Thank you for everything.
All my love,
Abby
I don’t know how long I stay with her letter in my hand, but eventually a knock on my door reaches through the fog in my brain.
“Apa, man, it’s our turn to make dinner and I promised steaks to Lacy. You need anything from the store?” Reese asks.
“She left,” I say as I open the door.
“Lacy? Nah. She’s on her way, just hung up.”
“Abby,” I specify. “She left.”
“What? What happened? Did you guys have a fight?”
“No. She just…” I hand him the letter, still trying to process it myself.
He reads it quickly. “Oh.”
“Fuck. I can’t believe she left.”
“It was bound to happen, you know. She’s right on that. I guess she decided it was better to leave before it hurt too much.”
I gathered that too from her note, but it doesn’t help my mood. “Fuck!” I yell, then kick at my desk chair. It rolls on the floor and bangs against the wall before tipping sideways.
“Apa… if you wanted her to stay, maybe you should have-”
“Shut up,” I snarl, because I’m really not in the mood for a lecture. I push him out of my way and hurry downstairs, but he follows me.
“Where are you going?”
“After her. If she wants to leave me, she’ll have to say it to my face, damn it!”
I’m already outside, heading to my bike when Reese grabs my arm. I shrug him off, but he holds tightly, the asshole.
“You don’t take your bike when you’re pissed, dude, rule number one. Get in my truck.”
I glare at him but follow him nonetheless. He’s right.
I get in his truck, and he throws me his cellphone. “Text Lacy, ask her to cover dinner for us in exchange for three free orgasms.”
My text is a little sharp, but I think she’ll get the message.
Reese pulls onto the road. “You do know that all of this could have been avoided if you had just told her she was your old lady, right?”
“Bullshit. It’s not just that, she wants to get back to her life.”
“Then why the fuck are we chasing her?!”
“I told you. She wants to leave me, she says it to my face.”
“God, you’re dumb. The chick loves you. Nothing is stopping her from opening a business here or in Fresno and building a life with you. Wait. Actually, yes, something is stopping her. She’s in love with a stubborn dick.”
“She didn’t say she is in love with me.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Reese exclaims, glancing at me. “It’s fucking clear as day, even without the note, idiot! Why do you think she is running away? If there were no feelings on her part, do you think she’d leave? I’ve heard the two of you fuck, it’s like fireworks in your bedroom. Believe me, a chick doesn’t walk away from a good dick that easily.”
Groaning, I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You better not tell her you heard us.”
She’ll be embarrassed. She’s a little bit shy, my woman.
“Apa, the whole house heard you. And not just once.”
“Abby isn’t that loud.”
“She isn’t,” Reese agrees with me with a pointed glance.
Oh, fuck me. “Really?”
“You shout her name when you come, you know that?”
Yes. I know that. Fuck him for knowing it, too.
“Gotta be honest, everyone wonders what she does to make you lose it like that.”
I snap. “Everybody will keep on wondering then, because no one is going to join in.”
Reese grins and snaps his fingers. “So you’re getting her back?”
“Yeah,” I admit begrudgingly. “I’m getting her back.”
I don’t want her to leave. We’re good together. It’s easy being with her. I even like fighting and bickering with her because she is just too damn funny with her brain blurting out the most random things at the most random times. She is soft, and tender too, and I love the way it appeases me somehow. The ugliest parts of my life, that I carry with me all the time since the Marines, are fading into the background. And she’s changed too. She is more confident, I can see it in the way she talks and holds herself. We’re good for each other. We can find a way to make it work, Reese is right.
I’m not letting my woman go without a fight, that’s for damn sure.
We’re about to reach the CA-180 when I notice a familiar car pulled over on a small dusty road. “Stop,” I say sharply. Of course her piece of shit of a car broke down. I shouldn’t have listened to her and her stupid feminist rant about the century we live in and modern women. I’ll buy her a new one, and she’ll learn to deal with it.
“You should have-”
“I know,” I bark. I don’t need Reese to add anything else. I haven’t taken care of my woman the way I should have. And the fact that she didn’t call me to help her pisses me off even more. I know that since she was leaving me, she wasn’t going to call me to give her a tow. Still.
“I wonder how she explained this one to Mick,” Reese snorts as he pulls over behind her. But I’m not listening anymore, and I’m already opening the door even if the truck is still moving. The road where she pulled over is almost never used. It’s an old junction that is as impractical as can be. Bushes and weeds are overgrown. It makes a nice spot for a break during a long drive, or if your car is giving you problems.
I can’t see Abby, and I hope she went to cover in the trees. Edmond is on the safe side, but you never know whose path you might cross. I should have taught her how to shoot and given her a gun.
I make a mental note to do just that as soon as I have dragged her ass back to the clubhouse and fucked some sense into her.
“Abby?” I yell out, hoping to attract her attention.
“Apa.” Reese’s voice is low but sharp, and it sends a chill down my spine.
I’ve had a bad feeling ever since we spotted the car, if I’m honest, but the idea of getting Abby back drowned out the unease.
I walk back to him, fast, and he points to the ground. I almost don’t see it at first, half-hidden in the shadow caused by the car, behind the tire.
A cellphone.
“Is it hers?” Reese asks.
I swear I feel the blood rush from my face. Because, yes. Yes, it’s hers. I’d recognize it everywhere with the number of times it’s been in my face. The purple case is enough of a giveaway, too.
“I’m calling for backup,” Reese mutters before grabbing my shoulder. “It might not mean anything. She maybe didn’t even realize it had fallen from her purse and, as far as we know, she’s in Mick’s truck telling him everything he didn’t find out about her the first time he rescued her.”
I shake my head as I carefully pick the phone. Something happened. I know it. Mick wouldn’t have left her car here. If for some reason he didn’t have a choice, a brother would have called me to get it.
And my little paparazzi wouldn’t forget her phone or lose it and not realize it.
The brothers arrive quickly. I’m pacing like a tiger in cage, the inability to do anything driving me crazy. Abby is out there, somewhere, and something bad happened and I don’t have a fucking clue where to look for her.
“I called Drew,” Lee says right away as he dismounts his bike.
Drew is one of the deputies, a good friend of Lee’s. He might be on the police force but he’s also a decent guy. He cares about Edmond more than about a little bit of weed crossing his territory every now and then, and the club’s presence has kept most of the criminality away. There is an understanding with the authorities. As long as things don’t get too crazy, they turn a blind eye on whatever the fuck we do.
I’ve never been more thankful for that than I am in the moment. I don’t care who or how, but I’ll take every bit of help I can get. There is no sign of Abby, and it’s like she literally vanished.
Chapter 22
Abby
>
I held strong until I drove past the entrance gate.
Then I put my Adele playlist on and started bawling. I almost turned around twice. The first time because I really regretted not stealing something from him. A T-shirt, to sleep in. One of his hoodies, to keep me warm. His pillowcase. My brain took over and forced me to keep driving when I seriously considered a pair of his underwear, and that I wouldn’t even mind if they were dirty.
The second time was when I passed The Hoose. It’s my pride that held me back when I contemplated going back to leave him a picture of us. If he had wanted one, he would have taken one. It just really hurts to know that nothing of me will remain with him, in a very twisted and masochistic way.
I’m about to get onto the CA-180, but I know I’m in no state to drive as long as tears are blurring my vision. I’m not stupid. I’m far enough from the clubhouse, and it would be the craziest coincidence of all coincidences if one of the guys saw my car and recognized it. It’s just a black Ford, like hundreds of other cars.
I allow myself a good, blubbering cry as I blindly search for a pack of tissues in my purse. Because I like to torture myself, I also pull up the very first picture I took of him, in the bar.
He was so handsome, even if I can now recognize the hint of surprise in his eyes. The blinding flash makes his face paler than it normally is but he’s still incredibly good-looking.
Asshole.
I’m blowing my nose when I notice a car parking behind me and I groan. Of course. A girl can’t even cry in peace without some bystander worrying.
I roll down the window and plaster a smile on my face when a young man, probably in his early twenties, approaches me carefully.
“Ma’am? Is everything OK?” he asks before leaning in to look at me.
I smile back reassuringly. “Yes. Sorry, bad allergy reaction, I was just waiting for it to pass.”
“Oh. Good. You should be careful, though. Edmond might be a safe town, but you never know who you might stumble onto.”
I nod, knowing that he is right, but my words catch in my throat when I see him pull something from the back of his jeans.
A gun.
It’s a freaking gun and I never saw one this close. I’m so taken aback I don’t even realize the implications right away, just stupidly wonder if by any chance he tried to grab his cell phone and somehow took the wrong object.
It gives him plenty of time to open my door and drag me outside. My phone falls from my lap as I open my mouth, ready to let out the scream to end all screams because even though there is no one around to hear me, I’m pretty sure it’s the first thing you have to do in this kind of situation.
I never get the chance.
There is a sudden, blinding pain in my skull and everything turns dark.
When I wake up, it’s dark and damp around me. I can smell something like mold, like I’m in an old basement or a cave. There is only a small window above me, so dirty it barely lets any light through. The walls are naked cement, and I gather we’re either in an old warehouse or an abandoned building. I’m lying on the floor, which seems awfully dirty by the way, and my head is pounding. I lift my hand to touch the sore spot and realize I’m handcuffed with zip ties. My feet suffer the same fate and I’m gagged.
At least I’m still alive. I guess there is that.
I roll over on my back, my shoulder killing me after being on my side for God knows how long. It’s also quite cold in here, and I need to pee. I know I should be scared but somehow, that emotion is pushed back by shock and bewilderment. I don’t think I fully realize the implications of what is happening to me. It’s too crazy, my brain can’t rationalize it, and I don’t blame it.
I don’t know how long I wait but eventually the door opens, and the man who knocked me out cold walks in the room. He switches on a light and I wince, my eyes protesting against the sudden brightness.
“Don’t scream,” he warns me as he crouches down next to me. I nod, because what else am I supposed to do?
He pulls down the gag, roughly, and I grimace in pain as my jaw is finally free to move normally. I don’t make a peep, though.
“Good girl.”
I consider this as authorization to talk. I take it too. “Why?”
“I have a little score to settle with the club.”
“I’m not part of the club.”
“Close enough. They did something to my brother, and I want to know where he is. Two birds, one stone. You really made it easy for me by pulling over. When I saw you about to head south, I knew you were probably going back to Huntington. I was ready to follow you all the way there.”
It doesn’t make sense, but I’m not about to argue with someone crazy enough to kidnap a baker. It does remind me of what Apa told me when I found out he was Todd’s half-brother and it brings tears to my eyes.
I wouldn’t be in this mess if I hadn’t left.
Wait, no. The bad guy said he took me because of the club.
“You need to pee?” he asks.
“Yes.” I need to think. I need to find a way to escape. I have no idea how, and I wish I had watched MacGyver with my dad instead of mocking his TV choices. Knowing how to escape a prison cell with a pair of shoelaces and a hair tie would be super handy right now.
He cuts the tie between my ankles but leaves my hands bound and leads me to a door I hadn’t even spotted first. Inside, there is just a sink and a toilet with a roll of paper towels.
Not even a toilet brush to smash his head with, I’m so fucking screwed.
I relieve myself and rinse my hands the best I can because even though it should be the least of my worries given my current situation, ew. My mouth is dry, but I don’t dare to drink from the tap.
Bad guy - I have to name him and the shoe fits - grabs my elbow as soon as I open the door and drags me back to the corner where I woke up. There is a hook with a carabiner and I automatically dig my heels into the floor when I see it. He’s much stronger than I am though and throws me on the floor without a second thought. My hip hits the cement hard and I can’t hold back the yelp of pain that escapes me when my head bangs against the wall. I’m a little stunned with the hit and a moment later, my hands are above my head, secured in the carabiner. I think he is kinda stupid though because it’s a regular carabiner and all I’ll have to do is unscrew it to free myself, but it turns out he only wants to incapacitate me so he can tie my feet back together.
Douchebag.
My head is now absolutely killing me. Two strong hits in a matter of hours might be more than I can take.
Bad guy leaves again but thankfully switches off the light, and I welcome the darkness. I’m trying to think of a way out, but everything hurts, and it feels so pointless. The only bright spot right now is that I doubt he plans to kill me or he wouldn’t have cared about my bladder.
It’s small, but it’s all I’ve got.
Chapter 23
Apa
“We’re checking every camera feed we can. Radar too, just in case,” Drew says as I’m pacing in the parking lot of The Hoose. I don’t know where to go. I can’t go back to the clubhouse, knowing she isn’t there. I have no idea where to look for her either. All I know is that each minute ticking by means more danger for her. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this kind of fear before and it fucking kills me to know that out of all the people around me, from the club, from the Marines, from law enforcement… she’s the most innocent one. By far. Fuck, she probably never even held a gun before. Yet, she is the one in danger right now.
“I reached out to other clubs, but they don’t know anything either,” Sly, our enforcer, says as he leans back against his bike. “They’re going to ask around, but it doesn’t seem to come from a rival club.”
That freaks me out. Because a rival club? I can handle it. We can deal with it. It’s extremely rare that women end up killed in our world. Lee’s mom was an exception, due to a very ugly situation. A situation we walked away from.
But the fact t
hat we have no idea what happened? That she might have had a bad encounter like too many innocent women who attract the eye of the wrong guy? I’m scared shitless of what’s happening to her. Or has already happened.
Drew’s phone rings and he walks away. Reese is sitting on the bed of his truck, keeping his eyes on me as I pace.
“We’re going to find something,” he tells me, and it makes me snort bitterly.
“When? You know that the longer it takes…” I can’t even finish my sentence. “I should have claimed her, Reese. I should have made her my old lady, so her ass would have stayed put at the clubhouse. I would have found her a place to rent so she can have her shop and paint it pink or purple or whatever the fuck she wants. I’d have fucking done it myself, too.”
“We have a tip,” Drew says as he runs back to us. I almost stop breathing.
“Someone called dispatch, saying they saw a man carry a woman into one of the old abandoned buildings by the lake.”
The lake is large, and gets easily crowded in the summer, but there are also a few more secluded spots along the river, only accessible through an old, dusty road. When the city started to invest, they cleaned up everything, and most people forgot about those. There are still a few houses and even an old warehouse south of Edmond. There was a fire some ten years ago and a lot was destroyed. No one bothered to put everything back in order, choosing instead to let nature do its job.
I jump into Reese’s truck, thankful we didn’t take our bikes because the road leading to the spot I’m thinking about has been left unkempt for years. I notice a few brothers jumping in the back and then we take off, following Drew’s blaring car. The night has fallen now, and we still don’t know how long Abby has been missing. From what I understood, Spike fell asleep after lunch, and I came back home around four. She obviously left between those times and that’s hours ago.
I’m hoping as hell we manage to get there quietly and don’t give a warning to whoever has her. Because it has to be Abby. And she has to be alive. If the fucker touched her, he’s dead. I don’t care who he is. He’s going down. I lean down and grab one of Reese’s guns from underneath the seat. It’s a .45, not my favorite kind but it will do. I check the ammo, make sure the safety is on. It’s been years since I last had to use a gun. I still practice every week or so because it’s a part of me. When you own firearms, it would be stupid to get rusty. But holding one in your hand knowing that when you point it, you’ll be ready to take someone else’s life? It’s something completely different.
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