Chapter 30 Casey
CASEY
My stomach empties into the trash can. It’s like I have no control over my reaction to seeing a text from Charles. Seeing my given name from the man I despise more than anything. Seeing the message.
Unknown Number: Can’t wait to see you, Orion. We have so much to catch up on.
The accordion door separating the front of the RV and the back opens. Kendra and Hayden spill out from the bedroom.
Dallas runs a hand over my back. I kneel on the plush carpet with the trash can between my hands. Hopefully Kendra didn’t get the text too. Hopefully, she’s safe. I spit into the trash can.
Kendra fills a glass with water and hands it to me with a paper towel. All the while, Dallas doesn’t leave my side.
I spit again before wiping my mouth and taking a gulp of water to spit into the sink. “Thanks.” My legs shake as I walk the few feet to the bathroom to dump out the sick and rinse the trash can out. I’m pale as fuck in the mirror when I pass. The RV is too quiet. I swallow and take a deep breath.
“He texted me. He has my number.” My stomach boils again, but I hold back the bile this time. Charles has intentions of finding me.
Kendra grabs my phone and glares at the message. “How? You don’t look a damn thing like you did when he knew you. You don’t go by that name. And every promo or social media post never has your red hair.”
“I don’t know. But you didn’t get a message, right?”
She shakes her head. “Maybe we can use this to our advantage. Get him to agree to a meeting, then ambush him.”
“He’s probably anticipating something.” I run a hand through my hair. “What the hell do we do?”
Dallas pulls me to his side. “Rest for now. We’re still hours away, then you have your tank set up scheduled.
We don’t know when he’s planning on getting there.
I can look over his socials to see if he says.
Study him a bit. We haven’t posted anything yet, so he doesn’t know we’re involved. I can reach out. Dinner or something.”
I love that Dallas is willing to help, but I don’t want him to get hurt. Mostly, I want to confine him in bubble wrap to keep him safe.
“Yeah!” Hayden says. “We can propose some collab about working out while traveling and see if he takes the bait. Invite him to dinner, then POW!” He slams his fist into his hand. “Something. Dunno. But the four of us can take him.”
“And if he has accomplices?” I ask. Surely he still has connections, otherwise how the fuck did he get my number? Charles wasn’t one for tech, but maybe I’m wrong.
“Exactly,” Dallas says. “Maybe we can sneak something into his drink, then we can take him to a secret location. You can let Nightmare do his thing, then we finish him off.”
Kendra nods as if she’s going along with it. “You know, that’s really an excellent idea.”
I sigh. “Okay, message him in the morning. We’ll see if we can catch him. If not, I might have to be the bait to lure him out. And I kind of hate that idea.” Just the thought makes my stomach turn again.
“It’s the start of a plan,” Kendra says.
Dallas kisses the side of my head as he squeezes me closer. “Let’s try to get some sleep. It’s going to be another long day on the road.”
“Okay. Okay.”
Kendra and Hayden retreat back to the bedroom.
“You know,” Dallas says. “I think Hayden is excited about the idea of catching this guy.”
“I know I am,” I say.
Dallas settles back onto the couch and I slide in next to him. He wraps me in his arms, and I snuggle as close as I possibly can. We’re about to hunt and I want to absorb all the cuddles I can in case everything goes wrong.
Instead of sleeping, I stare at Dallas’s rising and falling chest. He fell asleep hours ago and my brain is too loud. The plan is good, I’ll give him that. As long as Charles isn’t already at Influencer Con and doesn’t see us together.
I warm up a Pop-Tart for breakfast. The others don’t have to be awake for us to hit the road. As soon as I finish my last bite, I hop into the driver’s seat and get the day started.
That, of course, wakes everyone else up because they were not expecting to be in a moving vehicle at six in the morning.
Dallas doesn’t even say anything and buckles into the passenger seat.
“What the hell, Casey?” Kendra says while still wiping sleep from her eyes. “We agreed on nine.”
“Couldn’t sleep. Needed to do something.”
She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “It’s fine.”
“Besides. We’re going to have to rent a car. Dallas and Hayden can’t show up with us if we’re going to do the plan.” I turn to Dallas for two seconds before focusing on the road again. “Good thing you didn’t cancel your hotel room. Until after you get that meeting, we can’t be seen together.”
He frowns. “Didn’t think about that.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll still have our fun.” A wicked part of me wants to take out Charles before the con even starts and watch everyone scramble to try and figure out what happened to him.
“Messaging him now,” Dallas says, and my stomach turns again. I really hate the idea of Dallas getting involved.
Kendra retreats back to the bedroom and Hayden works on his laptop from the dinette.
Dallas swallows beside me. “He said yes. Asked if we can have dinner tonight to discuss things before the con gets started. He says he’s been watching my content for years. That makes me sick.”
I want to reach out, but we’re too far away.
“Let me find someplace before you tell him yes,” Kendra says.
I hadn’t realized she came back out to join us again.
She furiously types and she’s quiet before she slaps the table.
“Tell him Readmont’s on 6th. It’s fancy, but there’s an abandoned building next door.
We’ll get it rigged up for a show and we can have our fun. ”
“We’re doing this,” Dallas says.
“We’re doing this.” I grin and bounce in my chair. We’re taking Charles down tonight.
Tonight, everything fucking changes.