by Lizzie James
Closing the laptop, I stood, still feeling tense. I made my way to the kitchen and opened the fridge. I grabbed the bottle of wine that was still in there and poured a large glass. I was still anxious over the truth I had glossed over with Alex and James. I knew it was just a waiting game now. James knew me well enough to know when I was lying or avoiding the truth. He and I had spent a lot of time together over the last year. Alex thought we were hiding a relationship but it had never got to that stage.
After one night out and way too many drinks, we’d had a crazy night together that had slowly turned to several crazy nights. I’d thought he cared for me but I was never sure. We agreed no feelings and that was just how it was.
I wanted to live my life. I wanted to travel the world. I wanted what Alex and Charlie had together one day but not yet. I wanted to live my life first.
My phone beeped with a text message, disturbing my thoughts.
Come to mine tonight. – J
Speak of the devil.
What’s in it for me? I have Netflix here ;)
I took a sip of the wine, waiting for his response. This was what our relationship was. Flirts, laughs, dancing, lust and maybe a little bit of passion. Okay, a lot of passion but I wasn’t ready to admit to that just yet.
What I want you here for has fuck all to do with Netflix
I laughed loudly at his response, surprised at his cockiness. A lot of people underestimated James, thinking that he was the quiet one, the sweet one. Boy, they were wrong. There was fuck all sweet about James in the bedroom. He was gentle outside of it, but inside, there was nothing he wasn’t willing to try.
I guessed that was why we worked so well as friends with benefits. We never expected anything and knew that come morning, we went back to our lives. There were never any expectations and because of that, there was no heartbreak.
I leaned my head back against the cushion, feeling the knots of tension finally begin to unwind. I think telling Alex about David hanging around outside for the last three weeks would be the best decision. Maybe then I would stop feeling so anxious about it and at least I would have two more people on my side and more people to look out for Charlie when I wasn’t around.
I reached for my phone, deciding to put James out of his misery. It was seconds too late, though.
The floorboard directly behind me creaked and a hand quickly clamped over my mouth. Seconds later, the sharp prick of a needle went into the side of my neck, draining the fight from my body.
I struggled against the hold on me before I felt the energy begin draining from my arms. The glass of wine toppled, a blood-red stain leaking out over the floor. Kicking my legs was futile, my body beginning to slump, taking the last shred of energy and with it, the last bit of fight.
My eyes closed, succumbing to whatever had been injected into me. I didn’t see who was, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. There was only one psychotic freak hanging around and it looked like he had finally gone mental.
Waking up, it felt like my eyes had been rubbed raw with sandpaper. They felt sore and it was difficult for me to focus. I stared around, cringing at my surroundings. It appeared I was sitting in the middle of a vacant unit. There were oil stains on the floor and a mattress was over against the wall.
“You’re awake.” David kneeled down in front of me before reaching up and peeling the duct tape that was over my mouth, roughly with no care.
I screamed, glaring up at him. “That hurt, you fucker,” I muttered.
“Don’t talk like that.” He smacked his hand hard across my face, knocking my head to the side. “You’re disgusting when you talk like that.”
I glared up at him, my eyes widening in shock at him. “Saying naughty words,” I mocked, “is disgusting but roping an innocent woman to a chair and kidnapping is okay?” By the end of the question, I was shouting at him.
“Innocent.” His lip curled in disgust at me. “I wouldn’t call you innocent.” He turned from me, walking a little away before facing me again. “You stripped for a living, danced around a pole and you sneak off to fuck that James Winters.” He smirked at me and it made me want to throw up. “You’re far from fucking innocent.”
I looked at him in disgust, hating how I felt. I didn’t class burlesque dancing as stripping—it wasn’t like I was a prostitute—but I was still a little ashamed that that’s how I’d made money.
“Me?” I asked. “I’m disgusting?” I trailed my eyes down his limp frame, looking at him like the filth that he was. “You think when Charlie finds out what you've done that you’ll be anything to her?” I turned my head and spat some blood onto the floor. “You’ll be nothing to her, David. Nothing!”
He glared at me with hatred before his hand shot out and smacked me again. Once. Twice. Three times he smacked me before delivering a punch to my cheekbone. That one was going to leave a mark.
I spat more blood out before looking up at him. “She doesn’t need you, David.” I shook my head. “I know I’m not perfect, but Charlie is. She looks for the good in people. She would have looked for the good in you but what you did to her...”
“Shut up!” he snapped. He turned away from me.
“You tried to break her but she’s better than you. You won’t break her.”
He shook his head, and I could hear him mutter words to himself under his breath as he began to pace a little.
“She’s with Alex now,” I continued, “and they are going to be a family,” I firmly stated. “Hurting me is only going to break you.”
“I said shut up!” he screamed at me before he delivered another punch to my face.
My head slumped back, feeling my eyes begin to close. Before they did, my thoughts went to the message I’d been sending James before David decided to inject shit into my veins. I hoped the message had sent and that James and Alex were on their way to find me.
26
James
It was a little quiet at the bar. Since Addie had left, a few families had come and gone but the kitchen had been pretty quiet so Alex had gone upstairs an hour previous, leaving me to watch the bar.
My eyes kept going to the clock, cringing when I saw that it wasn’t even eight pm yet.
I grabbed my phone, sending a message to Addie.
Come to mine tonight. – J
Addie and I had been spending a lot of time together over the last few months. It had started off as a one-night stand and then one had led to two. A few weeks after that, we were friends with benefits. More benefit than friend.
I didn’t know how to be a friend to Addie. I wanted a lot fucking more than just friendliness with her but I knew she wasn’t ready for that. She had things she wanted to do first. As I’d watched Alex and Charlie fall in love, I had decided that could be me and Addie. If she wanted to live her life first, I was cool with that. I didn’t mind waiting for Addie.
My phone beeped, telling me she had replied.
What’s in it for me? I have Netflix here ;)
Sexy little fucking minx. I sent a quick reply back, not in the mood for any games tonight.
What I want you here for has fuck all to do with Netflix
I had expected a woman like Addie to be dominant in the bedroom. I knew she was a burlesque dancer, and I knew that she was confident in her body. I only had to see her outfits to know that she didn’t mind being stared at. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever met. That’s why I was shocked as hell when it turned out that I was the dominant one. Addie liked to be bossed around and controlled. It was sexy as hell, and I think that’s why we worked. When I thought back to Addie’s ex-sexual partners, I wondered if they’d had the balls to boss her around like that.
Normally, I wasn’t bossy in the bedroom, but she brought it out of me. When I was in control of Addie in our sexual adventures, I knew I had her completely. She was sassy as hell, but when it was just her and me, I was able to fool myself into thinking she wanted me as desperately as I craved her.
A few hours later, I was closing up the bar. I locked the doors up before heading out of the side exit. Instead of getting in my car to drive home, I walked up the block, grabbing my phone and checking for the hundredth time to see if Addie had sent a response.
She hadn’t.
It wasn’t the first time she’d blown me off but it was the first time she hadn’t replied to a flirtatious message. She was a flirt by nature; it was part of her charm. Maybe she was just trying to see how far she could push me before I’d turn up at her door, ready to explode.
I pressed the buzzer, waiting patiently for her voice to come through the speaker. I frowned at her button before pressing it a couple of more times, waiting. It was only just past midnight, and I knew that it was still early for her. She was too used to her burlesque hours. When she’d worked there, she wouldn’t have been coming home until gone two am. She was a night owl, and she probably always would be.
I stepped aside, relieved when an older gentleman opened the door. He held it for me before he went down the corridor that led to his apartment. We’d bumped into each other a few times, and he always seemed polite.
I took the stairs two at a time, eager to see her, but freezing when I got to her place, my heart coming to a stop at the sight in front of me. The door was ajar. I checked the frame for signs of a break-in, bending down when I saw Addie’s bracelet on the floor in a crack of the tile.
She wore this thing everywhere. It had little charms on it, and she always said it was who she was. I fingered the flat ballet charm dangling from it before I stood up, walking inside. I slipped it into my pocket and rushed over to the sofa. The coffee table was overturned and there was a large red stain on the rug next to an empty wine glass. Her phone was on the floor, and judging by the cracked screen, I assumed it had been thrown in whatever struggle had taken place.
I grabbed the landline’s handset from where it was lying discarded on the floor before dialling Alex’s mobile number. I waited impatiently for him to pick up, tapping my hand repeatedly against the side of my leg. Just before I went to hang up, his voice echoed down the line.
“Addie?” he croaked down the line.
“It’s me,” I muttered.
“James?” He sounded a little more awake now. “What is it?”
I heard Charlie in the background, asking what was wrong.
“It’s nothing, darling.” I heard him lean away from the phone. “Go back to sleep. It’s okay.” Several moments of silence passed before I heard a door close. “What’s wrong?”
“I need you to come to Addie’s.” I stared at the photo of her and Charlie standing on the windowsill. “Don’t bring Charlie,” I warned. I put the phone down without saying goodbye.
I spent the moments before Alex arrived checking the apartment. I looked in her bedroom and saw all of her jewellery was still there and her flat-screen television didn’t have a scratch on it. After checking her roommate’s bedroom, I saw her window was wide open.
I walked back out into the lounge just as Alex came through the door.
“What’s the—” He stared past me at the overturned coffee table and the wine stain on the floor.
“It was like this when I got here. The door was ajar and this”—I pulled Addie’s bracelet out of my pocket, holding it up for him to see—“was on the floor by the door,” I said, pointing at his feet.
“Have you called the police yet?” he asked.
“No.” I shook my head needlessly. “I’m still trying to convince myself that this isn’t happening.”
“Call them,” he ordered. “We’re going to need them.”
I nodded before grabbing the phone. “They are going to want to speak to Charlie.”
“I know.” He sighed and reached up, rubbing his knuckles against the top of his head. He always did that when he was stressed. “They can do that tomorrow. She needs her rest right now.”
After making the phone call, we waited tensely in the kitchen for the police to arrive, trying to ignore how familiar the scene was. Last time this happened, the police had come and taken my brother away, throwing him in prison for several years. He would have been in there longer but because of his good behaviour, he was let out early.
Alex stood up when he heard movement. “In here!” he called. He walked past me, nodding his head for me to follow.
Two police officers—one male and one female—were standing in the lounge. The male officer was staring past us at the mess and the female one was taking a notepad out of her pocket.
“Did you make the call?” she asked, looking at Alex.
“I did,” I said. “My name is James Winters and this is my brother Alex.”
She wrote a few notes down before she looked back up at us. “In your own words, sir, can you explain what happened tonight?”
“I, uh, I finished work just before midnight. I work for my brother at the bar just down the street,” I said, pointing my fingers at the open doorway behind her.
“Alex’s bar, right?” she asked, confirming with us.
“That’s right.” I nodded my head. “Addie and I are friends, and I came here to check on her.” I could feel Alex staring at me. “We had been texting each other earlier in the night and she hadn’t text me back for a couple of hours.”
“When did you see her last?” she asked.
“She came by the bar,” James inserted. “She had a coke at the bar and then she went home around seven-ish. I worked the rest of my shift and after locking up and came this way to check on her. I left my car outside the bar...”
The police officer stared past us before she subtly nodded her head. “Is there anything else?” she asked.
I looked at Alex, waiting for his input. He just stared at the officer, making me want to smack him.
“Alex’s girlfriend, Charlotte Chase, used to live here.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me at my words.
“Charlie moved out a while ago and moved in with my brother.”
Alex sighed before putting his hands in his pockets. “My girlfriend has had a few problems from an ex-partner of hers.”
“What’s the name?” the male officer behind us asked.
“David Smith,” Alex answered. “You’re probably going to want to check the name out.”
She nodded before she turned away from us, walking to the door and speaking into the walkie-talkie clipped to her collar. She came back a few minutes later before she walked up to Alex.
“We are going to need to speak to Miss Chase,” she said to Alex.
“She’s sleeping,” he said. “She’s pregnant and hasn’t been very well lately.”
She nodded before turning away and speaking into her walkie-talkie. “Thank you both for your co-operation.” She put her notepad back in her pocket. “If you can both go home and we will be in touch in the morning.”
“But what about Addie?” I asked. Were they fucking high? A young woman goes missing and they thought that they could just send us home for the night? They needed to be out there looking for her!
“James.” Alex placed his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him. “Let’s go.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, he was shaking his head.
“We need to let them conduct their investigation.” He widened his eyes at me, and I knew that he was trying to keep me calm. “You’ll stay with me tonight, and they can come to the bar in the morning and take Charlie’s statement there.”
The police officer nodded her head before stepping aside and allowing us to walk past her to the door.
I stopped when I got there, remembering what was in my pocket.
“Oh, I, uh, I found this when I got here. It’s Addie’
s bracelet.” I dropped it into her hand. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have picked it up.”
“Thank you.” She gave me a polite smile, remaining professional before turning away and walking to face her partner.
“Come on, little brother.” Alex grabbed my shoulder and gently steered me to the door. “Let’s go and hopefully tomorrow they will have some information.
We exited the apartment building, and as we walked down the block towards Alex’s home, I could feel dread taking up residence in my chest. She had to be okay. I don’t know what I was going to do if she wasn’t okay.
“What are we going to do?” I asked as we approached the bar. “What are we going to do if the police don’t find anything?”
He sighed, unlocking the door and opening it. He nodded his head for me to go in first before he followed behind.
“If they don’t find anything,” he said, answering my question before he turned and locked the doors. “You and I will start our own investigation.”
“What about Charlie?” I asked. “She’s not going to take this well.”
“I’ll tell her in the morning. I don’t want to disturb whatever rest she’s managed to get tonight.” He walked past me, leading the way to the staircase. “You can stay on the sofa and then in the morning...”
He froze as he went through the door and I saw his shoulders slump. He stepped aside and held the door open for me to come in before he closed the door.
Charlie was sitting on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket. “What’s wrong?” she whispered. She looked past Alex at me before looking back to him. She rested her hand on her large bump before she asked again more firmly. “Alex, what’s wrong?” Her voice wavered and I knew right then that Charlie was going to go to pieces when she found out about Addie.