CONVICT: An Unfit Hero Novel

by Faiman, Hayley

  “This little bitch has to go, James. Show me how much you love me and get rid of her,” she purrs.

  James straightens his back, turning to face her and just when I think he may stand up for me. Just when I hope against all hopes that he will somehow come to my aid, it is completely dashed. I watch him lift his hand, fisting his fingers in the back of her hair and then kiss her.

  They’re all tongues and clashing teeth, and for a moment, they forget I am even in the room. James grabs a handful of her ass, and she moans into his mouth pressing her breasts against his chest. Slowly, they break away from one another, both breathing heavily.

  I watch them, they both slowly turn toward me and something ugly crosses both of their features. It’s pure evil in their eyes. I tremble in my seat knowing that I will never make it out of this room alive. A single tear falls from my eye, trickling down my cheek as I think about the fact that Rylan will now be all alone.

  The life we had planned will never happen, the tough but beautiful future that we were excited to venture out and grab ahold of by the horns. He’ll have to do it alone now, without us. I hope that he doesn’t spiral into drinking and drugs again, I hope that he will stay clean and work hard.

  Selfishly I hope that there will never be another woman in his life, realistically I hope that she will be good to him, whoever she will be.

  RYLAN

  Lulamae and Clarence stare at the empty office in surprise. Channing’s car is in the parking lot. The office is empty, but there is her final check and a gift on the desk. Lulamae clears her throat and I watch as she lifts her hand to her neck, wrapping her bony fingers around the front of her throat.

  “I thought she left. She said she was going. I told her to go,” she mumbles.

  Reaching for her, I wrap my fingers around her shoulder and squeeze her gently. “Not your fault, Lulamae. Nobody could have known. They had to have taken her out of the back.”

  “You know where they live?” she asks, turning to look at me.

  “They?” Wyatt asks, his eyes finding mine and his brows lifting.

  Clarence grunts. “I called the sheriff, but you two may want to take a little drive,” he suggests.

  Lifting my chin to Wyatt, I don’t bother even looking back at him as I walk out of the diner. I know he’s close behind me, on my heels. He’ll keep me under control, he’ll keep me from losing my head, and he’ll keep my ass out of jail.

  Once we’re in the truck, I frown when he starts the engine, then pulls his phone out of his pocket. He starts to drive as the phone rings. “Wyatt,” a voice drawls.

  “You and Louis still in town?” he asks.

  A throat clears on the other end. “What do you need?”

  “I don’t know yet. Meet me at…” he rattles the address then calls Ford Matthews and says the same thing.

  “Wyatt?” I ask.

  “Back up, witnesses, whatever they need to be, that’s what they’ll be,” he mutters.

  I watch as he pulls down a street and I think about his words. Back up. Witnesses. Whatever they need to be. My throat grows tight just thinking about his words. Whatever they need to be. Fuck. My cousin is taking care of me, his friends are taking care of me. They’re taking care of Channing too, of my fucking family.

  We pull up to the front of a house just as an expensive black pickup pulls up from the opposite direction. I recognize the two men in the front seat, Beaumont and Louis. We all climb out of the trucks and walk toward one another.

  “Ford’s a little bit away. Channing is missing. This is James and Jennifer’s place. Doesn’t look like anyone’s home, but fuck, we don’t know where else she could be,” Wyatt explains.

  My throat continues to close, and I find it hard to breathe, but I force myself. In and out, calming deep breaths. I have to stay calm and focused, I have to get my woman back. “I’ll go back around, just peek in some of the windows,” Beaumont offers.

  “Should we wait for the sheriff?” I ask. All three of the men look at me like I’m insane. “Can’t get my ass locked up, not when I got a woman and baby to take care of,” I state.

  Wyatt looks back at the house, then at me. He opens his mouth to say something, but a loud truck pulls up and I look over to see Ford in the driver’s seat. He hops out just as two sheriff cruisers pull up with lights flashing.

  I watch as an officer heads toward us, his eyes focused on me with every step he takes.

  “You boys didn’t do nothin’ stupid, did ya?” he asks, his eyes dancing as he looks between all of us.

  “Nope, just looking around, wondering if she’s here,” Beaumont shrugs.

  “Beau,” the officer warns.

  Beaumont lifts his hand between him and the officer. “Has nothing to do with my past, it has everything to do with this pregnant friend of mine. Those two,” he says, pointing at James and Jennifer’s house before he continues. “Have been terrorizing her for weeks. We know they have something to do with her disappearance, Robby.”

  The sheriff nods, his eyes shift from the house, then over to me. “You don’t think she’s just gone back to her little boyfriend, do you?” he asks, his eyes continuing to focus on me and not turning away.

  I want to punch this smug fucker in the face. I don’t, but I really fucking want to. “No. We were moving to Fredericksburg in a few days, getting out of town,” I explain.

  “I’ll knock on the door, but that’s all I can promise. She could be anywhere. She’s an adult, I can’t file her as missing after only a few hours,” he says.

  I flex my hand, making a fist with my fingers. I want to punch this fuck in the face. I want to make him bleed. I know that Channing is missing, she was kidnapped and so does he. I don’t care what kind of wonderful reputation the teacher has, I know that he has my woman. And I don’t know what he’s doing with her which has me scared fucking shitless.

  “She’s not in there,” Beaumont grunts next to me.

  I nod once in agreement. “No, she’s not.”

  “Where do they have her?” Ford asks. I watch as he lifts his hand to his jaw and scrubs his five o’clock shadowed face.

  Nobody answers the door and the sheriff makes his way back toward us with a worried look and a shrug. “Call us if she comes home. I’ll make sure to put the word out at the station. We’ll find her, if she wants to be found that is.” He doesn’t wait for us to respond, he walks away, slips into his cruiser and drives off.

  “Prick,” Beaumont grunts.

  “Why do you hate him so much?” Louis asks.

  My eyes shift over to Beaumont. I watch as he spits. “I don’t hate him. I hate his sister,” he shrugs.

  “Who, Chelle?” Ford asks, with a frown. Ford knows everyone in town, every single person.

  Beaumont nods. “Me and Chelle used to date. She did exactly what he is suggesting Channing did. Ran off with some fuck while we were dating. She wanted to go with him, cheated on me and all that shit. It was years ago, I should be over it, but fuck, it still burns my gut.”

  “Why? Because she cheated?” I ask, lifting a brow.

  He shakes his head, his eyes glancing down at his feet before they lift to meet mine. “Because I chased her all over God’s fucking creation. I thought that motherfucker had her against her will. I thought she’d been hurt. She let me believe all of that when all she had to do was call me and tell me it was over. I agonized over what kind of hell she had been living in and he never once told me she was safe, not even after I asked him.”

  “Why?” I ask.

  “Why does anyone do the shit they do?”

  “She never told you why, not even when you found her?” Louis asks.

  Beaumont shakes his head, shoving his hands in his pocket. “No, she didn’t. I asked and she just said she fell in love, that was her only excuse. It’s all bullshit,” he spits. “All goddamn bullshit. So I guess he’s decided all women are like Chelle. I know Channing ain’t her. She wouldn’t just skip town. No way in fuck.”

/>   “What about James’ brother?” Wyatt asks out of the blue. He’s stayed fairly quiet this entire time. We all slowly turn to face him.

  “Do you know where he lives?” Louis asks.

  Wyatt and Ford both nod slowly. “Let’s go in one car. Drop the trucks off at the diner and head out from there together,” Wyatt mutters.

  “Yeah, we can do that,” Louis nods.

  We all split up and I climb into the passenger seat of Wyatt’s truck. “You think she’s at the brother’s?” I ask.

  “I honest to God do not know, Ry. We’re going to exhaust every option though. We will find her,” he states.

  “Fuck,” I grunt.

  Wyatt doesn’t say anything as he drives back toward the diner. Before we arrive, he finally speaks. “We will not stop until she is found. We know that they have her. She didn’t just run off, not Channing. Not after the other night. If she went anywhere, she knows she can come to me, but her car is there, her check is there. She did not just run off on a whim,” he mutters.

  I nod my head. I agree with him completely. She did not run away. She did not just leave me, no way in fuck. No fucking way. She wouldn’t do that to me, she wouldn’t do that to us. She loves me.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  CHANNING

  A throat clears from behind a plotting Jennifer and James. They shift over, giving me a view of who has just walked into the room. It’s James’ brother, Jacob. I somehow envisioned him as just being the driver, but the way he’s looking at me, with the mixed emotions of disgust and pleasure, I know that he’s in on whatever they’re doing. He was not just the driver. No way in hell.

  “What?” Jennifer barks.

  He takes a step forward, farther into the room. “You’re holding that knife like you’re going to play immediately,” he remarks coolly.

  “That was the plan.”

  My breath hitches from her words. I knew that was what her end game was, but to hear it said out loud, it’s still a shock.

  “I want to play, first,” he states.

  She frowns. “Absolutely not,” she cries.

  “I brought a friend,” he chuckles.

  I didn’t see her, she was against the side of the wall. Jacob jerks his hand, and he’s holding a girl by the hair. She’s young, really young. Maybe eighteen—maybe. He throws her across the room like a little ragdoll. She lands at my feet. I look down at her, watching her as she slowly lifts her face and I see purple bruising and blood, which I’m sure mirrors my own face.

  “Why do you have her?” Jennifer asks.

  Looking over to Jennifer, I notice that her face looks like she’s swallowed something sour. I really really cannot stand this bitch. The girl at my feet whimpers. I feel her pain though I’m trying to stay as calm as possible.

  “She’s been my toy for a while. Thought you’d like to play with her too, maybe James might want a go.”

  I feel like I’m in an alternative universe. How is this beautiful young girl here, and not at home with her family? And why are they not looking for her. Then something ugly crosses my mind. Is she like me? Is she the daughter of some drugged out woman? A girl that is easily manipulated and easily controlled? One that would believe anything a man like James or Jacob would tell her? Then I wonder how on earth these sick people have been living in our town and haven’t been thrown in jail yet?

  James brings his hand to his crotch and I watch in disgust as he rubs his hard-on, squeezing himself over the top of his jeans.

  “Jennifer?” he whispers.

  “You do love the young ones,” Jennifer chuckles. I watch her walk over to us, a knife gripped in her hand, but she seems to have forgotten that I’m in the room. She bends over slightly, wrapping her fingers around the girl’s jaw, squeezing her cheeks tightly. “How old are you?” she asks.

  “Eighteen,” the girl whispers.

  Jennifer hums, turning her head to look back at Jacob. “How broken-in is she?” she asks.

  He grins. “Better than that one back there. Unlike my brother, I take every part of a woman, and thoroughly,” he winks.

  My breathing comes out in ragged pants.

  James grunts. “You like to hurt, Jacob. I just like to fuck.” He shrugs.

  “James,” he sighs. “If you don’t fuck their ass, how can you really own them? Didn’t you learn anything over the years?”

  I twist my hands behind me, trying to see if I can get out of my roped binds. It’s no use, they’re too tight, and my fingers have zero wiggle room. I let out a sigh. I want away from the freaks. Far, far away. I want to run as fast as I can.

  I want Rylan.

  Right now.

  “Obviously, I don’t have any problems with my ownership,” James chuckles.

  Jacobs scoffs. “You knocked that one up. Now we have to deal with her, and I already heard her fuck of a boyfriend and his cousin call the sheriff when I was listening to the scanner,” he explains.

  My heart leaps in my chest at the mention of Rylan. He’s already looking for me. I sigh a bit in relief. Maybe he’ll actually find me. I can at least have a little bit of hope now, where before I had none. I try to breathe as they continue bantering.

  “Let’s just let her go then,” James mutters.

  Jennifer stands, she looks over at James and I swear I hear her growl. “She’s ruining everything,” she shouts. “Everything. Everyone in town knows you cheat on me. It looks terrible. Don’t you care if people think badly of me?” she hisses.

  “It’s not cheating if you like watching,” James chuckles.

  Jennifer rolls her eyes. “It is if everyone knows. I don’t like watching you fuck them, James, and you know it,” she points out.

  I’m completely confused and I want to know exactly what is happening here, but I’m not about to ask a damn thing. Jacob walks over to the young girl, grabbing her by the hair and picking her up until she stands on her feet. I watch as Jennifer’s eyes light up in delight.

  I get it. I finally get it. My stomach dips and twists in disgust at my newfound knowledge.

  She doesn’t like to just watch James fuck other people, she likes to watch them in pain. It’s why he was always so rough, why he fucked me dry, why he never once attempted to bring me pleasure. My stomach rolls. I fight the urge to throw up, I keep it down, but only barely and probably because I haven’t eaten in a while.

  This sick piece of shit used me, he used me for his wife’s sick kinks. Fuck him, the disgusting piece of manipulative trash.

  “C’mon Jennifer, this girl ain’t goin’ nowhere. Let’s go make this one hurt,” Jacob laughs.

  The girl whimpers, I turn my attention back to her as something in her eyes flash. I watch as her lips turn up into a smile. James reaches down and twists her nipple. She moans. She likes it, maybe because she likes pain or maybe because that’s all she knows. Either way, she’s part of the game, and I know that she’s not an ally to me, at least not right now.

  Jennifer, Jacob, and the girl walk away leaving me alone with James. “Please don’t hurt me anymore,” I rasp once they’re out of earshot.

  “She won’t stop until that baby is gone. She won’t let another woman have my child,” he says. He sounds sad, and I would feel sorry for him, but I don’t. He’s disgusting, a user and an abuser. I don’t feel sorry for him, not now and not ever. I fucking refuse. “You ruined everything. It was perfect, and now you’ve ruined it all,” he chants.

  Lifting my gaze to his, I hold his eyes with my own. “Just let me go, James. I’ll never bother you, not ever. I want this baby though, it’s mine, James. I already love it.”

  To his credit, James looks regretful as his eyes roam over me. “She won’t stop, Channing. She and Jacob will go behind my back, they will not rest until the baby is gone.”

  “Why does it matter? I swear I will never come after you for child support. I won’t give it your last name, nothing, nobody has to know,” I say through my trembling lips.

  He shakes hi
s head. “It’s not about that. It’s about control.”

  “Fuck her control,” I spit.

  James’ eyes widen, then he gets that pitying look again and I want to slap it off of his face. “Not that easy, Channing. I tried to keep you out of it all for as long as I could. Why do you think I wanted you to go and take care of it on your own? You just wouldn’t listen to me,” he rambles.

  He’s walking back and forth, pacing, and I wonder if this is the end for me. Will he be the one to do it or Jennifer? I have no doubt their painful sex session won’t last too long. That girl looked pretty beat-up as it was, I doubt she could handle much more abuse. Unless it’s their goal to kill both of us today.

  RYLAN

  There is a sedan parked in front of Jacob Bridges’ home. I make a fist, wanting nothing more than to bust the fucking door down and beat the ever-loving shit out of him and his brother. I know Channing is inside of that house, I can feel it. She’s there and she needs me.

  “Wait,” Louis rumbles from the backseat. Turning my head, I look back at him, my eyes narrowing. I don’t speak, I’m too goddamn angry to even attempt to say a word. “You can’t go busting in there, especially with your record.”

  A growl erupts from deep in the back of my throat, but I know he’s right. The last thing I need is to be thrown in jail, even if nothing sticks, I just can’t afford it at this point. Channing and the baby need me, maybe now more than ever. I don’t know what these fucks have in mind, but I know that none of it can be fucking good at this point.

  “I’ll go knock on the door, see if anyone will answer. If not, I’m not sure what we’re going to do after this, but we’ll regroup and figure it out,” Wyatt mutters.

  I can tell his mind is spinning a million miles an hour. He’s thinking, plotting and planning. I’m glad for it, because my mind won’t work right now, all I can think about is Channing.

  “I’ll join you,” Ford mutters.

  I watch them amble out of the truck and walk up to the front door. “We got your back, Rylan. No matter what, we got you,” Beaumont mutters from the back of the pickup truck.