CHASE

 

Shit. That phone has the worst damn timing. I exhale sharply and shuffle my knee between her legs. My eyes stare down into hers from above. It’s like I’ve got her hooked, her gaze and all of her attention. I’m not even sure she can hear the ringing of the phone.

I’m a guilty ass man. Guilty as charged. My mind should be anywhere else right now. It should be on finding her sister, but it’s not. It’s here and she’s all I can think about. I’ve been thinking about her all day and seeing her in the flesh? Well, I think that just about sent me over the edge. There’s no going back now.

But shit, that’s probably a phone call that should be answered.

“Are you going to answer that?” I question from above her, my voice shaken and ragged. “You should probably answer that.”

“Right.” She nods and shuffles her body free from mine. She lunges forward to swipe the phone off the nightstand and just before she slides her finger against the screen to accept the call, I try to stop her.

“Wait,” I yell, remembering that we needed to have the phone call patched through Marcus, but it’s too late.

“Hello?” she says, turns the speaker on and levels the phone in the air between us.

“Good evening again, Miss Smart,” the man says, white noise and distortions making it difficult to understand what he’s saying. “This phone call will only be brief enough to inform you that you have forty-eight hours, exact, from the time this phone call ends to meet us with the money. It should go without saying that it should only be in cash. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” She clears her throat nervously and then looks to me. I offer her a nod, trying to emphasize to keep the conversation going as long as possible to hopefully be able to get some clues. “Can I talk to her?”

“Visitation rights have yet to be scheduled, Miss Smart.” The man laughs manically, and then coughs violently into the phone. “We’ll be in touch with more details.”

“Wait!” Summer screams into the phone. “What about—?”

“Tsk tsk tsk,” the man taunts her. “Have you been a naughty girl, Summer?”

“I… I don’t know what you mean.”

“Is this call being traced?”

“No,” she says confidentially, making me proud. I mean, sure the phone call isn’t actually being monitored but the general gist of the question wasn’t so much about that specifically as it was about something else. “You said if I contacted anyone that you’d kill her. Do you think I’d risk my own sister’s life like that?”

“Only time will tell.”

Click.

Her eyes tangle with mine and not how they had done just prior to the phone call. It’s different now. Gone are the hints and signs pointing to lust. There’s a certain fire in her eyes now, burning hot and bright with fear and consolation.

“I have to do this alone,” she says, encompassing her hand into a fist.

“I’m not letting you do that,” I scoff, shake my head.

“You heard what he said.” She cocks her head slightly, sighs and presses her tongue against the inside of one cheek. “I think he knows.”

“Knows what? About my involvement? How could he?”

“They blew up that car,” she says with a sudden burst of energy.

She has a point, but I can’t budge in my convictions. I can’t allow her to do this on her own. It’s too dangerous. “It was probably rigged to go off anyway.”

“By petty thieves?”

“I don’t think they’re simple criminals.”

“Since when?” she huffs and drops down onto the bed.

“It’s a gut feeling.” I step to the bed and fall just short of taking a seat beside her. “Just trust me on this.”

“I’m sorry but that’s difficult.”

“Why?” I shake my head, more than a little confused. Just two minutes ago, she was confessing that she was feeling something for me, whatever those feelings were. And now, she can’t trust me? What the hell gives? I take a seat beside her. “You don’t really have a choice right now.”

“Is that what this is?” She jumps back to her feet and twists to me. “You’ve got me trapped so my only option is to stick with you?”

“You can leave at anytime. You can do whatever you want to do. I can advise you and try to protect you, but at the end of the day, you’re the one who has the power to call the shots.”

“Consider the shots called then.” She reaches for her phone again and dials in a number before placing it to her ear. She waits patiently for whoever to pick up on the other end.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m calling someone.”

“Who are you calling?”

“I’m calling Taylor’s husband.”

“That’s a negative.” I rip the phone out of her hand and end the phone call before she can do something that stupid. “I know you think you’re doing the right thing, but you don’t know how he’s going to respond. He could force this entire thing to explode.”

“It’s already exploded!” she screams. “Just by the virtue of it happening. It’s exploded. We’ve done crossed that threshold.”

“I just want you to think about what you’re doing.”

“I’ve thought about it enough.” She nods in agreement with herself, like she has to say it out loud to believe it. “I’m giving them the money and Rick will agree.”

“And what if it’s not enough?” I reach up to her to grab at her wrist, but she spins away from me. “What if you give them all the money in the world and they still don’t agree to release her, then what?”

“Then you can gloat that you were right and I’ll hate myself.”

“I don’t want to gloat.”

“But you sure as hell enjoy standing in my way.” Her eyes bore into mine from above. “What happened to this being my choice?”

“You’re right.” I toss the phone back to her, which she narrowly catches in her small hands. “Do what you want and I’ll stand behind you.”

“I’m sorry.” She dials Rick’s number again and presses the phone against her ear. “I can’t lose my sister.”

I get it. I understand her completely and I would never do anything that I thought was going to endanger her or her sister, but I can’t help but feel like something about this is off. I can’t help feeling that despite Dom’s reservations these are men we’ve dealt with before and if that’s true, they’ve already seen my face and they probably already know.

I just stand there in front of Summer, stone-faced as I watch her waiting for Rick to answer the phone. And then finally, “Hey, Rick. It’s Summer…” She exhales a burst of hot air between pouted lips, her entire body shaking. “We need to talk.”