After the Storm (19 page)

Lexi came to, started to stretch and stopped.
What was she doing sleeping in her living room chair?
She slowly opened her eyes to see Anthony in a chair directly across from her, holding a gun.
No, not Anthony. Someone else. Someone who looks just like Anthony.

“Oh, good. You’re awake. I worried I would have to slap you until you came to.” His eyes danced with excitement. “If you’ve noticed, I haven’t restrained you this time. I thought we could have a little polite conversation before we get to the fun.” She kept her eyes on the gun. “Yes, well, I really don’t want to use this on you. As you know, I prefer to get my hands dirty.” He chuckled softly.

Lexi’s brain whirled. He looked and sounded so much like Anthony. How was she going to get out of this? What about Noah?
Oh, God, did he do something to Pepper?
Should she provoke him so that he would get it over, sooner rather than later? Somehow she didn’t think he was going to leave before he knew she was dead and cold. She hoped Noah would give her the space she asked for and not come looking for her.

Please, God, keep him safe
.

He slowly crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in the chair, his gun never wavering. “I figure we should get to know each other a little better. Do you know how many self-help books and TV shows there are out there? No? Well, there are thousands.” He waved his hand in the air. “In some shape or form, they tell you that you should talk to someone about your problems. Free yourself. Get it all off of your chest. It seems I got a little carried away the last time, and well, that didn’t end so well for her. I didn’t get to finish my story before she died. Well, my dear, maybe you are the lucky one. You’re the one who’s going to learn all of my secrets.” He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “Do you want to know my secrets, Alexia?”

Lexi nodded. She might learn something that could help her. If she knew what made him tick, maybe she could get out of this.

“We won’t start with my troubled childhood. That’s old news. We’ll start a little later, when I fell in love with a woman as a young man. She had everything and she was everything to me. You see, I’d only known twisted love up to that point and she made me believe we had a future. I was ready to lay down my life for her. Instead she picked up a new, what she liked to call, ‘boy toy.’” His hands clenched and the gun wavered.

Lexi whimpered and moved back deeper into her chair.

“Oh, sorry, love. You don’t mind if I call you ‘love’, do you? I know that stupid rock star calls you that all the time. It seems to fit. Now, where was I?” He picked at an imaginary spot on his slacks. “Oh, yes, the whore that broke my heart. Do you know what it is like to love someone and they don’t return that love? I felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest while it was still beating.”

She shivered at the imagery. While he talked, a sense of calm fell over her as she resolved herself to her fate, no matter what happened.

“So, I studied them. Both of them. I’d already learned a great deal from her. She was wealthy and I learned to covet the finer things in life. I had plenty of time alone in her house when we were together to go through it and discover her secrets. See,” he waved the gun towards her, “that’s how I knew we were meant for each other. But this new toy of hers, the one she tossed me over for? Him, I had to really work at. He’d come from money and a loving family. Everything I didn’t have. I learned everything I could about him to
become
him. Do you understand what I am saying, Alexia? I
became
him.”

Lexi started shaking her head. If this was headed where she thought it was, she wasn’t sure she could live with herself.

“It took much longer than I thought, this transformation. At times, it was painful but I relished the pain. It was so worth the wait. Didn’t the doctor do a wonderful job reconstructing my face? Making me look like him? Even now, Alexia, you are having trouble wrapping your head around it. It brings joy to my heart to watch your thoughts pass across your face. You really shouldn’t ever play poker.” He laughed with mirth. “What am I saying? You won’t have to worry about that after today.”

Lexi moved her hands between the cushion and side of the chair. She was constantly losing things down there. There might be something, anything, down there that might help her. She stopped moving when he stopped laughing.

“Then after I had learned all that I could, would you like to know what I did? I killed her. They say you never forget your first. Well, that’s true.” He rubbed his hardened cock, eyes rolled back. “Sorry, about that. The blood, all the blood as I was fucking her.” He shivered with a gleeful expression on his face. “I came inside of her while I killed her. She called me Anthony. At that point, I knew I could do anything. My plan had worked.”

Lexi stared at him in horror. She had put an innocent man in prison. Every time he’d said he hadn’t done that to her, would
never
do that to her, he’d been speaking the truth. Silent tears rolled down her face.

“The only thing I hadn’t planned on was that the real Anthony would go out that night. That he’d end up with an air tight alibi. He was supposed to take the blame for it. That fucker is one of the luckiest bastards on the planet. Six times I’ve done this to him! Granted, he didn’t know about all of them—some of them he never dated more than once. But if any of them looked similar to Tiffani, I would kill them. I always had it planned out, but he had an annoying tendency to change his plans at the last minute.” He punched the side of the chair and smiled as Lexi jumped. “Until you. Who would have known that by not being able to finish killing you,
you
would’ve been the one to finally send him to prison.”

He stood up and started pacing. Every time his back was turned, she moved her hands deeper into the cushions. Her fingers caught at something but she couldn’t be sure what it was.

“Finally, after all of these years, I was able to put him away.” He grew agitated and started waving the gun around. “But he had a good attorney and I knew he wouldn’t be put away for long enough. I wanted him to suffer. Sure, I’ve made him suffer over the years, but to be locked up like an animal, have everything that he wanted denied to him? That’s what I wanted for him, and that’s why I couldn’t finish you off until he was released.”

He sat back down and smoothed the creases out of his slacks. “So I decided to live like he did. The day he was sentenced I moved into my new home, a studio apartment in South La Jolla. The worst neighborhood I could find. I paid someone to bring me three meals a day. I never went out. I created my own prison. I wanted to feel his rage. Feel what he would feel. Deny myself.” He picked up a glass filled with scotch from the table and took a drink. “The day he was released I went home, back to my secret room. I had denied myself for so long. It felt so good to be amongst my things.
My women
. They can’t leave me if they’re dead.”

Lexi cleared her throat. “Who are you?”

He smiled. “How rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Jeremy Ellison. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you. You are fascinating.” He stared at her in wonder. “I’ve spent hours watching you.” He uncrossed then crossed his legs. “Isn’t modern technology wonderful? They make the smallest cameras now. Much better than seven years ago. Even then, the police never found them. Now, do you have any more questions before we take this upstairs?”

She cleared her throat. “How did you get in here?”

He laughed, “It’s easy enough to pick a lock. The alarm was a bit more of a problem, but since I had your place bugged, I knew what your code was. Neanderthal. Perfect for your rocker.”

She tried to clear her head. “Why now? Why are you doing this now? Anthony is under house arrest. The authorities won’t be able to tie him to my death.” She was amazed she could say that without breaking down.

He shrugged. “I can’t wait anymore. I’ve denied myself for too long. Even killing that whore in the next town didn’t give me the same satisfaction. Besides, he’s already ‘done his time.’ Think about how he’s going to feel when he finds out that the bad things that have happened in his life are all because of me. The satisfaction I’ll feel. I…”

They were startled by a knock on the door. Lexi’s breath came heavy, scared Noah would just walk in. The doorknob turned but the lock was in place and she closed her eyes in thanks.

Through the door, he called, “Lexi, I know you’re in there. Come on, open up. I need to talk to you. You aren’t answering the phone and the vet called with news on Pepper.” He continued to knock.

She grabbed what she’d finally recognized as the cuticle scissors from between the cushion and palmed it in her hand and scooted to the edge of the chair to stand up. “I should answer that. He’s not going to go away.”

He stared at her for a moment. “Fine, but don’t do anything foolish. I will not hesitate to shoot him. Picture your lover dying in your arms before you say anything.”

Lexi looked over to where Jeremy stood, hidden from the view at the door, but she knew he still had a good shot at Noah. She took a deep breath before opening the door. “Hey, Noah.” She held herself in front of the door so that he couldn’t come in.

“The vet has been trying to call you. They found out that Pepper was poisoned, but she’ll be fine. She’s going to have to stay for a few days but should be up in no time.”

“Thank you for letting me know.” Tears ran down her cheeks.

“Love, let me come in. Just let me hold you tonight. I need to be there for you.” He put his hand on the door.

Lexi shook her head. “I’m sorry, Noah, but it’s not going to work. I thought I was strong enough, but I’m not. I don’t want to spend the rest of our time together waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for you to get bored and leave me. The music is in your blood, you’ll only be satisfied for so long before it calls to you again. You need to do more than just write music for other people to record because it’ll only be a little while before someone butchers one of your songs and you can’t take it anymore. You’ll want to put it out there yourself.”

“Lexi, we went over this. You know how I feel. I’m not going anywhere. I want to stay with you.”

“You can’t. We have no future. All we have is the past two months. We can take that and treasure it for the rest of our lives, knowing we loved each other with all we had. But sometimes it just doesn’t work out. It’s just not enough. I’ll take the pain for both of us. You’ll heal. We both will.” She had to be cold to him. If she showed any emotion it’d all be over and he’d be dead.

“I don’t understand where this is coming from. Just give yourself a couple more days to think things through. I’m not letting you go, Lexi. You love me. Fight for me. Fight for us. Don’t you dare give up now.” Panic was starting to creep into his voice.

Lexi closed her eyes for strength. “I need you to leave. I need you to go be the rock star and wow your fans. Write the music that makes other people fall in love. But you’ve got to go. I’ll always be a part of you. I’ll always love you. But a life together isn’t in our cards. You need to play the hand you’ve been dealt. We all do.”

She was glad she had her leg holding the door in place when Noah slapped his hand on it. She jumped and looked at him, wide-eyed. It took everything not to push him out the door and tell him to run.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on but I’m giving you until tomorrow to come to your senses. I know today has been rough on you. That’s the only reason I’m not busting in there right now and throwing you over my shoulder. You’d better get some sleep because tomorrow I am going to spend all day proving to you that I’m here to stay. This is your one free pass. Next time, I won’t take no for an answer.”

She watched him turn and walk away, barely holding back the sob that threatened to choke her. Her whisper almost didn’t make it out of her throat. “Good-bye, Noah. I love you.” She closed the door to face Jeremy with a small smile on her face.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “What are you smiling about?”

She shook her head. “You just don’t get it. You don’t understand. You gave me a chance to say good-bye to him. When they find my body, he’ll remember each and every word I just said to him. I know it will take him a while but at some point he’ll realize I knew I wasn’t going to come out of this alive and
I
had the chance to tell him
one
last time that I loved him. He would do the same thing for me, whatever it took so that he wasn’t in danger. At some point, he’ll find peace. That’s more than I can say for you.”

With a scream of rage, he came at her, and she was ready for the pain that exploded across the side of her head. She tried to stay on her feet but the force of the blow threw her to the side and she crashed into the side table. Through the pain, she kept a grip on the weapon hidden in her hand. He was on top of her, one hand pressed down on her throat as the other ripped at her clothing. She took a deep breath with all the force she could muster, stabbed the small scissors into his arm and dragged it down the length of his left forearm.

“Whore!” he screamed as he back-handed her with the scissors still imbedded in his arm. Blood splattered on her face as he removed his hand from her neck and started punching her. With him pinning her legs down, she couldn’t curl up into a ball to protect herself.