AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Brandon was nowhere in sight.
“Where is Brandon?” I asked Marc.
Marc scanned the crowd. “I don’t know.” He squeezed my arm, leaning in. “She’s causing a distraction, maybe for him. I’m going to find out. Stay here. Keep an eye on her. Don’t move from this spot. If you get hassled, go to the SUV and stay inside until we come for you.”
I didn’t like that plan. I didn’t want to lose sight of him. The earpiece was gone now, back in the SUV, and I wasn’t sure it was even working. “What are you doing?” I asked him.
“Have to go save Brandon,” he said. “If he’s trying to snoop, he picked the wrong place to do it.” He stepped away, trying to walk around the crowd.
I swallowed, drawing my arms around my stomach while Marc circled the pool. I lost sight of him through the thick group of people gathering around Future as she did a strip-like dance.
She was starting to hook her fingers into her bra, showing flashes to the guys gathering around.
Some were standing back, shaking their heads. They must have known Future.
The girls in the pool were pouting at not getting enough attention.
“Is that Fortune?” Henry asked. It was the first time I’d heard from him all night. I stepped back, trying to stand behind someone else to give some distance.
“Aw shit,” the brunette escort beside him said. “That fag? What’s he doing here?”
“I didn’t tell him we were having a party tonight,” Henry said. “Must have heard it from the others.”
“Well go tell him to leave,” the woman said. “Or at least put his clothes back on. They’re all going to be grossed out if he takes off that skirt.”
Henry grumbled something.
“If you want to fuck him, then go do it somewhere else,” the woman said.
“That’s not what I said.”
She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Look, I told you we should wait until the job was done.”
The job. She was giving orders to Henry.
Who was she?
“George,” Henry said. He snapped at the guy that had been sitting next to the escort. “Go get Fortune. Get her out of here.”
Another guy was jogging around the pool. He started waving at Henry. George left, heading toward Future. The new guy stood next to Henry. “Boss,” he said. “The SUV that was at Fred’s place, the one with the crew snooping around…”
“Not so loud,” Henry said.
“It’s parked outside.”
Uh oh. They knew about the car. We needed to leave. We may have to do it without the car.
I started walking around, flashing a fake smile and looking like I was trying to get a better view. Future was getting hassled by George, but she was ignoring him, twisting her hips and swaying back and forth. She reached around, threatening to unhook her bra.
I had to give it to her. If Brandon told her to make a scene, she was doing a marvelous job.
I found the phone tucked away, and checked the numbers, looking Marc’s. I sent him a text, telling him to get out. They know we’re here. I hoped he got it before they found them.
I was starting to ease my way around, trying to figure out a way inside, and wondered if the front door was still open. I started around, toward the dark areas between the houses, slowing down a little to let my eyes adjust.
An arm grabbed me, pulling me into the darker shadows of the area next to the house.
My first reaction was to throw a punch. If it’s one of those jerk guys thinking I was one of those escorts, I was going to…
Blake Coaltar’s face loomed over me, pressing his hand across my mouth and telling me to keep quiet.
My heart raced. “Blake,” I said, though smothered by his hand.
“We have to leave,” he said. His voice was deeper, demanding. He tugged me, nearly lifting me off the ground. He wasn’t going to wait.
I struggled, smacking him on the arm. “I have to go inside.”
“Your pals are about to be arrested,” he said. “If you go in there, you’ll be going with them.”
I panicked, looking around him, trying to see what was going on as he started carrying me toward the street.
The commotion inside was loud. I knew a fight when I heard one. Brandon or Marc may have been caught.
“We have to go get them!” I cried.
“No,” he said. “You’re coming with me. I don’t know what you thought you were doing, trying to bust in on a party filled with bounty hunters and hookers, but you guys are the craziest.” He encircled my waist, lifting me up higher and hauled me toward his Mercedes parked down the street.
Alarm seized through me. I didn’t want to leave Marc or Brandon behind, but the thought of being arrested made me hesitate.
It killed me that my fear was what held me back from running in there with them. I’d never been arrested before. All my thoughts about the police were that they’d lock you in a cell with Bubba, and throw away the key. If you’re ever caught, you’re forever on their radar.
Blake carried me, as my first instinct was to tuck back in a corner and watch. Marc’s and Brandon’s promises were still heavy on my heart. Running off felt like I was betraying them both.
Blake stuffed me into his Mercedes and shut the door. He hopped into the other side and started the car. He revved, and tore down the street.
The last I saw was Brandon being hauled out by two guys, his hands behind his back.
I clutched the cell phone they’d given me. I’d been too late. I shouldn’t have let Marc go in there after Brandon. I shouldn’t have agreed to this party at all.
I pressed my face into the leather seat, dying on the inside.
SECRETS LIKE RAINDROPS
Blake pulled over not too far from the house, waiting. When an unmarked cop car pulled out from the party with Brandon and Marc in the back, he started tailing them.
“What are we doing?”
“Making sure they actually take them to the police station, and not to the morgue.”
My jaw dropped. “They didn’t do anything.”
“Those cops are really pissed off,” Blake said, pointing at the car we were following. “Your buddies crashed the wrong party. What the hell were you guys thinking?”
I fumed, tapping my fingers against the armrest. I stared out the front, like I could set fire to the cop car just by glaring at it. “How do we get them out?”
“Sweetheart,” Blake said. “Are you kidding me? This is
perfect.”
I turned on him. His blond locks were hanging into his eyes. The facial hair was a little too overgrown. He was wearing the same jeans and shirt as yesterday. Had he slept or taken a break at all since his promise to follow me? “What? How is this perfect?”
“Don’t you see? They’ve been arrested. That will hold them overnight at least. They’ll probably grill them to try to figure out why they’re here. Now you’ll see what I’m talking about.”
“Huh?”
“Their damn lawyers,” he said. He turned his head to me and grinned. “That’s who we should pay attention to. The guys with power. The ones that manage to walk in and get them out of being in trouble.”
“But we weren’t…we were…” I moaned and shook my head. “This is all wrong. We can’t do this right now. We were trying to find the girl.”
“Who?” he asked.
I looked over at Blake. His eyes were wide, glancing from the road to me. It was dark, so I only caught the shape of his face. I hoped I wasn’t making this worse by telling him. “Sara,” I said. “You’re forgetting there’s a little girl in the middle of this mess. We need to find her.”
“How do you know her?”
“She’s apparently the…niece of one of the members of the Academy. Someone else. I’ve never met him.”
“Is she really missing? Are we sure the Academy doesn’t have her?”
“Why would the Academy guys look for her if they have her?” I asked.
He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know. After all the secrecy and lies, I’ve got all sorts of conspiracies I’m cooking up.”
“I can’t go on theories,” I said. “We need to focus.”
He swallowed, staring out the windshield as he drove. “You’re right,” he said. “If you really want to find her, catch me up. Tell me about Sara. What do you have?”
I started telling him about going to Fred’s apartment, about trying to figure out the truth with Future, then to Henry’s for the party. “I was trying to listen in on Henry. He wouldn’t talk though. It was always the girl. And for some reason she said they should have waited until after the job was done.”
