by Hope Jones
Suddenly, I remembered the panic button that was sitting in my back pocket. Hux had told me to keep it on me if possible, not to leave it in my purse or in my car. At that moment, I was so fucking thankful for the panic button I could have kissed the person who invented it.
“Millie, can you move?” I rushed out. We needed to do this quickly before William came back.
“I’m handcuffed,” she whimpered.
“That’s okay as long as you can reach my back pocket.”
“What? Why?”
“That panic button is in there. If you can get it out and push the button, it’ll tell whoever’s in Hux’s control room where we are.”
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus. I think I may kiss Hux when he saves us.”
“Hey, less talking about my man and more butt touching,” I scolded, scooting my ass as close to her as the handcuffs would allow.
Millie struggled for a few minutes before finally pulling my panic button out of my pocket and shouting louder than she should have. “I got it!”
“Millie,” I scolded.
“Sorry,” she said back in a whisper. “What do we do now?”
Getting comfortable against my pipe, I told her, “Now, we wait for Hux.”
Hux
Huxley searched Millie’s house. There was no sign of Phoebe or Millie anywhere upon first entering the house. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.
Phoebe’s car was still in the parking lot, and her phone was in the passenger seat with half a dozen missed calls from him.
She had left her phone in the car.
Stupid mistake.
Millie’s car was missing, and Hux suspected it wasn’t because his woman and her best friend went out for a joy ride. Shortly after Phoebe bounced out of his office with a beaming smile, Roman walked in with bad news.
The man Millie had been dating for a month wasn’t who he said he was.
William. The name was a lie. William didn’t exist.
Roman had kept tabs on everything coming and going out of Phoebe’s life. Luckily, that search extended to Millie, although Roman realized a little too late that Fake William worked for Hector and the Disciples.
Hux had called Phoebe immediately. After three tries, he couldn’t get her on the phone, so he drove to Millie’s place, calling three more times to no avail. After this, he’d be sure to pound into Phoebe’s head to always carry her phone. Making his way through the rest of the house and into the master bedroom, he heard his phone ring.
“Carson,” he answered.
“We got them,” Roman barked.
White-hot relief flooded Hux’s body.
“Where?”
“An old warehouse off the pier. Phoebe’s tracker alerted the control room.”
Maybe he wouldn’t drill it into Phoebe’s head to carry her phone so long as she had her panic button.
“Call Kian. Let him know what’s going on and give him our evidence. Tell him rescuing Phoebe and Millie takes priority. Afterward, grab our vests and guns. I want you, Colt, and Stone to meet me at the warehouse. Send me the exact address.”
“Don’t go in until we get there,” Roman stated.
Hux wasn’t stupid; he knew not to go in a dangerous situation without a plan and someone at his back.
“Yeah,” he grunted and disconnected the line.
Leaving the bedroom, which was in disarray with obvious signs of struggle, Huxley sprinted back to his car, putting the address Roman had sent in his GPS and peeled out of Millie’s driveway.
It was time to get his girl back.
Phoebe
“I really need to pee,” Millie whispered.
“I know,” I whispered back.
The pain in my head had only gotten worse. I was on the brink of losing consciousness, if my tunnel vision was any indication.
“I don’t want to pee on myself,” she complained.
“Millie, I know, but I’ve done all I can for now.”
After using the panic button, Millie and I stayed silent for a little while before she started ranting how all men were trash and she was never looking for love again. As a matter of fact, she didn’t even want love. She told me she knew it existed simply because of her parents and Hux and me, but she didn’t want any part of it. She was done with getting hurt and putting herself out there over and over.
My heart went out to her. She only wanted to love and be loved in return, and she kept getting screwed in the end.
Suddenly, we heard a voice to the right and my head snapped in that direction, only to be disappointed when “William” came around the corner. He sauntered over to us, flipping on a lamp in front of us, the bright light causing me to become nauseous from the pain.
“What the fuck?” Millie yelled at him.
I guessed she was past the point of playing nice to make sure we got out of here alive. Even understanding where Millie was coming from, I sure as hell didn’t want to provoke this phony in front of us. Especially considering his eyes were wild like he was on drugs and he was clearly packing.
“Millie!” I hissed at her.
“No!” she snapped at me, her eyes darting back to Fake William. “I am so sick of this shit. Do I have ‘gullible’ written across my forehead? Or ‘take advantage of me please’? No the hell I don’t, and I am sick of being walked all over.”
She was seething mad, spit flying from her mouth, and if looks could kill, Faux William would already be dead.
It was too bad.
“No,” he said pointedly at Millie before looking at me with his beady, wild eyes. “But it sure was a hell of a lot easier to get to you through her.” He waved his gun back and forth between me and my best friend.
“I can’t believe I ever had sex with you. You’re disgusting,” she hissed.
“Ah, but what a good lay you were.”
Millie was so pissed that if she were uncuffed, she would strangle William, gun or no gun in play. Deep down, I knew she was mortified about her relationship with this asshole. She felt disgusted by herself for sleeping with him.
Alas, considering the situation, I would have to help her out of that hole another time.
“Yo, do you think you could uncuff me? My arms are sore,” I tried for nice, hoping it would get me further than Millie’s anger.
Fake William walked closer, pointing the gun at me until he crouched down next to me. “The things I could do to this sweet little body, cuffed or not.” He sneered, running the barrel of the gun between my breasts and back up until it was behind my ear.
Seriously, this guy was mentally unstable and on drugs. He really didn’t need to accidentally blow my head off.
“Sadly, the boss has other plans for you. Seems like such a waste,” he told me, flashing an evil smile at me.
Stumbling next to me and crouching in front of Millie, he told her, “You really need to shut the fuck up,” as he struck her with the butt of the gun, the force of the blow snapping her head to the side.
“Hey!” I screamed. “You got what you wanted, now leave her the hell alone!”
“Now why would I leave my play toy alone? She’s so much fun.” He smiled crazily, slapping her with his open palm.
“Alejandro! What the fuck did I tell you?” a voice in the dark distance called out sharply.
Alejandro’s body jerked back at the tone. He stood, stepped away from Millie, who was cradling her face to her shoulder, and looked in the direction of the voice.
“I was just playing, boss. They wanted a little fun.”
“They are not yours to have fun with. You were hired to do a job, and that job is done; now get the fuck out. Your payment will be delivered in a day’s time.”
Hector came into view, walking up on Millie’s side. Alejandro growled at his boss, earning a pointed look from him. He decided it was best to walk away and not test Hector. I was instantly filled with relief that he was away from Millie.
Hector was not a good person, but at least he wasn’t on drugs and would do something crazy lik
e kill one of us for giggles.
Hector gave one last look at Millie before sitting on the desk in front of us and crossing his legs at the ankle.
“Are you okay, dear?” he asked me softly.
“What gave it away, my swollen eye?” I badly joked back.
“It didn’t have to be this way, you know,” Hector said, nodding to Millie’s slumped body next to me. “You could have just given up at any point.”
“Now, where’s the fun in that?” I smarted.
Hector’s face began to lose the softness and his eyes hardened. Any trace of nice had fled his body. He was back to being Hector, the head of a drug and flesh peddling cartel.
“Here’s how this is going to go. In a few minutes, a boat will pull up to the pier. You and I will be whisked away to Mexico, and your girl here will be sold off to the highest bidder. Since you decided to play with me, and your PI boyfriend wanted to run me off, I’ve decided to take you as mine... for now. Later down the road, I may have other plans for you.”
Maybe I was turning delusional from the obvious gash I had on my head, but I cackled. Once the laughing started, I couldn’t stop. I laughed until my stomach cramped and my head hurt even more.
“That is not how this is about to go,” I stated, letting out the last of my giggles.
“And how do you figure that?” He sneered at me, clearly not amused with my humor.
I hoped like hell Hux or the police were close to my location, because I was about to give up my trump card and I didn’t want him to have the extra opportunity to escape.
“Well, you hired a tweaker, and the thing about him is he didn’t check my pockets for anything; otherwise, he would have found the panic button in my back pocket. If I had to guess, I’d say it alerted Hux’s team to our position about fifteen to twenty minutes ago. Therefore, Hux and the police are going to storm your castle any minute now and take you into custody.”
“Fuck!” He exploded. “We need to leave, now!” he shouted into the hall. “You’re coming with,” he said to me.
“Over my dead body,” I snapped back.
“If you so wish. I’m not letting Hux win, and I’m sure as hell not leaving you here to dig into my business again.”
A gun materialized out of his suit jacket.
Giving him a sad smile, I accepted my fate and closed my eyes in bliss. I would finally get to see my mom again, my grandparents. I had been without them for too long, and I was perfectly okay knowing I would be in Nanny’s arms soon.
“Police!” A loud bang rang out, and then there was a white flash, blinding me and furthering the pain in my head.
I didn’t feel any other pain in my body, so I knew I wasn’t hit by a bullet, but the pressure in my head was too much, and I leaned over and threw up what I had for lunch.
I was filled with so much relief knowing the police were here. As much as I was okay with dying, I didn’t want to leave Hux. Especially at Hector’s hands. He would blame himself for my death. I didn’t want to be the first extremely important person in his life that he lost. It left an unimaginable scar, and I was not about to leave him as fucked up as I’d been.
“Get down! Get down!” Two guys in bulletproof vests with the word Police written across in yellow letters yelled at Hector, who had dropped to the floor in pain and was holding his head.
Ha! Take that, dickhead. Now he knew how much my head hurt.
“Phoebe!” I heard bellowed into the room that was exploding with people. I knew it was Hux. I could make out his voice anywhere.
“I’m over here,” I tried to yell back, but it came out as a pained whisper.
Hux came to my left side, his eyes wild and scared. Obviously, he was not taking my kidnapping well. As soon as his vision landed on my swollen shut eye, those once scared eyes turned murderous and he gazed around the room until he caught sight of Hector being handcuffed, read his rights, and taken away.
“Hux,” I moaned, pulling at my cuffs, the metal clinking a deafening sound.
His eyes snapped back to me and softened. He moved to me gracefully, freeing me from my handcuffs.
“Baby,” he breathed. “Are you okay?”
“My head,” I told him as I rubbed the circulation back into my wrists. Compared to the migraine I had, my wrists were nothing.
“I need two EMTs over here,” Hux told the room in general, glancing at Millie who was still out cold, for which I was thankful. I doubt she would have been as calm as I was when Hector pulled the gun on me.
The next few minutes were a blur as EMTs loaded me and Millie on stretchers, shining lights in our eyes, taking our vitals, and giving us a checkup. We were both told we needed to be taken to the hospital and given a CT scan to make sure we had no internal damage. We were given IVs for fluids and pain medication and then whisked off to the nearest hospital. Hux stayed in my ambulance, and Kian rode with Millie.
Hector was being escorted by several police officers and one of Hux’s men to the county jail, where he would be held without bond until his trial date was set.
All in all, I’d say it was the perfect ending to an otherwise shitty day.
Especially since Hux’s hand was holding mine tightly, letting me know he wasn’t going anywhere.
I seriously loved that man.
Epilogue
The Interview
IT WAS EXACTLY two weeks later.
Interview day.
I was so flipping nervous and excited.
I was finally putting my plan into motion to surprise Hux.
_______________
It had been two weeks since Millie’s and my kidnapping, and we were both doing relatively great. Our bruising had almost completely faded, and we no longer looked like something out of a horror movie.
The CT scans found no internal injuries, but we were kept overnight for observation. Within two days of leaving the hospital, I was back to my normal activities, much to Hux’s dismay. He wanted me to lie in bed and do nothing for a week, but he also knew that wasn’t the type of person I was.
I stopped when I would get a bad headache, but until then, I was going.
I had started seeing my therapist and she was giving me homework to do outside of our sessions to help me grieve my losses and not let them stop me from living my life. I decided to take these last fourteen days off work though, needing the break and time to recoup. My boss, John, was extremely understanding and let me take two weeks’ worth of vacation, since I had an entire month saved up. I was grateful and told him when I came back, I’d have a story he’d eat up.
Hux’s story.
And then the Disciples’s story.
I had a feeling my career was about to explode.
Millie was doing the same as me physically, but mentally, she wasn’t taking everything well. She couldn’t get past the fact that she slept with a madman. She also hadn’t given up her new view on love, which I knew killed her inside. She was having nightmares about everything that happened and dreamed of all the different scenarios of things that could have gone wrong. I tried talking her into seeing a therapist, but she had shut out everyone, including me. She told me repeatedly that she just needed to work through everything in her own way. I was okay with it, so long as she eventually caved and talked to someone.
_______________
Huxley insisted we do his interview at home, so I could be comfortable in case I ended up with another bad headache. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of being hit in the head with a gun was headaches that kept lingering. They were getting better but were still debilitating when they occurred.
I was set up in my home office in our new house. My new office was the shit. I loved it ten times more than I loved my old one. It was much bigger, and the walls were white, so it made it brighter and more open and spacious. I had light gray art pieces around the room to make it more inviting. My large desk sat in the middle of the room, with my back to my gorgeous view of the skyline. Hux’s office was one room down from mine and ha
d the same view. I think he loved his office as much as I did mine.
Opening the voice memo app on my phone and gathering my notepad and pen, I was ready to begin the interview when Huxley entered my office. I was trying to keep it as informal as possible to make him comfortable in a situation he already didn’t like a whole lot.
“I’ve already got details on your early childhood, so let’s start with being accepted into Quantico and the FBI. What was that like for you?”
Hux leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. He was the perfect picture of being at ease, but I knew him better. The tightness around his eyes gave him away.
“Like a dream that was actually reality. I had dreamed of being more than a street cop for a couple years. I wanted to move up further in law enforcement, but didn’t expect to be accepted into Quantico,” Hux gruffed out.
“How long did you stay with the FBI?” I inquired.
“A little over a year,” he answered.
I stopped writing in my notepad and glanced at him. “Only a year?” I asked, surprised. I figured it would have been a little longer.
Hux nodded.
“Okay, that leads into my next question. Why did you leave the FBI so quickly?”
“In law enforcement, there are certain rules you have to follow. Red tape you have to go through to get justice for a victim. There were many cases I worked on where a victim didn’t get the justice they deserved, because the red tape took so long to get through. I knew within a year that being in the FBI wasn’t going to work.”
“Could you give me an example of this red tape and how you can bypass it now being a private investigator?”
Huxley leaned forward, knees bent, hand clasped between his knees, and looked at me, his eyes turning from the army green to mossy.
“I can think of a few far more enjoyable things to be doing than this interview, Phoebe.”
“Hux,” I scolded. “Focus, we’re almost done.”
“Okay.” He sighed. “As a PI, if I have a client come to me, worried her husband or any family member is doing something they shouldn’t, he or she can give me permission to enter their home and conduct a thorough search to find supporting evidence. In the FBI, regardless of homeowner permission, you would have to get a search warrant, and those could take from several hours up to a day or two. I know it isn’t a serious situation, but there were much more serious scenarios where waiting for a warrant cost us an arrest.”
