Nightmares from Within (14 page)

“I’ve got to hand it to you; you’ve got balls of…Daniel?” I sputter in shock when I lifted my gaze and saw him standing there. He definitely wasn’t who I planned to see standing there when I opened my door.

“Oh, please continue,” he replied with a devilish smirk. “I’m dying to know what my balls are made of.”

Ignoring his remark, I asked, “What are you doing here?”

His eyes drifted over my shoulder to the TV and his smirk morphed into a look of regret. “You already saw it.” When he looked back at me I saw the pity in his eyes and I knew.

“It was her, wasn’t it? The girl from my vision...the one I couldn’t see clearly? She’s the one they just found.”

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I was right but when he nodded his head something inside me broke. I walked back to the couch and collapsed, dropping my head in my hands as the tears flowed down, dripping an obscure pattern on the hard wood beneath me.

I felt the cushion next to me sink as Daniel sat down and wrapped his arms around me. After several minutes, I finally lifted my head and ran my fingers under my eyes in an attempt to wipe away any smudged mascara. “I tried, Daniel. I swear. Another vision came to me this morning and I tried so hard to see her face but I just couldn’t.” The last words broke on a sob and he pulled me into his warm, hard chest for comfort.

“I know, Taylor. I know. It was already too late.”

I let out a frustrated sigh and shot off the couch. “Then what was the point?” I asked pacing the length of my living room. “Why see her again this morning if she was already dead? And why couldn’t I see her face, Daniel? I did everything you said but I still couldn’t see her.”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and hung his head. “This gift isn’t like riding a bike, Taylor. You can’t just ignore it for fourteen years and expect everything to return like it should the first time out of the gate. Like anyone with a gift, you have to practice. You have to hone it.”

“What if it’s too late?” I said on a gasp when the reality of the situation finally hit me like a ton of bricks. “What if it never comes back and whoever the hell this higher power is that gave it to me has already decided to replace me?”

He was in front of my face before I could blink. He gripped my shoulders and gave me a small shake to pull me out of those terrible thoughts. “Hey, enough of that. It’s not too late. I swear, Taylor, I’m going to do everything in my power to help you but you can’t think like that, okay? Promise me.”

I felt miserable and exhausted. I gave a weak nod and accepted the comfort he offered when he wrapped me in a tight embrace. There was no intimacy involved, but Daniel somehow managed to give me exactly what I needed…comfort and security. It was as if I’d known him my entire life. I felt an almost familial connection to Daniel, like I knew he would always be there to protect me and keep me on the right path when I needed it most. With his towering frame holding me up and his reassuring words in my ear, I started to feel like he was right, like I could pull through this and come out on the other side. I buried my face in his chest and returned the hug, squeezing his waist tightly as I tried to calm myself.

My mind was reeling and all I could think was that I didn’t want to let anyone else down.

Jordan

I sat at my desk so exhausted it hurt to keep my eyelids open. I looked over at my partner, who appeared to be just as tired as I was, and made a decision to call it. “Go home, Stevens. There isn’t anything else we can do tonight.” The clock read 9:45 and we’d been working since the call came in around 2:00 that morning. Even if we did find a lead, both of our brains were so fried it was almost guaranteed that we would screw something up.

Stevens rubbed his hands over his face roughly before letting out a frustrated grunt. “I don’t fucking get it. He’s escalating and we don’t have shit.”

I leaned as far back as my chair would allow and laced my hands behind my head. “I don’t know man, and it’s driving me fucking crazy. We’ve got four girls with nothing in common. Different hair colors, different body types, different ethnicities, different jobs. There isn’t one goddamn link between any of them that we can find.”

Stevens stood up and stretched his arms over his head, causing the buttons on his shirt to stretch to a dangerous level. “All I know is if I have to read one more of those twisted as fuck poems, I’m going to go fucking mental. He’s one sick son of a bitch. I can’t take seeing any more dead girls. This is the kind of shit that stays with a person.”

I understood exactly what he was talking about. I didn’t think it would ever be possible to get those girls’ images out of my head. As he passed by my desk on his way out he paused and slapped me on the shoulder. “We’ll get him man.”

I wanted to believe that, but with each girl, my hopes dwindled a little more. After staring at the computer screen for a few more minutes, I finally gave up and started shutting everything down. I needed to get back to Taylor. I left her bed in such a rush earlier that I completely forgot to leave her a note. Every time I thought about picking up the phone and calling her something else popped up and got in the way. I was either processing the crime scene, dealing with the evidence from the crime lab, or talking to Samantha Turner’s parents. That was part of the job I was never going to get used to. Having to inform the victim’s loved ones that they’d lost a family member…it damaged something inside me every time I had to have that conversation, something I was afraid couldn’t be repaired.

But the idea of seeing Taylor again made a day full of darkness seem just a little brighter. I just hoped she wasn’t pissed about me leaving without a word this morning. She just looked so damn peaceful and I knew what I was about to walk into was going to be awful. I didn’t want to expose her to that part of my life if I could somehow prevent it.

I got in my car and headed over to her apartment, stopping first to pick up some flowers just to be on the safe side. Women were finicky creatures; the only way for a man to navigate safely was to be preemptive.

“Can I help you?” the older, gray haired woman behind the counter asked when I walked in the door.

“Uh, yeah, what do you recommend I get for potentially screwing up with a woman I just started dating, but want to apologize for said potential screw up because I would very much like to continue dating her?” I asked, figuring I might as well be upfront.

She gave me a sweet smile full of humor before walking around the counter over to a refrigerated display case. “Well, roses are always a good way to get a woman to forgive you.”

I looked through the glass at all the different colored roses. They were pretty but Taylor didn’t seem like a roses type of woman. She was different…unique. I wanted something that represented her. I kept scanning, trying to find something that made me think of her, when I finally saw the perfect arrangement.

“What about those?” I asked, pointing to the bouquet in the middle of the case.

“Oh, good choice. That’s our Gerbera Bright arrangement.”

My face screwed up in confusion as I looked over at her. “Your…huh?”

She gave a small laugh and opened the display case. “Gerbera daisies dear, in five different colors. They’re definitely different.”

“Well, she’s different,” I said with a smile.

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about her staying mad at you after this,” she replied as she rang up the purchase.

All I could do was hope she was right.

I left the shop and quickly made my way over to Taylor’s place. When I walked through the doors, I saw Gary sitting behind the desk reading. He glanced up with a smile before it quickly morphed into a look of uncertainty. “Uh…Good evening, Mr. Donovan.”

“Hey Gary. How you doing tonight?”

He looked me up and down before replying, “Better than you, from the looks of it. Are you okay, sir?”

I let out a sigh and ran my free hand through my hair. “You don’t want to know the half of it. Anyway, you could let me up without buzzing her? I kind of want to surprise her,” I said holding up the flowers for him to see.”

“Oh, I don’t know…that might not be such a good idea.”

I leaned against the desk and smiled. “Come on man, you’d be doing me a huge favor. You know I had to bail out of here last night in a rush. I want to make it up to her.”

He quirked a brow and looked at me suspiciously. “Can’t think of many reasons for a man to burn out on a beautiful young woman at two in the morning. You have to get home to your wife or something?” he asked, his tone of voice full of accusation.

I hung my head and reached into my back pocket. “Murder scene,” I replied, showing my badge to the old guy.

His eyes widened at that and the suspicion disappeared. “I’m sorry, sir…”

I slid my badge back in my pocket and lifted a hand to wave off his apology. “No worries, I’d have thought the same thing. But now that you know the truth, you think you can help me out?”

I could tell he was fidgeting from behind the desk but all I cared about was getting to Taylor. “I guess,” he finally relented. “But I really think I should buzz her…”

I was off toward the elevators before he could finish. “You’re a saint, Gary,” I called over my shoulder. “I won’t forget this.”

As the doors opened and I stepped in I could have sworn I heard him mumble, “Oh, I don’t doubt that.”

The elevator dinged and my senses went on immediate alert when I noticed the door to Taylor’s apartment was cracked open. On instinct, I reached for my gun and hit nothing but air. I had made sure to take it off before coming up to Taylor’s just in case guns scared her. I instantly regretted that decision. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I inched closer.

What I saw when I pushed the door open the rest of the way was
not
what I was expecting to see.

Taylor was standing in the middle of her living room with her arms around another man. I don’t think I’d ever wanted to kill another human-being more than I did at that very moment.

“This looks cozy,” I ground out. “Am I interrupting?”

Taylor dropped her arms and quickly looked my way. “Jordan? What are you doing here?”

“Well, I just thought that after having a shitty ass day I’d come see my girl.” The loser standing next to her crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. I could glare just as good as the next guy so I shot a burn-in-hell look back at him. “Who’s this guy?” I asked, not taking my eyes off him.

“I don’t really see how that’s any of your business,” the douche bag responded.

“Is that right?” I took another step into the apartment as he stepped closer to me.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

We were inches away from each other when Taylor stepped in between us, attempting to push us apart. “Stop!” she demanded. “You can whip your dicks out and see whose is bigger when I’m not around, but for now, this is my apartment and I’m really not in the mood to put up with a macho pissing contest.”

“Your boyfriend here started it,” the asshole replied.

“That’s right, boyfriend,” I said, pointing at my chest. “You’d do well to not fucking forget that.”

“Whoa, wait just one goddamn minute,” Taylor screeched. “Boyfriend? I’m not exactly an expert on this topic, but I’m pretty sure boyfriends don’t disappear in the middle of the night after having sex just a few hours earlier. And I’m also pretty sure having one date doesn’t constitute boyfriend status even if sex was involved…especially if a girl doesn’t hear from the guy at all the next day.”

“Crimson,” I whispered apologetically. Our conversation would have gone so much easier if that asshole wasn’t standing right next to her.

“Holy shit man, I think it’s safe to say that was an epic fail on your part.”

“Well no one fucking asked you!” I bellowed. “Taylor, who the hell is this guy?”

He didn’t let her answer. “I’m an old friend. That’s all you need to know, seeing as you’ll probably be leaving in about thirty seconds.”

I turned an accusing eye on Taylor. “I thought you said you left everyone from your past behind.”

That motherfucker interrupted…
again
. I was seconds away from going from pissed off to nuclear if he didn’t shut the hell up. “I guess you could say I’m here to make amends.” He gave Taylor a loving look that made me want to knock his pretty white teeth down his throat.

“Were you two involved or something?” I forced myself to ask, dreading the answer.

The dynamic between the two of them changed as soon as the words left my mouth. “No!” both of them demanded.

“It’s not like that,” Taylor said at the same time the asshole spouted out, “Dude, she’s like a sister to me.” Neither one of them looked comfortable with the thought of being intimate and I instantly felt some of the tension seeping away.

“Daniel,” she reached up and touched his arm. I wanted to rip that arm off his smug as hell body and beat the shit out of him with it. “Please just go. I’ll call you later, all right?”

He put his hands on her shoulders and I seriously contemplated murder for the first time in my life. I didn’t care if they said they were just friends; he was touching what was mine…what became mine the minute she gave herself to me the night before. “You sure you’re okay?”