CHAPTER ONE
Lindsay
“I TOLD YOU to fucking leave,” the sexy Val Kilmer look-alike shouted. He said his name was Ice, probably in reference to Iceman from Top Gun. “I didn’t think you were serious! Who actually has a gun fight anymore? This isn’t the OK Corral.” I was well on my way to truly flipping the fuck out. My place of business, the one thing that I had poured my heart and soul into after my grandma passed away was now in ruins. How did this even happen? Since when did people go shoot up someone else’s house? And why did they have to choose my place? I had just gotten it fixed up exactly how I wanted. I had a mountain of debt that I had to pay back for all the repairs on the old, Victorian style house. “Look, now you’re fucking stuck with us. We could have handled this more discretely if you would have listened, but you didn’t. Now we’re going to have every single fucking gang member coming here for answers and they’re going to be looking for you.” “Why me?” I asked incredulously. “Because this is your fucking business,” Ice shouted. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I don’t even know you,” I said defiantly. For all I knew, they were some kind of mafia and I would slip into their clutches, never to be returned to my normal life again. There was no way I was going anywhere with them. Even if he was completely gorgeous and made me want to strip my clothes right now for him. Ice pulled me out from behind the counter and pointed at the two men on the floor that were dead. “Is that how you want to end up? Because if we leave you here, you’ll be joining them in the ground very shortly.” I swayed on my feet as I stared at the dead bodies on the floor. I wasn’t the best with a small paper cut that bled, so this…this was like my worst nightmare. I felt my eyes starting to roll back in my head and my knees went weak. “Is that…blood?” I was out before I heard myself finish that thought. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a moving vehicle surrounded by some of the most fierce men I had ever seen. I laid there, pretending to sleep, not knowing how to handle this situation. Did I fight back and try to get away from them or did I pretend that I was still asleep and go along with whatever was going on? Against my better judgment, I decided that I needed to find out what was going on. I sat up in my seat, my head pounding from passing out earlier and shuffled forward in my seat. “Where are we?” I asked hesitantly. “On the road,” Ice grumbled. “No shit,” I said, feeling my anger rise. “I know we’re on the fucking road, but where are you taking me?” “To a safe house.” “My house was safe,” I snapped. “At least it was before you came and brought all your shit to me.” “Look, we’ll pay for the damages, but right now, we have to get somewhere we can keep you safe. So, why don’t you sit back and keep your mouth shut?” I turned to the other man that almost looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Is he always this pissy?” “Nope.” “Oh, good. So, it’s just me that brings it out in him.” “Well, usually women fall at his feet. I think you’ve bruised his ego,” the man said. “My ego is just fine.” “I’m Lindsey, by the way. Just in case, you know, you were interested in who you kidnapped.” “Saved,” Ice snapped. “Well, I guess we have a slight difference of opinion. Since I didn’t actually want to go anywhere with you, forgive me if I see that as a kidnapping!” “If we had left you, you would have been dead by tomorrow,” he growled. “What? Are you a dog or something?” “Excuse me?” “You just growled at me. Like, seriously, it sounded like a dog was in the front seat.” “Listen, lady-” “Lindsey. I’m pretty sure I’ve already told you my name.” “Whatever. Can’t you just sit back like a good little girl-” “Hostage!” “-and shut your yap until we get to the safe house? It’s a long drive and it’s only going to be longer if you don’t shut the fuck up.” I sat back, crossing my arms over my chest. I tried. I really did, but this man just irritated me so much. “You know-” Ice groaned in the front seat, cutting off what I was going to say. I just spoke louder. “As I was saying, if you would just try to be a little more friendly, you know, give me a bottle of water or something to eat, I might not be so hangry.” The man in the passenger seat leaned forward and then turned around, handing me a Snickers bar and a bottle of water. “I’m Jules, by the way.” I smiled and took his proffered gifts. “Thank you, Jules. It’s nice to know that somebody around here has some manners.” I quickly unwrapped the chocolate bar and shoved it in my mouth, barely chewing it as I swallowed it down. After chugging half the water, I sat back, only slightly satisfied. “Fuck,” Ice swore. I sat forward immediately on alert for whatever was going to happen. “What? What’s going on?” “It didn’t work, Jules. She’s still the same person we picked up. You gotta another Snickers bar?” I glared at him and sank back into the seat, hating that I was just along for the ride with none of my stuff and- Oh. Shit. “Um, any chance we can stop at a restroom soon?” “What’s the matter, Princess? Can’t hold it that long?” “As a matter of fact, no, I can’t hold it. Could we just find a gas station to stop at?” “Sorry, doll. Not yet. We just got on the road. We’ll have to wait a few hours.” A few hours? Shit. That wasn’t going to work for me. I calculated how long it had been since I used the restroom and winced. I was going to need one soon. At the very most an hour. I held my legs together, hoping that it would ease the flow. God, this was so mortifying. I didn’t even have any cash on me to buy supplies. I was going to have to ask one of them. Most likely Jules because he seemed to be the only nice one in the vehicle. Glancing ahead of us, I saw that there was a vehicle ahead of us that we seemed to be keeping pace with and several more behind us. “Are we in some kind of caravan? Are all these vehicles yours?” “Reed Security,” Jules responded. “At your service.” “What does that mean?” “It means we protect people, keeping them from falling into the arms of those that would slice them open and feed them to the fishes. And we install security systems.” “Um…okay. So, who were the women that were at my B&B? Were those women that you were protecting? Because they didn’t look too good.” “Those were some wives of some of our guys,” Ice responded harshly. “So, you protect other people, just not your own spouses? Nice,” I muttered. “It wasn’t like that,” Ice growled. “And if you had left when I told you to, you wouldn’t be in the position you’re in right now.” “Right, because every girl listens to a man that tells her she needs to leave her home because bad men are coming to get her.” “I never said they were coming to get you.” “It doesn’t matter. Who actually would have believed you? Do you know how often something even remotely dangerous happens in that town? I think the last time was when someone escaped prison when I was in the sixth grade and they were suspected of being in the area.” Jules turned around in his seat to see me. “So, you’re saying that you don’t get a lot of action there. That sucks. I bet it makes life pretty dull.” “Better dull than being dragged off by ruthless killers in the middle of the night,” I snapped. “Hey, now,” Jules frowned. “There’s no need to be cruel. We’re not ruthless. I mean, we probably will be after this, but at your house, we were just protecting everyone.” “It looked more like you were getting my house destroyed. Out of all the places you could have gone to, why did you have to come to mine?” “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,” Jules said, looking past me into the darkness. “What?” I said after a moment of stunned silence. “Casablanca.” “Who?” “You know, that’s the problem with kids nowadays. They don’t know crap about good movies,” he muttered. “I’m not a kid. I’m twenty-eight.” “Like I said. You’re one of those millennials.” “I can’t help when I was born.” Jules turned to the window and muttered something and I crossed my arms over my chest, rolling my eyes at the ridiculous conversation. We drove for another twenty minutes before I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. We were coming up on an exit and I needed a bathroom. “Can we pull over to the gas station, please?” “No,” Ice snapped. “I really need to use the bathroom.” Jules handed me an empty coffee cup. “No unscheduled stops. We have too many other people that we have to think about.” “I didn’t ask to come along. I’m telling you I need a bathroom and this little coffee cup isn’t gonna cut it for me.” “Look, Princess. You’re just going to have to hold it until we get to where our next stop is,” Ice said. “I have my period,” I shouted. Embarrassment flooded my cheeks, but they obviously weren’t going to stop unless they got the picture. “Unless you want a big mess in the back seat, I suggest you pull over at the next exit so that I can use the bathroom. And you’re going to have to give me money so that I can buy some tampons since you dragged me out of my home without so much as my purse.” Dead silence filled the car and then a turn signal flipped on as Ice flashed his lights at the vehicle in front of us. When we pulled up to the gas station, I watched as the other women got out and hurried into the bathroom along with me, except for the woman with a bandage around her hand. She was slowly limping along with a man helping her. Jules handed me some cash and I quickly made my way inside to purchase my tampons. When I got to the bathroom, two of the women were talking. “Thank God they pulled over. I was about to pee my pants,” a blonde woman said. “They wouldn’t even stop for me, so I don’t know what convinced them to do it,” a strawberry blonde agreed. “They did it for me,” I jumped in. The women just stared at me. “I’m riding with Ice and Jules. They sort of kidnapped me from my B&B.” They continued to stare at me. “I have my period and since they took me without my purse or anything, I really needed to go. Believe me, I didn’t want to tell them that I had my period, but they weren’t going to stop.” “Men. I’m Maggie, by the way.” “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.” She was pale and looked like she was in a lot of pain. “I’ll get by. I’m just glad you got your period so that we could stop.” “Well, you just tell me how often you want to stop and I’ll tell them I need to use the bathroom again. I get really heavy periods anyway, so it’s not a lie.” “Just tell them every two hours. Is that too much?” she asked. “Not at all.” I went and used the bathroom and got evil glares when I made it back outside to the SUV. None of the men were happy about having to stop, but none of them said anything to me. When we got back in the SUV, I informed Jules and Ice that I would need to be stopping every two hours. I got the silent treatment the rest of the trip.