by Tracy Sharp
He looked like I’d hit him. And I immediately felt like an asshole.
He’d expected me to swoon and become all soft and girly on him, like every other woman he’d bedded. And although I’d greatly enjoyed the act, it just wasn’t me. I just wasn’t the swooning type.
I threw my legs over the table and began gathering my clothes. “Look. I’ve gotta go.”
“Leah, I’m sorry if I rushed you—” He got off the table and reached for me.
Not wanting to be touched, I moved away, bending down to pick up my jeans. “Let’s just forget it, okay?”
I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see the stricken expression on his face. I was feeling bad enough already, but still, I couldn’t bring myself to reach out to him and I didn’t know why.
I felt his eyes on me as I shrugged my jacket on and headed down the hall and out the door. I didn’t look back at him but I stole a peek at my rearview mirror as I drove away.
I’d left Cal looking shell-shocked, standing in the parking lot of the repo depot watching me drive away. I didn’t really want to hurt his feelings. I just didn’t want there to be any complications between us. I liked Callahan. He was a good person. And he was risking his ass helping me. All the mushy assumptions people made about each other after sex wasn’t for me. Frankly, that stuff made me feel claustrophobic. I’m a loner. Always have been.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I was tense as I drove home, so I channel-surfed until I found a bluesy, country rock song that I liked. I cranked it and sang along. The sexy rhythm made me drive too fast. I kept noticing the needle edging ten or so miles over the speed limit and I’d have to slow down again. I didn’t want to be stopped by any friends of Finn. And this wasn’t a large town, so the chances were good that it certainly wouldn’t be in my best interest to be stopped for speeding. God knows what would happen to me. I had a feeling that my stints as a juvenile jailbird would look like acres of fun in comparison. The cops might not be so nice this time. Even jail might be preferable.
I’d been in many dangerous positions before in my life, mostly in my youth, but I wasn’t the same person anymore as I’d been back then. Sean was right. The core of me was still the same. I no longer thought that risking my life was a fun time. It didn’t give me the same rush anymore. Maybe it was because I kept thinking of Jesse. He needed me.
I pulled up to my house, killed the lights and the engine of the Jeep. It was quiet. The kitchen light was on but no other lights burned. I looked up at the window to Jesse’s room. It was dark.
I told myself that he was probably in the kitchen making a snack. When I got to the door and looked through the window, the kitchen was empty, except for Frank who was sleeping on a placemat at the table.
Maybe he’d gone to bed and had forgotten to turn off the kitchen light, I reasoned. When I went upstairs to check his room, it was empty. His bed hadn’t been touched. It looked as if he hadn’t come home yet. I looked at the digital clock on his bedside table. It read one-thirty a.m. This wouldn’t have been an unusual time for a man of twenty-one to be still out on a date under normal circumstances. But these weren’t normal circumstances. I’d brought bad men into our lives. We were both targets.
I took deep breaths to stifle the panic which was threatening to overwhelm me. It was a losing battle. I started gasping and moaning, making deep, guttural sounds low in my throat. They sounded like they were coming from a million miles away. For the first time in years, I thought of cutting or burning myself. That thought snapped me out of it and I tried to make myself relax.
I felt something wet on my hand. Looking down I saw Buddy’s concerned eyes gazing up at me. I numbly patted his head, my mind whirling. I decided to turn to the only person who’d ever known how to make sense of chaos.
“Come on, Buddy. We’re going to see Jack.”
* * *
When I pulled up in front of Jack’s, there were police cars in the parking lot. I could see Jack through the screen door, leaning against the counter with his head in his hands. As I walked up to the building, I saw Patrick’s grim expression as he shook his head slowly, arms crossed over his chest. Several police offers stood in the room speaking in low tones.
Jesse. My heart stopped.
I went through the screen door on wooden legs. I didn’t want to know what they were going to tell me but I needed to know. My throat was so tight I couldn’t speak. I stood there staring at them, waiting for them to tell me the worst. Why hadn’t they called me?
The police turned to me. For a moment, nobody said a word.
“Jack?” I croaked, my voice thick with the flood of oncoming tears.
He looked up at me, his eyes red and puffy. “Leah.” He stayed where he was and opened his arms.
I went to him. Let him gather me up in his huge arms. “No, Jack. No. No.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“NO!” I shook my head. “Not Jesse. Not Jesse.” I let the tears come. I stared up at him, willing him to tell me that it wasn’t true. My brother wasn’t dead.
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s not Jesse.”
I stepped back, staring at him, afraid I hadn’t heard him right. “What?”
“It’s Sean. He’s dead.”
My knees gave out under the flood of relief washing over me. Jack lifted me back up and led me to a couch in a living room down the hall.
“Not Jesse? It’s not my brother? He’s all right? Where is he?” I was babbling as he sat me down.
He crouched in front of me, his face stricken.
“Jack? Where is he?”
“Woodard and his friends dumped Sean in front of the door,” he began. “It could only have been them. They were long gone by the time I went out there.”
I stared at him. My chest constricting.
“Sean lied about having a date. He followed Jesse on his date with that girl.”
“Oh, no. No, Jack. No.” I was shaking my head as if somehow my denials would change what had already happened.
“The girl was one of Woodard’s and she led Jesse straight to him. Sean must’ve caught a weird vibe from her and went in after them. He didn’t come back out alive.”
I covered my mouth with my hands and sobbed, long and hard. I cried in a way I never had before. I cried like I never had for Susie.
Jack gathered me in his arms again, hugging me close, as if trying to shelter me from a deadly storm. “Woodard’s got Jesse, Leah.”
When the initial panic subsided with Jack’s reassurances that we’d get Jesse back, a strange calm fell over me. Falling apart and crying hysterically wasn’t going to help us get Jesse back. So I sat for a while, breathing deeply and thinking. The calmer I got, the angrier I became. My brother had done nothing to Woodard. Woodard didn’t care about that. He fed off innocent lives. He made his money by hurting others. This was old hat to him.
One thing I was absolutely positive of was that I was going to get him. I was going to make sure he never hurt another innocent person again. No matter what happened. His life was about to take a major turn for the worse.
“I’m sorry.” I looked up at Jack who’d just come back from the kitchen with a cup of tea. He handed it over and sat down beside me on the couch.
“For what?”
“For feeling relief that it’s not Jesse in Sean’s place.” My voice was thick with tears I’d already shed.
“Hey. Anyone would feel the same in your position.”
“But Sean was our friend. He was looking out for Jesse and he went in after him. He was trying to protect him, just like you said he would.”
He placed an arm around my shoulders. “Nobody could blame you. Sean wouldn’t blame you.”
“I’ll grieve for him after we get Jesse back,” I said, looking into Jack’s red-rimmed eyes. “I won’t forget what he tried to do for Jesse. I promise.”
“I know you won’t, hon. None of us will.”
My nerves were raw but I couldn’
t rest. I couldn’t relax knowing that Woodard had my little brother. I kept running possibilities through my mind of what Woodard would do to him. Time was short. I couldn’t sit there any longer.
“I need to call Callahan,” I said to Jack.
“I’ll call him. You drink your tea.”
I managed a smile. Jack was so nurturing for a big, scary guy. I was so thankful that he was my friend.
Within moments Jack came back into the room. “Callahan’s on his way.”
I nodded. “We have to move tonight. The longer Woodard has Jesse, the more likely he is to--” I couldn’t bring myself to finish.
Jack nodded. “No problem. You know I want Jesse back as much as you do.” His face turned hard. “I want this creep, Leah. I don’t care if I have to die to get him. I’m going to get him.”
“Don’t say that. You’re not going to die.” The thought sent me into a fresh wave of terror. Yet, even in the midst of all the horror, I felt the same way as Jack did.
If I had to die to get Jesse out of there and to make sure that Woodard never hurt another person, I’d do it.
There wasn’t a question in my mind.
* * *
We’d moved back into the main area of the motorcycle shop when Cal came through the door with Buddy. I’d completely forgotten him in the Jeep. Cal had him by the leash, and although Buddy was being a very good boy, Cal looked like he was about to wet his pants.
“Somebody was barking his head off in the Jeep,” he said, dropping the leash.
Buddy came to me. He seemed to be smiling. I bent down and hugged him. “Hi, baby.”
He nuzzled his head against my face.
“Thanks,” I said to Cal. It meant a lot that he’d gotten Buddy out of the Jeep for me. He was terrified of him, yet he knew that Buddy would make me feel a little better. My heart swelled. I decided I’d have to be nicer to him after all. “I see you still have all your limbs.”
“Yeah. I kept using your name and he knew I’d take him to you. He’s pretty smart.”
“Yeah, he is.” I had poor Buddy in a bear hug and I wasn’t letting go. He didn’t seem to mind.
Callahan came over to me, his eyes concerned. “Leah, I’m sorry. I’m the one that told you not to worry about Jesse, not to follow him while he was on his date.” He lifted his hands. “I’m an idiot.”
“Yeah,” Patrick said, looking miserable. “Me too. And now Sean’s dead.” He stared at the ceiling. “Woodard’s dead. I don’t care how. He’s dead.”
Jack stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “Absolutely.”
“Why didn’t he tell me what he was doing? I would’ve gone with him.” Patrick wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
I shook my head. A part of me did blame both of them, just a little. Though I knew it was only my fear that I’d never see my little brother again. “No, it’s not your fault, guys. This is all Woodard’s doing.”
“I’m here to help with whatever the plan is to get Jesse back,” Cal said. “Anything you need me to do. Count me in.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
Patrick gave a deliberate nod. “Whatever we need to do.”
Cal pulled his cell from his pocket. “I’ll call Will.”
“Hey, man. The more the merrier,” Jack said. “We can use the help.”
I nodded. “Yeah. We could use him too. I don’t think we’re in a position to refuse any help.”
“Got that right,” Jack agreed. “Tell him he’s invited to the party.”
Sharon lifted a hand. “I’m in, too.”
She’d been standing off to the side, watching and listening to everything that had been going on. She’d been so small and unassuming I never even really noticed she was there. Sharon had always been that way. She could be standing right beside you and you wouldn’t really notice.
“I don’t think so, baby,” Jack said.
“I want to help,” she said with more force this time. “Sean was my friend, too.”
Jack pressed his lips together, keeping whatever words he wanted to say, inside.
The stakes were getting higher by the minute.
Chapter Twenty-Five
We were trying to formulate a plan when Jack’s phone rang. We all jumped, our nerves on edge. Jack got up and answered it.
“Hello?” He looked at the floor, his eyebrows knitted. “Amanda? Are you okay?” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Where are you?”
Cal and I looked at each other. It sounded like bad news.
“Where are you?” Jack said again. “Stay where you are. I’m coming to get you.” He hung up the phone. “That was Amanda. Finn gave her a beating for leaving with us. She’s at a payphone on Cherry Street.”
I didn’t even think about it. “Let’s go.” I jumped up, heading for the door.
Jack and I went to get Amanda while Cal waited for Will with Patrick and Sharon. I could tell by the way he looked at me, his eyes not leaving mine, that he wanted to come with us. “See you in a few,” he said.
I nodded. “Yeah. Sit tight.”
We didn’t have much time to waste. Cherry Street was much like Jarrett Street, but worse. The people weren’t quite so nice there. A vulnerable woman on her own wouldn’t last long on Cherry Street. If she didn’t get beat up by territorial hookers, chances were she’d be taken by one of the gangs in the area. Or maybe by a predator looking for a free lunch.
When we got to Cherry Street, we drove quickly, scanning the sidewalks for a phone booth. Hookers were catcalling and flashing their stuff at us. I avoided looking at them, trying to focus on finding the phone booth.
We came to an empty one and my chest felt like it had been hit with a brick. “She’s not in there.”
“There’s another one down the road,” Jack said. “She must be in that one.”
We kept going. The street was becoming darker and seedier by the second. On this stretch of the road, the hookers looked like the walking dead. They were bone-skinny and deathly white, their hair like straw and their eyes sunken. Some milled about slowly, talking to themselves and shaking their heads or laughing. Some sat in doorways or on the curbs staring out into space. I doubted they had ten teeth between them. None of them cared what happened to them. They lived for their next fix.
Finally we came to the next phone booth. Amanda sat on the ground with her back against the door. She looked out through a pair of purple, swollen eyes, toward the darkness surrounding the booth. Clearly she’d already had to fight to keep the door to the booth closed, and I doubted that anyone out here actually ever wanted to use the phone.
We pulled up to the curb and Jack kept the engine running as he got out of the car. He looked in at me, his eyes holding my own.
“Stay here. I mean it.”
This was one of the few times I chose not to argue. This was a no man’s land. A land of the walking dead. I didn’t want to stick around for a few live ones to show up.
Jack reached the phone booth and knocked lightly on the door. Amanda started. She’d been watching the darkness so hard that she hadn’t seen him coming. Sometimes that happens. You spend so much energy watching out for monsters you don’t see what’s coming up right behind you.
Her face seemed to relax, though it was hard to tell. Finn had made a mess of it. In addition to the two shiners, she was also sporting two fat lips, both split and bloody. Using the walls of the booth to steady herself, she slowly stood up and opened the door for Jack. He took her gently by the arm and led her to the car.
I glanced around nervously and was alarmed to discover that we’d drawn some attention. Several of the walking dead were shuffling over to the car and a few young men wearing their colors were paying special attention to us.
I was getting more nervous by the second. “Jack! Hurry it up!”
Keeping an eye on our new friends, Jack helped Amanda into the backseat and the sounds of her labored sniffles made me cringe. Her nose was broken. Not a surprise.<
br />
Jack climbed in, slamming the door. “Jesus. This place is spooky.” He quickly pulled away from the curb and headed down the street, his eyes darting around in all directions.
“No shit.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Amanda kept repeating.
“Hey, don’t you be sorry,” he said to her. “It’s that sick ticket who did this to you who’s going to be sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have gone back, but I was so scared.”
“It’s not safe for you there, Amanda. You know that now, right?” I said.
She nodded, her hair falling into her eyes. I wondered how well she could see.
“I have to tell you something,” she said.
“All right. I’m going to get us out of here first, okay?” Jack said. “Place gives me the willies.”
“He’s going to kill me, so I have to tell you this before he does,” Amanda said, her voice sounding flat.
Her words sent a chill through me.
“Hey,” I said. “He’s not going to kill you. You stay with us and you’ll be fine. We’ll get him before he can hurt you again. First we have to get you to the hospital.”
She let out a strange giggle and shook her head. “It’s not going to matter what you do. They’ll fix me all up and he’ll come back and kill me. I know it. I’m a walking, dead woman.”
“Stop it!” My voice sharp. “He isn’t going to kill you. Not unless you give up and let him.”
“He isn’t ever going to lay a hand on you again, Amanda.” Jack’s voice was calm and cold. “Believe me. That’s over. He’s over.”
“Look, there’s no time. Listen to me.” Her voice was anxious as she tried to look at us through the swollen slits of her eyes.
“Okay.” Jack glanced in the rearview mirror at her. The desperation in her voice had gotten his attention.
“There’s a way you can get him. And I hope that you do, because he’s a very bad man.” She stopped to take a breath and when she lifted her face and opened her mouth, I could see she was missing her front teeth. I shuddered but tried not to show it.
