Ransom (Courting Chaos Book 2)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Bellamy

  I couldn’t believe Ransom had left just like that.

  He hadn’t heard me out and damn it, I hadn’t had the chance to tell him this was Chris and he’d somehow skirted security to get back here. I knew how it looked when Ransom arrived but shit I didn’t want to be alone with Chris.

  “Why did you do that?” I snapped at Chris.

  “Fuck that guy,” he said back.

  “Why are you here?” I yelled with frustration. “You’re not supposed to be here. Why can’t you just go away and leave me alone?” I asked. He’d never answer any of my questions, never had.

  “I want us to talk,” he said in that voice. The one that had gotten me to date him in the first place. The sweet one that used to tell me I was beautiful and smart and everything else a girl wanted to hear.

  “Chris, there’s nothing left to talk about. We’re over. You need to move on, man. Get yourself some counseling and one day maybe you’ll find the right girl. But you know I’m not that girl.” This could’ve gone one of two ways. He’d get pissed and walk away or he’d get pissed and take out on me. I didn’t think he’d do so physically, it never had before, however, one just never knew. Either way… I was tired of hiding.

  “I love you. We belong together.”

  I snorted unintentionally. “You don’t love me. You want me and are mad that I don’t want you and you want to control me. That’s not love.”

  He moved in a little closer which made my whole body clench. “I’m not leaving here without you.”

  “Yes, you are because I’m not leaving with you.”

  We became locked in a stare-down. If he took me with him, it’d be over my dead body. But I couldn’t live the way I had when we were together. He’d started small. Just saying he wanted to spend time with me, so I’d make plans with him and slowly stop hanging out with any of my friends. Then I’d miss a few classes. Then he’d do something stupid and make me cry. But I’d taken him back time and time again and didn’t know why.

  Now I did. He’d manipulated every single daddy issue I’d had since birth. The fear of being abandoned. The fear of being alone. I could thank the counselor on campus for those realizations. But he wouldn’t accept the break-up. He kept trying to weasel his way back into my life. At school, that was easy enough. He was also a student. But getting the protection order would mean I had more recourse. If he broke it, he’d be kicked out of school and arrested. I’d already looked into it. But I didn’t want to have to do it but I wanted him to leave me alone.

  “After all the creepy things you’ve done, there isn’t a chance in hell that I’m going to be with you, Chris,” I said. “If you’d just accept that and move on, we could both have happier lives. But you need to leave me alone.”

  His face tightened. He obviously didn’t like anything I’d just said. The nice Chris I’d once known disappeared and was replaced with the asshole who’d peeped through my window while I’d watched a movie.

  “I want to know who he is,” he snapped. “He’s in that band, right? Is that why you’re on this tour? That guy?”

  “He’s my friend and you’re not supposed to be here. Go away.”

  “A friend, huh? You sleep with your friends now?” He still loomed over me, controlling where I could go.

  “Why do you care if I fucked him? So what if I did?” I yelled. “We are not together.”

  That was the wrong thing to say.

  He stepped into me and grabbed my arms, squeezing hard. Hell no, he wasn’t going to get away with that. I pulled in, kicked his knee in a downward motion the way they’d taught me in the self-defense class I decided to take once I knew the breakup with Chris wasn’t going to go smoothly. He groaned and stumbled back.

  “Get the fuck out of here and stay the fuck away from me!”

  Chris lunged forward. I jumped back, but he never made it to me.

  Ransom had grabbed Chris by the shoulders. He spun him around and threw him in the direction away from me. I blinked four times before Chris lunged at Ransom. Ransom ducked, then threw a punch that landed on Chris’ face. And he just kept punching. The sound of Ransom’s fist hitting Chris’ face would be seared into my memory for a very long time.

  Then suddenly, security was everywhere. People were yelling and the few fans who had been outside were watching. One I saw had her phone out and was recording. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I hadn’t intended to be a problem for any of them.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Ransom

  The feeling of my fists hitting his flesh felt better than it should have. I’d never been one to get into fights even growing up. But for some reason, beating this guy… it actually made me feel good. I’d been itching to do it since I’d seen him with her by the bus. Even when one of his fists connected with my jaw, I barely noticed it. Adrenaline dulled anything he could have done to me. Voices erupted around us, but one came through above all the others.

  “Ransom, knock it off,” Cross called out as he grabbed my shoulders to pull me back. I pushed forward harder. “Get the fuck off him,” he said. This time, he pushed with everything he had and stumbled back away from Chris. I knew it was everything he had because I’d known him a very long time.

  “Why’d you do that?” I spat.

  “You’re going to kill the guy. What the fuck did he do?”

  I looked around Cross to see Dean and two venue guys lifting Chris off the group, then my gaze swung to Bellamy, who was standing just outside her bus with her mouth hanging open in horror as Indie ran up to her. Indie’s mouth moved quickly, but I couldn’t hear what she said. Either way, she snapped Bellamy from her shock and pulled her back onto the bus. I didn’t expect Indie to shut the door, then jog over to us without her friend, but that was exactly what she did.

  “She OK?” Cross asked when Indie got to us.

  “She will be,” she said back, then looked directly at me and pulled me into a hug. She was pretty strong for her size. “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to do that?” she asked when she pulled back.

  “Do what?” Cross asked because out of the three of us, he was the only one still in the dark.

  “Ex-boyfriend,” was all Indie said, yet still her focus remained on me. “I’m going to go talk to Bellamy, but I wanted to make sure that you’re OK.”

  “I’m fine,” I said back.

  Indie pushed up onto her toes and kissed my cheek before backing away, then turned and jogged toward the bus. “Get that hand looked at,” she called back.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Cross asked with evident confusion.

  “We need to get you looked at.” Lawson stepped in front of Cross.

  “I’m fine.”

  “We need to get you looked at,” he said again. “And you need to tell me what the fuck happened here.”

  Lawson gave me a push, but I wanted to go on my own two feet. On the way back to the venue, with Cross following us, we passed by the ambulance that always sat outside the shows just in case they were needed. I’d never once seen them being used. But this time, Chris sat on the back while the EMT checked him out. He didn’t look that bad, but from what I could see, he might’ve needed a couple of stiches near his eye.

  Him being at the ambulance explained why Lawson and Cross were insisting I go back inside to the first aid station. But insist they did and we didn’t stop until my ass hit the table in the first aid room.

  “What happened here?” the big guy with the word MEDIC scrawled across his chest asked.

  “Fight,” Cross said so I didn’t have to.

  “Well, let’s take a look.”

  This medic first poked and prodded at my face. I hadn’t seen it yet, so I couldn’t guess how bad I looked. Then he did the same to my right hand. That hurt a little more and I began to worry. I hadn’t thought about playing my guitar or anything else when I’d gone after Bellamy’s ex-boyfriend. Honestly, even if I had, I don’t think I would’ve cared. We
could get by without me playing for a few days if need be.

  “OK,” the guy began. “Looks like just a bruise to the chin. Might purple up a little, but nothing to worry about. I don’t think you need the hospital.”

  “What about the hand?” Lawson asked him, not me.

  “Scratches. Nothing that needs stitches. Might be sore for a couple of days, but I’d ice it and see how it goes.”

  “Guitar?”

  “I’d say that’s up to how he feels but you could go to the ER and have a doc look at it if you prefer.”

  “No,” was all I said.

  Lawson turned those disapproving eyes on me as soon as the medic finished cleaning my hand up. “What were you thinking? You could’ve hurt yourself. I thought with Eric gone we wouldn’t have to deal with this kind of shit anymore. That guy could press charges.”

  I didn’t answer him. Instead we just locked into a stare-down. But Lawson wasn’t the kind of guy to harp. At least not about the personal side of things. He’d ride our asses raw if we weren’t towing the band line. But personal shit, he usually let us figure that shit out.

  “I don’t think he will,” Cross said. “He skated security to get back here so technically he was trespassing, right?”

  “We’ll see. I’ll talk to him.” Finally, Lawson patted my shoulder and walked away.

  “So what the fuck happened?” Cross asked once we were far enough away that no one would hear us.

  “Honestly?” I asked back. He raised his brows at me as if to say he’d never want anything other than honesty. “I fucking lost it.”

  “Clearly, but why?”

  We pushed open the door and stepped out into the night and kept walking toward our bus. Or at least that was where I wanted to go. No idea where he’d end up. Scratch that. He’d end up on Indie’s bus.

  “I went to talk to Bellamy,” I said. “She was with him so I left. Then I realized that the entire scene just wasn’t right, so I went back.”

  “And found them… ” He let his voice trail off because he didn’t want to say what he was thinking.

  “God. No. When I went back, she was fighting him off.”

  “Fuck.” We stopped at our bus as he said, “And you lost it.”

  “Yep.”

  “Can’t blame you.”

  “I’d do the same thing for anyone.”

  Cross snorted, then said, “Sure you would.”

  “I would.” I wasn’t sure what he was insinuating, but I wouldn’t just stand there while a woman got assaulted.

  “I mean, yeah. Any of us would. But maybe this pissed you off extra.”

  I didn’t answer mostly because I wasn’t admitting anything to anyone. Instead, I gave him a closed-lipped smile and waved at him with my injured hand, which I immediately regretted, then pulled the bus door open. He knew me too well to follow. Sleep would be good tonight. After a beer I grabbed from the fridge as soon as I was inside.

  I’d just pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it down the hall toward the bedroom when someone knocked on the door. I set my bottle on the table and went to the door to push it open.

  Bellamy stood on the other side, those beautiful eyes looking up at me and the red curls gently rising and falling against her pale skin at the whim of the blowing breeze.

  “Can I talk to you?” she asked.

  I wouldn’t deny her anything, and certainly not to talk to me. I stepped aside but kept my hand on the door until she was all the way through it.

  “Want a drink?” I asked her. She shook her head and folded her arms under her breasts. I probably shouldn’t have noticed how good that tank top looked on her in that moment, yet as a guy, my eyes automatically went there.

  She stood there, shifting her weight from one side to the other as if she were nervous. Then she launched right into my arms. She hit my chest with hers—hard, but I was able to reach out to catch her and only needed to take half a step backward to keep us from falling. Bellamy wrapped her arms around me and held tightly. She was so short that being on her tiptoes made her sway to keep her balance, so I squeezed tighter, taking on some of her weight as my own.

  Having her in my arms… I’d beat the shit out of that guy again if I could have. Nothing could feel better than having her there with me.

  I was wrong.

  She kissed me softly on the side of my neck and that small thing started getting me hard. Fuck. Not really the time or place.

  But she didn’t stop.

  Bellamy dropped small, slightly wet kisses up my neck, across my jaw until finally the corner of my mouth. At that point, there was no holding back.

  When her lips touched mine softly, I was done playing it safe. I snaked a hand up to the back of her neck to hold her right where I wanted her, then I claimed her mouth. Our lips moved together as if we’d done this a million times. When I pushed my tongue into her mouth she pushed back yet let me win the way I needed to.

  I wanted to make her mine. Wanted her to know it as much as I already did and if I hadn’t known she’d come to my bus with a purpose, I would’ve picked her up and taken her to my bed. But she had. I’d seen it in her eyes the moment I opened the door, so as much as I didn’t want to, I pulled back and lowered her to the floor. But I didn’t release her completely. Not just yet.

  “Sorry,” she said breathlessly.

  “Never,” I said back.

  Bellamy stepped back out of my arms and cupped each side of her face, probably trying to hide the blush that had started to creep up.

  “But I came here to talk to you and attacked you instead,” she said.

  “Uh, you can’t attack the willing.”

  “It’s your fault, though.”

  I bit my lips together to try to keep from laughing. I didn’t think that would help right now. “How’s that?”

  Finally, her face pinched up as we both tried not to laugh. “You should wear a shirt when you answer the door.”

  “Oh, I see… If I would’ve known shirtless was your thing I wouldn’t have worn one since the day I met you.”

  Now she did laugh and it was like music to my ears. “OK, but seriously, I came here to talk to you.”

  “So let’s talk,” I said, motioning for the table. Maybe with that between us, we’d actually talk. Or I would because being too close to her messed with my concentration.

  “I told you about Chris before,” she said after settling across from me. “But I think I downplayed it a bit. I don’t like talking about it.” She paused and looked away from me, focusing on something out the window, but there wasn’t anything out there. “He’s never physically hurt me. I didn’t lie about that.” She looked me directly in the eye and said, “I don’t lie.”

  OK, ouch. I winced. I knew what she meant by that and I’d address that topic once she finished saying what she came to say.

  “I mean, I’m awesome,” she said with a much lighter tone. “And he couldn’t handle the break up. He showed up places. He did things.”

  “He stalked you, clearly.”

  “Right. Showing up here demonstrates that. But in the bus… he didn’t do anything specific other than block my exit, which I have a thing about.”

  “I can imagine why.”

  “I was just done and reacted. I got in a few good shots before you showed up, but thank you for showing up. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t.” She stopped talking again and glanced down at my hand. The hand I’d used to punch Chris. I pulled it back quickly and dropped it into my lap, hoping she hadn’t seen the abrasions. I didn’t want her to feel guilty about any of it.

  “I’m sorry I left before hearing you out in the first place instead of letting my imagination run wild.”

  Now she finally gave me her big, great smile. “Because I’m awesome and the idea of me with someone else made you crazy.”

  I chuckled, then pulled my hand back up onto the table. She was awesome and I was glad she knew it. But yeah, the idea of her with someone else did
make me a little crazy.

  “I believe you,” I said. “About Hope. Lying about something like this is very much something she’d do.”

  “Why does she want you at the appointment then?”

  “Booker thinks she’s planning on the fact that I’m on tour and wouldn’t be able to make it. So she insists I be there, but then I’m the asshole who doesn’t show up.”

  Bellamy’s tongue shot out and wet her bottom lip, then she nodded. “It’s a good plan.”

  I had to laugh because it really was a good plan, but I also laughed at the fucking irony of the fact that I’d had to go and get involved with an evil genius. Bellamy wasn’t an evil genius. Actually, when I thought about it, she’d been pretty open and honest from the beginning. Her brushing me off… that was because she didn’t want to get involved with anyone while she still had to deal with the last one. That was something I could totally understand.

  “Come on,” she said as she stood up and reached her hand out to me.

  There wasn’t much space on the bus for us to go, but wherever she went, I’d go without even having to think about it. Bellamy pulled me behind her toward the bedroom and while my dick came alive at the mere thought of being in there with her, there wasn’t a chance in hell I would act on it.

  She dropped onto my bed, kicked her shoes off, then slid her ass up the bed until she could pull back the blanket to cover herself. I usually had the air down pretty low on the bus, especially after a show, and she’d barely been wearing much clothing, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she was cold. I toed off my shoes and climbed in beside her but left my jeans on. I didn’t trust myself otherwise.

  When I lay back, Bellamy slid under my arm and rested her head on my shoulder. Having her close… the warmth of her body against mine… every muscle in my body relaxed. I hadn’t realized how tight they’d all been since I first saw Chris entering Bellamy’s bus.

  “I’m not putting any moves on you,” she said quietly. The moonlight streamed in through the windows, dimly lighting the room.