A/N: Thank you guys so much again for the reviews. I really can't express my gratitude. So this isn't the last chapter. It was going to be, but I decided to split it up a bit at the end to keep you guys in the dark and wondering. Next chapter will be the official ending. It will be shorter though, because it was supposed to be added onto this one, but I felt that where I ended it was a better place to stop the chapter. Anyways, enough of me. Enjoy chapter fifteen.
Disclaimer: No. Still No.
Anyone But You
Chapter Fifteen
The car couldn't seem to move quite fast enough. The window was rolled down and I could feel the air whipping past me. The comfort that it usually brought was no use to me now, because I couldn't begin to concentrate. I could hardly register the stop signs and street lights, so the wind wasn't even on my radar. My eyes were trained on the road, my only thoughts were on getting to the police station as quickly as I possibly could. I was well over the speed limit, and I was sure that I would get in a lot of trouble if I was caught, especially being an intern, but I didn't care. I had my break through, my clue, and I had to follow it as quickly as I could. I had to get to her, to them. She was too important to me to let her slip through my hands, and I knew that Nate's brothers were missing him dearly.
I could hardly feel the wheel beneath my hands because they were shaking so badly. I was so close, and I could only hope that I wasn't too late. They had been gone for so long now, and I had wasted so much time in finding them. I always heard that the best chance for finding someone alive was in the first forty eight hours, but we'd passed that. Forty eight hours had come and gone and I still hadn't made it to them. I felt like such a failure. I felt like I was letting them down all this time. I worked at a police station and my mom was a cop. I should have been able to do something, to stop something, to see something, anything at all. It was all happening right in front of my eyes and I hadn't noticed. I'd walked past Miller day after day never suspecting anything. He had seemed so.. normal.
I wanted to kill him. I wanted to just wrap my hands around his throat and kill him. If either of them were dead, so help me god. I had had so many chances, so many moments alone with him, but I hadn't known. I hadn't known until this number. The second I saw the ten digit number on Miley's caller display, I wracked my brain for where I'd seen it before and I knew. It had been a week before either of them had gone missing. I'd picked up a file from him that my mom had requested, and when she got it she'd found an extra paper inside it that he had misplaced. I brought it back. It was an activation letter from a phone company. I could admit that I was nosy, because I did get a good look at it, and thank god I did because it was the only reason I remembered that number. There was an address on it, I was sure, and all I needed to do was raid Miller's office to get it. Hopefully he wouldn't be there to stop me, and if he was, I'd be sure that he would suffer the same fate as Lilly and Nate. I didn't want to believe that they were...well... But I had to be realistic. I knew the statistics, and I knew previous cases and things didn't look good for them. Honestly, things looked pretty grim at this point.
The second I pulled the car into a parking space I heard all the car doors open. We all hopped out simultaneously, eager to find our friends, but I think I was the only one who really knew what they were doing. Miley was still crying, but had given up trying to dry the tears away. Shane and Jason were fidgety. I guess they were trying not to get too hopeful, but also trying to keep their spirits up. They looked so odd and out of place, as if there was something else. Something they weren't saying or something that was missing to them. I raised an eyebrow for just a few moments, but I couldn't waste time with their awkwardness when my best friend's life was at risk. When my best friend could have just minutes to live and I was the only thing trying to keep her alive. I had to find her. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't.
I sped into the station, whipping open the doors and not caring if the others followed. They did. Vaguely I could hear someone calling my name as I rushed through the quiet building, but I ignored it. I couldn't let some random cop or another intern deter me from finding my friends. I couldn't stop and I couldn't rest because I'd already wasted so much of their precious time. Please, God, be okay. Let me make it on time.
The frosted glass door to Miller's office made a horrible slamming noise as it hit the wall in the process of being hurled open. Everyone piled in and the door closed behind us. Miley was confused; So were Jason and Shane. I ran behind the desk, ignoring their furrowed eyebrows and glances to one another. My hands desperately searched the papers strewn across the desk top, making a mess of the neat piles and over turning a basket and a pencil holder. My hands riffled, looking for anything with the symbol of the phone company that I knew was on the paper of the activation number. I looked until he stopped me.
"Thats-" My head shot up, "Those are Nate's... or Lola's?" Shane's voice rang out, wavering. His eyes were confused, and him saying that almost pegged a certainty in my mind. Miller had done this, of that I was sure. My hands stopped spreading out papers and my eyes darted between Shane and the desk wondering what exactly he was talking about. What was Nate and Lola's?
"The mix CD's..." He trailed off, his eyes trained on four of them that were spread out between papers. His feet led him forward, coming ever closer to the desk and the discs. I stopped what I was doing, watching him and allowing him to steal a disc from the wooden surface. He looked it over, memorizing every line and design and then looked back up to me.
"I'm positive," And without hesitation, my fingers found the power button on Miller's computer. Thankfully, it didn't take long to load and before I knew it, my hands were placing one of the CDs into the computer's disc drive. The computer whirred as it came to life, another clue spinning, just waiting to be watched. I hadn't realized it, but both Jason and Miley had found their way around the desk to the side that me and Shane were on. They were all huddled around me as I hunched over, typing in police passwords and rattling the mouse around. And then the box popped up and I clicked play, unaware of what I would find.
"Is it on?" A hand flashed over the screen as someone within the video spoke, "I think it's on."
"Shushhhh, Shut up! She's coming," Another voice. The scene was black, and I could see the back drop for Lola's 18th surprise birthday. I watched as a limo pulled up, and Me, Hannah, and Lilly all got out. As soon as the images flooded my eyes, the memories flooded my head. I could remember that night so clearly. I could smell the candy, taste the punch, see the lights, hear the music. It was as if I was back to Friday instantly. It lasted a few moments, and we walked along the carpet, and then the scene cut.
"Lola! Happy Eighteenth birthday!" Was said about twelve times by some of the fake-est people I will ever know. I was positive that most of them didn't even know her. There were several scenes of the party in action and then a super close up of Nate from far away.
"Boom! Crash!" Both Shane and Jason looked at each other, sharing a brief smile, and then turned their attention back to Miller's computer screen.
"Jason look! War is about to be declared," Was spoked as the camera showed Nate approaching Lola. A shot of Shane's feet was seen for a second and then the scene cut. And then there she was. Lilly, or more appropriately, Lola. She was leaning up against the snack table, beautiful as ever, smiling for a split second as she looked out at her party. She seemed to be enjoying it. Well, at least she was until...
"So Lola, what's it like to be eighteen?" Nate's voice rang out, her smile faded. She placed her hand up to the lens, but I could still here her voice.
"A lot better than being Nate Gray." I almost smiled. That was so typical of her. Nate then mumbled something and the camera turned towards the crowd of people. From there on in, the video became a first hand account of a murder. We all watched as they saw the crowd clear and we all watched as they ran hand in hand. Our eyes were glued to the screen as they moved through the crowd and as they darted down that alley way. But it wasn't my eyes that reacted when I saw the face of the gunman in between those two buildings. It was my arm. It was my arm that reached up to swipe at the computer screen. But it was my eyes that watched it smash to the ground and spark. I didn't even register the shock of my friends at my sudden reaction, because it was my mouth that prevailed.
"Jesse," I uttered it, and then nothing. My eyes shut and I breathed in. I tried to calm myself down and I tried not to explode. He wasn't here today, and now I knew why. I knew exactly why, and I knew why he was always attached to Miller. He wasn't just Miller's assistant, he was his hit man. I'd kill him too. I'd kill anyone who had anything to do with this. What kind of sick, disgusting people plan this shit? Who would want to hurt Lilly? I had known her for fourteen years and she had never given anyone a reason to hold something against her. And It couldn't have even been just because of her being a witness. And I knew this because I had seen that number a week before anything had even happened; and it only added more suspicion that a murder should occur at her party. It was all starting to fall into place for me, and the more it did, the more I hated him, and the more I hated myself for not being able to figure it out sooner. They had killed an innocent boy that night. They'd lodged that bullet in his brain just to distract everyone, to cause chaos to get to her without being noticed. They had wanted her to go down that alleyway, but I guess they didn't anticipate that she'd be clinging to the bane of her existence- to Nathaniel Gray. I don't know what stopped him that night though. What motive they had for letting the two of them go, but it gave me some sort of hope, but also fear. I wouldn't tell Jason or Shane my conclusion. If they wanted Lilly so badly, they wanted her for a reason- and that reason couldn't have just been murder. Nate would have been a pawn, something that got in the way and was so easily disposable. Please, god, let them be okay. Let me be wrong.
Then it caught my eye. Not the paper with the number, but something else, a different paper. A paper with a home address. And the words spilled from my mouth, "Everyone get in the fucking car, now!" And we ran, buckled up, and sped; but not before I let my hands wrap around the gun sitting in the first drawer to my right.
I could feel the floor beneath my feet and I hoped that it wouldn't be too late. I hoped that if I hoped hard enough everything I hoped for wouldn't be a hope, but a reality. I was getting sick of the word hope. I just had to believe, and have faith, and pray. I had to pray that everything I ever believed in wouldn't come crashing down. This wasn't fair. Good people didn't deserve to have these things happen to them. Lilly didn't deserve this, and Nate didn't either. They had to pull through. I was sending every ounce of strength I ever had to them through my thoughts and through my prayers. Just a little bit longer, I promise.
I couldn't get to 520 Everglade fast enough. I pulled into the driveway of a nice home. It had three floors and was in the richer part of the neighbourhood. I was sure that it wasn't nearly as nice as Jason or Shane's house, but it was much better than either Lilly or I lived in. He had so much. He had a nice job, a loving wife, and a perfect house to go to every day. He had all these things, and yet he felt it was necessary to take a life too? He was supposed to protect people, but instead he was terrorizing them.
The door made the same slam as his office door as I opened it. It was unlocked. He went through so much trouble to protect himself, and yet he kept his front door unlocked so the public could uncover his secrets. Or perhaps he had forgotten this one important thing because he had been going somewhere in a rush. That was my first and only thought, and I hoped that he wasn't headed to end what he had started. Deep breaths. The air rushed in and the air rushed out. Concentrate. My eyes closed to darkness, and then the light flooded in.
My feet calmly led me through the first floor, looking for an office. There wasn't one. The staircase led me upstairs to the loft. His office sat there, another staircase leading to what I imaged to be bedrooms was beside that. My body went directly to the desk, and somewhere in the back of my mind I registered the others following me. My hands searched, and my eyes roamed every paper. I felt my fingers grip the handles of drawers and my arms worked to pull them open, covering every inch of the office. I didn't care if I was trespassing, all I needed was to save my friends.
Files. Files. Work passwords. Photos. Forms. Pay check. Health insurance- how ironic. Letter from Aunt Jillian. Bills. Bills. Files. And then the Logo that I was desperately searching for. I ripped open the envelope, pulling at the papers inside and ignoring the voices of the three people behind me. They were all talking at me, asking me if I'd found it, what it said, where we were going. Everything went in one ear and out the other as my eyes darted from left to right reading the paper. The number caught my eye. It was the same number. Two lines down was an address that didn't match the one we were at. Two lines down was an address that was an hour from here surrounded by industrial sites and warehouses. I knew where we were going, and then-
"Shut up! shhhh!" My eyes were trained on a spot on the paper and my ears were listening closely. I was the one who had spoken the words. I could have sworn I heard something- rustling, from downstairs or through the vents, or from somewhere in this house. Was Miller home? My hand moved quietly to pad the hidden gun resting in my pocket. My heart jumped into my throat and I felt its beating. Beat. Beat. Beat. Thump. Thump. Thump. Air filled my lungs, and then exited slowly. Everyone froze around me, and slowly I moved, listening intently. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I heard the wheezing, and the breathing, and the deep breaths as if I had supersonic hearing. Her.
"Lilly," And the slow motion was no more. I jumped over the railing and onto the staircase, bounding down to the main floor within seconds. Everyone remained frozen, confused and sharing looks with each other.
"Lilly!" I called out, "Lilly where are you!?" I listened, and I heard the sobs. Everyone did and they all jumped into action, moving down the stairs as I started towards the kitchen. There was a door that was whipped open with ease, and my feet made tremendous pounding noises as I bounded down the stairs. There was a hallway to my left, but I didn't bother going down it. I could hear her, and my heart reached out to her. I closed my eyes, preparing myself and I listened to the others follow. I went to turn the knob, breathing in, and found it locked. Eyes shot open, and my shoulder hit the door. I needed to get to her. I heard the crack, and I knew it was the wood, not me, when the wooden plank flew open.
"No," I froze. My eyes trailed over every aspect of the room, until I landed on the one thing I had wanted to see for days, "No." I swore I'd never cry, but I did. I felt the sting and my heart clenched tightly. I felt someone slam into my back, but I didn't move from the doorway.
"Oh god," My throat closed up. I stared. I didn't blink because I was afraid I'd loose her. The scene was silent and grim. There was one light hanging from the ceiling and the cold, gray, cement enclosed us. I moved. I moved slowly and carefully, trying not to scare her. I felt the crunch of broken coffee cups beneath me, and I heard the squelch as the sticky drink stuck to my shoes.
"Lilly?" I breathed and my voice cracked. Everyone else stayed frozen in the doorway as I walked ever closer. I watched her with intensity, waiting for her to move, or make any sound at all. She didn't, not until she opened her eyes. Her blue eyes stung with tears, and they looked at me with something so frightening. Her tears leaked out, and she cried with no restraint, something the old Lilly never would have done willingly. She stared at me, trying to convey her words. She didn't speak, but I knew what she couldn't say. She tried to speak every bruise and every beating through her eyes and I got the message. I got that message and then for the first time I took her in entirely.
She was pale. Her body was thinner, if only by a little, but I still noticed. She had bruises all over, covering her entire body. There were black and blue hand prints, and blood in some places. Her face scared me something bad. It was dark, and large, and flowed from her temple to her jaw. I watched her as her bottom lip shook and she bit it so it would stop. She cried, and I could do nothing but watch her eyes. She looked so scared, so hurt, so awful. I couldn't even begin to imagine what she'd been through. Then she sobbed. I felt my knees touch the ground and I knelt down in front of her. Delicately, I wrapped my arms around her small figure, holding her close to me and closing my eyes.
"You're going to be okay, Lilly," I whispered in her ear, feeling her hair between my fingers, "I got you." I squeezed my eyes together tightly and sniffled. The tears in my eyes kept coming, and I didn't care as long as she was here and she was fine. But the moment didn't last long.
"He's going to kill Nate." Her voice whispered back to me, hoarse and scratchy and laced with absolute regret and fear. My eyes were open again, and I leaned back to watch her carefully. I looked between her and the forgotten paper in my hand for a mere few seconds before I detached myself from her hold.
"Jason!" I called, and he jumped to my side immediately, "Stay here. Stay with Lilly," Was all I said. My eyes took another look at the paper, and I knew what I needed to do. A lot could happen in one hour, and one hour was all the time I could waste in getting there. The only person that would end up dead before the end of today was Miller, and I would do everything in my power to make sure of it.
---
My eyes flew open as quickly as they could and I felt the cold, frigid air fill my lungs. Without any conscious effort my body jumped forward, sitting up. I breathed, and my chest rose and fell with a steady pattern. The heart on my left side was beating quicker and quicker, my pulse racing. My mind was blank, and I tried to think about anything at all, but nothing ever entered my head. I pressed my eyes shut, and I listened to the rhythm of my breaths. In. Out. In. Out. With each one, the air flew past and made me shiver just a little. There was something I was forgetting, something important. Someone important.
Click. Thump, thump, thump. Squish. Whoosh. Pound, pound. Bang, bang. Snap. It all rushed back to me. The sounds rushed back just as quickly as the feelings did. In a moments time I felt scared and helpless, and hurt. I felt that empty nagging at my heart, the one that told me she was gone. I felt the sting in my eyes and the pressure in my chest. I didn't concentrate on anything in that moment except those memories. The memories of her that would stick with me forever. Every time I thought about it, it scared me. It could still make me fear, and shake, and break down.
I remembered her smile, and her laugh, and her touch. I thought about all the memories that I shared with her but I couldn't shake the last one. The fights replayed in my head and I didn't have any control over the slow or pause or repeat buttons. I wanted that control and I wanted it to stop. I wanted to stop remembering. I wanted to erase it because it hurt. But I wanted to keep those good memories. I wanted to replay the smiles, the loving looks, her eyes, her every feature.
I could imagine what we could have. I thought about the green grass we might've laid out on and the dark, star covered sky that we would have watched. There were picket fences, and perhaps a dog. We would fight, but we would never really mean it. But more than that we would be together, and every night I would have come home to her. I would have held her close, and loved her with everything I had, and ever would have.
I sat there, in that bed, thinking of all these things. I sat and thought about what we could have had and what would have been. But it was too early for could haves and would haves, and if I worked and tried I could still do something. I could make this a possibility and I would try for her. It wasn't too late. I desperately wanted her to know I needed her, to know that I loved her. I wanted Lilly to know that. Blond or redhead, she would always remain the same to me. She would always be my forever.
My feet felt the floor as I threw the covers off and jumped out of bed. The floorboards were cold and creaked as I ran. My body shivered, void of the previous warmth the blankets provided. I didn't need blankets, and I didn't need to be all snug in bed. The door to 'my' bedroom opened and I glanced down the hall. It was so normal, so comfortable now. That was probably what he wanted. He wanted us to feel safe, to feel at home. He didn't want us to have our guard up because this setting gave him so much more power.
I ran. I ran to the door down the hallway, the one that I had known as Shane's for so long. I paused there, breathing dramatically and hoping that I wouldn't find something I didn't like. Once second, then two. Time ticked away for me and I let my eyes fall shut. I felt the cold, hard knob beneath my fingertips and I gripped it tightly. With one swift wrist movement, it turned and I heard the click. I froze, thinking back immediately to the events of last night. My eyes flew open, and the breath left my chest, relieved. But the relief didn't last long, and it disappeared as soon as Shane's door inched open. She wasn't there.
I jolted forward, bounding into the room. Let it be a nightmare, let it all have been a nightmare. I found myself next to the bed and I whipped the blankets off. I was terrified. My arms thrashed around, making a mess of the room, trying to find her where I knew I wouldn't. She sheets were torn from the mattress and the pillowcases off the pillows. It was useless but it was the only thing I could do to keep me from crying, to keep me from thinking that maybe it really had happened. I didn't want to think it could be real, to think I'd never see her, touch her, kiss her again. She couldn't be dead, because she was everything I had. I couldn't loose this. I couldn't loose the one thing I wanted more than anything else.
I stopped. I froze when I heard the creaking and I was hopeful that it was her. I prayed that she was safe, that she was okay and that nothing, and no one, would touch her or hurt her. She had to make it. I cared about her far too much to allow her to suffer anymore. My feet treaded the floor like they were made of feathers. I didn't make a sound and I didn't breath a breath. I stood behind the door and I gripped the handle, preparing myself to open it. I did, and I froze for an entirely different reason. What greeted me beyond that door wasn't the girl I was hoping for, it was something else. It was him.
I stared down the barrel of that hand gun and I could do nothing else. My eyes closed and I waited. I waited for the nothing I was sure I would feel, and the click as he pressed the trigger. I waited for the theatrical bright white lights, and I waited to be finished with this. Nothing. I was scared, but nothing came, and then I spoke the words I knew I would.
"Do it," And when I looked up, he was confused, and thrown off for just a mere few moments, "Do it, but just don't hurt her." His eyes darted between mine, and I felt so in control. Was this not what he expected from me? Or could he just not live up to my demands. I saw his hands shake just a bit, and I heard the gulp in his throat. Why was he more nervous than I was?
"Pull the trigger! Do you need an invitation?! What the fuck are you waiting for?!" I yelled, standing there. I didn't think I could ever feel so comfortable with a gun in my face. I realized that the only time I ever felt so at home in this replica house was now. And I only felt so carefree because I knew I was doing it for her. That made it okay.
I watched him mentally prepare himself for what he was about to do. He took his deep breaths and he closed his own eyes momentarily. I didn't try to disarm him, or fight him off. I just stood, obediently, waiting. He seemed to take forever.
"Will you just fucking kill me already?!" And the Bang was the last sound in the sequence of onomatopoeias.
A/N: I apologize if the Lilly situation is confusing, with her being 'dead' and now alive. If you haven't already picked up on it, it will be explained more bluntly next chapter. I also apologize if it seems like Oliver only cares about finding Lilly. But she's his best friend, and him and Nate aren't nearly as close, so it would be natural that he'd be more concerned about her. Next chapter will be short, maybe half the size of a regular chapter. Should I include more POVs in the next chapter, other than Lilly, Nate, and Oliver? And who's POV should it end with, Lilly or Nate? I'm leaning towards Lilly. Also, I'm sorry we haven't seen Lilly's POV in a while, but there's a reason for that. So give me any predictions, answers, or suggestions in a review. :) I like the long ones.
Ps. Does anyone have any ideas for what you might like to see me write after ABY? I don't do pregnancy stories, I tried that once with Irreplaceable and it didn't work out for me too well. I'm just not interested in it. Any type of genre you'd like to see me write though, or certain plot lines? Couples? Or should I just put my full attention on DLSS?
Also, I'm kind of interested in co-writing again. I don't have much time these days, so it would be good to have a story that I'm not entirely responsible for. I'm not positive if I'm up for it, but if there's anyone else interested, tell me, and I can think about it.
This is too long. I'm sorry. I'll try to talk less next time.
Review Please!
Pss. Listen to Always – Blink 182. It reminds me of this story.