By Your Side

Chapter 32: Rooftop

A frustrated roar came from the smallish girl as James opened the bathroom door and his phone spiraled through the air and smashed against the wall beside him.

"Jesus, what was that about?"

"Why do you have a naked picture of my cousin on your phone?"

"What? It was a gift."

"A gift for what? Admit it, you're a fucking pervert."

"Hannah where is this coming from?"

What James had forgotten was he did crop the image of Clare, and in doing so removed the towel to give it the appearance of Clare not having anything on.

"Oh James, why are you so god damn nice. Here I am trying to make a baby with you, and I find out you and my cousin have been sexting for days."

"What-"

"Is that what the ring represents?"

James looked down at his hand and noticed the tungsten circle still hugging his ring finger.

"No this is-"

"James, I get it you and my cousin didn't start dating today, you got married instead. Which let me guess, that's probably where the two of you went on my birthday, wasn't it? You two just want to spite me."

"Hannah, what are you talking about?"

"Cut the shit, I loved you, James. I really did. I even got rid of Nathan for you, but you know what I guess its an eye for an eye situation since you won't have a wife to go home too much longer."

"What did you do to Clare?!"

"Let's just say I pushed her off the ledge."

The conversation the two of them had about their relentless depression shot back into James' head, and the memory stopped when it reached one sentence in particular. I'm on watch. Hannah must have known about her situation, and by doing this, she put the final nail into Clare's coffin.

"Go to her James, you might as well see your wife's mangled corpse one last time."

"Nathan was right about you. I'd even go to the extent to say you bruised yourself."

Hannah smiled and laughed at the comment before reaching over to the side of the bed and pulled out the prosthetic bruise that she had made using special effects makeup.

"Y'know it, it's amazing what a little makeup can do. However, to be completely honest with you, I just used Nathan for his money. Personally, I'm more into girls myself, but it's nice having a sugar daddy who's scared of you. You were gonna be my exception though."

Suddenly the door to the closet started to bounce back and forth as someone kicked it from the inside. James didn't hesitate as Hannah seemed to be less of a threat and swung the door open, causing Nathan's body to topple out and squirm on the floor. His limbs had been tied, and his face was covered in blood, and his mouth had been taped shut. He could only make muffled noises that were almost silent, and he still seemed dazed from the coma that Hannah had put him in. James untied the defenceless boys while his captor continued to observe from the bed not making any movements.

"Thanks."

"No problem, but listen I need you to deal with Hannah."

"I heard, go save Clare."

The two whispered back and forth until James stood back up and looked at Hannah, who was waiting to see what his next move would be.

"Are you going to stop me, Hannah?"

"No, I already have."

Withholding himself from losing his cool on the girl, James grabbed his clothes and bolted for the car and speed back to the hotel. Meanwhile, in the house, Nathan had gotten back to his feet and was now looking at Hannah with complete disgust before he to walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Taking a seat on the front steps of the apartment he sighed with relief knowing his fight was over and prayed for James and Clare.

Back in the car, James weaved in and out of traffic racing to get to the hotel. Doubts of everything ran through his mind as his depression tried to take over, but he kept pressing forward. The thought of Hannah also telling the truth about her message to Clare rested on his mind, but he couldn't chance it. He needed to find his girlfriend. It was finally clear and without a doubt, he knew that he loved Clare and Hannah was the one who opened his eyes to that, he just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

He wasn't far from the hotel now when blue and red flashing lights shined in front of the hotel. Two police cruisers and an ambulance were just pulling into the hotel's parking lot, as he followed in behind them. A group of people had all circled around an area as the emergency teams pushed their way through them.

Feeling the intensity of the situation, James abruptly parked the car and opened the door before running to join the crowd. The police had already gotten into the inner circle and were waving people away from the scene, but James continued forward until one of the officers gestured for him to step aside.

"Sir, I have to see."

"You need to back up kid, there's nothing to see here."

James saw no other option, as he took the officers advice and backed away before turning to run back past the officer catching him off guard. He didn't know what he was about to see, only the thought of Clare's mangled body on the ground resonated in his mind. Except she wasn't there, instead it was just a random guy, who had gotten into a bar fight and had been knocked out.

"I still have time."

The boy mumbled to himself before he ran back into the hotel and back up to their floor. As he reached the room, he swiped the card, and it unlocked on the first attempt. Taking one last breath, James burst into the room. In the short corridor, he checked the bathroom making sure she wasn't there and then checked the rest of the room with still no sign of her.

"Clare!"

There was no response, as potential locations were no barraging each other in his head about where she could be. That's when he remembered the pool on the roof.