5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Benji
M usic pulsed all around me. The rhythm of a hundred bodies moving and swaying alongside mine as we lost ourselves to the pounding thud of the music. Lights flashed in time with the beat in an array of colours. Pink. Green. Blue. The Crypt was heaving with people. But I didn’t care. I grabbed Maya and pulled her closer, bringing my lips to her ear.
“I’m going to grab a drink. You want one?”
“No,” she shouted back before pointing to the hulk of a guy behind her with a waggle of her eyebrows.
I rolled my eyes and blew her a kiss. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Elbowing my way off the dance floor, I headed over to the bar. I hitched myself up onto an empty stool and ordered myself a Long Island Iced Tea. I took a long sip and enjoyed the tart zing that the drink left on my tongue. Despite the promises of getting shitfaced with Maya tonight, I actually hadn’t drunk that much. I’d had just enough that I could feel the buzz of the alcohol in my system, but not enough that I was wobbling everywhere. I was definitely at the happy-go-lucky stage where anything was possible, and life was great. If I didn’t think about today too much.
“Is this seat taken?”
I turned to my right and found a man pointing at the stool beside me. “Um, no.”
He was good looking in a preppy kind of way. Brown hair swept back from his forehead, neatly styled, a soft blue jumper paired with navy slacks and eyes the colour of chocolate. But there was a tight pinch to his mouth and a frown curving his neatly trimmed eyebrows. “Thanks. It’s just for a minute. I…”
“That’s okay. Have a seat.”
He gazed at the stool for a moment before scanning his eyes over the crowd. Maybe he was just waiting for someone. After a long moment, he finally sat down and got himself a drink. Not that he drank it. He just traced the lines of condensation on the glass.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“What?” His eyes met mine, and they were blown wide.
“I asked if you were okay. You seem on edge.”
“I’m fine.” He smiled tightly. “Just waiting for someone.”
“First date?” I asked, leaning on the bar top. That would explain the nerves.
He huffed a laugh. “No.”
“Ah, breaking up with someone, then.”
“Something like that.” He gnawed at his bottom lip for a minute as he scanned the crowd again.
“Well, why don’t I help take your mind off it for a bit?” God knows I could use the distraction.
“Sure,” he replied with a half-smile.
“Tell me about yourself.”
“Right. Um, I’m Charlie and I work in finance. I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Yeah,” he said, his brows drawn down and his lips pinched.
“Well, Charlie, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Benji and I’m a doctor.”
“A doctor?”
I snorted. “Don’t sound so surprised.”
“Sorry. You just look too young to be a doctor.”
“Well, I was finishing my residency so I could become an emergency med specialist, but an asshole surgeon got me fired because I wouldn’t sleep with him.”
“I’m sorry, that sucks.”
“Yep. So now I’m here, drinking my troubles away.”
He smiled, and two little dimples appeared by the side of his mouth. He was kind of cute when he wasn’t fidgeting and frowning. “How’s that going for you?”
I shrugged. “I decided getting shitfaced probably wasn’t the best decision. I’m enjoying dancing, though. Do you like to dance?”
“Not really. I was born with two left feet. Besides—”
His face paled as he stared across the sea of dancers. Guess the moment he’d been waiting for had arrived. I had to admit, he seemed really nervous about this breakup. Jeez, maybe it was a divorce.
I stared out over the dance floor to track what he was looking at and spotted two guys walking towards us. Both of them were tall, standing a head above the rest of the crowd. One was dark-haired, with a grimace, and the other was blonde and all muscle. Damn, the guy was built . No wonder Charlie was nervous about breaking up with one of these guys.
A sense of recognition fluttered through me when my gaze connected with the eyes belonging to the dark-haired man. Déjà vu, maybe?
Ice-cold eyes.
A blood-stained shirt.
Hands grabbed my face, and Charlie was looking at me with fear lurking in his eyes.
“This isn’t a breakup, is it?”
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m sorry. I thought I had more time.”
“More time for what?”
“To come up with a plan. I didn’t think they’d find me so soon.”
“I don’t understand.” I was totally regretting letting the guy sit next to me.
“Have you ever regretted doing something? Something you wanted to fix but didn’t know how?” His fingers dug deeper into the side of my face, and I could sense those two men getting closer to us.
Wow. This was a heavy conversation to have with a stranger at a bar. “Yeah, I guess.”
“I’m sorry for this, but I don’t have another choice.”
Then he kissed me. He pressed his lips firmly against mine, and I was too shocked to do anything.
“Charlie Kent. You need to come with us.”
That voice. I knew that voice.
I looked to my left and found the guy with hair as black as pitch focussing his eyes intently on me. He took a step closer to me and I could feel his gaze against the contours of my face like it was a physical thing.
“Have we met before?” I asked.
“No.”
Something buzzed at the back of my skull. Something familiar.
Before I even realised what I was doing, my hand was reaching out, sneaking under his jacket and touching his waist. He winced in pain and grabbed my wrist.
He was wearing black leather gloves. I’d seen those before.
I’d seen him before. But where?
“Shit,” he muttered. “The Boss is not going to be happy about this.”
As if a lightbulb had popped in my brain, my missing afternoon flashed through my mind. The walk home, the guy bumping into me. The gunshot. Everything.
“You were shot,” I said to the guy. Wait. I knew his name. “Byron.”
“Well, fuck. Jimmy, keep an eye on this guy,” Byron said to the bartender. “Make sure he’s here when I get back.”
“You got it,” someone from behind me replied, but I was too dazed to really pay attention. Too caught up on the fact that I’d seen Byron attack someone, that he’d had his hands around my throat and — wait. Why didn’t I have any bruising? How did I lose my memory?
And where were they taking Charlie?
I watched as the two guys led Charlie along the edge of the bar and through a doorway at the back of the room. Whatever was going to happen to him next didn’t look good. The blonde guy was holding Charlie’s arm high up his back, and they were all definitely marching at a brisk pace.
I tried to catch sight of Maya, but she was too busy grinding her ass on someone’s groin to notice my panicked hand gestures. Fuck it. I shouldn’t go after those guys, I knew it was a bad idea, but I wasn’t going to be able to live with myself if I saw Charlie’s face on the news in the morning alongside a headline about murder.
I waited until Jimmy the Bartender’s back was turned and I slipped off my seat and headed to the door the others had disappeared through.
It was quieter back here. Must be the staff area or something. The walls were a deep crimson red, and the carpet was black and soft beneath my shoes. Guess the boss liked his décor fancy.
There were a number of doors along the corridor, but I had a feeling those men hadn’t gone into any of these rooms. I kept on walking and ignoring the sinking feeling in my stomach that was getting heavier the deeper I went into the belly of the building.
I turned a corner and heard some muffled cries and a scuffle of feet. I picked up my pace, following the sounds, foreboding pebbling my skin.
What the fuck was I doing?
Alcohol was definitely helping me make bad choices this evening.
I turned another corner, but there was no one there. God, how big was this place?
It was no use. I was lost and now I couldn’t hear those guys anymore.
Should have just stayed at the bar like a good boy , the voice of self-preservation chided.
Fuck you , I snapped back and pushed the bar on the emergency exit door that I managed to find.
The door swung open in a wide arc. There was a thump as the door hit something solid.
The grunt that followed suggested it was a some one rather than a some thing.
“Don’t move,” someone said. I didn’t recognise that voice, but I recognised the guy I’d hit with the door.
Navy slacks and a blue jumper. “Charlie? God, Charlie, are you okay?”
“Benji?”
I took a step forward but stopped when I realised Charlie was holding a gun. Nope. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t be caught in the middle of a standoff.
“Shit, I hadn’t meant for you to follow me,” Charlie groaned. “It doesn’t matter. It’s too late now.”
“Just put the gun down, Charlie,” the other guy said. I had no idea who he was or even where he was, but I could sense him just beyond my peripheral. Like a monster waiting to strike.
“No!” Charlie cried. “The bullets are silver. Don’t come any closer, I’m warning you.”
“I just want to talk, Charlie.”
There was a sound of a footstep, and my heart leaped into my mouth as I saw the moment Charlie made the decision to fire the gun. His jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed and then his finger, ever so gently, squeezed the trigger.
This close to the gun, the sound was deafening. It shook me, right down to my bones. I didn’t even think. Didn’t even stop to consider my safety. I just launched myself towards the man Charlie had pointed the gun at.
“Stop!” the man shouted and my feet ground to a halt.
I heard Charlie make a run for it, using the distraction to escape the alleyway and on to freedom. Leaving me behind to face whatever this was.
Shit. I was going to die.
I threw my hands up in the universal I’m-not-armed way and tried not to puke. My skin felt clammy, my heart was beating so fast I could feel it pounding against my ribs and my breaths were leaving my lungs that quickly I thought I was going to pass out. How was it I could deal with anything in the emergency room as calm as you please, but someone points a gun at me and I’m about to faint like a fucking damsel in a fairy tale?