Chapter 29
CHASE
It’s like the atmosphere shifts when Aaron is close. Brady makes eye contact with me from across the room, and I can just tell he feels it too. This motherfucker would wait until he thinks there’s no one here but a girl and Easton before he makes a move. Always gotta be someone smaller than him.
Easton swore up and down he could handle this.
He better be able to because Brady and I are going to fucking jail if he can’t.
This doesn’t work if one of us breaks the ruse too early.
Why we don’t have a cop doing this, I have no idea.
Can’t even remember now that the moment is here.
What the fuck are we going to do if his ankle gives out again?
He swore up and down it was fine but who knows?
One kick in the wrong place and he might go down.
Blakely is a better actor than me. “Hi. Welcome. You’re a little early for the show, but is there something I can help you with?”
His voice grates my nerves. I grit my teeth to keep still and quiet. “These are remarkable. Is the artist available? I’d like to discuss a business offer with them.”
The gender-neutral thing was smart, like he doesn’t know who he’s asking for. I hate him. “Aren’t they lovely? Let me check if he’s available. Feel free to look around in the meantime.”
Her heels click in a steady rhythm as she walks away, and it’s nothing less than a miracle that we’ve all remained calm this long.
But Easton made his demands clear. This is important to him and not the place to have it all go down.
And he really does think that he can figure out where Asher is being held. So here we go.
Trust the process, I guess.
I’m gonna need a fucking drink if I make it through this.
Easton’s shoes are quieter as they approach. When they come to a sudden halt, my heart stops beating. My lungs don’t even dare to draw breath. “What are you doing here?” His voice is solid, firm. I’m so amazed by him that it hurts.
“I couldn’t miss your first gallery, doll. You honestly couldn’t have expected me to.”
“I’m not going with you. Not again, Aaron. It’s best if you just leave.” He’s lying, trying not to raise suspicion. If he goes too easily, our ruse will be up.
Aaron makes a disappointed noise. “Come on, now, doll. There’s no reason to be like that. Not with that beautiful girl just back there. I know you’d hate to have something happen to her.”
Easton continues to stand his ground. “I’m done being threatened by you. I’m not scared anymore.” That part, at least, is true. He isn’t scared. I am, though. “Just leave. You’re not welcome here.”
There’s some rustling before my still heart drops to my feet. “Don’t make this complicated. Come now or I won’t stop with you. You don’t think I know who she is? You really want to be responsible for her death?”
I’d bet my life there’s a gun pulled on Easton right now. Cold sweat runs down my back. We can’t show our hand this soon. I’ve got to trust that he can stay alive until it’s time to move. “Don’t do anything stupid, Aaron. Just don’t hurt her, okay?”
“Not if you behave, doll. You know the rules.”
Easton hesitates, but as always, he’s so much braver than me. “Fine. I’ll go willingly. No reason to make this complicated.”
“Good choice. Let’s go. I won’t make the mistake of letting you out of my sight again.
Move and make it quiet. No alerting your little friend about your change of plans.
” Even from here, I can hear the derisive sarcasm he funnels into that one word.
Like Easton is truly an idiot for believing that Blake is his friend.
Little does he know the things that girl would do for him—is doing for him.
Easton doesn’t respond, but the sound of him walking towards the exit ring loud and clear.
Brady is white with rage and vibrating. He is still doing better than me.
When the door closes, we’re both off like lightning.
Under zero circumstances are we letting him out of our sight for more than a moment. Blakely is hot on our heels.
Just like we planned, there is no street parking available, so Aaron has no choice but to drag Easton by the collar to the parking garage behind the building. At least something is going right. That has to mean something. The CCTV there works as of this morning. It’s going to be fine.
He is going to be fine.
We peek around the door carefully before slipping out to follow them after ensuring we’re not seen. “Give me one chance and you’ll need to put money on my books,” Brady hisses furiously as we rush to catch up.
“Take a number.”
Our combined footsteps halt at the corner, checking to make sure he is still unaware.
I’d feel better if I knew when the cops were going to show up.
Blake was supposed to be the one to call them when she told Easton that he had company.
Now it’s just blind faith and a stronger-than-ever determination to make sure that my boyfriend stays alive today.
I only stand to lose everything.
What could go wrong?
Never mind. Even in the darkest recesses of my mind, I don’t want to tempt fate in the wrong direction.
Where the fuck are the cops?
I don’t even realize I’ve spoken aloud until Blake responds. “The Chief swore that he’d send units immediately. We just can’t let them get away.”
We slink behind Easton and his tormentor, quiet as church mice as if we’re the criminals here.
Luckily, Aaron is incredibly overconfident and has all his focus on making sure Easton doesn’t try to alert anyone of his impending kidnapping that he doesn’t even consider the possibility that it’s already underway.
He drags him roughly towards a luxury car parked at the back of the garage.
Brady locks his arm across my chest to keep me from acting too soon, and we all duck behind a pillar to watch from a less visible location.
Since when did he become the logical one?
If we’re too soon, that gun will come back out, then everybody is fucked.
I know that. However, seeing that creep with his hands on my boyfriend is tossing my sense of reason off the deep end and holding its head under the water for full effectiveness.
One more shove and Easton threatens to tumble down.
Copper floods the inside of my mouth after biting down on my tongue to keep from trying to divert Aaron’s attention away from him.
Easton’s feet get caught up on each other, making my heart stall, but then he recovers.
Blakely swears under her breath as Easton comes up swinging.
With all the precision and control that Brady drilled into his head, his fist connects to that fuckhead’s jaw and sends him reeling.
Not needing any further encouragement, Brady and I are there in one second and on top of Aaron the next.
Like with everything, we operate in seamless synchronicity.
Aaron doesn’t even have time to see us coming.
I shove his head into the trunk of his car, smiling inside at the sickening thunk.
Brady relieves him of the gun tucked into the back of his shirt.
Aaron howls like an animal. “Oh, Jesus Christ. Shut the fuck up,” Brady growls, unloading the weapon. “See, we don’t need this, do we, Ace?” he asks, holding it up.
I throw more of my weight into the grip I have on his neck and shake my head. “Nah. We’re not scared little bitches.”
Brady hands it off to Blake who has already gotten Easton with her before I release the motherfucker.
He charges immediately, towards Easton, of course, but we don’t let him get very far.
Brady knocks him on his ass with one solid hit to his jaw.
It takes some wrangling because he’s a squirmy little shit, but combined, we get his arms pinned above his head.
I keep his legs still and look back. “Hey, baby. How many times did he kick you?”
Easton glares. “Every chance he got.”
“Come do your worst. We’ll keep him still for you.”
He approaches warily, even with the douchebag held down.
There’s an argument going on behind his eyes fueled by righteous anger and a typically nonviolent personality.
“I was just as defenseless as you are now every single time. You slipped pills in my drinks, never let me sleep through the night. You kept me weak so I couldn’t fight back.
” The fury grows with each sentence, drawing him closer until he’s looking down on his abuser.
Right in the eyes. “I was a child. Vulnerable and alone, and you took advantage. Manipulated me. Isolated me. You made yourself the center of my world so that I had nothing left. No choice but to stay when you started hitting me. For a long time, I thought of you as a monster. But you’re not.
You’re heartless. Soulless. But you’re just a man. ”
That’s when he slams the pointed toe of his shoe against the fucker’s ribcage.
Aaron wheezes and struggles to escape, but we’re not letting him.
Easton kicks him several more times and even spits on his face before red and blue lights take over our vision.
There’s shouting and car doors slamming.
We’re pulled off Aaron roughly, and distantly, I wonder if we’re really going to jail.
Everything is so loud, I can’t make heads or tails of anything. Through the crowd, I find Easton, and he’s terrified. Big doe eyes filled with concern and looking right at me. My heart clenches. Car tires squeal and everyone quiets down.
“What the fuck do you guys think you’re doing?” an impossibly loud voice shouts. Someone tries to explain only to get cut off. “I know that you’re not trying to arrest crucial witnesses. And where is Isaac?”
A young guy explains that Isaac is on a call, and apparently that explains everything.
Apologies are handed out, and I find myself giving a statement.
It’s a process, and when I’m allowed to reunite with the others, I find Easton nearly in tears.
“No, you don’t get it. He’d rather let him die than tell you where he is. ”
Distantly, we watch as they yank that sick motherfucker off the ground.
His face twists in pain as his arms are shoved behind his back so they can lock the handcuffs in place.
Even through the choking tension of stress over Asher, there is a never-ending well of satisfaction seeing the back door of the cop car slam with Aaron behind it.
The defeated look in his downcast eyes. He can’t even look towards us now that he really has no cards left to play.
Good. He doesn’t deserve to ever lay eyes on Easton again.
The guy in charge, probably the chief that Blake took Easton to so he could file a report, nods in understanding. “I realize that this is stressful for you, but we have tactics for people like this. We’re going to do everything we can to find Asher. You’ve got to trust the process.”
That rubs me wrong. We’ve been doing that and look where we ended up. Blakely’s eyes are steely, but she reaches out and places her hand on his shoulder. “You’re right, Chief. We’ll do that. We appreciate how much you’ve done to help us this far.”
Easton looks betrayed. He can’t look away while they say their goodbyes. Slowly, things wrap up, and eventually, it’s just the four of us. “How could you?” Easton demands, lips quivering. “I thought—”
“Lovebug, that was fifteen minutes of us insisting that something had to be done and getting shut down. He was not going to change his mind. Come on. I need something out of my car.”
He’ll learn in time that if you can have faith in nothing else, Blakely Ellison is going to solve her own problems rather than wait for them to be fixed for her. I had guessed what she was planning just by the defensive way her arms were crossed over her chest during the conversation.
She takes off, and Brady follows. Easton is in my arms before they’re even out of sight, his thin arms trying to squeeze me in half. “Did he hurt you?” I ask when he loosens his grip, not that I’m really doing the same.
He shakes his head. “No. Brady didn’t tell me that punching him would hurt that much, though.”
It surprises a laugh out of me, but I check out his hand all the same. Nothing severe. Brady taught him well. “Feel good getting a little revenge?”
His answer is immediate. “He’s lucky I’m a better person than he is. If I wasn’t, he’d be dead.”
“Amen to that.”
Blakely comes back with something electronic in her hand, fiddling with it as she walks.
Brady makes eye contact with me and shrugs.
In another life, she’d run a successful criminal organization.
We try not to ask questions that would make us accessories to her activities.
The car beeps, unlocked, though I’m sure the cops have the keys by now.
Easton raises an eyebrow at me, and I cover his mouth with my hand. “I promise, you don’t want to know.”
She huffs. “Try saying thank you. One of us had to be smart enough to think ahead.”
“What the fuck are you going to do? Hack the computer system for an address or something?” I ask instead.
We crowd around her like a circus act, but all she does is check the navigation app.
“See? This is the problem with men. You guys have to overcomplicate everything. He’s not from here.
The only address that isn’t somewhere in the city in the recent history is where he’s staying.
Now let’s go before Isaac gets here to process this car. ”
She scares me sometimes, but damn she’s useful.