by Ali Dean
Chapter Nineteen
Jace
Pepper disappeared after the game. One minute, she was telling Zoe something, and Zoe was nodding, and the next she was gone. We were all standing around, deciding where to go, and then we were leaving, but Zoe didn’t ask us to wait for Pepper. It wasn’t a quick trip to the restroom, and I was pretty sure I already had the answer to her whereabouts without asking. All of her friends were shooting me hesitant glances, and I was practically certain she had plans with Clayton, and they were nervous about how I was dealing with that.
Well, the only reason I wasn’t flipping my shit is I’d heard, from Zoe via Wes, that Pepper was not super into it. I was mostly annoyed with Clayton, who clearly wasn’t reading her right, but then again, maybe Pepper was being too nice, which wouldn’t surprise me.
It wasn’t until we left the field and I walked right into ghosts from my past that I was actually grateful she wasn’t here with us. Wolfe, Rex and an equally sketchy-looking dude were standing right in front of us, and Wes stopped in his tracks, having spotted them too. I knew they’d moved to Denver a couple of years ago, but I hadn’t seen them. Wes and I kept track of them for a while after they messed with Pepper as a way to get back at us for not connecting them up with the gang who sold us drugs. It was hard to believe that guy who sold drugs and dealt with gangs and dudes like Wolfe and Rex was me. It was like I shed him a long time ago but he was still lingering in the shadows, taunting me. I had made so many mistakes.
I glanced at Wes, and I could tell he was studying them, trying to decide if their presence was a coincidence. When they finally noticed us, there wasn’t a whole lot of surprise in their expressions. Our friends were getting restless beside us, but they seemed to notice at the same moment that there was a reason we’d stopped, and it wasn’t a good one.
Wolfe lifted his lips, almost like he wanted to laugh at me, and it made my blood go hot. I was the one with the upper hand here, not him. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to convey the threat without words. I had information on him that could put him away for years. Deciding that I needed to know why he was here, and if there was any reason for alarm bells, I stepped forward, and I could feel Wes at my side a moment later. We had plenty of guys with us right now, though I would’ve rather not gone there tonight.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice calm and confident. I wasn’t afraid of these guys, I just needed to know their agenda.
Wolfe tilted his head to the side and looked at the group behind me. He spread his hands. “Here for the same reason you are.”
“Really?” There was no emotion in my voice, but the question conveyed I didn’t trust this guy for a second.
“It’s been a long time, Wilder. We used to be buddies. I’m over our dispute. We have our own thing going on down here, and your business is old news.” By business, he meant my dealing connections. I hadn’t kept tabs on Wolfe recently, but last I knew he was still involved in that world, trying to climb the ranks in a bigger city. He’d gotten a little smarter, but if he was still using, he wouldn’t last much longer.
Rex shifted beside Wolfe, and the other guy with them was glancing between me, Wes and Wolfe uneasily. He didn’t know who we were, and that told me enough. Wolfe hadn’t prepped his sidekick about me, and Rex looked like he wasn’t expecting to see us, so this wasn’t a planned encounter.
Wesley drew the same conclusion, and when I gave him an approving nod, he reminded Wolfe, “It’s a good thing you aren’t causing us any trouble, because I’ve been dying to unload the evidence I’ve got sitting around on you.”
We walked away then, and as we did the reasons why Wolfe was dangerous rested heavily on my shoulders. He had terrified Pepper one night, forcing her with him and other guys to a pool house during a house party, until we’d intervened, leaving all of us to wonder just how far he had been planning to go. And the video he sent, which had threatened to tear Pepper and me apart before we’d barely had a chance, still made me feel sick. But we’d overcome all that, so why was Wolfe’s appearance making my heart race and my adrenaline pump? This was how I felt before a game, when my body was geared up for a challenge. Wolfe hadn’t challenged us, and I didn’t understand why I was reacting like this.
Was the unease that settled in my gut simply from the reminder of my past mistakes, or was there something more? I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.
Chapter Twenty
Pepper
Why did I agree to meet Clayton again? It’s starting to get dark, and I’m waiting in this weird alley that’s top secret, according to Clayton. He initially told me to go to the official exit from the players’ locker room, and there were a bunch of reporters and fans hanging around. I’d felt pretty stupid standing amongst all of them, but then Clayton texted me to go to this back alley where most of the players exit in order to avoid the crowd. I’d feel kind of special being let in on this little secret, except there’s no one else here and I haven’t seen any other players leave yet. Which is probably a good thing, actually, because then they’d wonder what I’m doing here.
Zoe texts me that they are at a bar two blocks away, and not to worry because most bars don’t start carding at the door until later. I’m not sure I want to ask Clayton to go there with me. It’ll be weird with Jace and my friends there, not to mention all the randoms who will want to talk to Clayton. I’d rather get this second date thing over with and hang solo with Clayton for a little while before breaking things off. It’s stupid that I’m even thinking about this as a breakup, when we’re really not anything at all.
When I hear footsteps approaching from around the corner, I stiffen. I feel like I’m not supposed to be here, and I wonder if some security guard’s going to pop out and yell at me. The last person I expect to see emerge from around the corner is Wolfe Jenkins.
“Pepper. Jones,” he enunciates slowly. What the hell? I’m in a dark alley, with one of the scariest people I’ve ever encountered, and the way my body is shaking, I know this isn’t some bad dream. It should be.
“What are you doing here?” He’s at least thirty feet away. Why is he here, now, after years with no threats and no indication he would be back?
He shrugs. “I saw you leaving the game and followed you. It’s like you were asking for it, leading me into this deserted alley.”
I almost laugh at the absurdity of this moment. But self-preservation kicks in, and I spin to the door, for the first time trying it to see if it’s unlocked. It’s not. Before I can make a break for it and join the crowd by the other exit, he’s behind me, lifting me and squeezing my arms so tightly I can’t push free.
“Let go of me!” I shout. There are hundreds of people just around the corner and I yell over and over, certain that someone will hear me any moment and come running. But he’s dragging me farther away even as I kick. I wish more than anything I was a bigger person right now so I could get him off of me.
He’s grunting against my struggles, and I don’t give up, but then he’s shouting to someone else to open the trunk, and I hear voices that I can’t decipher buzzing in my ears. There are two others, and one is vaguely familiar. My vision blurs as I fight uselessly and I don’t know if it’s from loss of oxygen or panic, but the ringing in my head is making it hard to focus. Wolfe’s grip on me is crushing, and it’s only getting tighter the harder I try to break free. Rex appears and tries to grab my feet, and I kick him away, a bizarre sense of satisfaction bursting through the panic for a moment as my foot connects with his head and he stumbles backward.
But then another guy, one I don’t recognize, blurs into my vision, and before I can react, a sharp pain courses through my skull, and the world goes black.
Something is pounding on the back of my head when I open my eyes. Through hazy vision, I make out a concrete ceiling and a light bulb. Where am I? And then it rushes back, and my body jerks. The movement is painful and I cry out.
“Shhh…” Someone brushes hair away
from my face and though I’m almost afraid to look, I dart my eyes to see who it is.
“What the hell?” My mouth goes dry. Clayton is hovering over me, and my head is in his lap.
“Relax. Stay still. I’ve got you,” he says. And then I get it. He found me outside. They must have left me after I passed out.
“What happened?” My voice is dry, and it doesn’t sound like me.
Clayton’s entire body stiffens at my question. He croaks out, “What do you remember?”
I tell him. “Wolfe and Rex, these two guys who used to live in Brockton, they grabbed me and tried dragging me into a trunk or something. Another guy was there, and I think he knocked me out. Honestly, I have no idea what they were trying to do.” Kidnap, or worse, are the only things I can think of. And though I’m sure it was rooted in a kind of twisted revenge, something holds me back from telling all that to Clayton. I should be relieved that I’m not bound and gagged in a trunk somewhere, but I still don’t feel safe. I need to know what happened.
“That’s what I saw when I came out to meet you,” he says through gritted teeth, and I wonder if this all happened minutes or hours ago. He still seems to be pulsing with adrenaline. “I ran at them, and the guy holding you dropped you on the ground. You went like a sack of potatoes, Pepper, and I was terrified. I started to take them on but they ran scared. Juan and Steve came out as they drove away.”
Juan and Steve. Caramel and beard.
“How long ago was that?”
“You’ve been out for half an hour.”
I try to sit up, and Clayton helps me, but the room spins, and I have to lean back against the locker. I’m flooded with nausea and I quickly put my head between my legs to avoid losing the hotdog and fries I ate earlier. Was that just a couple of hours ago?
Clayton rubs circles on my back, and suddenly, more than anything, I want Jace. Gran and Zoe, too, and even Wes. But Clayton hardly knows me, and his presence isn’t giving me the comfort I seek right now.
“My phone?” I croak out.
He reaches in my back pocket and slips it out, before I can think about the fact that he briefly touched my butt. There are missed texts from Zoe and Jenny, none from Jace. But at that moment, like he knows I need him, his name flashes on the screen and it rings in my hand.
“Are you sure you should answer that right now?” Clayton asks. Is he worried what Jace will do if I tell him? Or does he think I’m too messed up to talk on the phone? I simply don’t know Clayton well enough to read him.
But I answer, and the dam breaks as I relay what just happened. Tears stream down my face, and when I tell him, “Clayton saved me,” I realize that Clayton has saved me so many times now, it’s becoming absurd. “I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t come out when he did,” I whisper.
“He should have come out sooner.” Jace’s growl is almost a shout and I wince, my ears ringing.
“Where are you?” he asks, his voice gentling now.
I look around. “I think I’m in a locker room.”
“You’re in the team locker room,” Clayton tells me.
“Let me come get you, and then we need to call the police. Have you called them yet?”
“Police?” I echo. Last time shit went down with Wolfe, the police were never called. But this time, I want it to end. He needs to be in handcuffs. Why didn’t we do that before?
“Can I talk to Clayton, Pep? I want to be with you and he can tell me how to get there.”
I hand the phone to Clayton, trying to comprehend what all this means. The police are coming. Last time the police came, I was in Jace’s dorm room, and Frankie was restraining Savannah Hawkins, who was dressed in lingerie. Why do I want Jace right now, again? All of this is because of him, isn’t it? Somehow, that doesn’t matter to me, and it doesn’t escape me how utterly messed up that is.
A moment later, Clayton hands me back the phone and tells me Jace will be meeting us soon. Juan and Steve are suddenly there, in the room with us, dressed in jeans and with wet hair. It’s so strange that I just saw them on the field.
“Nice home run,” I congratulate Juan, and his eyes widen slightly before he chuckles.
“How are you feeling? You were out for a while there.”
“Yeah, my head hurts,” I reply lamely. My ribs and arms ache too, I’m beginning to realize.
Steve and Juan want to know what I remember about what happened, and I relay the story for a third time. By the time I’m done, Jace is there, and I’m not exactly sure how he got through security so quickly, but his face is white and his eyes wild.
When he crouches at my side and begins inspecting me with his fingers and his eyes, all his horrible mistakes go away for an instant, and I’m just grateful he’s here because I suddenly feel like it’s going to be okay. But then he and Clayton are exchanging tense words and they disappear, and I’m left feeling confused and exhausted. I can hear them yelling at each other and I vaguely make out that Jace wants to call the police, but Clayton doesn’t. He’s afraid of the publicity issue for the team. But then I hear Steve step in, and it’s decided. The police will be coming. And I’ll be telling them what happened, too.
When my phone rings and Zoe’s name flashes, I almost answer. But I’m just so tired now, I can’t bring myself to tell her what’s going on. Wasn’t she with Jace? Did he not tell anyone before he came here? It’s not a situation I can tell halfway, and I suddenly don’t have the energy to go over it again. When Jace returns to the locker room alcove where I’m resting, I finally close my eyes. Safe. For now.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jace
She stopped shaking when I placed her in my lap in the passenger seat of the minivan. Wes was driving, and Zoe, Jenny, Omar, and Rollie sat in the back seats. The rest of the crew squeezed into other cars, but we were all headed back to Brockton. The partying mentality died instantly when our friends found out what had gone down. It was solemn as hell in the minivan, but there was one unspoken message. We were all there for Pepper.
Pepper had told the cops about Wolfe and Rex, and she’d tried her best to describe the third guy, but she didn’t remember much of anything about how he looked. She hadn’t gotten a good look at him before he conked her on the head. Because of our run-in earlier, I’d been able to describe the guy who was with Rex and Wolfe, who I’d assumed was the same guy who attacked Pepper. Paramedics looked at her, and determined she had a concussion. She wouldn’t be able to run for a few days, which she didn’t like, but she was going to be okay. And when they told her someone should supervise her tonight and wake her every couple of hours, Pepper had looked at me and I’d stepped up without a second thought.
She wouldn’t leave my side. It was both so crazy and so normal for her to want my comfort and protection; I was just going with it and trying not to make it mean anything too significant. But it was obvious she wanted me soothing her, and she wouldn’t ask for it. So I wasn’t going to think about what I deserved, and whether she was ready, and if I was overstepping my place. I was going to stay the night in her room and keep an eye on her, because whether she would say it or not, I knew I was who she needed right now, for whatever reason.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Pepper
A sense of déjà vu washes over me when I hear the hushed voices in the kitchen the next morning. My head throbs, my body aches, and yet I sort of feel detached from my body, like none of it really happened. This is what it was like after Savannah Hawkins drugged my drink at my recruit visit to UC my senior year of high school. And the sensation that I’m watching the events of someone else’s life unfold? That brings me back to the first time Wolfe and Rex tried to drag me somewhere, with an unknown purpose, nearly four years ago.
And yet, the person who caused all of it, he is the one I needed more than anyone last night. Not Clayton, who offered to let me stay at his nearby loft downtown. The guy who rescued me from first the drugging, then a hit and run, and now… whatever happened in th
at alley, and I didn’t feel safe with him. I always thought I was a rational, reasonable person. But I’m beginning to question my own sanity.
I’m remembering that Jace slept beside me last night, though he kept a careful distance, and I simply can’t deny that I wish he was still beside me. I’m not ready to face the day.
With a heavy sigh, I heave myself out of bed. But it’s a mistake to glance at my reflection in the mirror, because I’m a hot mess. My hair is a tangled disaster, and my eyes are red rimmed, reminding me that I spent a good portion of the night crying. There’s a scratch down my nose, presumably from my struggle with Wolfe, and bruising on my arms. Lifting my shirt, I find more purplish marks on my ribs. My chest begins to rise and fall in rapid alternation and I’m wide awake now.
I swing open my bedroom door, determined to find out if the police have any updates. They must have found him by now, or one of his friends. Jace is sitting at the table with Gran and an officer, and he quickly stands up, knocking over his chair when he sees me.
He approaches and gently pushes me back into my room, closing the door behind him. And I let him, because this self-assured Jace is one I’m familiar with, and something tells me he has my best interest in mind.
“Here, Pep, put this on.” He hands me a long-sleeved shirt, and I realize I’m only wearing a thin camisole, sans bra, and sleep shorts. I do as I’m told, and he strokes my cheek lovingly, a gesture I don’t fight, and even find myself leaning into.
“You stayed last night,” I murmur.
“Someone had to be with you all night,” he points out. He doesn’t mention that I clung to him all the way from the locker room back to my bedroom. Jace hands me a glass of water that was sitting on my bedside table and I swallow a few sips.
