Foolish Games Read online

  Jessie and the rest arrived at the cabin an hour later. Josh was considered to be armed and dangerous so there were about five officers with them. The officers were out their cars before Jessie and her father were and they practically stormed the house.

  Jessie and her father followed them in.

  "He’s not here!" they heard an officer shout.

  Jessie was in the house looking around when an officer came up to her.

  " Jessie can you come with me please. We found a body and we want to know if you can identify her."

  Her? Jessie’s mind instantly went to Erica.

  Jessie felt her heart stop as she walked into the room and saw a body wrapped in a sheet on the bed. Her hand flew to her mouth as she approached the bed to see the face.

  "OhmyGod! Britney?!" Jessie squeaked. She couldn’t believe it.

  "You know this girl?" the officer asked her.

  "U-uh yes. She goes to school with me." Jessie said still in shock. She blinked disbelievingly.

  The officer took her arm and led her out the room just as the ambulance arrived.

  "I-is she dead?" Jessie asked when she was out the room.

  "I’m afraid so. From the looks of it, I’d say she was raped and then beaten to death." The officer then excused himself and went to speak to the paramedics.

  Jessie still stood there, trying to come to terms with what just happened. Her father came up to her then and seeing the look of utter shock and fear in his daughter’s eyes, hugged her tightly. Jessie started to cry.

  "You don’t understand, dad!" she wailed, "I hated this girl..so much. And to think that Josh killed her." Her voice broke then as the sobs took over.

  "Excuse me? Jessie?" another officer came up to her.

  Jessie looked up at him and wiped her tears with the back of her hands.

  "Yes?"

  "Josh left a message for you. Do you want to hear it?" Jessie looked at him confused, "It’s on the answering machine."

  Jessie went directly to the answering machine and turned it on.

  "Hey Jessie! Sorry about Britney. It’s you I wanted but she came in handy. Anyway, what I really wanted to tell you was that since you’re trying so hard to avoid me, I’ll just have to find some other way to get to you. Now your friend got away last time but I noticed that she happened to be home quite a lot these days. Wonder what’s wrong? And since Mommy and daddy aren’t home..well.."

  "Shit! He’s going after Erica!" Jessie cried. She practically ran to her car and drove off.

  CHAPTER 37

  Erica’s house was huge. There were three stories and the entire house was surrounded by huge iron fencing. The main gate had an intercom so one would have to get authorization to get in. There were also about four mean-looking dogs surrounding the house as well.

  Josh ground his teeth in frustration when he noticed. He had been in his car parked his car a short distance away from Erica’s home and he was trying to figure out a way in but to no avail.

  He really didn’t need Erica. I mean, sure he wanted to use her as bait to get to Jessie but the fact that she escaped him with Jessie made him want to get even with her somehow.

  He saw a pizza delivery car drive up to the house and smiled. That was his way in. How convenient for him that Erica decided to order pizza today!

  "Okay Kev, I’m here." Brian said taking a seat opposite his cousin in the cafe.

  "Brian, why did you break up with Erica?" Kevin asked him simply.

  "She didn’t tell you?" Brian asked lifting an eyebrow.

  "Yes she did. But I want to hear it from you."

  "She’s pregnant Kevin. For you if I might add." Brian added almost sarcastically.

  "Is that why? Brian, Erica and I slept together ONCE and that was when we were together!" Kevin said. He needed to do this. For all of them. He knew how much Brian loved Erica and vice versa and he knew that Erica needed someone right now and it wasn’t him. He needed to convince Brian of that.

  "It doesn’t matter. She’s pregnant for you. Nothing can change that." Brian said shaking his head, "Besides, she said she always loved me, how could she have slept with you if she did!"

  "Brian! You were the one that left her!" Kevin said, "She thought you didn’t love her anymore!"

  "I did! I do!"

  "It’s sort of my fault." Kevin said then.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Even though I knew that Erica went out with you, I still dated her. I was the one who wanted to go further in our relationship not Erica. But she did anyway. I hope I didn’t pressure her though." Kevin said a little thoughtfully.

  ‘I know she cares about you Kevin. It’s obvious that she does."

  "But she doesn’t love me like she does you." Kevin said, "And I’ve accepted that."

  There was a few seconds of silence.

  “What would you do if I told you that she lost the baby?" Kevin asked then.

  "What?" Brian asked looking at him, "Erica lost the baby?"

  "Yes, she didn’t tell you? I figured as much." Kevin said.

  "But how? Why didn’t she tell me?" Brian was confused and shocked.

  "Did you really think that she would after everything you did to her?"

  Brian shook his head and got up and left the cafe. He got in his car and headed to Erica’s house.

  Josh had hit the pizza delivery guy and got in his car. He was about to go to the intercom when he saw a car headed this way, he pretended that he was going to the house next door instead.

  Brian drove up to Erica’s house and to the intercom where one of the maids let him in.

  Josh saw him go in and cursed to himself. Damn! This guy had bad timing. Why did he have to choose now to see Erica? Now he was going to have to wait. And he didn’t like waiting.

  CHAPTER 38

  Erica was in her room flipping through a magazine when there was a knock on her door.

  "Yeah. Come in." She said.

  Claire walked in.

  "There’s someone here to see you, miss" Claire said. Erica wrinkled her eyebrows confused. Claire stepped aside and Brian entered the room. Claire smiled and walked out, closing the door behind her.

  "Hi." Brian said softly.

  "What are you doing here?" Erica asked harshly as she flipped the pages of her magazine.

  Brian walked up to her and sat on the bed next to her.

  "I came to apologize." He said.

  "Oh really?" Erica said dropping the magazine and folding her arms across her chest and looking at him.

  "Yes. Erica I’m really sorry. Kevin told me that you lost the baby and-"

  "Oh! So that’s why you’re here!" Erica snapped, "Because you heard that I lost the baby, you want me back?!"

  "No! Erica listen to me." Brian said taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to look at him.

  "Erica, I love you." he said, "I always have and I always will."

  She looked like she was going to cry but he continued anyway.

  “Whenever I thought of my future and what my life would be like, I always saw you. I always pictured you there with me. But when I found out that you were pregnant and that it was Kevin’s, well, I freaked out!" Brian said.

  Erica was now beginning to understand.

  "Brian, it was an accident. You know it was."

  "Yes, Kevin told me about it. I understand. I mean I shouldn’t have gotten so upset. After all, we weren’t together at the time. But you have to see it from my point of view. Can you really blame me for getting upset?" Brian asked her.

  "I guess not." Erica replied honestly, "But what hurt the most, Brian, was that you left me there. In the hospital, when I needed you the most, you left me!" she choked back the tears, "You should have seen my parents face when I told them I was pregnant. I thought they were going to pass out. They looked so disappointed in me." The tears were slowly trickling down her cheeks. "I never felt so alone in my life and to make matters worse, Kevin, who I thought might actually help me told me to get rid of
it!"

  "He said that?!" Brian couldn’t believe that his cousin would say something as insensitive as that..

  "Well his exact words were ‘Why don’t you have an abortion?’ "Erica stated, "And I wanted to. I went to the hospital and signed up and everything."

  "But what happened?" he was holding her now. Erica let him hold her. God knows she needed it.

  "I met this woman there and-" she went on to tell him about her conversation with Katherine.

  "Well I’m glad she talked you out of it." Brian said resting his chin on her head.

  "You are?" Erica asked looking up at him.

  ‘Yes. Abortion is so inhumane!" Brian stated.

  "Yeah I guess it is." Erica said.

  ‘So? Am I forgiven?" Brian asked her.

  "I guess so." She said.

  He kissed her then.

  “So I gather you’re feeling better?" he asked when they broke the kiss.

  “Yes. Much better." Erica said with a smile.

  "How about we go and grab something to eat?" Brian asked her getting off the bed.

  "Umm.. Bri, I just ordered some pizza." Erica said, "Which is about half an hour late!" she said glancing at the clock on her table.

  "Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to go out then!" Brian said with a grin.

  "Okay. Just let me take a shower and then we can leave." Erica said getting up and heading to the bathroom.

  "Sure. I’ll be downstairs." Brian said and went down the stairs.

  Josh had been sitting in his car waiting for a little more than half an hour and he was growing impatient. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore. He would just have to go now since the guy who went in didn’t look like he was leaving anytime soon. He headed to the intercom.

  Brian was on the sofa in the living room watching television when the doorbell rang. Since he wasn’t that far away, he decided to open it, besides, none of the maids were around.

  "That’s the pizza!" he heard Claire shout to him when she saw him get up to answer the door as she came down the stairs.

  "It’s okay. I’ll get it." He said opening the door.

  The next thing he knew was that something hard hit him across his jaw and he fell to the floor. Claire screamed as the man pulled out a gun.

  "Don’t move and if you scream again, I’ll shoot you." he warned her. The other maid came into the room upon hearing her scream and stopped in her tracks. "That goes for you too." He told her. He glanced at the guy on the floor and smiled a little. He wouldn’t be bothering him anymore since he seemed to be out pretty good.

  "Where’s Erica?" he asked.

  CHAPTER 39

  Jessie arrived at Erica’s house and ran out the car and up to the door. The gate had been open since Josh left. When she got inside, she saw two maids hovering over Brian who was on the floor and now conscious.

  "OhmyGod! Brian! What happened?" Jessie asked rushing to his side.

  "It’s Erica...he took Erica!" Brian said getting off the floor.

  "Josh took her?! How did he get in?!" Jessie asked worriedly.

  "Josh? Who the hell is Josh?!" Brian asked confused.

  “Some guy in a pizza delivery car took Erica." Claire explained. The poor woman was shaking and obviously scared to death.

  "It was Josh! He wants Erica!" Jessie said.

  "Why?" Brian asked.

  "To get to me!"

  Brian was confused.

  "Sit down and let me explain." Jessie told him.

  She filled him in on her relationship with Josh and why he was suddenly after her, even though she wasn’t exactly sure herself.. she told him about their previous kidnapping.

  "So it’s his fault Erica lost the baby?!" Brian wanted to kill the guy.

  “Yes. Erica didn’t tell you how she lost the baby?"

  "No." Brian said, "How did you know he was coming after her?"

  "I went to the cops to arrest Josh and he wasn’t there. He killed Britney and left a disgusting message on his answering machine for me saying that he was going for Erica." Jessie explained.

  "Oh shit!" Brian said raking his hands through his hair. "What are we going to do now that he has her?"

  "You have no clue where he went?" Jessie asked directing the question to the maids this time, "He didn’t say anything? Leave any sort of message for me?"

  They shook their heads sadly.

  "Britney’s dead?!" Brian asked realizing what she just said.

  ‘Yes." Jessie said shakily. "He raped her and she was..she was beaten to death."

  Brian felt a shudder go through his body at the thought of that ever happening to Erica.

  "What are we going to do now?" Brian repeated.

  "All we can do now is wait." Jessie said burying her head in her hands, and started to cry.

  Erica felt herself being deposited on a sofa of some sort and felt the harshness of light as Josh removed the blindfold from over her eyes.

  "It’s nice to see you too!" Josh said when he saw her glaring at him.

  She would have spit on him if her mouth wasn’t gagged, and so tightly.

  “You didn’t think I’d let you get away from me so easily now did you?" Josh asked sitting next to her.

  Erica turned away from him and he laughed.

  "You shouldn’t do things like that." Josh said in a tsking voice. "You wouldn’t want to know what happened to the last person who disobeyed me. Um...what was her name again? Umm.. i think it was Britney." He saw Erica’s eyes widen at the mention of the name. "Yeah that was a tough chick! But her mouth got her in trouble and well, I took advantage of that."

  He saw the look of fear in her eyes and said: "I don’t plan on hurting you Erica. I’m just using you to get to Jessie. If however, you do come between that, I might change my plans."

  She looked like she had something to say so he ungagged her. He knew that she would watch what she said to him because she was scared to death of him.

  "How do I know you’re not gonna hurt me?" Erica asked him.

  "You don’t." Josh said with a wry smile. "You’re just going to have to trust me."

  Why don’t I believe you?" Erica thought watching the evil smile covering his face.

  CHAPTER 40

  "Jessie it’s getting late. Why don’t you go home?" Brian asked her. They’d both been at Erica’s house waiting for some sign or call or anything regarding Erica.

  "Suppose Josh calls?" she asked him from her spot on the sofa opposite him.

  "If Josh wants to reach you, he’ll call you home okay?" Brian said, "Besides, your father is probably worried about you. You should let him know what’s happened."

  "Are you sure we should tell the police about this since he has Erica? I mean suppose he does something to her?" Jessie panicked.

  "How do you know he hasn’t already?" Brian said.

  "Let’s not think about it okay?" she told him, "He won’t hurt her Brian. It’s me he wants. He knows I won’t come if he does anything to her."

  "I hope you’re right Jessie." Brian said looking at her, "I’m just so scared right now."

  "Me too." Jessie said looking absently out the window. "You’re right , i’ll go home. If Josh wants to reach me, he knows i’m there and I know he’s gonna try to call."

  "Call me as soon as you hear anything okay?" Brian told her as soon as she walked to the door.

  "Of course I will. And Brian?"’

  "What Jessie?"

  "I hope you don’t hate me for dragging you all into this?" Jessie said.

  "Jessie," Brian walked up to her, "Erica is your best friend. She chose to help you and I’m behind her on that. Besides, I don’t think anyone deserves to go through what Josh has been putting you through all this time."

  "Thank you for understanding. You know I would never let anything happen to Erica." Jessie said.

  "I know." Brian said smiling wearily, then stopped as he remembered something.

  "Is it true that you slept with Nick just to get into that sororit
y?" he asked. He really wanted to know for himself.

  "No. I slept with him because I wanted to." Jessie said softly.