Page 20 of The Other Half

“Me, too. But we’ll get him through this.”

They both noticed me standing and listening, and two sets of eyes turned toward me.

“Aaron, Cassie. Cassie, Aaron.” Jo introduced us.

“Hi,” I answered.

“Hey, there.” A familiar smile lifted his lips. There. That was the look most guys gave me when they saw me. The “take me home and screw me” look. It was the look that was strangely absent from Jake’s face when he’d watched me tonight.

“Can you go clean up the mess they made?” Jo asked me, and I nodded.

Grabbing a bar rag off the counter, I walked through the Ox. Most of the tourists bolted after the fight, leaving only a couple dozen stragglers behind. After straightening up Captain Bailey, I wiped the spilled drinks off the chairs and picked up the bottle of beer that hadn’t survived the fight. Looking out the big window over-looking the street, I saw Matt standing alone on the sidewalk. Once again, I felt sorry for him, but then remembered what he’d done to Jake and shook my head, returning to the bar to go screw up some more drinks.

“Listen, it’s pretty slow now. Why don’t you head home for tonight and we’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow?” Jo said.

Hearing those words nearly sent me crumbling to the ground in a puddle of relief. Everything hurt. My feet swelled within my Prada shoes, my thighs burned from squatting up and down to open the coolers, my back screamed for Eloise, my masseuse, and my fingers were red and swollen from opening cans of beer all night. Even though I worked out daily in New York with Alex, my trainer, I’d never been this sore in my life. Bartending was exhausting, and I wondered how many nights I could do this before my body just gave out and Jo found me unconscious on the floor.

“Are you sure?” I asked, holding my breath and hoping she didn’t change her mind. The bar had never recovered after the fight, and now that it was eleven o’clock, I figured she was right and it probably wouldn’t pick up again, but I wanted to be sure. I’d already pissed her off enough times tonight, I didn’t need to do it again.

“Yes. It’s kind of a weird night with the fight, so why don’t you go home, and I’ll close up. I don’t want to overwhelm you on your first night. Especially since you’ve never bartended before.” A dark eyebrow rose, and I shrunk a little beneath her accusatory stare.

“Okay, Jo. And I’m really sorry I lied. I was desperate.”

With a playful roll of her eyes, she shook her head. “It’s fine. I get it. And all things considered, you didn’t do too horrible. Although I never thought anyone in the world actually thought we put real rocks in a glass when someone asked for something ‘on the rocks’.” A smile punctuated the sentence.

Bursting into laughter at the memory of me asking her where she kept the rocks, I shook my head. “I promise I’m not an idiot, contrary to what it may have looked like tonight. I won’t let you down, Jo.”

“I know. Glad to have you on board.”

Limping my way out of the bar, I climbed into the big brown beast I’d parked on the side street after I’d run home to let Poppy out during my break earlier. The engine sputtered when I turned the key and for a moment, I didn’t think it would start. I tried again, and the engine roared back to life. Whispering a silent thank you, I put it in drive and started up the hill toward home.

As I drove across the causeway, my headlights flickered and went out. A moment later the car lost power, and I screamed while I slammed on the brakes and steered toward the side of the road. When I puttered to a stop, I put it in park and tried starting it again. Nothing happened when I turned the key and panic rose in me while I tried again.

“No, no, no, no, NO!” I cried out then gave up my fight to get the old girl going again. “Shit.”

Looking around and trying to remain calm, I searched the soft glow of the streetlights illuminating the causeway. It was pitch black everywhere those lights didn’t touch, and I pulled out my phone to call for help. Dead. Of course it was. I remembered I’d forgotten to charge it before I left for work and it died halfway through my shift.

Feeling like I was back in that horror movie I’d starred in when I arrived at my cabin, I sat for a moment debating what to do. With no phone to call for help, a car that wouldn’t start, and my cabin a good mile-walk away, I thought about hunkering down here until daylight. Unless, of course, a serial killer’s face popped up in my window just before he stabbed me to death. Once that visual got in my head, my heart raced while my gaze darted to all my windows, each time thinking a sinister face would meet my eyes even though he hadn’t been there a second ago.

With panic guiding me, I whipped open the door and started out of the car to run home. Then I remembered my swollen feet and realized how painful every step home would be. If walking home on swollen feet wasn’t enough to stop me, picturing a car pulling up beside me and dragging me inside to transport me to the dungeon in their basement did the trick. With that new visual in my head, I slammed the door shut and ducked back inside my car. Stay here and get slaughtered, I thought while I peeked in the rearview expecting to see a murderer’s face or run home and get kidnapped on the way. A frustrated squeal squeezed past my closed lips as I pondered each future, but then I remembered Poppy.

Worry that a bear or some other predator would break into the house and eat her while I was gone, I’d locked her in the bathroom with no windows and set her up on a big bed of cashmere sweaters with a bowl of food and water. It’d been four hours since I’d been home, and I knew she probably needed to go out. Without Lily to let her out, I knew she was depending on me. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the door handle and opened the door. Poppy needed me, and I would have to take my chances with getting kidnapped to get home to her.

Stepping out, I winced when my swollen feet touched the ground. Making a note to order shoes like Jo’s as soon as I got a paycheck, I started one painful step after another toward my cabin where Poppy waited. The still air and chirping of some creatures near the water were the only sounds filling the night while I walked. Part of me found it peaceful to be out here all alone without the constant buzz of traffic and voices that echoed through the streets of New York. The other part of me was near paralyzed from the feeling of being truly alone. That and the fear that the car carrying my kidnapper would come down the road at any moment.

Just as I made it off the causeway, I saw a set of headlights coming up behind me. The kidnapper. Of course. My heart hammered in my chest while I ran in frantic circles under the streetlight trying to figure out where to hide. A tuft of weeds on the side of the road caught my eye, and as the headlights got closer, I dove into them. With a grunt I landed in the dirt, and curled up into a ball, covering my head with the long weeds as the vehicle came by. The engine slowed, and I heard the tires grind to a halt on some loose stones.

I’m spotted! Reaching into my purse, I fumbled around and got ahold of the mace I carried on my key chain. When I heard the door open and footsteps start up, I flicked the lid off my mace and held my finger on the button. With fear coursing through my veins, I crouched low, ready to attack and hoping those self-defense classes I’d taken with Liza had stuck.

“Are you okay?” a deep voice called, and I crouched lower. Not wanting to give away my location, I remained silent. “Hello? Cassie? Is that you?”

He knows my name? A shiver snaked up my spine. I was being stalked. By a gritty voiced psycho kidnapper rapist killer stalker. Whoever he was probably messed with my car so it would die. I’ve seen Dateline NBC. With visions of horror movies flying through my mind, I held my breath and prepared for a fight. I wasn’t going down easy.

Never, ever let them take you to a second location.

“It’s Jake. From the Ox. The whiskey and coke guy. Are you in the weeds? Cassie? I saw you.”

Jake? Now recognizing his voice, I peered out from my vegetation fortress and saw him standing beside a giant black truck. The headlights illuminated him, and he shielded his eyes while he stared at me.