Lethal Lover

25. Liam

When Elena walks off, I know it’s for the best. She’s going to her friends from work and I have real business to get down to. Kraus probably has news she won’t want to hear, and Slick stands guard to make sure no one can eavesdrop on our conversation.

“So tell me what you have.” I stand a little closer than I want to, but before anyone else learns the scoop, I want to confirm my suspicions.

Kraus’s eyes flick around. He’s nervous too, because he knows what I’ll do to whoever is threatening my girl. He knows me well enough to know what sort of mess he’s gotten himself into, and I hope he’s covered his tracks as far as the investigation he’s done.

“We should talk outside,” he tells me, but I’m not going anywhere.

“Now, Kraus. What did you learn?” I leave no room for misinterpretation in my tone. He will cough up the information or I’ll choke it out of him. “What do you know?”

The doors swish open behind him and two uniforms walk in, both of people I know. I narrow my eyes, and Kraus glances over his shoulder at them. I haven’t called them, but maybe Kraus did. Slick moves in their direction until I flag him away. I hate working with cops. I never team up with them, but these three are as dirty as they come. And while the rollers aren’t on my payroll, they do jobs for me from time to time for a little bonus.

“Boys,” Kraus says in greeting, and I scowl at them.

“The detective was just giving me some information in a stalking case.” I glance at Elena, who seems happier. Maybe she just got good news, but I’m about to get some really important updates of my own.

“Anything to do with the poisoning at the theater?” One of the uniforms nods at the cast as I turn back to face him. “We got called in to ask some questions.”

“I think they’re related, but I’m still waiting to hear what the good detective has to say.” I jam my hands into my pockets and wait for him to deliver my well-paid-for information. Kraus looks anxious to get it over with now, like a rodent afraid of being stepped on by an elephant in the room.

“Alright,” he says, leaning in closer. “I did some digging like you asked. I ran background checks on everyone at the theater.” His pause for emphasis makes me want to punch him in the throat. Why can’t he just spit out what he knows?

“And?” I ask angrily. I clench my hands into fists and stop myself from lashing out further. It will only make the delay worse. This guy has no clue what I’m going through. The searing rage tearing through my chest, urging me to rip someone’s head off, is so hard to control. I wonder if this is how my father feels when he comes up against an enemy or if he can keep himself calm even under the surface. Of course he can. A man like my father knows if he just bides his time, he wins.

“Alright, well the group is mostly clean. There’s one guy who had an arrest warrant served on him in his college years. He went to an acting school in Pittsburg, got into an altercation at a bar and then supposedly raped a woman there. He was tried but acquitted on account of no actual DNA evidence.” Kraus reaches into his pocket and produces a small spiral bound notebook. He folds open the cover and the first few pages, tucking them back into his palm as he squints at the scribbles he’s written on the page. I can’t make out what it says, but he wrote it.

“Who is it?” I ask, but my gut already knows who it is. It’s Warren, that bastard.

“His given name was Fredrick Gossamer. Grew up in Bounty, Wisconsin, but moved to New York several years ago. Then he vanished for a time and reemerged.” Kraus flips another page in his notebook, and I’m ready to pounce.

The uniforms look like they’d rather be anywhere but here, but they don’t know this is their lucky day. They get to save a man”s life if I don’t move fast enough. But with this much pent-up rage and a thirst for blood, they will be lucky to stop me.

“Name, Kraus. Give me his fucking name.”

“Warren Granger.” His eyes rise to meet mine and he continues. “The woman he was accused of raping disappeared too. When they found her body three months later, they discovered she’d been poisoned.”

That’s all the proof I need. I turn and look for Elena, but she’s gone, and so is Warren. With Slick on my tail, I walk swiftly to the group of actors who all talk casually now. They have looks of relief, but as I approach, a few of them cower in fear. They know who I am, and they’re afraid.

“Where’s Elena?” I growl, and only one of them has the guts to speak to me.

“She went into Trixie’s room.” The petite blonde points at the double doors, and I’m off, racing through them and down the brightly lit hallway.

I hear the others following me, the cops and Slick, but I don’t stop and I don’t turn around. He has her somewhere, and I swear to God if he”s hurting her, I will murder him. I can’t move fast enough, opening every door, searching every room. Slick is right here with me, searching too. The police move more slowly, which I don’t have the luxury to do. I have to get to her.

I knew something was off about that guy from the minute I saw him. He was jealous of her moving in and getting so much attention. He hovered around her, controlled her, acted like he liked her, but only so he could buddy up to her and glean some glory from her spotlight. And when she didn’t do what he wanted her to, he snapped. Now I’m in a race to find her before he does something he will most definitely regret.

“Liam, you gotta slow down and think about this,” Slick warns, but I don’t have time to stop and think. I get to where the hall turns either right or left, and I choose left, beginning a search in this direction. Slick hovers behind me, mirroring every footstep, and I almost ram into him when I leave one of the rooms.

“Look, if you want to help, search that side of the hallway,” I bark, pointing across the hall at the open rooms.

He rolls his eyes and walks away, and I push into the next room. A woman who is clearly in labor, panting, screaming, and holding her large, round stomach, shrieks as I whip the curtain back. Elena isn’t here either.

Angry, I storm back into the hallway and pass a few doctors who look shocked to see me. I breeze past them even as they try to ask me who I am and what I’m doing. This is stupid. I could search every room and it will take an hour. I’m frantic now, so much adrenaline in my system I’m not thinking straight. This is worse than when I’m drunk and out of control. This is all rage-induced, and I feel the explosion building.

Slick must be in a room. I don’t see him, and the detective and other cops aren’t even this far down the hallway. I don’t know what to do or where to look until I hear a muffled scream and some thumping. I move toward the direction I hear the sound and realize I’m backtracking. I should have turned right.

I run now, full force, up the hallway as the sounds of a struggle get louder and louder. It’s her. I know it is. I don’t hear a man’s voice, just a woman screaming for help, and it’s coming from the storage closet. I try to open it, but it won’t budge. I jiggle the handle and then put my shoulder into it over and over.

I see slick coming, but I don’t care. I am getting in this room. I slam into the door again and it bursts open, leaving me to stumble forward. As I do, I hear a crash behind me and in front of me, I see that sick bastard on top of her. His hands are around her throat and she’s clawing at his arms and kicking wildly.

“Fuck! Elena!” I dive on top of him, knocking him to the side. He rolls against the wall, freeing her and pinned beneath me. I hold nothing back.

My fists pound him with fury. Every ounce of my madness is unleashed on him in a storm of blows that has blood oozing from several places on his face before I hear someone banging on the door. I’m lost in my own world, exacting my revenge on this sick fuck so much I don’t even see Elena until she’s touching my face.

“Baby, please. You’ll kill him. Please stop…” Her tears don’t move me. Of course I’ll kill him. I want to kill him. He has to pay. My fists continue to pummel him in one violent blow after another until I feel hands grab me and yank me off him.

My chest heaves as I’m pulled backward and I stare at the bloodied man who lies on the ground. Elena follows me out as the two dirty cops manage to control me against my will, and Slick is there too.

“Fuck, dude, you fucked that guy up.” Slick nods at the cops and puts both hands on my chest, and they let go of me and return to the closet. I don’t see Kraus. I don’t hear what anyone else is saying, and I don’t even remember who I am or why I’m so angry until I feel her arms wrap around my chest and her face bury into the crook of my neck.

It”s over. They have her stalker now, and he’s lucky he’s not dead. He’s also lucky Slick took my knife off me after that incident in the alley.

“Oh, God, Liam…” Elena sobs, and I let my arms wrap around her, but I’m conscious of how tightly I hold her. I know how strong I am and I know how fragile she must feel right now. “Oh, God,” she says again and again, and I hold her.

The cops haul the guy out of the room and two nurses bring a gurney to lay him on. He’s out cold, maybe has a head injury. I don’t give a fuck. As they roll him past, I want to climb on the bed and strangle him the way he was Elena only moments ago, but she’s in my arms now and that’s what matters. She’s safe.

Slick hovers, even when the cops come by and ask me questions, but it’s all a formality. They will mark it down as my being a hero, and even the newspapers will shout my praise. Good PR, but not what I was going for.

Eventually, Kraus finds his way to us, when Elena is being looked at by a doctor. I feel numb, like I almost lost myself in there. Like I almost lost her. It’s not a good feeling at all. Everything passes by me so slowly. I know I’m in shock, but I wave everyone off and ignore their attempts to get through to me until I’m in the car with Elena on my lap and my arms wrapped around her again.

“Thank you,” she whispers, kissing my cheek lightly. She feels right. It feels right having her in my arms.

“Baby, I will always be there for you.” My strange obsession with having her, with making her mine, it’s gone. I don’t know what this feeling is that I’m feeling, but I like it. It’s warm and comfortable, like a new sweater on a cold day.

“Can I stay with you for a while?” Her timid question doesn’t even need to be asked. I’m not letting her out of my sight.

“Of course. In my home, in my bed, in my heart forever.” I push the hair out of her eyes and notice a small cut on her lip. She’s going to be black and blue for a few days, like my fists. My knuckles are bloodied, but I’m not sure whose blood it is, mine or Warren’s.

She kisses them and sighs. Then she lies across my chest as Slick drives us to my house. “I think that was the first time in my life I’ve ever been scared,” I tell her.

“Of what?”

“Losing you.” I place more kisses on her head and hold her more tightly. “I never want anything like that to happen again. You have to tell me if people are threatening you.” I blame myself, really. I saw some of those letters before they were threatening. I should have known better.

“I promise.”

“Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?” I ask her, and she says nothing. After a few minutes, I hear her lightly snoring. She’s fallen asleep on my chest and I couldn’t be happier. This is where she belongs.