by Rebel Hart
“Oh my god, I just imagined trying to convince a little boy that being a brooding, super tough guy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But Deon does it,” she said in a nasally voice. “I’ve got my work cut out for me.”
“I’m not brooding,” I growled.
“No… I was talking about a different Deon,” she responded and then quickly returned to her chair. “Anyway, you’re going to keep it a secret, and I’m going to send you with one of my cars to see him. So long as you mention Garrett as soon as you get there, you should be okay.”
I was overcome with relief. Not only was I finally going to get to leave the house and make an active effort to find and stop Connor, but I was going to see people other than Felicity and drive around like a normal person. Part of me wanted to stop at a fast food place or something to mark the occasion. It didn’t even occur to me how much my current life had in common with when I was locked up. Yes, I had access to much better food, and a roommate like Felicity was significantly better than some of the guys I was behind bars with, but the restrictiveness and not being able to go anywhere I wanted was the same.
Connor Loche had made my entire life a prison.
Felicity furrowed her brow when I hadn’t said anything in a while. “Is that okay? I’m sorry. I guess I just assumed—”
“I’m thrilled,” I replied. “I know that I don’t have the best ‘thrilled’ face, but I’m excited. I actually get to do something and not just be a sitting duck, plus I will actually get to see the outside world. What is this guy going to be able to do to help?”
“Like I said, his name is Nico, and he’s kind of that guy who can dig up just about anyone on the East Coast. His resources stretch far and wide, and though he’s not a ‘boots on the ground’ kind of guy, he’s good at finding people. The biggest issue is that he doesn’t typically accept payment in the form of money. He just doesn’t need it, so Garrett had to negotiate a different payment with him. What that was, I don’t know, I don’t ask. You shouldn’t either,” Felicity explained.
“Trust me, I learned not to ask questions when I was locked up,” I said.
She nodded. “Right. Nico’s good people, and he has a lot of respect for Garrett. Just tell him what you know about Connor and the last time you saw him. Any helpful information you can think of, share it with him, and hopefully he’ll be able to track him down. I’ve seen him work before, he’s good.”
Felicity and I finished our breakfast, then for the first time ever, she led me into the garage. It was a long, four-car garage, and three of the four spots had cars in them. One spot had a big, army green Hummer in it that appeared to have collected a good amount of dust, and I assumed that was probably Venom’s car. The other two were smaller and sleeker, one sports car, and another more typical family car, though it was clearly the brand new model. Felicity grabbed two sets of keys off the wall and handed one to me, surprisingly, the one with the luxury car key on the ring. After dropping it in my hand, she opened the door to the luxe car and programmed an address into the GPS, then she leaned back out and poked a finger into my chest.
“Okay, Nico’s address has been programmed in, just follow it, and then if you activate the GPS when you get back in, there’s a shortcut for home. Deon, I swear to god if you crash my baby, you won’t have to worry about Connor, because I’ll kill you,” Felicity said.
I snickered. “I thought you were sticking me in the soccer mom car for sure.”
“I figured you could use some fun,” she replied with a wink. “This key is for the house if you get home before me.” She pointed out one of the plain silver keys and then she walked over to the other car and started to get in.
I climbed into the luxury car and a few seconds later, the garage door started to open, likely from a button pressed by Felicity from inside her car. It did feel nice to be inside such a beautiful car and left to my own devices. Felicity backed out first, then I followed suit and the garage door started to close. Even though it was a hot day and the AC might have been better, I opted to roll the windows down and enjoy the fresh air. The address I was driving to was about thirty minutes outside of town, an old storage container turned house near the coast. To protect Felicity’s car, I parked a couple blocks away and walked to the house. I felt a little too vulnerable walking up with no weapon to protect myself, but Felicity was confident Nico wouldn’t hurt me, so I had to take the risk.
I knocked on the door, and in no time at all, I heard the click of several guns. Two men walked around from either side of the house with rifles pointed at my head, and then the front door opened and a woman shoved her hand out with a pistol in it, setting the barrel damn near on my nose.
“Whoa.” I held my hands up.
“Who the fuck are you?” the woman growled.
Beyond her, I could see a few additional people inside, one in particular was watching me from the shadows at the far back of the container. “I’m Deon. Venom sent me here to talk to Nico.”
The woman kept her gun pointed out at me, but looked back over her shoulder. “Is that what you were told.”
“Nah,” the man said from the back.
“I know that his wife, Felicity, was supposed to come. She had a client so she sent me instead. I’ve been staying with her while Venom has been trying to help me find Connor Loche,” I explained. Both Nico and the woman were staring at me like they weren’t entirely sure I was telling the truth, so I decided to take a calculated risk. Felicity said I should mention ‘Garrett’ as soon as I got there. I assumed she just meant what I knew him by, but maybe she was being specific. “Trust me. Garrett sent me here.”
Nico jumped up immediately and ran over to the woman, shoving her arm down to remove the gun from my face. He reached out and waved his hands at the other guys to wave them down. “Jesus Christ, kid. Say that shit from the beginning. Do you have any idea how much Venom would kick my ass if he knew I had guns pointed at his kid?” He was a short, muscular man, with faded hair and a clean-cut goatee.
“Sorry,” I said. “I won’t mention it if you don’t.”
“Cool. Come on in. Can I get you a beer or something?” Nico asked.
The woman scoffed. “You can’t get him a beer. He’s not 21.”
“Relax, KT. His own father’s hunting him down and trying to kill him, for god’s sake. The man can have a beer,” Nico said.
“I appreciate it, but I’m okay,” I replied.
Nico motioned to a chair. “Well, come sit. I’ve got a busy schedule today, but I’d like to get boots on the ground for you as soon as possible.”
I sat where Nico told me to, and he returned to the seat he was in when I first arrived. He crossed his arms and looked across at me. Even though he was shorter and less bulky than I was, his aura was intimidating, like I wouldn’t survive just thinking about doing something to him.
“So, Deon, tell me about this man you need me to find. Don’t get me wrong, I know who Connor Loche is, I don’t think there’s a person in the world who doesn’t, but I’m assuming your experience with him is different from the facade he projects to the world,” Nico said.
“That’s an understatement,” I said. “What’s considered helpful? Do I tell you that he’s a murderous, womanizing, abusive asshole, or does that not help?”
He chuckled. “I mean, it’s good to know where his mindset is. There are other things that might be more helpful though. Any places that are important to him?”
I couldn’t help but wish that I could reach out to Nathan and put him in touch with Nico instead. He was probably a wealth of knowledge. Then again, I did like that he wasn’t getting any more sucked into that world than he already was.
“Well, when he kidnapped my brother, he took him to a cabin about an hour north of Postings. I don’t know the exact address, but we took highway 10 all the way until it ended, and then took the first right. There was a cabin all the way at the end of a winding road and that’s where they were. His
company is in downtown Postings of course, the address is publicly listed. He’s not at his home, at least not the one where he lived with his family. My brother is still there, at least he was last time we spoke.” I racked my brain for anything else that would be helpful. “The only other thing I can think is that he’s probably still within reach of Postings. I know that’s not hard to do in Maine, but he was tormenting them. Through his men, but I imagine he wasn’t far. I’ve learned he’s a hands-on kind of guy.”
“Okay,” Nico said. “This brother you keep talkin’ about. That’s Nathan Loche, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I said. “He’s a good guy. Our dad fucked him up pretty bad, but he’s working on himself. You don’t have to worry about him.”
Nico nodded. “Right. I may still send a guy or two just to suss him out, but he won’t be harmed, I promise.”
“Thank you.”
He let out a whistle. “I didn’t even realize Connor Loche had another kid. Kinda makes you wonder if there are any more of you out there.”
“I’ve had nightmares about that,” I explained. “But I’m inclined to think no, or at least the woman was smart enough not to tell him. Connor’s possessive. He feels like anything that has anything to do with him belongs to him. That’s how it is with me and my brother. If there was another kid, at least one that he knew about, he’d have dragged that kid into this shit too.”
“Anything else you can think of?” he said.
“I mean, he’s got Postings bugged to high hell. Postings Proper High School, any major corporation, for sure everything in the building his company is in. I was only there for a couple of months between getting out and having to go on the run again, but there wasn’t a place I could go to where he didn’t hold influence. Anywhere you’d go in Postings, there’s someone, somewhere, who has helped him.”
Nico nodded. “That’s good to know. We’ll be exploring that avenue for sure.”
“How long will it take to hunt him down?” I said. “It’s not just for me, it’s for Venom, Felicity, my brother. He’s tormenting my whole family. I want him down.”
A smile crooked up Nico’s cheek. “Well, you really are Venom’s kid. Don’t you worry. These things take time, but for every contact in Maine that Connor has, your boy Nico’s got two. I’ll dig him up. It’s only a matter of time.”
11
Cherri
“Okay, go!”
I held my phone up as Gus barreled into the swirling slide that splashed down into the main pool of Nathan’s house. Water went everywhere, spraying over Kyle and Colette who were standing closest to the bottom, and Kyle quickly wrapped his arms around Gus and lifted him out of the water, tossing him away. Gus’ cheery laughter filled the afternoon air, and I smiled.
It felt good to just be happy for once.
“Cherri!” Gus popped up from the water at the edge of the pool. “Did you get it?”
“Yeah, bud, I got it. I’ll send it to your phone,” I said, stopping the recording. “That makes about twelve videos you’ve had me record.”
The hot sun felt good against my exposed skin, and I was excited for the tan I’d be getting. Avery was sitting next to me, her legs dipped into the pool, with her head knocked back, soaking in the rays. Nathan, Nikita, and Jaxon were sitting at the bar, drinking and laughing, each in their own swimsuits and Alistair was camping at the table that Nathan had stacked high with food. As soon as I mentioned that Gus wanted to come over for a pool party, The Royal Court went all out. They decorated, Nathan bought a bunch of brightly colored pool floats, and food and drinks of all sorts were brought in. When I asked Gus if he wanted to invite some friends, he funnily enough said no—he wanted all the spotlight on himself.
“What are you going to use all the videos for, Gus?” Avery asked.
Gus’ face lit up. “My YouTube channel!”
My eyes widened. “Your what?”
“I want to become a YouTuber! This kind of stuff, like playing in a rich, fancy pool, gets like millions of views,” Gus said.
Nathan looked over from the bar. “You should do a tour of the whole house, even the back one,” he pointed to his smaller house towards the back of the property. “Title it ‘Connor Loche’s decommissioned house’.”
Colette snickered. “That’s clickbait.”
Nathan shrugged. “It’s not. It’s true.”
“Will you give me a tour?” Gus asked.
Nathan nodded. “Of course.”
Gus clapped. “Yes! I’m gonna be famous.”
He swam away, over to where Kyle and Colette were wading, and started to play with them. I looked over at Avery, with my brow furrowed. “Is… is my baby brother gonna become a douchebag?”
Avery giggled a little. “He’s certainly on his way.”
“Great,” I replied flatly, making a note to myself to talk more with Gus about his new venture later. YouTube had been blowing up with kids lately, and he had what it took to be a successful one, but being in the limelight that much could kill a kid. I at least wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into. “Here,” I said, handing my phone to Avery. “You’re on camera duty while I pee.”
Sitting up straight, she took the phone from me and pointed it out at the pool. “Mission accepted.”
I dragged my legs out of the pool and stood up, grabbing one of the towels off a nearby lounge chair to dry off as I walked, and made my way into the house. There were a dozen bathrooms inside, but the closest one was just on the other side of the kitchen. I walked through to get to the bathroom and noticed Brayden sitting at the kitchen island. He had a plate of food, and it was only then that I realized he’d gone in claiming to be going to the bathroom, but never came back out.
“Hey,” I said.
Brayden looked up. “H-hey.”
Instead of continuing on to the bathroom, I slid down onto one of the stools across from him. “You doing okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just needed a few minutes. I feel… bad, out there.”
“I know what you mean,” I said. “I was the biggest bitch in the world to these people, and it doesn’t feel fair that now I get to just have a pool party with them and have fun.”
Brayden popped a chip from his plate into his mouth. “Exactly.”
“We miss you out there, though. We’re supposed to be spending time together, all of us. We’ve all done shit wrong. I think we’ve committed ourselves to just pretending none of that shit ever happened. Looking forward, you know?”
“Yeah.” Something else hung on the end of Brayden’s voice. He kept shifting his eyes up to me, then away again, before finally bringing them up to land on me. “Hey… can I ask you a question? More of a favor?”
“Of course. Anything,” I replied.
“Can you not tell Nathan about…” His voice trailed off and his gaze slipped from mine. “The, uh, the kiss?”
“Oh.” I furrowed my brow, but nodded regardless. “Yeah. It’s not really my place to talk about.”
He lifted his brown eyes back to me. “Cool. Thanks.”
“Since we’re on the topic though, and I can use the fact that I have no fucking clue how to define my friendship with you as an excuse, can I ask. What’s up with you two? You and Kyle, I mean?”
Brayden got fidgety again immediately. “Um.”
“I mean, I don’t want to overstep, but you two seem so perfect for each other. And you know we’d all accept you, right? If you guys want to be more than—”
“We’re just friends,” Brayden said suddenly, and there was a shake in his voice that broke my heart. “He’s… Kyle is… I mean he…” He stammered a few more times trying to form a sentence, but then eventually just dropped it. “Yeah. We’re just friends.”
I got the sense that Brayden was very uncomfortable with the topic, and whether it was because he didn’t understand his own feelings, or was afraid of how others might take it, I wasn’t sure. “Okay. I’ll leave it there then.”
“Don’t tell him that I said that,” Brayden said. “The friends thing.”
Poor guy. He was in a house of mirrors and couldn’t get out. I knew that feeling all too well. “Let’s just say anything you and I discuss stays between us.”
He offered me a little smile then. “Thanks, Cherri.”
“Yeah,” and I stood up. “Well, I actually do have to pee, so I’m gonna go do that, but you should come back out. I want all my friends out there. Gus deserves to see the excellent people I get to call friends. Every single one of you.”
“I’ll go back out. I promise,” he replied.
“Cool.”
I turned to walk away, but then Brayden cleared his throat. “Hey, Cherri?”
“Yeah?” I looked back over my shoulder.
“Tomorrow, can we try again to find Connor using the driving blindfold method?” he asked.
At that question, I turned back around. “Listen, Brayden. We can find another way to do this. There’s no guarantee that we’d even figure anything out that way, and I’m not gonna fuck you up more in the brain for that. I appreciate that you’re willing, but we’ll do it another way.”
He shook his head, and I saw some determination flash into his eyes. “No! I want to do it. After we talked about it, I realized that Connor must have known… everything. He knew exactly what to tell me and he used me to hurt the one person who has always been there for me. Then he used me to hurt all of you guys. I don’t want him to get away with that. I want to fight back.”
I smiled. “That’s awesome, Brayden. You deserve that. If you aren’t comfortable, we’ll figure something else out, but if that’s what you wanna do, then we’ll do it.”
“Tomorrow,” he said with a nod. “Let’s do it.”