Double Bossed

by K. L. Ramsey

  “I’ll show you to the bathroom and then if you can behave you can have some food and water,” he said. Her stomach growled at the mention of food and he smiled. “This way,” he said. Airi stood and followed him down the hall, knowing just where she’d find the bathroom but playing along as if she had no clue. She felt weak and a little lightheaded but she kept that to herself too, steadying herself along the wall as she went.

  “Where are we?” she asked. One thing she knew for certain about Jimmy was he liked the sound of his own voice. Airi knew if she could keep him talking it would give her time to re-group and hopefully figure out a plan to escape. Right now, she felt too weak to do anything of the sort, so getting Jimmy to ramble on about stuff was her best option.

  “Well, that’s need to know stuff and you don’t need to know, darlin’.” He chuckled at his own warped humor but she found him to be less funny. “This is the bathroom.” He nodded to the door behind where they stood. “Leave the door cracked and don’t do anything stupid, baby,” he ordered. She nodded and went into the dirty bathroom. Airi flicked on the lights and realized the house had no power. She wondered if it even had running water but she didn’t really care. She was so happy to use the bathroom, she didn’t care if Jimmy stood on the other side of the door, peeping in on her like a disgusting pervert.

  Airi finished up and tried to keep her temper in check. Her mouth, on the other hand, was going to be more of a challenge to control. “Enjoy the show?” she sassed on her way out of the bathroom.

  “Always such a smart ass, Airi. I’ll make sure you lose that character trait once I start training you to be more obedient. “Go back to the bedroom,” he ordered. Her heart sank at the thought of having to go back to that small, dark bedroom. Her chances of finding a way out of the house would increase if he allowed her access to the kitchen. If she remembered correctly, there was a back door that led out to an alley that would take her to the main road. But Jimmy wasn’t taking any chances.

  She walked back to her bedroom and sat down on the bed. “How long are you going to keep me here?” she asked.

  “As long as it takes for the two goons you’re seeing to stop looking for you,” he grouched. She smiled knowing Jarrod and Justin were looking for her. They must have been causing Jimmy some trouble if he was laying low to avoid them.

  “Wipe the smirk off your face,” he shouted. “You won’t win. None of you will because it’s my turn to win, Airi. I’ve been waiting too long to lose you to your rich, know-it-all boy toys.” He sat down on the side of her bed and grabbed her wrist, pulling it up to the bedpost, cuffing it back into place. He left her right hand free and she must have looked confused as to why.

  “I’m going to be generous and let you keep that one free to eat,” he offered. “Start any shit and you’ll have to figure out how to eat without your hands.” Airi nodded. She was hungry enough to behave. Airi knew once she got some food into her system, she’d have more strength to put up a fight given the chance.

  Jimmy pulled out a bag of fast food and handed her a breakfast sandwich. “Here,” he offered. She snatched it out of his hand and pulled the sandwich free from the foil. “What, no thank you?” Airi snorted her disdain and shook her head.

  “I don’t think I’m feeling very grateful right now,” she said around a mouthful of sandwich.

  “You are an ungrateful bitch, always have been. I thought you’d show some appreciation for breakfast,” he sulked. She wanted to laugh at the idea that she hurt his feelings. Honestly, she wanted to hurt a hell of a lot more than just his feelings.

  “Sure, that’s it—I’m ungrateful,” she sassed. “I mean, how dare I not be grateful to you for kidnapping me and keeping me handcuffed to this bed all night?” Jimmy stood and threw the bag of fast food at her.

  “You can fucking eat by yourself,” Jimmy yelled. He turned to walk from the room and Airi didn’t hide her laugh. Did he really think making her eat alone was hurting her? She welcomed not having to sit in the same space with him. Every minute she spent with Jimmy was a constant painful reminder of what he did to her. Eating alone was a reward but she’d keep that little bit of information to herself.

  Jimmy stopped in the doorway and turned back to face her. “Oh, and don’t get any ideas about trying to escape,” he said. “I have the place rigged with explosives. You’ll never make it out alive. If I can’t have you, no one will. How poetic would that be? We can both die in the house where our love story began.” Jimmy left the room, pulling her door shut behind him. Airi listened for him to lock the door but didn’t hear anything. She wasn’t sure if she believed Jimmy had explosives in the house. Was he crazy enough to want to blow himself up in the house with her? Airi knew he might be telling the truth but she also knew if she didn’t do everything in her power to escape, she might never get the chance again. Sooner or later, Jimmy would have to move her. They couldn’t stay in the abandoned house without electricity or water. If he didn’t take her to another location, she might never get the chance to escape.

  Airi was about halfway through her sandwich when she saw the small, shiny key sitting on the blanket next to her leg. She stretched and grabbed it trying to figure out if it was all just an elaborate trick Jimmy was playing on her. The key must have fallen out of his pocket when he stood to leave her room. Either way, she wasn’t looking her gift horse in the mouth. She used her free hand to unlock the handcuffs and stood victoriously by the bed. Airi wanted to make a run for it but she knew she had to be smart. She didn’t have a clue as to where Jimmy was in the house and knowing the floor plan wouldn’t help her if he was close by. She knew of three exits to get out of that house. She used to escape that hell hole every chance she got when she was a teenager. Now would be no different, except this time she wasn’t trying to sneak out of the house from her foster parents. Now, she was trying to escape their crazy son who wanted to hurt her or worse.

  Airi gingerly opened the bedroom door and peeked out, finding no sign of Jimmy. She thought about it for a moment and decided not to go out through the kitchen. If he was finishing up his breakfast, he might be in the kitchen. Her best bet would be to go out through the front door and luckily for her, it was also the shortest route.

  She crept down the hallway and just as she was about to make a break for the front entrance, she heard a loud crashing sound coming from the kitchen. It was now or never and Airi held her breath and made a run for it, not chancing a look back. Whatever was happening in the back of the house wasn’t going to stop her from making her escape. She just hoped she could make it out of the house and back to the guys before Jimmy caught up with her.

  Jarrod

  Justin looked just as anxious as Jarrod felt. They had parked around the corner from the address Ivy gave them and watched the abandoned building for hours. Just after the sun came up, a man matching Jimmy’s description snuck into the house with a bag of what Jarrod assumed was fast food. If he was a betting man, he would guess the asshole had their girl tied up in that house and was bringing her some food. He had just left her there all night long, alone and that thought pissed him off. All that time they wasted watching the house, they could have just gone in there and possibly found Airiana.

  Charging in now might put Airi’s life in danger and Jarrod hated taking the chance. “Are we sure she’s even in there?” he questioned Mike. His head of security shot him a look that was a cross between pity and disbelief.

  “She’s in there. One of my guys got close enough to see in the house. He saw two figures moving around. One of them is a woman and I’m assuming it’s Airiana.” Jarrod knew Mike’s guess was probably correct. Hell, he thought the only thing he could want in the world was to find Airiana. He didn’t factor in the possibility of not being able to keep her safe if and when they did track her down.

  “Don’t worry Mr. Grayson, we’ll take every precaution to get her out of there safely. My guys are moving in now,” Mike assured. Jarrod just wished he shared the same confiden
ce. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to breathe again until he and Justin had Airiana safely back in their arms.

  “Just get her back, Mike,” Justin commanded. Mike nodded and left to meet up with the rest of his team. “So, we just sit here and wait?” Justin asked.

  Jarrod flashed him a smile. “No fucking way,” he growled. “How about you and I take the front of the house and go in to get our girl?” Justin nodded and they snuck from the truck to go to the front of the abandoned house and were just about knocked over when the front door swung open to reveal Airiana. Jarrod almost thought he was dreaming, seeing her standing there in the doorway.

  “Airi,” Justin yelled. She ran towards them and straight into their arms.

  “Run,” she shouted. “He has a bomb.” Jarrod turned and started to run from the house, pulling Airiana along with him. He just hoped like hell Mike got to Jimmy before he could detonate the bomb.

  “Get her to the car and I’ll call Mike to warn him,” Justin yelled. Jarrod wanted to tell his brother to forget it. There was no way he was going anywhere without him and from the determined look on Airiana’s face, she felt the same way.

  “You can’t stay here,” Airiana shouted. “Jimmy has the house rigged to explode. He doesn’t care if he’s caught in the crossfire. He said if he can’t have me, no one will,” she sobbed.

  “Fuck,” Justin swore, pulling out his cell. Jarrod knew his brother was doing the right thing. They had men in the house who needed to be warned but he wanted to tell his brother to keep moving.

  “Get out now,” Justin ordered. “He has a bomb.”

  Justin nodded and hung up his cell, pushing it back into his jacket pocket. “They have him,” he said, smiling at Airiana.

  “It can’t be that easy,” she cried. “He won’t give up.”

  “Mike’s on his way out now and he says they have Jimmy,” Justin confirmed. Jarrod was feeling as skeptical as their girl but then Mike appeared in the front door of the old house, Jimmy in hand. Jarrod breathed a sigh of relief knowing this whole ordeal was about to be over. Everything around them seemed to slow down and time felt as though it stood still. Just when Jarrod thought they’d won, their world exploded into a shit storm around them and the house and all the men in it were gone. The last thing he remembered was seeing Airiana’s beautiful face just before his world went dark.

  Justin

  Justin sat by Airi’s side, worried about Jarrod but knowing his brother would insist he be with their girl. He was pretty sure she had a broken arm and they were waiting for her to be taken up for x-rays. Jarrod didn’t regain consciousness during the ambulance ride to the hospital. Justin knew that wasn’t good but the EMT assured him it was typical for someone with possible head trauma. Jarrod was thrown the furthest in the blast and Justin worried he had some internal bleeding. He just wished he knew what to do but he was at a loss. His brother was the one who always had things under control, even when chaos reigned around them. Now, he had to keep it together for the three of them and get through the next few hours.

  Justin could tell Airi was just as worried about Jarrod as he was. She must have asked him every other minute if he was going to be alright, despite her own obvious pain. He continued to assure her Jarrod was going to be just fine. He just hoped like hell he wasn’t lying to her—Jarrod had to be alright, for all their sakes.

  Justin called Ivy to let her know they had Airi and she was going to be fine. He explained they were waiting for x-rays and any news about Jarrod. Ivy wanted to come down to the hospital but Airi insisted she not bring Milo in to see her in that much distress. Ivy agreed and Justin promised to keep her in the loop.

  Finally, after about forty minutes he couldn’t sit around any longer. He needed news about his brother and doing nothing was killing him. “I’m going to go to the nurses station to ask about Jarrod,” he said. Airi nodded and he could tell even that slight movement hurt her.

  “Please, I’m dying not knowing if he’s alright,” she whispered. “If you can also ask the nurse when they will take me to x-ray, I’d appreciate it. The sooner we get my arm fixed up the sooner we can be with Jarrod.” Justin stood and kissed her forehead. His own body felt as though it had been hit by a truck. When the EMTs insisted he get checked out, he baulked at the idea. He wanted them to help Jarrod and Airi but they kept pestering him to let them take a look at him, so he obliged. When they found nothing wrong with him, he grumbled something about them wasting time and demanded they get his brother and Airi to the hospital. He rode with Airi, deciding that was what Jarrod would want but he was torn. He wanted to believe if something horrible had happened to his brother he would have sensed it but Justin knew better than to believe in the hokey twin telepathy thing everyone accused them of having. Still, there was no one closer to him in the world than his twin brother and the thought of anything happening to Jarrod gutted him.

  Justin found the head nurse on duty and basically begged her for any information she might have about his brother. The only news she had was they had taken Jarrod to surgery to stop the bleeding in his head. The apologetic look of pity she gave him didn’t help Justin to feel any better.

  “How about my girlfriend?” he whispered, trying to get his emotions under control. He needed to keep it together for Airi right now. “When will she be taken up for x-rays on her arm?”

  “Right now,” the nurse agreed. “I was just grabbing the forms that need to be filled out and then I can run her up.” Justin nodded and thanked the nurse, following her back to Airi’s cubicle.

  Airi tried to sit up a little taller in bed and winced. “No, don’t try to do that on your own,” Justin scolded.

  “You’re not going to give me a moment’s peace while I recover,” she said, smiling up at him. “I’ll be fine, Justin. It’s Jarrod I’m worried about.” Justin shot the nurse a look, hoping she’d get his silent message not to tell Airi about Jarrod. She had enough to worry about right now.

  “No news yet, honey,” Justin lied. “I’m sure they’ll let us know something when there is news.” The nurse followed his lead and kept her mouth shut, looking over the paperwork she had for Airi.

  “I have all the information I need Miss Scott, from when you were brought in. I just need to know if there is any chance you might be pregnant before I wheel you up to x-ray.” The nurse looked expectantly at Airi, waiting for her to give some indication she wasn’t pregnant and they could proceed with fixing her arm but Airi gave none.

  “Airi?” Justin questioned. The look on her face was almost comical. In all of thirty seconds, Airi went from looking somewhat relieved the nurse was going to take her to x-ray, to looking like she smelled something rotten, to full on panic. She squinched up her cute button nose and a wave of panic washed over Justin too. Could she be pregnant? Jarrod and he hadn’t really been cautious when it came to taking her. They both just assumed she had birth control covered, since she didn’t insist they wear condoms. Still, they should have protected her and suited up but they were too in the moment to think clearly.

  “Fuck,” he swore when she didn’t answer.

  “Um,” she nervously squeaked. “I missed a few pills when we were in Colorado. I talked to the pharmacist and he told me to just start the pack on the day I got them. But, now that you mention it, I am a couple weeks late. I thought it was just stress at first and with everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours, I just didn’t think about it much.”

  “Fuck,” Justin swore again.

  “You keep saying that Justin but I didn’t do it on purpose,” she cried. He felt like a first class ass, making Airi cry right now. He gently wiped the tears that fell down her cheek with the back of his hand.

  “I know, honey. It’s not you I’m upset with. We should have protected you,” he admitted.

  “We?” the nurse looked him over but he just didn’t give a fuck. He owed her no explanation and she wouldn’t be getting one from him. “Um well, I’ll have to get you to take a pregnan
cy test and if it’s negative, we’ll get you right up to have that arm looked at. If you are pregnant, we’ll just have to take some extra precautions to protect the baby.”

  Hearing the nurse talk about a baby who may or may not exist did strange things to his heart. Justin wished like hell his brother was there because he would know exactly what to do but he would have to navigate this on his own. He wanted Airi and he was completely in love with her son. Milo had become a part of his everyday existence. The idea of having another baby in the house both excited and terrified him at the same time.

  “You’ll need to pee on this,” the nurse said, handing Airi a pregnancy test. “The directions are on the outside package but if you need any help just holler.” Airi nodded and took the test from the nurse.

  “I’ve done this before. I have an almost two-year-old at home,” she whispered.

  “Well then, another little one shouldn’t come as too much of a shock since you two have been through this before,” the nurse said.

  “Oh no, Justin isn’t my son’s father,” Airi volunteered. He hated that she shared that news with the nurse. But more than her oversharing, he hated that Airi seemed almost put off by the thought of him being Milo’s dad. He’d give just about anything to be the little guys father. Justin knew he and Jarrod would be great dads to Milo and to their own baby when the time came. The question was—were they all ready for there to be a baby in the picture? Justin wasn’t sure he knew the answer to that question but they were about to find out.

  Airi stood and made her way over to the bathroom and looked back at him and smiled. “Wish me luck?” She asked. Justin tried to paste on his best smile, not sure if he was wishing her luck to be pregnant or not.

  “Sure, honey,” he offered. She nodded and disappeared into the adjoining bathroom. Minutes later, she came back into the tiny room and he was almost afraid to ask what the outcome was. She looked just as worried as he felt.