Drawing Dead: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “Oh, come on. History of violence, scheming, manipulation…That woman’s a ticking time bomb.”

  “So, don’t set it off,” Nathan snapped.

  I thought it over, but really, Andrew’s option was the best way to go. “Look, the fact is, we have to back off Carly before she loses her shit and has a relapse. We have to tell Josh something, because he can’t keep going on the way he is. He needs reassurance that Carly’s okay. The only way to do that is to monitor her without her knowing. And since there’s no way in hell you’d get her to wear a life alert monitor, I say we go Andrew’s route and set up surveillance. I wouldn’t bring Lorelei in on it, though. In fact, none of the women can know. All it takes is one bad apple to turn them all rotten.”

  “Nice analogy,” Eric muttered.

  “You guys are all missing the point. If you track one of them this way, what exactly do you think is going to happen? You can’t monitor their every move. You did that when they were pregnant and you had a grocery store hostage situation. And for all of you that don’t realize it, that’s really weird. Who holds themselves hostage because of overprotective husbands? It’s not normal,” Nathan said slowly.

  “I say we vote on it,” Robert said. “All those in favor, say Aye.”

  Everyone but Corduroy and Nathan lifted their hands. “Sorry, you’re outnumbered. Now, let’s get to work on planning this,” Robert said, getting straight to business. Nathan stayed, which just made me suspicious. He was planning something, and I was going to get to the bottom of it.

  16

  Nathan

  I stormed out of the station, irritated as hell. I wasn’t a tattle-tell. I didn’t get involved in other people’s business, but this involved Charlie. These guys were all losing their minds, and it was infecting one Cortell brother at a time. If Will got Charlie pregnant, would the same thing happen to her? She would end up hating him, and then her whole life would implode. I didn’t want to see that happen, which meant I only had one option. I had to stop this insanity before it went any further.

  I got in my car and dialed Charlie’s number. When she picked up, I didn’t waste a minute spilling my guts to her.

  “You need to get the girls together. The guys are planning something and we need to get ahead of this before they make matters worse.”

  “Well, we’re already together. When they said they were having a guys’ night, we decided to have a girls’ night.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Carly’s.”

  “I’ll be right there. None of you leave.”

  “That doesn’t sound ominous,” she chuckled.

  I drove double time over there. It wasn’t like I would get pulled over. Jack and Corduroy were still at the police station, conspiring with all the guys. I pulled up just a few minutes later and ran up to the door, knocking rapidly. The door swung open and Carly scowled at me.

  “Are you here to check on me? Because I already have a doctor in the house.”

  “I’m here to save you,” I said pushing past her. “I’m here to save all of you.”

  “Uh-oh, this sounds dangerous,” Kat snorted.

  “Are you drunk?”

  She put her thumb and her forefinger together, squinting slightly. “Just a little. Hey, I don’t get to drink very often. I deserve a little…let go time.”

  “I’m not disputing that, but right now I need you all clear headed.”

  “What’s going on?” Charlie asked.

  “The guys are down at the station right now.”

  Anna snorted. “Did they all get arrested? Is Jack on a rampage?”

  “Why would Jack be on a rampage?” a woman holding a glass of wine asked.

  “Who are you?”

  “Ciara, Antonio’s…person of interest.”

  “Are you a suspect?”

  She shook her head. “No, but I wouldn’t say I’m his girlfriend either at the moment.”

  “They had a falling out,” another woman said.

  “And you are?”

  “Jo. Not to be confused with the male version of me.”

  I nodded, not really understanding what she was talking about. “So, you’re here, but Antonio’s not down at the station.”

  “Jack hates Antonio,” Carly informed Jo. “For reasons that sort of make sense, but not really.”

  “Jack is the one that lost his wife,” Jo supplied. “And he hates Antonio because he’s related to you?”

  “No, because he was a really bad person,” Carly whispered. “But don’t tell anyone.”

  “Can we get back to the point?” I asked irritatedly. “Who hates who aside, you all need to talk to them.”

  “For being as crazy as they usually are?” Kat snorted.

  “No, they’re planning on ways to watch over all of you, especially you, Carly.”

  “Like that’s new,” Sofia laughed. “Tell us something we don’t know.”

  “They’re thinking like Derek would…or trying to. I get the feeling they don’t actually know what they’re talking about.”

  “So…one of them is going to throw knives at us and another is going to tie us to a bed?” Kat surmised. “Sounds kinky. Not really my style, but everyone has their thing.”

  “No, they’re planning on having Sofia distract Carly, and then they’re going to come in with cameras and spy on her.”

  Carly snorted. “So, what’s new? One more way for them to watch me.”

  “Don’t you understand?” I asked in frustration. “This isn’t going to get better. Look at what happened with Kat. She lost the baby and suddenly, you guys couldn’t walk around town without being followed everywhere. Then Carly had her seizure, and now they have the whole town watching her every move.”

  “Why are you here telling us this?” Charlie asked.

  “Because you’re my best friend, and if it can happen to them, it can happen to you. These men are not right in the head. They’ve seen one too many spy movies or something. It’s only going to get worse from here. You need to stand up to them.”

  Carly grinned and stood. “Or…we take matters into our own hands and show them what it’s like to be helpless.”

  “What?” I shook my head. “No, that’s not what—”

  “Exactly!” Kat screeched. “We need to show them what it would be like if all of us were missing. Only, we won’t be missing. We’ll just hide somewhere no one will think to look for us.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” I said in frustration. “I meant, you guys need to have a serious conversation with them and tell them you won’t stand for this kind of behavior.”

  “The top of Joe’s apartment building,” Sofia said brightly. “It’s perfect. No one ever goes up there. And who would think to look for us on the top of a roof?”

  “No, I didn’t tell you this so you could stage a coup against them as they’re staging a coup against you. Do you not see the insanity of all this?”

  “And it needs to happen tonight,” Anna nodded. “They’re already gathered together. They think we’re staying together. They don’t know that we know about their plans.”

  “I know about their plans!” I said emphatically.

  Carly turned on me with a glimmer in her eyes. “Then I guess we’ll just have to eliminate the one person that knows our plan to diffuse their plans.”

  “You’re not going to kill me,” I said with all the confidence in the world.

  “Of course not. Ciara and I may be former mafia, but we don’t do that anymore.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. I was a little worried there for a minute.

  “But we do need a hostage in case things get out of control,” she smirked.

  I watched with wide eyes as they all started making their way toward me. I heard the click of metal and looked at Ciara to see her holding a pair of cuffs. I swallowed hard, looking to Charlie.

  “I’m your best friend. I’m trying to help you.”

  Charlie shrugged. “Like you said, if they cou
ld do it to them, they can do it to me. They need to be taught a lesson. Don’t take this personally.”

  “Do you want to walk a little faster before we all get caught?” Kat said.

  “I would, but it’s kind of hard to walk up stairs when my feet are tied together,” I snapped. Logically, I knew nothing was going to happen to me. These women were a little out of their minds, mostly because the guys had pushed too far, and I had been the one to tell them. I wasn’t sure what kind of hostage I was, but it couldn’t be good.

  “So, what exactly is the plan?” Ciara asked.

  “To make the guys worried about us,” Carly said.

  “Won’t that just push them over the edge? I mean, I’m no psychologist, but it seems to me that if you push their buttons, they’re going to push back harder.”

  “Who invited her?” Kat asked drunkenly. “She’s a total buzzkill.”

  “She was there,” Anna said. “It wasn’t like we could leave her or Jo behind. They’re witnesses.”

  “Right,” I drawled. “And we’d all snap like twigs under interrogation.”

  “Ha!” Ciara laughed. “I’ve never snapped in my life. Trust me, I could have handled this.”

  “I probably wouldn’t have,” Jo shrugged. “I would have sent them after you just to see how it all played out.”

  “See?” Carly snapped. “That’s why we had to bring them along.”

  We reached the top steps and Sofia unlocked the door to the roof, slipping the key in her pocket. After shoving against the door a few times, it finally opened with a rusty screech.

  “Yeah, this is going to go really well.”

  We all walked up the steps to the roof and looked out over the town. Sighing, I turned to them all. “What’s the plan now?”

  “Well, obviously, they’re going to come looking for us,” Carly said.

  “But you didn’t actually lay out any bait, did you?”

  She looked at me for a moment and sighed. “Damn, I’m losing it.”

  “What?” Sofia asked. “I’m confused. What didn’t we do?”

  “Well, we didn’t tell them we were running or leave a note. We’re just missing.”

  “Isn’t that the point?” Kat asked.

  “Well, yeah, but the fun would start a lot faster if we had actually left some clue we were missing. Who knows how long they’ll be down there plotting.”

  “But they’ll realize when they get home,” Anna pointed out.

  “No, they’ll think we’ve all gone to bed and they have the houses to themselves.”

  “Except all the kids are with babysitters,” Kat said brightly.

  “Yeah, at the babysitter’s house. The only way they’re going to find out is when the babysitter calls in…” She looked at her watch and sighed. “In three hours.”

  “Three hours?” I asked incredulously. “You don’t seriously expect me to just sit up here for three hours, tied up in rope.”

  “Hey, if you hadn’t brought this to us, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

  “No, if you could all learn to talk to each other like adults, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

  “He’s right,” Charlie sighed.

  “What? Don’t agree with him,” Carly snapped.

  “Fine, I don’t agree with him. We’re better off sitting up on this roof for the next three hours, and then only will the search commence. And how long are we going to hold out before we call someone? Are you willing to pee on the roof?”

  “I can do it,” I grinned.

  “Not with your hands tied behind your back,” Carly snapped.

  “Okay,” Anna started pacing. “We just need to think this through. What would Claire do?”

  “Who’s Claire?” Ciara asked.

  “She’s Derek’s wife. Crazy lady that likes getting herself rescued for sex.”

  “By the same man, right?”

  “Of course,” Kat snapped. “It’s not like she screws random people for the fun of being rescued.”

  Ciara shrugged. “Hey, everyone’s got something.”

  “Yeah,” Jo laughed. “Ciara likes to watch dogs having sex.”

  Ciara slapped Jo. “I never said that. I said it was like watching porn. I don’t want to actually join in.”

  “You can say that, but it doesn’t sound any better.”

  “Hey, I have an idea,” I said, feeling like the only smart person amongst a bunch of unhardened criminals. “You could just call the guys and say that you came up here to let off some steam and got locked up here. Then you can plan this great disappearing act for another time when one of you isn’t hormonally imbalanced and the rest of you aren’t half drunk.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m fully drunk,” Kat nodded.

  “I could be on the side of the sane here, but this doesn’t sound like a fully thought out plan or even a half-cocked plan,” Ciara said. “Hell, I’m not even sure what I’m doing up here. You don’t see Antonio chasing after me and following me all around.”

  “That’s because you’re pissed at him,” Jo added.

  “Right, I’m pissed at him.” She sighed, plopping down on the ground. “I can’t really remember what for.”

  “Because he wouldn’t open up to you, and if he can’t open up to you after you saved his life and put your life in his hands, when will he ever trust you?”

  Ciara nodded. “Thanks for the reminder. I feel so much better now.”

  “Hey, what are besties for?”

  “The point is, you took a hostage, you’re hiding out from your husbands who don’t know you’re hiding from them, and in about an hour, you’re all going to have to pee, and there’s no bathroom. It’s time to call off this charade and just go home,” I said emphatically.

  “Maybe he’s right,” Anna muttered. “Besides, I’m not used to these late nights. Maybe we could plan a day thing? You know, that way I don’t miss my bedtime.”

  “Yeah, like a wine tasting during the day and we all go off the radar,” Kat nodded.

  “See? She’s got goals. She’s got it all figured out.”

  “She’s drunk,” Charlie pointed out.

  “Shut it or I’ll tell Will you don’t want kids.”

  She shoved me over, and being that I was tied, I couldn’t brace myself for the fall. I landed on my shoulder hard and winced as I rolled over onto my back. “There’s no need to be mean.”

  “Likewise,” she grinned.

  “Fine,” Carly sighed. “We call a truce, but only for tonight. No one says a word to the guys, and that includes you,” she pointed at me.

  “Right, like I’m going to tell them I ran and told you, then you kidnapped me and took me along for the ride,” I said drolly.

  They helped me stand and then undid the ropes around my wrists and ankles. I rubbed at my skin, relieved I could move again.

  “Well, that was anticlimactic,” Sofia said as she walked back down the stairs to the roof access. “My first big heist and it was a bust.”

  “This wasn’t a heist,” Carly snorted. “It was a failed…escape.”

  “Whatever. I expected more, especially considering that I had ex-mafia people with me. What a disappointment.”

  She slid the key in the lock and jerked the handle, but the door didn’t budge. She tried again, but still nothing.

  Ciara pushed through the crowd. “Here, let me do it. You guys are such wusses.”

  She pulled on the handle, but still nothing happened. I rolled my eyes and pushed them all aside. “Here, sometimes it takes a man to do what a woman can’t.”

  Ciara stepped aside with a smirk. “By all means, please help the helpless women.”

  I popped my knuckles and turned the key, then yanked on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Frowning, I tried again and again, but still nothing.

  “Yeah, way to show us how a man does it.”

  “The key must be stuck,” I muttered. I twisted the key again, but it wouldn’t work. And when I tried to pull it out, it
wouldn’t come out. “It’s stuck.”

  “Great deduction skills,” Carly grinned. “I’m so glad we have a man here to tell us that.”

  “It just needs a swift kick,” I said, lifting my foot and kicking the key as they all shouted at me. The key fell to the ground, but it was only half a key. The other half was stuck in the lock. “Huh. Well, that’s interesting.”

  “Just like your idea to get us out of here,” I heard one of them mutter.

  17

  Corduroy

  “Alright, I’m heading home for the night,” I said, snatching the last pastry out of the box from this morning’s Mary Anne’s run. After the terrible ideas the guys came up with tonight, I was bushed. Of all the idiotic ideas, putting cameras in Carly’s house was the worst. Why didn’t they just chain her up and call it a day? Taking a bite, I nodded to Jack just as the phone rang.

  “Christ, can I ignore it?”

  “It might be important. Maybe a cat stuck in a tree or a dog barking really loudly.”

  Sighing, Jack picked up the phone. I should have run out of there. It was stupid to stick around when I was supposed to be done an hour ago. I was just asking for an emergency at this point.

  “Newton County Sheriff’s Department. Jack speaking.” He listened for a moment and then his eyes slipped closed. “Hell, are you serious? Alright, we’ll be right there.”

  He hung up and chuckled humorlessly. “You’re not going to believe this.”

  “There’s really a cat stuck in a tree?”

  “No,” he sighed, standing and grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair. “The Cortell women have managed to get themselves stuck on the roof of Joe’s tattoo parlor.”

  “So, tell Joe to unlock the door.”

  “They don’t want the guys to know that they’re stuck up there.”

  I snorted in amusement. “Gee, I wonder why not after everyone plotted against them, basically taking away all their freedoms.”

  “Right? And now we get to go clean up their mess.”

  “Like you weren’t part of it,” I snorted.

  “Alright, I might have gotten slightly carried away today, but… I think it was good for me.”