Three Divisions: Crescentwood 1

by R. A. Smyth

  “Then why are you telling us?” Preston continues to push, but that hollow feeling I had is starting to fill up with rage. I’m angry I’ve had to confront these emotions, to them of all people. They had no right to go prying into my private business.

  “Because you assholes kidnapped me and zip tied me to a chair in the back ass of nowhere demanding answers to questions that I don’t know,” I snap at him, my anger rising to the surface.

  Barrett intervenes, pulling Preston to the other side of the room so they can have a quiet chat. Except the room isn’t that large so I can hear them anyway.

  “-would explain why the background check brought nothing up for their past.” I hear Barrett saying, trying to make sense of everything. Of course, they did a background check on us.

  “Man, I think we should believe her. I saw the way she was with her father at the party, and the way he manhandled her. It makes more sense, now that we know what we know,” Barrett insists, trying to convince Preston.

  Of course, he told Preston about that. Probably told him about the make-out sessions we had too. Asshole. Whatever mushy feelings I was developing for Barrett are one hundred percent squashed now.

  “That could have been staged, Barrett, they could have made you see what they wanted you to -” Preston starts, but his words have just lit a match under the raging inferno inside me.

  “Staged?” I snarl out at him, standing up from the chair, not even believing the audacity of this shithead. I stare him down with all the hate and anger and outrage coursing through me.

  “That motherfucking psychopath burnt me for getting detention, has manhandled me when I don’t obey his orders and threatened me every time I’ve been in his presence,” I growl out, in a low voice full of vitriol and disgust, “and you think it’s all a fucking show to make you two dimwits think we are in cahoots?” I laugh hysterically, at the absurdity of it all.

  “I’m so fucking done with this shit. I’ve told you what I know, now let me fucking go.” I demand, giving them such a menacing look I’m surprised they don’t start whimpering apologies right there.

  “He burnt you?” Barrett rumbles in a deep, animal-like tone full of animosity. He completely ignored the rest of my impassioned speech, causing me to roll my eyes.

  I give him my best resting bitch face, refusing to explain anything more to these fuckheads.

  Preston, completely unmoved by what I have said and clearly having a death wish, starts, “Say we do believe you -” before I interrupt him, literally snarling at his brashness, feeling like a feral animal trapped in a cage right now.

  “Oh, well, how mighty nice of you, asshole.” I snap at him, irritated that I’ve made myself vulnerable and he’s throwing it in my face.

  Barrett sighs heavily before stepping forward, interrupting my glare at Preston. Instead, I just direct the glare to Barrett. If he wants to put himself in the firing line then, by all means.

  In an attempt to maintain peace, he raises his hands in a gesture of submission. “Look, it sounds like we might be of use to each other. From what you have said, you want to know as badly as we do, why your father is here. So perhaps we can help one another out?” He concedes.

  “How would that work?” I ask, unsure what to make of his offer. I certainly don’t feel like doing a favour for these dickbags, but I’m painfully aware that, even if I did find out what my father was up to, I’m not in any position to do anything about it. Preston and Barrett have money, influence. Perhaps they would succeed in stopping my father if it came to that.

  “For now, why don’t we just agree that we will all make an active effort to investigate both your father and Charles. We can meet up every so often to discuss any updates?”

  I just shrug my shoulders, neither agreeing or disagreeing with his plan.

  Preston is obviously as unsure about this as I am, given the fact he has scrunched his face up in disdain at Barrett’s idea, but he hasn’t had a temper tantrum over it yet so he must see the same benefits in the idea that Barrett and I see.

  Before Preston can verbalise whatever decision he has landed on, both of their phones go off with some sort of alarm. Pulling it out of his pocket and staring at the screen, Preston then raises his head and fixes me with one of his characteristic cold glares. “Who the fuck do you have tailing you, Princess?”

  Chapter 29

  TYLER

  Chilling on the sofa, in one of the adjoining rooms Aiden and I claimed as our own when we first arrived at the motel that would be our base of residence while we were in California, I lift the joint to my mouth and close my eyes, enjoying the mellow high I have.

  Might as well make the most of our downtime. In this line of work, you never know when you could be needed at a moment's notice.

  Aiden is sitting silently on the other side of the room, cleaning his gun. “Bossman wants me to phone him later with an update. I don’t know what happened at that fancy-ass party they had, but he’s been suspicious ever since. He thinks she’s dug up some information on him or something.”

  Snorting, I respond, “Well yeah, ‘cause she has dug up information on him. Can’t say I wasn’t impressed,” and a little bit turned on, “that she knew who he really was. She’s clearly been sneaking around up in that mansion, playing little miss detective.”

  “Yeah, I can only imagine what else she knows, or what she’s seen.” His voice is full of seriousness, the deadly undertone impossible to miss.

  He’s totally right though. Thinking back to some of our meetings, or fuck, the night Kirk confronted one of our newest members who he discovered was a mole sent from one of our rivals. It was a fucking bloodbath. I can’t imagine what Sophie would have thought if she had seen any of that.

  God, what would she think of us if she saw us involved in that? If she had any idea of the sorts of things we have done.

  “The more she knows, the more danger she is in. Kirk won’t hesitate to kill even his own daughter if she becomes a problem,” Aiden goes on to say, verbalizing my own thoughts.

  Just the thought of Kirk laying a hand on her has my blood boiling. I’m not sure when I became protective of her. Hell, I don’t even really know her. Stalking her every move outside of school and her house doesn’t mean I know anything about her. And yet, for some reason I can’t wrap my brain around, I’ve been protecting her. We have been protecting her. Giving Kirk false information for months to hide the fact that not only is she not getting close or making friends with those snobby shits, but she’s actively avoiding them. Not that I can blame her, they seem like a bunch of entitled fuckers.

  Aiden seems to be of the same mindset as me. Initially, he just went along with my protectiveness to appease me. I got a good talking to when I first blurted out the lie to Kirk about how Sophie was spending her time, but he has slowly come round to my way of thinking now.

  I have no idea what is going on anymore though. We have always been good soldiers, doing as we were told by our superiors in the club. Never in my life would I have thought to hold back information or lie to any of them, especially not for some girl.

  If Kirk ever found out, the consequences for Aiden and I would be dire. Death at the least.

  “I know man, but I have this bad fucking feeling that this is all going to blow up in our faces. We need to find out what Kirk is up to, and, fuck, we need to stop putting our necks on the line for some girl we don’t even know. She’s fucking with our heads and she doesn’t even know it,” Aiden all but growls out the last few words in his frustration.

  I have no idea what happened the other night when he was on babysitting duty, while she went on her date with that wet blanket, but he’s been in a pissy mood since. He came home that night and drank himself stupid and has been storming around the place like a fucking bear ever since. It’s seriously getting on my last nerve now.

  Regardless, his statement that we just leave Sophie to sink or swim in a pond she’s got no idea how to navigate, bothers me. Despite what he says,
I know he cares more than he’s letting on. My hackles are up and I’m about to confront him about it when his phone goes off.

  Pulling it out of his jeans pocket and looking at the screen, he scowls at what he reads and starts cursing.

  “Shit, man, we gotta go. Her tracker has gone off saying she’s five miles outside the town limits.” Getting to his feet, he loads the gun he was just cleaning with fresh bullets and grabs the car keys, heading for the door.

  “What the fuck? She’s supposed to be in school.” I’m right on his heels, suddenly thankful that we put tracking devices in all her shoes so we could keep an eye on her when we couldn’t be with her.

  We quickly get into the beat-up Ford and gun it down the road, following the map on the phone that shows a blue dot representing her tracking device, as it shows her moving further and further out of town.

  Where the fuck is she going? She’s never once skipped school since she arrived here. I’m more concerned than I should be that someone has done something to her. What if Kirk found out she knew his true identity?

  Thirty minutes later, after driving double the speed limit the whole way, we turn left onto a gravel road that is so overgrown with shrubbery that you wouldn’t even know there was a turn-off if you weren’t looking for it.

  We follow the narrow lane that winds its way between the trees until it opens up to show us a clearing with a medium-sized, steel warehouse. Already having armed ourselves with guns, we get out of the car and head towards the warehouse, on full alert for any signs of life. As we approach the steel door, I pull my gun out of the back of my jeans and flick off the safety, not caring what I’m about to come face-to-face with, I was raised to ‘shoot first, ask questions later’.

  Looking up, I notice a security camera hidden in the corner of the roof, covering the area immediately in front of the door. Fuck, whoever owns this place knows we are here. I signal to Aiden who looks up, scowling as he immediately spots the camera. With no more time to waste, I back up and kick in the door, causing the lock to break and the door to fly inward. We rush in, guns raised and ready to shoot.

  Quickly scanning the warehouse, there is a large open-plan kitchen and living room area with a gigantic TV mounted on one wall, and numerous gaming consoles and controllers stacked underneath it. At the far end of the room are two doors and in the far corner is a spiral staircase that leads up to a second floor. Damn this is impressive. I’m super fucking jealous right now.

  There is no one else here that we can see. Aiden cocks his head indicating that we need to check out the rooms at the back. Keeping my eyes peeled, we make our way through the warehouse. Opening the door on the right first, we come across a small but functional bathroom. We then move on to the door on the left which opens to reveal a small office space. Making our way upstairs next, we discover two bedrooms and another, bigger bathroom. Every single room is clear. No one is here.

  “Where the hell is she?” I whisper to Aiden, who checks his phone again.

  “She’s definitely here, man. Her tracker says she should be right here,” he states, clearly frustrated that we haven’t found her and don’t know what is going on right now.

  Heading back outside, we split up, with Aiden taking the right side of the warehouse, and I take the left. Looking around me, there is nothing but trees. Trees that grow so close together it’s difficult to see far into the surrounding forest, so it’s impossible to know if anyone is hiding out there.

  As I round the back of the structure, I see Aiden already there, staring into the thicket of trees. “Is that another building?” He asks, squinting into the undergrowth. I look to where he’s pointing into the surrounding forest, squinting my eyes in a bid to make out more of the details. Sure enough, that looks like another, much smaller, steel structure hidden amongst the thick canopy of trees.

  Keeping our guns raised and constantly keeping an eye on our surroundings to make sure no one can sneak up on us, we make our way towards the outbuilding.

  Once we are at the door, I look up and spot more cameras covering the door. Giving whoever the fuck is watching us my middle finger, I turn the door handle, finding it unlocked. Keeping my gun raised, I step over the threshold, ready to put a bullet in whatever motherfucker has our girl.

  Except, instead of some asshole pointing a gun at us, Sophie is sitting in the middle of the room with her hands tied together, looking pissed as all hell.

  That’s my girl, not taking shit from anyone.

  Taking a quick look around the small, dark room, I can see that no one else is here. Fuck! What the hell is going on here?

  “What the fuck? What are you two doing here? How did you even know where I was?” Sophie demands as Aiden tucks his gun away and pulls out a switchblade, going over to untie her.

  “Us? What the fuck are you doing here? Who tied you up like that?” I growl, fully pissed off at seeing her tied up and vulnerable in this dark dank room, and fucking furious that I can’t take out this aggression on the assholes that did this.

  “Preston and Barrett,” she hisses. The names ring a faint bell. They are two of the assholes from her school, but that's all I know about them. Before I can even ask, Sophie, who has now been freed from her chair, jumps up, glaring at us while she snaps, “They abducted me from the side of the fucking road, zip-tied me, and threatened to fucking shoot me, if I didn’t tell them what my father is up to.”

  “What did you tell them?” Aiden demands before I can say anything.

  “What did I tell them?” Sophie shrieks in rage. “I didn’t fucking tell them anything. Because I don’t fucking know anything. I have no idea what is going on and it's beyond time you gave me some answers!” She demands, and goddammit is she hot when she’s all fired up and angry, glaring those spiteful eyes at us. I bet angry sex with her would be amazing.

  Aiden just laughs at her display of aggression. “We ain’t tellin’ you shit. Now come on, before those assholes come back”.

  Turning, Aiden strides towards the door, assuming Sophie will follow him and ignoring the metaphorical steam coming out of her ears and the daggers she is glaring into his back. If looks could kill, he’d be a dead man.

  Before Aiden can make it to the door though, two figures step through the entryway into the small room with their guns raised.

  “I can only assume you fine gentlemen are Preston and Barrett.”

  Chapter 30

  SOPHIE

  My moment of relief when the door flew open and I realised the intruders Preston and Barrett were referring to were just Aiden and Tyler, quickly turns to anger and frustration when Preston and Barrett, who ran off to apparently arm themselves and have the element of surprise when the alarm was raised, barrel in guns blazing. This whole situation is crazy!

  I may not have lived a sheltered life before coming here, but I could safely say I’d never been abducted or had a gun pointed at me. Now I was in a room filled with guns and way too much testosterone.

  Although I’d also never been in a room with as many hot-as-fuck men as I am right now and, damn, could a girl get some dirty ideas. Taking in each of the boys and their individual darkness, which is currently on display, given the high-stress situation we are in, I bite down on my bottom lip, thinking about being the middle in a Preston-Barrett-Aiden-Tyler sandwich. God, I could just imagine being stuffed full by Preston and Tyler while Aiden roughly fists my hair and thrusts in and out of my mouth, and my hand strokes Barrett until he comes all over me.

  Where the hell did that thought come from?

  I have never even thought about having sex with more than one person at once. And I don’t even know these boys, let alone trust them. Jeez, their pheromones are addling my brain.

  Before I can dwell any further on the increasingly concerning state of my mental wellbeing, I am dragged back to the rather serious situation I’m currently faced with as Barrett and Preston standoff against Aiden and Tyler with their guns raised.

  “Who the fuck are you?”
Preston demands, while I notice Barrett giving me a once over, as though he’s inspecting me for injuries. I can’t help but roll my eyes considering what he and Preston were just threatening me with. Besides, what did he expect to have happened in the two minutes they left us alone.

  Aiden and Tyler, completely unfazed by the guns pointed at them, move to stand in front of me, as though stopping Preston and Barrett from getting to me. I can tell from the tension in their backs and the steadiness of their hands that they are ready to fight back, to do whatever is necessary, to get us out of here. My guess, this isn’t their first rodeo.

  “I think the question is, why did you have Sophie tied to a fucking chair asshole?” Ty fires back, not the slightest bit intimidated or thrown off by the situation.

  Each duo continues to glare at the other, sizing one another up, neither one of them offering answers to the other's questions.

  Before this can descend into bloodshed and dead bodies, I move to stand in front of Aiden and Tyler, aiming my glare at Preston, whose gun is now pointed at me. I don’t think he will shoot me, but honestly, after what just went down in this room, I don’t know for sure. All I know is that I sure as shit don’t trust him, or any of them for that matter.

  “Put your guns down. No one is going to shoot anyone.” I state, turning to aim my glare at Aiden and Tyler so they know I am including them in that statement too. Of course, no one listens, all glares and scowls just move to focus on me. Stupid testosterone-filled boys.

  Sighing heavily, I make what is possibly a very stupid decision, especially since I don’t trust any of them. Preston and Barrett want to know what my father is doing, specifically what his business is with Preston’s father, but I don’t know what Aiden and Tyler's game plan is. They work for my father and have been keeping an eye on me under his direction, but they have obviously been lying to my father about how I am spending my time, so they mustn’t be entirely loyal to him. What I don’t understand is why they would cover for me, why they would risk themselves like that. I need to talk to them at some point, but until then, until I can understand their motivations, there is zero trust here.