Maggie - Bait
The snow flurries were already decreasing road visibility, and Hunter was quite literally breaking down. I offered to take over driving multiple times, but he just kept shaking his head and wiping at his eyes.
The one thing about his visceral panic was that it was making me more calm. It was the same way for me in the classroom– when I had to be the adult in the room, when I had to be in control of the situation, it was easier for me to push my anxiety aside for the sake of others.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated for the hundredth time, wiping again at his red-rimmed eyes. “I really am. I don’t want to take you here but I don’t know what else to do. Archie thinks I’m going to get food for us right now, he has no clue. But I’m not a bad guy.” He sniffled and stole a glance at me in the passenger seat. “Please don’t think I’m a bad person, Ms. Quinn.”
“I know you’re not, Hunter,” I said as soothingly as I could while trying to pay attention to which highways he was taking in case I needed to relay the information. “You are someone who was put in a very horrible position, and it’s not fair to you. You are not forcing me to go, and you are not fooling me about what’s to happen. I know , and I am telling you to take me there because I want to save Archie too, okay?”
He nodded hurriedly. “They said they’d… Th-th-they said…” He let out a groan of frustration over the fact that he was too distraught to even form full sentences. “If I didn’t…”
“Shhh, it’s okay. I know.” I needed to change the subject and occupy his mind with something before he ended up crashing us off the highway– then neither of us would be able to help little Archie. “Ya know… I think Abby likes you,” I teased.
He cut his wary gaze to me.
“Yupp, I think she really likes you.” I laughed, picturing my first hour. “I always catch her looking at your work after you put it on the drying rack.”
“Maybe she…” He heaved a breath, “Maybe she just likes art.”
“Or maybe she just likes your art.” I cocked an eyebrow at him.
His cheeks flushed. He used his sleeve to wipe his face again. “She’s really pretty.”
“She is,” I agreed.
“I thought.” His shoulders shook. “I thought maybe I’d ask her to prom this year. If I… If I made it ‘til then.”
My heart just about died for him. My eyes stung, but I blinked back the tears. He didn’t need me crying. “Hunter,” I forced myself to keep my voice even. “You’ll make it to then, okay? I promise.”
He swallowed hard. “I just want Archie to be okay.” His chin quivered and he quickly used his sleeve to swipe under his nose to cover the motion. “If I’m gone, he won’t have anyone.”
I nodded. “You’re a good big brother.”
His chin quivered again, and he let out a ragged breath as he exited the highway and pulled into an industrial area.
We drove silently through the factory buildings until we came to the oldest, most decrepit looking one. The building was all brick with some areas crumbling, and multiple windows were broken or completely missing. A skinny man in his upper-twenties with grown out bleached hair who slightly resembled a beaten up Machine Gun Kelly, was slumped up against the side of the building, sleeping.
Hunter’s jaw throbbed with anger. “I’m trying to be the opposite of him.” He parked the car and then turned to me. His blue eyes pooled with more tears. “You’re sure?”
My heart threatened to pound out of my chest. “I’m sure.”
Hunter blew out a breath then seemed to mask up– his face turning grave. He shoved his car door open and stalked over to the sleeping guy. “Wake up.”
The guy just groaned.
Hunter kicked him. “I said, wake the fuck up,” he yelled down at him.
The guy squinted his eyes open. With shocking quickness, he sucker punched Hunter in the gut, making him cough and double over.
“What’re you starin’ at, lady?”
It took me a second to register that he was talking to me.
“She’s the one who’s about to save our little brother, so you better have some fucking respect, Griffin,” Hunter spat out.
“Respect?” the guy snarled, grabbing Hunter’s shirt and pulling him closer. He looked ready to punch him again and I couldn’t stay silent.
“Please don’t,” erupted from me.
Now the guy scanned me over. His leering gaze made me squirm. “Good little boy scout,” he said to Hunter. “Knew I could count on you.” He patted Hunter’s cheek.
“Don’t touch me, fucker,” Hunter spat, slapping him away.
“What’d you just call me?” Griffin scrambled up to his feet, making me reach out for Hunter, but I didn’t have to protect him, because Griffin almost toppled sideways. “Fuuuck.” He clamored for the wall, then leaned against it and began vomiting onto the cracked cement.
Hunter shook his head in disgust.
When Griffin finally straightened up, his limbs were shaky and his skin looked a sickly pale color. “Let’s get moving.”
I followed hesitantly behind the two brothers as they walked into the musty warehouse.
Inside, to the right, was a half-deflated king-size air mattress littered with dirty sleeping bags, pillows, and one cereal boxl. I wouldn’t think anything of it, except I spotted Hunter’s backpack laying among the stuff.
Hunter tracked my gaze. “It’s fine,” he said quietly, not meeting eyes.
It wasn’t fine. Not at all. And I was about to lay into Griffin, but a large man holding Archie entered the other side of the building. Archie flailed his little body, but he was helpless against the beefy man’s hold.
“We have her, aiight?” Griffin called out, looking totally bland for someone whose kid brother was being held captive.
The man sneered at me, then released Archie. He bolted the entire length of the warehouse, straight into Hunter’s arms. Hunter immediately scooped him up and his body shuddered with relief.
Seeing Archie’s dirty, tear-streaked face and the way he clung to his older brother assured me that I made the right decision in coming here.
Archie lifted his head only a fraction from his brother’s shoulder to peek at me. “Hi Mrs. Quinn,” he whispered in his raspy voice.
I blinked rapidly to clear my eyes. “Hi buddy.” Knowing that this was probably my last second of freedom, I reached out and ruffled his curly hair.
I stole my hand back when five large men walked out from the shadows and surrounded us. Shaky dread filled my body.
Griffin, who was now sweating profusely and looked like he was about to collapse, stalked behind me. “They go free, that was the deal,” he said to the men while motioning to his younger brothers. “She’s not running, we got her, aiight? Where’s boss?”
Hunter, still holding Archie, locked eyes with me.
I motioned to the door and mouthed Go .
I’m sorry, he mouthed back, his whole body shaking.
I gave him the best smile I could muster up and nodded to the doors again.
Hunter bolted towards their stuff, snatching his backpack, then scurried quietly out the door.
My wrists were roughly grabbed and pulled behind my back, making me wince, and reminding me that my left wrist was still sore. I was assaulted by the mental image of Ben kissing that wrist.
It’s still delicate.
Would he know I was missing? Would Coleson tell him? Or would he never find out what happened to me? Would he care?
Deep down, I knew he would care, and that made this all the more heartbreaking. Because I finally had something– someone– I really didn’t want to lose.
The man behind me shoved me forward. “Move.”
I took hesitant steps in the direction he shoved me and we ended up in an empty room with decaying walls that smelled like mildew.
Another guy dragged in a metal chair. He shoved my shoulders to force me to sit and he bound my hands to the chair.
And then it was just me and Griffin, who was on the dirty ground, slumped up against the wall.
“You’re their brother,” I said quietly, trying to test him out to see if I should be scared of him or not.
He snorted and leaned his head back against the gross wall. His eyes at half mast, he slurred, “Yeah, I’m Mr. Green, in the flesh.” His pale, skinny arms swept over himself. “And you’re the lovely voice from all those messages from the school this week.” He laughed. From the way he was shaking and sweating, he was clearly experiencing some kind of withdrawal from whatever drug he was using… From whatever drug the organization was manufacturing and selling…
A mumbling of voices erupted behind the wall to my right.
“Shh,” Griffin motioned for me to be quiet.
A shocking bang filled the air.
My ears rang.
I blinked hard to clear the pain.
I knew that noise.
I knew it from the shooting range.
To my right, a stream of blood trickled into the room from underneath the shitty wall.
And then a man in fancy shoes stalked into the room, making my entire body freeze in absolute shock.
“Hello, Margaret.” He gave me his smarmy, pompous grin. “I’ve been waiting for you.”