Page 36 of Deadly Obsession
I had no idea if I was doing the right thing but I’d heard everything he’d said, and I believed in him. Lola was his friend too. He wouldn’t have killed her! No one was thinking right, least of all Brian I was sure. The guy was in love with her.
James struggled in my arms, trying desperately to tell me something beneath the duct tape, but all I heard was mumbling.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said softly as my tears dropped onto his face.
Then I lowered my head to his chest and reached my hands around to his, slipping the item I’d taken from his nightstand into his fingers. I felt his body calm, likely recognizing the familiar weight and shape of his switchblade. The chances of me getting Brian to let James go was definitely outweighed by the likelihood of Brian’s grief overcoming him and causing him to execute James before we had a chance to figure out what happened.
Even if James somehow did do it, I couldn’t bear the thought of him being killed. He very well could be telling thetruth. Perhaps there was some crazy cult in these mountains targeting young adults. It had been done in so many films; it could definitely be the case here.
“Sera! Get off him. He’s a monster!” Brian yelled from behind me as he gripped both of my arms so firmly I was certain to bruise.
“Brian, you’re hurting me! Let him go!” I shouted in harmony with the somehow louder and more primal scream James made from beneath his duct-taped mouth.
His features had become horrifying in a way that restarted my brain. Veins bulging through red skin as if they could tear through his restraints, his eyes so dark it was as if all the pigment was gone.
I continued to struggle to get out of Brian’s hold, but his grip was firm as he lifted me up. Something kicked against the inside of my foot and forced me to separate my legs. James seemed to kip beneath me, the action followed by a crunching noise, and suddenly Brian was collapsing onto my back, screaming in pain directly into my ear. All three of us were now piled uncomfortably on top of one another, me on top of James and Brian flailing on my back.
With a quick heave, I sent him flopping off and he sat up, his hands gripping his knee, which seemed to bend backwards while his leg twisted off to the side. My jaw dropped at the realization. James had knocked my leg out of the way and kicked Brian’s knee with so much force that he’d broken it.
Oh my God, what the fuck had I gotten myself into?
I couldn’t help but glance back and forth between the two men repeatedly. James looked like a caged beast, like something not of this world. It scared me.
“Brian!” Danielle called out just as she and Jade filed into the room, making the space feel more confined. The girls went to help Brian up before Jade broke off, grabbing and tugging me away from James. This time, I didn’t fight it.
After all, did I really know James well enough to confidently argue that he would have never killed Lola?
I couldn’t say that I did.
A couple of hours later, and we’d all finally settled into the living room after going off in pairs to grab our phones and other comforts. The power was still out.
“Sera, I’m sorry but you have no idea what that man is truly capable of. None of us do.” Brian winced as he spoke.
None of us had any medical training beyond CPR it seemed, but apparently Jade was confident that she’d seen enough war movies to know that he needed a splint to keep his leg from moving and risking the broken bones around his knee slicing an artery. Therefore, she’d taken the handles off the mop and broom she’d found in the closet and duct taped them along the outside of his thigh. No one protested.
“Look, I wasn’t going to say anything, but there’s something you ladies don’t know about him. Robert didn’t have a family emergency. James beat the bloody hell out of him.” Brian paused, grimacing as he tried to adjust himself on the couch.
“What!” Jade and Danielle called out in unison.
I said nothing. I was speechless and only half listening, as my mind kept replaying the events of the entire vacation. We’d made so many lovely memories, but then they all kept getting chased away by the image of James’s face in the pantry. So much pent-up emotion that scared me to my core. Rage and a feral, menacing intensity.
“It’s true. He’d claimed that Robert had tried to drug Lyndsey. Roofies. When I came inside, James was on the verge of killing him. Ended up saying he was going to make Robert leave and instructed me to keep it a secret so as not to ruin the trip for you girls. At first, I believed him. Always thoughtJames was on the up-and-up. Now, though…” Brian paused, his brows furrowing as he shuffled towards the shotgun propped up beside Danielle’s chair.
“Now you’re thinking James actually killed Robert,” Jade said, and began to cry again. She’d had a crush on Robert. Frankly, she had a crush oneveryone. But Robert seemed to be the only one to encourage her, which made it harder on the girl.
“Oh, Jade, darling, I’m sure Robert is totally fine. He was in the live chat, remember? He can’t be dead!” Danielle said, as she leaned over to wrap an arm around her friend.
“Yes, that’s true, isn’t it? Surely he’s alive. Forgive me. I’m just trying to take this all in still. What I do know is that man is not coming out of that pantry so long as I live. Or at the very least until the constable gets here,” Brian said in the weakest attempt to sound confident and comforting I’d ever heard.
I pushed up and made my way towards the kitchen, only to have Brian immediately protest.
“Sera, don’t you dare!” he yelled, and I turned in time to watch him attempt to get up from the couch and fail.
“Easy, Brian. I’m grabbing something for Jade from the kitchen.”
Stepping over to the refrigerator, I opened the freezer door and grabbed a tub of Ben & Jerry’s “Totally Nuts” ice cream. It was one of Jade’s favorites. It looked delicious, but I was deathly allergic to nuts. Then, because I knew she was so obsessed with having us believe she was sticking to her diet, I grabbed one of her kombucha bottles before I made my way back to her with a dishcloth, a spoon, and the treats.
“Hey, Jade, it’s kinda melted and runny but it’s still cold. I know ice cream really calms my nerves.” I offered her a smile, and Danielle gave me a nod as she pulled back with Jade’s approval.
