Chapter 31 Sheldon
SHELDON
What in the ever-loving fuck just happened?
I was asleep when my phone went off, startling me awake. Forest was passed out, so I left him in bed, knowing he was in the safest building in East Dremest. When I got to the security room, I found everyone just as confused as I was.
Then we saw Micah on the screen. He was down, blood near his head.
We rushed to him, noticing the lights flickering in the halls.
They kept drawing my eyes to them, but I tried to ignore them.
The lights didn’t matter. One of our guards being down did, especially when it was one who guarded my fiancé.
Micah was slowly coming to when we got to him; the blood was from a wound that at least didn’t appear to go all the way to his skull. Once the area was cleared, Barry woke Alton, and he came rushing to us with Lane and Raiden covering him.
By that time, the building was put on high alert, and all the guards knew and were under strict protocol not to let anyone in. That was when the text came through that Winnie was seen on the camera, fucking with the lights, and knocking Micah out.
My blood rushed cold. I ran to my apartment to find it empty, Forest gone, just like I feared.
The way my heart pounded in my chest, I waited for it to combust from the sheer agony I felt yet didn’t let out.
The phone was pressed to my ear as I called Barry, only to find out Winnie had left with Forest. She mentioned to another guard she had to take Forest to the safe house to protect him, as per my orders.
Orders I didn’t make. And there was no way to track her or the Navigator.
I gathered poisons, strapping them to me as well as two loaded guns. Whatever I could find and quickly add to myself, I did.
Everyone scrambled, trying to figure out who was where and how this could have happened. But I knew. Winnie wasn’t who she said she was. I was going to find her and kill her for taking the man who meant the world to me. She’d better fucking run if even one single cell of his skin flaked off.
“Stop!” Oleander yelled, his hand coming down on my shoulder.
It didn’t matter how long we’d been friends or how much we’d been through. He should have known better than to touch me right then. I spun, putting my hand to his throat and pinning him to the closest wall.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I said low as I got in his face.
Oleander didn’t fight me. There would be no point. With this much rage flowing through my system, I could have taken down the twins if I had to. “Shel, it’s me,” he rasped. I wasn’t fully cutting off his oxygen, but it was close. He was also right.
Releasing him, I turned and started walking toward the garage and my bike. Nothing else would be able to cut through the streets like it could.
“He’s not at the safe house.”
“No shit.” Winnie wouldn’t be stupid enough to go there. That was just what she told the shitty guards, so she could get out of here with Forest.
“I’m coming with you,” Oleander said from behind me.
I didn’t respond. He didn’t have a bike, but he did have a fast as hell Subaru.
The bike stood waiting, like it knew what we had to do. I straddled it and started it up, tearing out of the garage without looking back or checking to see if anyone was coming. They could drive around me.
In the building I was leaving behind was my boss, my friends, and people I worked with. Sure, Jordan might have my head for leaving like this, but he also had a lot of guards to protect him and the ones he loved. Forest needed me. I had to find him.
There was no way to know where Forest was. I kicked myself for not having any way to contact Oleander besides my phone, which wasn’t easy to use while riding. Slowing down, I waited until he pulled up beside me, window down.
“He doesn’t have his phone, and Winnie’s is gone!” he yelled. I hadn’t even bothered putting a helmet on, so it was easy to hear him.
I nodded.
“We don’t know where we’re going yet. Lawson is digging. We’re just driving to drive, Shel. You have to stop for a second and think.”
Someone behind us beeped. I turned and pulled my gun, pointing it right at them.
“Jesus Christ!” Oleander yelled and got out of his car. He was in front of the gun in seconds. “Sheldon! Fuck’s sake!”
I took my finger off the trigger, but didn’t put it away.
Oleander peered over his shoulder and hollered, “He has a license to carry.”
The car didn’t move, and the person behind the wheel watched us in shock.
“Shel,” my best friend said calmly. “We need to get off the street and wait.”
“I have to do something.”
“Let’s go back to the building and regroup.”
I shook my head. It would feel like I failed if I did. But I could go to his place and wait there. It wasn’t the same. I’d be surrounded by his scent, by his things. Not everything was moved into my place, just what he’d needed.
“His apartment,” I told Oleander.
“Okay.”
After holstering the gun, I put the bike in motion again, not giving a shit about making an illegal turn.
Oleander was behind me, like I knew he would be.
He was a better friend than I deserved. Only he would let me nearly choke him and still have my back.
Then again, he was one of the few people who truly knew and understood me.
Oleander never judged me, didn’t tell me I was overreacting, or try to soothe my worries.
The person I loved was gone, and I had no fucking clue where he was.
I pulled into the alley behind Hartley’s studio and killed the engine. The door to Forest’s apartment was still closed, no alarm had been triggered. If it had, we would have known. I could be closer to him by setting foot inside. Forest made the place his own. Every inch of it was touched by him.
Before I could reach the bottom step leading to the apartment, Lane and Raiden ran toward us.
“It was faster than driving,” Lane said.
“We’re here with you for the duration,” Raiden told us. “Whatever you need, you have us. Jordan is staying home with his family, but we’re the next best thing. All communication will come to us and you.”
I nodded, emotion trying to take over. There was no way that was going to happen. If I broke, I didn’t think I’d be able to put the pieces together when I needed to. So I choked that shit down and blinked back the tears burning my eyes.
Raided stepped up to me, his eyes meeting mine. “You know I won’t lie to you. We’ll get him back alive. There’s no other option. Do you hear me?”
If there was anyone in the building I was friends with outside of Oleander, it was Raiden.
No, we weren’t overly close. I wasn’t that way with anyone but my best friend.
Having Jordan’s second-in-command here didn’t hurt either.
Lane was smart as hell, more than most gave him credit for.
He’d lived the mafia life since he was born.
He might not have been raised to take over, but he paid attention.
“I don’t like it out here,” Oleander muttered.
“Inside,” Lane said, taking over. I let him. Someone had to run this shitshow, and I wasn’t in any position to. I would have kept driving around the city without a destination in sight.
We climbed the stairs with me in the front.
I unlocked the door, thanking myself for having put the key to the apartment with my others.
The alarm was deactivated next. However, I froze only a few feet into the home.
It wasn’t that there was anyone here. There was no threat.
It was the memories that hit me like a brick wall.
My knees gave out, bringing me to the floor. Forest should be here with us.
Oleander dropped down in front of me.
“It’s cold in here,” I whispered brokenly. “Forest gave it warmth. Without him here…”
“Do you think he’s out there worried you’re losing your shit right now? No. He’s damn sure you’re trying to find him so you can kill the motherfuckers who took him. Pull yourself together, Sheldon. Now’s not the damn time.”
“Ollie,” Lane warned.
“No. You don’t know Sheldon like I do. He needs this. Don’t you?” he asked me. Then his voice softened. “You lost yourself in sorrow for a moment there, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I barely got out.
“The trauma of our pasts doesn’t ever leave. It’s not the same situation you’re in now, but you still lost someone you love. The difference is, we’ll get him back. We can’t do that when you give up the fight.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“None of us do, but we’re here. You’re not alone.”
“Damn right,” Raiden added. “We’ve got your back.”
“While I don’t agree with your tough love approach, you’re right that I don’t know him like you do,” Lane stated. “I still think that could have been a tad gentler.”
“Fuck you,” Oleander said without any bite. “Get up, Shel. We have to be ready to leave as soon as we know something. You don’t belong down here. Not when this is happening. Your boyfriend is out there, waiting for you to find him.”
“Fiancé.”
He froze, his eyes going wide. “What?”
“I asked him to marry me last night. He said yes.”
“Holy shit.”
Lane clapped me on the shoulder. “Fuck yeah, you did. Congrats.”
“Thanks,” I whispered, but didn’t feel much except a great loss. Oleander’s words before hit me where they needed to. The problem was, I couldn’t let go of the fear residing in me that I wouldn’t get to Forest in time. That I wouldn’t be able to locate him.
A phone rang. I wasn’t sure whose it was until Lane answered and held it in front of him so we could all hear.
“What did you find, Lawson?” Lane asked
“Winnie’s boyfriend was reported missing a while back.
She initially reported it to the police, but they couldn’t find anything.
A day later, she told them he came home to pack a bag and leave.
He went on a trip. They found proof of this with a plane ticket and his getting on a plane.
The thing is, he never checked in at the hotel. She acted like he broke up with her.”
“She talked like they were still together,” I said.
“That’s because he was kidnapped by her ex.
Get ready for some talk show level shit.
Winnie’s ex is fucking batshit. He left her and immediately started dating someone else, someone who happened to be dealing drugs in the city.
Eventually, we got hold of him and delivered the punishment for such a crime.
The ex kidnapped Winnie’s current boyfriend and must have told her to get a job working for Jordan.
That was her way in, so she could become close to you.
It just so happened that she was put on Forest’s detail because you two are together.
All the pieces fell into place, and here we are.
Her boyfriend is missing. The ex needs to be cut into many pieces. ”
“I barely followed that,” Lane said.
“Where?” I asked.
“Here’s what I know…”