Attraction Series Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by J B Heller

  I was down in the non-fiction section returning books to their homes among the shelves when a man approached me, it wasn’t unusual for me to have people come up and enquire about a certain title while I was re-shelving, but this guy had a menacing air about him.

  Then a shrill scream pierced the air, and it wasn’t mine. It was Sammy. My stomach clenched, and a cold sweat broke out over my skin.

  My instincts told me to run, to scream, to get the hell away from this guy. But before I even had a chance to open my mouth, he’d closed the distance between us wrapping his large hand around my mouth to smother my cry for help. A sharp stinging sensation pricked my neck, then my body began to fail me.

  I was trying to fight back, but my body wouldn’t obey.

  Tears slid from my eyes as the world faded to black around me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  I was sitting in the truck, my knee bouncing a million miles a minute when Gabe slid into the driver’s seat and cranked the ignition. But nothing happened.

  My head shot in his direction as he turned the key again, and still, nothing.

  He reached down and hit the hood release and I was out of the truck and under the hood in seconds. The battery was gone, completely fucking gone.

  Jimmy, that fucking slimy little bastard! I was up the front steps, pounding on the front door before Gabe even had a chance to look under the hood. A guy in black cargo pants and black V-neck T opened the door, an automatic rifle in his hands, “What the fuck?” he demanded.

  Without even having to think, my hand shot out, smashing the rifle up into his nose, blood poured from his face but before I could get another shot in Eastman was there restraining me.

  “What the fuck, Jamieson?” he yelled as I fought against his hold.

  “Baby brother fucked with our truck. Where the fuck is he? I’ll get the answers I need out of him myself.” I roared, finally breaking out of his grip only to be intercepted by a pissed off Gabe.

  Something wasn’t right. I could feel it. My heart beat so hard and fast it was all I could hear.

  The next thing I knew Gabe was dragging me out of the foyer and back down the front stairs. “What are you doing?” I demanded.

  He held up a set of keys in response, “Eastman’s got a shit ton of cars in the garage. We’re taking one. Leave Jimmy to him. He’ll handle it. We need to move.”

  Walking into the garage, Gabe clicked the unlock button on the keychain and we slid into the Escalade parked in the third bay. I pulled out my phone and called Bray, it went to voicemail. Fuck! I dialled Ashlynn, voicemail.

  I smashed my fist into the window, needing to release some of my fury. The window didn’t break or shatter the way I’d hoped it would, it would have given me a brief moment of satisfaction. My fist however echoed in pain. Mother fucking fuck!

  I ignored the throbbing in my knuckles. I’d broken them before, I knew what it felt like and I recognised the signs. I wanted to rage out, no, I needed to. My adrenaline spiked and I couldn’t sit still. “Drive faster.” I urged Gabe.

  He looked at me from the corner of his eye, “You broke it.” He noted.

  I nodded, “It’s not a big deal. It’ll be fine. Just get me to the library.”

  Gabe nodded, and pressed his foot down harder on the accelerator, weaving in and out of traffic so fast the cars around us were nothing more than blurs.

  Ten minutes later we pulled into the library parking lot and found two police cars and an ambulance parked haphazardly across several parking spots, lights whirling, doors left open. Forgetting about my hand I slammed my palm into the dash, and regretted the move instantly as pain ricocheted up my forearm.

  Gritting my teeth I pushed through the pain, swinging my door open before Gabe had turned off the truck. I stormed towards the entrance, pushing the double doors open I was greeted by the site of a quivering Sammy surrounded by cops. I shoved them out of my way and crouched down in front of her.

  “Where’s Ashlynn, Sammy?” I asked as gently as I possibly could.

  But she still jerked at my tone, “He took her.” She sobbed, “He came out of nowhere and j—just took her.”

  “Who, Sammy? Who took her?” I urged.

  She shook her head as a fresh wave of tears poured down her cheeks, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, “I didn’t even see him come in. I was too busy eyeing the bodyguard.” Then she cried out in anguish, and threw herself into my arms.

  I held her for a moment, even though all I wanted to do was shake her and demand more answers. The longer she was gone, the longer it would take me to find her. I soothed Sammy as best I could, considering that I had enough rage running through my system I could decapitate Zane with my bare hands right now.

  Gripping her shoulders I pulled her away from my chest slightly so I could speak to her again, “I need to know what happened. I can’t find her if I don’t know everything. Where’s Brayden? Where was he when she was taken?” I was suddenly infuriated with my friend. He was supposed to protect her. Where the fuck was he? I glanced around the room, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

  “He-he shot him. I was flirting with him, just messin’ around, then the next second his eyes got real wide and he dropped to the floor. There was blood seeping out of his chest, so much bl—blood.” She choked on the words.

  I closed my eyes tight, and my anger with my friend instantly vanished. “Where is he now?”

  Her chin wobbled, “an ambulance took him away.”

  I nearly couldn’t voice my next question, but I had to. “Was he…was he alive?”

  Sammy chewed her bottom lip so hard I thought it was going to bleed. “I think so.” She whispered.

  I hung my head, how could things have been so perfect this morning and so completely fucked up this afternoon?

  “You have to find her Axel. Please.” Sammy begged. “I, I was hiding behind the desk, trying to st-stop the bleeding.” Her chin quivered again and I braced myself for another onslaught of tears, but she held them back. “I called for help, but he was gone before the police got here. And he had Ash with him.”

  Her head dropped, and her shoulders crumpled. I glanced at a cop who was standing a foot away, watching our exchange, “Take her.” I instructed, and when he swooped down and took her from my arms she curled into his chest as her tiny body was wracked with sobs.

  Standing up, I joined Gabe and the other officers, “What do you know?” I asked, cutting into their conversation.

  We were friendly with most of the cops in town as we worked a lot of cases that ended up getting twisted up in theirs. We had an understanding, we scratched their back, and they scratched ours.

  The senior officer amongst the group spoke up, “It was obviously a planned attack. From what the girl said earlier the gun used to shoot Brooks was equipped with a silencer. He was in and out in less than a minute.”

  My jaw throbbed I was clenching it so tight, “Who?” I pushed the word through my teeth.

  The officer shook his head, “Surveillance didn’t get much, he was wearing a hoodie and knew where the cameras were. Kept his face down, got in, and got out without a clear shot of his face or profile.”

  It had to be him. Jimmy couldn’t have gotten here in the small amount of time he had on us and pulled all this off. Then the image of Jimmy’s twisted smile as he told Eastman that Zane was gone, filled my head. He was fucking stalling us.

  Gabe had come to the same conclusion, “He played us.” He said to the group. “I need to make a call,” then he stepped away, pulling his phone from his pocket as he went.

  I stalked outside, I needed air, I felt like I was suffocating.

  Gabe was leaned over the hood of Eastman’s escalade, one hand holding his phone to his ear the other gripping his temples. I started to approach when my own phone starting ringing. Hope rose in my chest, please be Ash, but when I looked at the display my brother’s name flashed on the screen.

/>   “What?” I spat. I couldn’t find it in me to be civil right now.

  “Hello to you too, Fuckface, look I don’t have time for your attitude right now little brother. I just wanted to know if your woman was the cheating kind.” Abe said calmly.

  My body tensed, “Why? Have you seen her?”

  “Following her right now actually. And she’s in a car with some other fucker who clearly is not you.”

  Hope started to rise again, “Where are you? Keep following them. Don’t let her out of your sight, do you hear me!”

  Abe’s tone deepened, “What the fuck is going on, Axel?”

  “Just tell me where you are, and stay on her!” I spat.

  “I’ll stay on her, but you need to tell me why. What’s goin’ on here?” Abe returned.

  I had snatched Gabe’s phone out of his hand and ended his call, then put mine on speaker. “He took her, I’m at the library, fucker shot Bray and took Ash.” The words tasted bitter as they left my mouth.

  I heard Abe snarl before he spoke, he gave us directions on where to find him and stayed on the line as we made our way in their direction. “Looks like he’s taking her out of the city. We’re eastbound and he’s getting on the highway.”

  “Just stay on her. I need his make, model and registration. Gabe will call it in, any cops in the area should be with you soon.” My blood felt thick in my veins, making my heart pump harder to push it through my body. What if he freaked when he noticed the cops and hurt her?

  Abe rattled off the information I needed and Gabe passed it on, then I heard him tell the responder they couldn’t send marked cars. He’d been thinking the same thing as I had.

  Then it occurred to me, what was Abe doing when he saw Ash? So I asked him, “Where were you when you saw her?”

  He didn’t miss a beat, “I was on my way to see Ma, just as I was about to turn into the parking garage across the street from the hospital I saw them stopped at the lights next to me, she was flopped up against the glass of the window, looked like she’d been crying. But she was sleeping. It just didn’t feel right, so I followed instead of turning off into the parking area.”

  If Ma hadn’t been in hospital, Abe wouldn’t have been at those lights, at the exact right time. My emotions waged a war inside my head. A part of me was grateful that Ma was in the hospital, then I felt like a complete bastard for even thinking it.

  Before I could respond Abe spoke up again, “They’re pulling off the highway. I’ve gotta drop back or he’ll notice I’m tailing him.”

  I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath through my nose, this was it, I glanced at Gabe and he pressed down harder on the accelerator. “We’re five minutes behind you. Just keep them in your sight.” Gabe instructed.

  When Abe spoke again my blood ran cold. “He’s pulled down a long dirt drive, I can’t see the car, but the dust trail is still fresh, I’m following it.”

  A moment later he spoke again, but it felt like hours to me, “I’ve stopped behind the tree line, he’s getting her out of the car,” he paused, “Axel, she’s floppy as fuck, I hope you have an ambulance coming with you. I can’t see if her chest is moving. Give me a sec, I’m going around the perimeter to try get a better view.

  “How’d this shady lookin’ fucker get his hands on the keys to a place like this?” Abe asked.

  Fuckin’ Jimmy, that’s how. It must have been one of Eastman’s properties. “What do you see?” I shot back when Abe didn’t speak for another minute.

  “Lucky for us the entire back side of the house is made of glass, I can see right in. He’s laying her on a couch, but Axel, she’s seriously not lookin’ good to me, brother. She’s limp.”

  Bile rose in my throat, I had to fight to keep it down.

  “He’s trying to bring her around, wiping her face down with a cloth, but it’s not working. She isn’t moving.”

  Gabe pulled the Escalade up behind Abe’s truck, and I was out of the car and hoofin’ it down the side of the house before Gabe had even cleared the tree line. My back pressed against the wall, I pulled my ankle piece out and sidled along the brick until I came to the edge of the glass windows, that like Abe had said, covered the entire back wall from floor to ceiling. I took a deep breath to steady myself then glanced around the corner.

  I caught site of Ashlynn’s pale form flopped on the couch, her arm dangling over the side. I watched her chest and prayed to everything holy it would move, one second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, then finally it rose with a shallow breath.

  Zane was hovering over her, a disposable phone pressed to his ear. He looked worried, no, he looked fucking petrified.

  I couldn’t hold back any longer. I pulled back and made my way back to the front of the house where he’d left the front door wide open and crept down the short hallway and into a kitchen that opened out into the large open back room.

  He was too close to her for me to make my move, I had to get him away from her. I slid one of the kitchen draws open and pulled out a placemat then Frisbeed it across the other side of the room. Zane’s head snapped up when it clattered to the floor on the far side of the room.

  He stalked over to the sound and I moved.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  I found Abe around the back side of the house and gestured silently for him to follow my lead. He nodded and we turned to move back around to the front side of the property. When Abe’s hand shot out and grabbed my bicep, I shot a look at him over my shoulder and he nodded toward the house.

  Fucking shit. Axel was sprinting around the side he’d just been scoping out and back to the front door.

  I flicked my chin for Abe to follow again, and we took off after Axel.

  It only took us a minute to get to the front door but it was long enough for Axel to get inside and start tearing shit up. I pulled my sidearm out and handed it to Abe, then reached around my back and secured my hand around the piece I had shoved in the back of my jeans.

  Abe didn’t even blink, and I got the distinct impression this wasn’t his first rodeo. He knew what he was doing as well as I did. And it surprised me because I thought he was just a gym junkie. Apparently he had training, and I wondered if Axel knew.

  Shouts erupted from inside the house and we burst in, splitting up when we came to a divide, I went left, in through the kitchen entry and Abe moved further down a hall to the right that opened into the same big glass surrounded room.

  All I could see was red. Axel had Zane pinned beneath him, straddling his chest as he rained down punch after punch into his face. Each hit he landed, more blood would spray from Zane’s face, but Axel showed no signs of slowing down.

  “Abe, get Axel off of him.” I instructed when I caught site of Ashlynn’s limp body on the couch. I strode over, crouching beside her and felt for her pulse, it was there, but it was faint.

  Abe was wrestling with Axel, trying to pry him away from a barely conscious Zane. “ENOUGH!” I boomed, “We need to know what he gave her. She’s fading Axel.”

  He froze at my words, then slowly turned his face Ashlynn’s unmoving body. He held his bloodied hands up in surrender and Abe released him. As Axel moved over to us I instructed Abe, “Get it out of him. We need to know what’s in her system.” He nodded once and bent down at the waist, grabbing the collar of Zane’s shirt then dragged him out of the room.

  I didn’t care where he was taking him or why he felt he had to take him anywhere to get the answers we needed. I threw the cloth Zane had been using to wipe down Ashlynn’s face to Axel, “Wipe your hands before you touch her. Chicks hate blood, she’ll freak the fuck out if she comes to and sees blood on her.”

  Axel caught the cloth and cleaned his hands off then a few spatters that had made it to his cheeks. He sat on the edge of the couch and stroked Ashlynn’s cheek, “Ash, baby?” he murmured, and I could hear the pain in his voice.

  “I’ll give you a minute. I’ll see if Zane coughed up what he gave her, yet.” Then I strode out of the
room, following the bloody smear that lead down the hall into a bathroom.

  I found Abe towering over a cowering Zane, the tub was full of water and it was dripping from Zane’s hair. He was conscious, but barely. Every time his head would droop Abe would pick him up and dunk his head under the water again until Zane would start to struggle for air. Then he’d pull him back out and demand the answers we needed.

  Eventually Zane told him what we needed to know. Abe exited the room and left me with the dickwad who liked to drug women.

  I glared down at him, “You sick fuck,” I spat the words at him. He didn’t even flinch, his body slumped further down the side of the tub, then he lost consciousness.

  When Abe re-entered the bathroom I swear I could see his rage emanating from him, it was a palpable force that filled the room.

  My eyes narrowed on him, “You have training.” I stated then raised a brow, “Does Axel know?”

  Abe’s eyes narrowed right back at me, “No, and he doesn’t need to.”

  “Why?” I asked, it’s not like Axel wouldn’t handle it.

  Abe snapped his neck to the left, cracking it before he answered. “I’m undercover. That’s the end of it. This stays between you and me, McLeod. You understand.”

  I nodded, “Got it.”

  Then paramedics bustled into the small bathroom and we left them with the waste of air that was Zane.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Her skin was cold, covered in a sheen of sweat and her breathing was shallow. Where the fuck was the ambulance? Stroking her hair away from her face, I bent down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Wake up for me, baby, please.” I begged. “I can’t lose you when I’ve only just found you.” I whispered against her tear-stained cheek.

  Abe burst into the room and my head shot up, “What’d he give her?”

  I’d never seen my brother so furious, veins popped from his forehead and his muscular arms bulged with his struggle to keep himself contained. “Some fucking date rape cocktail he got from his little friend, Jimmy Eastman. It had fucking everything in it, GHB, Rohypnol, and fucking Ketamine. It’s a miracle she’s still alive.” he spat the words as if they were the poison themselves.