Size Matters (20 page)

“I don’t know. She went to change.” Penny stated it so calmly, so matter-of-factly.

Eli sure as hell didn’t feel calm about any of this.

“Maybe she went to the bathroom or something,” Logan added. “And I’m thinking you shouldn’t be here when she gets back.”

“Oh! It’s my turn again,” Penny said, and jetted out to the stage.

Mia and Oliver appeared and Eli stepped to them. “Did you see anyone come back here?”

“No. Just us. Why?”

“Bryn’s missing.”

“She probably just stepped out to tend to something.”

Eli’s gut told him they were all wrong. Very wrong.

“I’m going to look for her.”

“Good. Tell her to get back here. We gotta get ready for the big finale.”

Eli trotted to the bar, snaking his way through the crowd to ask for the manager. He said he hadn’t seen anything, too busy to do anything other than serve drinks. None of the bartenders had stopped for a moment.

Eli’s heart thundered in his chest, the sound vibrating through his body, crashing in his ears like a drum, even over the loud music in the club. Where could she be? He grabbed one of his guys and filled him in as quickly as possible. Eli instructed them to check every last corner while he headed out the back door to the alley.

He looked for Bryn, for anyone, praying he was wrong. Maybe she really was in the bathroom and they’d laugh about how silly he had been. It was a nice picture.

But that picture shattered the second he laid eyes on something in the street. As he stepped to it, the dim alleyway only illuminated by the moon and one sorry excuse for a spotlight, it came into focus. A black shoe, looking like it had been casually dropped. A shoe with a big-ass heel. The same one Bryn had been wearing.

CHAPTER
Thirty-three

B
RYN SAT
in Troy’s passenger seat, calm, collected. There was no point in fighting him. She’d already done that and lost. After unsuccessfully attempting to have sex with her in the dressing room, liquor polluting his breath, he’d yanked her from backstage and outside. She’d hit him, clawed at him, tried to scream, but he’d been too strong for her. He’d covered her mouth and flung her over his shoulder, dropping her into the front seat of his car.

“Damn, you look so friggin’ hot.” He turned to her as he drove and smiled. “But I can’t wait to get you home and out of that.”

Fear grabbed at her throat and she swallowed it down. She needed to play along. Keep him happy.

She looked down at what she wore—one black patent leather shoe and a tiny florescent orange miniskirt with matching halter bra. It was supposed to be for the finale. Mia had a matching outfit in yellow and Penny’s was lime green. They were probably wondering where she was. Eli, too. She’d seen him from the stage. He had to be going crazy. Shaking her head, she willed her tears away. He’d been so right and she’d been so stupid.

“We’re almost to my place,” Troy said, breaking into her thoughts. “I’m already hard for you. Wanna feel?”

She didn’t answer.

He grabbed her hand and pulled it toward him. “Nice, huh?”

Turning to him, she saw his face was lit up, his eyes that had once been so dreamy now just looked crazed. Why hadn’t she noticed that before? She nodded, appeasing him, and slowly pulled her hand back.

He drove on, a smile bowing his lips, obviously some kind of disgustingly pleasant thoughts running through his brain.
Think, Bryn. Think.
How could she get out of this?

She shifted in her seat, her bare foot rubbing against her shoe. Her shoe! The big-ass platform stilettos she’d just had to wear in the show. The sole of that thing had to be at least an inch and a half thick, and heavy as hell. This could work. It was worth a shot. Either that, or be raped and killed and chopped into tiny bits.

So much for Joel being the creepy one. She never saw this coming.

Troy turned off the main road onto a dark street, slowing and coming to a stop in front of a townhouse. “We’re here.”

He got out and walked in front of the car, making his way toward her. Bryn had about two and a half seconds before he opened her door. She slipped her foot out of her shoe and grabbed it with her left hand.

The door opened, startling her even though she knew it was coming. “Let me help you,” he said, and held out his hand to her. Apparently even psychos have manners.

She took it and stepped out onto the curb with her bare feet, letting her left hand slip behind her, hiding the shoe.

“We better get you inside before one of my neighbors sees you in that outfit.” He slammed the door and started toward the building. “That’s just for my eyes.”

Bryn forced a smile and a giggle. She needed to seize this opportunity in the dark. If they got inside, she’d be shit out of luck. Her left hand wasn’t her strongest, but she’d have to try her damnedest. She had to do it. Now. While he was still looking straight ahead. It had to come out of nowhere. It was her only chance.

Her heart beat wildly, vibrating her body, and her hand trembled.
Just do it!
She gripped the shoe tight and swung it as hard as she could, smacking him on the temple.

He stumbled. “What the—”

She whacked him again. He let go of her hand and fell to his knees. She stopped, switching the shoe to her right hand, ready to attack again if need be. But all he did was turn to her as his eyes rolled back in his head, and he dropped to the ground.

“Oh my God!” Bryn’s shoe slipped from her hand and she covered her mouth.
Did I kill him?
She wanted to check his pulse, but what if he woke up and grabbed her? She needed to get away. Now.

ELI RAN
back inside the club, grabbing the arm of the officer who was standing guard at the back door. “She’s fucking gone. How could you let this happen?”

“I didn’t see anything. I swear.”

“Of course you didn’t. You were staring at the ass onstage.”

Eli ran his hands through his hair, scraping his fingers against his scalp. Think! He needed to keep calm before he lost it, which wouldn’t help Bryn.

The show continued and Eli pushed through the crowd. He needed to get out of there. Get in his car and drive. He had to find her. But then he spotted Joel. What? He was standing by the back wall, talking to . . . er . . . flirting with what Eli was sure was a cross-dresser. He grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away from her . . . him . . . whatever, pushing him up against a support beam, his hand to his throat.

“Where is she?”

“Who?” he managed, albeit barely.

“Don’t fuck with me. Where’s Bryn? Where did you stash her?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re not even together anymore.”

Officers appeared on Eli’s sides, pulling him away, but they held Joel there.

“You’re a fucking liar. You grabbed her from backstage, took her out to the alley behind the club, and did something with her. And if you don’t tell me now, you’re gonna have my gun up your ass.”

“I swear, I didn’t.” He shook his head, face pale as a sheet of paper. “I just wanted to watch her in the show.”

“I think he’s telling the truth,” one of the officers said.

Eli wasn’t so quick to believe Joel. Because if it wasn’t him, then who?

“Anyone want a shot?” a waiter interrupted, balancing a tray of glasses with flashing glow cubes in them.

“No.” Last thing he needed was alcohol to cloud his brain. But the flash cubes. Those sparked a thought. Troy. Fuck. It was him.

Eli turned and ran out of the club, leaving his men to deal with Joel. A patrol car was stationed outside. “I need your computer,” he said to the officer leaning on it.

He slipped into the driver’s seat, tapping away at the keyboard. What was his fucking last name? It began with an N. Nathan-something. Nathanstein? No. His fingers shook as he hovered over the keyboard. Every second it took to figure this out was another second Bryn spent in hell.

Nathansen! He typed it in and Troy’s information popped up. Bingo! He committed his home address to memory and ran to his car. Pulling out onto the street, he realized this whole thing would have been much easier if he’d taken the patrol car instead. Flashing lights would get him there so much quicker. But it was too late to go back.

Eli gripped the steering wheel as he drove, so tight the plastic might melt in his hand. He had to get there fast. Before anything happened. Before it was too late.

Luckily the guy didn’t live far and it hadn’t been all that long since he’d noticed Bryn gone. Troy hadn’t had that much of a head start. Eli could get there before anything happened.

He was delusional, but he had to try and be somewhat optimistic. This couldn’t end like other cases he’d seen. Sixteen years on the force had shown him far too many battered and bruised women, raped, beaten . . . worse. He couldn’t bear to see it happen to Bryn. And it would be all his fault.

Eli pulled onto the street where Troy lived. It was dark, but he found the right townhouse. Trotting up the walkway, he stopped dead in his tracks. A dark puddle marred the sidewalk, and next to it was Bryn’s other shoe. Even in the dimness of night, he knew. He’d seen blood enough times to know. He followed the droplets to the door, keys hanging from the lock, blood smeared around the knob. Luckily it was open a crack. He didn’t need to touch it to open the door. Couldn’t disturb the evidence.

Hand to his holster, he crept in. It was dark aside from a light down the hall. He headed toward it, removing his gun from its case. A groan rumbled from within the lighted room. His heart thundered in his chest, and he was terrified for what he’d find when he stepped through the doorway.

Deep breath. Eli moved forward, gun extended. There was blood everywhere, on the sink, the floor. And sitting in front of the tub, blood completely covering his shirt and face, was Troy. He held a washcloth to his head, soaked red.

“Where is she?” Eli demanded.

Troy slowly looked up, eyes barely open, blood crusted around his left socket. “I don’t know.”

“What the hell did you do with her?”

He took a long breath. “I can’t remember.”

Eli stepped forward, gun cocked, and pressed it to Troy’s forehead. “Tell me now, fucker.”

But Troy’s eyes just fluttered shut. He was worthless. Eli yanked him up, sat him on the toilet, and pulled out his handcuffs. He let him keep his hand to his head and cuffed the other to a towel bar. He’d deal with him later. Right now, he needed to find Bryn.

He stepped out of the bathroom and flipped some light switches in the hallway. The hall lit up, a trail of blood from the front door. Please let it all be Troy’s.

“Bryn!” he called, walking through the house, flipping lights on in every room, checking every closet. Nothing. She must have done the damage to Troy’s head and run off. He headed back outside, pulling out his cell and dialing the station. “This is Officer Augustine. I need an ambulance to 725 Thompson Street. And I need as many patrol cars as possible combing the area for a thirty-four-year-old female, blond hair. She’s probably barefoot and wearing lingerie.”

“What?” the dispatcher said.

“You heard me right. Get on it. Now.” Eli ended the call before the dispatcher had a chance to utter anything else. He didn’t have time for stupid chitchat.

He got back in his car and drove. He circled the block three times and saw nothing. She couldn’t have gotten too far. He pulled into a convenience store parking lot at the end of the street.

Eli flashed his badge then pulled out his cell phone with a photo he’d taken of Bryn the day they were at the beach. “Have you seen this woman?”

The clerk shook his head. “No, dude.”

Eli rolled his eyes and sighed. “Did you see a woman in here or walk past wearing just a bra and underwear?”

The kid stared off into space for a moment. “Oh yeah. I did see a hot chick just a little while ago when I was outside taking my break. Smokin’ bod.”

Eli wanted to pistol-whip the dopey grin off his face. “And you just let her run off without asking if she was in trouble?”

“Sorry, dude. She was gone before I could do anything.”

Eli rubbed his hand over his face. “Which way did she go?”

The kid pointed to the right. “That way.”

Eli left without another word. Stupid fucking idiot. He got back into his car and headed right, scouring the sidewalk. There wasn’t much in this part of the city. Some brownstones and businesses that had long since closed up for the day. A school and its playground. He drove slow as he searched. The light from a headlight on the other side of the road reflected off something orange. Bright orange. In the playground. Could it be?

Eli pulled the car over, barely even putting it in park before he hopped out. Engine still running, he left the door open as he rushed over. “Bryn?”

She took off running.

He ran after her. “Wait. It’s Eli.”

She slowed and stopped, just standing there, her back to him. He closed the space between them and as he reached her, could see she was sobbing.

“I’m here now. Everything’s going to be okay.”

He stepped closer, risking everything by putting his hands out to touch her, comfort her. She jumped as he came in contact with her and he pulled away. But he put his hands back on her, skin like ice. He rubbed her arms as she cried and eventually she let herself rest against him. Eli wrapped his arms around her as she shivered.

She turned, burying her face in his chest, her sobs having subsided. “I’m so sorry. You were right. I was so stupid.”

“No.” He held her tight, his hands caressing her chilled body. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around her, helping her into it. He pulled her back to him, trying his best to warm her. “Everything’s going to be just fine.”

But she started crying again, her words almost inaudible. “But I killed him.”

“No, you didn’t. He’s fine. I handcuffed him in his bathroom and sent an ambulance to go get him. He’s got a nasty gash, but he’ll live. You did the right thing.”

He held her until she stopped crying, rubbing her back, wishing he could take away the horrific thing she’d experienced that night. “You ready to get out of here?”

She nodded against his chest and he escorted her toward his car, arm wrapped around her. The phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it out. His sergeant.

“We got the guy and he’s on his way in for some stitches. When they finish, he’ll be escorted to the precinct. Any luck finding her?”

“I have her. I’m taking her to the hospital.”

“No,” Bryn interrupted. “I just want to go home.”

“I really think you should get looked at.”

“I’m fine. I just want a shower and my bed. Please?”

He couldn’t deny her that. “Anything you need.” Turning back to his phone he told his sergeant he’d check in the next day.

Eli walked Bryn to his car and settled her in the passenger seat. He got in and drove toward Kenville. The ride was quiet. He kept looking to her every other minute, making sure she was okay. She just stared ahead. How awful it must have been for her. All he wanted to do was hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

He pulled up in front of her house, the street dark and quiet.

“Thank you. For finding me.” He turned to her, the moonlight shining on her face. “And for not leaving when I told you to.”

He reached across the car, taking her hand in his. “I love you and I’ll never leave you.”

Somehow, in spite of everything that had happened to her that night, she managed a small smile and squeezed his hand.