The Ice Line by Ray Backley

Author:Ray Backley [Backley, Ray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2023-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

we need to talk

Over the next couple of hours and six strong coffees, a plan – no, a principle – came together in her mind. If Brandon was going to just post the clip on some seedy online porn-site, she would take the risk, perhaps change her hair and makeup to distance herself from it. On the other hand, if Brandon wanted something else – like he was going to blackmail her – there was no way on earth she would give in. She would go to the cops, get them involved, trace the message, prove it had come from Brandon, and get the sicko locked up where he belonged. And she definitely, definitely wasn’t going to reply to the message.

For the rest of that day she wavered on her principle. Did she really want to get the cops involved? She wasn’t sure. She thought about contacting Brandon directly and asking him what the hell he was playing at, whether he was serious, what his intentions were. But no. She decided to wait and see what happened, to leave the ball in that bastard’s court. She would wait him out. If she didn’t hear from him again, it would be too soon and she would fling the thought of the video clip out of her mind and get on with life as if she’d never met him.

But as the hours passed by, the sick feeling in her stomach turned to hunger. She didn’t want to leave her apartment, was too upset to cook, but knew not eating wouldn’t be a good strategy. So she ordered a takeout pizza.

Twenty minutes later there was a knock at the door. On autopilot, not thinking to check, she opened it.

She smiled at the guy, but her smile quickly fell away. No pizza, no motorcycle helmet. Just a dirty black leather jacket over a threadbare black T-shirt over jeans.

“Are you Lottie?” he said almost immediately. He spoke politely, softly, but with an underlying confidence. Or arrogance. At this stage she didn’t know which.

“Uh . . . I guess . . . say, who are you?”

“Yeah. You are. I recognize you.”

A deep breath was the only reply she could manage.

“Tell me, Lottie, are you alone?”

“I’m . . . no. No, I’m not alone.”

He tried to peek beyond her. She closed the door all but a couple of inches. He laughed. Again, an aura of self-assuredness seemed to underpin his every action.

“I promise I won’t hurt you. Could I come in for a moment?”

“What’s it about?”

My Name’s Caleb and I need to talk to you. I know you got my message, I know you saw the video clip, so let’s not shit each other here.”

Charlotte could feel her knees buckling again. She took a few long gasps of the stale stairwell air and gulped painfully. It was clear that this jerk had seen the video clip, but what the hell did he want? Did he think she was an easy lay?

Whatever the game was, she was having no part in it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.