Chapter 35
Willow
“It will work,” Willow said, more vehemently this time.
A grumble came from her friend, seated on the couch with Stahma sprawled across his lap. He wasn’t overly enthused by her fluffy companion’s insistence on crawling all over him, but it only encouraged her more.
“It will.”
Finally, Landon replied, “I know, but it’s dangerous.”
“Well, I can’t keep doing nothing.” The words nearly caught in her throat with the emotion that came with it.
It had been two weeks since she had met up with Ezra secretly in the park.
She kept dreaming about them. Some of the dreams were good—way too good.
But others were horrific nightmares. In those, they were covered in blood and surrounded by broken bodies.
Her friend had been spending any time not with her visiting with relatives in the area. It was quite a shock to learn he had lived in a city nearby before jetsetting off with his partner.
Landon’s eyes softened. “What do you see in them? I figured by now you would be over it.” Opening up about her time with her two captors had been awkward to say the least. He was like a brother.
At first, Landon assumed she had been flirting with one of them.
She had been reluctant to give away more than that, but he’d been so confused.
Finally, she’d had enough of stepping around it to avoid the awkwardness and admitted to attempting to seduce both of them into getting the van keys.
But of course that then led to… the shared feelings.
“I’m not over them,” she muttered. It wasn’t possible to get over them, she’d decided.
“And they’d be okay with sharing you, or…” His face turned a shade pink. “That sounds wrong. It’s not what I meant.”
“I get what you meant.” Her own face reddened at the next admission. “I don’t know.”
His jaw went slack. “And you’re sure about this? For some guys you tried to woo?”
“It was more than just flirting. They were very much okay with it.”
Landon tipped his head back until he was staring at the ceiling, eyes unfocused as Stahma rolled to get his attention.
“Hey, don’t get all judgy on me,” she said before chucking a cat toy in his direction.
“I know! I know. You’re not actually my sister, but it’s still—wow.”
Willow snorted. “Even if I were your real sister, it would be none of your business if I wanted to fuck a couple of guys in the woods.”
His head snapped back. “In the woods?”
She couldn’t contain her laughter. “Are you really so innocent, Landon?”
“No. It’s just fucking weird is all.” He rolled his eyes. “How did that even—you know what? I don’t want to know.”
Desperate to change the topic from her forest fun, she asked, “So, what does your partner think of you coming all the way up here?”
Stahma was nuzzling his chin due to his lack of attention, so he lightly moved her back to his lap and began petting her again. “Gale is fine with it. He knows we have been friends for years. He knows… everything.”
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I’m glad he doesn’t see me as a homewrecker.”
Landon returned a genuine smirk, then sighed.
“No, he’s wonderful.” He cleared his throat.
“So. You’re smitten with two bad boys you fucked in the woods, and you want to try to free them from their life of crime.
” He leaned forward, prompting her cat to hop down to the floor.
“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?”
“I’m not a delicate doll that needs protecting,” she replied.
“I know it’s hard for you to see that, considering everything, but I lived it.
I know what it’s like to fear for my life.
I know what it’s like to dread hearing that door open since it means he’s home from work…
I know what it means to be with the wrong person and ignore the things about them that will hurt me.
” An ache settled in her chest, but she had to stay strong if she wanted him to help.
“I know what they are and what they aren’t.
The danger isn’t them, it’s the one I want to help them escape. ”
Her friend leaned back and rubbed his jaw. “Well. It looks like we’ll be fucking with some loan sharks.”
***
They couldn’t risk trying to meet with Xander Coughlin in person. It would be ridiculously dangerous, and her friend would probably tie her to a chair if she tried something like that. Their work would have to be remote.
Landon’s laptop was poised on his thighs as he lounged on the couch. Stahma had been very upset that she’d been prevented from lying on top of it, so she took the spot behind his head.
“Your cat is very clingy,” he remarked as a purr rumbled through the quiet. The only other sounds were their fingers on the keyboards.
She checked her VPN once again to confirm it was set the way she wanted before answering. “She’s a little princess that demands tribute, and you will pay.”
He huffed. “All right. You good on your end?”
“Yeah.” Her heart rate picked up. Contacting a notorious loan shark was never something she thought she’d be doing in her entire life.
She checked the security feed they had hacked into to make sure he was there and sitting at his desk before making the call.
The feed was in black and white, but she could see gray streaks in his dark hair, and from what little of his face was visible, she placed him around mid-fifties.
“This is it,” she breathed.
“Hey,” Landon said abruptly, making her flinch. “You don’t have to do this. You can just go about your life and forget all about it.”
With a shaky breath, she replied, “No. I really can’t.”
“Then make the call, Crypty.”
Willow tapped the mouse and listened as the video chat sent the request. Agonizing seconds ticked by as she watched the security footage.
Predictably, the man seated at the desk was startled.
He leaned forward to get a better view of who was attempting to call.
His finger hovered over his mouse before finally settling on answering.
“Speak,” the man demanded. He hadn’t turned on his camera, but obviously they could see him anyway.
“You have no way of knowing me,” she started, her voice modulated to sound deeper than normal. “But I have a proposal for you.”
“Oh yeah? Who the fuck is this?”
“Someone who wants to make a deal.”
Xan chuckled. “I don’t make deals with random callers who use voice modulators. How do I know you aren’t a cop anyway?”
“I’m not a cop.”
Another disbelieving laugh. “Right. Goodbye.”
He hung up before getting to his feet and stretching dramatically.
Shit. That hadn’t gone the way she’d hoped. Of course, he wouldn’t trust some random person calling in.
“What now, Crypty?” Landon drawled, pushing his palms against his eyes.
She stared at the blank screen, puzzling just how far she was willing to go for her two captors.
The two men who had drugged her and taken her into the forest to end her life.
The men who had somehow made her more whole than she’d ever felt.
Willow wasn’t some great fighter or anything; she had a bum shoulder for fuck’s sake.
And said shoulder was aching from the lack of stretches and too much gaming she’d been doing to distract herself while not at work.
Landon leaned forward, as if to ask the question again.
“I’ll go.”
His brows rose. “For real?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t meet his eyes now. For some reason, it might break the resolve she was building inside. Willow couldn’t let this go. There was no way she could move on and have a normal life with some “Joe Schmo”.
He got to his feet and grimaced. “All right. I’m with you. What’s the plan?”