“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here today,” my boss and friend Rio Gibson said when I walked in the door of Abstract Catering’s prep kitchen in Inglewood. It was after regular working hours, and I’d taken a chance that she would still be here. I’d already walked around my favorite mall, hoping some retail therapy would clear my head.
It hadn’t.
Then I’d taken another Uber to this location in hopes that my friend would still be here. She had mentioned staying late to work on the mountain of paperwork on her desk.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to be here either.” My cheerleader smile was firmly in place, but I winced when I heard the snarky tone in my voice. Rio didn’t deserve that. Hell, no one did.
“Everything okay?” She scanned me from head to toe with shrewd eyes. This woman didn’t miss a trick. Rio would make a great mom one day, with her finely tuned bullshit meter, keen eye, and enormous, generous heart. Reminded me a lot of my own mom, actually.
“Yeah.” I sighed heavily and probably gave myself away with that prolonged exhale. “Okay, fine. Not really. Elijah and I got into a fight, and I stormed off. Now I don’t have a car because mine is at his house. Is there any chance I can borrow Kendall?” I winced and wished I could retract into my shoulders like a turtle did into its shell to escape the awkwardness of having to ask for help. It wasn’t a predicament I liked being in.
“Of course! I’ll get the keys. But you may have to put gas in her.” She cringed like she was breaking bad news. “I think she’s pretty close to empty. I was planning on filling up on my way home this afternoon.”
“Are you fairly certain Grant will be able to come by and pick you up?” I asked, taking the keys for the Fiat. “I can hang tight if you want to get in touch with him. I don’t want to leave you stranded.”
“Well, coincidentally,” she said with a sly grin, “he already messaged and told me that he was going out with the guys tonight. So, if you want some company?” She let the words hang in the air for a few beats and then finished her thought, “I’m free.”
“I’m afraid I’m not going to be very good company tonight.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Do you remember the way you listened to me cry for hours when Grant was missing? I think I owe you some shoulder time, girlfriend.”
“Rio, we’ve talked about this before. Girlfriends don’t punch clocks when it comes to time spent supporting each other.”
“I know, I know. You’re right. Don’t forget”—she waved her hand wildly while she made an excuse for herself—“I’m new to all these matters of the heart and whatnot.” She finished the statement with a prolonged eye roll and slight head shake just in case I didn’t understand what she really thought about messy feelings.
“Could’ve fooled me. You’ve taken to it like a champ.” I knocked my shoulder into hers, and my friend was so lightweight I almost knocked her off her feet. True, I also had some pent-up aggression, and I might have knocked into her a little too hard. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bump you so hard. But do you see what I’m talking about? I don’t think I’m safe to be on the streets right now.”
“Well, what are your plans for tonight? I don’t think you should just sit home alone.” Rio shut down her computer and gave me her full attention.
“I’m not sure. Now that I have a car again, I may drive up the coast a little bit and then turn around and come back. Sometimes just driving really clears my head.”
Rio nodded while I was talking. “I get that, I do. But sometimes for anxious girls like you”—she poked her index finger into my chest then thumbed back to her own—“and me, being alone with our thoughts is some of the worst time spent.”
Well, shit, she wasn’t wrong. And damn it, why did she have to mention it now? Couldn’t she see I was trying to run away from my problems? Not face them head on. How mentally healthy and responsible can one girl be in a day?
A ridiculous giggle bubbled up in the back of my throat, and I nearly choked because it quickly turned on me and became a hairball of emotions I really—and I did mean really—didn’t feel equipped to deal with at the moment. But I also couldn’t continue to deny her assertion straight to her face. Because then not only would I be a head case, but I’d be a delusional head case to boot.
“Well, I’ve said my piece. You know where to find me if you need an ear, or a shoulder, or someone to help you dig a deep, deep hole, okay?” Rio gave me a cheeky wink and yanked me close for a hug.
I really was incredibly lucky to have this woman in my life. She wasn’t much older than me, but she had enough years on me to be an excellent mentor and role model but was still close enough in age to be completely relatable and fun.
“Woman…I think I love you!” I said to her and disengaged from the hug we were sharing.
“I definitely love you, pretty girl,” she said with a gentle smile while stroking my hair away from my face. It was such a motherly gesture, I could feel the emotion ball moving up in my throat again.
Thank God Rio always knew just where to inject some humor. We both took a step back as she issued instructions. “Now, go clean your chakras or whatever, and take good care of my sweet baby, Kendall.”
“She’s in good hands, I promise.”
“Good. See to it. Because apparently the universe is determined to ensure that’s the closest I ever come to parenthood.” My pixie friend rolled her eyes like she so often did and, this time, exhaled in a huff from her bottom lip so her bangs pulled a Marilyn Monroe.
“Can we unpack this? Did something happen?” I leaned against Abbigail’s desk and focused on Rio completely. Since I’d been working here, this woman had given me so much of her time and attention. The least I could do was stop and listen to her when she clearly was laying out breadcrumbs from a conversational loaf she wanted to break with someone.
Of course, just as quickly, she clammed up. She went from mirroring my pose against her desk to abruptly standing straight and shoving me at the shoulders. “No, you should get going if you don’t want to run into Elijah. You know this is the first place he’s going to look for you.”
And she wasn’t wrong. In fact, I was surprised he hadn’t come here already. The thought made me smile.
“What are you smiling about?” Rio asked.
“I was thinking of Grant and Elijah busting through that door the way they did the first day I met Elijah.” Then I smiled even bigger. “Right here.” I tapped on her desk several times. Tap tap tap. “In this very kitchen.”
“Oh, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen,” Rio said with a phony mystified tone. She gave me a sideways glance to make sure I was witnessing her playacting. She threw in some jazz hands to really ham it up.
“Sexy and enigmatic Elijah Banks ensnared by this sultry seductress, Hannah Farsey.”
I took a turn at the shoulder pushing now, and I nearly knocked the skinny woman off her feet for the second time, which only made me laugh harder. “You are ridiculous. But in all seriousness, you’re also right. I need to get out of here. But don’t think we won’t be talking about this next time we have a few minutes to ourselves. Please, if that bossy green-eyed sex god comes by—”
I couldn’t finish what I was saying because Rio’s eyes were bugging out so far from what just slipped out of my mouth, I couldn’t stop laughing.
She was in stitches too. After wiping the tears from her eyes, she finally said, “What did you just call him? So it’s true, isn’t it? It’s true what the guys call him? You lucky little bitch…” She trailed off, shaking her head from side to side.
“Oh, bullshit! You can’t be serious right now. Tell me with a man that tall, he doesn’t have an enormous dick? You just be quiet with that whining,” I teased.
“All right, all right. You got me. I just had to tease you a little. I love that shade of rose your cheeks turn when you’re embarrassed. Although now, I’m not sure if it’s embarrassment or if you’re getting all hot and horny.” Rio waggled her eyebrows while talking.
“Oh my God, do you hear yourself? I’m leaving,” I managed to string together between fits of laughter. “Is it okay if I just bring your car back to work with me in the morning? Or I can swing by your place and pick you up?”
“Yes, that will be perfect. Thank you. Then I won’t have to get in late because of waiting for the Tree and his two-hour morning self-care ritual.”
When I bugged my eyes out in disbelief, she clutched my forearm with a surprisingly strong grip, then crossed over with the other hand too. “I’m telling you, Han, this man has a product graveyard most women would trample each other for.”
I had finally settled down from the giggles, but when I saw the gravity in my friend’s expression…I was gone. We both burst out all over again in a fresh wave of raucous laughter.
Rio sobered once more. “Please call me if you need someone to talk to. It doesn’t matter what time, okay?”
“I will. I promise,” I said with my hand raised in oath as my boss ushered me to the door.
I looked back over my shoulder when I was about halfway across the parking lot and called to her, “Bye! Thanks again!”
Rio waved and ducked back inside.
I’d forgotten this little car was a manual transmission. I stared at the gear shift in between the two front seats like it was a trilobite fossil. “Kendall, are you serious right now? And…perfect. I’m talking out loud to a car. I swear, I’m keeping my shit together. I’m not going to completely break down because of a man. Hell no.”
This had to be like riding a bike. I’d known how to do this once upon a time. The car I owned before my BMW 1 series had a manual transmission, so I just needed to stay calm and ease my foot off the clutch and go. Sitting in this parking lot all night wasn’t going to clear my head.
My phone rang inside my bag. It was the ringtone I had for Elijah. He had been trying regularly since I left the courthouse this afternoon. In each ring was another stab to my broken heart.
Talking to him would be dangerous to my resolve, and I knew that. That man had a golden tongue for more than one reason. This one being he could talk his way in or out of any situation. I’d watched him do it several times. Watching from the sidelines was awe inspiring. Being the target of his talent, however, not so much.
I found my way through the side streets and onto the freeway heading north. As I’d explained to Rio, driving oftentimes cleared my head. Traffic was light in both directions since it was well past rush hour. I downshifted to pass the slowpoke in front of me and gunned the gas.
“Come on, Kendall, let’s see what you got,” I shouted over the playlist Rio had preprogrammed into the stereo. This was definitely music I’d never heard before, but it fit my aggressive, dark, angsty mood. Maybe I should introduce my friend to some upbeat pop music? It might help improve her state of mind. Just a thought…
I found myself checking my rearview mirror to ensure my security guy was on my tail but then I remembered no one knew where I was. It was both liberating and terrifying at the same time. But I had to be reasonable about this. There had been no threats, phone calls, or unwanted visitors at our house…
What was I saying? It wasn’t our house. It was Elijah’s house. Anyway, no unwanted visitors at his house since Shawna was arrested. It was ridiculous that we were still being so paranoid. We both knew it was an excuse we were using to ease my guilt about living with a man I barely knew.
So how did I already have such intense feelings for him? I had had a few long-term boyfriends in college, so I knew a lot about my own feelings and needs. Of course, Elijah had taught me a lot more about my needs, needs I didn’t even know I had. Well, that thought had me smiling and squirming a little bit in the driver’s seat.
After driving just under an hour, I decided to turn around and head back. I was getting tired, and the usual peace I felt after a trip in the car just wasn’t coming. In fact, I felt more agitated than before. More questions than answers flooded my mind, and I really needed to face the music and sit down and talk to this man. I needed to know the part I played in his life. Maybe if he could define that for me, I could do a better job playing the role.
All I knew was seeing him today and the way he still reacted over that woman broke a big piece of my heart off. It had been years since they broke up. Yet his reaction was like it happened last week. And then the bomb dropped that he had a child with this woman. He never once mentioned having a child. Not one time. How did he expect me to react?
That frustrated me beyond words. Everyone always thought they could walk all over me because I was the nice sister. I was the one who bent over backward for everyone. I gave up my time, I burned my energy—hell, I’d even give the shirt off my back if someone said they needed it. I was used to that bullshit from my family, but I never expected it from Elijah. Never.
I vowed to myself to pick up the phone when it rang the next time. The only way this was going to get better was talking it out. Whether I liked it or not.
Rio had warned me that the gas tank was low. Now it was almost empty. Of course I would not return her car with an empty tank of gas, so I pulled into a well-lit gas station and went through the usual motions of filling the car. I scrolled through the notifications on my phone while waiting for the tank to fill.
Missed call. Missed call. Missed call. Text message. Missed call. Voicemail-Elijah Banks. Notification-Snapchat. Notification-Twitter. Email twelve unread messages.
The pump thunked off, letting me know Kendall’s belly was full, but one text message from Rio was still unread, and that grabbed my attention. I opened that app and read her message.
Hey girl just FYI he was here and he’s not looking so good. You might want to give him a call. Just saying.
I looked at the timestamp from the message, and it was just about ten minutes after I left the Inglewood kitchen. Good thing I took off when I did. But now what? Did I call? Text? I was so inexperienced with this kind of thing.
Maybe I should call Agatha. But she was ruthless. People underestimated her because she was so small, she looked harmless. But she was the strongest warrior I knew. My sister would tell me to dump him. No man was worth feeling all the negative things I was currently feeling.
But she would change her tune if she knew all the amazing feelings that man could inspire too. My God, just considering the physical pleasure he brought my body alone would grant him a few get-out-of-jail-free cards. There was so much more to this man than what he could do in bed, though. But the reputation he had with the ladies was for a very good reason.
First, I decided to text Rio and let her know I was going to go to my parents’ house in Brentwood and thank her again for letting me use her car. She answered right away, and we planned a time for my morning pick-up. I loved the feature in this car that enabled you to do voice to text while you were driving. My BMW was just a little too old to have this technology in it. Hmmm, maybe it was time for a trade-in. What was better than getting a new car?
Just when I thought I would get away with not being put in the hot seat, one last text came in from Rio.
Have you talked to Elijah?
There was no point in evading her question. Plus, I had nothing to hide. She knew the whole situation, and what I didn’t tell her, I was sure Grant would.
Not yet. But he’s next on the list.
Wow! I rank above the monster! I feel so special.
OMG would you stop!
Of course she had me laughing, even though I was telling her to knock it off. I loved Rio’s sense of humor, and she had the timing of a professional comedian. She knew how to take the tension out of every situation that needed it.
Well, time to get it over with. I hated that it felt like that in my stomach while initiating a conversation with the man I thought I was falling in love with. It really cemented the fact that we needed to talk this out and fix things. The relationship we were building was too good to lose over a misunderstanding. Christ, I hoped it was a misunderstanding.
I found the conversation with Elijah and then sat there and drew a blank. I couldn’t think of what to say, or rather, I had so much to say I didn’t know where to start.
Maybe an apology. Maybe I should go home to Malibu—damn it, to Elijah’s home—and just talk to him face-to-face. But if I saw him, I knew what would happen. He would tilt his head to the side and his hair would flop over too. He would give me that sexy grin he used to get whatever he wanted, and we’d fall into bed. Ten minutes tops.
Did that make me pathetic? That all I could last in his presence without getting physical with him was ten minutes? I wondered if it would always be this way. Would I always have such a strong magnetic pull toward the man? I knew for certain I’d never felt this way about someone before. I’d even had boyfriends who I had to talk myself into being physical with. How sad was that? Not to mention unfair, for both parties involved.
Hi. I owe you an apology for my behavior today. I hope you can forgive me for acting immature and irrational. I understand if you’re still angry and need time.
Then I scrutinized those four sentences for seven minutes. I wanted to be sure they could not be misunderstood, that the tone was even and could not be taken wrong, and that I said what was most important. Although I really wanted to end it with I love you, I showed some restraint and left the ball in his court completely. That should speak to his dominant nature—having the illusion of control of the conversation.
I instructed the car to send the message and finally pulled out of the gas station and headed toward Brentwood. I was lucky the clerk working inside the gas station hadn’t called the police because I’d been sitting there so long. He’d kept watching me suspiciously, but seriously, he must have seen way more questionable activity in a shift than a woman sitting in her car scrolling through her phone.
Only a few minutes went by, and my phone signaled I had a text message. It was him.
Hi, honey. Where are you?
I activated the car system and told him my location. I was very close to downtown, so I could go to either Malibu or Brentwood. I wasn’t closer to one or the other. But something seemed so strange about his message. That man had never called me honey in all the time I’d known him.
Can you meet me at the Edge?
At Sebastian Shark’s building?
Yes. The jobsite downtown.
I can, but what are you doing there?
The last time I had been by that address, it was still largely under construction. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do lunch deliveries very often, so I didn’t get into the financial district very often. Maybe they had made serious progress on the building.
Elijah answered my curiosity with his next text message.
I got called to the jobsite on a security matter. I figured if you were in the area, we could just meet up.
Okay, that made more sense. I took mental notice of my physical state. I was grinning from ear to ear, and the butterflies in my stomach were dipping and diving like they were kites being flown at the beach. I could even feel my pulse hammering in my neck.
Just at the thought of seeing him. Jesus, I had it bad for this guy. And if I were honest, it scared me to death. I was willingly handing over my emotional and mental stability and well-being to another person—to a man—and it was frightening. It wasn’t the man himself, but the idea of giving up that kind of control. I’d watched a lot of friends and even my own sisters go through terrible, ugly breakups and nursed them through broken hearts. Those were favors I never wanted to collect a debt on.
I exited the freeway to wind through the city streets into the financial district. At a red light, I quickly put the nearest intersection I could remember the Edge being near into the navigation app on my phone so I wouldn’t get lost. Between my head being in the clouds from the excitement and my terrible sense of direction in general, I was bound to get turned around among all the tall buildings.
Usually, if I could see the horizon, I was in good shape. If you could see the ocean, you knew which way was west. Even if you couldn’t see the water itself, you could tell by looking at the sky. Something was just different about the sky’s cerulean that reflected off the Pacific.
In less than ten minutes, I was at my destination. Kendall was a lot like my car—small and easy to park almost anywhere. The fact that it was long past working hours made it easy to find a spot on the street as well. I knew from doing lunch deliveries for Abstract that it was a nightmare to find parking around here during the day. I locked the car, dropped the keys into my bag, and pulled out my phone to text Elijah to find out where on this massive property he wanted to meet.
I’m here. Where do you want to meet?
Follow the path around the right side of the security trailer. I let them know you were coming so you don’t have to go inside. I’ll meet you over there. I’m walking up from the other side of the property now.
After reading the instructions a second time, I set off in that direction. An eerie sense of foreboding ran up and down my body as I followed the path into an open mouth of darkness. I considered getting out my phone and using the light, but I didn’t want to attract attention from the security guards. From what Elijah had said in previous conversations, they were very strict about visitors on this jobsite.
It might not do more than make me feel safer, but I dug through my purse and found the pepper spray I kept in there for situations like this. Not that I found myself in situations like this very often, but it gave me peace of mind.
I distracted myself with remembering the day my dad sat his princess posse—as he had taken to calling us—down and distributed a little canister to each one of us. Even my mom got one, and I think she was the most impressed with his gesture. But that was love for you. He could give her the most ordinary item and say it was a gift just because it reminded him of her, and she immediately had stars in her eyes.
A lot like I did when Elijah did something kind for me.
I chuckled to myself, thinking about the consequences my dad would face for referring to us as his princess posse now. The havoc Sheppard would rain down upon him. The poor man wouldn’t even know what hit him other than her knee to his balls. He likely wouldn’t understand a single word’s meaning of her verbal assault, either. My God, did that girl have a mouth on her when she was mad. Bitter, spiteful, and mean. Straight-up mean. That, in a nutshell, was why we all just stayed away from her.
And how sad was that? We all avoided her as if she had an infectious disease just so we wouldn’t upset her. And she was my sister. Our sister. I told myself it wouldn’t always be this way, that she would either find a man who brought out the better side in her or discovered a deeper connection to something that gave her a brighter perspective on life.
Occupying my racing brain was the best plan at the moment. Even if it was with thoughts of ways to best handle Shep. If I let my mind wander, it would undoubtedly replay every horror movie I had ever watched and what happened to the stupid girl who didn’t listen to her gut. Those same movies were probably to blame for the thoughts going through my head in the first place. Not instinct or intuition or whatever.
It was so incredibly dark, though. I couldn’t see more than four feet in front of me. The place was a typical jobsite with a lot of uneven ground and plenty of hazards to stumble over, so I stepped carefully to avoid falling. That would be so like me, too. Acting all tough and brazen all day to this man, and then right before I finally confront him face-to-face, trip and fall and skin my knee and he would find me crying like a little girl.
This was getting worrisome, though, because I thought our paths would have crossed by now. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check if he messaged me again, but he hadn’t. I stood there staring at my phone for far too long. I didn’t know what I was hoping the thing would do, when a man’s voice came from behind me. He startled me, and I almost dropped my phone, but after a little hot potato with the device, I got a good grip on it again and shoved it into the back pocket of my jeans. All while whirling around to see Elijah behind me.
Only…it wasn’t Elijah. I had no idea who this guy was.
“Hello,” he said. “Hannah, right?”
I took a step back and quickly put my hand that was holding the pepper spray behind my back. All I could hope was that he hadn’t already seen it.
“Who are you?” I answered the stranger’s question with one of my own. All while trying my best to sound strong and brave. “Who wants to know?” I followed with a second question so I appeared totally in control of the conversation and, by association, the situation. Not sure this guy was buying it, though.
Another voice came from behind me. “No one said she was this pretty.”
Shit, the bad situation just got worse. Now I had a man in front of me and one behind me. I could feel my hands shaking and my heartbeat pick up the pace in my chest. It was the onset of a panic attack, and I wasn’t exactly in a position to distract and delay at the moment. I had to try to calm myself in other ways I didn’t normally use if I was going to make it out of this alive. At the very least, not gang raped.
“You don’t want to hang around here,” I warned. “My boyfriend is meeting me here any moment, and he’s very possessive. And dangerous. Leave now and we can keep this between us.”
The creepy guy behind me had gotten closer, and when he cackled—I guess that was his version of laughing—his stench just got stronger, and I had to tamp down my gag reflex. The smell was a gross combination of body odor, bad breath, and some sort of alcohol finished off with a spritz of a cologne that had a main undertone of greasy car mechanic.
My entire body gave an involuntary shudder before I fortified my spine and my resolve. If I showed even a sliver of weakness to these two—oh, wait, make that three men—I would be done for.
The third guy came from the shadows while I was giving myself that last pep talk, and I knew there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I was getting away from this unscathed.
My God, Elijah, if I die, know that I loved you.
I couldn’t just do what they wanted without putting up a fight, though. There was no way. I knew what most people thought when they looked at me. Barbie doll, airhead, dumb blonde. Trust me, I’d heard it all. The element of surprise had always been on my side because of those stereotypes and the dumb people who thought them.
Heaving in a breath and digging deep for some confidence, I asked the one who seemed like he was the leader, “What do you want?”
He walked forward until our toes were nearly touching, and I reared back from him. Apparently he used the same cologne as his buddy. Seriously…was it a prerequisite of being a bad guy? You had to smell bad? If that were the case, these were some really bad guys.
“What do we want?” The guy looked around at his buddies, and they all laughed.
I swear it was like watching a bad movie, they were all so over the top. More like caricatures than characters. If the lighting was better, I could confirm my suspicion, but I swore the one man was actually missing a few of his front teeth.
“Yes, that’s what I asked. What do you want? Is it money? I can get money, but you have to let me use a phone so I can arrange it. And I suggest you don’t touch me. Not one single finger on me. Because no matter who I call, whether it’s my boyfriend or my family, they will insist that I’m returned unharmed.”
“Shut up, lady. It doesn’t matter who insists on what,” smelly guy number three said.
“We don’t make the rules around here. We just follow them. That’s how we get paid. Our boss says go get the girl”—he shrugged—“we go get the girl. It’s that easy. Today, you’re the girl.” Toothless poked his index finger into my shoulder so hard, it threw my body off-balance. He stared at me after making the comment, and I had to hold back a retch again.
This time it wasn’t just his smell that made my stomach turn over. I was mentally digesting the way he was looking at me, like he wanted to have me for dinner. As if he could hear my thoughts, he rudely licked his bottom lip, and I shuddered.
He took a few steps closer, and I really got a whiff of him then.
I closed my eyes and tried to call up the memory of how Elijah smelled instead. Usually he didn’t wear cologne, but the soap he used in the shower each morning stuck with him most of the day.
“You sure are pretty,” the disgusting man in front of me said as a cloud of rancid carbon dioxide settled over me along with his words.
All I could think of was getting away. And as quickly as possible before one of these three men got some stupid idea. I already had enough things in my daily life that triggered my anxiety and panic disorders. I didn’t need to add fearing all of mankind on top of that, too. Regardless of any self-preservation measures I took, I was probably going to have nightmares based on this incident. But still, I would do everything in my power to come out as unharmed as possible.
Since I refused to look at the creepy man’s face, especially while he was standing so close to me, I had a long look at the ground where we stood and the dirt between us. On his feet he wore some sort of combat boots or maybe work boots, but definitely not athletic shoes. One was tied as it should be, and the other was open and looked like the lace had broken off at a crucial point, so a repair wasn’t possible. There was no way that shoe would be stable for running, and that was the fact that stuck with me. If I could incapacitate one and have one chase me, I’d want this guy to chase me because he wouldn’t be very fast in that footwear. As for the third guy? Well, he remained the problem and the wild card.
I came up with a plan and set it into motion before I had a chance to talk myself out of it. Time was of the essence, and it was running out quickly. I didn’t have extra minutes to be rational or thoughtful about any of it.
Playing the innocent girl never really worked for me, even though I looked like everyone’s kid sister—or at least that was what I’d been told. I had a hard time believing it myself, though. I had my fingers crossed that it worked for me this time, though, because it was a major part of my plan.
I backed away from the smelly, toothless man one cautious step at a time until I bumped into the other guy just like I expected to. Quickly I spun around on the balls of my feet and caught the guy by surprise. He must have thought I was going to freeze in terror when I touched his body, but so far, the scene was playing out exactly how I envisioned it.
So when he reached both arms up to my shoulders to steady me, thinking I was going to topple over, I knew it was now or never to make my move. With his arms parallel to the ground and at shoulder height, his entire body was vulnerable for an attack.
At that point, I grabbed onto his biceps to steady myself and reared back to deliver a solid knee to his crotch with as much force as I possibly could. Then I brought my leg down and did it again. I was ready to do it a third time when he slumped to the ground and rolled off to one side. His face was flame red from the combination of pain and lack of oxygen and possibly a good dose of anger. Hell if I knew, and bigger hell if I was staying around to find out.
If my calculations were correct, that left the third, quiet guy. He hadn’t said much so far, but I could almost hear my dad saying something like It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for. When I turned back to face them, I saw them conferring, and my heart galloped inside my chest. I didn’t think it could beat any harder than it had been, but the damn thing was out to prove me wrong.
They had joined forces and were advancing on me as one, and I hadn’t accounted for that possibility. Panic churned in my stomach and bile flowed up into my throat, but I couldn’t allow myself to get sick and show weakness. There would be enough time after I got out of this mess for losing my shit.
Originally my plan was going to be to spray the one guy in the face with my pepper spray and just run as fast as I could and get away from the other one whose shoe was untied. There was no way he was going to be able to keep up with me in those shoes. I was sure of it. But now with them both here, basically in range of one stream of pepper spray, I would be able to hit them both at the same time repeatedly, which would give me even more advantage to getting away.
If one needed more than the other, it would have to be the guy with the good shoes. He would have to be the one to go down with the larger dose of pepper spray. And then I had to book it out of there as fast as I could. The next biggest challenge would be finding my way off this jobsite, which seemed to be getting darker the longer we were out here.
I fiddled with the canister in my pocket and got the small cylinder in my grip and ready to spray. I knew this thing had a range of about fifteen feet, so I didn’t have to let these slimeballs get too close to me before I could hurt them. I just needed both to go down to the ground and be blinded so I could run away. If it was reasonable, I would hit their buddy, who was still on the ground crying about his balls, on my way out.
“Easy, girl, no more funny business. You just cooperate with us, and we won’t hurt you. But if you pull another stunt like that”—Toothless looked back at his friend on the ground and then back to me to finish his threat—“things are going to get a lot harder for you.”
“Yeah,” the third guy contributed to the conversation. Well shit, maybe he wasn’t as smart as I was trying to make him out to be.
“Oh, fuck off!” I spat back, wanting to keep them engaged in the conversation and antagonize them enough so they would come closer to me. Well, it worked, because they both took a ground-eating, menacing step toward me.
“Dude, get the fuck up. We need to get out of here, and we are not carrying your sorry ass. Stop being a pussy.”
“I’m not being a pussy. I think she broke something. I’ve been kicked in the balls a few times in my life, and it’s never hurt like this.”
I had to admit I was a little proud of myself hearing that. I must have gotten him good. My old self-defense instructor would be so proud. But it was time to put that pepper-spray training into good use too. I tried to be stealthy with my movement, but the quiet one noticed right away when I was putting my hand in my pocket and smacked Toothless with the backs of his fingers.
“I said no funny business, girl. Put your hands where I can see them. Now,” the toothless wonder instructed. Of course, I had no intention of complying. The next time he saw my hand, I would be introducing the mucous membranes of his face to my old friend pepper spray.
“We could tie her up. Or let’s just get out of here. Let’s get to the car and take off.”
“No,” I whimpered. “Please, I’ll do anything. Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone that I saw you—I won’t tell them your descriptions. I promise. You’ll go free. No one will know it was you. Just let me go. Let me go now.”
Most of that untrue promise rushed out in one long sentence. I was doing my best to not panic or let my anxiety run away with me, but it wasn’t easy. I kept telling myself repeatedly I could get through this. I could get through this.
I can get through this.
“I’m afraid not, sweetheart,” the quiet guy lamented. “When we’re hired to do a job, we finish the job. Now, do we need to gag you so you don’t make a scene when we leave this place?”
“I’m not leaving here with you,” I said defiantly and punctuated the statement with a stiff lower jaw and set shoulders.
That must have been the last straw for Toothless. When he started toward me, so did his buddy. I aimed the pepper spray canister, flipped up the little plastic trigger guard, and sprayed the quiet guy first and then the toothless guy. I repeated the action over and over until they fell to the ground yelling and whimpering about their burning faces.
While they were preoccupied with their own discomfort, I quickly pulled out my cell phone, brought up the phone feature, and snapped a few pictures of them focusing mainly on their faces. If I got out of this situation intact—no, when I got out of this situation intact—I would be able to show the authorities who did this. Served them right as far as I was concerned. What kind of kidnapper allowed their captive to keep their own cell phone? Even I knew that was a big, dumb mistake.
Their buddy, the crotch king, was on his feet and cautiously coming toward me, walking with his legs bent together to touch at the knees, and it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen.
I wished I had time to stop and laugh at him properly, but I couldn’t take my chances. Instead, I quickly took his picture too and then sprayed him in the face with my pepper spray.
Poor guy couldn’t tell which end was up at that point.
Then I took off running.
“You little bitch!” one of them yelled.
It didn’t matter which one was yelling as long as they weren’t in close pursuit while doing it. I had no idea which way to turn when I came to an open area within the steel framework of the building. It had been months since I’d seen the architect’s rendition of what the whole place would look like when it was done, so I couldn’t picture where I might be…and therefore where a street might be.
I felt like I was caught in a carnival’s house of mirrors. For one thing, it was very dark. This jobsite used to be like a beehive in a spotlight at every hour of the day. But Elijah said after a woman took her life here and Rio’s husband was killed here too, things scaled back from the hurry-up-and-get-it-done mind-set.
When grave mistakes were made, everyone stepped back and asked themselves what they could do to make the site a safer place. They also asked themselves what was more important—adding another rooftop to the downtown skyline or making sure everyone stayed alive?
A sharp skid, and I turned right and hustled deeper into the darkness. I decided to risk being trapped in a dead end when I saw a stairwell up ahead. It became obvious this would be a corner of the building where the emergency staircase was typically built. I looked up into the night sky, and the flight went as far as I could see. Even rocking back on my heels, I couldn’t see the top.
That was okay, though. I was interested in the bottom. The very bottom that was right here in front of me. A slow smile spread across my lips, and it might have been the first one all day.
I recalled the house I grew up in before my family moved to Brentwood. There was a closet under the staircase, and Agatha and I loved playing in there because we thought we were hiding from our mom. Of course, later we found out she knew where we were the entire time. When our mom first dropped that little truth bomb, she totally spoiled years of memories for my sister and me.
Now that years had passed and we were both older, we were able to understand the special gift our mom gave us. Quiet time with each other undisturbed by the other girls, in a safe place, still under her watchful eye, all while giving us a sense of independence and maturity. I didn’t know how she’d learned the fine art of motherhood, but I was so glad I had her to help me when that time came in my life. I didn’t feel like it was a natural thing a woman possessed just because she was female. Some women seemed better at it than others—or at least better suited for it.
If I didn’t get myself out of this situation in one piece, motherhood wouldn’t be a blip on my radar. Because I would no longer be on anyone’s radar either. One sweep here, the next sweep—gone.
But I had to cut that crap right here. There would be plenty of time to get morose later. Right now, I had to hide. I eyed the space beneath the stairs from where I stood and considered just how tiny it was. Shaking off my nerves, I decided it was still my best option. Claustrophobia had never been on my list of issues, and hell if that list wasn’t getting longer by the hour lately. But still…the area was so small.
I decided to crawl in backward so I could still see out once I was settled into position. If I went in headfirst, there was no way I’d be able to turn around in that cramped spot. Then I’d be staring at a concrete wall until I thought it was safe to come out. Every little bump and bang out on the jobsite would make me a nervous wreck. I would convince myself those creeps had finally found me and had come back to finish the job.
First, I made sure I had my cell phone, and thankfully it was still in my back pocket. The way things were going today, it wouldn’t have surprised me if it had jostled out when I sprinted across the jobsite. So, trying to plan ahead, I set the phone on the ground near the stairs and got down on the ground to shimmy beneath the lowest one.
Already, I planned on distracting myself with fantasies of luxuriating in a big, hot jacuzzi bathtub. If he was extra remorseful when I spoke to him, I’d let Elijah share it with me.
Even though it was late August, the concrete floor was surprisingly cool. Since this staircase was at the corner of the building, it was shielded from the evening breeze that could always be felt in Los Angeles being so close to the ocean.
With trepidation, I woke my phone to see how much power I had left and if I had service. As expected, I had about twenty percent of my battery’s strength left. Pretty typical for a long day like this one had been. But I needed to be mindful and only use the phone for emergencies. I wouldn’t be checking my Instagram or Twitter.
That ridiculous thought made me chuckle out loud, and I quickly put my hand over my mouth. The last thing I needed was to give myself away by laughing at my own dumb joke. I scrolled through my recent call list and found Elijah’s name. I had one bar of signal strength, so I pressed call and hoped for the best. If I couldn’t get a call out, I was so screwed.
After two rings, the call dropped. I pulled the device away from my ear to look to be sure that was what happened. So that went the routine three more times before I gave up on his number and tried my parents’ house. Again, the phone rang twice and I lost the connection.
Even though I was getting very frustrated, I didn’t have another option, so I took a calming breath and tried again. By some stroke of luck, on the third ring, Sheppard answered the phone.
“Yeah?”
“Sheppard! Thank God you answered,” I rushed out before she could hang up on me. Heaven knew it wouldn’t be the first time. “Oh, thank God.” Fighting back tears, I asked, “Are Mom or Dad there?”
“Do I look like their personal assistant, Han-nah?” She always said my name in two choppy syllables like it was extra effort to get them both out.
Keeping my tone very serious, I said, “Look, now is not the time for this. I need help. I’m in a bad situation, and I need help.”
“Oh, boo-hoo. What else is new with you? Did that boyfriend of yours tell you he saw me tonight?”
“What? No, he didn’t. I—” But I didn’t get to finish what I was saying because she bulldozed right over me with her next comment.
“Oooh, why am I not surprised? He’s a player, Han-nah. I mean, look at him. He’s prettier than most girls. I saw him at dinner with another woman. A stunning woman, I might add. Let him try to deny it.” I could feel her gloating across the phone line.
“Sheppard. Please. I don’t have time for this right now. I need to speak to Dad or Mom. I’m not joking. This is an emergency.” I was becoming frantic at that point.
She sighed so heavily I almost thought I could feel the moisture from her breath on my ear. “Uugghh, Hannah. When is it not with you? Why don’t you call that cheating boyfriend of yours? I gotta go.”
And then she hung up. She fucking hung up on me! The one call I could get to connect, and she hung up on me. That little bitch. She was going to regret this, and when my parents found out what had happened, she’d be lucky if they didn’t kick her out of their house. She had a serious problem, but that was on her. That was something she was going to have to work through. Right now, I had to deal with the problem I was smack dab in the middle of.
He went out to dinner with her.
If there was anything in my stomach, I would have thrown it up. And that wasn’t the biggest of my worries either. I needed to outlast these creeps and get away from Sebastian Shark’s Edge and whatever all of this had to do with the man.
Including his best friend.