Wanted (B&S)

by Kimberly Knight

  I grabbed the ice bucket and made my way to the door. As I turned around to close it behind me, I saw that Acyn was watching me. I gave him a quick smile while holding up the bucket and completely closed the door, taking a deep calming breath.

  As I walked down the long hallway towards the ice machine, I could hear all the girls having a good time and I hoped that no one was going to complain about the loud noise. I took my phone out of my bra and sent a text to Brandon.

  Me: Having fun?

  I slipped my phone back into my bra, not really expecting Brandon to text me back anytime soon. After all, he was with a stripper, too. I placed the ice bucket in the automatic ice machine and waited for the ice to fall as I pressed the button.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow move, but before I could turn to see who was there, a smelly cloth was placed over my nose and mouth. I tried to struggle free from the strong embrace, but quickly there was nothing but darkness.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Aw the Princess is finally waking up,” he said.

  The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I tried opening my eyes, but couldn’t. I didn’t know where I was or who was talking as I slowly began to wake up. My head felt like I drank a whole bottle of vodka all by myself, but I only remembered drinking two vodka cranberries the entire night. I tried to remember how I got to be on this hard surface, but all I could remember was walking to the ice machine and texting Brandon.

  “Come on, Princess, wake up. We are going to have some fun now,” he said, kicking the bottom of my left foot.

  I tried opening my eyes again, but still couldn’t. It was like I was dreaming being in a dream and I couldn’t wake up. Maybe I was dreaming, but why did the pain I felt in my head hurt like it was real?

  “Wakey wakey,” he said, kicking my foot again. “Don’t make me hurt you, Spencer!” he growled.

  “W… why?” I whispered.

  I felt hands on the top of my shoulders as I lay still on my back on a hard surface. I pleaded with myself to open my eyes, but I couldn’t open them. They felt heavy and no matter how much I tried, they just wouldn’t open.

  The hands on my shoulders began to shake me. It felt real. “Look bitch, I have been patient with you for months. I’ve let you live your happy life, but now it’s time to finally get what’s mine.” The shaking stopped and I tried so hard to open my eyes. They finally started to open, but all I saw was a blur. “They say that when you need something done right, you do it yourself. So wake the fuck up!”

  My eyes finally fluttered open and the haze cleared. He was still crouched beside me, looking down at me. Panic began to sink in. What had I done in a past life to deserve this? I had met him in Vegas, which was nowhere near where I lived, yet he still followed me around and now here I was, laying with him looking down at me. “Trevor?” I said, trying to sit up so that I could scramble away. I could barely talk or move my head, let alone my whole body. I felt a warm tear trickle down my cheek. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Well Spencer, or should I keep calling you Courtney?” Trevor asked, mocking me. “Your perfect boyfriend ruined my life and now he is going to pay.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, wiping the lone tear off my cheek. I would not cry. I would not show fear.

  “You don’t get to ask the questions!” Trevor shouted, running his hands through his blond hair. “Now, let’s sit you up so we can send your pretty boy boyfriend a video for me.”

  Trevor grabbed me by the shoulders again and sat me up. I looked around the almost bare living room and thought I was in a house, but I had no idea where. The blinds and curtains were all shut and there was a lime green couch in the center of the floor that looked like it was taken from a dumpster. In front of the couch was a black cloth director’s chair. Floor lamps on each side of the couch were the only light source in the room.

  “Can I have some water?” I asked, trying to mask the nerves running through my body. My mouth was dry, scratchy and it hurt to speak. I vaguely remembered the smelly cloth that was placed over my mouth. Trevor must have drugged me and the effects were finally starting to wear off slowly.

  “No,” he said, lifting me up by my shoulders.

  “Please? I can barely talk,” I said hoarsely.

  He grabbed me by my right arm and brought me to the couch. He wasn’t hurting me to my surprise. “Fine. Look Spencer, just do what I say and you won’t get hurt. Your boyfriend needs to pay me what he owes me,” he said, walking towards the kitchen.

  I felt a vibration inside my bra. I looked down my black sequined tank top and saw that my phone was still in my bra. I pushed it down more to make sure Trevor wouldn’t see it and started thinking of a way to make a call to 911 without him knowing. “I don’t understand,” I said when he returned from the kitchen with a red Solo cup of tap water.

  “Brandon and I have a history and just when I thought he was out of my life, he comes back and takes another thing from me. He needs to pay.”

  “What has he taken from you?” The little bit of water was cool against my scratchy throat and it already felt better, making my voice return to normal.

  “What did I say about asking questions?” Trevor asked, snatching the cup from my hand.

  “I’m just so confused. I don’t understand how Brandon relates to anything when I was the one who met you in Vegas before I even knew what Brandon’s name was.”

  “I’ve known Brandon since college,” he said, causing a light bulb to go off in my head.

  “You’re the other Quarterback? The one who broke his back?”

  “I didn’t break his back!” he shouted, then clenched his teeth and balled his fists.

  “You made those guys do it for you!” I shouted back.

  Silence fell in the eerie room. My phone started to vibrate again just as Trevor stood and started to pace, running his hands through his hair again. I leaned back on the couch trying to get as far back as I could so that he wouldn’t hear the vibration. It was a miracle he didn’t know I had my phone. It must not have rung while I was unconscious. But weren’t Ryan, Becca and the girls wondering where I was?

  I was trying not to show fear in front of Trevor, but I couldn’t stop thinking what was going to happen. He said he wouldn’t hurt me, but I had never seen him this angry before. I sat there watching him pace, my nerves calming. I can do this. I can do whatever he wants so he lets me go.

  “Okay, what…”

  I heard the front door that was on the opposite side of the wall to my right open just then. My heart stopped. I looked at Trevor, but he didn’t seem concerned. My gaze turned to my right just as Matt walked into the room. Of all the times I had seen Trevor, Matt was never with him except in Vegas.

  “She’s awake I see,” Matt said, walking over to where Trevor was standing.

  “Yeah, she has been awake for about ten minutes. You made it back just in time.”

  Back?

  “Are we going to do this now, Michael?” Matt asked, setting a newspaper in the director’s chair.

  Michael?

  “I thought your name was Trevor?” I asked.

  “You’re not the only one who uses a fake name,” Michael said, laughing with Matt.

  “And let me guess, your name isn’t Matt?”

  “Nope,” he said, laughing again.

  I realized that Brandon never told me the name of the guy who had it out for him in college––not that it would matter, I thought Trevor was… Trevor.

  “All right, Spencer,” Michael said, walking over to me and reaching behind his back. “We are going to make a ransom video for your little boyfriend now,” he said, pulling a gun out from behind his back.

  My body stiffened at the sight of the gun. I kept repeating in my head, I will not show fear, I will not show fear.

  “Now, I want you to hold this newspaper and then speak into the camera phone that Matt here will be holding. I want you to tell your precious Brandon that I w
ant one million dollars at noon tomorrow or well––you're dead.”

  “Okay,” I whispered and swallowed hard, reaching for the newspaper.

  “Tell him that he needs to go to Great America in Santa Clara, get in line to ride Top Gun, put the backpack full of money in the cubby where you store your belongings and then ride Top Gun at noon. Once he does that and I have the money, I will let you go. There are to be no cops. If something happens to me or the money, Matt here will kill you.”

  I will not show fear, I will not show fear, I kept repeating in my head again. What if Brandon didn’t have the money? What if he couldn’t get the money by then? Great America is an amusement park about an hour drive from San Francisco. On any given weekend when the park is open, there are thousands of people. I will not show fear, I will not show fear.

  “How is he going to get all that money past the people who check your bags when you walk in?”

  “Not my problem,” Michael said. “Ready, Colin?”

  Colin… his name is Colin, not Matt.

  “Yeah.”

  Michael handed me the newspaper. “Why do I have to hold the newspaper up?” I asked.

  “Do you always not listen to what you’re told? You ask a lot of questions. It’s so they know the date.”

  “Yeah, but I saw Brandon today. I’m sure he knows you mean tomorrow at noon.”

  “You’re really starting to piss me off! Just do it!” he said, lifting the gun to my head.

  “Fine,” I said, holding up the newspaper and looking at Colin. I will not show fear.

  “Start in three… two… one,” Colin said.

  I took a deep breath, “Babe, Michael from your college wants you to bring one million dollars to Great America by noon tomorrow. You need to put the money in a backpack and bring it with you to the Top Gun roller coaster. Get on the ride, but leave the backpack in one of the storage cubbies people use for their stuff while they are riding. Once you do that and they have the money, they will let me go. Don’t bring anyone to help you or contact the cops. If you do, his friend, Colin, will kill me.”

  “Shit, dude, she said my name!” Colin said to Michael.

  “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. He didn’t see your face. Just text the video to Brandon,” he snapped, taking the newspaper from me and walking over to Colin.

  “Since I did what you asked, can you please tell me how you knew about me in Vegas?”

  Michael looked at Colin then back at me. “You know what, Spencer, I’ll tell you everything because it doesn’t matter. Once I get the money, my boy and I are headed to Mexico,” he said, high fiving Colin as he laughed and walked to sit down in the chair in front of me. “So I guess you know all about how I went to college with Brandon and whatever I tell you won’t matter, so I will fast forward to a year ago. Colin and I owned a gym in Seattle. You know, the one Brandon bought?”

  “You owned the gym that was in foreclosure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sorry to interrupt story time, but are you just going to tell her everything like a typical cliché movie villain? Everyone knows that’s how the bad guy always gets caught. Besides, we don’t even need her now that her goodie boy Brandon knows we mean business. Let’s just get rid of her now,” Colin interjects.

  “That’s the movies—real life doesn’t work that way. Plus, we aren’t really killers like Christy, dude.”

  Christy? What the fuck?

  “Christy? You were a part of that too?”

  “It’s crazy what bitches will do for love,” he said, laughing. “Like I told you when you were waking up, when you need something done right, you do it yourself. After I found out that he wanted to buy the Seattle gym and take something else that belonged to me, Colin tracked him down and then we tracked his life for months.”

  I couldn’t believe what Trevor––Michael––whatever the hell his name was—was telling me. After all these years, he still held a grudge over Brandon for being the better quarterback. If Michael never would have hired a group of guys to beat Brandon up, he would have never gotten expelled and probably would have obtained his degree and been a better businessman.

  “So you approached Christy after the breakup to kill me, telling her she would get Brandon back, but you knew that it would tear Brandon apart if I were dead and he would pay for taking your glory in college and buying your business?”

  “Exactly, but Christy was also going to wire me money from Brandon’s account once they got back together. She is an idiot and I didn’t want to tell her that Brandon would leave her after he found out she stole from him. I just wanted the money.”

  “But I don’t understand how you knew about me and approached me in Vegas before I even spoke one word to Brandon.”

  “We bugged Brandon’s office at the gym. He has been talking about you since the day he first saw you, then when Colin saw you on the same flight, he called me and we started working on plan A. The Christy plan was plan B, but she is an idiot and I should have known to stick with plan A.”

  “Plan A was to kidnap me for ransom?”

  “Yep.”

  I was trying to process everything that Michael was saying. First, he was as crazy as Christy––or crazier. He blamed Brandon for ruining his life and when Brandon started preparing to buy his gym, it was the last straw and he wanted Brandon to pay. Michael had approached Christy after Brandon and I started seeing each other and together, they came up with a plan to kill me and then have Christy take money from Brandon to pay Michael. Since Christy was unsuccessful, Michael and Colin went back to the plan to kidnap me for the money and now, here I sat, hoping Brandon could come up with a million dollars by tomorrow, and that Michael and Colin would actually let me go once they got the money.

  “Dude, it’s two in the morning. I’m going to get some sleep now that we sent the video,” Colin said.

  “Yeah, I’ll wake you at six when it’s my turn.”

  I didn’t realize it was two in the morning. When I left the suite at the Westin to get ice, it was only about nine thirty. I was getting really tired, but there was no way I could go to sleep with a crazy person watching over me.

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” I said to Michael.

  “It’s just down the hall, first door on the left. Go ahead, all the windows are boarded up in the house. You won’t be escaping, if that is what you’re thinking.”

  I hurried off the couch and into the bathroom. I took my phone out of my bra and saw that I had thirteen missed calls from Brandon, ten from Ryan and seven from Becca. I was about to send a group text when I heard a loud bang outside the door and a lot of shouting. I didn’t know what was going on. I backed away from the door, looking around for a place to hide, but I was in a small bathroom that had no shower curtain on the shower rod and only a pedestal sink.

  I stepped into the tub so I could at least get away from the door if it were to fly open. My heart was pounding. The scuffling stopped and then there was silence. I was frozen, holding my breath, scared to move.

  “Spencer?”

  Someone was calling my name, but I had no idea who. It didn’t sound like Michael or Colin, but it was a guy.

  “Spencer, I’m Officer Martino, are you here?”

  Officer? How did the cops know? How did he know my name? I wasn’t sure if I should move. What if this was some sort of trap? But then, why would it be a trap? Michael and Colin already had me as a hostage. What else could happen?

  The door started to open slowly. “Spencer?” A cop opened the door fully, looking over at me standing in the tub. “Spencer, I’m Officer Martino. You’re safe now and we can get you out of here. Brandon and your friends are outside with the other police officers,” he said, holding his hand out to me.

  “Okay,” I said, taking his hand and stepping out of the tub.

  Officer Martino led me out to the front yard. Four police cars and an ambulance lit the neighborhood street. People stood across the street watching me. I scanned the faces looking fo
r Brandon. Before I could find him, strong arms engulfed me in a tight hug.

  “Oh my God, Babe, I was so worried about you!”

  “I’m okay,” I said as he leaned down and kissed me. “What happened?”

  “Spencer, my name is Jaime Brooks and I am the Victim Advocate assigned to your case. I will be with you during the interview at the station. Once you get checked out by the paramedics, we will go to the station.”

  “Okay, can Brandon come with me?”

  “Yes, but he will not be able to speak. He can only be there for emotional support.”

  “That’s fine,” I said, leaning into Brandon’s chest. “Who’s here with you?” I asked, looking up at Brandon.

  “Ryan, Becca, Jason, Max and Acyn.”

  “Acyn?” I questioned, feeling like my eyes were bulging out of my head.

  “He’s the one who realized you were missing.”

  “Oh––so you know?”

  “Yes,” Brandon said, smiling.

  “Are you mad?”

  “How can I be mad at you after everything you just went through?”

  “It wasn’t that bad.”

  “Babe,” he said as he stopped walking and turned me towards him using my shoulders. “You were fucking kidnapped and held hostage. I was so scared. There was a gun pointed at your head.”

  “I know, but I am okay.”

  I really was okay––physically. Everything happened so fast and my head was still spinning from everything that Michael had told me. Jaime and Brandon led me over to the ambulance to get cleared by a medic. I scanned the crowd for my friends and spotted them. Once the medic cleared me, I really wanted to go see my friends.

  “Can I go see my other friends?” I asked Jaime.

  “Yes, but only for a minute. We need to get you to the station now that the paramedics have cleared you.”

  “Okay,” I said, taking Brandon’s hand and walked over to my friends.

  When Ryan and Becca saw us walking towards them, they dashed around the police officer who was standing in front of them.