Manhunt (10 page)

Chapter 10

Nikki’s dreams that night only served to confuse her more.

*******

Sebastian took her into his arms and gently led her inside the house.

“Don’t cry, Nikki. I’m here.”

“He left me. He said he loved me, but he left me anyway.”

Sebastian sat on the couch and pulled her into his lap. “Nikki, I’m not one to defend him—you and I both know I think he’s a prick—but he didn’t leave you. He left for college.”

“No, you don’t understand. When he said goodbye, it was like he was saying goodbye forever.”

“Well, then good riddance, I say. He never deserved you, anyway. Even your dad thought so, may he rest in peace.”

Nikki looked up at Sebastian through tear-filled eyes and was shocked at the gentle sympathy she found there. Sebastian wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs, then bent his head to meet hers and kissed her firmly on the lips. It wasn’t what she wanted—they weren’t the lips she craved—but she didn’t have it in her to argue. He was trying to comfort her and she would be a fool to turn him away.

*******

Nikki woke up in the middle of the night nauseous and hung over. She looked over to Michael and realized he was sound asleep. Very carefully, she snuck out of the car and headed to the restroom. After all the alcohol and greasy food made a painful reappearance she rinsed her mouth out and splashed some cold water on her face. She stared into the mirror and wondered if she’d recognize the person looking back at her if she knew who she’d been before.
You have to be strong,
she told herself.
You’ll find a way out of this.

Nikki walked into the lobby of the rest stop and looked around. She squealed when she saw a pay phone. She ran over and picked up the receiver, intending to call 911, but hesitated a moment. Her rational side screamed at her to make the call, while a tiny voice in the back of her head begged her not to.

Her decision was made for her a second later when two large, hairy arms wrapped around her from behind, knocking the phone out of her hand.

“Hey there, pretty lady. Need somethin’? You don’t have to call nobody, I’ll take care of ya.” The stranger put one hand over her mouth and started walking her backwards, dragging her with him towards the men’s room.

Just then, the entrance door swung open, slamming against the wall as Michael rushed inside. He surveyed the scene quickly, his eyes narrow and dangerous. He intentionally kept one hand in his pocket. He didn’t have a weapon, but the attacker didn’t know that.

“Let her go,” he demanded, his voice low and forbidding.

The man released his hold on her, pushing Nikki forcefully forward towards Michael, who barely caught her before she crashed to the floor.

“Hey man, no harm, no foul, right? I thought she was alone.” The man darted around them and ran out the door.

Michael would have liked to have beaten the crap out of the potential rapist, but truthfully the stranger had at least 30 pounds on him. His odds of winning were slim. Instead, Michael wrapped his arm securely around Nikki’s waist and left, keeping an eye on the stranger the whole time. The man hopped inside the cab of an old, beat up pickup truck and peeled out of the parking lot.

Michael impulsively pulled her into a tight embrace, thankful she didn’t wince in pain. Thankful she was alive and unharmed. He lowered his forehead to hers. “Oh, Sunshine… God, I was so worried. Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

“I’m sorry,” Nikki whispered. She realized her actions were foolish, and could very easily have gotten them both killed. She looked up and saw him staring at her intensely. His eyes drifted down to her lips and he leaned in ever so slightly. Nikki’s eyes fluttered closed, her body betraying her. His breath barely caressed her lips before he jerked back from her embrace.

Her eyes opened, confused as to what had just transpired. She looked to Michael for an answer, but he simply opened her door and helped her in. He waited until she buckled her seatbelt before pulling out and getting back on the highway.

“Nicole, is it really so bad being with me?” He didn’t look at her as he asked, he just kept his eyes on the road.

She didn’t know how to answer. Truly, it hadn’t been that bad being with him. He took care of her, even if he did come across as a little bipolar at times, and he seemed to hold the key to unlocking her past. But how could she willingly stay with a murderer and kidnapper? How could she find herself wanting to kiss him?

“No, it isn’t,” she replied reluctantly.

“Then, please, Nikki, I’m begging you. Stop this. You really scared me back there. If I hadn’t woken up when I did… I’m afraid to think of what might have happened to you.” He shuddered, images passing unbidden in his mind’s eye.

“I had to throw up,” Nikki replied.

Michael turned and he must have seen something he didn’t like because he pulled off at the next exit and took her in with him while he bought some ginger ale and crackers. Nikki nibbled on the saltines as they once again began driving in silence.

“Why did you and Sebastian hate each other so much?” Nikki asked after a while.

Michael thought his answer through carefully before responding. “When we were growing up, his family had money. We didn’t, and neither did any of our friends, except Sophie. But unlike Sophie, Sebastian looked down his nose at the rest of us, at everyone except you. As we got older, I suppose he and I were very competitive when it came to you. You were the one thing that I had that money couldn’t buy.”

“Why didn’t we have any money?” she asked. “My dad was a defense attorney, right?” Michael nodded. “And you were adopted by a doctor, right? And I remember the prom, so apparently Christian had money.”

“Yes, your dad had money, but you never saw any of it, outside of presents he would buy you. Looking back on it now, I suspect he gave your mom plenty, she just didn’t do the right things with it. As for my adoptive parents, I never looked at their money as my own. Except for college, which I really couldn’t do without their help. I tried very hard not to accept money from them. The way I saw it, every dollar they spent on me was one dollar less for Jeremy, which wasn’t acceptable to me. I lived off my meager inheritance the last few years of high school. Christian made every dime of his money on his own, and I know he saved a long time to splurge on that trip.”

Nikki considered his answer before asking another question.

“We broke up when you left for college, right?”

Michael sucked his lips in between his teeth before nodding.

“Three months after prom?”

He nodded again.

“Why?”

He huffed loudly before answering. “Nikki, I was leaving for college. I was very focused on trying to improve myself for… I knew I was going to be focused on my studies. Pre-Med is a difficult major. Not only that, but I knew I was going to be gone for a long time. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to wait around and see if I got my shit together. I wasn’t worth it. Of course, looking back on it now, if I’d have known you were just going to jump from the frying pan into the fire, I would have done things differently.”

Nikki couldn’t help but think it was less like a true answer to her question, and more like a well-rehearsed speech.

Nikki started to put the pieces together. “So, after you left for college, I got together with Sebastian?”

Michael gripped the steering wheel hard. “Yes. It isn’t hard to understand why. Your mom and dad were both gone, Jeremy and I left for college, and you felt alone. I imagine Sebastian capitalized on that. Christian and Sophie were still around, but from what I understand you avoided them like the plague. Told them that it hurt too much to be around them without me. Broke their hearts, you know. They both love you so much, Nikki. We all do.”

Nikki found herself in the odd position of feeling guilty for something she couldn’t remember doing. She couldn’t imagine avoiding Christian and Sophie, though. They seemed like wonderful people. Then there was that admission of love again. Nikki didn’t think Michael was even aware of it this time. “Didn’t Sebastian go away to college too?”

“No. He got accepted to several different schools, but when he found out you wanted to attend locally, he stuck around and did the same. He was in line to inherit his father’s company, anyway. Going to college locally allowed him to begin interning right away.”

Nikki nodded her head absently. Sebastian sounded good on paper, and he seemed so sweet in the dream she’d had last night, but she couldn’t shake those frightening images of him hurting her out of her head. Michael, on the other side, seemed to be a hardened criminal on paper, yet she couldn’t quite see him that way.

“Why was I in the hospital?” She was almost certain she already knew, but somehow she needed to hear it.

“What do you think?”

Nikki bit at her fingernails. “I think… I think Sebastian assaulted me, but I don’t know why.”

Michael reached out and took her by the hand, rubbing his thumb in slow circles. It was very soothing.

“Yes. Sebastian did it. But you don’t have to worry about him anymore. He’ll never hurt you again.”

His voice was filled with dark satisfaction. She now understood the why; he’d done it for her, out of revenge or a protective instinct. Michael’s father had abused him and his mother and he’d been powerless to stop it, but he felt he could stop it from happening to Nikki. She just didn’t know the how. She wanted to ask what happened between Michael and Sebastian the day he took her from the hospital, but it was the one question she couldn’t bring herself to ask. Deep down, she didn’t want to know. She decided to change the subject.

“What happened to my father?”

Michael breathed a sigh of relief at the relatively easier topic for him to discuss. “Late one night, he got a flat tire and got out of the car to fix it. Unfortunately, it was on a stretch of highway where there was a lot of illegal drag racing. It was a hit and run. The police caught the bastard, thanks to an anonymous tip from Christian. The guy chose the wrong chop shop to get his body work done.”

She remembered now. His death made the news and Michael and the gang had spent weeks sorting through flower arrangements, fruit baskets, and sympathy cards. Nikki donated all the money people sent her to the local halfway house. She didn’t feel right spending it.

Michael explained to her she’d inherited her father’s house and was the sole beneficiary of his decent life insurance policy. When it was combined with the money from her mother’s estate, it was enough to live on for years, maybe even for a lifetime if she were careful.

“Lot of good it’s going to do me now,” she grumbled.

“Nicole…” Michael half warned, half begged.

“All right, all right. Sorry. What about my mom? What happened to her?”

Michael seemed to choke back a sob and let go of her hand. “Killed by a drunk driver.” Nikki could tell by Michael’s body language that he wasn’t telling her the whole story.

“You know that’s a bullshit answer.”

He looked at her and chuckled. “It’s all you’re getting for now. But don’t stop asking questions, I’ll answer all that I can.”

She decided to stall her escape plan and see how it went, how much she could learn. He was true to his word. For the next several days, they would spend the day driving as Nikki asked Michael questions about whatever dream she’d had, and he would help her piece together the memories and separate fact from fiction for her. She asked him countless questions and he was always honest and thorough. She was remembering more and more, even when she was awake. In the evenings, they would stop and find a pool hall where they’d have dinner and he’d earn at least enough to cover a hotel for the night.

Nikki learned a lot about herself in that time. Whereas before when she asked Michael questions, she could do nothing but catalogue facts and figures. Now, she never knew what would unlock a new memory.

She’d learned that outside of Michael, Christian was her best friend. Christian had taught her how to play basketball and change her sparkplugs, not to mention how to pick the lock on her front door if she forgot her keys. She called him Peter Pan because he was eternally a kid at heart and despised authority. He, like all of them, had lived a hard life, harder than most, and wasn’t above breaking the rules to get by. Christian had learned to live each day to the fullest, and he never took anything for granted.

She learned she had gone to the local college because she couldn’t bear to leave her dad’s house behind. She didn’t have the straight A’s that Michael had, so there was no way she could follow him, not that he had really wanted her to. If she couldn’t be with Michael, then she wanted to be at home. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management. She was a baker at the town grocery store, and had become famous locally for her creations. She was hoping to open her own bakery one day.