Chapter Four
Vanessa
I punched the alarm code in and unlatched the front door to slip into the street, quickly looking up and down the mostly empty sidewalk. Turning the key, I finished locking up and then hurried next door to TapHouse, the late-night club that occupied the rest of our building.
Their entrance was around the corner, but the back door was next to Luxe. I banged on it, and a few seconds later, it opened.
“Hey, Jake,” I greeted, recognizing the bouncer who manned the VIP entrance. “Don’t suppose you could spare RJ for a few seconds to walk me to my car?”
Most nights, I managed to park nearby on the street or the lot behind our building.
On Fridays, however, I overlapped with the various people still at work during the week when I arrived for my shift.
By Saturday night, they were gone, and the rest of the week just wasn’t busy enough, meaning I could find parking elsewhere.
The lot I’d parked in required me to walk through a long, dark alley where I’d been accosted once before and followed twice, which was why I now asked the bouncers to escort me to my car.
“Yeah, I can do that,” he said with a smile, then started gesturing to someone inside. “RJ! Come be useful. Walk Vanessa here to her car across the street, will ya?”
RJ came out, and we exchanged greetings as we crossed the street.
“Thanks for this, RJ,” I said as we approached my car, the dark sky above absent of all light. Not even the moon was out, blocked by the thick cloud cover that had rolled in mid-afternoon.
The big bouncer from the TapHouse, the bar next to Luxe, shrugged and waved a hand. “It’s nothing,” he added. “You should know that by now.”
“I still appreciate it,” I said, keeping my eyes warily ahead at the darkened mouth of the alley.
Realistically, I knew I wouldn’t have any issues with RJ along, but it was still an uncomfortable feeling to enter an unlit alley late at night.
I also looked up and down the street before moving between buildings to make sure no one was waiting.
“Good night?” RJ asked a little awkwardly, perhaps trying to put me at ease.
“Yeah, pretty good. How about you?” I replied, conspicuously aware of the weight of my gun in my purse. I didn’t like to open carry it like that, but sometimes a lady had to do what she had to do to feel safe.
“Pretty calm so far, which is nice,” he said as we emerged from the alley into the parking lot behind the buildings and went to my car.
“Nice ride,” he said, admiring the old black Beamer that hauled me around with only minimal complaints. “Always had a thing for those early 00’s models. Something about them.”
“Me, too,” I said with a laugh, coming to a stop. “Thanks again for this. Maybe one day I won’t need it. Maybe if I get old and ugly, I can walk around feeling safe.”
RJ snorted. “If that’s the case, you won’t be working at Luxe anymore. You’re gonna do something with your life. That’s for sure. You’ll be long gone by then.”
“Aww, thanks,” I said, reaching up to pat him on the shoulder. “I appreciate that.”
He smiled at me. His eyes wavered for a moment, glancing down past my neck, but it was only for a second, then they were focused back on my eyes.
I fiddled with the keys, realizing I’d made a mistake by breaking the touch barrier. It was time to go. “See you tomorrow.”
“You bet!” he said jovially, as if aware he’d slipped and eager to begone and let it slide. “We’ll do it all over again.”
I nodded, then quickly unlocked the car and got in, hitting the lock and turning it on before I took a second to divest myself of my purse, reaching over to put it on the floor.
A knock at the window caused me to drop it and shoot up in the seat, slamming my head off the roof while I screamed.
“Sorry!” RJ shouted through the window, his hands up. “Sorry!”
I looked at him, and he pointed down. “Jacket’s sticking out,” he said, the words muffled through the door.
Unlocking it, I opened the door to yank my jacket back in. “Thanks,” I said, pulling the door closed.
Only it didn’t budge.
I looked up at RJ to see why he was stopping it, but my attention was immediately drawn to the ugly knife that had appeared in his hand.
“Move over,” he ordered, looking around the empty parking lot.
I blinked, too stunned to react. “What?”
“Move over,” he growled, waving the blade at me. “And don’t make a sound.”
“RJ, what are you doing?” I asked nervously, trying to keep my composure. “Come on. This isn’t you.”
“Two months,” he growled, brandishing the knife as I swiftly climbed into the passenger seat to avoid being stabbed. “Two months, I’ve walked you to your car. Been nice to you. Two months. And for what? Nothing.”
“RJ …”
“Shut up!” he shouted, getting into the car and closing the door behind him. “Just shut up. I don’t want to hear your excuses.”
He put the car in drive, one hand always on the knife.
“Just keep quiet, do as you’re told, and I won’t hurt you,” he said.
Maybe not, but I could hear what he did intend to do to me in his voice, and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to live through it.
“RJ, please,” I said in a small voice as we turned onto the road and started driving. “Please. Don’t do this.”
“Enough!” he snarled, the knife coming to rest on my neck.
I went still, my heart racing in my chest, fear gripping me.
Think. Calm. Do what he wants. How he wants.
After a minute, the knife came away from my neck as RJ focused on driving.
Acting as calm and cool as I could, I leaned hard away from him and up against the door.
Maybe if I was fast enough, I could open the door and fall out.
It would hurt, but probably not as much as being stabbed or what would happen to me when we got wherever he was going …
“Better,” he growled. “You’ll learn to do as you’re told. I’ll show you that.”
Terror ripped through me at the unsaid things in his voice.
Things no person should ever have to consider, let alone experience.
I couldn’t believe it was happening. Disbelief filled me.
It was RJ. I knew him. Or thought I had.
He was supposed to be one of the good ones.
My stomach started to churn as reality slowly pushed through the fear and disbelief.
It was going to happen. He’d already gone too far to stop now. He couldn’t turn back, couldn’t undo the damage that had already been done.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, watching as he made another turn, the streetlamps the only source of light other than the dash. Buildings were dark, their signs off. That section of the city was asleep.
“Stop asking questions.”
We were headed toward the river, I realized abruptly. If he took me across into Old Town, I would never come back. That was a bad part of the city.
I would have to do something.
Cowering deep into the seat, I slid one hand down into my purse.
RJ was focused on driving. His knuckles were bright white around the steering wheel. The hand with the knife was much the same, even though it was only now resting on his thigh.
Calm. Remember, you’re terrified. Act like it.
That wasn’t hard. I was absolutely petrified. Everything seemed to be happening in a dream. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
My fingers closed around the gun’s grip, and I whimpered to cover up the sound of the safety being turned off. RJ barely spared me a glimpse, apparently satisfied that I was properly scared of him. That I was the meek, unwilling victim his fragile male ego wanted me to be.
A spike of fear locked my arm down as I started to pull the gun out.
“Only point a gun at things you intend to kill.”
I shook my head.
You aren’t him. You aren’t him. This is different. This is true self-defense. What he did was not the same. Go for the shoulder. Wound. That’s all you need to do. You aren’t him.
Latching on to what little I had in courage, knowing we were only a few hundred feet from the bridge, I pulled the gun, whipping it up.
“Freeze!” I barked, finger on the trigger, the sights lined up at his shoulder. “Stop the car.”
RJ looked over. His eyes bugged out, and he jerked away from the sight of the gun as he brought the knife hand up.
I squeezed the trigger just as the car lurched to the left, carried across traffic by RJ’s flinch.
The gun went off, and the car's interior filled with blood as the bullet smashed through his skull just below his cheek and blew out the top of his head.