It’s true though. The police are not my biggest fans right now. I can’t be caught at the scene where a bombing, a shootout, and a fire occurred. If the police don’t know about the dead bodies with bullets in them yet, they will. If I’m found near that shit, that sounds like probable cause to take me in given my recent history. With Johnny in a hostage type of situation, the last place I need to be is behind bars. Or back at Greenlawn.
I shiver at the thought. I don’t want to be away from the guys ever again, especially not for something I’m guiltless of.
I lean closer to Oscar for comfort, careful not to jostle him too much. From an outsider’s perspective, I’m sure we look pretty fucked up. Magnum, Brawler, and I look like we’ve been to hell and back. Oscar’s the only one who could pass as human at the moment, except when you look at his face.
Wind whips through the car as Magnum steers us out onto the highway. Oscar takes a moment to shrug his hoodie off, so he can wrap it around me. I know I should be asking what we’re doing and how we’re going to get Johnny back, but I don’t want to admit that I’m in way over my head this time. Whoever took Johnny is the enemy I didn’t even know I was making. The enemy I never could’ve prepared for when I came to the Heights.
After a silent forty minutes, Magnum pulls down a dirt road. The bumps bouncing the car make me look up, and a familiar view greets me. We’re at the cabin. Johnny’s cabin.
“Where are we?” Brawler asks from the front.
Magnum parks. We’re deep in the woods here, so we don’t have to worry about ditching the stolen piece of property yet. As far as I know, no one else knows about this place, so we can be fairly certain the authorities won’t find us or the car here. They’d have to know this place existed to check it out, and the Crew is smarter than that.
“This is...” Magnum peeks over at Brawler, a shadow falling over his face. “This used to be a training area for the Crew, but right now, it’s a safe house.”
I lean forward. “This is where they took me after the tower was bombed.”
Magnum pushes the door open, and the rest of us follow his lead and get out of the car. I help Oscar to his feet and hover close, snaking my arm around his back. His movements aren’t too restrained, but he keeps his arm around his midsection, shielding his ribs.
The porch steps loom in front of me. It doesn’t feel right to be here without Johnny. A brick settles in my gut, and the same slice of determination that first hit me rears its beautiful head again. I have to figure out what happened to him. I have to save him. I can’t think about what they might do to him. I can’t think that they’ll hurt him even more than he already is—or worse…kill him.
I pull my shoulders back and lead Oscar toward the front entrance. Our lives are about to go to shit again. No doubt the police will be all over our asses. Big Daddy K will be on the warpath. No matter what he does to his son, in his head, he still loves him. I bet he could even justify why he left him at The Ring. He’ll probably blame what happened to Johnny on someone else instead of realizing his part in all this.
Magnum opens the front door with a key and then flicks on the lights. “Swanky,” Oscar whistles as the interior is illuminated.
“You should see the hot tub upstairs.”
“There are bathrooms attached to every bedroom,” Magnum says, his security guard persona on already. “Let’s get cleaned up and then report back here, so we can figure out what to do.”
Oscar and Brawler nod and start for the steps, but Magnum’s jaw clenches in an odd way, so I stay where I am.
“Ready, Princess?” Oscar asks.
“I’ll be right up,” I tell him, keeping my eyes on Magnum. The thud of footsteps up the stairs is a steady drum in my ears as Brawler tries to help Oscar, but Oscar only ends up shoving his hands away. “The master bedroom is mine,” I call out just as they hit the top.
As soon as they’re out of earshot, Magnum peeks at me. His hazel-green eyes are dead, drowning in darkness. He swallows. “I was supposed to keep him safe. Johnny’s my responsibility.”
I tilt my head. “I thought I was your responsibility...”
“Before you, I was assigned to Johnny,” Mag explains. “When you guys met, he told me to stick by you because he didn’t want anything to happen. What happened is my fault.”
I take his hand in mine. Magnum and Johnny go way back. “We’re going to find him,” I promise. “We’re going to find him and get him back and—”
“K’s going to be pissed,” Mag says, interrupting me.
I grit my jaw. “Maybe he shouldn’t have left him in the fucking box then.”
Magnum reaches out for me, and I step into his embrace. He presses a kiss to my forehead, lips moving over my skin when he says, “Just get cleaned up. We’ll meet back here.”
“Do you want company?” I ask, biting my lip in apprehension. I’m not sure he should be alone right now, even though he’s not giving off any needy vibes. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. I have a feeling he just wanted to get that off his chest, but what he really wants is to be alone.
He shakes his head. “I’ll be fine. I just need a minute.”
He gives my forehead one last kiss and then spins, taking off through the kitchen to the lone bedroom on the first floor. When I was here alone, I did some snooping, so I know for a fact there’s a small bedroom just past the kitchen pantry. He disappears, and I stand there for a minute, still watching the empty space where he was.
Eventually though, I turn and head up the stairs. As directed, Oscar and Brawler left me the master bedroom with the kickass shower. I peel my fight sports bra and shorts off. The areas my clothes covered look ghostly white in comparison to the ash and soot discarded all over my body.
I take the braid out of my hair, running my fingers through the mess as I watch myself in the mirror. I should be freaking out more than I am. Putting my mind to something has always worked wonders for me though. When I have a goal, I can work toward it. It’s when my life is in upheaval that I can’t ever seem to find my footing.
Yes, Johnny is gone, but we’re going to find him. We’re going to bring him back to us where he belongs, and then hopefully, we can get the fuck out of the Heights for good.
I’m seriously getting sick of this place. At this point, if my guys weren’t tethered here, I’d think about giving up the whole revenge on Big Daddy K thing and just leave.
I laugh to myself. No, I wouldn’t. I’m too fucking stubborn for that.
Once my hair is untangled as good as it’s going to get, I turn on the shower, holding my fingers under the rain fall showerhead to gauge the temperature. Once it’s this side of scalding, I step in. Immediately, the water turns a murky gray at my feet. Standing under the spray, I can almost wash off everything that happened today. The fire. The bombs. The evidence disappearing right this very second. The only thing that can never get washed away is the internal scarring. The cut when I realized Johnny had been shot. The incision when Brawler and Johnny disappeared behind a wall of fire when the floor cracked between us. The gash when Brawler told me Johnny was gone. That he’d been taken. And the complete loss when I realized we didn’t know where Oscar was.