Chapter 33
Walking into Sirens, I smile at Low as I walk into the back room, setting down my bag. It’s still slow, but it’s only starting to get dark outside.
“How’d it go?”
“Which part?” I lower my voice, glaring at her.
“Oh, so he showed.”
“He did.”
“How’d he get Brandon to leave?”
“Brandon never showed up.”
“Asshole.”
“No.” I laugh, nodding my head. “Eli slashed 2 of his tires.”
Low’s face falls simultaneously as my brother’s laughter echoes from behind me. “Smart. Pop all 4 some insurances will pay for it. Pop 1, most people have a spare. Whose tires are we talking about?”
“Drew’s date last night.” Low says from behind me.
Rolling my eyes at her telling him, and at his shocked expression as he looks at me.
“Talk to you for a minute?”
Nodding my head, I look at Low, who’s laughing as she mouths an ‘oh’ like I’m 11 and called to the principal’s office.
He shuts the door behind me as we walk into his office.
“How’d it go this morning?”
“Fine, I guess.” I sigh. “Who knows, really?”
“I’m sure you crushed it.”
I can’t help but laugh.
“What?”
“That’s what he told me last night?”
“Your date?”
“No. My date never showed up.”
“What?” he shouts, standing from the desk.
“God and I wonder why people have been afraid to ask me out my entire life.” Shaking my head before I continue. “He didn’t show because your bestie slashed 2 of his tires and commandeered my date.”
Z laughs out loud.
“You think it’s funny?” I laugh along, shaking my head now.
“I taught him well.” He’s still chuckling.
Shaking my head. “Shouldn’t you have all people want me to date someone else?”
“I told you, I want you to be happy.”
“I feel like that message got a little convoluted when you punched him in the face.”
“Yeah, about that.” He hesitates for a moment. “I was thinking about what you said. And I think you’re right?”
“Of course I am… which part?”
“A part of me hoped I was getting my friend back, especially here recently, and I dunno…”
“You’re not sure if he was actually doing it, or if he was doing it to get on your good side when this came out?”
He says nothing, only nods his head.
“Trust me, as much as I wish it were, that’s not the case. You don’t remember showing up at the house that night, do you?”
Slowly, he shakes his head.
“He was worried about you.” Pausing as I look back at him and shake my head. “Wait, I told you if you wanted this information you have to talk to him… right?”
“Yeah. Okay.” He laughs again. “One last thing.”
“It had better not be about Eli.”
“It’s more Eli-adjacent.”
“We’ll see if I allow it.”
“You’re wanting to get back together with him at some point, right?”
I shrug.
“Then why go out with someone else?”
“I needed to keep my mind off stressing about the exam…” I trail off as I try to stop the smirk on my face. Lowering my voice as if Z’s the only one I can tell. “And I knew it’d piss him off if he found out.”
“Jesus Christ, we’re the same.” He shakes his head, causing me to laugh harder.
A knock sounds on the door, and Z looks at me. “This is the real reason I wanted to talk to you.” He tells me as he walks over to the door, opening it.
Zeke walks in.
“No.” I groan out as I look between my brothers.
“I’m not doing it by myself.” Z shakes his head.
“Do what?”
“I found out who Drew was seeing.”
Zeke looks at me for a moment, tilting his head before he laughs out. “Fucking Eli.”
“What?” Z calls out, shocked.
“I should have put it together when you told me you broke up with someone. When he showed up at the chapel, he didn’t give a fuck about talking to me. As soon as you walked up, nobody else mattered.”
The way he says it brings a new perspective to that day.
“Found you guys whispering in the corner and then you went out after him. And you going to work for Sherri right after Z tells you he was arrested.” He looks over at Z and shakes his head. “It was literally right in front of our faces. We just didn’t know to look for it.”
“You seem much calmer than I thought you’d be,” Z tells him, and I nod, agreeing. “You’re okay with it?”
“Fuck no! I’m not okay. I’m gonna beat the fuck out of him.”
“Zeke, no!” I gasp.
Z looks over at Zeke and nods. “At some point we’re gonna have to sit down with him and have a heart to heart.”
“Why they broke up?”
“For now.” I start. “But I feel like the heart to heart is equally about things not involved with my love life.”
I read the confusion on his face as he looks between Z and me.
The metal drawer opens as Z pulls out and tosses the kutte at Zeke.
“What is this?” he opens it, turning it over in his hands. “Okay, it’s a kutte, but whose is it?”
“It’s Eli’s,” Z says.
“Wait.” Both Zeke and I say in unison, for different reasons.
“He has ink,” Z shrugs, telling him.
I realize that Z still calling it Eli’s means he’s decided, even if he hasn’t realized it yet.
“No fucking way?” Zeke gasps. Before his tone because more serious and he stands, pissed now. “No fucking way!”
“It’s what Dad wanted.” I whisper to both of them.
“He trusted Eli. He trusted him at 18 to send him in undercover to watch out for you fucking idiots. I know I was just here because my love life is involved.” I stand walking towards the door, stopping before I open it.
“Let him in the club, don’t let him in, none of that has anything to do with me, but if I can say.
He spent the better part of the last decade looking out for the club and looking out for your dumb ass, specifically.
” I say, pointing at Z, “he’d go to prison to show you what he’ll do.
Mom and Dad trusted him. And while you guys might not be brothas if he’s not in the club, he’s still gonna be around and you’re still going to be some fucked-up family. ”
“Are you saying you’re gonna marry him?”
“What I’m saying is, even though we’ve been apart for a while, I’m still in love with him.”
Walking back out to the bar, Low looks at me before she walks over. “That seemed like fun; I saw Zeke went in.”
“Yeah,” I pause, reaching over and pulling her back in close to me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You guys work things out?”
Pulling back, I shake my head.
“Drew.”
“I told him I needed a little more time.”
“But —” she stops herself as she looks down at where his tooth still hangs around my neck. “What’d he say?”
Ignoring what she actually wants to ask about, I answer, “That he’s here when I’m ready.”
* * *
It’s dark…
My neck’s still sore from his arm wrapped around it…
My hands are tied…
But it feels like we’re moving.
There should be some light, but there’s not. Because they planned this and know how to cover their tracks, which isn’t fucking good for me. There should be little cracks of light where the trunk closes, unless they purposefully blocked it.
“Come on, Drew, you’ve got this.” I whisper as I try to carefully roll over, so my hands are at the taillights. “Shit.” I sigh out as my fingers feel the cool metal concealing the lights.
I wish I knew how long I’ve been in the trunk, or even what time of day it is now. Maybe that’s why I can’t see any light, maybe it’s still night… maybe we’re in the desert, who knows.
Calm down.
A calmness comes over me.
“Great, now I’m hearing fucking voices.” I whisper shaking my head.
Shut up.
I know the voice. It’s the one that lives in the back of my head, or one of the ones that lives in the back of my head. The one that guides me when I need it.
That’s right, take a slow breath, calm down.
My mother.
“But I can’t.” My heart pounds in my ears. “Great, now I’m talking to myself.”
You know that’s not what it is. Calm down. What should you do next?
Remembering what she used to do when I would get overwhelmed.
“Drew, calm down.” I whisper to myself. “Deep breath.”
Her voice repeating in my head as I talk myself through how to lower my heart rate.
Inhaling 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale completely.
Repeat.
Again.
One more time.
Now think: what should you do next?
Opening my eyes, I try to look around me, still not seeing anything. Moving my foot, hoping to find anything, but still coming up short.
Maybe I can reach my feet and untie them?
Negative.
My arm snags on the carpet.
There it is.
“Idiots,” I mumble.
So whoever planned the abduction, smart. The ones who actually executed it, not so much…
Flipping the buckle open and sliding the watch off my wrist, just needing a place to hide it.
Now where?
“I don’t know.” The emotion taking over me once again.
Yes, you do. Calm down. Think…
The car slows down as it veers to the left.
“Fuck,” I whisper to myself.
Drew, think. We gave you everything you need.
The scene plays in my mind. Dad and I are in the garage. My brothers are both already out of the house. He’s lifting the flooring.
“Time crunch, drop it in. It doesn’t matter if whoever has you finds it. Any extra help you can give can make the difference.”
Pulling the floorboard back, I tuck the watch in enough. Will the car stay with me? Who knows?
Any help can make a difference.
I understand now he was preparing me for the inevitable. For after he wasn’t here to protect me anymore.
The look in his eyes.
The pain behind his smile.
I heard the things people said about him the last year he was around, and the years since, how he became obsessed, how he started losing it, but he was just as sane as any other time in my life.
I don’t know what made me think about it then, or maybe I just wanted to change the subject of my unavoidable abduction, but the next words out of my mouth made him laugh.
“Dad, if I ever killed someone, would you help me hide a body?”
“What?” he stopped, laughed, and looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Why?”
“Just curious, I saw this true crime thing where the parents turned them in.”
“Always keep your whimsy.” He laughed again.
“What?”
“Don’t let yourself become jaded.” He looked at me, becoming serious now. “Keep seeing the good in people. No matter what.”
I remember thinking whether I should be concerned about his tone.
“What?” I asked again, only this time I could feel the panic rising inside me.