“Whoa, calm down,” some other guy says, stepping forward and placing a hand on the yellow guy’s chest. Familiarity pulls at me but I don’t have the patience to work out how I know him. “This is Nate Ryder. He’s cool.” The guy turns to me. “What’s up, man? What do you need?”
The longer I look at him, the more obvious it becomes. I went to school with this guy. He was on the football team and naturally, I had nothing to do with him. I don’t bother to remember his name. “Josh Henderson,” I say.
“Yeah,” the guy scoffs. “What about him?”
“Where can I find him?”
“Aw, come on, man,” the footballer laughs as his housemates watch on with curious eyes. “Are you guys still at each other’s throats? Wasn’t this shit buried last year?”
“Where is he?” I demand.
His eyes widen. “Fuck,” he grunts with a cringe, clearly remembering who he’s talking to. “Yeah, um… He’s been hanging out with this frat house. They live just off campus.”
“Where?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, man. You don’t want to get involved with those guys. They’re bad news.”
“Josh just took Tora off the side of the fucking road. I ain’t playing games. Now, tell me where the fuck to find him.”
His eyes widen again, but this time for a whole new reason. “Shit,” he says. “It’s the big brick house opposite the gas station. The one with the broken letterbox.”
“How many of them are there?”
“I couldn’t be sure,” he says as the yellow shirt guy speaks up. “Maybe thirty of them. Only a few live there, but it’s their main house, people are always there. They’re into some heavy shit. They won’t hesitate to fight, and believe me, they fight dirty.”
“Good,” I grunt. I could use a fucking dirty fight right now, especially if I find anyone has touched her. It’d be more than fucking dirty then.
I turn and storm back out the door but a voice calls behind me. “Wait. Tora’s a cool chick. I don’t want her getting hurt by Josh again,” the kid from high school says, quickly glancing between me and his boys inside. “We’re in. You’re going to need all the help you can get.”
I nod, truly appreciating it, but I don’t have time for all the bullshit ‘thank you’s’ right now. Tora is depending on me to get to her, and that trumps everything. “Then hurry the fuck up. I’m not waiting for anybody. Call all your boys. I’m taking these fuckers down.”
He nods and not a second later, the four of them are piling out of the house and climbing up into someone’s truck. They peel out of the driveway right behind me as I speed down the road.
Flashbacks of the first time Josh grabbed her seep through my mind, just as they always do every time Josh is around. I want to wring his fucking neck for what he did to her. The recording he took of her back in that broom closet plays on repeat, over and over again and I have to force it out of my mind. I need to focus.
I grab my phone and call Jesse, knowing he’s probably driving around the streets with the rest of the boys, waiting for my call.
He answers with one word. “Where?” he demands, not bothering to ask if I was able to find something. He knows I get the job done. Every fucking time. Just as I know he’s circling the streets with Jackson, Tyson, Maxen, and Puck, each of them ready to go.
I give him directions and he tells me they’re two minutes away.
I throw my phone down, not bothering to check if I even ended the call. All that matters now is getting to her.
Chapter 21
I wake with a start as a sharp pain stings my arm.
My eyes flick open and a gasp sails out of me. I scramble away from the dark eyes staring down at me in pleasure.
Josh laughs as though my fear is his elixir for life and I rear back, but it’s not exactly the easiest thing to do on this small couch. “Where are you going, princess?” he laughs as he places something down on the table beside him. “It’s taken me so long to find you, we wouldn’t want to end our fun so soon.”
I risk taking my eyes off him for a second and look down at the table. Bile rises in my throat as I take in the syringe sitting before me and recall the sharp sting in my arm.
My eyes instantly flick down to see a drop of blood running its way down my arm towards my wrist before I look back at Josh. “What did you do?” I demand. “What did you give me?”
“Oh, nothing,” he smirks with a dark amusement within his eyes. “Just something I’ve made up to help you relax. You’re so freaking uptight. It’s a party. We’re here to have fun. You should be thankful,” he laughs. “My guys pay big money to get this shit and I’ve just given it to you for free.”