“Can you contact him, perhaps get permission for us to slip in and out?” I ask Wyatt.
He frowns, shaking his head. “Maybe I can ride up to the front of his house, chat him up. But he doesn’t have a phone, never did. I’ll be lucky if he remembers me, he was already old when we hunted out there.”
“How the fuck did Sebastian even know it was there if this guy is such a recluse?” Louis asks.
Wyatt shakes his head a couple of times. “I don’t fucking know. He’s up to no good out there though. That’s for damn sure.”
“We come fully prepared for the worst-case scenario,” Kirill announces.
“This is why Rylan stays here,” Wyatt barks.
Rylan rolls his eyes but doesn’t argue with his cousin. It would be a fruitless fight and only waste more precious time.
“Are we ready?” I ask.
Kirill grins. “Lead the way,” he says, holding his hand out.
Without a word, we kiss the women and head out the front door. None of them ask what’s happening, and it surprises me, but my main concern is Ford.
We need him home and safe.
I don’t give a shit how that happens, all I know is that whatever Sebastian and his goon are dishing out to him, he doesn’t deserve an ounce of it. Not a single fucking ounce. Climbing into Louis’ truck, we lead the way, five SUVs full of scary-ass Russians behind us.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
FORD
“Wake the fuck up,” a voice booms.
My eyes slowly open, my body jerks as soon as I remember exactly where I am through my groggy haze. Lifting my eyes up to Sebastian, I growl at the motherfucker standing above me.
Shifting my gaze behind him, I notice that the door is open, but his guard is standing just to the right, his eyes focused on me and nowhere else. Fuck.
Letting out a sigh, I wonder if there will be an opportunity at all for me to escape, or if I’m going to be stuck here for God knows how long.
“Eat something. Nobody wants a skinny cowboy,” he barks before dropping a bag of food next to me.
He bends down and places a fast food soda next to the bag before he straightens and takes a step back. I watch him, wondering how or why he thought any of this was a good idea. He must know that people will be looking for me, people who won’t ever let up.
“Where are we anyway?” I ask, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. I don’t know why, but figuring out my surroundings feels really fucking important.
Sebastian looks over his shoulder at his hired hand, then shifts his gaze back to meet mine. “I guess it doesn’t matter, you can’t leave this room anyway. We’re in a bunker at the back of some paranoid old man’s land.”
Without another word, he turns around and walks away from me, his guard following, and in the quiet stillness of the room, I hear the deadbolt click into place.
Something isn’t right.
There aren’t any paranoid old men that would allow him to film porn on their property or hold someone hostage in Gallup. I only know of a few off-grid places that even have true bunkers, like the one I’m in.
I’m never going to be found, not unless there’s some kind of miracle. Wishing that I didn’t have to eat whatever the fuck Sebastian brought, I open the bag of fast food. There’s a burger and fries, nothing else.
I wonder offhandedly if it’s poisoned or drugged, but figure it doesn’t matter. I need sustenance to survive, drugged or otherwise.
Taking the burger out, I tear off a big bite with my teeth, letting my head fall back with a thud as I chew. I allow my mind to drift to Stephanie, something that I haven’t really allowed much in the hours I’ve been held here.
I don’t want to think about the what-ifs with her right now, it is too fucking depressing and I need to control my emotions and conserve my strength. I finish eating everything, though my stomach still growls when I’m finished.
The small ass burger and smaller fry was just enough to piss me off. Sucking down the Dr. Pepper, I close my eyes and let out a growl when I realize that my body is starting to become really fucking heavy.
“Shit,” I hiss.
I try to lift my arms, but I can’t. The door opens and my head lolls to the side as I watch Sebastian and his man walk through, along with a couple other men.
Helpless.
It’s not a feeling that I’ve experienced in my adult life. And yet, here I am, again. Except, I’m not unconscious like I was when Sebastian took me from my ranch. I’m fully awake and completely fucking incapacitated.
The two strangers walk past Sebastian and the guard, both of them stand side-by-side in front of me, sizing me up like I would cattle for purchase. That’s what I am to them, too—a side of beef.
I have never felt dirtier in all of my life. This doesn’t feel real, none of it does. It feels as though I’m floating around the room, watching everything unfold. I’m so confused and weak right now. All I can do is watch and wait for what is about to happen.
“He is just as you said. He’ll film beautifully,” one of the men states to the other.
“Can we really film him like this, though?” the other man asks.
Sebastian laughs, it’s sardonic and I decide as soon as I’m able, locked in this room or not, I’m decking the fucker. I don’t care what his little guard does to me as retribution. I’m taking this prick down.
“I have X and Viagra for that. He’ll perform his duties, happily, eagerly.” He laughs.
“Everyone is good with all of this? Your friends are good with this?” the first stranger asks Sebastian.
I have no clue who the friends he’s talking about are, but I can guess he is speaking about the Russians.
I highly fucking doubt they know anything about this.
Or maybe they do?
I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know anything and the emotions bubble inside of me. Trying with everything I have, I swallow them down, but they’re still there, just below the surface, trying to break free.
Without another word, the men turn to leave me. “The film crew will be in here in an hour, you have a bed?”
Sebastian chuckles. “I have a bed and saddle along with a saddle stand. I think this is going to be pure gold,” he purrs.
“Your finder’s fee is going to be hefty for this one. We couldn’t have found a better guy to play the part in LA. This is going to be great and we have several actors here ready, so we can film enough scenes for probably three movies just today.”
“Just trying to get my debts paid off as quickly as possible, since this was a way to do that, I wanted to get you the best I could find.”
The strangers chuckle. “Oh, he looks like he’s going to be the perfect stud for us.”
They leave, finally, and my stomach clenches, but I can’t throw up. My entire body is immobile. The idea of not only doing porn but being drugged with what I assume he meant ecstasy and Viagra, it makes me sick.
I’ve never done anything more than smoked a couple joints in high school, ever. I’m not that guy, never experimented like that. I was too busy working on the ranch, dating Stephanie and playing football to even have time to get into that kind of trouble.
My entire body starts to tremble uncontrollably as overwhelming sadness takes over me completely.
STEPHANIE
Minutes tick by. Rylan glances down at his phone every couple of seconds. The Russian beefcake guards that were left behind are outside and no matter how many times I ask them if I can get them something to eat or drink, they politely decline, every time.
I need something to do. I’m antsy, I’m nervous, and guilt is consuming me, wholly.
“Everything is going to be okay,” Exeter explains.
“How?” I demand. “He could be hurt.”
“And if he is, he will heal. I’ll help him in any way that I can and if I’m unable to, we’ll take him to a doctor who can.”
Nodding, I pinch my eyes closed, then open them again. “I’m just rea
lly scared. Where could he be and why haven’t we heard anything?”
Exeter shakes her head, sliding her arm around my shoulders before she tugs me against her side. Her embrace is nice, but it’s not Ford’s and honestly, that is the only person I want touching me right now, or ever again.
Walking away from her, I make my way over to the back patio glass doors. I’m not going outside, I’m not stupid enough to think that I’m completely safe right now. If Sebastian can get to Ford, then I have no doubt he can and will get to me next.
“You know, he’s going to be fine,” Rylan murmurs from next to me.
I look over to him, but he’s not looking at me at all, he’s looking out at Louis’ backyard too. Pressing my lips together, I shift my gaze to the yard again.
“I hope so,” I whisper.
“Don’t gotta hope, Stevie. He’s going to be okay.”
“I hate that nickname,” I snap harsher than I intend.
Rylan chuckles but doesn’t say anything else immediately. He inhales a deep breath, then lets it out on a long sigh.
“I know you probably do, but it’s how I remember you. Sexy little Stevie LaRue. Ford’s girl. Now you’re his girl again and it just fits.”
“Ford’s girl,” I whisper. “It doesn’t feel like it did back then though. Just so you know.”
“Yeah?” he asks.
I hum, tipping my head to the side and resting it on his shoulder. “It’s better. I was stupid to leave and now…”
“You appreciate everything you have.”
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
He chuckles. “Babe, being locked up for five years, you realize what’s important in life.”
“What’s that?”
He slides his arm around my shoulders and lets out a sigh. “Your people. Whoever they are. They’re not always your family, but sometimes they are. What they really are, are the ones who make you happy, who make you want to live, who always leave you with a smile on your fucking face.”
“Ford is all of that. So are all of you,” I whisper.
Rylan doesn’t say anything else. Instead, we stand together, his arm around me, our gazes focused on absolutely nothing as we become totally lost in our thoughts. Thoughts of the past, of right now, and of the future.
I don’t know what else to say, what else to do. I can’t bring Ford back. I can’t go to Sebastian and beg for him to be a decent human, he’s past that point and there is no return. Absolutely none.
Rylan’s phone rings and the both of us jump, me practically out of my skin. I watch as he scrambles for it, sliding his thumb across the screen before he lifts it to his ear. I hold my breath as he grunts, then his gaze flicks to me before he turns around, turning his back on me and starts to speak low.
“Is he okay? What? Fuck. Hospital? We’ll meet y’all there. Russians?” He’s quiet for a moment, then lets out a low chuckle. “Nice.”
Rylan spins around, a grin on his face. Dipping his chin, he looks down into my eyes, talking low so that the rest of the room can’t hear him.
“He’s okay,” he murmurs. “He was given something, they don’t know what so they’re taking him to the emergency room, hoping they’ll be able to pump his stomach or somethin’. Sebastian and his guard are taken care of and I don’t want to know the details and neither do you.”
Tears fill my eyes, they fall as my body begins to tremble. “Get yourself together, don’t fall apart on me now, he needs you.”
“Okay,” I whisper with a nod as I inhale a deep breath.
“Load up in the cars, we got him back,” Rylan shouts to the room full of women and children.
The entire room fills with cheers of joy before it erupts in mass chaos as everyone runs around to collect their things and babies. I can’t help but watch in relief with a gigantic smile on my face.
He’s okay.
He will need time to heal, most likely, but he’s alive, and that’s all I care about right now.
That is all that matters.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
WYATT
Kirill grunts, not really liking the fact that I’m going to go up to old man Fuller’s alone. But I have to. If I know him, he’d shoot without question at a bunch of strangers rolling up to his place. If I could avoid coming here at all, I would, but I can’t. This is exactly where Sebastian’s tracking has led us.
“You see that purple paint?” I ask, pointing to the fence post next to us that has purple paint on the top.
Kirill’s eyes flick over to the post, then back to me before he nods slowly. “I do.”
“I forget y’all aren’t from Texas, but that right there means Fuller has warned you. He doesn’t need to warn you again before he shoots you.”
“You are joking?” Kirill asks.
Holding his gaze, I shake my head, slowly. “No joke.”
Leaving the men on the outside of the purple-painted fence posts, I inhale a deep breath and start toward his place in my truck, crawling across his entrance. I’m surprised that his place isn’t razor-wired all the way around, it seems that he would do something like that.
I suppose the purple warning posts are enough. I forget that not everyone knows what that means. The look on Kirill’s face when I told him a few minutes ago was downright priceless. I wasn’t fucking with him though. Old man Fuller can shoot me on sight and nobody would say a goddamn word.
Once I’m in front of his little cabin, I kill the engine to my truck, opening the door and jumping out. I listen for any sign of movement. Keeping an eye out for Sebastian or anyone else that looks shady as fuck.
“Stop right there,” a gruff voice demands.
I stop in my tracks, facing the front door of the cabin, and lift my hands in a surrender motion.
“It’s me, Mr. Fuller, Wyatt Johnson,” I call out loud and clear.
“Harlan’s boy?” he calls out.
“The same.”
He lets out a loud guffaw. “Well c’mon in, boy. Don’t know whatcha doin’ out these parts, but least you can do is come in for a spell.”
Going inside and visiting with him is the absolute last thing that I want to do, but if I have any chance of getting information on Sebastian, on Mr. Fuller’s property, I need to play nice. Climbing the creaky steps to his cabin, I follow him inside.
The place stinks and judging by the way he keeps house, which is to say that he’s got shit every-fucking-where, I’m not an ounce surprised by the smell.
“How’s your daddy? Ain’t seen him in a while,” Mr. Fuller mumbles as he roots around in his kitchen.
“He’s good, retired,” I call out.
Fuller grunts, then I hear his refrigerator door slam and he appears with two bottles of water. I thank him, taking a bottle and freeze. There is brown shit floating in the water bottle. I try not to make a face, instead, I just dangle the bottle at my side.
“Well, you drove all the way out here, what’s got you this far out?”
“Honestly, lookin’ for Ford Matthews,” I state.
He tilts his head to the side, and I watch as confusion crosses over his face. He doesn’t know anything about what’s happened. Clearing my throat, I look down at my feet for a moment before I lift my eyes back up to meet his and tell him the truth, or as much as I’m willing to say anyway.
“His horse was killed, he’s been kidnapped.”
“His horse?” Fuller asks, his face awash with anguish.
Fuller is a recluse, a man who lives off-grid, but he loves his animals fiercely, they are his only companions out here. He understands the loss of them more than he would the loss of a human life.
“Starlight was killed in the barn, Ford was taken, and his woman was just in the farmhouse, lucky that she wasn’t hurt, too.”
Fuller lets out a hiss. “Why are you here, Wyatt?” he asks, starting to put two-and-two together. Obviously understanding that he has something to do with Ford’s disappearance.
“You got a bunker, right?” I
ask.
He frowns, nodding a couple of times. “You know I do, what’s your point?” he asks, becoming slightly defensive.
“Anyone staying out there?”
He nods, then shakes his head, his blue eyes lifting to mine. “Got it listed on one of them websites to rent. My cousin’s boy put it up there. He takes care of it all mostly. He takes a small cut, but I’m gettin’ older and my medication is expensive, it’s the only way I can make ends meet these days.”
“Whoever has Ford, I think he’s got him out there, Fuller. I’ve got a group of men, we’ve formed a search party and we’re hopin’ you’ll let us get back in there to see if he’s there.”
Fuller watches me for a moment, he licks his bottom lip, then shakes his head. “Let me call my cousin’s boy, see if he knows anything. I don’t want to get a bad review, he says that’s important.”
“They might kill him. It’s some drug addict from California, he’s come here to mess with Ford’s woman. Using him to get to her. I got her safe, but we need Ford back.”
I don’t know when he got a phone to make this call, but I don’t ask, it’s not my concern anyway, not right now.
I’m not above begging. I’m also not above tying up this old man and doing whatever the fuck I want. At the end of the day, I’ll do whatever I can to save my friend.
“Go on, in and out. If he ain’t there, get gone. Use the path to the left of the house, it’ll take you out there, you reached the pond, you’ve gone too far.”
“Thank you, sir,” I say, taking a step back.
“Only lettin’ you because you’re Harlan Johnson’s boy,” he calls out.
I lift my hand in a wave, not giving a fuck why he’s letting me. I was going to go anyway. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I call Beaumont and tell him what’s happened. Pulling to the side of the house, I wait for the caravan of cars to come.
We roll down the dirt road, not going too fast, knowing if we do, we’ll attract too much attention. I stop before we go down the slight hill, noticing a couple of cars parked near a small rounded building and door.
COWBOY (Unfit Hero Book 5) Page 26
