Killer

Sidney sat in the dark, damp jail cell, nothing but Annie on his mind. He wondered how she was holding up, if she was going to be alright without him there to hold her. He wanted to break these bars, he wanted to get to her, but he couldn’t. So he just sat on the small cot in the suffocating cell, left with nothing but his thoughts of her. He leaned back, thankful that the one thing his celebrity status had gotten him was his own cell as he heard the hollering of the other men, trapped here until Monday when they could finally see a judge.

He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander back to when they’d been alone in her bedroom. It had been so innocent, yet passionate. It was loving and soft and kind, it was beautiful, but he still felt guilty. He had stopped her from doing the same thing earlier, and knew he was a complete hypocrite. But his guilt didn’t stop his memories of her kisses, her hair, the smell of her skin, from wrapping around his brain, keeping Rylie’s death locked out. He could still feel her hips under his fingertips, her warm lips on his, and in this dark Hell, that was enough.

The bright light of someone opening the hallway door broke him from his memories as he shielded his eyes, having become used to the darker lights in the holding cells. A large, intimidating officer approached him, his face stern. “Crosby, you’ve got a visitor.” He said gruffly. Sidney felt his heart leap at the thought of Annie out there, waiting for him. He was led out by the officer to the room he’d only heard about, prisoners on one side of the glass and their loved ones on the other. “Seat six.” The officer said, watching Sidney like a hawk as he counted the numbers silently in his head until he saw the six in bold lettering. He turned to the glass, his heart racing to see this shining eyes, but he was met with bitter disappointment.

And older couple, most likely in their fifties or so, were sitting on the other side of the glass. They looked somewhat familiar as they looked at him with stern faces, dressed in business attire. He wondered if maybe Annie had called him a lawyer, but knew that a lawyer would never meet him like this. He gingerly picked up the phone as the woman, a round, pale blonde with piercing caramel eyes did the same. “How can I help you two?” He asked, not really wanting to deal with what he assumed to be press. But as the man put his thin, bony hand on the woman’s shoulder, he figured they weren’t press.

“Mr. Crosby, you don’t know us. But I do believe you know our children.” The woman said. Her voice was so cold and void of any emotion that it nearly made Sidney shiver. He looked at the man and woman again until she let out a short, irritated huff. “We’re Mr. and Mrs. Beckett.” His eyes widened as the woman nodded. “Now that we’ve gotten formalities out of the way, let’s get down to business-”

“I’m so sorry.” Sidney whispered. They both looked strangely at him as he covered his mouth with one hand, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry about your son, about what I’ve done to you family. But I swear to you, I’ll take good care of Annie-”

“You should be taking care of us!” The woman snapped. Sidney recoiled at the harsh tone of her voice as she cleared her throat, obviously regaining her composure. “Annie is an adult and can take care of herself.”

“Then why did you come down here?” He asked. The man took the phone, and Sidney could see Rylie in his thin face.

“We’re the ones who pressed the charges against you.” He said. “You killed our son and we want compensation.” Sidney just looked at the two of them, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing as he just watched them.

“Is that all this is about for you two? Compensation?” He whispered. “What about your daughter? What about the woman who’s suffering right now and needs someone like her parents to help her arrange her brother’s funeral?!” Mrs. Beckett just shook her head, taking the phone back.

“You know nothing about how our family works.” She snapped. “Rylie and Annie have always been perfectly fine being independent.”

“Because they had each other.” Sidney growled. “She needs you now more than ever! She needs me to help her!”

“That’s just like Annie, fall for the man who murdered her brother.” Mrs. Beckett sneered. “She had so much promise and she threw it away to help Rylie, she’s a stupid little girl. If you ask me she should have been the one in the net-”

“Shut your fucking mouth.” Sidney snarled, his entire body shaking. “Don’t you ever speak about Annie like that, do you understand me?”

“Oh she’s laid the ‘pity me’ act on thick hasn’t she?” Mr. Beckett scoffed, looking Sidney up and down. “She always was the charmer, we had boys knocking down the door, but she turned them all down to help Rylie. And the minute she gets him in the NHL she starts going on dates with handsome young men with even handsomer bank accounts.”

“It was nothing like that.” Sidney snapped. “I love her and she loves me to.”

“Right, she’s a great little liar.” Mrs. Beckett said. “Like how she promised us when her and Rylie moved to L.A. that she would never let anything happen to him-”

“How old was she?” Sidney interrupted.

“For what?”

“When you two left her to raise Rylie, how old was she?” Both the Beckett’s were quiet for a long time before Mrs. Beckett spoke again.

“We’ve come here to offer you a deal, Sidney. If you agree then you can get out of here right after this meeting.” Sidney eyed both of them suspiciously, terrified.

“And what is that?” He asked.

“Ten million dollars.” She said coolly. He just looked at them both as they kept up straight faces.

“You’re fucking kidding me right?” He demanded. “This is not some spy movie where you come in here and-”

“We looked it up, you made seven and a half million last year, we know you can afford it.” Mr. Beckett said. “Just think, you pay us and then you can take our daughter off our hands forever. Hell, you have my permission to marry the little brat if you really want her.”

“But if you say no, we’ll take you to court for everything you have.” She said. “And we’ll win, who can say no to a grieving mother just trying to get justice for her son. And we’ll request jail time, make sure that you never see our daughter again.” Mrs. Beckett continued. She then smiled wickedly. “Maybe we can marry her off to that Jeff guy, she can finally do some good for this family.”

“So what do you say Sidney?” Mr. Beckett pressed, looking at the young player. Sidney just pressed his lips together, not knowing how Annie and Rylie could be so cheerful when they had these monsters to call parents. He knew that if he had her on his side, he could face anything. He could take prison, fines, he would live on the streets as long as she was beside him. He couldn’t lose her, but he knew that if he paid off her parents, she would always wonder if he really did slide into that net on purpose.

He looked back up at the Beckett’s, his dark eyes stormy. “No deal.” With that he hung up the phone, standing before being escorted away.



Jeff slowly pulled back, watching Annie’s face for a response. She looked terrified and he knew he should have waited to tell her. He felt horrible, putting this on her with everything that was going on, but he couldn’t keep lying to himself. He’d cared about her from the moment he met her, and even if she rejected him, part of his heart would always belong to Annabelle Marie Beckett. He watched her nervously, waiting as her lower lip started to tremble.

“Jeff.” She whispered. “Why couldn’t you have told me a long time ago?” She asked.

“Because Rylie he…” He stopped, licking his lips as his eyes began to sting with tears. “He told me you needed a friend more than a boyfriend, so I tried to be your friend, but Annie I just… I can’t see you with Sidney. I promised your brother I would always take care of you. I can’t do that if you’re all goo-goo for that idiot.” His voice cracked on the last word, his hands shaking at his sides. A heavy silence settled between them as she just stared at his chest, her eyes millions of light years away. “Annie, say something, please.”

“Jeff I just…” She whispered, finally meeting his gaze again. “I love him.”

“No you don’t.” He pleaded. “You can’t. I loved you first Annie, doesn’t that count for anything? I was the one who told you that you should go back to college, that you should start going to auditions again. I’m the one who cares about you! Who loves you!” He didn’t even try to hold back tears anymore as he looked at her, seeing that this was killing her just as much as it was him. “I can’t lose you Annie.”

“You’re never going to lose me Jeff.” She promised, cradling his face in her hand. “I’ll always be right here, me, you, and Rylie.” She said, tapping his temple lightly. “The three of us will always be together.” Tears were streaming down her face at this point, her voice shaking as she struggled to keep it together. “That first day when you helped us move in, Christmas, ice skating together and you two helping me up when I fell, we’ll never lose that. But I just… I can’t be with you to try and stay in those memories. I have to move on, and so do you.”

He reached out, pulling her into his chest and gripping her tightly. “I’ll always love you Annie.”

“And I’ll always love you too Jeff.” She then felt herself relax into his arms, wanting nothing more than to take back her words, to stay with Jeff and never have to worry about forgetting Rylie. But even though it was hard, she knew she needed to move on. “What a beautiful thing we could have been Jeff.” She murmured against his chest.

“Yeah.” He breathed. “We really could have.”