Escape (Blackstone Series Book 2)

by J. L. Drake

  Stop. Antonio wouldn’t hurt—he would kill.

  Would anyone even notice I was gone?

  Pulling into my spot, I met Will. He smirked at me as he pulled his cell phone from his ear.

  “He’s waiting for you.”

  ***

  Wait.

  What?

  Ouch.

  I slowly sat up. My head pounded and my teeth felt wobbly. Carefully moving to the mirror, I sucked in a sharp breath. My cheek was a deep shade of blue and was three times as big as it should be. Closing my eyes, I let the hurt in and pushed the emotion out. He had never done this before, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

  The door slowly opened, as did my eyes.

  Antonio stood, arms at his sides, his feet shoulder width apart, his neck contracting. His eyes held mine as they made his point.

  Don’t disobey him again. He turned away, stepped outside, and shut the door.

  Sliding to the floor, I leaned against the bed and broke down.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Keith

  “Well, fuck me sideways, he is alive!” Mark’s voice burst through my truck speakers. There were pros and cons to my father updating my truck. “Great to hear your voice, brother. Look, before Cole takes the phone from me, I have to ask. Can you get me those ketchup chips you keep munching on but never share? Your mom was out, and Three wouldn’t pass the message along. What is up with that girl? I asked nicely, but—”

  “You called my mom?” Why am I surprised? Mark knows no boundaries.

  “Yes. So where was I? Oh, right, so—”

  “Wait, wait, wait!” What? “How do you know my mom?”

  “Well, she called your cell the night before you left. You were off with Cole, so I answered. I decided it was fine since you made me watch Abby and the Doc make out.” I smiled at his dig. “She wanted to know if there was anything you needed for when you got home, and I suggested some new underwear—you’re welcome, by the way. Anywho, we got talking, and we hit it off.” I heard a strange noise. “Yes, Savi, just a second. Look, Keith, about those chips.”

  I rubbed my head at a stoplight, wondering why I didn’t see this coming. Mark always won over people. Of course my mother would just eat him up.

  “Yeah, fine, I’ll bring you some when I see you next.”

  “Two bags, please. Big ones.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Yeah.”

  “Yes, fine!” Mark huffed. “Here, Savannah wants to speak with you. Cole is waiting patiently…not!”

  I shook my head as I was handed off to her. I felt like I was calling home after a few weeks of not talking to my family. Everyone wanted their turn.

  “Hey, Keith, how are you? Chip anyone yet?”

  I smiled at her warmth. I missed her. “No, not yet, though I have someone in mind. I’m okay. You?”

  “Oh, you know, a little sleep deprived, but all good. So, you miss the mountain yet?”

  My foot pushed down on the pedal, and I crept through the intersection toward the clubhouse. It had been four days since I had last seen Lexi, and I was hoping she had cooled off a bit.

  “Yes, I do miss it. How’s my little sidekick doing? Causing trouble?”

  “Always. Umm…” She cleared her throat. “I want to ask you something, but you have to promise not to kill Abigail.”

  “Depends.”

  She muttered something about the fact that she shouldn’t, but I knew she was going to ask it anyway.

  “Besides Three’s wedding, are you home because of a woman?”

  “Oh! Step back!” Mark shouted from the background. “Keith has a lady friend? Road trip! Shotgun!”

  “Done?” Savannah snickered before she cleared her throat again. “Sorry. Look, Keith, if there’s someone back there, please promise you won’t come home until you’re ready.”

  I looked at the empty seat next to me, where a few nights ago I had the love of my life wrapped around me. Yes, the sex was amazing, but it wasn’t about that with Lexi. She made my life full; she completed me. Jumping out of choppers, scaling mountains, tracking down cartels had nothing on the rush I got simply by being near her.

  “I wasn’t planning on it,” was all I offered, but then I remembered who I was talking to. “I’d really like you to meet her, Savi. She’s pretty amazing.”

  “Anyone you fight for, Keith, has got to be pretty amazing. I…well, I would be honored to meet her, when you’re ready, of course. If you need to talk, you know how to get hold of me.”

  “Miss you, Savi.”

  “Me too. Now I’m handing you off to Cole, okay?”

  “Sure.” I eased into a gas station and sat back so I could give Cole my full attention.

  “Keith, how are you doing?” Cole’s voice was light, but I could tell it was laced with business.

  “Hanging in there.”

  “Good to hear. Okay, I think I found the perfect location for what we’ve been discussing. I’d really like to have your input on this. At the risk of over-stepping your family vacation, can you get away tomorrow for an overnight trip?”

  “Yeah, sure, I can do that.” I pulled my laptop out of my bag and turned it on.

  “I’m flying into Charlotte, North Carolina tomorrow morning. I’ll send you a ticket, and we can meet up there.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

  Reversing the truck into the open road, I headed to the clubhouse.

  I felt the vibe was off as soon as I arrived. Besides checking on Lexi, I wanted to talk with Elliot. I had a line on a possible job for him if he wanted it. I knew at some point he would need it. I was still a little pissed at Lexi for rushing back here. I knew she felt something, although she continued to deny it. But this thing had to be seen through before I would ever have a chance of fixing things with her.

  Knocking on Elliot’s door, it slowly opened under the pressure of my fist.

  “Elliot?”

  He was sitting on his bed looking at the wall, his back to me. Something was definitely off.

  “Hey, man, what are you doing?” He didn’t answer, so I did quick check over my shoulder and slipped into his room.

  Rounding the bed, my stomach nearly came into my throat. One of his eyes was bleeding, and it looked as though someone had tried to remove it with a butter knife. His skin was pale grey.

  “Jesus, fuck, man.” I dropped down in front of him, but he remained frozen. “Hey, Elliot, can you hear me?”

  Blood dripped down his cheek and trickled off his chin to his chest. His good eye slowly moved over to look at me.

  “She…she didn’t answer her phone,” he whimpered in a voice that sent a chill down my spine. “She didn’t answer her phone,” he repeated, and I could see he was in shock. He needed a hospital. Now. I pulled my phone out and called Clark. Christ, she had been back for four days. Why would they do this to him now?

  “Hey, man, everything—”

  “Meet me out back in the alleyway!”

  “Copy that.” Clark knew better than to ask questions.

  Reaching for Elliot’s arm, I practically carried him outside, stopping a few times when I heard voices. Thankfully, they were having a meeting in the bar. Once outside, Elliot started to whimper again at the sunlight.

  “Why did they do this to you, Elliot? What the hell happened?”

  His head flopped around. “They dragged out my punishment. This was the…the…” He found the word. “Finale.”

  I shook off the anger and pushed on.

  “Come on, man, keep moving. We’re almost there.”

  Clark’s squad car turned down the alley and stopped in front of us.

  “What the hell happened?” Clark grabbed Elliot’s side and took his weight off me.

  “Punishment. He needs a doctor now. You’ll have to take him. I need to see if Lexi is okay.”

  “I got him. Go.”

  I gave a quick nod before I raced back inside, where I took a couple of breaths to calm mys
elf. I needed to act normal, not like I just helped Elliot escape from this shit hole.

  It took me a moment to spot her in the corner. Her hair was shading her face. The lighting was low, so I couldn’t see very well. I was so relieved to see her that my body relaxed slightly. My hand felt sticky. I didn’t need to look down to know it was blood. With a drag down my jeans, I wiped my fingers clean of Elliot and took a seat close to the bar. I waited and watched for my opportunity to get her alone.

  Antonio was talking to his men, and after he finished his rundown of the hit they were going to do later in the afternoon, he told them all to get back to work.

  He snapped his fingers at Lexi, and she stood and headed for the bar.

  I decided to stay put until Antonio spotted me. He held up a finger before he leaned down and did a line of blow. With a hop in his step, he clapped his hands together. I couldn’t help that my eyes followed Lexi.

  “We’re going to hit the DR’s clubhouse. What do you think of that, mister soldier man?”

  Now, that caught my attention.

  “As in, Trigger’s crew?”

  “Trigger is on the west coast. This is his east coast crew.”

  “Wasn’t killing one of his members enough? Unless you’re asking to be nailed to a cross and left to drain out, then I wouldn’t agree it was a good idea.”

  Antonio’s grin told me he was excited, and fear was not present at this time. He must have done a lot of coke to be sharing this with me at all.

  Shit.

  “I think you’re nuts.” I was honest because all I could see was this backfiring and Lexi being caught in the crossfire. “Trigger will retaliate, and you can kiss all this goodbye.”

  Antonio rubbed his goatee while he thought.

  “Retaliation will be suicide.” His mouth turned upward, and I could see his obsession with leaving his mark as the most feared crew. It seemed to be all he cared about. “I’ll take my chances.”

  I needed to get Lexi out of there.

  I checked the time on my phone and wondered how Elliot was doing.

  A sound from out back drew Antonio’s attention, and he left to deal with it. I waited for a moment, then headed out back to look for Lexi. I caught a glimpse of her walking like a zombie to the trash cans. I knew she must be really upset about what happened to Elliot, and I wanted to let her know Clark had taken him to the hospital. I hurried outside and found her trying to lift a bag into the trash, and she was struggling with it big time.

  Racing up behind her, I grabbed the side of the bag and tossed it in the bin. She didn’t say a word and quickly turned away from me and headed back toward the clubhouse.

  “Hey!” I grabbed her arm, but she kept her head down, her hair in her face. “What, now you won’t look at me?”

  She cleared her throat and lifted her head and held my gaze, and then I saw her bruised and swollen cheek.

  My hand flew to her face and cupped it gently. She couldn’t hide her fear, but she quickly masked it with anger. I spoke first. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Don’t!” she spat out, stepping back. “Jesus Christ, Keith! What part of ‘go away’ did you not get?”

  “He hit you! He physically hit you across the face, Lexi. And you’re okay with this?”

  “No!” Her voice caught, but she pressed on. “I’m not someone’s punching bag. Shit, Keith sometimes things are not what they seem.”

  I wanted to yell at her for being so damn naïve, that he was brainwashing her into staying, anything, but for whatever reason, I knew she was trying to tell me something.

  “I told you to toss shit at me.” I came up to her but kept my hands at my sides. “Knock off your tough as shit attitude, and let me the hell in!”

  “That’s all I have! All of this is on me! I could handle all this before. I could do it until you came along, and now I’m being pulled in too many directions. I—” Her head snapped back, and I could see she said something she wasn’t supposed to.

  “What things are you handling?”

  “I…” She rubbed her head. “I need to go check on Elliot. I didn’t see him this morning, and I’m afraid they might hurt him.”

  She started to turn but caught the expression on my face.

  “What?” Her poor face had fear written all over it. “What did they do to him?”

  “They tried to take his eye out.” I held up my hands to stop her panic. “He’s okay. I got him to Clark, and he took him to the hospital. He was talking, Lex. He was fine.”

  “Oh my God.” Her hand covered her mouth, but sobs bubbled through her fingers.

  Not really caring at this point, but with a quick look around, I saw we were hidden from the door. I stepped up and wrapped her in my arms. Surprisingly, she let me, although she didn’t hug me back, but with Lexi, it was all small steps. I learned a lot from my life at Shadows, when to push and when not to—well, most of the time, anyway.

  “Hey.” I gently moved her shoulders so she would look at me. “Elliot will be safe at the hospital. Clark will have a few men watching his every move. You want to come on a trip with me?”

  She blinked a few times, and I wasn’t sure what was going through her head.

  “Is this not enough to prove to you I can’t leave again?” She shook her head. I thought she might turn and leave. “Shit, they’ll kill Elliot and behead me out front like they wanted to do to that Devil’s Reach member.”

  I lowered my voice. “I’m going to let Clark know their plan.”

  Her face fell and her eyes widened. “If they ever found out—”

  “They won’t. They’ll hit the clubhouse tonight, and Antonio and the rest will be arrested, and you’ll have a few days free.” I studied her face harder. “Would you come with me?”

  I could see she wanted to be feisty back, but stopped herself. “I don’t have much money, Keith. Antonio makes sure I only have enough gas to get around town. I’ve been skimming off his books, but I need that for later.”

  “Lexi, stop. I’m asking you to come with me. I don’t care about your damn money.”

  She closed her eyes briefly, and I could see she was interested. She also must realize that once they found out Elliot was missing, she would be the first suspect, and it wouldn’t go well for her.

  “Will you take me to see Elliot?”

  “Of course, as soon as I can.”

  She shook her hands as if to release her panic. “Yeah, okay, I could the change in scenery.” She made an attempt at a smile. That was my brave girl.

  After making some calls to Clark and the local Boston Police Department, everything was set in place. They would wait for the strike to happen, then move in and take the guys. I think they were just as excited as I was about this attack. Clark was itching to move on the place.

  I told Lexi to keep out of Antonio’s way and to pack a bag with enough for two days. We agreed I would be back as soon as I could, and we’d leave together. I only hoped Antonio’s plans for the afternoon would keep him too busy to notice Elliot was missing. After all, ‘Spit’ was injured, and they would probably expect him to lie low for a while.

  I let my bag fall at my feet on the porch where Nan was rocking in her favorite chair. She patted the seat next to her and smiled.

  Easing in, I gently squeezed her hand to let her know how much I loved her. I was so thankful for the relationship we had. Not one bad memory stuck out when it came to my childhood. Other than sneaking her booze from Dad’s liquor cabinet. I grinned at the thought. I thought I was pretty sneaky.

  “How is our Lexi holding up?”

  I rubbed my eyes and took a moment before I answered. “I know there’s more to her being there than I can say. She doesn’t share much, and today she is sporting quite a bruise on her cheek.”

  “Oh, really? That’s terrible. How did that happen? Antonio?”

  “Yes. But it was because she was with me. We spent the night together.”

  She kept her gaze out at the street, but
I saw her mouth twitch. “You always were so in love with that woman.”

  “Yeah.” I leaned back and let out a long sigh. “I have dated two women since Lexi, Nan. I tried to get close to them, but there was always something missing. It wasn’t them. It was me. Not one of them could ever measure up to her.”

  She smiled over at me with such twinkle in her eye it made me curious to hear what she had to say.

  “You have the Keith curse, sweetheart. We were not made for multiple lovers. Our hearts are made for the one. Once we attach and fall in love, that’s it. We just hope to heaven we can hang on for the ride. It can be a blessing, but it can also be a curse.” Her eyes glazed over, and I knew she was thinking of Poppy. Cancer took him from us when I was ten years old. I knew part of Nan left with him. Now I was just thankful she was still here to remind us of him.

  Taking her hand in mine, I kissed the back of it and grabbed my bag.

  “Keith,” she called out after me. I turned to find her standing at the rail. “Lexi is cursed with the same thing. Help her find her way back home.”

  I shifted my bag more solidly over my shoulder. “That’s the plan, Nan,” I said and flashed my mischievous smile.

  ***

  Lexi

  I watched as Antonio loaded his handgun and shotgun, and tucked a hunting knife through his belt. God, he could be an ugly-ass man. I never thought he was attractive, but once I figured out his dirty little secret, I decided it was probably not a bad plan to roll with it. He “claimed” me after that, and we never spoke about his problems in the bedroom. His twisted view of sex since he couldn’t get it up was our secret. When he was on coke, he scared me. He was capable of enormous strength. The first friend I made when I came into this gang was a girl named Kara, and when Will was finished with her and handed her off to Hank, she protested. I never saw her again. Elliot said she was beaten and left on a rival’s doorstep, but I’m not sure if that was true. At least, I hoped it wasn’t. Antonio occasionally liked to grab someone else’s girl and make a show of taking his turn with her. I often wondered what he did to them in the bedroom. He probably hit them and blamed them for his inadequacies. I really didn’t much care, as it gave me a break.