Page 23 of Embracing My Nightmare
Pulling up to the curb, I offered a prostitute twenty dollars to tell me where Steve was. Money talks and I didn’t have time to dance around tonight. I needed to find him, end him, and get back to my lamb now. I had to figure out what happened today and wrap her up tightly in my arms, so she knew she was safe.
The pro pointed to a rundown bar at the corner and disappeared into the dark alley. The look in her eyes told me she knew trouble was coming and it was time to pack it in for the night. I pulled the car up to the curb and shot a look to the corner dealer who was slinging dope for all the junkies walking the streets.
His eyes grew wide and he nodded slowly as he too left the area. I could hear murmurs coming from the quickly fleeing people who lived and worked in the worst Portstill had to offer, the Flats. Walking into the bar, I scanned the few people who were sitting on the stools, nursing their drinks.
The place smelled of cigarettes, stale beer, and regret. Not seeing Steve, I walked to the bartender and slid a twenty across at him.
“Where is he?”
I had put out feelers for him as soon as I got the DNA tests back, so no one questioned me hunting the streets again. The bartender nodded his head to the small hallway as he pocketed the money, and I glanced at the three people sitting at the bar. They all buried their heads in their drinks, and I stalked down the hallway toward the end of Elise’s nightmares. Unstrapping my knife, I gripped the handle firmly as I opened the door to the men’s restroom.
Steve was slumped on the floor, a needle sticking from his arm and black liquid spilling from his mouth in a grotesque river of drool. The rubber tubing waswrapped around his arm and I could tell from the look in his eyes he was dead already. I roared into the bathroom, feeling cheated that he took the easy way out, and I heard stools in the bar tip over against the filthy wooden floor.
I pursed my lips and blew a huge breath out through my nose as I turned and left the putrid bathroom. As I moved to the door, I glanced at the bartender who was tossing a shot back with a bored expression on his weathered, greasy face.
“Asshole overdosed.” I tilted my head toward the bathroom and left.
Cranking the car, I sent a text to James letting him know I was driving back home tonight, and I should be in before sunrise. He let me know Elise was asleep in her bedroom and I exhaled the tension as I drove back to my love. The sky was still dark as I parked my car in the garage and headed straight for Elise’s apartment.
Using the key I made for myself I tried to unlock the door, only to find it wedged closed from the inside. Whoever terrified her was already dead, they just didn’t know it yet. Running up to my apartment, I let myself in and found James watching the monitors and typing away on his computers with lightning speed.
He and I met through our mutual past and remained friends when things got bad. He stayed with me through the streets and into the world of big money. James was the best at what he did, so if he was that busy, he was already making progress. I didn’t have to tell him what to do—he knew to find out whoever had petrified my lamb. Extending his phone to me, I looked at the picture he took of the man in the park and I zoomed in, trying to place where I knew him.
“She’s still asleep,” he said as I handed his phone back.
“Who the fuck is he?” I asked, removing my hunting gear.
I was going to Elise, but I needed to be clean and remove the smell of death before I reassured my lamb. Even though I didn’t spill that bastard's blood his filth was covering me and she deserved to have no part of him touch her again. James picked up his laptop and followed me into my bathroom as I turned on the water and stepped inside the glass shower. I didn’t give a fuck if he was in the room or not.
“I can’t get a read on his face to match with the software. It was too far away, and his face was covered in dirty hair and a hat. I’ve got Freddie and Skid searching the park for him, but so far, they haven’t turned up any leads,” he replied as I came out and began to quickly dry my body.
Moving into the bedroom, I started dressing as I turned to him. “I don’t care what it takes, find out who he is and bring him to me.”
He nodded and I walked out the front door, determined to have Elise in my arms. She needed me to push the demons away and whoever disrupted her peace was going to die.
Chapter 8
