Lost & Bound (12 page)

Callum

My foot bounces up and down as I wait in the
dark alleyway behind Cruz’s hotel. The hotel I’m paying for, no less. My
stomach rumbles and I realize I haven’t eaten all day. My nerves wouldn’t allow
for it.

I throw a piece of gum in my mouth to
dispel some of my pent up nerves. I’ve been waiting for Cruz for over fifteen
minutes and am relieved when he finally decides to show up.

He opens the passenger door and gets in.
He’s dressed in black with a black beanie covering his mass of unkempt hair. He
takes one look at me and snorts.

“I knew you’d have a nice car, pretty boy.”

“It’s a rental,” I say in my best deadpan
tone.

“Still, you had to rent something so
fancy?”

I ignore his comments. I know he’s just
trying to rile me up.

“What took you so long?” I ask, not even
attempting to mask my annoyance.

“I was in the hotel lobby having a good
luck beverage,” he says without apology.

His lack of regard doesn’t surprise me.

“How far from here?” he asks, lighting up a
cigarette.

“Twenty minutes.” I look at him out the
corner of my eye. “Hey, put that out.”

He chuckles and then takes in a drag, the
smell of smoke
instantly filling my nostrils. I snatch the
cigarette from his mouth, crack the window and toss it outside.

“Seriously, dude. You can’t wait until
we’re there to light up again?”

He lets out a throaty laugh. “Whatever you
say, master.”

He sighs as he reclines his seat back and
settles in for the ride. “So, who’s the guy we’re breaking free?”

Stay
composed, Cal.

“It’s not a guy,” I let out brusquely.

“Oh
a lady love
then?” He smiles a toothy grin.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but
she’s not my lover,” I bite out the words harsher than I intend.

“Touchy.” Cruz holds his hands up as if
surrendering.

After last night I don’t know what Leila is
to me anymore. I think about the kiss. The one kiss that told me this is much
more than a friendship. She had fallen asleep in my arms. I watched her sleep
for hours before I finally drifted off myself.

I startled awake early in the morning. My
arms were wrapped around her as she cuddled into my side. It felt comfortable.
It felt right.

But I knew I had to get out of there. I
pressed a kiss to her forehead as I slipped out of her grasp. She murmured
something without opening her eyes. I propped her head up with a cushion and
draped an extra blanket over her body. Then I left.

Cruz stirs in his seat bringing my
attention back to him. “Where’s the money?” He turns searching for it in the
backseat. “You have the money, don’t you?”

I sigh. Eric and I worked this out days
ago. How the night would go down and how we would hand over the money. Eric
would wait at the roadside in his car a few miles from my father’s house. I
would park next to him and show Cruz the cash. Cruz and I would walk the rest
of the way to the house and once there he could trip the bracelet.

Cruz would leave first. Eric would wait for
him at the foot of the driveway, hand him the cash and drive him back to the
hotel.

Shortly after, I would leave the house with
Leila. We’d walk through the woods to my car and she would be free.

Free
, I repeat the word to myself and my body starts to tingle.

“Where’s the cash?” Cruz repeats. I enjoy
watching him squirm.

I wait a lengthy amount of time before
responding. “Eric has it.”

“Don’t even think about screwing me over,
pretty boy,” Cruz grunts.

I give him a sideways glance. “I wouldn’t
dream of it.”

We pull up at Eric’s car. I kill the
ignition and put on my beanie to match Cruz’s.

“You guys took long enough.” Eric walks
over to my window.

“Sorry. Our friend here was late.” I
gesture toward Cruz. “Apparently he was having a good luck beverage.”

“It’s tradition,” Cruz pipes up.

I roll my eyes, but no one notices in the
darkness of the night. “Eric, can you show him the money?”

I move to lock my car as Eric goes to the
backseat of his and shows Cruz the wads of cash waiting in an inconspicuous
backpack.

Cruz returns to my side. “I checked the
money, it’s legit,” he tells me.

“No shit,” I bite out.

“Well, let’s get this over with,” he says
impatiently.

I hold up my finger telling Cruz to wait.
“Just give me a minute.”

Walking over to Eric, I keep my voice low
as I speak.

“What’s up?” He can read me like a book.
Just by looking at my face he knows what I’m about to say is serious.

“Look,” I start, drawing in a deep breath
through my nose. “If something happens…if you don’t hear from me, don’t come
looking.”

Eric throws his hands in the air. “Are you
crazy, bro?”

“I mean it.” I keep my voice stern, but
low. “Do not come looking for me, it won’t end well for anyone if you do. You
said it yourself, my father would fuck up your life if he knew you had anything
to do with this.”

Eric rubs a hand against his chin before
conceding. “Okay, okay. Just be quick. Get in and get out.”

I shake Eric’s hand and he gives me a half
hug as he slaps me on the back. It doesn’t feel like a see-you-soon hug, it
feels more like a goodbye. I walk away with an unsettling feeling in the pit of
my stomach.
It’s just nerves
, I tell
myself.

“Good luck, bro,” Eric shouts from behind
us.

“We won’t need it,” Cruz roars back.

I almost tell him to shut up and not jinx
this, but strangely I welcome his confidence. It settles me somewhat.

The night is cool. It can’t be more than
forty degrees. The breath from my mouth leaves rings of smoke in the air and my
face prickles as it adjusts to the low temperature.

As we set off through the woods I notice
how still the night is. The only noise coming from insects in the bushes and
the jingle of Cruz’s toolbox that sounds with every step. The sound irritates
me almost as much as he does, but I know he’s my only hope at setting Leila
free.

I can see the driveway from where we walk.
It mirrors the path we take through the endless abyss of trees, bushes and
dirt. I used to play out here as a kid. Hide and seek, cops and robbers, the
usual games kids play, but tonight the space feels creepy.

I think about Leila and how she tried to
escape once before. She made it to the first fence line, which is less than
half a mile from the house. This was at least two years ago and she hadn’t seen
the outside of the house since.

I’d done some research over the past week.
I sat in my car late at night to see if security was combing the area. There
was no one on patrol, I was confident of this. The chances of getting caught
tonight are slim, providing Cruz can remove the bracelet without incident.

“How much further?” Cruz whines beside me.

“Not too far.”

“I’ll have to charge you for a new pair of
boots,” he tells me. “You didn’t mention we’d be hiking.”

“And the eight thousand won’t cover it?”

Out the corner of my eye I see him smirk.
“I should have made you pay ten.”

My lip picks up at the side. “I would have
paid ten,” I answer.

He huffs as if out of breath. We’ve only
walked half way to the house. I’d done this walk many times before, but never
with the prolific energy I’m feeling now. I can’t wait to see Leila. I can’t
wait to set her free.

The twigs crunch under foot with every step
I take. The bushes start to thin out, which means we are closing in on the
house and getting further away from the safety of my car.

Cruz lights up a cigarette as if his lungs
weren’t struggling already.

“How are we getting in the house?” He blows
a smoke ring in my face. “I don’t have all my tools with me. You got that
covered, pretty boy?”

“I have a key.”

“A key?” The surprise is clear in his
voice. “That’s a bit of an anticlimax, isn’t it?”

I sigh. “Please don’t ask any more
questions,” I say, my patience wearing thin.

The less he knows the better.

“Hey, I’m not worried,” he tells me. “As
long as I get the cash I don’t give a fuck what happens to you.”

I scoff.
“Charming.”

When we reach the house, the porch light is
the only glow in a sea of darkness. It runs on a timer and usually turns off
around eleven. The house is otherwise dark, which is normal when my father’s
out of town.

Cruz flicks the cigarette butt to the
ground and squashes it with the heel of his boot as I pull the keys from my
pocket and unlock the door. Stepping into the house I take a quick look around.
In the darkness it’s eerie, but it always has been.

Cruz steps inside and whistles. “Fancy.”

I latch the door and then set off down the
hallway. “Follow me…and don’t touch anything.”

He huffs as he trails behind me, his boots
announcing our arrival before we reach the basement door. I knock once before I
push the door open and descend the staircase. The light is on and Leila is
standing at the foot of the stairs waiting for us. She is wearing yoga pants
and a tight tank top. She looks amazing.

“Fuck me,” Cruz lets out. “Who do we have
here?”

He instantly walks over to Leila. She
stands up and Cruz does a half circle around her, his eyes raking up and down
her body.

“Hey,” I shout. “Don’t even think about
it.”

“Think about what?” he sneers. “I’m just
admiring the view.” His eyes scour the room and then settle on Leila again. She
offers me a smile before her attention turns to Cruz.

“Hello.” She holds her hand out to him.

“We’re all friends here.” He raises his
arms in an attempt to give Leila a hug, but I grab hold of the hood of his
jacket and pull him backwards.

“Don’t touch her,” I bite out harshly.

He lets out a low laugh before his eyes
settle on the white bracelet on Leila’s wrist.

“How’d you get yourself in this little jam,
sweetheart?”

Leila opens her mouth to answer, but I step
in before she can speak.

“Get the bracelet off her and then leave.
Don’t talk to her,” I warn.

I sound like a dick, but the last thing
Leila needs is this piece of trash eyeballing her and making small talk.

I walk the three steps over to Leila and
give her arm a reassuring squeeze.

“You okay?”

She nods her head up and down. “I’m fine.”

She settles on the sofa as Cruz opens his
toolbox and sits on the coffee table before her.

“She’s in good hands.” He looks at me as
his finger traces along her inner arm, the smirk on his face tells me he’s baiting
me.

I stand with my hands on my hips. “Don’t
touch her, Cruz. I mean it.”

He chuckles as his attention settles on the
bracelet. “You don’t have any beverages do you? Whiskey, vodka, I’m not picky.”

“No.”

“Beer will be fine.”

I sigh. “Just get to work, man.”

I start to pace the length of the room,
Cruz’s smart-ass mouth irritating me to no end.

Cruz studies the bracelet closely. “Easy,”
he says.

“Disarming it?” I ask.

“Piece of cake.” He reaches for a blade. I
instantly tense when I see him draw the blade near Leila, but he uses it to cut
through the plastic of the bracelet.

“Just need to cut these wires here.” He
gestures toward two delicate wires that are tangled around the rest. I’m
surprised by his confidence. This guy may actually know what he’s doing.

The whole process takes little more than
five minutes. The bracelet falls off Leila’s wrist and onto the floor.

We all stare at the bracelet as if it’s
about to explode. Cruz picks it up and shows me the display.

“It’s still armed?” I ask.

“Yes, genius.” He eyeballs me.

“So it’s done? We’re done?”

It can’t be that easy. I rake my fingers
through my hair as I wait for Cruz to confirm this is over. Leila is free.

“Cinderella is free to leave.” He snorts.
“Feel free to follow me home, sweetheart.”

Leila looks toward me shyly. I roll my eyes
suggesting she shouldn’t take him seriously. Cruz hands me the bracelet and
then starts packing his tools to leave.

“We’re ready to head back?”