Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Crew
I pulled into the restaurant parking lot feeling lighter than I had. I was no longer connected to my family. Perhaps in a few weeks I would feel differently about the decision. Right now, it was as if the albatross around my neck was no longer there.
The people who had done the piss poor job of raising me were not my parents. They hadn’t truly raised me. They had done their best to try to form me into what they thought would be possible. I never knew their endgame. They wanted me to be perfect, so they would break me to get there. Honestly, they didn’t make sense. Perhaps it was because they never tried to. They wanted power, and I wasn’t going to give it to them. Not when I had finally grown old enough to protect myself .
And find the family that I should’ve had along the way.
Tonight however, wasn’t about them. It was about new steps.
I was finally going to ask Aria to move in with me. She practically had already, and I hadn’t liked leaving her at her place. Not that I didn’t love the cottage style house that the Montgomerys built twenty years ago. The construction company continued to keep it up to date with everything, and it was a beautiful home.
But I wanted her in my bed every night.
I wanted to wake up with her nestled in my arms, or dancing without panties on in my kitchen. I didn’t like her having to meet me at the restaurant because she wanted her car at my place. I wanted it to be our place.
Hopefully she wouldn’t fight me on it. Though, I never knew with Aria. Then again, fighting was what we did best. Because the making up had its perks.
I looked at my phone to see if she had responded to my latest text, but she hadn’t. When I looked around the parking lot, I frowned. Her car wasn’t there. I looked around the large truck beside me and realized it wasn’t parked on the street either. Weird. Maybe she’d hit traffic.
I pressed her name on my phone, and it rang a few times before being put through to voicemail. But it hadn’t rang enough to do that naturally, meaning she had pushed me to voicemail.
“What the hell?” I continued to pace and called again. Same thing. I texted, no answer. I quickly called Daisy, worry starting to sink in.
“Hey there. I thought you were going to be on your date.”
“Have you heard from Aria?”
She must have heard the tension in my tone, because she didn’t crack a joke. “No. We texted a few times when she was getting ready, but I thought she would be on her way to you by now. Is she not there?”
“She’s not answering her phone, nor has she texted me back. I have a bad feeling.”
“Was her phone ringing at all?” Daisy asked, and I heard the clicking of keys, telling me she was probably at her desk, her laptop at hand.
“Yes. So I don’t think it’s off.”
“Okay, that’s good. It’s probably nothing. She’s probably just in traffic. Let me check.”
“You can track all of us?”
“Of course we can. With the normal apps and our own apps. We’ve all become hyper aware of things with recent events.”
I nodded, not wanting to think about exactly what had happened to Aria’s family members and my friends over the past years. There were too many hospital visits, too many stress factors.
“Her phone is on Huntington Bridge. That’s weird as it’s not in between the house and the restaurant you were going to. Were you still going to Parmigiano?”
I was already running back to my car as she spoke. “Call the cops. Do something. Anything. I’m on my way to the bridge now.”
“I’ll do that, and I’m calling the team. It’s probably nothing, Crew.” I heard the doubt in her voice, even as she was trying to reassure me. It wasn’t working.
“Travis attacked us today. And somebody broke into my house already. If it wasn’t Travis, it was someone else. Somebody that wanted to hurt us. I don’t have a good feeling.”
“You’re not trained for this, Crew. We are on our way. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Then get there before me,” I snapped before ending the call and trying to call Aria again. No answer. Another chink in my heart and nerves.
I knew I was probably breaking a few traffic laws as I drove the few miles to the Huntington Bridge. But I didn’t care. I needed to get to her. I knew Daisy would handle everything else, that’s what she was good at, what she trained for. I just needed to get Aria .
Maybe it was just her phone, maybe it was a bad connection. Maybe it was nothing. But I didn’t think so.
I shouldn’t have left her alone.
Huntington Bridge was a small metal bridge over the river that bisected the edge of the suburb. It wasn’t too tall, so during high precipitation times, people did jump off it for recreation. But there were signs plastered everywhere that you weren’t supposed to. People had no idea what was beneath the surface. There could be logs, sharp rocks, or the river could be shallower there than in some other places.
However, the bridge was one of Aria’s favorite places to sit and take photos when she needed to clear her head. There were countless angles, backdrops, and people that could create stories for her so she could focus on what she needed to for her next project. We’d been there recently so I had an idea of how high the water was, but it still made me fucking nervous.
Hell, I drew Huntington Bridge countless times because I sat next to Aria as she worked. We had almost gone there today instead of our hike.
Some part of me hoped she had gone there to snap a few photos, and got lost in her art. But that wasn’t who Aria was. We were all worried about what happened today, so she would answer if she could.
The fact that she couldn’t sent chills up my spine .
I ran a stop sign, ignoring the honking car beside me, and slammed on my brakes as I made it to the side of the road where I could see the edge of the bridge. There was nobody else there, since it was not a high traffic time and there was a slight chill in the air.
The scream echoing through the air made my heart stop.
I jumped out of my SUV and ran toward the bridge.
I knew the moment I saw the tableau in front of me, I’d break if I let myself. The picture in front of me would forever haunt my dreams. I would never paint it, never see it on canvas or in any media.
But I would know every shade, every angle, and every moment until the end of my days.
Aria stood in the middle of the bridge, on the other side of the railing, holding on for dear life, as Travis stood behind her, a knife to her throat. There was blood matted in her hair, and some of it on her cheek, and I knew she had to be hurting because she was unsteady.
One slip and she would fall into the river below.
From what I could tell, the river was moving fast enough that it was probably at the right depth that she wouldn’t immediately break her neck if she fell. But there was no way I could know that. My blood grew icy, digging into my spine as I moved forward, not knowing what the hell I was going to do. It wasn’t as if I could come up from behind Travis at this angle and stop him. Even if I did, one wrong move and he could slice her neck, or pull her down off the bridge.
“Travis. You don’t have to do this. Put down the knife. We can just talk.” Aria’s voice sounded so calm, but I heard the fear beneath it. I didn’t know if I wanted Travis to hear that fear.
“You never want to talk. You always tried to lecture me. ‘ Travis, you’re drinking too much. Travis, you need to focus on your art. Travis, why don’t you love me?’ ”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hurt you. But please, you’re scaring me.”
“Good. Do you know how hard it was to wait for the perfect time to get into your garage? How long it took for you to finally leave your precious house? And then I had to drag you here until you finally woke up. The only reason you’re even standing beside me where you said you would always be is because I have a knife. You’re a liar. If you really loved me, if you really cared about me, if you really followed through on any promises, you would’ve stood by me, doing everything you said you would.”
Fear coated my tongue as I moved forward, hoping to hell this was the right decision.
“Let’s just talk, Travis. You don’t want to do this.”
“Stop telling me what to do!” Travis yelled .
“I’m sorry. Just put down the knife. We can stand here. But you need your other hand on the railing, and not on the knife,” Aria said calmly.
“Fine. But don’t try to pull yourself over the railing. I’ll pull you with me. You understand? You go with me just like you always promised you would.”
I could see Aria’s face pale from here, but she nodded slightly against the knife at her throat. “Okay. I understand.”
Travis swallowed hard before he dropped the knife. It fell into the river below, and I tried not to think how far it had to go before it hit the water.
I didn’t want that to be Aria.
Nor did I want it to be Travis because as much as I hated the man, I didn’t want that. Because Aria would never forgive herself. And I didn’t want her to see that.
“Let’s talk.”
“I’m done talking!” Travis cried out.
“Then talk to me,” I blurted, afraid because Travis had just put his hand on Aria’s arm.
Travis jerked slightly, and Aria’s foot fell off the side of the bridge, and she let out a soft squeak before clinging to the side again, her foot finding purchase.
“What are you doing here?” Travis shouted, his eyes wide .
“I’m just here to talk, Travis. You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do. Don’t you see everything is ruined? Everything I touch turns to ash. It drowns itself in sorrows. I thought Aria understood. But she doesn’t. Nobody understands.”
Aria faced the bridge, her gaze darting between me and Travis. I saw fear on her face, etched in the lines beside her eyes, the furrowed brows. But there was nothing I could do other than try to talk him down. If he moved too quickly, he could pull her down with him. With the way that he was holding her, unless she kicked out and released his grip for him to fall, she was stuck where she was.
In Travis’s hold.
Or beneath the bridge itself.
“I just want it to stop,” Travis said, tears streaming down his face. “Why can’t it just stop?”
“Let’s just get you both to safety and then we can talk it out. Find a way to make it stop.” I swallowed hard, one hand outstretched, the other holding the railing as I continued to move toward them. I hadn’t bothered getting on the safe side of the bridge, instead walking on the minuscule piece of metal that they were standing on. I wouldn’t be able to help Aria if I had to climb over the damn railing as well. Travis hadn’t moved with each of my steps, so I kept going, hoping I could reach Aria in time.
“I don’t want your help. I just wanted her to do what she promised.”
Aria cleared her throat. “I’m here, Travis. Please, let’s just talk. I’ll do it. All of my promises.”
“I don’t want to talk anymore,” Travis whispered, and everything went in slow motion.
The finality in his tone ripped through me, and I moved quickly, my feet nearly tripping over themselves as I grabbed for Aria.
She had one arm on the railing, the other pulled back as Travis tried to tug her down. She clamped onto his arm, trying to keep him up, even as her feet began to slide off the railing. I angled forward, one hand on the railing next to Aria’s, the other wrapping around her hip.
In that moment, Travis met my gaze, eyes wide as he let go of the railing, still holding on to Aria.
“No!” I tugged on Aria, pulling her to me even as she reached for Travis.
But everything happened at once. I pushed Aria into the side of the bridge, her grip firm, but then Travis reached for me. I didn’t know if he had second thoughts, or if he wanted me to be hurt right beside him, but he gripped my leg, and I slipped .
The water from the previous night’s rain beneath my shoe couldn’t keep me steady. I slid back, Travis’s weight pulling me down. For some reason the water felt as if it were much farther down than it had been when I had been looking at it.
Or maybe, it all happened in a split second.
Because as Travis hit the water first, I followed right behind, a sharp pain slicing up my arm, and then there was only shadow.
Darkness, and Aria’s voice, screaming.
“Crew!”