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“Oh no, I know that look, nope uh ah,” Paige said, shaking her head, the faux look of horror written on her face making it hard to contain my laughter. “I love you, girl, but you start sharing intimate shit about my cousin, and then I’m gonna have to bleach my brain.”
“Fine,” I said through my laughter. “Just as long as you don’t grace me with details about you and Damon.”
“There’s nothing going on between Damon and I,” Paige deadpanned.
“Yet,” I countered. Neither of them were fooling anyone, they skated around each other, but I’d caught the looks they gave each other. “It’s only a matter of time, Paige, and all I ask is that you don’t tell me, cause the dude is like my brother.”
“Okay, you got a deal.” Paige nodded at the door. “Why don’t we join the girls at the bar and get something to eat?”
Chapter Thirty Three - Phoenix
“The guys wanted me to tell you they’d be back in thirty minutes. They had to do something for Stryker’s dad on the way home,” Jonah relayed their message to me as we pulled into the driveway of the beach house. School had been it’s usual hellish experience, all except for the fact that the head cheerleader had been missing. With everything that had gone on, I guess everyone had forgotten about her. It probably didn’t help that I hadn’t been there for her to torment either.
“J’, don’t you think it’s weird that Taylah has been missing since I was taken?” That little tidbit hadn’t escaped me. I’d been in the girls’ bathroom when I’d overheard some of the cheerleaders talking about how she’d ghosted them for weeks. They were more angry than concerned. “It can’t be a coincidence. She would always say she couldn’t wait for ‘him’ to take me. What if the ‘him’ she was referring to was Kyle?”
Jonah shifted in his seat and turned to look at me. Reaching out, he took my hand and gave it a little squeeze. The way he looked at me told me there was a battle within. He knew more than he was letting on.
“Just tell me whatever it is you’re hiding?” Frustration started to make its way to the surface. It was time I showed them that I could handle things.
After our night at The Rage Cage, I had agreed to let Paige and Luca take me to the shooting range. Whenever the guys weren’t shadowing me, I was with the girls, learning to shoot a gun, and I’d started to get good at it.
“I don’t know much, and I haven’t told the others yet, but I think maybe Kyle and his father are behind her disappearance.” Concern rolled off him in waves. The Ducanes were part of some screwed up club, so if Jonah had information that pointed to their involvement, the n what he knew had to be bad. “I need to do a bit more digging, but I’ll let you know as soon as I can confirm things.”
“Just be careful, yeah?” I leaned over the centre console and pulled him closer. Foreheads touching, I placed a soft kiss on his lips. “I better let you go. D’ hates it when people are late. Did he tell you what he wanted you for?”
“Nah, just that it was important. But don’t worry, I’ll let you know when I come back tonight.” His hand wrapped around my hair as he pulled me in for another kiss, this time deeper, hungrier than the one I’d given him. I was a little breathless, and a little flushed, when he finally released me. “I hate leaving knowing you're going to be alone.”
“It’s okay. Stryker will be here soon, plus I’ll be able to do some catch up on a bit of the school stuff I’ve missed.” I smiled at him, trying to reassure him, as I stepped out of his Challenger. “We still on for tomorrow night?”
“Don’t fret, Phee, I’ve booked the studio for the whole evening. We’ll get you caught up. Now, head inside.” He motioned with his head to the front door. “I’ll be back soon, and I’ll help you tackle that bio homework, ‘kay.”
With a nod, I closed the door and watched him take off before I made my way up to the front porch, the gravel driveway crunching under my feet on the way. The bushes that outlined the front porch had started to green up, there were buds starting to form. Smiling, I dug out my keys and unlocked the door.
Shutting the door behind me, I dropped my keys in the bowl at the door. Glancing down at my phone, I took note of the time. Stryker would be there in about ten minutes, which gave me enough time to change and grab a quick snack.
“It’s a lovely set up you’ve got here.” I immediately froze as a hostile feminine voice started to speak from behind me. Quietly, I unlocked my phone and started to scroll for Stryker’s number. “Pity you won’t be around to enjoy it for much longer.”
Hitting dial on his number, I slid my phone into my pocket and started to slowly turn around. The first thing Paige and Luca had taught me when fighting off a potential attacker was not to turn your back. There, standing in front of me, was someone I hadn’t seen in a long time. You couldn’t miss the family resemblance, either. “How’d you get in here?”
“Now, now, Phoenix, I thought my son had taught you better than that.” The disdain in her voice was hard to miss. Catherine Ducane seemed content to let it all out. The woman hadn’t changed in four years. Bleach blonde, perfect nails, and pristine make-up, always looking polished on the outside, yet she was a manipulative and cunning bitch on the inside. What she did to Logan, to me, it had been horrible.
“Your son’s a fucking monster.” Angry that she’d ignored my question, I decided to play a different tactic: home truths. She’d never liked me. The whole time during my father’s trial she had stared at me, almost like she was studying me. “But I guess the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree, did it? Tell me, did you get a kick out of poisoning Logan? ”
“You need to learn your place, little girl.” Catherine eyed me up and down as she got up from the dining table. She was strangely calm, yet full of anger. “I told them they should have taken you years ago; there had been plenty of opportunities. Although, I don’t know what my son sees in you.”
I didn’t know what to say. The guys had told me that Kyle had followed me over the last four years, but it was something I’d chosen not to dwell on. If I let it get to me, I’d start to lose myself again. It would mean he’d won, and I wasn’t gonna let that happen.
“Why are you here, Catherine?” I tried to keep my voice even. There was a manic look in her jade eyes. God, I hoped that the call had gone through. There was something about the way she watched me that had my hair standing on end. I had to buy myself some time, enough to let Stryker show up.
“You know what I don’t get, Phoenix?” Catherine cocked her head to the side and looked me up and down. “I don’t get why you’re here, and he isn’t. Now, I’m not an expert, but I know for a damn fact that your training hasn't finished.”
“My training?” I questioned. Her statement had me seeing red. The shit her son had done to me wasn’t some sort of training, it was fucking torture: cruel and painful. “What the fuck are you talking about? Training? Your son fucking raped me.”
There were no niceties to be had between the two of us. The woman in front of me had birthed the monster that had tormented me for years. If looks could kill, then I should have been pushing up daisies. The bitch was unhinged, and I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that nothing good would come of it, because within seconds, the crazy came out, and it wasn’t hard to figure where her psychotic son got his from.
“It doesn’t matter now.” She bared her teeth at me before a sinister smile started to form, and Catherine slowly brought her hands into view. The sun that flooded in from the windows in the living room caught on something shiny. There, pointed right at me, was the muzzle of a gun. My breath caught in my throat, I couldn’t move. “You see, Phoenix, my son is missing, and I think you know something about it.”
I followed her movements. For someone that was crazier than the Mad Hatter on a bender, she moved like she was floating on water. Within seconds, she was in front of me. Running the gun down the side of my face, she pulled me out of my frozen state. I had to keep fighting. I knew the guys wouldn’t be too far. I just had to keep her talking until they got there.
