“No, it’s okay, bro,” Shane says, his face smoothing back into that cool, impassive mask he always wears which I’m now realizing is his psycho face. How the fuck did I waste hours thinking of kissing this frog? “We’ll see just how fucking above me she is soon.”
He drops the black bed right beside me on the bed. I hear it jingle and my heartbeat skyrockets. This can’t be good.
I watch with dread pooling in the pit of my stomach like acid as he slowly unzips it, heightening the already dramatic suspense, then pulls out a stand of some kind and oases it on to his brother who hasn’t taken his eyes off me for a second, a smile on his ugly mug.
It takes me an embarrassingly long time to figure what the stand is for and by the time I do, I’m already shaking my head as Shane takes out the camera.
“What-ttt… what is that for?” I stumble through my words, only now grasping the violence in the air.
“Oh, this little thing?” Sean says. “This is a little thing I’d like to use to document our little time together.”
I’m already shaking my head, fear and something dangerously close to hopelessness making my body shudder.
Kristine starts screaming again, her sobs high-pitched.
“Shu up!” Shane snaps at her. “I swear if Dad hadn’t found out about you and that stupid baby, you’d be dead by now.”
What the fuck?
“Well tough shit,” I shout, holding on to the anger at seeing a girl I grew up with suffering this cruelly instead of the danger I’m in. “Let me up, I can help her.”
They look at each other, trying to decode.
“Her water broke! Do you want her to deliver that baby by herself on that dirty floor?” I seethe. “Untie me, it’s not like I can actually go anywhere.”
“What would it hurt?” Sean asks his brother. “If she can shut her up, why not?”
Shane takes out a switchblade and points it at me. “If you try anything, jst know you won’t get far. There’s no chance of escape and when your fucking asshole Romeo shows u, Ice Queen, he’s going to fucking die. Just because he missed out on going to jail because of you, doesn’t mean he’s off the hook.”
What?
What does that mean?
Confused, I mule over his words, especially the familiarity of them. Who said those words?
“I just want to help her.”
Without another word, he snaps the cable ties off. As soon as my hands are free, I ignore the way he grazes my skin and quickly garb the sheet closest to me, wrapping it around my body.
“Hold on, K,” I murmur, biting through the pain in my body as I rush to her, dropping down beside her. “First we need to move you to somewhere dry.”
“No, I don’t think I can move… ah!” she screams.
“Shut her the fuck up!” Sean shouts, making me and Kristine jump.
Looking at her sweat dotted face, the situation becomes all too real. My heart starts pounding with the renewed vigor and unease, but I push it all away.
I ignore the furious pounding of my heart.
I ignore the fear that’s threatening to choke me alive and instead focus on breathing and expanding my lungs. As long as they are working, as long as there’s still life in me, then I can get out of here.
“You do know that they were never a thing, right? I bet you they were just fucking and it went wrong. Didn’t you hear about the whole kidnapping scandal?”
I freeze. The voices sound faraway, yet close at the same time and I realize it’s coming from right outside the freezer.
“Doesn’t matter. He’ll come for her.”
There’s a beat of silence. I can tell the voices are male and as I strain to listen, I identify their voices as exactly the ones that echoes in my mind when I woke up.
So, they are the ones who put me in here.
“You don’t know that, asshole. Fitz is smart. Smarter than you think.”
“Yeah? We’ll just have to wait and see about that, won’t we?”
“Bro…”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at her, that alone is my insurance but either way, we made a deal.”
“I don’t feel good about…”
“Oh, grow a pair, little brother. That bastard took our sister away from us, and now we have his whore. Fitz will rule the day he declared himself king over this fucking town.” Fitz! In the dark fog of my blank mind, that name reverberates through me. A warm sensation so at odds with my frozen body, starts slithering down my veins, listening to them talk.
“If setting that car bomb didn’t have them charging for us, then what makes you think taking her will work? He doesn’t seem like he cares about this bitch all after that whole public kidnapping scandal.”
“Nah, she saved him. We agreed to do this no matter what.”
“And who goes down when this goes south? Have you thought about that?”
“If we do our fucking jobs just right and make sure we taunt those dogs the right way, they’ll be the ones who fucking sink! What part of this easy plan aren’t you getting, Shane?”
Silence.
Through the pain, I latch on to everything they’ve just said, trying to keep my mind busy and away from what they did…
I think of the car bomb and what Kristine said about that.
And then there’s what Sean just said now. Is this some kind of job? Did someone hire him to do this to me? But who?
Kristine moans in pain beside me, her contractions now faster.
“Shh, Kristine,” I whisper. “We don’t want to attract their attention.”
“Listen, Ice Queen,” she says, tears streaming down her face. “I can’t do this.”
“No!” I whisper hotly. “You can’t say that.”
“This hurts,” she cries. “It hurts so bad I want to die.”
She’s bleeding and I have no idea what to do here. I’ve read books about delivery, but my mind is foggy with the drugs they shot up my system. It’s cold and I know Kristine’s in pain, but one thing is certain, the baby is coming.
“Listen, I won’t pretend like I know just how much pain you’re in right now, but we’re just going to pretend like everything is fine.”
“How is pretending going to fucking help?” she snaps.
“Keep your voice down,” I whisper. “Pretending will help because we’re going to try and believe that everything’s going to be all right because you know what, we’ve both hit rock bottom and now, we have fight through the pain and have this baby.”
“Ahh, I hate this.”
“This wasn’t what I had in mind for my first day of senior year, but here we are, we have to deal.” A sense of déjà vu hits me. Julian used to say that. Life is unfair but we just have to deal and now, here I am, pretty sure I’m going to have to deliver this baby.
Looking around discreetly, hoping those jerks will ignores us more, I spot a pair of rusty scissors. Without actually thinking about it, I dive for them, holding them close.
“You’re not going to cut my vagina with that, are you?”
“Not even to my worst enemy. You’re going to give birth the old school, natural way.”
“What if…”
“Kristine, you have no idea the number of what ifs running through my head and each one doesn’t necessarily have a solution but whatever it is, we’ll deal with it when we get to it, now lie down and keep your voice down.”
“You keep your voice down since you don’t have a ten-pound sack of human bone and tissue pressing down your vagina!” she grits out.
“Your math is wrong. A seven-month-old fetus can’t weigh—”
“Fucking stop nerding out on me and get this thing out!” she screams.
And that’s when I see the baby crowning.
15
Julian
In the tense silence of the car, my phone lights up with a new text and then a new media file sent.
Without even opening it, I already know whatever it is will enrage me to hell and back. I’m already
undone and the more I think about Mia at the unreliable mercy of the assholes who abused and led their own sister to commit suicide in front of me, the more I fucking loathe myself.
“Don’t open it,” Cole mutters silently, sitting in the passenger seat ready for anything, looking around for any signs of life or anything unusual.
“I’m waiting for a fucking text.”
“Looks to me like you’re expecting another taunt from that asshole,” he growls unhappily.
“I’ve already been taunted to my fucking wits end, at this point there’s only one thing left to do.”
Silence.
“You know he’ll be waiting.”
“I know.”
“With a fucking medieval plan already in play.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Silence. This time, it heavy and I already know what he’s thinking. But to his credit, Cole doesn’t speak up or ask me if I’m really going to do it. He already knows.
“What do you think that ducking party they threw was for then?” Cole questions after a while of tense silence, his leg tapping on the hard floor of the SUV, his only tell of nervousness.
Why do you ask? It’s not like it fucking matters.”
“It’s bothering me and I hate that I can’t stop thinking this is more than just some rivalry.”
“It is more than rivalry,” I mutter. “That deadbeat proved it the moment he decided to go for what mine.”
“Nah, you know what I mean.”
I do know what he means, but I just don’t want to think about that right now. I press down on the gas, going with the vague directions I was given by my guy, waiting for him to trace the latest message.
“And then there’s the whole Nathan Montreal thing,” Cole goes on, staring straight ahead the darkness road as we drive through the out skirts of Los Angeles. “Where does he tie into all of this?”
“Cole—”
“Just don’t,” he says, cutting me off. “I’m not Liam who you’re obviously still lying to and recklessly adding to the pile. Besides, I heard what John said.”
“I don’t have fucking time to care about my fucked up relationship with Liam,” I grit out, wanting to rip off the steering wheel as a violent anger I’m sure I can’t control rushes through me, wreaking all manner of havoc in me. “It’s all messed up so for tonight, consider your complaints against my fucking methods together with your grievances, tabled for a later date.”
“Yeah, at this point the later date will be from a fucking prison somewhere, with no chance of parole just to make a fucking example out of you.”
Yeah, he knows what’s going to go down tonight.
I’m deathly silent, but I can feel his broody, judgmental stare on me.
“The party?” he prompts impatiently.
“It was a fucking set up! A decoy to waste my fucking time.”
“Bet he didn’t think you’d catch on.”
“Well, we’ll see about that,” I seethe. Just then, my phone starts ringing. I sigh heavily.
“Are you going to answer that?” Cole questions. I grit my teeth and stare up ahead, pressing down on the gas, shooting the SUV forward.
“This is all my fault,” I whisper to myself, the thing in my chest tightening with an excruciating vice. I don’t mind it at all.
“Don’t beat yourself up now,” Cole mutters silently. “There’s work to be done.”
His phone starts ringing incessantly. He ignores it. We both know who it is. Just then, the GPS in the SUV lights up, someone remotely putting in an address that’s apparently….
“It’s five minutes down that abandoned road,” Cole says, then he looks around out the window. “There was some kind of farm or something here. It’s been abandoned for years.”
I grit my teeth, my jaw ticking. From the corner of my eye, I see him typing something on his phone and then he curses under his breath.
“What?”
“There are fucking too many buildings and structures on this land. She could be anywhere.”
No, she won’t, but I’m not going to tell him that.
“Then we need to spread the fuck out,” I say.
“Wait, what? You want to split up now? Are you out of your mind?”
“We don’t have a fucking choice!” I snap, strangely aware that I’m speeding. My phone lights up, this time with a text that says simply; ‘Mr. Fitzgerald knows.’ And then, my phone starts ringing.
“Not now.”
“You know he’ll find you.”
“He should’ve dedicated those resources to find Mia but he’s so up Nathan’s ass that he can’t even stop to save another person just because I love her. I’m in love with her and it’s because of me that she’s in this fucking mess and anything might’ve happened to her and I…”
I punch the steering wheel.
The pain is nothing.
The darkness creeping in my soul each second, is worse.
But Mia’s absence is a poison.
Cole’s phone starts ringing as well and he looks at me. “If I don’t…”
“Yeah.”
He sighs and then answers, “Mr. Fitz, sir, how are—”
“Cut the crap, Cole Joseph Perry! Where are you boys?” Dad demands, his voice filtering into car. I ignore them, focusing instead on the little structures and building scattered on the abandoned land.
Little Minx, where are you baby? I’m coming for you, just hold on.
“Calm down, Mr. Fitz, we’re all fine.”
“Why isn’t Julian answering my call and why is he blocking me from locating him?”
“It must be just a network connection data issue. You know how lousy his service provider is. AT&T is a joke.”
“Now is not the time, Cole. I’m going to ask you one more time before I involve your father, where are you?”
Cole stares at the side of my head. I can practically hear the gears shifting in his head and then, “We’re looking for Mia.”
“Didn’t I tell you boys not to… where exactly are you?”
“At those bastards house, Mr. Fitz,” Cole seethes. “They threw a fucking party knowing we’d be reigning down on them like a fiery hell storm.”
“They’re having a party? To attract attention?” Dad says, his voice sounding faraway as he contemplates. I’m pretty sure he’s going to figure out what I already know so I feature for Cole to wrap it up.
“It’s about to go down, Mr. Fitz, I have to go.”
“No wait, don’t you boys do anything stupid!”
“The music is… I can’t hear you…”
“Cole!”
He hangs up. “I hate lying to your dad. He sees right through the lies.”
“Yeah well, after this, tell him to fucking protect Liam with everything and to tell him the whole truth,” I say, keeping my voice low and level and as I kill the engine of the car right behind the furthest building, close to the abandoned road.
“Why are you talking like that?” Cole demands.
“If anything happens, you have to fucking grab Mia and get the hell out of here.”
“J—”
“The keys are in the ignition. Get her to a hospital as quickly as possible and make sure you fucking stay with her, no matter what.”
“Julian, bro—” he starts again, shaking his head. I grab his collar and bring his fucking face that I might never see again.
“No matter what happens tonight, she’s the fucking priority! We war because she’s mine!” I seethe. “You keep her safe! You do what I can’t! My job is to make sure nothing ever harms her again, do you fucking understand me!”
We stare at each other, the moment of truth so brazen and too intense to ignore. Cole doesn’t blink though. He doesn’t make a face, I can read him as clearly as the all the days we’ve caused trouble and mayhem all because I was an angry, miserable fuck who could handle how my brother was suffering and the other was working out every fucking day just because he hated himself and the way he
looked. Angry at my parents. Angry at feeling alone and angry at Mia. Mia…
“Fine,” he says unhappily.
“Fine.”
Without wasting another moment for useless sentiments and regrets, I get out the car and round the back, but before I can do reach for any of the shit I bought, a blood curdling, ear-splitting scream stops me dead in my tracks.
A shudder rolls violently through me. My fucking heart drops to the floor and automatically, I’m running. I have no sense of anything else, I don’t even notice where I am or what’s around me, I’m just running at the sound of the continued scream a tint of red hazing my eyes.
I just fucking hope I’m not too late.
Bitter Kisses (It's Just High School Book 3) Page 13
