Jaxon_Kings of Denver

by Sheridan Anne

  My ass hits the floor and I know without a doubt that there is going to be a bruise. I hardly have a moment to dwell on it before the dark shadow appears directly in front of me with a sick, twisted grin on his slimy face.

  Shit. The guy from Micky’s.

  I try to scream and look around for help but everyone seems to have already gone. He slaps his hand over my face and I flinch at the pain it causes or maybe it’s the feel of his skin on mine once again.

  I try to scream against his hand but it’s useless. His eyes sparkle, enjoying my fear and I know I have to get out of here.

  “I’ve been waiting for you,” he tells me as his eyes flash with something darker and I realise just how much trouble I’m in right now. He grabs me by my hair and yanks me to my feet. My feet scramble beneath me trying to catch myself to relieve some of the pain. I scream out but once again, his other hand remains firmly over my mouth. My hands fly to my hair as I try my hardest to claw his hand away.

  Shit. My heart beats rapidly in my chest and I promptly begin to freak out. What the hell am I going to do? How am I going to get out of here?

  I kick my legs out and attempt to hit him but he jumps back out of the way. “Mmmm, feisty,” he moans, momentarily closing his eyes, only to open them again to reveal even more darkness.

  I continue to claw at his hand in my hair, trying to free myself and I know it must be cutting him as I feel the wetness beneath my fingers but all it does is spur him on. He adjusts his hold in my hair and uses the hand over my mouth to slap me hard. I whimper in pain as the hand returns to my mouth. “You’re going to regret that,” he tells me before he uses his hold on my hair to lead me back towards the car park.

  I try everything I can to get free, I kick my legs out, drop all my body weight to the point he has to drag me but nothing works, I swear if I had something to use as a weapon, I’d be using it or at least attempting to cut my hair from my skull. We reach a dark car and I continue fighting, trying my hardest to get free from this bastard. All I know is I cannot be forced into that car. I don’t know what could possibly happen to me or where I would end up. The thought alone terrifies me and has me begging for freedom.

  His hand covering my mouth finally releases me and I instantly scream out which only makes him smirk a little more. Tears of pain or fear stream down my face but I don’t even get a chance to look around to see if anyone is coming to help before he puts his other hand to the back of my head and slams my head down into the metal framing of his car.

  My head spins and the world around me instantly falls to nothingness.

  Chapter 20

  Jaxon

  Coach Harris stands in the centre of the room giving us his usual pre-game pep talk. His words have the boys all riled up and ready to go but for the first time, the effect isn’t the same on me. Something just feels… I don’t know. Off.

  I can’t put my finger on it but whatever it is. I don’t like it.

  I try to tune it out and concentrate on Coach, after all, it’s halfway through the season and naturally, we are in the top position to take this thing out. Semi-finals and finals are quickly approaching and I need to have my head in the game more than ever.

  Some lady with a clipboard comes knocking at the door and lets us know the start of the game has been delayed by 10 minutes due to the ice rinks Zamboni breaking down. I can’t help but think this is a sign, something bad is going to happen and my guess is that it’s this game. Bad things always happen in threes. First, there is Cass running late, though she should be here by now, second is the Zamboni, what comes next?

  Maybe I’ll miss a shot or fuck something up real bad, there are most likely scouts in the audience who are all watching me, waiting to see if I’m the kind who will crack under pressure. I don’t freaking know but my gut just tells me something is up.

  I consider it could be nerves but then, I haven’t been nervous before a game since I was a kid, this shit is as natural to me as brushing my damn teeth in the morning. It has to be something else, but what?

  Coach knocks over the bin at the end of the room and tips out a bucket of pucks at the other end before instructing us to take some practice shots while we wait for the ice.

  All our helmets immediately come off and I stand in line to take a few shots. My aim is perfect as usual and I take a backseat from shooting to help the guys with their aim but that sinking feeling continues to grow and I can hardly concentrate.

  Not long after the lady comes back around to tell us it’s go time. I quickly duck to my locker and grab my helmet. I rip off my gloves and check my phone and find a text from Cass telling me she is here, though, that was at least 20 minutes ago but that one text from her eases me just a bit. I can handle fucking up one game as long as Cass is there afterward.

  I jam my phone back in my locker, pull my gloves and my helmet on and take my position at the door, ready to lead the boys out. They all fall in line behind me but my head is completely out of it. My eyes stray to the ground as my head goes over all the possibilities.

  “Jax,” Coach hollers with a clear annoyance in his voice. My head snaps up to him and I notice immediately that everyone is waiting for me to go. “Where’s your head, Payne?” Coach demands.

  “Sorry, Coach,” I stutter out, as my eyes revert back to the ground.

  Bobby slaps me upside the back of my head and I turn around with a scowl. “Dude,” he hisses as he gives me a wicked nudge to get out the door. “Pull it together.”

  I reluctantly lead the boys out of the locker room and that bad feeling intensifies. I come out of the hallway and enter the stadium. The noise from the crowd is deafening but I push on. As soon as we turn the corner, my eyes instantly flick up to Cass in the crowd but I don’t find her there. Where the hell is she? She hasn’t missed a game all season and she sent a text saying she was here.

  I look over to the food lines even though she has never eaten stadium food in her life and just as expected, she isn’t there. I mean, could Brianna have gotten worse and she had to go? If that were the case she would have texted.

  I turn back to Bobby. “Have you heard from Bri? Is Cass with her?”

  He gives me a strange look, probably wondering why the hell I’m thinking about his twin sister at a time like this but I know he see’s something off in my eyes as he answers, “She’s fine, just got some bug. Last I heard she was starting to feel a bit better. Cass was coming by herself, she should be here,” he says casting his eyes up at the grandstand. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know, man,” I tell him as I continue looking around the stadium, “She texted 20 minutes ago, saying she was here. She should be in her seat, it’s not like her to miss a game without telling someone where she is.” The thought hits me like a freight train. The sinking feeling. It’s Cass. Something has happened to Cass.

  I take off like a bat out of hell with Bobby hissing my name behind me. “Where the Hell do you think you’re going?” Coach demands, catching me at the end of the line.

  “It’s Cass. Something’s wrong,” I tell him. “Please, I just need to check she’s ok. I won’t be able to concentrate until I know.”

  There is anger behind his eyes but he gives in and lets me go. “You have thirty seconds,” he says under his breath, “And then your ass better be on that ice.”

  I take off once again, no time for a thank you.

  I burst through the locker room doors and the metal door slams against the back wall before slamming closed once again. I tear off my helmet and gloves before I’ve even made it to my locker and I pull my phone straight out.

  I call Cass as quickly as possible and wait the agonising moments for her to answer, only there is none, the call rings out and goes to her voice mail. I try a second time and a third before I find Brianna’s number.

  She answers immediately. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the ice?”

  “Is Cass with you?” I ask urgently.

  “No, why? She left ages ago.” She explains
.

  “She texted twenty minutes ago saying she was here but her seat is empty,” I tell her, “She didn’t go home?”

  “No, she’s not here,” Brianna says slightly alarmed. “She would never miss your game.”

  “Fuck,” I curse as I hang up the phone. I try Cassie’s number again and get nothing. Shit, where the hell is she? I’m whipping my hockey gear and skates off before I even know what’s going on. I grab my keys and am halfway to the door when Coach barges in.

  “What the fuck is going on, Payne?” he demands as he blocks my exit.

  By this stage I’m frantic and I hardly have a moment to spare for him but it’s out of sheer respect that I don’t push him aside. “Something’s wrong. I have to go.”

  “Like hell you do,” he bellows. “Start talking.”

  With an agitated groan, I let it out. “Cass isn’t here, she would never miss a game. I feel it in my gut. Something’s happened.”

  He hangs his head as he thinks it over, he and I both know that if she was in danger and he didn’t let me go, he would never forgive himself. “Fine,” he grunts. “But you get your ass back here as quickly as possible.”

  I’m flying out the door before he has finished his sentence.

  I run through the doors of the arena and fly down the stairs only to stop at the bottom, thankful that she has a bright freaking yellow Beetle that I could spot anywhere. My eyes scan the whole parking lot and come up with nothing before I remember she thought she was late. I rush around the side of the building to the athletes parking and instantly find her Beetle parked behind my truck.

  Relief begins to stir in me, maybe she was here all along and I’m just overreacting but that feeling still remains in the pit of my stomach. I take off towards her car but a black pile of something on the sidewalk stops me.

  I rush over and pick it up to find a handbag. I peek in the top and instantly recognise one of Cassie’s notebooks. I look around and see spots of blood on the ground and I know without a doubt my gut feeling was right. Something has definitely happened and I hope my girl is ok.

  I follow the track of blood which leads me to an empty car space and I immediately think the worse.

  I pull out my phone and hit dial on Logan’s number as I sprint off towards her car just to double check she isn’t there.

  “Yo, fucker, what do you want?” he says into the phone. “Wait, don’t you have a game?”

  I ignore his comments. “Have you heard from Cass? I think she’s been taken from the stadium. I found her bag on the sidewalk and a trail of blood that leads to an empty spot.”

  “Fuck,” he curses, “Taken? Who the fuck by?” My mind goes to one person and if it is, the bastard is going to be sorry. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he roars before going quiet for a moment. “Umm…. Ok, yeah, we put a GPS tracker on her phone when she moved,” he tells me. “Does she have her phone on her? Is it in her bag?”

  I rush over to my car and empty out the contents of her bag into the tray of my Ute. I search through it but come up empty. I quickly search through her car. “Nah, no phone,” I tell him.

  “Good, she might have it on her,” He says, sounding as though he has put me on speaker phone and I’m sure he must be looking up the GPS. “It’s searching,” he tells me and I hear the frustration in his voice, wishing it would go faster. “Come on,” he grunts running out of patience.

  I get in my truck and turn on the ignition, waiting for his go ahead. “Shit, here we go,” he says urgently. “I’m texting you the address, it’s about a 5-minute drive.”

  The text comes through not a moment later. “Got it,” I tell him.

  With Cassie’s car parking me in, I floor it up and over the parking island and up the pathway, knocking down a few light reflectors on my way. “We’re on our way,” Logan says before hanging up.

  I fly up past the side of the stadium and past the drops of blood where I had found her handbag. My fear settles a tiny knowing that the triplets are on their way but I will beat them there by miles. I come screeching onto the road and barge in front of the oncoming traffic, only to be honked by pissed off drivers but I honestly don’t give a shit right now.

  I speed down the road, honking and weaving through the traffic just daring these fuckers to get in my way. The thought crosses my mind that maybe she is fine, maybe she met a friend and took off. I look down at my phone and double check the address, certain I know which street she is on.

  I push my foot harder to the ground. Hold on, baby. I’m coming for you

  .

  Chapter 21

  Cassie

  My head pounds like you wouldn’t believe and my nose is assaulted by a god awful smell. I struggle to open my eyes on this cheap, uncomfortable bed. My body shivers and I pull my hands up to rub my face but something is holding them down. What the hell?

  Wait, bed?

  My eyes ping open. Holy shit.

  My body automatically attempts to sit up but it’s then I realise my hands and legs are bound to the bed. I search frantically around the room as memories of being assaulted and knocked out come rushing back.

  Where the hell am I?

  My breathing comes too fast as I search the room. I find only darkness and I wonder if my vision is fucked after getting my head knocked into the side of a car or maybe I’m in some place that has the windows boarded up but I know it’s worse than that. My gut is telling me I’m in some creepy basement on a bed.

  A shiver takes over me and I look down, horrified to find I’m in nothing but my underwear.

  Tears stream down my face. How the hell did I get myself into this situation?

  My eyes begin to adjust to the dark room and I start to really take in my surroundings. It’s a small brick room with one tiny window above a washing machine but the window has been blacked out, hence why it is so dark in here.

  Old wooden stairs lead up towards the main house and my eyes desperately want to remain locked on the door at the top, knowing that is my path to freedom but I can’t. I need to continue looking, searching for something that I could use to help me out of here, after all, no one even knows I’m gone.

  Bri is sick at home and as far as she is aware, I am at the game. The triplets would have no idea what is going on and why should they? But Jax, he is my one hope and he is in the middle of a massive game, he may notice I’m not in my spot in the grandstand but would just assume I’m sitting somewhere else.

  I’m all on my own.

  After I finish scanning the room, I realise I’m fucked. There is nothing sharp left in the room, not that I would be able to reach anything with my hands and feet bound. I locate all my clothes on the ground and realise they are all torn up and my hope starts to plummet.

  My brain goes into survival mode and I reach my hands down to feel along the frame of the bed. Hope begins to surge within me as I feel a screw under my finger, I jam my nail into it and try my hardest to turn. That hope is gone quickly as my nail splits in two and bleeds. I curse but try to keep quiet, the last thing I want is to draw attention to myself and let the fucker know I’m awake.

  I keep working on the screw but only end up with each of my fingers bleeding.

  I hear creaking coming from above and realise the guy must be moving around the house and I pray he isn’t coming this way. Why rush? Not a soul knows I’m down here. I’m all his for the taking.

  Fear laces every thought in my mind and I hate that I’m not stronger. For fuck's sake, I grew up with three big brothers, I should know how to get out of shit like this but instead, they treated me like a princess.

  I work faster at the screw but it isn’t budging. I realise it’s a waste of time and start searching for something else.

  I try pulling at the binds on my wrists to see if I can break them but once again, all I end up doing is hurting myself further.

  The door at the top of the stairs is pushed open and my eyes flick to the door. My heart rate picks up impossibly faster to the point where I fear a h
eart attack. A sliver of light shoots through the room but the light is quickly blocked by a man.

  He slowly makes his way down the stairs, leaving the door open behind him, probably so he can see whatever it is he is going to do to me.

  He comes towards me with the devil in his eyes, looking me up and down and licking his lips. Bile rises in my stomach but I hold it down. The thought of this creep touching me is terrifying.

  “Hello Cassandra,” he purrs, watching me with interest.

  My eyes are wide and fearful but there is not a chance in hell that I would look away. I couldn’t risk it. I know what he wants and I realise he won’t stop until he gets it. That knowledge has me in an absolute panic but what I fear more is the unknown.

  How far will this monster go? Will he have his way with me and dump me somewhere or will it be worse? Will I remain down here for weeks until someone finds me or will he kill me to cover his tracks?

  My eyes track his movement as he comes closer and runs his fingertips up the length of my body. I try to move away but my bound arms and legs make it nearly impossible. His eyes heat at the touch and I choke back vomit. “So beautiful,” he says with his eyes on my chest. “I’ve been waiting a long time to have you but that damn hockey player just keeps getting in that way.”

  My mind spins back to the night at Micky’s when Jax was punched and I can’t help but wonder if this was the guy and I pray that Jax did a number on him that night.

  His eyes continue to look me over with darkness and excitement within them which has me wondering if this has happened to some poor girl before me.

  He sits down on the bed beside me, leaving his fingertips trailing over my stomach. His eyes remain locked on mine. “I’ve been watching you,” he tells me, “day in and day out for months now. I think I might even know your schedule better than you do and I must say, you’re quite a predictable little thing. Your schedule never changes, but I like that in a woman. No surprises,” He continues as his fingers lower on my tummy, making their way down.