Wild Forces: A Friends to Lovers Romance (O-Town Book 2)

by Karen Renee

  “He didn’t say shit,” I continued. “My woman came in here asking why he,” I jerked my head back at my brother so he might also let me go, but he didn’t, “wouldn’t acknowledge her at a fancy steakhouse. Then as soon as he disappears an old guy takes his place.”

  “Don’t mean shit, Sullivan,” Clint said as he strode past us. “Now, if you’re comin’, your brother needs to let you go.”

  Brock did that, and I stepped into Clint’s space. “Her mother has plans to set Pruitt up for money-laundering, and doesn’t give a shit if her husband is incriminated. And by extension, her daughter, either.”

  Clint’s eyes went to Brock, and I knew I’d hit on something. When Clint looked back to me he shook his head. “We don’t have time, Gabe. If Craddick has her, I got a bad feeling we’re already too late. I’ll tell you about this, but it’ll be later. Let’s go.”

  29

  Pizza

  Gabe

  CLINT UNLOCKED THE door, and it was all I could do not to shove past him. However, everything was dark and my instincts said she wasn’t here. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I knew I was right.

  On the way over to Cassie’s unit, Clint had told us to keep silent. When he headed toward the old master bedroom, I made a slight noise while jerking my head toward Cassie’s bedroom. Clint changed course and we found nothing in her room.

  We spent less than ten minutes in her unit, and my blood boiled with the wasted effort.

  I locked her door and turned around. Brock and Clint were nearly to the stairs when I stopped dead. My instincts told me I was on a new version of Candid Camera.

  I followed them slowly, saying, “Glad that’s done. She’ll have her brush back, and now we can go get pizza.”

  When I caught up to Brock on the stairwell landing, he grabbed me by my t-shirt collar. “What the fuck, Gabe? You think it’s time for a fuckin’ slice?”

  “Both of you cool it. We need to get downstairs.”

  I caught Clint’s eyes. “The Ring cameras,” I said in a low voice.

  “They were there before—”

  I shushed Brock since his voice had risen.

  “They were gone. Now, they’re back, Brock.”

  Brock started to speak, but Clint said, “Downstairs. Now.”

  Clint led us to his SUV, which was parked two buildings over. He leaned against the hood, and looked to me. “Ring cameras. Talk to me.”

  Brock started speaking, but Clint cut him off. “Nope. Gabe. He’s been comin’ and goin’ from there. Tell me about the cameras.”

  I ran it down for Clint about the cameras being gone after the legal tenant moved out, and now they reappeared.

  “When were you last at her place?”

  I cast my mind back, and told him it was on Saturday early morning.

  He nodded. “We should be able to work with this.”

  Brock grabbed the back of his neck. “Not to argue with Gabe, but—”

  Clint looked at Brock. “It’s what we’ve got, Sullivan. I know he’s your brother. I know he’s close to the subject, well, new subject, but you take lead on a case, you’re gonna have to trust the information you’re given.”

  I ignored the investigative lesson, and asked, “What do you mean, ‘We should be able to work with this.’ What in the hell do we have to work with?”

  “The cameras,” Clint said, sounding like a kid on Christmas morning. “Got a tech guy on staff who should be able to get something for us.”

  Clint pulled his cell out, and started talking –to the tech wizard, I assumed.

  I clenched my teeth, and debated saying what I was really thinking.

  Brock watched me closely and asked, “What is it, Gabe?”

  I shook my head, then shrugged. “If we suspect he’s got her in that damned apartment, why can’t we just bust the door down or something?”

  Clint’s head came up, and he covered the mouth of his cell. “It’s called breaking and entering, and Gabe, we’re assuming a helluva lot by thinking Craddick managed to rent that same unit.”

  He lowered his head and resumed his conversation.

  Brock squeezed my shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay, man.”

  My eyes met his eyes. “You feel that way when you didn’t know where Cecilia was?”

  A muscle jumped in his jaw.

  “Yeah,” I said. “And you didn’t have it half this bad.”

  Clint straightened from his SUV, shoving his phone in the holster on his belt. “No time for comparing notes. Craddick rented that unit. Move-in date was Sunday.”

  “Nobody moves in on Sundays,” I blurted.

  Clint shook his head. “It’s noted in his file with his initials next to it. Surprised you didn’t see him installing the damn cameras.”

  I stared into space remembering Sunday. Then I whispered, “She was with me Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday.”

  I looked at Clint. “Why aren’t we calling the cops, man? If there’s even a chance she’s in there—”

  “For all we know, she’s gone out with a friend. There’s no proof she’s actually missing. The fact your bathroom was left the way it was is flimsy at best. Cops are likely gonna need her to be missing until tomorrow before they’ll start searching in earnest.”

  “Plus, we don’t need to wait on them to send a unit out, when we could just knock on his door ourselves,” Brock put in.

  Clint’s eyes narrowed for a moment. “Let’s do that, but we need to be quiet.”

  “Won’t he see us with the cameras?” Brock asked.

  Clint grinned. “Your crazy brother said we were headed to get pizza. But, I got a roll of electrical tape in the back. Time Craddick’s view gets blocked.”

  Cassie

  I WOKE UP, BUT DIDN’T open my eyes. My foggy brain forced a vision of Asher to my mind, and I remembered he had done something to me before everything went black. Thank goodness mother insisted I take up yoga. As much as we focused on deep breathing, I was able to breathe deeply like I was still out for the count.

  The moment I heard Gabe’s muffled voice, I desperately wished I was still unconscious. It was garbled, but I heard his distinct baritone saying ‘That’s done,’ and something about pizza. His tone seemed easy-going regarding the pizza, and it hit me. Like all the other women he’d been with, Gabe could take me or leave me. All his words about not being ‘other women,’ were just words. My nose started to sting, but I refused to cry.

  My thoughts were interrupted when hands wrapped around my ankle, pulling my leg to an angle. I was on a mattress. Then I felt something coarse on my leg, and I knew it was rope. Peeling an eye open, I saw Asher bent over my leg in the midst of tying the rope. I realized my hands were tied above my head.

  With my hands tied, I didn’t need to have my legs restrained, too, so I opened my eyes and kicked Asher as hard as I could. The top of my foot connected with his chin hard enough I heard his teeth clack together, and he dropped the rope, but it wasn’t enough. I pulled my leg away. He lunged on top of me at an awkward angle, which stopped me from getting another kick in.

  “Get off me,” I yelled.

  His brown eyes were crazed and full of rage. For a fleeting moment I wondered why I never saw how crazy he was before, but I refocused on bucking him off.

  My wrists were tied together, but they weren’t tied to anything, like a headboard.

  Balling my hands into fists, I swung them in an arc and connected with his cheekbone. I should have aimed at his nose because my hands hitting bone hurt like hell. I raised my hands again, but he got up on his knees and dodged me.

  I scrambled to my knees as best I could with my hands bound in front of me, while screaming for all I was worth, praying, hoping someone would hear me, except based on the light outside I didn’t hold much hope. My gut said it wasn’t even five o’clock, so odds were most people were still working.

  Before I got to my feet, Asher took me down from the side. We landed with a thud on the floor. The mattress
wasn’t on a box spring, which was a small blessing.

  I continued screaming, but Asher grabbed me in a vicious headlock and shoved fabric into my mouth.

  I bit his fingers.

  “You fuckin’ bitch,” he snarled, pulling his hand away and the fabric too.

  Dad had insisted that I go through a self-defense course back when I was sixteen. Initially, very little of that course came back to me, but I remembered the instructor telling us that if we were bound with rope, we should try rubbing our wrists back and forth to loosen the ropes. I had enough slack in the rope that I could do that, so I tried. But, doing it while fighting off Asher wasn’t easy, especially since I was in a headlock.

  I whimpered and thrashed my torso, but Asher held strong. Bringing my hands up to his forearm, I dug my nails in as hard as I could. He tightened his hold, and I gasped for air until I heard a series of knocks from the front door.

  He stilled. “Make a noise, I will break your neck.”

  I didn’t want to die, but I damn sure didn’t want to be raped either.

  The knocking stopped, and a female voice called out, “Keep it down in there, or I’m calling the cops.”

  Was she crazy? Any woman screamed like I had, I would’ve had 911 on the line already! If I got out of this alive, she was getting a piece of my mind on how to help a sister out.

  I opened my mouth and Asher gave my head a twist, making me see stars. Dammit!

  Luckily I didn’t pass out, and we heard the woman’s voice but there was a man’s voice and it was clear she was talking to someone.

  God willing, someone else had called the cops.

  Realizing the woman was talking to someone else, Asher let me go to pull his phone from his pocket. From the corner of my eye, I saw he was looking at a video feed of some sort.

  I belted out another scream, but Asher lunged for a nightstand, which I didn’t know had a weapon on it. At the last moment, I saw it was a gun. I twisted away as he fired at me. Piercing pain hit my side, and I brought my hands to the wound and felt blood. I clenched my teeth together to keep from whimpering.

  “He can’t have you. That bastard gets whatever he fuckin’ wants, but it’s time he learns a hard lesson.”

  I knew he was going to shoot again. It took every ounce of energy I had, but I rolled to my side and dodged his second bullet.

  My eyes were drooping as I saw three pairs of shoes enter the room. Then it was lights out.

  30

  Lay Me Down

  Gabe

  BROCK HAD FIFTEEN POUNDS on me, and he used all of it to hold me back from Craddick. A growing circle of blood formed along Cassie’s side, which enraged me. If something happened to her... I couldn’t even finish the thought. Nothing could happen to her. She meant entirely too much to me, and I hated that the last time we spoke I’d let my temper get the better of me.

  My brother pushed me up against a wall, and had his face in mine. “Get your shit tight, Gabe. He’s got a fuckin’ gun, and he already shot Cassie. Won’t do her any good if you get killed because of your hot-headed temper.”

  “I’ll shoot her again, you don’t lower your weapon,” I heard Craddick tell Clint.

  “Cops are on their way, Asher. Drop your weapon.”

  “No,” he croaked.

  I shoved against Brock, thinking Craddick would shoot Cassie again.

  Clint fired his gun first. Craddick stumbled back three steps before he hit the wall. His knees gave out and he slumped to the floor.

  Brock’s attention shot to Craddick, and I shoved past my brother to Cassie’s limp body.

  “Cassie,” I called, but her eyes were closed.

  I found her pulse, and reached for my phone. Clint grabbed my shoulder and I saw he was on the phone already. It felt like it took the EMTs forever to show up, but I was sure it was only a matter of minutes. They moved in and I had to get out of the way. I wanted to stay with Cassie, but with the paramedics came police officers, and I was forced to answer some cursory questions before I could get to my truck.

  Brock ran to catch up with me. “Gabriel! Let me drive.”

  It was rare that he used my full name, and I turned widened eyes to him. “I’m going to Cassie.”

  “Know that, Gabe. But you don’t even know what hospital they took her to, do you?”

  It hit me I hadn’t heard that part because a police officer had pulled me aside. I handed Brock my keys. “You better drive like a bat out of hell, Brock.”

  WHEN WE ARRIVED AT the hospital, the staff wouldn’t tell us anything about Cassie’s condition. I tried telling them I was her fiancé, but the nurse saw through my lie.

  My pacing was only interrupted when Clint came into the waiting area. He tried to get some info, but this nurse was a strict gatekeeper. She wanted to see Clint’s badge. He walked outside to make a phone call. Twenty minutes later, a buddy of his with the Orange County Sheriff’s office sauntered in and found out that Cassie had come out of surgery moments ago. She would be in recovery for a while before they moved her to a room.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Daughtry striding through the double doors. He noticed me and walked over to shake my hand.

  “Have they told you anything?” he asked.

  Cassie’s mother wandered up behind him, and I had to school my features since she didn’t know I knew who she was.

  “She’s in recovery after surgery to remove a bullet lodged in her rib.”

  “Bullet,” her mother whispered from behind Mr. Daughtry.

  He clapped me on the shoulder. “Thank you, Gabe. I’m going to talk to the nurse about seeing her.”

  “I would like to see her too, sir. If it’s at all possible.”

  He nodded curtly at me, and moved off to the nurse.

  After an hour, Brock came back with a bag of fast food, but I shook my head.

  He gave me a look. “Won’t do you any good to sit out here getting hangry. Eat something so you don’t mess up again because of your damn temper.”

  I scarfed down a burger, but it sat in my gut like a lead weight. Running my hand through my hair for what felt like the seventy-fifth time that afternoon, I noticed Mr. Daughtry guiding his wife out of the elevator.

  I stood and walked over to him. “Is she awake? How is she doing?”

  His wife looked at him. “I’ll be in the car.”

  If I hadn’t overheard her conversation with Ryan, I would’ve been concerned she didn’t give me the time of day. Knowing how much of a bitch she was, I didn’t give a damn if she didn’t want to be introduced to me.

  Mr. Daughtry turned troubled eyes to me. “She’s recovering. I’m sorry, Gabe. She’s heavily medicated, but when she came around, she said she didn’t want to see you.”

  My eyes widened, but I heard my brother mutter, “What the fuck? She loves him.”

  I whispered, “Are you sure?”

  He closed his eyes and nodded. “I’m sure, Gabe. I don’t know why she said it. She is under a lot of medication. Not to mention, visiting hours are over, so even her mother and I were kicked out.”

  I nodded. “All right. Thank you for letting me know. I’ll let you get back to your wife.”

  He shot me a wan smile and walked away.

  My phone chimed with a notification from my social media, and I noticed it was just after seven. Looking back to the desk, I saw a new nurse was typing away at the computer.

  I caught Brock’s eyes. It took a moment, but then he shook his head at me. “Why do I know, I’m not gonna like what you’re gonna say next?”

  “Where’s Clint? And did his buddy leave already?”

  “Gabe,” Brock drawled.

  I shook my head. “She isn’t pushing me away now, man.”

  Cassie

  IT WASN’T UNUSUAL FOR me to wake up with a song in my head, but I had no idea why I thought I heard the Dirty Heads singing “Lay Me Down.” My eyes fluttered open and my tongue felt like a piece of sandpaper in my mouth. I tried clearing my
throat, felt the bed jostle, and realized the singing stopped mid-word.

  “Have some ice,” Gabe said from my side.

  I glared at him. “You shouldn’t be here,” I croaked, but even to my ears it didn’t sound right.

  He shushed me, and offered me an ice chip, which helped the dryness in my mouth.

  I continued glaring, but Gabe was impervious.

  He grabbed my hand and his eyes held so much concern, but it wasn’t enough. My heart hurt from what he’d said Monday, but also the fact he so blithely left my apartment and went out for pizza. I didn’t know how he found out where I was, but I figured Brock or Clint told him. After all, he’d only come to check on me after Asher’s first attack because Brock had mentioned police activity in front of my building.

  I tried to hold his gaze, but the medicine had me feeling drowsy and my lids slid closed.

  “Get some sleep, love,” Gabe murmured.

  As soon as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep.

  The next time I woke up, he was just outside the door, talking in a low voice with a nurse, and I could see he had his most charming smile aimed her way. She noticed when I opened my mouth to say something, but Gabe bustled inside with her.

  “How’re you feeling, sweetheart?” he asked.

  I glared at him. “You leave,” I croaked.

  “I’m not leaving, sweetheart.”

  The nurse asked me if I was in any pain, and I shook my head. But as loopy as I felt, why would I be in any pain?

  “Good,” she muttered. “We’ll start lowering the amount of your pain meds. Next time you wake up, we’ll have you walk the hall.”

  I might not have been in pain, but I wasn’t looking forward to walking anywhere any time soon.

  She smiled. “I see that doesn’t sit well with you, but it’s for the best.”

  Gabe grabbed my hand and I wanted to jerk it away, but I didn’t have the energy for it.

  TRUE TO HER WORD, WHEN I woke up again, the nurse insisted I take a walk. My mother had dropped off a bag for me, but had left half-an-hour before I woke up. Luckily, the bag included suitable footwear so I didn’t have to traipse up and down the corridors in socks. The nurse accompanied me back to my room, but I could see my father stood inside the room and Brock and Gabe were standing in front of him.