Avery

by Addison Jane

  But there was one itching feeling sitting in the back of my mind that, up until this fucking point, I’d tried to ignore. How the fuck did he get her out of here without her warning someone she was there.

  Avery was not a go-quietly type of girl.

  Which meant I needed to ask a question I didn’t want to know the fucking answer to.

  The kid struggled to breathe, his weak hands tugging at my wrist where I had him pinned to the wall. “Was the body on the bed dead?” I managed to force out, though it felt like as I did, someone was reaching down inside my throat and dragging my insides out.

  I’d just officially made her mine.

  Losing her was not an option.

  I released the pressure on his throat, enough so he could suck in a breath of air and hopefully speak.

  “The sheet was… it was over the…” he stuttered, wheezing between words. “I didn’t see any move—”

  I shoved him to the side, his skinny body hitting the wall with a hard thump.

  “Come on, brother,” Myth advised, pointing back the way we came, urgency now in his eyes.

  “Wait!” We both spun on the kid, his eyes not focused on us. Instead, he stared at the wall like it had the answers to the universe. “There was!”

  His head bobbled unsteadily. “There was a breath of air.”

  I stood taller like my lungs had been filled again. “Say what?” I demanded, taking an urgent step back toward him.

  His whole body jerked, hitting the wall again. He was clumsy and nervous, and everything I imagined someone who liked to spend their days down here with the dead would be. “When he pushed the body past, I thought I caught the sheet puff up over the mouth like someone was breathing out.”

  “And you’re sure?” Myth questioned, getting right in the guy’s face.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he nodded. “I called out to him, but he ignored me. I thought maybe he was playing a joke on someone. Like he had a buddy under the sheet, and he was gonna jump out and surprise someone.”

  “And you couldn’t have fucking told us that before?” I roared, just the volume of my voice sending him stumbling further back even though there was nowhere to go.

  “I didn’t know he was stealing people!”

  Myth and I turned and headed back through the morgue and up the stairs, leaving our buddy down there to probably have a mental breakdown.

  “Call Auron,” I ordered as we stomped through the hospital, finding Meyah and Kennedy with the kids waiting by her car. “Tell him to cruise by any place he followed Garrett to while he was watching him. Let me know if he sees the bastard or anything suspicious.”

  Myth nodded, his phone already pressed to his ear.

  “We’ll find her.” Kennedy tried to ease my thoughts as she buckled Gage into the back of the car. She stepped back, and I ducked my head in, swiping my hand over his head, his soft baby hairs like silk under my rough fingertips.

  I clenched my jaw.

  We had to find her.

  I couldn’t do this shit on my own.

  It’s because of her that Gage was in my life now. Who knows what fucking choice I would have made that day they showed up with him if it hadn’t been for her? For her big mouth, for the way she wasn’t afraid to tell me to wake my fucking shit up and remind me that having a toxic parent wouldn’t make me one.

  Because of her, I chose to be the father mine never was. And I wasn’t about to walk this path without her in it.

  She was made to be by my side.

  Wearing my colors.

  Raising my son.

  Our son.

  We sped back to the clubhouse, my intention to call church, bring my brothers in, and let them know what the fuck was going on and to see if we could come up with something. Fucking anything that could help us find her.

  Though, when I pulled in through the gates, I caught sight of someone sitting at one of the barbecue tables out the front, and a wave of fucking anger rushed through me. It was so hot I swerved my bike, pulling it to a sharp stop beside them and climbing off.

  “Shotgun…” Shake warned, stepping out of the building and falling in behind me as I stormed toward her. She leaped to her feet when she saw me coming like she was preparing to run if she had to. Shake stayed hot on my heels, but the rest of my men I could feel settling into the background, keeping their distance, not wanting to crowd her in case she freaked out.

  Her hands came up, her palms flat like she was surrendering or trying to let me know she was unarmed.

  “The fuck are you doing here?”

  She swallowed hard but didn’t answer.

  “I don’t have time to deal with your issues right now, Holly. I’ve got bigger fucking prob—”

  “I know where she is.”

  It was like a punch straight in the gut. Her voice was different, her posture different, the air swirling around her calm. So fucking eerie.

  The fact Holly knew she was fucking missing told me something. She wasn’t just in the shit with Beta Beta, she was somehow twisted up with Garrett Drake. I tried not to lose my shit. She knew where Avery was, so I needed to breathe and listen. “How do you know where she is, Holly.”

  “Because I’m a cop.”

  Or not.

  AVERY

  A groan vibrated in the bottom of my throat. My mouth was dry, and the taste on my tongue was bitter. I blinked and blinked again, trying to fight past the darkness to see where the hell I was, but as it turned out, no matter how hard I tried to clear my vision, the room stayed pitch black, the single sliver of light coming from what looked like the bottom of a door.

  My body was sore, aching, and it wasn’t just the muscles, but all over.

  I yanked hard at my hands which were tied to the side of the bed I was on. My body turned on my right side. I pulled again, the pain shooting through them and up my arms forcing a painful whimper from my mouth.

  “Don’t pull. They just get tighter.”

  It was like ice moving through my veins, the voice coming from the darkness.

  The effects of Garrett’s drugs were still sitting under my skin and fogging my brain, but I knew instantly who I was with. “Thayleah?”

  Silence.

  Our breathing growing heavier.

  “How do you know my name?”

  “We’ve been looking for you,” I told her. “My name’s Avery. Emma put my boyfriend’s name down as Gage’s dad. He’s been with us since...” I held my tongue, knowing right now wasn’t the best time to discuss her sister’s murder.

  More silence and shuffling sheets.

  They sounded like plastic, definitely not Egyptian cotton.

  “Shotgun?”

  “You’ve heard of him?”

  “Emma talked about him sometimes,” she explained. I even thought I could hear a smile in her voice. “She told me he was the club president, that he was in charge of protecting everyone, and that if anything ever happened, I should try to find him.”

  Emma knew.

  She knew at some point something was going to happen, so she made contingency plans. She made sure Gage would be given to Shotgun, and she made sure that if Thayleah hadn’t gotten tangled up in this mess, she would have found him eventually too.

  Emma wanted them to be together. She wanted them to be safe. Protected. And I was going to get the both of us out of here, so Thayleah could finally feel that safety and move on from this horrible fucking torture Garrett was putting her through.

  Tied to a bed in a dark room.

  And for what? That I still had no idea.

  But I was praying it wasn’t the obvious.

  “Shotgun will find us,” I promised her, wishing I could see her face, or touch her, somehow reassure her that things would be okay. “But for now, we need to fight for ourselves and try to get the hell away from this place, to somewhere safe.”

  Her soft sniffles caught my heart. “I don’t know how long I’ve been here. The only time they turn the lights on is to cut my hands and
feet free and take me down to the bathroom then to tie me back up again.”

  My heart stopped. “Who is they?”

  Garrett wasn’t working alone. He had help, and that did not bode well for us getting out of here on our own.

  “Some guys. Young. I think they live downstairs. The music is always really loud, and they all have shirts with two B’s as the logo on the chest.”

  College kids?

  Two B’s.

  God, no.

  The Beta Beta frat house?

  This was bad.

  Well, I already thought it was bad—this though, much worse.

  There was a question instantly floating on the tip of my tongue. One I just had to know the answer to so I could prepare myself. “Did they…” I swallowed the bad taste in my mouth, sucking in a deep breath through my nose. “Thayleah, did they touch you.”

  “No.” Her answer sounded confused, but it was like music to my ears. If she was confused by what I was asking, it meant she hadn’t been abused. “I’ve uh… I’ve actually had the same clothes on the whole time. It’s really gross. I just want to get out of here. But if I do get out, where am I going to go? Emma’s gone. He made me listen as he killed her. My mom is still living out of the trunk of her car. I have no one left.”

  She was crying now, shaking and panicking.

  “Listen,” I whispered, knowing my tone was a little harsh but wanting to make sure she knew I was serious. “Just listen to me. We are going to get you out of here. And we are going to keep you safe. I promise I will not let you end up with no one.”

  Her soft sobs broke my heart.

  This poor girl has been in and out of hell, and when she finally felt like she had that safe space with her sister, that was ripped from her by Garrett. Just like it was ripped from Gage. And that man was going to pay for it.

  Shotgun would have noticed me gone by now.

  He would find me.

  Find us.

  But we had to stay alive for him to get to us, which meant we needed a better plan than just laying here.

  I was a fighter.

  Not a damsel.

  I twisted my wrists, trying to feel exactly what was bound around them. The plastic zip ties were sharp and cutting into my skin, one wrapped around each wrist and threaded together while another was threaded through both and was looped around the squeaky metal bedframe, tying me to it.

  “When you said you still have all your clothes on, do you have shoes?” I asked, my brain skipping through all the ways I’d learned how to break zip ties courtesy of self-defense classes Myth had started teaching at his gym at Laken’s request.

  I knew I would have to work around things, given my body was still not as strong as it should have been. I could feel the drugs making me dopey and slow, and my bruised ribs meant any kind of movement in my stomach made me want to vomit.

  “Yeah,” she whispered, and I heard her quietly tap them together.

  “Do your shoes have laces?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  The shot of adrenaline I got in that second was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I could feel it pulsing through my veins, my heart rate accelerating. It was telling me that there was a way out of this mess, but speed was key. Who knew when Garrett would come back or his obvious minions that Thayleah said he was using to do his dirty work?

  I could feel my feet bound, but they weren’t tied down like my hands were. “Is there any way you can lift your feet to your hands and undo your laces?” The sheets shuffled, a soft whimper leaving her lips. “Thayleah?”

  She cleared her throat. “I got them. Sorry. My zip ties cut through my wrists, and they hurt so bad.” Her voice broke, the pain obviously getting to the point where it was too much. This was a young girl, barely seventeen, and who knows what the hell she’s seen and heard and felt over the past couple of weeks.

  Who knows what kind of damage that’s done?

  I knew I had to keep my head straight. I couldn’t break down right now. I couldn’t stop fighting because I needed to get the both of us out of here.

  “I got it,” she murmured.

  “Good girl. This is going to be hard, and it might hurt a little, but if you focus, we can do it.”

  She was silent for a few moments, no doubt fear absolutely destroying her from the inside out. Her mental thoughts probably debating whether she could trust me. Whether she should do what she’s been told because up until this point, Garrett had mentally abused her, but the physical—not so much. Maybe going against him would push him over that edge.

  “Okay, what should I do?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Thank God.

  “Okay, I want you to try and thread your shoelace underneath one of the zip ties around your hands.” I explained slowly, trying to keep calm, make it feel like the pressure wasn’t there despite every time I breathed, thinking that it was another second Garrett could be taking stepping up the stairs.

  Her soft whimpers were like claws at my heart.

  “Thayleah…”

  “I’ll get it. I can do it.” Her voice shook, but there was also a new determination in her tone. “I got it!”

  “Amazing,” I praised, wishing I could hug her, pat her on the back, or something to support her. “You’ve got this. I just need you to now try and tie the end around the bar you’re tied to.”

  A light tinkling sound alerted me to her movements. Maybe it was the zip ties or maybe her nails against the cold metal bed frame.

  “Make sure it’s tight. It needs to be.”

  Her breathing was growing heavier, I knew the maneuver was probably extremely awkward, not only with your hands bound, but with the angle of how she was having to work. And to top it off, this beautiful young girl had barely moved off this bed for nearly two weeks. If her muscles weren’t ready to pack it in and give up, they would be soon.

  Thud.

  The floor shook.

  Voices came from below.

  Laughter.

  We needed to hurry.

  “I tied it!”

  “Okay, pull it so it’s tight between the bar and your feet. Tight and straight. And what you need to do is pull against it and move your hands up and down the shoelace. The friction will cut through the plastic ties. But pull hard.” I sucked in a deep breath, hearing another bang from downstairs and more voices. “And be quick.”

  I swear, those moments as I heard her sawing away at her restraints, I imagined every damn scenario. It felt like forever as I processed what we would do next.

  How I could hurt someone if they came in.

  What the hell I would be willing to do to get us out of here alive.

  Though, I already knew the answer.

  Kill.

  And if we were going to make it out of here alive, I knew I was going to have to be okay with that, because if it came to it, and I hesitated…

  No. I refused to let another asshole get away. I wouldn’t let him use me to hurt Shotgun again. I wouldn’t let him use me to hurt Gage. He wasn’t going to win.

  Micah, please.

  If you’re up there.

  Snap.

  “I did it.” The sheets on Thayleah’s bed rustled, and there was a light tap as she placed her feet on the floor. “Hold on.” More rubbing, sawing back and forth while my body was beginning to jump at every damn sound.

  Snap.

  “Here,” she whispered, a soft shuffling sound moving toward me until I felt hands on my wrists, working quickly.

  This time she was quick, probably able to pull a lot harder now she could use her hands. They snapped, and I held my breath, knowing I was about to feel like I was fucking dying. “Don’t scream, don’t scream, don’t scream,” I whispered repeatedly, tears already settling on my lashes as I quickly swung my legs over the side of the bed, letting out a low groan in the bottom of my throat. I wanted to sob, my ribs from the car accident still very bruised and feeling as though someone was stabbing a
knife through them and twisting it as I forced my body to sit upright.

  Those few seconds were some of the longest in my life.

  The pain trying to get the better of me.

  My head spinning, the room spinning, the world spinning—I wasn’t sure.

  It was going to be a problem.

  My ankle too.

  Sucking in a painful gasp when Thayleah slipped the shoelace between the zip tie around my feet.

  Was I even going to be able to walk? Or even stand?

  “We’re free!” Her sweet voice sounded elated, her hand finding mine in the darkness.

  I placed mine over hers and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s get out of here. Whatever I say, you need to listen. If I tell you to run, you run, and don’t stop until you find someone safe.”

  “How will I know if they’re safe?”

  “Anyone in a leather vest, with patches that say Brothers by Blood MC is safe. You tell them who you are, and you let them help you. If you find the police, ask for Austin.” I was preparing, knowing I may have had to make choices. My ankle was sprained, I wasn’t going to be moving very fast, but I knew for sure if it came to it, I was going to get this girl out of here alive.

  “Come on, let’s go home.”

  SHOTGUN

  “Get the fuck out of my compound.”

  Hell fucking no.

  No.

  “You’re really that fucking stubborn you are going to let that get in the way of you finding her alive?”

  I spun on my heel and stomped over to my ride, popping open the tiny compartment under my seat and pulling out my handgun. She didn’t fucking twitch when I turned and pointed it straight at her. Or when I jerked it to the right and pulled the fucking trigger, the bullet flying past her by a mere foot or two and lodging straight into one of the trees lining the fence. “And you’re really that fucking dumb for thinking after admitting to being an undercover cop, knowing you’ve been coming to my fucking home for years, that I won’t shoot you right here.”

  She didn’t quiver or back away, continuing to hold my glare, her chin tipped up like she didn’t give a fuck if that bullet hit her or not. “You won’t shoot me.”

  I knew better.