Chapter 1Rachel #3
“I promise you I usually don’t look that crazy; the hair was a bet,” Biker Boy says, as if he’s ashamed.
I stare him down with a smirk, seeing right through his lie.
“Fine, I do look this way all the time; way to make a guy feel self-conscious,” he says with a tone that screams “offended,” but his eyes and devilish smile tell a different story.
This guy knows he’s hot. He doesn’t have a problem with confidence.
I open my mouth to say something, but a loud bang from my front door catches me by surprise. “What the hell?” I shout to Noah, who’s already running down the stairs.
“Watch him,” Noah shouts back at me, putting me in charge of the smirking little devil with blue hair I thought it was a brilliant idea to kidnap.
Fuck, my mother was right. I do need therapy sessions.
I need to double them. I need to book my damn therapist into infinity.
I should buy him a car or a giraffe to thank him for his service.
“Why do you look so pleased with yourself?” I raise an eyebrow, watching him closer. He looks like he knows exactly what’s happening.
“Because, my sweet little criminal, I might have made a little video and posted it to all my social media while you and your friend were busy doing whatever you were doing downstairs.”
“We were reading. It’s book club night,” I say without thinking, then realize what he said. “You did what?” I yell. “Who the hell films his own kidnapping? And how? Your hands are tied!” I practically scream the questions at him now.
Biker Boy stands, the rope falls to the floor, and he shakes his head at me. “You really need to learn how to tie knots, little criminal. It was too easy to get out of this rope.”
“And instead of... I don’t know... leaving, for example, you thought, ‘This would make great content for my social media accounts,’ like every normal human would do,” I point out. But instead of Biker Boy, a stranger speaks, and I turn to look at the source of the deep voice I just heard.
“It sounds kind of funny if you put it that way, but it’s very on-brand for him.” The stranger steps closer and offers his hand for me to shake. “I’m Leo, nice to meet you. And you are?” he asks. My eyes drift past him to Noah, who’s standing behind him.
He throws his hands up in the air. “Don’t look at me. This dude kicked your door down, introduced himself, and told me he’s here to pick up his friend.” He tilts his head to the side so he can see behind me and talks again, this time to Biker Boy instead of me. “I’m guessing you’re his friend.”
“Bingo,” Biker Boy laughs. “You’ve guessed correctly.”
Leo, who has been left hanging with his hand still in the air, looks at me, then at his friend.
He lowers his hand and this time talks to his friend, ignoring everyone else.
“You posted a video with the caption ‘Help, I’m being held captive,’ then shared your location with me and turned your phone off.
” What the hell? And did he say this is on-brand for Biker Boy? Who the fuck did I choose to kidnap?
“I got bored; little miss kidnapper over here decided to host a book club instead of attending to her poor captive.” Biker Boy plays the victim all dramatically, and if I didn’t know better, or if I hadn’t been in this room for the last thirty minutes, I might have believed him.
Top performance right there. This dude deserves an Oscar. Someone should give him an acting role.
“I would like to take the opportunity to point out that you could have kidnapped literally anyone else,” Noah says, and Leo nods.
“He’s kind of right; you’re not good at making decisions, are you?” Leo jokes.
“She really isn’t,” Biker Boy chimes in.
Jesus Christ. “Can you all leave my house, please? This was clearly a mistake.” I feel defeated, and the only thing I want now is to go back to my book. Social media clearly lied to me. This is not fun.
“Of course, and don’t worry; he won’t be pressing charges,” Leo says as he pulls Biker Boy by his sleeve. “Come on, lover boy, we’re not wanted here anymore.”
“But I didn’t get to play with the pretty girl yet,” Biker Boy pouts as he is dragged away by force.
“You shouldn’t have posted a video for a rescue if you wanted to play, pal. Come on now; I’ll buy you tacos,” I hear Leo tell him as they go down the stairs. Noah and I walk right behind them, stunned. Is this really how this ends?
“How do we know he won’t actually call the cops on her?” Noah asks the question we’re both thinking.
“He was into it more than you think, handsome.” Leo smiles at Noah, then turns to me and winks. “Seriously, girl, you could have picked anyone else.”
“Tell me about it,” I mumble, following them to the front door.
They leave without looking back, and I close my door the best I can, securing it for now with the bolt. This is a problem for tomorrow.
When I turn around, Noah is standing there with his arms folded across his chest. “Any other great ideas I should know about? What’s our weekend looking like? Will you rob a bank? Perform a satanic ritual?”
“So funny,” I say, annoyed, as I walk to my living room. Noah follows me. He’s talking, but I’m far from present enough to listen. I grab my wine glass and drink the contents at once. This was a disaster.