Next to Forever (Never Letting Go) (22 page)

Erin Costella, brand new face of Vale Real Estate.

Paul Moore found dead in his cell. No suspects.

“Dad,” I touch the article about him, tears threatening my eyes.

Losing my parents when I was ten years old and forced to live with my fucked up aunt and uncle. It tore me apart
, and I hated everything and everyone. Memories flooded my mind with how they treated me. My parents never got along with them, but the state had to fucking put me with family, so they were fucking it. I don’t get why they accepted me—they hated me and saw me as a bitch.

My so-called uncle used me to buy his drugs and then beat the shit out of me. My so-called aunt made touch her and fill her needs by the time I was sixteen. The police called it a
robbery gone wrong, but I knew what happened. I sliced their throats and stabbed them over and over again. The police had no idea it was me. I came home to a murder scene and was devastated by my loss.

I open my drawer and take out the butcher knife I used to kill them. The dried blood still on the knife. I look at it and wonder how it’ll be to slice the throats of Adam and Connor. The little fucks that took away my life and killed my parents. It’s hard, fucking hard to see them happy and living their lives they way I should have. Killing their baby is just the beginning. Pulling out Erin’s panties and putting it up to my nose. “Mmmmmm,” I moan. My dick starts twitching and I need to find my release.

Knock, knock.

“Fuck
.” I look at the clock and smile. “Time to play.” I get up from my desk and put everything back before opening the front door. I close the bedroom door and lock it, safely putting the key back in my pocket. Walking quickly to the door, I grab the knob and twist it open. Her long blonde hair and rocking body makes me smile. “Why, hello beautiful.”

She blushes, looking away and smiling. “Hi.”

I take her hand and I shut the door. “You look incredible tonight,” I kiss her cheek and put my arm around her waist.

“Jason, stop. You’re embarrassing me.”

“Well, it’s true and you should know how sexy you are,” I lean in and kiss her neck. “Come on, Olivia. We have reservations to get to tonight.”

“Okay,” she smiles again.

We get to the restaurant, and I can’t take my eyes off her beautiful neck. Mmm, I wonder how she tastes. I cock my head to the right. Too bad she has to die. Maybe we could’ve had something.

Olivia talks and talks throughout dinner telling me about her life.

Damn what a talk slut.

I respond when needed and remain attentive. Her small hand is in mine and her face keeps turning red.

“You’re cute when you blush.”

“Jason,” she looks away, laughing.

I tug on her hand. “Don’t look away from me. I love looking at you.”

Our food comes out
, and we keep the conversation light and fun. When we’re done with dinner, I take Olivia’s hand and take her to the beach so we can do that romantic shit. She’s beautiful and fun to be around, but I need to make sure she’s out of the way and to cause some chaos.

Shits about to get real.

Olivia keeps talking and I pretend as if I’m listening. Finally, not wanting to hear anymore, I slam my lips to her and push my tongue in her mouth. Mmmm, she does taste good. What is it? Cherries? I slowly bring her down on the sand and decide to put a pause on my plan and have some fun.

Too bad you have to die, Olivia.
Nothing against you, sweetheart.

I place my hands around her neck and tightly squeeze. She squirms underneath me, clawing my arms and whimpers.

“Shhhh, don’t fight it. Just let go,” I whisper, squeezing tighter. The life in her eyes gradually leaves her as she stares into my eyes.

Empty.

Dead.

I drag her body to my car and drive over to Erin’s house. No one’s around
, and the neighborhood is quiet. I check around the house to make sure we’re alone. All of the doors and windows are locked. “Fuck.”

Without thinking anymore. I pry open a window
, and once I’m in, I look around again. “No alarm system? Idiots.”

I make my way upstairs to the nursery, with Olivia’s body
in my arms. Once we’re both in, I pull out the knife and start having some fun.

Connor

Today’s the last day of our vacation before we head back. Erin eats her breakfast quietly and doesn’t say too much. I know she doesn’t want to go back
, and I wish we could stay here forever. I slide my hand across the table and take her hand into mine. “Where’s your head at?”

The look of unhappiness shows in her eyes
. “I don’t want to go home. We’ve had so much fun here, and I’m not ready to deal with everything back at home.” She lets out a nervous sigh and leans back in her chair.

“Everything’s going to be okay
, baby. We’ll go back and live our lives the way we should. Believe me, okay?”

She nods her
head and we talk about the trip back home—about making sure that we have everything. I need to keep her safe and away from Vander. The text messages from Adam telling me about the roses that Sophia got and the mysterious calls is pissing me off. I need to find this asshole and keep him the fuck away from my family. I wonder if Erin is experiencing anything like this, but she’d tell me, right? I shake away thoughts of her keeping secrets from me and enjoy the last day of paradise with my girl.

We take one final sweep of the hotel room before going down to
checkout. Erin holds onto my arm and lets out a sigh, “We’ll come back again, babe.”

“Okay. Promise?”

“Promise.”

Everything is all set and the taxi picks us up and drops us off at the airport. We have three hours to spare
, and it takes a good hour to get through security. Erin’s listening to her music, resting on my lap as I go through the emails on my phone. Since the company needs the private jet, we have to take the plane back home. Our flight is called and we start to board.

Time to go back home.

The flight is smooth, and we make it back to Charlotte on time. Going through customs is fine and once we get our bags, the limo is out waiting for us.

“And we’re back to reality
,” Erin says as she rests her head on my shoulder.

“It’ll be okay
, babe.” I kiss the side of her head and read more emails.

The limo pulls to the side of our house and drops us off. While saying bye to the driver, Adam and Sophia pull in. A look of fear and terror comes
into view.

“What’s wrong?”

“The alarm system called us, and they said the window and motion detectors went off,” Sophia responds, running to Erin.

I look around but everything looks fine. I tell Erin to stay back with Sophia
, while Adam and I go take a look around the house. We head to the backyard and everything looks fine, until we turn and look at the family room window and broken glass all over the lawn. “What the fuck?” The windows are broken and Erin’s garden is gone. There are ashes where her flowers were. “Vander?”

“Fuck, probably.”

“I don’t get what this fucker’s problem is. Have you heard from him?” Adam shakes his head. I call the cops, and we head back to the girls.

Erin walks
toward me and puts her arm around my waist. “What’s going on?”

Shaking my head, I look back at Adam. He’s holding Sophia and shrugs his shoulders. “Don’t worry
, baby, we’ll figure this out.”

Before Erin says anything, the police
arrive, examine the house, and take our statements. I keep looking at Erin and see the expression of fear on her face. I wish we didn’t have to come back to this crap. I hate that we’re going through this, and there’s nothing I can do to help Erin with this shit.

Adam and I tell the officers everything and they let us know they’ll be in touch. I know that sleeping at the house tonight isn’t safe so we head back to Adam and Sophia’s
place. We try to keep the conversation light but the girls are scared. When we get to the house, Erin and I say good night to them and make our way to the guest room.

“You okay, babe?”

I look at Erin and bring her in my arms, never wanting to let her go. “I just want you to be safe.” Her smell intoxicates me and all I want is to be inside her.

Watching Erin sleep in my arms and knowing she’s here with me makes my world better. Leaning my head back, I think about everything she’s been through. Everything we’ve been through. Her strength is incredible
, but I know she’s only showing me half of what she’s feeling. Pushing the strand of hair from her face, I lean down and kiss her gently on her forehead.

“No, no. Please, leave me alone. Don’t do this.” Erin moves violently in her sleep. Her arms thrash in the air and she punches me in the face. “No! Please! I want my baby! ARIA!!”

I bring Erin in my arms as she cries in my shirt and holds me tight. This is the first time she has had a nightmare, and I don’t know what to do but be here for her. Her breathing is erratic and she’s still crying. “Erin,” I whisper in her hair, holding her tighter.

I hold her tighter and repeat over and over that everything’s going to be okay
, but her screams and cries are getting louder. “Erin, please wake up. It’s okay, baby, just wake up.” Adam and Sophia come running in the bedroom and try waking Erin up but nothing’s working. I can’t let her go, but Adam keeps trying to take me away from her. “Stop! Just let me help her,” I scream at him. He steps back with Sophia and they stand at the end of the bed watching helplessly as I try to hold Erin and wake her up.

This goes on for the next hour
, and finally, she calms down and her cries stop. I rub my face and let her go before leaving the bedroom. We all walk down to the kitchen and Sophia makes us coffee.

“Night terrors,” Adam starts to say
. “Sophia had them for a while after the whole Kyle situation. It sucks, man, but there’s really nothing you can do. Keep an eye out for her and make another appointment with Doctor Taylor.” Adam looks at Sophia before talking again. “There’s something you should know.”

Sophia shakes her head and turns away
. “What’s going on?”

“The cops went in your house and found some things,” his voice trails off and I’m starting to get angry and annoyed.

“Okay? Why didn’t they come to me and what’d they find?” I look at Sophia, and she’s crying in the corner of the kitchen.

“They found,” Adam’s voice gets softer, “Olivia’s dead. They found her in the nursery. Um, her head was in the crib and there was blood everywhere.”

My world stops again, and I can’t believe what I’m hearing. This is starting to be a nightmare, and all I want is to wake up from this fucking shit. Quickly, I stand up and try to make sense of everything. How the fuck is he still out there and no one can find him? “I don’t get it, why Olivia?”

Adam gets up and goes over to Sophia. “There’s more.”

“Okay?”

“There are
pictures of Erin and Sophia all over the nursery with blood on them.” Sophia cries again and holds onto Adam.

I can’t take all of this anymore. My mind is flooding with a million ways to kill Vander
, but I have to stay calm for Erin and keep her safe. She’s my number one priority and I won’t let anything happen to her. “What the fuck do we do now?”

“You’re both staying here with us.” Sophia looks at Adam
. “Joseph and your dad think it’s a good idea to work from home for a while or at least until Vander’s caught.”

“So what happens to my house?”

“It’s a crime scene and you won’t be able to get inside.” Sophia lets go of Adam and walks over to me. She brings me in for a hug and tells me that nothing’s going to happen, and we’ll all be safe, but how can I believe that when there’s a fucking murderer out there who wants to hurt my two best friends? After talking to Adam and Sophia, I go back upstairs to Erin. She’s sleeping soundly and looks peaceful. I don’t want to wake her up, so I bring over the loveseat to the side of the bed. These are the moments that I live for—being close to Erin and keeping her safe. I can’t stop thinking of Vander and Olivia. There’s no way Erin’s going to want to go back to the house. Olivia didn’t have any family, just me. Even though she made some fucked up decisions, deep down, she’s a great person, but now she’s in a better place.

Morning comes and Erin’s still in bed. I get a call from the detective on the case and he asks if Adam and I can go down to the station to wrap up with some final questions. I meet Adam in the kitchen and we both head out. It’s a quiet drive to the station
, and I hate that we’re leaving Erin and Sophia alone but Doctor Burns should be on his way over to watch over them.

We make it to the station and meet with detective Donaldson. He asks us some more questions about Vander and Olivia. There’s not much that we didn’t know
, and he lets us know that I can go back to the house tomorrow afternoon. Before we leave, detective Donaldson pats us on the back and lets us know they’re doing everything they can to find Vander. We thank him and leave the station.