“Kade, I’m going to remove the gag now, but only if you promise to listen to me. Do you understand?” I ask, earning a glare before he slowly nods, and I tug the material loose from his mouth.
“What the fuck? Why have you taken me? Where the hell are we?” he shouts.
I watch him with my eyebrow raised as he continues to babble, swear, and berate me while struggling to get to his feet. Once he’s finally standing, he glances at the closed door behind him then refocuses on me before making a surprise attack, launching himself across the room at me. I’m unable to react quickly enough, and his body slams into mine, taking us both to the floor. The idiot still has his hands tied, but even if his hands were free, surprise attack or not, there’s no way I could be overpowered by him.
Kade attempts to headbutt me, and I grab him by the throat, halting him before his skull can connect with mine.
“Stop it” I bark, squeezing lightly.
I don’t want to hurt him, but if I have to in order to subdue and prevent him from injuring himself, then I will. Kade looks at me, scanning my features. Recognition flickers in his eyes, and he rears back, landing back on the floor with a thud.
“Y-you? I remember you, from Dad’s funeral. You’re Mom’s friend…” he pauses, and I can see him wracking his brain while he searches his memories.
“Emmett,” we say simultaneously; his voice is almost a shout and mine is low and rough.
Suddenly, the reality of the situation slams into me. I was so consumed with the idea of spending time with Kade and saving him from the steadily deteriorating situation at home, that I really didn’t think through what I would do once I got him out of there. I didn’t expect him to be unaffected, and I knew I’d have to reassure and help him understand that he belongs here…with me, but beyond that I’m now struggling to know what to do or say to connect with him.
Chapter 3
Kade
My parents’ friend Emmett has fucking abducted me. I wrack my brains for a logical reason why someone I’ve met only once would do this, but I come up with nothing. Mom has no money; she spent whatever Dad left to her on drink and drugs, and my grandparents haven’t been a part of our lives since I was a kid. Demanding a ransom for me would be pointless.
This isn’t about money, it can’t be. I narrow my eyes at him, feeling my eyebrows pinch together as I observe him. I managed to wind myself when I attacked him a moment ago, and I’m still light-headed from that. I’ve an incessant pounding in my skull. As I continue to meet his gaze head on, I get the sense he’s waiting for something, and the longer we hold eye contact, I notice how his pupils start to slowly eclipse the brown irises. I avert my eyes when he stands and pulls me to my feet. Letting out a shiver, I’m suddenly painfully aware of how little I’m wearing. My bare feet and skin feel cold from contact with the wooden floor.
“Where are we?” I ask, looking around and hoping to get at least some information from him.
I ignore the way my stomach jolts at the darkness of his eyes and the sudden look of hunger which flitters across his face.
“My cabin, a few hours drive from the nearest town. So don’t get any funny ideas about running. It’s freezing out; you’d get hypothermia and probably die if you attempted it.”
My vision swims and pain begins to register in the back of my head.
“Whoa,” I slur and start swaying on the spot.
The last thing I remember is the sensation of falling and warm arms wrapping around me.
* * *
When I open my eyes again, the room is spinning in a blurry haze, and I realize I’m lying on something soft and warm. It must have been a crazy dream. I groan and rub my eyes. The room is dark and the house is silent. Mom and her newest boyfriend must be asleep.
I rub the sore spot on the back of my skull, which is throbbing, and hiss when my fingers brush over the cut. Shane is an ass, the fucker hit me with his whiskey bottle before telling me to get lost while he saw to my mom. The last thing I remember thinking before I passed out in bed was that I really miss my dad. He wouldn’t have let this happen.
I dreamed of Emmett again last night. He’s visited me a few times in my dreams now, and I’ve found myself wishing I still had the slip of paper with his number on it. More than once I’ve wished I could call him when Mom has been on one of her benders and keeps bringing all sorts of strange guys home with her. Unfortunately she saw the paper in my hand right after he left the house, on the day of the funeral, and tore it to shreds in front of me. She then proceeded to tell me he was no good and ordered me to stay well away from him if I ever saw him again. I tried to press her for more information about him, and the reason why I should keep my distance, but she shut me down, telling she had a damn good reason and to stop asking questions. She wouldn’t meet my eyes, though, and I knew instantly there was more to the story than she wanted to admit.
I reach for my phone and when I don’t feel the cabinet next to me where it should be, I jerk into an upright position. Squinting through the darkness, I can just about make out the shape of an unfamiliar room and a jolt of fear shoots through my heart. What if it wasn’t a dream! Did Emmett really abduct me in the middle of the night? Fuck, what do I do if he did? Conflicting emotions surge through my heart, and I don’t know what to feel: panic, fear...relief.
I pull back the covers and slowly get to my feet. I feel my way across the pitch black room, searching for the door. I need to get out of here without Emmett realizing. Regardless of how I feel about being away from my mom and Shane, Emmett abducted me, and I can’t trust him. I finally locate the door and grip the handle, twisting it as quietly as possible,
so I don’t draw any attention to myself. Slipping into the darkened hallway, I look along it in both directions, my eyes struggling to see in the dim light.
A noise reaches my ears, and I quickly whip my head around in the direction it came from, causing my head to throb painfully. I’m unable to concentrate. Fucking, Shane. If I ever see him again, I’ll have to return the favor. I wouldn’t waste a full whiskey bottle on a piece of shit like him, though. First things first, I have to figure a way to get out of here.
Staggering slightly, I bump into the wall with a heavy thud, and something made of glass crashes to the floor. A door opens next to me and light filters into the hallway, blinding me temporarily, and I fall against a shelf, knocking over another object.
“Kade, where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
Chapter 4