Page 65 of Burn Me Down

“Beck. All my friends call me Beck.”

“Okay, Beck. But you do look a little disheveled and out of sorts. Are you sure everything is okay?”

I looked down at my wrinkled clothes with one corner of my blouse untucked and turned my steely glare on Jacobs. Putting my hands on my hips, I took a deep, exaggerated breath.

“Okay, fine, you want to get personal, let’s get personal. I had sex, amazing, mind-blowing sex for the last few days with a man I hardly know, and it was the best time of my life. I didn’t want to know anything about him other than he was here for business and he was hot with a big….” I stopped and gestured with my hand what I meant. “And let me tell you, I would do it and him all over again, and I still wouldn’t tell Vi or argue with my work, and you know why, Detective Jacobs?”

“Um…well…ah….”

“Because I fucking deserve it. So there, you now know the big secret I was hiding, and if you want to call Vi and let her know so I don’t have to, then that's fantastic. Otherwise, can we talk about politics or climate change because I have thoughts? Lots and lots of thoughts.”

He snapped his notebook closed. “You know, I think I have everything for now, but thank you.”

He practically sprinted for the apartment door. “Oh, just one more thing. I noticed your car downstairs, but you pulled up in a black pickup truck. Whose truck is it?”

My mind raced as I crossed my arms over my chest, and I blurted out the only thing that I could think of and prayed that he believed me.

“My car has been giving me some issues, and I borrowed a friend’s. Is that okay, or is being a friend suddenly illegal?”

“No, not at all. It just seemed funny.”

“Ha! It only seems funny if you’re looking for something nefarious in everyone’s actions. Besides, it allowed me to park in plain sight, and Vi wouldn’t know where I was. For the record, she would’ve barged in while I was screaming in pleasure, and I had no interest in dealing with that.”

“Okay, good to know. I better get going.”

“Have a great day, detective. I’m sorry my missing person’s case wasn’t more exciting, but you’re kinda hot, so if you’re single and want to get together sometime, hit me up.” I smiled and fiddled with my hair as his face paled.

“Have a good day, Rebecca.”

“Beck. Remember to call me Beck,” I said as he closed the door to the apartment behind him.

As soon as he was gone, I flopped down on the couch, my body shaking with the adrenaline. “Jesus, that was intense.”

The best lies were always the truth dressed up as a lie—such an odd thought.

I groaned as I spotted the little red light flashing on the answering machine and was tempted to leave it, but I got up and walked over to it to see more than a dozen messages, and I would bet all of them were Vi. I hit play, and sure enough, the first eight were Vi, and I rolled my eyes as each one became more dramatic. I loved her. That wasn’t a lie, and I loved that she wanted to look out for me, but this was over the top. It was stalker-level over the top, and considering I had a stalker and he was far less intrusive inside my home, it said a lot.

The following message was about to be deleted when I realized it wasn’t Vi.

“Hi there, my name is Holly. I’m sorry to call like this, and I’m sure I’m the last person you want to hear from.” Holly was the name of the girl Brian had cheated on me with, or at least the last one. I really had no idea how many there were. “But I was wondering if Brian was with you? I didn’t know if maybe you two had decided to get back together, but I’m concerned because he hasn’t been home for a few days, and…anyway, if you could let me know. Again, I’m sorry to call like this.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I snarled. I was about to write down the number and paused the pen hovering over the paper. “What the hell am I doing?” I hit delete on the message, anger brimming over the top inside of me. I turned away from the phone, annoyed. If Brian was screwing around on Holly, then she could find out the same way I did.

I took a step and froze. “Shit…Derek.” I covered my eyes. I knew he’d kill him when I blurted out Brian’s name, and yet I didn’t really believe it until this moment, but I was positive Derek had killed him. Making sure he didn’t get caught was turning into a full-time job, and yet I knew that I would do it forever, even if things didn’t work out between us. He’d already stolen my heart, and that was what hurt so fucking much about the girl in his house.

Picking up the phone, I found Holly’s number in my recent calls and pressed talk, round two for my acting skills today.

I was in the wrong day job.

Rebecca

Today was turning into a whopper of a day, and it wasn’t even noon yet. After the most bizarre conversation I’d ever had in my life with Holly, the girl with blue lacy undies, bawling her eyes out, I had my ass chewed out by my boss for leaving them high and dry and not telling them I was going on vacation.

There was no, ‘Are you okay, or did something terrible happen?’ Not even an ‘oh my god, I totally get feeling overwhelmed and stressed out.’ Nope, it was snotty remarks, threatening to fire me and then telling me I was lucky that I wasn’t fired from the moment I stepped into her office.

Like dealing with an unknown naked woman, a detective, and Holly hadn’t been enough. This was undoubtedly the final shit spread on my ‘shit on you’ sandwich for the day. My head was pounding, my neck and feet hurt, and I couldn’t stop all the terrible what-ifs from taking root and growing.

I pulled out my cell phone, deciding this day really couldn’t get any worse, and called Vi. I needed to know if she had anything to do with Jacobs at my apartment.