Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
SEVEN
“Good job!” Georgie says with a smile. “And thanks for all your help today, Seven.”
She has a new piercing, high on her ear. She said it hadn’t hurt when she’d gotten it.
Maybe I should get a piercing.
She would never want me to get a piercing. It would ruin my skin.
“No problem,” I mumble, and I collect my sweater so I can go back out to the casino. I’m supposed to meet Havoc and Vortex in an hour so we can all go do… something. They’ve both been on edge for the past few days but had caved when I’d suggested we do something together.
I need them to not be mad.
I’m almost to the lobby when I pause. I try to shake the feeling of being watched — or worse, followed — and for the first time, I really am grateful for the tracker in my calf.
Just in case.
My heartbeat picks up anyway, though, and I scan the lobby for signs of anyone I might recognize. There are security guards by the front door, and getting me out through here would be next to impossible without causing a scene, but I still don’t feel comfortable.
I’m about to head toward the reception desk to sit behind it so I feel better about the whole situation when I hear someone call out, “Seven!”
I swear I can recognize the voice, and I tense up — only to realize that no one from before would call me that. I don’t quite relax, but I look around again to try to pinpoint the source of the voice.
When I recognize Connie, Vortex’s sister, I resist the urge to groan.
She had to have been the one watching me. It’s a small relief.
I cautiously let her approach, but I eye her warily. “Hi,” I say flatly. My feet are already itching to flee to the suite.
Connie’s wearing colorful leggings and high-waisted, short-cropped jeans over them. Her sweater is open, revealing a loose t-shirt that has a similar color pattern to her leggings. Her large tote bag reads “TerMa.”
“Fancy running into you,” Connie says. “I was supposed to meet with Sebby, but he texted to say he’s running late.” She rolls her eyes. “He’s been late for forty minutes though. Looks like he’s dreading this meeting as much as I am.”
Is Vortex going to bail on plans with me to spend time with her now? I didn’t know he was going to meet up with her at all, let alone right before whatever it is I’m going to have with him and Havoc.
I shouldn’t be jealous. Connie is his sister.
My stomach twists.
I don’t want to think about sisters.
Connie doesn’t wear smart business suits though, and she isn’t mimicking her . There’s nothing about Connie that resembles my mother. Connie’s hair is a different color, her accent is different, she’s shorter and plumper and the only thing wrong with her is that she’s somebody’s sister.
Nearly every woman is somebody’s sister or mother .
“Maybe he forgot,” I say, my voice steady and emotionless.
“Probably,” Connie agrees, but there’s something off about her voice. She looks around the casino. “You wanna grab a drink?”
I stare at her, unsure of what she wants.
When she catches my look, Connie smiles awkwardly. “Look, I know you’re not underage, okay? I was only giving Sebby a hard time. He’s all ‘ooh, look at me, I’m big and scary,’ which makes it extra funny when he gets flustered.”
I don’t believe for one second that she was only trying to needle him. She’d gotten under his skin with her supposed teasing, and he’d been more than flustered. He’d been downright uncomfortable — and upset.
This only makes me dislike her even more.
My silence seems to make her uncomfortable. “C’mon. Let’s get a drink and let bygones be bygones. I’ll pay, too.”
I still have almost an hour to burn, and Vortex might have an easier time if Connie and I get along. I exhale slowly then reluctantly nod. “Okay.”
I follow Connie through the casino. We walk past the blackjack tables, and my feet automatically detour in their direction. Madeline’s table still has an empty seat. I could join in easily.
Madeline spots me, and a small frown crosses her features.
“Seven?” Connie asks. “The bar’s this way.”
I remember I’m banned from the tables, which makes my stomach roil, and my gaze snaps back to Connie. “What? Oh. Yeah.”
I wonder if she’ll buy me something to take the edge off. It’s worth a try, at least, and when we sit down at the bar, I order a rum and coke without ice. I know there’s a word for it, but I can’t remember.
This bartender gives me a once-over but must assume that I’m twenty-one because I’m in this part of the casino. He glances at Connie.
“A mimosa, please,” Connie says. She passes her credit card to the bartender, and he takes it without question. She swivels her chair to face me. “Okay. So… I guess I know nothing about you. Do you work at the casino too?”
Of course she has questions, but this is one I can answer safely now. I’m more than Caleb’s boyfriend now. More than Vortex’s, too, and Havoc’s. “Yeah,” I say, but I don’t want to let her quiz me on it. “Where do you work?”
“I’m self-employed!” Connie says proudly. “I run my own business selling fashion apparel online.” She gestures to herself. “You can see some of my goods right here.”
I look her up and down, trying not to show how ugly I think all of it is. But I’m trying to be nice, so I nod to her and put on my best sincere voice as I say, “You must make a lot of sales.”
Her smile turns brittle, but she nods. “Yep! Sales are great. I even brought two other women in to join the business.”
Okay, that had been the wrong thing to say, apparently. I file that away, trying to figure out a different line of conversation.
Thankfully, the bartender sets our drinks down in front of us while I’m still thinking. The mimosa Connie ordered is bright orange, which I hadn’t expected from an alcoholic drink.
I quickly pick mine up so I can taste it. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible, either. I wonder what her brightly-colored drink tastes like.
“That’s great,” I say. “Did you want me to text Vor— your brother? He probably got caught up in work.”
“Not really.” Connie twirls the straw in her drink, then takes it out and sucks on the end. “He’ll tell me, again, that I need to change my life, and honestly, I was kind of dreading meeting with him today. I don’t know if I’m ready to forgive him.” She sighs loudly. “He gets all high and mighty sometimes, y’know? Like he’s sooo perfect and he knows what’s best for everyone.”
I think about the tracker that I should resent. He’d been the one to bring it up, though for all I know, it had originally been Caleb’s idea.
Then I think about the way the three of them had ganged up on me to tell me I can’t gamble anymore, and my own expression sours. “Yeah,” I say with more sympathy than I expected to feel for her. “But I guess he means well.”
I down half my drink, wondering if she’ll let me get another when I finish this one.
“If you say so.” Connie drops the straw back into the glass, but she scowls at it. “These paper straws suck. Ugh. Anyway. Sebby. It’s not that I don’t get it. He really stepped up when our parents passed. But sometimes, I want him to let me figure out my own life, y’know? I’m not a pet he can order around.”
I bite back a hysterical laugh. Yeah. She isn’t some pet. Not like me.
“I don’t think he thinks you’re a pet or anything,” I say, peering down at my glass, which is almost empty. I’m already starting to feel the effects, though. The bartender must’ve poured mostly rum with only a little bit of soda, and I had been running late enough to where I’d only grabbed a granola bar to eat for breakfast.
“He thinks I’m still the kid he half-raised,” Connie says bitterly. “But he hasn’t figured out that he isn’t my daddy. He’s my brother.”
I nearly choke on the last sip of my drink. I start to cough, and she pats my back. “No,” I wheeze. “No, he’s not.”
But he is my Daddy, for better or for worse, and I have to trust that he and the others know what’s best for me… even if I disagree.
Connie takes a long sip of her drink, then sighs. “Anyway! You’re dating him. I shouldn’t talk bad about my brother. He’s a good guy, and if he’s happy with you, maybe he’ll stop getting all up in my life instead.” She laughs about that, but the laughter dies quickly. “You aren’t cheating on him, are you? Sebby said you weren’t, but I saw you with another guy.”
I wish I hadn’t finished the drink just because it had been there.
“I’m not cheating on him,” I tell her, but I don’t know how to put the truth. It’s not really my place to tell her. At the same time, I have a feeling she’s not going to let this go. “It’s complicated,” I say feebly.
“Yeah. Guess it’s none of my business.” Connie sits up straighter again. “But I’m gonna remind him of that the next time he judges my choice in boyfriends.”
“He really does mean well,” I repeat, gingerly touching her arm. It’s not much, a brief tap more than anything, but it’s the best I can muster. I should’ve texted Vortex or Havoc to let them know I was going to the bar, but it’s not like they can’t find me.
I swivel around in my seat, trying to spot one of them, but I freeze when I see a familiar face among the patrons of the bar.
The man from the night of the fight is sitting toward the back. He’s trying to appear casual, but when our eyes lock, he lifts his glass in a mockery of a toast. He downs the rest of his drink, then in what appears to be slow motion, he leaves the bar.
He wanted me to know he was there.
He wanted me to know I was being watched.
A strangled sound escapes me, but I don’t even realize I’ve made it until Connie speaks up.
“Hey, Seven? You okay?” Connie asks quietly. She reaches out to touch my wrist.
I yelp and recoil, nearly falling off the bar stool.
Connie flinches. “Jesus, what the hell?”
“Sorry,” I say quickly. “I need… I need to go.” But do I? If I leave, he’ll be in prime position to grab me. “Wait. No. I need?—”
I open up my text messages, going to my group text with Caleb, Havoc, and Vortex. I quickly type out a message.
Saw the man from the fight!!! In the bar with Connie.
The first one to type back is Caleb.
I’m on my way back from a meeting. Driving into the parking garage now.
I glance up at Connie, who is looking at me with concern. “I need your help,” I say.
“Help?” she repeats. “What do you need? ”
“I need to get to the parking garage,” I tell her. “It’s… I’ll explain. But we need to go now.”
Part of me is screaming that I shouldn’t leave the bar, but I need Caleb right now. Security is everywhere on the premises, but I don’t know who’s safe.
Maybe no one is.
Maybe she has paid someone off on the inside.
The panic claws at my insides, and I get down from the bar stool, steadying myself with a hand on the bar. “Keep an eye out for anything weird,” I say, going for the exit from the bar at a near-jog.
Connie follows me, her bag thumping against her side. “Should I call security? The cops?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “It’s not safe. Just need to get to Caleb. He’ll know who’s safe.”
Everyone around us could belong to them. Everyone . I bite my lip to fight back a whimper, not wanting to embarrass myself any more than I already am.
“Yeah, guess not. The pigs are all in league with the mob,” Connie mutters. We’re nearing the exit to the garage. “I’ll call Sebby though, okay? He’ll know what to do.”
“Y-yeah,” I say, glancing at my phone. “I texted him, but I don’t know if he saw.” My breaths are coming quickly, and I feel like I’m going to hyperventilate.
If I don’t get a hold of myself soon, I will, so I try to remember how to breathe.
The security guard at the door looks at me strangely, and that panic bubbles up again as I wonder if he’s going to be the one to grab me. We get through the door without incident, though, and I realize I didn’t even ask Caleb which floor he’s on.
“ Fuck ,” I say emphatically, because if there was ever a time to use that word, it’s now.
Connie holds her phone up to her ear. “Sebby, no, I don’t care that you missed lunch— shut up and listen to me, Jesus. Your boyfriend—it doesn’t matter why I was with him! —oh my god, will you let me speak?”
I hear the clack of shoes against concrete. I look in that direction, my breaths coming faster.
It’s Caleb, jogging our way.
“Seven!” he shouts. “Why are you out here?”
I run to him, throwing my arms around him as relief fills me. “Because you’re safe,” I tell him, my voice muffled against his dress shirt. “Because I needed you. Because I’m scared,” I babble.
He strokes my hair. “I’m here,” he says. “Come on, we need to get back inside. I alerted security already.”
Connie steps up to us. “I’m with your boss. At least, I think this is Caleb Spade. He’s not as hot in real life as in his profile picture online.”
I hear Vortex’s muffled voice through her phone, but I focus on Caleb’s warmth.
“Yes, it’s me,” Caleb says loudly. “Vortex, we’re in the garage. I called up to?—”
The loud squeal of tires echoes through the garage.
I tense and cling even harder to Caleb.
A dark van pulls up to us.
“What the hell?” Connie says.
The side doors slide open, and a man wearing a face mask points a gun at us. “Into the van, kid,” he says.
I’m going to throw up.
If I refuse, though, they’re going to shoot someone — and it won’t be me. I’m not naive enough to think they’ll hurt me, but I can’t be responsible for anything happening to Caleb.
I don’t want anything to happen to Vortex’s sister, either.
I let go of Caleb. My voice wobbles as I tell the masked man, “Okay. Okay, I’m coming. Please don’t—” My voice cracks. “Don’t hurt them.”
“No,” Caleb says, pushing me behind himself. “You aren’t taking him. And you’ll lower your weapon and drive off if you know what’s good for you.”
The masked man laughs.
Connie screams.
Caleb and I both turn around to see another man grabbing Connie. Her phone clatters to the garage floor.
“Get in the van, pretty boy,” he says.
My world stutters and stops, and I sag, almost losing my balance. Caleb grabs me, but I don’t know what to do. I try to push past him.
“Remember,” I urge him, trying to get him to think of the tracker, but I don’t want the man in the van to understand what I’m talking about. “Remember you promised to keep me safe. Don’t let them shoot you.”
“Listen to the kid,” the man with the gun says. “Fuck, we don’t have time for this. Get them both in the van.”
Caleb looks like he wants to fight, and I squeeze his wrist. “You said… you said never to negotiate if you aren’t,” I whisper, “if you aren’t sure you’ll win.”
Caleb grits his teeth. “Okay. We’re both coming,” he says. He takes my hand and squeezes it, then leads me into the van. He steps in first, and I’m stupidly grateful that I’m not going to be doing this alone.
I blink away tears as I get into the van. The masked man pokes me with his gun. “Into the back, both of you.”
“Don’t hurt the girl,” Caleb demands. “She’s not involved in this at all.”
The man from the bar shrugs, then shoves Connie away. She stumbles and lands hard on the concrete, her head slamming into the ground.
I watch as he picks up her phone and flings it against a concrete pillar. Connie doesn’t get up.
The van door closes.
“You’re making a mistake,” Caleb says, his hand still tight around mine. “Do you know who I am? ”
“Some rich entitled gambler?” the masked man asks with a laugh. “Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll fill it with bullets.”
I cling to Caleb, trying desperately to stay calm. The men pull me away from Caleb and secure my wrists behind my back with cable ties, and I can only watch as they do the same to him.
The van takes off, and I try to remind myself that Havoc and Vortex can find us both. As long as we’re alive, things will be okay.
They have to be.