Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Levi
Working with Paxton has been a lot of fun, Eros joined us for this project. I’ve learned a lot from him today and he didn’t glare at me once…at least not when I was looking. I suppose he could’ve done it when I had my back turned.
“So, I need to ask you something,” Paxton says to me.
“Busted.” Eros chuckles.
Oh fuck. Here it comes.
“Anything.”
“What are your plans with my sister? And with your career?”
I take a breath and decide that I’m going to tell him the truth.
“I love Felicity. She’s my future, my everything. As for the military? I’m not sure yet, I’ve asked Felicity what she thought about it. I love being a Marine, and until I met your sister, it was my one true love. But now that’s her and if I have to leave the military to be with her, I will.”
“Do you want her to move to Japan?” Paxton frowns.
“If that’s what she wants, yes. But I know that she doesn’t want to leave all of you and I’d never force her to do that.”
“And what about you? Your sisters live in Lake Renegade. Would you really be okay living here in Wintervale?”
“I told her that I thought maybe we could split our time between the two.”
“What did Lissy say?”
“We haven’t really talked about it in depth. But after I get back to the base, I can see what my options are. And then we’ll decide what to do together.”
“And what if she says that she wants to stay in Wintervale?”
“Then that’s where we’ll live. I’ll never force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. As for me, I’ll be happy as long as I have her.”
Paxton stares at me for a bit then nods his head.
“You have to understand that we’re all very protective of Felicity. We’re not saying you’re not good for her—”
“But no one’s really good enough for your baby sister,” I finish for him as he nods at me.
“Is anyone ever good enough for our sisters? I still don’t know if I actually like Kostas.” Eros shrugs.
Paxton and I laugh because we both know they all love Kostas. But I know what he means, I feel the same way about my sisters.
Eros’ phone rings and the look on his face gets serious.
“We need to get to the store now,” he says to us as he starts cleaning up faster.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Let’s get everything in the truck and then I’ll fill you both in.”
My stomach drops when he says that. We all start moving faster, but the whole time we’re cleaning up, I can’t help but worry that it’s my Felicity.
When Armando and Felicity were taken, I had a bad feeling that it wasn’t over.
We still don’t know why they never came back for them.
Maybe we got to them before they could come back?
Hopefully we’ll be able to find out. For now, I just hope my Felicity is okay.
We finally get everything cleaned up and get into the truck.
“That was Lukas on the phone.”
“Why didn’t he call me?” Paxton frowns as he drives.
“Because he didn’t know if you’d be working or driving. And he knows I’m just sitting around watching.”
“Okay, so what happened?” I ask.
“Maybe we should talk when we get to the store. I don’t like that you’re driving while I talk.”
“Well, it’s going to take us another fifteen to twenty minutes to get back to the store. And if you think I’m going to wait that long to find out what the fuck is going on, you’re fucking crazy.”
“Then pull over and let me drive,” Eros says to him.
Paxton frowns more, but pulls into a parking lot.
“Fine. Now talk.”
“Lukas found Armando laying on the floor by the bathrooms—”
“And Felicity?” Paxton blurts out.
I want to say something, but I keep my mouth shut.
“She’s missing. No one saw who took her, they’re taking Armando to the ER and then hopefully we can get some answers.”
And there it is, my worst fear come true.
Felicity
When we got outside the store, I thought about running. But the attendant has a gun and I don’t know if he’d use it on me…and I really don’t want to get shot.
I still don’t know their names and as of now, they’ve only talked to me when they had to tell me what to do. The attendant is sitting in the backseat with me as they drive to the motel on the far south end of Wintervale. It’s not an area that we go to often.
They park at the motel and the pilot turns to look at me.
“Remember. Don’t be stupid, just follow along and things will be fine. But if you force me to, I will hurt you.”
I want to scream at him and say that I haven’t done anything but cooperate.
And I feel stupid for it. I want to run and call Levi.
I need to know if Armando’s okay. I want to know who’s doing this and what they want from me.
I was hoping they would take me with them to register.
That way anyone in there would see me. And maybe I could alert the front desk people somehow.
But nope. The pilot goes inside and then moves the car to a side entrance.
I just need a few minutes alone to use my phone. They never took it from me. Again.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I say to them when we get into the room.
“Leave the door open,” the attendant says to me.
“Ew, no. Besides, where the fuck am I going to go? There’s no windows in there,” I argue with him.
“Fine. You can shut the door, but if you lock it, I’ll break it down.”
What a moron. I glare at him as I walk to the bathroom, hoping they don’t realize I have my phone.
Unless they don’t care? I make sure my phone is on silent before I send my text.
I usually keep it on ‘vibrate only’ while I’m at the store.
During the car ride, I could feel it vibrating.
And I prayed that the guy next to me couldn’t hear it.
I can see the text messages and phone calls I’ve missed.
I hurry to text in our family chat.
Felicity: I’m trying to hurry and send this.
We’re at the Tumbleweed Motel, room 159.
I don’t know their names, they keep calling each other ‘bro.’ It’s the same two guys from the plane.
I don’t know if they don’t care that I have my phone or if they just forgot.
But I may not have it for long. I’m okay.
Just scared. I’ll keep my phone in airplane mode in case I get to keep it. Tell Levi I love him
I hit ‘send’ and turn on airplane mode. Then I stuff it back into my pocket. Hopefully they’re just dumb and forgot I have it. Now to wait and see what happens. The waiting is the worst part.