Mind Games (Games Thriller Series) (3 page)

Chapter 6

“When we saw him on television, did you know? Did you know it was him?” Tom shot at her when she re-entered the house.

Jessica nodded, her heart thudding in her chest and a different kind of fear filled her mouth with a metallic tinfoil taste.

He spun away from her and marched onto the balcony, leaning against the railing with shoulders that sagged with anger and disappointment.

“I’m sorry,” she said, stepping behind him.

Tom glared in her direction, still shaking from the rage filtering through his skin. “How many times have you seen him Jess?”

“Today was the first time since we left Albany.”

Tom stared at the water.

“I love you, not him.”

“Are you sure about that?”

She nodded, but she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure at all.

“Then come with me next week and bring the kids.”

“I hate L.A. Besides, the kids love it here.”

“And he is here.”

“No.” The first hint of anger reached her eyes. “Damn it Tom, this has nothing to do with him. I hate going west because I do nothing out there. You go off to work and I wander around the house that you lived in with your previous wife and I feel guilty. It’s my fault that you’re not with her today.” She stormed into the house.

* * * *

Tom shook his head, glancing between the living room and the ocean, his anger diffusing. He never thought of it that way. She had given up claim to everything she had to be with him. She made a fresh start, away from her friends, her family, her kids, but he still had all the same contacts along with the house he and his prior wife bought and everything they collected together. He hadn’t made much of a fresh start because he never really let go.

“What if I sold that house?” he asked as he entered the bedroom.

She didn’t respond at first. “I would still hate L.A., but it would make it better.” She flipped on the shower, peeling off the bloody exercise outfit. “I need to get ready for work.”

“I’m coming to the studio with you.” He didn’t like the idea of her being alone with Ty Aris in the same town.

“Fine.” She nodded and stepped under the spray.

Tom turned, his eyes landing on the bloody splotches on the carpet and the ruined sheets on the bed. A chill grabbed his tailbone and skittered up his spine.
I’ll deal with that later.

He paced in the living room, mulling over everything that happened in the last hour.

Ty Aris, alive. How the fuck did that happen?

He had witnessed the gunshots, four bullet holes in the man’s chest. How does someone walk away from that?

Jessica stepped out dressed in her leotard and dance skirt, her hair pulled back in a bun. Her eyes wary, watching him trace his steps back and forth.

“You really had no idea he was here?” She shook her head keeping eye contact. “He caught me on the beach and basically, I freaked out. That’s why I was out of breath when I got home. I ran at full speed. And then...” She waved toward the bedroom, drawing a shaky breath. Grabbing the keys off the hook in the hallway, she gave him a final sigh and headed in the direction of the garage. “You coming?”

Inhaling, he nodded and followed her out of the house, jumping into the passenger seat of her car, still gnawing on the day’s events. Silence filled the car and he didn’t speak until they rolled down the road in the direction of the dance studio.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

Chapter 7

Chris watched the car back out of the driveway and he followed them to the dance studio.

Mirrors. Jesus, doesn’t she ever listen?

He pulled a u-turn and parked across the street, slamming the gears into neutral and yanking on the parking break. Irritation threaded through him at her blatant disregard for his warning. He inhaled, and settled in, his eyes planted on the front studio through the now open mini-blinds.

Distracted by her warm up, his gaze kept drifting to her instead of the large mirrored wall, flaring the old heat, filling him with bitter desire and he closed his eyes.

What am I doing here?

He opened his eyes, his answer came with a flash of the mirror, and he bolted from the car, his heart pounding as Frank’s image wrapped his hands around her throat. Again, he slid into the room, giving Tom a quick glance before growling his command
, “Let her go!”

* * * *

Jessica’s glance flicked from the image of Frank to Chris. She clawed at the invisible hands crushing her windpipe. Her gaze swung back to Tom, frozen in the chair with the same wild-eyed look as before.

Help me!
Her mind screamed and she glanced at Chris. The rage in his eyes aimed at the image in the mirror hiked her already frenzied pulse. He reminded her of the predator he once was as he advanced.

“The mirror Jess,” he said, his eyes never leaving the glass. “Break it!”

How?

* * * *

Chris’s head jerked in her direction and her pleading eyes set him in motion. He stepped forward, throwing all his weight behind the punch he sent into the mirror. A great web spread into the glass, but it didn’t shatter.

It was enough to break the spell and Tom stood, swiveling and careening the chair toward the splintered image of Frank. Shard
s of glass sprayed the room, the mirror shattering under the violent impact.

The chokehold on Jessica released and she crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath, looking up at the two men and the fragments of glass behind them.

“Damn,” Chris shook his wrist, snapping red droplets across the floor. He raised his eyes from the bloody mess that represented his fist. “You are such a stubborn fool sometimes. You could have broken that.” He crouched in front of her.

She blinked, not quite understanding his train of thought. “How?”

“Same way you blew those doors off their hinges,” he replied.

She shook her head. “I had the energy from the electric chair. It was different”

Tom gawked. “I, I thought it turned off?”

“No it was still live,” Jessica said, “I burn
ed the crap out of my hand but the energy helped me blow your restraints. If you had still been strapped in when I was shot, the power surge would have killed you.”

“I didn’t know,” he said and took her hands.

“You didn’t need to,” Jessica said. “A lot of things that happened down there you don’t need to know about.” She swung her gaze to Chris.

“You still can do those things. You just have to learn to do them to save your own ass and not someone else’s.”

“I wasn’t able to save Mike.” The name rolled off her lips easily considering she hadn’t spoken it since they escaped the barren jail in Albany.

Chris dropped his gaze, feeling the flare of pain that accompanied the name within her. “That was my fault,” he finally said. “I shouldn’t have left you alone there.” He took a deep breath. “But you still can do these things Jess.”

Jessica reached out to take his bleeding hand.

Chris pulled away; pretty sure he had broken his hand. “No. You need that for someone else. Besides, it isn’t that bad.”

“You’re lying.” Jessica glanced at his hand and raised her eyes, meeting his stare.

Chris smiled and stood up. “Take her to California with you Tom.”

“You, you followed us,” Jessica stuttered, her brain just catching up.

“I told you to stay away from mirrors. A dance studio has mirrors, so yeah, I followed you.” He walked out of the building, looking at his hand. “Shit,” he whispered and picked a shard of glass out from between his knuckles.

Chapter 8

Jessica and Tom swept up the glass in the studio in silence.

“How long has he been here Jess?” he asked her again.

“Today was the first time I saw him since we left that
godforsaken place,” Jessica snapped back, her eyes filling with tears.

“Then how the hell does he know about the dance studio or that I want you to come to California?”

“I have no idea.” She looked at him for a long time. “Tom, the dream I keep having,” she began and stopped as the bell on the door rang and her first student arrived.

Jessica walked into the lobby. “I’m sorry, we are closed today. There was a little accident and the mirror broke, I will be out of commission here for a few weeks until this gets fixed. I apologize for any inconvenience.” She smiled over and over as she turned away her students. When the last one left, she locked the front door and walked back into the studio.

“What about the dream?”

“You left me,” she replied. “Emily died and you left.”

“I would never...”

She cut him off. “But you did,” she whispered, “You will.”

“It was just a dream Jess.”

“No, it was a glimpse of the future. We both had the same dream, over and over, Tom. It was a glimpse of the future that Ty changed by coming here today.”

Tom was speechless.

“In the dream Ty asked me what I wanted and I told him he couldn’t give it to me.”

“What did you want?” Tom asked, dreading the answer.

“I wanted Emily back,” she said, surprising him. “He found a way to do that. He made sure the dream would never happen, even if that meant losing me again.” She hitched her breath in and the tears came.

“Jess.” He reached for her.

“I’m sorry Tom, but it hurts. I never remembered the entire dream, but I used to wake up very sad, now I know why. Today I understood. You’re going to end up really hurting me.”

“I love you, Jess,” he said and wrapped his arms protectively around her. “And I would never intentionally hurt you.”

“I know,” she said.
However, you don’t love me like he does.
She looked out the window, shivering.

Chapter 9

Chris went to the emergency room giving a lame excuse of slipping and f
alling into the mirror at the hotel he was staying at. They patched up the cuts and sure enough, the X-ray showed a few broken bones in his hand and wrist. They put it in a cast and sent him home with some pain pills.

He checked in at the hotel across from the beach and literally passed out from exhaustion.

The sun shone bright in his room when he woke, he rolled and glanced at the clock. His eyes went wide and he shot into a sitting position. It was almost eleven.

After he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, he slipped his baseball cap on and headed out for a run. He trotted across the street and stopped at the top of the stairway. A very thin patch of sand greeted him, high tide lapped the rest of the beach and he sighed, turning
to the sidewalk to execute his exercise regimen. Hanging a right onto the road that passed her house, he barely gave it a glance, jogging past and stopping at the lighthouse a few blocks away. Chris climbed down the rocks and found a peaceful spot to sit for a while.

“You lied.”

Her voice startled him and he turned, looking up at her, too shocked to respond. She climbed down, taking a seat next to him and reached out, running her fingers over the blue cast.

“I like the color.”

He stared at her and blinked, unable to believe she had followed him. Blinking again, he glanced down at the cast and shrugged. “I didn’t realize how much of a pain in the ass a broken arm really is.”

“How bad is it?”

“It’s just a couple broken bones,” he said, shaking it off. “What really sucks is I’m right handed and my car’s a five speed, and I hope I don’t get any shit about my signature on the paperwork at the end of the week.”

“Stop whining.” She laughed and leaned into him, bumping him with her shoulder on purpose. “And don’t you have a league of lawyers to sign things for you?”

He grinned and shrugged at the not so subtle jab. “Normally, but I didn’t consult with legal council this time.” He bumped her back and winked. “I decided to buy some property all on my own.”

“Getting tired of the city?”

“I kind of like it up here,” he said looking around and then returning his gaze to her.

“Why?”

“You have to ask?”

She hopped to her feet and stepped away, putting distance between them.

“Jess?” He looked up at her, squinting.

She waited.

“Did you love me?” he asked her sunlight framed form.

She squatted so he could see her eyes. “You have to ask?” She stood and walked away.

Chris jumped to his feet, turning toward her. “Yes, I have to ask,” he called after her. She turned in surprise and he took the opportunity to cross the distance. “Did you love me?” He saw the turmoil in her eyes as she debated whether to answer him or not.

“Yes, Ty, I loved you.”

The sigh that came with the words tempered his impulse to take her in his arms and the doubt and underlying fear in her eyes struck him like a dagger in the abdomen. “But?”

“But I chose to marry Tom. I love him very much and I don’t want to hurt him any more than I already have. So you moving close to here may not be the best of ideas.”

“I disagree.”

“How long before you do something you’ll regret?” she asked, striking him silent.

The sharp pang in his stomach twisted and he shook his head. “I don’t know.” The plea in her eyes belied her words and he stepped closer, the electricity between them increasing as he towered over her, trembling against the urge to touch her, to reach out and run his hands into her hair, to feel her lips under his, to taste her again. “How long until you give in to your feelings?”

She was quiet. “A million years,” she finally said and walked away.