Chapter 26 #2
Aleks nodded. “I, um… I’m not used to carrying a phone yet.
I know I should be after two years, but I was never allowed to own anything, so carrying something around with me is sometimes hard to remember.
I often forget my phone at home. Sometimes my wallet and keys too.
I’ve had to start keeping cash in all my pants pockets just in case. ”
I felt a shard of pity go through me at his words. He hadn’t told me about his past, but I didn’t need the details to know it had been horrific.
Hell, that word probably didn’t even adequately describe it.
“Anyway, I still have this fear that… that someone is going to take me like when I was a kid. It’s stupid, I know—”
“It’s not,” I cut in. “It’s absolutely not.”
Aleks held my gaze for a moment, then nodded.
“I keep thinking someone will take me and if I don’t have my phone or they take it from me, Dante won’t be able to find me again and they’ll take me away…
so Dante had this bracelet made for me so I could always wear it.
He says it has something in it that makes it so he can always find me, but no one will be able to tell by looking at it. ”
I nodded in understanding. He was talking about a tracking device. It was what Jace had used to find me at Mr. Jennings’ house.
“Hopefully someday I won’t need it,” Aleks said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“There’s no shame in it even if you do,” I said.
I’d told Aleks about my cutting when he’d asked about the scars on my arm.
Like the others in my family who knew, he hadn’t judged.
And while my therapist had given me some alternative ways to cope with stress, I still found myself sometimes wishing I could have the security back that came with making myself bleed.
My therapist had said the urge would fade, but probably never fully go away.
There was always the potential that the strangest thing could trigger the behavior, so I understood where Aleks was coming from.
I gladly agreed to the topic change when Aleks asked about Mav and Eli and how their honeymoon was going.
My brother and his husband had elected to spend a month on Mav’s Harley.
They hadn’t had any particular destination in mind.
They’d just gotten on the bike and started driving.
As of that morning, they were somewhere in New Mexico.
While I was talking, I felt a prickle of unease go through me.
I tried to pass it off as a momentary thing, but when the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I began searching our surroundings.
Nothing stood out at first as I scanned the dozens and dozens of faces.
But as soon as I widened my search, I felt my stomach drop out.
Because one face did stand out in the crowd.
Fear gripped my insides as I watched the man talk to another man that was with him. When they both looked in my direction, I fought the urge to scream. Terror for Willa took over and I quickly handed her to Aleks. “Here, take her,” I said.
“Wha… what? Why? What’s wrong?” Aleks asked, picking up on my frantic tone.
“Aleks, take her.” I kept my eyes on him even as I tried to keep the other two men in my periphery. God, what if it wasn’t just the two of them? They were standing about three hundred feet away, near the entrance to the marketplace.
Aleks took Willa from me. “I’ll lead them away,” I said. “You go to the nearest store and tell them to call the cops. Don’t leave until the cops come, do you hear me?”
“Caleb—”
“It’s Rush, Aleks. Tell Jace it’s Rush. He’ll know what that means.”
I quickly climbed to my feet. Aleks did the same, but when I made a move to leave, he grabbed me. “Caleb, wait—”
I pushed Aleks’s hand away where he was holding onto the waistband of my pants to keep me from leaving. “They can’t get her, Aleks,” I bit out. “Get her to safety.”
With that, I hurried away from Aleks and Willa and climbed up the small rise.
I pretended not to have noticed Rush and the other guy.
But I kept them in my line of sight as I neared the road leading into the marketplace.
But instead of turning toward the marketplace, I went the opposite direction.
I managed a discreet glance over my shoulder and saw that Aleks was moving toward a small gift shop near where we’d been sitting.
When he disappeared inside, I chanced a glance over my shoulder.
Rush and the other guy were following me.
And they’d gained a lot of ground.
I was about to duck into a store myself, when I slammed into someone in front of me.
“Whoa there,” the guy said. “You seem like you’re in a hurry or something.”
I tried to push past him, but he refused to release me. Before I could say anything, a gun was pressed against my belly. The man’s body was so close to mine that I knew there was no way anyone was going to see it.
A few seconds later, I heard a familiar voice at my back – the one that had haunted the worst of my nightmares.
“Make a sound and Steve here will go into that little shop and kill everyone in it, including your friend and your kid.”
I held perfectly still. When Rush’s fingers bit into my arm and began propelling me forward, I didn’t fight him. I had no idea which guy Steve was, but since the other two guys stayed with us, I had to hope it meant that no one was going to pursue Aleks into the store.
As we walked, I tried to figure out what to do next. I had my phone, but no way of reaching it to call Jace. Of course, it wasn’t even an option not five seconds later when Rush pulled it from the back pocket of my jeans and dropped it to the ground. A crunching sound followed.
Fear engulfed me as Rush steered me toward a waiting sedan. I knew I should scream or try to run, but the fear that Rush had someone watching Aleks had me keeping silent.
I was shoved into the sedan. The two guys with Rush flanked me in the back seat as Rush got into the front passenger seat.
We drove for a good twenty minutes before the car pulled to a stop outside what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse.
Rush dragged me into the small building.
One of his men followed, the other two stayed outside.
There was a bunch of assembly line equipment, but I couldn’t tell what it was for.
Rush shoved me against a conveyor belt. He took the gun the other guy handed him and put it to my forehead.
I managed to stifle my cry of fear, but I couldn’t help but close my eyes.
“Where is it?”
When I didn’t answer, he jammed the gun against my head. “Where is it?”
“Where’s… what?” I croaked as I forced my eyes open.
It was just in time to see the blow coming.
Pain radiated out from where the side of Rush’s fist had slammed into my temple. I managed to stay upright, but I couldn’t keep from crying out in pain. I could feel blood start a slow slide down my face.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Rush warned.
“I swear, I don’t know what you’re looking for.”
“I want the fucking location!”
Pain seared through my brain as he hit me again. I couldn’t keep myself upright. But it didn’t matter because the other man hauled me to my feet and slammed me back against the conveyor belt behind me.
“I don’t know what location you’re talking about,” I said.
“Did you think that son of a bitch’s death would be the end of things? He gave you up, Caleb. Said you had it.” Rush asked.
I could only assume he was talking about Jennings or my father. I shook my head, but before I could say anything, Rush’s fingers wrapped around my throat, instantly cutting off my air. I instinctively clawed at his hands, but my efforts were futile.
“Or maybe you were thinking that you could take up where he left off? That you could milk me like he did?”
Understanding dawned at his words, but it didn’t matter because I couldn’t say anything with Rush’s hand slowly stealing my life away.
My vision started to dim and spots danced before my eyes when Rush suddenly released me.
I collapsed onto the ground and tried sucking in air, but I couldn’t seem to manage it .
“You were a good fuck, but not worth anywhere near the amount of money that fucker was getting out of me. But guess what, I paid in full. You want even a cent out of me, it’s going to cost you a lot more than a quick fuck in the dirt.”
Rush yanked me to my feet and then turned me and bent me over the conveyer belt. Terror ratcheted through me as he blanketed my body with his. I could feel his dick pressing against my ass. “Maybe I ought to get a preview to see if you’re even still worth it.”
I dug my fingers along the underside of the edge of the conveyor belt and winced when I felt something pierce my skin.
Something sharp.
As Rush began grinding against me, I closed my fingers around the object to see if I could work it loose.
I didn’t make much progress because Rush chose that moment to reach for the zipper on my pants.
“The phone! You’re talking about Dad’s phone!
” I screamed, though the words came out in a strangled rasp since my throat hurt so bad from Rush choking me.
He stilled, then jerked me upright and turned me around. “So you’re done playing innocent, huh? Where is it?”
I wasn’t even sure if my father had kept the phone he’d used that night.
The cops had confiscated his phone when he’d been arrested, but it wasn’t the one he’d owned while on the camping trip.
But it didn’t surprise me in the least to learn he’d told Rush I had the phone.
Something like that would have been sure to get Rush to come after me, even if it wasn’t true.
“If I tell you where it is, will you let me go?” I asked, knowing full well what Rush’s answer would be.