She touched his back and gently ran her hand down his spine, feeling the tense ridges of muscle. “What about me?” she whispered. “I didn’t tell you about the stalker. I’m equally guilty in leading myself to this point. I could have told you. You would have tracked her down and stopped her long before… this. Are you going to tear out my… ugh … anyway… are you mad at me, Daniel?”
His shoulders stiffened and he didn’t answer. He didn't need to. She already knew the answer. Of course he was mad at her. He was furious. She’d hid something from him, something that had nearly gotten her killed after he practically declared himself to her. As best as he was capable of declaring himself to anyone. She hadn’t trusted him. She’d disappointed him.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, tears choking her voice. “Please, Daniel…”
He turned to her on the bed and leaned over her, blocking out the light with his body. “Hush, Addison,” he growled down at her soothingly. “Don’t upset yourself.”
“But, Daniel…”
“Of course I’m angry with you. Should have told me you had a stalker when you first met me. Would have been the smart move to make. But you made your choice and, when you’re better, you’ll live with the consequences,” he said quietly, running his hand gently over the non-injured areas of her skin.
“Consequences?” she asked sleepily.
“My revenge on the most important, beautiful woman in my life. I’ll tie her to our bed every night and force her to come over and over again until she begs me to stop. And then I’m going to keep going until I think she’s learned not to keep secrets from me. She’ll probably try to escape my revenge by running away to some high-end hotel where they serve fucking strawberries and chocolate, but I’ll find her and torture her until she gives in.” He leaned down and kissed her jaw as her eyes fluttered shut and she began to drift off.
“That sounds terrible,” Addison said with a yawn. “Can’t wait…”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Please, let me see her,” Claudia’s whisper floated into the room, waking Addison.
She blinked and opened her eyes. She was pretty sure it was morning. She thought she could detect natural light coming from the opposite direction of the door where Daniel was coldly denying Claudia access to Addison’s room. Addison was about to let him know that she was awake and that she was happy to have visitor’s when Jane’s louder voice piped up.
“I insist on seeing my client this minute. As she’s the one paying my bill and it is visiting hours, you can’t stop me.”
“Or me!” Anya piped in. “I’m… I’m… the investigator’s sister-in-law and… and sidekick and flower delivery person. So I have as much right to be here as any of these bitches.”
“You aren’t helping, Anya,” Claudia sighed.
“I can shut her up,” Laney offered helpfully, followed by the click of a trigger cocking.
“Fuck you, Laney,” Anya said stridently. “I was willing to forgive our last incident owing to possible alcohol consumption on my part, but you need to step off and stop threatening my life.”
Addison laughed and sat up in the bed, shoving hair off of her face. She groaned as each and every stitch pulled agonizingly against her skin. “It’s alright, Daniel. I want to see them. Let them in before someone calls hospital security.”
“If they come in, I’m leaving,” he grumbled.
“I can’t really blame you,” she laughed as the four women piled into her small hospital room. “Will you come back?”
“I’ll find your doctor. See if he’s ready to discharge you. King’s in the lobby. He and Claudia want to drive us home,” Daniel said, leaning in to kiss her forehead before leaving the room.
Silence fell over the assembled women. Addison picked at her blanket, wondering if she looked so bad that they were all staring at her in horror. Finally, Claudia broke the silence.
“That was… eerily domestic for Daniel Mercer,” she said, her voice awe-filled. “I mean, he kissed your head, like some kind of caring husband or something. It was weird.”
“I think you broke him,” Jane said with a snort of laughter. “I honestly thought the only way to settle that feral dog down would be a bullet in the skull, but you proved me wrong. Well done.”
“I… thanks…?” Addison said skeptically.
“I hope this means training isn’t straight out of the pages of Art of War anymore,” Laney commented.
“You poor baby,” Anya said sarcastically.
“Could you not provoke my bodyguard?” Claudia asked with a sigh. “Or I might let her shoot you.”
“At least we’re close to a surgery if she does shoot Anya,” Addison piped up, accepting an armful of what smelled like tulips from Anya.
“Hey!” Anya complained. “Who’s side are you on?”
The light banter continued, with no one really touching on the subject of Addison’s stalker and near-death experience. She didn’t know if they’d discussed it beforehand and agreed not to talk to her about it, but she was grateful. She didn’t want to rehash the ugly incident with them. She didn’t even know how she was going to stomach chicken or white lace tablecloths in the near future let alone having to think or talk about it.
Daniel reappeared twenty minutes later and ushered the others out so he could help Addison dress in a loose-fitting outfit that Claudia had brought with her. Addison’s outfit of the day before had been given to the police as evidence. She shuddered. She never wanted those clothes back again anyway.
“You okay?” Daniel asked as he felt her shiver against him.
She nodded. “I just want to get home. I’m tired, but I want my own bed.”
“Of course,” he said and finished helping her get ready.
Claudia had also provided a toothbrush, hairbrush and shawl. Addison used the toothbrush, but she couldn’t bring herself to try to drag the hairbrush through the awful tangles in her hair quite yet. Especially with one broken wrist. She had Daniel help her tie her hair at the back of her head, which he did quite awkwardly.
“Did we finally find something you do badly?” she asked, amused.
“Never did this before,” he grumbled, dropping the messy ponytail and wrapping the shawl around her shoulders. “Let’s go.”
Claudia and King sat in the front seat of the SUV, while Addison and Daniel sat in the back. They didn’t speak much, but she found the silence comfortable, as though they were all friends that were grateful for each other’s company. Addison hoped that it could be true. At least she hoped Daniel would stop wanting to murder Claudia all the time. Baby steps.
When they arrived in the penthouse garage, Daniel insisted on carrying Addison down to her place. She tried to argue that someone might see, but of course he didn’t care. The man never cared what other people thought. With a sigh, Addison wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. He let them into her condo and placed her gently on the bed as though afraid she would break.
She took a fistful of his shirt when it seemed like he was going to step back from the bed. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered, fear edging her voice.
“Never,” he said quietly, pulling the quilt over her and tucking her in. He slid into the bed beside her and gathered her against his side.
“Thank you for saving my life,” she said, looking up at him so he could see her eyes. She hoped he could read the love and gratitude in their blank depths.
He caressed her lips with his thumb and then with his lips, lightly pressing the softness of her mouth with his harder lips. She exhaled and opened her mouth to his. He darted his tongue briefly into the silken recess before withdrawing.
“Sleep, Addison.”
***
Addison woke suddenly, a cry echoing in the room around her. She covered her mouth with her good hand when she realized the broken sound had come from her own lips. She’d been dreaming that she was drowning in that damn river in the park, struggling to surface, but constantly s
wimming down toward the bottom. At the bottom of the river, Erica was waiting for her, laughing and screaming, waving her arms at Addison, her fingertips topped by razorblades. A kaleidoscope of red and pink had swirled in the river around Addison’s body where Erica’s finger blades had sliced away at her.
“This is going to take years of therapy,” Addison grumbled, sitting up in her bed and shoving the suddenly suffocating quilt aside.
Cool air touched Addison’s arms and she realized it was dark outside. The sun had set on another day. Which meant it had been nearly twenty-four hours since her ordeal in the park. It felt surreal to her that so much time had passed and she had spent most of it sleeping. She knew Daniel wasn't in her apartment, he would have come to her instantly if he’d heard her cry out in her sleep.
She winced as she stood up on her sore feet and it took a few painful steps before she was able to make her way painfully around the bedroom. She pulled on a pair of old sweatpants and a T-shirt and tried calling Daniel on her cell phone. It rang, but there was no answer. Her heart hammered in her chest and she broke out in a cold sweat.
“You’re okay, Addie,” she whispered to herself, knowing it was true, but she desperately wished Daniel had stayed with her until she woke up.
They really needed to come up with some kind of system where he could leave his blind girlfriend a message letting her know where he was going to be and when he was going to be back. She sighed. If he was even willing to take that step in their relationship. Though she thought getting kidnapped, stabbed and nearly drowned in a river should earn her a few more privileges on her list of relationship goals.
She decided rather than waiting around for him to come back while she paced restlessly and chewed on her already short fingernails she would go upstairs and try to find him. He was probably organizing security stuff so he could take some time off to take care of her. He likely hadn’t expected her to wake up when she had. Though that didn't explain why he wasn't answering his phone. He’d seemed so concerned about her before.
Addison took the elevator up, deciding that her flight through the forest, swim in the river and swollen feet entitled her to at least a month of no exercise. She tapped the code to the security door and pushed it open. Silence greeted her. Which seemed odd. It wasn’t that late in the evening, there should’ve been someone on security.
“Hello,” she called, starting to make her way down to his place. “Daniel, are you up here?”
She heard a muffled moan to her right, which made her freeze midway down the corridor. What was that? She was about to continue on to Daniel’s apartment when she heard another sound and then the rattling of one of the cages. Heart pounding, Addison stood in frozen indecision, terribly afraid she knew exactly what she was hearing.
“Er… Erica, is that you?” she whispered hesitantly, really hoping she was wrong.
A muffled scream confirmed her suspicions. Addison leaned against the wall, torn between the need to run away from her tormentor as fast as she could and curiosity over what Erica was doing up there on the security floor. She knew it couldn’t be anything good, given the muffled quality of Erica’s voice and Daniel’s tendency toward cold-blooded murder and mayhem.
“Okay,” Addison breathed out quietly. “She can't hurt you.”
She began feeling her way back along the wall until she reached the edge of the cage that housed the surveillance equipment. As soon as her fingers touched it she felt the slight vibrations from where Erica’s body was struggling. Addison moved along the chain link cage until her fingers touched Erica’s arm. She jumped back from the other woman as though burned and then cried out as her hip struck a table.
“Darn it!” she yelped.
Because she needed another bruise. She felt along the table. There were keys, a roll of duct tape, a wicked feeling blade that was a heck of a lot bigger than Erica’s had been and a hand gun. Oh god, a gun! With shaking hands Addison picked the gun up off the table, making sure to point it at the floor. She had no idea how it worked. She didn't know how to tell if it was loaded or if there was a safety on the gun that was on or off. But Erica didn’t need to know all that.
“Erica?” she said cautiously.
“Mmmmm…!” came the reply.
Addison took a deep breath and approached Erica, reassuring herself over and over that Erica was helpless and couldn’t hurt her. That Daniel had her well secured. He was extremely good at his job. Whatever job led him to knowing how to chain people up. Erica wouldn't be able to hurt Addison in her current position.
“Erica, I have a gun here, as you may be able to see,” she pointed it where she hoped Erica was and was gratified to hear a terrified squeal. In a hard voice she continued, “I will shoot you if you upset me in any way, Erica. I’m not feeling very sympathetic toward you right now. Nod if you understand.”
Addison had no way of knowing if Erica had nodded, but she heard the cage rattle, so she assumed Erica understood the instruction. Taking a deep breath, she reached up and felt along Erica’s arm until she reached Erica’s face. She tried to suppress a shiver of fear and distaste at having to touch the woman that had stalked and terrorized her for the better part of a year. She felt the edge of the duct tape against Erica’s mouth and yanked, gratified when she pulled some of Erica’s hair out too, causing her to yelp.
That was for the multiple stab wounds, bitch!
“Addie, oh my god, Addie, thank god you came! He’s going to kill me… !” Erica’s hoarse voice whined hysterically.
“Shut up!” Addison snapped pointing the gun at Erica’s chest. She was careful to make sure her finger was off the trigger.
Erica stopped talking.
“You’re right, Erica. If I leave you here, he will kill you,” Addison said coldly. “Why should I help you after what you did to me?”
“Did to you… but Addie, I love you, I never mean to hurt you,” Erica said, her voice rising. “I just wanted to show you how much I love you and admire you. I wanted to make you love me back.”
“I don’t love you, Erica!” Addison snapped. “I don’t even like you. I never did and I never will.”
Erica sobbed and begged for Addison to reconsider. She tried to get Addison to unchain her so they could run away together. As she listened, Addison realized how truly unhinged Erica was. Addison actually considered just walking away and leaving Erica to Daniel’s mercy. But she knew Daniel would have none. He would have less than none. After what he did to those guys who accidentally shot at Addison while trying to capture Claudia, there was no way he was going to go light on the woman that purposefully caused Addison so much horror and pain. Addison’s conscience couldn’t allow her to leave Erica in Daniel’s hands.
She could call the police and let them sort it out. She knew as soon as she had the thought that she wasn't going to do that. She couldn’t allow Daniel to be arrested because of her. Even if he did manage to escape arrest, he would be separated from Addison and on the run for kidnapping Erica, which she didn’t want either. The only other option she had was to let Erica go and hope the woman didn’t turn on her. Luckily, with Daniel protecting her, she knew it was unlikely that Erica would ever be able to get to her again.
“Stop talking or I really will shoot you, Erica,” Addison snapped.
While both delusional and psychotic, Erica still seemed to have a healthy respect for bullets. She stopped speaking and waited for Addison to continue. “I won't be going anywhere with you, ever. You hurt me yesterday, but I don’t really want to see you dead. At least not as dead as Daniel would make you.”
The cage rattled as Erica shuddered.
“Exactly. Think about that for a moment. I’ve been told what he does to people and you’ve seen for yourself that he doesn’t differentiate between men and women when it comes to revenge. No one has ever escaped his vengeance except through the grave, and that’s only when he’s done playing with them,” Addison lowered her voice to really get her ominous point across. “So, if
I had a second chance to get away from his vengeance, I would take it and run as fast and as far as I could. I would not say good-bye to my friends and I would not pack my belongings. I would change my name and move to another state. I would never look back and I most certainly would never contact his girlfriend again. Are you understanding me, Erica?”
“Yes, I understand!” Erica wailed. “P… please. I’ll go, I’ll never come back.”
Addison was sure that Erica finally understood the gravity of her situation. She picked the keys up off of the desk, hoping that they would fit the cuffs chaining Addison’s arms and legs to the cage. She held onto the gun while she set about unlocking Erica. It was awkward, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She was going to put holes in Erica if she made any false moves.
Erica fell forward onto the floor once the last padlock came loose. Addison jumped back and reached for the table, picking up the massive blade. She held the blade out in one hand, the gun in the other hand and circled Erica. She kicked at the other woman and snapped, “Get up! I want you out of here, now!”
“Okay, I’m going!” Erica said breathlessly, half crawling, half running for the door.
Addison stalked behind her, listening intently. Erica reached the door and shoved it open. “Erica!” she yelled at her.
The other woman paused in the door.
“Your safest bet is to cross into Mexico if you can manage it without a passport. Get lost in another country, where he’ll hopefully lose interest. I’m serious Erica, he won’t give up. But I’ll do my best to convince him.”
“Thank you,” Erica said, gratefully.
“I’m only doing this because I don’t actually think you intended to murder me last night. It was just an unhappy coincidence that you nearly managed it. But if you ever come back here, I’ll kill you myself. Or wrap you up with a bow and hand you over to Daniel. Now go.”
The door slammed shut and Erica was gone.
Fear in Her Eyes (Fire & Vice Book 5) Page 27