She doesn’t answer. Instead, she pats the wall beside her. I lean against it and light my own cigarette. “I like it here,” she says.
“Emily, this isn’t the sort of place you should be.” I sigh. “It’s not what you think.” She smiles and I see something different in her eyes. “What’s going on?” I ask. “Talk to me.”
“I’m not who you think I am, Cree,” she mutters. I feel a sharp prick in my leg and look down to where Emily holds a needle. She winces. “Sorry.”
The last thing I think as my body relaxes and my eyes grow heavy is that she doesn’t look sorry at all.
My head hurts. That’s the first thing I think when I try to open my eyes. I squint, but my vision is fuzzy. My head feels too heavy to hold up and there’s a pain in my neck where it lolls to the side. “Here he is,” says a loud voice. I wince as the sound penetrates my confused brain. “Wakey wakey,” comes the voice again. Cold water hits my face and runs down my body. It’s then I realise I’m completely naked.
My vision clears slightly and I make out a figure standing a few metres away from me. It’s a man. “You went down hard, but then you’re a big guy, so I had to double the dose to make sure it did the job.” Callum comes into my line of sight and I realise the figure I first spotted is a man guarding the door. I shift slightly. My hands are tied behind the chair and each of my ankles are tied to the legs. “You’d need to be a magician to get out of those ties.”
“What the fuck am I doing here?” I croak.
“You’re playing the game. It’s exciting, isn’t it?” He rubs his hands together.
“Why the hell am I naked?” I growl.
“You can blame my wife for that one. She’s missed you.” He smirks. “I have to go. I’m expecting a message from my girl any second.” He moves to the door. “That’s Eva, by the way,” he adds. “My girl, Eva.”
“The Kings know I’m here. They’ll come for me,” I growl.
Callum laughs. “Nobody knows about this place. You’re quite safe.” He leaves, and the guard steps outside the room and locks the door. It’s a small room with no windows. The door is metal with a glass panel at eye level. To my left, there’s a darkened window. It reminds me of the sort of room you’d get taken into to be questioned by the cops. I’m no longer at the townhouse, which alarms me. It means no one knows where the hell I am.
Eva
I wake and stretch out. My body feels relaxed despite the dull aches where Cree got rough last night, but nothing can wipe the smile from my face today.
I head down for breakfast after my shower and I tell my mum how me and Cree have sorted things out. She’s delighted. She’s been rooting for Cree from the start.
Riggs comes in. “Any word from Cree?” he asks.
I shake my head. “He isn’t back, as far as I know. I haven’t checked my cell yet.” I’d left it in my room. “I can check it now.”
“No rush. I just expected him to check in by now. I know what he’s like for getting distracted. Bet the ass went straight to the gym.”
I sit for a few minutes but then anxiety gets the better of me and I go back upstairs to retrieve my cell phone. Cree left at one this morning. It’s now eight, and he should have been back or at least checked in by now.
I open up my cell. There’s a message from Callum but nothing from Cree. I sigh and open up the message. The caption at the top reads ‘Reunited’. I frown, waiting for a picture to download. I drop my cell as the image of Cree and Michelle opens. He’s passed out and tied to a chair fully naked, and she’s straddling him, thankfully fully clothed. My hands shake when I pick up the cell again to get a better look. Cree’s head is resting to one side and his skin is pale.
I burst into Riggs’ office. He looks annoyed for a moment, but he must sense my urgency and takes my cell as I thrust it at him. He stands, his face full of rage. “Shit!” he yells. He stomps from the room and yells for Chains. “Get all the brothers together now! Cree’s in trouble!”
I pace back and forth outside the room the Kings use for church. Frankie hands me a cup of coffee, but I can’t drink a thing. “Riggs will sort this,” she says. “I promise.”
“What’s taking them so long? Let’s just go and get him back. The Kings have guns, right? Callum works in a bank and Michelle owns a modelling agency. We’re hardly going up against Bonnie and Clyde.”
“Patience,” says Frankie gently. “They’ll have a plan.”
Cree
I’ve been here for hours. I’m cold . . . so cold. The water they threw over me left me chilled to the bone and I can’t stop the damn tremors. I can’t feel my hands and my head pounds a dull thud on repeat. Whatever drug they gave me is taking its time to get the fuck out of my system.
The door opens and Michelle saunters in. She smiles. “You’re awake,” she says.
“No shit,” I utter.
“I thought you might need a drink and some tablets for your head.” I think about telling her to shove her tablets up her ass, but my head really does hurt. She presses a small plastic cup to my lips and tips in some tablets following it with a beaker of water. I swallow and she smiles again. “Good boy. I’ll be back soon for your treat.”
“Unless my treat is getting me the fuck outta here, then don’t bother,” I growl.
It’s another ten minutes before she
