Chapter 27 #2
“Bold of you to try and give me orders when you’re not bargaining from a position of power. You’re trying to tell me you’re not the reason he cornered me at a charity gala and shoved divorce papers in my face? I don’t believe you.”
I clench my fists but stay silent. I need to get this guy out of here. The sound of footsteps and the squeak of a cart with a faulty wheel comes from nearby. If I can get someone’s attention maybe Simon will run away like the little rodent he is.
But he must sense the direction of my thoughts because the knife presses deeper.
“Do it and I’ll leave you bleeding in that supply closet over there for the fucking cleaning crew to find, and then I’ll do the same to your brother and that stupid little three-legged animal you’ve got living with you. ”
What the actual fuck? When could he have possibly seen my cat? How did I never know this guy was a level five axe murderer?
He doesn’t get much resistance after that when he drags me down the short hall to one of the fire exits. With a kick of his leg we’re out into the gloomy evening. And what a great time to realize the fire alarm doesn’t work on this door.
There’s a white van idling right in front of us.
I know better than to let him shove me in there.
I remember seeing a similar van when that supposedly drunk guy disappeared from that party.
We all know that guy wasn’t seen or heard from again.
But when I think about fighting back, I remember. My brother. Sebastian. Penelope.
What kind of sick fuck threatens a cat?
The shock doesn’t come when he shoves me in or when he binds my wrists with zip ties. It comes when the guy in the driver’s seat turns to look at me, and I see familiar blue eyes, hardened from time.
“Elijah?”
His smile isn’t like I remember. Not warm and wide, like it was when we’d secretly meet up to in that abandoned barn to fool around. It looks frozen. And cruel. Like the night we got caught together and he decided to throw me to the wolves.
“Hey there, Is.”
“I don’t understand what’s happening right now.”
How do these two fuckheads even know each other?
Tony slides the door shut on my kidnapping caravan and jumps into the front seat as if it’s a thing that happens every day. When he turns around he’s not holding the knife anymore. He’s holding a fucking gun.
He’s also looking way too pleased with himself. Dick.
“Here’s the thing, Simon, Isaiah, whoever the fuck you are.”
“Nobody’s called me Isaiah in a long time.”
I’m not counting my brother. He hadn’t gotten the memo.
Elijah’s turned around to start driving. I give my best bitchy glare to the back of his head.
“Whatever.” Tony waves the gun dismissively. “I don’t actually care. What I do care about is no piece of ass is good enough to lose my livelihood over, and you, my formerly favorite piece of ass, have fucked me good. But bad, because it’s not the good kind of fucked, you know?”
I’m…not sure I do. “I’m pretty sure you’re the one who fucked me.”
“So funny. There’s that smart mouth of yours. See, the thing is, I am completely certain I could have talked Sebastian down from his pissy perch if you hadn’t gone and started hooking up with him.”
This guy. “I hate to split hairs, Tony, but he kicked you out the second he caught you. And he’s the one who called Brennan and set something up with me. I would have been happier to stay out of it.”
No point in mentioning that I was the one jerking off over thinking about Sebastian inside me, Sebastian touching me, bruising me, so much that I’d stand in the mirror and admire the marks he gave me as they faded.
That each time we parted ways I hoped I’d see Sebastian again, even though I refused to admit it.
“Nah, see, you poisoned the well. You got in there with your tight ass and your sick kinky shit, and you turned him away from me. I’ve known Sebastian since before he was himself.
I helped make him. He has a soft spot for me.
We would have worked it out. But Sebastian is a monogamy kind of guy.
So once you were letting him gag you with his cock on the black satin sheets I picked out, he was all turned around.
You got your hooks in him, and now I’m fucked. See how you fucked me?”
How much did this guy see? “Not that I don’t hear the words you’re saying, but I still really don’t understand.”
Is it me, or is Tony’s logic the thing that’s really fucked? Not that I want to talk to Elijah, but I’m tempted to ask him what he thinks.
I guess that was the wrong answer, because the next thing I know he’s reaching into the back seat with his gun and wham. “Fuck!”
Right across the fucking temple.
“Nobody likes that smart mouth, Simon.”
Sebastian does. The thought makes my chest cave in.
I glance at Elijah. Then I try to figure out where the hell we are and where we’re going, but it’s too hard to tell from here. I’m seated on the floor of a van with no windows, and from where I am I can’t see anything out the front windshield except the sky.
“So what’s the point of all this? Where are you taking me?”
“I recently started a new business venture. One that pays me a hell of a lot better than the measly allowance I got for being Sebastian’s husband. One that involves the need for discreet transportation.”
Oh. Shit. “You’re the one getting Sebastian’s clients kidnapped. You’re selling out your own friends?”
“Not my friends.” He pretends to spit but doesn’t. Fucking weirdo. “Those assholes are influencers and content creators. Entrepreneurs.” He says the word the way most people say root canal or cockroaches. “My father always said new money is just losers who got lucky.”
“As opposed to your dad, who put hard working people out of jobs to get ahead, and then was dumb enough to lose it all?”
I get another pop to the temple. Now my ears are ringing.
“Keep it up.” Tony’s face is a creepy mix of glee and rage. “This’ll all be easier if you’re unconscious anyway. Should’ve drugged you like the others.”
Elijah finally pipes up. “We already decided that would be slower and might arouse more suspicion. My way worked fine, didn’t it?”
Hearing someone I used to love more than anything say “my way” in reference to throwing me in the back of a fucking van makes my insides go cold. I grit my teeth through the pain in my head and turn to face him.
“What about you, Mr. I-can’t-be-with-you-because-I’m-going-to-take-over-for-my-father-someday? How does the Lord’s Mouthpiece end up transporting his ex-boyfriend against his will?”
“Oh really? You didn’t tell me that part. Juicy,” Tony murmurs.
“Shut up,” Elijah snaps. “We were never boyfriends.”
I think back to all of our time together. My first kiss. The intimate touches. The whispered promises. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Tony seems to find this hilarious. “So, when I checked you out after I started fucking you…” He taps his forehead like I should congratulate him on his genius brain.
“I looked into your little farm too. Turns out they were having some money problems. Me and Elijah here struck a little business deal. After you started giving it up for my husband, we amended the agreement to include selling you off. You’re a hot piece of ass, so I know you’ll be popular.
And once we do, I’ll have Sebastian back again. ”
Privately, I think his plan has a few holes, but I don’t want to risk further brain damage to say so. Either way, I think I’m fucked.
As Tony put it, in the not good way.