Grant
The drive back to my base took far longer than I would’ve liked. To send out some guys to get some heavier hitting ammo and guns took far longer than I would’ve liked. For us to get all squared away and ready for a showdown took far longer than I would’ve liked.
But eventually we were all armed to the teeth, and we rolled out. Two large vans of us. As much as I wanted to be one of the drivers, I elected not to. My hands were shaking—I was hopped up on too much adrenaline. I was more of a liability than anything else at this point.
We had to reach Victoria and Sage in order to save them, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to drive us there safely. It had been over three hours since Trenton had made the ransom call, and it was eating away at me that my prep work—all necessary—had taken so long.
“Drive faster,” I urged Bob.
“Any faster and she’d have to have wings,” Bob called back, sounded way too chipper.
Grumbling, swallowing a curse, I sat back in my seat. I was the passenger, a position I wasn’t comfortable with.
Behind me, the guys were going on and on about random stupid shit, and I did my best to ignore it until something inside of me snapped. I jerked around and leveled them such a glower that I didn’t have to say anything and they all still shut up immediately anyhow.
How had things come to this—for Trenton to hold women for ransom? How had I failed him? Maybe I had been too hard on him. Maybe I should’ve insisted he see a shrink and get real help.
Or maybe this had nothing to do with me.
Like fuck it didn’t. For him to realize how much Victoria meant to me had to mean he’d been keeping tabs on me despite his “running away.” Which meant it was personal. To some degree. All he wanted was money. Money was as impersonal as you could get.
“Fuck me,” I mumbled to myself.
Bob glanced over. “You all right, boss?”
“Just fine,” I grumbled, not wanting to get into it.
“Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Bob sang under his breath.
“Grow the fuck up.” I slammed my fist onto the dashboard.
Bob jerked. “Sorry,” he said, sounding more sincere than he had since, well, ever.
“Don’t worry about it.” I really didn’t want to talk.
“Don’t you worry,” he said. “We’ll get him back.”
“What the fuck? Don’t you know what’s going on?”
“Yeah. Tuner’s got his head up his ass again, and he’s playin’ with us, and he has your girl up for ransom.”
“First up, I don’t think he’s playin’,” I growled. “And second, I don’t have a girl.”
Bob glanced at me real quick before focusing on the road. “You took her to your place, right?”
“Yeah. So?”
“You fucked her?”
I was silent. I had fucked a lot of women, but the word fucking didn’t fit with what Victoria and I had shared. She wasn’t my girl. She wasn’t even really mine. We hadn’t known each other for long. We didn’t really know each other at all.
Not yet.
“He really fucked up this time, hasn’t he?” Bob asked, his tone low.
“You got that right.”
“Drugs again?”
“Yep.”
“Using or…”
“Selling. He fucked that up, too. Had it stolen.” I hadn’t given the guys all of the details, figuring they would ask if they wanted to know. They weren’t sheep, blindly following me, but I think it was something in my tone, my attitude, or maybe my eyes that made them fall in line without question.
“Jesus.” Bob’s foot pressed down on the pedal, and the van sped up even faster with a jerk.
We were silent for a time, and I watched the scenery roll on by, the colors blurring together.
Bob cleared his throat. “Is all of this firepower necessary?” he asked quietly.
I wasn’t used to this side of him. He normally clowned around. Maybe a few jokes were what I needed, but I also kinda appreciated that he was being more levelheaded at the moment. “I hope it isn’t,” I said honestly.
Could I pull the trigger on Trenton? I sure as hell didn’t want to find out. It sure as fuck better not come to that. He had to see the light before it reached that point.
“But we gotta be prepared,” I continued. “For any shit that might hit the fan. I mean, if we were able to track him down, it’s possible the drug lord he owes money to would be able to, too, and if they show up…”
“They’ll be packin’, too.” Bob nodded. After a moment, he pursed his lips. “This fucking sucks, though.”
“Believe me. I know.”
Another silence. Fuck it all, Trenton. You just had to go and deal. Why the fuck would you do that? After drugs wrecked your childhood. There were a thousand different ways to make money. A thousand different ways that wouldn’t require you to be bullied into holding women for ransom.
If he hurt Victoria or Sage…
Was he a victim, too? In a way, but fuck it, I did not feel compassion toward him right now. When I took him under my wing, I knew he was fucked up in the head. I thought I had helped. Maybe I had some, but obviously it hadn’t been enough.
Sage, if you are in on this… I squirmed in my seat. I didn’t know her except for what Victoria had told me, but somehow I doubted she would be into the drug scene. Not after everything with her mom. Which meant this whole fucked up situation should hopefully open her eyes and make her end things with Trenton for good. Even if Trenton survived this and got the help he needed and started to walk the straight and narrow, I still didn’t think the two of them should get back together. Trenton would need to move forward with his life and not look backward, and Sage probably would need that, too.
Victoria…There was so much I wanted to tell her. So many things I wanted to do with her. So many things I wanted to do to her. I’ll find you. I’ll save you. Just hang on. Be strong. Don’t break. And don’t piss Trenton off. Who knows what the fuck he’s capable of right now. He probably feels like a caged rat right about now.
A slight smile came to my lips as I recalled how Victoria had been when we first met. Her sharp tongue, her biting words, her fierce protectiveness of her daughter…I’d been drawn to her right from the start, but if she wanted to be able to snap witty retorts to me, she would need to hold her tongue around Trenton. There was a chance that the pressure might get to him, that he might start using again, and if he did, the probability of someone getting shot would go sky high.
Victoria might be impulsive—like when she went to the bar even though we’d agreed she wouldn’t—but she was also reasonable and smart. She would do everything she could to keep herself and Sage alive. She wouldn’t provoke Trenton.
But if Trenton was using, he might not need something to set him off.
Fuck, we could not get there fast enough.