Seeing Red (40 page)

“Motherfucker! I’m going to kill him. Jill, I warned
you. He used you. Motherfucker!” Alexander was the first one to
speak. Jill wasn’t sure if he was talking about Paul, Ben/Brian, or
her father.

“When you finish killing him, I’m going to bring him
back to life and kill him myself.” Oliver was enraged.

“Oh my God. He used me? How is that possible? How
could I be so stupid? It can’t be. Oh my God. I’m going to be
sick,” Jill was crying uncontrollably. She had her arms around her
stomach, scared she would throw up.

“Darlin’, I’m sorry.”

“He told me he loved me. How could he? And you,
Heather, I’m so sorry. This is entirely my fault. I’m so sorry. I
don’t know how to tell you how sorry I am.” She couldn’t get her
words out.

“This is all bullshit! We need to think this
through. Jillian, you have to tell us everything you know. We need
to figure out who is out there, trying to hurt you. Why is your dad
looking for you? And who are these guys? Jillian, start talking,
right this second. It’s time you tell me about your father.”

“I need a minute!” She got up and went to her room
and slammed the door and locked it. Her sobs could be heard through
the door. Even though she had felt closure with the short-lived
relationship with Paul, it hurt to know he had somehow used
her—toyed with her vulnerable emotions. He knew she was hungry for
affection, and he used that need to get information.
Thank God,
I didn’t sleep with him.

When Jill finally emerged, Alexander said, “Let’s
get on with it, Red. What’s the story? I need to know, and I need
to know right this damn second. I’m losing my mind here.”

“You already know everything. Just as Oliver told
you last night, I had a cryptic letter waiting for me at home. It
said something about watching me from afar and that he needed to
know if I had a gift and that he had been looking for me. It wasn’t
signed. That was the same day my door was open: the day we had that
fight. I didn’t tell you about the note. Anyway, I knew it had
something to do with the journals, so I knew I was in a time-crunch
since he said he was watching me. I gave Oliver a handful of
journals and I kept another bunch. We started reading, and together
we pieced out some information, but I have to tell you, I still
have at least ten journals to go through.” Jill took a deep breath,
and with tears still running down her face, she continued. “So when
I had the last vision, I saw him. I saw him sitting in a room—I
think it was his room—in a yoga pose, in meditation, and he told me
his name. Well, he didn’t tell me, he thought it over and over
until it just came to me. The journals only had RT on them and that
my mother was pregnant by RT. He told me his name by channeling me.
I also found out by reading the journals that—”

“Jill, what the fuck did it say?” Alexander
interrupted. His jaws shut closed in anger.

“I’m getting to that, Alexander! Apparently, he was
charged with murder at some point. My mother was terrified. She
left when I was born, but he didn’t know I was born. In fact, I
think he thought I had died when my mom died on impact. There are a
lot of things in the journals about excessive medical tests on my
mom and me while she was pregnant. My mother was afraid he’d want
to keep me and continue testing me after I was born. Helen said
that my mother thought that RT was so rich because, and I quote,
‘The man made a deal with the devil himself.’ After I had that
vision in which I’m pretty sure he fed me his name through some
sort of psychic phenomenon, I haven’t seen him again in a vision
until I saw him, physically, last night.”

“And you had never heard of Rocco Taylor?”

“Nope.”

“Jill, for Christ’s sake, everyone’s heard of
Taylor’s reputation.”

“Really? I’d never heard of him. Well, not before I
started reading these damn journals. Oh, and Helen was my mother’s
sister.”

“She was your aunt?”

Jill nodded.

“Then why didn’t you live with her?”

“Patience, Xander, I’m getting there. No one knew I
existed. When we were saved and we were all over the news, Helen
got scared and thought he would link my face to Helen, my mother’s
sister, so that’s why she sent me off. If he ever went to find
Helen, I wouldn’t be there. She was trying to keep me safe just in
case he ever made the connection. My mother must have known about
the crimes he had committed in order to build his empire, but she
didn’t tell Helen the details—only that he was dangerous. Very
dangerous. And I don’t think anyone knows that he’s like me. That
he’s clairvoyant. The strange thing is that I feel a weird sense of
peace when I see him. I don’t feel scared. I know you guys can’t
understand this, but I am not scared of him. I think he wants to
find me because he wants to meet me, not harm me. I don’t know
anyone that has the same
abilities
that I have. I think I
want to meet him.”

“What if he wants to meet you because he is afraid
that you know what he’s done? That your mother told Helen and Helen
told you. Maybe he wants to gauge what you know. If they found more
journals on the island, he may want to destroy the ones you have,
if he knows you have more.” Oliver said.

“Or it could be simply something as benign as
wanting to meet his estranged daughter.” Jill added.

“He wants to hurt you. Don’t you see that! Don’t be
naïve, Jill.” Alexander had both hands on her shoulders and was
shaking her. “How could you let her go to that fucking party last
night, Oliver? This ended better than it could have. As it is, poor
fucking Heather was used by some scumbag. What the hell is wrong
with you, Oliver?”

“What the hell is wrong with you, Alexander!” Jill
pushed him away as hard as she could and went where Heather was
seated to give her a hug. “I’m sorry, Heather. I can’t say it
enough. He’s an insensitive asshole. Don’t listen to him. We were
both played for fools.” Oliver went around to where Heather and
Jill were sitting and sat on the other side of Heather and laid his
arm around her shoulder, consoling her, while shooting daggers at
Alexander.

“Sorry, Heather. I’m sorry. That was, er . . .”

“Cruel, asshole. That was cruel,” scolded Jill.

“I’m sorry. I said I’m sorry. You’re right. I was
being insensitive. Okay, so we have a situation here that we can’t
just ignore. What are we going to do?” Alexander said,
apologetically.

“You are not going to do anything. None of you are.
I know what I have to do. Oliver, please watch over Heather.
Heather sweetie, again, I am so sorry to have put you through all
this. Boys, I love you.” She turned and went to her room and
started packing.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Alexander and
Oliver followed her into her room.

“I’m leaving. I’ll get a separate room, and then I’m
going to find Rocco, and I’m going to talk to him. I’m not going to
endanger you guys. You guys can’t be involved anymore.”

“Are you crazy? This is not a movie, Jillian. What,
you’re a vigilante now?” Oliver rolled his eyes.

“What can I do, Oliver? I can’t stay here and risk
your safety. I can’t just wait around for something bad to happen.
I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but I’m mad. Please, go
check up on Heather. She needs attention. Please.” While Jillian
continued to frantically pack her bags, Alexander grabbed her arm
to stop her.

“Nothing’s going to happen to you, babe. I won’t let
anything happen to you. Stay here. We’ll figure something out. When
we go back home, you’ll get your stuff together and come stay with
me until we resolve this problem.”

“No, Xander. There is still all this other stuff
between us that we need to figure out and—”

“Really, Jill? You’re still harping on that. Did you
see Oliver’s reaction when he found out Heather screwed some guy?
Who did he remind you of? Me! But we are resolving this right now.”
He pulled Jill’s arm and walked to the other side of the room where
Heather and Oliver were standing. “Okay. I’m done with this shit!
Oliver, I’m in love with Jill. Jill’s in love with me; although,
she wants to pretend she isn’t because she seems to think that she
is in love with you or that you are in love with her. You have
issues with Jill too. I can’t make you two kiss right here and now
because it would be weird, but you two need to go. Get out of this
suite for a few hours. Explore the island. Explore your feelings.
Goddamn kiss or screw or whatever and see if you have a spark or
whatever the fuck. But do it today. Whichever way it goes, we need
this resolved right now. Once this shit is solved, we can focus all
our attention on the crazy assholes trying to possibly kill us
instead of this bullshit love-triangle thing. Heather, stay here
with me. I’m glad we agree.” Before anyone had a chance to say a
word, he walked towards the door and opened it and pushed them
out.

Oliver was stunned, and before the door slammed in
his face, he said, “Are you fucking crazy?”

“I’m dead serious.”

“I actually think it’s a good idea.” Heather chimed
in from the other side of the suite as the door closed.

“Dixie, I hope I just did the right thing.”
Alexander mumbled.

“Me too, Alex. Me too.” Heather sighed.

If it’s going to be two against
one, make sure you aren’t the one.

-Helen

Jillian

Jill and Oliver were standing outside the door of the
suite, speechless.

“Your brother is crazy!”

“You’re telling me.”

“So, what now?” Jill asked.

“Maybe he’s right. When I told you I loved you, I
meant it. I’d rather have you as a friend than nothing at all, so I
haven’t brought it up again, but my feelings for you haven’t
changed. Let’s go for a walk and talk.”

“Okay, I guess. This is kind of awkward.”

“Yeah, it kind of is.” They both laughed.

“You want a drink before we head out. There’s a bar
at the lobby.”

“Good idea. It’ll loosen us up.” The fact that, with
Alexander, she never felt awkward, especially in sexual situations,
wasn’t lost on her. “I’d like that drink there.” Jill pointed to a
red drink in a long glass with an umbrella and slices of fruits on
little skewers that was being served to other guests.”

“Sure, that’s the special of the day,” replied the
bartender.

“So girly.” Oliver laughed. “I’ll have a beer,
please.”

“So manly.” Jill laughed.

They sat and drank in uncomfortable silence for the
first time ever.

“Okay, let’s have another one. If there is one thing
we’ve never had is awkwardness. Damn Alexander.”

They ordered another round and started loosening
up.

“So, that Paul is a motherfucker. I’m so sorry he
hurt you but I feel like breaking his neck. He’s lucky he isn’t
here.”

“I was such an idiot. I don’t want to talk about
that now.” Her eyes began to water again, and he leaned over and
wiped a stray tear that was running down her face. She closed her
eyes at the feel of his hand on her face.

“Jill.” His breathing became erratic. “What’s going
on with you and my brother?”

“I don’t know, Oly. We fight all the time. I don’t
know if anything could ever happen between him and me. I think we’d
kill each other, but I can’t deny the attraction is there. We fight
and then he does some sort of grand gesture. Even when we were
kids. Remember when I found that seashell and I was so happy and I
showed it to everyone?”

“Of course, I remember. He grabbed it and threw it
into the ocean. You were devastated. I don’t know if you knew that
I saw you crying.”

“You did? I was so careful to hide my emotions from
everyone. But then he went and found me an even prettier and bigger
shell and made it into a necklace. The necklace that I still
have—the one I wore last ni—”

“Jill, that wasn’t Alexander.”

“What?”

“That was me. I looked for the perfect shell for
weeks, and when I finally found one, it took me another week to
make you the necklace.”

“Oh my, Oliver, I always assumed it was Alexander.
In fact, I think that was one of the reasons I fell in love with
him.”

“I knew you were heartbroken over what he did, and I
wanted to make you happy. Even back then, I wanted to make you
happy. I made it for you and you still have it. That has to mean
something, Jillian.”

“This changes things. I don’t really know what to
say.”

“Grab your drink. Let’s go for a walk.”

Jill was staggered at the revelation. He grabbed her
hand and intertwined his fingers through hers. There was an unusual
hard thumping in her chest. She was too aware of being alone with
him, which was ludicrous; she was alone with him all the time.
Something had shifted. There was a change. Hand in hand, they
walked outside.

The sultry heat enveloped their bodies. The sky was
crystal clear, full of white fluffy marshmallow clouds. They walked
towards the memorial that was still under construction. The
familiarity of the island was lost in the enormous resort that took
its residence on their campground, yet the air, the sand, and the
feel were still the same as they had been eleven years ago. Except
now, she was walking hand in hand with Oliver down the same beach
they grew up on.

The sea breeze was unrelenting, and she kept trying
to get her wayward red curls to stay where she wanted them, only to
have them fall right back out after she was done tucking them back
behind her ears. Oliver stopped to face her in order to brush the
wandering curl behind her ear. His crystal blue eyes locked on Jill
as his knuckles gently caressed her cheek. Taking a deep breath, he
placed his hand gently around the back of her neck and pulled her
forward towards his mouth. After twenty years, their lips were
finally about to meet.