Chapter 28
Alec
The keys jingle in my pocket as I fish around to pull them out.
I unlock the door and head inside, and the quiet strikes me as odd the moment I walk in.
I call out for Tegan, but silence is my only reply.
My heart thunders in my chest as the warm, squeezing feeling of panic begins to rise.
Just as I turn for the doorknob, I spot the pad of paper sitting on the chipped desk.
My heartbeat doesn’t steady as I read the words. Pup went to meet up with Tye? I told her to stay here, and besides, neither of them would disrespect the rules of our arrangement by playing without me. Something about this doesn’t feel right.
I don’t have time to consider it as the scent of warm vanilla wafts up to my nose.
I smell like fucking Delia. Even that minimal amount of contact was enough to stain me with her scent.
I look back at the bathroom. I should wash the stench of my ex off first. Tegan has no reason to feel insecure, but her insecurities will eat her alive anyway if she catches a whiff of that bitch.
I strip and get in the shower, which is actually warm at this motel.
Hot, even. I stay beneath the showerhead until my skin begins to redden.
The shampoo has an offensive floral scent, but I still lather my hair.
It’s better than Delia’s stink. As I’m sudsing up, I hear my phone go off.
Just a single ding. When I go to pull the curtain, shampoo drips down my forehead and assaults my eyes.
“Fuck,” I hiss as I drown myself beneath the showerhead again, letting the water run past my clenched eyes.
The burning goes away, and at this point, I might as well finish my shower.
After I’ve sufficiently scrubbed myself clean, I turn off the water, grab a towel, and step out.
Water drips onto the stained tile floor.
I drag the towel over my skin before rubbing it through my hair.
With one hand still holding the cotton against my scalp, I grab my phone off the counter and squint as the backlight blinds me.
My mouth drops open the moment I read the text.
Delia just wanted to let me know she sent the photo to Stacks before I even got to her room. If I had fucked her, it would have been for nothing. Tegan was in danger the moment she hit send.
A ball of spit chokes me as I try to swallow. I had planned to run my clothes through the wash, but fuck the smell. I don’t have time to dig through my bag to find something else, either, so I pull the clothes over my body and hurry out the door.
I rush down the motel steps, hoping against hope that Tegan is actually with Tye. He’d keep her safe.
My knuckles rap on the metal door, and maroon paint flakes to the ground as Tye pulls it open.
“Where’s Tegan?” I ask as I push past him.
“What do you mean?”
I turn to look at him. “She didn’t come here?”
Tye’s face pales. “No, I thought she was with you. She’s always with you.”
“Except this one fucking time.” I swipe my hand down my face.
“What’s going on, Ace?”
“Fucking Delia. She sent the picture to Stacks before she even tried to seduce me. She told me if I slept with her, she wouldn’t send it, so I sure as fuck didn’t think she sent it already.”
“Oh god. Do you think Stacks has her?”
My heart drops because that is almost certainly who has her.
“We’re about to destroy our careers over this girl, I hope you know that,” I tell Tye as I rip open the door.
Tye is right behind me. “He’ll be lucky if we don’t destroy him.”
We bum-rush Stacks’ door, but no one answers. That’s when I stare into the parking lot and realize the worst has happened.
“The van is gone,” I say.
Tye’s gaze whips to the blanket of dark asphalt. “Fuck. What now? Do we call the police?”
I shake my head. “The police don’t care about drifters like us.”
So instead, we do the only thing we can.
We wait in the shadows beside Stacks’ door until he returns.
It feels like hours, but I don’t think sixty minutes pass before the van pulls into the parking lot again.
Stacks’ keys jangle in his pocket as he walks toward his room.
They move into the lock and twist, and just as he opens the door, Tye and I charge him and push the man into his room.
“What the fuck?” Stacks yells as he smacks against the wall. He goes to grab his gun from his belt, but I twist his arm so that Tye can disarm him. “Ow, ow!” he says, but I don’t let up.
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
Tye sends his knee into Stacks’ nuts. “You know who! Where the fuck is Tegan?”
“She’s not in this crew anymore. And neither are either of you after this shit!”
“Tell us where you took her!” I growl in his ear, but he only shakes his head.
Tye aims the gun at Stacks’ crotch. “Where is she?”
“Fuck you!” Stacks says through gritted teeth.
Tye cocks the pistol.
“Wait, okay, okay! I brought her to one of the national parks!”
My jaw drops. “You dumped her in the forest? Are you fucking kidding me?”
It’s low. Even for Stacks. He’s dumped people on the side of the road, but at least there was a road. Civilization. He dumped Tegan in the middle of nowhere.
“Keys! Now!” I demand as I hold out my hand.
He shoves the keys onto my palm. I release him, and Tye and I back away with his gun pointed at him. My heartbeat drums in my ears as we race to the van. Tye gets in the driver’s seat and turns on the engine.
I already have my phone out, searching for nearby parks. “How are we going to find her? He didn’t say which park he took her to, and there are at least three within driving distance. He’s probably run off to gather the others now, so it’s not like we can ask him.”
Tye mutters some numbers under his breath.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“The odometer.” He points to the numbers.
“Okay? And?”
“He drove eighty-four miles total.”
“How do you know?” I ask.
“I’m a bit obsessed with number sequences. Odometers, clocks, anything. But I check the odometer every place we stop. It was 178,281 when we got here. So he drove eighty-four miles total.”
I pull out my phone and search the nearby parks. One just happens to be around forty miles away. “This one,” I say as I show the phone to Tye. “She has to be here.”
We both stare at the website, which states that the park sprawls across a whopping three-hundred acres of land.
“Ace . . . how will we ever find her?”
I shake my head and tell him to drive. I don’t have the answers.
We have to.
We just have to.