The Secrets That We Keep (12 page)

“Jade says she’s on her way. I can’t wait to dance!” Michelle yells while doing a little dance in her seat.

“Obviously,” I laugh.

“Anna
, when we get inside, you are taking another shot and getting another drink. You are way too sober for me right now. We’re supposed to be forgetting our problems and you’re sitting over there like someone ran over your puppy.”

“Okay, fine.
Shots on you!”

“Body shots?
I didn’t know you liked me like that,” she says playfully, while putting her hand on my leg.

“Shut up!” I say, smacking her hand and laughing.

We pull up to the club, pay the cabbie and hop out. The club is pretty big and people are waiting outside. We stand in line for a few minutes before we make our way inside. Once we’re in, we’re lost in the large group of people. It’s packed! We hold hands and make our way to the bar.

“I told Jade to meet us at the bar, so hopefully we’ll spot her soon. Let’s get you some drink
s!” Michelle shouts.

I order another Long Island, as does she, and she orders two more shots. We throw the shots back real quick and then start drinking our other drink immediately. I can feel the warmth in my chest from all the alcohol
, but I do start to loosen up and we begin dancing by the bar.

Fifteen or twenty minutes later
, Jade arrives.

“Well, look at you bitches.
Y’all drunk already?” Jade says, popping up out of nowhere.

“
Nooo! We’re not drunk,” I yell towards her. I may not be drunk, but I’m feeling pretty tipsy and it feels nice.

Jade gives me a look that says she knows better and orders two shots for herself. We end up moving to another part of the floor and dance until our feet hurt. We eventually go find a place to sit and I end up telling them about Lucas. Not everything. Just that I happened to see him.

“He still looks sooo good,” I slur.

Michelle and Jade giggle and start firing off questions.

“What does he look like?”

“Do you have pictures?”

“Why haven’t you ever told us about him before?”

“Is he single?”

I don’t know who is asking what.

“I think he’s single. H
e’s tall and handsome, blue eyes, short dirty blond hair, and I don’t know why I never brought him up, just been a long time.” I take another sip of my drink.

“I need to see this guy!” Michelle exclaims.

“He probably isn’t as sexy as Julian though,” Jade says.

“Oh no, Julian is
caliente!” Michelle laughs.

“Michelle, please don’t try to speak Spanish. You sound ridiculous,” I say to her.

“Si senorita!” She says, laughing even harder. And then we’re all giggling over any and everything.

I take out my phone and try to text Julian that I’m fine, but I know I’m not spelling words correctly.

Me:
Heeeyy baaabyy!! I love youu. Just wantd to let yu know im ok. See you latr.

I watch my phone for a couple minutes, waiting for him to respond, but he never does. He may be asleep. I’m about to put my phone back in my purse when it vibrates in my hand. I look down and I momentarily stop breathing.

Lucas:
Are you stalking me?

I immediately start looking around to see if I can see him in here anywhere. Jade and Michelle are engrossed in a conversation about Jackson. Why would he ask if I’m stalking him? He’s probably stalking me.

Me:
Psh! U wish. Yur probaly stalkin me. Where are u?

Lucas:
Watching you struggle to spell words correctly.

I lift my head again and try to get my eyes to focus. There are so many people in here and the flashing lights are messing with my eyes. I don’t see him anywhere. I start realizing he’s a pretty good stalker. Not cool.

Me:
Leave me alone.

I took a few minutes to type out that text because I wanted to make sure all the words were spelled correctly.

Lucas:
Okay, but just so you know, I am single.

I gasp and look around one more time. He was close to us. He heard my whole conversation about him to my friends.
Great.

“Who are you looking for?” Michelle asks.

“Nobody. Let’s go dance,” I say as I stand up and pull her to her feet. I grab Jade with my other hand and we make our way onto the dance floor.

After moving our hips and bodies suggestively and getting sweaty all over again, we decide it’s time for a bathroom break. We all hold hands so we don’t lose each other and create a follow the leader type line
, fighting through the crowd to get to the bathroom. Jade and Michelle get the two empty stalls first and then, when some drunk girl stumbles out of her stall, I take her place. When I’m done, I go to the sink to wash my hands and try to touch up my make-up and hair.

“Ugh, I look like a gross sweaty beast,” I say to Jade. I don’t see Michelle anywhere.

“Shoot, you and me both.”

I grab a rubber band and tie my hair up into a ponytail since my sweat has caused my hair to start becoming curly and frizzy.

“Where’s Michelle?” I ask Jade who is applying some lip gloss to her lips.

“She said she saw somebody she knew and wanted to say hi or something.”

“Oh, must be her friend she said I’d meet earlier.”

“What friend? Michelle doesn’
t have many friends,” Jade jokes.

“I don’t know, she mentioned it earlier. Let’s go look for her before we never find her again.”

We exit the bathroom and when we leave the hallway and make our way towards the bar I spot Michelle with her back against the bar and her elbows propping her up and pushing her chest out.

Jade lets out a sigh beside me. “Here we go again with this shit.”

“What? Her flirting?”

“Well, yeah. But with those guys.”

I turn back and see two guys standing near Michelle but their backs are to me so I can’t see their faces. Jade and I stop short from where Michelle is shamelessly flirting with these guys, not concerned with her huge diamond wedding ring that she keeps flashing every time she goes to touch one of their arms. We order another drink and when we turn around, Michelle and the two guys are gone.

“Where’d they go?” I ask in a panic.

“I don’t know, they were just there,” Jade answers.

We both take off and start looking for Michelle. Not only do we need to stop her from doing something stupid since she’s married, we need to make sure she’s safe. These guys could have slipped her a date rape drug or something.

Jade and I fight through the crowd, trying to spot her, but there are so many people we end up getting separated too. Great. I’m by myself in this huge club. I hope they have their cell phones on them so we can all get in touch with each other. I keep looking through the crowd of people who are either pushing me out of the way or trying to dance with me as I walk by. I suddenly feel myself flying towards the floor. It was a combination of being knocked into and tripping over somebody else’s foot.

“Whoa there, you need to be more careful.”

I hear the voice right as I feel his hands on my arm, keeping me from falling. I look up and look into a face that is fairly familiar. I squint and try to see clearly.

“Lucas?”

He chuckles. “Are you that drunk?”

“You look…different.”

I take a minute to inspect him. His face is no longer carrying the beard/moustache combo he had just earlier today. He is back to the smooth face I remember from when we dated. His eyes also look different, not the beautiful baby blues I remember, they’re darker somehow. He’s wearing a black baseball cap and a black long sleeved shirt that is hugging the muscles in his arms and chest perfectly. I shake my head and look away, realizing I had been staring at him for a little while.

“I think you’re just drunk,” he says with a laugh.

“Yeah, I am. I need to find my friends,” I say as I begin to dig through my purse to find my phone. I almost drop everything onto the dance floor. “Shit!”

“Come on,” Lucas demands, pulling me off the dance floor.

“Where we goin?” I mutter as he pulls me along.

He doesn’t answer
me; he just puts me against a wall where there aren’t many people and grabs my purse from me.

“Hey!” I whine.

“Calm down, I’m just getting your phone out so you don’t lose all your belongings.”

He pulls out my phone along with some gum wrappers and
my photo holder that must have fallen out of my wallet. I reach out and grab the phone out of his hands causing him to drop the gum wrappers and photos. He bends down to pick them up as I’m trying to scroll through my contacts.

He makes a noise and I look up to see him staring at my photos and his face is a mixture of fury and somet
hing else I can’t quite place. Betrayal?

“Oh, you probably didn’t want to see that, huh?” I ask, remembering he said he’d prefer to never see Julian.

He looks up at me and the look on his face frightens me. He snatches my phone and throws it in my purse and grabs me by the arm and starts yanking me out of the club.

“Stop!
What are you doing? Let me go!” I yell. Nobody can hear me though. The club is so loud and packed nobody notices a man forcing a woman out of the club into the empty dark street.

“Shut the fuck up,” He
growls. “You really fucked up Annabella.”

I don’t know what he’s talking about but he has quickly turned into somebody I don’t know and somebody I know I should fear. I don’t know what time it is, I don’t know where he’s taking me, I don’t know where my friends are and I’m suddenly scared sober. I think of Julian
who is at home waiting for me. Julian who told me to be careful. Julian who asked where I’d be…just in case.

I
can feel myself slowly awakening from unconsciousness. How I became unconscious is a mystery. Did I simply pass out because of the alcohol? Was I purposely put into unconsciousness by drugs or physical force? I don’t know. My head is pounding, my neck is sore and my throat feels raw. I very slowly open my eyes and try to examine the room I’m in without moving my body so if anybody is in here with me, they won’t know I’m awake.

The room is dark and small but seems nice enough. The bed I’m lying in is what looks to be a full size bed with soft sheets and a soft pillow. There’s a nightstand next to me with a little lamp that isn’t on. I see a dresser on the far side of the room and a window on the right wall. After determining that I am indeed alone, I allow myself t
o sit up and stretch out my aching body. I’m wearing a large T-shirt that isn’t mine, and my underwear. I notice a glass of water on the nightstand with two white pills. I’m afraid to take the pills in case it isn’t just a pain reliever so I don’t.

Where
am I?

Why am I here?

Will I ever leave?

I remember Lucas pulling me out of the club but I don’t remember why. I know he was pissed off
, but again, I don’t know why. I wonder how long I’ve been asleep. Are my friends okay? Are they worried about me? Have they contacted Julian and are they looking for me? I never told them Lucas was there and when I did talk about him, I only had good things to say.

A noise outside the door startles me and I quickly lay my head down on the pillow
and pull the covers to my chin. I keep my eyes glued to the door waiting to see who walks in. I hear a noise further away and then I hear yelling. Two men are screaming at each other but I can’t make out what they are saying exactly. I hear a door slam and then footsteps stalking towards my door. After what seems like an eternity, the door slowly creaks open. I see a figure walk into the doorway and look at the bed. I can’t close my eyes and pretend I’m still asleep. I’m frozen in fear. My eyes are probably as wide as saucers as I watch the dark shadow of a man who is now walking to my side of the bed, holding a gun in his hand.

“So tell me,” the voice says. “D
id you know that you were married to a killer?”

I don’t respond. I can’t. I continue to lay there
, my body trembling in fear.

“Well I can tell you
this; if you did know, I can guaran-fuckin-tee you didn’t know that his next victim was going to be you.”

He pauses, waiting for me to react but I can’t. I don’t know if I’m shocked
or in denial.

He lets out a harsh laugh. “I didn’t think so. Why don’
t you think about that for a while and then I’ll come back and we can talk.”

“
W
hat the fuck?” Cyrus yells as he walks into the living room. “Did you know about this shit?”

Gage
takes a drag of his cigarette before answering. “Hell no, man. I had no idea. This is some fucked up shit.”

“
You think they got something goin on? You know, like…”

“
Don’t even fucking finish that sentence! I don’t even want to think about it. I just don’t understand.” Gage starts pacing through the living room running his hand over his head. Not only had he been fooled by someone he thought he knew, but now he was realizing that two people had fooled him. He couldn’t make sense of any of it.

“So, do you think she knows anything? Do you think she’s just
fuckin’ with us? Or do you think she’s innocent in this whole thing?” Cyrus asks.

“Innocent is
something she definitely isn’t,” Gage answers grievously.

Cyrus
walks over to the ashtray and puts out his cigarette before grabbing the carton out of his pocket and pulling out another one to light up.

“Obviously she isn’t innocent, but I mean, innocent in this…I don’t even know what to call it, new development? I just can’t believe she isn’t involved somehow. How do you live with a killer and not know?”
Cyrus asks, dumbfounded.

Gage scoffs but doesn’t say anything.

“This is probably why we’ve had so many problems with this situation,” Cyrus says as he walks to the couch and drops into it. “Remember when I said I was going to call Michael and tell him never mind, that it was a mistake?”

“Yeah, and?” Gage asks.

“Well, he said he didn’t think it was a mistake,” Cyrus pauses for effect. “Said he’d still handle it.”

“Okay,
soo…” Gage drags out, unsure of where his friend is going with this.

“S
o, he really wants her dead.”

“He’s also a fucking liar who is living two different fucking lives! Who is this guy? Do we even know? Maybe he wants to kill us.” Gage starts pacing again and then makes his way to the kitchen to get a beer.

“We can’t trust him that’s for sure, but we also can’t trust her. So what’s our move?” Cyrus asks.

“I wish I knew.”

Cyrus stands up and grabs the gun from the coffee table. “Well I do. Let’s just kill her and get it over with. Problem solved.”

“I don’t know. Now that we know she’s married to the
guy, that might not be a smart move. What if they were working together? What if he didn’t plan on killing her and we just piss him off by doing it? Then he’ll be after us…if he isn’t already.”

“So you’re a pu
ssy now? We have to do this. If we don’t, and Dante finds out we didn’t handle this, after all these years…we’re dead anyway.” Cyrus sticks the gun in the back of his pants and starts walking down the hall. “Don’t forget, she’s dangerous too, it’s best to get rid of her.”

“And about her husband?”
Gage asks.

“He was
gonna kill her, man. It’s what he does. We’re making this easier for him.”