Chapter 14

Twenty minutes after calling Liam, Silver paced the landing by the stairs as she followed orders to the letter. Chewing on a fingernail, she obsessively scanned the beach for any sign of Annie. More than once she thought she found her, only to be bitterly disappointed each time. A black hole might as well have opened up and swallowed both Annie and Jasper the second they were out of her sight considering how completely they seemed to have vanished.

"This is ridiculous!" she exclaimed just as a brilliant bolt of lightning flashed overhead, automatically drawing her attention. The storm had picked up speed and now dark, low hanging clouds completely blocked the sun. Audible thunder followed the bursts of light that came almost on top of each other. In a remarkably short time frame, day had become night and the crowds were thinning in response.

"Please don't let anything happen to her," Silver whispered to the stormy night sky. Their renewed friendship was only a few months old and she'd just recently started to understand the role she'd played in its destruction. She should have made an effort when Annie started to isolate herself with Jasper, rather than looking the other way. Although Silver never declared a side she'd picked one de facto by taking the path of least resistance. If Annie came out of this mess in one piece, Silver vowed then and there to make it all up to her.

"Silver!"

Whirling around, she nearly collapsed with relief as Liam sprinted toward her. "Oh, Liam, thank God."

"What the hell happened?" he demanded without preamble, breathing heavily from the run from the parking lot.

"Annie was meeting Jasper at eight, right there," Silver began, gesturing to the entrance a few yards away. "She was supposed to bring him down to the end of the pier where I was hiding so I could keep an eye on them."

"And you lost her?"

"No! She never made it down there," she explained, her initial relief bowing under the intensity of his glare. "I waited ten minutes and then made my way back here. I thought Jasper was late or they were just slow or she'd changed the plan without telling me. When I got here I couldn't find her at first, but then I saw them heading down the stairs to the beach."

Immediately, he brushed past her to scan the landscape below "So, why aren't you down there?"

"Because you told me to stay where I was," she cried, fighting the urge to vent her exasperation by beating on his broad shoulders. "There was a big group of noisy kids and their cranky parents blocking my way and by the time I made it to the stairs, they were gone."

"What do you mean they were gone?" he demanded, glancing at her over his shoulder with icy blue eyes so cold she almost shivered.

"Gone. As in nowhere to be found. As in disappeared," she retorted, crossing her bare arms and giving him a glare of her own. She did not need this. She already felt like shit, and there was no reason for Liam to make it worse.

Apparently satisfied that Silver actually did have a functioning pair of eyes, Liam turned away from the beach. His knuckles were white where he gripped the railing, his words clipped. "If anything happens to her, Silver, I swear-."

"What? You swear what, Liam?" she demanded in an angry burst of temper, indignation superseding her own guilt. She didn't care if she was poking a bear with a short stick. If he wanted to play the blame game, she had a few cards up her sleeve. "You want to blame this on me? Fine. Just don't forget to save some for yourself, okay? She's doing this for you, you know. Since the whole Zen Liam Court persona was all a bunch of bullsh-"

"Shut the hell up, Silver!" he swore, letting go of the rail and drawing himself up to his full height as he closed in on her. But Silver was beyond intimidation. Her nerves were shot and tears burned at her eyes.

"You're just determined to ruin her life, aren't you?" she continued, all her guilt, frustration and fear congealing in an explosive avalanche of condemnations that couldn't be held in check. All the reasons Annie and Liam were a bad idea came bubbling to the surface. "It wasn't enough to let Naomi and the entire school think she slept with you, was it? No, you have to make her fall for you and be willing to risk everything for a guy who only a few months ago was supposedly in love with her best friend."

"You don't know what you're talking about," he uttered through clenched teeth, but his eyes gave up some of their fury to pain.

"Annie would never have hooked up with Jasper in the first place if you'd had the balls to just tell Naomi you slept with her sister," she declared, jabbing a finger at his chest, in the heat of the moment tracing the misery of the past year back to that single cowardly and spiteful act.

"Hey! Okay, guys…separate corners," Teddy announced, arriving just in time to step between them. "This won't help find Annie and people are starting to stare."

Silver continued to glare at Liam, but allowed Teddy to pull her away. Already, the rational part of her was beginning to regret the adrenaline fueled diatribe, but she'd be damned if she let Liam lay this all on her. They'd all screwed up in the past year. Every single one of them played a part in the events leading up to this night and for just a moment, she was able to glimpse the inevitability of these horrific circumstances.

"I'm going to check the beach," Liam stated tersely. "You two, take the Pier."

"Oh, my God! I've been here the entire time," Silver argued, the delicate tendrils of remorse obliterated. "I would have seen them if they came back up."

"We've got it," Teddy promised. Without so much as glancing her way, Liam nodded and took off down the stairs. Silver barely waited until he was out of earshot to turn to her boyfriend.

"There is no way they're on the damn pier," she insisted, spreading her arms to encompass the landing. "I haven't moved from this spot for the past half hour. People are probably getting ready to throw change at my feet."

"Silver," Teddy said her name and calmly reached for her shoulders. "I know. But just humor him, okay? He's not really mad at you."

Silver scoffed. "Clearly, you didn't hear enough of our fight."

"No, but I caught the highlights," he pointed out. "I think you managed to rub salt in every single wound he has about what happened with Annie last year."

"Good. Now he knows how I feel," Silver pouted as her righteous indignation continued to drain away and the remorse grew stronger. Groaning in frustration, she briefly covered her face with her hands and then threw her arms around Teddy's neck. "Why did I let her do this? If anything happens -."

"We'll find her," he assured her, wrapping his strong arms around her and somehow making her believe it. Pulling away, he pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "But not if we just stand here. Let's stick to the railing and work our way around. Maybe we'll be able to see them on the beach from up here."

Silver nodded and took a deep breath, clinging to Teddy's hand like a life line as he led her back into the throng.

After half an hour of walking through the sand, Annie was seriously regretting her choice of shoes. The kitten heeled hot pink thong sandals looked great with the dress she'd worn, but they were definitely not suited for the beach. Of course, in the grand scheme of her life at the moment, shoes were the last thing she should be worrying about.

Overhead, the electrical storm was getting worse. Lightening and the rumble of thunder distracting her from all the carefully plotted scripts she'd devised for leading Jasper into a confession. As the minutes ticked by, Annie was beginning to doubt she'd ever be able to steer the conversation around to the subject of Liam's boat. Every time she tried to shift the topic, Jasper had asked another question about her and her mind was too muddled by a bevy of concerns to adapt. At the moment, she was babbling about her community service.

"So, I mostly do office work for the staff," she explained, having given up on her shoes and carrying them in her free hand. They'd worked their way down the beach and were now passing the stairs to go back to the boardwalk. Annie tried to veer that way, but Jasper didn't follow, continuing steadily toward the dark shadows beneath the Pier, away from the crowds that were already thinning as the storm built. Looking longingly at the stairs, she ventured a suggestion. "Should we go back upstairs?"

"Nah," he shook his head and squinted at the bright lights and cacophony of the crowd. "It's still pretty crowded up there. Anyway, you were saying?"

Annie wanted to scream, but instead forced a smile to her features. "Well, um…It's boring, but I'm not qualified to actually interact with the patients, so I'm pretty much alone all day. Except for Tuesdays and Thursdays when I spend half the day in alcohol management classes."

"Alcohol management?" he repeated with disdain. "But you're not an alcoholic. You don't even party that much."

"Yeah, well…" Annie shrugged and tried to ignore the mounting anxiety as they made their way deeper into the shadows. At least the air was mercifully cooler there. "I don't think the court system really cares. It's all part of my punishment."

"That's so pointless," he muttered. "And such a waste of time. Like having a bunch of addicts tell you their sob stories is really going to change anything. Do you even talk or do you just sit there and listen until the time is up?"

"I told my story the first day," she admitted, vividly remembering that harrowing day and very grateful that it was all over. "But most people have more than one, so I really haven't had anything to say since then. I don't think the others feel like I belong there."

"You don't," Jasper declared. They reached the thick wooden posts embedded in the sand that supported the Pier. Directly overhead, the sounds of the boardwalk were muted, giving the impression they'd entered another world. Jasper leaned against one of the wooden posts now, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Therapy is for nut jobs, not people who just made a few bad choices."

"Horrifically bad choices," Annie laughed dryly, stopping a few feet away from him.

"You know, I had to go to therapy after I fell," Jasper admitted, opening the door to a potential conversation about himself for the first time all night. He smiled, but even from a distance Annie could see the bitterness bleeding from his eyes. "They didn't quite believe I was just screwing around and fell. Too much history of suicide at the Hollywood sign, I guess."

Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Annie spoke carefully. "Really? I had no idea."

"Yeah, some shrink spent a lot of time trying to get me to open up and talk about my feelings," he rolled his eyes. "I tried to explain it was an accident, but I caught on pretty quick that I just needed to shut up and agree with him. I'd get out of there a lot faster if I told him what he wanted to hear."

The truth, you mean, she thought, remembering that night. At the time she'd been more than willing to believe Jasper hadn't actually meant to kill himself, but she was done with the blinders on the past. A clap of thunder, made her jump and she decided she was also done dragging out this meeting. Masking the move by adjusting her purse, she turned on the voice recorder function of her cell phone. "Speaking of truth and all that. Can I ask you something?"

This time the smile came slowly and for a brief instant Annie felt very much like prey that had just stepped unknowingly into the crosshairs of the predator. "Of course. You can always ask me anything. You know that."

"Right," she swallowed, trying to remember that she had the upper hand. "I was just wondering…I mean, I heard this really ridiculous story about the night Liam attacked you."

Straightening, he moved farther into the shadows and Annie had little choice but to follow. The one thing she hadn't tested was the range of the recorder. With the noise of the ocean and the boardwalk above, she figured she had to stay fairly close. His words were light, almost careless when he replied. "What kind of story?"

"Oh, it's…so out there," she laughed and hoped he didn't notice how strained the sound was. "I'm sure it's just Liam's stupid fantasy to try and shift the blame."

"So, spit it out already."

"Well, Liam claims you set his boat on fire," she explained, moving close enough to reach out and touch him. "That's why he attacked you."

Silence stretched between them, heavy enough to block out the sounds of people and life emanating elsewhere. Annie's heart was pounding so loudly, she was sure it would drown out all other sound and the recording would be ruined. This was the moment she'd been working toward all evening. Anticipation robbed her of breath. If he just admitted it, she could drop the façade and leave.

"Is that what he says?" Jasper finally asked.

"Yes," she replied immediately.

He glanced over his shoulder, eyes shrewd. "Do you believe him?"

"Of course not," she replied, but her bottom lip trembled.

"What if I did?" he wondered, turning to fully face her now, his eyes shrouded in shadow. "Does that change things? Between us, I mean?"

"N-no," she shook her head for added emphasis. "I mean, even if you did, that's no excuse for putting you in the hospital."

Studying her thoughtfully, a sad smile curving his lips, Jasper boldly reached out and touched her face. His fingers lightly stroked her cheek, and despite her best efforts Annie couldn't prevent the shiver than ran down her spine. He sighed. "Oh, Annie. You were so beautiful. Really something special."

"I-I'm not? Anymore?" she asked to keep him talking, even though every instinct she had was telling her to run. He continued the caress, his touch a fraction rougher.

"You're still beautiful," he murmured, his gaze drifting over her features, lingering on her lips. When he met her gaze again, his eyes sharpened and became flint. The smile disappeared. "But now I know you're just like them. Brainwashed automatons."

"I don't understand."

"You're lying."

Ice water poured through her veins and her heart fell to her stomach. "Wh-what do you mean? I'm not lying. I really don't get what auto-"

"Yes. You are," he insisted, the detached, dreamy way he'd been speaking morphing to cold, hard precision. His face became an ugly mask and he forced her back a few steps, pinning her against one of the rough wooden pilings. The hand touching her cheek shifted to pinch her jaw so she couldn't even move her head. Unable to look away, his angry, hateful eyes seemed to bore right through her.

Suddenly, she felt the press of something hard and cold against the pulse point beneath her jaw and the world came to an abrupt halt. "So why don't you drop the act and for once in your life tell the truth."

Fifteen fruitless minutes later, Liam found himself back at the base of the stairs. The anxiety that had turned him into a speed demon, pushing the GTO over the 100 mph mark on the way to the Pier, had morphed into a full blown panic attack in light of his failure to find Annie and Jasper. Silver's words pounded in his brain, bolstering his guilt with every pulse.

"She's doing this for you, you know."

"She's right," he whispered, bracing his hands on his hips and scanning the sand for the millionth time. Silver's accusations had been harsh, but he couldn't deny any of them. One simple truth from him could have prevented Naomi and Annie's fight. He may still have been damned, but at least Annie wouldn't have been forced out of her circle of friends and straight into Jasper's arms. If anything happened to her, he'd have nowhere to lay the blame but at his own feet. "Come on, Annie. Where are you?"

To his left two people – a father and son – played Frisbee. The son's wild throw sent the green disc arcing over the father's outstretched hands and gliding gracefully to a stop in the sand beneath the pier. Liam stood up a little straighter, eyes narrowed toward the deepening shadows. With the setting sun completely blocked by the clouds, the already uninviting underbelly of the tourist trap seemed positively ominous. The labyrinth of wooden pillars supporting the boardwalk made it the perfect place to disappear in plain sight. He knew Annie had asked Silver to help her because she was smart enough not to meet Jasper on her own. The last place she would have gone was under that pier.

But it was exactly the place a psycho like Jasper would choose.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, already striding across the sand, his heart pounding painfully in his chest with the unwavering certainty that Jasper had Annie trapped somewhere in the rapidly darkening shadows. Even so, when his phone rang he answered with the hope that he was wrong. "Did you find her?"

"No. We've got nothing," Teddy admitted dejectedly. "I take it you haven't either?"

"No, but I think I know where they are," he declared grimly, the pier now looming above him, taking up the entire sky as he came to the edge of the gloom. "They've got to be under the boardwalk. It's the only place I haven't looked."

"Why the hell would she be under there?"

"She wouldn't. Not by choice."

"Aw, hell," Teddy swore, understanding the implication behind Liam's words. "We're on our way down. Don't go under there by your-."

Liam ended the call, uninterested in making promises he had no intention of keeping. He'd seen firsthand what Jasper was capable of and Annie had been alone with him far too long already. With no further hesitation, he plunged into the darkness.