“Somehow, the baby boy she gave away ends up making friends with the son that she kept – his twin. They have completely different upbringings, one rich, one poor, but somehow they become best friends. Despite everything, they’re really very much alike.” Jerry stared at Jess and this time she was certain he would cry, but still he did not. He smiled instead. “That’s like me and Ben. You get what I’m saying?”
Jess didn’t. But then she thought about it a little harder and ventured a surprised guess: “You and Ben were brothers?” Jerry didn’t answer her but Jess knew it was a hit and not a miss. It still didn’t quite make sense though. “Did Ben know?”
Jerry finally allowed a tear to escape his eye. He blinked it away and it crept down his cheek. “We…we had the same dad, but I never told him that. My mom only told me when I was ten. By then I’d already been friends with Ben for three years.”
Jess was shocked. She thought this type of scenario was meant for cheesy films and dodgy talk shows, not real life. “Why did you never tell him?”
Jerry wiped the tear from his face, but did nothing about the new ones that ran down to replace it. “Ashamed, I guess. My mom told me it was just a one-night stand and that it was whilst Ben’s dad was together with his mom.”
Jess understood and nodded. “You kept it to yourself because you didn’t want to hurt Ben or break up his family?”
Jerry avoided looking directly at her and chose instead to carry on gazing into the fire as he spoke. “He idolised his dad; respected him as this great businessman. God knows why, the guy was a small-time jerk with more skeletons in the closet than Norman Bates. If I told Ben what his father – what our father – was really like, it would have broken him. I didn’t want to mess his life up like that – like mine. He was my brother.”
Jess was emotionally winded by the story and had to remind herself to breath. What a beautiful sacrifice for someone to make, she thought, before hugging Jerry tightly.
He yelled out in shock. “Hey, what’s that for?”
Jess kissed his cheek. “For being such a kind human being. I don’t think you realise quite how rare that is. Ben was lucky to have you as a friend, Jerry, and even more so as a brother.” Jess realised that her comments had summoned fresh tears and even a little whimper from Jerry. She patted him on the back. “Sorry, didn’t mean to upset you.”
Jerry wiped his eyes. “It’s okay. Think I needed that. Clears my head for what really matters.”
Jess frowned. “And what’s that?”
“What do you think?” Jerry spoke as if she were stupid. “You saw what happened to Ben. There’s something fucked up out there and it’s not going to stop till it gets us all. I’m sure if Peter could wake up and speak, he’d tell us to get the hell out of this FUBAR situation.”
“He already did,” Jess blurted out. “He said I needed to get away.”
Jerry was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and said, “I think that’s good advice. No one believed us about what we saw, and I guess we kind of just let it go because we were embarrassed, but we both know we’re not crazy. There’s something out there that isn’t human.”
Jess considered for a moment that maybe she was crazy, but she knew Jerry was right. Both of them knew what they had seen earlier.
They had to get away.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Make sure it’s tight”
“I am!” Harry tugged the curtain ties around Damien’s wrists and felt them dig into the boy’s flesh. “Any tighter and I’ll cut his arms off.”
“Good,” said Nigel. “Exactly what the dirty little rapist deserves.”
When Harry had swung the whiskey bottle at Damien’s head it had instantly shattered, sending streams of Old Graham’s salty piss all over the both of them. Harry could still smell the vinegary pong on his clothes right now. Once Nigel had regained consciousness, the two of them dragged Damien’s limp body into the bar area and heaved him onto a chair. They were now currently in the process of restraining him to it as tightly as possible. The last thing they needed was Damien waking back up and endangering anybody else. They had enough on their plate as it was, and Harry still hadn’t forgotten about the incident in the dance hall. Chaos, it seemed, had started coming at him from all directions.
Harry had placed Steph downstairs on a pile of blankets and covered her up with a duvet. She had stirred briefly when he’d first lifted her from the toilet floor, but she was yet to regain full-consciousness. Lucas had promised to look after her until Harry came back.
It was unbelievable that Damien had tried to rape Steph. Harry had made a massive mistake in thinking that the lad was not capable of such evil? At least he didn’t get away with it, Harry thought, shaking his head as he thought about what could have gone down if Nigel hadn’t walked in and disturbed Damien.
“Nigel, I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t walked in when you did. Steph is so lucky you were there.”
Nigel’s chest puffed up proudly. With the beating his face had taken, Harry thought he looked like a dishevelled bear hit with a shovel. “I’m just sorry the little perv got the drop on me before I could take him down first. My head’s still bloody banging.”
Harry gave the curtain ropes one last tug and was at last satisfied that Damien was restrained adequately. “I’m not surprised,” he said. “Vicious bastard really did a number on you. Soon as the phones are working, we’ll call the police and get him squared away.”
Nigel seemed to flinch. “Police, yeah”
Harry looked at him. “You okay, mate?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. Just a bit dizzy. Need to sit down, I think.”
Harry stood up, frozen knees straightening with a click! “I can keep an eye on things here, buddy. You go and rest.”
“Thanks, Harry. Can I get you anything?”
Harry thought immediately about another beer, but for some reason he said, “I’m good, thanks.”