Chapter 29
“Dude, what fucking time is it?”I groan as I run my hand down my face.
“You could just look at your phone,” Dekker says as he pulls out his.
“Too tired to do that.” I lean my head back against the back of the couch the three of us are occupying.
“It’s two in the morning. Angel is probably passed out by now.” Dekker shoves his phone back into his pocket. “When was the last time we checked on her?”
Xayden shrugs. “It’s been a couple hours. Probably should go check on her. I’ll be right back.” I watch as he jumps up from the couch and pushes through the bodies still drinking and partying.
The music is still pumping through the speakers, and the beer and shots flow through everyone. Except us three. With everything going on and having to look out for Rory, we didn’t want to take the chance that if something happened, we couldn’t react. So sober partying it is for us.
Xayden got a message from his dad today that they were still on vacation and would be back next week. We haven’t told Rory we got another message yet because something isn’t sitting right with all that.
I tried tracing the message but had no luck. He won’t tell us where they’re at or if they’re okay.
Something is seriously wrong.
I told Xayden we should go to the cops or something, but he vetoed that. Something about how if nothing is wrong then we are wasting our time.
I, of course, pointed out that Rory was kidnapped twice now. So, something is absolutely going on.
Pulling out my phone, I open up Instagram and mindlessly start to scroll. I look up and find Dekker just shaking his head at me, so I wink at him and smile. I’m a few seconds into a cute cat video when I hear Xayden screaming for everyone to get the fuck out.
“Now! Move it! Party is fucking over! Get the fuck out! Brothers! Get everyone out of this fucking house now!” Xayden is pushing people out the door and yelling at the brothers of the frat to help.
I am right, something is very wrong.
Dekker and I stand up and exchange worried looks. Rory.
We both run over to Xay, and I grab his arm and pull him toward us. “What the fuck is going on?” I demand.
He yanks away from my grip. “She’s gone. She’s fucking gone.”
“What? What do you mean she’s gone?” Dekker’s eyes widen as he clenches his fists.
Xay pulls out her phone and hands it to me. “She left it. Wallet, purse, not here. Her clothes are gone, too.”
Powering on her phone, I get to the lock screen. “Give me a few.” I rush up to my room and pull up the security system. I happened to see her enter her password last week, so I enter 1-3-1-3 into the phone, and her home screen pops up.
The first thing I pull up are her messages and I see that she has one from an unknown sender. That instantly raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
Unknown:
Enjoy this video of your “boyfriends”. Real nice guys. Imagine what they are saying about you right now.
*Video attached*
I click on the video and watch it all the way through. My stomach twists as I realize how that must have looked to her. How angry Xay was. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Who the fuck was watching us? Who recorded this and sent it to her? I run my hand down my face. This looks so fucking bad. If this is the reason why she ran… actually, I can guarantee this is why she ran.
Placing the phone down, I pull up the video feed from the last time that I checked on her and brought her water. From there, at about thirty minutes out, I see her leave Dek’s room and walk toward mine. Only, she doesn’t. She stops and looks at the door that leads to our church.
The place where we hold our important meetings, where we do official frat business. Church. I watch as she opens the door. A door to a room that should be locked at all times. Who the hell didn’t lock it? That is obviously a question I will have to solve another day.
We have no cameras in the church. So I watch and wait for her to reappear again. And when I do, I see the confusion on her face. She comes running down the stairs and shuts the door. She sprints toward my room, and I switch cameras to see if I can glimpse her from outside the hall. I get lucky that she stops just over the threshold, pulling out her phone from her back pocket.
She studies the phone. That must have been when she got the message and video. I can see the side of her face, but not what she’s watching. Her frown and narrowed eyes give away that she is definitely watching that video.
Rory’s head snaps up, and I can see her chest rising and lowering quickly. She’s panicking. She runs a hand through her hair, and she looks around the room. She disappears for a bit, and I see her come back with a duffle bag. She stops again and takes out her phone, doing something on it before tossing it in my trash can.
She grabs her other things and then heads out into the hallway again, but more careful as I am assuming she is making sure we are not coming up to check on her. She halts at the stairs, and internally I am begging her to turn back around.
And even though I know in the end she runs, I’m begging for a different outcome. She left. She took off and who the fuck knows where to?
Rory runs down the stairs, and I switch the video to see her try to push herself through the crowd. She looks around as she heads toward the door. Which, I am guessing, is keeping an eye out for us.
Once she makes it out of the house, I switch to the outside cameras.
I watch her run to her Mustang on the street and throw her stuff in. She slams the door shut, starts the car up, and peels out. I watch her until she’s no longer seen by the camera.
And just like that, she’s gone.
I don’t know how long I just stare at the empty screen. The video paused at where her taillights were last seen.
Anger swirls inside me. Anger that she could just take off like that.
Just up and leave without talking to us.
But I understand why. And it fucking breaks me.
My heart shatters at what the video showed. Because that did happen, those things were said. Except if she had come to us, we could have apologized, explained that it’s not really how we feel.
But instead, she ran.
And God knows where the fuck to.
Footsteps behind me tell me Dek and Xay are in my room. I let out a sigh and pull up the video on her phone. Handing it to Xayden to let him see what sent her running.
Those were his words after all.
“So, we are done with breakfast?” I hear myself ask him in the video. And I know what’s coming next.
“She’s a free-for-all. Fuck her and throw her away. Maybe her fat ass and her greedy cunt of a mother will leave, and my father and I can get back to our lives. Do what you need to, just make sure she’s as useless of a cunt as her mother is.”
The video ends, and Xay just stares at the phone, his eyes wide and his jaw clenched. As if he is trying to wish those words never happened. He grips the phone tight as he moves toward the bed and sits.
Still staring at the phone like it’s getting ready to detonate in his hand.
It might as fucking well.
“Fuck,” Dek whispers.
“I don’t know who sent it, and it will take me time to figure that out, but I think right now we need to find her,” I tell the two of them.
“Do we have any idea where she was headed?” Dek looks at me, frowning.
I shake my head. “None. She’s not going to go back to campus. That would be too easy for us to find her. The look on her face… she was done. Hurt. She didn’t go anywhere we would be able to find her.”
“I was angry,” Xayden finally speaks. “I was angry at her. Why her? Why did she have to be the one I wanted and yet I shouldn’t have? I didn’t mean what I said. Fuck! I’m an asshole. I’m a fucking asshole!”
Xayden takes the phone and throws it against the wall. It shatters into a million pieces.
“Why the fuck did you do that?” I yell as I jump up from my chair. “That could have had something in there that would have told us where she was going!” I start walking toward him, my fists curled at my sides.
“Relax, Sev.” Dekker steps between me and Xayden.
My head snaps to him. “No. I’m not going to relax. Because let’s look at the facts here. Xayden did his poor pitiful me act, all because he couldn’t sink his dick into his stepsister. The shit he said caused all of this. His big fucking mouth caused her to fucking run! Now his little tantrum has completely smashed her phone to bits, and we have nothing to go on.”
“I’m sorry.” Xayden’s words come out strained. “I’m sorry.”
I run a hand down my face and let out a long breath. The pain on Xay’s face is clear; he is mentally beating himself up right now. I can see it in the distant look in his eyes, the way he seems almost like he is looking right through me.
Walking up to him, I wrap my arms around him and pull him in for a hug.
“We’ll find her. We will find your dad and June. We’ll figure out what the fuck is going on. But first, we need to get to Rory,” I say as I slap his back and step away from him.
“Fuck,” Dekker’s voice breaks up the bro moment.
“What is it?” Xayden asks, turning to him.
“This can’t be. This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Dekker’s eyes widen.
“What is it?” I repeat Xayden’s question.
“My dad. He was released from prison.”
“What?” Xayden and I say at the same time.
“How can you be sure?” I look between him and Xay.
Dekker turns his phone around and shows us the message.
Unknown:
Hey son. Hope you have the welcome party planned. See you real soon. -L-
“Are you sure that’s your dad?” I ask him.
He nods. “That’s how he always signs all his messages to me.”
“So, is he going to try and come here? To the fraternity?” Because that will be very problematic. I wait for Dekker to answer, but the silence stretches on. “What, Dek?”
His lips are pursed and his eyes stare down at his phone. “He’s not in Texas anymore.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Xayden’s face hardens.
Dek looks up at Xayden. “He was transferred to High Desert Prison in Las Vegas. Transferred a couple years ago.” Dekker moves to the bed and sits, putting his head in his hands.
“Shit. Shit.” Xayden shakes his head as he jumps away from the bed. He paces around the floor, his hands pulling on the ends of his hair.
My attention turns toward him. “What? What’s wrong?”
Silence stretches between all of us for a moment. Xayden stops and pales.
“I know where she’s headed.” He frowns.
I throw my hands up in the air when he doesn’t answer right away. “Okay, where the hell is that? And how the fuck would you even know that?”
Xayden blinks a few times before answering. “Because it’s always where she would have rather been. She’s going home. She’s headed to Las Vegas.”