Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
The next day, I began to feel that maybe I had been overreacting to finding Jacob’s body in my house. Or I really didn’t want to believe Mr. X had found me. After we checked out of the hotel and returned to the guys’ house, I still called Logan. He didn’t answer.
Knox and Keelan went into work for a half day, while the twins and I stayed home and watched TV for most of the day. Around dinnertime, Ethan texted Colt and Creed, begging that they come over and help decorate. He managed to guilt Colt into doing it when he pulled the it’s my birthday line.
Cheese and rice , that guilted me, too. No one should have to decorate for their own birthday. I offered to go help with Colt. I’d have to rush to get ready, but I’d go. Both he and Creed convinced me to ignore Ethan and to take my time getting ready.
As I was finishing up my makeup in the twins’ bathroom later that evening, I realized that the gift I had gotten Ethan was at my house. My stomach twisted up at the idea of going over there. I closed my eyes and exhaled, calming my nerves.
As I left the bathroom, the heels of my nude wedges echoed off the tile floor. I wasn’t dressed in anything special. Just dark jean shorts and a black top. I was wearing my GPS tracker around my wrist because it looked worse around my ankle.
Creed, Knox, and Keelan were sitting in the living room. Creed looked ready to go and I snorted when I saw what he was wearing. The three of them glanced in my direction as I rounded the couch.
“You and I are twins,” I said to Creed.
He frowned and then he took in my outfit. He was wearing a skintight black T-shirt with dark blue jeans. Creed smiled. “Think we’ll make Colt jealous?”
“No.” Smiling, I came to stand in front of him.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked.
My smile dropped. “The gift I got Ethan is in my room at my house.”
Knox sat up straighter. “Do you need us to go get it for you?”
I was tempted to accept that offer, but I didn’t want to be a coward. “No, but can someone come with me?”
Creed stood. “I’ll go. We can grab some more of your clothes while we’re there.”
“Tomorrow before we head into work, we’re going to throw out your couch,” Knox said.
I nodded and Creed and I headed next door. The alarm didn’t go off because it hadn’t been set. The smell of pennies was still present, but not as strong. Creed went inside first and turned on the lights. I tried not to look at my couch but failed.
Each purple cushion had large stains on it. Staring at the couch, I could still see Jacob sitting there. I quickly looked away and Creed followed me to my room. Creed flicked on the light next to my bed and I headed over to my dresser where Ethan’s present was sitting.
“I have a duffel bag in my closet. Will you grab it for me?” I asked Creed as I opened the top drawer of my dresser. I grabbed a few bras and began sifting through them looking for the matching panties. I couldn’t find them. What was strange was, I didn’t see any panties at all. I shut that drawer and pulled open the second one. I dug through more bras, but I could tell right away that there weren’t any panties in that drawer, either.
Panic surged through me and I began tossing all my bras out of the drawer onto the floor. I didn’t want to believe it. “No. No. No. No. No.” With each word, I sounded more scared.
“Shi?” Creed rushed out of my closet with my duffel in hand. “What’s wrong?”
I rushed to my nightstand and grabbed my gun.
“Shi?” Creed said, his voice full of worry.
I quickly shut my bedroom door and locked it. “All my underwear is gone,” I said as I crept into the bathroom slowly. Flipping on the light, I looked behind the shower curtain.
“What?” Creed said, confused.
I came out of the bathroom and held his eyes with mine. “Do you remember when I told you how Mr. X stalked me for years, and do you remember how he broke into my family’s home and stole all of my underwear?”
As I spoke, his eyes got wider.
I put my hand on his chest. “He could be in the house.”
“I need to warn my brothers,” he said and pulled out his phone. I didn’t know which brother he called, but all he said when they picked up was, “He’s here. It’s time to run.” Then he hung up.
“I need to get to my panic room,” I told him. “To do that, we have to pass the bathroom and the spare bedroom. There is a possibility he could be in either. So I’m going to give you the code to open the door so I can cover our backs.”
He nodded. “All right, what is it?” He sounded calm, ready, and determined and that helped me be the same.
I whispered the code, and before I unlocked the door, I said to him, “Stay behind me until we get there.”
He agreed and I opened the door. The hall was empty, and the house was quiet. As we stepped into the hall, the floor creaked and I knew then, without a doubt, Mr. X had been standing in my house that day and I had truly heard him.
Approaching the spare bathroom, I pointed my gun into the dark room as we passed. I did the same with the spare bedroom. Once at the panic-room door, Creed quickly entered the code and made me go in first before he slammed the door closed behind us.
I beelined for my large safe. I entered the code, and it clicked as it unlocked. Inside, I had larger guns—rifles—that I couldn’t easily hide throughout the house. In the bottom was a black duffel bag. I grabbed that, two rifles, and another handgun. I shut the safe and rushed over to the closet and pulled out two leather carrying cases for the rifles.
Creed watched as I put a rifle in each of the cases and hooked the straps of the cases over my shoulder. I held out the handgun I’d grabbed from the safe to him. “I don’t have time to teach you how to use it. Just point and squeeze the trigger, but only if you’re certain it’s Mr. X.”
“I know how to shoot it,” he said, taking it. “Knox took us to the gun range the day you went costume-shopping with Isabelle.”
A sad smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. I wished he’d never had to learn to use a gun.
I picked up the duffel with a grunt and went to hang the strap on my other shoulder.
“Let me take it,” Creed said, taking the bag and hanging it on his shoulder.
We went to the door. With my gun aimed, I opened the door and slowly leaned out, checking both ends of the hall.
It was clear.
Creed was right behind me as we made it out of the hall and into the living room. We were almost to the front door when the porch squeaked outside.
Then the knob began to turn.
Creed put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me back from the door slowly. As the door opened, he put himself in front of me. A gun came into view first, followed by hands gripping it. A tennis shoe was next, and I recognized it.
“Knox?” I said.
The door pushed open, revealing both him and Keelan.
I sighed frustratedly. “You should have stayed home.”
“Like we’d let you be here alone with a possible serial killer inside,” Keelan said as he stepped aside for Creed and me to come out.
I locked the door out of habit. I noticed Knox and Keelan each had a backpack on.
“Do you have ours?” Creed asked them.
“Right here,” Keelan said, walking over to the porch steps where two other backpacks and my purse were. Keelan handed my purse to me, a backpack to Creed, and carried the other, which I assumed was for Colt.
“You guys really did prepare,” I said as I trotted down the steps to my car. I opened up the trunk and set the rifles inside.
Creed set my duffel and his backpack in there next. Knox and Keelan tossed their and Colt’s bags in last and we all climbed into my car.
“Call Colt,” I said as I drove down the road.
Knox, who was sitting shotgun, pulled out his phone. The rest of us were quiet as we waited for Colt to pick up.
Knox cursed, pulling the phone away from his ear. “He didn’t answer.”
“I’ll try,” Creed said from the backseat.
Again, we waited and there was no answer. Creed kept calling up until we were pulling up to Ethan’s big house. The party was in full swing.
“His car is here,” Keelan said, pointing it out in Ethan’s long driveway.
All four of us got out and made our way inside. The music was blaring, and the house was full of students from our school.
Ethan spotted Creed and me from where he was playing beer pong. He raised his hands in the air. “Hey, guys! You’re finally here.” His gaze drifted behind us where Knox and Keelan followed. “You all came. Awesome.”
I forced a smile. “Happy birthday.”
“Have you seen Colt?” Creed asked, getting right to the point.
Ethan frowned. “Uh…yeah. He said he had missed a call from you and went off somewhere quiet to call you back. That was a while ago, though.”
“Do you know where?” Knox asked, pushing between Creed and me.
“I was in the middle of playing a game. So I didn’t see,” he said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb at the beer pong table. “The only places he could have gone that are quiet are outside or upstairs.”
Knox turned to look at me. “You and Keelan search upstairs, and Creed and I will look outside.”
I nodded. He and Creed took off toward Ethan’s backyard. Before Keelan and I could go, Ethan stopped me. “What’s going on?”
“There’s an emergency at the gym.” It was the best lie I could come up with and Ethan didn’t look like he believed it, either. Thankfully, he didn’t call me out.
I went to leave again, but Ethan started talking again. “Isabelle went upstairs. If you see her, tell her to hurry up because we’re about to play another game and she promised to be my partner.”
“I will,” I told him, and Keelan and I began weaving through the crowded party towards the stairs.
There were a few people hanging out at the top of the landing, but for the most part, the second floor was empty and somewhat quiet. You could still hear the music. The bass vibrated the carpeted floor beneath our feet as we made our way down a hall.
“Colt!” I called out for him as we poked our heads into rooms. We accidentally walked in on two people having sex in one of them. “Sorry!” I yelled at them and slammed the door closed. Keelan snorted and we continued to the next room.
As we got toward the end of the hall, where there was one last room to check, Keelan grabbed my arm. “Shi,” he said as he stared down.
I looked down, too. In front of the last room, seeped into the beige carpet, was a large spot of blood. It was still wet.
“Damnit,” I growled, and I pulled my gun from where I had it tucked into the back of my shorts. With it held out in front of me, we moved closer, and the closer we got, the more blood we could see. It was a trail leading into the room. The door was slightly ajar and there was blood on the handle.
With the barrel of my gun, I pushed open the door. It was a large, dark bedroom and there was light coming through the cracked door of what I assumed was the en suite bathroom. As I went inside, I prayed.
Please don’t let Colt be in this room.
Please let him be all right.
Once inside, we followed the bloody trail toward the en suite. I glanced ahead toward the cracked door and froze. There was a bloody handprint on the door.
“Call the police,” I said and pushed toward the bathroom.
Please not Colt.
Please not Colt.
I pushed the door open, careful not to touch the blood.
The first thing I saw on the floor was teal hair. Then I saw her face. There was blood on it. There was blood everywhere.
“No!” I screamed, dropping to the floor. “Isabelle!” I crawled to her. My knees slid in the blood that surrounded her. She had been stabbed and cut. I took in each area she was bleeding from and stopped counting after seven. There were too many—too many places where I needed to stop the bleeding. I cupped her face. “Isabelle! Isabelle, can you hear me?”
She jolted and sucked in a raspy, wet breath.
“Isabelle!” I cried, pushing her hair away from her face. “We’re getting you help. Just please, stay with me.”
She didn’t respond or move.
“Isabelle?” I shook her a little and got nothing. “No! Isabelle!”
I could hear Keelan talking to a 911 operator behind me, telling them about Isabelle. They weren’t going to make it in time. I needed to stop the bleeding. I looked around for a towel or something. Red writing on the mirror caught my attention. The red was blood, Isabelle’s blood, and what was written erased any bit of doubt that he had found me.
You are mine. X.
To be continued.