by Sam Crescent
“You’re not the only one who made the decision and yet she’s targeting you. Why?” Gael asked.
Caleb laughed and got to his feet. “Why do you think? I’m the easy target. I’m the one who makes the final decisions. I’m the one who fucking agreed with that piece of shit that Ashley would go with him. It’s all on me.”
“Let’s stay on track,” River said. “You had something.”
I focused on Gael. I didn’t like how weak we were looking or sounding. We had our disagreements. What family didn’t? But getting Emily back wasn’t supposed to tear us apart.
“He’s got her out on one of his ships. The Valentine. He made sure we were busy with Emily. He took off. Our men were given the slip. He had some body doubles go to the home we agreed upon. While we were distracted, as were our men, he took Ashley out of the port, and he’s now sailing somewhere. I’ve already called in a few favors. We’re going to get a location within hours.”
Caleb launched the bottle across the room. “I’m going to kill him.”
“We can’t do anything that will risk her life. We know that. He knows that.” I tried to reason with him.
“He knows jack shit,” Caleb said. He ran a hand down his face. Suddenly, he started to laugh. “Do you realize how stupid we sound? We jumped on the first man to offer us a chance to get our woman. It makes us look weak.”
“When it comes to Emily, we are weak,” River said.
“We don’t even know if the threat is truly gone.” Caleb growled. “When I find him, he better hope he’s killed himself because I’m going to make him pray for death long before I grant it.”
“We can’t do anything rash,” I said.
“Have you found her?”
We all turned toward the door at the sound of Emily’s voice. She stood in the doorway. I’d been too distracted to hear her come in. She was messing with all of our heads, but if we weren’t careful, we were all going to get killed and it wouldn’t be her fault, but ours. She hadn’t come back to us. We’d gone to her.
“We know where he’s taken her,” Caleb said.
She nodded. “Good. What’s the plan?”
“You’re not part of it.”
“I want my cell phone,” she said. “I want to know if I can at least get in touch with her.”
“We don’t have it,” Caleb said. “We trashed all of your possessions.”
“You’re infuriating.” She ran a hand down her face, clearly struggling to stay in control. She held her hands out. “I don’t want to fight anymore. I … can we just all agree to work together to get Ashley back?”
“You want to be friends?” River asked.
“Yes.”
“Friends that fuck?” Gael asked.
She winced.
Caleb snorted. “So, you’ve fucked my three best friends but are leaving me out.”
“I don’t want to argue with you,” she said. “I don’t want to fight.”
“And you think I do?”
“How did you expect this to go, Caleb? You got me at the price of my friend. You had to know I wouldn’t accept that.”
“I did what I had to.”
“At what price?” She sighed. “Do you even know if he kept to his end of the bargain? I can’t leave the house, can I? I don’t know the full extent of your fathers’ powers, but I’m not safe here.”
“You are safe.”
I didn’t like where she was going with this. It was a fear that we all had, but I didn’t like her voicing it.
“I can’t hide in here forever, Caleb. Neither can all of you. You’ve got a town to destroy.” She took a step out of the room and I watched her go, wanting to help her, to offer her comfort, but there was nothing I could say. She was right, like always. We were fucked.
Caleb stared at the door. In the brief second he stared at her retreating back, I knew he was in pain. He hated being a disappointment to Emily, but that was what we all were. With Ashley gone, we had all fucked up, and we had to pay the price.
“I’m going to reach out to some of my boys,” I said. “See if I can find out about any movement or agreement of a kill on a female.”
I couldn’t stand to be in the room anymore and I left, not looking back. There was only so much pain we could all stand, and I had to make it right, once and for all.
****
River
I found Emily in the music room. She sat at the piano, her fingers touching each key, letting the sound linger in the air before moving onto the next one. She stared across the room at me.
“Do I have to go to my room for being naughty? I didn’t see any soldiers.”
“No, I’m not here to tell you where to go. You can sit and enjoy.”
She sighed and both of her hands landed on the keyboard.
As the last notes lingered out, sadness swept over me. She was so miserable. The tears in her eyes caught me off guard. I went to her, sitting beside her and wrapping my arm around her.
“Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be sorry. You can cry. I just, I hate to see you so upset, especially when I know we’re the cause.”
She sniffled. “I promised myself I wouldn’t cry, but I fucked up big time.”
“None of this is on you.”
“No? If I had pushed Ashley away, none of this would have happened.”
“You’re right, she’d have been dead. We wouldn’t have thought to save her.” I gripped her arm tightly.
“Don’t say stuff like that.”
“Why not? It’s the truth. She’d have suffered along with her mother. You know the facts. We all do.” I couldn’t let her believe any other way would have been a happier option for Ashley. It wouldn’t. “What you can’t do is blame yourself for all of this. None of this is your fault. Life happens. Shit happens. Don’t blame yourself.”
She sniffled and wiped at her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry either.” I pushed some of her hair back off her shoulder.
“I’m not like this. Sad and miserable, yeah, that has been me.”
“You’re normally sad and miserable?”
“Yeah, having four men give you up can cause a great deal of heartache.” She sighed. “I always promised myself that if I got to see you again, I’d be different. I wouldn’t let a single moment go by without telling you how I felt.”
I tensed up. “How do you feel?” She looked up at me and I cupped her face, wiping away the tears. “No more tears.”
“You know how I feel, River.”
“I’ve got an idea, but I don’t know completely.”
She chuckled. “You just want me to say it, don’t you?”
I winked at her. “It would be nice to know what my girl thinks of me.”
She sighed. “You’re a pain in the ass.”
“I’m lovable.”
Her gaze ran over my body. “Where’s your knife?”
“I can cope without one being in my hands.” I slid my fingers into my back pocket and held it up for her. Opening the blade, I rested it on top of the piano. “I always keep one close at hand, though.”
“I get that.” She rested her head against my chest.
No words were spoken. I guessed I wasn’t going to hear them tonight. I didn’t mind. We were still on her shit list. I got it. We’d all fucked up. Still, I didn’t like how badly Caleb was taking it. I don’t think he felt guilty for using Ashley for his own personal means. I think what he was upset most about was getting caught. He couldn’t stand the idea of Emily hating him.
“I love you,” she said.
At first, I wasn’t sure I heard her correctly, but there was no mistaking the words that fell from her lips.
“I love you too,” I said.
She lifted her head. “You didn’t have to tell me if you didn’t feel it.”
“I do. Letting you go was the hardest thing I ever had to do.”
Her laughter filled th
e air as she rolled her eyes. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m being serious. No joking around.”
“You were kidnapped. The stories of what happened to you during high school were the stuff of legends.”
I shrugged. “Either way, I knew I was either going to die or make it out alive. With you gone and no easy way of getting you back, that was the nightmare.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“The love of my life was out there somewhere and I couldn’t get to you. None of us could. I knew without a doubt I wouldn’t be able to stand by and watch you fall for someone else. Just the thought of it makes me want to kill.”
“I’m not with anyone else. I never found anyone. Ashley said I should go on dates, but I couldn’t. It felt like I was cheating.” She pushed some hair off her face and I watched her stifle a yawn. “Do you think she’s okay?”
I didn’t know if I should lie to her or not. Earl had a bad reputation, but when it came to women, it was always a murky image. No one knew for certain the kind of man he was.
“I believe he’s taking really good care of your friend.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Yes. Her virginity is precious to him. To a certain extent, he needs her innocence, so he’s going to do everything he can to treasure it.” I was talking out of my ass. I knew I was, but I had hope. Hope or plain stupidity, I wasn’t sure yet.
She put her hand on mine. “Thank you. It means a lot. I’m going to go to bed.” She leaned over and kissed me before pulling away.
Sitting at the piano, I watched her go, wishing I was with her. She needed her space. I needed my own kind of sleep as well.
I hadn’t really slept in years. Running a hand across the piano keys, I wondered if we’d ever find happiness. If Ashley died, we were all fucked. I knew that. It was why Caleb was losing control.
Earl had fucked us over. We all knew it, and right now, we were trying to save face and to win over the love of our lives.
He wanted to be the head of our group, but now, I couldn’t help but wonder if he wished he was somewhere else.
Chapter Nine
Emily
Another new day.
The house today was eerily quiet. I didn’t see any soldiers. I didn’t know if they’d been given orders to disappear when they saw me coming. Did that scare them? I didn’t know why I cared.
Running fingers through my hair, I stepped into the library, going straight to the computer.
My cell phone held all my numbers. I couldn’t remember Ashley’s by heart. Another of my many failings as a friend. She would have been able to tell me my number, the one for the library, the store where I worked, and our Chinese place we loved to order takeout from when she didn’t feel like cooking. It wasn’t often she didn’t feel like cooking. I missed her food.
The cook the guys had made delicious meals, no doubt about it, but I missed my best friend.
With my fingers above the keys, I didn’t know where to start.
Going with her name, I typed it in and immediately changed it to our new identity name. My old paranoia getting the better of me. My hands shook a little when I thought of Ashley all alone. She wasn’t like us. She’d only been part of our lives at Crude Hill High for a few months, not long enough to get used to it.
Dropping my face into my hands, I felt the tears once again coming to the surface. I’d admitted to River last night that I loved him. It felt good telling him the truth, but again, the guilt. With Ashley in danger, I couldn’t be happy. I refused to be happy.
Scrolling through the names that popped up, I was sure I caught sight of her on a social media page and clicked on it. It was the wrong person. Next, I went to the website of the restaurant where she’d worked. Her picture was there, but no details of how to get in touch with her.
“Are you in love with a girl now as well? Four men aren’t good enough for you?”
I jumped out of my chair to see Drake sitting on one of the tables, eating a candy bar. “How long have you been there?”
“Long enough to know you’re stalking some chick. I seem to recognize her. Did we go to school with her?”
“This is none of your business.” I stood in front of the computer screen.
“Please, I know it’s that Ashley chick. I know the deets. You’re not breaking any code.”
“Do they share all of this information with you?” I asked.
“Yep.” He put the last piece of chocolate into his mouth and moved toward me. I didn’t back away as he closed the distance between us. “What you have to do is know the right search to make. What are you looking for?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Emily, I’m actually trying to help you here. I’m not trying to cause you any trouble. You want to know about your friend. I’m offering you that chance, but if you want to be a bitch about it, be my guest.” He held his hands up in surrender and turned to walk away.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I couldn’t let him walk away. “I’m trying to remember Ashley’s phone number.”
“It’s why they invented cell phones.”
“Mine has been destroyed.”
He chuckled. “Those pesky men of yours.” He tutted. “How does that whole thing work, anyway? You’re going to have to move.”
“What?”
“Out of the way so I can do my thing.”
“Oh.” I took a step to the side and he sat in my chair. His fingers worked over the keyboard.
“So, how does it go? Do they all share you at once? A gang bang?”
“I don’t have to answer this.”
“Yeah, you kind of do. I’m helping you, after all, and I’m keeping you safe.”
“You’re helping me, and I don’t need you to keep me safe.”
He snorted. “Please. You didn’t even realize I was watching you.” He winked at me. “Don’t worry, I didn’t see too much.”
“Are you trying to insinuate that you’ve seen me naked?”
“Maybe.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“Nothing of the sort, babe. Believe me.”
“What happened to you? I can’t believe they’d trust you with any of this.”
“People change, Em. People grow up. It might also have to do with the fact that I killed my father.” He clicked the enter button. “Nothing like being told how useless you are every single day. He told me I was a waster, so I decided to show him exactly what a waster I was. It was cathartic.”
“Great, you start to feel better by killing your dad, and because of mine, I was sent to another country. You’ve got to love the parents, don’t you?”
“That sounds a lot like sarcasm.”
“It is.” I put my hands on my waist, wanting this conversation to be over.
He shoved away from the desk. “There you go. Her number, but I’d hurry up.”
“Do you have a cell phone?”
He handed me a cell phone, and I quickly dialed the number, not caring where he got it or what it was going to cost me.
I put the cell phone to my ear and it rang, and rang, and rang. When I thought it was about to go to voicemail, someone picked up.
“Ashley. Ashley. Please, tell me that it is you.”
No one said a word.
I clenched my hand into a fist.
“Is this you, Valentine?” I asked.
He let out a chuckle. “I am surprised.”
“You listen to me closely. Leave her alone.”
“You’re not the one to be making demands of me, little girl. I can do to Ashley whatever the hell I want.”
“No. You will leave her the fuck alone, you piece of shit. She has nothing to do with this. Nothing.”
“My cock is hard, and I think it’s only fair that I go and taste a cherry.”
“No—”
He hung up.
The line just went dead.
“No! No! No!” I went to throw the cell phone, but Drake caught i
t.
“I’m not going to have you do that. I take it Earl answered the phone.”
“Are you working for him?” Dread filled my stomach. What if Drake was a traitor? Would he work both sides? I couldn’t put it past him.
“No. Of course not.”
“You could be lying.”
“I swore my loyalty to your men.” He pocketed his cell phone. “I may have been a dick in high school, but if anyone had given me the time of day, they’d have realized I’m the fucking shit when it comes to getting stuff done, and I never let down the team. I’m not double-tagging. Nothing in this life comes for free.”
“What do you want?” I asked. I knew there would be a price for the phone and the number.
“Simple, fuck Caleb. Forgive Caleb. Get off your little pedestal and realize that man loves you. He wants to make it right with you, but as usual, you’re being a cunt.”
“Don’t be an ass.”
“Stop acting like you would’ve done something better.”
“I would never have used my friend to get what I wanted.”
“No? But you would’ve used me? I like to think I’m close to all four of them. Don’t assume you would’ve done something different. You’re not in their shoes. You’re in your own. Keep your opinions to yourself. They’re not warranted here.” He patted my arm. “I expect Caleb to be of sound mind and a tired dick tomorrow. I’ll be watching.”
Drake left the room, but I had a feeling he hadn’t gone far.
I didn’t want to do what he demanded, but I also didn’t want to owe him anything either.
This was my own fault, and now I had to deal with the consequences and it fucking sucked.
I left the library and went in search of Caleb. I expected him to be gone, but he sat in his office, looking over some paperwork. His head rested in his hand.
For a few seconds, I didn’t make him aware of my presence. I watched him.
He looked up, seeing me there. He put the paperwork down.
“Emily.”
I stepped into the office.
“Hey.”
I hesitated in closing the door but finally pushed it closed. I didn’t know where Drake went, but I certainly didn’t trust the bastard.
He’d proven to be way too slippery.