Jess placed the truck in park and opened the door as she continued to hum along with a song about a pontoon that had been playing on the stereo a moment before. She wasn’t sure what a pontoon was, some sort of boat she imagined from the song’s lyrics, but she liked the song anyway. She smiled as she hopped down from the truck, thinking again how she was turning into a regular redneck southern girl. When she first started driving Scott’s brick red Ford F150, she was a little intimidated by the size of the beast, but after a month she found she liked the high driving position and the feeling of invincibility she had while behind the wheel of the thing. Add to the fact that she had decided she liked pickup trucks, she was developing a taste for swinging country songs from artists like Brookes & Dunn, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, and others, so now all she needed was a pair of boots and a cowboy hat to go with her jeans, and she would be set. She grinned as she approached the door to their apartment. I can do sexy cowgirl, she thought as she switched the small bag of groceries to her other hand so she could unlock the door to their apartment.
“Hello Jessica,” Valdemar Ingersson rumbled as he and three other Grim Angels stepped around the corner.
She didn’t drop the sack, but her heart froze at her uncle’s voice. “What are you doing here?” she hissed, backing away as he approached.
“I’ve come to take you home.”
“I’m not going anyplace with you!”
“Yes you are. You’ve made your point and had your fun, but your mother has been worried about you. So have I.”
She looked around, trying to decide what to do. If she saw anyone she would start screaming, but there was no one around. That was the problem living in a lower middle-class section of town: everyone worked. “You stay away from me or I’ll scream!”
She had barely finished her sentence when Jake and Neil rushed past Val and grabbed her, man-handling her back to her door as the groceries fell to the ground. She tried to scream, tried to fight back, but the two men were far too strong for her to escape and one had his hand across her mouth, muffling her scream to almost inaudibility.
Val sighed. “Why do you make everything so fucking difficult?” He took her keys and unlocked the door, the two men shoving her inside as Jason gathered up the spilled produce.
“What are you going to do to me?” she demanded as she whirled to face Val, her heart thudding in her chest. Two months ago she would have bet her life that her Uncle Val would never hurt her, but she wasn’t so sure any more.
“Nothing. We’re just taking you home. You cooperate and it will be a pleasant drive. The less you cooperate, the less pleasant the drive will be. It’s up to you.”
“This is my home now!”
“No, your home is in Detroit, with your mother.”
“I don’t want to fucking live with my mother!”
“Fine. Get yourself an apartment then. But either way, you’re coming back to Detroit. I promised your old man I would take care of you, and that’s just what I’m going to do, whether you like it or not.”
“If you really wanted to take care of me, you would want what’s best for me.”
“I do. What’s best for you is to come back to Detroit. That way I can make sure nothing else happens to you. You’ll be safe there.”
“I was safe here!”
Val snorted. “Yeah, really safe. Where’s Scott? I don’t see him around here protecting you.”
“Fucking loser,” Jason McGinnis, the rising President of the Detroit chapter muttered just loud enough for her to hear.
“If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t need protecting,” she snapped at Val, her voice dripping venom. “And you, Jason, this is all your fault, you little shit. I’m going to watch Scott kill you and I’m going to spit in your face as you die.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Val said waving his hand as he turned toward the door. “Let’s go.”
“Can’t I at least pack a few things?”
“What are you going to pack? All your clothes are still in Detroit.”
“I need a few female…necessities, okay? Is that all right with you or do you want me bleeding all over your…how are we getting back to Detroit? I’m damn sure not riding a motorcycle the entire way again.”
“We came in the club Suburban. Go pack,” Val rumbled.
Jess thought frantically and then pulled her phone from her pocket.
“No phone calls!” Val barked.
“I’m not calling anybody! Jesus, do you mind if I change out of my uniform first?”
“Go with her,” Val ordered Jake. “Make sure she doesn’t do something stupid. Jason, put that stuff away while she packs.”
As they moved toward the bedroom, Jess punched at her phone, hiding what she was doing from the man following. She quickly unlocked it and started the voice recorder, setting the phone on the dresser as she walked into the bedroom. “Get out. I’m going to change.”
“Not going to happen,” Jake replied.
“I’m damn sure not going to Detroit dressed in my McDonald’s uniform, so get out!” she said loudly, praying the app on the phone was picking up her voice.
“Not happening. If you want to change, you’re going to have to do it in front of me. You heard Val.”
“Fuck you!”
“Yeah? You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Jake said with a leer and then laughed when she gave him the middle finger.
“Fine. Stand there then. I’ll change in the bathroom. I’ll leave the door open.” She rummaged in the closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and a top before marching into the bathroom. When she stepped out, Jake was watching the door, but had the decency to not move to where he could peek in and watch her change.
“Look, Jake, you don’t want to do this,” she said when she returned. “I know Val is the president, but this is kidnapping. You don’t want to force me to leave for Detroit. Please, Jake, please don’t do this.” She could feel herself tearing up and she let them come.
“You can turn off the water works, Jess. I’m immune. I like to make women cry. It turns me on.”
“Asshole,” Jess sneered as she stomped past him while he laughed.
***
“Jess? I’m home,” Scott said as he stepped into the apartment. She wasn’t visible in the combined living room, dining room, kitchen, so he moved to the back of the apartment, hoping to find her sleeping again. Two weeks ago he had found her napping when he got home, and when he woke her up with soft kisses, they had gone at it like bunnies. “Jess?” he said as he stepped into their bedroom, then looking in their bathroom, picking up her uniform from the floor and putting it in the hamper. His brow furrowing, he opened the blinds with his fingers as he checked to make sure the truck was parked outside.
I bet she’s at the pool, driving all the guys wild. He smiled as he thought of her poured into her black one piece bathing suit, and decided he wanted to see that himself. He strode out of the apartment, grinning as he thought of her laying on a chase, her skin the color of well-creamed coffee and glistening with lotion, the suit fitting her in all the right places. When I get there, if I can sneak up on her, I’m going to get her attention by spreading more lotion on her. Pleased with his plan, he slowly opened the gate to the pool, looking around for Jess, but she was nowhere to be seen.
A lump formed in his stomach as he pulled his phone and dialed her number, listening to the ringing while walking back to their apartment. When his call went to voicemail, he pocketed his phone and quickened his pace.
“Jess?” he called again as he reentered the apartment, glancing around the big room before moving back to the bedroom, praying they had just missed each other, looking on the floor between the bed and the wall, and then checking the bath, making sure she hadn’t fallen in the tub. Other than her uniform being left in the floor of the bathroom, the apartment looked just like he left it this morning.
The lump in his stomach grew colder as he moved back to the front of the apartment, pulling out his phone to call her again. When heard her phone playing No One, he lowered his phone and followed the sound to their bedroom. He had first heard the ringtone not long after they had moved in when he had dialed her number to help her locate her misplaced phone. He had smiled then, but hearing it now filled him with dread.
He killed the call and picked up her phone. Jess never went anyplace without her phone and his blood began to run cold. He unlocked it and squinting at the open voice recorder app that she used for reminders. He pushed the Stop button then pushed Play.
“Get out. I’m going to change,” Jess said from the phone.
“Not going to happen,” a man’s voice replied.
“I’m damn sure not going to Detroit dressed in my McDonalds uniform, so get out!” Jess said, her voice loud.
“Not happening. If you want to change, you’re going to have to do it in front of me. You heard Val.”
“Fuck you!”
“Yeah? You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” the man said then laughed.
Scott listened to the rest of the recording, his hand gripping the phone tighter and tighter as it played. When it ended, he played it again, unable to believe what he heard. How had they found us, and so soon? It didn’t matter how, the fact was they had, and now they had taken Jess. There was no time stamp on the message, but he had to assume they had at least a three-hour head start.
He went cold with rage. Without a second thought or moment’s hesitation, he moved to the closet and pulled down the plastic container where he kept his extra ammunition, pulling two boxes of ammo from the container and then sliding the rest back into place. He paused at the dresser for a moment and then dropped his Harley keys into the glass tray and picked up his truck keys. Easier to haul the dead bodies, he growled to himself as he turned and headed for the door.
The Grim Angels were about to meet the angel of death. They were going to pay…and pay dearly.