by Jayce, Aven
Devery reaches for the door just as a knock from the outside echoes through the small space. She places herself between the door and myself, unlocks and opens it.
“What the hell?” Cove says in a panic as he pushes past Devery to embrace me in a hug. “I opened my eyes, had two filthy hands on my chest, and couldn’t find you anywhere. What are you doing back here?”
“I’m fine, I just needed to speak to Devery for a moment,” not wanting to discuss the David Rosen situation with Cove while he’s drugged. The last thing we need is for him to lose control.
“Fuck-fest in the bathroom!” a woman calls from down the hall as she enters the cold dark space with us. A man joins her and we speedily step out, closing the door behind us. Devery walks ahead and disappears into the great room as I notice that Cove’s beginning to limp.
“You okay?”
“No. I’m full of anxiety and I’m not feeling well. I was a bit euphoric earlier but now my stomach is tight and the party is like a horror show. I’m completely overwhelmed with fear and dismay. How long have we been down here, and is it almost over?”
“Yes,” I take his hand and give it a firm squeeze. “We’ve only been at the party for about an hour, and I think you’re having a bad trip. Mera had one once. It’s not all that common on X, but it can happen. Hang in there. I spoke to Devery, and we will get out that back door. Don’t let go of my hand, okay?”
“Okay,” he exhales.
“When I lead you over there, just follow me and don’t ask any questions. Trust me.” I’m uncertain he heard the last thing I said over the loud music and roars of partygoers. The room is packed from wall to wall, and people bump and grind against us as we walk back to the area by to the fireplace. I have a good view of most of the room from here, including the back door, and can see Trey’s big head poking up above everyone near the front.
A woman carrying a tray of shots walks past us, and before I have a chance to stop him, Cove takes two, throws them back, and places the empty glasses back on the tray.
“Cove, God dammit! You can’t fucking drink right now, that’s a bad combination with the ecstasy. Jesus!” I yell.
He shrugs his shoulders, flashes a smile as an apology, and places his hand on my ass. “I’m thirsty, Baby. And call me Star.”
I feel another hand, foreign, rough, and much larger than Cove’s slide up my leg and under my dress. I reach down and seize the flesh before the sleeze passes into my territory. That’s my land, fucker.
“Hey sugar pie, you gonna allow me in or what?” a man sitting on one of the sofas asks.
I nudge Cove closer to the back door and away from the wandering hands. Fuck, where is everyone? Devery and Dayne are clearly in the middle of an argument at the bar... Doron’s at the back door... but where’s... ah, Leondra. I see her now. That beautiful protective mother looks extraordinary walking up the stairwell, with the soft overhead light from the chandelier casting a warm orange radiance over her pale white skin. She glows like a dazzling sunset as she reaches the horizon line at the top of the landing. My father’s only a few feet away, and he watches the event in his home from an unobstructed observational point. She approaches from behind and whispers in his ear. I would expect him to flinch, but he must have sensed her presence, and instead he reaches back, grabs her by the wrist, and then pulls her close to his side. He looks down as she opens her purse. What is she doing?
My heart starts to pound in a way I’ve never felt it in the past. I hold Cove’s hand and search the room for Devery. Where the fuck is she? I need these fuckers around us to clear out... stop touching me... get your hands off Cove... move the fuck away.
“You on ecstasy, same as me, little Star?” a woman says to Cove as her fingers start to caress him through his thin pants. The only form of clothing on her is a scarcely visible nude colored thong. Her long blonde hair falls over her breasts and when she tilts her head her nipples poke through the strands. “Ahh, kinda soft and kinda hard tonight. Not your normal self. I’d say Paul did give you some of the stuff. He’s being especially generous tonight.”
Cove’s in pure delight by her touch, first laughing in response, but then realizing the situation and standing hurriedly behind me. He presses his groin against my back and settles in.
“No problem, Star. Your little Baby J can join us in one of the back rooms. On this shit, the more hands on my body, the greater the pleasure. Three-ways are the best ways.” She sticks a hand down the front of my dress, runs a finger between my cleavage, pulls out, and swiftly sticks it in her mouth. “Mmm, your sweat’s delectable. Lovely. Come on, join me in the back.”
“I’m sorry, we’re both spoken for tonight,” are the only words that I can think to say as I keep my eye on Leondra and my father.
“Suit yourself,” she shrugs and approaches the man to our left, caressing his cock and using the same lines on him she used on us. She’s working the room until she gets something, and I suspect most of the other women are doing the same.
My father shakes his head and sets his hand on Leondra’s back, leading her toward his suite. He turns and scans the room before they disappear. Our eyes lock and he grins, then winks. For some reason I can’t explain, I smile back. Perhaps it’s because I know that once Leondra gets him out of this space... that’s her plan, right, get him out of the room so we can leave... that I may not have to see his face ever again. Unless he finds us. But we’ll hide... move to another city... change our names if we have to... I hope Leondra’s careful. He better not hurt her. He’s dead if he does. As a matter a fact, I still wish sometimes he were dead. Cove says that’s bad karma, to wish death on people, and he’s probably right, but right now that’s how I feel. So I smile. Maybe I’ll never have to see him again.
I look back to Cove who still has his body pressed firmly against mine, and notice that he’s been watching Leondra and my father as well.
Carl staggers past us, swaying through the crowd, holding on to people so he doesn’t fall, and pushing others to clear a path. He’s drunk, wasted actually, and as people try to help him to one of the seating areas, he fights them off and jostles his way to the stairs. I feel bad for him; he seems lonely, detached from everyone here. I wonder how long he’s known my father, and if he would still be in a place like this today if the two of them had never met.
He recklessly ascends to the balcony and heads to my father’s side.
“Where’s that fucker going?” Cove whispers. He starts to move and I quickly turn and place my hand on his chest.
“Don’t do anything. Just wait,” I look over to Doron for any kind of signal, but he also has his eyes glued upstairs. The three of us peer up, and in a split second I see Carl pull a gun from underneath the back of his sport jacket as he vanishes down the hallway. Cove must not have seen it, or he would already be up those stairs protecting his mother, but Doron definitely did. I watch him take a step away from the back door, then pace in a panic because he can’t leave the area. He pulls out his phone and starts to text.
“What the hell is going on?” Cove murmurs as we now see Devery at the top of the stairs racing toward my father’s suite. “What did she tell you in the bathroom? What’s their plan?” he asks in a frantic voice.
“Devery!” Dayne yells over the horde of clients and employees from the bottom of the stairs. “Dev, stop!” He rushes up the stairwell and she takes off down the hall.
Doron and Trey are the only two heavies left in the room and I turn once again to the back door.
Now.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Overcome with a heightened sense of urgency, I see this moment as our chance to make a break for the back door, but as my legs stir in that direction I’m immediately whisked back. Cove won’t move. I try again, my hand tugs at his to follow, but he continues to stare at the second floor, his feet planted firmly in place.
“If I have to be a bitch right now I will, look at me. Move.”
“Not without my mother,” he whis
pers. “Soph,” he uses my real name, turns and looks into my eyes, places his hands on my shoulders, and gives me a deep kiss. “Go.”
“No fucking way, get your fucking ass out that door, now!” I scream. A few people look at us in confusion, then continue grinding to the music. “Your mother’s doing this for us, you said so yourself. She’d make this happen, and she has; now we need to go before they come back.”
“I’m not leaving without her. You need to leave and I’ll meet up with you soon. Go to Wayne and Lydia’s, they’re only a half-mile from here. I’ll meet you there.”
“Fucking no, Cove. We leave together,” I start to cry. “Now!”
We both jump at a loud crack that echoes through the massive space, a similar sound to Carl knocking over the fireplace pokers an hour ago. I look behind us and see they’re still on the stand. What was that? The room quiets as people start to look around, only the music enveloping the space. Doron continues to look to the second floor, then down at his phone as David Rosen enters from the back hallway. He buttons his shirt, places a kiss on the cheek of a young woman he was with, and walks speedily toward his son.
Then a second fracturing blast fills the house. This time it’s clear to everyone what’s happening.
“Doron, clear the room,” David yells to the back as he runs up the stairs. “Trey, help him. Get everyone out, quickly and quietly.”
People bolt through both doors in a desperate attempt to escape as Doron and Trey frantically try to hush them on their way out. “Calm down,” Doron yells. “Keep your voices down. Remember your signature to gain admission here tonight guarantees your mouth stays shut when you leave.”
“Mother,” I hear Cove mutter faintly. He throws himself into the swarm of bodies, working his way upstream like a salmon determined to return to its birthplace, heading back to the womb.
“Cove!” I cry out as I’m trapped and pushed toward the door with the rest of the pack. “Cove!”
“Sophia, I’ll meet you there. Go!” he yells back.
“No!” I scream, pushing my way toward him. A hand clutches my shoulder and I’m cast out the back door. Doron.
“Be quiet out there. You’re all part of this industry. Stay calm and no cops.”
“What happened?” I’m in a hysterical frenzy, separated from Cove, and worried that someone was shot. “Doron, what happened?”
“Don’t know, keep moving.”
I disregard his request, and try to push my way back into the house. He blocks my entry and shoves me into the throng of guests. My heart takes control. I make a run for the door, but he jerks me aside.
“Doron. Let me in!”
“I have a fucking job to do, get outta here.”
I step closer and touch his arm, then speak to him in my softest voice. “If you were in my shoes, and you couldn’t get in to see if Devery and Dayne were okay, how would you feel?”
“You couldn’t wait to leave, and now you want back in?”
“Doron,” I whisper. “Please.”
He exhales, steps aside, and I race to the second floor. Cove’s entering my father’s office as I start down the hallway toward the open double doors. The sobbing cries of a woman and Dayne’s dominant voice reverberate through the empty corridor and swathe my naked skin. I see Cove drop to his knees, his face panic stricken, pale.
“Put the gun away, put it down. Get it the fuck out of your hand and put it away!” David shouts. “Dayne don’t fucking touch anything! All of you step back!”
“Devery, get out now!” Dayne yells over his father’s voice.
“Mother, no!”
The room is dim; the dark colored wood that covers the ceiling, walls, and floor makes it nearly impossible to see without a strong light. It’s like entering a cave. The blinds are closed and the one small lamp lighting the space on my father’s desk has been overturned. A trickling pool of blood spreads toward the light as David and Dayne shout over one another.
“Put the fucking guns away, step back!” Dayne yells. “Don’t fucking touch him!”
Cove continues to kneel and stare, his mouth dropped open like he’s viewing the miracle apparition at Medjugorje, in a trance, unable to comprehend what’s before him. Dayne, Devery, and Leondra are all holding guns, while David fights for control of the room.
“Leondra, don’t touch him. Dayne and Devery put the guns away. All of you put the fucking guns away!” David yells.
As my eyes adjust to the darkness I start to realize there’s a lifeless body to my right. A gun is on the floor, a small hand next to it, and the figure well-dressed in shiny black oxfords like the rest of the Jameson male employee clan. Carl. It’s Carl Caverns. Leondra hovers over him then drops to the floor as she continues to sob. She places her hand on his chest and whispers, “Patrick,” between flowing tears.
“Keep your hands off of him... no fingerprints. Get her out of here Dayne, get everyone out!” David shouts.
“Patrick,” she cries. It’s apparent from the splattering of blood on the wall and a quick glance at his head what’s happened.
Dayne steps toward her and Carl in order to get her out. His large body no longer blocks my father’s desk, and now that he’s moved I can see another lifeless figure in the room. The expanding pool of blood on the desk leads further to the right than I could see when I first stepped in, and even in the darkness, I know it’s my father. He’s slumped face down, hands to either side of his head with a cigar in one and his phone in the other. I turn away and gasp when I see the large piece of flesh ripped open on the side of his head.
“Dad,” I say first in a soft voice, then louder as the dreamlike scene I’ve entered becomes reality. “Dad!” I shout, turning back to the gruesome sight. My body and mind are quickly out of control. I throw myself further into the room and rush to my father. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I bawl, as David places his arms around my body in a tight hold. “I didn’t mean it!” I scream, in an uncontrollable fit. My feet kick as I try to break free of his restraint. My father was an asshole, a complete dick, but even so, he’s still my dad and I just wished he were dead a few moments earlier. How could I say such a thing? “I didn’t mean what I said. I didn’t want you to die, Dad. I don’t want anyone to die. Please, get up!”
“Dayne, move them out, now!” David roars. “Leondra, get your fucking hands off Carl. Devery gun down, now. Get out of this fucking house!”
My body goes numb, dangling in David’s arms, no longer in a fight for freedom. He feels my surrendered state and allows me to collapse to the floor and wail.
“Patrick, oh sweet Patrick,” Leondra mourns. “Please sweet doll, come back.” Dayne touches her shoulder, and she quickly points her gun at him in defense. “Step back, Dayne. All of you get out.”
“What the fuck happened?” I hear Doron yell from down the hall. He races in and stops dead in his tracks, eyes wide, gun pulled, as he enters the brutal scene. “My God.”
“Doron, get your sister out of here. If that’s your gun in her hand, wipe it clean and get it out of this house.”
“Dad...”
“This isn’t a fucking game. Get her out of Paul’s house,” his voice echoes through the massive empty hall into the rooms below.
Devery marches up to Leondra and takes the gun from her hand. “I’ll take care of this, you take care of everything else,” she orders before being whisked away by her brother.
Cove stands and paces by the door, his hand continually runs through his hair as he exhales deeply. Leondra rises and points her finger first at Dayne, and then at David. “We’re doing this my way.”
“Fuck no,” Dayne protests. “You don’t have control of this family.”
“Quiet, both of you,” David insists with authority. “My sons aren’t going to spend the rest of their lives rotting in prison.”
“What, you mean like my husband?” Leondra seethes.
“Mother, what are you going to do? What’s happening?” Cove asks as he approache
s the three of them.
“Stay back,” Dayne warns as he points his gun toward Cove.
“Dayne, enough!” David shouts. “Leondra, what are you thinking?”
“Call the police,” she responds. “Call them now, before too much time has passed and the scene looks suspicious.”
“No fucking way,” Dayne shakes his head. “I need time to see what Paul has on his computer and up in his room. My name’s not gonna be linked to his shit.”
“Dayne, you can’t touch a thing, nothing except what you normally would touch in the house. We can’t call attention....”
“No, fuck you. Fuck both of you. This is bullshit. I’m taking Paul and Carl out to the desert to leave them as food for the buzzards and coyotes, and that will be the end of it.”
I watch and sob from the floor, my heart about to burst in agony. I can’t breathe. “Daddy,” I cry out. “Dad... Carl....”
“Have you gone mad, son?”
“Have I gone mad?” he growls back at his father. “You’re the fucker who started this company.”
Leondra reaches into her purse and pulls out her phone, but it’s immediately snatched by David and thrown across the room. “Listen to me, both of you, Leondra’s right, we don’t have much time before a decision has to be made.”
“Let me up to the third floor. We can’t call the police until I search for information that will help my father,” Cove pleads in a frantic and shaken voice. “Who has the code for that door?”
“Cove, let it go,” his mother says in her most tender voice, attempting to calm him down. “I came here for you, to enable you and Sophia to move forward. Nothing in this house will help your father.”
“Why are they even still in this house?” Dayne motions toward us as he questions our presence. “What are we going to do with them?”