Running from Monsters: A High School Bully Romance: (Blackwood Academy Book 2)

by K. J. Thomas

  We make sure to do everything we can to not put ourselves in any more danger or risk than is necessary. Somethings up and about to go down. I have a bad feeling about this and if what I suspect is true, somebody went to a great deal of shit to be able to pull this off.

  I just need to figure out why.

  Whenever I’m in meetings, I always leave my phone in the car. People important enough to me know not to bother me, and if there’s an emergency they can get a hold of one of the guards. Seems more respectable in business that way.

  I don’t know one other person that does this, it’s kind of sad. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned.

  I jog quickly back to the SUVs and make my way to the first one, yanking open the door and finding my phone. I have a lot of missed calls and texts from Avery. I search through them reading every single one in the order they came in. No one can find Tate. The last one, ‘going in,’ was two hours ago.

  I’ve been so involved in work and keeping up with my shit that I didn’t check my phone before my meeting.

  I look over at Devon, he decided to come with Liam and me and thankfully he’s driving. I hate driving and Liam’s driving scares the fucking piss out of me.

  “Take us to Armani Mancini’s house.”

  If those three little bitches try to fuck with me on shit or waste my time, I will come for them and not in an uncle kind of way. After I think this, I realize that they’re probably doing all this just so they can get at Tate. Which is understandable, and there’s not much I’ll be able to do right now, well dependent on what they did to her. I growl at the Mancini boys for wasting my time. Sending me on a fake emergency, yeah, I’m gonna need to take care of this problem.

  I’m almost positive this has everything to do with Tate. I honestly can’t see how it does, I’m missing something. They don’t know where she’s at, where she’s been hiding for so long, and I sure as shit haven’t told them. None of my guys would’ve, either. So, if for some reason they did find her, we have a snitch.

  I just need to get over there and figure out what the fuck’s going on.

  When we pull up to the compound, it’s not as big as the main Mancini one, but this fucker is pretty damn big, I take a few guards with me and so does Devon and Liam.

  It doesn’t take us more than ten minutes to search the whole house with all of us, there’s not a shred of them being here for a while.

  “Fuck,” I snarl and shake my head. I look over to Devon and say, “the airport.” Then I glance over to Liam. “Set it up.”

  On the ride over I continue to text and call Tate and Avery. There’s no answer, now I’m starting to freak the fuck out.

  My girl needed my help earlier. I’ve been so caught up in work that I didn’t notice. I kept with my stupid rule about not having a phone in the meetings and I haven’t been checking mine. My ass has been so far up in work I forgot about everybody else.

  All of us quickly run up and get on the airplane. We’re in fucking New York and heading to California. Even with the small faster jets it’s gonna take time, hours.

  Even my men look nervous, they looked nervous when I came back from the meeting. Not satisfied or meeting anybody. They know somethings up. It’s impossible not to have the same feeling from the toxic air around us.

  To at least half of them this is just a job, the other half of the guards really like Tate and Avery. Tate would always make food for the guards, they were always on different shifts. I have attempts made on my life, at least a few times a year, so I prefer to have the guards around. I imagine this goes the same for all of the mafia bosses, especially Avery’s grandfather since he’s the head of the five biggest families.

  I start to sip the drink the flight attendant gave me right when we got on. I need to get back on the phone, but the pilot wants me to wait till we reach cruising altitude. It won’t take that long, but I have better service when we do that anyway.

  The flight attendant gives me a nod letting me know I can use my shit now. The signal’s not as good up here, but it still works out pretty fine. We don’t need to fly as high as most commercial jets, so that gives us a broader range.

  I grab my phone and call Carter.

  “Hello,” his voice is husky and thick.

  “Meeting,” I don’t need to say much more.

  I can hear him calling the rest of the guys, Noah and Walker.

  I’ll give them another minute just to get gathered around.

  I decide to get straight to the point, “Tate and Avery are both missing.”

  I try to continue, but the guys start screaming out profanities, I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

  They all know that I’m in love with Avery, they’ve known for a long time and still give me shit about it, she’s the sweetest girl. Now Tate on the other hand, Tate feeds them.

  These guys still live at home, but their parents are loaded and always out working or touring the country, they never get a home cooked meal unless they pay someone to do it.

  Tate does it because she wants to, she’s that type of person.

  “Avery’s been calling and texting me all morning, but I had to go to that meeting, so I didn’t know.” I take a deep breath before I continue. If I just had my fucking phone on me.

  “The emergency meeting I was called away to was a hoax. Nobody showed, which conveniently got me out of California.” I grip the armrest tighter as Devon gives me a concerned look. Liam continues to look out the window not hearing the crack of my innocent armrest. If he does, he doesn’t care. “This has Mancini written all over it.”

  “Damn right it does,” Carter snarls into the phone. He tries to hide it, but we can all see how he acts around Tate. Not even sure why he won’t go after or just take her.

  “From what I understand from the text messages is that she was supposed to pick up Avery and she never showed. Avery’s been trying to get a hold of her all morning. At the end of first period, her and Mac went over to the house.” I take a drink, more like a gulp.

  “Her last text message she sent me was, ‘I’m going in.’ I know she has a lot of guards with her, but I don’t know if they’re by her or even helping.” Fuck, who knows, they could be dead. Fuck, I roll my eyes in the back of my head. I know I shouldn’t keep thinking about what ifs. I just need to find out exactly what is going on. That won’t happen until I get there.

  “I don’t want to ask you guys this, but can you go over to the house and check on things?” I don’t want to ask them to do this, they don’t have to, at least not without more of us there. Carter is the only one that’s trained to fight. Noah is on the football team, he’s a freaking linebacker and a huge dude. If we needed him to sack a guy for us, he would be good. Walker could outrun us all, he’s in cross-country.

  “No problem man,” Walker says. I can hear them all shuffling around. “We’ve been getting ready for the past five minutes, as you’ve been talking.”

  I smile but only Devon can see it. “Thanks guys.”

  We hang up with the promise to get back in touch in at least an hour. It should only take the guys five or ten minutes to get over there. That’s more than enough time to check everything. I know if they find something sooner, they’ll call.

  The next hour goes by excruciatingly slow. So slow that at least Devon and Liam are able to take naps.

  Not me though. I, on the other hand, decide to play every worst possible case scenario in my head with these girls that I can think of. I feel sick to my stomach, and I refuse to even go down that road of thought again.

  I’ve been counting down the freaking minutes, waiting. I feel like I could just scream. I want to get all this rage out of me.

  When it hits exactly one hour, I jump out of my chair and start pacing in the aisle. I wouldn’t let myself do that before, because I knew I’d wake up the guys, which I normally don’t care but they’ve been a huge fucking help through all this.

  Just as I expected when I start pacing, they both wake up and open their
eyes, then immediately look at their watches.

  First, I call Carter, no answer. Next, I call Walker and Noah, no answer.

  “What the fuck is going on?” I look at my guys. “Is someone purposely knocking off everybody?”

  Devon and Liam sit up straight, they look slightly worried. We need to figure out what the hell is going on.

  I sit down in my chair relaxing a bit. I need to keep an open mind and give it at least one more hour, they could just be busy or maybe Tate and Avery needed help or some shit. It’s decided, one more hour.

  If they don’t call me by then, I know what to do.

  It’s awesome that the other guys keep me entertained and busy. It’s a hard thing to do, but that explains why they keep pouring whiskey down my throat. Not too much, just enough to hold a tiny bit of a buzz so I don’t freak the fuck out, making us crash the plane.

  When the next hour rolls by we all know that something’s wrong. My heart constricts knowing that a lot of people that are important to me are coming up missing.

  I don’t have any kind of tracking software on anyone. I should, Devon was actually looking into it, but we haven’t gotten it started yet. I’m going to put it on Tate’s and Avery’s phones right away. For fuck’s sake, I just got her number before I left.

  I glance to my side, over at Devon and say. “Get me Vito Romano’s number.” I wish I had it in the first place, but I don’t. I never talk to any of the other bosses, except for at meetings.

  It doesn’t take longer than a minute before Devon texts me the information I need.

  I take a deep breath before I place this call. I’m never nervous, but I need Vito’s help. He’s the only one down there right now that can do anything to help us. I need him.

  “Vito,” Mr. Romano answers the phone with his first name. Makes him a little more top-of-the-line.

  “Vito, this is Asher Mancini and I’ve got a big problem I need your help with.” I try to talk like I’m loaded with self-confidence and self-esteem, when in actuality I sound like a scared little boy. Avery is making me weak.

  He pauses for a second before replying. “Really? What do you need my help with?”

  There’s never a reason for us to reach out to one another.

  I take in another deep breath and try to figure out how I’m going to explain this. Just spit it out, there’s no other way.

  “I’m in love with your granddaughter. I had an emergency meeting to go to in New York, that I ended up finding out was fake. Avery has been texting me and calling all morning. I didn’t have my shit with me because I was in the meeting.” Vito hasn’t said anything.

  “The last text she sent to me, she said she was going in. That was hours ago. I sent three guys that we go to school with over to check on them at Tate’s house. That was two hours ago, and I haven’t heard from them, either.” I can hear Vito breathing harder in the phone, I imagine he’s getting mad but he’s holding it in, so I finish.

  “Everything that’s been happening so far, I believe has to do with my nephews Armani, Rocco and Gino Mancini. Those are Tate’s brothers and she deflected, they’ve been looking for her. From what I pieced together they followed me back after my other meeting and did an emergency meeting to get me out of there.”

  There’s still not that much noise coming from the other end except for the rustling of movement. Vito’s getting ready. “I still have at least an hour left on this flight, I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Not one at all.

  Vito starts swearing and stomping around. “Text me the address and I’ll meet you there.”

  “Yes, sir,” I say. I have respect for Vito Romano.

  “Oh, and son.” Oh god here comes. “Thank you for calling me, you didn’t have to.” He hangs up the phone leaving me in shock. I guess I thought I was going to get a lecture for the feelings I have towards his eighteen-year-old granddaughter.

  When I hang up the phone, I know I made the right decision by calling Vito. He’s got the power right now to be able to go over there and make sure that everyone’s okay, or at least to be able to help if they’re not. I’m stuck in a fucking tin can soaring through the air.

  I look over to Liam and say. “Get us some guys, and make sure that vehicles are here and ready for us.”

  “On it,” he says, opening his laptop.

  I receive a text message from Vito with Mac’s number, Avery’s personal bodyguard. The guy knows I’m just sitting on the airplane, there’s nothing else I can do to help with except for this.

  I try calling Mac, Tate and Avery, and when they don’t answer I move on to texting.

  Avery: Please respond and let me know you’re okay.

  Tate: I’m freaking out, are you okay?

  Mac: Asher Mancini, extremely important I get ahold of you.

  I do it constantly for the rest of the flight. I still deal with Devon and Liam when they have questions or concerns. Our only option now is landing, then making sure everybody’s okay.

  When the landing gear comes out and touches the ground that’s when my nerves really start to bubble through. I’m mad and I’m terrified, a horrible mix. One that leaves you second-guessing every action you take.

  I want to beat and kill, do whatever I can to make things right, but at the same time the thing that terrifies me is getting in the way and realizing that your actions could hurt someone else. There’s just no good outcome in situations like this.

  As soon as the doors to the jet open and the stairs are attached, the guys and I quickly make our way down to the waiting SUVs.

  There’s no time to lose. The airport’s about a good twenty to thirty minutes from Tate’s. Devon kicked the original driver out of the SUV and jumped in, he’s doing everything in his power to get us there fast. He’s kind of a nerd, so this is probably like one of his video games. I left the driving on a man who plays video games. He is trained but not as well as the rest of us.

  Vito: It’s pure and utter carnage, hurry, I need help.

  I just finished reading the text message out loud as Devon goes faster than he already is. The vehicle can’t physically go any faster.

  We arrive in the next five minutes, driving around this area you can’t really tell what’s going on. Tate lives in a curved cul-de-sac, so everything is basically still hidden, out of prying eyes. As long as they can keep the noise down. The too-close neighbors will be a problem, but between me and Vito, we’ll take care of it.

  Devon parks a block away and we all get out and walk the rest on foot. No reason to announce our arrival yet. As soon as we turn the corner is when my mouth opens, and I come to a complete stop.

  There are bodies all over, and some of them I recognize as Mancini men that work for my nephews, who really work for me, and who shouldn’t fucking be here without my permission.

  I kick one of my guys as I walk, it’s heartless. The fucker wouldn’t have been dead, and we wouldn’t be going through this shit otherwise.

  Vito spots me and walks over.

  “Your man?” He gives me a dangerous look.

  “Yes, my nephew’s men. I did not give this order.” This is in direct defiance of everything that we as Mancini’s stand for. “They will be handled,” I growl out. My nephews will be anyway, not these guys, dead is dead.

  I continue to look around. “Did you guys find the girls?”

  Vito shakes his head no. “We just got here. We’ve been trying to help as many as we can and assess the situation out here. From what we found out, the girls should be inside. That’s all we know so far.”

  I start to run towards the entrance when I spot my friends. Devon and Liam are huddled around a group of three guys. I breathe in as I spot Carter, Walker and Noah laying on the grass.

  Carter’s been shot in the arm and he’s been beaten to shit. Noah has a gun shot in the leg, but not too much more damage. Walker doesn’t look like he has been shot, but he took a beating with a busted-up nose and face.

  I give them a nod, and Carter
notices where Vito and I are going. The other guys try to stop him, but it doesn’t matter. “I’m going in with you.”

  I know I’d be the exact same way if our situation was reversed, Avery is in there. If I was shot, I would still go in. A deep feeling of sorrow gets stuck in my gut as it seems to finally hit, Avery is still in this fucking mess. Our mess, not hers.

  We both speed up and head downstairs, that’s the only logical place we can think of. Vito and his guards run upstairs.

  As soon as we hit the bottom of the stairs both of us spot the blood smears on the cement walls and floors.

  Carter kicks in the basement door, he doesn’t even try to open it, well he does have a bum arm.

  A light switch is found and flipped on.

  “Oh God,” Carter moans as he starts to run in the direction of Tate. I can’t take my eyes off Avery. She’s in and out of consciousness. It doesn’t look like she can open her eyes.

  I follow right behind Carter as I carefully lift Avery into my arms and breathe in her sweet scent. I can barely smell her natural aroma. Now she smells coppery with a hint of bleach.

  What the fuck is this room used for?

  Vito and his men come downstairs and meet us in the foyer. “No!” He screams as he sees his granddaughter and her best friend.

  Tate is in much worse shape. Avery is still in bad shape, especially since she was just attacked a month ago.

  Vito’s on the phone. “Call the doctor, get him to the house now.” He looks at me as he says this. I nod, I’m not making those girls go back in that house.

  Whenever Vito snaps and gives orders, others follow. He is very much in his boss mode right now. He has gone through tragedy before with Avery’s parents.

  He’s going to have a full team plus all the equipment he needs at the Stone’s house. We need to get as far away from this fucking house as we can, for the mental well-being of all of us, especially the girls. Maybe whoever owns this house is the one responsible, they tipped the brother’s off.

  We’ve got a lot of digging to do to figure out all this shit. Tate will be talking to me about this later, I hope anyway, she’s in bad shape.