Chapter 28 The Cheesy Ending
The Cheesy Ending
Tyler shot up in the bed. “That’s it!”
It was the perfect way to get Jordan back. He tossed off the covers, raced across the hallway of his father’s apartment, and pounded on the door of the other bedroom until Matthew opened it.
“What?” Matt asked groggily, his eyes barely open.
“I have a plan.”
“It’s already a bad idea.”
“Matthew.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. What is it?”
“So Jordan isn’t taking my calls and she probably doesn’t want to see me. And it got me thinking. Remember when we were brainstorming ideas of how to get Trisha back. You said if I can’t go to her, I need her to come to me.”
Naughtiness lightened Matt’s brown eyes. “Yeah.”
“And remember when you said—”
“Yeah, but you were all like…”
“I know. But I think it will work now.”
“She’s gonna be pissed.”
Tyler nodded. Jordan’s anger was much easier to deal with than Jordan’s hurt and he was willing to accept the raging ramifications of this plan. “She’s cute when she’s angry.”
The widest grin split Matthew’s face. “I love it! What do we do?”
“First we gotta get Neil on the phone and find out when she gets back home.”
“I’m on it.” Tyler was half-way to his bedroom when Matt shouted behind him. “What are we gonna call this one, Ty?”
He turned back and smiled. “Operation Stupid.”
“All set,” Matt said, zipping up a black duffel bag. “Neil said her flight just landed, so we better get going.”
They’d gone shopping yesterday and that small bag contained everything they needed for the plan.
“What are you two up to?” Roscoe asked, walking into the living room.
Tyler exchanged looks with Matt before meeting his father’s questioning gaze. “Dad, Matt and I are about to do something crazy.”
“Anything I should be worried about?”
Matt was already heading for the door. “Whatever happens just know that we love you, Pap.”
Tyler stood up as well and followed his friend out the door. He stopped once he was outside and placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. “It may be a good idea to have some bail money ready.”
“You boys are kidding, right?” Roscoe said, but they were already making their way to the elevators. “Right?”
The shout was the last thing they heard before the doors closed in front of them.
* * * * *
Jordan dragged her suitcase along the path leading to the door of her townhouse.
It was late and the plane ride home had left her exhausted.
Gemma, Miss Unpredictable, had left a few days ago and booked Roscoe and Princess into a pet hotel, but picking them up was tomorrow’s problem.
Right now all she wanted was to drop straight into bed.
Rustling in the bushes startled her and she looked around. It was too dark to see anything and this caused a slight wave of trepidation. She got out her keys and decided to get inside as fast as possible.
She had just opened the door when she felt an arm wrap tightly around her waist and a second later a cloth bag was placed over head.
She screamed, screamed as loud as she could until a hand slammed over her mouth to silence her.
Another pair of hands grabbed her wrists and bound them together with duct tape.
There were two of them. Panic flooded through her.
The person holding the upper half of her body removed his hand from her mouth and looped his arms under hers.
With her hands restrained, she went crazy with her lower half.
She writhed and swung her legs wildly. It connected with something and she heard a strained groan.
“She kicked me in the junk!”
Jordan immediately recognized the voice. “Neil?” She was utterly confused. “Is that you?”
“Just walk it off.”
Another familiar voice. “Matthew? What the fuck are you guys doing?!”
They ignored her question and she continued to twist and turn with vigor, thrashing her body so they would let go.
“She’s a little hard to control,” Matt said, tightening his hold under her arms.
“Get the chloroform,” Neil shot back.
“Tyler said we shouldn’t use it unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“You’d chloroform me?” Jordan shouted, swinging her body left and right. “You fucking bitch! You’d chloroform me? We are no longer friends!”
Neil lifted her legs up and they carried her down the pathway. “You don’t mean that.”
“What’s up with people calling dudes bitches?” Matthew asked. “It’s offensive.”
They shoved her into the backseat of a car and each one climbed in on either side of her. She was pissed off now, but as soon as she heard the doors close, she knew it would be pointless to continue fighting.
“Are you guys sure we’re not gonna get arrested for this?” an unfamiliar voice asked.
“I told you I can’t make any promises,” Matt responded. “But we are rich, so we’ll cover any legal costs.”
She heard the car start up and they slowly pulled away from the curb. “Okay.”
She still didn’t recognize that voice. “Who’s this guy?”
“Oh, that’s Fat Santa,” came Matt’s voice from her right.
“It’s Gary,” he corrected, sounding a little annoyed.
“We needed him to drive the getaway vehicle,” Neil said from her left.
She groaned her frustration. “I know who you are and I know where we’re going, so why is there a bag on my head?”
“We’re committing to the task,” Neil answered. “This is a kidnapping and we wanted it to be as real as possible.”
“Oh, please. Real kidnappers would have thrown me in the trunk.”
“Why didn’t we throw her in the trunk?” Neil asked and he sounded disappointed that he hadn’t thought of the idea himself.
“Neil, Tyler’s quite a passive guy,” Matt explained, “but don’t be fooled by that. If he found out we did that to her, he’d kill us both…Take a left here, Fat Santa.”
“I don’t even have the suit on,” Gary said from the front seat. “So it really doesn’t make sense why you’re still calling me that.”
“First impressions last,” was Matt’s flippant response. He tapped her shoulder to get her attention. “While we’re on the topic of kidnapping, could you maybe put a bit of a quiver in your voice when you speak to us? Make us feel like we did a good job of scaring you.”
“Fuck you!” she bit out. “You guys are the worst kidnappers in the world!”
“You wound me, Jordan.”
It didn’t take long before the car stopped again and Gary switched off the ignition. The doors opened and Matt tugged on her arm. “Could you just lean towards me so that I don’t touch you inappropriately?”
“Oh, now you care about what’s inappropriate. Just some advice for the future. Kidnapping is inappropriate!”
Neil pushed her to the other side until Matthew could get his arms under hers again. She heard the doors close and then Neil hoisted her legs up again.
“Gary, get the door,” Neil ordered.
She felt the warmer air and knew she was inside the apartment building. She had one last chance to get away. “Help!” she screamed. “Walt! Call the cops!”
“Should I be concerned, Mister Delaney?” he asked nervously.
“Just another Saturday, Walt,” Matt replied nonchalantly. “Just another Saturday.”
“Gary, hit the button,” Neil ordered again.
This Gary guy was proving to be quite useful. He was the free pair of hands.
“I don’t even wanna know what you do on a Saturday night for this to be considered normal,” Jordan commented.
They stood there for a while with her just hanging between their arms as they waited for the elevator. She heard a ding and they carried her inside. The ride up was quiet and her anger was rising with each passing second.
They carried her down the corridor and into Tyler’s apartment. She knew they were there because she could smell his cologne. She was dropped down onto a chair and then her legs were duct-taped to its legs.
The bag was removed from her head and her eyes narrowed as soon as she saw him. “Really, Tyler? Really?”
He smiled with amusement. “You wouldn’t take my calls.” He turned to the other men. “Thanks guys.”
They were all looking way too proud of themselves.
“Let’s go to Q’s,” Neil suggested. “Kidnapping makes me thirsty.”
Tyler high-fived Neil and Gary as they walked out, but he was a little more serious when he got to his friend, gratitude flickering in his eyes.
“Matthew.”
He nodded. “Tyler.”
And the hidden meaning behind that was only understood by the two of them. Matt tapped him on the shoulder, walked out, and closed the door behind him.
Now that they were alone, he was a little nervous. She was absolutely livid.
“The media is going to have a field day with this,” she taunted. “I’m gonna call them and tell them all about how this big-shot CEO got his minions to kidnap his ex-girlfriend who he was only using to get back his ex-ex-girlfriend.”
She saw the slightest hint of annoyance twitch on his face before he smiled at her mockingly. “And as soon as you can get to a phone, you go right ahead and call them.”
She was fuming now, realizing that she was tied up and completely at his mercy. “Fuck you!”
He dragged over another chair, placed it directly in front of her, and sat down. Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his thighs. “I’m ready to talk to you now, Roman.”
His use of the pet name instantly caused a lump in her throat and even though she tried to keep herself rigid, her voice was still shaky. “I don’t care.”
He reached out and gently stroked his thumb over her cheek. “I hurt you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. It was never my intention. You had some questions, which I was trying to avoid…but I’m ready to give you some answers now.”
“It’s really not gonna make any difference, Tyler. I was able to figure them out on my own.”
“I think you figured it out wrong.”
“Pretty sure I didn’t.”
He smiled. “You’re always arguing and I knew you weren’t going to make this easy for me.”
“Just let me go. I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”
“Let’s compromise for once. Ask me whatever you want to know and if you want to leave afterwards, I’ll let you go.”