My Kind Of Bad

“But why would she do any of this?” He reached for Neo’s hand. “And why wouldn’t you say anything before, Neo? You’ve never let anyone walk all over you in your life.”

“Because she scares me, Kurt.” Neo gripped his hand like it was a lifeline. Tears were falling down her cheek. “She keeps threatening to have me put in jail for those possession charges she conveniently managed to get dropped. That they can come back again if I say she’s been beating me up.” She looked at Kurt. “She’s angry with you, too.”

“Me?”

“Why would your mother be angry with Kurt?” Pete asked.

“Because he rejected her. She’s always had a thing for Kurt.” Neo’s face was turning white as she looked at Kurt. “You’re the one she wants around the house as often as possible. Daddy never had affairs but he was always so busy. I love him dearly but Mom stopped loving him a long time ago. She just stayed with him because of the title she got as matriarch of the DuJour MC. The only man she wanted was Kurt but he rejected her at our New Year party. She didn’t like that because no one says no to Mommy.”

Kurt saw Pete giving him a questioning look.

“She got me alone and tried to come on to me. Said she was feeling lonely. I told her that I couldn’t do that to Billy and I was dating Rhiannon at that time.”

“Pretty much the same thing you told me the night the club got shot up.” Neo said with a wry smile.

Pete straightened up. Kurt could see his brain working and knew he was coming to a conclusion.

“You said this happened at your New Year party, Neo?”

“Yes. I saw Mom coming out of the bedroom moments after Kurt did. She didn’t look happy.” Neo sniffed. “I came into the kitchen earlier today and found her laptop open on the counter. It had a schedule on it but it wasn’t hers. Then I saw some of the errands, the addresses. It’s from Neera’s part of town. I recognized them because Jason would take me there. Mom came in and saw that I was reading her laptop. She went crazy.” She raised her cast. “That’s when she broke my arm.”

Pete stared at Kurt and Kurt knew they were thinking the same thing. Kurt had turned Taylor down at New Year.

The first murder was exactly a week later.

*****

Neera tugged at the zip ties holding her wrists behind her back but they were done very tightly. They cut into her wrists. Her head was still foggy and she felt like she was going to throw up. Her body was boiling but she was shaking. Sweat made her pyjamas stick to her skin.

Taylor was at the kitchen counter, her bag on the countertop. She was humming as she retrieved a series of knives and other assorted instruments that made Neera’s stomach churn and laid them on the counter. She looked around as Neera shifted on the couch. She smiled but there was no mirth in it, her eyes steely cold.

“Sorry about tying you up, honey, but I had to do it. You can hold your own in a fight. I wasn’t going to risk being overpowered.”

Neera sat up. Her head spun but she forced herself to stay upright.

“What’s going on, Taylor? What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Taylor held up a butterfly knife. “I’m preparing. I’m going to have fun with this one.”

Neera stared at the knife. It looked like there was blood encrusted in the handle. She felt the nausea take hold but forced herself not to throw up.

But the realization was already dawning. Taylor was the killer. She had to be. There wasn’t any other reason for drugging her to knock her out and then tying her up, parading weapons of torture in front of her.

She swallowed. Maybe someone had seen her come in. If she kept her talking then maybe she could stall her. Give someone enough time to find her.

“Why are you doing this, Taylor? I thought we were friends.”

“Friends?” Taylor snorted. “No, Neera, we are not friends. You had Kurt so that makes you my enemy.”

“What?”

“Come on, you’re a smart girl. Haven’t you figured it out by now? Kurt is the man I want. He’s the person I want to have for the rest of my life. He’s my one and only.” Taylor glared at Neera, not bothering to disguise her hate. “And you have him.”

“But…” Neera knew this was happening but it still felt like a nightmare. “But you’re married. You have Billy and he’s devoted to you.”

“Billy was an infatuation, part of my rebellious stage in my teens.” Taylor’s mouth twisted angrily. “By the time I realized he wasn’t my soul mate I was pregnant and married to him. My family raised me to believe that divorce and abortions were sins so I had no choice but to stay with Billy and put a smile on my face like nothing was wrong.” Her eyes sparkled, her expression softening somewhat. “But Kurt is my soul mate. We clicked the first time we met. He understands me, better than Billy ever did.”

Neera was struggling to keep up with the emotions Taylor flittered between. She looked crazy. She had to be crazy.

But she was talking. Neera had to try and prolong the inevitable. Give herself a chance of being found. Someone would find out something was wrong.

Wouldn’t they?

“Did…” She didn’t want to think about it. “Did you and Kurt sleep together?”

“Sadly, no. I tried several times to get him interested but he would never look at me in that way.”

Taylor picked up a knife, this one small and thinner than the butterfly knife, and stalked towards Neera, pointing the knife at her face.

“Not like how he looks at you. He looks at you like he wants to gobble you up.” She sat on the coffee table and shifted forward, their knees almost touching. “At Billy’s New Year party I got him alone. I took my clothes off and offered myself to him. He thought I was drunk at first but when I told him I was serious, he pushed me away and said no. I told him I wanted to fu*k him and he told me to go back to my husband and bolted.” Her jaw tightened. “The man bolted! No one walks out on me.”

Neera could well believe that. Taylor had this something about her, aside from the craziness, and nobody wanted to push it. She had a feeling her former friend could get very nasty very quickly when provoked.

“I was furious. He thought he could lead me on with a glance, with a smile, and then throw me away like I was garbage.” Taylor laid the flat of the blade on Neera’s thigh. “No chance. Kurt is mine and I intend to have him.”

“So you killed his girlfriends to get back at him?”

Taylor shrugged.

“He had a string of dates but none of them were serious. I was going to prove that I was still there for him when everyone else in his life had left him.”

“That’s twisted.”