Page 72 of Dance With Me
“Really? I saw you, with Clare. She was hugging you.”
“She came round on Saturday and confessed it all. Her hug was a goodbye. She moved out just after you left to go to your parents, and I’ve hardly seen her since then. Her coming round on Saturday was to let me go, to let us go. She wanted to apologise to you as well, but I told her we weren’t together anymore. I’d like to think you’ll change your mind about that.” Joe had a shy look on his face, his eyes hopeful.
Seb reached up and stroked his face.
“I can’t wait to see where this goes, Joe. It’s all I’ve thought about for months. And now we can really try. Consider my mind changed.” Seb could hardly contain the butterflies that crowded his stomach. This was everything he’d longed for.
“I’m not going anywhere, not anymore,” Joe said and bent down to kiss Seb’s forehead. “I’ll be here as long as you want me. Now, let me go and find your parents. They’ll be relieved to hear you’re awake.”
Joe stepped out of the room, and Seb closed his eyes. The sensation of Joe’s lips still lingered, and he smiled slowly. Joe still wanted him, and fuck if he didn’t want him too.
A few moments later, his parents entered the room, his mother fussing and his father standing off to the side. He listened to his mother ramble about Joe’s house, about his brother and sister and how they’d all been beside themselves worrying about him. He hoped he made noises in the right places, but he could feel exhaustion creeping in again, and he closed his eyes, just for a moment.
A little while later, the doctor came back in and started to detail his injuries. Broken wrist and ankle, abdominal bruising, a couple of cuts to his head but no lasting damage to his brain that they could see. He should make a complete recovery. Guess he wasn’t going to be dancing for a while, though. Good job it was coming up on the summer break; he’d have time to heal and for his broken bones to mend. Once the doctor had carried out some more tests—more lights in his eyes—she and his parents left the room and were replaced by Natalia and Dom.
“Oh my God, Seb. I’ve been so worried. With you gone, who’d put up with this sorry arse all the time? What the hell were you thinking about getting into a car with a maniac?” Dom asked.
Seb hadn’t had much time to think about what had happened, but now Dom had reminded him, he started to piece together the events of Saturday—the rain, the car, Ed, the accident.
“I was dragged into the car, not much choice in the matter. It was Ed, Daniel’s brother. He was the one stalking me. I swear he was fucking mental, kept talking to himself, and it was like he was listening to voices.” Seb shuddered and screwed his eyes shut, trying to rid his mind of the harrowing images.
“OK. It’s OK, Seb. You don’t have to worry about that now. He’s gone.” Natalia glared at Dom. “Just leave him be, Dom. He still needs to recover.”
They chatted for a while about when Natalia was moving away, but Seb got progressively more tired until he fell asleep, Dom’s and Natalia’s voices fading gradually.
The following day, the police were there, ready to take his statement.
“So, are you feeling well enough to talk about this? Do you remember what happened?” Detective Hopkins sat on the chair at the side of his bed.
“I remember it was raining, and then suddenly someone was in front of me and knocked me out. I came round in the car and realised it was Ed, Daniel’s brother. That’s why I’d thought I’d recognised him in the club. They were alike, similar build and colouring, but Ed was a little taller than Daniel. He sounded strange, though. He kept talking to himself.”
The detective nodded. “Yes, it appears he had a cocktail of drugs in his system. Some were prescribed medication, but the others we found were psychotic drugs. It was a wonder he was still functioning, let alone driving. We identified him eventually from his fingerprints. He’d been arrested a couple of times for possession, some petty thefts, but nothing like this.” The detective got out his notebook and pen.
“When was the last time you saw him, other than Saturday?”
Seb explained that the last time they’d spoken was just after Daniel’s death, that Ed had blamed him but then seemed to accept that Daniel had overdosed accidentally. He hadn’t seen or spoken to him since.
The police hadn’t been able to find where he’d been staying and thought it was likely that he’d been sleeping in the car. Seb could easily believe that—the smell of the car, the rotting food had been just… urgh!
“So, after you woke up in the car, what happened?”
“After I woke up, he put me in the front of the car and put my seatbelt on. Is that what saved my life?” Seb asked. He hadn’t been able to understand why he hadn’t sustained more severe injuries.
The detective nodded.
“OK, so Ed carried on driving, but he was raving the whole time, saying how Daniel should have loved him, not me, that ‘the others’ were telling him to kill me. He kept going faster, and when we hit the bend, he took his hands off the wheel and looked at me. I don’t really remember anything else.” Seb was so tired after he’d related the story, but he needed to know what had happened to Ed.
“Did he survive? Have you got him in custody?”
“Unfortunately, he was killed in the accident. Ashewasn’t wearing his seatbelt, he was thrown from the car, and it would appear he died on impact with another tree. I’m sorry.”
“That bastard put me through hell these past few months. I shouldn’t be sorry that he’s dead, yet I am. I should have made more of an effort with him after Daniel died. I was so upset; I didn’t think of anyone else. I’m sorry he had to die like that.” Seb was genuinely sorry that Ed had died, but at least now he was safe, and that, in itself, was something to be thankful for.
“We’re still trying to piece things together about his whereabouts the last couple of years and hopefully will have some answers for you soon. Once you’re feeling better, we’ll need you to come down to the station to sign your statement, and then the matter will be closed once and for all. I’m just sorry it came to this for us to close the case.” Detective Hopkins seemed sincere, and Seb was just thankful that it was all over.
“I know it wasn’t your fault. There was nothing more you could have done, but thank you anyway.”
After the interview, Seb was so tired he thought he could sleep for a week. He felt his eyes start to close when Joe walked in, a bag of food in his hands.
