Chapter 33
Ben
Ididn’t bother picking up the key after Tristan threw it at me. If I had, I would have chased him and demanded he take it back. I would have fallen to my knees and begged him to forgive me for every last word I’d just said.
I would have told him that I loved him, and I didn’t know how to go on breathing without him.
The front door closed with a deafening thud that echoed through my soulless house. It wasn’t a home anymore, not without him. For a few minutes, I stood in the foyer, torturing myself with images of our first kiss.
Unbearable pain seared my chest, and I knew there was only one thing that would dull it. Well, two, but I doubted Tristan would ever look at me again. Meaning, I had no choice but to go for the first option.
I marched to the kitchen, yanking open the freezer door, and grabbed the bottle of vodka I’d stashed away when I first moved in. I told myself I’d only ever drink it when my life was bleak, and my future held no hope.
Collecting a glass on the way out, I headed back to the living room, Tristan’s scent wrapping around me like a warm blanket as I collapsed on my couch. In a few days, the new one would be delivered, but I would cancel the order. And then I would repaint the walls.
I couldn’t have anything that reminded me of what I’d lost.
Downing a large mouthful of vodka, I grimaced at the burn the liquid left behind as it slid down my throat. Before it had settled in my stomach, I poured myself another, tipping my head back as I swallowed it down.
And that’s where I stayed until half the bottle was gone and I passed out.
A bang echoed from somewhere around me. I bolted upright, wincing at the pounding in my head. It took several seconds for my brain to remember that I’d fallen asleep in the afternoon on the couch, only now, it was pitch black where night had fallen.
I glanced at my watch. 11:50 pm. Ten minutes until Christmas arrived.
For some reason, this Christmas felt worse than all the others I’d lived through.
Figuring I’d drag my pathetic ass up to bed and sleep off the hangover that was no doubt brewing, I reached out to turn the lamp on, jumping when I discovered I wasn’t alone.
My entire body turned to ice.
Not because of the person—or ghost, depending if this was a dream or a vision—staring at me, but because of the blood staining her white dress, along with the congealed blood around the gaping hole across her throat.
“Not this again.” I jabbed my thumbs into my eyes in hopes that once I woke properly, the haunting figure wouldn’t be sitting on the end of the couch watching me with lifeless eyes.
Of course, I had no such luck.
“Good to see you too, McScroodge,” the woman said.
Even with the blood matting her blonde hair, the two black eyes, and scratches over her face, I recognized her.
She was a former tenant, Danielle Green, who had been murdered a few weeks after I had increased her rent.
“You do remember me, right? I mean, it is your fault I was murdered, so I’d like to think you remember. ”
“My fault?”
Danielle shrugged. “Well, you didn’t wield the knife. But you did raise my rent ‘cos you got greedy, and it was either sell my body to make extra money or face the old heave-ho from you. If you’d kept my rent the same, I wouldn’t have met my pimp, and he wouldn’t have done this to me.”
She waved a hand in the area of her throat as if I needed her to point out what she was referring to.
“Hardly my fault. You could have found other ways to make money. You know, got a second job like most people do.” I scrubbed a hand down my face.
The irony is that I hadn’t wanted to increase Danielle’s rent.
That had been Jake’s idea after she refused to fuck him.
“What do you want? Are you here to give me some more wonderful reminders of my fucked up past?”
Malice glinted in her eyes. “Nope. You had your warning. You had a chance to make your life and those around you better. But you just had to go and fuck it up, didn’t you? So I’m here to show you what awaits.”
Without warning, she dived for me, her freezing hands cupping my cheeks. The room around me began to spin, the light fading, the walls shrinking. The pounding in my head worsened as nausea spun like a washing machine in my stomach.
Just when I thought I was about to vomit, Danielle released my cheeks. The room stopped spinning, and my head and stomach settled. My gaze darted everywhere when I realized we weren’t in my living room any longer.
“Where are we?”
“Look around, McScroodge. Take it all in, because this is your life, one year for now,” Danielle replied gleefully.
Making the mistake of inhaling a deep breath, the grim scent of mold filled my nostrils before hitting the back of my throat and making me cough.
I glanced around the tiny room. My lips turned down in disgust at the small kitchenette in one corner.
The fridge was covered in grime while cupboard doors hung off their hinges.
I twisted, covering my mouth with the crook of my arm when I was met with an open door leading to the bathroom, the white tiles covered in brown mess. I turned quickly, not wanting to even consider what the brown stains were.
My lips contorted into a grimace when my eyes landed on a single bed, but that wasn’t what made a knot form in my stomach. It was the figure sitting on the bed, his clothes torn and dirty, a thick, unkempt beard covering his face, and his eyes downcast. Clutched in his hand was a bottle of whiskey.
Even in the dim glow of the only lightbulb in the room, I knew the figure was me.
“What happened?” The question fell from my lips, but I didn’t want to know the answer.
“I’m glad you asked,” Danielle said, coming to stand by me as I watched the future me open the whiskey and swallow a mouthful straight from the bottle.
“Greed. That’s what happened. You started the year off by increasing everyone’s rent.
People couldn’t afford it, so they moved out.
No one wanted to rent a property from you, so you had to start selling properties to pay off your increasing debt. ”
She moved to stand in front of me, blocking my view of the pitiful excuse of a man I was destined to become.
“But here’s the best bit. A businessman, worse than you, waltzed into town and convinced you he could get you out of the shit.
Turned out, he was just a scam artist. You lost everything.
The business, that fancy car of yours. And your house.
This—” she waved her hand around, an amused smile playing on her lips “—is all you could afford.” She leaned forward, raising her hand as if she was whispering conspiratorially to me.
“Although I don’t think you’ll last long here, not when you keep spending the last of your money on whiskey.
” She pulled her hand away, shrugging. “But, hey, maybe you can start selling your body to make money. Hopefully, you won’t end up like me. ”
She dragged her finger across her neck to indicate having her throat slit before bursting into fits of laughter.
“Why is this amusing to you?” I snarled, my fists clenching.
She stopped laughing, but the grin lingered. “Seeing how the mighty has fallen? Oh, come on, McScroodge, surely that’s how you felt every time you crushed one of us peasants under your boot?”
My gaze dropped to the floor as shame flooded me. She was right. I lorded my financial position over people because it made me feel better about my shitty existence. And now, I was reaping what I sowed.
“Come, there’s more I want to show you,” Danielle said, waving her hands again.
I didn’t want to see anything else, but it wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter. The room began spinning again as the dream—or vision—changed around me. When the room faded, and a light breeze hit my face, I looked around, confused. Until my eyes landed on a familiar house.
“That’s Tristan’s home,” I said, panic propelling me forward until I was right in front of a sign wedged into the front lawn. “Why is his house for sale?”
Danielle rested her hand on my shoulder, mock sympathy creasing her features.
“I really hate to be the one to tell you this, but… When your business went to shit, Rob couldn’t get another job.
You kinda blamed him for the company losing all its money.
” She paused, sucking in a deep breath and enjoying the anguish that I knew was written on my face.
“Rob fell into a deep depression, and Emma couldn’t take it any longer.
She took the twins and moved away, and now they’re selling the house to pay for their divorce. ”
My heart thumped hard against my rib cage as despair tore through me.
No.
No. This couldn’t be happening. I wouldn’t have blamed Rob; he’d been nothing but loyal to me from the day the company started, and he was great at what he did. I wouldn’t have put the blame on him, right?
He couldn’t lose his home. That was where Holly and Ivy lived, and…
“Tristan?” I ripped my eyes off the house to look at Danielle, trepidation flowing through my veins. “Where’s Tristan?” She didn’t reply but continued to stare at me with a manic grin on her face. Trepidation turned to fear, and I grabbed her arms, shaking her. “Where is he, dammit!”
She faked a sigh. “You asked for it.”
With a wave of her hand, the scene changed again, and when the air cleared, I realized we were in a hospital corridor. Rob stood several feet away, talking to a doctor. The knot in my stomach tightened as I stormed toward them, needing to know where Tristan was.
“Mr. Crutchens, there’s nothing more we can do,” the doctor said.
Rob’s eyes filled with tears. “Please, there’s got to be something.”
Agony shredded my heart into tiny pieces at the despair in Rob’s voice, and I knew instantly who they were talking about.
The doctor put his hand on Rob’s shoulder. “I’m truly sorry. Now would be the time to say goodbye.”
A sob flew from my lips as my knees threatened to buckle. Rob walked to a door, and as he opened it and stepped inside, I followed. My lungs constricted at the sight before me, refusing to let any air in.
Tristan lay in a hospital bed, a bandage around his head and a tube down his throat. His gorgeous eyes were closed, and beside him, a machine beeped steadily. Tears streaked down my face as I stepped toward him, while Rob stood on the other side of the bed and took Tristan’s hand in his.
“I’m sorry, Tris,” Rob said, his voice heavy with unshed tears. “Please come back to me, Son.”
“What happened?” a choked voice asked. It took several seconds to realize the question had come from me.
Danielle once again stood beside me, her amused grin replaced by one of genuine sympathy.
When she spoke, her voice was low, almost as if she was worried she would disturb Tristan.
“He wanted to buy his parents’ house so he took job after job.
He ignored his body telling him to slow down; he just kept pushing and pushing.
He couldn’t bear the thought of his sisters losing their home.
Then one day, he was up a ladder doing some work, and his legs just…
gave up. He fell back and cracked his head on the concrete.
He hasn’t woken up since.” She sighed. “Doctor said he would have fallen unconscious immediately and wouldn’t have felt anything, so there’s that. ”
My hands clenched the metal bed rails, my knuckles turning white. “He can still wake up.”
“I’m afraid not. They expect him to die any…second…now.”
As the final word left her mouth, the machine started beeping frantically. Rob’s alarmed gaze darted around. “No, not yet, Tristan! I’m not ready to let you go yet.”
He fell over Tristan’s body, sobbing as doctors and nurses rushed in. More tears slid down my cheeks, and I tried to step toward the bed where the doctors were doing God only knew what around Tristan, but my feet wouldn’t move.
The room began to fade away. Panicked, I met Danielle’s gaze as the frantic beeping from the machine turned to one long beep, and Rob’s wails of despair intensified.
“Please, tell me it’s not too late,” I cried, forcing the words out. I didn’t care if I lost the business or lost my house; hell, I would have given away every cent to my name if it meant Tristan didn’t die. “Please, I beg you, I can’t lose him. I love him. I can’t live without him.”
But Danielle didn’t answer.