50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Thirty-Six

    "Brian!" Destiny screamed.

    He continued to hold Jeremiah's head under the water, as if he didn't even hear her. Jeremiah's arms flailed in the air, clawing at Brian.

    She ran to him, but stopped about a foot behind him, scared to get any closer. "Brian?"

    He arched a look at her over his shoulder, and the look in his eyes was crazed.

    "I'm okay," she told him.

    "He...he hurt you," Brian said, breathing heavily.

    "He did, but I'm okay now," she said, dropping down to her knees beside him.

    Jeremiah's flailing arms lost steam and started to droop.

    Destiny reached out and grabbed Brian's arm. "You can stop now, since I'm okay."

    He shook his head, staring at her while continuing to keep Jeremiah's head submerged. "I can't stop."

    "I'm telling you that you can," she said softly, trying to keep the fear out of her eyes and her voice.

    "He hurt you and he was going to take you," Brian told her slowly. "He could have taken you and I would have never seen you again. I would have never been able to tell you that I...how I..." He lowered his gaze and turned his attention back to Jeremiah. "He has to die. Palmer has to die."

    Her hand fell away from his arm. "But Brian..."

    "No." Brian sniffed, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. "People are dying. So Palmer... and everyone he works with...they all have to die."

    Jeremiah's arms dropped lifelessly by his sides.

    Still, Brian held his head beneath the water.

    Tears filled Destiny's eyes as she stared into the fountain. Translucent water mingled with streams of red blood from open wounds, both illuminated by deep blue lights. She wanted to run. She wanted to run outside, screaming her head off. But she remained near Brian, weeping quietly.

    When he finally released Jeremiah, he sat back, staring into the fountain. The lights from the fountain cast the reflection of ripples on his face. Still breathing as if he'd just ran a marathon, he raised his hands and looked down at them.

    Destiny watched him with tears frozen in her eyes.

    "I just killed someone," he whispered. "Someone is dead...because I killed him."

    She nervously bit her bottom lip and touched his arm gently. "Hey."

    He turned his head and looked at her, and his facial expression cleared. It was as if he was acknowledging her presence for the first time. "Destiny." His brows drew together. "I just killed someone. I killed someone, and I don't...I don't know what to do."

    "We have to call the police," she told him.

    "The police?" he repeated dumbly.

    "We can't leave without calling the police," she explained to him in the tone she'd use with a kindergartner. "It would look suspicious."

    "Right," he said. "Right."

    She stared at him, and she didn't recognize him. The man who'd been caring for her for the past few weeks...the man who'd gone out to grab her dinner, because she'd stupidly skipped lunch...that man, she knew. The man in front of her, who seemed to be suffering from shock, was a stranger. And Jeremiah is dead now, she thought, turning her eyes to the lifeless body hanging over the edge of the fountain. "Where is your phone?" she asked Brian.

    He reached into his pocket, pulled the small gadget out, and stared down at it.

    "Can I...can I have it?" she asked him timidly, holding out her hand.

    His eyes locked on hers and he handed it over, without hesitation.

    She maintained eye contact with him for another moment before sliding her finger across his cell phone screen. "Can you unlock it for me?"

    "Yeah. Of course." He leaned close to her and punched in the lock screen code.

    She punched 9-1-1 into the dialer.

    Brian stood up and started to pace.

    The operator that answered made attempts to keep Destiny on the phone by asking her a ton of questions, but Destiny kept it to the basics: someone attacked her, her manager fought to protect her, and now she feared that her attacker was dead. She ended the call and tried to stop her hand from trembling around the phone. When she looked up, she saw Brian staring towards Jeremiah with a pained expression on her face. With a sigh, she stood up and walked over to him. "The police are on their way, and they're sending an ambulance."

    He continued staring at Jeremiah.

    "Brian." She raised a hand and touched his cheek.

    He turned his eyes to her. "He said...that you would never love me. That I could punch him as much as I wanted, but that I'd never have a chance."

    Her heart went out to him. "He said a lot of things, but he's gone now. You don't have to worry about him."

    "I can't believe I really did that." His bottom lip quivered. "I wanted him dead because he tried to hurt you...because he almost took you away. I wanted him dead but I didn't think I really could..."

    She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. "Everything is okay now."

    He stood stiff in her arms. "Your head." He placed a finger beneath her chin and tilted her head up. "We should go to the hospital. Get you checked out."

    "We can't go anywhere, not until the police come and check everything out," she reminded him.

    "Right," he said somberly. "The police."

    "I'm here with you," she told him. "All we have to tell them is what happened. Jeremiah attacked me and tried to forcefully take me with him. You came and saw what he was doing, and you protected me."

    The blank look in Brian's eyes was beginning to worry her. If he didn't snap out of it soon, he would still be in this shocked stupor when the police arrived.

    "Do you understand?" she asked him.

    He nodded. "I protected you."

    "You did," she said, her voice cracking. "You saved my life." She rested her head against his chest. A moment later, she felt his arms circling around her.

     They stood like that, in a comforting embrace, until the sound of sirens drew near.