Chapter Ten
Sophia
After Deuce left for The Riptide Rest , I got out of bed.
Willow had returned after polishing off the food she’d conned Deuce out of.
With her belly full, she hopped back up on the bed and lay down, only opening one eye when I started rummaging through the bags of clothing Mom had left outside the room after washing them.
I pulled out a pair of gray yoga pants and the pink sweatshirt with the paw print on it.
She was right about the yoga pants. They had enough stretch in them, I could gain twenty pounds and still get them on.
They also had the bonus of a cell phone pocket on the side.
These could easily become my go-to outfit for lounging around the house.
I gave Willow a little snuggle and left the door to the room open slightly when I headed downstairs. If she woke up and wanted out, she’d be able to nudge it open.
The kitchen was deserted. I poured myself another cup of coffee.
I could hear the murmur of voices from down the hallway, and I recalled seeing a games room yesterday when Deuce had given me a whirlwind tour of the clubhouse.
I followed the noise and found myself looking at a poker game.
The twin girls were there. I couldn’t remember their names, but they grinned and motioned me to come join them.
I wandered in and took a seat behind the players. Poker wasn’t a game I’d spent much time playing. I knew the basics, but I was a little hazy on which hands were the best and what beat what.
“Want us to deal you in?” Rattler asked.
I shook my head. “No, thanks. I think I’ll just watch for a bit and see if I can remember how it goes.”
The twins exchanged glances.
“What?”
“We’re trying to decide if you’re really don’t know or if you’re trying to hustle us.”
“Hustle you?”
“Yeah. Like you’re actually really good but you pretend not to be, so we take it easy and then you skunk us.”
I held a hand over my heart. “You’re safe. I promise. I can’t remember if it’s better to have all one suit, all one kind like kings, or a run of numbers like one two three four five.”
“In that case, care to join us and make a small wager?” Jake asked.
“No, thanks. I’ll just watch while I drink my coffee.”
“Too worn out from gymnastics with Deuce last night?” Rattler smirked.
“The walls around here are pretty thin,” the one twin explained.
I felt my face getting flushed. “I’ll keep that in mind. And no, I’m not too worn out.”
“So, Deuce didn’t satisfy you? Because my room’s right next to his and you were both pretty noisy. Multiple times.” The medic, Joker, pretended to study his hand.
“Deuce did just fine. Can we change the subject now?” I looked over at the twins. “I hate to admit it, but I’m not good with names. I remember you two are twins, and your father is Beast, but I can’t remember your names.”
“I’m Jasmine.” The taller of the two, a lithe brunette, spoke up. “My sister here is Jewel.”
“Thanks. I’ll try to remember but I make no promises.”
“Fair enough. There’s a lot of us, and it can get confusing.” Jewel put two cards face down on the table in front of her.
I gave her a grateful smile and settled back to watch the game. Money did change hands, but the amounts were small and the game seemed friendly.
My phone chirped, and I pulled it out, hoping to hear from Deuce. He had said he’d be about an hour so he should be done soon. Amazing how I could be missing him already.
I didn’t recognize the number, so I sent it to voicemail. Probably a request for me to sub in for a sick teacher, and that wasn’t likely happening until we got this abduction thing sorted out.
A few minutes later, it chirped again. Same number. The bookings clerks could be annoying at times, trying to find someone willing to sub in if the class was known to be difficult. I wasn’t up to dealing with a class full of hooligans right now, so I hit the decline button again.
I drank the last mouthful of my coffee and stood up. “I’m going to get a refill and let Willow out for a bit of a run.”
Rattler looked up from his cards. “Have fun, but keep in sight of the clubhouse.”
“No problem. Her legs are only six inches long, so a run isn’t exactly miles and miles.”
I headed to the kitchen, pulling out my phone to check and see if whoever phoned had left a message.
I hated the steps you had to go through to access voicemail. By the time I finished pulling up the program and hitting all the appropriate buttons, I’d refilled my coffee and was heading to the fridge to get the coffee creamer.
I hit “one” to play the most recent message. My mouth dropped open when I heard Janet’s panicked voice.
“I was so dumb to fall for this. Ignore them. Save yourself .”
Her voice cut off abruptly, to be replaced by a man’s rough tone demanding I surrender myself to them. If I did, they’d let Janet go. If not, they would send her to me piece by piece starting with her fingers.
The phone slipped out of my hands, landing face up on the floor.
I gagged, my stomach rebelling at the thought of my BFF being slowly butchered piece by piece because of me.
Deuce would never let me go trade myself for Janet.
As if conjured by my thoughts, he strode in the door. One look at my face, and he knew something terrible had happened. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
I stared at him, unable to speak. What could I say? I couldn’t let him stop me.
His eyes dropped to the phone on the floor, and we both made a grab for it at the same time.
He was faster than me, and stronger. He grabbed it, holding it over his head just out of my reach.
“No!” I pummeled his chest with my fists, screaming like a banshee. “Give it back!”
My dad appeared in the doorway, taking the scene in with a glance. Striding over to Deuce, he plucked the phone out of his hands.
Deuce wrapped his arms around me, holding me squirming and straining against him. “Play the message.”
My dad looked me straight in the eye and hit replay on the message. Janet’s voice hit me like a punch in the gut and I sagged against Deuce. Tears rolled down my face as I listened to the kidnapper list a time and place for a meeting. “I have to go.” I whispered. “She’s my best friend.”
My dad shook his head, his face a mixture of misery and sadness. “You know they won’t let her go. They’ll keep both of you.”
“But it’s my fault.” I turned and buried my face in Deuces’ chest. “It’s all my fault.”
“No, it’s the fault of a bunch of soulless assholes who need be taken down.
” Deuce hugged me tight. “We need to come up with a plan, and you need to promise me you aren’t going to do anything stupid.
If you go to them, they’ll just keep both of you or maybe kill Janet in front of you just for fun.
These people are the worst of the worst. Promise me. ”
He didn’t understand. I hated lying to him, but there was no other way. “I promise.”
“She’s lying.” My dad spoke up. “I can always tell.”
Deuce tilted my head up to meet his gaze. “Are you lying?”
“No.” He asked me to promise not to do anything stupid. I didn’t consider saving my best friend to be a stupid thing to do.
“Are you going to stay on the sidelines and let Riptide deal with this?”
I sighed. “That’s not what you asked.”
“I don’t want to have to lock you in our room to keep you from getting yourself killed.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”
A look of incredible sadness crossed his face. “I would, if it kept you alive.”
“I’ll deal with her. If she hates me for the rest of her life, so be it. You go tell the rest of your buddies what’s up and see if you can come up with a viable plan to rescue Janet.”
My dad grabbed my good arm and led me out of the room. “Let’s go find Willow. When you’ve had time to calm down, you’ll realize we’re right. We will get Janet back, but we’ll do it without throwing you to the wolves.”
At that moment, I was so angry I didn’t know what to do. Sitting calmly by, not knowing what they were putting Janet through, was sheer torture. Was she even still alive? Had my stupidity in using that dating app cost my best friend her life?
I heard Deuce holler something to Ace about church and I tried to wrench my arm away from my dad. “You have got to be kidding me! They’re going to go to church and pray for her?”
“Shhh.” He held me to him like he had when I was a little kid and crying about some stupid issue I’d thought was important.
“They call it church when they call a meeting of all the members. They’re going to brainstorm a solution, and then they’re going to go get Janet back.
I trust them. That should tell you a lot. You know how many people I trust.”
I frowned at him. “You barely know these guys.”
He shook his head. “But I do know them. They’re SEALs.
They may not wear the uniform anymore but deep down, where it really counts, they’re still SEALs.
Courage, honor, and commitment aren’t just fancy buzz words.
They’re ideals that every one of these guys live by every day of their life.
If it’s possible to save Janet, they will.
And if Janet is hurt, they will rain retribution down on the assholes who dared to lay a hand on her.
You could not have stumbled into a better group of guys. You can count on them.”
I had to hope he was right.
* * *
Deuce
I was heartbroken to have to forcibly put Sophia on lockdown, but at least she wouldn’t get herself killed. I knew her dad understood, which was a bonus. I wasn’t sure I had the energy to lock horns with him right now. I quickly updated Ace and played the message for him.
He called church. Immediately. And put everyone on high alert. That meant serious shit was about to go down.
The guys at the bar turned operations over to the prospects. The guys out enjoying the day turned around and made a beeline for the clubhouse. The guys already here dropped whatever they were doing and headed to church.