Chapter Seventeen #2
What would the mafia want with Coby?
I made it to the parking garage and through an unguarded exit, but as soon as I stepped through the door, a heavy weight slammed into me, and I hit the nearest parked car with a yelp, setting off the car alarm.
I only had time to pull my gun before my assailant—with a speed I begrudgingly envied—grabbed my wrist and slammed my gun hand repeatedly into the car behind me to get me to release my only protection.
Fuck. That. I drove my head into his face and immediately saw a thousand bright lights while my attacker stumbled back.
Some days, it paid to have a hard head.
Taking advantage of his disorientation, I pressed my gun into his stomach before he could recover, and he dropped his hand to scowl at me.
Kellan.
“Why the fuck are you following me?” His lips parted. “Never mind. Dumb question,” I said before he could speak. “Get your hands up.”
Kellan attempted to eviscerate me with a look, but he didn’t know I was empty inside. Coby had taken it all with her, so I waved my gun at Kellan to signal him to hurry the hell up. His jaw twitched as he slowly raised his arms.
I wasted no time quickly searching his pockets. His jeans were empty, but I struck gold when I searched his jacket.
“I promise you don’t want to do that,” Kellan warned when I relieved him of his burner phone. He no longer sounded amused, which meant he was finally waking up to the fact that I wasn’t easy to scare.
“Shut up.”
I brought the gun down hard on his head, and Kellan crumpled to the ground. With great effort (he was heavier than he looked), I dragged his unconscious body into the stairwell and then jogged to Deborah before speeding all the way back to the apartment I shared with Coby.
I’d already forgotten about the phone by the time I was turning into the complex when I startled at hearing it ring. Truth be told, I didn’t know why I’d taken it. Maybe I hoped it would lead me to his boss, or maybe I just wanted to be a bitch and piss off my annoying stalker.
Whatever the reason, I wrestled with whether to answer or ignore it before remembering I had nothing left other than lose. I blindly grabbed it from the passenger seat where I’d tossed it, and glanced at the screen. The number calling hadn’t been saved, but it didn’t matter.
I answered.
“Hi,” I greeted cheerily. “Kellan can’t come to the phone right now.
He’s currently nursing his head and his ego, but I can take a message.
” Nothing but silence greeted me as I let paranoia steer my car around back instead of my usual space.
“Look, pervert,” I said as I hopped out, “if you’re not going to talk, I’m hanging up. I got shit to do.”
“Who is this?” the caller demanded in a voice so deep I actually stumbled a step.
He’d only spoken three words so far, but each was measured as if he spent too much time wondering how they might be used against him later. Another puzzle piece slid into place, but I was still far from seeing the whole picture.
“Me?” I teased as I entered my apartment.
My heart twisted painfully when I didn’t find Coby waiting for me like usual.
She preferred staying home and reading her porn, while I liked to run the streets.
The only problem was Coby couldn’t stay away from me any more than I could from her, so we often wandered them together or stayed in and pigged out in front of the TV.
“I’m the new owner of this phone. Who are you? ”
“The former owner of this phone,” he barked back.
I entered my bedroom and put the burner on speaker before setting it down on the small desk I had wedged in the corner. “Well, that’s impossible since you sound nothing like the handsy bastard I lifted it from.”
The other end of the line grew quiet again. “Kellan touched you?”
Was it me, or had the temperature dropped a thousand degrees?
“Yup,” I said, not caring what that meant for Kellan as I toed off my sneakers. “You should really try teaching your goons some manners. I had to squeeze his balls, literally and then figuratively, but I think he’s getting the message. You’re welcome.”
The rest of my clothes followed my shoes into a pile on the floor. Wearing only my glitter thong (Don’t judge me. It’s laundry day), I grabbed the stolen phone and my purse, walked over to my unmade bed where I deposited both items, and pulled out the heavy but flat safe hidden underneath.
He chuckled, and the sound was like liquid silk being poured over gravel. Worse, my heart quickened at the sound of it. I was already beginning to crave more of it. “I underestimated you, Hunter.”
I forced myself not to react to my name being uttered in such a deep tone or to the fact that the man who took Coby indeed knew who I was.
“People tend to do that,” I said as I keyed in the safe’s code. One-two-one-six. Coby’s birthday. Hearing the safe beep, I pulled out the long drawer, replaced my compact Ruger with two larger Sigs, and checked both loaded clips before slamming them back into place.
After, I carefully braided my long hair into a single plait. It took a while since my hair was thick as fuck, and my nails kept snagging on the 4C texture. The man on the other end didn’t speak the entire time, so I flicked my gaze toward the phone to check if he’d hung up.
He hadn’t.
Either he had the patience of a saint, or he must really like listening to me breathe. Exhaling slowly, I steadied my nerves, let go of my finished braid, and began redressing for war.
“So here’s the deal,” I said once I was donned in all black, complete with a bulletproof vest. “I know you’re the one who took my Yin. I don’t know why, and I don’t really give a fuck. You’re going to give her back in one piece, and it’s going to be now.”
A bitch was starting to feel like the dad in Taken. I will find you, and I will kill you. Nothing less than painting this city red in order to get her back would be enough.
“Don’t leave me in suspense when you’ve worked so hard to intrigue me, Hunter. What will you do if I don’t?”
Excuse me? I hadn’t worked hard for shit! Everything I’ve done was to get Coby back. Nothing more. Arrogant prick, I thought. “I’m sure you can fill in the blanks.” I grabbed a box of ammo and an extra mag and began loading the clip.
“Do you even know who you’re threatening?” There was no anger or arrogance in his tone—only amused curiosity.
“Should it matter?”
My mysterious caller fell quiet again, but when his answer finally came, I could hear a hint of respect in his tone. “No.” And then his voice deepened until there was a slight growl in every syllable. “It sure as fuck wouldn’t matter to me.”
It could have been my imagination, but I was pretty certain my thong just became a little damp. “I’m glad we understand each other.”
“Hunter, I think we’re far from understanding each other. Stand down. This is your last warning.”
Standing, I strapped one holster around my thigh and another around my waist. I was previously prepared to get Coby back the legal way until Kellan showed me that whoever took her wouldn’t be swayed by the boys in blue.
Yeah, he’d been there to stop me from filing the report, but that was only to flex his muscles and show me that it wouldn’t have done me any good.
“And this is my warning. You have less than an hour to return my friend. By the end of that hour, I’ll be on your doorstep shooting anything that moves.”
Destiny was working overtime to find out where Coby was being held and to make sure I had what I needed to get her out alive.
“Show me yours, and I’ll show you mine,” the man on the phone promised. “And Hunter?”
“What?” I didn’t bother to veil my aggression. My trigger finger was already itching.
“I promise mine are bigger.”
I snorted. Sure, buddy. “Okay, I hear you. I guess we’ll just have to pull them out and see.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Ocean hung up, and I quickly gathered everything before hurrying across the hall to Coby’s once pristine room, where her green apple scent was the strongest. I’d already torn it apart looking for answers. Looking for secrets.
Had she been keeping them while I’d been bearing my soul?
I didn’t want to believe so. I wanted to keep believing that we told each other everything, but with each day that passed, I became less sure.
Inhaling the lingering remnants of her perfume one last time, I left the apartment in a hurry. For now, I’d lost my tail at the hospital, and if I wanted to keep it that way, I had to make sure I never came back where he could find me.
Destiny’s place it was.