Chapter 24
Alexa
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was my aching head. A sharp pain pulsed in my temple, and when I turned my head, it felt like the world tipped on it axis. Where was I? My mind was fuzzy. Something was wrong, but the knowledge was somewhere at the back of my mind where I couldn’t reach it. Something important had happened. Something was wrong. Did I have a concussion?
Slowly, the memories flooded back to me. I had been on my way to meet Sherry. Someone had grabbed me, pulled a bag over my head—a bag that had smelled terrible. The bag was gone at least.
I opened my eyes. It was dark around me, I could barely see anything.
Fear crept in and I started trembling. I wanted to cry. I’d been kidnapped and I had no idea where I was or what was going to happen to me. My breath came in shallow gasps. I closed my eyes and focused on slowing my breathing down. I had to get a hold of myself. I couldn’t freak out now.
When I opened my eyes, I had it under control a bit better but I was still shivering.
I was cold. I lay on a concrete floor and I shivered. My hands were still tied behind my back, and by the consistent pain around my wrists, I was sure it was still that damn zip tie. Let’s not make a prisoner comfortable.
My legs were still free. Whoever had hit me in the head hadn’t thought to tie up my legs after I’d gotten a kick in. Thank God for that.
I tried to sit up. It was a hell of a lot harder to sit up when your hands were tied. Moving around made me feel sick. My head felt like it was going to explode and I considered just lying on the floor, but that would be giving up and I wasn’t going to give up.
I tried again, getting my legs under me, and finally, I managed to sit up.
I looked around. I was in a smallish room that was naked and bare. There was no furniture, no carpeting, and no wallpaper. The raw brick walls did nothing for the cold. The only light came from a small window near the ceiling, telling me I was in a basement.
I managed to get onto my knees and then on my feet. I could walk. I made my way to a door that was in desperate need of paint. I turned around and tried to get to the handle, pushing myself into the corner to grip it with my tied hands. It hurt my wrists to tug and pull against the restraint, but eventually I got a hold of the handle and maneuvered it down. But the door was locked.
Of course.
A lump rose in my throat, and I did nothing to stop it. Hot tears ran down my cheeks, and I walked back to the far side of the room where I’d woken up. I sank to the ground, crying, feeling miserable. My head ached and I felt like I was going to throw up.
I didn’t know how much time had passed before I heard the lock turn in the door. I wiped my face on my arms, trying to get rid of the signs that I had cried. Whoever had caught me couldn’t know that I was terrified.
The door slowly opened with a terrible creak.
“God, someone should oil this thing,” a woman said in a disgusted voice. Long auburn hair hung over her face as she looked down, so I couldn’t see her face. But it was a woman. That was a good sign, right? Women had compassion. Maybe I could get her to help me.
When she closed the door, she turned to me and flicked her hair back and out of her face, and I recognized the dark eyes, the pixie-like face, and the resting bitch face.
“Sherry?” I asked. It had been forever since I’d seen her, but it was impossible to forget her. She hadn’t changed a bit either. She still looked preppy.
“Oh, you’re awake,” she said in a bored tone. “They told me to check on you.”
I frowned. “They?”
She smiled and nodded. If we weren’t talking about my kidnappers and we weren’t stuck in a basement with my hands tied behind my back, the smile would have seemed friendly.
It didn’t have quite the same effect now.
“Did you do this?” I asked. Sherry wasn’t a prisoner, which meant she had to be on the other side.
Sherry smiled and nodded, looking pleased with herself. It was hard to think we were almost the same age. She acted like a teenager.
“Yeah, I did,” she said. “I had to tell Koby that you were snooping around.”
“Who says I was snooping?” I asked. “I just wanted to talk.”
Sherry rolled her eyes. “Come on, Alexa. It’s not like we’re friends. There’s no reason for us to chat unless you want to know something, and after everything that happened to Dalton and you knowing I’m with Koby, it couldn’t be anything other than snooping.”
“Who’s Koby?” I asked.
Sherry laughed, and it was a shrill laugh, a mocking laugh.
“You’re so naïve. Koby Mason is the president of the Samurai, duh. Do you honestly think I would be with any of the other goons? God, I have standards.”
I doubted it, but I didn’t say so. If I’d known she was dating the president, I would have reconsidered meeting her. Well, it was too late now, wasn’t it?
“Anyway, I told Koby you were snooping and he arranged for you to get taken and now you’re here.”
She smiled sweetly at me. I wished my hands weren’t tied. I wanted to scratch her eyes out. What a little bitch.
She walked to the corner where a crate stood on its side. She tipped it down and dusted it with her bare hand, looking at her palm and pulling a face when it got dirty.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Keeping an eye on you. I’m supposed to watch you for a while so that you don’t try anything stupid.”
What was I going to try? I couldn’t do anything. My hands were tied, the window was too high, and unless Sherry was in here—though I wished she would leave again—the door was locked. I was hardly a danger to anyone.
“What have you been doing lately?” Sherry asked after we were together in silence for a while.
I frowned at her.
“What?” she asked. “I’m bored and we haven’t exactly kept in touch. The last time I saw you, we were still studying and I was dreaming about that hottie brother of yours.”
When she mentioned Dalton, my blood ran cold. I didn’t want to talk about him, especially not with the woman who had kidnapped me, the one who was no doubt fucking the president of the gang he’d belonged to.
“Oh, come on, Alexa. Don’t be such a pain. I’m just making small talk.”
I didn’t answer her. She shrugged and leaned against the wall. For a moment, we were silent again, but Sherry apparently lacked the ability to stop talking.
“What was it that you wanted to ask me, anyway?” Sherry asked. “You can tell me, you know.”
“And then you’ll run to Koby and tell him everything I said?” I asked.
Sherry shrugged. “Well, yeah, but that’s because I said I would. It’s nothing personal.”
I believed her. It wasn’t personal for her.
“It’s because I’m Dalton’s sister, isn’t it?” I asked.
Sherry sighed. “I can’t tell you that.” She crossed one leg over the other and hugged herself.
“It’s cold down here. God, I should have brought a jacket. I don’t know how you’re fine with just that shirt on.”
Well, I wasn’t, was I? I was shivering. They’d sent the right person down to torture me, that was for sure. Her incessant yapping was irritating. I wanted her to go away.
“Did you kill Sam?” I blurted out.
Sherry blinked at me. She laughed, and it skipped around the bare room.
“I would never do that. I don’t like getting blood on my hands. Pun intended.” She laughed at her own joke.
“I don’t mean you,” I said. Dumb bitch. “I mean the Samurai.”
“It’s cute how you think I’m going to tell you what’s going on. Not all the villains monologue about their evil plans, you know.”
It was worth a shot. Sherry was a talker. Maybe if I pushed her…
“What about Dalton?” I asked. “Did you kill him?”
She laughed again, but it turned into a sigh.
“I don’t even know why I’m holding it all back. You’re probably never going to get out of here, so I might as well tell you.”
Blood drained from my face and my head throbbed more aggressively. They were going to kill me, too, weren’t they? I was going to die. Maybe not today, but soon. Then Mom would have lost two kids, and Luke would never forgive himself. I should have told him what I was doing. He would only start missing me at the end of the day, and by then it would be too late.
“And the answer is yes,” Sherry said. I snapped my head up, my self-pity forgotten. “We did kill Dalton. Well, not ‘we.’ I mean them.”
My throat swelled shut and I couldn’t breathe.
“What?” I asked.
Sherry shrugged. “It’s what happens when you talk to the wrong people. I don’t make the rules. They caught him talking to someone he shouldn’t have talked to and brought him here. Not down here, of course, but to this house.”
I didn’t want to hear the rest of it.
“Okay,” I said.
Sherry laughed. “Okay? That’s it? That’s all you wanted to know?”
I nodded. I wanted her to stop. This hurt too much.
“Come on, I was just getting started. You see, usually when someone snitches, they just get shot, but Koby needed to know what Dalton said and Dalton wouldn’t tell him. So Koby had to beat it out of him. I have to tell you, your brother could take quite a licking.”
I moaned, the pain in my chest so physical it was like Sherry had driven a real knife between my ribs.
“Koby kept beating him but he wouldn’t talk. So stubborn. If only he’d been that tightlipped when it counted. It wasn’t until he was practically dead that he told Koby what he needed to know, but it was too late then. Koby says loyalty has a price. I don’t really know what that means, but I think Dalton paid up.”
I was horrified. I stared at Sherry, who had just told me the story of someone’s death like we were gossiping about love scandals or the latest shoe sale at the mall.
“What’s the matter, Alexa? You’re pale.”
I felt like I was going to pass out. I was so nauseated, and it wasn’t from a concussion this time. Dalton had suffered so badly. How had they covered it up as a mugging if he’d been hurt so badly?
“Please,” I said in a strained voice. “No more.”
“No?” Sherry asked. “Oh, I thought you wanted to know. Sorry.”
She shrugged and shivered again. “I’m going to get something warmer to wear. I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.” She got up and walked to the door.
She laughed like her joke was funny before she left, closing the door behind her. I heard the lock click back into place. The sound was unnaturally loud, echoing in the bare room. It felt like it echoed right down to my soul.
I was like this room, empty, bare, stripped of everything. I closed my eyes. Dalton…
I broke down and cried.