Chapter 27
Royal
“You could always stay,” April says as we walk to the bus station.
“I wish it were that easy,” I tell her.
“It could be. We could make mom leave,” she adds.
“That wouldn’t be easy either. I can’t stick around, April. I’m sorry. If I could take you with me, you know I would.” She nods her head before throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me. I hug her back and pull her in close. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Royal. When I’m eighteen I’m out of here,” she says softly.
“When you’re eighteen, we’ll figure it all out.”
“I’m glad you came. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you.” When she pulls away, I reach up and wipe the tears from her cheeks.
“I know, and I’m sorry it took me so long. There’s just a lot of shit going on.”
“And the money. I get it. I told you you don’t have to send me that much anymore. I’ll be fine,” she tells me.
“You need it more than I do. Living with her has to be hell,” I say, already knowing the truth. I lived it once, and I never want to go back to that again.
“You were right. Give her what she wants, and she leaves me alone,” April says sadly.
“I know this is fucked up, April. I wish it were different.”
“It will be one day, right?” she asks. I nod and pull her into another hug, holding her a little longer this time.
“I’ll keep time on the phone. Just call me,” I tell her before sending her on her way. I watch her walk back the way we came, and it breaks my fucking heart to leave her behind, but what the hell can I do? I can’t have her sleeping, only God knows where, as I do.
I board the bus and get settled in when my phone chimes. I open up and see a picture, so I click it to make it larger.
“What the fuck?” I ask myself when I see it’s River. Tears stream down her cheeks, and her wrists are cut. Did she try to kill herself? She wouldn’t do that. Would she? I close the picture and look at the next message.
“You shouldn’t miss fights,” I read out loud. This was Brent. That motherfucker. If he did this to her, I will kill him. I will fucking gut his no-good ass for laying a hand on her.
I debate calling him, but I don’t want him to know I’m coming. Instead, I dial Jeremy and pray he has time on his phone.
“Yeah?”
“Where the fuck is River?”
“How should I know?”
“Brent sent me a photo of her with her wrists cut, Jeremy.”
“What the fuck? She wouldn’t do that.” That’s the same thing I was thinking.
“I didn’t think so either, and it came from Brent’s number. If he did this …”
“We’ll kill him,” he growls into the line.
“Don’t do shit until I get there. I’ll meet you at the warehouse.”
“We’re going to handle this, Royal. There’s no way in hell we let him hurt her.”
“No shit. That’s going to fuck us over, you know that, right?”
“I know. We’ll figure out something else.”
“Glad we agree. I’m not letting him take this shit out on her,” I tell him as my heart pounds in my chest. I’m so pissed right now, but there isn’t anything I can do while I’m on the fucking bus on the way back.
“You on the way?”
“Yeah, I’m on the bus. I just don’t know what the hell she’s doing. How did he get to her?” I ask more of myself.
“It’s hard to say. Maybe she came looking for you,” he says.
“I don’t know. This is fucked.” I run my hand over my face and sigh.
“We got this. Don’t worry until you get back. Try to stay calm.” The line goes dead, and I pull the phone away from my ear, sliding it back into my pocket. Stay calm. How the hell do I stay calm when I’m this pissed off? He hurt her. He had to have hurt her. River wouldn’t do this to herself.
The bus ride seems to take forever, and then I have to change buses. It’s all a bunch of bullshit, and as soon as I get off the last one, I take off running toward the warehouse.
As soon as I get inside, Jeremy is there waiting.
“I’ve been asking around,” he says.
“And?”
“Brent has her. He’s pissed you missed the last fight.”
“So he took her?”
“Looks that way. He’s holding her at the gym from what I can find out.”
“He’s a dead man, Jeremy. I don’t give a fuck if I go down for this either. He’s dead.”
“Leave no witnesses,” he adds.
“I’m serious. You can’t get involved in this. I won’t let you go down too.”
“That’s why we’re not leaving witnesses, Royal. Neither of us is going down,” he says as he reaches for the bag on the floor and pulls out two guns. He passes me one, which I take and shove into the back of my jeans, turning to head for the door.
“No plan?”
“Yeah. Kill him,” I reply before stepping out the door. Jeremy is right behind me as we head toward the gym. Anger burns inside me like I’ve never felt before. I can’t believe he’d actually do this. I can’t believe he has her.
Rage slowly begins to consume me as we make it to the gym. I glance around, and there isn’t anyone here right now I need to worry about, but I’m sure Brent has guys inside watching her.
I storm through the door, pulling the gun from my jeans as I go. Jeremy is right behind me, ready to go too.
“Back rooms?” Jeremy asks. I nod my head because that’s the only place he could lock her in. I open the first door, but there’s nothing. Jeremy moves to the next door, but she’s not there either.
I stop at the last room, and the door is locked. I motion to Jeremy that she has to be in this one. I unlock the door and shove it open, ready to fire when I see her on the floor curled into a ball. I glance around quickly, but there’s no one here.
“River?” I call her name, hoping like hell that she isn’t gone, or that those cuts weren’t deep enough. She slowly lifts her head and sobs when she sees me. I shove the gun back into my jeans and drop down next to her while Jeremy watches the door.
“I was looking for you,” she cries as I lift her in my arms and cradle her against me.
“I’m so fucking sorry I wasn’t here. Who did this?”
“Brent made Jim do it,” she sobs as she clings to me. I nod my head and stand on my feet.
“You shoot anyone who comes in,” I tell Jeremy. He nods his head, and we follow him out of the room and back down the hallway. Strangely, he doesn’t have anyone watching her, but I guess she wasn’t going anywhere.
We make it out and head back down the block to the warehouse. I set her on the floor, grab the first aid kit we keep, and clean her wrists up before bandaging them up.
“What were you doing here?”
“Looking for you. I couldn’t be there, Royal. I don’t belong there.”
“Did they find you here?”
“No. I went to look for you at the gym, and he grabbed me before I could leave. He said you missed a fight,” she tells me as I wipe her tears.
“Fuck, River. I’m sorry.”
“Stop. You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” she tells me.
“For fucking leaving you at the hospital. For this. Fuck!” I roar as I stand to my feet, ready to punch the wall. River moves quickly to stand in front of me, grabbing my fist in her hand.
“No. You did what you thought was right,” she argues.
“But it was wrong, River. It felt wrong, and I did it anyway. I didn’t know how to help you,” I admit.
“I don’t know how to help me either, Royal, but I know being there wasn’t helping. The medicine, the bullshit shrink. None of it helped. I need you.” Her admission takes me by surprise, but I need her too.
“Fuck. I missed you.” Pulling my hand from hers, I grip her cheek in my hand.
“I missed you, too.”
“What are we doing? He’s going to know she’s gone,” Jeremy chimes in.
“We wait until tomorrow. Tonight we rest.”
“Is that a good idea?” Jeremy asks.
“They don’t know we stay here. We should be safe here for tonight,” I tell him.
“Then what?”
“Then we figure shit out.”