by TL Mayhew
“I’m getting on the same flight as Lawrence. I’ll see you in a couple of hours. Just take a deep breath, Kye, and keep doing what you’re doing. We’ll find her.”
I do as he asks, but taking in air is painful and I lean against the counter. I knew I’d felt something for her but this…this kind of pain can mean only one thing. And now that I know, I need to find and tell her.
Grabbing the second key card off the TV stand I head through the door, intent on searching the public areas inside the hotel. Just when I get on the elevator, my phone rings. My heart is heavy in my chest and thinking it’s her, I can’t get it out my pocket quick enough. “Berkleigh…where are you?”
There’s a chuckle on the other end. “You got the wrong Shaw, man. I’m just returning your call. Wait, why are you asking where my sister is?” Elliot asks, his tone taking a serious turn.
Fuck.
I give him the CliffsNotes version of the professor and I’m glad to hear she’d at least told someone else. It’s when I tell him she ran out the door moments after they’d left that I hear his breath catch.
“I never saw her after we left. I don’t think any of us did. I’ll gather the troops and we’ll meet you in the lobby,” he tells me, abruptly disconnecting the line. I nod into the phone, even though he’s no longer there.
She’s nearby, I can feel it.
Magnet to steel.
I head toward the restaurant first. Walking straight past the hostess, ignoring her protests as I check every table.
Nothing.
Next, I check the gift shop and pool area. No sign of her… anywhere. Not sure what else to do, I engage the help of the hotel security, having them check areas I don’t have access to. When at first they disagree, a threat of publicity about a missing woman from their hotel does the trick.
The next couple of hours tick by slowly. I’ve paced this lobby at least a thousand times waiting for her brothers and father. Hopeful at any time she’ll turn up unharmed and this will all be a misunderstanding.
It’s Elliot I see first, and when the rest of her family pushes through the doors of the hotel it’s like the world has been lifted off my shoulders, unfortunately it doesn’t offer me any relief. She’s not with them.
Elliot and Nolan approach me first. “Any word?”
I shake my head. “I was hoping you’d heard something.”
They both look at the other with a solemn expression before Nolan turns his attention on me. A look of both hurt and sympathy flashes through his glossy eyes, and I wonder if my feelings for her are that obvious.
“Standing around here isn’t doing us any good,” Dante says. “We should be out somewhere looking for her.”
He’s right but where? “Hotel security did finally give in on searching the laundry, janitorial, and any other areas employees are allowed, but they wouldn’t budge on showing me any video footage. Nothing so far.”
“I’ll go check again. Maybe if one of her brothers talks with them…” Daine says, rushing off toward the front desk.
“Have you had someone search the track, or where the cars are stored? When she was a kid, she’d always find solace in the garage after we’d had a disagreement on something,” Nolan offers.
It heats my blood at his suggestion we had a fight. “There was no disagreement, no arguing… I told you that on the phone. As soon as you all walked through the door, she left shortly after. It’s almost as though she’d forgotten something.”
Elliot lets out a breath. “She’d said she wanted to talk with me.”
“About what?” I ask, hopeful he holds a clue to where she could’ve gone.
“I’m not sure, she didn’t say. Only that she wanted to talk,” he tells us, his eyes darting to his father, who offers a knowing nod. There’s something going on between the two of them.
“What is it you’re not telling me?”
Nolan waves his hands and shakes his head. “It’s nothing to do with her nor will it help us find her.” He pauses briefly, looking between us. “Who has the biggest vehicle here? I say, me, Elliot, Dante, and Kye visit the building where the cars are stored. Daine, Dex, and Dru can stay here in case she shows up.”
I glance at my watch. “Lawrence should be showing up any minute. The Tahoe he rented will hold all of us.”
Nolan raises a questioning brow and I ashamedly lower my eyes. “He’s the security detail I’d hired for her.”
Just as her dad opens his mouth to speak, my phone dings. I can feel everyone’s hopeful eyes on me as I pull it from my pocket and glance at the screen. “It’s Lawrence, he’s here.”
There’s a mumble of obscenities, including my own, before I lead those who are headed to the track out the front doors and into the awaiting black SUV.
The hotel gets smaller and smaller as I watch out the passenger side window.
I’m hopeful today isn’t the last day I’ll ever see her, but the thought settles in my mind and I secretly swipe away a rogue tear. Or that’s what I think until Nolan places his hand on my shoulder. I know then it isn’t so secret after all.
“Where are you, Berkleigh?” I mutter.
Chapter 32
I awake to a splitting ache on the back of my head. I wince. I’m not quite sure what happened or have any idea where I am.
The last thing I remember… my eyes go wide as a gasp is muffled by the tape covering my mouth. She was there.
As soon as step outside the room and turn the corner headed for the elevator, Alicia is leaning against the wall.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest and glancing around for Donnelly.
She pushes off the wall and takes a few steps toward me. “If you must know, I’m here to take back what’s mine.”
“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?” I ask, taking a step toward her, not planning on backing down from this tiny girl who thinks she can take anything from me.
She stops walking and laughs. A deep, hearty laugh straight from her gut and very creepy. It throws me off guard for a beat but not near as much as what she says next.
“Kye, you idiot.”
Anger heats my cheeks and I rush toward her. There’s no fucking way she’s taking the man I’ve fallen in love with. Just as I reach out my arm, and my fingertips skim across the material of her clothes, something connects with the back of my head.
I land flat on my front, and everything goes dark.
“Hurry up. I want to get the fuck out of here and back to the hotel. I’m sure he’s devastated and will need a shoulder to cry on,” I hear a woman say, and I open my eyes just enough to see her around the stack of tires I’m sitting next to.
It’s her.
“Do you want to do this?” a man says. “Because I’d rather be over there showing that one what I didn’t get a chance to the last time I had her in my grip. Maybe a little extra, considering I could barely walk for hours after she punched me,” the man growls, and I cower when I recognize his voice.
Alicia lets out a huff and her voice goes soft. “You know, when you first asked about her at Kingston’s I could see the evil in your eyes. I knew, right then, you’d be the perfect person to help me get what I wanted.” She moves out of my view. “Your idea of putting those wheel bearings on her brother’s car… genius. Once she finds out it was his company’s defective part that made her brother crash, then she’ll surely not have anything further to do with Kye.”
Shock stills my body. The pain in my head shoots straight to my heart from what she’s said. Why my brother? I will easily give up the man I love if it means saving Dante’s life.
“Not that she would, once she gets a taste of this…” Donnelly says, and although I can’t see him, I know exactly what he’s referring to.
Fumbling with the rope around my hands, tears blur my eyes as I try and free myself. I’ve got to get out of here.
I get a finger in one of the knots and work it loose, eventually freeing one of my hands and ripping the tape from
my mouth. The conversation on the other side of the tires has gone quiet and I know if I don’t hurry, I’ll never get out of here.
Glancing around, I realize there’s stacks of tires on either side and a wall behind my back. The only way out is the direction where their voices were coming from. I rise to my feet, thankful they haven’t tied them together, and then peek around the other pile the black rubber.
The professor is squatted down next to my brother’s jacked up car and his hands are beneath the wheel well. Alicia stands off to his right watching.
I push the rest of the rope off my other hand and then glance down at my bare feet, wondering if I’ll have enough traction to sprint past them. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with this garage and have no idea where the door is. But if I don’t try the consequences could be deadly.
Adrenaline pumps through me, skyrocketing my heartbeat. I take in a deep breath and take off running.
“Fuck!” I hear him shout and the familiar sound of tools being dropped on the floor rings in my ears.
The space is larger than I’d expected, and it houses a slew of race cars. I weave between them and the sporadically arranged tool chests, looking for an exit. I spot one off to my left and sprint toward it.
Footsteps close in behind me.
I run faster.
Just as I’m within a few feet of the door, I’m tackled to the ground. It knocks the small bit of air out of me and I struggle to take in breaths.
In my weakened state, fighting back is impossible and the person who put me here takes advantage, flipping me over on my back and straddling me.
I’m met with the soulless stare of the professor before his palm connects with the side of my face. The slap echoes through the metal building, whipping my head to the side and stinging my cheek like a thousand tiny needles.
With my hands still free I try to push him away, squirming beneath him, but he gathers my wrists in his hand and shoves them above my head, leaning in. “That was for punching me in the balls. Now, where were we?” he asks, tucking his hand behind my thigh and gripping so tight I know it’ll leave fingertip-sized bruises.
I squeeze my eyes shut, thinking this is it. He’ll surely go through with it this time.
“Do you have to do that here?” Alicia asks, and my eyes spring open.
Maybe I can convince her, but when I meet her stare there’s a huge grin on her face and she waves the tips of her fingers at me. “Why are you doing this?”
She shrugs checking her nails, “Because Kye is mine, he just doesn’t realize it yet. He will though, once he sees you’re damaged goods.” Turning her stare on the professor, her next words have my stomach turning inside out. “Make it quick. I suppose they’re already looking for her, and I’m sure someone will come here.”
He leans in. “You hear that, baby, the only question is, where to fuck you first? Your mouth or pussy.” Sitting up, he licks his lips and unbuckles the end of his belt. “Decisions…decisions.”
When his pants are open and with a hand on his cock, readying to free it, the door flies open and both of us look that way. Standing in the doorframe, with the security lights from outside shining like a halo at his back is Kye Kingston, my knight in shining armor.
In William’s distracted state, I pull my hand free and punch him right in his hard dick. He doubles over and I shove him off me, scrambling to my feet and into the arms of the man I love.
Tears flow like waterfalls from my eyes as I cling to Kye. His embrace is like home. A place I feel secure and is where I know I’ll be safe. He silently leads me outside and over to where my dad and Dante stand.
Against my protests my dad pulls me from Kye’s grip and into his arms, holding me as Kye heads toward the garage, with Lawrence at his heels.
“No! Kye, please, don’t leave me,” I plead, pushing against my dad’s chest, but he holds me tighter against him. With one last attempt at saving the man I love from the crazy one inside, I yell after him, “I love you!”
Kye’s steps falter, but he doesn’t turn around and instead he disappears inside.
“Dante, go help them out,” Dad says to my brother, and he glances between us, squeezing my shoulder before also heading inside. “Sweetheart, they’ll be okay. Let’s have a look at you.” He leads me around to the back of the SUV where the door is open, and he sits me on the edge.
My tears still fall but at a slower pace as my dad looks me over. I know the moment he sees my cheek because he hisses out a breath. “You’ll need some ice for this,” he says, lightly touching my skin and I wince. “He didn’t hurt you… anywhere else?”
I shake my head, glancing around the back end of the vehicle, waiting for Kye to reappear.
There’s a sound of metal crashing to the floor and I jump down, intent on running in there, but Dad holds me back. “You’re staying right here. With your brother, Kye, and especially Lawrence, he doesn’t have a chance.”
“Alicia’s in there too,” I tell him. “They need to know.”
“I’m sure they’ll find her too. You’re not going anywhere near there, though.” He lets out a breath and turns my head to meet his gaze. “Sweetheart… Kye told me everything. At his admission, my eyes go wide. “I’m so sorry. You should’ve told me what happened at college. I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through.”
In this moment, I’m really seeing my dad for the first time in a long time. His face is creased with more age lines and his hair is a little grayer but his eyes, even though glossed with tears, are still the crystal-clear blue I remember them always being.
I realize how much I’ve missed seeing him and being around my brothers. Staying away from them will not be my future. My and Kye’s future that is. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I squeeze him tight. “I’m sorry too, for not telling you. It was selfish and wrong.”
When we hear sirens in the distance it gives me some relief, but not as much as it does when Kye reappears through the door. I rush over to him and jump into his arms, wrapping my body around him.
“You’ll not have to worry about him ever again, baby,” he says, tangling his hand in my hair and pulling my lips to his.
I don’t know what that means, and I really don’t care, if I get to spend the rest of my eternity here in his arms.
He carries me over to the SUV and we sit on the back. I’m still straddling him when my dad comes up and shakes his hand as Kye winces. Dad turns his hand from side to side. “Anything broken?”
“Hopefully just the bones in his face,” he says matter-of-factly. “Your son and Lawrence did most the work, but I couldn’t leave without taking my frustrations out on something. His face was just in the vicinity.”
Dad chuckles and pats Kye on the shoulder before leaving us alone.
Kye takes my cheeks in his hands and I hate that I stiffen, but his touch hurts. “You’re going to need some ice for that.”
I giggle. “That’s what Dad said.” He goes to remove his hand and I stop him. “Please don’t, I want to feel your touch. Now and for as long as you’ll have me.”
“Magnet to steel,” he says, placing his lips on mine.
Chapter 33
Turning over, I see Kye is still sound asleep. I swipe my phone off the nightstand and quickly check the time. Seven in the morning.
After waiting for the police to arrive and giving our statements, we didn’t get back home until only a few hours ago. Dad had offered for us to stay at the house, and after some debate, we gave in.
I push the covers off my side, intent on getting up and heading down to the kitchen where I’m sure the heavenly smell of breakfast is coming from, but as soon as I swing my legs off the side an arm circles around my waist.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Kye asks in a sleepy tone.
Leaning back against his chest, I meet his hazel stare and touch his cheek with my hand. “I was planning on serving you breakfast in bed.”
“Mmm the only breakfast I need is right here,”
he says, sliding a hand between my legs and teasing my sensitive nub through my underwear.
I close my eyes and moan, enjoying the sensation. His morning wood pushes into my shoulder and I envision straddling him for an early morning release, but as soon as I turn over and rise up on my hands there’s a knock at the door.
It’s only moments before I flip back over and we both tuck ourselves under the covers when the door opens and the room is suddenly full of brothers.
“It’s race day, sister. Get off your man and get ready,” Dru says.
“Yeah. Wakey wakey.” Dex follows his twin in. “You can’t just lay here fucking all day.”
I drop my head back to the pillow and look over at Kye, my cheeks on fire at their lack of manners and privacy. He tucks his hands behind his head and offers that stupid smirk I love so much.
It’s annoying as hell that he’s enjoying this. I’m tempted to toss back the covers, so my brothers know what they’ve interrupted but decide against it.
Daine struts in. “Looks like someone’s up.” I giggle and Kye shakes his head in a warning. “It’s good to have you back at home, Sis.”
When Elliot makes his way in the room, my other brothers part, letting him through. Without any regard for my place next to Kye, El comes over to my side of the bed, and I sit up. He leans down enough to pull me in his arms.
Our hug lingers and tears sting the back of my eyes. When he pulls back, I see the same glossy eyes I had in California. He doesn’t say anything and neither do I. His expression tells me how much he loves me and how glad he is I’m home.
After dropping a kiss to my head, he extends a hand to Kye and they shake. A muttered, “Thank you,” escapes my brother’s lips before he disappears back through the door.
One day I’ll ask him what happened between him and Dad, today is not that day.
Dante is the last brother to stop in. “C’mon, guys, give them some privacy,” he tells the rest and they depart, albeit not quietly.