Chapter 16 - Spencer #2
Kratos spots us quickly as he looks over the crowd of people. Not one person in this house is as large as he is, which adds to his overall intimidation and makes it impossible for him to miss us.
He walks towards us, and the whole crowd parts like the damn Red Sea, letting him make it to us in just a handful of steps.
He stops inside the kitchen, taking in everyone before him before looking back at Rick.
“Where is she?” Kratos asks, and it doesn’t take a genius to know who he's referring to.
“Kratos! Long time no see, man,” Jake says as he steps toward him like they're old friends. Kratos doesn’t take his eyes off Rick as he holds up his hand to stop Jake in his tracks.
Jake is a cocky bastard, but he stops, and I’m almost disappointed he did. Given the anger that all but rolls off of Kratos, he would probably kill him where he stands if he'd continued.
“Roderick!” Kratos barks when he fails to answer, and Zan and Jake both cringe at his sharp tone. Zander has been afraid of Kratos since the first time he met him. Most of the time, I think he’s overreacting, but right now, he’s right to be afraid.
“I don’t know,” Rick tells him as he meets Kratos’s angry stare without backing down.
It’s not that Rick isn’t afraid of Kratos.
Shit, I don’t know a single soul who isn’t unless, of course, you count Jade.
Who seemed to be more into him than afraid.
Rick is just the type to own his mistakes, which means no matter how bad this is about to suck, he’ll be straight with Kratos.
It’s something that Kratos has always said he respected.
Let's see if that respect can save our asses.
“I want her found and in this kitchen in the next twenty minutes,” he says to nobody in particular, but I know he doesn’t care who finds her as long as she’s found.
Jake doesn’t seem to understand that Kratos isn’t asking and begins to walk toward the living room.
Most people are dancing again, the news of Kratos being here forgotten now that he’s out of sight.
With the exception of those close to the kitchen, who look on at the shit that’s happening, hoping to get some kind of information to gossip about later, fucking rich kids.
Jake makes it all of two steps before Kratos grips him by the back of the neck and flings him back towards us, and he falls to the ground from the force.
“Nineteen minutes! And if she’s not here before the time is up, bodies will start dropping.” He looks down at Jake, who’s still on the floor, his grin wicked as Jake sees the monster that is Kratos, possibly for the first time. “Starting with yours.”
Jake scrambles to his feet, looking out towards the partygoers who happen to be watching.
He gets his panic under control, dusting himself off before he turns and goes back down the hall where they just came from.
I can tell just by how he’s walking that he wants to run, but he manages to settle on a quick walk for now.
Not that I blame him; his life is literally on the line.
As soon as Jake and his little followers are gone, Kratos walks up to Rick. Zan and I also walk over, waiting for orders like the good soldiers we are. Well, I guess used to be, because now that we lost the girl, I’m sure there will be consequences.
Fuck, Froggie’s going to murder us.
“Where did you see her last?” he asks, and surprisingly, Zander is the one to answer without prompting. His concern about Jade missing outweighs his usual fear of the big guy.
“She was with Trent upstairs about forty minutes ago. Jake wanted her to meet people to try and help convince her to go to school with us. I was with them for a while but needed a drink before I beat the shit out of him if he gave her fucking heart eyes one more time,” he says with a pained groan.
Huh, he failed to mention that before.
“He was flirting with her the whole time, and I don’t know if she doesn’t understand that he’s flirting or if she was just being nice.
Either way, I only went down to grab a beer.
I happened across Spencer in the kitchen, and we headed back upstairs to get her together because we knew Rick would be done soon.
” Zander starts pacing in front of Kratos as he explains.
Kratos doesn’t say anything as he listens, watching Zander go back and forth over and over.
We all know Zan has a need to move around, and that need is stronger the more emotional he is.
“We went back upstairs, but they were nowhere! We asked anyone who had seen her, and nothing. We even checked all the rooms and just got done checking down here,” he gestures wildly to the dance floor and almost smacks me in the face in the process, not that he seems to notice.
“We were going toward the back rooms when Rick came out, and you came in a minute later.”
As soon as he stops talking, his feet stop, shoulders slumping forward.
Kratos reaches his hand out, and for a second, I’m worried he’s about to wring his neck for messing up the mission. It wouldn’t surprise me with the reputation he has.
Instead, he shocks the shit out of me when he rests his hand on his shoulder and squeezes lightly, as if to comfort him. He must shock Zander as well, because his head snaps up to look at Kratos as if he’s just grown a second head.
“Don’t worry so much about it. We’ll find her.
I came when I got word that you guys decided to bring her with you.
I know enough about her to know she would find a way to disappear,” he tells us, and I swear it sounds like there’s a hint of amusement in his voice.
Not that I would fucking know for sure because I’ve never heard him amused with anything, but I don’t know what else it could be.
“What?” I all but yell.
The moment the word leaves my mouth, I wish I could shove it back in. I know better than to question Kratos.
His relaxed demeanor vanishes, and his face is once again serious as he turns toward me.
“You heard me,” he says, and I nod because I’m not sure what else to do besides beg for my life, and I would really rather not look more pathetic than I’m sure I already do.
“Now, let's get to looking. I would rather not have Jake be the one who finds her, but I want her found ASAP.” He looks at each of us to make sure we understand, and we each give a nod.
“We don’t know who’s after her or why, and until we do, I would rather her not be putting herself in danger,” he sighs, and it almost sounds like he’s concerned for her, not just the mission.
The moment I have the thought, I feel like an asshole. I may not trust Jade, but I also don’t want her dead. Kratos has seen more shit than all of us, and I’m sure he knows better than we do the shit Jade has dealt with.
She’s still a person who didn’t deserve the life she was subjected to.
Kratos turns back towards the sweaty dancing bodies, ready to start his search, apparently done with this conversation.
“You think someone here is a danger to her?” Rick calls after him, picking up on what Kratos didn’t say.
He turns back to us, and a weird look overtakes his face, something I can’t quite put my finger on.
“No,” He says before he schools his features to his usual mask of indifference. “But I’m also not convinced she’s still here, and that is dangerous,” he says before disappearing into the crowd.
Fuck.
Yeah, tonight probably couldn’t get much worse at this point.