by Samantha Bee
The longer I stand here, the more I wonder why I haven’t gotten rid of this place sooner. I should have done it as soon as we had Scar back. Maybe even before that. It was clear to me that we were always going to be a family, from the second Kade let his anger simmer and let the rest of us in.
You would have thought that Scar was the string that ties us all together, and while she may have brought us together, and she is our very center, there is something between the rest of us as well. A brotherhood in loving the same girl. A kinship in being the father figure for the same little firecracker. A friendship in being men so vastly different and yet so similar.
Losing any of them, even the newest douche, would cut me almost as deeply as losing Scar would. No one can compare to her, but if anyone, other than Roe, could get close, it would be these five other men on this journey with me.
A family.
Would you look at that, Ma? I finally did find a family where I belong.
I leave the apartment smiling, knowing it may just be one of the last times I come here. I feel settled after my decision. I can’t even tell you what my hesitation over letting this place go was. I hadn’t thought of it that way but now, looking back? I can see it for what it was.
A fear.
I slip my key into the lock and throw them into the bag on the ground in front of me. As I lean down to lift the bag over my shoulder, I feel the presence of someone behind me.
I move to shuffle out of the walkway to let them pass when I feel them invade my personal space. I start to straighten when I feel something pressed against my mouth and nose. A sweet smelling aroma fills my senses as I try to push back against whoever snuck up behind me, but they only hold on to me tighter.
I struggle even as I start to feel dizzy and slightly disoriented. I focus on trying not to inhale anymore of the liquid on the rag and freeing myself. I hold my breath and try to shake my head to clear the thoughts. I jab my elbow back and am filled with satisfaction at the grunt of pain from behind me.
The move puts more space between us, and he loses his grip on the rag, allowing for me to take a quick breath of almost fresh air. I step further away from him, shoving his arm even further away from my face, trying to get away. I stumble as more dizziness floods my system. My vision blurs even as I try to use the wall to straighten myself up.
I can hear him behind me and I know I haven’t made it nearly far enough. Fuck. I try to reach into my pocket to get my phone out, but even that simple move seems to be beyond my capabilities as the world spins around me.
Just as I reach the corner of the building, I feel a hard shove in the center of my back. I slam into the wall, nausea churns in my stomach. Before I can catch my breath or think clearly enough to make my next move, blinding pain shoots through my temple.
I feel my body slumping forward a moment before everything fades to black.
I wake up and I’m not sure how long it’s been since I was knocked out.
I look around and find myself in an old warehouse style building. I strain my ears to listen for any indication of where we could be, but I can’t hear anything. Not even a hint of traffic.
Could we be on the outskirts of town?
I close my eyes and take deep breaths through the roiling of my stomach. I still feel as if I could get sick at any moment, even after several moments of just focusing on my breathing.
Finally, when I think I may be safe from upchucking my lunch, I slowly open my eyes to look around the room once more. I’m tied to a metal fold up chair. Not very stable, I could easily get out of the chair and move around.
I test the restraints on my wrists. I can’t get a good look at them from where they’re tied behind my back, but as I pull, I can feel how secure they are. Well shit. Guess it couldn’t be that easy.
I look around but the only other notable aspect is the empty table just next to me. How boring.
Based on the less than secure set up, I’m assuming they aren’t too worried about me getting up and walking away. That can only mean two things. They aren’t too far from me or we are so far from anyone that would potentially help me, even if I did walk out of here, I wouldn't be able to get away on my own.
I hum to myself as I weigh my options.
This has to be connected to Scar and the guys. My father may hate me just as much as I despise him. And that just may be enough for him to have me kidnapped, but I know damn well he wouldn’t be able to afford this, and there’s no way he would have the balls to do it himself. Especially not after the last time we crossed paths and I almost beat him to death.
Sometimes I still regret that I didn’t finish the job. If he is behind this and he worries Scar or hurts her in any way, I will make sure not to make the same mistake twice.
I’m still debating my options when an older man walks into the room. He carries himself with a cool arrogance but doesn’t quite pull off the same effect that Luca does. It’s clear that’s what he’s going for, but I have to say, after spending so much time with the guys, this guy is a little lackluster in comparison.
He doesn’t have the same lethal aura Luca and Kade exude. He feels slimier.
He pulls a gun and presses it against my temple. Everything about this should surprise me but somehow it doesn’t. I’ve known ever since I met Kade and Luca for the first time that there was more to them than they were telling me. Why the hell they’ve targeted me I can only guess has to do with my connection to her. Nothing else would make sense. I’m far too boring on my own to get fucking kidnapped.
I realize just how much I must trust Scar because I’m not nearly as scared as I should be in this situation. The cool metal of the barrel presses against my skin and all I want to do is scoff. I know they have a use for me. They don’t plan on ending it this early, they need me to do something for them first. I just need to figure out how to give Scar enough time to come save my bitch ass because I’m choosing to believe that is the only way this ends. She can be my pint sized knight in shining armor of tattoos and attitude.
“Do you know who I am?” he asks in a dark, low voice, digging the gun harder into my skull. I force myself not to fidget away from the bite of the weapon as I answer him. “No.” I have my suspicions based on the work I did for Luca while Scar was gone, but I haven’t actually seen a picture of Romano. Unless Scar has other immediate enemies we should be worrying about, this has to be him.
I know I don’t know everything. I’ve been catching her assessing me more and more often as if she’s weighing her words in her head, struggling with wanting to tell me something. Like I said, I know I’m the one in the dark in this situation. The only thing I can say is that Declan is in the same position as I am. I’ve caught her giving him those same heavy looks, like she’s scared she may lose us if she tells us the truth.
She’s come such a long way with opening up her heart to us since she came back from running away. I ended up bonding more with the guys as we all fought drowning in our cravings for this girl. She’s back and claiming all of us, doing her best to let down her walls. She’s still Scar though. She wasn’t going to instantly melt into all of our arms and open the floodgates of secrets.
The guy just huffs. “Well, this can go smoothly if you cooperate.” Of course it can. That’s always the bad guys’ line right? And I’m just supposed to trust this guy that tied me to a chair that he won’t kill me the second I cave into his request. I wonder who I pissed off in a past life to end up as the bitch boy in this HBO movie. Instead of being a smartass and getting myself killed, I decide to just cooperate and appear non-threatening. Not really an issue, if I’m being honest. I have a feeling after this Scar is going to make sure that changes. I’m already dreading it. I’ve heard Kade and Ryder complain about her being a slave driver in training and I’ve never had the urge to find out for myself. Especially not after watching one of their sessions. Ryder told me that it was barely even a training session. More just them messing around because she had been distracted. If that was he
r going easy, I can’t imagine when she’s going full force with their training.
I nod to acknowledge that I’ll go along with his demands and behave. He smirks, looking confident that this is going to go just as easily as he wants. This poor fucker has no idea who he’s calling to his doorstep. Scar may not have opened up to me yet, but Kade, Luca, and Ryder all have. I don’t have the whole story but I’m not blind. Scar is a vicious little savage in more than one way. I know exactly who the fuck I fell in love with. She’s a whirlwind of energy, a tsunami of rage waiting to be unleashed, a carefully contained natural disaster just waiting to happen.
Yeah, I know who my girl is. She’s a killer. A sexy as sin killer with a heart of pure fucking gold. I just have to kick my feet up and wait for my girl to save the day. If anyone is capable of it, it’ll be her.
The man I’m guessing to be Romano starts his stereotypical monologue and I fight not to roll my eyes. “You aren’t who we need in this chair, just a happy accident. Help us get Scarlett here and I don’t see any reason why any harm needs to come to you.” He strokes his chin with his gun, that doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do at all. It’s also not nearly as intimidating as this guy seems to think it is.
I stay quiet and wait to see just what he wants exactly from me, not surprised at all to hear he wants Scar. He must not know her well at all. It’s jarring to hear someone call her Scarlett so formally though. I’ve only ever heard her full name be used by family, and always with an affectionate, even if somewhat exasperated tone.
He knocks the gun against the side of my head, not hard enough to cause any real damage, but hard enough that I lose my bearings for just a moment. I shake my head to clear the brief haze before meeting his eyes. He’s incensed at my lack of reactions, but I can’t really help him there. I’m using all my acting skills just to not taunt him with his own stupidity. I don’t think I can convincingly fake the level of fear he expects from a kidnapped victim.
I nod. “I’ll cooperate.” It’s not much but it’s what I can manage. I never claimed to be good at this shit. I’m just a computer geek not fit for this shit. It seems enough to appease him though. He nods to himself as he continues his monologue, but I kind of tune him out when I realize he’s just complaining about his son and not giving me anything remotely helpful.
He catches my attention when he shoves my phone in my face and I realize he’s finally getting around to the bit of telling me what he actually wants me to do. It seems almost anticlimactic that all he wants me to do is call Scar and lure her out here. This will be too easy to give her a head’s up that something isn’t quite right.
He gives me all of his instructions in that same low dark voice. He sounds like a cliche cartoon villain. I wonder if he practices this voice in the mirror, it seems a little too perfected. “Do you understand?” he demands.
I nod and try to put a little emotion into my voice as I answer him, “Call Scarlett, tell her my car broke down and ask her if she can give me a lift. Give her the address you provided, don’t say anything else that could hint at something more happening.” My voice comes out a little shaky and I’m rather proud of the way it sounded like natural fear. This guy seems to have bought it as well.
He pushes the phone into my face again and I can’t help lifting my brows at him as I shake my hands. The hands that are currently tied behind my back and therefore unavailable to make a phone call.
“Oh right, of course,” he mutters. Rather than untying my hands though he just holds my phone up to my face to unlock it before pulling up my recent calls and hitting Scar’s name. He puts it on speaker and holds it close to my mouth before using his other hand to press the gun back to my temple. I wonder if he realizes that it doesn’t actually have to be touching me to kill me just as effectively at this close of range.
The phone rings and as soon as I hear Scar’s smooth voice, I put a smile on my face so she can hear it as I talk. “Hey, Ladybug.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Hey, Ladybug.”
My hackles immediately rise, and I know something is fucking wrong. Noah would never use Kade’s nickname for me. We’ve talked and made jokes about how they each have their own little pet names and it feels just wrong for them to use each others’. I’m Noah’s baby girl and he never calls me anything other than that or Scar.
I smile, knowing he, and whoever else he might be with, will be able to hear it. “Hey there, Stranger.”
Kade sitting next to me snaps his head up as he hears his nickname on my lips. I motion for him to stay quiet as I put the phone on speaker. I hear Noah’s clear voice coming through. I can’t hear any real fear in his voice, but I can sense that he’s not himself either. Something is definitely going on. “I know we were supposed to hang tonight,” he starts but hesitates for half a moment.
I jump in. “Are you bailing on me, Stranger?” I tease. We had no specific plans tonight and we live together, so I know he’s still dropping hints that something isn’t right with this phone call. I gesture for Kade to hand me his phone. He hands it over easily and I quickly text Luca to bring me my laptop. I need to track where the fuck Noah is right now.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Ladybug. But my car did break down.” He sighs and I can almost see him rubbing the back of his neck as he talks to me. What the fuck is happening over there, Handsome?
I force myself to swallow my worry as Luca rushes into the room with my laptop. I chuckle even as anxiety shoots through me. “Were you driving that old fucking clunker again?” Again, pure bullshit. Noah has a practically brand new Mercedes, he got as a graduation present. Neither has admitted it, but I’m almost positive it was a gift from Kade.
He huffs, “I really thought I had the engine figured out this time.” How the fuck is he so calm right now? It’s obvious he’s giving me clues, but he’s so damn relaxed as he talks. I would never know something was wrong just by the tone of his voice. Somehow, I know shit is bad though. I can feel it eating away at my stomach.
I pull up the program on my laptop that tracks all of our phones and other trackers for who has them. I haven’t actually told Noah that I can track him by his phone, but you can just add it to the list of shit I’ve been hiding from him and lying to him about. In the grand scheme of things, it’s the smallest of my sins. He’s probably going to hate me when this is over. I’m going to have to come clean to him.
I can feel a tightness in my chest as it spasms at the thought of telling Noah just who he’s gotten involved with. I wasn’t ready to let him go and now the choice is going to be taken away from me. There’s no way someone as good as Noah will ever be able to forgive who I’ve become. I’ve always known he’s too good for me. I don’t deserve the chaos in my soul to find any peace. That’s what Noah is for me. He’s my peace, my safe place to land, the calm beach to land on.
I ping his location just as I ask him, “Do you need me or one of the guys to come pick you up?” We are already moving, as Luca texts the rest of the guys to suit up and be prepared. We are leaving now and if they aren’t ready, they won’t come. I’m waiting for no one.
I hear a slight thud before a nearly silent humph. That mother fucker put his hands on my Noah. My sweet, shy, good Noah. Electricity sparks through my veins at the thought and I can feel the haze of rage clouding my mind. Kade squeezes my knee, and I force myself to take a deep breath and exhale silently. I can’t afford to lose control until we have Noah back, but the streets will run red when I get my hands on whoever the fuck thought they could take someone from me.
Noah answers, still fucking calm, “Yeah, babe. If you wouldn’t mind, I can text you the address. We could go out, the two of us afterwards.” Duly noted. Whoever has him wants me. Does this mean it’s Romano? Or one of my other enemies I’ve accumulated over the years? Has the threat from my past found me after all these years? But why take Noah?
I trade looks with Luca as we hop into his car and head to the gym. “Of course,” I respond to Noah, pu
tting a smile back on my face. “Text it to me and I’ll see you soon.” Before he can respond with anything else, the phone clicks off.
I scream as I punch the dashboard. Kade and Luca both know better than to try and calm me right now. I won't be calm again until I can feel Noah’s skin against my own. He is the only peace I have. The only balm to the chaos of my soul.
A moment later my phone pings and the address matches the one I got from my computer. It’s a forty-five minute drive and we still have to pick up the guys.
I start chewing on my lip as I bring my laptop back out, but Noah’s phone has gone dead. Those mother fuckers must have broken it. Who the fuck has you, Noah? I’m going to wring every drop of life out of them when I get my hands on them.
The car is deathly silent as we head North in the direction of where they’re keeping Noah.
Kade quickly updated all the guys over the phone as we headed to the gym. Ian, Ty, Holden, and Ryder were supposed to be doing their training there with Mikey and Ronan today, but this takes precedence. Ian and Ry jumped into the car with us when we pulled up and the others piled into Mikey’s truck to follow behind us.
Who knows how much fucking back up we are going to need?
I’m going to raze these fuckers and everything they hold dear to the ground once I get my hands on them. I won’t stop until Noah is back in my arms and everyone knows not to fuck with what is mine.
It’s time to make a statement.
I’m a ball of anxious energy as I practically vibrate in my seat, ready to let loose a rage the likes of which the world has never seen before.
The closer we get, the closer I get to completely losing my shit. I force myself to breathe in through my mouth, out through my nose.
