by J. E. Taylor
“I don’t know.” She hesitated and closed her car door. It would be refreshing to have a man cook for her. With the exception of pancakes, Tom was a disaster in the kitchen.
“I promise.” His eyes pleaded with her.
“Can you really keep your hands off me for that long?” She raised her eyebrow.
“Can you?”
Jessica shrugged.
“You just have to understand the ramifications if we can’t,” he said.
“Do you want me to stay or don’t you?”
“Yes. I want you to stay.”
“All right, I’ll stay.” She followed him into the house amazed that it was already four in the afternoon. “You know where I was supposed to go today?”
“No, where?”
Her breath hitched. “I was supposed to go to the doctor’s today.” She turned to Chris. “Tom wanted us to have a baby.” She blinked back the tears, gritting her teeth against them.
Chris took her in his arms, holding her as she cried, knowing that she had to go through this if she was ever going to let him go. He cloaked his mind, thinking about the child she was now carrying. His child. Smiling, he kissed the top of her head. “Shhhh,” he cooed.
She finally pulled away from him and wiped her eyes. “I can’t have children anymore.” She sniffled.
“I know.”
“How?”
“Medical records.”
Her eyebrows knit together in confusion as she studied Chris.
“I pulled medical and dental records for everyone I kidnapped,” he said. “That way I’d know what issues we might be dealing with medically, and the dental records.” He shrugged. “We altered them so they matched back to the person we wanted the world to think was dead.”
She looked at him with disbelief. “How’d you do that?”
“I’m a whiz at computers and can hack into any system. There isn’t a firewall built that I can’t hack through.”
Jessica laughed. “What, are you a member of Mensa or something?”
“Ty was. He’s a fucking genius.”
She raised her eyebrow. “Wow. Is there anything that you can’t do?”
He thought for a moment. “I can’t get pregnant,” he replied with a silly smile.
Jessica couldn’t help but laugh. “No, you can’t.”
Chris grinned.
“Are you really considered a genius?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, you’ve got the whole package going on, haven’t you?” she said and sat on the couch.
“I don’t know about that.” He shrugged and walked out of the room and returned a few minutes later with a beautiful marble chess set. He set it down on the coffee table and took a seat in the chair. “Chess is a game of logic and strategy forcing you to think at least a move ahead,” Chris started.
“You sound like a text book.”
Dimples made a brief appearance in his cheeks and he took a deep breath. “Just listen, okay?”
She nodded.
Chris explained the functions of each piece holding them up for her to see as well as the goal of the game, making sure the board was set up properly before they began. “You ready?” He reached over and grabbed the remote, putting music on low.
“You really would have played this with me when we were down there?”
Chris nodded. “I was interested in seeing how you do. Still am,” he said. “Do you want something to drink before we start?” He stood and walked into the kitchen.
“What do you have?” she asked as he opened the refrigerator.
“I’ve got beer and a couple bottles of wine. I’ve also got Grey Goose.” He glanced in her direction.
The humor in his eyes made her laugh. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”
He shook his head. “You were so funny stumbling down the beach and singing completely off key at the top of your lungs.” He laughed. “If I hadn’t caught you, you would have gone face down in the sand.” He looked over at her. “And the next day you looked like death warmed over. It’s just too good to let you live down.”
“Do you have white zinfandel?”
“Yes.” He pulled the bottle out of the refrigerator.
“Thanks,” she said and took the wine glass he offered.
He raised his glass. “To better days ahead of us.” He clinked her glass and took a sip.
She stared at him. “Us?”
He shrugged. “Humor me, okay?” And then he looked at the wine glass she held in her hand and back at her as his smile faded. She went to take a sip and he reached over and took the glass from her. “That’s probably not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t ready to tell her the real reason. He wanted her to make her choice before he gave her that surprise. “I don’t know what I was thinking. We don’t really mix well with alcohol.”
“One glass isn’t going to kill us,” Jessica said, reaching for her glass.
Chris thought twice and then gave in. One glass probably wouldn’t hurt. “Okay.” He slowly handed her the glass. “Ready?” he said, pointing at the board and she nodded.
The game took a couple of hours and when Chris grinned and uttered checkmate, Jessica stared at the board trying to figure out what went wrong. “Shit,” she said and looked up at him.
He sat back in the seat.
Jessica glanced at the clock and raised her eyebrows. No wonder she was hungry.
“What would you like?” he asked, reading her thoughts.
She shrugged and reached for the bottle. He picked it up as he walked into the kitchen. “Hello?” she said as she followed him into the kitchen. “I’d like some more wine.”
“No,” he said, putting the cork into the bottle and taking her glass to put it into the sink.
“Why not?”
Not in your condition. “I already told you why.”
“There’s something that you’re not telling me,” she said as she stepped closer. “You’re blocking me from your thoughts.”
“I don’t want you to get drunk.” He opened the cabinets and surveyed what he had for food. “What would you like for dinner?”
“Chinese,” she said.
He looked over his shoulder at her. “Okay.”
“You know how to cook Chinese food?”
“How hard can it be?” He crossed to the phone and flipped open the phone book, finding a local Chinese restaurant that delivered. “What do you want?”
“Spicy chicken and rice,” she said through the giggles possessing her. “You are too funny,” she said when he hung up the phone.
Chris walked up to her. “I love your laugh,” he said as he pulled her close. He leaned down and kissed her, running his good hand into her hair. Slowly and begrudgingly, he pulled away with his eyes bright blue and full of the lust coursing through him. Chris took a few steps back and stared at her. “I promised,” he said, more to remind himself than anything.
“Yes, you did,” she said. She turned and walked outside to the rock wall and leaned on it, looking at the boats coming in to the bay. When he laid his hands on her shoulders, she leaned her head back into his chest.
“Did you ever think it would be like this?” he asked as he watched the boats.
“Like what?”
“So strong it actually hurts?”
She shook her head.
“Me neither.” He turned and went inside.
Jessica thought she heard a doorbell but didn’t move to go inside. She wasn’t sure what to do about her life. If Tom came back, would she go with him? She looked over her shoulder at the house and then back at the water. She didn’t know. If Ty hadn’t killed, she thought and then shook her head. The question was which one could she live without? She thought she knew the answer and sighed.
“Hey Jess, food’s here,” Chris called from the door.
She wandered back inside. He had set the table for them and point
ed to her place as he got them each a glass of ice water. She ate quietly, lost in her own thoughts.
“Do you know what you are going to do yet?” He finished the food on his plate.
She met his gaze. “No,” she said simply, lying to him. “I can’t think past getting rid of Frank right now.”
He stood up and brought his plate to the sink and threw it in. He reached over her shoulder and took her empty plate as well. “Why are you lying to me?” he asked and leaned on the counter, his back to her. He looked at the glasses standing in the sink and sent out a small burst of anger. They shattered, making her jump.
“I’m not,” she said nervously.
He willed the radio off and then he slowly turned. “You can’t fool me anymore, Jess.”
“I don’t know what I am going to do!” she yelled. “It changes from one moment to the next and you can’t expect me to make a decision like that.” She snapped her fingers. “My marriage is in the shitter right now, I’ve got a ghost that wants to hurt me and my family, I’ve got you, and I don’t know what the hell to do with you. I want to run right now, but I can’t.” She looked at him and swore under her breath. “I’m a fucking mess.” She walked into the family room and flopped down on the couch.
Not to mention hormonal, he thought and walked in, taking a seat next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders. “I’ve never been good at being patient.”
She looked up at the clock over his television. “The show’s going to be on in a few minutes. You said you would record it for me?”
“Will do.” He stood, setting up a blank disk in the DVR. “What channel?”
“Sixteen.”
He set the DVR to record and turned the television on. Chris sat down and put his arm around her. “You okay now?”
She shrugged.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Now?”
She shrugged again as the screen filled with the image of her husband. She looked down at the rings on her hand and back to the screen as the teaser faded and the beginning credits came up. I shouldn’t be here.
He watched her instead of the show, making a mental note that she looked at her wedding rings. The thought that ran through her mind was like a knife in his heart. He moved his arm from around her shoulders and crossed them in front of him as he watched the commercials.
The next scene that came up made her brighten up. It was the newsroom scene and when Eric walked into the camera shot, she smiled. Her focus was now on her son, not Tom and Chris was relieved. He watched the short walk-on role, impressed with the kid’s natural talent. “Eric did great.”
They watched the show unfold and when they got to the party scene, Jessica was excited again, until she saw the camera pan by her daughter. Frank was in the room with his arms around Emily’s waist, whispering in her ear. The frozen smile on Emily’s face screamed fear.
“Tom saw him. Goddamnit! He saw him and didn’t tell me until after that son of a bitch attacked Emily.” The anger ignited in her. What she saw plainly on that video was not just a quick flash as Tom had led her to believe.
Jessica’s cell phone rang and she reached for her purse, ripping the phone out and looking at the number. She flipped the phone open. “I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“I didn’t see the cut, Jess, otherwise I would have had that scene taken out,” Tom said.
“You knew!” she hissed into the phone and turned her back to Chris.
“I didn’t know that was in the show.”
“That’s not what I was talking about. You knew he was after Emily.”
* * * *
Tom was quiet on the other side of the country. He glanced at Sharon and the script laid out in front of them, openly ease-dropping on his conversation.
“Come on, Tom, we need to finish the rewrites for the movie,” she said loud enough for her voice to be heard by his wife.
Tom glared at her.
Jessica looked at the phone. “Who the hell is that?”
“Don’t even go there. You stepped over that line first,” he said very quietly, turning his back so Sharon wouldn’t hear.
* * * *
Jessica hung up the phone. It rang again almost immediately. She looked at the number and flipped it open. She didn’t speak and neither did he.
“Where the hell are you anyway?” he finally asked.
Jessica turned and looked at Chris. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Bye, Tom.” She closed the phone. On the television screen Tom’s character kissed Lois Lane. Jessica’s eyes blurred from tears that welled up and she glanced at her wedding rings. The voice in the background had been Sharon’s, and she hitched her breath as her eyes rose to the television screen. The camera panned and she saw the image of Emily flash on the screen again, this time she was really smiling and Frank wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“We need to do something about Frank, now, tonight,” she seethed, the hurt turning to fury.
“Jess, it will keep till the morning. We have to get some things anyway and there aren’t any stores open right now.”
Jessica looked at the clock and then back at him. “Home Depot has mirrors and they are still open.”
“No, we will do it tomorrow,” he insisted.
Jessica looked angrily at him and then up at the ceiling as a new thought dawned on her. There are mirrors in his bedroom. She headed toward the stairs and suddenly stopped in her tracks against her will. “Let me go.” She glared at him.
He held his head low, looking at her through his bangs. “No Jess, not here. Besides, I’m not ready to die tonight,” he said, shocking her into reason.
Jessica blinked at him and looked away. “Let me go,” she said, he still had control over her.
He shook his head and walked over to her. “Not until you promise me you aren’t going to do something stupid.”
She sighed and looked up at him. “Let go!”
“Promise me!”
Jessica rolled her eyes and nodded. “I promise,” she said and felt the invisible hands that gripped her disappear. “You’ve gotten pretty good with that.”
“I need to know where that door is, Jess,” he said, ignoring her comment.
She looked at him, not understanding what he was saying at first and then it clicked and her eyes went wide. “Why?”
“Because Eric said I had to be the one to open it and he gave me the key.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key ring. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice it.” He held it up.
Jessica remembered Chris had said something about seeing Eric on the beach the day she came by to say goodbye and found him drunk. “I still don’t understand.”
“Eric said it had to be me that opened the door, otherwise...” he trailed off and shrugged. “You had the dream; you can guess what happens to both of us if we don’t get that door open.”
Jessica nodded.
“Can you show me where it is?”
“I’m not sure.”
“What do you need?”
“I need you.” She looked up at him.
He smiled sadly and looked over at the television and then back at her. “You’re still his wife,” he said nodding toward the screen.
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do,” Chris said. “That’s why you’re feeling angry and reckless right now.”
Her face scrunched up as the tears began to fall. “Damn it, Ty,” she said and turned away from him. She yanked her wedding rings off and pitched them across the room and then sat down on the floor and cried into her hands.
Chris knelt down and put his arms around her. “I’m sorry, but until you can honestly say that you want to be with me for the rest of your life, we can’t,” he whispered in her ear. “Now, how do I get to that door?”
“You have to get in my head like Eric,” she said. “I’ve got to let you.” She sniffled and turned toward him, kissing him before he could pull away, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly and pushing him ba
ck on the floor, moving on top of him.
Her kiss deepened and he groaned under her mouth drawing into her much like the transition through the mirrors. He tightened his grip and the room disappeared replaced by a long hallway where he stood alone, staring at the white light spilling around the edge of the door at the far end of the hall. He’d seen this once before, in the reflection of the mirror five years ago right before the chains that were tearing him apart released.
“Holy shit.” The strength of the power behind that door made what was flowing through him feel like a match flickering in the wind. He blinked and pushed her away from him on the floor of his house, his breath wheezing in his chest and his gaze caught hers. Her swirling, storm-laden eyes.
“Sweet Jesus,” he whispered and sat up.
She stared at him, her chest rising and falling as hard as his. “Gives a whole new meaning to being inside me, doesn’t it?”
He let out a little bark of a laugh and nodded. Chris ran his hand through his hair and stood. The show credits rolled and he blinked. That little journey took twenty minutes out of the day and he brought his gaze back to her. “I have to get there faster otherwise we’re dead.”
Jessica raised her eyebrows and Chris pointed at the television.
“Twenty minutes. Not good enough.” He helped her off the floor and planted another kiss this time launching into the hallway instead of being pulled by her. He broke the kiss, his breath locked in his chest and he stepped away back in his family room, glancing at the clock. A good ten minutes had passed and he shook his head, meeting her gaze again.
“Still not good enough.” He turned his back to her and glanced out the sliders at the darkness that took over his backyard. His mind rolling over the process, trying to find the key. The key! How can I be so stupid. Pulling the key ring out he slid the old-fashioned skeleton key off and twirled it in his fingers. Palming it, he turned and crossed, taking her in his arms once again, crushing her lips and when they parted and his tongue tickled hers, the transition occurred. The familiar hallway surrounded him and his heart leaped in his throat. The reverse happened when he broke the kiss and this time when he looked at the clock not even a minute had passed.
“I need this in my hand.” He held up the key.