I flew out her broken door. “Good, call them, Veronica. Let them see the shit you live in. The things you’re involved in.”
Liam’s little arms clung to my neck as I hurried faster, jogging down the hall and bounding down the steps.
“You can’t take him. I won’t let you!”
I didn’t take the time to spare her a glance. “He’s not safe, Veronica. You know it. For once, think of him.”
In a frenzy, she scrambled down the steps behind me and out into the blazing light of day.
I ran for my car with Liam in my arms and then all the breath left me when I skidded to a stop.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Alexis
“Pick up, pick up, pick up.”
I paced in front of the bay window that overlooked my garden, listening to the phone ring and ring on the other end.
It went to voice mail for the fourth time.
“Crap,” I muttered, resting my cell against my lips as I tried to fight the mounting worry.
Zee and I had spent the morning together, curled up on my couch watching a movie.
Like we were just a normal couple.
He’d been there to support me through the sadness my sister always left behind. He’d held me and brushed me with a million tender kisses to my temple as he whispered promises that had come alive in my spirit and taken root in my mind.
He’d left an hour ago, and I’d finally gone back to my room and grabbed my phone where it’d been charging on my nightstand.
Avril had left me a frantic message. “He’s so pissed, Alexis. So pissed. He knows I went over there. He knows. I messed up. I think I messed up bad.”
Now she wouldn’t answer.
Panic crawled into my senses. Growing and building into this terror that I knew from experience was unwarranted.
This wasn’t the first frantic call I’d received from Avril.
But there was something about it that gnawed at me.
Once again, I listened to her voice mail, and again I dialed her number, but it kicked me straight to the robotic voice, asking me to leave a message.
“Shit.”
I lightly drummed my phone in my palm, knowing better, that I should let it be. My sister had done this to herself. Gotten herself into this mess.
She’d been doing it for years. Twisting and manipulating. But my gut warned me this was different. The way she’d shown up this morning was so out of character, and she hadn’t asked anything of me but to stay away.
“Don’t do it,” I muttered to myself. But when it came to Avril, I never seemed to listen to that voice of reason.
I thumbed into my phone and activated the family locator.
I was the one who paid for Avril’s phone. I’d rationalized I needed to be able to get in touch with her and she with me. We never knew when there might be an emergency.
This qualified, right?
The little red silhouette with Avril’s name popped up on the map. Right back in that crummy area where she’d kept leading me.
God this was stupid.
So, so stupid.
But I couldn’t ignore this feeling.
This intuition.
I dialed her again as I grabbed my purse and keys and headed out the door, leaving another voice mail. “I’m coming to get you, Avril. No more excuses. This has to end.”
I ended the call and pressed the fob to unlock my car, jumped into the driver’s seat, and backed out into the street.
I pulled up Zee’s number and pushed call in the same second I put my car in drive.
Voice mail again.
Frustration and a shot of fear attempted to climb into my chest, but I sucked it down, focused on what I needed to do.
“Hey, it’s me. Avril called…something’s wrong. I need to go over there. I know you just left, but you told me to call you. Do you think you could maybe meet me down there? I’m driving, though. Doors locked. I won’t do anything stupid. Promise. Call me back if you get this.”
I ended the call and connected the Bluetooth to Maps.
I needed to get to my sister.
Shock paralyzed me, and I clutched the steering wheel where I had pulled to a stop in front of the run-down building where Avril was supposed to be.
Hurt twitched through my body, and I started shaking. Shaking and shaking and shaking.
I couldn’t focus beneath the force of the blow.
I guess it was autopilot that had me reaching out to unlatch my door. Or maybe it was just finally coming face to face with the reality of what he’d been hiding that had me floundering to my feet out on the sidewalk.
Zee careened to a stop.
Guilt on his face and a child in his arms.
The same woman from his loft that day was behind him, screeching and tearing into his flesh, demanding that he give the little boy back to her.
Our gazes were locked.
Horrified.
Telling.
I took a step back as I felt everything crack. Splinter and crash.
I stumbled and tried to hold myself up on the door of my car. “You lied to me?”
“Alexis…just…I can explain, but this isn’t the time. You need to get in your car and go straight home.”
My head shook.
Stunned.
Speechless.
Destroyed.
He was suddenly right there, a hand on my shoulder, his voice a warbled echo against the ringing in my ears as he tried to force me back in the car. “Go home. Now. Lock your door and don’t open it. I’ll call you as soon as I can. It’s not safe.”
It’s not safe. It’s not safe. It’s not safe.
I’d always known it was really my heart that was at risk.
“Avril,” I mumbled, incoherent.
Zee touched my face, the child clinging to him with fear and panic in his eyes.
“I know,” he said. “I know…but you’ve got to go. Trust me. I’m going to fix this. You need to get out of here, and you need to do it now. I’ll call you later.”
The woman was still flailing and screeching behind him as she tried to rip the boy from his arms, screaming that he’d betrayed her. That he’d promised.
Trust. That was the thing about it.
When you broke it? It was gone.
Chapter Forty
Zee
Anthony was already waiting for me back at the loft when I barreled inside.
He shot to standing from the couch. “Zee.”
I held my hand against the back of Liam’s head, holding him close and bouncing him like the few times I’d gotten to do when he was an infant, trying to get him to settle down.
To get him to stop crying. Praying he’d feel safe. Begging him to understand I would protect him, even if it cost me my life.
When I’d taken him out of the car, I’d done a quick check for visible injuries, thanking God I didn’t find anything.
Still, I knew not all scars were visible.
I needed to think of him first. Make sure he was comfortable before I started bombarding him with questions I knew would be difficult for him to answer.
“I’ve got you, little man, I’ve got you,” I kept telling him while I eyed Anthony from over his shoulder.
No. He wasn’t a baby anymore. But he felt the same way he’d felt the first time I’d held him.
He felt like devotion.
He felt like love.
He felt right.
The second I’d held him in my arms, I’d just known. I felt a connection to him in a way that should have been impossible. It was an intense bond that could never be fractured.
Like my brother’s presence was right there, filling me with purpose.
Anthony quieted his voice. “What is going on?”
“You call Kenny?”
Kenny was the attorney who was always at the ready, fighting to get us clear of the trouble Sunder always seemed to find itself in. Without a doubt, this was going to be our greatest fight. The culmination of it
all.
Every mistake each of us had made coming to a head.
Sunder’s end.
Guess it’d been coming all along.
“I got in touch with him and asked him to get over here. He said he was dropping everything and would be here as soon as he could.”
“The guys?”
“Texted them. Said it’s an emergency. Everyone’s on the way. Police have been called. I gave them the tip with the address you sent. You ready to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Protectively, I tightened my hold on Liam, keeping one of his ears against my chest and covering the other with my hand.
Like it might stand the chance of protecting him from all of this.
“Veronica was demanding more money for me to see him again. Ten thousand. I was done, Anthony. Just done. I decided I didn’t care who knew, and if she ran with him like she’s been threatening, I would hunt her down.”
I sucked in a breath. “I couldn’t keep going on this way. I’ve been feeling it in my gut that something bad was going down. That she was going back to her old ways. I finally realized that until I was ready to take a stand, nothing was going to change.”
I swallowed hard. “She wouldn’t let me in when I showed up at her place, so I kicked in the door. She’s been using, man.”
Anthony set both hands on his hips, face toward the ground. “Shit.”
“Not the worst of it.”
Guess he heard the urgency in my voice, because he looked back to meet my face. My tongue darted out to wet my dried lips. “There were girls…two of them…being held in one of her rooms. One was passed out…the other beat to hell.”
He covered his mouth with a hand, wiped it across his lips like he could rid himself of the bitter taste.
I shook all over. “It was Avril. Alexis’s twin sister. The one who got Alexis in trouble in the first place. She keeps telling Alexis that she can’t leave.”
“Goddamn it, Zee. This is a disaster.”
I jerked around when my door banged open. The whole crew rushed in, wild eyed and fists clenched.
Ready to fight.
They had always been there, ready to have my back. I just prayed that remained the case this time.
They all stopped like they’d run into a brick wall when they saw the kid I held in my arms.
Liam flinched, having no clue what was happening. I kissed the top of his head.
Baz stepped forward, shaking his head, words cautious. “Zee, what’s going on?”
Chapter Forty-One
Zee ~ Twenty Years Old
Zee shouldered into the dusky club. Strobes flashed. Bodies were packed wall to wall, the seedy, lusty crowd lit up in bursts of white, blinding light for the briefest of moments before they fell back into darkness.
Again and again.
It set the scene to slow motion.
Zee felt like he was wading through a dense fog that fought to hold him back as he pushed through the crowd.
Relief slammed him when he saw the group huddled in the far corner around a booth.
Distinct and sharp.
Familiar faces and the same goddamned scene. Just when he thought maybe Mark was pulling it together, shit like this had again become routine.
He knew Julie was trying to be understanding. But there was no chance of missing her concerned judgment when he’d slid out of bed and tugged on a pair of jeans after he’d gotten Baz’s text.
Zee stormed that direction, giving zero fucks about the sneers and annoyance of the people grinding against each other as he barged through the middle of the dance floor.
Baz spun around when he felt Zee approach. “Zee, thank God you’re here.”
“What’s going on?”
Baz ran a weary hand over his face. “Sorry to drag you out in the middle of the night. We tried to handle it, but he was insistent. Said he needed you.”
Zee shook his head and took another step forward. Mark was slumped back in the booth, fading in and out of lucidity as his head rocked back against the leather seat.
His eyes fluttered open, pupils pinpoint. They shot through Zee like a goddamned spear. His voice dropped in worry, muttering mostly to himself because it seemed not a soul listened to him. “Fuck, Mark, man, what the hell are you doing?”
Mark’s fingers fumbled across the collar of Zee’s tee. Like he was searching for something to hang on to. “Little brother, you’re here.”
“Of course I’m here. You said you needed me.”
A smile fluttered at the edge of Mark’s slack mouth. “Always need you, man. You’re my best friend. Always there for me. Love you…love you like crazy. You know that, right? You’re the best.”
Zee sighed. Of course he knew.
Lyrik, Ash, and Baz crowded behind Zee, peering over his shoulder at Mark like they didn’t have a clue what to do with him.
“Come on, Mark, let’s get you out of here,” Zee said. “Do you think you can stand?”
“Think so.”
He helped his brother slide out from behind the booth and onto his feet. The second he did, Mark canted to the side, nearly toppling over.
Zee grabbed him before he face-planted, hauling him back up and slinging Mark’s arm around his shoulders, hoping he could at least support some of his weight. Zee belted his arm around Mark’s waist. “I’ve got you,” he promised.
Ash rushed forward to take the other side. “Got him?” he asked.
“Yup,” Zee replied.
Baz and Lyrik took the lead as they worked their way back through the crowd, down the dimly lit hall, and into the back parking lot where Zee had parked. Ash and Zee maneuvered Mark into the front passenger side of the car.
The second he hit the seat, Mark nodded out.
Zee slammed shut the door, gusted out a strained sigh, and leaned his back against the door. As he pressed both palms to his face, he tried to rein in his frustration. The pain and hurt and worry that was the root of it all.
Unease sifted through the night as the club pulsed on behind them.
“He’s bad, man,” Baz said.
Zee dropped his hands and gave a tight nod. “Yeah, I know. It’s getting worse.”
Lyrik paced in the distance, the dark, dark silhouette a squall of turmoil where he raged.
A storm.
Baz’s voice dropped low. “Listen…Mark’s our brother…just as much as he’s yours. Doesn’t matter we don’t share the same blood. He’s family. But we’re trying to get our shit together. Things are finally really happening for the band. Ash, Lyrik, and I…we all kicked, but Lyrik’s still struggling bad, trying to get his life together after all the shit that went down. Can’t have Mark spiraling like this. Worried he’s gonna drag the rest of the crew right back down with him.”
A wave of helplessness crashed over Zee. “What the hell do we do? I mean…I’ve been trying, begging him to see reason. He’s good for a few weeks, and then it’s this all over again.”
Zee toed at a pebble on the pitted pavement, wary of what to say, wondering if he should bring it up or let it lie. He glanced up at Baz. “He came to me a couple months back…said he’d gotten himself into some trouble. Involved with some bad people. You know anything about it?”
A frown cut a path through Baz’s expression before he anxiously rubbed at his chin. “Nah, man. Don’t know what’s been going on with him. You know Mark. He’s always quiet. Keepin’ to himself. But anytime someone’s dealing in that world? You can rest assured the people he’s gonna be hanging with aren’t gonna be saints.”
Zee’s nod felt reluctant. “Yeah…probably.” Hands stuffed in his pockets, he lifted his shoulders to his ears. “So what the hell do we do? How do we help him? He can’t keep going on like this.”
Baz blinked at him. “He’s got to want to. Problem is coaxing him to that place.”
Zee’s head rocked back against the top of his car, face turned toward the sky, the stars obliterated by the city lights.
But he kn
ew they were there.
Waiting with all their promises.
With all the good things the world had to give.
His brother deserved it all.
Zee made a silent wish.
Please, give me back my brother.
Chapter Forty-Two
Zee
Hostility rippled through the air like heat waves. Baz was standing at the window, looking out on the city while Lyrik sat on a plush chair across the room, rubbing his palms together. Ash was in the kitchen, banging shit around.
Each of them trying to come to terms in their own way.
Liam sat on the rug at my feet, wearing headphones and watching a kid’s movie on the iPad I’d given him to keep him entertained.
It wasn’t like I had any toys lying around, considering part of the deal was Veronica would never let me bring him to my place.
We needed to remedy that, and soon.
First, I needed to wade through all the mistakes I’d ever made, find a solution, and pray to God the guys would forgive me for what I’d done.
If they didn’t, it would rip out my fucking heart, same as the way Alexis’s reaction left me feeling tattered and torn.
My heart didn’t matter. My focus needed to be on this kid.
This kid I’d done my fucking best to be a dad for. To take care of him the way he deserved. No question, I’d failed miserably. He deserved so much better than being caught in the middle of this.
Baz spoke toward the window. “All this time…all these years…and not a goddamned word, Zee. Not one?” Agony was written on his face when he turned to look back at me.
Nervously, I sat forward, scratching at my beard as I struggled to find an explanation for the choices I’d made.
“It was the only way Veronica let me have a relationship with him. She said if I was stepping up and taking Mark’s place in the band, she didn’t want him anywhere near that kind of life. That it’d stolen Mark from her, and she wouldn’t allow her son to be ruined by it.”
Stand: A Bleeding Stars Stand-Alone Novel Page 26
