by J. L. Drake
“Baby,” Seth said, grabbing my attention. I turned slowly to look at him. “We’re here.”
“Oh.” I fumbled with my seatbelt buckle. I hadn’t even noticed we had stopped. Seth opened my door, offering me a hand out. “Thanks,” I whispered, but he didn’t let go right away.
“Hey.” He ran his fingers down my cheek. “You’re so quiet.”
I nodded and looked down. I didn’t want to be separated from him. I wanted to be back on the couch in his arms, away from this crazy guy.
Seth cupped my face. “Erin will stay with you today, and I’ll be back to pick you up after your classes, okay?”
I nodded, trying to clear my head. I was being a child, and I needed to grow a pair. Where was my braver side when I wanted her? “I’ll be fine.” I plastered on a fake smile. I waved at Garrett, who smiled. “I’ll see you later.”
Seth caught my arm as I started to walk away. “Call me if you need me. I’ll come right over.”
“Thanks, I’ll be fine. I’m okay now,” my braver side reassured him.
Oh, there you are…
He let me go.
***
Lasko
I paced the room as I listened, and my blood raced under my skin. “Did he, now? What fucking right does he have, touching what’s mine?”
“He dropped her off this morning, but nothing happened. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” the voice said calmly.
“Yeah, well, you better be right. I swear to God if—”
“Jimmy, stop talking.” I ran a shaky hand through my thin hair. “I need you to be clear-headed. You’re goddamn lucky they didn’t find any DNA on her clothes, or you’d be sittin’ in a six-by-six right now. As for him, right now we need him. He’s kept every hard-cocked male away from her. So right now he stays put. Don’t touch him!” There was silence. “Do. You. Understand. Me?”
“Yes!” I shouted into the phone. I hated being told what to do. “I just don’t know how much longer I can last.”
“Shhhhh, Jimmy, I know, and we will. Give me some time. I’ll call you later when I can.” The line went dead.
I tossed the phone at the couch while my frustration grew…I knew what I needed to do. I opened my duffle bag and pulled out a small white envelope. I angrily dumped the small stack of old pictures on the stained brown comforter. I rifled through them until I came across the one I was looking for. I tilted my head to stretch my neck—these damn headaches.
Then I undid my belt and pulled it through the loops, freeing it. I wrapped one end around my fist and propped the picture up so that it was looking directly at me. Breathing hard, I flexed my stomach muscles and whipped the belt across myself. A long pink trail that quickly turned red ran across my torso. Fuck that felt good.
“Again,” I shouted, sending saliva spraying over my chin. I cracked it across my chest this time, and the tail end caught my neck. My chest heaved as the sweat broke out across my forehead. I tightened the belt around my fingers and struck myself hard three more times. Yes!
Crying out in pleasure, I dropped to my knees. My pants quickly grew wet as I leaned my forehead against the bed. I rubbed the damp spot, letting my mind finish for me. Finally, my breathing went back to normal. When I looked up, my eyes met the picture. My eyes met hers.
***
Emily
I didn’t say much as Scott and I walked to the library. Erin had made me promise I wouldn’t leave his side until we met up later. She had been asked to stay after class by her professor because she had some questions about a paper she was writing. She told me she’d skip it, but I insisted she go. I wasn’t about to let her get a bad grade because of my situation.
Scott and I sat down together, going over our notes, comparing to see if we’d missed anything so far. Seth texted me. I noticed Scott glanced at it.
He tossed his pen down. “Emily?”
“Mmm?” I said, flipping the phone over.
“Emily,” he said in a different tone that made me look up. “I really like you, and I think you may like me, so what’s holding you back?”
I felt my cheeks flush. “I-I do like you, but things are a bit complicated right now.”
“With Seth?” He was so bold with his comments.
I nodded. “Him and other things.”
“Things,” Scott repeated.
Yes, like the fact that a crazy psychopath is stalking me, but, yeah, we’ll go with the word ‘things’ for now.
He took my hand. “It doesn’t have to be complicated with me.”
I smiled slightly, knowing he had a point. But my heart wasn’t having it.
“Well, I’m not going to give up on something I want. It’s not in my nature.” He looked at his watch. “We should get to The Goose.”
Okay…
We packed up our stuff and headed over. Erin, Alex, Lauren, and Brad were already at The Goose. We sat down and ordered. Erin had a huge smile when she saw me. I laughed a little at her expression. “What?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
We had a few drinks and shared stories about our summers and which classes we liked and hated.
Erin didn’t enjoy her ancient history professor because his toupee kept flopping over to one side. “I swear we are all taking bets on when that nasty creature is going to slide right off his head.” She made a face as she shook from head to toe. “It freaks me out!”
Everyone at the table was roaring. The MC came up on the stage and started talking. Erin reached for her drink, a sad attempt to hide her smile. She handed me a martini. “You may need this.”
“Okay.” I took a huge sip. I loved martinis. When Ross, the bartender, made them, he added an extra splash of vodka and an extra olive for me. “What’s going on?” I looked at Scott. He had a stupid grin on his face too.
“All right, folks, it’s open mic night tonight, so come on and sign up,” the MC announced.
“Am I late?” I heard a familiar voice say. I turned to see Pete standing behind me.
“Oh my God, what are you doing here?” I was so excited to see him that I literally jumped into his arms.
“Hey, love, I thought I’d come by and see where you’ve been spending most of your time.” He sat and had a drink with us. I was so happy to see him. I introduced him to everyone, even Ross, who gave me a random thumbs up, which I returned with a smile and then pointed at my glass. That had to be what he was referring to, right?
“This place is really packed,” Scott said as he looked around. I nodded as I sipped my drink.
I saw Erin text someone. “Everything okay?” She nodded with a grin. I reached in my purse. Shoot! I had forgotten to text Seth back.
3:10 p.m. Seth: Everything good?
3:54 p.m. Seth: Hello?
5:03 p.m. Seth: You’re making me worry. Please check in.
I wrote back.
Emily: Sorry, got caught up in something. At The Goose with everyone.
“Emily, could you please join me?” I heard Pete’s voice coming from all directions and saw everyone was staring at me. Scott pulled me up and pointed at Pete on stage with his guitar.
I looked down at Erin in horror. “Oh, hell no! There are too many people.”
Pete raised his hand to shield the lights that were blazing down on him. “Come on, love, you’re not gonna leave me up here by myself are you?”
Oh crap! Everyone watched me. My table started to cheer me on, which made the rest of the pub follow suit. Even Ross shouted for me to get up on stage.
“You’re all gonna pay for this!” I hissed as I slowly walked over to the stage. This only made my table cheer louder.
Pete leaned over and offered me a hand. “They thought you wouldn’t sing with anyone but me.”
I shook my head in disbelief that I was up there. “They were right.”
***
Seth
I pulled out my buzzing cell.
Erin: Come to The Goose and see your girlfriend :) Be here by 6:20!
“Is everything all right?”
I checked Emily’s text again. “Yeah, she just said she was good, now that she finally texted me back. I swear that girl will be the death of me.”
Garrett laughed as he turned down the street to the pub. I opened the doors and was hit with the smells of burgers and liquor. The place was packed. Erin spotted us, waved, and pointed toward the stage.
“Oh, wow,” I said as my eyes found her. Emily stood in her red dress that fell to just above her knees. Her black heels made her look even taller, and her hair was fanning her face. She looked…beautiful.
“She looks good up there,” Garrett shouted at me.
I nodded, not knowing if I could answer him just yet. She looked comfortable in front of a crowd.
Pete leaned into the mic. “Hello, my name is Pete Jones, and this is the lovely Emily McPhee.” The crowd started cheering and hooting. “We’re gonna play you one of our favorites, “If I Didn’t Know Better.” Hope y’all enjoy.”
Pete starting strumming as he winked at Emily. She repaid him with one of her coy smiles. Which made my stomach twist with excitement.
She licked her lips and closed her eyes briefly, then opened them as she sang the first words. The noise died down as her smooth voice rang out over the eager crowd.
“Jesus, that girl’s got talent. Her raspy voice…wow,” a guy in front of me said.
The guy’s buddy leaned into him. “Sexy, too. I gotta talk to her later.”
I shifted. I hated when men spoke about her that way. I needed to tattoo the word taken on her forehead.
Garrett chuckled; he was reading my thoughts again. “You may not be dating her, but you’re awfully jealous of anyone who comes near her.”
Fucking right. “Yup, always will be.”
***
Emily
I kept looking over at Pete. He was enjoying himself, and people seemed to be paying attention to us. I let myself have some fun, moving closer to Pete and swaying my hips from side to side at the appropriate times. When we finished, everyone cheered. Pete came over, took my hand, and kissed it lightly, always the charmer, and we thanked the crowd with a small bow. Both of us laughed from the high we were on as we went back to the table. Scott pulled my chair out for me, then shouted in my ear that we’d done a great job.
Erin leaned in. “Look behind you.” I turned to see Seth and Garrett walking toward me. Both were dressed in plainclothes. I hopped up and went over to them.
Garrett, who was in front, gave me a huge hug. “You were wonderful!”
I smiled. “Thanks, it was actually fun.”
Seth leaned in. “You were amazing. You should have heard what people were saying about you.” He kissed my cheek.
I leaned back. “Oh, really?” I said, as a joke. “Do tell.”
A guy came up and touched my arm. “Damn, girl, you were good. Not to mention those legs! Have mercy!”
I let out a small laugh. “Uh…well, thanks.”
Seth stepped forward. I put my hand on his chest to stop him. “It’s okay.”
The guy put his arm around me and pulled me in. “Yeah!” he said smugly.
Seth grabbed his arm and twisted it. “Move on,” he hissed.
The guy was pissed but walked away, rubbing his arm as he cursed under his breath.
Seth turned to me. “You should go home. This place is crawling with creeps like that.”
“Yeah, it’s called a bar,” I joked again. He shot me a look as I turned to Garrett. “So, you’re both off duty, right?”
He grinned. “Yup.”
“Come and join us then.”
He looked at Seth and shrugged. “All right.”
I went to the bar to get a drink. “Hey,” said a guy standing next to me. “You were really good up there.”
“Thank you.” I nodded, trying to get Ross the bartender’s attention.
***
Seth
I looked down at Erin, who had a large grin plastered on her face. I knew that look. Shit. “She was hot up there, hey?”
“Yeah, she was. I can’t believe you got her to do it.”
She laughed. “Yes, but only with Pete’s help.”
I watched Emily at the bar. She was in conversation with a guy who was probably in his late thirties. His ball hat shielded his face from view.
Scott turned to Garrett. “Aren’t you guys working tonight?”
“Just got off.” Garrett gave him a small smirk.
Scott sat back in his chair; he saw who I was watching. He took a drink of his beer and watched too, not realizing that I was watching him as well.
***
Emily
I pulled out my card and leaned against the steel bar top. “Red’s a good color on you.” The guy was way too old to be sitting at a campus pub and commenting on my dress. I smiled, trying to be polite, as I finally got Ross’s attention.
“One dry martini please, and two Stellas on tap.”
The guy moved his hand forward. I noticed there was a snake tattoo wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet. It made me shudder. I had a serious snake phobia.
The guy waved his hand. “Put it on my tab.”
“No, that’s okay.”
The guy leaned in. “I insist.” Ross handed me the drinks and gave me a ‘Do you need help?’ look.
I shook my head but mouthed, “thank you,” to him. I turned to the guy. “Well, thank you.”
He put his arm out to block my way. “Wait. What’s your name?”
I looked back at him and decided to be kind. “Emily.”
“I like the name Emily.”
I nodded, not sure what to say next.
He reached over, took out a piece of paper, and slid it into my hand. “Call me sometime.”
I forced another nod and headed back to the table. Now that it was over, I laughed slightly. Like that was ever going to happen, buddy. Seth’s hawk-like gaze was on me. I sat across from him and Scott, which I’m sure pissed Scott off. I handed the guys their beers.
Pete clinked my glass. “You kicked ass tonight, love.”
Everyone raised their glasses. “Are you freaking kidding me?” Pete shouted suddenly as he stole everyone’s attention. He snatched the paper out of my hands. “You got a number before I did.” It was a joke, but he was kind of ticked off too.
Seth looked at me, his jaw tense. I turned away and pretended to people watch.
As soon as decently possible, I started to yawn. “All right, all, I should get going.” Everyone agreed and we left together.
“You need a ride home?” Scott asked as soon as we were away from the noise of the pub.
Seth came up behind us. “I got it, man.”
I smiled at Scott. “Thanks, though.”
He moved in toward my ear. “Not giving up yet.” He winked and walked back to his car, twirling his keys around his fingers.
Garrett drove us home. I felt my eyes getting heavy and curled up into the door.
Seth stared out the passenger window.
“That was an interesting night,” Garrett muttered quietly, but it pulled me from the sleep that was at my door.
Seth laughed slightly. “Yeah. I don’t trust that Scott guy, though. There’s something about him that rubs me the wrong way.”
Garrett laughed. “You don’t like that you can’t scare him away from her.”
Seth smirked. “We’ll see.” I fell back into blissful sleep.
I felt the car stop, squinting at the time. Seth opened my door and helped me out. I turned to Garrett. “Thanks for being there tonight.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Night, beautiful.” He waved as he drove away.
We walked in the house, and Seth did a quick sweep as I went up to my room. He wasn’t happy that I didn’t stay in place, but I was too tired to care. I got changed and crawled into my bed, and before I knew it I was out
.
***
“These smell divine.” He stepped into the light holding something to his nose, making my heart leap in my throat. “Just as I imagined.”
“Ah!” I yelped. My head shot up from the table. “Oh my God,” I panted as I realized where I was.
A few people at the table next to me tried to hide their giggles, but it was the stern look I got from the librarian that made me sink lower in my seat. Shit…
“Welcome back,” Scott said next to me. “You must have been having quite the dream. Did you know you talk in your sleep?”
I tucked my hair behind my ear, as I needed a moment to calm my nerves. I didn’t even realize I had dozed off…and in the middle of the library, at that.
“Everything all right?” he asked as he closed his book and gave me a puzzled look.
“Yeah. I need to go.” I started to shove my books into my bag. I needed to do something. I couldn’t just sit around waiting anymore.
“Wait, where are you going?”
I didn’t answer him. I didn’t even really hear him. I rushed down the stairs, just wanting to feel the fresh air on my face. I stuck my hand up in the air and waited.
As soon as I got into the cab, I immediately regretted the decision. I felt trapped. Every possible scenario about what the driver could do to me ran through my head. I eyed him carefully the whole drive, my hands clenched into fists on my lap. Damn this asshole for making me fear everything and everyone.
Finally, we pulled up in front of the OPD Station. I quickly swiped my card, paying him and giving him a hefty tip for not murdering me, and bolted for the door. I sucked in a deep breath when I was close to the front door. I pulled it open and felt a rush of relief when I stepped inside. I took a moment, and then made my way to the front clerk to sign in.
“Emily?” Johnnie grinned as he came closer. I went over to him and gave him a hug.
“Hi, how are you?”