“I guess the wind knocked the phone lines down,” Brian commented. “I guess I’ll just get going. I’ll try her cell phone on the way home.”
“It’s really coming down out there, Bri,” Kevin pointed out, glancing out the window. “Maybe you should stay put for a few minutes. Wait until it dies down.”
Brian shrugged. “Sure.” He held up his hands as Kevin threw him a can of soda. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem,” Kevin replied. “So…ready to get married?”
Brian grinned. “Of course. I mean, she’s my world. I can’t imagine not being with her forever.”
“I’m happy for you, man,” Kevin told him, honestly. “I mean, I know I’ve gone through my own shit lately. But I don’t want you to think that I’m not.”
“I understand,” Brian responded. “How are you doing with all of that?”
Kevin shrugged. “Okay, I guess. I was telling Adrienne earlier. I mean, I’ll always love Brooke. In some way. But maybe this is for the best. We were growing apart. Both of us. I guess some things just aren’t meant to be.”
“Maybe not with Brooke,” Brian began. “But what about Adrienne? I mean, you two have grown kind of close lately.”
Kevin smiled, thoughtfully. “Yeah we have. She’s a great girl. And maybe…one day…I don’t know. We’ve both gone through a lot of shit recently. My fiancee married another man. Her husband died in plane crash. Neither one of us are ready for anything. But she’s great to be around and maybe one day, something can happen between us.”
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“Becca?” Ang questioned, doing nothing to try and mask the fear she felt. “What…you…you’re the one that’s been doing this?”
“Angela, Angela, Angela.” Becca shook her head. “Apparently I’ve given you too much credit. I definitely thought you would’ve have this figured out a long time ago.”
Becca kept walking towards her, her hands behind her back, and Ang kept backing up until she finally backed right into the far wall. “Look at that,” Becca sneered. “Nowhere to run. And Brian’s not here to save you this time.”
Ang could do nothing but stare at Becca in fear. Who knew Nick had dated such a psycho. “What do you want Becca? Why are you doing this? To me?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Becca asked, staring at Ang with a look Ang couldn’t identify.
“Because you want Nick?” Ang replied, her voice shaking in fear.
Becca laughed. A wicked, sinister cackle that rose from the back of her throat. “You really are naïve, Ang. So naïve. I knew that I never really had Nick. He was so in love with that little bitch he couldn’t even fucking see straight. If I really wanted Nick back, I would’ve gone after Katelin. Or even Lanie. This actually has nothing to do with Nick. This has to do with you. You see, I did actually care about them. All of them. I wanted you gone so you wouldn’t hurt any of them after what you did. But you wouldn’t listen. Well, time’s up, Ang.”
“Time’s up for what?” Ang whimpered. “I love Brian, Becca. I love all of the guys. I would never hurt any of them. Why the hell are you so convinced I would?”
“Because…because…” Becca’s face was red with anger. All she wanted Ang to do was pay. Pay for what she did three years ago.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
At the sound of the doorbell, Nick flew off of the couch, secretly hoping that it would be Katelin on the other side. He peeked out of the window and his face fell at who was on the other side. He flung the door open. “What are you doing here, Lanie?”
“Can I come in?” She whimpered, pathetically.
Nick resisted the urge to roll his eyes and opened the door wider, allowing her to come inside. “What do you want? And keep your voice down. Aidan’s sleeping.”
Lanie secretly scowled. That damn kid was always in the way. One way or another. “I just wanted to talk to you, Nicky. Make you understand why I did what I did. I love you…”
“You love me?” Nick interrupted. “Is that why you tried to get my son taken away from me? Because you love me? No, Lanie. You did this because you were insanely jealous. If you loved me, the thought never would’ve crossed your mind.”
“Okay, I admit it!” She cried. “I was jealous. I mean, you let the two of them consume your life. I always felt like I was being pushed away.”
Nick shook his head in disgust, walking back into the living room. “You know what, Lanie? If you were so concerned that I would go back to Katelin, why the hell didn’t you just talk to me about it?” Lanie went to protest and Nick held up his hand to silence her. “No. Don’t even try and defend yourself. Instead of doing what any rational person would do, you decided to go behind my back and get my son taken away.”
Lanie had tears running down her cheeks. “Nicky, I don’t want to lose you. Please. Just give me another chance.”
“You lost your chances, Lanie,” Nick told her, pointedly. At this point, he felt no remorse. He knew it was over between them. And now, he just felt like hurting her like she hurt him. “You want to know why? Because I love Katelin. I’m in love with Katelin. You asked me earlier if I slept with her. Well, I did. Last week. Before we ever went to New York. And, you know what? I don’t regret it at all. Not for a one damn second.”
Nick caught her hand in the air before she could slap him across the face. “Asshole,” she hissed. “I knew you’d fuck that little slut the first chance you got.”
He held on to her arm and basically dragged her back to the front door. “Get out, Lanie. Get the fuck out of my house and out of my life.”
Lanie didn’t even turn around as she stormed back to her car. She pulled out her cell phone and immediately dialed his phone number. “It’s on,” she said, when the other line was picked up. “I’ll call you tomorrow with the details.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“Kate!” Adrienne called from downstairs. “Brian’s on the phone for you.”
Katelin set the nail polish down on her night stand and reached for the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Brian greeted. “Have you talked to Ang since you’ve been home?”
“No,” she replied. “I tried calling her earlier but the phone was busy. I figured the storm knocked the phone lines down or something.”
“Yeah,” Brian breathed, deep in thought. “Something’s not right, Kate.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he told her. “I just have a bad feeling about something.”
“Where are you, Brian?” Katelin questioned, digging through her purse to find her cell phone to see if she’d missed Ang calling.
“At Kevin’s,” he answered.
She rolled her eyes. “If you’re so damned worried that she’s in trouble then why don’t you get your ass home?”
She heard the click of the phone and chuckled slightly to herself. Brian was such a worrywart sometimes. Ang was probably fine.
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“What did I do to you, Becca?” Ang asked, trembling in fear.
“What did you do?” She exclaimed. “You killed my fucking brother, that’s what you did!”
“What?” Ang all but whispered. “That was your brother?”
“Yes!” Becca cried, pulling her right hand from behind her back and revealing a very long and very sharp knife. “My brother. His name was Jared. Jared Gibson. Twenty five year old narcotics officer with the L.A.P.D. He was working on a huge drug bust and then all of the sudden he was dead. Because of you.”
Ang’s eyes widened in fear. She didn’t appreciate the seriousness of the situation until that moment. “I didn’t kill anyone,” she trembled. “I swear to God, Becca. Someone set me up.”
“You woke up with the fucking syringe in your hand, Ang!” Becca yelled, her face flushed with anger. She pressed the knife to Ang’s throat. “I saw you that night, remember? You were so upset over Brian. You fucking drank half of the bar that night. And then you started hanging all over my fucking brother. He left with you. I saw you! A week later his girlfriend reported him missing. They couldn’t even find his fucking body. You know why?” She didn’t give Ang a chance to answer as she pressed the knife deeper into Ang’s neck, though not yet deep enough to break the skin. “Because you had AJ and Eric hide the goddamned body.”
“I didn’t kill your brother,” Ang whispered, tears slipping down her cheeks. “Becca, you have to believe me. There were another set of prints on that syringe, Becca. Not just mine. I swear, someone set me up.”
“Shut up!” Becca exclaimed, pressing the knife even further, finally breaking the skin. Ang let out a small cry at the feel of the sharp metal piercing her skin. Becca watched as the blood from Ang’s neck trickled down her own hand.
With a sudden burst of energy, Ang pushed Becca’s shoulders, knocking the taller girl to the ground and sending the knife flying out of her hands. Becca tried to reach for the knife from her sprawled-out position on the ground but Ang swiftly kicked it out her reach. Ang dove for her cell phone and grabbed it before attempting to run out the bedroom door.
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“Hello?” AJ asked, breathlessly, after running inside his house when he heard the phone ringing.
“Jay?” He heard the person on the other line ask. “It’s Eric. I’ve got some news.”
“About the case?” AJ questioned, his heart beginning to slam in his chest. Could this whole nightmare possibly be coming to an end?
“Yup,” Eric replied. “Good news and bad news.” AJ tapped his nails nervously on the counter. “Yeah? Well, get on with it.”
Eric rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I just spoke to the L.A.P.D. and they gave me an update into the case. They just made some huge arrests. The guy who was killed was an undercover cop working on a huge narcotics case. It was all a set up. One of the guys who was arrested was at the club that you guys were all at that night. He spotted Ang and the way she was sucking down drinks and figured she’d be an easy target. He started hanging out with her and when no one was looking, he slipped something in her drink and, when she could barely function any more, got her out of the club when no one was looking and took her to that hotel. Ang was apparently passed out by the time they even got to the hotel. They cop was basically waiting for them. There was a struggle and they injected him with whatever was in the needle. He died almost immediately after. They put Ang in the bed with him, stuck the needle in her hand, and left. They weren’t that careful though cause someone forgot to put gloves on when they touched that needle.”
“Jesus,” AJ breathed. “How the hell did Ang manage to get caught up with that?”
“AJ there’s more,” Eric continued. “That cop wasn’t just any cop.”
“Who was it?” AJ questioned, furrowing his brow in confusion.
“Did you used to have a dancer named Becca Gibson?” Eric asked.
“Yeah,” AJ replied, scrunching his nose in disgust. Becca didn’t necessarily make his or anyone else’s top ten list. “What the hell does she have to do with this?”
“The cop’s name was Jared Gibson,” Eric told him. “He was Becca’s older brother.”
“What?” AJ exclaimed. “Becca never told any of us that her brother was killed. I didn’t even know she had a fucking brother.”
“Think, AJ!” Eric commanded, waiting for common sense to dawn on the tattooed man.
“What?” AJ scrunched up his face in though. “Oh my god…” he breathed as realization dawned on him. “You mean she knew?”
“She’s the one that’s been doing this to Ang,” Eric pointed out. “I got evidence that confirmed it earlier tonight. I’ve had someone on her tail since about 7.”
“Where is she?” AJ collapsed in a chair at his kitchen table. Finally it was all coming together.
Eric sighed. “She’s in Orlando, AJ. Except we lost track of her around nine tonight.”
AJ was starting to get nervous. There was something about Eric’s voice. Something that didn’t sound good. “What’s going on, Eric?”
“I think Ang is in trouble, Aje,” Eric admitted. “I tried calling their house earlier. The line has been busy since I lost track of Becca. And Brian took Kevin home and I can’t get in touch with him either. I think the storm is knocking out power lines and phone lines everywhere.”
AJ was already halfway out his door. “I’m heading over there. Meet me there as soon as you can. I’ve got my cell.”