Home: A Novel (19 page)

“David? Um, he’s over there with Justin,” Sarah replied. “Oh, shit, he looks pissed.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to think about it. Is Idle Hands here? I want to get this over with so I can get out of here,” I said.

I closed my eyes and let ‘Lily Rae’ take over my body. It was a little ritual I had done before every show or public appearance. I didn’t think people wanted to see Lillian Raftzen get on stage to perform.
 
T
hey came out to see Lily Rae and that was what I’d give them.

Security followed me around as I climbed the steps to the stage and Idle Hands trailed close behind.
 
W
hile they got their instruments ready to start my set, I did a little warm up welcome to the crowd letting them know it was good to be home. I was actually surprised, standing up there, to see so many people. I couldn’t imagine Glenview’s ever had this good of turn out for their Harvest Festival. A surge of pride flowed through me, thinking of how all the local store owners and bars would benefit from the increase in sales from such a great turnout.

I occasionally glanced over to the
 
V
IP area while I sang. My family, Justin and David were all still there. I noticed, as I introduced my last song and thanked everyone for coming, that all the guys got up and left the tables. Assuming they were coming to collect me from the stage, I didn’t think much of it. But as I finished the song the terror of what needed to happen next started to sink in.

Shit. Colton.

I walked off the stage and straight to Sarah.

“Hey girlfriend, great show!” she smiled up at me as I bounced down the stairs.

“I need to lose security for a few minutes. Now. Don’t ask questions, just call them off.”

Her smile quickly disappeared as she stared at me with wide eyes. I’d never barked orders at Sarah before. Maybe a roadie or a stage hand during set up, but never Sarah.

“Okay,” she whispered.

We quickly ducked through the crowd of people and got ourselves into the alley, heading behind the movie theater. I looked back to see the two beefy security guards still standing at the sides of the stage.

What great security
, I thought to myself as Sarah and I hustled down the sidewalk.

The closer we got to the movie theater I turned to Sarah, “You don’t need to come with me. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“There is no way I’m leaving you to whatever it is you’re doing out here on your own. No way.” She was firm in her answer and I didn’t have time to argue with her.

“Fine.”

As we rounded the last turn around the side of the furniture store, I saw him. Leaning up against the back door of the old movie theater, he looked smug in his stupid designer clothes. I gave him the once over and realized he didn’t look quite as polished as normal. Something was off, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Hey, baby,” he crooned as we neared him.

Ugh, it made my stomach roll to even hear those words.

“I am not your baby,” I spat at him.

A slow smile crept onto his face. “Good thing I wasn’t talking to you,” he said.

Just then, Sarah let go of my arm and walked over to where he was standing. I could feel my jaw drop. Holy Mary Mother of God. I know why he looked off. He had the same sex hair that Sarah had earlier.

“You have got to be fucking me,” I whispered.

He reached out and pulled her into a dramatic Hollywood kiss, dipping her so far backwards I thought he would break her in half. She ran her hands up through his hair while they attempted to suck each other’s face off.

“Nope,” Colton replied as he righted them both. “She gets all my fucking these days.”

My blood was boiling. I felt like I could vomit.

“So all these years of friendship have been a lie,” I said, staring straight at her.

“No, I was your friend up until you screwed me over,” she replied.

I still didn’t understand. Just because I quit the business meant I had screwed her over?
 
W
hat the hell?

“I did nothing to screw you over, Sarah. How could you do this to me?”

“Shut up. Do this to
 
Y
OU?
 
Y
ou’ve ruined my life enough with your little ‘
Oh Poor Me’
 
act.”

Um,
 
W
HAT?!

“What?
 
Y
ou’re supposed to be my best friend.”

“NO!” she shouted. “Best friends don’t do what you did.
 
Y
ou promised me the fucking world, Lil. I lived a damn good, cushy life. And one day, because you have some sort of meltdown over seeing a kid after your show, you decide to throw it all away?
 
Y
ou’re an idiot. Coming back to the middle of fucking nowhere and then doing your little whine and cry act because no one will leave you alone. Seriously? Do you think you can just throw your whole celebrity life away and live HERE?
 
W
ho does that?”

All I could do was stare at her while she had her rant.
 
T
his couldn’t be happening. Sarah was my best friend through it all.

“But…..” I started.

“But nothing.
 
Y
our turn to talk is over.
 
Y
our turn for fucking anything. IS. OVER! Now, you listen.
 
W
e want money, a lot of money, and we’ll go away forever.”

I couldn’t believe this. All these years, I’d given her everything. I didn’t think she was only my friend because of the money and fame. I would have never thought in a million years that she’d turn on me the instant it wasn’t a part of my life.

“So my quitting the business screwed you over. How? Just because you were out of a job? Newsflash, Sarah, since apparently you didn’t read the fine print in your termination letter from my lawyer, you were never out of a job.”

A look of pure shock registered in her face.

Bingo. She had no clue.

“Yeah, intrigued?” I asked.

“Shut the fuck up, both of you.”
 
T
his came from Colton. Apparently he was done with our little friendly spat. He let go of Sarah and walked over to me. “You owe me.”

I could feel my knees starting to tremble. “Do I? I think that should be the other way around considering you beat the hell out of me and killed our child.” I made sure to say it just loud enough for Sarah to hear. I mustered the courage to slide my eyes in Sarah’s direction, just in time to see her gasp as she covered her mouth with her hands.

In my next breath, I was knocked to the ground.
 
T
he pain shooting from my temple through my entire head made me see stars. I blinked quickly to try and clear my thoughts. Looking up I saw the butt of a gun in Colton’s hand. Damn, that hurt. He kicked me then. Hard. Right in the ribs.

Sarah ran over. “Stop, please, don’t hurt her!” she yelled. Apparently the guilt was starting to eat at her too.

Colton turned around and glared at her. “What the fuck, Sarah?
 
W
hose side are you on now, huh? God, you’re like a fish flopping around with how quick you are to turn sides. Don’t hurt her? Are you fucking kidding me? She took everything away from us. She deserves so much MORE than hurt.”

“YOU BEAT HER UP AND KILLED HER BABY!” she screeched at the top of her lungs. “You lied to me, you fucking slime.
 
Y
ou said she fired me and I got nothing. I didn’t even read the damn letter from her lawyer. Damn it, Jefferson, you played me to get to her so you could hurt her. Again!”

I was trying to inch my way away from them. Moving slowly so I didn’t bring attention to myself, I rolled on my hip to army crawl out of the alley. I looked up just in time to see Alan enter around the side of the building. He had his gun drawn. I wanted to scream at him so he knew Colton also had a gun, but he caught my eyes and put his finger to his lips. Sneaking around the side of a garage, he was quickly out of sight.

I had moved about two feet when my head was pulled back by my hair. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Colton sneered in my ear as he pulled me around to face him. Apparently he’d had enough of Sarah’s ranting and turned away while she continued to yell. He pulled his arm back, open palmed, preparing to smack me across the face. Before he had the chance, Sarah jumped on his back and started clawing at his face and neck with her fingernails.

“Get off me you bitch!” he roared as he stumbled back and then twisted to shake her off. She fell to the ground away from me. I turned my body and was about to run when a noise so loud shook me to the core and I stumbled to the ground.

A gunshot.
 
T
hen another.

Chapter 19

Justin

“I
’M IN LOVE
 
W
ITH
 
Y
OU!” she shouted. “I just realized that I’m so totally in love with you, you asshole. And instead of being able to wait and tell you when the time is right, you just ruined the whole fucking moment.”

I closed my eyes remembering her words again. She loved me. I had waited to hear those words for twelve years.

“Damn it!” I hissed as I slammed my hands onto the steering wheel. How could I let her walk out of that house? I just stood there. I’ve loved that girl as long as I can remember and I just fucking stood there.

I should have told her I love her too. I should have picked her ass up and kissed the hell out of her. I should have asked her to marry me. I could go on and on.
 
T
here were a lot of things I should’ve done, but instead I froze. No wonder she got the hell out of there as fast as she could.

“Justin, honey, don’t be mad,” Maggie said next to me. For a moment, I forgot I had her and Sarah along in my truck. “She’s a stubborn child, my Lily. But she isn’t mad at you. It’s just hard for her to express her emotions sometimes.”

I sighed. I knew exactly what she meant.

“She went through some things. Some difficult things. I don’t even think she knows that I know about them, but Sarah told me.
 
Y
ears ago, she called and filled me in and, once you know Justin, it will help you understand why she is the way she is sometimes. I know you already are aware of the stage collapse in Alabama. It was before that happened that someone broke into her house and severely beat her.
 
T
hey never caught the guy which has always been a mystery to her father and me. She was….after that, she was just never quite the same.”

I nodded but didn’t speak. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and I wasn’t sure I ever would.
 
T
hey always catch the bad guy, right? My imagination was running wild and I figured that this Colton guy was involved somehow. I cringed at the thought of her ever being mixed up with that asshole.

I pulled into town and realized there were a hell of a lot more people there than I expected. It was nuts. All four streets around the main intersection were blocked off a full two blocks. Inside the barriers was a sea of people, shoulder to shoulder, waiting for Lily to perform.

After I parked, Sarah took off for the stage while Maggie and I made our way to the roped off
 
V
IP area Alan had told me about. Since there were a lot of people present from other towns, we couldn’t be too safe with anyone in the family. Our first priority was to control the crowds as much as possible. Nobody would have fun if they had to battle a pushy crowd of people trying to get near Lily, and the family would suffer from it too.

We had just sat down when I saw Lil and the boys walk up to the stage. Daniel caught my eye and gave me a wink, so I assumed he got her calmed down and thinking straight again.
 
T
he last thing I wanted was for her to mess up her gig because her head wasn’t in the right place. I know it was just the small town Harvest Festival and not the big time stadium shows she was used to, but I still knew she’d want to put on a decent performance.

He eventually came over to join us while I watched Sarah hem and haw over every little detail of Lil’s hair and clothes.
 
T
hankfully, the two huge security guards Sarah hired for the night were never far from either of them.

It was almost time for the concert to start, and I was a little surprised at how nervous I felt already. I couldn’t imagine what Lily must be feeling.

“Dude, we’ve got a problem,” I turned to see David walking up behind me. “A big one.”

Shit. “Tell me.”

“There were a lot of people coming in the main way when I got here, so I pulled in through the elevator parking lot and parked around the other side of the bank,” he started.

“How is that a big problem?”

“Shut the fuck up and listen, DeLuca. I came up between the buildings and was just gonna pop around the south side of the bank when I heard someone freakin’ moaning. As much as I hate to admit it or tell you anything about this….it was a moan I was familiar with. Once I got them in sight, I saw it was Sarah and some preppy ass dude I’d never seen before in my life.”

“Oh man, I’m sorry buddy,” I started to tell him but he interrupted.

“It gets worse.
 
T
hey started talking and the guy is that Colton asshole after Lil. Fuckin’ Sarah is workin’ with him and I overheard him tell her to make sure Lily gets behind the movie theater right after her set is over. I don’t know what the hell they have planned because I hauled my ass out of there as fast as I could. Justin, what the fuck are we gonna do?
 
W
e need to get to Alan and the guys and get a goddamn plan.”

“Calm down, let me think,” I said. I looked to the stage and saw Lil had caught my eye, but I didn’t even look at her. I looked right at the backstabbing bitch, Sarah, and glared, trying to think of how to make her sorry for ever getting caught up in this. “Fuck,” I muttered. “When the boys get over here we’ll tell them. She’s doing four songs so we have time.”

“But that fucking douchebag is here.
 
W
hat if he tries to get to her or shoot her while she’s on stage?”

“He won’t,” I said with no certainty whatsoever. “If he’s got a plan for Sarah to follow he won’t change his mind.
 
W
e just gotta wait it out and see what Alan can come up with before her last song.”

I sat through that damn show on what felt like pins and needles. I’m sure every time Lil glanced my way she assumed I was pissed at her and that was fine. I knew it would get her all worked up, and I needed her to be in that mindset. If I stood there smiling and winking at her she’d go mushy on me, and I couldn’t have that. I needed her to be strong to get through whatever was going down after the concert.

Once her brothers made it to the
 
V
IP area, I motioned with my head for them to have a seat at my table. I raised my eyebrows and they each caught on quickly what I was trying to tell them.

Something’s up, we need to be discreet.

They sat down and we all looked at each other a second before I started right in. I relayed all the info David told me of what he overheard. I watched as they all shook their heads and clenched their jaws, obviously annoyed that Sarah duped us all.

Alan was the first to speak up. “We don’t have much time, and the five of us aren’t going at this alone. I need to make a couple calls. Nobody makes a move without me knowing about it. If we fuck this up, he’s got
 
our sister
. I swear to God I’ll kill that fucker if he hurts one hair on her head.” He got his anger under control and made a couple calls. Soon, four men in street clothes joined us. Alan informed us they were county cops.

“At the start of her last song, make your way to the corner behind the stage. Do not let her see where you’re going or she might bail on whatever it is she’s supposed to do. Stay focused, stay sharp, and follow my lead. Everybody understand me?”

We all nodded and kept quiet.

When she started the final song in her set, we all got up to head out. I could see the look of confusion come over her face on stage. I could only imagine how scared she was out of her damn mind right now wondering what’s about to happen. I wish I could run up to the stage, kiss her and tell her everything will be alright. But I knew that was impossible. Instead, I closed my eyes to say a short prayer that she would keep her mind in the right place and stay sharp.

By the time we walked the long way around the building, the show was over and Sarah and Lil were nowhere in sight. Alan darted off to the alley.
 
T
he rest of us weren’t far behind. Everyone went in at a different angle, hoping to catch Colton off guard since he’d be surrounded. If that shithead tried to run, he’d be toast.

I was just about to the other side of the street corner when I heard it.

“YOU BEAT HER UP AND KILLED HER BABY!” It was Sarah.

I closed my eyes and let the words sink in. She had been pregnant. I could about guess who the father was, and apparently he wasn’t so thrilled she was carrying his child. Son of a bitch. It made me want to kill him even more.

Realizing I’d been frozen in my tracks since I heard Sarah scream, I tried to get a grip on my anger and continue moving forward. I was getting close to having them in my sights when my world stopped.

A gunshot.
 
T
hen another.

My heart sank. I took off at a dead sprint and came to a complete stop when I rounded the corner and saw her body on the ground covered in blood. A trail of crimson oozed from behind her back, flowing between the cracks of the dirt floor like a miniature river.