Chapter 28 Lincoln
Ihad been stuck in this fucking basement for three hours now. I tried everything to get my wrist out of the chains, but it was too tight. Now J.C. and Charlie were vulnerable without me. My head was pounding from the blows it took and I realized someone had hit me with a brick when I saw it lying next to me with pieces of my blood and hair on it. When I kicked in the door, I accidentally left my phone on the porch, but I knew J.C. would trace my location and come here, and that’s what I was afraid of. They weren’t capable of defending themselves against these men. I had to get out, and I needed to get out fast. I knew Alek had left with Eddie, but I wasn’t sure if he left someone here to watch me, and if he had, they hadn’t been down to check on me.
I wondered how I had gotten to this point in my life. I was becoming my father. A criminal with a history of murder. I had turned into the very thing I despised my whole life.
I thought about the time when I was 10 years old and my dad finally showed up to one of my baseball games. My nerves kicked in as soon as I spotted my dad in the crowd while pitching. I started throwing balls instead of strikes. I reminded myself to take a breath on the mound, focus. “Change the pitcher!” someone yelled in the crowd, after I ended up walking one batter. My dad lost his mind. He beat the shit out of the guy so badly, he ended up in the ICU. My dad’s temper was volatile. I was embarrassed, and friends at school told me their parents said we couldn’t hang out anymore. I was also kicked off the baseball team. The one thing I enjoyed, and he had stolen that from me, too. That’s when I realized I would never have a normal life. After that, I started hanging with the wrong kids and took a dark turn.
A noise from upstairs jolted me back to reality. I listened intently and heard a female voice.
“Hey! Down here!” I called out over and over until the basement door flung open.
Charlie stood in the doorway. “Jesus fucking Christ, I leave you alone for one fucking second and you get tied to a pole.”
“Shut up and get me out of here. You need bolt cutters.”
She laughed and pulled out her little handy tool from earlier.
“Oh I forgot, I’m dealing with inspector gadget.”
She unlocked my wrists in 20 seconds. I was impressed, but I didn’t let her know.
“Where is J.C.?”
“She’s waiting nearby. I didn’t want her to come inside.”
“Charlie, there are cameras everywhere here. They spotted you already.”
“Well, we better get out of here, then.” We climbed the stairs, and I stepped over the slumped body in the living room.
“Nice work,” I said.
Charlie smirked. We went out the back and she handed me my phone. “I think you dropped this.”
I slid it into my pocket. We walked two miles and caught up with J.C. at a coffee shop. She looked flustered and I could tell she hadn’t been sleeping as black rings were forming under her eyes. She ran and embraced me when she saw us enter.
“You stupid idiot, I thought something happened to you.” She winced when she got a good look at my face and head. “Let’s go back to the hotel. We have to come up with another plan. One that doesn’t involve you getting kidnapped.”
“Yeah, cause that’s exactly what I had on my agenda for today,” I said.
The girls crashed when we got to the hotel room, but I couldn’t sleep. Laynie was out there suffering, and I couldn’t allow myself the satisfaction of sleep. I paced the room. I needed a shot of something strong, but all my liquor was back home. Stepping back in that apartment at this moment was out of the question for me.