Driftwood Cove Trilogy: Complete Series

by E. C. Towers

  There was no way he was getting in there today and just as he was about to leave, he saw Hardie coming towards him. Tim ducked back behind the vehicle and watched, as the guy got closer to the yacht. He stood there, staring at it just like Tim had been doing for fifteen minutes. He saw Hardie throw something on the boat, and it tapped the side pathetically. He threw like a girl. Jealousy made Tim’s head hot. He then saw him throw something at the boat again, standing and waiting like an idiot.

  Soon, he saw movement from the side of the boat. It was Linda. She had peeked her head out and saw Hardie, who then walked onto the boat like he owned it.

  Seething with rage, Tim was just about to climb the stairs after him and kick that fucker’s smug face, but he knew that even if he went at a full run, he would never be able to get on the stairs that were retracting. He sat down on the pavement. Completely defeated. He had come here to see Linda, and of course, the Golden Boy who apparently had the same idea got in first. Tim realized he had been going about this all wrong.

  26

  The Danger Of Wanting

  Hardie called Jessica and told her about going to Linda’s yacht right after he left. After Jessica had hung up the phone, her mind was filled with thoughts of Linda and Hardie. She wondered how the conversation would go, worrying that Hardie and Linda would end up sleeping together. Oddly enough, it wouldn’t make her jealous. In fact, she would be slightly disappointed that she wasn’t there to participate. Deep down she knew that Hardie’s fascination with Linda was simply that, a fascination. The same fascination she had with Linda, who maintained an unavoidable presence about her. The phone call came about an hour ago, and she hadn't heard back from him, assuming that he had already returned home.

  “Hey.”

  Jessica nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard a deep male voice behind her. She spun around and found herself face to face with Tim.

  “Oh, my god, Tim. You scared me.” Her heart was beating too rapidly in her chest to wonder why Tim was in her office, but the strangeness of his presence set off alarm bells in her mind.

  “I need to talk to you. Uh, do you have a couple of minutes?”

  “I’m really late right now, Tim. Is there any way we can sit down tomorrow?” She tried hard to sound casual and calm, despite feeling anything but. What the hell was he doing here? There was a look of crazy desperation in his face; the kind that imprisoned murderers gave to prison photographers.

  “No, ah, this can’t wait until tomorrow. I really need to talk to you. Come meet me outside, okay?” He spun around and headed back out, not really allowing her enough time to answer his question. What she wanted to say was to decline; it was not okay. I’m not going outside to meet you because I barely know you, so what important thing could you possibly talk to me about that can’t wait until later. She froze and thought it must be about Hardie. Did he have something to tell her about Hardie? That was the only thing that she could think of that would be urgent enough for Tim to come visit her at work.

  After about a few minutes, Jessica locked the business door and walked out to meet Tim. He was sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette. She stood by him as he sat on the bench, but didn’t sit down.

  “What’s the matter, Tim? What’s going on? Is it Hardie? Is he okay?”

  Tim was caught off guard at the mention of Hardie. He had already rehearsed a story about running out of gas in front of her store, and how he needed her help to push it to the nearest gas station. But he took pause and decided to change up his story.

  “Yeah, it’s about Hardie. Listen, Jessica, he stopped by at work to pick up his check and just passed out. Just cold stone passed out,” Tim lied, feigning worry.

  “Oh, my god, what happened? Was the ambulance called? When did this happen?”

  “Yeah, we called the ambulance, and actually, he’s back home now. He suffered a concussion because he hit his head pretty hard on the floor when he passed out. The first thing he told me was to come get you.” Nice touch, he thought. Make her feel like her big fuck hero called out for her first and not Linda.

  “Oh, my god, thank you so much! Thank you for taking care of him and letting me know,” Jessica gushed, before hurrying to the parking lot to get inside her car.

  Tim followed right at her heels.

  “Hey, ah, do you mind giving me a ride there? I walked over here because my car doesn’t work,” he lied. He didn’t even own a car. Shit, he didn’t even own a bike.

  “Yes! Of course! Sorry, I should have offered, I’m just so worried.” Jessica clicked the button to unlock her car doors.

  Tim sat down on the passenger seat and gave her a reassuring pat on her thigh to show that, yes, he understood. “No problem. But please don’t worry too much. He’s fine.”

  When they arrived at the house, Jessica felt odd as soon as she walked through the door. The stillness. The silence. Everything was just a little too perfect at the house for some reason. It later hit her that it didn’t look like anyone had been home for hours. Nothing had stirred; even the air seemed musty. And it was then she had realized she’d been tricked. Hardie wasn’t here at all.

  She was about five steps in before she turned around and tried to slam the door into Tim’s face, but she didn’t move fast enough, and he stuck his giant foot between the door and the door jamb. He shoved his shoulder into the door and pushed his way in, easily overpowering the girl, pushing her onto the floor.

  Jessica scrambled up as fast as she could and ran towards her room. Tim lunged after her and tripped over a pair of boots, giving her a chance to get to her room and slam the door. As she turned around and tried to lock her door, the knob in her hand stiffened and turned the opposite way, nearly ripping her hand right off her wrist. The door jerked open and hit her in the temple.

  The room spun, and she fell back on the ground. Jessica stumbled as she tried to get up, dizzy and disoriented. Tim took advantage and pounced on top of her, slamming her onto the ground. Her head hit the floor so hard, her teeth clicked. He pushed his forearm into her neck and pinned her down.

  “Listen to me, girl, you are going to take me to Linda’s boat right now, or else...” Tim’s hot and humid whisper was clear and bursting with malice. What felt like the muzzle of a gun was shoved roughly into her ribs.

  “Okay! I’ll take you! I’ll take you! But I don’t think she’ll be home, why don’t we give her a call first?”

  “Fuck no, you’re not going to call her. I might as well call the cops on myself right now!”

  “You should probably do that anyway,” Jessica quipped, knowing she was risking it by sounding so sarcastic but unable to stop herself.

  “Are you telling me what to do!?” He suddenly leaned into her neck and banged her head against the floor. Jessica cried out as she felt blood trickle down to her eye from her forehead.

  “Listen, I won’t hurt you if you quit fucking with me and just take me to Linda’s.”

  “Are you an idiot? Don't you know where Linda lives by now? Everyone knows where she lives; why do you need me to take you there?!”

  “Because, I know you can get in. You know how I know?” He got close to Jessica’s ear and whispered, “I saw you. I saw you eating her out, you dirty little bitch. I SAW YOU!”

  She flinched as he yelled the last two words into her ear at full volume.

  “You lez’d out on her? I wonder how your work would react if they knew you your face had a crotchful of Linda’s pussy stained on it?”

  She squirmed under him violently, wanting to get him off of her so she could put a fist into his gaping hole of a mouth.

  “I don’t know how to get in. She let me in last time.”

  “Well, then she’ll let you in again.”

  “When she sees you, she’s for sure going to call the cops, and she’s for sure not going to let us in.”

  “Oh, she’ll let us in,” he pressed what felt like a gun, hard on her ribs. “She’s not going to want her girlfriend to get creamed before s
he has a chance to fuck you, at least, three more times.”

  Tim got up off of her and let her up, making sure to keep the gun pressed into her. “Now, we’re going to drive over there, just in case I might have to borrow your car.”

  Jessica broke out into a cold sweat. He wants a get-away car. What was Tim planning? Something serious, if he already had his escape planned out. Her hands were shaking when they got back inside her car. She knew Tim was being this easygoing, casual dude. Although, lately, Hardie had told her that he’d been sulking and quiet at work. Hardie had mentioned that maybe Tim’s obsession with Linda was a little bit more serious than he thought.

  She had barely even remembered their conversation about Tim the other night because she didn’t know anything about him, other than the fact that he worked with and hated Hardie. It was rumored that Tim might have been pitching for the other team, and that his uber-macho ways of sexually harassing every girl and his pursuit of Linda was all a ruse to hide the fact that he was a homosexual.

  But clearly he wasn’t, if he was willing to make threats just to get close to her.

  “Why are you just sitting there? DRIVE!” Tim screamed, tapping the muzzle of his gun on the steering wheel.

  * * *

  Hardie got up, gave Linda one final hug before heading towards the door when he caught sight of Jessica’s car pulling onto the dock. What the hell, he thought. He stopped and strained to see that someone was in the car with her.

  “What the shit?” Hardie couldn’t keep quiet when he caught sight of Tim in her passenger seat.

  “What’s the matter?” Linda got up and looked out the window to see what Hardie was looking at.

  “See that blue Ford Explorer?”

  “Yes… is that Jessica in there? Who is she with?”

  “Tim.” Jessica hardly knew Tim! What the hell was she doing driving to the dock by Linda’s boat with that asshole?

  He glanced over at Linda, who was still looking out the window. Her serene features had been replaced with the tense lines in her mouth that appeared every time she tightened her jaw.

  “What’s going on, Linda? Did you invite him and Jessica for something…?” he trailed off. He was having a hard time even saying Tim and Jessica’s name in the same sentence.

  “No. I didn’t invite him. I’d never invite him.”

  “Well, whatever’s going on, I’m not going out. I don’t want to scare him away, and I want to know what they’re both doing here.”

  Tim and the girl stood at the dock, and Hardie heard Jessica call out to Linda.

  “Linda! It’s me, Jessica! Can I talk to you?”

  They stood there and wondered if Linda had heard any of it. Suddenly, the quiet hum of a motor started up and the ramp extended out to meet their feet on the dock. She had heard them, after all. As Jessica and Tim climbed into Linda’s yacht, he hugged Jessica in a little bit tighter and pressed the muzzle of his gun harder into her side. Jessica prayed he wouldn’t trip or stumble and accidentally pull the trigger. Linda met them in the hallway leading into the living room. Hardie ducked into Linda’s hall closet, keeping the door slightly open so that he could see what was happening.

  “Tim, Jessica! What are you guys doing here?” Linda tried hard to sound pleasantly surprised, but by looking at Jessica’s eyes, which were wide and filled with fear, she knew that something was wrong.

  All three of them sat there and looked at each other in an awkward silence until Jessica couldn’t stand it any longer and stammered, “Um, well, Tim here wants to… “

  “…Wants to know what the fuck happened to my invitation?” Tim smiled. He stepped purposely to the side so Linda could see the gun he was holding to Jessica’s side.

  “Remember what you said? Remember the last time we talked Linda? No? You wanted me to come! You were going to give me an invitation! And so far, I’ve gotten nothing. What is it? Do you think I’m not good enough to come to one of your parties? You fuckin’ dyke bitch!”

  Tim was now yelling at the top of his lungs as his grip on Jessica tightened. Jessica closed her eyes and tried not to panic, as this lunatic had her life in his unstable hands.

  “Hey, Tim, listen, I’m really sorry,” Linda spoke in a calm and reassuring tone, seemingly unfazed by his yelling and the gun he was holding. “There’s been a lot going on, I just simply forgot. I definitely do want to invite you. In fact, I was just asking Hardie how I could get a hold of you, because you never gave me your phone number.”

  It’s what he had wanted to hear, but he was unsure how to react. Was she just saying this because he was holding a gun or did she mean it? She sounded like she meant it, and he felt like a fool now that he had clearly overacted to what seemed to be simple forgetfulness on Linda’s part.

  Still, he had to stand his ground and get the invite. He didn’t know exactly what to do when he got it, because how was he going to prevent them from going to the police? He just had to deal with that later, right now, he had to get Linda to download her app on his phone.

  “Okay, fine. I heard you had an app? Download it on my phone right now. You better not be bullshitting me, Linda.”

  “I’m not bullshitting you,” she smiled, girlishly. “I’m going to get it right now. Just hold on, okay, Tim? I need a special code to input, and that's in my bedroom. Do you want to walk with me?”

  “You’re damn right I want to walk with you. Come on!” he nudged Jessica toward the front of him and put his gun behind her back to push her along.

  * * *

  Hardie was planning on getting out as soon as they were out of earshot, but Linda ended up meeting both of them in the hall, halfway from where he was, and there was no way he could sneak out without being heard. At first, it was hard to make out what they were saying until Tim began raising his voice and yelling at Linda. The pathetic motherfucker was doing all this to get an invite? And he still didn’t understand why Jessica was with him. Or why he had his arm around Jessica. When he saw that, he nearly lost his cool and approached Tim’s face with a closed fist. But he managed to keep his temper in check to figure out exactly what was going on.

  He suddenly heard Tim lower his voice and then a few minutes later, sounds of footsteps going away from him. They were going into Linda’s bedroom. As soon as their footsteps were barely audible, he stepped out of the closet and followed at a distance. Once they got to the bedroom, he hid behind the door. It wasn’t the best place to hide, but it was the best place to hear them talking.

  Linda opened up her laptop and acted as if she was logging in to get the code.

  “I need your cell phone, so I can download the app, Tim.”

  “Nice try. Do you think I’m going to let her go?”

  This time, he pushed the muzzle of his gun between Jessica’s ribs, causing her to gasp in pain.

  “Well, how else am I supposed to download it?” Linda asked.

  “You’re going to walk over here and get it out of my pocket!”

  Linda did what she was told and fished Tim's cell phone out of his back pocket, all the while trying to reassure Jessica with her eyes that everything was going to be fine. It broke her heart to see her so afraid and helpless. Linda saw a tear slowly rolling down Jessica’s cheek as she retrieved his phone, drawing her eyes to her bruised head.

  All of a sudden, Linda saw movement.

  It was Hardie, peeking out from the door before slowly walking towards them. Linda quickly looked away and pretended she had something in her eye. She didn’t want to tip Tim off that Hardie was behind him. Her mind raced, thinking about what to do to keep him from turning around.

  “Also, I have to ask you a couple of questions for the database,” she lied, sitting down purposefully on her bed to put on her glasses. Linda grabbed her laptop, opened it and looked up at him as if expecting his compliance.

  “I need to do this just in case I want to have a personal meeting… with just you.”

  Tim’s ears perked at the thought.

&nbs
p; “By personal, you mean..?”

  “Personal. As in, a one-on-one meeting.”

  She lowered her tone and kept her voice steady and professional as if this important fact was common knowledge among members. The only way Linda was going to be able to keep Tim’s attention was to turn him on and make him feel special. So now, Linda wanted to expand on the special privileges as a part of a special membership.

  “So, you mean to tell me that you throw “one-on-one” parties? Just you and another person?”

  “That’s correct,” Linda licked her lips and smiled the subtlest of smiles for him to see.

  He saw the twinkle in her eye and grinned.

  “How often do you do that?” he nearly whispered. He didn’t want his voice to crack in anticipation of her answer.

  Before Linda could say anything, Tim saw felt a sharp and painful jab on the back of his neck.

  As soon as Hardie had gotten within five feet of Tim’s back, he had grabbed a wrought iron art sculpture nearby and swung it as hard as he could at the bastard’s head. It hit him with a dull, muffled thump, and he dropped to his knees, dragging Jessica with him. Hardie grabbed her arm and yanked her back before he fell on top of her.

  Tim didn’t fall onto the floor so much as he crumpled into a heavy heap. Hardie cautiously stepped around his body to get a closer look to see if Tim was knocked out. His head lolled lazily to the side, and Hardie saw that his eyes were closed. He was down for the count. Hardie grabbed the gun that Tim dropped a few inches in front of his face. Jessica ran over to Linda, and they embraced tightly on the bed. The dam of tears that Jessica had been holding back burst forth and fell on Linda’s shoulder.

  Linda continued embracing her, caressing her hair and shushing her. She had to calm down and get herself together if they were going to make it out of here to get help before Tim woke up.

  Hardie ran back towards the bedroom doors.

  “Come on!” he screamed, as the girls sat motionless on the bed.