Chapter 23
Grant
The Abduction
The food came out before Sophia did. I knew I’d pushed too hard on a day I told her we weren’t going to think too much—about the future and what it held for us, individually and together.
I knew what I wanted, and I could tell she was starting to see us the way I was—that we were meant for each other.
Call it obsessive, or possessive, or whatever the fuck you wanted, but Sophia was it for me. And I’d been so damn close to admitting what it felt like to be with her these past few days. She was past growing on me.
I was falling hard for her.
Maybe I should have just stuck to that instead of driving her away with what I didn’t say. Either what I did say had twisted her gut and we’d need to stop for some Pepto, or roll another joint, on the way back to the cabin, or she was hiding out in there, away from me.
“Excuse me, Mr. Brooks.” The waitress, who I’d seen a handful of other times with my random stays at the cabin, stepped up to the table.
But what came out of her mouth next wasn’t along the lines of how our food was or if we needed a refill.
No. She slid a phone face down in front of me with a shaky hand.
“Th-the man over there told me to give you this.”
I narrowed my eyes to where she was pointing, seeing no one. I flipped the phone over, and pressed the only thing on the screen—a play button. The diner filled with screams and sounds of leather lashing on skin, and just like the first time I’d seen it, heated rage consumed me.
I locked the screen, muting the video. “Who?”
“Sir?” She glanced over her shoulder slowly, confusion clear on her face as she turned back to me. “He was right there. I swear. I don’t—”
I stood and reached for my holstered gun. “What’d he look like?”
“Tall. Scary eyes. Wearing a suit,” she rushed out, then pointed a finger at the phone. “Why would h-he gi-ive me that?”
“He said it was for me, not the woman who is with me?”
“Y-yes. You. He said, ‘Mr. Brooks,’ and pointed r-right at you.”
I stood from the booth, grabbed the phone, and threw it down, smashing it to pieces with the heel of my boot. The waitress jumped back. “Go hide. Don’t come out until I say so.”
She wrung her hands in front of her apron. “Should I call the police?”
“No.” I cocked my gun as I walked up to the glass door, peering into the front lot. “Where is your car?” I hollered over my shoulder, hoping the waitress could hear me. Her words were near inaudible with the ringing filling my ears. “A little louder for me.”
“I-in the back. That’s w-where employees have to park.”
The back? I couldn’t remember a back to this place, but I could remember where Sophia walked, and it was in the back. I flipped the bolt on the front door and rushed to the back, calling her name. I didn’t want her to panic if the guy had already left and was only sent as a threat.
Fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have turned on her phone.
“Sophia!” I shouted through the tightness in my throat.
“Sophia!” I kicked the bathroom door, and it flew open.
The sink was running, paper towels thrown around the floor, and black scuff marks from shoes staining the tiles.
“Peach?!” I kicked in the stalls, but both were empty.
The sounds of tires skidding away came through a small crack in the window.
My heart pounded as I ran to throw it open, watching a black SUV gunning it from the back lot.
“Fuck!” I raised my gun and emptied the clip on the back tires, but wasn’t sure I’d hit anything until I heard squealing sounds and a loud bang.
I dropped the gun as I ran, leaving the diner through a back door not far from the bathroom, my boots heavy on the rocks and pavement.
Thick, black tire marks veered from the road, heading off a soft-shoulder and into the woods below.
I picked up my pace, shouting her name as the smell of gasoline filled my nose.
A man in a suit crawled out from the overturned SUV, and I saw red as I walked over and ripped him up from the ground. “You motherfucker.” I slammed my fist into his already bloodied face until his head drooped to the side, then I dropped him and got on my knees, crawling inside the car.
Another person was half-way through the windshield, blood seeping into the cracked glass while the airbag that had deployed held onto his lower half. Well-fucking-deserved.
Blonde curls streaked in blood fell from what was now the ceiling, but I couldn’t tell if all the red I was seeing had come from her. I gripped Sophia’s cheeks, and my heart fell to my stomach as they fluttered open.
“Grant?” she murmured, gasping for breath.
My fucking everything seized.
“It’s me, Peach. I’ve got you.” I got beneath her as best as I could, the smell of gas getting stronger as the engine started to tick.
I undid her seatbelt and eased her onto my lap, clearing the hair from her eyes.
“I’m going to pull you out, and I need you to be strong for me. Even if it hurts. Can you do that?”
She groaned and nodded her head slowly in the crook of my arm. I worked my way back until we cleared the interior, but I wasn’t done. The man in the suit was still alive, making noises from the ground as he tried to crawl away using his elbows.
I kissed Sophia’s forehead as I set her down by a tree, facing away from the car. “I’ll be right back, Peach.”
“No,” she begged, her eyes shooting wide open. “Don’t leave me.”
My fist curled in as I took in the marks on her skin. I flexed out my fingers and bent down, cupping her face, kissing her lips. Fuck, I’m shaking, too. “I’m so sorry, Peach. But I have to take care of somethin’.”
“Okay.” Tears filled her eyes, her tongue swiping over a cut at the corner of her lip while she shivered, more than likely from shock.
I removed my shirt, wrapping it around her before kissing her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
Pulling the switchblade from my pocket, I walked back toward the SUV and scanned the area with narrowed eyes, adrenaline coursing through my veins. Flipping the blade out, I made my way to the front and yanked the driver’s head up. Dead.
I whistled as if I were callin’ an animal. Who knew, maybe a bear had already found the other guy and saved me the trouble. Circling the closest trees, I kept checking on Sophia, making sure she was safe as I searched.
“Ah.” I bent down by a cluster of bushes and tugged on the black fabric sticking out, pulling out a groaning, bloody mess. Getting on my knees, I pressed my knife to his neck. “Found ya.”
“N-no, p-p-please don’t.”
“No, I think I will.” I nicked his neck, and he took a sharp breath in through his teeth.
“It wasn’t me!”
“Bullshit.” His hand shot toward my knife. I ripped it from his throat and plunged it through his palm, right into the dirt. He screamed until I wrapped my hand around his throat, wanting to watch him die. Painfully. “You gave me that phone.”
“But I didn’t take her, I swear!”
“Still makes you one guilty fucker.” I started pulling my knife from his hand, but slowly. Couldn’t have him go through that pain fast, now could I? “Who gave you that video?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Nope.” Blood poured around his hand as I yanked the knife completely out, replacing it with my knee, bearing my weight down. He screamed more, so I pressed the tip of my knife to his temple. His eyes went wide. “Try again.”
“P-please, fuck, don’t kill me. Please.”
I refrained from laughing. He was dead the moment that phone slid in front of me. “Then tell me who the fuck gave you the phone. Unless”—I pressed the tip into his skin, drawing blood—“you’re the one who—”
“He’s not the one who took me,” Sophia murmured as she knelt beside me. “I don’t know where he is, but we need to go before he comes back.” She tugged on my sleeve, balling it in her fist. “Please, Grant.”
“Okay, darlin’.” I got to my feet and smirked down at the guy who looked relieved.
“I’m almost done.” His fear was back as I dragged him to the nearest rock and positioned him facedown.
He tried to wriggle free as my boot pressed down on the back of his head.
“Don’t watch, Peach.” Sophia turned, shielding her ears as I kicked down hard on the back of his head, the cracking of his jaw and amount of blood on the dirt satisfying, but not enough.
I kept kicking until I felt a modicum of relief, my shaking hands simmerin’ to a twitch.
Sophia remained cupping her ears as I dragged the body back to the car, making it seem like an unfortunate collision with the dashboard. But this wasn’t over. I needed to know who “he” was.
I needed to make whoever tried to take my girl from me wish he’d never been born.