My Kind Of Bad

Kurt sagged onto the couch. He didn’t look happy.

“I’m calling time because I haven’t got the time to give you right now and that’s not fair to you. Plus with these calls you’ve been getting…”

“Are you freaking out because someone’s been calling me?”

“They’re because of me.” Kurt snapped. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and hands clasped together. He spoke as he stared at the floor. “Did the caller say that I was theirs and not yours?”

“Yes, but how did…”

“Five of my ex-girlfriends have been killed since Christmas, Neera.” Kurt looked up at her. He looked haunted. “They were brief but they all dated me. Pete said that was the common denominator. Two of them even told police that they’d been getting hang-up calls a couple of days before they were murdered.” He looked down at his hands, which were shaking. “He warned me about getting involved with someone else because I could get them hurt. And he was right.”

Neera was reeling. Kurt had known the whole time who the killer was aiming for and he hadn’t told her. She had mentioned the first hang-up to him when it occurred while they lay in bed together but Kurt had merely grunted, rolled over and gone back to sleep. After that Neera didn’t bother, instead going to Pete and filing every time it happened. She was getting tired of it.

She began to feel the anger rising. She wanted to hit something and Kurt seemed like a good target.

“So you want to end it because a psycho is killing your past lovers and now he seems to be going after me.” She said slowly. “You don’t want me to become another victim.”

“I’m sorry, Neera. I wish I could do this differently but…”

“There’s never any good way to make a break-up all nice and smelling of roses.” Neera sneered. “You didn’t want to hurt me but, there you go, you hurt me. Congratulations, Kurt. Are they going to give you a medal?”

Kurt stood and tried to reach for her.

“I’m sorry…”

“Stop saying you’re sorry!”

Neera slapped his hands away and shoved him in the chest. Kurt stumbled back a step. Neera felt like she couldn’t breathe as her throat clogged up. Tears were building up and Neera wanted to scream. She jabbed a finger at Kurt.

“I should’ve listened to you from the get-go. You said you weren’t a good person to get involved with. I shouldn’t have been so stubborn. I shouldn’t have followed my attraction to you. You’re the last guy I should be getting involved with. Bikers are not my thing. But I stupidly listened to my heart and not my head.”

She almost said that she had fallen in love with him. That was what everyone said on a break-up and Neera wasn’t going to fall into that category. She turned away and stormed towards her bedroom.

“Get out.”

“Neera…”

“Get the fu*k out! I want you out of here in ten seconds before I do something I’ll regret. Now!”

Neera slammed the door and threw herself onto the bed. She grabbed her pillow and buried her face into it as she sobbed.

A moment later she heard the door open and close. And her heart broke.

*****

Neera had no idea how long she lay there, trying to shut the world out. The tears stopped a long time ago and now she just felt numb. Her whole body felt exhausted, disjointed.

She had experienced break-ups before. Hell, she had broken up with Jason not long ago. But none of them had made her feel like this.

Kurt had really done a number on her emotions.

Neera figured she must have fallen asleep at some point because she raised her head and it was dark outside. The clock said it was past ten. It had been five-thirty when she had gone into the shower. Rolling onto her side, Neera slowly sat up and shrugged out of her robe. Maybe if she got dressed, ordered takeout and curled up to watch TV, she would be able to shut out the world yet again. Just for a while. Then she could deal with everything in the morning.

She contemplated calling Petra and Elizabeth but then remembered that Elizabeth was in Thailand on a photo shoot and Petra was currently on a state’s tour with her new book. Neera didn’t want to bother either of them and cancel their meetings. Because that’s what they would do; they would drop everything and come home to be with her. And both would be angry. They had met Kurt several times and they both liked him. Elizabeth was even now dating one of his friends from DuJour. Neera didn’t want her relationship to be jeopardized because of Kurt dumping her.

She didn’t want to see anyone.

Dressing in her flannel pyjamas, Neera dragged a brush through her hair and wandered into the kitchen. As she went for the pizza menu lying on the coffee table, someone knocked at the door.

Neera froze. If anyone wanted to get into the building they had to be buzzed in. She hadn’t done it.

She approached the door and stood to one side. If there was someone with a gun on the other side she wasn’t taking any chances. She had seen those movies where the person was killed by getting shot through the spyhole.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Taylor, honey.”

Neera sagged. That was, at least, one friendly face. She opened the door and saw Taylor standing in the hall. She was dressed in a black sweater and black yoga pants, her hair tied back. She looked like she had been out to the gym.

“I’m sorry, Taylor, this isn’t a good time.” Neera wiped at her cheeks. They were dry but she could feel the tear tracks. “I’m not in the mood for visitors.”

“I can see.” Taylor’s eyes widened. She hurried inside and shut the door. “Oh, honey, what’s wrong?”

She laid a hand on Neera’s arm. Neera could feel the pain building back up again.

“Kurt.” She croaked.

“Has he hurt you?” Taylor’s jaw tightened. “If he has, I’ll go and sort him out for you.”

“Don’t.” Neera turned away. She wasn’t going to cry again. “He’s ended things with me.”

“Oh, no. I’m so sorry, honey.”

Neera wandered back into the lounge and sat on the couch, wrapping her arms around her middle as she pulled her legs up underneath her body. She looked up at Taylor, who stood over her as she dropped her bag on the floor.

“Did you know someone was killing his past girlfriends?”