“I don’t know.” Hunter huffed. “He’s not picking up or answering any of my texts. Maybe I should drive over there.”
“No, what if he’s already on his way? There’s no time to play cat and mouse all day.” But I didn’t know what else to do. I was useless in my current state. I couldn’t drive. I could barely walk without help.
The only person I could think to call was Henry.
“Get me my phone,” I told Hunter.
He brought it over to me, redialing Memphis on his own phone for the umpteenth time.
“What are you doing?” he asked, thumbing the end button when there was no answer, yet again.
“I’m calling Henry.”
“Who’s Henry?”
I rolled my eyes. “Ella’s boyfriend. Not that it matters to you, but—You know what, never mind. Let me deal with this. Why don’t you go take a fucking walk, or a goddamn shower? You can certainly use it.”
“Oh, fuck you, man,” he said as he flipped me off and walked away. I hoped he was taking the opportunity to do as I suggested. He needed a shower almost as much as we all needed a miracle to make this shit disappear.
“Hello?” Henry answered on the third ring.
“Hey, it’s Sam. Any chance you’re you at the hospital with Ella?”
“Yes, I’m here. Would you like to talk to her?”
“No, no, no,” I said in a hurry, but then realized I was being insensitive. There was a lot on my mind, but I had to ask for an update on my favorite patient. “Please send her my love. How’s she feeling today?”
“She’s doing great, never better.” He cleared his throat. “The nurses actually just showed up to change her dressings so I’ll tell her you were asking for her when I go back inside, but . . .” He paused and I heard movement. When he returned, his tone was quieter but spiked with concern. “I get the sense there’s another reason for your call. Is everything okay?”
Henry had missed his calling as a detective—and a father. He was one of the most perceptive people I’d ever met. Couple that with what a genuinely good person he was, and I was certain I made the call to the right guy.
I took a deep breath, not sure where to begin. “Not to cause a panic, but . . . I was wondering whether Memphis has been by the hospital at all?”
“No,” he groaned. “Can’t say that he has.”
“Shit!” I mumbled, scratching my head. Where the hell was he? Had he fled? Left all of us to deal with his mess? And Hunter?
“But . . .” Henry broke my train of irrational thought. “London was here earlier.”
So, that’s where she ran off to. “She was?” I asked with pure relief.
“Yes, but not for too long. She was actually on her way back home to you. Hasn’t she made it there yet?”
That sensation of relief vanished as quickly as it hit me. “No. I haven’t seen her in hours. She hasn’t called or come back home. When did you see her last?”
“Over an hour ago. More even. And she seemed to be in a rush to get back to you. Something’s not adding up. Have you called her?”
“No,” I admitted dejectedly. “She told me not to. She wanted some time. I didn’t want to bother her, but now . . . fuck!” I chastised myself, imagining all the heinous possibilities.
“Calm down, Sam. I’m sure there’s an explanation for all of this. Let me call her and then I’ll get right back to you. Hang tight.”
The next few minutes crept by in torturous slow motion. By the time he called me back—less than five full minutes later—I felt as if I’d suffered three mini-coronaries and at least one panic attack.
“Anything?” I asked as soon as I answered the call.
“No. I called a few times and texted her, too. This isn’t like her. I’m not one to jump the gun but . . . why don’t you try calling her. It can’t hurt.”
“Okay,” I conceded. He was right. This was no time for pride or following the rules. If the always calm and collected Henry was on edge, I was ready to jump off a cliff. “I’ll call you right back.”
Gulping away the nerves, I dialed London’s number and waited. It rang and rang, finally going to voicemail. “Hey, London. I know you asked for a minute, but I’m worried. No one’s heard from you in a few hours and we just want to make sure everything’s okay. You don’t even have to call me back if you don’t want to. Just text me. Or Henry, even. Please let us know you’re okay.”
After I hung up, I called again, another three times. When the fifth call went to voicemail like the previous ones, I texted her a message similar to the one I left on her voicemail.
Within seconds of hitting send and seeing that the message had been delivered, the three little dots indicating that she was writing back appeared. I breathed a sigh of relief only to have it ripped away from me, emptying my lungs, as I read the cryptic response.
London: At Mom’s. Send help.
My body stiffened with dread, my pulse racing.
Help? For what? What did this mean?
Already dialing Henry, I screamed out, “Hunter. Hunter! Get down here!”
He appeared at the foot of the steps just as Henry answered.
“Did you get her?” he asked at the same time Hunter demanded, “What the fuck, Sam?”
I looked over to a confused and breathless Hunter as I spoke into the receiver. “Yes, I got her, but something’s not right.”
I read her text to him, my heart thrumming in my ears. “This can’t be good, Henry. We have to go there!”
“Shit!” It was the first time I’d heard Henry curse. It was also the first time I ever knew him to sound flustered. But worried as he was, he still got it together in time to compose himself and lend his help. “I’ll head over there right now. But, Sam, you’re in no condition to—”
“No way, Henry. No fucking way. I will meet you at Ella’s. Just get there as soon as you can, okay? I’m right behind you.”
I hung up, slow to move at first. The need to get to London fueled me to push past the pain and stand on my feet.
“Mother fucker!” I shrieked, squinting my eyes as if that would make the sting subside.
“What are you doing, man? What’s going on?” Hunter asked, sprinting to my aid. He came up behind me and shoved his hands beneath my underarms, lifting me into an upright position.
“We’re going to Ella’s. Now, help me get in the car and don’t say another word. This definitely has something to do with why Memphis isn’t here yet. Something’s very wrong, Hunter. I can fucking feel it in my bones.”
London
My mother’s house looked like a warzone. No matter how hard Allie and I tried to convince Memphis that there was nothing to search for, he would not stop hunting.
At one point, the two of us started to search as well. It was worth the shot. Maybe Mom did have something hidden away in the event of an emergency such as this. I doubted it—I knew her too well—but I couldn’t sit back and do nothing. And the more I thought about forcing our mother to sell her home, the more I prayed an alternate plan would pop up and make this go away.
“London,” Allie finally whispered, making sure Memphis was out of earshot. “Maybe you should call Sam—or Hunter, at least. He’s scaring me, and if what he says is true and they’ve been on the run as long as he said, these people can show up any minute.”
Shaking my head, I tidied up a pile of old bills Memphis had thrown about. “You’ve seen one too many crime shows, Al. They’re not going to show up out of the blue and tie us up with guns to our heads.”
“How do you know?” she asked, wide-eyed. “You have no idea what these people are capable of! This is a lot of money, London. You don’t actually think they’re going to let this slide and allow them get away with it, do you?”
“No. Of course, I don’t. But I can’t let them take my mother’s house, Allie. I can’t let him do that to her!” I whisper-shouted.
“Exactly. And that’s why you need to call Sam. He’ll know what to do.”
But would he? He always seemed to save the day, but how in God’s name could he fix this? I didn’t want him involved for the same reason he lied to keep me out of it. This was a dangerous situation. We just needed time to think things through. A solution would arise once we were thinking clearly.
“Just let me think! Okay? I have to think!”
I ignored the mess and the commotion, closing my eyes like a clairvoyant summoning the dead. Mom had some money set aside. At the time, I thought it was morbid to talk about funeral and burial arrangements. But that was Mom. She didn’t want to be a burden, even in death. Even still, that money was a very small fraction of the debt Hunter and Memphis owed.
Think, London, think! It wasn’t exactly ingenious or fair, but something did cross my mind. “Hey, Memphis,” I called out to him. “Has Hunter asked his parents for money? Why should our mother be the only one to suffer? Their son started this mess in the first place.”
Allie side-eyed me and shrugged, looking over to Memphis who was staring at his phone and breathing heavily. At closer inspection, it looked as if he was on the verge of tears.
“What is it?” I dashed over to him, peeking over his shoulder to read his phone.
“It’s too late, London. It’s too fucking late.”
“What do you mean?” I cried. The fear in his tone gave me goosebumps. I could feel the blood drain from my face as my knees knocked together.
“They’re fucking here. They found us and they’re here!”
Sam
“CAN’T YOU DRIVE any faster?” I barked at Hunter.
“Yeah, if you want me to get us both killed before we get to her.”
I could barely look at him without wanting to lunge over the console and squeeze my hands around his neck. But getting to London in one piece and as quickly as possible fueled me to keep my mouth shut and my hands to myself.
This was all his fucking fault. London was in danger and it was all his fault. And yet, I had to sit next to him and act as if we were friends, unlikely sidekicks.
My stomach roiled in disgust even thinking about it. I tamped down the swelling emotions of fear, betrayal, anger, and sheer panic. We had to get to her without any hiccups. We had to get to her before something terrible happened. I would deal with my feelings toward Hunter—and Memphis—later. Once London was safe and this was all behind us.
Please God, let her be safe. Please let us get there in time.
Silence and tension permeated the car. A heavy inhale of breath or a labored sigh broke through every so often. I stared out the window, trying to not get carried away with my thoughts, but I couldn’t help it. There were too many scenarios, too many possibilities. And not a single one of them ended well as they played out in my head. I was terrified of what we might find when we finally got to Ella’s. But there was no way in hell I would even try to prepare myself for the worst. The worst was not an option. The worst could not fucking happen.
“I-I’m sorry, man. I never meant for this to happen,” Hunter mumbled with his eyes planted on the road in front of us.
I looked over at him for a split second and noticed his hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white and taut. I had no doubt he was remorseful, that he was as worried as me, but the fact still remained that he was the one to blame for this mess. If something happened to London, make no mistake . . . he would pay for it.
“Are you going to say anything?” he finally asked when I didn’t respond.
I gritted my teeth and kept my eyes on the houses zooming past us as he drove. “What’s there to say, Hunter? We have no idea what we’re about to walk into. I can’t empathize with you right now. I don’t know if I ever will.”
He swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “Is she . . . happy?”
The question surprised me. Not only because the timing was remarkable, but because I had to wonder why he wanted to know. He couldn’t possibly want to hear about London and me being together. And I wasn’t about to risk pissing him off with the truth: Yes, she was happy. The happiest I’d ever seen her in all the years I’d known her. And that was because of me.
In our short time together, I was certain I loved her more than he ever had. Hell, I’d loved her from the moment I laid eyes on her almost twenty years ago. There was nothing more powerful than that. But Hunter believed I won London’s love by default, and a small, insecure part of me agreed with him.
Had he not asked for the divorce, had he gone about things differently, would I ever have been given the chance to make her mine? I wasn’t so sure. It was something I would never know, something I would have to live with and bury down deep enough that it didn’t haunt me to the point of delirium. Because it didn’t matter whether London chose me by ‘default.’ She was still in love with me. That I was sure of. What we shared could not be mistaken for anything other than the purest, truest, most beautiful love that ever existed, and I would not let it slip through my fingers because Hunter was back. He let her go. He set her free. He put her in harm’s way and he didn’t deserve a second chance.
I wanted to tell him all of this. I wanted to scream it until it penetrated that thick skull of his, but we were so close to Ella’s, so close to getting to London.
So, rather than jeopardizing the temporary peace, I simply said, “Yes, Hunter, she’s been very happy. Now, let’s hope she’s fucking safe.”
He kept quiet for the remainder of the trip, and when he was about two blocks from Ella’s, he sped up as if his life depended on it.
“Finally!” I groaned as we pulled up to the house. I flung the passenger door open, forgetting I couldn’t just fly out of the car and soar up the steps to London’s rescue. Talk about feeling incompetent. It was maddening. And the last thing I wanted to do was ask for Hunter’s help, but I had no choice. I could walk on my own, at a snail’s pace, but I needed his assistance getting hoisted out of the car.
“Come around and get me the fuck out of here.”
Without a trace of reluctance, he did as told, and got me to my feet.
At first inspection of the house, nothing looked out of the ordinary. There was no sign of forced entry, no warning that trouble was lurking. But London’s cryptic text was all the warning I needed, and the urgency to get inside mounted until the thin string of patience I had left unraveled.
“Fuck it,” I grunted as I forced my body to do what it shouldn’t be capable of. Maybe it was adrenaline or an innate strength saved only for the direst of times, but I relinquished Hunter’s aid and pushed off of him to rush up the walkway and climb the porch steps.
Moving that quickly hurt like a mother fucker, but I ignored the stinging ache, thankful I made it up to the door without succumbing to the pain.
“What are you doing?” Hunter whispered, coming up behind me. He placed a hand at my waist, steading me. “Let me help you. You don’t always have to be the fucking hero, Sam.”
Oh, but I did. I didn’t expect him to know that. Hunter and I were only friends on the surface. He had no clue that when it came to London, I would always be the hero.
“Get the fuck out of my way and let me handle this,” I demanded, shoving his hand away.
Once inside, panic struck hard and fast.
The house was in total disarray, as if someone had ransacked the place. With no way to tell if this was Memphis’s doing or someone else’s, I scanned the first floor for any sign of activity, only to come up short and panic further.
“Where the hell are they?” I whispered over my shoulder.
Hunter’s eyes were wide with worry, his fists tight at his sides as he shook his head.
And just as I pulled out my cell phone to text London again, I heard a loud boom and a woman’s scream coming from upstairs.
London
“Who’s they, Memphis? What do you mean, they’re here?”
Memphis was frozen in place, defenseless, cautious, and wide-eyed. I turned to Allie, who was trembling, her complexion completely
awash of any color. It was clear that I was the only level-headed one and I needed to take charge. I pulled the phone from Memphis’s hand and spun him around by the shoulders to face me.
“Tell me who is here!”
He blinked rapidly, licking his chapped lips. “Cedric and Marco.”
Frustrated, I breathed deeply and gripped his shoulders tighter. “I don’t know who Cedric and Marco are, Memphis. You’ll have to give me more than that.”
“Do you really need me to spell this out? Are you that naïve, London?”
No, I wasn’t naïve, but I wanted to hear him say it. I wanted to prepare myself—prepare all of us—the best way possible. I needed to know what I was dealing with. I needed to keep my shit together before my brother got all three of us killed by whoever the hell Cedric and Marco were. “Why are they here, Memphis? What’s going to happen when they walk through that door?”
Sealing his eyes shut as if to wish this all away, he inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his downturned lips. I noticed the way his hands were shaking and I reached out to steady them, prompting him to reopen his eyes.
A stranger stared back at me. He was no longer the big brother who was a part of some of my fondest memories, who would never let anything like this happen to me. When I looked at him now, I saw a man who had failed me and my mother. A man who had pushed the boundaries well past his breaking point and was cracking under the pressure. “They’re here for their money. And since we don’t have it, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”
For the first time since the truth had been revealed, everything felt dangerously real. My skin burned with fear, my heart threatening to pound right out of my chest. “How far are they? Is there time for us to get out of here?”
“It’s no use, London. It’s no fucking use.” Memphis was clearly defeated. He had no fight left in him. He was no good to us now. The vacant look in his eyes told me he’d checked out.
“Are they going to . . . kill us?” Allie cried.
Take My Breath Away (The Every Breath Duet Book 2) Page 16