The Detective and the Rockstar

Chapter 29

          She was slipping back into the grip of depression. She felt it taking control, but she was helpless to stop it. Old habits were as welcoming as a warm fire on a cold winter night. She was trapped somewhere between fantasy and reality. Memories of her sweet childhood tormented her. She dreamed of becoming that free spirit she once was.

         She lifted the bottle to her lips and took a chug. Her eyes were staring at the wall, but her mind couldn't even register the color of the concrete plaster. The sweet temptation of a drunken stupor lured her back in like Rio winking at her.

          She picked up her phone. Her mind lingered on a question. Should she call Matt and tell him everything she knew? Her heart shuddered, and her stomach twisted so violently that she took a sip from the bottle to quell the pain. She wanted to be the one to close this case. She wanted Alice to confess to her. She was still desperately trying to find a way to save her sister.

"What are you doing?"

Rio's voice sliced right through the fog in her mind. She woke from her daze and looked at him in disgrace. The expression on his face struck her like the swift hook of a trained fist.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" he said. The unfamiliar harshness in his voice startled Annika.

"When did you get here?" she asked with a giggle.

"What are you doing? What happened with you and Alice?"

"Why are you trying to be my father? Hmm? You're my boyfriend. My father has been dead for a long time now." She laughed.

She was sober enough to see his mood shift. His eyes became dark, and his face a deep shade of red. He crossed the room to where she was sitting on the floor with two empty beer bottles at her feet. She lifted the bottle in her hand to her mouth and eyed him with mockery. Her lack of regard visibly infuriated him. He snatched the beer from her before she could drink. With wide eyes, she watched in disbelief as he hurled it through the air. Shards of glass flew everywhere as the bottle exploded on the wall. The stench of beer permeated the room.

Annika concentrated on the streaks of beer running down the wall. Fragments of glass remained stuck to the paint, shimmering like diamonds.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rio retorted.

His voice pulled her back to reality. She looked up at him, her eyes focused on his flaring nostrils.

"Get up!" He grabbed her by the arm, his strength reminding her he was a man.

"Ouch! When did you get so strong?" she said with another chafing giggle.

"It's not funny! Grow the fuck up."

She laughed in his face, provoking him further.

"What? Are you going to beat me up? I thought you weren't like those men from the west side of Bel Avira. You like beating up girls, Rio?"

He pushed her against the wall to restrain her. His eyes were probing her face to find the answers he wanted.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." She shrugged with a scoff.

"I thought you stopped drinking? Are you that weak? You don't have any self-control, do you? You like to walk around and act like you are so brave and strong, but the second things get tough, you fall apart. Don't you have any fight in you?"

The sting of his accusation sobered her up slightly.

"What do you know about who I am, Rio?" she hissed at him. "You don't even know me! You have no idea what I'm facing right now. Your life isn't in pieces on the ground."