Hard Rider

“Catherine!” I called out, and Callum dug the gun in deeper. I looked down at his little weasly face and knew it was going to feel amazing to slam my fist into it. As soon as I made sure Catherine was safe, I was going to do just that. Seriously, who did this wanker think he was? “Catherine!” I yelled again.

“Where is she?” I asked him again.

“That’s all you care about, Liam? Don’t you want to know why I’m so upset?”

“Listen here, you little worm! Tell me where she is right now!”

“You don’t care about anyone but yourself, Liam.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Callum. I care about lots of people, I just don’t care about you, you fuckin’ twat! Now where’s Catherine?” I pushed past him, taking a chance that he wouldn’t shoot. I was right.

I assumed Catherine was in the kitchen, since that’s where he’d emerged from, but the kitchen was empty. I ran back into the living room, and stopped when I saw he’d walked out onto the patio, a bound Catherine sitting in front of him, his gun pointed right at her head.

“You motherfucker!”

“Now, you’re going to listen to me,” he seethed. I froze, and put up my hands.

“Fine, Callum, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” I asked, my heart seizing in fear. I didn’t care for one second if he shot me, but if he hurt Catherine, I wouldn’t be able to take it.

“I’ve waited years for this,” he said, his voice shaking. “For revenge. You just went on like nothing happened. Like she never mattered.”

“What are you talking about, Callum?”

“Ally, you asshole! She didn’t mean anything to you, did she? She gave up her life for you, you selfish prick!”

“Callum, we’ve had this talk before,” I said.

“No! You’ve talked. Now it’s my turn. You thought giving me a job would make up for it? For losing her? You start a million dollar charity over the memory of your precious little brother, but what did you do for Ally? Nothing!” he spat, tears streaming down his face.

“Callum, mate…c’mon, let’s put the gun down,” I said.

“No, fuck you! You couldn’t even acknowledge her. Not once did you mention her in interviews, you didn’t even come to the funeral!” I winced at his words. He was right. I’d been on tour in Australia, and it had all happened so fast, there was no way for me to attend without canceling sold-out shows.

“You’re right, Callum, I should have come,” I agreed. “And I’m real sorry about that, mate. Now, can we put the gun down?”

“I’m going to kill her,” he cried, his shaking hands terrifying me. It would only take a small amount of pressure to pull the trigger.

“No, Callum, Catherine has nothing to do with this. Let her go. This is just between me and you.”

I’d avoided looking into Catherine’s eyes until now, and when I did, it crushed me. The fear, the tears, the way he had her fucking taped up like that. Rage filled my veins, but I fought against it, resisting every urge to rush him, to kill this twat.

“She’s great, right?” he asked, a sickly smile smearing across his face as he reached down and pulled Catherine’s chin up. She wiggled away from his grip and he grabbed her hair, pulling it roughly. “But she’s just the icing on the cake.”

“Callum, let her go,” I growled, my hands balling into fists at my side.

“She figured it out,” he said. “She went snooping around, so she’s gotta go anyway.”

“What did she figure out?”

“That I stole all your money. The charity money. I gambled it all away. It’s all gone.”

“Why would you do that?”

“To fuck you over. To hurt you. It was the only way I knew how, until she came along,” he said, pulling harder on her hair.

“This is better,” he said, smiling down at Catherine.

“She has nothing to do with this, Callum. I don’t care about the money. Just let her go and you can leave, I don’t care.”

“No way,” he said, “not until you see your pretty little love die in front of you.”

“You’re not going to fuckin’ hurt her, mate, you know I can’t let you do that,” I said. “Callum, you need to rethink this,” I said. “Leave the country. You’ll never get away if you kill Catherine. I won’t let you get away, you know that.”

“I’m going to kill you, too, don’t worry,” he said, the smile returning. He looked like a fucking deranged lunatic, and just as I was about to throw caution to the wind and take him down, I saw a glimmer of a light flash behind him.

“Callum,” I said. “what are you going to do after you kill us?”

“Why do you care?”

“Let me give you more money,” I said, lowering my hands slightly and inching forward. “You can have it all, retire, live in style, anywhere you like. You won’t have to be on the run all your life. We can let all this go.” I took a slow step forward and he moved the gun from Catherine’s temple, pointing it at me.

“Stop,” he said. “I don’t want your money. I don’t fucking care about that. That’s not why I’m doing this. But that’s the only thing that means anything in your world, isn’t it? You think money can get you out of anything, don’t you?”

“No, Callum, I don’t,” I replied, inching my feet forward again. “But it can get you out of this. All you have to do is put the gun down. It’s an easy choice.”

“You think this is easy?” he said, his voice rising in anger. “You stupid motherfucker! Nothing has been easy! You killed my sister! I tried to make it better. I loved her. I loved her better than you ever could! You should have seen the way she looked after I made love to her.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, my stomach churning in disgust.

“Ally was mine. I loved her. But she never got over you. It’s your fault she died.”

“How could you do that to her, Callum?” I asked, my head racing. No wonder Ally had turned to the bottle.

“You think it’s easy running the company of someone who killed your sister?” Callum continued. “Having to work for a selfish prick like you?”

“Well, you’re right about that, Callum, I am a selfish prick,” I shrugged. “But you’re the one who’s fucked.”

“What?” he said, his eyes widening.

“Piss off, you prick!” I yelled, just as the bullet from Big D’s gun sliced through his leg from behind, I ran over and jumped on him, and he began wrestling against me as I tried to get his gun. It fired, the bullet ripping through my left shoulder. Pain shot through me, but I sat on top of him and began pummeling him with my right fist.

“This is for Ally, you fucking cunt!” Over and over, my fist smashed against his face, rage ripping through my body like a freight train, until Ian and Big D pulled me off of him. Big D kicked Callum’s gun away, and rolled him over, putting a boot on his back and holding him down.

“Help Catherine!” I yelled to Ian and he ran over and freed her, ripping the tape from her mouth. They ran over to me, as I lay on the ground, white hot heat radiating from my shoulder.

“Catherine!” I called, as she looked down at me. I pulled her into me as she cried against my shoulder.

“Are you okay, luv?

” I asked, pulling her to me.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” she cried, tears falling down her face. Ian looked at my shoulder, and then disappeared, only to come back seconds later with a towel that he pressed against the hole in my shoulder.

“Oh, luv, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry, Catherine.”

She leaned down, kissing me gently, before pulling away and wiping her tears.

“Are you okay, Liam?” Ian asked me. I looked over at him and saw the concern filling his eyes.

“I’m fine, brother. You aren’t getting rid of me this easy.”

“I don’t want to get rid of you, you bastard,” he said, his eyes shining with tears.

“Of course you don’t - you’d never find another singer like me.”

“I’d never find another brother like you,” he said. He reached down, hugging me hard.

“I’m calling an ambulance,” he said, standing up and looking down at Callum laying beside me.

“He’s not even worth killing,” he muttered, as he walked away. When I looked back at Catherine, my heart swelled with love.

“Are you sure you’re okay? I couldn’t bear it if you were hurt,” I said, looking her over. My heart was racing with worry.

She nodded, shivering. I pulled her close, as best as I could with my bloody shoulder, the urge to wrap my arms around her protectively overwhelming.

“I’m never letting you go again,” I whispered, as she kissed me again.

“Promise?” she asked.

“I love you, Catherine,” I said, peering down into her bright green eyes.

“I love you too,” she whispered. I kissed her again, relief flooding my limbs now that I had her safely in my arms.

Chapter 41

One Month Later

Catherine and Liam lay in bed in Liam’s LA mansion, as Catherine read from the Rolling Stone article she’d written. They’d been holed up for a month, allowing time for Liam’s shoulder to heal.

‘Rock star. Bad Boy. Troublemaker. Rebel. Liam Mercury is more than the usual labels placed on him. Liam Mercury is an enigma. Just when you think you’ve got him all figured out, he shows you a side of him that you haven’t seen. That’s what happened to me, when I was assigned the pleasure of spending a week tagging along with the insanely handsome and brutally sexy god of rock during the last leg of his band’s American tour.”