Page 29 of Jake

“I’m not going to get you out of here. I’m certainly not going to give you a phone, and when you’re convicted of murder, you won’t be able to inherit anything from the estate either.” She asked him why she’d be convicted of anything. “You killed your mother, Carol. That’s why.”

“Oh no, you have that wrong. Daddy killed her. I just beat her up. I thought she was dead or close to it when I left her on my floor, but Daddy pulled the gun on her.” Carol was starting to get aggravated. “Jake, I don’t have time to sit here and debate this. Just pay them off so I can get home. You have a lot to make up for when we get there. And I’ve decided that there will be no more telling me no. I don’t care for that word at all.”

“No.” She stomped her foot. “No, I am not going to bail you out, even if there was bail set for you. No, I’m not giving you my phone so you can order whatever is in your sick mind to do to my home. And I will most certainly tell you no, that you are not ever going to have me pay anyone off for a dammed thing you do from now on. You are on your own.”

“Daddy said you were to take care of me. This is not taking care of me at all, Jake. Get the fucking money here and get me out of this place. I’m much too smart and pretty to be locked up like this.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her. “You’re really starting to piss me off. Do what I say now or else.”

“Or else what, Carol? Are you going to hurt me?” She said that she would. “Well, that’s the reason you’re in here. You’re not getting free. You’re going to prison.”

“I don’t want to go to prison. Damn it, why are people being so fucking mean to me?” She wanted him to answer her, but he looked over at the man next to him. He was smiling that sort of smile that didn’t go all the way to the eyes. “Who the fuck are you and why are you here? There is no reason for Jake to need a lawyer. Go away.”

“No. Wow, that word is pretty nice to use when someone tells you not to use it, isn’t it?” He laughed. “I’m here, as I told you, to advise Jake. Not that I think he needs it, but in the event you get stupid…or in this case, stupider. Also, it’s because I want to see your face when he tells you of our good news.”

“What good news? And Jake, don’t think I’ve not noticed that you’ve not given me your phone yet. I have some places to call before I move back in with you, so I want to get a good start on those places in the morning.” He just stood there. “You have no right to treat me this way. My daddy said you’d be a sap and do what I want when I want. Well, you’re not doing anything like you should.”

“And I won’t either. I wanted to come here to tell you, first of all, that my grandma has been murdered.” She tapped her foot. “You really are a cold, heartless bitch aren’t you? Anyway, I’ve also found someone to love. For the rest of my life.”

“Who? No one that I know would dare touch what is mine. Jake, you’re not marrying material, you know that, don’t you? I mean, I hate to break it to you, but you are a dumbass, as well as a prick at times. No one is going to ever love you.” She smiled at him. “Did you hear me? I said that you’re not going to find someone to love you, not unless they want to be dead too.”

“I’m his lover.” Jake smiled at the man, a smile that not only reached his eyes but seemed to be a part of his body. Carol looked at the other man and asked him what he was talking about. “Jake is my lover. We’re partners.”

“In your law firm.” He told her that as well. “I don’t understand. Lovers? You mean you like him. That the two of you are going to be law partners.”

“We’re lovers as in being in love with each other. We’re going to live together as lovers, die together as them as well, I guess. And yes, we’re also law firm partners.” Carol was still confused. “Jake and I are gay.”

“No. I don’t think so. No, he’s my husband and I’ll say what he is or not. And he’s not gay. I won’t have it.” The man laughed again. “Look, I don’t know what sort of games you’re playing here, but Jake is my husband, not some lover of yours. Not that he’d do that sort of thing, but he belongs to me. Daddy said so.”

“Well, your father is dead and I’m gay. A homosexual. And Forrest is my mate.” She stepped back from the bars, shaking her head. This wasn’t right. “And when you go to trial next week, I’m going to testify against you. By the way, the courts granted me an early divorce due to the fact that you’re a murderous bitch, and as your ex-husband, it’s my right to go on living without you interfering in my life; my new one.”

“You think you’re happy now, you just wait.” She looked at the two of them and noticed that they were holding hands. “Let him go. What is wrong with you? Do you want someone to see you like this? Daddy would be appalled. Christ, Jake, what will the neighbors think?”

“I don’t care what anyone thinks anymore. And I certainly don’t give a fuck what you think. I only came here to let you know that as of this very moment, I’m done with you.” She told him that he wasn’t until she said so. “You see, Carol, that is where you’re wrong. I don’t need you in my life, nor do I need your permission for anything I might do. Believe it or not, I’m a grown man who can and will make my own decisions.”

When he turned to walk away from her, she saw red. The fucker wasn’t going to get off that easily, and Carol told him to get back there. He just kept walking, holding hands with that other man.

“Jake, when I get out of here, you’re going to pay for this. I’m serious, you’re in deep shit with this, and I won’t have you embarrassing me like this. Get back here right now, you fucker. Jake, come back here.” When she heard the door shut she felt sick to her stomach, she was so angry. As she made her way to the bed again, she nearly screamed when she saw a man standing in the corner. “Who the fuck are you? You know, I don’t care. If you can get me out of here, I’ll pay you whatever you want. My daddy was rich.”

“I don’t care.” He moved to her, close enough that she had to step back or he’d touch her. But he still did, running his fingers over her cheek to her throat. “You’re such an ugly person, aren’t you? Inside and out. I will enjoy this, I think.”

“I don’t want you here.” Her blood was pounding in her ears and she could almost taste her own fear. “How did you get in here?”

“I can move very quickly and transport myself wherever I want to go. And even though I’d rather not be here, I think I must be.” He wrapped his fingers around her throat, and even thought it wasn’t tight, she could feel her breaths being cut off. “You are going to do just what I tell you, Carol Lane. I have no desire to have you turning up in the lives of my friends again and destroying their happiness.”

“I don’t know what you mean. Let me go.” She stood there, her body stiff with fear as he took her sheet from her bed. “What are you doing?”

“Tear this into strips for me. They don’t have to be even, just nice ones that you can use. Do it.” It was as if she had no choice. Taking the sheet from him, she started tearing it into strips. “Very good. Now tie the ends together into a long rope.”

“I don’t want to.” He only smiled at her and she fell backward. “You have fangs. I can see them; you have.... Are you a vampire?”

“I am indeed. I’m not going to tell you again to make a rope. I shall have to kill you myself if you don’t comply. And you need to suffer for the lives that you’ve ruined. Don’t disobey me again, Carol Lane, or I will end your miserable life.”

Carol did as she was told. Not that she knew why she was doing it, but she did. And when she had all the pieces together, she held it to her like a long blanket. He took it from her and slipped it over the top railing of the bars. Just raised up and wrapped it there.

“What do you think I’m going to do with that? It’s not going to free me.” He told her that in a way it would. “I’ll be able to go to my home? I have a lot of work to do there.”

“You’ll not have to worry about that at all. But I do have something to tell you. A promise I made to a dear friend of mine. Would you like to know what it was?” Carol told him that she didn’t care to hear about his friends. “Too bad. Jenna told me that should she die before you went away, that I was to come here and take care that you never got out to bother Jake again. She made me promise her that, even though I would have done it anyway. So here I am, fulfilling a promise to someone I loved dearly.”

“Jenna hated me.” He laughed at her. “Look, my daddy was really well off. If you just walk away now, I’ll give you a lot of money. Jenna is dead. It’s not like she’ll know if you did it or not anyway.”

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