Love Ignited (Hollywood Series Book 2) Read online

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yep. Everything is wonderful,” I told him with a smile.

  He rolled his eyes dramatically and propped up on his elbow. “What is it?”

  “I hate that you can do that!”

  “What?”

  “Read me like a book. It’s annoying.”

  He shrugged. “I can only read your body language, not your mind. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

  I lay there, thinking of having the discussion about how we would make this work but decided against it; there was no reason to bring it up again. “I am going to call Mrs. Faulkner and tell her that you’ll be staying here tonight.”

  He smiled. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” I grabbed my robe and headed to my office to make the call. It was still early. “Anna,” I said when she answered, “Nathan is going to stay—”

  “Yes, I know,” she said. “I spoke with Frank.”

  Awkward silence.

  “Okay, well, I just wanted to let you know.”

  “Thanks,” she clipped out. I went to hang up, but she called my name, “Just be careful, okay? Remember why he’s here. He may not be an addict, but the boy has issues.”

  “Don’t we all?” I asked.

  She spat a quick goodnight and hung up. I didn’t even dwell on it. I already knew why Nathan was here. He’d told me everything. He had changed. I could see it; what was more, I could feel it.

  When I walked back into the bedroom, Nathan reached out and pulled me into his arms. He didn’t say anything. He just held me, and I let him while I drifted off to sleep.

  When I woke up, he was gone. The deliveryman had come and gone, and all of my groceries were already put away. Nathan had put just about everything in the wrong place, but I had to smile at the effort.

  After I had put everything in its rightful place, I headed out to find my man. My man, wow. I liked the sound of that a little too much.

  When I got to the gate, the scene before me was so beautiful I stopped in my tracks. There were at least a hundred gerbera daisies in a variety of colors intertwined in the railing of the fence. Before I could even revel in the beauty of it, I thought, how? And, why? Sure, Mrs. Faulkner had brought one down from time to time to cheer me up but nothing like this. It had to have been Nathan, but still…how? I had just had the security company check every inch of that metal gate to make sure it was electrified. It would’ve taken a lot of work to do something like this without getting injured.

  I pressed the button to open the gate and headed up to look for Nathan at the stables. He could easily get out, but he couldn’t get back in without Mrs. Faulkner or me. Our fingerprints were the only ones that would open the gate from the outside.

  I found Fierce and Sparkle still in their stables. It was grazing time. I couldn’t believe that Frank hadn’t taken them out to pasture. There was no sign of Nathan. He must’ve gone up to his room at the clinical building to get cleaned up and changed. Or maybe I just missed him and he was sitting outside my gate waiting to have brunch with me.

  My house was closer, so I decided to run back down there first. Besides, he would come back when he got dressed, so either way, he would be there at some point. The man loved me after all. It wasn’t as though I needed to chase him all over the property. When he was ready to spend time with me, he would find me.

  He wasn’t at the gate, so I went on inside to get cleaned up myself. It was then that I noticed, and I couldn’t believe it had taken me this long. “Ivan?” I called out. When he didn’t come, I shouted louder. He never left without me. I glanced out back and had to do a double take, “Ivan!” He was lying on his side. He was too still. “Ivan, come on, boy,” I cried, pulling his head up into my lap. I knew he wasn’t a pup anymore, but he wasn’t that old.

  He wasn’t moving, but he let out a small whimper when I touched him. “What is it, baby? What’s wrong? Just hang in there! I’ll get help.” I eased his head back down to go call the vet with tears in my eyes. Had he gotten into something? Had he run into the fence? I didn’t understand.

  I sprinted into the house. The figure I saw before me made me lose my footing. I went from jogging to sliding backward on the floor.

  Phillip.

  The monster.

  It couldn’t be.

  “Hello, Elena.”

  I got my wits about me fast and made a run for the back door where I’d left Ivan. The monster was faster. He snatched me by my hair, slinging me to the couch. “Did you think I would let you get away from me again?”

  Tears eluded me as hatred came forth for what he’d done to me. I lunged for him, eyes, groin, boom, boom! I was swinging with purpose, just like I’d been taught.

  He hardly seemed affected. He easily trapped my arms, pulling me to him. “I love it when you play hard to get. But the time for games is over, Elena. You’ve betrayed me, and I’m not happy about it.”

  “Phillip, get out of my house or—”

  “Or what? Are you expecting someone? Nathan Bradley, perhaps? The janitor? Maybe even the giant? Certainly not the dog,” he said with a laugh.

  How did he know all of this? What was happening?

  “If I let you go, are you going to behave so we can talk?”

  I nodded, seething with fear and anger. He released me back onto the couch.

  “What did you do to my dog?” Tears formed in my eyes thinking of poor Ivan out on the patio waiting for me to help him. Surely everyone else had gotten away. Maybe they were all up at the clinical building right now having brunch. There was no way Phillip could’ve taken them all, especially not Frank. They couldn’t know he was here.

  They don’t know he’s here… Fear gripped me. I am all alone down here with him.

  “Your dog will be fine. He’s sedated is all. I wouldn’t hurt a defenseless animal. Do you think me a monster?”

  “Yes, you are a monster!” His expression hardened, and I knew I’d said the wrong thing, but I didn’t care anymore. “You’ve taken everything from me! Why are you here? What more could you want?”

  “I want you, Elena. I thought I made myself clear. I told you I would come for you. You had to know I would. Why do you look so surprised?”

  “My boyfriend will be here any minute,” I screamed. “He will kill you.”

  “Boyfriend, huh? You think that piece of shit can give you anything? I broke him down like he was nothing! He is nothing!”

  “No,” tears flowed freely. My anger was broken by grief. “You killed him…” I pulled my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth.

  “Killed him?” he laughed. “No, I didn’t kill him. Not yet. I wanted to, oh how I wanted to, but I decided against it. See, Elena, I had the very unpleasant experience of watching him fuck you on the windowsill last night. I only think it’s fair to return the sentiment.”

  His statement sent a chill up my spine and made me quiver all over. “You were watching… How?”

  “I’ve been coming in and out of here for weeks. I tied every one of those daisies to your gate. Did you really think all of this high-tech shit could keep me out? I’m smart. I’m smarter than you. And I’m certainly smarter than that shitty actor you let put his hands on you. I can’t believe you would just open for him… But like I said, I’m more than happy to let him be the onlooker.”

  “What do you mean?” I said, hugging my knees tighter.

  “He’s upstairs waiting for us. I want him to see how much more you like my way. I want him to watch how much pleasure I can give you.”

  “Phillip, no,” I cried. “Where is Mrs. Faulkner? Where is Frank?”

  “You don’t have to worry about them anymore, sweetie. They won’t come between us again.”

  A broken sob escaped me as he hoisted me over his shoulder. I kicked and screamed the whole way up the stairs. I was fighting so hard that he dropped me twice before we got to my room. Nathan was unconscious, tied to the chair in the corner of my bedroom.

  “Na-th
an!” His name came out in a sob.

  “Oh yes, let’s wake him, shall we?” When Phillip moved to slap Nathan, I made a run for the door to call for help. “If you step foot out of this room, I will kill him.” I stopped immediately. I knew he meant it.

  “Wake up, lover boy,” he said, slapping Nathan again, hard. “It’s time for you to see how little you mean to her.”

  “Baby, run,” Nathan yelled before Phillip punched him in the crotch.

  Phillip pulled out a blade and held it to Nathan’s neck. “Yeah, baby, run. I dare you.” He smiled at me.

  Nathan looked at me, not an ounce of fear in his eyes. “Ella, go,” he whispered.

  “I can’t,” I sobbed. I couldn’t let him take another person from me. “I love you,” I said, not wanting to miss the opportunity to tell him how I really felt. “I love you so much, Nate.”

  “You love him?” Phillip said, pressing the blade into Nathan’s skin. “You fucking love him? We’ll see about that. Watch this, lover boy. Watch her open for me.”

  “Get out of here, Ella,” Nathan screamed again, and this time, I did. He was going to rape me and kill Nathan anyway.

  I’d gotten to the top of the stairs when I felt Phillip’s hand close around my neck. “I don’t want to hurt you, Elena. I just want to be with you. Don’t make me hurt you.” I felt the blade of the knife pierce the skin under my ear. “Just come in here and prove to him that you love me, and we can go. No one else has to get hurt.”

  “You won’t kill him?”

  He let out an angry groan. “I guess not if you really don’t want me to, but only if you make love to me then come away with me…willingly. Will you do that?”

  Another sob escaped me, but I managed to nod. Nathan would be spared. Maybe not of the horrific events, but his life would be spared. “Don’t fight me, Elena. I don’t want to have to restrain you again. I want all of you, do you understand?” I was crying so hard I didn’t reply. “I said, do you understand?”

  “Yes,” I managed.

  He pulled me back into the bedroom, and Nathan’s eyes filled with tears. He thought I had gotten away. I could see it.

  “Kiss me,” Phillip instructed. “Show him that you love me, not him.” I looked at Nathan. He struggled against his restraints. I felt the monster’s palm connect with my cheek, “Don’t look at him! Kiss me.”

  “Don’t fucking hit her,” Nathan screamed, but Phillip wasn’t listening.

  He stared at me with those emotionless gray eyes, waiting for me to kiss him. He didn’t love me. He was just obsessed with me. To him, I was just an object to be owned.

  I leaned forward, turned my head and gagged, then pressed my lips to his before I vomited. “Wipe your mouth and try again,” he said. I did but with the same results. “Fuck this, let’s get down to business.”

  I let out a scream when he ripped open my shirt. I could see Nathan’s mouth moving. He was yelling, but I couldn’t hear him anymore. I had tuned him out. I had to fight the urge to mentally check out. Phillip pushed me back on the bed, pulling down my shorts. He let his eyes roam over my nude body. “Perfect,” he said.

  “Nathan, I love you,” I said again. “I love you so much, but I can’t do this again. I’m so sorry.”

  “Shut up!” Phillip clamped his hand over my mouth. I saw the knife in his other hand. I glanced at Nathan from the corner of my eye, his form blurred from the tears clouding my vision. I was pleading for him to understand. I couldn’t go through this again…No matter what. It had to stop…regardless.

  He ran the flat side of the knife between my breasts. He didn’t get the shiver of fear that he’d expected. I was resigned. I had decided. I was done being the victim.

  “Put the knife away, Phillip,” I said sternly.

  He let out a clipped laugh. “I’m not that stupid.”

  “A real man doesn’t need a weapon to get his dick hard.”

  “What did you just say?”

  “I said, when Nathan makes love to me, he doesn’t need to hold a knife on me to do it.” Phillip’s features tightened. “All I have to do is be to get him hard. Isn’t that right, Nate?”

  Nathan was momentarily stunned but jumped on board with the ruse that was sure to get someone killed, “Baby, I’m hard right now just listening to you.”

  “Shut up, or I will kill him right now!”

  “Do what you have to do, motherfucker,” Nathan yelled, pulling against his restraints. Restraints…control…I took a page from Nathan’s playbook.

  “Phillip”—I took his face in my hands because I knew we’d gone too far with that bit—“are you hard for me?” He looked back and forth between Nathan and me, seemingly confused. “Let me see,” I said. “Show me.”

  “What is this, some kind of game to you?” he asked.

  “The time for games is over, Phillip,” I said, reiterating his words. “If you want me to go with you, put the knife down and make love to me like a man.”

  “No,” he slid the knife to my throat. “I will do what I like with you, just like this, while lover boy watches. Then if you come with me without a fight, I won’t cut his fucking head off in front of you. You don’t make the rules, Elena. I make the rules.”

  “Take it easy, man,” Nathan said, but I wasn’t scared. My way or his, he wouldn’t rape me again.

  I leaned into the blade. “If you kill me, you’ll never have me.”

  “If I can’t have you, he can’t either.”

  I brought my hand up, pushing the knife away easily. He didn’t want to kill me. He wouldn’t have hunted and studied me if that was all he wanted.

  “How did you find me, Phillip?” I asked calmly as I pushed the knife farther and farther away from me, slowly.

  “I followed your daddy’s best friend. I knew he would lead me to you eventually. I knew he was the one who helped that bitch janitor and you. I was actually reading a magazine at the bus stop when I read about Mimi Vines’ amazing, anonymous therapist in a tiny town in Georgia. I looked at my notes and back at the story when it dawned on me. That’s where the ole judge had been traveling back and forth to for the past year. I had been here several times without noticing your bitch friend or you. In my defense, you both changed your look.”

  He pulled my hair around the top of my head and held it up, “Your hair is longer. I don’t like it. It makes you look like a whore. She used to have short hair,” he told Nathan. I yelped when he sliced the blade through my hair and tossed the strands away. “Now, that’s a sharp knife.” he smiled.

  “Fuck you,” I screamed.

  “Don’t mind if I do. Elena, I’ve been waiting so long…” When he lifted up to open his slacks, I kicked him square in the chest, knocking him backward onto the floor. I looked around frantically but didn’t see the knife anywhere.

  “Run, baby,” Nathan yelled again.

  “No, I’m done running.” I grabbed my lamp and smashed it into Phillip’s head. It shattered with a crack against his skull.

  I didn’t know what I had expected to happen, maybe for him to fall unconscious or something, but he didn’t. Instead, he wrapped his hands around my neck. I clawed and scratched, but he just tightened his grip.

  “Ivan,” I squeaked out.

  “Shut up, bitch! I’ve waited years for you…Years! You’ll make love to me whether you’re conscious or not, you cunt!” He pushed me back on the bed as stars danced at the corners of my vision. “I’m going to have you. Then I’m going to kill your boyfriend. After that, I’m going to take you back to my place where I will have you whenever I want.”

  “No” came out in a whisper. I felt the darkness blanket me and let my eyes flutter closed. It was over. In fighting, I had succeeded only in killing Nathan. Phillip would take me. It was over.

  What I could only describe as a war cry ripped me from the darkness back to reality. Nathan lunged for the monster, knocking him off of me. They tussled at my feet as I searched for the strength to get up…

&nbs
p; I heard blow after blow being dealt by one of them or the other. When I heard Nathan scream out in pain, I got to my feet.

  Nathan was face down with the knife in his back. There was blood pouring from his wrists too. Phillip was injured also. He was bleeding from his gut and lying on the floor.

  “Help me,” the monster said, reaching for my hand.

  “Nathan! Are you with me, baby?”

  “I’m okay,” he said, though he is bleeding profusely from his wrists. I assumed when the knife went flying, Nathan was able to grab it and cut himself loose, but he must’ve hit an artery.

  “You’re going to be okay, baby. I’m here,” I told him quickly, ripping the sheet to make a tourniquet for his left wrist.

  “Elena, help me,” the monster called again. Fury engulfed me.

  “Nathan, this is going to hurt a bit,” I said, ripping the knife from his back. He screamed but didn’t protest. “Phillip, I’m more than happy to help you…” I started toward him, stark naked, yielding the blade.

  “I just wanted to love you…” he said.

  “You want to love me to death, you crazy fuck!” I raised the knife, aiming for his heart, but I froze. Tears of rage streaked my face. My eyes met his, and he actually smirked.

  “You aren’t a killer, Elena.” Suddenly my feet were swept out from under me, my head hitting the floor hard. I had to blink several times before I could regain focus.

  He was up and dragging me. I hit the first step with a thump and the next and the next as he pulled me down the stairs by my hair. Somewhere along the way, I lost the knife. I didn’t fight anymore. I was too tired. It was all I could do to stay conscious. All I could think about was Nathan bleeding to death on my bedroom floor. Maybe someone would find him and help him.

  When I opened my eyes again, I saw Nathan’s bloody form diving over me, tackling the monster to the floor. There was no struggle.

  “She may not be able to kill you, but I can,” Nathan said, sinking the knife into Phillip’s gut again.

  “Ivan,” I managed, seeing the dog barreling toward the men with everything in him. He was sluggish but sure in his task. “Ivan, kill!”