43. Chapter Forty-three
Chapter Forty-three
Deacon
When I first noticed Phoebe was running late, I chalked it up to her getting caught up in conversation with Hailey or Linda. That wasn’t uncommon, but she should have been at Joy’s thirty minutes ago.
Nursing a Coke, I checked my phone again. No response from her yet. A sense of wrongness sat heavy in my gut.
Across the bar, Caleb Kelly leaned against the scuffed wood, his broad frame relaxed as he sipped a beer. He caught my eye, lifting his bottle in acknowledgment.
I slid off my stool and walked down to him, leaning an elbow on the bar, my phone clutched in my hand. “Have you heard from Phoebe today?”
“I haven’t.” He twisted his stool to face me. “Is she supposed to be meeting you here?”
My phone vibrated against the counter. A number I knew too well.
Richie.
I exhaled through my nose, rolling my shoulders back like I could shake off the weight of my brother’s name. I let it ring. Hearing from Richie was the last thing I needed.
“Not gonna get that?” Caleb asked, watching me over the rim of his bottle.
“It’s my brother.”
He nodded in understanding. That was all the explanation I needed to offer. No one wanted to talk to Richie.
Caleb put his drink down. “What’s going on with Phoebe?”
My phone began vibrating again. Richie’s name on the screen sent ice down my spine. It wasn’t unusual for him to call more than once if I didn’t answer, but stacked on top of Phoebe’s absence? Yeah, I was troubled.
“She’s late and not answering her phone,” I muttered, staring at the screen. A split-second decision had me swiping to answer. I lifted it to my ear. “Richie.”
“There you are, Deke. I was beginning to get worried you were ignoring me.”
“I’m trying to. You’re not making it easy. Is there a point to this phone call?”
“Oh yeah. Listen to who I’ve got here with me.”
I heard shuffling, a muffled sound, then Richie’s cruel demand. “Speak, bitch. There’re a lot of ways I can hurt you without you dying.”
“Deacon.”
My heart stopped.
No, that wasn’t—
“Phoebe?” I had to be hearing things. Oh hell, that couldn’t have been my girl’s tremulous, terrified voice.
“Deacon, don’t do anything he says. He’s got me at the compound—”
Whatever else she was going to say was cut off with a roar. Richie shouted expletives at her, ranting she’d better hope I did what he wanted, or she was going to be eating bullets. He kept going, but my blood was whooshing hot and heavy in my ears, making it hard for me to catch all of it.
Caleb was on red alert, pushing off his stool and moving close enough to hear Richie’s tirade. When I met his gaze, something lethal burned in his eyes.
“He’s got Phoebe.”
His inhale was sharp, massive fists clenching into boulders. “ No. Hell no.”
Somehow, our voices cut through to Richie. He stopped screaming and started talking again. “You know what I need you to do, Deke. I’ll keep your girl nice and safe until you do that favor we talked about. Then I’ll return her to you. Not a hair on her head’ll be harmed so long as you follow through.”
“You think I’m going to let you keep her overnight? What’ll stop me from sending the cops out there right now?”
Joy dropped what she was doing at the other end of the bar and hurried to me, leaning in so she could hear the conversation.
“Because I’m fucked if you don’t do this drop for me. That means I’ll put a bullet through your girl’s skull and one in mine. If I’m fucked, so are you.”
I should’ve been scared. Maybe I was. But molten, raging fury burned through every nerve, drowning out the fear.
This was my big brother. My own flesh and blood. The person who was supposed to be my friend, my protector, someone I looked up to. He should’ve been like Caleb—the kind of brother who looked ready to tear the world apart for his sister. Richie had never been that. He’d always been the one shoving me headfirst into trouble since we were kids. Even when I’d done everything I could to save us both.
“You’d do that to me?” I spat. “After I went down for you? You took four fucking years of my life, Rich. Four years. Does that mean nothing?”
Joy put her hand on my shoulder, and as firm as her grip was, it did nothing to reassure me. I needed Phoebe safe in my arms for that to happen.
“I thanked you,” he scoffed. “You’re not some kinda god just because you went to prison.”
Black coated my vision. “I went to prison for you ,” I shouted. “I could’ve cut a deal to give you up, but I never did because you’re my brother. I’d never sell you out. I sacrificed four years for you, Rich. Four years! And this is how you repay me? You take my girl?”
He sniffed. “I need help, man. Just one more time. Help me out, and I’ll leave you alone forever.”
“You leave so much as a bruise on Phoebe, I will tear you apart myself.”
I slammed my fist into the bar, rattling glasses. Caleb didn’t flinch, his stance coiled, ready.
“I’ve sacrificed enough for you. My life, Richie. You let me give up my life, and now you’re trying to take more. When’s it enough? You want my liver? How about my lungs? You’ve already got my fucking heart. Might as well take it all.”
“You always were dramatic,” Richie stated, like nothing I’d said had even made a dent. “Just do what I asked and everything will be fine.”
“Fuck you, Rich. I don’t know what I did to make you hate me, but congrats, brother, I hate you just as much.”
“I don’t hate you. I never have. That’s not what this is about.”
“If it wasn’t, you’d be doing the drop yourself.”
Silence stretched for a beat. Then, quieter, “I have too many eyes on me. It’s gotta be you.”
Phoebe’s voice broke through like the sunshine on a cloudy day. “Someone’s here, Richie. Are you expecting anyone?”
Floorboards creaked loud enough under his feet for me to hear them. “Shit. Fuck. This isn’t good.”
Then chaos exploded through the speaker.
Shouts, scuffling, Phoebe screaming, Richie cursing, another man yelling…
The unmistakable crack of a gunshot.
The call cut off.
I stared at the black screen in my hand, pulse hammering in my ears. Before I could move, Caleb snatched the phone and pressed it to his ear. His jaw tightened. “He’s not picking up.” His voice was raw, furious. “Where the hell is my sister?”
“Richie took Phoebe?” Joy asked.
A strange numbness spread through my limbs. “A gun went off.” My voice sounded foreign, distant.
Joy was already reaching for her phone. “I’m calling the police.”
Caleb’s hand fell on my shoulder, forcing me back into the moment. “You know where she is?”
I nodded.
That had been a gunshot. Phoebe had screamed before…then nothing. Nothing.
Caleb’s jaw rippled with barely restrained fury. “We’re not gonna wait around for the police. They can follow us.” His grip intensified. “You and I are going to get my sister back.”