I didn’t see Rudy anywhere and, for some reason I couldn’t name, his absence inspired a feeling of deep dread in my core. Keeping my head down, I tried to sort through my thoughts. There were so many of them and none of them were in order.
I didn’t meet their eyes, but I was certain that the brothers were looking at me. It wrecked my mind trying to figure out what they must be thinking. None of them liked me, that much was for sure. But…all of them were worried. That much I could tell from the way Bradley’s feet didn’t stop tapping, the hushed whispers, the way Chris’ fingers drummed against his thigh.
As for me, I was sitting on a stack of wooden pallets with crates on three sides of me, like some kind of granola queen. I had a green apron tied around my waist sideways so that it wrapped all the way around me.
I shifted slightly, then flushed with shame when I realized that my pants were wet.
“Look at me, princess,” the man said gently – the one with the soothing voice. “Look at me. You’re okay now. You’re safe.”
I shot an uncertain glance at the three Seymores, then looked back at him.
“Who are you?” My voice was raw and raspy, but at least I could use it again.
“Benjamin Seymore, at your service,” he said, sticking out his hand to shake mine. His nails were painted the colors of the rainbow. I took his hand and shook it briefly.
“You’re a Seymore?” I asked incredulously.
He didn’t look like a Seymore. Not that they were related or anything, but they all seemed hard around the edges, bullies and adrenaline junkies. Benjamin looked soft—more than that, Benjamin looked like a target.
I didn’t even want to think what Julianne would have done to him if he’d been a few years younger.
He bit his lip, then grinned at me. “We’re not all testosterone-fueled troublemakers,” he said in a conspiratorial stage whisper. “Just most of us.”
He shot a pointed look at Chris, who objected with an offended, “Hey!”
Bradley nudged Chris with his elbow and gave him a stern look, but there was a twinkle in his eyes. I’d never seen Bradley twinkle before. It threw me a little.
I looked around again, at the back room, the crates, and Benjamin’s apron.
“Are you going to get in trouble for having me back here?” I asked.
He shot a furtive look at his brothers, then at the door leading out to the main part of the store. It was enough for me, but then Chris said something that got my legs working again.
“If we don’t get you home right fucking now, Rudy’s going to kill somebody.” He mumbled something after that, but I wasn’t paying attention anymore.
It was a struggle to get to my feet without knocking crates over, but Benjamin helped. A bell rang on the other side of the door and Benjamin gave us all a nervous, apologetic look.
“Be safe,” he said. Then he went out through the swinging doors, leaving me alone with the Seymores… well, the other Seymores.
My belly turned to water and my knees felt like they had been run over by a couple of buses.
I didn’t have a chance to give in to my fears because as soon as Benjamin was gone, the other three moved toward me and hustled me out the loading doors in the back of the room.
I looked around expecting to see the Mustang, but the guys led me to an old beige Impala instead. Bradley got behind the wheel and Gary urged me into the front passenger seat, then the two of them got in back.
“Call him,” Bradley said as he turned the key.
“Man, you know he’s not gonna answer the damn phone.”
“Call. Him.”
Chris shrugged and dialed with the phone on speaker. It rang until Rudy’s voicemail picked up.
I don’t know why, but the sound of his voice made my throat tighten. Tears pressed against my eyelids and I shut them, swallowing hard. I didn’t want to cry in front of them. I didn’t even know why they were here.
“Hey, you good?” Bradley asked, touching my shoulder tentatively.
I blinked, then looked at him. What kind of idiotic question was that? He caught my look and shrugged sheepishly.
“Okay, so you’re not good.” He faced front and pressed his lips together grimly. “It could have been a lot worse, though.”
“For real,” Chris piped up from behind me. “You’re lucky I cleaned out my locker last week or nobody would have found you.”
I twisted around in my seat, furrowing my eyebrows at him. “What?”
“They tried to set him up,” Gary explained. “They took the title to Thomas’ car and a flyer from the grocery store and your phone and they shoved them in Chris’ locker.”
“I don’t even use my locker until after lunch,” Chris muttered angrily. “We wouldn’t have made it in time if that bitch hadn’t stolen my damn pencils.”
My head spun. I thought I was going to throw up.
“Thomas’ car?” I asked weakly.
I squeezed my eyes shut again and remembered the feel of the strong arms and broad chest that had carried me to the trunk. I’d been sure that it was Bradley doing the carrying—but Thomas was just as big, just as strong. I shivered all the way down to my very bones.
“Yeah, I guess they were trying to make it seem like Chris stole the car,” Gary added. “And Julianne stole Chris’ pencils. Guess maybe she got nervous.”
I glanced at the clock. It was almost noon. School would be out in a couple of hours.
Had Rudy gone back to school to confront them?
“At least today’s a half day,” Chris grumbled. “I’m already gonna have to take summer school.”
“That’s what you get for skipping class,” Bradley said mildly.
My stomach turned to ice.
“It’s a half day?” I sat up, wincing as my body screamed objections. Panic gripped my chest. “Where’s Rudy?”
Bradley’s jaw tensed, making his thick blonde beard stick straight out in front of him. “Don’t know.”
“He’s looking for Thomas,” Gary said at the same time, then cringed as Bradley glared at him in the rearview mirror.
“Oh no,” I breathed.
He’d been so angry. So, so angry. Angry enough to kill someone—or at least put them in the hospital.
At first I thought it was me he was going to kill. After everything I’d learned in the last few minutes, it was pretty clear who the real target was. I curled up against the door and whimpered.
“Call him again,” Bradley said.
Chris sighed and dialed.
If my head had been working, maybe I would have told Bradley to go to Thomas’ or Julianne’s places instead of mine, but my brain was spinning like a panicked hamster on a wheel which was slowly sinking into a big bowl of cold oatmeal. I’d never felt fear like that for someone else before. It was too much.
I curled up tight, listening to the phone ring…
…and ring…
…and ring…
Chapter Four
RUDY
Thomas lived in Kennedy’s neighborhood, a couple miles from her place, in a stupidly overdone McMansion. The massive, naked Greek statues on the lawn made it memorable even though I hadn’t been there since ninth grade.
I didn’t avoid the hedges as I sped up his ornate driveway. They shouldn’t have been planted so damn close to the road anyway.
Julianne’s stupid pepto-bismol pink convertible was in the driveway and I screeched to a stop behind it. Perfect, two for one. I marched up to the door and rang the bell once, then twice, then beat my fist against the stupid thing like I was going to break it down.
Thomas opened the door with a smug smile. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the orph—”
My fist took the rest of that word clean out of his mouth. I hit him again and blood sprayed from his nose, drenching the front of his shirt. Blood, thick and red and cleansing. The very blood I’d been envisioning ever since I found Kennedy locked in that stupid trunk.
As knuckles hit flesh, it occurred to me that I c
ould kill Thomas. He was fighting back, but he wasn’t good at it. He was big enough, sure. But all of his muscles came from football and all of his money kept him from actually learning how to defend himself. If I gave him room to rush me, he’d take me down, not that he could do much once he tackled me. Still, I wasn’t going to give him that room.
I slammed his jaw hard enough to make his teeth crunch sickeningly in his skull, then caught him with one in the chest before he could recover.
He went down hard on the marble tiles. Rich people never think practically, not that I gave him much of a chance to click two thoughts together.
I was on top of him in a second, my hands around his throat. Yes, I could kill him. What could stop me? A future? I never had a future. I wasn’t destined for greatness or even mediocrity, I knew I should have died ages ago. Jail didn’t scare me, what’s jail but a group home? The death penalty? Please. I watched my dad’s friend overdose when I was three. Death holds no fear for me. None at all.
Thomas wasn’t going to get up from this. I was going to end him right here and now.
I’d already gone through the consequences and determined that I could deal with them, so long as it meant that the bastard got what he deserved. Until, out of nowhere, a screaming banshee tackled me, loosening my grip on Thomas’ bulging neck.
Long nails tore at my face and arms, and spindly fingers wove themselves through strands of my hair, pulling with just enough strength to catch my attention.
“Get off of him! Stop this, now! Get off of him you animal! I’m calling the cops, I’ll press charges! You’ll go away for assault…attempted murder! They’ll lock you up for the rest of your sorry life, you—you—heathen!”
I whirled around and found her, Julianne, the pumped-up Barbie, glaring at me with all the power of every woman who’s ever demanded to speak to a manager. Sorry, sweetcheeks, I don’t even work retail. Thomas wouldn’t be moving any time soon.
I stalked toward her, watching her pulse race in the hollow of her white, creamy neck. My only goal was to stop that flutter, to make sure she never hurt anybody ever again. Especially not Kennedy.
Before I realized what I was doing, my hands were around her neck and she was pressed against the wall, her feet dangling inches off the floor.
Thomas groaned, but didn’t move. Julianne, on the other hand, was scratching at my hand, making choking sounds, kicking her feet. It was so easy. So easy to finish this. A couple minutes and the torment would be over. Not just for now, but for good.
It made me laugh to think that it had been this easy all along. I laughed harder when her eyes widened with terror. Aw, surprised? You shouldn’t be, bitch. You’re the one who told everybody how unstable I was, weren’t you? Thinking your status would protect you both.
Him with all his bravado and muscles, her with all her connections and smoke and mirror tricks—in the end, none of it mattered. I took them apart as easy as a pair of ragdolls. All that was left to do was finish them off.
My phone rang. The only people who had that number were my brothers and Kennedy. If anything else happened to Kennedy, I would take them apart piece by piece. I dropped Julianne like a sack of potatoes, letting her roll around on the floor, gasping and wheezing and clawing at her throat.
Enjoy the air while it lasts you waste of fucking space.
Thomas was struggling to get up, but not for a lack of trying. I walked over and planted my foot on his chest, leaving Julianne to cough and gag by the door. I turned to keep an eye on her and put my phone to my ear.
“What’s up?”
“We got Kennedy home,” Gary told me. “She’s really fucking scared though, Rudy and we’re not exactly her best friends. She wants you. You better not have gone and done something stupid.”
“Right in the middle of it,” I told him grimly. “Though, to be fair, I can find a whole bunch of words to describe what I’m doing, and none of them so much as rhyme with stupid.”
“Sounds like a matter of opinion,” Chris said. They must have had me on speaker. “We talking misdemeanor or felony?”
“Justice,” I said flatly.
“Goddammit, Rudy, get out of there now! Is he still breathing?” Bradley had his practiced authority figure voice on full-blast, which didn’t have the intended effect on me. I didn’t recognize any authority unless I wanted to.
“For the moment,” I told him.
“You have to stop. Now. Before this goes any farther.” Gary tried to mimic Bradley’s tone, but his voice was shaking. It was almost enough to break through—but not quite. I was here to end this, once and for all.
“Kennedy could have died,” I growled into the phone. “There are pranks and then there’s taking shit way too fucking far. These assholes don’t deserve to live. I’m just here to give them what they fucking deserve.”
“Jesus, let it the fuck go. Kennedy is fine, or she would be, if you were here.” Chris sounded extra pissed, which meant that he was scared too.
There was some talking in the background and I tuned it out, focusing instead on Thomas’ left eye. The right one was swollen shut, but his left eye stared up at me in horrified anticipation. He knew what was coming. He knew he deserved it. He was going to—
Kennedy’s voice interrupted my train of thought.
Chapter Five
KENNEDY
“What is he doing?”
I was sitting on the cool tile of my kitchen floor, tucked back into a corner, flanked by cabinets. Nowhere else felt safe enough.
The Seymores were on the other side of the room, all talking to Rudy, but I couldn’t quite make sense of what was being said—but when Bradley begged him not to throw his life away, it cut through my disorientation.
When I spoke, everyone fell silent. The three guys in my kitchen turned to look at me.
Chris grabbed the phone and held it out to me, pleading silently with his eyes. I scrunched back farther into the corner. I didn’t know what was happening, didn’t know what to believe. I still couldn’t stop crying, and he wanted my help?
Maybe it was all another trick. If Julianne had been on the other end of the line and it was Macy holding the phone out to me, it would have been a trick. Some kind of trap to get me to say something she could use against me later. What if this was like that?
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a long, steadying breath, clearing my head. When I opened my eyes again, they were still looking at me.
Fury hadn’t settled over any features and nobody looked impatient—they just looked worried. All of them.
Bradley’s eyes were deep and sorrowful, reflecting so many things I’d never seen in them before. I wondered briefly how many of his foster siblings he’d seen tear their lives apart.
Gary looked numb. His gaze was distant, like a veteran who has seen too much violence already and has no hope left that there could be anything but violence for the rest of time. It was an old expression on his young face, and despite the situation I was in, it hurt me to see it.
Chris—Chris’ face was softer than I’d ever seen it.
Open.
Pleading.
Vulnerable.
He would never make himself vulnerable to me if he could help it—which told me he really couldn’t help it this time. He needed me to stop Rudy from doing whatever it was he was doing. I had a feeling I knew what it was, but I didn’t want to think about it too hard.
How did I get myself in a position where I was rescuing a man from himself? I decided it didn’t really matter. All that really mattered was that he stopped whatever it was before I lost him—and with him, any chance I had of figuring out just what the hell was going on.
Tiredly, I raised my hand and gestured for the phone. Gratitude washed over Chris’ face and he dashed across the kitchen and shoved the phone in my hand.
“Rudy?”
“Kennedy. Are you okay?” There was an edge to his voice I didn’t like and his accent—which was almost nonexistent most of the time—thicken
ed his words. Am I okay? How the hell should I know? Define ‘okay.’
I dodged the question. “Your brothers are right. Listen to them.”
I handed the phone back to Chris, feeling like I’d just run a marathon. Being involved against my will was exhausting and painful—but deliberately putting myself there drained me faster than anything. I just wanted to keep my head down and get through school. That’s all I ever wanted. Was that so much to ask for?
“You heard her? You heard her, right?” Chris asked, moving back across the kitchen.
“I heard,” Rudy said grimly. “She’s not okay.”
“She’s not going to be any more okay if you don’t get your skinny ass over here,” Gary growled, snapping out of his thousand-yard stare. “She wants to shower. Which one of us should keep an eye on her while she does that, Rudy? Should we hold a vote?”
A warning growl buzzed from the speaker. I tucked my knees closer to my chest and hugged them hard. Gary was right. I desperately needed a shower and I did not want to be alone—but I wasn’t about to let any of these guys stay in there with me while I stripped down.
“Rudy,” Bradley said tiredly. “Come on, man.”
“Just…God…Just shut the hell up for a goddamn second,” Rudy said.
Bradley’s lips thinned into a grim line.
I listened hard, but almost couldn’t hear what Rudy was saying—it sounded like he was talking to someone in the room with him.
“I’ll tell them everything,” he was saying. “You or your Barbie girl over there run to the cops and you’ll go away for life. Kidnapping and attempted murder? And she’s the daughter of a public figure? You’ll be fucked, rich boy. You and your girl. Get cleaned up, you sack of shit, and remember—I was never here.”
There was a sound like a muffled cry, then Rudy came back to the phone. “On my way,” he said. “Tell her.”
Bradley looked at me. I nodded. I’d heard.
“Will do,” he said.
“And don’t take your eyes off her,” Rudy growled. “There are at least two other people who knew about this. Probably four.”
Something Wicked: An Enemies to Lovers Bully Romance (The Seymore Brothers Book 2) Page 2