Chapter 16 Freya
SIXTEEN
FREYA
I sniffled as I wiped at my tears. I was furious with the situation.
My father kept calling my phone, and I was genuinely afraid to pick up.
I didn’t want to deal with that fight. Especially since I was upset with Bronx and the fight we’d just had.
My body still trembled from the pleasure we had experienced together.
I mean, hell, I still felt our intermingled juices dripping down my thighs!
Not the time to be talking with my father.
I walked into the bathroom and ripped off my dress and hopped into the shower.
I wanted to scrub that man from my skin.
I wasn’t a child. They didn’t need to be calling my fucking father because I was out of place in San Diego.
I knew I was out of place! I was here trying to piece together the puzzle of my empty yet expansive life!
And if people thought they could continue to keep secrets from me because they thought it was for my own good, they had another thing coming.
I was a grown woman. And I deserved to know about my life. My family. My fucking half-sister! But at least Bronx coming around led me to the conclusion I’d been looking for.
They would have never resorted to calling my father if they didn’t know who this girl in the picture was.
Now I knew they were hiding information, which meant I knew where to find that information.
Wherever The Lost Boys camped out, that was where it would be.
So, I restructured everything in my mind’s eye.
As I washed my hair and scrubbed between my legs, I came up with another plan.
Instead of showing that girl’s picture around and asking about her, I’d start asking people about him. Them. The Lost Boys.
Someone would have to know where they kept their lodge around this place.
I got out of the shower and dried myself off.
My phone still vibrated against the bedside table.
Holy shit, was my father not going to stop?
I mean, for all I knew, it was my mother calling at this point.
I splashed cold water in my face to calm down and tame the redness of my skin.
Then, I tucked the towel between my legs to soak up any last residue of that asshole.
I sighed as I dug through my suitcase.
Bronx wasn’t an asshole. Maybe a lower guy on the totem pole who had to follow orders, but not an asshole. I knew he didn’t feel right about all this. I saw it in his eyes. I heard it in his voice. But that didn’t stop him from being a wall standing in my way.
And if I had to knock him on his ass to get the answers I sought, I would.
This was family we were talking about, and she deserved to know I existed just as much as I deserved to know she did.
Wait, does she know about me already?
That wasn’t a thought that had ever crossed my mind.
But what if she did know about me? What if she did and she wanted nothing to do with me?
And that was the hurt my parents were trying to protect me from?
I mean, it would make sense. It still didn’t warrant all of this, though.
If it was just a matter of this woman not wanting to be around me, that didn’t seem like a hard thing to admit.
It definitely didn’t require all the smoke and mirrors that were happening all around me.
No, no. There was something much deeper to this.
And I was going to find out what the hell it was.
I pulled a pair of jeans up my legs and dug out a tank top.
I threw a cardigan over my shoulders, settling on a nice soothing trip to the beach.
Maybe some dinner out. Something to help me clear my head.
I scooped up my phone and saw it had finally stopped ringing.
Ten missed calls from my father and numerous ones from my mother.
I cleared the notifications away and deleted the voicemails before I even listened to them.
I stuffed my phone into my purse and made my way downstairs.
With my keycard in my back pocket, I threw my hair up on top of my head with a hair tie I dug out of the side pocket of my jeans.
I got into the elevator, resolving myself to a nice, warm walk to clear my head.
I needed to settle down my anger and get in front of this with a logical mind before I proceeded.
Especially since the resident crew in town knew exactly what I was doing. And now knew exactly where I was staying.
Fucking Bronx.
I walked down the sidewalk, my arms folded over my chest. I walked by coffee shops that smelled phenomenal and bakeries laced with the smell of sugar and lemon.
A wonderful summer scent. I licked my lips as I walked by, drawing in deep breaths to try and get the trembling of my body to calm down.
But for some reason, I couldn’t shake it.
I couldn’t shake the prickling of my skin and the damning sensation that I was being watched.
I stopped a few blocks away from the hotel and looked around. Was Bronx following me?
“Do you need some help?”
I turned around and found a man smiling behind me.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“You look a bit lost. Do you need some help getting somewhere?” he asked.
I narrowed my eyes and slowly backed away from him.
He had on a very trim suit against a thin, wispy body.
He was clearly Asian. Soft, tanned skin with very high cheekbones that almost closed his eyes, they were so prominent.
His hair was jet black, and when he smiled his eyes fully and completely closed.
He wasn’t much taller than me. Maybe five-six, if he was lucky.
“No, I don’t need any help. Thanks,” I said.
“Are you sure?” another man asked.
I turned around and found another Asian man standing behind me. Only this one was clad in black from head to toe. And he was massive. My eyes slowly panned up him and I tried side-stepping him, but yet another man appeared at my side.
And before I knew it, these men had me blocked in.
“What do you guys want?” I asked.
“We just want to ask you a question,” the man in the suit said.
“Funny, I thought you were trying to help me,” I said flatly.
He brandished a picture, and I recognized Bronx instantly. But something told me to keep my face unreadable, so I forced it into a stoic position.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Can you tell me why this man was seen coming from the hotel you’re staying at?” the man asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe he needs a place to stay.”
I saw the guys around me close in a bit like they were trying to posture over me, but the man in the suit simply chuckled. Politely, of course. But a quick swoop of my eyes over his body told me he was packing on both hips as well as on the inside of his right ankle.
I was in a tight spot, and I had to stay careful.
“You see, I have a theory,” the man said.
“I take it you want me to listen?” I asked.
He chuckled. “I think this man was coming from your room. Yes?” He sniffed the air before he nodded his head. “Yes. You reek of The Lost Boys.”
My eyebrows slowly rose. “You think that a man who looks like that is going to smell like honey and vanilla?”
“That isn’t what I smell,” he said, grinning.
“It’s what I smell.”
The second I heard Bronx’s voice, relief cascaded through my veins. I whipped my head around, watching as Bronx came out of the alleyway beside us. He parted the sea of men as his eyes locked with mine. Then, he stepped in front of me and the man in the suit before he loomed over him.
“I think you guys should keep moving, yeah? Doesn’t look really good on you, intimidating some innocent woman on the sidewalk,” Bronx said.
I looked through the bodies of the men surrounding us and saw people staring.
Watching. Videotaping, of all things. I looked back at the man in the suit and saw his eyes widening.
Guess he wasn’t a fan of being recorded.
I kept my stance as strong as possible, my mind spiraling as it tried to figure out who the hell these men were and what their business was with Bronx and his crew.
Then, the man standing beside me grabbed my arm.
“Hey, let go of me,” I said.
“You take your hands off her right—”
The cocking of a gun sent people screaming. I whipped my head around and saw the man in the suit holding a gun at Bronx’s chest. My jaw fell open in shock as the other man’s hand clamped down tightly onto my arm. So tightly that I knew it would leave a mark.
“The alleyway. Now. I think we have much to discuss,” the man in the suit said.
“Bronx,” I whispered.
“You can let her go and speak with me. I know I’m the one you’re looking for,” he said.
“I think she might want to hear what I have to say, don’t you think?” the man in the suit grinned.
Then, slowly, the six of us began our walk into the nearest alleyway. I got dragged along while men continued pulling their guns and leveling them at Bronx. They walked us all the way down the alleyway before taking a right which led to nothing but a dead end
No lights, no cameras, and no one to hear us scream for help.