Chapter 5
Bouncer School
Ivy
I blinked, then winced in pain. I had one helluva headache. Chad got migraines any time the weather changed. Everything I felt made me think of him, though I wasn’t nauseous.
I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.
The room was dim with only a sliver of yellowish-orange light coming in under the door.
Then I remembered I’d been taken. My entire frame tensed and I heard someone shush me.
I looked in that direction and saw Ryan sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.
“Where are we?” I whispered, sitting up on a thin, bare mattress.
“No fucking clue. I came to in the truck and we were rambling down a long-ass dirt road in the middle of the woods to this house. We could be anywhere within a forty-five minute radius of the bar.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I caught sight of the clock on the truck’s dash before the dipshit cut the engine.”
I rubbed the side of my head. “Is it normal for someone to be knocked out for so long? And how did they get me in here?”
Ryan stared at me for a moment. “They made me carry you inside.”
My head tilted. “With your hands zip-tied?”
He chuckled. “No. I told them I needed my hands free and they agreed.”
I bit my lip. “Sorry I wasn’t conscious. Maybe we could have—”
He shook his head. “No, they still had a gun trained on me. We have to bide our time.”
I started to nod, but stopped since it made my head throb. “Not to be self-centered here, but do you think I have a concussion after being out for forty-five minutes.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “You might have a mild one, but it’s not unusual for someone to be out for half-an-hour or so.”
“Do they teach that at bouncer school?”
He chuckled, then hissed. “Don’t make me laugh, and no. I learned that when my uncles taught me and Killian how to fight.”
“Oh.”
I couldn’t let myself dwell on the visual of him and his triplet learning how to fight.
The shaft of light under the door faded. I wrapped a hand around my neck, then shook my head. “Did you convince them to cut my zip-tie too?”
“No, they have my gun, and they remembered to take my phone at the last minute, but they didn’t take my pocket knife. I cut you loose after they locked us in this room.”
“They reversed the knobs?” I asked.
“Surprised you know they’d have to do that, but it seems so.”
“I’m in real estate. I’ve seen all kinds of trippy things people do to houses.”
I glanced around the room. It was bare bones, with a window that appeared to be boarded up, and a small doorless closet.
The mattress had seen better days, and I had to wonder if the hardwood floor wasn’t more comfortable – though it was probably dirtier.
Maybe. There wasn’t enough light for me to see how clean the mattress was.
“Chad’s gonna kill me,” I muttered.
“Is that your boyfriend?”
I laughed and let out an immediate short sigh. “Yeah, let’s agree not to make each other laugh. Chad is definitely my friend, but not my boyfriend. He likes men as much as I do, let’s put it that way. Actually, he’d say he loves them more.”
“Got it. Why is he going to kill you?”
“He told me not to go back to the bar without him, but I went anyway, and it seems he was right. It’s going to burn him up that he was right and he won’t be able to lord it over me because he’ll be worried sick when he finds out I’m missing.”
“We haven’t been gone that long. If we’re lucky, he won’t have to find out.”
My lips quirked to the side. “I’m thinking we have to make our own luck here.”
“That’s fair.”
“Anyway, he knew when I was supposed to get there, and I was going to call him when I was done. He’s going to be crazy with worry, if he isn’t already.”
I heard him take a deep breath. “You can’t do anything about that, so my advice, is to not think about it. Doesn’t do you any good.”
“Sure,” I muttered, not meaning it at all. Telling me not to think about something was like erecting a huge billboard with the word ‘Worry’ in big, bold, neon letters.
We lapsed into silence and at first it was oddly comfortable. Probably because we both had headaches. Then my curiosity went into overdrive and I knew I was in trouble.
Silence and curiosity made a poisonous combo. The silence was killing me, and my curiosity was eating at me from the inside out.
Still.
A big part of me wanted to know why he put himself between me and a gun, and a smaller part of me figured that was dangerous information. I supposed I needed to thank him. But, he could have been shot and I had no idea why that made me so angry.
“Stop thinking so hard. You’re making my headache worse,” he said.
My head snapped up and I sliced my gaze to him. “I’m making your headache worse? You’ve got yourself to blame, buster.”
He stared at me. Those blue eyes unreadable and unnerving.
My ears rang with the punishing quiet and I couldn’t stop myself.
“Why did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Get between me and that asshole?”
He looked away from me. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Putting yourself in that kind of danger always matters, Ryan. I just don’t know why you’d do it.”
That earned me his full attention. “You’re pregnant. Someone has to protect you and your baby.”
Much of my body dropped: my stomach pitched, my heart sank, and my mouth fell open while my eyes widened.
Then a deep-rooted, soul-lightening laughter bubbled up from my belly. I threw my head back and let it rip, even though it made my head throb.
Who’d have thought I’d laugh my head off during my first (and hopefully last) kidnapping?
That thought brought on another wave of hysteria and I clutched my stomach – which instantly reminded me of his words and I sobered.
“What the hell is so funny?” he demanded.
“You think I’m pregnant.”
He almost hid his lip curl. “Why else would you be looking for Lark about a private matter. You’re exactly the type he goes for.”
Ulk. More than I needed to know.
“You are…you couldn’t be more wrong,” I said, then held up a hand. “Come to think of it, no, you’re maybe twenty-five percent right.”
His eyes narrowed. “That’s nonsense. I’m either right or I’m wrong. There’s no percentages to it.”
I crossed my arms. “Is that why you have a problem with me? You think I’m pregnant.”
He hissed out a humorless chuckle. “No. It’s that a woman should know better and keep herself protected. After today, I see staying safe is a challenge for you.”
I pursed my lips then powered through my anger. “We’ll get to that last part in a moment, but do you really believe it’s the woman’s responsibility to prevent a pregnancy?”
He sighed. “No, it’s on Lark, too – hell, as often as he taps twenty-something-year-old ass, I’m shocked he didn’t take better care.”
So much to unpack here.
“I sense you have an issue with age gaps,” I said.
He shook his head. “No, it’s not for me. I could give a shit who a brother fu— sleeps with.”
I chuckled. “If you say so.”
“Are you gonna clear up your nonsense? I’m one-hundred percent right, not twenty-five percent.”
I tilted my head. “It’s not your business since it’s a private matter, but I’m not pregnant.”
“Whatever,” he interjected.
“Lark has a baby, yes, but I am that baby. That’s why I’m looking for him. He’s my biological dad.”
He put a finger to his temple and rubbed. “There’s no way. Lark just moved to Jacksonville two years ago, and you don’t sound like you’re—”
“Stop. You’re making all kinds of assumptions. My mom went to a sperm bank, chose to use his deposit based on the information he provided. I’m not wrong, and…should we get out of this alive, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell him. It’s my news to share.”
He stared at me like he was trying to figure me out then gave a slight nod. “Are you from Memphis?”
“No. We lived outside Atlanta until I was nine, and my stepdad got a great job offer in Jacksonville.”
His head reared back a touch. “Wait…you said your mom chose Lark – but you have a step dad. Did he get no say in—”
I waved a hand toward him. “No. Mom hadn’t found the right man, and had saved her money, so she decided to go for it.”
His expression shifted, and I couldn’t tell if he was shocked or impressed. “All alone?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. After she had me, she remained single. Her parents were around and helped her out a ton, though I don’t remember much of that since I was so little.
There was another man she was serious about until…
it fell apart. That forced her to explain things to me about my father situation much sooner than she’d have liked. ”
Luckily she hadn’t married Ed, but I didn’t want to share that.
I mean, Ryan’s attitude seemed a bit kinder now that he knew I wasn’t pregnant, but he obviously didn’t like me.
To be fair, I wasn’t too enamored by a man who jumped to conclusions like he was at a trampoline park, and he apparently judged women who were attracted to older men.
He might have claimed he didn’t care who Lark slept with…
but that didn’t ring true from the way he said it.
“You’re doing it again,” he muttered.
He sat on the floor with this back against the wall and his legs bent, resting his wrists on his knees.
“Doing what?”
“Thinking too hard. Whatever it is, let it go. We’re gonna need our energy.”
I arched a brow. “That’s easier said than done. I can’t understand why someone wanted to abduct us. I’m not even part of your world. Why not leave me behind?”
He flicked a hand up in a dismissive gesture. “Two possibilities. First is because you saw them, and they didn’t want you to report me going missing. Second, and I think this is more likely from a conversation I overheard earlier, Boyd thought you were my sister Mick.”
A nervous chuckle escaped me. “If he actually mistook me for your sister, he’d be especially dumb then, because she’s the definition of gorgeous.”
He stared at me for a long moment.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re ten times prettier than my sister.”
“Whatever. I wasn’t fishing for compliments, but thanks.”