AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jordan blows out a breath, and I’m strangely reminded of how much this reminds me of Lenny.
“Derek followed Lennon out because she was really upset after we told her something. I asked him to keep a secret—”
“A secret you had no business keeping,” shrieks a tearful voice.
Beginning to get a headache, I see Layla trailing behind us.
“What the fuck am I missing?” I growl, frustrated. This is like being the last person to be told something, and I hate it. “Someone tell me as we walk and talk. I need to find my blasted fiancée.”
“You need to explain that, too, Roark. My sister would have told me if she was engaged.”
“You’ve lost the damn plot, Layla.”Why am I surrounded by people that aren’t talking sense?!“No offense, but what does your sister have to do with this?”
“Shit,” Layla mutters. “Um… Lennon is my sister. That’s why she ran. Derek and my uncle were keeping it a secret, I guess?”
I stop, taking a deep breath as the world threatens to spin even more out of control. Pinpricks of black fill my vision.I cannot have a fucking panic attack right now.“From the beginning, little love, and don’t leave a fooking thing out.”
“My father is Lennon’s. He had another wife and kid before he met my mom, and he disappeared on them. My dad said goodbye, packed the car, and then changed his name and never looked back. He… God I would swear he recognized her because he was really weird around her when we went in for meetings at the label. I just found out when Lennon did. I wouldn’t have been able to keep this a secret from her,” Layla insists, her hair flying as she shakes her head.
“Fuckwits, all of you are fuckwits,” I mutter angrily as I stomp forwards to search for Lenny. I want to reassure Layla that I don’t mean her when I step on something that breaks under my heavy boot and stop abruptly. “What the fuck is this?”
Raising my foot slowly, I see the remains of a medical syringe. I could explain this away, blame a drug addict, but we’re too close to the stadium for someone to be shooting up here. My time as a drug user flashes before me and I shudder.It’s not the kind of syringe a druggie would use.
Chewing my lip, I raise my eyes, searching for signs of a struggle.Come on my little Valkyrie… give me something.
A glint catches my eye a few steps away, the light above us catching on it. Walking over to it carefully, hand thrown out to keep the others from following, I find a knife.Lenny’s knife that I watched her strap to her thigh.Turner gave it to her a few years ago, and her initials are engraved into the handle.
“Fuck… No,” I whisper.
Lost in my thoughts, I remember her strapping it to her thigh.
“I want to be sure I’m careful tonight,” Lennon said with a devious smile as she slid the knife into its holster. “Turner told me to start wearing my knife, and this outfit is just long enough to hide it. Better safe than sorry, baby,” she said in a sing-song voice.
Reality crashes upon me as I am caught between the past and the present. If this knife is here and the syringe is behind me… it can only mean that she’s gone. My beautiful girl has been taken, so where the fuck is Derek?!
Clearing my voice, I force myself to speak past the lump in my throat. “Lenny isn’t here. This is her knife that she wore tonight, and behind me is a syringe.” Turning, I focus on Layla and Jordan’s shocked faces. “She’s gone, guys. Someone took her. If Lennon was coherent, there’d be more of a struggle, blood, fucking something… and this is too clean. It’s like she was surprised… someone got close enough to use that syringe on her… possibly someone she knew.”
Jordan looks down at the ground, eyes picking up the syringe I stepped on, hurrying to crouch down by it. “This could have just been some druggie, needing a hit,” he insists, his voice hoarse as he tries to process this.
Good luck man, I can’t even process this right now. Fuck, I need my girl. I need Turner. I can’t fucking do this alone. A hit would be fucking great though right about now.
Shaking off thoughts I haven’t had in years, I clear my throat again. “What does your gut say, old man?”
Jordan wheezes as he looks up at me with glassy eyes. “Fuck, who would do this though?”
“Where’s Derek?” Layla asks, blowing out a breath.Damn how did I miss the similarities?“He was supposed to be with her, so where is he?” Her voice is rising to dangerously high levels and I wince.
“He wouldn’t have been behind this,” I murmur, my voice so low, I can feel the wind that’s starting to whip through the parking lot pulling them away. I’m trying to convince myself. I don’t want him to be involved in this, because if he was, then I truly failed Lenny. Pulling out my phone, I dial Turner. Fuck, this is gonna break us.
What’s a life without one of your anchors?
“Yeah? Everything okay, Ror?”I hear and I shut my eyes in pain.
“Fuck. Fuck, no baby it’s not. Lennon’s gone, and there’s no signs of struggle. I need you to come out the south entrance and find us, okay? We need to call the police. Derek’s gone too.”
I shudder again as I hear Turner scream, staring at the knife at my feet.Everything was going so well… Why did it all have to go to shit?
* * *
