
“No, this is more than a sex party.” He remembered back when Eva told him Gracie somehow kept her and her brother out of prison for the murder a few years back.
She has strong ties here and somehow, she is able to manipulate the system to go her way whenever she wants it to.
“Jesus Christ,” he said looking down at her. “You blackmailed the Dean of the school? Are you even human?” He shuffled the papers on the desk to look for more. “What the hell else are you capable of? What do you have on that security guard, Gluck?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Or better yet, what does he have on you? I know you don’t fancy him the way you let on that you do.”
“It’s none of your fucking business. I told you to get out.”
“Why the sexual favors, Gracie? Is using your body the only thing you know how to do?”
“I do what I have to do to survive, but you wouldn’t understand that.”
“No?” he asked, half heartedly, looking over the papers on the desk. He found a folder with his name on it, glancing at her before picking it up.
“You have always had everything handed to you,” she said slowly standing up. “Never had to work hard. All of your money, the women, everything.”
He opened the folder and found his entire life inside.
“You think you have it so bad. You don’t. You don’t know what it’s like to have to work at fitting in, to work at keeping a job and finding love.”
Edward tuned everything she was saying out of his head as pieces of his life revealed themselves in his fingertips. The pictures he saw on Eva’s floor, files from his office about his new venture with Joseph, names and addresses of women he had been with and a picture of him with Talita.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, glaring at her. He walked around to the other side of the desk and pulled the drawer open she had shoved papers into before he walked in.
She tried to push him away and close the drawer but her grabbed hold of her and pushed her to the side. He pulled out an article about the murder from a few years ago, another article about the indictment on her brother and several pictures of Eva wearing different outfits in different places in public. He scooped everything out of the drawer, letting it all scatter randomly over the floor. In the bottom of the drawer he spotted a large bag of crystal meth and a hand gun. He hesitated, rubbing his face before leaning down to pick up the gun.
Gracie ran toward him, jumping on his back and screaming at the top of her lungs before tightening her arms around his neck.
“I told you to get out!” she screamed.
Edward tried to inhale but she had closed off his throat with a hold so tight he felt a pain shoot through his neck. He reached up and grabbed her by her hair, flinging her off him over his head. She landed on the floor in front of him and immediately got up to run at him again. He held his hand out and stopped her, his palm slamming into her face. She stopped and opened her mouth to scream profanities at him when a man appeared in the doorway. As soon as she saw him she fell to the floor, grabbing her face and screaming.
“You hit me! You son-of-a-bitch! You hit me!”
Edward didn’t have time to decipher her fake injury. His eyes were glued to the man walking abruptly toward him. It was the same man who put him in the hospital, Gracie’s brother, Talita’s husband.
“I thought I told you to leave my family alone!” he growled.
“Oh, fuck!” Edward lunged toward the drawer and grabbed the gun before ducking around the guy and rolling onto the floor behind the desk. He jumped to his feet and held t
he gun out toward the guy. “Listen, I only came here to find out why she keeps interfering in my life. That’s all. I don’t need any trouble.”
“Well, you found it.” He kept closing in as if Edward didn’t have a gun pointed at him. He held the gun up and squeezed the trigger. A loud click was all he heard. He quickly checked the chamber and threw the empty gun at the guy’s head, turning and running out of the room.
Gracie’s brother caught up to him half way into the living room and tackled him to the carpet, blood surfacing on his forehead from contact with the gun. They wrestled and rolled around as Gracie’s brother slammed his fist into the side of Edward’s ribs.
“I assumed when I put you in the hospital the first time you would have learned your lesson. Maybe I have to actually kill you to get my point across,” he said, slamming another fist into his side.
Edward could feel his ribs bruise with every blow. He knew he wasn’t able to withstand too many more from this guy so he gave it everything he had and pushed himself against him, rolling him onto his back and shoving the palm of his hand into the guy’s nose. Blood immediately surfaced and the guy was out cold.
Edward jumped up off him, knowing full well that he could have killed him. Self defense? It might work in a normal situation, but with Gracie and her manipulative ties to important people, Edward knew he might have been in trouble. He wanted to gather some of the evidence in her office before leaving but he didn’t have the time. He looked at Gracie as she slowly walked into the room and stared at her brother on the floor.
“Call for help. I think he might be in trouble.”
She ran to him and dropped to her knees. “No! You killed him! Johnny! Please don’t leave me.”
“Gracie, he isn’t dead. But he does need immediate help. Call them!” He ran to the front door and stayed there until he saw her grab her phone.
“I need help! Please send an ambulance. It’s my brother,” she screamed into the phone. She looked up at the front door as it was closing.
Chapter 37
Edward paced the floor in his flat trying to contemplate his next move. Things just got more complicated, but he knew Gracie wouldn’t be stupid enough to get the police involved, not with all of the evidence she had in her office, or at least he hoped she wasn’t that stupid… or psychotic.