Pucking Obsessed (Bay Rebels #4)

Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Freedom Mansion, Captain’s Hall

E den

Rage chokes the words in my throat.

I try to speak but nothing comes out. Part of me expects to spew smoke and embers.

Inside, however, I’m numb.

I’m focused on my mission.

Is this what soldiers feel like? SAS? Assassins?

I’d have made a good one of those.

In the darkness, I stare up in silence at the huge mansion. Under the moonlight, it looks like the dream home that Shay drew as our elementary class assignment. Of course, he added extras like an inside ice rink and a slide from the bedroom to the motorcycle filled garage.

D’Angelo may have those too.

No one is taking this dream away from my brother.

I may need to be consumed by flames to hold my shit together enough for both my twin and myself. But if that means this new life is saved for Shay, then I’ll willingly burn.

Freedom Mansion is in the middle of a forest behind iron gates. It’s down a long driveway, which is surrounded by wooded gardens. The mansion is white with shuttered, glowing lanterns, and columns like it belongs in heaven.

I scan the darkened windows.

What if D’Angelo is somewhere inside trapped in hell? Just like Robyn and my brother were in the woods?

My eyes blaze.

Stay on this line until you arrive. Don’t go, okay? Don’t leave, Dee…

I let out a shuddering breath.

Staying calm during that phone call took all my self-control.

Hearing Shay’s dazed and panicked voice simply pleading, Dee…?

I instantly knew that nothing was okay.

For the first few, terrifying minutes, as Michael and Cody crowded around the phone with me, Shay couldn’t remember where he was or what had happened. He only knew that Robyn was unconscious in his arms and D’Angelo wasn’t there.

I’m a shit brother. I should have been with him.

Is friendship the way that Cody didn’t point that out? Or guilt because he feels like a shit brother as well for not being there with Robyn?

When I finally found Robyn and my brother, pulling them both into my arms, despite Michael’s protests, I was shocked at how cold and weak they were.

They could barely move.

Heine did that to them.

It ignited a darkness inside me. I’ve always known that it was there. I think that Robyn does, but she hasn’t rejected me.

I’m her phoenix.

And tonight, I’m not the only one who is going to burn.

Shay and Robyn are back in the car, which Cody parked at the gates.

Robyn protested, but I had the power of Michael’s stern doctor face to back me up that she needed to stay in the car because the drug is still working in her system.

Even if Shay and her could walk, I wouldn’t want to risk them near a man who spiked them, then left them collapsed in a wood.

Anything could have happened to them.

I also don’t want to steal Shay’s first moments in D’Angelo’s home by mixing it up with this shit.

Neither of us have moved in with someone officially before.

It’s a big deal that D’Angelo asked my brother to move in with him. Shay hasn’t shut up about it. I’ve zoned out some of his excited rambling, but neither of us have had a relationship or stability before.

D’Angelo and Robyn make Shay feel loved.

I won’t allow Heine to ruin that for my brother.

“It doesn’t look like anyone is home.” Cody frowns. “What if we’ve come to the wrong place?”

I hold up my phone to show Cody the the tracker app. It clearly shows that D’Angelo’s phone is inside Freedom Mansion.

“The fact that the lights are off is more ominous then,” Michael says.

I nod.

When the moonlight gleams on the kitten collar around Cody’s neck, I grimace.

We rushed out without changing out of our costumes.

Perhaps, friendship is being persuaded into dressing up for Halloween dinner parties.

Also, exploitation of cats.

How could I say no to taking off my suit jacket and slipping on the swishing cat tail, when Michael was already awkwardly wearing black cat ears and Cody had a kitten collar around his neck?

Cody said that he’d chosen the costumes in my honor.

No one has themed a party around something I like before.

Even my birthdays at home were shared with my twin. They were usually based on Shay’s favorite passions. He was louder about his loves, whether of the stars or rock music.

It was harder for my adoptive parents to see me.

But Cody does.

“How are we going to get in?” Cody glances around himself. “We could break a window.”

I still can’t speak.

I swallow, but the words are trapped inside.

Instead, I decide to show Cody by crouching down in front of the white door, which has an archway of glass above it.

I study the lock.

Michael raises his eyebrow. “You’re looking rather professional.”

“As in pro criminal,” Cody adds.

I reach into my pocket.

A PA needs to be prepared.

I have a mini pen and notebook, lighter, and heavy duty paperclips in my pocket.

The paperclips aren’t only stationary.

I slip the two paperclips out, straightening one and turning the other into an L shape as a tension wrench.

Then I focus on picking the lock one-handed.

Michael glances over his shoulder like he’s checking for cops.

I don’t know why.

I’m not the bad guy here.

Would cops in America shoot me anyway?

I don’t stop working on the lock with intent focus.

Let them shoot me.

The best man I’ve met in my life — the only one to believe in me and give me a chance, home, and family — is trapped inside.

I’ll do anything to protect D’Angelo.

Save him.

I narrow my eyes, patiently setting all the pins.

“How do you know how to do that?” Cody asks.

I don’t like the suspicious way that he’s studying me. It’s making my heart hurt.

I struggle to force words from deep inside.

Robyn is safe. My brother isn’t in danger. I am getting D’Angelo back.

I won’t lose my voice.

“I learned,” I say with difficulty.

“But where? Please don’t say prison. Shit, it’s prison, isn’t it? I’m not judging but—”

“The Internet.” I don’t look up. Each word burns my throat. “YouTube tutorials.”

Cody lets out a breath of relief. “Awesome because I’m already flooded with adrenaline. I don’t want Mike to have to revive me from a heart attack because we find out that you’re some infamous English serial killer.”

“Whose modus operandi is picking locks…?” Michael quirks his brow.

Cody leans against his husband. “We’ve just learned that my boss and owner of the Bay Rebels is an unhinged kidnapper. It could happen.”

When I was young, I was obsessed with learning methods to protect my twin.

Knowing how to escape houses was one of them.

Not all the methods were legal.

Actually, most of them weren’t.

But then, I’m not real. Only real people have to worry about laws.

The lock clicks, and the door opens.

“You’re a legend.” Cody pats my shoulder. “Come on.”

There’s a dangerous glint in Cody’s eye, which I haven’t seen before. It’s like seeing my own reflected back at me.

It’s been there from the moment that he knew that his sister was in danger. This is the darkly protective side to Cody, which his dad punished him for… still punishes him for .

Michael holds out his hand to me and pulls me to my feet. “Hold on, how are we going to do this? The house is huge, and it’s dark. Heine is a dangerous man. We need to be careful.”

“He’s weak.” Cody narrows his eyes. “Anyone who needs to drug someone to gain power over them isn’t brave.”

“What if he has a gun?” Michael’s expression is tight; it looks strange beneath his black cat ears.

“Then we’re fucked.”

“Fair.”

“We split up.” I push through into the grand foyer.

The only light filters through the open doorway. It will take too long to search together.

What the hell could that bastard be doing to D’Angelo right now?

“They said in every horror movie ever,” Michael mutters.

“You two take the upstairs. I’ll search down here.” I begin to stride down the wide, elegant corridor away from the sweeping stairs.

Cody rushes to run after me, grabbing my uninjured shoulder. “Wait, that’s not fair. I care what happens to you, don’t you know that yet? Plus, my sis would kick my ass, if we took you in here and didn’t look out for you. Your arm is in a sling, and you have cracked ribs. Why don’t we stay together and search?”

He cares what happens to me…?

Warmth curls through my chest, cutting through the numbness.

I still shake him off; the movement makes my cat tail twitch. “I’m better alone. Jude’s safety is what’s important. Finding him as fast as possible.”

Michael sighs. “Call me as soon as you do, and we’ll do the same. Don’t take any risks.”

Michael wraps his arm firmly around Cody’s shoulder, steering him away from me.

Cody drags his feet.

I don’t nod, only watch them with a blanked expression.

I will take risks.

What are we doing now?

I’d risk my life to save any of my family.

Isn’t that love?

I turn on my heel and prowl as silently as possible with my back to the wall down the corridor.

This is what I’m good at.

I’ve spent my life in the shadows. Most people don’t notice that I’m in a room. I watch other people and listen to their conversations.

Observing.

I can pretend to be what they want, but it’s fake.

Robyn tells me that it’s not but she’s the kindest person I know. She sees me as something that I’m not. My twin loves me because I’ve always been at his side.

D’Angelo has offered me family. Cody friendship. But neither of them truly know me.

At least in the darkness, I can be myself.

I peer through open doors into rooms that drip with chandeliers and antiques.

The kitchen lies empty and twice the size of the one at Captain’s Hall.

My chest tightens.

I’ve cleaned houses this size back in Guildford. The owners treated me either with a mocking cruelty or sometimes, an attempted kindness, as if I was a pet.

They’d talk to me slowly, using simple words like English was my second language and I wasn’t in fact studying English literature at college.

Shay, on the other hand, has never been inside a mansion like this.

Will he freak out, when he moves in? Will he truly get used to this sort of wealth or will he always feel out of place?

Or like he said only a couple of nights ago to me, hushed and sad, as if he’s D’Angelo’s project ?

I replied, “Like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady ?”

Only for Shay to wrinkle his nose. “He hasn’t tried out much gender play yet. But I won’t complain if he dresses me in stockings, suspenders, and a corset.”

Robyn would understand.

Silently, I push open the next door into a vast, more modern lounge with ivory walls and couches, walls lined with books, and a white grand piano in the corner.

It suits D’Angelo. I can imagine him relaxing here with a whiskey.

Even though D’Angelo hasn’t been living here, it’s been kept clean.

Frustrated, I back out of the room.

No one is here.

I can’t even see evidence that anyone has been inside here for a long time.

I stand still, straining to listen.

Nothing.

Then… something.

It’s faint and coming from beneath me.

Surprised, I stare down at the wooden floorboards.

What’s beneath the house? A basement?

My heart beats faster. I spin around, stalking back into the corridor.

I scan along the wall. It’s too dark for me to see it properly, but there must be a way down from here. I walk up and down the wall’s length, running my hands over it.

Now that I’m listening out, I can hear a weak sound. It’s familiar to me, but I can’t work out what it is.

A rhythmic cracking sound.

My mouth goes dry.

It’s the sound of a whip.

My breathing becomes ragged. My pulse roars loudly in my ears. I claw at the pristine wall.

Heine is hurting D’Angelo.

Whipping him.

He’s…

My fingers close around a handle.

My eyes widen, as I yank on it hard. A discrete door opens in the wall, revealing a narrow set of wooden stairs.

I throw myself down into the blackness.

The more steps I take into the basement, the louder the sounds of the whipping becomes.

I can hear something else mixed in with it as well: groans of pain.

D’Angelo’s.

I bite my lip hard, fighting back the memories of every hit, kick, crack of the belt, paddle, or whip…every implement that the couple could think of to persuade me to speak.

It was a game to them.

I gained my phoenix wings in that room, when they threw me in the air and I flew, hitting my head against the wall and dying to the sounds of my own screams (but not a single word), over and over again…

I was reborn from the ashes, stronger and braver.

More deadly.

Is that what’s happening to D’Angelo? Is this nothing but a game to Heine?

I’m going to kill Heine.

I leap off the final step of the stairs. My expression steels.

The bottom of the basement is painted scarlet. The floor is carpeted, and there’s a low cabinet with multiple drawers to the side, as well as a couch that’s covered with blankets and soft cushions.

What is this place?

At the back is a metal door.

The sounds are coming from behind it.

A red mist settles over my mind.

I ball my fists and march to the door.

When I attempt to open it, however, it’s locked. And I used up my paperclips.

I clench my jaw in frustration, before glancing around.

There’s no smoke detector down here.

I’ll scold D’Angelo for that later but for now, the burning can begin.

I drag at the costume cat tail, which is tied at my waist, yanking it off. I kneel down in front of the door, stuffing the tail like a draught excluder over the gap beneath the door.

Then I take out my lighter. The flame flickers.

It’s mesmerizing.

Once, I lit a fire in the bin at home. The teacher had written cruel things on the bottom of Shay’s English homework because he’d struggled with his spelling.

Shay had worked hard on the essay.

Shay would pretend to laugh it off, but I knew that it would wreck him to read in red pen: D- Unacceptable. This is an embarrassing attempt. Stop being lazy. You don’t have an excuse, when your twin can manage this. Are you faking or slow?

Shay was in extra ice hockey practice. He hadn’t seen the comments on his homework yet because I’d taken his bag.

Ripping the exercise book up hadn’t felt like enough. I’d wanted to see the flames burn it.

Watch it turn to ash.

It was one of the few times that Dad was genuinely angry with me, especially because I wouldn’t tell anyone, even Shay, why I’d burned his work.

I’d been grounded for a month.

It was worth it.

Now, I watch again as I lower the lighter to the costume tail, lighting it all the way along its furry length.

Slowly, it begins to smolder and then catch light. I shuffle back on my knees, holding my arm over my mouth.

The smoke stinks, acrid and thick. I blink, as it stings my eyes.

Then I stand up, clenching my fists.

I’m going to smoke the bastard out.

Let Heine panic that the house is on fire.

Any moment now, he’ll open the door.

I’ll be ready.