16. Save Me
16
Save Me
The room was silent.
No one was brave enough to speak or move a muscle, the tension in the atmosphere unbearably heavy. Like the numerous fighters in the room feared even breathing too loud would be enough to send the East Side leader into a spiral of uncontrollable anger, they stood there, helpless.
He had been sitting in silence with his face hidden by both his hands for the last twenty minutes. His friends, who usually cheered him up, couldn’t seem to find the words to ease his pain.
The room was wrecked.
Glass and furniture were scattered across the kitchen floor.
The Kingston house had never been such a mess, and Kendrick was to blame for its destruction. Exhaling, he remembered the dread he felt when the lights came back on and he looked around to see that she was gone. Winter was gone.
That’s when the silence was ripped away by a knock on the front door.
“Tell me it’s not your mother who forgot her keys again,” Alexander said, his gaze nervously wandering around.
“Can’t be. She’s working a night shift,” Kendrick whispered.
“And Kass?” Will asked, something shifting in his eyes.
“She’s at Morgan’s.”
Will gave Kendrick a faint nod. Alexander sighed and got up to open the door that would reveal the last person on earth they wanted and expected to see.
Hatred. Rage. It was all Kendrick could feel when he grabbed him by the collar of his branded clothes and punched him.
“You. You fucking did this,” he yelled, infuriated.
The blue-eyed boy took the hit. Seconds later, he had been pushed against the wall violently, the foundations of the old house creaking under the sudden duress. Avoiding a second punch, he pushed Kendrick to the ground.
“How is it my fault? I’m not the one who took her,” Haze spat, as angry as could be.
“If you hadn’t made that stupid deal in the first place, none of this would’ve happened.” Alexander and Will held their friend back before he trashed the house any more than he already had. It wouldn’t be easy to clean up, and they didn’t need more problems.
“Well, maybe if you hadn’t been so careless to let her follow you to our meeting, she’d still be here right now.”
Kendrick barely held it together. “How dare you show your face here? You never cared about Winter. Get out.”
Haze looked down, an unreadable expression crawling in his eyes. He didn’t move, persistent.
“I’m not going anywhere. I want to help.”
“You want to help? Are you serious? You’re the reason she might be suffering right now.”
Haze’s face twitched in discomfort at the thought.
“What would you get out of it?”
“I have my reasons” was all Haze could say.
“You have your reasons. I’m supposed to believe that my enemy wants to help because he has his ‘reasons’?” He used his fingers to create air quotes. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Adams.”
The West Side leader didn’t answer.
“Oh for fuck’s sake. Isn’t it obvious?” Blake hissed.
Heads turned in his direction.
“They have a thing, you idiots.” He rolled his eyes. “They’ve been doing…” He paused. “…whatever the hell it is they’ve been doing for a while now.”
Kendrick’s lips parted as his hand turned back into a position it knew so well: a fist.
“You slept with my cousin?” he raged, stepping dangerously close to Haze.
“No, of course not. We’re… friends.”
Blake scoffed. “Friends, my ass.”
Haze sighed. “That’s not what I came here to talk to you about. Do you want to bring her back home or not?”
“Don’t you dare pretend like you care about anyone but yourself,” Kendrick said, bitter. “How do I know you’re not the one who took her in the first place?”
“I’m not. Would I be here right now offering to help if I was behind her kidnapping?”
Kendrick growled. “Your reputation says yes.”
“You don’t have to believe me. But trust me, you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.”
Kendrick didn’t answer. Nor did he try and break Haze’s nose, which was a start.
“I found this at the Downside.”
Haze slid his hand into his pocket and dropped something on the kitchen table. It only took a second for the boys to recognize the crappy cell phone Winter constantly complained about. The screen was cracked and shattered in multiple spots, but, thanks to some unknown miracle, it still worked.
“Someone’s been texting her with an unknown number.”
The boys frowned and shook their heads in disbelief. He was lying. He had to be. Winter was an open book. She would’ve told them about it, right?
Right?
“It started days ago.” Haze pointed to the phone.
Kendrick, Alexander, Blake, and William stared at it with uncertainty. A hush descended over them.
“Go ahead, take a look.”
Kendrick was the first one to give in to the curiosity. Quickly, text messages flew past his eyes. When he read the word “scars,” he knew instantly. He looked up at Haze. His nemesis had just saved him an considerable amount of time. Not to mention, he was the only one with a connection to the North Side. The corner of Haze’s mouth lifted into a faint smile. They needed him, whether they liked it or not.
He arched an eyebrow. “Do you want my help now?”
Emptiness had never sat well with Haze Adams. He always thought that having someone tell you they hate you was better than having that someone not talk to you at all. That’s what his parents had raised him to think anyway.
As a kid, he would’ve chosen hearing his mother tell him that he did something wrong over being ignored by her for weeks any day. It’d started when he was fourteen years old. And it’d stuck with him ever since.
He’d known a lot of emptiness in his life.
But the emptiness that Winter had left was probably the worst.
Haze wouldn’t mind Winter hating him if it meant she’d be alive to do it.
If there was one thing he didn’t expect when he first met her, it was that he’d end up in the same car as the East Side, driving toward the North Side’s lair to find her. They’d have forever to hate each other. But right now, working together was their only chance to get her back.
When he decided to show up to Winter’s house, he didn’t know how much Kendrick knew about them, but now, it was clear that the answer to that question was nothing. He couldn’t believe that he was coming to them instead of working alone, but he knew he needed backup and couldn’t exactly turn to the West Side. They were already suspicious that he’d lost the fight on purpose.
“Let’s make this clear. As soon as we find her, you’re out of her life for good. You know that, right?” Kendrick spat, his eyes on the road.
“Assuming she’s still alive when we find her, then yes, I’ll hold up my end of the deal,” Haze said as an impenetrable silence filled the car.
He was right, and they knew it. She could be anywhere, suffering, agonizing. She could be dead by now.
Every cell in Haze Adams’s body told him to break something, but he held on by a thread.
“Don’t you dare say that. She’s still alive. She has to be,” Kendrick muttered.
He wished that Kendrick was right.
“I hope for your sake that you know what you’re doing,” Will huffed when they parked the car a couple houses away from the apartment complex Ian and his fighters hung out at.
Haze led the way, stepping out of the car with the unshakable thought that it was too easy. It didn’t feel right.
“Alex, you stay in the car in case we have to get out of there in a hurry. The rest of you, go look in the other apartments. I’ve got this. Text me if you find anything, and I’ll reach you if things get heated. Remember, at the first sign of complication, you jump in with the smoke bombs.” They nodded in agreement.
They quietly sneaked in through the back door of the old apartment complex Ian had claimed as the North Side’s spot and parted ways, leaving Haze to fend for himself. He took a sharp breath, knocking on the old apartment door loudly. The room immediately became quiet on the other side.
Footsteps. Then nothing.
“Who’s this?”
“Seriously? A wooden door? I could kick the door in right now. I thought you were more careful than that.”
“Yeah, well, few people know about this place. We’re not worried.” Ian unlocked the door and pushed it open, forcing a smile at the sight of Haze. “Come on in, partner.”
He stepped aside as Haze walked into the three-bedroom apartment where the smell of cigarettes, alcohol, and weed greeted him. Everywhere around him, Ian’s boys were drinking, smoking, or making out with escorts.
Some gangs were worse than others.
“Can I get you anything? A drink? A girl perhaps?”
Simultaneously, two girls wearing lingerie looked up.
“No, I’m good. I won’t be long.”
“You’re the boss.” He paused, motioning for Haze to sit at the poker table placed in the center of the room. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Ian brought a joint to his lips, sinking into his seat.
“Just looking for a chat.”
“About what, my friend?”
“I wanted to congratulate you on the East Side girl’s kidnapping. Kendrick and his guys are a wreck right now.”
“Oh, I’m flattered, man.”
Haze dived his hand into his pocket, ready to press Send on the prewritten message. If Ian was responsible, the East Side would be there in a couple of minutes.
“But I can’t take credit for something I didn’t do.” Ian took a sip of his drink.
God damn it , Haze thought, removing his hand from his pocket.
“Well, if you didn’t do it, who did?”
“I can’t tell.”
“You can’t, or you won’t?” Haze struggled to keep a stern face.
Ian leaned back in his seat, frowning.
“You know, Haze… if I didn’t know you any better, I’d say that you seem to care a hell of a lot about that girl.”
Haze stiffened. “I don’t. Just wondering who I have to thank for destroying my enemies, that’s all. I thought we had an alliance.” He got up. “I’ll go tell the others I was wrong.”
He turned away, heading for the door.
Three.
Two.
One.
“Wait,” Ian called.
Haze smirked. Predictable . Having the West Side as an enemy was something no one wanted.
“Haze, man, chill, no need to get angry,” Ian faltered.
“I came here looking for answers that you refuse to give me. I’m afraid that’s not what an ally would do.”
“I’ll tell you everything I know.”
“Don’t bother. I think I’ll go ask Vicky. Maybe she knows more than you do.”
The second Vicky’s name was announced, the conversations going on around them ended abruptly. Ian clenched his fists, his fighters glaring at Haze hatefully. It was well known in the street fight world that falling in love made you weak, but it didn’t stop the fighters from wanting someone to come home to.
It was human nature at its best.
“She’s got nothing to do with this. Leave her out of this.”
“Neither did Winter, and she still got taken. Looks like there’s no such thing as justice, you see?”
“The girl’s probably already dead. Do yourself a favor, man. Move on.”
Haze laughed. “Is that what you would do if it were Vicky?”
Ian went from annoyed to pissed.
“I’ve got backup—a lot of backup. You’re going to tell me where you keep her, or I’m blowing this place up.”
Ian reached for his pocket.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I see one of you pull out a gun and we’re all dead.”
Ian narrowed his eyes. “You’re bluffing.”
“Am I?”
“That would kill you, too.”
Ian’s words sneaked into Haze’s thoughts.
The girl’s probably already dead.
“How are you so sure I have something to live for?”
“I didn’t take your damn girl, Haze. Why would I do that? We had an alliance.”
“According to her phone, you did.” Haze selected the conversation. “’Watch out for the scars,’ really? You expect me to believe that’s a coincidence?”
“I never sent her that. Think about it. Did it ever occur to you that I’ve been set up?”
Only a fool wouldn’t have considered that option. But Haze refused to look further into it. Because if he was right, if Ian had been set up by the other person he had in mind, everything was going to change. Everything would collapse. One of Ian’s guys got his gun out before Haze could retract himself. Out of all the directions the bullet could’ve taken, it decided to hit the wall, inches away from his head. The gunshot was the East Side’s cue. They kicked the door in, throwing the homemade smoke bomb Haze had stolen from his brother’s stash mere hours after Winter’s disappearance. He still couldn’t believe how many weapons and bombs his brother had locked up in their house. Making the most out of the North Side’s momentary blindness, they dashed down the stairs and into the vehicle waiting for them out front. The car took off in a roar, screeching around the corner at full speed.
“How did you get him so scared?” Blake asked, panting.
“Threatened his girl. Always works.”
“That’s all?” Alexander added, glancing in the rearview mirror, the fear of being followed eating him alive.
“I may also have pretended that there was a bomb,” Haze said. Distant smiles tugged at the corners of their lips. Enemy or not, the guy was good.
Kendrick glowered. “The entire building was empty. That’s not where they’re keeping her.”
“I know. I think we got it all wrong.”
“What? Why?” Will said.
“We’ve been set up. It wasn’t Ian.”
“You got someone else in mind?” Kendrick blew out a breath.
The veins in Haze’s neck bulged in exasperation. Saying it would make it official. It would make it real … and Haze wasn’t quite ready for that.
“Yes… And I hope I’m wrong.”