Criminal: A Bad-Boy Stepbrother Romance (9 page)

I have a really bad feeling about this. Already the
guys I'm supposed to meet are running fifteen minutes late. I've
dealt with a lot of bullshit over the years running drugs for Ryder,
and I know that when someone's late it's because they're getting cold
feet. And the only reason someone truly involved with this business
gets cold feet is because they're planning on screwing you over.

I sit back in the seat, looking at the guy next to
me. He's shorter and scrawnier, looks like a junkie, but I know he
isn't because Ryder won't hire a junkie. Too big of a risk of losing
product.

His name's Mustang or something stupid like that, but
I've worked with him a couple times before and he's surprisingly
sharp.

We're in the middle of nowhere, but I recommended the
spot. I don't know why, but when we were kids, Abigail's dad and my
mom took us here. I guess it was just to show us a life outside of
suburbia. We spent days going from small town to small town, talking
to people, spending the night in "mom & pop" motels.

And then we went camping, out in the middle of
nowhere, just us and the stars. We purposefully tried to find a place
that was just far enough away from anything that we could feel really
alone.

A bonding exercise, mom called it.

Abigail and I shared a tent, stayed up so late just
listening to the little night critters come out and scuttle around,
telling each other ghost stories and giggling until mom and dad had
enough and threatened to take us back to the city.

I look back at the desert, over the utter darkness
that sprawls out in all directions and let my stomach and heart turn
to steel. This is for her, I remind myself. If I can do this one
thing for her, just get us out of this place...

I don't have time to finish my thoughts. There's
headlights in the distance, probably a few miles away, heading
towards us. I nudge Mustang. He gets out of the van, and I follow, my
hand on my gun.

I check my phone again, feeling terrified.

Ryder's words, the cold way he'd said them... I want
out, but how can I leave without Kaiden getting in shit?

I'm in so far over my head, and I keep fucking up
drink orders, which I never do. I'm a perfectionist, even at this,
but I just don't have my head together. I give another apologetic
smile to one of my regulars — Ryan. Every day he orders a rum
and coke. So why did I bring him a whiskey?

My hands are shaking as I take the drink back, but
he's looking at me with concern. He's probably forty or so, I guess,
and even after a couple of drinks is nothing but a gentleman, which
is more than I can say for anyone else here.

"You alright, darling?" he asks with none
of the aggression of most of my clients, and I give him a half smile.

"Yea, sorry. I'll go fix your drink," I
apologize, but he reaches out before I can and lightly grabs my hand.

"C'mon now, Abigail. I ain't never seen you less
than chipper, even when that guy laid hands on you. You always come
back like nothin's the matter, so this gotta be serious," he
says, his voice lowered.

I hate it when people can see right through me.

Sometimes I just wear my emotions too clearly, but
he's right. Here? I've been able to suck it all up and just hide it,
but not tonight. I'm really, genuinely worried. I just have this
feeling in my stomach like something is very, very wrong.

I bite on my lower lip, shaking my head.

"It's nothing. I just haven't seen Kaiden lately
and usually he's here by now." How stupid do I sound? Most
customers know my relationship with Kaiden isn't great and even a ton
of non-regulars have seen us fight more than a couple times. Ryan has
definitely seen more than his fair share of our screaming matches,
despite his insistence that I'm always chipper.

I take a deep breath and shake my head before looking
back at Ryan and giving him an apologetic half smile.

But then I see something in his eyes. Something that
confirms everything I dread.

My shoulders slump.

"Oh my God, what's wrong? What's happened?"
I ask, and my blood turns to ice. He can't be dead. I suck in air, my
heart racing as panic grips me, and Ryan's hand tightens around mine.

"He's had to work out some things with Ryder in
the desert," he says, and the apologetic tone...

Ryder's going to kill him!

I glance up at the bar just in time to see the golden
hair of Ryder making his way past the crowd to the door, pushing out.
Seconds later I hear the rev of his bike, and I pull away from Ryan.

I don't have any control over my actions as I run out
the door, jumping into my car.

I have to save him!

***

I know this road.

Just a hazy, faded memory of being down here before,
past the strange, colorful mansion, recessed away and lit with blue
floodlights. It looks just as I remember it, and the memory of
playing a stupid car game fills me.

"I spy, with my little eye, something that is
green!"

"Come on, Abby! That's so easy. There's
nothin' green out here 'cept that house," Kaiden says, punching
me in the arm. We're too old for these games, but we've been driving
forever and we're both getting bored out of our minds.

"Fine, fine. I spy, with my little eye,
something that is purple."

Kaiden looks around, trying to figure it out in
vain, and I feel really smug that he can't see it. But then he spots
it in the distance, a weird little lighthouse mailbox, painted
purple, and he points at it with a grin.

I pass off the same mailbox, and I know where Ryder's
going. This was the way we drove when we went camping that time, so
many years ago.

In the middle of the desert, so far from
everything...

Dread grips my heart. Ryder's way off in the
distance, and I have my lights turned off. I know how dangerous it
is, but getting Ryder's attention is way more dangerous, and the road
is abandoned this time of night anyways. There's not even any street
lights illuminating the way, and the sound of Ryder's bike booms
loudly.

I try to keep up while keeping far enough away that I
won't be seen, my hands shaking and I grip the wheel tighter, trying
to calm my nerves. He's going to be fine. This is Kaiden. Big,
strong, tough Kaiden.

My hero, Kaiden.

My love, Kaiden.

The thought comes to me unbidden, and yet I know just
how true it is.

Beneath all our fighting and arguing burns real
passion that I've been hiding from for so long. All the anger I've
felt towards him, all the resentment, it all stems from him leaving
me. From the fact that I can't get him out of my life.

The realization is intense, and for a moment,
thoughts of Kaiden fill my mind. Smiling at me after I give some
sassy comment and the way he touched his hand along my jaw and looked
at me right before he left home. Even the anger when he saw me on his
doorstep, begging for a place to sleep now brings a pitter-patter to
my heart.

And just as I'm lost to my pleasant reverie, Ryder's
bike turns off the path. I'm too far away to see exactly where he's
going, and I start getting panicked until I can see off in the
distance a set of headlights.

I open my glove box, grabbing the gun my dad gave me
for my birthday last year. In case of emergencies only, is what he'd
said, and this was definitely an emergency.

I park, my lights still off, and get out of my car as
quietly as I can.

In the desert, sound travels differently, and I take
each step as quietly as I can, my high heels left behind in the car,
the warmth of the day still radiating upon my bare feet. When we were
kids camping out here, we used to listen to the little animals
walking around, so I know I have to be delicate.

My eyes adjust to the darkness, my heart racing as I
walk, trying to avoid the few sources of lights. I can see at least
two vans and Ryder's bike, probably a quarter mile in the distance,
and I move faster.

"You think you can threaten me?"

The words reach me and send a shiver down my spine.
Ryder.

"You think
you
have
anything
over
me?" He's screaming now, but I can't quite make them out.
They're behind one of the vans. I start running.

"You need to be reminded of your place,
fuck-head. You are nothing without me. I took you and molded you into
a fucking man and you think you can turn your back on me? You think
you can tell me what you're going to do, just because that cunt of a
sister walks back into your life?"

I'm close now, just a few feet away, and I crouch
down. I can't move to see them without getting in the light of the
vans, so I lay flat on my belly, looking under the van at their feet.

There's four of them. And all of them are facing
Kaiden.

"We had a deal, man! What will Axel say?"
Kaiden protests, his voice low and angry, and Ryder laughs.

"Ah yeah, our 'deal' where I leave your little
sister out of this and get you out of your jail time and everyone
lives happily ever after? Not going to fucking happen, and Axel will
be none the wiser. You went down in a bad deal."