The Rose

Chapter 10

His breath is fanning my face. His lips only centimetres away from mine. I lean forward, but I hesitate. “Wait” I say placing my hand on his chest.

“What’s wrong?” he asks taking my hand in his.

“I’m scared ,Ethan”

“Of what?”

“Getting hurt. I’m scared to get close to anyone anymore, because everyone who promised me they would stay, turned their back on me and walked away and you ignore me easily and I detest it. I really want to see where this goes, but you have to promise me you won’t ignore me again.”

“I promise I won’t leave, Kate. I promise I will stay ” he says placing a kiss on my cheek and it immediately reddens. I turn away.

“Don’t hide it. I think it’s adorable.”

“Do you want some coffee?” I ask desperately trying to change the subject and thankfully he nods. I get up and walk towards the kitchen. ‘Two sugars and one spoon of coffee, no milk’ I recite to myself remembering the last time I made him coffee. I look down at the cup. It’s dark brown, almost black. Just like Kai’s eyes, a strong rich colour. I shake my head metaphorically trying to get him out of my head and walk back towards where Ethan is.

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I open the door and greet Tim, the receptionist. After I finished going through a security check I’m in the common room once again. Jake is sitting in the far west corner gazing out the barred window. I slowly make my way towards him and he doesn’t notice when I sit down next to him. I clear my throat which catches his attention for a few seconds before looking outside the window again. “Excuse me?” I say touching his shoulder.

“Yes” he says with a voice that sends shivers down my spine.

“Grandpa, it’s me Caroline” I lie. He stares at me opens his mouth, but quickly closes it. “Your granddaughter? Do you remember me?”

He looks around frantically before leaning in and whispering “Someone’s after me, Charlotte.”

“I’m Caroline, grandpa, not Charlotte.”

“Listen, I don’t have much time. You’ve been my partner for years and you’re the only one who knows where we buried our last victim. You need to give her location to the police. It’s the only way. Please, they’re coming for me.”

“Your partner?” I ask.

“Don’t play dumb, Charlotte. You helped me kill those people. I protected you, now it’s your turn to protect me” he says. He thinks I’m some partner of him? I never read anything about a partner.

“What do you mean, Jake?”

“Stop it just stop it. You know what I mean, Charlotte. Please help me!!!” he shouts and he starts shaking my shoulders which draws the attention of the personnel. He keeps shouting and he lifts his hand. I close my eyes waiting for the impact, but it never came. I slowly open one eye and I see Kai standing in front of me with Jake’s arm clasped in his hand. “What are you doing?” he asks angrily.

I look at him unable to say anything. He releases Jake’s arm and grabs mine instead, dragging me to the reception area. “Kate, what on earth were you thinking. Do you know how dangerous that man is?”

“ What are you doing here? Are you following me or something?” I ask getting angry myself.

“ I asked the guy at the front desk if they accept volunteers and he said no so, I asked him to call me if you show up again. What are you up to Kate or wait is it Caroline?”

“ It’s none of your business. Why do you care so much about what I do?” I ask and he looks taken aback.

“Uhh” he scratches the back of his head. “Kate, this place is filled with very dangerous people. You may not come back here” he commands.

“You’re not my boss. Now let my arm go” I say and I yank my arm out of his hold, missing the warmth  his hand provided. “Just leave me alone, Kai.”

“I’ll leave you alone when you tell me what you’re really doing here.”

“Like I said it’s none of your business.”

“Please just promise me you’ll stay away from this place” he asks with pleading eyes. Damn those eyes.

“Fine”

“Promise?” I look at him with a face that screams ‘really?’. “Yes really, now promise me.”

“Fine, I promise.” Kai visibly relaxes and smiles at me. He takes my hand and kisses it. “Thank you” he whispers. I feel a smile forming on my lips and I turn away.

“Well, got to go” I say goodbye and walk towards my car not giving him time to say anything. At least now I know that Jake thinks someone is after him and he had a partner called Charlotte. Now I just need to find out who she is.

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Mountains of papers and books lay scattered on my bedroom floor. I’ve gotten everything there is about Jake Lindon and I’ve been searching for hours now, but I haven’t read a thing about a Charlotte. No former lover or childhood friend. What I did uncover only explains why he’s such a psycho.

His mother died when he was little and it destroyed his father. His father became an alcoholic and every night he would take beer bottles, break it and make Jake walk over the broken glass and when he refused his father would cut him with the glass. His father later put small pieces of glass in Jake’s food.

It’s bad, but it doesn’t justify torturing and killing over forty people. I also had a shitty childhood , but you don’t see me going around murdering innocent people.

Suddenly something catches my eye. It’s a photo of Jake and a woman with long tan legs, olive green eyes and blonde hair which is cut into a bob.

She’s beautiful. Jake is looking at her like she puts the stars in the sky, while she on the other hand is looking at the camera sporting a smile. They both look like they’re in their 20’s. I turn it over and read : Charlie and me. Can this Charlie be Charlotte? I swear I read something about a Charlie somewhere. I immediately scour the papers to find the one I’m searching for. I find it but before I could do read it I hear a big crash and a scream coming from downstairs.

“Kate! You up there? It’s me Ethan.” I quickly gather all the files and throw it under my bed before going downstairs, but I never imagined to see this. It’s Ethan and Mittens. It looks like a Texas showdown. Ethan is standing with his hands up defensively in the air and Mittens looks like she’s ready to pounce any minute now. I cautiously walk towards her, she turns around and rubs herself against my leg before sitting down in front of me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well I wanted to come and surprise you, but your cat just came out of nowhere. Almost gave me a heart attack. Since when do you have a cat?” he asks motioning towards Mittens.

“She was my mom’s.”

“Was? Why not anymore?” he asks looking me in the eye and before I could stop it a tear rolls down my cheek.

“Ey don’t worry it’s okay” he says walking closer but stops when Mittens starts hissing.

“Down girl. Let me see if I have any tuna.” I pick her up and walk towards the kitchen. Luckily I still have a can of tuna and I put into a plate on the floor for Mittens. My mom used to give her tuna, it was her favourite.

“So why did you want to surprise me?” I ask while walking back to Ethan.

“I promised you and I’m planning on keeping it. I’m staying.”