Dark Endings (16 page)

“I didn’t…Ace…put her on now.”

“I can’t.”

“PUT HER ON!”

Ace sighs and I hear shuffling, arguing and Willow’s quiet no, no, no. How could this happen? I close my eyes and it hits me hard and fast. That night I thought I was drunk…Sharleen took me to my room. That bright light I saw was a fucking camera. Them fucking bastards. I couldn’t have fucked anyone that night if I tried, but I didn’t know if I could convince Willow of that. Fuck, what have they done?

“Jagger,” Willow’s voice comes across the phone broken and silent. “Don’t call me again. I don’t want to talk to you. We’re done. Leave me alone.”

“Willow, baby, listen to me I…”

“You what?” she cries. “You didn’t do it? You didn’t mean it? You were drunk?
High? What Jagger? I saw it with my own eyes, nothing you can say will take that away. I saw it!”

“Baby I know what it looks like but if you’ll just listen I…”

“I’m done listening. I gave up everything for you. What was this to you Jagger? A way of protecting yourself? Or maybe you just enjoy playing with two women? We’re done. I’m leaving and taking my son with me. Don’t call me again.”

“WILLOW WAIT!”

She’s gone. Ace gets back on and I’m panting with rage.

“Sorry dude, but this time we’re going to stick with her. She needs us.”

“Ace,” I rasp. “Fuck it man, just listen to me. They drugged me. Do you hear me? You know me, you know I would never hurt her. I was drugged, please, fuckin’ listen to me.”

Ace is silent a long, long moment. “I don’t know what I believe right now Jagger, I honestly don’t. I didn’t think you would do that…”

“I didn’t!” I snarl, cutting him off. “I’d never hurt her. They’re fuckin’ trying to get you lot to stop what you’re doing. They’re trying to scare her off. Don’t let her run Ace, let me fix this.”

“Even if I believe you man, it’s too dangerous now. Mick threatened her and
Cody, she’s not going to risk it. He knows about the island.”

“How?” I whisper.

“I don’t know, but someone spilled to him. He’s expecting us to try and blow it. We can’t get explosives over, he’ll be waiting for it.”

“No,” I say, with new determination. “But we can put one big explosive down and end it all.”

“How? He’ll have the place monitored.”

“Easy. I’ll plant it. I’ll build it and plant it.”

“Dude, it’s risky.”

“I need to fix this
Ace, I need her to know it wasn’t me. Trust me, the plan still goes ahead.”

“Fine, but she needs out of it. Her life is in danger Jagger, she can’t be involved. We need to keep her clear of it.”

“I have to tell her I didn’t do it.”

“No, it’s too risky. Let her hurt, it’s more realistic that way. We’ll make sure she doesn’t run but if she knows it wasn’t you then she’s back in a dangerous situation. Trust
me, let her believe it for now.”

“It’ll break her,” I rasp.

“No, she’s strong. We’ll get the plan moving and finish this so you can come back to her.”

“I’m going to the island tomorrow. I’ll have the bomb done in two days. We blow next Thursday.”

“Dude, that’s soon.”

“It has to be done. I’ll organize a boat to get the girls out on. You lot just need to get here. I’ll tell you how to do that soon, right now I have to go.”

“Fine, we’ll be in touch.”

“Ace?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let her run.”

“Yeah man, I won’t.”

Fuck, I hoped we were doing the right thing.

~*~*~*~

WILLOW

It burns. My heart burns. I can’t get the images out. I can’t move them from my mind. They’re stuck, they’re eating away at me. I have cried so much there’s nothing left. I can’t get the pain to leave my heart, it hurts every damn day. Every damn second. It’s been three days and the boys have gone off to help Jagger. They told me they were going ahead with the plan anyway, because they owed him that but after that they’d support me until I knew what I wanted to do.

Ava and Jenny are with
me, both have been sworn to make sure I don’t run while they’re gone. Where would I run to? Right now I’ve got nothing to run with. Cody is restless and cries every night, I know he’s picking it up from me and I hate that I’m doing that to him. I hate that I let myself slip and fall for Jagger’s charms. I should have known. I should have always known that Sharleen would be a problem. He loved her. That doesn’t just fade.

Part of me even tries to justify his actions. He’s alone, he’s unhappy, he’s numb. She’s there when I’m not. She’s helping him and has helped him with all his fights. I try to justify it, but it makes me feel no better. Part of me wonders if all along he’s been seeing her. The
phone call a few weeks ago, seeing her at the fight with him. He told me he did that on purpose to scare me off, but did he? I don’t know what to believe anymore. I really don’t.

Ava walks into the lounge where I’m standing, staring out the window. She puts a hand on my shoulder. “How are you feeling today, honey?”

I shrug. “Same as yesterday, but today I’m going to do something about it.”

“Willow, you know they don’t want you involved.”

I put my hand up. “I’m not getting involved Ava, but I need to find out something. I need to know how Mick found out about our plans and I know exactly where to start.”

“Mary.”

“I’m going to talk to her, I have to confront her. She could have killed her own nephew. She needs to know that.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?
” Ava asks gently.

“I am damn sure it’s wise. Can you watch Cody for an hour? It won’t take long.”

“Willow…”

I spin and stare at her. “I have to do this.”

“Ok,” she sighs, “fine.”

“An hour.
Cody’s sleeping, he probably won’t even wake up.”

She nods and I walk past her, gripping my keys and checking on Cody. Then I head out and punch Aunt Satan’s address into my navman. I got the address off Maggie, saying I wanted to
apologize. She fell for it. I feel bad for lying, but I have to know. That woman is a snake and she’s up to no good. I drive a good hour and finally I pull up at a large white house on a large block.

I get out of the car and peer around. It’s a quiet part of LA, and the house she lives in is massive. I walk up the front pathway until I reach the door. I’m about to knock when I hear voices inside. I slowly lower my hand. I know those voices. I know them all too well. It’s Mick and Sharleen. Oh my, have they come after her
too? I step to the side very slowly and peer through a small window beside the door. It’s blurred but I can hear better.

“He won’t get hurt.” Mick says.

“I don’t know Mick, what if he refuses to leave?” Mary asks.

“He won’t, he has a fight. He’ll get off the island and then we’ll end it.”

End it?

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Mary says. “That island is your
life’s work.”

“They’re going to rat it out, I need to start again somewhere else. It’s better to end
it and them while I’m at it.”

“How can you be sure you’ve got
enough explosives?”

“I’ve planted them all over the island. When I press that button, it blows.”

“How can you be sure the gang will be on there?”

“Because they’re sneaking in as we speak. I have eyes everywhere.”

Oh god, I feel sick. Mick is going to blow the island when the men are on there, and they don’t know.

“Jagger could get hurt, it’s risky.” Sharleen mutters.

“It’s a risk I’ll take. If he doesn’t get off tonight, I’m blowing it anyway.”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt him!” Mary snaps.

“Mary, this isn’t your concern. I have to do what I have to do and you’ll do best not to interfere.”

“What about Willow?” Mary mutters.

“Willow thinks Jagger fucked Sharleen, she won’t go back to him, even if he gets off the island before it blows. She’s hurt.”

“She could get over that hurt.” Sharleen points out.

“I made it real Sharleen, that photo we got when Jagger was out is very real. Trust me when I say she believed it. If she didn’t have my grandson, I’d finish her too but I’m not that cold. Without that gang around, she’ll fade off.”

“She’s onto me,” Mary mutters.

“She’ll get over it. I don’t think she’s thinking about you right now.”

I swallow and blink. They took that photo of Jagger? They set all this up. The entire time they’ve been working together. How could I be so stupid? How could I have missed
this? How could Jagger have missed this? God, we’re so naive.

“Ok, so we got Willow out of the way but we still have Huck. He’s got the co-ordinates and he’s helping that gang.” Sharleen says.

Mick snorts. “Don’t you worry about Huck. He’ll get in his car this afternoon for work and boom! No one will know any better. I planted a bomb in his car, as soon as he opens the door it’ll blow and kill him.”

Oh god, oh my god.

“Fine. When will the island blow?”

Mick looks down. “In exactly twenty two hours.
I’ve got a timer set.”

I turn and hurry off, careful not to make a sound. When I hit the sidewalk I run to my car and get in. I pull out my phone with trembling hands and dial Jenny.

“Willow, hey.”

“Where’s your dad?
”

“What?”

“Where is he Jenny? God, where is he?”

“I
don’t know, Willow what’s wrong?”

“I need to find him, NOW!”

“I’ll call him, just hang on a second.”

She’s silent a moment and then she comes back to the phone. “He’s not answering.”

“Fuck, holy fuck. Where does he live?”

She gives me his address
, and then squeaks. “Willow what’s wrong?”

“I have to go, I’ll explain later.”

I hit the accelerator and pray to god Huck hasn’t gotten into that car. I speed through the streets and it takes me half an hour to get to Huck’s house. As I pull up he’s just reaching down to get into his car with a coffee in hand. I leap out of the car and scream bloody murder. He drops the coffee and spins around.

“Don’t open that door!” I scream.

Huck looks confused, his eyes dart from me to the car and then back again.

“Willow? What’s going on?” he asks, stepping away from the car.

“They planted an explosive. It’ll blow up if you open that door.”

His face pales. “Who planted an explosive?”

“Jagger’s father.”

He swallows and pulls out his phone,
dialing. I hear him speaking quickly and the word ‘bomb’ is used numerous times. When he hangs up, he turns to me and takes my hand. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m ok. We have to help the boys Huck, Mick is going to blow the island as soon as they’re on it.”

“Shit,” he curses.

“We have to go and stop them.”

“We go and we’ll die too.”

I snatch my hand from his. “Not if we’re quick.”

He sighs, closing his eyes. “I have a copy of the co-ordinates and I can lend a speed boat from work. Even so, it’ll take us at least fifteen hours to get there.”

“I don’t care, we have to go.
Mick said twenty two hours, we have time if we’re quick.”

A team of police cars pull up a moment later and men get out of the car
s in thick black uniforms to protect themselves. Three officers walk over and chat quickly to Huck, then they gently scan the car, sliding underneath it and peering around the tires but not touching it. One calls out and waves the others over, they all lean down and peer under the car and then nod at each other.

“It’s a bomb, isn’t it?” Huck whispers when an officer walks over.

“Yes Huck, you want to tell me how you knew that was there?”

Huck swings his eyes to me,
and then looks back to the officer. “I don’t know, I had a bit of a threat via phone call last night. I was sus and I just knew something was off when I walked out the door.”

“Lucky for you that you listen
ed to your gut,” the officer mutters.

“Yeah.
Look I’ve got to run. I have to help my daughter out, it’s an emergency.”

The other officer nods. “We’ll close this area off and then we’ll check the house too.”

Huck nods and hands his keys over. Then he follows me to my car. When we’re in, he finally speaks.

“Take me to the
wharf.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No Willow, Jagger was insistent that you don’t come.”

“Huck, I know that island. I’ve seen it before. I’m coming.”

“Willow…”