Jaded (34 page)

I remembered Officer Sheila’s words and felt nothing.

“I’m ready for him,” I only said and left the room.

Tatum stopped me just as I walked out of the room and informed me as he

glanced at Corrigan, “Yerling just showed up with his buddies. They’re outside. Chet and Holster won’t let them inside.”

“Where’s

Bryce?”

Corrigan

asked.

Tatum shrugged, “I don’t know. I thought he was down here with you guys.”

I found him upstairs in a back room, in my dad’s office.

“What are you doing in here?”

Bryce didn’t turn around, but opened some cupboards and exposed four video

screens.

“What are those?”

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“Video output. I wanted it installed because your last alarm system was useless.”

“Why? I mean…” Okay. I got why. I just didn’t…the why didn’t help keep the

shivers away. Huskily, I murmured, “Bryce, I don’t like video cameras.”

“Don’t worry. There’s nothing that’ll break privacy or anything. I just had the guys install them on your doors, like—here’s the front doorway, there’s the back doorway, here’s the other door, and…” He studied the screen closer and asked, “Is that Yerling?”

I moved closer and peered at the screen to add, “And look—Mena’s come to join them.”

“If her brother shows up…” Bryce let the threat hang open.

“It wouldn’t be at my invitation. Trust me. Unless he’s the stalker, then he can come.”

Bryce grinned and asked, ruefully, “Did you just hear yourself?”

I

shrugged.

Bryce chuckled and switched the screens for the last doorway. It was rarely used and it led into the garage from the street. In fact, I normally leaned tables against it from inside the garage, but I gasped as it came onto the screen. The door had been left open and I saw that no tables blocked it anymore.

“What?” Bryce looked at me.

“It’s never open. I…tables were there, the lawnmower’s in there—that door isn’t used because we
can’t
use it.”

“Would you have mowed the lawn today?”

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It only took one incredulous look for Bryce to realize the moronic value of his question.

“Just saying…,” he finished haplessly, but he refocused. “I don’t get it. Anyone can walk in here through the front door, why use that door?”

“Like someone who doesn’t want to be seen here?” I suggested, rolling my eyes.

“So…oh hell,” Bryce swore. “The guy’s already inside…what now?”

“What if…the guy is coming for me, right? I mean….why don’t we stay put and

have him come to us? We can monitor these screens then and sees who comes in and who goes outside.”

“Yeah, but…” Of course. There was always a
but
. “If Yerling starts something, I’m going to have to go down there. I don’t want to leave you alone.”

“Maybe he won’t.” And we didn’t live on Mars so I don’t even know why I

uttered those words. I flushed and remarked, “Sorry, wishful thinking.”

“That’s okay,” Bryce soothed and ran a hand down my arm and around my waist.

He scooped me on his lap and sat on a chair.

Corrigan said disgustedly, “You guys are just rabbits.”

We’d left the door unlocked and I turned to see Logan, who stood rooted in the doorway, as Corrigan moved around us and studied the video screens intently. Logan shut the door behind her as I rested against Bryce and turned my head towards Corrigan.

“Not that I mind, normally,” Corrigan relented with a rakish grin. “But tonight is for other things.”

I asked, “What are you doing up here?”

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“Crowd control,” Corrigan remarked and glanced our way. “Your place is

overflowing now. What do you want to do?”

“The cops are going to get called pretty soon,” Logan piped up with a flush.

I guessed where that flush came from and rested my chin on Bryce’s shoulder as I mused, “You have sex with Corrigan and yet—you’re too prim and proper to realize other people do it?”

“It’s not that…”

“Then what is it?”

“I’ve just…never…watched…” She blushed with each word.

“It makes you hot, doesn’t it?” I flashed a knowing grin.

“Leave her alone, Sheldon,” Corrigan suddenly said. “We have more important

things to deal with.”

“Right,” I sighed and stood off of Bryce’s lap. “Like how you’re not my psycho stalker.”

“Right,” Corrigan grunted and watched the screens again.

Bryce stood behind me and asked, “What do we do about the cops?”

“They’re already here,” I pointed out. “They’re parked across the street. If they were going to break it up, wouldn’t they have done it by now?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. They might just be waiting.”

“For

what?”

“For someone to scream so they can rush in and actually get a shot at this guy?”

Corrigan mused. “We’re doing their work for them. They’re not going to break this up, not while we might actually draw this loser in.”

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“Corrigan,” Logan suddenly spoke up. “I want to go home.”

“No!” Corrigan rounded on her. “That’s what this guy wants. He wants people to be alone.”

“I want to go home. Now. I don’t want to be here. My parents are home. So is my little sister. I want to go home.”

“Where you’re safe and tucked in bed?” I asked.

“Yes,” Logan said honestly. “For whatever reason, you guys think this guy is obsessed with you. Call me crazy, but I don’t exactly want to be standing next to you when he shows up.”

Corrigan

stiffened.

I

wasn’t

surprised.

And Bryce was…quiet. He knew, just as I did, what her words actually meant to Corrigan.

“I’m not leaving my best friend,” Corrigan said softly. “You can go if you want, but you have to get your own ride home.”

“Corrigan…”

“I’m not leaving Sheldon’s side,” he said swiftly and pointedly turned his back.

Logan gaped and realized, for the first time, what target her words hit. She gaped again, but slowly, stiffly, found her way out the door. It wasn’t long before we saw her on the screen leave through the front door with a friend behind her.

Bryce moved away and I heard the door lock. He slumped onto the couch and

kicked his feet on the table as he remarked, “Someone’s going to end up in the hospital tonight.”

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“Or dead.” Corrigan turned to him.

“Maybe the party wasn’t such a good idea,” I mused and sat on the far end of Bryce’s couch.

He rolled his head towards me and smiled faintly. It didn’t reach his eyes.

“I’m sorry about Logan,” I murmured to Corrigan.

He sighed, but remarked, “It’s too soon, you know. We hadn’t really been

together long enough…”

“Still…sorry.”

Corrigan smirked and remarked, “There aren’t many girls who’ll let you put

handcuffs on them.”

The old Corrigan still sparked.

I saw Bryce open his mouth and swiftly raised a finger, “No!”

He closed it and slumped back on the couch.

Corrigan snickered, “You had to try, though, right?”

Bryce grinned and I knew the two were fine. They just needed to throw a few

punches before all was fine and dandy.

Corrigan glanced at the screens and remarked, “Too bad you didn’t put any videos in the rooms. We’d get some great porn right now.”

My insides cringed, but I teased, “Already resorting to porn, Corrigan? She just left.”

Bryce suddenly shot up from the couch and strode towards the computer keyboard that manually controlled the video output.

“What are you doing?” I asked and moved behind him.

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“The guys were…just before I got punched the tech guy was telling me that it was weird because there was already a feed going on in the house. I didn’t think about until…”

“They didn’t say anything,” Corrigan spoke up. “I told them just to fix the video where you told them and not worry about it.”

“Yeah, but,” Bryce frowned. His fingers went to work on the keyboard.

I asked, “What are you doing?”

“Are you a geek?” Corrigan asked.

Bryce rolled his eyes. “Luca has a thing for this stuff. Playing one on one with him—he tends to ramble about this stuff. I’ve picked up some of it after shooting hoops with my brother for years.”

I arched an eyebrow. “That’s a nice skill to suddenly come in handy right now.”

“Shut up,” Bryce snapped.

I

grinned.

“Seriously.” Corrigan shifted closer. “What are you doing?”

“The other feed is bothering me. It could’ve been the other alarm system. They didn’t remove it. I told them just to use the old wires, because they were already there, but…what if…”

He hit a last button and my eyes filled in horror.

Bryce finished, numbly, “What if…an alarm system wasn’t installed the last

time…”

My insides hurled as I saw images of myself on the computer screens. In the

shower. On the couch. In bed, sleeping…and…my eyes fixed on the bottom screen where Tijan

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Bryce pistoned into me. We were both grasping the bed in desperation and instead of the remembered passion from that night, disgust rolled over me in waves.

“That’s the night…”I swallowed, but forced myself to finish. “That’s the night…”

Bryce finished my thought, “…of the candlelight vigil.”

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I shot to the bathroom and emptied my stomach that had been filled with nothing.

I stayed there, even after a tentative knock sounded at the door. Someone shuffled in, saw my ashen features through their drunken glaze and shuffled back out.

I held onto the toilet and rested my forehead against my arm.

I don’t know how long I stayed there, but it was long enough for Bryce to have regained control over himself. Or—that’s what I assumed when he entered the bathroom, silently locked the door, and curled around me. He rested his arms on both sides of me and dipped his forehead against my back.

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Neither of us said a word, but the images flashed through me. I saw every single time where I had thought my home was private, where I was alone. And everytime my stomach rolled from the violation.

“Did…,” my voice cracked. “Did you guys stop the feeds?”

Bryce heaved a deep breath and said, “No.”

It took me another moment before I was able to formulate a rational response, but I asked, “Why not?”

“Because…” I wasn’t the only one fighting for composure. Bryce trembled, just barely, but he managed out, “Corrigan called Hoodum. He’s got a technical guy that might be able to follow this feed to wherever it’s going.”

My throat dried.

“Are you saying…this stuff could get leaked to Hoodum?” I asked.

“No. Hoodum won’t do anything with it. Corrigan will make sure and Hoodum’s

already agreed. The guy’s supposed to just follow it back to where it’s transferring somewhere and that’s it. He’s supposed to find the address and hand it over.”

“How can we be sure? Not a lot of trust going on with me.”

“Because…we don’t know, but we both know that Corrigan will kill Hoodum if

this is leaked.”

I rested my forehead on my arm and Bryce scooted closer behind me. His arms

tightened and he rested his head in the crook of my shoulder. I felt him breath my neck when he murmured, “He’s gonna fry. You know that.”

I sighed, but it didn’t help.

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“He’s already seen…” So much. Too much. “Can…” A worse thought came to

mind. “…was there sound?”

“No,” Bryce whispered in my ear.

So he didn’t hear everything, not everything…

“God,” I choked out again.

Bryce took a deep breath, “If…”

“Don’t!” I said sharply and shoved him off. I stood up, suddenly fed up with feeling the victim. “I want to know who this guy is and I’m going to kill him before the police get here.”

Bryce stood, slowly, and watched me tentatively. Cautious. He reminded me,

“They
are
parked outside.”

“I know.” We’d just have to get around it.

I led the way back into the small room and saw Corrigan bent over the computer keyboard with another guy speedily punching the buttons. Both of them glanced up, caught our gaze, froze for a moment, and then returned to their work. I stood in front of the screens and watched. I wanted each image branded into me. I wanted to see what he’d done to me when I was going to do what I needed to do, to him.

Bryce kept his eyes on me, but he circled beside Corrigan.

Both glanced every now and then to me, but they always shifted back to the tech’s heart-pounding race to trail the feed before any more damage was done.

I glanced around and spotted the remote. Lifting it up, I changed the channels.

More and more images replaced the ones already there of me. They were all of me, at different times. I was just dressing in one. Another—I was putting make-up on. A third, I Tijan Jaded

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was just sitting on the couch, staring at nothing. And then…Bryce and I were in the shower. I was straddling Bryce. Bryce was on top of me, behind me. Sometimes we were wrapped around each other, talking, laughing, or arguing. One screen was of us fighting.

No words were heard, but it was evident. It started, we fought, and then it replayed immediately so just our fight was being watched.

And still…I changed the channels again.

This time, one screen was Bryce and myself again, but Bryce reached inside my nightstand and froze. I looked puzzled and the shot repeated to the beginning where we were kissing, starting to undress, and Bryce would always reach for the condom, but freeze as his hand found the gun instead. The screen image never let the gun be shown.

And then…I must’ve made a sound because Bryce and Corrigan both looked