Cry For You (Fallen Star #2) (11 page)

I didn't actually think she'd be stupid enough to turn up. I mean, I’d sent her that message to look like it’d come from Tex but wouldn’t you at least message him back? Hell, I’d be messaging him 50 times a day when he was my boyfriend.

So, I didn't actually have a plan for what I'd do when I met her.

Then it hit me. I was the stupid one. Stupid, stupid me. Once I confronted her, she'd have proof that I was the one who'd sent the photos and done all that other stuff. She'd go running back to Tex all teary-eyed and manipulative and I'd end up looking like the bad one. Girls like her do things like that. I had not planned this well. It’d just been an impulse when I’d worked out how to hack Tex’s number from work.

I'd organised to meet her at Tony's. Of course, the place was closed. His sister was getting married and he had to go out of town for the weekend. I'd told him, "Tony, Sunday is a high demand day for pizza," but he just said every day was a high demand day for pizza but he only had one sister. It was his business, so I guess he could close it when he wanted. Luckily, he'd given me the keys. Well, the spare set had just been hanging up in the kitchen not being used and sometimes I got peckish when I wasn’t working. He had all that tiramisu in trays in the back fridge.

While I was waiting for her, I figured I might as well help myself to some of that sweet tiramisu. It wasn't even homemade. Tony just bought the slabs in from some wholesaler but then he poured extra booze over it to make it taste less mass-produced and sold it as homemade. Either way, I didn't care. Free dessert was free dessert.

In the background, music played. FORSAKEN, of course. I did a little dance in the kitchen.

When I finished, I went outside to wait for her. I wanted to make sure she was alone before I revealed myself so I hid myself in the alleyway across from the pizza shop. That was pretty smart of me. Although the alley smelt of piss and garbage and I thought I could hear critters scurrying nearby.

She turned up right on time. Pulled up in a taxi. Then got out and shielded her eyes while looking through the window of the pizza shop. The cab had driven off, thank goodness. There were people sitting outside at a cafe down the other end of the street but the buildings nearby were all empty. This was a pretty crummy part of town. Half the shops were boarded up with faded "for lease" signs in the window. Some of them were dodgy-looking insurance offices, probably a front for something else, and then there was one place that had a sign out for piano lessons. I'd never seen even one damn kid go in there for lessons though. It looked like a piano lesson you'd never come back from.

I’d left the door unlocked and set up the shop like it was open for business. Still she seemed a bit hesitant about going in. It wasn’t like I could make fake customers to sit around.

Then she finally walked in. I raced across the road before she realised the shop was empty and came back out.

I slammed the shop door behind me. She was in my territory and she wouldn’t be leaving until I had things sorted out. Up close, I wanted to spit in her face. Did she realise how much pain she'd caused me?

She was all dressed up with makeup on as though she thought she could make herself pretty. That just made her foolish because she’d never be pretty. That dress didn’t suit her and it showed too much of her legs.

As she span to face the door and she saw me, that “rabbit in the headlights” look came over her face. She staggered back a little, reaching out for something to steady herself but she stood in the middle of the shop with nothing within reaching distance.

I leaned against the door. But I smiled. I needed her to trust me.

“What’s going on? Where’s Tex?” Her voice was little more than a mouse squeak. Even her pasty face twitched, all rat-like.

"I just wanted somewhere to talk to you quietly," I replied. "We have things to sort out."

Her gulp echoed around the room. She might be a witch but she had no power over me. I was the one in control. She’d willingly walked into my trap and I wouldn’t let her out of it until she agreed to get out of Tex’s life.

“But what’s going on? Tex…”

She’d started sweating now. A sweat of guilt, I reckoned as the realisation of her evil life choices hit her.

“I borrowed his phone so I could text you. If you’d got the message from me, you’d have never turned up.” That was an awesome lie. One of my best. But I’m sure if I’d asked him, he’d have agreed.

She looked at me like I was crazy but she agreed to stay. It wasn’t like she had much choice. She glanced around as though expecting a lynch mob to come flying at her from under the tables or something. But there was nothing and no one in the place. Just the usual pizza shop crap – a drink fridge and a counter and a couple of cheapo tables with plastic gingham table cloths. Still, she kept her arms folded and clutched onto her bag. It wasn’t like I was going to hurt her. Well, not unless she opposed me.

"What do you want from me?" she asked. "I've done nothing to you."

Nothing? Nothing. How could she stand there, looking all fake-innocent when she'd stolen the most precious thing of my life. She was most definitely an idiot. A problem I'd have to erase.

"You took what's mine. You took Tex."

"You're insane," she said in a quiet voice. "You really are insane."

That was rich coming from her. After all, she was the one who'd had a breakdown, not me. You could tell there was something not right about her, the way her gaze kept darting around the room.

She flinched as I walked towards her and put her hand up as though she needed to shield her face. Then she ducked around me and bolted for the door. She had her hand on the door handle, ready to flee. That would do her no good. She turned the handle but, of course, the door didn’t open. The door auto-locked. Deadlocked.

I heard her whimper as she turned back to me, her whole body trembling.

“Please let me go,” she pleaded.

"I know I can't have him," I said, lowering my eyes. "But he's all I've thought about for years. The only one who's sustained me through the hard times. We are destined to be together. Hear me out and then you can go."

"Okay?" She didn't sound convinced.

I sat down at one of the crappy tables and indicated for her to sit down too.

"Do you want some tiramisu?" I asked. "It's really good. We can talk. Just hear me out and you can be free from me forever."

The idiot actually believed me and sat down. Well, she huddled on a chair, looking out the window as though there was something out there for her to see.

I got her the bowl of tiramisu and a Coke out of the fridge. I sat them down in front of her. She had moved her hand down to her lap, under the table.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Nothing."

I grabbed her hand. She had her phone clutched tightly but I twisted it from her. She dropped the phone and ran.

I checked the phone display. She'd tried to call a cab but the call hadn't connected. The cab company hold music leaked out of the phone. At least she hadn't called Tex.

I approached her but she ran for the back of the shop. Not that she'd get out that way. It was all locked up as well. I pulled the blinds down at the front of the shop so people would realise it was shut.

I could hear her pounding on the back door. That was deadlocked too. Was she so stupid that she didn’t realise a business like this would need tight security? All kinds of deadbeats would try to break into a pizza shop. The windows at the back were security locked too and the whole place had an alarm system. Tony wasn’t stupid. He knew his shit.

"You can't get away from me. There's only you and me in this whole pizza place and I've got all night."

I walked through the shop, not even bothering to look for her. I put her phone in my back pocket. I didn't want her getting that back.

Footsteps echoed in the kitchen. She was coming toward me.

"I think we should talk," she said. She tried to sound calm and reasonable but I could tell she was upset by the way she kept her hands in her pockets. She didn't want me to see how much they were shaking.

My plan would work. I'd drive her over the edge. Already the cracks appeared. By the time I finished with her, she'd be fully broken down. I'd delete any evidence of her having ever been at the pizza shop and deny I'd ever been here. After all, no one knew I had keys.

She'd look like she was even more wacko if she tried to accuse me of anything. After all, the message had come from Tex.

One way or another, she and Tex would be history when she left this shop.

"You want to talk? Well, tell me this, why is Tex dating you? You came between us. You destroyed what we had. Don't you feel guilty about that?'

She stood up straighter and glared at me.

"He doesn't even know who you are. Remember that night when you came to our place with the pizza? He had no idea that night. And after the gig, I asked him and he said you were just some fan. I don't know what you think or what little fantasy you've created in your mind, but you’re really screwed up. You mean nothing to Tex."

I picked up the salt shaker from the table beside me and hurled it at her head. That would stop her talking those stupid words. It struck her on her cheek and then fell to the ground, shattering and leaving a bleeding cut on her face.

"You can't talk to me like that. Shut up. Just shut your fucking mouth. Just stop pretending you’re his girlfriend and get out of his life."

She backed away but the counter was behind her, preventing her from going anywhere. I had her cornered. There was nothing there for her to use against me, just the noticeboard with fliers for local gardening services.

"You’re nothing to him," she kept saying. "Nothing."

I slapped her across the face. My head buzzed too loud to think clearly and the room blurred but I knew then what I had to do. Nothing could stop me. Nothing. Not her. Not anyone.

I hit her again and this time she fell to the floor, knocking her head on the counter. I waited for her to get up but she didn’t move.

I had no idea where I was when I woke up. I thought I was still asleep and in my nightmare. I shivered in the cold and tried to reach for my blanket but my hands couldn’t move. I couldn’t see anything then I realised my hands were tied and I had a blindfold on. It had to be a nightmare.

Then I remembered. I’d been at the pizza shop and that crazy bitch had been threatening me. She hit me and I started falling then everything had gone black.

My head throbbed. My entire body felt bruised.

I tried to scream but I had something shoved in my mouth. All I could manage was a muffled cry. Not that I even knew if it was worth screaming. I could be anywhere. I sat on something. A chair, a wooden chair by the feel of it against my legs. The pizza place had wooden chairs, maybe I was still there.

I tried to move my legs and they weren’t tied, just my hands. She’d attached them to the middle slat on the back of the chair and I could move them up and down slightly but that was the only movement I could make.

I tried to stand up but, if I did, the chair might topple from under me. I’d end up on the ground with a fallen chair attached to me. Even if I stood, I figured I’d have nowhere to go. She wouldn’t have put me anyway I could easily escape from.

While I waited, I tried to think happy thoughts. There was nothing for me to fear, in this cold, dark place. Those rustlings I heard were nothing. Maybe some birds nesting. The place smelt like garbage and motor oil. It had to be a storeroom or something. The stink of garbage was strong. Not even like fresh garbage but like garbage someone had dumped somewhere and had forgotten about. Putrid. The kind of smell that would attract rats.

Urggh. My skin crawled. I wanted to rub myself, to get clean, but I was powerless and vulnerable. All I could do was curl my toes to save them from being eaten.

I couldn’t think about rats or spiders or anything bad. I had no idea how long I’d have to be in this place.

A wave of dread rose inside me but I pushed it down. Happy thoughts. That was all I had to fight with.

I had no sense of how long I'd been there. My stomach rumbled. I'd not eaten for hours. When Lizzie came over, I'd had a cup of tea but we'd not had any food. I'd made the sandwich for dinner and left it cooking on the stove. I had turned the stove off before I left? I must've done but I couldn't remember doing it.

Happy thoughts. All my happy thoughts were of Tex. He had become everything to me. But his world was going to destroy me. It had started already. I couldn't think of that though. Instead, I thought about the way he wound my hair around his fingers, making curls. The way his eyes shone and he called me Ruby Red.

When we were together, everything was perfect. He made me laugh and made me feel like I was the only woman in the world. He made up stupid songs for me.

That morning before he left for rehearsal, he’d mentioned the Awards night.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want, Rubs. Of course, I want you there but it’s not like I want you to force yourself.”

I watched him getting dressed, hesitating about my reply. I started to speak but the words wouldn’t come out. If I said “yes”, it wasn’t just a simple case of putting on a fancy dress and walking beside him. It’d be like wearing a huge sign saying “Tex’s girlfriend”.

Part of me wanted that. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, but my stomach clenched in fear. The photos posted online had freaked me out enough, going to the Awards would be a hundred times worse.

A foreboding chill crept through my body telling me that if I agreed, something really awful would happen.

I watched Tex leave, wishing I’d given him the answer he wanted.

I’d said nothing and the evil happened anyway. Maybe it was better to be bold than to hide in fear.

Why had he sent me that message? It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be. She’d stolen his phone or done something creepy. Tex would realise and he’d find me.

If I went through every happy thought I had of Tex, maybe he’d find me before I got to the end of that list.

I ignored all the rustling and thought about Tex’s fingers, such long fingers that splayed out just a little at the ends. His square, ragged nails that were always so clean. The way he moved them up the neck of the guitar or along my spine.

Tex would find me. I had no idea how but I knew he would.