Page 21 of Desire

I waited patiently for him to begin. Softly, he began speaking. “I thought I was careful, but he must have followed me. I wanted to see her up close. Just once. I needed to know what she looked like, and if I looked like her. I told him I was going to the library, but I found some money he’d hidden, and I took the city bus into town. I walked around asking people where her street was until I found where she lived. Her address was in the papers I discovered after my parents died.”

My heart stopped at his words. He had to mean Bridget. I had a feeling this was going to be a long story. He took a shallow breath and continued. “I saw her leave, and she started walking toward downtown, so I followed her to this diner. I still had a little money left from the bus fare so I went in. She met a woman inside. I watched them for a while. Her friend kept glancing at me and finally pointed in my direction. She turned, and when she saw me, her eyes got wide, and I think she said my name. I only saw her mouth move. I got scared and ran. She followed me, but I’m fast. I could hear her screaming my name, but I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. He said he would hurt her. I didn’t mean for her to see me. I swear.”

When he paused with his story, I got up and refilled his glass of water. When I heard Malcolm had threatened Bridget I needed to control my fury. I didn’t want to scare the kid with the rage coursing through me. I’m sure my expression was ferocious. Once I had my rage under control, I brought Alex’s water out to him. He licked his lips before guzzling the liquid down. He kept hold of the glass and fiddled with it in his hands turning it first one way then the other. He took a deep breath and kept going.

“I raced all the way to the bus stop and caught the next bus home. When I got there he was waiting for me. He began questioning where I had been. I tried explaining I was at the library. He slapped me across the face and told me not to lie to him. He was so angry. He yelled at me that I was to stay away from her or we’d both be sorry. He grabbed me, I lost my balance, and fell to the floor. Then he began kicking me. I begged him to stop, but he didn’t listen. He just kept kicking. I curled into a ball, but it didn’t help. I lost track of time, but finally he stopped.

“When he was done, he walked into the living room like nothing had happened and just left me laying there. When the pain eased, I picked myself up off the floor and went to my room. I stayed there all night, hoping the pain would go away. I still hurt when I woke up this morning. I waited until he left, walked to the library, and called you.”

I had to keep my anger in check for the kid’s sake. I wanted to punch my hand through the wall. This kid, no kid, deserved abuse such as this. I needed Webber to come see Alex.

“Alex, I need you to talk to a friend of mine.” I told him.

“Who?” he asked hesitantly.

I knew this wasn’t going to go over well, but it needed to be said. “His name is Daniel. He’s a police officer with the Pinegrove Police. He —”

He interrupted me with a sharp shake of his head. “Hell no. You can’t call the cops. He said he’d hurt her. I gotta go. I’m going to be in so much trouble.”

Rage filled me at the thought of Bridget being threatened. “Alex, stop. Let us help you. He won’t hurt her. I promise. I’ll take care of her. But we need to talk to my friend.” I waited patiently as he weighed my words. I needed to get him to talk to Webber. Finally, with a slight nod, he agreed. I pulled out my phone and dialed the number.

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