Authors: Layla Frost
No, Piper’s kitchen.
I’d often make any excuse to come back here and watch silently from the doorway while she baked, shakin’ her ass and singin’ louder than she realized. Sometimes she’d be curled up on the couch with her legs tucked under her as she sketched a design. Her focus was so intense that she didn’t notice me starin’, astonished all over again that she was mine.
Or so she’d said.
A roar left me as I stalked into the break room. Grabbin’ anythin’ I could, I threw it, breakin’ it like she broke me. I reached out to snatch up the next thing, only to come up empty-handed.
As I stood in the middle of the destruction, I saw my life without Piper.
An empty fuckin’ mess.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt.”
I glanced to the doorway and saw Rachel.
“Hey. I just…” She looked around, her lips tipping up slightly. “Have you seen Chloe? She isn’t returning any of my texts or calls. I thought maybe you might know.”
“I’ve got no fuckin’ clue.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ve got no fuckin’ clue,” I repeated.
“You wanna go somewhere private to talk?” She tentatively approached, like I was a wild animal that might attack.
She’s right.
We’d fucked once years ago. It wasn’t meaningful, but it’d been semi-effective.
I looked down at her again, this time actually seein’ her. She was pushin’ her fake tits out and there was a hungry look in her eyes. I knew talkin’ wasn’t what she was offerin’.
“C’mon, sweetie, let’s get outta here.”
I let her grab my arm and pull me from the room.
*******
Piper
I fucked up. Shit, did I fuck up.
We were supposed to be having dinner at my mother and Thomas’ house with Sarah and Gregory that night. The parents hated the Vegas wedding idea, and were pushing to discuss alternatives.
Since Ray hadn’t packed anything from the conservative side of my closet, I needed to grab a plain dress. I was even going to pull my hair back again. I wanted to try to make the dinner go as smooth as possible.
So I’d gone home alone. I’d thought it’d be fine. I was just going to grab a couple of things and then I’d meet Jake at the apartment to talk.
What was there to worry about in the middle of the afternoon?
A lot, as it turns out.
*******
After arriving home, I kicked the front door closed behind me and tossed my purse onto my junk table. My thoughts were consumed by my fight with Jake and I wasn’t paying attention.
I wasn’t being vigilant.
“Piper!” James yelled as he ran into the room from the kitchen.
My doors are locked and James is in my house
.
My mind flashed back to James’ reaction to Jake and me together. Then I thought of the way he’d pushed himself on me at my mother’s, kissing me and saying all those awful things.
I started to back away in fear when he yelled again.
“Piper, run!” His last word seemed to boom and then he crumpled to the ground. Red spread across the floor.
Was he holding a Kool-Aid?
No, wait, that’s blood.
Someone shot James.
“Hey, there, Doll Face.”
“Z, what’re you doing here?” I forced out.
My mind raced for any excuse to explain why he was in my house. I wanted to believe he was protecting me. James could be a dick and lately he’d been seriously creeping me out. But Z? He wouldn’t hurt me.
Looking into his eyes, though, I knew I was wrong. He didn’t look like the same handsome, should be GQ model. He looked crazy.
Crazy as fuck.
As Z came towards me, he casually stepped over James as though he were nothing more than a mild inconvenience. Like there was a puddle of rain, and not blood, in his path. When he got closer, I saw the glint of the gun in his hand.
“Sorry about the stain on your carpet.”
“That’s okay.” I tried to keep my voice level. “Things happen.”
“They do, but they shouldn’t. Things should go according to plan. Always!” he suddenly roared, spit flying from his mouth.
“What—”
At the sound of car doors closing, Z’s head snapped to the side. Unmistakable loathing took over his face, twisting it. The gorgeous man became a memory replaced by ugliness. “Speaking of, it’s the man of changes. The man who couldn’t stick with a plan. Even now, he’s fuckin’ shit up. You were supposed to break things off at Hyde and he was supposed to move on. Why don’t we help him out with that, huh?”
Please, turn away Jake. Just cut your losses and go!
“How should we do that?”
“Crush him. Tell him you need someone different, someone better. Oh,” he said with a maniacal, humorless laugh. “Tell him you want to be with James here.” He nudged James’ shoulder with the tip of his shoe. “No, I’ve got better. Tell him you want Blake. Say you want someone closer to your own age, working a better job. He’s so insecure about that shit.”
“Why do you want to hurt him?” I asked, but Z talked right over me.
“He’s talked to us before about how he worried you’d change your mind about slumming it with him. Classy chick like you with a glorified mechanic? Young, beautiful,
clean
woman with a dirty old man? He thought you’d wake up one morning and regret everything. He’s used to bitches wanting to fuck their way up the food chain. It’s all he’s ever known. But you? No, not his
sweets
,” he said with a sneer. “Won’t that fuck with his head, huh?”
“Z, why are you doing this?” I tried again. My heart was breaking just thinking about what he was asking me to do.
I’ll just figure out some way to signal to Jake that there is something wrong. He’ll fix it. He always does.
“That doesn’t matter now. Open the door, Doll Face. And if you say anything, I swear to fuck, you’ll regret it.” He raised the gun and shook it. Like I could forget it was there. “If I even catch a hint that he thinks something’s going on, I’ll shoot Jake and Kase and make you watch. Got it?”
There goes that plan.
I nodded, deep breathing.
I was again thankful for my mother’s lessons. They prepared me to act as though my heart wasn’t being ripped out and shredded to pieces.
*******
After putting on what had to have been an Oscar worthy performance, Z pushed me to the window. His fingertips dug into my jaw painfully as he forced me to watch Jake and Kase outside.
When they finally left, he used his hold to move me towards my bedroom. Panic gripped me and I screamed inside.
Once in my room, he let go of me. I stumbled and almost fell to the ground as my legs threatened to give out.
Z grabbed my suitcases from the closet and threw them on the end of my bed. Opening my dresser drawers, he dumped clothes in one handed while his other gripped the gun.
“Sit. I’m just gonna pack you some stuff and then we’ll be on our way, okay? Then things will be like my plan. I said sit!” Z barked, his face back to harsh.
I jumped and scurried up my bed. Pressing my back against the headboard, I tried to put as much distance between us as I could. The bed shook from the force of my tremors.
As I watched him pack, I wished I was cool and calm. I tried to think of ways to escape, but I had nothing. Short of throwing the lotions and vibrators I had in my bedside drawer, there were no weapons within my reach.
I’m thinking dildos flying at his head wouldn’t be enough to make him drop the gun and run for his life.
“Why?” I asked again, trying to keep my voice upbeat as if I were simply curious.
He stopped rifling through my drawers and turned to me with a smile. His grin made his handsome face near breathtaking. He almost looked like the old Z, except his gray eyes were crazed and his movements erratic. “‘Cause you’re mine, Doll Face. That was the plan. I saw you and knew right away you were mine. When you needed work done, I knew it was fate. Jake wasn’t even supposed to be in that morning. He wasn’t supposed to see you but he did. I thought he didn’t like you much. But I saw the way you were watching him. I couldn’t tell you that you were mine then. Not when you were practically presenting!”
Terrified, I pushed against the headboard until it squeaked in protest. My heart pounded in my chest as I worked to steady my breathing.
Z’s face went soft as he tamed his crazy. “I could’ve done your speakers the first time, but I needed you to come in again. Jake was supposed to have a meeting with the parts distributor, but he cancelled. He never cancels anything. Hyde is his life. We all knew he did it to see you. I figured he’d move on after a couple days. But he didn’t, Piper. Why did he have to change the plans?”
I curled into myself further when his thundering voice filled my room.
“I don’t think he knew the plans, sweetheart,” I said. “Why don’t you tell them to me?”
The contempt he has for Jake, the deep hatred? I can’t believe how well he’s been able to hide it.
“See? I knew if I just got you away from him, you’d be so sweet to me. You’d look at me like you looked at him. You’d love me and I’d protect you. And I did, Piper. James came here to tell you that he loved you and to make you feel bad. And I stopped him. I did that for you, Doll Face.”
I nodded my head. “I know. Thank you,” I lied through the lump in my throat.
“I’ll always protect you. I’ll die for you. I’m sorry you had to see me hurt him but you weren’t supposed to be here. You weren’t supposed to see what I have to do to protect you. Why were you here? Why? Answer me!” he demanded as he ran his hand over his head. His hair was in disarray, no longer the perfectly coiffed pompadour.
For some reason, seeing that hit me hard.
How symbolic.
Down to his fucking hair, he’s not the same guy I thought I knew.
“I don’t know. I’m sorry.” I had no clue what I was apologizing for, but it seemed the best choice.
I knew I was right when, just like that, he was back to soft Z. “It’s okay. I kept you safe this time. I’ll always keep you safe.”
“I know, sweetheart. What’re the plans? I don’t want to mess them up.”
“You’re so good to me. I love you so much, Doll Face. That’s why I did all of this. I needed you to need me. Not Jake. Not the bank.
Me
!”
I flinched when his hand that was holding the gun hit his chest for emphasis.
“What about the bank?”
“That’s another way I knew it was fate. Imagine my good fortune when I found out you did your banking at the same place I did. I followed you in all the time. You were always in your own world, so oblivious.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he shook his head. “You need to pay attention, Doll Face.”
Ain’t that the fucking lesson of the century?
“I let it slip a few times to the bank manager about how irresponsible you were with money. I told him you kept baking after partying so everything was burnt and that I was surprised you hadn’t started a big fire yet. Now you need me and I can take care of you, right?”
That solves that mystery.
“Right,” I agreed softly.
“I’ll always take care of you.” He smiled at me lovingly before his lips curled in disgust. “That’s why that bitch Chloe had to die.”
I never thought I’d say this, but poor Chloe.
“That’s why James had to die,” he continued nonchalantly, as if killing two people was no biggie.
Definitely poor James.
A sob wracked my body, but Z didn’t notice. Completely absorbed in his rant, he didn’t seem to even know where he was.
I braced in the bed, waiting for any opportunity to make a run for it. I barely scooched when his eyes snapped back to me, cutting off my escape before it’d even begun.
“Chloe went off plan. She tried to fuck me like I wasn’t already yours. She called me over today and said she was horny. Things weren’t working with Jake and she thought she could get me. When I turned her down, she said she’d run to Jake and tell him
everything
. Just like that, months of work would be for nothing. I couldn’t let that happen, could I, Doll Face?”
“No.” My hands clutched the sheets as I watched the gun move haphazardly as he started grabbing things from my closet.
“She didn’t want Jake to be happy with someone else. Her pride couldn’t handle him giving someone else what he’d never given her. She just wanted to be back in the circle. To get invited to the parties and bars without everyone ignoring her. She didn’t even care who she was fucking to get her there. And she thought she’d get me? That bitch was insane,” Z muttered, shaking his head.
Uhh, psychotic pot meet batshit crazy kettle.