A/N: Disclaimer is the same as said in chapter I. Author's note at bottom.
Blood Corruption
Chapter III
I still had my cell phone gripped in my right hand, so hard that my knuckles were white. I rationalized that it'd be easy to call someone if I needed to, not that I planned on it at this moment. For now I was just going to keep on driving, playing stupid, see what happened.
Realizing that the person in the truck was Alcide sent my heart jittering away from me, and I thought that I must be having some type of heart attack. I watched as he pulled over slowly behind me, exceptionally slowly in fact, and followed my snail pace. He turned his lights off and then back on again. He was trying to get my attention. For someone who was potentially secretly following me he was sure going out of his way to be noticed. This also meant that I couldn't ignore him forever. I was eventually either going to have to talk to him or reach my apartment and get out of the car, neither, which sounded very appeasing.
My mind also wanted to remember how it felt to be in his arms and how protected I felt every single time he'd dropped me off at my apartment after some scandalous date we'd shared. I remembered the conversations I'd had with Amelia, discussing his character and how nothing seemed off— everything with Alcide, had always been calm and welcoming, almost familial. Alcide was a man's man, no funny business about it. He had been courteous, and while his sense of humor wasn't as high up as I had hoped for, he was kind and a hard worker.
There was no way he was going to hurt me, I thought.
He looked pretty awake considering. My phone vibrated in my hand suddenly. I looked down and it showed the little battery sign was gone. My phone was about to die.
The vibration must have jarred me out of my "Alcide is nice" daze because, while he had been nice, it was also almost four in the morning and I'd run into this one person in all of L.A. I also realized that I should have decided to drive in a better lit place.
There was nothing but blood and dirt all over me, pretty sticky now because of how it'd dried on my skin. I'm sure I looked more questionable than he did. For all he knew I'd killed someone. The blood reminded me that my world wasn't exactly what I'd thought it to be up until just a few days ago.
Time after time I was just being reckless with my life, whether it be doing stuff for Jason, or getting into fights with men like Bobby. I could have stayed with Pam and I might have even been in my own bed if I'd stayed at the scene earlier.
I kept driving at a snail's pace down this own way street. I hit the green button on my phone and the first number that came up was Bills. Not that I'd want to call many other people in this situation, I was grateful that those mafia people had erased all of my numbers and made it simple to contact someone, I thought sarcastically. I hit send.
He picked up on the first ring. My relief gushed out between my dry lips. "Yes?" asked a female's voice. Good lord, a female's voice? She sounded annoyed.
"I need to speak to Bill," I said, rushed with the urgency, my phone was going to die at any moment.
"Who is this?" She sounded stuck up and annoyed with a dash of fake. Oh, I knew that voice, it had to be Lorena. Why would Lorena be answering Bill's phone.
"Lorena, this is Sookie, I need to speak to Bill, it's urgent." I urged through clenched teeth.
"Hmmm," she responded lazily without a care in the world. "Bill's busy." I could hear the rustling of material and Bill's voice, deep, in the background close by. "Lorena, who is it and why are you answering my phone?" I could hear Lorena move the phone away from her ear. He wasn't angry. He sounded just as monotone as he had any other time.
"I didn't want someone disturbing our time together, Bill," she said, sickly sweet, loud enough for me to hear.
Alright, I got the point. I hung up the phone, positively disgusted by the notion that I had interrupted something between them. I shook my hands, ridding myself of the invisible and nonexistent nastiness that was idea of Bill and Lorena having sex.
I needed to at least let someone know what I was doing and where I was. I could deal with the concept of Bill and Lorena later. I'd made far too many mistakes recently.
Before I knew it I remembered the man who'd been killed, the one that was evidentially trying to take me just hours prior. It occurred to me that this was possibly the reason for this entire mess— someone was trying to kidnap me. He'd called me Brigant, whatever that was. I felt myself laughing in hysterics while hit the send button again on my phone. Someone was stalking me, someone tried to kill me and kidnap me.
The name "Eric Northman" showed up on my phone with a little phone indicating it was dialing his number. This was whom I was calling. I'd skipped right over Amelia and Pam's names. I needed to call Eric, who was I kidding? At the very least I should just let someone know where I was or whom I was going to be talking to in case… in case they found my body in the Angeles National Reserve. I loathed the idea of calling Eric, knowing he'd love the fact that I'd called him after only really met him once and doing the exact thing he'd want me to do. But I really did need to do something to let him know where I was at least. I was calling an almost complete stranger to protect me from someone I thought I knew.
"Northman," he answered in a smooth, deep voice. I'd almost expected him to sound tired, which wasn't an absurd thought considering the time. Not that Bill had been asleep. I cringed, remembering the idea of them sleeping together. Perhaps everyone with money just kept insane hours.
"It's Sookie."
"Where are you?" He asked almost immediately, his smooth calm demeanor completely gone. He took no effort to hide his immense annoyance. Perhaps he was upset that I'd run away. Who was I kidding, of course he was. I was his multi thousand dollar investment.
"I'm off of sixth," I said dismissively with an annoyed huff. "Look, that's the reason I'm calling. Someone's following me." I could hear him release a slew of profanities on the other side. "But I know the guy following me," I added in a rush, realizing I sounded completely insane. "So many he's not really following me?" I added stupidly. Maybe I'd lost it, after that attempted attack on my life, it had knocked some of my brain cells lose, this time too many.
While listening to Eric I caught Alcide's eyes in my review mirror. He had to know that I'd seen him and he could tell I was on the phone.
"You what?" He asked slowly, taking time to deliberately asked pronounce each word. He sounded furious.
"I'm being followed?" I asked meekly in response. "Or, I know the guy?" I hesitated repeating this.
"God damn it Sookie! Two days in my life, Two." I could hear him roar away from the phone, as if I wouldn't be able to hear him. "Where are you?" He asked, his voice rough. I regretted calling him instantly because he was just being so foul. I wondered if Bill would have been so foul towards me. There was nothing polite about this phone call. I told him my location, getting quieter by the second, my own stupidity settling on my conscious.
"I'll be there in five. Keep driving, do not stop." And he hung up. "Fine," I said to no one.
He didn't even say "hello" or anything, I thought, bitterly. In my fit I'd managed to completely stop moving, not that I was moving very far before. I decided to stop the car, pull completely over to the side of the road and wait, not that there was anyone else out here on the road, give or take a few homeless people. I had given Eric my location, and it was best to stay where I'd told him, I rationalized. I barely remembered him telling me to not do exactly that.
Alcide was approaching the car. Aside from the cool early morning weather, Alcide was only in a polo shirt and some khakis. He was very strong looking and approached the car slowly, as if giving me time to respond to him if I needed to. A quick look over confirmed he at least wasn't carrying anything, like a gun, not that I'd thought he was dumb enough to try to approach me in a car with a gun. I had the insane thought that at least his walking around with an unconcealed gun would make this whole discovering his actions factor a lot easier on a poor waitresses. Gun equaled murderer.
This really was a bad situation, I quickly told myself. Alcide was no more than a few feet away. In an act of sheer panic I started rolling up my window. I must have looked so stupid, manually cranking up my window where he could see and hear, as my car was old as bricks. My side view mirror showed a very confused Alcide who was still approaching me. "Sookie," he called out to grab my attention. I paid none.
Alcide was actually a chain saw rapist my mind concluded, agonizing images shooting off in my brain. Alcide was quite literally standing next to me knocking on my window. I wanted to pee myself. At least he was just knocking. I supposed that if he wanted to really get me he'd have just broken the window or done something as equally drastic. "Or I could drive away, stupid," I thought. I was in a car, I reminded myself.
He didn't look angry and he just waited. He wasn't trying to rush or anything odd. Maybe he really was just on the road at the same time I was. I rolled down my window, preparing for a talk. Under no circumstances was I going to allow myself to get up out of this car.
"Sookie," Alcide pleaded from the thin piece of glass. Or I could talk to him I rationalized.
He seems relieved that I'm now going to speak to him.
"Alcide, what the hell are you doing?" I snapped, rolling the window back down again. He didn't try to grab me or anything. My nerves bouncing around, uncertain as to what type of situation this is.
A rush of warm air puffed out of him, stark against the dark cold city air. "Are you ok?"
I thought for a minute. I'd been far too nice to every fucking person the last few days. I wasn't about to let this one go. "No. I'm not ok."
He frowned, the crease lines deep in his forhead. He brought his hands up and then put them back down. Maybe he'd seen me flinch at his sudden movment. I wasn't going to ask him.
"Look, I saw what happened. The crash… the… attack," he mumbled.
I stared at him for a bit longer.
"Common, Sookie, you don't have to lie to me, I know that you were attacked earlier."
"Why are you following me?" I asked stubbornly.
"I wanted to make sure you're ok," he said, his eyes roaming over my bloodied outfit. Sure, everyone just wanted to make sure I was ok. Jason, Eric, Bill, Alcide. Who else was going to jump into my life now.
"How did you even know to find me? Why were you around when I was attacked?" I might as well get a few answers out of him. "Why are you following me?"
My phone buzzed again, signaling it's last bout of battery life. Its light shut off. I clicked it once but nothing happened— it was dead.
"Great," I all but yelled. Of course I didn't have a car charger in this stupid piece of junk. I'd either have to wait for Eric or hope that Alcide really was telling the truth.
"Sookie, what are you doing with Northman?" He asked. I looked at him, his eyes looked a bit sullen, as if I'd hurt him in some way.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to play dumb. I'd only really been with Eric once this entire weekend and that was pretty much the truth.
"Sookie, get out of the car, common, I just want to talk. I'm not going to hurt you," he pleaded gently.
I wanted to trust him so badly. I needed someone to trust right about now, and even though I'd called Eric, he was hardly someone I could say that I trusted.
I pulled up the peg that magically kept my door locked and swung it open. He stepped aside to give me a large space to get out. I squeezed by him and stood up against the side of my car. I had no plans to go anywhere far and I wasn't about to get into his car or invite him into mine to have a chat. It really was cold out.
He opened his arms to me after seeing me shiver. He had no coat to offer me, I realized. Perhaps this was his offer to keep me warm, as inappropriate as it was considering all evidence that was given. I'd dated him for a short amount of time, but I saw no malice in his gaze. "Really Sookie, I just want to help you. I really did just want to make sure you were ok."
I stepped forward a bit when I heard another car pull up at fast speeds, screeching to a halt. Before I could completely turn my head over the individual was already slamming the door shut on his yellow BMW. Of course Eric would own a BMW. How he fit in that small coup was lost to me. I couldn't imagine his legs scrunched up in there.
I'd almost forgotten that I'd called Eric. It hadn't been more than ten minutes but he looked pissed beyond belief, quickly moving towards us, a scowl directed at Alcide.
His light wool coat was a dark olive green color and it looked great with his shockingly blond hair. His shoes, his vest and shirt were all of great taste and it was no doubt that Eric had money to spend on whatever he wanted to. He looked like a model, dressed impeccably. He'd since changed since I'd seen him last.
I'd only previously seen him in his work attire inside Northside and at the site of the crash. His own personal wear appeared to suit him just as well as his taste for work clothes and I preferred this casual attire much more.
He came to stand in front of me, not even giving me a look or glance over. He was so close that he was pushed up against my front, my breast brushing against the wool of his coat. I shivered, my nipple taunt before I could take another breath in.
"Alcide? Should have known you'd be the scum I'd had to deal with tonight," he growled. He was making quite the statement, roughly pulling off his platinum watch and shoving it into his coat pocket. Was he going to fight Alcide, I wondered? How did he even know him? Did Alcide know him? He had asked me what I was doing with Eric, but I assumed it had to do something with him visiting Northside, not a personal vendetta. My head was reeling with nothing but questions that I couldn't voice.
Eric was pushing off his wool coat and vest, leaving him in a thin, navy blue long sleeved shirt that clung to his muscles. Barely looking at me he draped his massive coat over my shoulders. It engulfed me and went down longer than my dress. He was seriously buff considering he had so many minions to do his dirty work for him. Although, I suppose that dealing in so many illegal things means you have to be ready to fight.
"Northman," Alcide greeted, sounding not at all too happy. He looked at me then, "You called him?" There was a bit of disappointment in his voice.
I tilted my chin up and nodded. I'm glad that Eric was towering in front of me, unable to see me nodding. Alcide appeared to dislike whatever kind of face that Eric was making. I imagine it to be smug.
Alcide was a big guy, but Eric looked pissed beyond balls and might actually be able to take him. I wasn't in a fancy to find out, though.
"Who are you working for nowadays?" Eric asked, pushing me further behind him, and pissing me off further in the process. He was not about to have this conversation about me while I stood behind him like some defenseless woman. I pushed aside him to stand next to him, feeling sort of like an equal. His blue eyes shifted down at me, as I was considerably shorter than him. I caught the scent of green grass and cigarettes off him, not necessarily unpleasant.
He didn't try to push me back behind him at least.
"Northman, perhaps we can talk about this later? It's late."
"Late?" He scoffed. "Late enough to be following a young woman at night?" Alcide opened his mouth in defense and then closed it. I daren't say anything, as I was just as curious if more so than Eric in figuring out what Alcide was doing.
"Alcide," I began, edging my way back into the conversation. "How do you know Eric." Alcide didn't answer.
"Yes, Alcide," Eric repeated, hissing his name. "How do you know me? Do you want me to tell her?"
Alcide looked incredibly uncomfortable and actually broke his gaze with mine to look at the ground. This wasn't going so great for Alcide, that was for sure.
"Well?" I asked, becoming incredibly annoyed.
Alcide looked up at Eric, glaring at him, daring him to open his mouth. I too looked at Eric, looking for what Alcide wouldn't say.
"I've worked with Alcide. In fact, I've hired him myself in the past," Eric let out smoothly. Something I'd been holding inside of me calmed down. This wasn't so bad, I thought. Alcide was, after all, a lawyer.
"So you've hired him to defend you? As an attorney," I added.
Eric let out a small snort, his eyes going between the two of us. "Lawyer, Alcide? I didn't know that was what you were claiming to do nowadays."
Alcide had been lying to me. I'd been dating a lie.
"Alcide's a private investigator," Eric said nonchalantly. Of fucking course the one guy I had deemed normal enough to date was a private investigator and was probably the guy feeding information to someone who was out to get my brother or me.
"You're following me?"
"Sookie, it's not like that," he responded calmly, placing his palms up in the air.
"The hell it is. You lied to me? You followed me?" Eric mumbled something under his breath, something not in English I gathered. It sounded rude, regardless.
Alcide violently shook his head.
I must be the worst judge in character. I swung my gaze violent to Eric. "And you, you knew this?"
"No. As I told you, I had my assumptions that someone was following you, although I didn't know who, and Alcide doesn't seem too keen on letting us know who's hired him and for what purpose."
"Alcide," I whispered, completely broken. He didn't dare look at me.
"Are you working for the people who tried to kill me today? The ones that attacked the limo?" I asked, barely above a whisper.
"No."
"Hardly information from someone trust worthy, though," Eric added. I nodded.
"Sookie— I don't know who did that but yes I have been following you." Him lying had hurt, him saying the words out loud hurt a bit too. I guess he couldn't be too dangerous if he was admitting to it. I saw Eric nod at his confession, accepting it.
I had the urge to ask him if he even had feelings for me but thought better against it. His feelings for me should be the least of my concern although they were currently screaming in my head. Eric would think me completely a fool if I dare ask him that. Obviously there was no romantic feelings that Alcide had harbored for me— he'd completely played me. I hadn't been head over heels for him but I did like him, more than most.
"Seems that Alcide needs a bit of help to help him remember who did exactly send him over," Eric said, his voice still cold. He stepped forward and Alcide's large work boots made a loud stomp as he too took one step towards Eric.
"Eric, no—" I begged, pulling his arm, but upon contact his gaze whipped to mine and he glared me down. I'd made the wrong mistake by telling him what to do. But I couldn't deny that touching him was the wrong thing. In the back of my head I knew that this was the first contact I'd physically had with him since I'd let him at the bar earlier in the night, or yesterday, granted that it was early Monday morning now.
He shot me a death glare, easily shutting me up. He looked furious.
Eric was huge, buff, his skin was surprisingly soft though, taunt around his muscles. He was letting me drag him away, I knew this. There was no way that I'd ever been able to pull Eric away from anyone if he wanted to. He towered over me and had to be immensely stronger than myself.
"Why are you so interested in Sookie yourself, Northman?" Alcide said, a bit of his confidence back in his voice. I knew this answer already though. Jason had been an idiot and I was literally paying off his debt by working for him. Eric moved back towards Alcide in a threatening manner, reclaiming the spaces I'd moved him back.
"It's more than just Jason, isn't it? It can't just be a couple hundred thousand down the drain, that's so unlike you Northman."
Alcide was insinuating that Jason's debt was nothing but a scratch to Eric. I knew Eric had a lot of money but I didn't know exactly how much. Maybe Alcide knew something I didn't.
Eric scoffed, loudly. "You really think I'm going to answer your pathetic questions. Why are you following her? Isn't it a bit late for a gentleman to be stalking a lady?"
Alcide shrugged his shoulders. "We all have our secrets and promises."
"Like hell we do," Eric shouted, his control completely lost. He lunged forward and punched Alcide in the face. It made the sickest sound of bone and flesh coming into contact. I tried moving forward but all I could hear were sirens in my ears. Alcide stumbled back and Eric pulled his fist back for another hit when someone yelling brought me back to my senses.
A cop had pulled up. Eric was currently on the ground, rolling around with Alcide and making completely animalistic sounds. It was quite a sight considering that Eric had to be close to 6'5 and Alcide was no small guy either.
The cop was trying to pull Eric off of Alcide as he was the person currently beating the shit out of Alcide. The cop was shouting at the two, identifying himself and giving them directions to move apart.
Alcide obeyed, moving across to sit down on the curb, or rather he moved out of the way of being beaten up. His left eye was puffy and he had a cut on his forehead somewhere hidden by his dark hair. Without a doubt he'd have a real bad shiner by the time he woke up. He watched as Eric struggled with the cop, stretching his arm out a bit.
Eric had calmed down a bit more, and the cop had let go him. He was walking back and forth, unwilling to sit down like the cop had politely asked him to. The cop was a bit smaller than Alcide, but by no means tiny. He had rugged dark hair, lighter than Alcide's.
He turned to me and I'm sure that both our eyes went wide at the same time.
It was Sam.
"Sam." "Sookie." We both said at the same time. My eyebrows went up as well. I was surprised that he remembered who I was. I'd only talked to him for a few minutes much earlier in the night at Northside when I'd run into Eric trying to escape. If life were only that easy, I pondered.
Alcide stood up quickly and Eric backed over, cautious to get too close to Alcide. He was a smart man, if a bit arrogant and temperamental. Getting in another fight directly in the vision of a cop would probably mean some lock up time, not that Eric couldn't maneuver his way out of a situation like this.
"Him too?" Eric asked in regards to my knowing Sam, although it sounded a bit more like a rhetorical question. "Of fucking course," he sneered. Alcide seemed to be also upset, although I couldn't figure out if it was because of Sam or the fact that he'd pretty much been beaten up by Eric.
"Well, what's going on here?" Sam asked, clearing his throat a bit, saying nothing more to me. The men in my life just loved to ignore me it appeared.
Neither of the men opened their mouths. Sam turned to me.
"Nothing." I lied. In the corner of my vision I could see Eric's pleased look.
"Well it didn't look exactly like nothing. What's a nice lady like yourself doing out here at this hour and— goodness, your dress." Sam looked me over. "Are you alright, Sookie," he asked, a bit more concerned than he'd been a few moments before. I pulled Eric's coat around me more tightly, his scent enveloping me deeply.
I simply nodded. "I was in an accident earlier this day." He didn't seem to believe me, though as he was gawking a bit.
"The fatality over by Northside's," Eric easily offered up. Sam looked back over to me looking for a confirmation. I nodded. He seemed to accept this as an answer. No doubt he had heard about it.
Sam nodded, his vision looking back over both Eric and Alcide. "Do you need me to drive you someplace? I don't mind, really. Anywhere you need to go I can get you there," Sam promised. I glanced over to Eric, and of course Sam caught the gesture. I was looking at Eric mostly to see if he was looking at my reactions. Perhaps he thought that I was going to rat him our, or maybe he wasn't even looking at me. I was wrong though, and he was looking at me, intently waiting for my response.
"You're with Mr. Northman here, Sookie?" I nodded, not having to explain myself. I knew by the way he said it was nothing more than insinuating that I was under his care and nothing more, maybe just my ride or what not, disregarding the fact that there were three cars here. Eric's smug face appeared to have a difference of opinion on what Sam was asking. Sam looked at me, a look of pity clear in his eyes. I wanted to defend myself, but knew there was nothing I could say that wouldn't give away too much information and put me at further risk.
"Seeing as this man was being attacked by Mr. Northman when I myself pulled up," Sam stated, "would you like to press any charges?"
Alcide looked at me before shaking his head no. I wondered vaguely how much each of these men knew about Eric and what he did. Sam seemed to know who he was, if just his name. And Alcide had to know a bit more about his blood money if he'd actually been hired by Eric once upon a time.
Sam took some time to get their full names and other information for a short report, one that didn't list any complaints but verified that he'd been there. Eric had calmed down a decent amount and was back to acting like a normal human being, as was Alcide, although Eric seemed to have a bit more charm than Alcide in talking with Sam.
"Well then, seeing as that is all settled, I'll wait right here for you three to leave before I take off." There was no arguing with Sam, his word was final.
Eric finally looked exhausted, and I imagined he'd try to weasel his way out of the demands of Sam if he hadn't just been through hell in a day. Mob or not, this had to have been a very extreme day for the blond.
"Sookie, go home, I'll be right there behind you," Eric quietly said to me, quiet enough that neither Sam or Alcide would be able to hear. It was the first time he'd really spoken directly to me and only me since showing up, and there was a tenderness to his voice which wasn't there previously.
I wanted to argue, but Eric knew where I lived regardless and it wasn't as if I was going to be escaping anytime soon. If there was one thing to be learned from this, it was that I benefited from being around these people just as much as it caused me trouble. Perhaps they'd cancel each other out. Sure I wouldn't be in any of this trouble if Eric hadn't come into my life, but already he'd helped me twice in a day. I started to shrug off his coat but he shook his head, not saying anything. Craving its warmth, I kept it on.
I let out an exhausted sigh and turned away from the men, no energy to really say goodbye or argue with Eric on the matter.
"Wait, Sookie," Sam said. I stopped, not willing to turn around for him. The sooner I got to my car the sooner sleep would be granted to me. This I knew to be a fact. Sam came up behind me, surprising me when his warm hand caught mine.
"Please, please be safe. I know you don't know me, but if you ever need me, don't hesitate to call. I don't want to insinuate or think that you're involved in anything illegal or bad, but if you ever need anyone or any advice, I can help get you out of this." He walked away before I could say something rude to him.
I looked down into my hand and saw his business card. Sam Merlott.
Getting into the car the men began to separate finally. Sam had just started up his car. Just before I started my own car I could hear Eric yelling again, but this time a bit more calm yet a whole lot more threatening.
"Believe me when I say that I will, without a doubt in my mind, find out who hired you and why you're doing this. You'd better wish to god that I don't find you, you asshole or I'll have your throat." He was making a death threat, and there was every reason to believe him, not because of his history but simply because of the strength and pure hate in his words.
I could see that Sam had heard the words, but he shook his head and his gaze caught mine again. He had some idea as to what I was caught up in. But there was no real safe way to bring him into this mess. He was sweet for trying to help a complete stranger, that was for sure.
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I was dead on my feet. I wasn't lucky enough to find a close parking spot not that I ever could in Los Angeles, let alone at such an odd time at night. I didn't wait for Eric to meet me at my place. I was half parts too tired and much too annoyed to have to deal with him. My adrenaline had finally worn off and all that was left was a cranky, pissed off Sookie, angry with Eric for dragging me into this life.
Not that Alcide spying on me had anything to really do with Eric it seemed. But my conscience wasn't willing to accept that notion yet.
By the time I'd parked and walked my way into my own apartment my shoes were off and my hair was down. I had every intention of taking a hot shower. I knew that it'd probably wake up Amelia, and in some selfish way I hoped it did because I'd yet to see her in a few days and I wanted to see a face that comforted me.
I lost myself a bit in the shower, staring at the dark blue tiles that surrounded me, just watching the steam waft up. The shower made me more exhausted but was rejuvenating in a lot of ways. I took my time, Eric could wait outside for all I cared.
Throwing on an oversized tee and sleep some shorts I made my way out of my shared bathroom with Amelia to hear voices. It was Amelia and the thought of her cheerfully sitting in the living room made my heart soar.
Except, she was talking to someone. I panicked for a moment, thinking that she was talking to Alcide. It wouldn't be the first time he'd dropped in. But I thought that Eric had pretty much threatened him into a coma and that he'd steer clear of our place for at least a day or two before trying to get in contact with me. Coming around the corner I was both relieved and annoyed to see my blond hero seated on my tiny yellow sofa, his legs running a mile away from the edge. He barely fit on it and I was surprised to see that it was still standing. It was surreal seeing him in my own home. It was also disturbing, because it confirmed that all the things I'd been doing or had been witness to were real and that my life wasn't the same.
"Sookie!" Amelia greeted cheerfully. Her eyes were a bit puffy and she was in a terry cloth robe, indicating she must have been asleep. I wondered if I had woken her up with the pipes or if it was Eric.
Eric was in my apartment, I thought. It was a bit creepy realizing that he just knew where I lived. He had said he'd just meet me here. The information that he knew where I lived hadn't hit me at the time. Granted, my brother did owe him quite a sum and he'd proven to me I was easy to track. Perhaps he'd had to call someone to refresh himself on my exact location, I hoped. Him just having my home address stored in that brain of his didn't exactly scream "sane." Another part of me was pleased to see him in my own comfort zone, as surreal it was to have my dangerous and illicit world meddling with my mundane life of a waitress' sofa.
"Amelia, Eric."
"Oh good, you do know him. I was wondering just how I was going to take him down in case you didn't know him," she giggled, only half kidding. Amelia knew how to swing a bat, that I knew. Leave it to Amelia to let strangers into our apartment at five in the morning. Although, I hadn't been much better in recent times in both trusting and working with people. I imagined that Eric really was a sweet talker and had talked his way into the apartment somehow. I'd have to ask Amelia later about that.
"I hope you don't mind that I let him in. He was just telling me that you were in an accident today and just had an altercation with Alcide and a cop" Her voice was strained with worry. My eyes welled up a bit just hearing her talk to me. Sure people had been decently worried about me since the incident earlier, but not anyone I knew really. Pam had been very understanding and Eric had come to assist me, but hearing those words from Amelia opened a flood gate of emotions that I'd been trying to suppress. It was nice to have someone really care for you, not just someone who needed you to spy or wanted you for sex or anything like that.
On the other hand, I realized that Eric appeared to be telling my roommate quite a bit.
"Are you sure you're ok, Sookie?" And I knew without a doubt she'd throw Eric out if I asked her to, not that both of us combined had any chance of moving him anywhere he didn't wish to go.
"Yes, Amelia, I'm ok." And I would be ok, I knew this to be true.
"You own that bar, don't you?" Amelia asked Eric, swiftly changing topics and moving forwards as I could expect her to. Her curiosity was definitely getting the best of her. Amelia was the nosiest person I knew. Eric looked a bit peeved but nodded anyway. At least he had some manners with her. "That place is so classy. I just saw it featured in a magazine. Have you been Sookie? Oh I'm so jealous!"
Leave it to Amelia to know who Eric was at least on a public front.
She chatted with Eric for a short amount of time and he gave her bits and pieces of information about the bar he owned as well as another restaurant in the area that I'd never heard of, although Amelia had. I learned that Amelia's family was a lot more wealthy than I had previously thought and Eric actually knew her father by way of having done business with him. I pondered what type of business Mr. Broadway would have with Eric, but I supposed that not everyone was a good Samaritan like I thought. I vaguely had time to hope that Eric did racketeering, and perhaps that was how Amelia's family was involved. The day had come when I was hoping for people who protected you for money but caused a whole lot of shit in the process and probably caused the threat over some more horrible relationships. Yes, racketeering was on the bottom of the bad things in life now. Oh how my life had been turned upside down.
Eric seemed to be warming up to her and almost looked disappointed when their conversation slowed down and Amelia realized there must be another reason why we were all in the living room awake at 5 in the morning.
"Well, I'll just leave you two alone then," she remarked, a lot of innuendo in her voice. I wanted to smack her hand. "You have to tell me all about it when you have the time," she added. I didn't have to look at Eric to know he was watching me. I nodded back to her, basically lying. There was no way that I could tell her really what was going on. I did want to know what stories Eric had fabricated for her, though.
"Amelia—" I looked to Eric for some help on how to tell her.
"Miss Broadway, as I said we had a bit of a mishap with Alcide."
"Yes," she addressed, albeit slowly.
"He appears to have been lying to you both."
"Amelia, he's a private investigator. He's been investigating— following me. We caught him in the act tonight." Nothing but betrayal and anger laced my voice.
Amelia wrinkled her nose. "Alcide, Alcide?" She asked. We both nodded.
She let out a long whistle.
"So he doesn't work for his father? He's not a lawyer?" She asked.
"Well," I began, unsure of what truth I knew about Alcide. For all I knew he had no father and his name wasn't actually Alcide at all, it was John.
"He does work for his father, who owns a private eve business," Eric offered. This surprised me. So Alcide had had some information that was true. Not that it made him the least bit reliable.
"Wow. Sookie, I'm so sorry. And I let him into the apartment so many times," she said with a gasp. "Tray is going to kill him." Eric looked at me, curiously. He obviously didn't know who Tray was or hadn't gathered that information on me when having me followed by his own guy. "Boyfriend," I mouthed to him as Amelia went on a ramble of her own. I wasn't really listening, too exhausted to process it.
"I don't suppose I have to inform you of the dangers of being in contact with him from here on out," Eric pressed. Amelia completely agreed with enthusiasm, swearing to never let him in or to talk to him. She continued to ramble on and on.
"Why would someone want to follow you though?" Amelia looked as confused as I felt.
"Jason's been up to no good it seems." It was the best answer I could come up with without giving away too much information.
"Drugs?" Amelia asked sadly. I nodded. Eric would probably not be too pleased with me telling Amelia, but if he wanted me to work for him then he was going to have to accept some things. The first of these things was that I trusted Amelia with my life. She knew my past and the past that Jason and I shared with our parents abusing drugs. It didn't come to a complete surprise to her (nor me deep down) that Jason was into drugs, or rather dealing them. I wasn't about to tell her that he was dealing though. And my answer appeared to suffice her a bit.
"I can't tell you everything Amelia, I'm sorry, you know that." She shook her head in understanding. This problem of drugs and Jason would seem like a very personal, family issue to her.
"How is your grandmother by the way?" She asked, turning to me, concern on her face again. I'm glad that I was too tired for my face to work properly because if it was then I'm sure that it would have looked dumbstruck. It took a moment before I realized that was the story I'd told Amelia originally for my absence. I felt guilty using my grandmother like that, especially since she was in good health for her age.
"Oh you know Gran," I said ambiguously. She nodded, too tired perhaps or something to really press me further on the subject. "Thank you, Amelia, for everything you've done." She dismissively shrugged me off and said goodnight again as she head back to the direction of her room, but not before she gave me a huge wink. "Alcide," she mumbled once more before shaking her head and moving completely out of the room.
I made a promise to myself that I would not lose touch with my best friend, no matter who I was involved with or what type of illegal activity I would be forced to do.
8888888
"Why'd you leave? After I showed up? There was no reason for you to be further frightened? There's no reason for you to be frightened of me or any of my workers or family now or ever." I shrugged. I knew this would probably be the case. I was an investment now.
"I know what my brother owes you. I'm not just going to skip town on him or you for that matter," I said dryly. This was the truth. I cared far too much about Jason just to run away, no matter how much I wanted to.
"You're important to us because you really are an employee for me now. And I take care of my employees," he reasoned. I didn't really believe him. There was a very specific reason as to how I'd gotten involved in this mess and that arrow pointed directly back to Jason and money.
"So why did you decide to call me? After you'd made a run for it?"
"I called Bill first, actually." If Eric was surprised he didn't let it show on his face. I moved to sit on the seat next to him, suddenly more aware that I was wearing no bra and only a shirt and shorts, my hair crinkling up into waves as it air dyed. I felt vulnerable.
"And he didn't pick up for you? I'll have to have a word with him about that. It's his job to take care of you," he said and he sounded honest.
"Oh, he did," I added quickly. I didn't want to get Bill in trouble. "Well, not him, a friend of his took the liberty to answer for him."
Eric smirked. "Ah, was it Lorena or Portia?" He named them like ice cream flavors. I was not expecting this type of answer from Eric.
"He has two girlfriends?" I couldn't say that I was surprised. I had thought that perhaps he was interested in me, but I was clearly wrong. Wrong on all accounts with all men in my life, it seemed.
"Girlfriends may be a pretty specific title for Bill, I suppose."
"So you asked him to take care of me," I asked. I wanted to know if Bill was the one offering me up his extra protection or if it was an offer by Eric.
"Well, that depends. It's his job to take care of you. I did not ask him to provide you house and protection, if that's what you asking." This answered m question. For some reason Bill wanted me in a part of his little group.
So thrown by this information I got up, determined to make some tea. I asked Eric, who still sat on my sofa if he wanted anything. He declined politely. I had been in such a rush and with letting Amelia in on Alcide and a bit of what was going on I'd completely forgotten my house manners.
I put some water in my kettle, an old one, and I lit the stove. I could hear the water turning inside of it. I decided to stay in the kitchen so I could pick up the kettle on its first whistle, not wanting to disturb Amelia more than necessary. The sun was already coming up through the window.
Eric had gotten up and moved over to the kitchen, making the four foot journey in only one step it seemed like.
"I know that Bill offered to care for you. I would like to make the same offer as well as to suggest that you take me and not him up on his offer. I have much more that I can offer you."
I gaped at him. "What is wrong with you men, I don't' need anyone to take care of me." He looked at me like I was crazy. Everything that had since happened since I'd met Eric screamed that I needed some type of protection.
"I know Bill very well and that is something he would offer, especially with such a special young woman like yourself."
"Was that supposed to be a compliment?"
"Should it be?"
"So you're saying that he's attracted to me? That's the only reason why he's been around today? He insisted that I stay with him." I was slightly offended and the hurt in my voice must have been pretty evident. I knew this was possibly the truth and nothing to do with Bill really wanting to protect me.
"He is attracted to you, no doubt, but he's also doing his job" he scoffed. My eyes felt a bit wet around the rims. My feelings were out on display it appeared. "Bill doesn't care for you, he's impossible of caring for you, don't be silly." Eric spoke with such ease, his voice sounding strong, resilient and as if he spoke the truth. He was much more confident than Bill, less awkward almost.
"He said he wanted me to learn self defense," I reasoned before I could rationalize my thoughts.
"No. Don't ever confuse someone wanting to protect you with caring for you." I felt like these words would echo in my mind forever. He was right in a lot of ways. I had thought that maybe Bill was interested, but it was true, he'd only been working for Eric. I was an investment of Eric's and had even been housed last night in Eric's apartment.
Taking Eric up on his protection would probably be no better than taking Bill up on his, I thought.
"Bill keeps women. With a job like this, women come by easily and with the modest amount of money he has he earns women. Multiple women. Didn't you wonder who Lorena was? I know she was here earlier I saw her horrendous shawl lying about," he chucked lightly. I just figured she was a… I had no idea what she was. Clearly she was staking her claim on him when she had seen me earlier.
"She's a kept woman, Sookie." So girlfriend was a pretty specific word.
"Bill keeps many women, I think he has perhaps three currently, though I only know of Portia and Lorena. They sleep with him and in return he protects them." How disgusting. Did Bill did think I was just going to spread my legs for him? He had sounded so sincere and convincing. "I believe that they are very infatuated with him as he may be with them."
"Well, protects them as well as he can. He's very good at it I suppose. In short, I just think you should know that he's a liar and a manipulator," Eric added.
"I thought Bill was your friend."
"No, he's my employee," Eric chuckled. He moved himself over to one of my two stools in my small kitchen. I pulled out two cups and poured him one just to have someone to do. He didn't have to drink it. He didn't say anything when I placed it in front of him though.
"So how are you different than Bill, offering me this?" I asked.
"For one, I don't keep women. I'd be offering you only protection as long as you kept your side of the bargain in working for me. There would be nothing else I expect from you." Part of me was relived that Eric appeared to be offering me a real solution for my worries, one that didn't involve prostituting myself out. At the same time, I felt sad, knowing that Eric really must only see me as an investment. It wasn't as though I cared for Eric, but there was no denying his attractiveness.
I was also glad that someone had explained this to me before I had agreed to Bill's supposed arrangement.
"Take some time to consider it. I want you Sookie, and that means that I'll protect you to ensure that." Who talked like this? When had we switched over to first names? "You're a very strong young woman and I am easily enchanted by that quality. You're also very beautiful." How was I supposed to interpret that? I blew on my tea.
"I am considerably more powerful than you give me credit for." Deep down I knew this. Maybe I was attracted to power.
"Modest much," I snorted into my tea.
"You just don't understand. You've only seen one branch of what we do here, just one snippet of our interactions with clients." Eric was just giving out more and more information. Although, if I was going to be spying for him I supposed it would be important to know more and more about his holdings.
"That's wrong. What you do is wrong," I muttered, remembering my poor brother.
"There is no right or wrong. People do what they want, and you're sorely mistaken if you don't think that there aren't a half million other people living their lives doing exactly what they want to." He emphasized "exactly."
"You'll see that what I have to offer surpasses anything Bill could give you." He didn't specify in what ways. "And, like I said, I expect little in return."
"You do this often then? Offer women protection?"
"No. Never." I believed him.
"You should be delighting that I've even made this offer to you." And like a switch the completely arrogant Eric was back in my kitchen, any semblance of kindness clouded over by expensive clothing and watches.
Since we were back into complete business mode and not in this in between that made me feel like I had butterflies in my stomach, I may as well continue gathering information from him.
"Do you have another reason for keeping me, like Alcide hinted at? Is this about my brother or is this about something else?"
"Do you trust me?" He was holding my gaze intently as I pulled my almost dry hair up into a bun on top of my head.
"No," I responded quickly.
"Good," he replied just as fast. "Can't a man just want to keep a lady around? You're working for me because I want you to. That PI doesn't know me like he made it sound." Ah, so the PI was now the name he'd refer to Alcide with. I couldn't blame him, I wish I had a more distancing term to refer to him by as well. And here we went with how he wanted me to work for him. That sounded like I was a tool, or a sex object, with Eric I couldn't tell.
"So you're not in habit of gaining new employees? Alcide appeared to be pretty shocked. What about my brother?"
"It's hard to come by people you trust. You, I trust." This surprised me. I'd practically killed some of his guards today and even ran away. That didn't sound like someone you'd trust.
"How'd you get to me and ALcide so quickly earlier?" I asked, beside myself.
"Hm? Oh I was at your apartment already waiting for you. When you took off after the accident I figured you'd be coming here." He looked around my apartment a bit judgmentally. Not everyone could be rich, I mentally yelled. "I would have been there sooner but your phone was dead, it took some guess work to figure out exactly where you were, even with your shoddy directions," he added.
The conversation was slowing down and I was apprehensive about going to sleep.
"We should head back to the loft," he said quietly, not wishing to disturb the silence that had fallen between us.
"What? No, I'm not going back to the loft. Why'd you meet me here if you wanted me to go back to your place?"
"Convenient location. We needed to discuss things. I also wanted to come in." He smirked, looking much younger than he had to be. Judging by his own loft and just his looks, he had to be in his mid thirties.
"No, I'm not going," I said stubbornly. "Didn't you just preach something about trusting me?"
"You're not going to change your mind are you?" I shook my head.
"Fine." He pulled out his phone. I wondered if hew as calling back up to haul me away. Listening to him on the phone though, I picked up that he was sending someone over, a bodyguard perhaps. This was just as bad, but I was far too exhausted to argue more about the subject.
He led me back to the yellow sofa and I collapsed on it. He sat there, I assumed, waiting for the body guard. I felt myself drifting off.
"We'll figure out who Alcide's working for. We will. It's a top priority of mine," he vowed. I thought perhaps I should tell him that the people who'd attacked the limo were after me and not after him. As far as I knew he thought that it'd just been another attack on him. I was grateful nonetheless. I fell further into a stupor. "You're so naïve," he practically whispered at me harshly. "You're so naïve," he repeated, this time with sadness, turning to me for the first time and looking at me with gentle eyes, although I might have been imagining it, my eyes were drooping. I had the urge to try to hit him, how dare he call me naïve, but my arm wouldn't listen to my brain.
"We'll meet with the other later, discuss what happened today."
He had been so cold when Alcide was here, and now, with just a flip of a switch he was checking me over, ensuring my safety as his eyes looked over my bruises. I felt safe in a strange way with a complete stranger.
I was too tired to say anything though and I drifted off to sleep before the body guard came.
I awoke in my bed disoriented after having been asleep for too long. Eric's coat was still over me and I was on top of my bedding. He'd left his coat, perhaps on accident, I reasoned. I grabbed it, inhaling his strong masculine scent of cigarettes and clean grass. Poking my head around my open door I saw Clancy standing there, looking pissed off. Eric must have had Clancy move me because the thought of Eric doing that seemed impossibly sweet and unlike him. I was grateful that I had already been wearing my pajamas.
The sun was far off on the other side of my apartment, indicating that it had to be late afternoon. I was incredibly sore and had more than a few bruises from last night.
There was a note on my door from Amelia. "Call your boss," it read in her round handwriting. I moaned in agony. I couldn't catch a break. I needed to call Eric and my boss and do a whole bunch of chores.
Even when someone was following me and potentially trying to kill me, I still had chores to do.
A/N: So not a whole lot going on in this chapter. More in the next one. Comments and suggestions are more than welcome.