Tormented (Evolution Series Book 2) (20 page)

When we got to the shoreline,
we were met by two other lifeguards who had been waiting to perform CPR, if needed
. We hopped off the jet skis, and Aiden did his thing. A minute later, the lifeguards thought it had just been a training exercise where they all passed with flying
colours
. I had to hand it to Aiden. He could wriggle his way out of just about any situation and did it all so effortlessly.

Once we had the whole lifeguard situation sorted, we made our way back up to our towels. Our friends’ things were not there, so I assumed they were sitting down for a meal in a cafe. I picked up my towel and wrapped it around my body.

“Wanna get something to eat now?” Aiden ran his towel over his smooth chest muscles before drying off his shorts.

“Yeah, I’m kind of hungry after all that.” I was referring to what had happened on the
other
beach.

A small smile spread across his face as he thought about our little escape. I missed being able to see myself through his eyes. And more so, I missed being able to feel the way he felt about me. I never had to doubt just how much he loved me.

Sorry
, he thought before he put up his mind block.
“I don’t want Lucas listening in.”

I picked up my bag, and we headed up to the esplanade. My phone beeped when we reached the set of traffic lights to cross over into the mall. My heart stopped when I pulled my iPhone out of my bag and saw a text message on the screen.

What comes up must come down.

Some things are meant to go back up,

But won’t…
DD

Aiden grabbed my phone so he could read it.

“What do you think it means?” My voice caught in my throat. Even though I didn’t know what the message was about, I knew it wasn’t good.

Aiden read the message aloud,
then
shook his head. “I don’t know.”

A minute later, I heard the faint sound of sirens. Somehow, I knew they were tied in with the message. “Come on,” I said, jogging off toward the sounds of the sirens.

“Hang on a sec,” Aiden said, stopping next to an alleyway. “Come over here.”

I understood what he was thinking without being able to hear his thoughts. I followed him into the alley, away from any prying eyes or security cameras, and jumped onto his back.

The next thing I knew, wind was blasting against my face. When we stopped, I slid down off his back and took in the scene. We stood in front of a bungee-jumping site. There were two ambulances and five police cars. A multitude of people were crying their eyes out or puking in the bushes.

I replayed the message in my head.
What goes up must come down. Some things are meant to go back up, but won’t.
“Oh, my God…”

A voice that I
recognised
was screaming from the
centre
of the commotion.

“Chelsea,” I whispered.

“Don’t go over—” Aiden started.

But I raced towards my best friend and didn’t hear the rest.

Chelsea was on her knees, crying out for Ben, who was a bloodied mess a couple of
metres
away. His legs were tied together, and a
metre
-long rope was attached to his ankles. I fell to my knees beside her. Ben was dead. The rope had snapped or, more likely, was cut.

Aiden came up behind Chelsea and me, bent down, and placed his hands on our backs. A warm, calming sensation flowed through my body, and I assumed Chelsea’s, too, as her screams turned into quiet sobbing.

I put my arm around her. Aiden sat down beside me and put his arms around both of us. A few tears slipped from his eyes, reminding me of how he must be feeling, too. Ben had been his best friend. They had spent almost every day together before we left for Thailand.

“I’m sorry,” I said, rubbing the side of his neck.

The police and the EMTs worked together to section off the area. White sheets were brought and erected around the scene.

“Excuse me,” a female officer said, bending down to our level. “You’re the girlfriend, right?” she asked Chelsea.

Chelsea lifted her tear-stained face. She opened her mouth to say yes, but no words would come out, so she nodded instead.

“I’m sorry for your loss, but I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.”

The officer’s question was pointless because Chelsea’s mind didn’t hear anything past loss.

“Um, is it okay if she answers your questions later?” I asked, trying to buy Chelsea some time to pull herself together before she had to talk about what had happened.

The officer started to protest, but had a sudden change of heart that I guessed was thanks to Aiden. She stood up and retrieved a card from her pocket. “Please get her to call me when she’s okay to talk.”

I reached up and took the card from her. “I will.”

The officer gave a thin smile before walking towards the white sheets, then disappearing behind them.

Aiden took a deep breath. “Let’s get out of here.”

I nodded and stood up with him. Chelsea, on the other hand, wasn’t going anywhere. Her mind was still a thick blanket of fog. All that consumed her thoughts were the images of Ben’s body falling to the ground.

I turned to Aiden.
“Can you please stop her from thinking about Ben’s…
” Even though I wasn’t speaking the words out loud, I still couldn’t muster the word “death.” I understood more than ever why Aiden had done the same thing to me when I walked in on my mother’s murder scene, and even though I had been a little upset at the time, I knew how much it would help Chelsea.

Almost instantly, Chelsea’s pain eased. Her thoughts became clearer, and best of all, she was no longer imagining her boyfriend going
splat
.

“Where’s Lucas?” I asked,
realising
that he wasn’t around.

Aiden stared at the ground while he tried to search for Lucas’s presence. His eyes met mine. “He’s not here.”

CHAPTER 19

“Can I see your phone?” Dave asked, getting out of bed.

We had taken Chelsea back to her house, where we left her with her mother while we came back to England. I had promised Chelsea I would come back to see her in a few hours, but that would have to wait until I was finished here.

I handed my phone over to him and glanced at the clock on his bedside table—four a.m. I really hated having to deal with all the time differences between England and Australia.

Anna noticed where I was looking and glanced at the clock herself. “Don’t worry about the time. I’m glad you woke us up.” She was sitting up in bed with her pillows stacked behind her back. Her golden brown hair flowed in soft curls, and her green eyes were watery from tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

Dave handed Anna the phone after he finished reading the message from DD. Her eyes narrowed, and a tear slipped as she read the few words that had so much hidden meaning behind them, words that had ended a friend’s life because I hadn’t understood them at the time.

Dave ran his hand through his thick brown hair and sighed. “You couldn’t have known that he had anything like this planned. You’re not responsible for Ben’s death.”

I dropped my eyes to the floor. I knew what Dave was saying was true, and if the message had been sent to someone else, I would be saying the same. But Aiden’s best friend, Chelsea’s boyfriend, was dead, and I couldn’t help but blame myself.

Aiden sat down on the edge of his parents’ bed and pulled me onto his lap.

“I’m so sorry.”

I tucked my arm around his back and rested my head against his shoulder.

“Hey.” He tipped my chin up with his finger so that I was looking into his eyes. “It’s not your fault. Okay?”

I lifted his finger off my chin and snuggled back into his shoulder. Anna passed my phone to Aiden, who held onto it for me.

“What do we do now?” Aiden asked, stroking my hair.

Dave picked his phone up from his bedside table. “I’m going to send Kai a message asking him to come around.” He began typing into the phone. “Hopefully, he’ll be able to track down the cell number to see who sent the message.”

I lifted my head to look at Dave. “But it’s probably going to turn up nothing, isn’t it?”

Dave stopped texting, his eyes meeting mine. “Yeah, it would be pretty unlikely that he would have used a traceable phone. But it’s still worth trying.”

I slowly nodded, trying to process where we stood. That DD guy had everything on us. He knew who I was, the places I went, and who my friends were. Worst of all, he had my mother. And what did we have on him? Nothing. All we knew was what he had told us. He signed all his messages with DD, but what the hell that stood for was anyone’s guess.

“What are you thinking about?” Aiden asked, jolting me from my thoughts. I was so used to having him know everything I ever thought about that I just assumed he still could. But there was no way I was letting my mind block down when there were so many people around who could listen in on my thoughts.

“Ah, I was just thinking that we know nothing about who’s playing this sick game with me.”

Nobody said anything. I was guessing they all agreed, but couldn’t bring themselves to say it. But it didn’t need to be said. We all knew it was true.

Anna swung her legs over the side of the bed, her feet dangling an inch above the floor. “Why don’t you go and get changed into something a little warmer? Then we can discuss this further over a cup of tea.” She hopped off the bed, her feet making a soft thud as she landed on the floor. “Or a coffee in your case,” she said, looking at me.

“Sounds good to me.” Dave climbed out of the bed, too.

Anna walked over to Aiden and me. She put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry about Ben. He was a great kid.”

Aiden gave her a forced smile. “Thanks, Mum,” he said,
then
transported us to his room.

We stood in the middle of his room, staring at one another. “Are you okay?” I asked. He seemed to have come to terms with his best friend’s death so quickly.

“I’m okay.” When I drew my eyebrows together, he added, “I’m able to do to myself what I did to Chelsea today.” He had also done it to me as well, but he didn’t mention that. Aiden put his hands on my hips. “I’m mostly just scared about what he’s going to do next.”

That thought scared the shit out of me, too. DD didn’t seem to value any human life, if he was capable of taking the life of an eighteen-year-old and holding my mother hostage while he drained her blood.

Aiden put his hand on the crook of my neck and kissed the top of my head. “Come on. Let’s get changed.”

“I just wanna wash my face first.” I turned and headed for the bathroom. I didn’t bother to turn on the light, as the room was softly lit by the moonlight filtering through the windows. I took three steps toward the sink, then my feet slipped out from under me and my head cracked against the marble floor. I lifted my hand to the back of my head and felt a thick, warm liquid. “Shit.”