The short term parking is practically empty as well. I make my way toward my vehicle and think about where I should go next. I sink into the seat of my car and turn the key in the ignition without really deciding what to do, sitting in defeated silence while I try to regroup. I’ve no time to rehash every one of my fucking mistakes.
My phone rings at the same moment a chill hits my skin and my attention is caught by splash of color in my rearview mirror. The color that flashed through my mind all day and the same color I spent hours searching for fills my vision.
Red.
I see red, a smirk of satisfaction, and silver pointed toward the front seat. Braelyn sits behind me with a cocky grin on her face and a gun pointed at my back. I’ve spent the whole day looking for her, and she’s in my car with the advantage. I discretely reach under my seat to try to grab the lockbox my own gun sits in as the ringing from the phone in my cup holder ends.
“Do you really think that searching the car for weapons wasn’t the first thing I did? I have your gun from under there as well as the one I found in the glove box back here with me.” Her white teeth flash in mockery as her smile dances with delight, displaying she is clearly pleased she with herself. I grip the steering wheel in frustration. The only positive I can see is at least Braelyn isn’t already halfway across the country. She may have a gun pointed at me, but there is comfort in knowing the only piece of the puzzle I have is sitting only feet from me. I have to think it won’t be hard to either outsmart or overpower her, but if the last couple months have taught me anything, it would be not to underestimate anyone or any situation.
Whether Braelyn is the mastermind in all this or not, she has come this far with her antics, and I’m in no position to believe she isn’t a threat. The handgun pointed at me is proof of that in and of itself.
“Where’s Teagan?” I shift so I can actually face her instead of looking at her through the tiny mirror. I make sure to move slowly so she doesn’t interpret anything as a threat. Her hand grips the gun more tightly, and she raises it slightly while I move in my seat. My eyes shift from the gun back toward her. Her eyes fill with what I can only describe as excitement. She’s getting off on having the power I’d guess.
Silence fills the car for a long, uncomfortable period. Braelyn doesn’t answer, and I stare at the satisfaction in the depth of her eyes. I wonder if she’s not a complete sociopath. Obviously, I don’t know the full story, but what could possibly be the motive for her to want to hurt all of us, especially Teagan or Paisley? Shit like this usually happens when there is deep-rooted history. Braelyn was a whore Kai paid to get his rocks off. That’s pretty much the full extent of her history with any of us except Paisley, and I still don’t know how she fits into this. Finally, she speaks. “Are you scared for Teagan? Because you should be. The last time I saw her she was left restrained in a room with one real twisted fuck as a guard.”
My anger rises with her words. One hand leaves the gun she’s holding, and she slowly strokes the inside of her leg from her knee all the way up to the panty line she’s exposing under her short skirt. Her fingers play with the area between her legs over her silky underwear. I look back up at her victorious face, not wanting to play into her theatrics as she continues, “I wouldn’t let that man near me for any amount of money, and I make my living on my back, moaning like a porn star.” Her smile twists with a sinister sneer, and it’s now I make my final judgment and decide she’s indeed a sociopath. This stupid bitch is getting off on what may or may not be happening to Teagan and that she gets to deliver the message to me.
“You stupid cunt! Knock off this theatrical show and either shoot me or fucking get to the point of all this. What’s your end game? Where the hell is Paisley? When did you decide sucking dick wasn’t enough for your life goals and decide to fuck with me and my family? How about you give me some fucking answers, because I’m motherfucking tired of all these riddles and head games!”
Her fingers still on the outside of the black lacy shit she’s wearing, and then she brings the hand back up to the gun. Leaning closer, she moves until the weapon is pointed at my temple and gives me a none-too-gentle knock with the barrel. It’s hard enough to hurt but not enough to break skin or cause me to see stars. Enough to be an annoyance. “When will you figure out that this won’t go in your favor? You’re not in charge and you haven’t been for a long time. You’ve easily walked head first into each and every trap and plan laid out to make this work.” She drags the barrel of the gun against my cheek roughly. I use all my restraint to contain my reaction. My hands are itching to clamp around her neck. The gun against my face prevents me from making a move.
“Do you think I’d be so careless to tell that bimbo waitress where I was going? No. It was another puzzle piece your alpha brain was too stupid to piece together. You were supposed to find me. You’ve played into each and every hand at each and every stop.” She laughs, enjoying being able to rub my failures in my face. Her tone turns condescending as she continues telling me all the ways I’ve messed this up. “It’s a little sad really, how easy this all was. How you had zero foresight into anything that’s been playing out around you. Do you think you’ve been alone today? Do you think someone hasn’t been tailing you since this all first started? You can’t hurt me because you need me. I’m your only connection or clue as to what’s going on. Your sister has gone missing and your best friend is in jail for her disappearance. How about Paisley . . . have you heard from her today? Probably not. You can’t hurt me, and we both know it. I have the power.”
My face remains forward while she rambles on. I don’t care to watch this dumb bitch gloat about her evil doings. For whatever reason, she wants my full attention on her for what she’s going to tell me next, because with her free hand she pulls my face toward her with her fingers on my chin. “It wasn’t in the plan for me to meet with you today. Someone else was supposed to be here in my place, but I wanted this satisfaction. None of this is about you, and it’s not about me or even Paisley. There is a much bigger plan at play, and you don’t need the details. This ends for you today and that’s all you need to know. So shut the fuck up and drive the car. Whatever does happen to your sister or Kai or anyone else won’t matter much longer because you’ll be dead before the sun comes up.”
Burke
The palm trees that fill the town become fewer and fewer until any sight of them finally ceases as we hit the interstate. The car is silent with only the hum of the engine and the sound of the tires on pavement to keep us company. Braelyn sits in the backseat, fiddling with her phone with one hand and keeping her gun pointed at me with the other. I wonder who she’s texting. Does she have a partner she’s filling in on where she’s at? Is she reporting to a boss?
I try another tactic that leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but hearing what she said about Teagan earlier has my stomach in knots. I need to know if she’s telling the truth. I soften my tone. “What’s going to happen to Teagan? Please . . . I have to know.” At the sound of my voice, she looks up from her phone but, once again, doesn’t answer my question right away. When she’s not fired up from my insults, she seems to be thinking about her answers carefully before she speaks, which leads me to believe she’s in fact not the ring leader. She has someone she’s answering to.
“Teagan’s fate is sealed. The plan was always for her to be tortured and killed. She’s probably already dead. I’m not in charge of Teagan, so who knows? My last loose end is you, and then I’m out of here.” Her tone is bored, but I can see in her face she’s enjoying telling me this news. There is no way Paisley is as cold-hearted as this woman and I didn’t see it. My blood boils. I need to take control of this situation. The car goes silent and Braelyn returns to messing with her phone. I have to get that gun out of her hand. We’re the only car on the interstate within sight, and since I’m a dead man anyway, it’s easy to decide what I’m going to do.
I jerk the steering wheel to the left toward the open grass median at the
same moment as I pull the emergency brake. I let go of the wheel as Braelyn’s head hits the back of my seat, and I lunge backward, my sight on the gun in her hand. She struggles against me, but I’m able to grab hold of her wrist and direct the aim of the gun. Climbing farther out of my seat all while the car spins wildly out of control through the grass, I get both hands on the weapon.
Braelyn’s screams are piercing, and she wildly throws punches with her free hand. She lands a few in my face, arms, and chest. With a loud bang the gun goes off, and the kickback gives me the leverage I need to free the gun from her hand. By this time, the car has stopped spinning, and we sit idling in the grassy median. Darkness surrounds us and heavy breathing fills the car as I throw it into park and point the gun at Braelyn. She reminds me of a caged animal with the tables turned. The wheels are frantically turning in her head as I order her to put her hands up. There is more than one weapon in this car, and I need to make sure she doesn’t have access to them.
“Get out of the car.” My order is short and clipped, and she follows directions with reluctance. “Get on the ground and put your hands behind your back.”
Her face shows her mortification, as if the situation we’re in doesn’t merit my demands. The woman was holding me at gunpoint and telling me my sister could be dead and she thinks it’s absurd I’d instruct her to get on the ground? If I didn’t need her, then my directions would be a lot worse than, “Lie on the ground”.
“I’m not lying on the ground. You’re crazy.” She crosses her arms and has a defiant stance. She has a lot of nerve thinking she has any say in this situation. She’s a manipulative bitch, and I’ve only skimmed the surface of the iceberg of what’s going on. I march toward her, clearly showing I’m not fucking around. With force just strong enough to move her, I encourage her to do as I say. She easily drops to the ground but not without an exaggerated huff as I push her down by her shoulder. Even with a gun pointed at her, she’s still playing games. She either thinks she can’t be touched or she’s outright delusional.
“Where’s your phone?”
She remains silent, so I pat her down to find it myself. I come up empty. She must have dropped it when I swerved the car. Keeping the gun aimed on her, I pop the trunk and search it for supplies. Not knowing I was going to be harboring a hostage today, I end up using jumper cables to tie Braelyn’s hands behind her back They aren’t as ideal as rope would be, but at least they’ll keep her still or at the very least slow her down.
Once her hands are secure, I loop the cable around her front a couple of time to ensure optimal results for keeping her bound. She whines and complains the entire time, telling me I’m hurting her and that it’s too tight. The sound of her whines grate on my nerves. I leave her face down on the ground and go to search the inside of the car. It doesn’t take me long to find the other two guns, and double-check for anything else Braelyn may have stashed there. I find her phone under the front seat. I return the extra guns into the lock box under the seat and check to make sure the one in my hand is properly loaded. Placing it on top of the car, I turn back to Braelyn, ready to check out what I can find in her phone. She lies twisting in the seemingly artificial median that is Florida grass. That sandy dirt this area is known for coats her skin and clothing as she twists and turns in her restraints. She grumbles and swears at me, and for the first time, I feel like I might finally have a leg up. I gained it by pure stupidity and luck, but at least I’m no longer sitting in a car with a gun to my back.
I search through Braelyn’s phone. It’s basically empty. Her text inbox is empty. Her email isn’t set up to link to her phone. Her apps are basically non-existent. The only thing in her phone are more than a couple selfies that showcase how vain she is when it comes to her appearance. Braelyn laughs with a mouth full of dirt before she tells me what I already know. “You won’t find anything in there. I’m not stupid. I delete anything and everything in my phone right away before ever locking it back up.”
I ignore her taunts and move to get Braelyn back in the car. It takes some effort with her long limbs and the awkwardness of her tied up with a jumper cable, but I lift her from the ground and walk her to the car. Her head shakes back and forth, and I think for the first time she realizes the position she’s in. That confident bravado of hers from only minutes before seems long gone. My phone is ringing in my pocket as I struggle to get her into the passenger’s seat. The thump from her head making contact with some piece of my car brings me a slight sense of satisfaction. The vibration and noise from my pocket ends and starts right back up again as I fasten the seatbelt around Braelyn. The seatbelt isn’t a safety precaution but an added restraint.
While running to the driver’s side of my car, I pull my phone from my pocket and see two missed calls from Kai right before it rings again. I answer as I drop into my seat. “You out?” There is no time to waste with pleasantries. I have Braelyn tied up, and I need to get her to take me to Teagan.
“Yeah, your lawyer got me out on bond. He said he tried calling, but there was no answer. Where are you? What’s happening?”
“No time to explain. Head north on 75. I’ll try to give you a better location when I have one.”
“Don’t bother. Your phone’s location is linked to mine. Keep your phone charged and turned on, and I’ll be able to see where you are.” That genius. This is why I need him out of that holding cell. With the bitch tied up, the gun in my control, and backup on the way, I feel much better about this situation.
“Where are we headed, Braelyn?” I’m hoping the squirming and thrashing she’s doing will tire her out before she makes any leeway with her restraints. She’ll be much more compliant if she’s bound and exhausted.
“We’re not headed anywhere until you fucking untie me!”
I raise the gun, and her wild movements somewhat calm. Normally my next move wouldn’t be one I’d be proud of, but this bitch deserves it. I place the cold metal against her lips and push until she opens. I shove the barrel of the gun inside her mouth as far as it’ll go without too much force. “You fucking whore! You’re used to filling this hole for a living. Does it bring you power? Do you feel control when men use this fucking hole? How about now? Does the taste of cold metal in your mouth get your fucking rocks off? You’re going to fucking cooperate, or I’ll find a fate for you worse than death. Fucking tell me where we were headed before I spun out the car?” To prove my point, I shove the gun a little harder into her mouth, and she gags before I remove it and then retreat to my own side of the car.
She shifts her jaw around a few times before she answers, glaring at the gun that I still have pointed at her. Causing her pain doesn’t even register with me. Braelyn ceased to be human to me the second I knew for sure she was involved in all of this.
“An abandoned farm about fifteen minutes from here.”
“And what’s there?”
“It’s a place where I was certain I could shoot you without people hearing the gun shots or having to worry about someone finding the body if you weren’t immediately disposed of.” If shoving the gun in her mouth left me with any guilt, it instantly disappears when she so cavalierly describes her plans to kill me and dispose of my body. An eye for an eye or whatever they say.
“And where’s Teagan?”
“Same place.”
“Take me to her.” I hope it’s not too late, and I hope Kai isn’t too far behind me. I have no idea what I’ll be walking into or who will be there. Braelyn is tied up, but there could be much bigger monsters at this farm.
We’re on our way with Braelyn squeaking out unhappy mumbles of directions from the passenger seat. This is my only lead, and I’m fully aware I could be walking head first into the biggest trap of them all. There is a voice in the back of my head screaming this is a bad idea, begging me to find a better strategy, but I can’t. I don’t have anything else to go on and I have to save Teagan.
On a straight stretch of land, the silence plays with the thoughts in my head. I
shouldn’t ask, but it’s eating at me. By my calculations of the time gone by, we should only be about ten minutes away, and the thought of finding a totally different Paisley when I arrive is messing with my head. The thought of her being involved with all this sends a jolt from my heart to the pit of my stomach. The thought of having to decide what to do with her afterwards is something I can’t even think about. “How does Paisley factor in to all this?” The words leave my lips and I instantly regret them. I don’t know whether it’s because I want to remain ignorant for whatever time I have left or because I can’t really trust anything Braelyn tells me.
Her laughter rings pure evil through the interior of the car. I’m not going to like whatever she says. The authenticity of her words can’t be verified, but I can’t think of any reasons for her to lie in this situation. Eventually, I’ll figure it out no matter what she says.
“She’s been in on it from the beginning. She’s been our eyes from the inside. Our special little double agent.” The enjoyment in her tone mocks me. She’s still taking pleasure from each blow she delivers with each drop of news. I try not to give too much away in my reaction because I don’t want her to know her words are like a tightly grasped fist around my heart. I keep my features stoic and remain quiet, torn on if I want her to keep silent or elaborate more.
“Oh, did you think she cared about you? Did the mighty Burke Hensley go and catch feelings for the con artist girl from the streets? You were a means to an end, Burke, and she was paid handsomely, more once you’re dead. Guess she can no longer say she doesn’t fuck for money. You weren’t the one paying her to ride your dick, but she was absolutely getting a big pay day for fucking you.”
Her cackle grates on my ears, and I lose control.
“You’re a fucking lying bitch! There is no way she’s that good of an actor!” Well, I guess the cat is out of the bag that deep down, despite everything, I never really believed she could be capable of this. Braelyn’s words wound the part of me that was so sure. She twists in her restraints to better face me. I’m not sure if the condescending smirk she wears aids in my belief or mistrust of her words.
Deceit in Bloom (The Love Unauthorized Series Book 1) Page 24
