“Not that I’m one to talk—I was pretty damn stubborn myself—but have you considered talking to a counselor? I see this woman Shayla in Cambridge, right in her house. She’s wonderful and has helped me so much. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I would be with your cousins right now if it weren’t for her encouragement to follow my heart. Well, her and Caroline, who has suddenly become an expert in ménage relationships and true love.”
Eliza chuckled. “Yes, she seems to really have a knack for it. She called me twice today encouraging me to talk to the Hayes brothers every chance I got. But I’m busy with the boutique and this fashion show coming up, and I decided to put more energy in the things I want to do, instead of waiting for Prince Charming to come along.”
“That’s great. Is it more modeling?”
“No, it’s singing.”
“Singing?”
“Yes, it’s something that I’ve always enjoyed doing and I tried out to be a regular at this place in Charlesburgh.”
“That’s wonderful. Did you get it?”
“Well, I haven’t heard from them yet. How rude of me. Can I get you a drink? A bottle of water or ice tea or something?” she asked and stood up.
“A water would be fine. Thanks,” Shelby said and looked around the place. It was very nice and very organized.
“Don’t tell Kenneth or my other cousins about it. I want to see how I do first and then I’ll be prepared for their concerns.”
“Concerns?” Shelby asked, but then there was a knock at the door.
Shelby looked up to take a glance at some pictures including ones with Kenneth, Sam, and Bender in them.
Eliza handed her a bottle of water.
“Let me see who that is,” Eliza said and as Shelby looked at the pictures, she heard a scuffle. She turned to look as the door slammed closed and was shocked to see Skip and Jerry. Her heart felt as if it leaped from her chest and she lost her ability to breathe, to scream, to react she was so shocked. But Jerry was blocking the door and holding Eliza by her wrist. She was struggling to get free.
“What are you doing here?” she yelled. Eliza screamed as Jerry grabbed her around the waist and had a gun against her neck.
“You’re coming with us, Shelby.”
“No. Let her go. Why are you here? What do you want from me?” Shelby asked and Eliza was crying and scared.
“We’ll kill her if you don’t come with us,” Jerry said.
“Shelby?” Eliza cried. One look in her friend’s eyes and she knew she was terrified.
“I’ll go. I’ll do whatever you want just don’t hurt her,” Shelby said. She wouldn’t let anything happen to her friend. She made that promise to protect those she loved no matter what.
Skip walked over to Shelby. He stared at her. “Don’t try to fight it. It’s no use. We’ll do what we have to do. You know that.” She sure did know he was a man of his word. He promised her to Blade and he came through on that promise despite everything. She thought about Blade as Skip reached for her. She prayed he wasn’t involved or anywhere nearby. She shivered with fear of that man.
He grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back. She felt the ties go around her wrists and she cried out in pain.
“Don’t take her. Please don’t take her,” Eliza cried out. Jerry struck her.
“Jerry, don’t. I’ll go. I said I would go, please leave her alone. She won’t do anything or try to stop us. Please,” she said to him.
Eliza was on the floor, her lips bleeding.
“Tie her up or give her the stuff,” Skip said and Jerry looked around for something. Eliza got up and tackled him, surprising Jerry and even Shelby. They fell against the TV and it tumbled to the floor. Jerry struck her. Shelby screamed, and Skip stuck her with something. She felt the pinch to her neck, saw the room begin to spin, and as she looked at Eliza and called out her name, she watched Jerry hit her in the back of the head with the butt of a gun. She went down hard and then Shelby began to lose focus. Skip grabbed her and pulled her along.
“Come on, Shelby. I didn’t give you much. Just enough to make it back to New York and to not fight us. Blade wants you alive and unharmed,” he told her, and Skip escorted her out of the building, his arm around her waist, guiding her so she wouldn’t fall. When they got to the back door, there were two cars waiting. Her head felt funny and she couldn’t focus clearly and she wondered what he gave her. Was that a woman behind the wheel of the second car?
She blinked her eyes but then Jerry turned her toward the first car and quickly opened the door and got her inside.
He laid her on the backseat and she couldn’t move. Her whole body went numb. No matter how hard she tried to sit up she couldn’t.
He glanced back at her. “You’ll be fine.”
“Eliza?” she whispered.
“She’ll be fine, too. We didn’t kill her like you asked us to. If you cooperate, your boyfriends and your sister will live, too,” he said and the tears rolled down her cheeks and all she could do was lie there and wait. She was going to die. They’d come back to get her. Blade wanted her alive and to finish off what he started two years ago. Help me. Oh God please, help me.
* * * *
Eliza Grace could barely move but she knew she needed to. The pain in her head was terrible and her vision was bad. Her lips were bleeding and even her head, too. She had to do something. She fought to remain conscious, knowing that she was Shelby’s only chance at getting help to her before those men took her to New York. She crawled along the floor to the couch and coffee table. Her cell phone was there. She felt herself losing focus. She didn’t have much time. She reached up and felt around for it. When her fingers brushed the edge of the phone, she closed her eyes and mustered the strength to reach a little further and bring the phone to her.
She didn’t even know what buttons she hit, but then heard Caroline’s voice. She had spoken to her before Shelby arrived.
“Abduction, Shelby Ann. Help, my apartment.”
“Eliza? Where are you, honey? Who took her?” she heard Caroline ask but then the phone fell from her hands and she moaned from the pain. She forced herself to stay awake so she could help them find Shelby Ann. It felt like forever, and when hands touched her head and her body she jerked and moaned.
“Stay still, sweetie. It’s Tazer and Bender. What the hell happened?” he asked her. She blinked her eyes opened and saw the scowl on Tazer’s face. He checked her head and she heard Bender calling for an ambulance. Then he was calling for his brothers.
“Skip and Jerry took her. Back to New York,” she whispered.
“Oh Jesus,” Bender said and she heard the commotion going on around her as more people arrived. They were calling for assistance. Tazer was caressing her cheek and staying with her. She repeated that it was Skip and Jerry.
“Easy, baby. Easy now and slow it down. Where else are you hurt?” he asked.
Tears spilled from her eyes. “They’re going to kill her. Go, Tazer. Get my cousins and find her. Blade wants her back.”
“What did she say?” Bender asked.
“We have to find out what they’re driving, Bender. They’re taking her to Blade,” Tazer said aloud and she heard Bender and Max curse and then Parker was by her side.
“Paramedics are coming up,” he said and caressed her shoulder and fixed her blouse.
She blinked her eyes open. “Go. Help them find her,” she said and her voice cracked.
“Shhh, they have it covered for now. We’re not leaving you,” Parker said to her and she couldn’t understand why. They didn’t like her. They were thinking of her like a sister again. The paramedics arrived and they moved out of the way. She closed her eyes and moaned in pain as her head throbbed and she felt like vomiting.
She zoned in and out, hearing the chaos around her. Some discussion about street surveillance cameras capturing the license plates of two cars and there being another woman involved. Then she felt hands touching her. Someone she didn’t know with
gloved hands.
“It’s the paramedic, Eliza. Let him do his job and then he’ll get you the help you need,” Parker said to her in that deep, sexy tone of his that made her feel like he was reprimanding her or giving her an order. She fought between wanting to accept that order and resist his control. She had issues. Why was she thinking any of that stuff right now?
“Shelby?” she whispered.
“We’ll find her, Eliza. You worry about resting up,” Tazer said and she thought she felt him caress her hair from her cheek as someone pressed her hair apart and looked at the spot where it hurt so badly she cringed. The she felt her body raise up and shake a little. Warm, large, familiar hands held down her shoulders and another on her thigh.
“We’re bringing her to Charlesburgh General. She has a concussion and bleeding going on that isn’t stopping. You can send the family there,” the paramedic told them. Eliza Grace heard it all.
“We’re her guardians. One of us will go along in the ambulance with her,” she thought she heard Tazer say. But that couldn’t be. That guy must have hit her harder than she thought.
“Eliza, I’m going to be right there with you,” Parker whispered and kissed her cheek.
“Shelby. Help save Shelby. She needs all of you,” she said and the next thing she felt were bright lights over her, and people in white talking. Their voices echoed in her head and then darkness.
* * * *
“We need to be smart about this. These guys are good. They ditched those two cars before they were even in North Carolina. We know that they’re taking her to New York. It’s what Eliza Grace said she heard Skip say to Shelby,” Tazer said to Bender, Max, Kenneth, Lynch, Burker, and their other friends who were all gathered around the department ready to assist.
“York has the state police on watch for the description of the two men, and Burker was able to do a bit of digging and get a name and residence address for the woman with them. Her name is Eve Landing. She lives in Queens,” Bender said to them.
“This guy Blade does not have an exact address as a residence. He wouldn’t take her to an obvious place when we have to assume he knows about all of us. They had to have been in town watching her, so we also have to assume they know she’s involved with the three of you,” Lynch added. “So I suggest we focus on finding Skip, Jerry, and Eve. We find them then we have a better chance of locating Blade and where he’s keeping Shelby,” Lynch said to them.
“That won’t be too much of a problem. We’ve got friends in New York on board as we speak,” Burker said as he typed on the laptop and held the phone to his ear.
Kenneth listened to the entire conversation and his heart was pounding inside of his chest and his head throbbed. They’d screwed up. They never, even for a matter of minutes should have let her out of their sights. But it had been eight weeks since she was in Charlesburgh and Mickie Hayworth saw her. He looked up.
“Where is Mickie Hayworth right now? Can we put some pressure on that asshole?” Kenneth asked. “It’s obvious that he was the one who notified Blade about Shelby living out here.”
“If this is about completing that contractual agreement Skip made with them two years ago, then Mickie would be nearby Blade, wouldn’t he?” Max asked, and Kenneth felt sick to his stomach. One look at Bender and Sam, and they had scowls on their faces that matched his emotions right now.
“I know we don’t want to think about that, but it’s obvious this guy Blade never gave up hope of completing that contract and making Shelby his woman. Mickie wants to be involved, too, so he might show up where Blade is,” Tazer said to him.
“Unfortunately there’s a pretty damn good possibility that’s the case. We need to find that piece-of-shit lawyer and demand answers,” Kenneth said.
“Can we get away with that, Kenneth?” Max asked him with a smirk. “You’re the lawyer.”
“I’ll find a way to do it nice and legal,” Kenneth said to him.
“You may not need to be so legit, Kenneth. My brother is at the hospital with Eliza Grace sitting in the waiting room. He has a laptop and he found some shit we could use.”
“Okay then, let’s separate into groups and pool our abilities all together and all the connections we have. Shelby needs us, or this sick fuck might kill her,” Bender said to them.
“Okay first, Burker, did Parker say how Eliza is doing?”
“The bleeding stopped. They’re monitoring her to ensure it stays that way. She has a concussion and a sprained wrist, and he should be able to see her shortly,” Burker said to them and he continued typing on the computer.
“Okay, we need one group to use their abilities to locate Skip, Jerry, and this Eve woman. Kenneth, you and I will take on Mickie. Let’s pack a bag and make arrangements to head to New York as soon as we have a precise location on Shelby. This is how it’s going down,” Tazer said and Kenneth looked at Sam and Bender. They couldn’t fail her again. They needed to do everything in their power to find Shelby. Time was running out. If Jerry, Skip, and Eve were driving Shelby back to New York, and they didn’t stop to rest, then in less than six hours they would be in the city. New York was a huge city and finding them would be like finding a needle in a haystack. But that wasn’t going to stop them from doing their best to find her. They wouldn’t rest until she was in their arms and back in South Carolina safe and sound.
* * * *
“Why are we stopping here? Let’s just get Shelby to Blade and be done with this shit,” Jerry said to Skip as they stopped outside of some sort of building. Skip pulled out an envelope.
“What is that?”
“A little security if Blade screws us over,” Skip said.
“What do you mean security? We’re dropping her off at that building,” Jerry said to him.
“Skip, what are you talking about?” Eve asked. She was in the backseat with Shelby, who was out cold.
“I mean that this envelope contains everything that went down and enough evidence to put Mickie and Blade in jail for life and then some. If he double-crosses us then when the cops find them they’ll pay for all of it.”
“And who is going to know about the envelope?”
“I made copies and I put someone in charge of calling the right people if our luck goes sour.”
“Who would that be?” Eve asked.
He looked at her. “One of them is you, Eve. This is where you get out and don’t look back.”
Eve shook her head. “No, no, Skip, I don’t want to leave you guys. I told you I was in it from the start.”
“I know that, Eve. Baby, you’ve been great and I’m not saying it’s over. I’m saying that you can’t come with us to make the delivery. Blade can’t be trusted. This is how it has to be.”
“He’s right, Eve. Let us do this. It was our mistake from the start. We owe him and once this delivery of Shelby is complete then we’re done. We take the money we have and the three of us get the hell out of here. If something happens to us, then you get that envelope to Shelby’s boyfriends. They’ll know what to do. Hell, they’ll probably come looking to find you and question you,” Jerry told her. The tears spilled from her eyes and Skip reached back and pulled her close.
He kissed her lips. “I’ve fucked up so many times in my life and then I meet you and it’s all different. Nothing matters but you, and Jerry. We’re a family, a team. Do this for us. Please.”
“But what if something happens to you?”
“Baby, we don’t plan on dying. We’re just saying if something goes wrong that we want this extra protection. It’s for you. You get it to the police, to her boyfriends.”
“Nothing is going to happen to us,” Jerry told her and kissed her next.
“Now take this and disappear. Go hide out at your aunt’s place in Yonkers or something. We’ll find a way to contact you when it’s clear and safe,” Skip said to her. She nodded and then looked at Shelby and then took her bag and the envelope and got out of the car. Skip watched her go toward the subway and knew she
would take that to catch a bus before heading to Yonkers.
“Let’s do this and be done with Blade once and for all,” Skip said.
Jerry held the gun on his waist. “We’re ready. We can handle him this time. It’s a simple drop-off and then our hands are clean of him,” Jerry said as Skip pulled back into traffic and headed into Manhattan.
But Skip knew it wasn’t going to be a simple drop-off. Blade didn’t trust anyone, and he was paranoid and mentally unstable, plus his obsession with Shelby made it all worse. He was glad he made copies of everything he had and all the evidence he could come up with. If he and Jerry were killed today, at least Blade and Mickie would go down for all of it. That was the smartest move he ever made, but it could wind up being his last.
His cell phone rang and he glanced at it and saw it was Blade.
“Are you in the city yet?”
“Yes,” he said into the cell phone.
“And my package?”
“Sleeping.”
“Good. Meet me at the building in fifteen minutes. That enough time?”
“Yes,” he said and then Blade disconnected the call.
He looked at the city streets, knowing he loved this place, and as it was getting dark he knew it was the city that never slept. There was always activity going on, always people walking down the streets, and traffic moving along. He often wondered how that was, but it also fed this love inside of him for the action of it all. He bought into the dream of making it in this city. Now here he was sending a woman, his ex-girlfriend, to a torture chamber and eventually to her death. He bought into the dream in the city all right. That dream turned into desperation to be free. He would never be free, and even if he lived tonight, he would always know he sent Shelby into her worse nightmare.
He swallowed hard and forced the guilty feeling aside. There was one thing he learned real fast in this city. You couldn’t count on anyone but yourself, and trust no one because even your best friend could be tempted to stab you in the back for the right price. He wasn’t a good man at all. He raped and beat a woman with Jerry and they paid off Mickie and Blade to get rid of her. There was no room for having a conscience, doing the right thing right now, and saving Shelby. What did it matter? Blade was not going to let them leave there alive. He just knew it.
Town of Chance: Fight for Freedom [The Dare Series 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 10
