Dirty Angel-BarbaraElsborg (35 page)

“It’s him,” he told the PC. “Matt.”

“Put it on speakerphone.”

Aden nodded. “Hi, Matt. Ready to talk to me?”

“I see you’re a celebrity.”

The policeman raised his eyebrows. Aden was as puzzled as him.

“Quite the miracle worker from what I hear. A regular St. Francis. You’re going to show Brody up if all you have to do to make animals better is lay on hands.”

Oh fuck.
“I want you to leave Brody alone,” Aden said. “He doesn’t want anything more to do with you. Stop harassing him.”

“Was it you who rang my wife?” There was hard snap to Matt’s voice. “She thought it was Brody, but he never broke the rules, never called her.”

“She threw you out. It wasn’t a matter of you leaving her for Brody. You lied to him.”

Matt huffed. “I finally told her the truth because I was leaving. If she chooses to believe she pushed me out, that’s fine. I don’t care. Brody and I will be together once I get rid of you.”

Aden glanced at the policeman. “And how to do you propose to do that?”

“By convincing Brody I’m the one he needs.”

It had probably been too much to hope Matt would say something incriminating like—by hitting you over the head with a hammer.

“I’m not going to let you catch me in the bath again.” Aden mentally crossed his fingers.

“Then you shouldn’t have left the door open.”

“It wasn’t an invitation to drown me.”

“Yeah, why aren’t you dead? I was so sure you were no longer breathing. Can’t you just do the world a favour and die?”

“Can’t you?” Aden snapped.

“What? And miss out on the pleasure of pissing on your grave?”

“I want to talk face to face. Sort this out once and for all.”

“What is there to sort out? Brody will come back to me. He always does.”

“Not this time. I’ve made him see sense. He wants me not you.”

Matt let out a low growl. “Meet me in the car park at Woodbane Common. Four thirty.”

The policeman frowned. Aden had no idea why.

“Can’t we meet before then?”

“Some of us have jobs to go to.” Matt ended the call.

“There’s nothing there,” the PC said. “It’s a car park that services the walking routes around the common.”

“Is it far?”

“A few miles.”

“Could you take me?”

The policeman laughed. “I’m sorry, I’m not a taxi service. I’ve listened to you and all I can see is that you’re tangled up in a love triangle. Yes, there was a crime committed when the teacher started the relationship, but it’s unlikely the Crown Prosecution Service would wish to pursue it after this length of time, not unless others were involved, and not without testimony from Brody. And you say he doesn’t even know you’ve come to tell me this.”

Aden hadn’t given Brody’s surname. His intention in speaking to the police had never been that Brody’s past would be dragged up, though he knew if this cop checked, he’d find Brody’s surname from the emergency call he’d made the night he’d hit Aden. Aden’s real agenda in this meeting was so that if anything happened to him, the police knew who he was going to meet and Matt would be a person of interest. Not
if
anything happened. It would.

“There’s no proof Matt tried to drown you,” the policeman said. “You know that. Asking why you aren’t dead isn’t an admission of guilt. There’s no one to corroborate your story. I can see there’s no love lost between the pair of you, but this isn’t something the police need to be involved with.”

Aden had pushed hard enough. He’d done what he set out to do.

Aden asked PC Willets for directions to the library. Somewhere to wait until it was time to meet Matt. He checked a map to see how to get to Woodbane Common and calculated it would take him about forty minutes to walk there. Maybe longer in the snow. He powered down Brody’s phone. He hadn’t thought to snatch the charger so he needed to conserve the battery.

The library was warm and he settled in a corner with a book, draping his damp coat over the radiator. It was hard to concentrate, and he found himself drifting off to sleep a few times. He was surprised the library staff didn’t ask him to leave, though he wasn’t doing any harm.

When it was time to go, Aden pulled on his coat and gloves, transferred one item from the bag to his pocket, and slung the bag over his shoulder. Though he no longer had any use for the contents, he still couldn’t bring himself to dump them. Maybe the fact that he kept them would show the police he hadn’t anticipated what he thought was going to happen.

Conditions were icy. Everything had crisped over and the snow crunched underfoot as he walked. Without the deep tread of Brody’s boots, the journey would have been much harder. The roads were clear but the footpaths were treacherous. Aden was hungry. That toast was probably the last thing he’d ever eat.

He knew there was no hope of talking Matt into walking away from Brody. The likelihood was that the guy would take the opportunity to make sure he had no rival. Aden knew what he was walking into. What he didn’t know was how it would all play out.

When he reached the car park, there was just one car there. Aden had no idea if it was Matt’s vehicle. There were still twenty minutes before Matt was due to arrive, so he walked along a path through some trees to get an idea of the area. There was a small lake on the right at the foot of an incline. It was partially iced over. Everything looked peaceful. The snow was still mostly pristine. Not a bad day to die. Again.

Aden took off his gloves, pulled Brody’s phone from his pocket, and tapped out a message.
You made me want to be a better man than I could ever be. You made me think it was possible. Sorry there’s no perfect ending but you are perfect to me.

“Hey!”

Aden pressed send and put the phone back. When he turned Matt was several yards behind, buttoned up in a thick blue jacket, a dark beanie hat on his head, his hands bare.

“Let’s walk for a bit,” Matt said.

Aden nodded. He put his hands in his pockets.

“I really can’t believe you’re still alive.” Matt glanced at him and laughed.

“Maybe I’m not.”

“Did you tell Brody?”

“That you’d tried to drown me? Yes. He didn’t believe me.”
Sorry, Brody.

“So why did you want to talk to me in person?” Matt’s gaze flickered from side to side.

Was he checking to see if they were being observed?

“I want you to leave Brody alone. The moment you laid a hand on him when he was fourteen years old, you fucked him up. Do the decent thing for once and step out of his life.”

“You needed to see me to say that? You’ve wasted my time. You have no idea what he means to me. No fucking idea. I love him and he loves me.”

“You never wanted him to love you. You wanted him to worship you. He’s not a kid anymore. Leave him alone.”

“I’ll never walk away from him.”

“Yeah, well it’s difficult when he’s such a good fuck.” Aden made himself laugh and watched Matt bristle. “That tight arse, sweet cock and his lovely mouth.” Aden groaned. “I can’t get enough of that mouth, that dirty little tongue.”

“Shut up.”

“He likes it hard and fast, doesn’t he? He makes you desperate to fuck him through the wall.”

“I said shut up.”

I don’t think so.
“I’m not going to let you have him back. He’s mine now, so fuck off and find someone else.”

Matt shoved him sideways so hard that Aden stumbled and slid down the slope through the trees toward the water. Before he could get to his feet, Matt was on him, dragging him deeper in the wood. The buttons of Aden’s coat pulled open and Matt hauled him up by his lapels.

“You fucking arsehole.” Matt sneered. “You think you can take something that doesn’t belong to you without there being repercussions?”

Aden grabbed at Matt’s face, trying to scratch him, wanting evidence under his fingernails, fibres from Matt’s coat to transfer to his, anything the police might be able to use. Matt’s fist struck Aden’s jaw, then his stomach and Aden doubled over wheezing.

Aden spat blood from his mouth. “You fucking small-dicked bastard.”

Matt kicked at Aden’s legs, he crumpled to the ground, and for a brief moment, the snow soothed his sore face.

“You think he’ll still want you when he sees what you’ve done to me?” Aden scrambled to his feet, launched a fist at Matt’s face and his knuckles struck the guy’s teeth.
Fuck, that hurt.
But he’d made Matt’s lip bleed and further enraged him, which was the point.

When Matt swung for him, Aden lurched out of range. He couldn’t make this look too obvious.

“What makes you think he’ll ever see you again?” Matt’s eyes glittered with malice.

“What makes you think he’ll ever see you?” Aden snapped back. “Christ, I hear you can’t even last five minutes, pencil dick.”

Aden knew he was passing the point of no return. If Matt walked away now, Aden had just given him plenty of reasons to hurt Brody. He’d press 9-9-9 on his phone if the moment was right, and if he had the chance, but not yet. But this was a brittle plan. Maybe too fragile. If Matt got away with killing him, then Aden had achieved nothing and left access to Brody wide open.

“Fucking cunt,” Matt muttered.

“You think you’re such a big man.” Aden mocked him. “He was a kid. You wanted him and you took him.”

“That’s true. Not even his parents stopped that.”

Aden felt a flutter of discomfort roil through his gut. “You had to leave the school when Brody’s parents found out.”

“And they paid.”

Aden tensed. “What do you mean?”

“What do you think I mean?”

“You caused the car crash.”
Oh Christ.
Aden wished he had this recorded. “You sick fuck.”

“I won’t let
anyone
come between me and Brody.”

Aden gulped. “Did you kill Peter too?”

“He had an unfortunate accident with his reins.”

“That you made happen. Fucking hell. You like strangling. You nearly killed Brody doing that.”

“I knew exactly what I was doing.”

“You need locking up. Leave Brody the hell alone.”

“You going to make me?”

As Matt stepped forward, Aden backed away. “I’m going to tell the police what you did, and Brody, and the head at your new school. Had your fingers in the pants of any other little lads? I bet you have, you filthy bastard.”

Matt grabbed him, twisted him so that Aden had his back against the guy’s chest, then wrapped his arm over Aden’s throat. Aden pulled at his sleeve and tried to kick back but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to get free.

His plan changed. It was the one he should have gone with from the start. Kill Matt and free Brody. So what if he went to hell, at least he’d saved a guy he cared for. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the knife. But before he could get it anywhere near Matt, the guy grabbed his wrist and wrenched the weapon from him.

Good or bad. I wish I knew.

Matt pushed him away and Aden slipped on the snow. As he levered himself up and turned, fumbling in his pocket for the phone, Matt struck him hard in the chest. It took Aden a moment to realise he hadn’t been hit, he’d been stabbed. Then came the blood. Then it hurt. Followed by panic.
Oh fuck.

“Think you’re clever now?” Matt whispered and stabbed him again.

Aden clutched his chest, made sure his fingers were bloody, and grabbed Matt. “Fuck. You.” Aden had to force out the words. His lungs hurt. Matt stabbed him again.

“Stop it,” someone shouted.

It sounded like Brody.
Oh fuck. Please God, no. Run, Brody.
Matt let him go and Aden found himself slithering back, stumbling toward the iced over pond. He struggled to his knees and tried to crawl back up the slope. The snow was spattered with red. A lot of red.
His
red. He tried his hardest but he couldn’t get up the slope. Matt slid down to him, stared Aden in the face and stabbed himself in the shoulder.

What the fuck?
Aden was having trouble breathing. Matt pressed the knife into Aden’s hand, and began to crawl away. When he slipped back, Aden didn’t hesitate. He slammed the blade into the top of Matt’s inner thigh. Matt cried out but still managed to get part way up the slope. Aden didn’t have the energy to do more. He was scared Matt would hurt Brody, but there was nothing else he could do. Blood was gushing from Matt’s thigh and Aden knew he’d hit an artery. Now he was definitely going to hell. With Matt. So be it.

Matt was moaning, calling for help. But it was Aden’s side that Brody came to, his beautiful eyes so wide and Aden thought if Brody’s face was the last thing he saw, dying was going to be easier than he’d thought. Aden’s eyes flickered shut.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Brody snapped and pressed on the wounds in Aden’s chest.

Hurts, hurts.

“Brody, please,” Matt called.

Aden forced his eyes open and tried to speak, but nothing came from his mouth but a trickle of blood.
Shit.

Brody kept the pressure up on Aden’s chest and used his phone one-handed. “I need an ambulance. Two men with multiple stab wounds. A few hundred yards away from the car park at Woodbane Common. Hurry.”

He put the phone down. “Keep your eyes open.”

Aden tried, but it was so hard. “Dead?” he managed to ask.

“No, you’re not fucking dead.”

How the fuck he managed a smile he didn’t know. “Mean…Matt.”

“I don’t care about him,” Brody said. “I only care about you.”

Brody kept talking trying to sound reassuring, but there was a lot of blood and he couldn’t stop it coming out of Aden. Aden’s breathing was shallow, his face so pale he looked as if he was melting into the snow.

“Don’t you dare die,” Brody whispered. “Hang on, Aden. Please.”

When the emergency services arrived, they had to drag Brody away so they could work on Aden. Brody had cried out as they’d pulled his hands from Aden’s chest. He’d felt as if that was all that had been keeping Aden alive.

He was desperate to go with him in the ambulance but the police had other ideas. His heart lurched as the ambulance pulled away with its siren blaring. There was another ambulance waiting, but Matt lay in the snow, all alone and so much red around him that Brody knew he was dead. He expected to feel something, and he didn’t. Not for Matt. Not even hatred. He felt numb.