Use Somebody: Plantain Series Book Four

by Amelia Oliver

  “So what’s up?” Courtney asks, snapping my attention back to her.

  “Oh nothing,” I shrug.

  “You sick or something?”

  “Sort of,” I shrug again.

  “Hmmm…what’s going on?”

  “It’s complicated,” I sigh and sip my coffee.

  It’s more than bitter, it has a weird after taste and I can barely stomach the shit.

  “How’s your boyfriend? Wyatt right?” she asks, looking at me with a strange expression in her eyes.

  “Yeah…he’s fine, he’s at work.”

  “He told you we’d met before, right? Me and him I mean,” she asks with raised brows.

  “No,” I state confused.

  “Yeah, at Hanover…actually, it was a similar situation to the one with you guys…but he fucked me then,” she smiles with a little laugh.

  Her words echo in my ears and the room begins to become a little fuzzy, not because what she’s just said is shocking, but this feels different.

  “I’m sorry?” I ask her to repeat.

  “It was before the end of school, at a frat party, got me a friend to go to his room.” She smiles, looking off in space as she reminisces.

  My heart begins to thunder in my ears as sweat breaks across my forehead and upper lip, and I put my hand over my throat because it feels tight there and I’m having a hard time swallowing.

  “Not like he had to beg us or anything, we were all over that,” she adds with a sigh. “So actually when you asked me to join you guys, it was perfect…I knew I wanted to be with him again, that’s why I moved half way across the country to see him. It was like destiny when you walked into the club with him that night,” she says.

  “I don’t-”

  “Understand?” she finishes and I look down at my phone in my hands, as it becomes four phones and I have to close my eyes to focus.

  Looking back at her, she’s gazing off into space again and I take the moment to type out Courtney in my message to Wyatt, or at least I hope that’s what it says.

  “So, I must admit that after the night with him at school, I did a little investigating. I mean the guy is all over the internet with his baseball, wasn’t hard to find where he originated from. Then seeing he had a sister was a blessing, I knew I could easily become friends with her. So I started following her, seeing what she did, and what she liked to do. I actually had it wrong because I thought she liked the club, not you, but meeting you was a blessing in disguise. I had to change my appearance to look like a clown to work there, but God, it was so worth it. Honestly, I feel like it’s meant to be…the rest also fell into place. I like you Daisy, I do. But when you guys kicked me out that night, I was pissed. It was then I knew what I had to do, get you out of the picture. You never knew I was following you. Bumping into you at the mall and asking to see your phone…I just emailed myself everything you had on there, I thought you were smarter than that Daisy,” she stops and gives me a disappointed look. “Always delete the pics after you send ‘em babe.”

  My phone vibrates over and over in my palm, but I couldn’t answer it if I tried. I feel paralyzed almost, my brain unable to connect to my limbs.

  “You’re looking pale,” she says concerned and stands, walking over to me.

  She runs her fingers over my hairline, then through my hair and all I can do is internally recoil and blink helplessly. Courtney then looks down at the cup in my hands and takes it from me.

  “Shit, you barely drank this, I must’ve measured wrong…we should go soon then, I can’t carry you to my car.”

  Fuck, she’s drugged me? My chest begins to heave as panic grips me, not only that this is happening, and who’s doing this, but that I can’t move my body willingly. She jerks my arm and pulls me up and I practically fall into her, and it takes her a moment to steady us. Slinging my arm across her shoulders, she uses her other hand to attempt to get me moving, but my body doesn’t want to cooperate.

  “Hmmm, you think you could puke?” she asks, seconds before punching me in the stomach and letting me go, causing me to crash to the floor.

  Sure enough, I begin to gag and the contents of my stomach empties onto the rug, my head spins as the pain from her fist registers in my senses. I notice then she’s just standing over me and watching. Moments later I feel better, as in not so drugged, but I’m shaky and stumble to get my footing when Courtney brings me to my feet again.

  “There we go,” she says, looking me over.

  My phone begins to vibrate, and I didn’t realize I was still clutching it.

  “We won’t be needing that,” she says while yanking it out of my hand and tossing it on the floor.

  Her hand grips my bicep, and she begins leading me toward the back patio doors. “I almost forgot,” she states before reaching into her messenger bag and retrieving a pistol. “I don’t want you getting any bright ideas while we drive.”

  She’s so detached, she must be insane. She’s saying these things to me, how I need to be out of the picture like we’re talking over dinner. Here I am, in the trunk. The drugs have me groggy, but I know we’ve been driving for a while. I try to find something in the trunk, anything to release the hood or hit her with, but I can’t feel or see anything. The air is stifling, the smell of gas overpowering, and I know if I let the fear get a hold of me, I’ll have a panic attack. I’m sweating profusely, and move my body to try to get my legs out from under me, and I feel my wrists slip a little from the tape. A surge of energy sparks, and I begin trying to wriggle my hands free. Then I roll onto my back and bring my knees to my chest, arching my back in an attempt to get my arms around them to the front of me, and even though the space is small, I succeed. Bringing my bound hands to my mouth, I tear away at the tape with my teeth as I still try to slip my hands free. It feels like it takes me forever, but when my hands come out, I know I have a fighting chance of getting out of this somehow. My mind races at where the hell she could be taking me, and I can’t hear anything outside the car that helps me determine that. As we continue to drive, I come up with what I need to do when she opens the trunk.

  Finally, we begin to slow and then I hear gravel or rocks of some sort under the tires as we turn onto a bumpy road or something before finally the car stops. My heart’s pounding, my nerves beginning to waver. I picture my mom and dad, worrying sick for where I am and I know I have to get back to them. Then Wyatt’s face takes over, I picture him telling me I can do this, and that I’m strong and that he needs me.

  “Rise and shine,” Courtney says as she pops open the trunk.

  I look up at her with wide eyes and begin breathing fast and heavy, inhaling the cool fresh air. The sky is dark behind her, and she’s holding up a camping lantern.

  “Stop doing that,” she tells me as she watches me go into what she thinks is a full blown panic attack. “I said stop it!” she says louder and slaps my cheek. “I guess I’ll have to do this quick,” she comments, reaching over me and grabbing a plastic gas can.

  She takes it out and sets it on the ground along with the lantern, as I continue to breathe quickly. Pointing the gun at me again, she leans in to grab my bicep and help me out of the trunk. My legs are sore and feel achy from being confined so long, but I stand and make sure she can’t tell that my hands are linked behind my back freely. It’s then I glance around at our surroundings and realize why it’s so fucking dark…we’re in the desert. I see nothing around us, not even lights from Plantain in the distance…nothing.

  “So, I was going to light you on fire, but in your state, maybe I’ll shoot you and then burn you,” she states.

  “Please, please, I’ll just break up with him. You don’t have to kill me, if you wanted him that’s all you had to say-”

  “After what you guys did to me?” her eyes glaring over at me. “I bet you both had a good laugh about kicking me out, I looked pathetic…he couldn’t even look at me when he was kissing me, or get hard…it’s all your fault. I know that as long as you live, he wil
l look for you…so no, I won’t let you go, you have to die,” she growls.

  And in that moment, I think of Wyatt’s imaginary words, him telling me to get back to him. I unclasp my hands and punch her in the nose, sending her staggering back. Enough time for me to grab the lantern and swing at her face again, shattering the glass as it makes contact, and I take off running into the darkness. My heart bangs in my chest as I run blindly, and hear her firing the gun behind me, screaming my name. My ratty shoes land on stones, thorns, rocks, cutting into my ankles and shins, but I don’t let anything stop me from getting away. There’s literally zero visibility, and knowing that I could run off a cliff at any second terrifies me, but at least I’d die not by her hands.

  23

  WYATT

  Everyone’s gathered around in Nathan and Skye’s living room. We’ve been out searching for Daisy for hours, but nothing. Milton told us to go home and regroup until they have an idea of what we should do, but it’s killing me, it’s killing all of us. Nathan and I pace the hallway, the waiting is making me insane and I don’t know what to do with all this nervous energy. Nolan called to find out what was going on, but I couldn’t say the words ‘Daisy’s gone,’ so I gave my phone to my mom and had her talk to him. I take Daisy’s phone from my back pocket and move out to the back porch. I flip through her photos, and even though it pains me to see her face right now, I need something of hers to connect with. I don’t want to think the worst, but fuck, with the shit Courtney did leading up to this, I have no idea what she’s capable of. I never thought I could love someone the way I love Daisy. Looking back, I’ve loved her since before I can remember, before I even knew that’s what it was. Her smile always made me feel different than other girls, how when she’d talk to me my stomach became a jumble of knots, smelling her hair as we sat beside one another innocently watching a movie gave me comfort. All these things, yet I resisted her for so long. I always looked at her like she was a beautiful untarnished creature, who should never know sadness or disappointment, and I felt like that’s all I would ever give her. I think about the last time we made love, how she needed me, but does she know how much I need her? She’s everything to me, and thinking that she might never show me her breathtaking smile again…I can’t formulate that. I promise myself that when she comes back, that I will make sure she knows what she means to me, every day.

  “Hey,” Dad says as he comes out to the porch, sitting beside me.

  I nod and put her phone down, and we both sit in silence, looking out into the dark.

  “God, this shit’s killing me,” I growl, burying my face into my palms.

  He puts his hand on my back, squeezing my shoulder.

  “What if…” I stop and swallow, “what if we never find her?” I ask, looking over at him.

  His brows pinch together. “We will, everyone who has a clear mind, is out there looking for her.”

  “But why am I here and not doing that?” I ask defensively.

  “Because, you’re in no condition to think clearly, we need to get a bearing on where to go, and we will.”

  I know Dad has his men on this, Chilly searching city camera’s and working magic like he always does.

  “But what if this time, it doesn’t work and-”

  “They found something,” Grayson says from the back door.

  My dad and I are on our feet in an instant, barging back into the front room. Milton’s there just inside the front door.

  “We found Courtney, she was in the desert, head contusions…say’s Daisy attacked her and then took off running, we have a chopper in the sky searching the area.”

  His words should bring comfort, she got away. But now she’s out in the biggest fucking desert, at night, alone, with nothing. A new wave of gut retching agony hits me, and my knees feel weak. I slump onto the arm of a chair and hear Skye begin to cry as Nathan says something to my dad, then smacks my shoulder.

  “Come on,” he tells me, knocking me back into the present.

  We get onto our bikes and I follow as the two men I look up to most, lead us out to the desert. I see nothing out here, but eventually in the distance, I see police car lights. Chief Milton’s caught up with us and is behind me. We’re about forty minutes from Plantain, and I don’t want to acknowledge that my brain is telling me there’s no way someone could survive out here. It’s freezing at night, and I can’t imagine Courtney had Daisy dress appropriately. I have to blink several times to push the images in my head away as I picture Daisy walking, thirsty and hungry, shivering from the low temperature. As we get closer, I hear the echo of the helicopter somewhere in the distance over my bike, but don’t see it. As we approach, an officer comes down the road with his hands up and our lights shine on him. We stop and park, all walking over as Milton joins us. It looks like every cop from Plantain is here, and whatever city we’re closest to. Cops with sniffer dogs, cops walking around in the darkness, calling for Daisy. There are spotlights on Courtney’s car as they take photos and I see a gas can sitting on the ground near the trunk.

  “Where is she?” Nathan growls at Milton.

  “No, we’re talking with her-”

  Nathan doesn’t let him finish but takes off stomping through the officers milling about toward a few ambulances parked there. My dad and I follow, and as we approach, I see her, Courtney in the back of one being tended to. Her face has blood all over it, cuts oozing with blood.

  “Sir!” someone says as we approach.

  “You fucking bitch,” Nathan snarls to her and her eyes widen, clutching the blanket wrapped around her body tighter.

  He walks right to the truck and attempts to get in, but an officer stops him and the medic starts telling him some bullshit. My dad’s hand grabbing Nathan’s arm, to reel him back.

  “Where the fuck is my daughter?”

  “I-I-I,” she stammers, blinking wildly.

  “She won’t tell you shit,” I comment, and her eyes find mine.

  Instantly, her expression changes and she begins to smile in surprise.

  “Oh Wyatt, thank God you’re here!” she gushes. “I just wanted to talk and she attacked me,” she sniffles.

  “You’re fucking crazy,” I state with raised brows.

  “No, she was stopping us from being together-”

  “What?” Nathan asks looking at me.

  “The night we were together at Hanover, I knew you were the one,” Courtney replies.

  “You fucked this broad?” Nathan questions in confusion.

  “Drag,” my dad says in a warning.

  “I didn’t know she was psycho,” I reply.

  “You felt something too, I know it Wyatt,” Courtney continues to blabber as Nathan looks at me like he wants to throttle me.

  He then pushes me back with both his hands on my chest.

  “Drag!” Dad says, stepping in between us.

  “Why are you getting mad at me? I wasn’t with Daisy then, and she knew about it anyway,” I tell him.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Dad says looking at me and then Nathan. “We’re not here to fuck around with this, we’re here to find Daisy.”

  I watch Nathan as his temper begins to lessen, and he runs a hand down his face before nodding at me.

  “Brother,” Joey says, coming up and we all face him, Smokey also joining the scene.

  They exchange fist bumps and start talking, and I move to join the circle, I’m not part of the MC but I’m here to find Daisy. Milton comes over to us as we devise where to go and decide to break up so we cover more space, he hands us flashlights and walkie-talkies. Joey and Nathan decide to go by foot, while me, my dad, and Smokey opt for our bikes. Milton tells us that her footprints lead north, but they lost them about a mile away due to the wind picking up. Again, I’m reminded how fucking cold it is out here and it propels the anxiety inside me to fucking find her.

  It’s been two nights since Daisy’s been gone out there, with no trace of her. I ride my bike through the desert until I need to turn
back to fill my gas tank, then I go back out. I look until I can’t see anymore, due to darkness or my eyes sting with fatigue. It feels like it’s been a week, not forty-eight hours. The need for me to find her pushes away the acceptance that at this point, with how long she’s been out there, exposure to elements, that we might not ever find her. I can’t even pretend to understand that thought. That’s how all the cops look at me when they see me out there, hour after hour. They’ve obviously never loved someone so much that they feel like part of their body is missing along with that person. My heart’s incomplete, my soul, everything I am is nothing without her.

  My mom keeps telling me to go and sleep, but it makes me laugh to myself. If my dad was out here, would she go home and sleep? Nathan is the only one who’s in my mind frame, he also isn’t stopping or taking breaks, just keeps going. He and I communicate with some old helmets from the MC that have two way’s inside, in case we need to check in. My eyes hurt and play tricks on me, the endless dust and dirt, the heat scorching my skin beneath my leather jacket. Every time I think I’m hot, I think of how Daisy feels with nothing to protect her, no food, no water. It fucking guts me, but it keeps my head focused on her being alive.

  “Wyatt?” Nathan calls over the radio in my ear.

  “Yeah?”

  “Skye said Milton’s at the house, need to come by,” his voice crackling with distortion through the speaker.

  “Ok, heading back now,” I reply.

  I turn around and begin the way I came, my eyes never stopping as I search the endless nothing for something. Pulling into the driveway, my heart pulls me toward the loft, but I can’t even look in that direction as I walk up the back porch steps, my helmet in hand as I unzip my jacket and walk into the crowded living room. Nathan appears to have also just arrived, and I watch as Skye throws herself into Nathan’s chest and begins sobbing. My brows pinch and I look around the room for something, my sister and mom are hugging as my sister cries, my dad running a hand over his head and then see Milton holding Daisy’s shoes in each of his hands.