Kennedy (The Phoenix Club Girl Diaries #1)

by Addison Jane

I rushed to pull the jumpsuit up over my clothes.

  He grabbed a silicon clown mask off the wall and pulled it on over my head, tugging it down. It was hot, and I could barely see anything out the tiny holes in the front.

  “You scream as we walk out the back of this place, and I’m walking right back in to visit your friends.”

  I felt fucking sick.

  Tears instantly pricked at my eyes.

  That fear was back. The fear that I’d known so fucking well for the past few years. The fear that I wasn’t going to be around for Brooklyn. The fear that I was never going to escape.

  The only difference now, though, was that I did. And now, I knew what it was like to have more.

  The guy in the mask gripped my arm in his hand as we rushed out the back of the pathetic plywood house. I struggled to keep up, he was practically dragging me, never allowing me to find my feet. I could barely breathe in the mask—it was hot and the sweat was already dripping down the sides of my face. We ducked and dived around booths and rides. The fair was empty, everything either already closed or literally just shutting off their lights.

  I tripped, my feet refusing to carry me, falling onto my hands. Pieces of gravel in the worn down, almost just dirt ground, tore into my palms.

  “Get up,” he growled, grabbing my wrist and yanking with full force, at the same time twisting my arm behind my body. Sharp pain shot through my elbow, and I knew instantly he’d dislocated it. “Dumb fucking bitch. Hurry up, or I don’t get my damn money.”

  He hooked his hands under my arms and lifted me to my feet. This time trying a different approach—shoving his gun into my back and cursing under his breath.

  The pain was intense. I cradled my arm against my body, but at that stage, I was almost ready to just cut the damn thing off because each footstep sent shockwaves through it. Again and fucking again.

  We stepped around the side of a food truck, and he grabbed my overalls yanking me back. “Here’s your package,” Freddy announced, tucking his gun into the back of his pants.

  When no one answered, I thought maybe he was just crazy, but then someone stepped out of the shadows.

  This was a monster too.

  But not one you’d find in a haunted house.

  “Goddammit, you fucking idiot. I said the sister with the crown,” he growled, looking over my shoulder.

  “What the fuck do you think that is on her head?” Freddy protested, ripping the crown off and tossing it onto the ground.

  My heart instantly hurt for Brooklyn. That tiara meant more to her than I think she had words to express. Not only was it a present. It was from Repo. Someone who she’d come to really admire and look up to. She hadn’t had many people in her life who had made her feel special. But he did.

  Crow’s eyes flicked around, and his body was twitching like he couldn’t stay still. He was making me more nervous than normal. He was jumpy and erratic. He was on something, but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. He looked like he’d had a rough six weeks, though. His clothes were dirty, the underneath of his eyes was almost black, and there were scratches all up his forearms like he’d been clawing at the skin.

  “It wasn’t meant to be you,” Crow snapped, turning around and driving his fist into the side of a food truck. I didn’t want to let him see that he was winning out over me, but I just couldn’t seem to stop my body from shaking. He roared loudly and then turned on me, rushing forward and grabbing a handful of my hair and slamming my head against the truck too.

  Dazed, my legs gave out, and I crumbled to my hands and knees trying to stop everything from spinning.

  “Where’s my money?” Freddy demanded but wisely stood back.

  I guess crazy knew crazy.

  Crow was pacing, muttering under his breath like he was arguing with himself.

  My head was thumping, and I could already feel the lump forming on my forehead. I tried to gather my wits and push myself onto my knees, looking around, wondering if Crow was distracted enough for me to roll myself under the truck and run. That moment disappeared quickly when he looked down at me. Crow was furious. His eyes were on fire. He turned and stomped back toward me, pulling his foot back while I was still on my knees and slamming his heel into my ribcage, throwing my whole body into the side of the truck before landing with a thump on the ground.

  I cried out in pain, hugging my arms around my middle and curling in on myself. He didn’t stop there, though. “It wasn’t meant to be you!” he roared, pulling his leg back and driving his heavy riding boots into my ribs again.

  I screamed. The pain was indescribable, it felt like someone had stabbed me. It was the kind of pain you were scared would never end, so fucking intense that you just wished you could die, so it would go away. I was struggling to breathe suddenly, so I rolled onto my back while Crow continued to stand over me, his body heaving with anger.

  Tears leaked down the side of my face and into the dirt as I stared up into the night sky and wondered how the fuck I was going to get out of this.

  There was a gasp to my left. An old man with an apron around his waist. He stepped out of the food truck that Crow had slammed me into.

  I wanted to scream at him to run, to go back inside, but the pain was crippling, and I was finding it hard to take a breath let alone speak.

  “Oh my God, are you ok—”

  Crow pulled his gun and with no hesitation he pointed it directly at the old man, firing off two shots.

  Freddy Krueger reached back like he was going for a weapon, but Crow didn’t give him a chance either, just moving one click to the left and firing off another two shots, right into the masked man’s chest. “Useless motherfucker! Can’t even follow fucking orders.”

  I could hear myself wheezing as I was trying to take in a breath. It was like someone was stabbing a hot knife through my side.

  He crouched down beside me, grabbing my wrists and wrapping something around them. The second I heard the click, click, click, I knew they were cable ties. He pulled them tighter and tighter to the point where I screamed because they started to pinch at my skin, they couldn’t fucking go any further.

  “He was meant to take Brooklyn,” Crow cursed, kicking at the ground around me.

  “Why?” I managed to groan even though I was beginning to wonder just how long I was going to be able to keep myself awake. “Why Brook?”

  I could feel him standing over me, the vile feeling that he gave me mixed with the desperation and anger—that was a vibe you couldn’t mistake.

  “Because of the trust.”

  A wave of nausea washed over me as the pain in my stomach became more intense. His laughter lit up the night.

  “Oh my fucking hell, you didn’t even know, did you? You’re so fucking stupid. Your parents, they left you a trust worth over three million dollars.”

  At this stage, I wasn’t even sure if I was understanding what he was saying.

  It didn’t make sense.

  How could I not know this? How could… my heart leaped up into my throat. It burned. “Dad,” I managed to rasp.

  He snorted, bending down and grabbing a handful of my hair. “Yeah, Daddy. He hadn’t touched it. He and your mom set it up so that if something happened to the both of them, the money could be released when Brooklyn turned eighteen.”

  Oh God.

  He started to laugh, it was manic sounding. “Your sister and her ID are needed to withdraw the money,” he growled, yanking me through the dirt. “I wanted her, not you.”

  My entire body was screaming for some kind of peace, something to take the pain away. Every breath of air seemed like it was nothing. No matter how deep I inhaled, the pain just overwhelmed everything, and I still couldn’t breathe.

  I was starting to panic. I was starting to feel my consciousness fall in and out.

  “You were a means to a fucking end,” he spat. “You’re fucking worthless.”

  Maybe I was.

  REPO

  “She’s gone!”

/>   At first, I didn’t compute exactly what the hell was going on as Brooklyn ran toward me, tears streaking her cheeks. She grabbed my hand. “Someone took her, they hurt Tyler, and they took her,” she cried, the term her finally sinking in.

  I dug my feet into the ground and took off running toward the Haunted House I’d watched Dakota drag them away to just a few minutes ago, or that’s what it felt like, at least.

  At the moment, though, it felt like time was standing still, like no matter how quickly I moved, I couldn’t get there fast enough.

  “You can’t leave, yet,” Davis screamed after me. “I’ll shoot!”

  I didn’t give a shit and turned out, neither did the rest of the police when they saw Dakota and Angel carrying an unconscious Tyler out of the building.

  “We have a possible kidnapping at the Dallas fairgrounds,” one of the officers announced into his shoulder piece, clearly taking this shit more seriously than the one little bastard out to make himself not look like a fucking pansy. There were more heavy feet pounding the ground behind me as I raced around the back of the Haunted House, knowing that she couldn’t be inside any longer, but needing some idea about where the fuck to go.

  This place was huge, but she can’t have been gone too long.

  My head was swirling.

  I felt fucking defeated.

  The loudspeakers squealed above our heads, and we all jumped, looking around frantically as they screeched and crackled for a moment.

  It was a few seconds before the manic laughter filled the cool air around us. It was loud and deep and sent an uncontrollable shudder through me. “Protect the little sister,” he taunted. I didn’t have to know Crow and what he sounded like to know it was him. “Maybe I’ll never get the money, but you’ll never get to her. Not before she dies.”

  No.

  No, fucking way.

  My feet were already carrying me toward the announcement building that wasn’t far from where we were.

  “I’m coming,” Brooklyn demanded as she rushed around the side of the building, effectively cutting me off.

  “No,” I snapped, hitting her with a hard glare. “You’re going to stay with Myth right now because I need to know that you’re okay.”

  Myth nodded, moving back toward Brooklyn and reaching for her arm, but she snatched it away from him. Her eyes were bright and wide and filled with tears. “That’s my sister!”

  “Brook, listen to me,” I said sternly, trying not to get too frustrated, but knowing this was wasting time. “Crow, he wants you. Your parents left you a shit-ton of money, and it was due to be handed over when you turn eighteen.”

  She stared at me.

  It was like I could physically see the moment that her heart stopped. “This whole time? It was because he needed me?” she whispered, choking on the last word.

  I walked forward, taking her face in my hands and forcing her to look up at me. “I’m going to get her back,” I told her. “But I need to know that nothing can get to you right now. I can’t rescue the both of you at once.”

  Tears cascaded down her face. I knew she’d have a hard time with this, she already blamed herself for a lot of what Kennedy was forced to go through. But this was like the straw—the one that broke the camel’s back. I could see the pain in her face.

  It was almost like I could feel my heart being squeezed like it was in a vice, and if I didn’t move now, it was just going to explode all over the ground. Not bringing Kennedy back—not an option. I wasn’t sure either of us would survive it.

  “You need to trust me,” I told her, looking her directly in the eye.

  “Come on, man,” Shotgun urged, and I took a step back letting Myth move in and take over, and the girls swarmed around her. She needed them, and right now I needed to get her sister back. For the both of us. “Find Kennedy! You search every fucking inch of this damn place until we find her!” Shotgun boomed, and brothers went in all directions.

  I already knew where I was going.

  “Repo! Stop!” Shotgun called, jogging up being me. “He’s probably armed, and you don’t have a weapon.”

  “Don’t fucking need one.”

  Shotgun wasn’t happy, but he ran with me toward the announcement booth because whether he believed I was walking right into a bad situation or not, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to stop me. So he was at least gonna have my back. The two-story building was right by the stage area, and they used it to announce things like lost children and certain shows that were starting during the day or if rides have to be closed—anything that was important or handy for people to know.

  “I’ll take this exit in case he tries to run,” Shotgun whispered, ducking around the other side of the small building while I took the front stairs. If he was still there, he would have seen us coming given that the front of the building was glass and overlooked this part of the fairgrounds, but it was too dark for us to see inside.

  I made my way up the creaking stairs knowing that there was no way I was going to be able to hide. But I honestly didn’t fucking care. I was done.

  Done letting this asshole fuck with my club.

  Done letting him think he was worthy of living.

  And fucking done letting him hurt Kennedy and Brooklyn.

  I grabbed the handle taking a deep breath before I twisted it and shoved it open, throwing my body back against the railing and out of sight just as the bullet I suspected was aimed at me, flew past, right where I would have been standing.

  I fucking knew better, though. I knew he was a coward, and there was no way he would want to face me head on without an upper hand, like me being injured.

  Another bang went off, another bullet whizzing through the air making a whistling sound.

  “Welcome!” Crow bellowed from inside followed by a sickening cackle. I could smell cigarette smoke wafting out the doorway, my nose crinkling. “Why don’t you come in?” he teased.

  He knew we would come when we realized she was missing. And he knew that now he’d screwed up his chance to get to Brooklyn, there was no way out for him. There was no way he was leaving this place alive.

  Which meant, he was a man with nothing to lose.

  Fuck.

  “Where’s Kennedy?” I fumed, my hands shaking in anger. He started to laugh again which only drove my frustration higher and higher. I didn’t have time to deal with fucking crazy. I wanted to run in there, but I was no use to anyone with a bullet in my head because I was being fucking irrational. When he didn’t respond, I tried a different tactic—make him angry and hope he makes a mistake. “Where’s your club, Crow? Why aren’t they here with you?”

  He huffed, and I could hear him moving about inside, but he couldn’t hide the fact it was a sore point. “They were weak.” In other words, they knew when to shut the fuck up and just get out of town or take a holiday. “You took my club and you took those girls,” he seethed, taking a step forward.

  He was closer than before, he was moving toward me, and I needed to make a move soon rather than be a sitting duck out here.

  “You killed their fucking father and entrapped them. You stole their fucking lives,” I roared, not giving a shit at that stage if he shot me or not. I’d hit my peak, and I roared inside, slamming my body into his frail form just inside the doorway.

  We both went tumbling to the floor, the impact stunning us.

  When I gathered my wits, I leaped up, ready to jump on top of his and beat years and years’ worth of abuse out of the bastard, but then I heard the click.

  A safety being taken off.

  I looked over my shoulder. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I growled, seeing Davis’ smirking face and the barrel of his gun putting pressure against my lower back. Crow painfully dragged his ass off the floor. He’d been on something hard for the past few months before he was frail and broken and sick looking. “Working with a cop,” I laughed, shaking my head.

  Crow narrowed his eyes at me. “No, working with this asshole w
ho happens to hate you and be open to a five-hundred-thousand-dollar bonus if he kept you busy while I took off with Brooklyn.”

  “I did my part,” Davis told him sternly, but Crow just threw his head back in laughter.

  “Your man… he grabbed the wrong sister, you fucking idiot,” Crow hooted, waving his gun around. “Which means there is no money!”

  Davis dropped his gun to his side and stepped around me, his hand twitching in anger.

  Wrong move.

  I moved too fast for him, his anger concentrated on Crow as I snatched the gun from his hand and stepped away. He turned, his mouth open and no doubt ready to curse me to fucking hell, but the stupid kid had no idea what he was up against. The sound of Crow’s gun going off shook the walls. It was deafening and deadly. Officer Asshole’s head exploded, decorating the glass behind him with a splatter of red droplets.

  His body fell, dead weight hitting the floor with a loud thump, jolting my body back into action. Without wasting a second, I leveled my new weapon at Crow. Unfortunately, he’d moved fast too and had his already aimed directly my heart.

  We were at a standoff.

  The only difference between us, I had an old lady that I needed to find and find alive. And he had nothing. There was nothing left for him to lose.

  “You might have ruined six years of fucking planning…” Crow growled, his finger twitching over the trigger, “… but you didn’t win. You’ll never find her. You’ll never get to her in time. This is really the end of it. If I can’t have the bitch, neither can you.”

  The gun went off. The large window shattered, sending glass flying everywhere. I froze, waiting to feel the pain, or maybe just for everything to go black.

  It didn’t.

  Did he miss?

  His gun hit the floor with a loud clatter, and I stepped back as his body crumbled too, convulsing, as blood spilled from the hole in his temple and out his mouth.

  “Who the—”

  I took a step toward the now open window space, looking out and finding Josiah standing across the open space with a gun raised and pointed toward us. He must have been able to see us arguing.