by Sophia Gray
“My stuff is the best there is, but if you think you can just come in here and threaten me and—”
“I don’t want your shit,” I snapped.
His eyes widened, and he backpedaled a step. “I don’t need a business partner trying to cut into my profits.”
“I’m not a fucking dealer. I’m not a user either.”
“So what the fuck do you want?”
My hand released my gun, and I gripped his shirt into my tight fist. “You listen here, and you listen good. I want to know everything you know about Trenton.”
“Who?”
I slammed my other hand on the back of a chair. “I’m not fucking around. Trenton Young. You know him, I know you do.”
The guy’s face twisted into disgust at the name, but he shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t—”
“You do know.”
“The name doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry.” He tried to loosen my hold on his shirt.
I kept my hand on shirt while my other hand brought out my gun. I made a show of putting it on the table next to us. “You were saying?”
“The fuck you want that shithead for?” the owner snapped. “He’s nothing but a shithead, a thorn in my side. If I catch him, I swear to God, I’d bury him myself. Bury him alive.”
Just then, the guards who threatened Victoria came toward us from the back. “What’s going on here?” the one asked.
“Nothing.” The owner grimaced at me. “Just leave us be.”
“You sure?” the other asked.
“Sure. Just two fellas talking.” The owner glanced over his shoulder and waited until they left. “I need a fucking drink,” he muttered. “You look like you could use one, too.”
My nostrils flared. “Fine, but only if it comes with—”
“A side of info.” The owner nodded. “Yeah. For fuck’s sake,” he grumbled when I released him. I might’ve shoved him a little, but I made sure he saw that I put my gun away. He knew I meant business, and since I wasn’t going after his drugs or his money, he hopefully felt the need to tell me what I wanted to know.
He poured two stout beers and drained his.
I nursed mine, eyeing him.
After he poured himself another one—a great pour, by the way, the bar must not just be a cover for him and his drug side business—he sighed. “What do ya wanna know?”
“Let’s just say he crossed me, and I wanna know who else he crossed.”
The man snarled a laugh, the sound dark and twisted. “That boy’s gonna end up dead twenty different ways, and I’m gonna spit on his grave.”
“What did he do?” I grumbled. I wanted to know just how fucked up the situation was for Trenton. I needed to know and understand his mindset. I didn’t think he would do anything to hurt the girls, but when a man crossed over into being a desperate animal, all bets were off. Just look at what Trenton’s father had been capable of.
“I saw the kid. He came in a lot. Him and his girl. He loved her. Wanted to do right by her.” The owner snorted.
Mixing with this guy wasn’t the way to do right by anyone, not your girl and not yourself.
Why the fuck didn’t you come to me, Trenton? Was it money? Was that why you got messed with this waste of life?
“So I gave him a job. Thought I would help him out. He scratched my back, I scratched his, ya know?”
“I know.” I drained my glass.
The owner drank half of his and belched. “Gah. It burns.” He tapped his chest. “Anyway, he did good at first. Better than I expected. So I trusted him with more jobs.”
“What exactly did he do for you?”
“Sold my goods.” The guy flashed a smile that slowly died. “Up until he didn’t.”
“What happened?”
“The lousy fucking kid. He’d been working for me for months, so I trusted him. Fucking trusted him. Gave him a huge drug stash. Huge. I’m talking a lot.” The man drank the rest of his, filled it a third time, and drained it again before continuing with his story. He didn’t seem to notice that my glass was empty, not that I wanted a refill. “Well, the fucker couldn’t keep it. And I don’t mean he sold it. No. The fucking kid had it stolen. All of it. Every last gram.”
So that was why Trenton had kidnapped Victoria. He somehow figured out that Victoria meant something to me, and he expected me to solve all his problems. If I paid him, he would pay the owner. And then what? What did Trenton think would come next? Sage couldn’t be stupid enough to want to be with him after all this, right?
And Victoria…she meant something to me. She was an amazing woman, and I didn’t just mean in the bedroom. Her drive and determination had gotten her so far in life, between her job and being able to adopt a girl as a single woman. Her family meant as much to her as my family meant to me.
And the thing was, I considered her part of my family. Did I mean the same to her? I couldn’t be sure. I liked to think that, and honestly, it didn’t matter. I would do everything for her and for Sage. That was all there was to it. We had plenty of time yet to sort everything out together.
So long as nothing happened to either of us. So long as there was a together.
I shook my thoughts away. “So he had the huge stash stolen, huh?”
“Yeah. That rat ass kid owes me the money for it. I don’t care who pays me, but someone’s gonna give me what I want.”
I cleared my throat. “You threatening me?”
“Nah, man. But I’m gonna get paid. One way or another.” He appraised me. “How do you know the kid anyhow? You said he crossed ya, right?”
“Damn straight he did,” I growled.
A sudden thought occurred to me. I swore I wasn’t trying to make an excuse for Trenton and his deplorable actions, but I never would’ve thought him capable of kidnapping and ransom before, but if the idea had been planted…
Someone’s gonna give me what I want.
I leveled the owner a stare that had him grabbing my cup and filling it, not that I took it back or drank it. “Gonna get paid one way or another, huh? You tell Trenton that?”
“I made it clear he better pay up if he knew what was good for ’im, yeah. Why? What’s the big deal?”
“You tell him a few ways to come up with the dough?”
The man screwed up his brow. “Not sure I’m followin’ ya.”
The guy wasn’t a moron, and that he was playing dumb aggravated more than I could say.
“I’m talking about extortion,” I said through gritted teeth. “Kidnapping.”
“Oh, hey, man. You got me all wrong.” The owner backed up a few steps, his hands raised in a defenseless manner. “I would never—”
“Yeah, I doubt that. You made it quite clear that you want your money, and you know Trenton doesn’t have it just sitting in a bank, waiting to be withdrawn.”
“I never—”
My gun made a reappearance.
The guy’s face whitened. “Look. I might’ve said—”
“You remember Victoria?” I demanded.
“Victoria?” His confusion seemed genuine.
“Your goons stopped her when she wanted to find out about her daughter.” I gestured with my chin toward the back entrance.
“Oh. Yeah. I might remember being told about an incidence. She was asking for trouble, snooping around and—”
“And she knew her daughter frequented here with Trenton.”
“Daughter? Look, man—” He was sweating bullets.
I lined up the gun so it was level with his chest. “Because of you and your threats, Trenton nabbed Victoria and Sage. If anything happens to them, you’re dead.”
“Hey, man, I swear I have nothing to do with it!”
I stalked toward him and tossed him against a wall. “That better stay the case. If you come near Victoria or Sage, I’ll kill you myself.”
He gulped nervously. His goons came back. Seriously, didn’t they listen to their boss? “Is something wrong?” the owner snapped.
“We were gonna ask you that.” The taller one glared at me.
If looks could kill, I’d be dead.
“We’ve come to an understanding.” The owner adjusted his shirt and walked around me. “Everything is just fine. Just fine. Right?” He turned back to me.
I snorted. For being a drug dealer, he’d been easy enough to scare. I knew I could be menacing when I wanted to be, but this had almost been too easy. But a scared kid like Trenton wouldn’t have the guts or the drive or the intimidation necessary to stand up for himself. Fuck, if he had all that, he never would’ve had the drug stash stolen in the first place.
I stared down the owner. “We’re fine,” I barked. I jerked around, stared down his boys, and rushed out of there.
Trenton was just a punk kid. He didn’t know the rules of the game, and he was afraid he was going to get burned. Too bad he didn’t realize he was already on fire. He had to be desperate. Beyond desperate. I knew that even before I went to the bar, but now that I knew the full extent of his situation, I realized just how dangerous he could be. Whether or not he was using again himself, he was like a caged animal, and when caged animals were let loose, like he was, they tended to bite the hand that fed them.
Which meant Sage. And Victoria.
I wasn’t much of a praying man, but I sure as hell was praying now.
It was time to round up the boys. It was time to get my girl back. Hang in there, Victoria. It won’t be much longer now.
Chapter 18
Victoria
The desperation I felt was insurmountable. Trenton wasn’t taking any chances. When I pleaded with him that I had to go to the bathroom—I had a feeling I was dehydrated considering I had been here for a long while by this point and I hadn’t had to go until now—he untied me and walked me into the bathroom. He brought along Sage, too, and they talked about nothing in particular, staying in the tiny bathroom with me as I went. No privacy. No chance for anything but actually taking care of my business.
Ever since his phone call, Trenton had been on edge. He was terrified. He was back to being snippy with both Sage and me. He would apologize to her, which was more than I expected from him.
If he had spent more time around Grant, he might’ve been able to overcome his past and grow up and become a real man instead of this poser of one.
If he had learned to accept love and thought himself worthy of it, he might’ve realized Sage really had loved him instead of pushing her away at times because he thought he was incapable of being loved.
If he had actually gotten a real job instead of falling back into his destructive ways and returning to drugs, he might’ve been able to get a place and settle down with her, like he was still talking about wanting.
Honestly, it was almost tragic. He hated himself—that was plain to see. His sense of love and hate were too closely merged. That was why he treated Sage like a goddess at times—when I hadn’t been around to see it—and like a misogynist jerk at other times. If you couldn’t love yourself, you couldn’t love others, and what good was a life without love?
Yes, Sage had told me many times I needed to get laid. I’d brushed it off as a teen wanting her mom to back off and let her do what she wanted, but maybe she had a point. I was so wrapped up in her and the restaurant that I had stopped doing anything for myself. I used to be a runner, even ran a few races. I hadn’t run in a long time, though. Just stopped making the time for it. Outside of my roles as mom and restaurant owner, I didn’t know who I was.
And now that I was in danger, I was second-guessing myself on a lot of things. I told Grant I never went on a vacation, and that was the truth. Sad. How pathetic was that? And all because work was my life. I lived and breathed for it, outside of Sage.
Yes, she was nineteen, but look where her choices had led us. She needed me yet. I needed to be there for her, but I also needed to be there for myself. As it was, I was fretting over how the restaurant was going without me, especially now that I didn’t have my phone and couldn’t help with any complications that might arise in my absence. Maybe this could serve as a trial run, so when I got free—God willing when and not if—I could finally go on that vacation.
With Sage?
Or with Grant?
When Sage and Trenton were talking—like they were now—I tended to zone out. Honestly, there was no way for me to get free. Trenton had tied me even tighter after my trek to the bathroom. Without a phone and with him making it a point to never leave the hotel room, we were stuck here. Sage was doing all she could to try to keep Trenton calm, but she was on edge herself, and sometimes they fought.
But when they were just talking, I could let my mind wander, and as much as I worried about our situation and the restaurant, I often found my thoughts turning back to Grant. I knew him. I knew he would come. If the whole phone call when Trenton had me say his name really was a ransom call, I knew Grant wouldn’t bother to pay. He’d show up, and I had no way to warn him Trenton had a gun. If anything were to happen to Grant, I would be devastated.
In the short amount of time we had together, he had come to mean a lot to me, more than I would’ve thought possible. Maybe it was the fear of not having a tomorrow talking, but I desperately wanted a tomorrow with Grant. More than just a tomorrow. Maybe a whole lot more.
I’d always thought of love as something I would never have. I just never planned on making time for it. I hadn’t dated a lot in high school, and I never went to college. I’d always been goal oriented. When I set my sights on something—like the restaurant or adopting Sage—I did whatever it took to turn that goal into reality.
But now I was realizing what I had been missing out on. Love wasn’t a waste of time. It wasn’t something to be brushed aside or ignored. It could be empowering in its own right, lift you up instead of drag you down or hold you back.
I might be speaking from experience.
But along with the knowledge that I had fallen for Grant came fear, and, hell, could fear drag you down. If Grant came in here with his own gun, would Trenton shoot him? Trenton reeked of desperation. This whole situation proved that.
Sage was lying down, either sleeping or pretending to be. For the most part, she was trying to sweet talk Trenton, to convince him she loved him despite everything. Trenton, though, was paranoid and uptight and anxious, so at times he accepted her and others he lashed out, but that was mostly geared toward himself.
Oh, honey. Sage… I wish I could’ve saved you from this. I should’ve done more to convince you he wasn’t the guy for you. I let fear hold me back from being the mother I should’ve been. And I didn’t understand love. My dad had been a deadbeat, so I never saw a healthy, mature loving relationship growing up. I thought it was the stuff of fairytales, that it was overrated.
But I shouldn’t have thought less of you for wanting that, for craving more love than I could give you. I channeled my love into my work, but that isn’t for everyone, and maybe my being a workaholic isn’t healthy itself. I’ve always wanted to do what was best for you, and I’m sorry I failed you.
Rest easy, Sage. Don’t cry any more. We’ll find a way out of this.
Trenton cleared his throat softly. He had been lying on the bed beside Sage, flipping through a magazine, but now he sat up. “You hungry? Could order some pizza.”
Ugh. I was pizza-d out.
My face must’ve given my thought away because he snorted a quiet laugh. “I know this isn’t ideal,” he started.
“Not ideal?” I all but shrieked. I winced at my loud tone, but Sage didn’t stir. Come on. If Sage can try to reach him despite her fears, you can keep your cool and do your part. “That’s an understatement,” I added more quietly.
“Yeah, well…” He ran a hand through his hair. In that moment, he looked both younger than his age but also older, like time had been unduly harsh to him.
I thought I had pieced most of it together, but still, I had to ask, “Why are you doing this, Trenton?”
No matter what he said, n
o matter his reasoning, he was crazy. Sage deserved someone so much better than Trenton. He needed help. He needed a shrink to work through his issues, and he needed jail to keep his sorry ass away from drugs. Maybe if he could completely cut ties to the drug life, he’d be able to start making a positive change in his life.
But I wasn’t going to hold my breath on that.
He sighed, ran a hand through his hair again, stood, and began to pace in the crammed motel room. “I was trying to make a name for myself. I was trying to earn money. Sage and I…We got into a fight. Sage either wanted us to move forward, or she was threatening to break up with me. And Sage…she’s the best thing that ever happened to me. My life…my dad…” Trenton halted, shoulders slumped.