Between Loves (The Pendant Series Book 2) (8 page)

And just like that, he released me. I was dismissed from his life like nothing more than a roadie in his band’s entourage.

Detective Albright placed Ray in the squad car and then led me over to a waiting ambulance with an EMT ready to stitch my head wound back up.

“Does your boyfriend have a history of domestic abuse?”

I wiped my eyes and shook my head. “No. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened. I found out he was seeing another girl behind my back and well, one thing just led to another. I’m terribly sorry for causing any trouble.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for Ms. Sinclair, all you did was act in self-defense.”

I chose not to mention that I may or may not have been the one who started the whole thing by throwing a cell phone directly in Ray’s eye. I was thankful when the detective didn’t ask how my boyfriend got the black eye.

“You do realize that this incident has moved your Mr. Ryker to the top of the list of suspects.”

“I understand, Detective, but I don’t agree. I told you that Ray was still seeing Lilly Lavelle, which meant that she knew I was leaving on Friday to come to L.A. and be with him. Because of her jealousy towards me, I think you need to take a longer look at her.”

The detective nodded his head as he jotted down some notes and began taking some pictures of my injuries. “We will be looking into Lilly Lavelle as a possible suspect as well, Ms. Sinclair. Thanks again for your cooperation. Now do me a favor and go home. A night out at a dive bar is the last place you should be after what you’ve been through.”

He got no argument from me.

Chapter 11

Take It Out On Me

Rest was the last thing I could think of as I raced past the rustic flagpole and up the stairs to pound on the big red door.

Adrian didn’t answer, so I continued to bang away. I had to know that he was okay, and most of all I had to apologize for what Ray had done to him. I tried to shake the image of Ray’s fist making contact with Adrian’s face, and the blood that had spurted from his mouth when the cut had been opened.
I put all of my force into the door as I beat it feverishly and finally it gave way.

I halted as the door slowly opened like Moses parting the red sea.

I took a tentative step inside, but suddenly became apprehensive. I could hear my voice echo through the large house as I called out Adrian’s name. There was no answer.

As I walked stealthily inside, I picked up his muffled voice deep in the bowels of the house. Stepping over the threshold, I boldly entered the white mansion unannounced. I called his name again but still no answer. I listened quietly, trying to pinpoint where his voice was coming from.

“I said we need to let bygones be bygones. What happened was so long ago. We can move past it, we can go back to how it was before. Just tell me where you are, before this gets even further out of hand.”

I wondered if I should leave before he did notice me. I didn’t know who Adrian was speaking to but it sounded serious. Was he in the middle of begging his girlfriend to take him back? It sure sounded like it.

Now my feelings were hurt. Was I about to lose
two
men in one night? I shook the foolish thought from my head. Adrian was never mine to lose. But it still hurt just the same. Less than an hour earlier, his hand was brushing my face as our lips had almost met. Before then, he was trapping me in his house, declaring he would let me into his heart, and now here he was asking some anonymous stranger to go back to the way it was before.

Before I had entered his life.

It seemed Adrian was just as much of a liar as Ray. I turned around to leave but stopped dead in my tracks as his voice grew louder. Initially, I thought he had spotted me and so I turned around to explain that I had just stopped by to check on him, but then I realized he was still hidden away in a room behind the staircase.

He was shouting into the phone.

“Just tell me where you are, dammit!”

I could hear things crashing to the ground as items were being thrown. “I’m done playing these frivolous games with you. You are still the conniving character that you have always been. Give yourself up or I will make it my life’s work to find you, and when I do, you will regret it, believe me.”

There was a brief pause. “Thank you. As I stated before, let’s now move on from this, okay?”

Then all was silent.

I stood in the foyer shaking, realizing for the hundredth time I did not know this man at all. If that was indeed his ex-girlfriend, she was obviously hiding from him for a reason. Not to mention the undeniable fact that he had traveled all the way across the country with the sole intention to find her.

And now it seemed he was threatening her if she didn’t give herself up.

My little altercation with Ray seemed like a walk in the park compared to this. Adrian’s ex-girlfriend was running all over the country trying to escape him. I figured he must be crazy or something.

Then I had a horrible thought.

Was he crazy enough to kill Nouri when he found out I was leaving?

I probably should have left the house at that very moment, but good judgment was never my strong suit. Adrian was obviously hiding something and it sounded like nothing good. But I still wanted to make sure he was okay. And besides, I really didn’t believe he could be the killer. Whatever antics he had with his ex had nothing to do with me. Adrian was a gentleman when it came to me. He had promised me he would knock down his walls and allow me in if I wanted him. I was sure that all I had to do was agree and he would tell me everything I wanted to know about him.
I headed down the dark hallway and stopped at the set of double doors.

Taking a deep breath, I summoned all of my courage and knocked lightly before I entered the massive library. Straight ahead were two windows placed side by side that reached from the ceiling to the floor. The remaining three walls housed large bookcases that were as tall as the fifteen foot ceilings. The shelves even had one of those rolling ladders to help you climb to the top shelf to retrieve a book.

Adrian was standing at the desk, urgently writing on a pad of paper. I noticed for the first time that he was left handed. No wonder he seemed so intellectual.
I watched curiously as he tossed the pen onto the desk and strode across the room to the far corner.
There was a pile of books thrown from the bookcase in total disarray on the floor. He looked over at me but he seemed too busy to acknowledge my presence. Leaning his upper body against the shelf, he began to push the heavy piece of furniture away from the wall. Behind the shelf was a safe built into the wall. He quickly punched in a code and opened it, retrieving an old book. The pages were yellowed and the red hard cover was deeply faded.

Adrian tossed the book onto his desk and looked up as he finally met my eyes. As he did this it looked as if he was just now seeing me standing in the library for the first time.
His mood changed.

Dramatically.

“Hey Sidney.” He smiled, allowing me to see his mouth caked with blood from the cut he had suffered there.

I was stunned, but polite. “Sorry for intruding. The door was open. I knocked but you didn't answer.”

His smile dropped and instead he just stared at my face. I met his gaze, trying to read his expression but he wasn't letting me in this time.

"You’ve been crying," he concluded, in a matter-of-fact way.

I wondered if this routine was getting old for Adrian. It seemed that every time Ray and I had a problem, I ran to Adrian. Had he noticed?

"Come in, Sidney; let me have a look at what he did to you."

I rushed across the giant room. I knew he was concerned about the injuries I had sustained, but I was more concerned about Adrian’s wounds. I gently took his face in my hands and inspected his wounds. He’d suffered a split lip, but other than that he was unscathed. I touched my finger to his mouth and lightly rubbed it, wishing my touch could heal his injury.

“I’m so sorry,” I tenderly whispered

He didn’t answer. Instead he took my face and brushed his hand against my cut. We were just two victims of Ray’s violence. I turned my face into his warm hand. It felt so good to be this close to him. I looked into his green eyes and for a moment thought that maybe I could take all of my anger out right here, right now. I could put my lips on his and get lost in the feelings of this new person. I could get back at Ray that way.

Instead, I shook the temping thoughts from my head. I would never allow Adrian to be a pawn in this excruciating emotional game that Ray and I had always played.
Adrian was too good of a person to be involved in that.

He looked at me with a sheepish grin. “I didn’t know Ray Ryker from Unspoken Words was your boyfriend.”

I dropped my hand from his soft face and looked at him skeptically. “Is that why you didn’t fight back when he punched you? You were too star struck or what?”

He shook his head. “I just didn’t realize that your boyfriend was so famous, that’s all.”

I brought my face close to his, the same way he liked to do when he teased me.

“I can get his autograph for you the next time I see him if you’d like.”

As I made the suggestion I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. All of the crazy things I had been through finally seemed to be catching up to me and now I felt like I might welcome a strait-jacket and a padded room. At least I’d get a decent night’s rest.

Adrian sat silent, choosing not to engage in my crazy laughter. Instead, he touched my head and I could see the anger return to his eyes as he looked over my freshly opened cut.

“I’d prefer that you didn’t see him again.”

I stood up and took a deep breath trying to keep my emotions in check. “That shouldn’t be very hard to do. I’m pretty sure we’re broken up.”

Not wanting to rehash the memories of tonight’s dreadful event, I turned towards the door and began to walk out. I needed to go home, but then I remembered the conversation I had heard moments before.

I turned and asked him, “Who were you talking to on the phone?”

Adrian’s eyes got big. “You heard that?”

Embarrassed for eavesdropping, I looked down at the floor in shame.

“It was a client I’ve been working with. We’ve posted his bail and now he’s fled. You just witnessed the not so glamorous part of my job.”

“Don’t you have bounty hunters to deal with bail jumpers or something?”

Adrian smiled. “Not at Adley and Ayers Law Firm. We don’t mind getting down and dirty over there. We have no problem playing the lawyer and the hunter if needed.”

The way he said hunter sent shivers down my spine. I wouldn’t mind being hunted by someone like him. If given the opportunity, I might even skip bail just to have him hunt me. Looking up, I noticed Adrian must have still been in hunter mode. He was staring at me as if I were his next meal. I could see what might happen if I stayed any longer, and so I turned around and began heading out of the house. Adrian followed, and once we were on the front porch, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it.

“So, if you decided to go in on a partnership with this firm you’re working for, you could call yourselves Triple A,” I suggested.

He looked confused.

“Adler, Ayers and Adrian, get it?”

He gave me a slight frown and took a long drag and slowly exhaled, “Why are you leaving?”

That was a funny question. It had to be close to two o’clock in the morning. Did he expect that I would just stay the night?

In absence of a good answer, I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. I just need to go home and get some rest. Everything feels like it’s falling apart right now.”

Adrian took another drag of his cigarette as he casually watched me with his calm demeanor.

“Maybe it’s falling into place, Sidney.”

I rolled my eyes and headed down the narrow pathway that led to the sidewalk.

He followed me and made an offer, “You said if I wanted you to stay longer, I’d have to ask you to stay for a movie or something.”

I stopped and suppressed the smile that was fighting to escape my mouth.

Turning around, I said, “I was assuming the invitation would be extended sometime during the day, not in the middle of the night.”

“I have Netflix. We can watch whatever you want.”

Then he turned around and headed into the house without waiting for my answer. I hated how sure of himself he could be sometimes. As if he just knew that I would follow him wherever he went. I had half a mind to leave. To show him that I did in fact have freedom of choice and he shouldn’t be so presumptuous to assume I will be so quick to follow. But I didn’t want to go home and deal with my painful emotions the night had brought me. It sounded so much easier to go inside and get lost in a fictional movie with my mysterious new guy.
So, I followed Adrian back into the giant white house.